Saturday morning...
 
 

Lee woke up as the sunlight began to filter through the edges of the curtain.  Amanda’s warm body curled up next to him, still sleeping. He shifted his body and gently began to caress her.  At first, with a delicate touch to her cheek, sliding his hand down her neck and moving towards her breast.  His kisses were tender and gentle, starting just behind her ear and trailing ever so carefully down her neck to a spot he knew would arouse her.
 

Soon, a murmured moan of delight escaped her lips as she began to awake.  Turning towards her husband, she grinned contently as she sought out his lips in eager return of his strokes.
 

“Good morning, Mrs. Stetson,” Lee greeted his wife.  “How are you feeling today?”
 

“Wonderful,” she mumbled between kisses, as she began to touch and caress his taut, muscular body.  Amanda began to kiss his lips, tracing them with her own tongue, but then her tongue began to dart into his mouth quickly, hungrily, her wanting and needing him heightened by the past few days.
 

Lee accepted her advances, his pace quickening as his body reacted to her demanding touch and kisses.  His hands continued to seek out the rest of her svelte body, concentrating on the areas that were most sensitive.
 

Their passion increased steadily.  Their hands and tongues washed over each other’s bodies, teasing, fondling and caressing their mate.  Their instinctive knowledge of their pleasures and wants were demanding to be satisfied.
 

With the intuition of an experienced lover, Lee knew neither of them could wait any longer. He glanced into his wife’s eyes momentarily and in unison, both a smile and a nod told him that she was ready.  Establishing a rhythm of love, soon they were both lost in the ecstasy of their lovemaking…
 
 

***
 

Several hours later they were in a taxi, taking the short drive to the airport.  They were both eager to depart the Soviet Union and leave the problems that resulted during past week behind them.
 

“I’m sure looking forward to getting home,” Amanda remarked as she sat next to her husband.  “I miss sleeping in my own bed.”
 

“I don't know," Lee shrugged with a playful grin, "I rather enjoyed the bed at the Londonskaya Hotel, Mrs. Stetson."
 

“Yes,” she answered, blushing and giggling like a school girl.  “I did as well.”
 

The taxi began to slow as it arrived near the airport.  Being the summer, the traffic at the airport was heavy and soon the vehicle was at a standstill.  Before they reached the departing passenger terminal Amanda noticed a familiar face lurking by the airport’s entrance door.
 

“Oh my gosh!” she gasped nervously, slinking down in the back seat of the car.
 

“What’s the matter?” Lee asked, his eyes darting around the area, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.
 

“Do you see the man, 6’ 1” about 220 lbs. standing by the door in the black suit?” she whispered anxiously.
 

“Yeah,” Lee answered, keeping his eye on the man as the taxi inched closer.
 

“He was one of the men following me yesterday,” she gulped nervously. “I’m sure of it.”
 

Without doubting his wife, in fluent Russian, Lee addressed the driver.  “Take us back to the hotel; we’ve forgotten one of our bags.”
 

The driver nodded, maneuvered the vehicle out of the lane, and sped back towards the hotel. The man at the airport door never noticed Amanda.  Once they returned to the hotel, Lee paid the man, and they hurried back inside the hotel’s lobby to regroup.
 

“What now?” Amanda questioned, her voice was filled with worry.
 

“We’ll figure it out.  I’m glad you spotted him,” Lee exclaimed, leading his wife away from the front window.  “We call Billy and let him know we need another exit point.”
 

“So where?” she pressed fretfully.
 

Lee ran his hand through his hair.  “Give me a minute, I’m thinking.”
 

Amanda tugged on his arm, as she led him up the stairs.  “Think fast,” she nodded discreetly.  “See that guy who just walked in the lobby?”
 

“The skinny fellow with the mustache?”
 

“That’s the one.  He was with the guy we just saw at the airport.  Lee, they’re following me,” she groaned anxiously.
 

“No,” he corrected, “They’re looking for you – there’s a big difference.  Come on,” Lee led Amanda out of sight, and then peered around the corner and scrutinized the man intently.  Whispering to his wife, he explained the new plan.  “First, we take you shopping and get you something to wear other than what you had on yesterday.  Maybe get you a disguise – even a wig.”
 

Still worrying about her tail, Amanda commented, “They probably have my passport flagged.  As soon as we try to get out of the country, Lee, they’re going to arrest me.  They want to know where Galina Popova is.  This is the Soviet Union, Lee.  The fact that I haven’t done anything wrong won’t matter to them.  As you mentioned before I left DC, I’m a spy in the Soviet Union…”
 

“I’m well aware of that, Amanda,” Lee grumbled in frustration knowing his wife was right on all accounts.  “All we need to do is get out of the Soviet Union.”
 

“How do you plan to do that?” she wondered aloud.
 

Lee watched silently, as Amanda’s tail talked to the desk clerk, flashing what Lee assumed was a picture of Amanda.  The desk clerk shook his head, and the tail put the picture back into his coat pocket and left the hotel.
 

“Relax, Amanda, the guys probably going to all the hotels in the area.  He’s just trying to locate you.  They don’t have a beat on you yet, and they won’t.  Let’s go on a shopping trip and get you a disguise.  After that, maybe we’ll take a road trip,” he announced with a smile.
 

“A road trip?” she repeated hesitantly.
 

“Would you prefer a sea voyage…” he shrugged.  “Easier to rent a car than a boat.”
 

“A road trip to where?” she pressed.
 

“Romania comes to mind.  Bucharest can’t be more than an eight hour drive.”
 

“Do you think we can cross the border with my passport?” she asked.
 

“Your passport might be a problem,” he paused while rummaging through his pocket and pulled out another passport and handed it to his wife, “but this one might
work.”
 

Opening up the other passport, she read the name aloud with delight, “Amanda Stetson!”
 

“Yeah, I had the Agency boys put this together before I left.  We can tell the border guards we’re on our honeymoon.  We wouldn’t want to get you in trouble impersonating someone else.”
 

“Lee Stetson, you’re a genius!”
 

He kissed his wife on the cheek.  “Remind me of that when my plan works.  Let’s go pick up a rental car, and then do some shopping.  New outfit for sure, maybe a wig…”
 

“It won’t match my passport photo.”
 

“We could change that, too.”
 

“Lee!” she squealed.
 

“I’ve done it before Amanda.  Surprisingly, it’s not that difficult to modify your passport.  If we keep the deception simple, it will work”
 

“There’s a lot of deception going on these past few days,” Amanda lamented.
 

“Yeah, way too much,” Lee sighed heavily. “Remember though, the Soviets are looking for a brunette who might be exiting the country with a well known scientist.  A blonde wig, maybe a red one and a different last name traveling together with your husband will certainly throw off the authorities.”
 

“You're right, I’ll give a wig a try,” she acquiesced to the idea.
 

“Besides, if we buy some special commodities, given the current shortages in Romania, we could most likely bribe our way into the country,” Lee added.
 

“Whatever it takes,” she grumbled.  “I just want to go home.”
 
 

***
 

They had been on the road for hours, driving towards the Romanian border.  Amanda was wearing her new outfit and wig.  Lee kept glancing over at his wife and smiling.
 

“What?” she asked.
 

“Your hair,” he shrugged, observing the short cropped blonde wig they had picked up in one of Odesa’s finer shops along the waterfront.
 

Reaching for the rearview mirror, she began to fuss with it.  “It’s so hot,” she complained.  “I can’t wait to take it off.”
 

“Not until we cross the border into Romania. In case they have ‘Amanda Kings’ picture at the crossing.  Amanda Stetson needs to look different,” Lee reminded her as
he kept stealing glances over at her.
 

“Will you quit looking at me like that?  If you don’t we’ll never get across the border!”
 

“You look really… different as a blonde.”
 

“Don’t get used to it; Amanda Stetson is very content as a brunette.”
 

“I love you whatever color your hair is,” Lee confided with a wink.  “I just don’t want to take any chances that you might be detained.”
 

“Well a half dozen bottles of vodka, ten cartons of cigarettes and a wallet full of rubles to bribe the crossing guards ought to do the trick,” Amanda suggested, knowing what they had stashed in the trunk.  “That is if we don’t get arrested as ‘Black Marketeers’.”
 

“Hey, this is no business for a pessimist,” Lee warned her with a knowing glance.  “We’ll be fine. Just let me do the talking when we get to the border.”
 

“Whatever gets us out of the Soviet Union,” Amanda remarked as she glanced out the window at the countryside.  “Lee, shouldn’t we have been to there by now?  Are you sure we’re going the right way?”
 

“A road sign would be nice,” he agreed, “but I haven’t seen one.  I’m pretty sure we’re going the right way.”
 

“I don’t know, maybe we should have turned left at that last intersection,” she questioned, unsure.
 

“No, left would have taken us back towards the Black Sea, right takes us towards Moldova.  We want to cross through Moldova and then into Romania,” he explained calmly.
 

“We should have bought a map,” she remarked shaking her head.
 

“We’re fine.  We don’t need a map.  We’ll cross into Moldova soon, just be patient.”
 

“I just want to get home.”
 

He reached over for her hand, squeezing it tenderly. His finger played with the engagement and wedding rings they’d purchased in Odesa for their cover.  “Trust me, Amanda.  We’re going to get home – safe and sound.”
 

“I trust you, Sweetheart,” she answered, glancing out the window.  “I still think we should have bought a map.”
 

With a dozen more miles behind them, Lee pointed out, “Look up there on the right.  I told you we’d be in Moldova soon!”
 

Amanda let out a relieved sigh.  “I never doubted you for a minute, you know.”
 

“Uh huh,” he chuckled.  “It’s just a short drive from here to the Romanian border.”
 

True to his word, it wasn’t long before Lee pulled up to a line of other vehicles waiting to cross the border into Romania.  The car idled for a while before Lee finally turned it off.  Ten minutes passed, then twenty, and the half dozen cars in front of them didn’t move.
 

Groaning impatiently, as the afternoon heat permeated the car, and Amanda started itching at her hot wig. “I don’t know how much longer I can take this wig.”
 

Lee was feeling the heat as well.  He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. Cranking down the window, a warm breeze flowed through the car
 

A while later Lee heard a car engine turn back on.  “Look, the line is finally moving.”
 

“Yes, but at this rate we’ll be here until after dark!”
 

“Then it will be easier to sneak you across the border,” he suggested with a dimpled grin.
 

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Amanda complained, adjusting her itchy wig once more.  “Look, Lee, they opened up a second line.”
 

“Yeah, I see that,” Lee answered, quickly pulling their car into the other lane.  Reaching over to his wife’s hand, he brought it to her lips and kissed it tenderly. The new wedding rings glistened in the sunlight.  “It won’t be long now.  Remember, I’ll do the talking.  If they ask you any questions, we’re on our honeymoon.”
 

“Yes, sweetheart, I remember our cover,” she reminded him, leaning over and stealing a kiss.  “I think I can pull off being married to you!”
 

Lee chuckled and kissed his wife back.  “If they’re watching, this should help our cover.”
 

“Does that mean we’re going to continue to ‘neck’ in the car?”
 

“Can you think of a better way to pass the time?” he asked, but didn’t wait for an answer.  Instead, he began to kiss his wife passionately.
 

Eventually, the car in front of them pulled away, and Lee was signaled by the border guard to pull their vehicle up.
 

“Papers,” the bored customs agent demanded.
 

Dutifully, Lee passed over both his passport and his wife’s ‘Amanda Stetson’s’ passport.  While their documents were being examined, Lee caressed her hand, keeping totally in character of the loving honeymoon couple.
 

The officer stepped out of the booth he was standing in and checked the car’s license plate.  Slowly the officer circled the car.
 

Suddenly, with his weapon drawn, he ordered, “Step out of the car!”
 

Lee glanced at Amanda momentarily, but nodded to her to follow the officer’s instruction.  They both opened their respective doors.
 

“Is there a problem, officer?” Lee asked politely.
 

“Silence,” the custom’s officer shouted, as another guard hurried towards them.  He spoke to the other officer in Romanian, and then the one officer grabbed Lee, and the other grabbed Amanda.
 

“Lee!” Amanda shouted as they were being separated.
 

“It’s all right, darling.  It must be a mix up…” he called out, as the officer yanked him roughly by the arm…
 

End Part 6
 
 

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