1990

Rick didn't hesitate, "Tonight won't work. As you remember, when I answered your call, I was expecting it to be from someone else. I still need to take that call, and it will likely last a couple of hours. I'll just get with one of the admins in the athletic department later this week and try to muddle through the proposal process with them. I would appreciate you reviewing my proposal before I submit it though."

There was a slight delay before Colonel Harris said, "Of course. Let me know when you have it ready for review and I'll cook dinner for you. We'll review it after I serve you a home-cooked meal. Do you think that you might have it ready by Saturday?"

Rick considered his response. He didn't want to lead the Colonel on, but he had to try to keep her as an ally while she held her current position at the Academy. "I can't imagine it not being ready by the weekend, but I'll have to regretfully decline your invitation to dinner. Saturdays and Sundays are Kris and my days together for just the two of us. I'll drop the proposal off with your assistant as soon as it is ready and hopefully, you can review it yourself over the weekend and then we can discuss it before the winter break."

Rick was further saved by the tell-tale sound on the phone of another call attempting to come in. "I'm sorry, Colonel, but I have a call waiting for me. It's probably the one I was expecting when you called. I appreciate you calling me after hours, and I look forward to your review of my proposal. Thank you. Good night."

While suspecting that Virginia Harris would consider his abrupt termination of their conversation rude, Rick hoped that it went a small way to convince her that he wasn't interested in more than a professional relationship with her. His phone rang within seconds of him disconnecting with the Colonel.

"Is that you, Akeem?"

"Yeah, Bro. Sorry, it took me a few minutes to call you. I wanted to verify some intel that I just received."

"Not a problem," Rick told him. "I spent the time trying to put a cougar in her cage."

Rick spent the next five minutes explaining his situation to Akeem, frequently having to pause to let his friend's laughter abate enough to continue.

"If she's as attractive as you say she is, you're not going to get a lot of sympathy if you have to report her for harassment," Akeem reasoned.

"I'll begin teaching the specialists at the beginning of the new term, so the opportunities and excuses for her and I to interact will be a lot less," Rick explained. "If I avoid her for the next week or so, then the winter break will be here, and hopefully, she will move on to a more receptive candidate for her charms during the hiatus. She really is a fine-looking woman and should have no problem hooking up with most guys. I'm just not one of them."

"Well," Akeem said, "I think I have some good news for you that will take your mind off of beautiful women lusting after your sorry ass. Did you hear about the huge traffic accident this morning out in Tennessee?"

"No, I haven't heard anything but the local news today. Why?"

Peters explained what had happened, "Ninety-nine vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction accident caused by dense fog along a stretch on Interstate 75 around nine o'clock this morning. So far there have been twelve confirmed fatalities from the crashes..."

"Jesus, Man. How can twelve people dying on some highway be considered good news? Rick asked.

"You're right, Bro," Akeem conceded. "Only one of the deaths is good news. The other eleven are tragic losses for their families and friends. Sorry if I seemed callous about it."

"Still, why is even one death good news?"

"Because the one who died was Dillon West," Akeem informed his friend. "He was a passenger in a car that went underneath a big rig. The driver is in critical condition but expected to survive. West was pronounced dead at the scene. He still had the Agency listed as one of his emergency contacts. A friend who works in the communications center let me know as soon as the Agency was notified."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Rick replied. "I obviously won't miss his attempts to blackmail me into joining his company, but I certainly didn't want him dead. After all, I still have Chesterson and Leering trying to locate Chet Diego to get him to join their organizations."

"I understand," Akeem said. "And the Agency would still like to take a shot at recruiting you - well, Chet Diego. But West was the biggest threat to you, and you know it. Now that's been eliminated and whether you wanted it or not, you should be relieved."

"It really doesn't change things much. Chet Diego is history and will remain that way."

Akeem chuckled, "You're going to have to tell me how you did it someday. I've heard talk around the agency which indicates that Chet Diego impressed quite a few people by the way he just disappeared off the face of the Earth one day after traveling to Belize. The field craft you used is becoming legendary already, even though most of it isn't known."

"Had Chet Diego truly disappeared off the face of the Earth?" Rick wondered.

Akeem Peters knew of his identity change, and although Rick felt that his secret was safe with Akeem, who else might be a loose end? Shawna Hollister knew that her niece had worked as Chet Diego's au pair, but he had never confirmed his true or assumed identity for Wendy. She had never heard the name, "Rick Acosta", so she could provide no lead to anyone regarding that identity. If someone got to Shawna Hollister, searching for Chet Diego, all she could do was send them to Wendy.

In his heart, Rick knew that he could trust Wendy even more than he trusted Akeem. Although Wendy's father had followed suit with his daughter by calling him, "Hey, you", while he was visiting them, Rick had told him that he could call him 'Rick', which is how he was addressed at the Academy. Mr. Foster had never heard the name, "Chet Diego" and had no reason to associate it with the man he knew as Rick Acosta.

His fingerprints were not recorded anywhere other than in his military records and those all now bore the identity of Rick Acosta instead of Chet Diego. Akeem Peters and Wendy Foster were the only two people besides himself that could potentially tie Rick Acosta back to Chet Diego, and he was confident in the loyalty of both. Only time would tell if his confidence was misguided.

Friday, December 28, 1990

Wendy could feel the familiar moisture between her legs as she slowly awoke from the dream. The dreams varied, but the incubus that had been regularly invading her slumber for the last six months remained consistent. Most troubling for Wendy, however, was that this had been the first time that she had been visited by the incubus while sleeping in his house.

She lay silent as she listened for sounds in the house that might indicate that her moans of pleasure had been heard. She knew from the aroused condition of her body that she must have been moaning. Her roommates at the Academy teased her incessantly about her nightly erotic dreams and her moans that frequently woke them.

Wendy checked the time and saw that it was 5:43 am. Her daily routine at the academy had established sleep patterns in her that assured that she would awake each day before 6 am, even when classes weren't in session, such as now, over winter break. Although she didn't hear any sounds in the house, she suspected that He was also awake. She glanced the other way and saw Kris lying still in her crib, sleeping like the little angel that she always was.

Well, she always was a little angel when she got her way. The little girl wasn't spoiled, but she certainly was headstrong and stubborn when she wanted something. Wendy suspected that her father purposely pushed his daughter to fight for what she wanted, even if it was what he also wanted for her. They had all learned over the Thanksgiving break that Kris' insistence that she be allowed to sleep in Wendy's room when she was staying there was one of those things that should not be challenged if they wanted a cooperative toddler in the house.

Kristine. Wendy had tears in her eyes when "Hey, you" had explained to her in November the reason why he wanted Lily to go by Kristine, which he claimed was her middle name. He had told Wendy that Kristine had been his late wife's middle name as well and that calling her daughter by that name would help honor her mother's legacy and help cement what little connection remained of the mother-daughter bond.

Sliding quietly out of bed, Wendy stepped to the bedroom door and slowly opened it a crack. She didn't hear anything, but she saw that there was a crack of light visible beneath the door to the master bedroom and it sounded like the shower in the master bath was running. Opening her door more fully, Wendy entered the hallway and headed for the bathroom.

Pleased to see that her panties were just a little damp and not as drenched as they sometimes became after the incubus visits, Wendy inspected the crotch area of her footsie pajamas and was relieved to see that it was dry. Greeting the mortal version of her incubus with a noticeable wet spot would be an embarrassing way to start her day.

Wendy contemplated also taking a shower, but she had to consider the fact that Kris was sleeping in the room next to the bathroom and the sound of the shower would likely wake her. The best that she could hope to accomplish without making too much noise was to brush her teeth.

Studying her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, Wendy was as critical f her appearance as most young women were, especially first thing in the morning. Her blue eyes were clear, but her hair held the tell-tale signs of having recently been slept on. When she realized that the glow of her complexion was likely due to the erotic dream that she had awoken from, her cheeks blushed a brighter shade of pink. She splashed some water onto her face before taking a brush to her hair and securing it into a ponytail.

Wendy gasped in surprise when she opened the bathroom door to find "Hey, you" standing in the hallway wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He was peeking into Kris' room to check on her when he heard Wendy coming out of the bathroom.

"Is she still asleep?" Wendy whispered.

Rick stepped back from the door and simply nodded. Glancing at Wendy, starting at her head and then down her body, he smiled at the innocent persona that seeing her in her footsie pajamas always conjured up for him. She was a fully grown version of the beautiful, innocent young woman that he hoped Kris would be someday.

He intended to fight with everything he had to provide Kris the chance to retain her innocence for as long as possible. Rick didn't want her to be naïve or ignorant of the world, but he wanted to shelter her from the influences that could cause her to eventually alter her perspective of what life had to offer her. He wanted his daughter to be a strong, independent woman, but not at the expense of her childhood and the confidence of knowing that her father would always be there for her.

Rick recognized that Wendy was in that transitional stage of her life where she retained a lot of her youthly innocence at the same time that she was maturing and discovering desires and curiosities in the world that enticed her. He felt an obligation to protect and guide Wendy, just as he intended to do with Kris as she grew older. Although, he doubted that Lris would ever exhibit the carnal interest in him that Wendy kept barely contained whenever she was in his presence.

Stepping into the threshold of his bedroom, Rick smiled at Wendy and said, "Give me a minute to get dressed, then you can use the shower in my bathroom if you want. I'll get Kris up and dressed while you do that."

"If Kris is getting up, I can use the shower in the hall bathroom," Wendy said.

"Her hair stuff and other things are in the hall bathroom," Rick explained. "It would be more expedient if you used the bathroom in my room so that I had access to her stuff while you showered. After I get her ready and you're dressed, I want to take you both to breakfast for your birthday."

Wendy smiled widely, "You remembered!"

"Of course. It's not every day that my best buddy turns nineteen. I'm going to spoil you today, so be prepared."

Rick ignored the bright red blush that appeared on Wendy's face. It amazed her that some of his words, spoken in completely innocent contexts could stir so many fantasies of wanton desire within her. He couldn't realize that the slightest hint of welcome from him would have her surrendering herself completely to his masculine will.

Swallowing hard, Wendy said, "Let me grab my clothes and I'll jump into the shower. I shouldn't be long so you better wake her up. Hopefully, she'll awake in her angel mood this morning."

Stepping farther into his room so that he could close the door he said, "I'll wake her as soon as I get dressed. Lightly brushing something soft against her skin will usually stimulate her to wake up slowly on her own. That always makes her mood more cheerful than if she is awakened against her will."

Wendy stood in the hallway for several seconds after Rick had closed his bedroom door. She reached for the knob to his door twice before retracting her hand. She was so tempted to follow him into his room, where she would rip the towel from around his waist, push him onto his bed, and then throw herself on top of him. Being on top of Kris' dad while he wore only his birthday suit was the present that she wanted the most on this day.

~~~

"Serp?" Kris asked.

"Of course," Rick assured his daughter, "but not too much. Do you want maple or berry syrup?"

Kris grinned up at her father and said, "Bowf"

Rick and Wendy laughed and Kris joined them with her own sweet laughter. Other customers around their table smiled at the father-daughter interaction. The pair had become popular and frequent customers at the pancake house only a few blocks from the Air Force Academy's south gate where they would enjoy a hot breakfast before Kris was dropped off at the base daycare center and Rick started his day as an instructor. He thought that they had both been surprised at how smoothly and quickly Kris had adapted to spending her days in daycare instead of with Rick.

"Well, sweetie, you only get one," Rick told Kris. "You just sit there and think about your choice until your pancakes arrive. Okay?"

"I can't believe how much she has learned to say," Wendy said. "I mean, I was surprised at Thanksgiving by her vocabulary, but now it's even larger."

"I think it was all the time that she spent with the TV on in the background," Rick said. Now that she is in daycare and around some older kids that will talk back to her, her vocabulary is developing faster."

Kris didn't respond to her father, but simply returned to using the crayons provided by the pancake house to draw on her placemat.

"Excuse me, Sir," asked the teenage boy at the table next to theirs. "I noticed the patch on your shoulder. Isn't that the patch for the 336^th Training Group?"

Rick glanced over at the boy and saw that he was seated across from an older man with enough of the same features to conclude that he was the boy's father. The dishes on their table indicated that they had both finished their breakfast and were just waiting for their check to be delivered. Rick pointed to the patch on his jacket sleeve and simply nodded. Wendy studied the boy more closely and seemed interested in what she saw. The boy may not have noticed Wendy's appraisal of him, but Rick caught it.

The boy said, "I thought so, but I was confused to see it here in Colorado. Isn't the 336^th Training Group based at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane?"

Rick was guessing the boy and his father when he asked, "Are you in town to tour the Academy?"

The boy extended his hand and replied, "Yes, Sir. My name is James Robert Brandt but everyone calls me Bobby. This is my father, Robert Brandt."

The sound of a pager alert drew everyone's attention. Bobby's father pulled a digital pager off his belt and checked the display.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I need to answer this page." Addressing his son, he said, "It's from Terri."

Bobby simply nodded and kept his hand extended as his father hurried towards the pay phone at the back of the pancake house.

Rick finally shook the offered hand and said, "I'm Rick Acosta and this is my daughter, Kris, and our friend, Wendy Foster. Now, to answer your question about the patch, yes, the 336^th Training Group is based at Fairchild, with subordinate units based at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska and Naval Air Station Pensacola."

Rick then chuckled and said, "Most incoming cadets have trouble recognizing the emblem for the Air Force." He noticed that Wendy was blushing, so he added, "Present company excluded."

Picking up on the implication, Bobby looked at Wendy and asked, "Are you a cadet?"

"Yes," Wendy said with a flirtatious smile. "Class of 94."

Bobby blushed and said, "My girlfriend, Patty, told me about the 336^th Training Group. When I received my acceptance letter to the Academy, Patty started researching the most common reasons why Air Force pilots don't come home from missions. She has made me promise to take survival training as soon as I can."

Kris' pancakes arrived so Rick had to excuse himself from the conversation between Wendy and the boy to get things prepared for his daughter to try feeding herself. Once her silver dollar pancakes were cut into bite-size pieces and lightly covered with strawberry syrup, Wendy took over supervising Kris so that Rick could continue his conversation.

"Well, you can tell your girlfriend that components of the SERE training are definitely taught at the Academy. Due to the events taking place in the Middle East right now, the Air Force wants survival, evasion, resistance, and escape skills to be taught to cadets, who are the ones most likely to become officers that would need the skills. Cadets complete SERE training in the Jack's Valley complex between their third and fourth-class years. My instructional discipline at the Academy is self-defense."

"You teach hand-to-hand combat?" Bobby asked.

"That is one component of the self-defense program here," Rick said. "There are also several other technological, biological, and physiological means for a person to defend themselves. We try to instill three key principles when it comes to self-defense: If a man can't see, he can't fight, if a man can't stand, he can't fight, and if a man can't breathe, he can't fight."

Bobby nodded in understanding and asked, "How long have you been in the Air Force, if you don't mind me asking."

He didn't see any rank insignia on Rick's jacket, but since he was wearing the patch for the 336^th Training Group and had admitted to being an instructor at the Academy, Bobby just assumed that Rick was in the Air Force.

Rick shook his head and said, "I'm a civilian contract instructor. I am a certified SERE instructor, which is what entitles me to wear the patch. However, I got most of my self-defense training while serving with the 1st Special Forces Command Intelligence Battalion at Fort Bragg..."

Bobby's eyes grew wide as he asked, "You were a Green Beret? Wait until I tell Patty! I look forward to what you can teach me."

Rick glanced at Kris and saw that she had her sticky fingers wrapped around what remained of her piece of bacon. All of her pancakes were gone and it would soon be time to take her to the bathroom so that someone could clean her hands and change her diaper before heading back to their house. He knew that Wendy would want to take care of Kris since she had been insisting on doing it while staying with them over the winter break.