Choke by Stuart Woods

groceries and laundry. He danced across the little gangplank and dumped his cargo on a deck chair while he unlocked the cabin. As he did so, he looked toward the parking lot and saw the Turk carefully not looking at him. A moment later, the man turned the scooter around and drove away.
    As Chuck was putting away his groceries, the phone rang.
    “Hello?”
    “Hi.” Clare.
    “Ah …” Chuck struggled for the right words.
    “Is this a bad time?”
    “Call me back in five minutes, but not from home.”
    She was silent for a moment. “Right,” she said finally, then hung up.
    Chuck mixed himself a drink and took the cordless phone onto the afterdeck. He sat and sipped, idly watching the sunset, until the instrument rang in his hand.
    “Hi,” he said.
    “Is there a problem?” she asked.
    “I’m not sure.”
    “Are you with somebody?”
    “No, I’m alone. Where are you?”
    “I’m in the car.”
    “Good.”
    “Baby, what’s the matter? Aren’t we on for tonight?”
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “He’s left for Marathon. There’s some property up there he’s been looking at.”
    “He may have left a representative behind.”
    “A representative? What are you talking about?”
    “When you and Harry came to tennis today, a man on a motor scooter seemed to follow you.”
    “What did he look like?”
    Chuck described the Turk.
    “Doesn’t ring a bell. Anyway, it’s not the first time I was followed by a man. Maybe he’s a breast man.”
    “Maybe,” Chuck said, “but when I left work tonight, he followed me, too, and I don’t think it was because he liked my tits.”
    She laughed. “Are you sure you’re not imagining things?”
    “I spotted him as I was leaving the grocery store; I took the long way home, and he was with me all the way. He just left, at least I think he did.”
    “So what do you think?”
    “I think there’s a better-than-even chance that Harry has put somebody on us.”
    “Mmmm,” she said. “I wonder if he’d do that.”
    “You know him better than I. Would he?”
    “It’s unlikely, but you’re right, tonight might not be a good idea, considering.”
    “Considering,” Chuck echoed. “Why don’t you keep an eye behind you for a couple of days, see if the guy turns up again? I’ll do the same.”
    “I don’t want to wait a couple of days to see you,” she said, her voice low.
    “Believe me, I feel exactly the same way,” Chuck replied. “But we don’t know if today is this guy’s first day on us, or if he’s been around for a while.”
    “My guess is this is his first day,” Clare said.
    “Why?”
    “Because, as hard as Harry is to read, I think I’d know if somebody had reported to him that you and I are screwing each other blind twice a week. That would trouble him.”
    “Maybe we got lucky. We’ll give it a rest for a few days, then?”
    “I’m not feeling very restful.”
    “I’m feeling downright horny just talking to you,” he said.
    “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
    “But only call me from the car,” Chuck said. “If he’s Harry’s man, he might have done something to your phone.”
    “Only from the car,” she said. “‘Bye, lover; I’m going to miss you.”
    Chuck started to respond, but she had already hung up. He put down the phone, sucked on his drink, and began feeling sorry for himself. He was very randy indeed, and alone.
    Then he looked to his right and there was Meg Hailey, dressed in her inadequate bikini, watering the potted plants in the catamaran’s cockpit next door.
    “Hi,” she said, catching sight of him.
    “Hi yourself,” he replied. “Buy you a drink?”

15
    C huck mixed them a drink, then set up the little stainless steel grill, which hung outboard in a special bracket, and got a charcoal fire going.
    “Haven’t seen much of you,” Meg said, sipping her drink. She had changed from her bikini to bleached cutoffs and a chambray shirt, unbuttoned and tied in a knot under her breasts. This