Long Blonde Hair, Sky Blue Eyes Pt. 12

"They may try to blame it on lack of preparation by the administration, or claim these terrorists and others came across the southern border, or that Homeland failed it's charge, or even that the FBI and others were complicit. Conspiracy theories will abound any way we play this, but we are trying to keep your names out of it."

Erik calmly but firmly stated, "Look, we can hope, but we need to prepare. If our efforts are wasted because the full story never breaks, great! But we don't want to be caught unprepared for a media onslaught.

"Our greater concern should be that those behind this may consider Sunday to be their first effort, not final. We thought we were prepared, but they proved to be more committed and resourceful than we expected. Let's not do that again, and by 'let's' I mean every organization represented in this room, and the CIA as well."

There were more questions, more conversation, more considerations raised, but they knew 'the rest of the story' when they adjourned for supper. Or at least what the government claimed was the rest of the story.

Erik began to retreat within himself after the meeting, and continued during the meal. Those who knew him best recognized it, and Milly encouraged Bill to talk to him after the meal. Milly asked Annika to come with her, and Bill walked to Erik's room with him.

"What's on your mind?" he asked when the door was shut.

"I thought SAC Thomas made a great presentation. His approach helped everyone deal with their actions, and made us all feel better about killing, because by killing bad guys - terrorists - we saved other lives. Possibly many other lives. The part I question is his assertion that they were after Johnny, Cassie, and me, to behead Greenlight.

"That's inconsistent with the stated motivation. Johnny and Cassie are administrators; they run the organization, which is making and selling products that I created. Killing them doesn't keep me from making now discoveries - killing me does. So, if the fear is that 'we' will continue to innovate, the assertion that they must kill all of us is BS, and I'm certain Thomas knows that.

"He phrased it the way he did so everyone would believe their lives were in danger and they were fighting back, to keep all of us on our toes, and to make us more compliant with whatever they are going to ask, or maybe require is a better word, us to do to stay safe.

"So, bottom line, it is my contention that it is me that endangers them; we don't share that responsibility."

"And you are working out a plan to lessen the danger for your fiancée and friends. I understand, but you must NOT just disappear again! That hurts too many people too badly, including your fiancée, your friends, and your family. Just don't do it, okay?"

"I promise you I won't disappear without letting the most important people in my life know. But unless and until we and/or our allies can figure out who was behind Sunday's assault on Texas and Texans, and deal with them properly, I'm going to have to spend less times with the people I love. I can't stand the thought of them becoming collateral damage, as almost happened Sunday."

"And I understand where you're coming from. That kind of orchestrated attack with those resources most likely means state sponsorship, and that state is most likely Russia. But we don't know that yet; we strongly suspect, but have no real proof.

"Statements by hired guns of questionable character who probably know no more than what they were told isn't proof of state sponsorship. They could have been hired by any of our country's enemies, including North Korea, Iran, or China, or even a state-sponsored terrorist group. Anyone who does not want the USA to continue its leadership of the free world though innovation and advanced technology.

"They see how Musk, Bezos, Gates, and other American innovators have changed the world, and fear you are their twenty-five year old heir. And, in a way, if you continue to find ways to clean up the environment without abandoning tried and true means and methods in which we already lead the world, your impact could be as great as theirs.

"Since I've agreed with you, and reinforced your conclusions, are you ready to share your thoughts on your next steps?"

"I'm not that far along, and there is someone else I need to talk to before I do," Erik replied with a smile.

Bill grinned. "Then I'm going back to my room; want me to send her back?"

"As good a time as any," Erik replied.

Erik saw suspicion written all over her beautiful face when she entered the room. He quickly moved to suppress that by taking her in his arms, kissing her neck and ear, and asking, "So what did Milly want?"

"To get me away so you and Bill could talk! What did you talk about?"

"We kind of reviewed the update and I asked him to confirm a few of my conclusions, then began considering options," Erik replied.

"I'm telling you right now, Erik Swahn, if you disappear again, I'm going to have you hunted down and killed!" she exclaimed.

"Bill made the same threat, and I promised I won't. But I think you know why I'm considering it, don't you?"

"Everyone in that room appreciated the way Thomas stated things. It made every single one of us feel better. At the same time, every single one of us knows that if their purpose is to stop Greenlight Innovations, it's you they have to stop. Cassie, KJ, Johnny, and Hanna all dropped by Milly's room, and we talked too.

"As slick as he was, that stood out to all of us, and we want you to know something: we don't care! Not a one of us is going to leave you alone to fight the fights so we can be safer! So, you can just get over yourself, Mister! There will be no sacrificing of yourself to save your friends!"

Erik grinned at her, standing there with hands on hips and love in her eyes, but wearing her fiercest face. "So, let's talk about my fiancée, who I love so much I would kill for her, or give my life for her. What do you think she is willing to sacrifice to keep the both of us safe?"

"What do you have in mind?" she replied saucily.

"Think she would be willing to go about her acting career for however long that takes, while her fiancé disappears, and then come join him? Maybe even consider marrying him in front of close friends and relations, away from the paparazzi and media? Taking a honeymoon where it's summer, but to places she's never been?"

She crooked her head, hands still on hips, and replied, "That probably depends on how he goes about explaining that massive change and the details of the offer."

"Come over here to the bed, my fiancée, lie beside your fiancé, and we can further discuss my offer and explanation."

"Nope, not happening! When lying in bed with her fiancé, the fiancée has diminished capacity to reason. We stand, or sit at the kitchen bar!"

He smiled, chuckled, and shook his head at her. It was as if she didn't know she could talk him into anything lying naked in a bed! This was better for him than her!

He sat on the stool, pivoted it to face her, and took her hands when she was seated. "I own a large house in a very nice city by the sea, and a large vacation house a short distance away. It's located on a bluff above a pristine Tasman Sea beach, and there are very nice hotels and B&Bs nearby. A relatively short distance away is a great city with a first class airport, and just a short 1500 miles across the sea is one of the most beautiful countries on earth, or so I'm told.

"At this time, I feel as safe in that city as anywhere on this earth, and I happen to know it has some very nice venues for a wedding ceremony. Suppose we could entice friends and families to join us for a late summer vacation in March. How do you think my fiancée would react to that?"

The delight in her eyes was belied by her stern countenance. "How would one go about enticing family and friends to leave Minnesota in late winter for such an outing? Even harder, how would one entice Texans to give up cool weather to go somewhere as hot as Texas will be in a few months?"

"I'm confident the Texans I have in mind would accept plane tickets to such an event, and I'm positive the Minnesotan would jump at the chance to spend Spring Break on a warm beach."

"As a hypothetical, I believe your fiancée would be willing to further discuss this plan... tomorrow morning! Right now, she's ready for bed!"

She actually wasn't quite ready, but after a long, luxurious shower with assistance in all areas of need, a few minutes of recovery, and a rowdy exercise regimen that involved being on top, on bottom, on knees, and serving as a receptacle, she was ready for bed, in the sleep sense. Her only problem was, she couldn't sleep well unless he was draped all over him, and his problem was that he couldn't sleep well when she was.

Around two am, he resolved that problem by rolling her over and spooning her. She purred; he pulled his hips back just enough to break contact with that luscious ass, and kept his hand on the junction of her waist and hip, and finally slept. He awoke with the sun shining into the room, his hand kneading her breast, and his hard cock sliding between her slippery thighs. A quick adjustment on her part, and his hard cock was sliding between her slippery labia and into her hot, wet morass.

He didn't last long - too many hours of foreplay overnight - but, for the same reason, neither did she, which allowed for a very nice mutual climax. They wanted another shower, coffee, and breakfast, but they had a conversation to continue, and Annika was adamant. Fortunately, her eyes were ablaze with love, and he was conciliatory on any point she raised, so forty-three minutes later they were walking hand in hand into the cafeteria.

Hanna watched them, told the others to look, and all eyes were on them when they turned to bring their trays to their friends' table. "What?" Annika asked.

"That's our line," Hanna replied. "I haven't seen that look for a while, and you have a glow that is even greater than the one you get after good sex! So, spill the beans!"

The smirks and anticipatory looks made it hard to outright lie, but Annika played it cool, and Erik feigned being puzzled. "First, let me assure you this glow IS related to sex - VERY GOOD sex! Second, yes, we have been talking and planning, and we've made a few decisions. Erik is going to escort me and my security detail to Hollywood, Dad is going to join us, and we're going to reach agreement on my duties and responsibilities as an actor for the four remaining episodes and whatever we have to clean up from the first four. We are also going to ensure that my security team is with me at all times, and they are in charge of my security!

"After that is settled, Erik is going to disappear somewhere safe. By so doing, he believes we will all be safe, or at least safer. After the filming ends, I'll join him. Family thanksgiving in Minnesota and Christmas are up in the air, but we will work that out."

She paused, leaned her head on Erik's shoulder, and added, "Oh, and one more thing. Soon a select number of people will receive plane tickets and an invitation to enjoy spring break in a warm place with a nice beach. There will be a short ceremony mixed in somewhere that week, but it won't interfere with their beach time too badly.

"After everyone leaves, Erik and I plan to spend a few weeks exploring a beautiful island only 1500 miles away, and who knows what else. That's TBD. Oh, and we'll be back before June 1, maybe sooner if things work out well.

"What do you think?"

The smirks had morphed into frowns and then shock. "Do you mean..." Johnny asked in disbelief.

"Do we mean what?" Erik asked innocently.

"Are you telling us you're getting married?" Hanna demanded.

"Why? Would that be so shocking?" Erik teased.

"It wouldn't be," Johnny replied, "except you two have been taking a long vacation from one another, and suddenly, you jump straight to marriage! And let me guess: your secret hideaway is only about 25-30 hours away by plane, right?"

"Depending on your departure city, and whether you fly non-stop, yes," Erik agreed, "and then a couple of hours by car."

Johnny looked at Hanna, who asked. "And what's the rush?"

"Is six months from now a rush?" Erik queried. "After last Sunday, part of me wants to ask the base chaplain to stop by tomorrow morning and perform the ceremony. When you know you have some very nasty people out to kill you, it refocuses you on making the best of 'right now,' don't you think?"

Cassie spoke up. "My husband and I are having that conversation. We have enough money that risking life and limb playing football for another five or ten years makes no sense monetarily. He's invested wisely, I made a bunch from selling my shares in the last startup, and we invested that wisely. KJ has never used his engineering degree, but he's kept up with the changes and could. Or he could become the face and Thor-like body of any number of commercial products, right?

"I don't want to start our family until he's going to be around to help raise our children, but my clock has been ticking louder, and after Sunday, it's screaming at me. So, I guess I'm saying we understand and agree!"

Bill and Milly had been quiet, watching and listening without comment, but now she edged in. "First, congratulations! Second, it's about time! Third, we'd better get one of those invitations! And fourth, when are you guys going to tell your families?"

"We're going to tell them we're getting married and the date later today, but that's all. No matter the assurances we are getting about the encoded Sat phones, we want to say the rest in person, in highly secure places. I understand that me being with them puts them in danger, but we do have some highly secure facilities available, and an excellent security force to fend off any bad guys not rounded up or routed on Sunday."

A broadly grinning KJ started clapping; others joined him, and soon congratulations were raining down on them. When it calmed down, KJ said, "In spite of the hard times you've had, I have to say I've never seen a man and woman more 'meant for each other' than you two! We will be there, even if your wedding is in Antarctica!"

They managed to eat among all the happy chatter, and then split up. Everyone was going to run and work out except Annika and Erik, who had phone calls to make. It took some three-way calls to pull it off, but everyone except the siblings were told, and they would call them after school. The excitement of their announcement was somewhat tempered by their enduring concern about Sunday's ambush by terrorists, but their explanations and assurances were adequate to return the conversation to the happier topic.

When the calls to parents and grandparents were made, each included a plea to come visit them at their home-to-be in Bastrop County, and to do it as soon as possible, so they could share the rest of the story. For the Olssons, both older and younger, that meant a long plane ride, but Carl had that taken care of before they hung up; they would arrive early Saturday morning and depart Sunday afternoon.

The Swahns would be driving up Saturday morning, after the Friday football games in which Erik's siblings would participate. That would have created a room shortage, but only Milly and Bill were staying. Everyone else was going on to Sunday's destination, albeit several days late.

Now all they had to do was get released by Friday, Erik returned to pursuing the demons while Annika studied and wrote papers for her classes. Aini had continued her pursuit of the culprits and had new information, but he needed Aizel. Someone or something fluent in Russian who could also penetrate the most secure servers was required. He called Karli, but Sean answered.

"Roddie is the best with AI," he enthusiastically told Erik. "I thought I was good, and Karli is certainly good, but Roddie is on another level. Aizel speaks and reads Russian impeccably, and she is a black cat in a dark alley on the webs!"

"I can't tell you how glad I am, Sean! Now, I need someone to bring her to me!"

Karli was completing preparations for Shane and Noah's arrivals tomorrow, so Sean and Roddie brought their gifted new student. Erik phoned base command, as instructed, and they were escorted to the small conference room after they were processed. "Somehow, this seems familiar," Sean joked, "three stories down, with a nice cafeteria when you get off the elevator. What's on the top floors?"

"I have no idea. We were brought here in helicopters, escorted to the elevator, and brought down here. We can go up and down the elevator and have use of the gym, workout facilities, running paths, and fields on the surface, but you must use a key to get off at any other floor, and it isn't the one we were given for the elevator."

"We noticed that our place is set up for E-keys too, but that hasn't been activated yet. I guess when you're back and we have more staff here they will come online, but right now we have uniformed soldiers who secure the facility when we're there," Roddie noted.

"Yeah, Boss, and they added a camouflaged area along the west tree line with what appears to be a bank of missiles. We can see the tips through the security camera feed, which we aren't supposed to be accessing, but you know how Karli is."

"I'm glad they did, and I'm glad we know. The drones have proved to be hackable or jammable, or something. Anyway, how is our little Птичка?"

"What?" Sean asked. Erik answered, "It's a Russian nickname for a young girl; it means 'little bird'. Ptichika."

"You speak Russian?"

"I took a couple of courses, but never used it after college. Look's like I'll need to refresh my memory. Have you tested her wings yet?"

"Only in innocuous endeavors, like visiting the main library in Moscow to read and review some documents, and a short jaunt into the least protected Kremlin files. I'm glad you called her Ptichika, although I believe she's going to grow into a falcon, or American Eagle. She's scary quick."

"I have certain stipulations about what I can do from here` but let's give her a target and see what she does."

They uncaged 'Little Bird' and gave her a task, and then Erik got updated, and updated them, without violating the 'top secret' agreement more than necessary. He smiled throughout their update; they frowned through his.

Reverting to his finest Irish brogue, Sean commented, "Boss, in Ireland we would say you 'duine a bhíonn i dtrioblóid go leor,' meaning you are someone who has a lot of troubles. Not of your own making, but trouble seems to follow you around. We need to kick trouble's arse and uncomplicate your life a bit."

It took Roddie and Erik a few seconds to translate the accent and cadence, and then they smiled in unison.

Roddie agreed with "Fair dinkum!" and Erik said, "100, brother, 100. How do we do that?"

"I suspect your Russian birdie is going to help us, but while we're waiting, we've been talking about you," Sean said in his Irish accented version of English, without the brogue. "The three of us agree that as a programmer, you are good but no better than the three of us, but as a creator and innovator, you are unparalleled. Why is that?"

"I don't know, but I can tell you when my vision of the world suddenly changed. I was at my parent's house on Canyon Lake, and it was after an attempt on Annika's life, so we had security all around. I was walking around, drinking beer, enjoying the lake before me, the trees around me, the ground under me, the boats on the lake and the planes shining high above. A solitary bird flew across the sky toward me, landed on the lake, and began fishing.