Long Blonde Hair, Sky Blue Eyes Pt. 12

He laughed, and pointed at the clothes he had laid out for her. She raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and slipped into white leggings and a burnt orange Texas Longhorns jersey that ended six inches below her ass. Since no underclothes were laid out, she pulled the leggings on commando and the jersey on braless, pulled her hair back in a wet, messy ponytail, slipped into a pair of canvas shoes, and said, "Okay, let's go eat - I'm starving!"

She was a sight, and when they arrived KJ watched her walk in, turned to Cassie and said, "Go ahead and slap me now, but, come on - that's not fair!"

She faux slapped his shoulder, chuckled, and complained, "You have no idea how inadequate I feel right now!"

She ignored or didn't notice the stares and open mouths as she rushed to the food line, but Erik did. She filled her tray, hurried to an open chair, sat down, and said "Mm, this looks so good, and I'm so hungry!"

Erik sat down beside her, smirked, and asked KJ, "What are you staring at? She was with you all morning wearing bicycle shorts and a sports bra - what's with those expressions when she's wearing ten times more clothes?"

"Uh, because she looks different in clothes," KJ replied, which drew a few chuckles and a few 'amens.'

The object of the discussion was eating ravenously while blithely disregarding it, so everyone else dug in. It was quiet for a while, and then Annika asked Bill, "So, do you think we're going to able to leave today?"

He gestured at the opening door and said, "We'll know soon."

The three military officers entered, accompanied by SAC Thomas. They made their way to the table, and Major Heiser said, "Looks like you're enjoying the cafeteria too. Best of any base I've served on!"

"Excellent food, Major," Bill interjected, and then joined the others in waiting expectantly.

General Hinkel chucked, and said, "We might as well get to it. SAC Thomas tells me they received validation of their working hypothesis just this morning, and those in charge say you are free to go, with the stipulation that Bill or his partner organizations continue to provide security to you for the foreseeable future. Since that is an agreement already in place, let's talk about the next steps, and for that I'll turn it over to SAC Thomas."

"We were leaning toward saying you guys could return to your lives today even before we got the validation - which, in case any of you ever find out who sent it, tell him or her we are greatly appreciative."

Every set of eyes landed on Erik, who maintained his innocent appearance.

"It seemingly came from some site in Russia, but the way the internet works, who knows who provided it! Heck, it could have originated here! Regardless, it was chock full of information that came straight from the Kremlin! Very helpful!

"Bottom line, we have no reason to believe your lives are still in danger, so if you agree to be alert and do all the things Bill's guys taught you to do on the course, we feel it's safe enough for you to resume living your lives."

He smiled and looked at Bill, who said, "And to that end, Johnny, Hannah, KJ, and Cassie, a plane has been dispatched by Oliver and Carl to pick you up at the San Marcos Regional Airport today at six. Eddie and Monty are driving you, with Danny and Freddy following. You leave for San Marcos at 1:40.

"Annika and Erik, Andi and Rhonda are picking y'all up at the same time, so I hope everyone is packed."

"We had a premonition," Cassie said with a wink at Erik, "so we're ready when they are!"

Given that it was 1:20, they thanked their hosts and exchanged goodbyes with them, and then hugged and exchanged goodbyes among themselves before going to get their belongings from their rooms.

Four Suburbans and Bill's truck were waiting in front of the headquarters, so one more quick hug and they were off, headed south on 95. At the TX71 intersection, three vehicles turned right and two turned left. It was only 7 miles to Greenlight's R&D facility and 44 miles to San Marcos, and everyone was giddy with freedom and anticipation.

Erik had Rhonda drive them directly to the business site. They found Shane and Noah onboarding with Karli, Sean, and Roddie, and all were surprised when Erik entered with Annika, Andi, and Rhonda.

Sean and Roddie had been stunned when they met Annika in person, and Shane and Noah's reactions were similar when they saw her. Then Andi and Rhonda came into focus as well, and all four men were speechless. Karli looked at the four and laughed.

"Just had to make a grand entrance, eh Boss? Wonder if I can recapture their attention today, or I should try for tomorrow?"

Hands were shaken all around, and introductions managed without too much embarrassment, although there was some drooling. Karli was hugging and talking excitedly to the other women when the Irishman found his tongue. He stepped away, made a show of looking the four women over from head to toe, and proclaimed with a heavy Irish accent, "And a lovelier group of ladies never have I seen! Are all feminine creatures so lovely in Texas, then?"

"So far," Sean answered with the same exaggerated accent, "this is the loveliest group I've seen today, but yesterday I saw two other's that belong as well! T'is a state rich in natural resources and beautiful women!"

Andi laughed and corrected them. "I'm from Olympia, Washington; Rhonda is from Ames, Iowa, Karli is from Calgary, Canada, and Annika is a native of Minnesota. Of the two you saw yesterday, Hanna is also from Minnesota, but Cassie is a native Texan. So, yes, we're most often Texans now, but not native Texans."

Roddie added, "And Sean and I can attest that the Minnesota girls are hot too! We've been up there for a while waiting for this building to be ready."

"I'll admit the hot girls are more fun to talk about, but what do you think of this place?" Erik asked.

Immediately losing the accent, Shane replied that it exceeded even Karli and Sean's description. Noah claimed Roddie had described it in detail to him, and yet he wasn't prepared for what he saw on their tour. "This is the like nothing I've seen or heard of!"

"We have!" Sean and Roddie replied together. "On a semi-secret military base near here," Roddie continued. "And those NDA's we all signed? Yeah, they're serious as a heart attack about that!"

"The nondisclosure agreements I've signed in the past didn't include information about the labs, production facilities, and security measures, that's for sure," Shane said, "But I get it now. Word of the famous model being in a gunfight in Los Angeles, and that all of you were somehow targets of the Austin terrorists, made its way to Ireland as well.

"The Logistics program and the SEAM program have given Greenlight almost mystical status in our world, and it's easy to see why people want to steal them, and kidnap their inventor: lot's of money at stake!"

"That's all true enough, and add that a country or countries would like to kill the initial developer and his teams to prevent more innovation," Erik explained. "So, we can't promise you this job is danger free, or that your privacy - or mine - is of paramount importance to the military unit that protects this facility, much less the governmental units charged with keeping the country and its citizens free and safe. Just understand that, and be circumspect in what you say."

Erik turned to his fiancée and asked, "Do you have things you need to do? Like rescheduling meetings, making calls, etc. I'm asking because I'd like to continue meeting with this part of the team today, feed everyone supper at the house, enjoy an adult beverage or two, and be free for the weekend."

Annika smiled, "As much as I enjoy hearing all about your plans, yes, I do. I need to conference with my lead attorney/father, Amanda, and Cal, get our meeting with Star Shine Productions reset, and talk to Cavo about interim plans. I also need to find out what we have available to fix for this dinner you just decided on! And I should expect to see all of you about when?"

Erik looked at Karli, who proposed, "Will five thirty or six work?"

Annika nodded acceptance, kissed Erik, and left with Andi and Rhonda, planning as they walked away.

As soon as they were gone, Erik praised Karli, Sean, and Roddie for Aizel, and asked how Aimee was coming along? Roddie replied that she was looking good, but they needed to get serious about the geothermal issues and pick a city to examine regarding traffic problems."

"For our own benefit, pick Austin and San Marcos. Austin area traffic is already a mess, and it's growing too fast to improve traffic flow without significant innovation. San Marcos is much smaller but even faster growing, so we'll tackle it first to get a handle on what solutions entail, and later scale our solutions up to Austin.

"As I told you two yesterday, I'm intrigued with geothermal as an energy source, but want to explore potential dangers before proceeding. Aimee can help, once her humans have sorted through and charted potential dangers and benefits for her edification."

Sean and Roddie shared Erik's challenges with the others, after which they further discussed the two problems they would be addressing, and how to organize their efforts. Erik sat back and let them work, enjoying the united effort and the quality of their intellects/thought processes. These would be valuable team members, whatever the challenge.

The SEAM module was producing consequential data and impressive recommendations that pilot vendors were chattering about among themselves. The line of parties interested in buying extended 'out the door and down Main Street to the river,' so to speak. The Greenlight Logistics program was well established, making money hand over fist, and AI was helping to improve it as well. Money was no longer an issue, and they had already paid Appleseed back with interest.

What that meant was, like any curious and creative person, Erik needed new challenges. These were exciting, and he had an exceptional team working on them, which freed him to work on his secret project. He intended to deal devastating blows to those who had misused Annika, and to those who planned and funded the attempt to kill him, his fiancée, and his leadership team, and terrorize Austin.

His plan had international ramifications, and he knew the Department of State, Congress, and the Executive Branch would never allow it, if they knew about it. Would the Australians? Would any country? What he had planned would scramble the existing world order, using Russian Oligarchs own decisions and actions against them. And by Oligarchs, he meant the small number of people that ruled Russia and her minion states, including those persons purportedly 'elected.'

He retired to his private office with Aizel and began the process.

****

Annika and Erik's romance culminates in the next chapter, which is a bit all over the place. Thanks for reading.