Between the lines

[Sweet_Denna]

Alice was well aware of the turn that their conversation had taken, of the sudden erotic charge between them. She took another sip from her scotch.

From under thick black lashes she considered Jake: his lean, muscular build, his clear blue eyes, his seductive confidence and his obvious hunger, simmering so close underneath the surface.

The young detective could not help but wonder what lay behind his easy-going smiles and his carefree manners. What dark passions did Jake nurture? If Berlin had

When he moved his chair closer to hers, she did not move an inch. His presence suddenly had a fiery, almost dangerous edge to it. Alice had to suppress a soft moan when he softly tucked a curl of her hair behind her ear. Never before had she felt so deliciously helpless, so eager to submit.

It was the first deliberate physical exchange between the two of them, and the sheer intensity of his gesture sent electrical shocks through her body. Feeling his breath on her naked skin made her shiver. If such fleeting contact was capable of causing such arousal, Alice wondered what his touch, his caresses, would be capable of. The thought was almost frightening. With a faint blush colouring her delicate cheeks yet again, she pushed the glass of scotch further away. Berlin, Berlin…I have just come here, and am already desperately entangled in your snares.

She looked at him. But why the hell not? Jake was gorgeous, and life was so very short. It seemed that no other place conveyed this platitude with more force than this gutted, beat-up city. Berlin was in fact the very illustration of it: take what you can, while you still can. Every day might be your last.

Alice gave him a provocative half-smile. “Irma sounds like a nice girl. Maybe I should go and see her myself…you know, for a chat?” She traced the rim of her glass with one slender finger, but her dark eyes were set on Jake. “Would you care to introduce me to your helpful friend?”

Then she leant in closer, and her lips brushed softly against Jake’s ear as she whispered: “But before you should share a few of your tricks with me. Maybe teach me how to distract a lady enough for her to share all of her secrets?”

 

[Maka]

Alice was trembling under Jake's caress, and her eyes shone with a new, rich urgency. Berlin was opening her up, exposing her, arousing her. Jake grinned fiercely, and rose to his feet. He towered over the petite, slender detective and reached out to her, one hand coiling easily around her forearm and lifting her up. He pulled her to his side to whisper in her ear.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to show you my techniques. And I'm sure you have some tricks of your own. Let's go..."

He led her outside. In the shadows there, one of the prostitutes from the club knelt in front of a GI, the soldier's pants down around his ankles. She was sucking his cock with practised efficiency, obviously unconcerned by the public nature of her obscene act. The soldier's eyes wandered over Alice's exquisite body and suddenly he was convulsively gripping the woman's head, against her muffled protests, and letting out a grunt of excitement.

Jake grinned at him, at once boast, amusement and threat, and the soldier's eyes dropped down to the woman before him.

"Let's go home," Jake breathed. The respectful, almost bashful young man from the plane had all but disappeared.

 

[Sweet_Denna]

When Jake pulled her up from her chair, Alice did not hesitate for even a second. His lips brushed against her ear as he spoke, erasing any doubts she might have had. “Yes,” she nodded. “That’s sounds like a sensible idea to me, too. Let’s get out of here.” She threw one last glance over her shoulder towards the British detective who was still sitting at the bar, downing yet another lonely drink. Yes, all she wanted now was to leave.

They walked out of the club to find a prostitute on her knees before an American soldier, her head bobbing up and down on his cock. The raw obscenity of this public act stopped Alice in her tracks and she watched them, breathlessly. For one brief moment, the soldiers’ eyes met hers.

Alice imagined being the woman kneeling on the street, sucking the cock of a complete stranger, for money. The GI looked at her with obvious hunger, taking in every curve of her slender form. Alice did not break eye contact as he grabbed the back of the prostitute’s head roughly to shove his cock further down her throat. She bit her lip.

“Yes,” she whispered urgently to Jake. “Let’s go home.”

 

[Maka]

Back at the boarding house, Jake slipped up the stairs, his arms possessively around Alice's shoulders. He moved with surprising noiselesslness for a tall, muscular man.

At the doorway to Alice's room he stopped, one hand on either slender shoulder, pulling her against his broad chest.

"At the end of a date back home, you're meant to kiss the girl good night outside her door," he said huskily. His mouth descended greedily and he was kissing her deeply and passionately, his hunger seeming to grow the more her soft lips sated it. His hands were now pressing her to him, pulling her to his hard, firm body. It was the kind of good night kiss that turned a girl's legs to jelly, that would have convinced even the most prudish and careful of his dates back home that their evening should end with her bent over the bonnet of her daddy's Ford in the garage.

"But I think our night is just beginning," Jake finished, lifting his lips away.

 

[Sweet_Denna]

“Yes,” Alice whispered, her heart racing. “I don’t want this evening to end just yet.” The kiss had set every nerve end in her body on fire, and all she wanted was for him to take her, now, up against the wall of the hallway if need be.

Was this what Berlin did to those who dared to glimpse part of its soul? Jake’s kiss was forceful, demanding, so very different from the kiss Lieselotte Junker had sent her away with…she bit her lower lip, her knees still shaking with raw desire.

Mustering every last shred of reason and willpower, Alice tore herself from his embrace and turned to open the door to her room, unsuccessfully fumbling with the keys for a moment before finally managing to turn them in the lock. She giggled, and whispered over her shoulder: “I hope that Frau Meyer is a sound sleeper.”

The room was bathed in the cool, blue light of the moon, giving every object in it a soft, almost blurry appearance.

She briefly remembered the notes and clippings that she had earlier shoved under the duvet, but brushed the thought from her mind immediately. Jake did not appear to be very interested in research just now, and besides, had he not promised that he would not pry anywhere she did not want him to?

She walked into the room and turned around to face him again. Never breaking eye contact, she hiked up her dress, revealing the lace trimmings of her black silk stockings. Then she tugged two thumbs into the hem of her panties and wiggled out of them, carelessly throwing the black silk to the floor. “Will you join me?”

 

[Maka]

Jake's breath was rasping in his throat. There was an almost frightening intensity, a predatory hunger, to the way he looked up and down Alice's slender, perfectly formed body. The easy-going charm had disappeared and now there was a new air of danger about him.

He shut the door gently behind and silently crossed the floor. He seized Alice by the waist and drew her to him, pressing her firm but deliciously yielding breasts against his hard, broad chest. He smelt of smoke and whisky and rain. His hands were hard and not gentle. He kissed her ruthlessly and passionately, tilting her delicate face up to meet his, taking what he wanted.

One hand had crept from her hip to the sweet triangle between her legs that the panties, dropped on the floor, had covered. Jake abruptly thrust a finger into the slick, tight sheath of her pussy while continuing to hold her in a hot, powerful kiss.

 

[Sweet_Denna]

Her breath caught in her throat as he kissed her, his hands like iron on her hips, pulling her to him. She stumbled back, but he held her firmly in his grip.

Alice gasped against Jake’s lips as he thrust one finger up her sex with almost violent greed. She briefly stiffened against him. Something had changed. Suddenly there was a dangerous air about him that she had not noticed before, a dominant streak that she would not have expected in the easy-going young man she had met in the plan.

One of her arms snaked behind Jake’s neck, her fingers entangled in his hair. So he wanted to play rough? Alice’s grip tightened, enough for it to hurt him. That was fine with her. It was as if something had been roused in her, a side she had never dared to unveil. Helpless against his strength and paralysed by her own raw desire all she could do was to kiss him back.

Alice remembered the prostitute again, kneeling on the sidewalk, sucking a stranger’s cock for money. The memory of the lewd scene – the soldier’s rough grip in the woman’s hair, the obscene sounds – turned her knees weak and forced another muffled moan from her lips. Her sex was dripping wet against his hand, his finger tortured her.

Her free hand went down to the buckle of his belt, undoing it with deft fingers. If he was going to take what he wanted, she would do the same.

 

[Maka]

Jake's cock sprang free as Alice's deft, nimble fingers undid the buckle of his belt and reached into his fly. The huge, heavy organ was already fully erect, and a gasp of satisfaction slipped between his teeth as it sprang into her small hands.

She moaned, kissing him back with a fiery self-consuming ardour. She pressed herself against Jake, squirming as though every inch of her athletic young body needed to feel him pressed against her skin.

Jake suddenly broke the kiss and held her at arm's length for a moment, breathing heavily.

"You... wanted to know how to distract a lady?"

All of a sudden, his finger had slipped out of the tight, close confines of her sex and suddenly he was on his knees before her, both hands pressed down on the toned curves of her ass. He grinned up at her, letting her take just a moment to realise what he was about to do, then pushed his mouth, tongue extended, forward into her honey, velvet sex and began to lick and gorge with wild, forceful hunger.

 

[Sweet_Denna]

When he broke their kiss, Alice just stared at him, her dark eyes glassy with lust. “Yes”, she breathed, smiling weakly. “Show me…” A small gasp of protest escaped her lips when his finger slipped from between her legs, leaving her feeling dangerously suspended in mid-air, in need of release.

Her eyes followed his downward movement and she smiled as she understood what he was planning to do. There was something deliciously lewd about him still fully clothed except for his proudly erect cock, kneeling in front of her like this, her own dress pushed up to her hips, exposing the triangle of her sex to his gaze, his touch, his kiss.

“Yes!” Her head fell back as his tongue flicked across her clit, once, twice; before he started to lick, no, devour her with fervour that she would not have thought possible. Suddenly, her whole body seemed on fire and she was trembling, tiptoeing helplessly in his firm-handed grip. God, he was good at this.

Alice staggered, her fingers roughly grabbing his hair, pushing him closer against her sex. Moaning loudly, incapable of a single coherent thought, she lifted one stocking-clad leg and wrapped it around his back, pulling him ever closer. “Fuck…Jake…yes!” Soon all her senses seemed to converge in this one point in the centre of her body from where it spiralled, grew, threatening to swallow her. Her moans turned into screams, and with one long cry, she exploded into orgasm, bucking in his grip.

Had he not held her this firmly against him, Alice would have collapsed right there and then. “Jake…”, she whispered hoarsely, her eyes still closed and her fingers entangled in his hair. “That was amazing.”

 

[Maka]

Jake's tongue dug deeper and deeper, sliding and rasping across Alice's clitoris and exploring her warm, juicy depths. She was shuddering and moaning above him, all of her self-control and discipline vanishing underneath his ministrations. The moans became shameless screams, audible throughout the boarding house, and then she came like a freight train, her voice lowering to a blissful, breathless dying fall.

Jake rose up and took Alice's limp, unresisting body in his arms. She looked up at him, her beautiful dark eyes glassy with lust and sated with pleasure. Jake bent to kiss her again, letting her taste her own sweet juices on his lips, before whispering hoarsely in her ear:

"Get down on all fours and hitch up your dress."

There was an animal lust between them and he was going to take her like an animal.

 

[Sweet_Denna]

Still limp in his arms, Alice looked up at him, smiling, still trembling.

"Get down on all fours and hitch up your dress."

His request both startled and excited her. No man had ever treated her this way. The commanding tone of his voice sent shivers down her spine and again it occurred to her that somewhere in this city, a soldier in dire need to get off might be whispering the same unemotional request in the ear of a street whore. The thought aroused her.

And yet Alice hesitated. For a second, the she felt the hilarious urge to whisper that she was not “that kind of girl”, but licking her lips, she could still taste that such an excuse would ring rather hollow. Was it that she did not want to turn her back at him? But that was nonsense.

Or was it?

One arm still wrapped around his neck, she pulled him closer, and her lips brushed against his ear as she retorted: “I’d much rather look at you while you fuck me.” Her free hand slipped into his trousers, and her fingers started to masturbate his hard cock. “If you make me cum first, I’ll let you ravage me in whichever way you like.”

 

[Maka]

There was a momentary flash of anger in Jake's eyes, and his hands tightened on Alice's slender thighs, but then it disappeared as if it had never been. He grinned at her.

"Just as you say, ma'am."

In three strides he carried Alice to the bedroom wall and pinned her against it, the folds of her dress hitched up in disarray around her. He effortlessly held her there, and then slowly and confidently began to lower her to his thick, heavy cock.

 

[Little_Zora]

The sudden, unexpected flash of anger crossing Jake’s fine features after she disobeyed his command caused her to flinch. For a split second a sharp silence hung in the air, and the smile on her ruby lips faded. “Jake…”

But then it was over, and his boyish grin chased this brief moment from the room. “I have never wanted anyone as much as I want you right now”, Alice whispered in his ear as he carried her across the room. It was the truth.

Jake knocked the air out of her when he pushed her up against the wall with hungry vigour. She arched her back, her legs crossed around his body, her hands in his hair. “Fuck me”, she moaned softly, feeling his cock part the lips of her sex. “Fuck me hard.”

She didn’t know what it was about him. But Alice had always had a soft spot for bad boys.

 

[Maka]

Alice gasped. Her slender body was pressed against the unyielding wall, her soft lips parted and glistening in the moonlight. Jake's hands were iron on her thighs, his fingers digging into the toned, taut and silky skin there.

He lowered her, inch by inch, on the thick and heavy shaft of his cock. He himself could not forebear giving a groan of pleasure at how tight and slick her wet sex was, how deliciously it molded itself to his shaft. He let her adjust herself to the thick manhood inside her.

Then he began. Keeping her held against the wall, he began an irresistible attack -pulling her ruthlessly up and down his shaft with his hands while stabbing upwards in unison, his finely defined pectorals rippling. He was like a powerful piston constantly in motion.

 

[Little_Zora]

As he lowered her onto his cock, an electrifying intensity crackled between them. She gasped, tensing as his thick manhood opened the wet folds of her sex, slowly, almost threateningly, holding the promise of sweet pain and unbearable pleasure.

Her dark eyes were set on his face as she felt him invading her depths. “Jake, you are so damn beautiful…” Her whisper trailed off in a sigh as he sank the last inch of his pulsating cock into her, filling her so completely that for a moment, she was afraid that he might suffocate her. Her breath came in soft, shallow pants as he held her there, allowing her to adjust to his size.

She looked at him, wondering for one brief moment how she, Alice McGregor, had ended up here, her dress obscenely hiked up around her waist, about to be fucked by a man she had just met against a wall in a Berlin boarding house. She sensed that there would be many more firsts on this assignment.

His grip on her thighs tightened. The polite young American from the plane had all but vanished, and Alice thought that she would not miss him. “You are full of surprises, Jake Thornton…”

Her voice trailed off in a moan as he started to fuck her in earnest, slamming her into the wall each time he drove his hard cock into her, again and again, intent as much on giving her pleasure as he seemed to be on taking it for himself.

One of her silken stockings tore in his hard grip on her thighs. His fingers were digging into her skin, but she did not feel the pain. In fact, she was barely able to concentrate on anything outside of her own rapidly mounting orgasm. “Jake…” she moaned helplessly. “Oh…” Her grip on his shoulder tightened and her fingernails were digging into the smooth skin, but she did not care if she hurt him. Her head thrown back and her eyes closed, it was all she could do not to faint in his grip, giving herself up to his thrusts.

And she came hard. Falling forward against him, she muffled her helpless cries at his shoulder and bucked wildly in his unyielding grip, her moans only partly silenced against the smooth, cool fabric of his shirt. “You are killing me…” she whispered hoarsely. “I don’t think I can take any more..”

 

[Maka]

Alice's eyes were closed in ecstasy. The slender young detective was giving herself up to Jake wholly and utterly. Lust suffused her beautiful face, her curls seeming to form a dark halo around that pale, angelic face. She was wriggling and writhing, sandwiched between Jake's hard, broad form and the wall, each new movement seeming to send new stabs of pleasure through her body.

Jake was an animal, gripping her tight enough to bruise and hammering her perfect ass against the wall with every new thrust, her husky moans urging him on. He seemed to care nothing for the boarding house resident who might be sleeping on the other side of the wall against which he was having his way with Alice. In fact, he might have chosen the position deliberately, to wake them and force them to listen to Alice's delicious moans, pants and cries, to see the wall shake with each thrust. Jake enjoyed letting others know he was fucking a beautiful, eager young woman, enjoyed bringing her to the point where she was shamelessly, helplessly advertising her pleasure to the entire boarding house.

Alice came like a freight train, giving a high, piercing cry and then so did Jake, filling her with jet after jet of hot white seed, holding her shuddering body forcefully in place while he shot into her. When he withdrew his cock, the overflow of cum was trickling down Alice's legs. One of her stockings had torn, her dress was in disarray and her mouth was partly open. Languid, satiated lust was written across that gorgeous face.

Watching appreciatively, Jake crossed over to the bed and sat down, drawing out a pack of cigarettes and lighting two, holding one up to Alice with a raised eyebrow.

 

[Little_Zora]

She slid slowly down the wall until she sat with her back against the wall, her knees drawn up in front of her. With an appreciative nod, she took the lit cigarette from his outstretched hand.

For a while, neither of them spoke. Alice took a deep inhale from her cigarette, the orange glow momentarily lighting up her face. The smoke rose from her ruby lips in languid, lazy curls as she looked at him sitting on the bed across from her, still half-dressed. He looked irresistibly dishevelled, his shirt open down to his waist, his hair tousled, in delicious disarray. His dark tie was still loosely tied around his neck, and Alice found her thoughts wandering. What if he would grab her, wrap that tie around her wrists to take her again, hard and without any concern for her own pleasure…she took another drag from the cigarette. Oh, Berlin. This city certainly revealed hidden desires she never knew she had.

The make-up around her dark eyes was smudged, giving her an air of sadness, helplessness almost. The light of the moon threw dark shadows across the room, setting everything in sharp relief. Blowing another curl of smoke from her lips, she whispered: “Well, I hope Frau Meyer will not throw as out by the morning…” Her voice still sounded hoarse.

She suddenly remembered the folder with the clippings she had hidden under the duvet before leaving, and decided that they were safe there. Jake did not look like he had a mind for journalistic research or nosing around.

Alice considered him. Who would have thought that she would end up fucking the polite air passenger from the seat next to her?

“Well, I guess it’s good that we have gotten this out of the way”, she finally said with a smile. “Now I can concentrate on what I have actually come to Berlin for.”

 

[Maka]

"We aim to please, Jake said, with a lazy smile. He looked at her, dishevelled and her clothing in disarray -all of which seemed to only add to the desire in his eyes. There was something cruel and hard about his lust now, with the college-boy romance veneer stripped away. His eyes said that he wanted to use her, to fuck her relentlessly and unceremoniously, a vessel for his cum like any backalley Berlin whore, that he took pride in reducing all of her wit and beauty and intelligence to nothing more than any other whore on the street.

Then the moment passed like the smoke-vapour curling around Jake's face. He got to his feet.

"I'm afraid I have things to do tomorrow," he said, moving over to her to kiss her a second passionate good night. "But I'll have Chris pick you up. You want to check out that address they mentioned?"

 

[Little_Zora]

The next day Alice woke with a headache, grateful that the journalist had not insisted to share her bed the previous night. With a soft groan, she put her hands against her forehead and wished she had refused that last glass of scotch. “Damn you, Jake”, she whispered into the empty room, but could not help but smile. He was not what she had expected to happen to her on her first night in Berlin, but she had to admit that she did not mind the surprise.

The memories of the previous night were slightly patchy and Alice had trouble remembering everything that she had seen and heard in the Blue Angel, but she the images of Jake were still very vivid. She tried to recall what they had talked about, though she would have much rather mused about his hands under her dress, her wrists in his strong grip, coming again and again, too helpless for anything else.

She looked at the ticking, battered-looking alarm clock beside the bed and sighed. It was past nine. Jake had promised her that Chris would pick her up and take her to Zehlendorf. She should hurry and dress to go downstairs, the unconventional driver was likely already waiting for her. She paused.

Had she told him about the address the family had received in the letter? Alice tried, but was unable to remember. She had been in the room with him the whole time –how would he have been able to take a look at her things? But the leather notebook and the carton file containing everything she knew about Jozef Berkowicz was neatly piled on the wooden chair, the place where she thought she had left both before finally going to bed the previous night. But obviously Jake knew about the pension in Zehlendorf, since he had told her that Chris would pick her up and take her there. Or had he? For a moment, Alice tried to remember what exactly he had said.

Or had he talked about the other address, the place where she was maybe able to find Irma, the talkative MAC Jake had mentioned – but Alice was fairly sure that anything she would tell her Irma would then duly pass on to Jake, his skills in persuading female informants would make sure of that. She shivered at the thought of him pinning her against the wall of her room, fucking her mercilessly like a street whore. It had been the best sex in a very long time. No, Alice could not blame Irma, but she decided that she would resort to other sources for the time being.

Sitting up on the bed, Alice stared at her feet. She remembered Lieselotte Junker, and what the unfortunate actress had told her about von Radd, about the deal she had made with the sadistic officer. Softly, Alice touched her lips with one finger. The kiss. Lieselotte had said that Calloway would know where to find her if she needed to talk to her again. Maybe Chris would know more?

After she had managed to clean up, dress in a grey pencil skirt and a white blouse, she applied red lipstick to distract the onlooker from her tired eyes. She hoped to get past the German landlady without being seen – the last thing she wanted to face now was the disapproving look of the nosy matron downstairs. In fact Alice hoped that she would not run into anyone on her way out – since the whole boarding house likely knew what she had been doing all of last night. The thought drove the blood into her cheeks – for all her love of female independence, Alice was not keen on displaying this independence all too publicly.

She decided not to call on Jake – it was still early and if he could, he would still be sleeping, and besides, she did not want to appear too attached already after the previous night. There was enough time to see him in the evening (a thought that immediately turned her legs to jelly), and she was running a bit late already.

Stuffing her notebook into her leather bag, she left the room, locked it – and made sure twice that the door was indeed secured – and went downstairs where she hoped to meet Chris.

 

[Maka]

Chris' driving was as erratic as ever. Screeching to a halt outside the boarding house, she stuck her tousled, close-cropped, white-blonde head out the car window to look Alice up and down. A sly grin spread across her delicate features as she took in the slender detective's heavy, slumberous eyelids, her unsteadiness on her feet, and the small, unconscious smile of pure, dreamy satisfaction that played across Alice's ripe lips.

"Well, I'll be damned," she said. "And you seemed so pure and innocent yesterday! I guess twenty four hours in Berlin does something to a lady."

She waggled her eyebrows.

"Who was the lucky fella? Or was it a fella...? C'mon. You can tell your Aunt Christine. We don't judge round here, not any more."


Jake watched from across the street, concealed from view in a shadowed doorway. He needed to make sure the coast was clear, but the truth was, he'd also wanted another look at Alice.

Lord, how he'd fucked that girl! He watched at her, even now looking so deliciously ravished, a girl who'd been at it all night, to the limits of even her toned, slim and capable body. She was... perfect. He'd fuck her again, there and then. And this time he'd make her do what he wanted... he'd do what he pleased with her. His hard hands curled into fists at the thought.

She brought out the beast in him. He'd always been aware of that beast. It was, after all, why he was so fascinated with money, death and power. But he'd learned early on to conceal the hungry, ruthless animal within. Even before the CIA had recruited him, when he'd been hustling his way through Yale (always poorer and of lower social standing than everyone around him; never letting his resentment or his insecurities show), he'd known that his strength frightened others, scared away women even while it fascinated them. So he'd adopted his disguise, his good old Jake disguise. He'd slept with the bored wives of lecturers and the younger sisters of his fellow students, fucked them upstairs at staff receptions or on summer holidays in family houses in the Hamptons.

The truth was that most of the time he'd done it mostly to get back at their husbands and brothers for being richer than him, partly for some temporary release and partly just because he could. Very few of them had interested him enough to even stir the beast. But in Alice, for the first time in so long, he'd found something that made the beast inside simply salivate. A gorgeous young woman, such a fascinating blend of vulnerability and unexpected toughness. The things he could do to her...

Jake had to shake his head. This obsession had to be brought back under control. Sleeping with her had been necessary, if also incredibly enjoyable. Sex was the perfect means of control, an excellent way to bind Alice to him, as it had already bound Chris, still unaware of the full extent of the operation and due to remain that way. Now he could lull any potential suspicions with... well, sweet-talk and honeyed words were what he'd usually use, but Jake had seen Alice's hunger last night. He didn't think she was a sweet and honey kind of girl, not deep down. But there were definitely ways to distract her...

 

[Little_Zora]

From a corner of her eye, Alice noticed a movement of the curtains on the ground floor of the boarding house. Fräulein Meyer had not been able to contain her curiosity then. From outside, the building looked greyer and more forlorn that Alice remembered from the previous evening. One man, the collar of his worn-looking coat drawn up around his face, hurried past without looking at either or the car that came to a screeching halt on the curb.

At Chris’ question Alice managed a tired smile. “Oh dearie me, is it that obvious?” She let herself fall into the seat next to Chris, grateful for the temporary comfort. Her aching head groaned for a moment of silence and rest, but it would be impolite to treat the chirpy German girl like only her driver. And Chris did not look like she had any plans to relent in her inquisitiveness.

Should she tell her about Lieselotte? But it was too early for Alice to go into such details. “Well…a bit of both I guess?” Alice turned her head towards Chris. “But I don’t kiss and tell”, she added with a happy grin. “Let’s just say that he was quite surprising in his advances, and very talented in their execution.” The young detective put her fingertips against her temples and sighed. “Part of it might have been the scotch, too.”

Aware that he answer would probably not satisfy her companion, she hurried to add: “Jake and I ran into Lieselotte Junker. In the Blue Angel? She told me an interesting story.” She remembered that Chris did not have much love for the singer. “I guess the Allies appreciate her too much to put her before a death squad.” Another short pause. “Did you and Jake ever go to the Blue Angel?” Alice wondered what the relationship between Chris and the journalist entailed. Were they more than just working together? “Oh, and I met that British officer…Calloway. No love lost there, I am afraid, but I might need to see him again.” She looked in the rear view mirror and checked her lips. “Maybe after our first stop?”

Alice was curious if Chris already knew where they would be going.

 

[Maka]

"Both?"

Chris' ice-blue eyes widened, and a little pink tongue tip emerged to lick across her upper lip. She pouted.

"You really do have hidden depths, gumshoe."

She turned to look at Alice full-on, ignoring the fact that she was also driving straight down the centre of a busy road.

"I don't know whether Lieselotte Junker was involved in this 'both' of yours, but take my advice. She's trouble. Ärger. Don't swallow whatever story she's peddling now. And she's awfully cosy with Calloway these days, and that son of a bitch is bad news."

A car horn blares, and Chris spins the wheel to evade the oncoming car.

"Scheisse."

But she seems to relax a little.

"So where are we going?"

 

[Little_Zora]

"You really do have hidden depths, gumshoe."

Alice did not reply, but she smiled. Yes, apparently so. Maybe there were a few things that Jake would be able to teach her about herself. Her fingers brushed against the spot on her thigh that was still hurting from his grip. No man had ever treated her the way Jake had, and no other had ever made her come so very hard.

"I don't know whether Lieselotte Junker was involved in this 'both' of yours, but take my advice. She's trouble. Ärger. Don't swallow whatever story she's peddling now. And she's awfully cosy with Calloway these days, and that son of a bitch is bad news."

Alice held on to the edges of her seat, nervously glancing from Chris’ face back to the road, hoping she would get the hint. Unfortunately she did not. Seemingly oblivious to the oncoming traffic, Chris kept looking squarely at Alice, visibly not pleased with her wish to see either Lieselotte or Calloway again. Was it possible that she was wrong about the beautiful singer? That she was simply an excellent actress and liar?

When the car horn blared at them, Alice was ripped from her thoughts and had to stifle a scream with her hand in fear. Dear Lord, her head really was not up for this. She took a few deep breaths, hoping that she would not get sick. As Chris asked for directions, she looked at her, almost surprised.

So she had only been paranoid after all. Chris had no idea about the pension, and neither did Jake. The slender detective immediately relaxed a bit. “Zehlendorf”, she said, hoping that her pronunciation was good enough for Chris to understand. “Pension Seeblick.” Opening her little leather notebook, she continued: “Kirchstrasse 10?”

Then, as if remembering something, she turned her face to Chris again. “How come you and Jake have such a deep dislike of Calloway? I mean, he is a grumpy, arrogant guy and all…but what has happened between him and Jake?

 

[Maka]

"Zehlendorf Pension Seeblick Kirchstrasse 10," Chris repeated cheerfully, swerving into another lane of traffic. "You got it, gumshoe."

She tilted the mirror to check out Alice's heavy-lidded eyes and pale face.

"Ya," she concluded. "Whoever it was really did a number on you. It must have been quite a night. You really need to give me details at some point. A good man can be hard to find, if you know what I mean. Although I guess I'm kind of going steady at the moment, anyway..."

That line of thought is curtailed by Alice's question.

"Calloway? Don't get me wrong, he certainly isn't hard on the eyes. A curious girl like me might wonder what he's got under that trenchcoat -I get the impression he'd know how to use it. But Berlin's a city of players, and nobody can figure out what his game is. Not even Jake, and Jake can figure everyone out."

Chris has been suggestively caressing the gear stick for some time now, the tip of her tongue again flicking at her lips.

"Not even his own people trust Calloway. You never see him with other MPs, other Brits. He's a loner. Lieselotte Junker is about the only person he seems to spend any time with. But he's always one step ahead, always convinced he's so fucking smart and doesn't care if you like him or not. Jake thinks sooner or later, he's gonna get himself killed."

She pauses, a tiny secret smile on her lips.

"Well, there's more."

Another pause.

"They had a fight once. Over something stupid. Whose dick was bigger, basically. Don't tell Jake I told you about this."

Chris' secret smile deepens.

"Jake lost."

 

[Little_Zora]

Alice only smiled tiredly at her Chris’ taunting comment. Yes, Jake certainly had done a number on her, in more ways than one.

Though the German girl’s open admiration of Jake and his talents did make her wonder if she had been on the receiving end of his uninhibited attention. The way she caressed the gearstick was telling, but Alice did not want to ask. Not yet. Jake would definitely not turn down a girl like Chris, though it did seem that she was now taken, and probably not available for any romps with the American journalist anymore.

Chris’ description of Calloway as a smug loner fit her own first impression, but in Alice’s experience, neither characteristic was bad. Hanging out with the herd often gave way to sheep mentality, and a good detective could not afford that.

Now more than ever she wondered if Calloway and Lieselotte were involved romantically, and if he knew something about her former sadistic lover, the infamous Nazi physicist. She decided to keep these thought to herself, for now.

He knew something. Alice was convinced that he did. He knew something that for some reason he did not want to tell her. Had it been because she had turned up in the Blue Angel with Jake, his apparently least favourite hack? Maybe Lieselotte could help her break the ice with the British officer. After all, he did not have to like her. All she wanted form him was information.

Chris happily chattered on.

“A fight?” Her head still leaning against the headrest, Alice turned towards the German girl. “Come on, Chris, curiosity is my most important asset. What was the fight about?” She grinned. “A woman maybe? In Jake’s case, that would not surprise me, though I have trouble imagining someone like Calloway racking up enough passion for that kind of contest.”