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  “Okay, I presume we are safe to act normal at this point?” asked Dmitry.

  “Well, as I know my guys are busy setting up capturing Juan and your other man and that there is no way your men would be showing up here, I believe we are safe to resume normal behavior!”

  “Good. So then, Elizabeth, what do you think you will have this evening?”

  “I believe the salmon entrée along with a garden salad sounds fantastic – I love salmon.”

  “That sounds like it would be very good; I think I am going to order the filet mignon along with a Caesar salad,” said Dmitry as he closed his menu and reached over to take Elizabeth’s from her. A few minutes later their waiter returned for their orders.

  “Okay, Dmitry, I told you I had thought over our plan and have some ideas about how we are to go about this most efficiently. We need to be in full agreement and subsequently very precise in our every move as one wrong step could literally ruin everything. I know how the CIA works and you know how your guys work. We have to bring this together in order to pull it off with success.”

  “Very well, I am ready to hear what you have to say and would think that your judgment on these matters rates higher than mine as the main concern is how to avoid your agency catching us and that is your field, not mine,” replied Dmitry as he sat back in his chair.

  “Alright, we know that Juan and Max are going to be in their hotel after midnight, correct?”

  “Yes, they usually will not stay out partying much later than that when we are going to put an operation into execution the next day.”

  “Good. I have set up my men to go into action at the Marriott around 3am. By that time, Juan and Max should have gone to bed and be fully asleep so easier to take by surprise. My guys will crash in on them, take them to a transport vehicle and will immediately head over here where I am supposed to have been with you all evening and sleeping with you in your room when they bust in to get you. Now, I will in fact be with you all through the evening – through this dinner and afterwards we will head up to your room and be together. However, right at about 1am, you are going to discreetly depart from the back of the hotel in a rented car to the airport where your private jet is to be waiting. I have not had my men even prepare for such a departure as ‘we’ are supposing that you are all just taking it easy and do not suspect you are being targeted by us right now. There will be no one attempting to stop you at the airport – you will be fully cleared for departure.”

  “This sounds very well thought out so far, Elizabeth,” said Dmitry with an endearing smile on his face.

  “It is very well thought out. This has to be the most important series of actions I will take in my life and I do not want anything to go wrong.”

  “My dear, I do not think anything will go wrong. However there is one factor I do want you to think with and that is the possibility that something could go wrong. So I want to make sure that you have the mentality of flexibility and improvisation.”

  “I understand what you are saying and I do have that viewpoint. I know that things can always change and that we have to be ready for them do to so. However, my usual modus operandi is to predict possible variables beforehand and factor them into the plans I make; this is why, for example, you are to leave the hotel around 1am and no later. If my guys decide to move faster, than we had planned then I want you already well on your way,” replied Elizabeth as she sat back from the table to allow their waiter to place her salad on the table.

  “And would you care for any wine or other beverage along with your meal?” asked the waiter once he had finished placing their salads.

  “Water is fine for me tonight, thank you,” replied Elizabeth then looking to Dmitry for his response.

  “I will have one vodka tonic, thank you.”

  “Very well, I will be right back with your beverage sir.”

  “Alright, I am going to tell you the rest of our plan; while you are en route to the airport, I will remain in your room and will not make any contact with my guys until approximately 2:30am at which point, if I have not heard from them beforehand, I will alert them to the fact that you got away. I am going to tell them that you had stepped out of the room saying you would be returning in a few minutes, that you had to get something from the hotel lobby. They are going to be upset and wonder how I could have slipped up and let you get away. My reasoning is going to be the fact that you, in particular, are very good and this is why many intelligence agencies have failed to take you in up to this point. I am going to direct them to transport Juan and Max to the CIA facility here in the city and that I will meet them all after I do a full search of the hotel in an attempt to locate you.”

  “This is making sense so far but I am curious what you have planned for your escape. That cannot be the easy part of all of this."

  “You’re right, yet I am still confident that I will be able to pull it off with success. My plan is to send my guys to the CIA facility, as I told you. This will accomplish ensuring that they will be in one location and where I am not. That opens the door for me to head to the airport to catch the private charter flight that you have to arrange for me as soon as we finish dinner. We will both be flying to Havana where I will get de-board my plane, board yours and we will fly to Russia from there.”

  Just as Elizabeth had finished her sentence, their waiter arrived to remove their salad plates and replaced them with entrées. “These look delicious! Thank you very much and please thank the chef on our behalf!” exclaimed Dmitry. He was a very thoughtful person; having come from the streets of Moscow to the life he was living, Dmitry had a high appreciation for the service delivered to him by any profession whether it is a chef, maid, etc. He always made a point to thank people for services rendered and to make them feel important and thus he usually received excellent service.

  “Very well my dear,” began Dmitry, “this plan sounds very detailed and it is something that we will be able to carry out working together. As soon as we finish here, we will go up to my room and I will book that flight for you as well as ensure that my plane is all set to go. I do have one question though which is why you have chosen Havana as our meeting place?”

  “That is simple; Cuba and Russia are still on very good terms with one another and I did my research so I know that you have allies there which we can utilize should there be any interference from the CIA,” replied Elizabeth.

  “You continue to surprise me with your attention to detail and facility for acquiring information. I suppose this should not in fact surprise me but it does nonetheless.”

  “Well, I get what information I need or consider that I might need and then I use it. It is rather simple.”

  “Elizabeth, my dear, do you understand how magnificent our lives are going to be together? I have sufficient wealth to just end all my activities and provide a very healthy and comfortable lifestyle for our children and us. However, I intend to invest my resources into the legitimate businesses I have and expand my fortune. We will be able to do anything we want – travel, provide excellent education for our children and so on. The world is and will be at our fingertips.”

  “You know, Dmitry, I have to be honest with you that while I believe what you are saying is possible, I am skeptical that we will be able to live in freedom. We may end up constantly feeling we need to look over our shoulders, drive in bulletproof vehicles, etc. I am certain the CIA is going to be after both of us and in particular me. This could go on for some years or the rest of our lives. They would have two motivations for doing so; the first would be due to the security of information I have. The second would more or less be revenge or a vendetta against me simply because I will be crossing very powerful people. The people in charge of things there do not take such actions very lightly – they take them as a personal affront and will take severe and desperate moves to get their revenge even if it means violating firmly established rules of protocol.”

  “I think you are correct that we will be being hunted for some tim
e. That could be a year or years but it will not be for the rest of our lives. I can guarantee that.”

  “How can you be so certain? Are you just screwing with my head and saying what you think I would like to hear?” exclaimed Elizabeth.

  “Whoa, whoa, Elizabeth relax! I do not just fucking say something to you or anyone just because it sounds nice. That is not the sort of man that I am. You should know and will come to know even better that I have many, many connections in Russia and many other countries. By utilizing these connections or allies I have been able to accomplish my own security and will be able to accomplish the security of you and our children. Yes, it is going to be more difficult and we may not be able to travel out of Russia for a while but I am confident we will be able to have our freedom again.”

  While Elizabeth was in fact worried that they were going to be caught and stopped by the CIA, she knew that the only option she had was to at least try as her only other option was to continue the life she had been living. She felt that was impossible now that she had met Dmitry and knew what her life would be like with him and how truly happy she would be.

  “Alright, my love, I am sorry for being obnoxious. I know that the only choice we have is to try and I am willing to risk everything in trying to be with you,” said Elizabeth as she grabbed Dmitry’s hand.

  “I know that and that is why I am putting everything I have accomplished in my life on the line. My life without you, without even at least knowing I had done everything I could to be with you, would be miserable. Now that I’ve known how truly happy I can be, I am not willing to go back to the transparent life I was living of night clubs, transitory relationships and only material wealth. I want to have and need to have a life that is full of meaning and which is something to be passed on to generations of my family. I feel I still have a chance to turn around the bad that I have done sufficiently to merit being acclaimed as a good man who helped society.”

  “Dmitry, you are a good man. I don’t know everything about you yet I look in your eyes and see you – you, a kind man,” said Elizabeth as tears welled up in her eyes. “I just want everything to go as planned.”

  “It will, Elizabeth, it will,” replied Dmitry.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “Juan, how the fuck do you know these kinds of places exist and how to find them?” exclaimed Max shortly after he and Juan entered a bar with topless waitresses.

  “Max, I have been around. Let’s just leave it at that. Here, let’s sit down there,” replied Juan indicating a table in the corner of the bar which gave them a good view of the establishment – serving two purposes: their viewing enjoyment as well as security in the event of someone having found out who they were. Juan could not help but think with very small security details; that was how he survived the Colombian cartel world – he paid attention to every detail, predicated any possible attack and prepared to deal with it ahead of time. Therefore, Max was quite accustomed going along with Juan’s requests whenever they went out somewhere. If he did not, then a long conversation as to why Juan had some rule would ensue.

  As they sat down, a waitress came by to take their orders. Juan ordered a margarita and Max ordered a beer. A few minutes later she came back with their drinks. “What time do you get off work tonight my dear?” asked Juan with a cavalier attitude.

  The waitress was in fact very beautiful with long, straight brown hair, naturally tan skin and big brown eyes. “Sir, I do not know why you want to know that since I do not even know your name or the name of your friend. All you see is my breasts and nothing beyond that. I do not go home with customers but thank you for your innuendo of offer.” At that she left their table.

  “Looks like Señor Duarte will not be getting any love tonight!” exclaimed Max with a smirk on his face, knowing he would simply go to a brothel but Juan would not consider doing that. Juan had explained to him once that he had lived the life of using prostitutes and that he was most certainly done with that. In Juan’s mind, he was now a more honest man in terms of his relationships with women; he could not and would not face the fact that he continually betrayed the trust of his wife, Elizabeth. As anyone who commits many harmful acts does, Juan invented many reasons for his actions –some even seemed logical. However the one person he could never get to accept his justifications, no matter how hard he might try, was himself. Juan could feel the petrification of not only his marriage with Elizabeth but of himself spiritually. Nonetheless he continued attempting to lay his head down on his pillow, night after night in the hope that he would awake the next day as a new man with a clean conscience – a moment that never came to him and never would.

  “Max, look, I don’t need to have a woman tonight. I am just going to have some drinks, chat it up with people here at the bar and then get a good night’s rest so we will be ready to go in the morning,” said Juan as he downed a shot of tequila.

  “Say what you will and do what you want Juan but I will be spending some time this evening with a lady. I am not ashamed to admit that I have to pay for it.” At that Max downed the rest of his vodka and left the bar.

  Now that Max was gone, Juan looked around the bar to find someone that he could socialize with – even if it was just another guy drinking the night away. Just to his right, there was a man who seemed to be alone with two empty glasses and one half empty in hand. “Hey, what’s your name?” asked Juan.

  “My name is Adam. Not that it matters much anymore. Life sucks and the more I live it, the more I become convinced,” replied the man as he took another sip of his drink.

  “I see. Well, I am Juan. I don’t think life sucks. It is not always easy and I am not always happy – in fact, most of the time I am not really happy. But, I am happy to be alive at least. That is something that one can always be happy and thankful for.”

  “Man, you have an optimistic outlook on life. I work at an investment firm in New York. Came down here on business and not only did I fail to land the deal I was sent down here for, my fiancé of three years called me – fucking called – to tell me she was ending it and moving to Europe,” said Adam throwing his hands in the air at the end of his sentence.

  “I’m sorry to hear that man. I hope things go better for you. I really do,” replied Juan putting his hand on the man’s shoulder for a moment to console him.

  “Anyway, yeah, my life sucks. What about yours?”

  “Well, I cannot say that mine is half bad. I am here on business. I own a dental product production facility. My wife works for the government and is also on business. Coincidentally, we also live in New York. Here is my card. Look me up when you get back to the US and you can come over for dinner with my wife and I. Hopefully things are looking up for you then but either way, do look me up,” said Juan as he handed one of his cards to Adam.

  “Okay, I’ll take you up on that offer. Most of the friends that we have in New York are mutual friends. Pretty fuckin’ weird to be hanging out with them right after breaking up our engagement. It would be good to have some new friends. I have other buddies but they are in California. I went to USC San Diego so a lot of my college buddies are still in San Diego or other areas of California.”

  Juan looked at his watch and saw it was nearing eleven. “Well, I could stay here and console this guy, drink away his sorrows with him. Or, I could head back to my hotel and get a good night of sleep. I wonder what Elizabeth is doing right now,” Juan thought.

  “Juan, you don’t have to stay here with me – I am going to be fine. You didn’t know me until now so don’t feel responsible for staying with me or something,” said Adam as he indicated to the bar tender that he wanted another drink.

  “Adam, I do not feel responsible for you. I’m quite sure you will be just fine as long as you remember where you are staying and know enough not to end up sleeping in the gutter. My hesitation is as to whether or not I just want to keep hanging out in this bar or if I would rather go back to my hotel and get to bed early. I have an important business transaction to
complete tomorrow and want to make sure I am with it,” replied Juan.

  “Oh, okay, well then don’t let me stop you either way.”

  Juan thought for a moment and then told the bar tender “One margarita please.”

  “Well, I guess you’re sticking around tonight,” said Adam as he extended his glass towards Juan’s.

  “Yeah, it can’t hurt to stick around for a while longer.”

  “So, what do you do for work again?”

  “I own a company that produces dental products – pretty good business.”

  “Yeah, I bet. There is never a shortage of people with dental problems, right?”

  “Yep. That is what keeps my bank account full!”

  “You know, Juan, I think I am in the wrong business. I went into the corporate world hoping to move up the ladder and make big money - not because it was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a musician but my father and grandfather were both big shots in the business arena and of course, I was to follow in their footsteps or be the family outcast.”