Long Blonde Hair, Sky Blue Eyes Chapter 13b - Series Finale
The four weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving flew by, and the Swahn/ Lundell/ Karlsson families congregated at the Olssons' lake house for the traditional feast. The autumn weather having been mild, they chose the lake house because it was isolated, scenic, and had room for everyone. Highs in the 40s and lows around freezing weren't that bad, even for the south Texans, who reveled in the patches of snow in shaded areas, at the crisp-chilly air and clear blue skies, and at the endless waters of Lake Superior.
The strip show video was verboten, forbidden, or in Swedish, förbjuden, but the practical effect had been predicted by Kelly, who was suddenly omnipresent on TV shows, in ads, and in print media, and Annika experienced a similar surge in her modeling/ commercial acting careers.
The films of Viking Slave Girl and Viking Warrior Babe had plenty of hits, but neither was a celebrity, so they soon faded - much to Hanna's relief and Cassie's disappointment.
Annika did face questions about the effect of the new demands on her relationship with Erik, which they soothed by assuring their families and friends that, while they might be miles apart, they talked and facetimed daily, and they had never been closer in spirit. They also reassured everyone that they would be with their families in Texas for Christmas and New Years, that their wedding plans were being implemented according to schedule, and that everyone should stop worrying!
The Thanksgiving meal included baked and fried turkey, baked goose, venison roasts, and vegetables, fruits, and nuts the Pilgrims and Indians might have shared in the legendary first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts. Each family contributed one or more Pumpkin pies made according to old family recipes. Maja had tins of Hallongrotta - Swedish raspberry cookies - for sweet snacks, and the Texan's brought homemade venison jerky and dried sausage for salty treats.
For no particular reason other, perhaps, than the teenagers present, the holiday was alcohol free. Long walks by the lakeside and through the forest by couples and in groups abounded. The lazy pace allowed friendships to be renewed among the teens and adults, and gave the couples opportunities to relax and re-bond in a romantic setting.
The thirty-degree nights even added to the experience, thanks to the fire pit and S'mores.
Annika was reluctant to leave on Sunday, knowing the weeks until they joined up again in Hondo were tightly scheduled, and fearing she wouldn't have enough time to practice her lines for the miniseries that began shooting in January while working full time. Amanda and Cal did a better job of sorting through, culling, and scheduling than her previous management team, but the iron was red hot, and this was the time to strike.
Miss Beverly had suggested she make a splashy comeback before launching her line, and she was definitely doing that, even if it was taxing, tiring, and tense.
Erik's schedule was also demanding, and there was extreme tension of another kind. Aizel was a sleek and deadly eel during intrusion, and as slippery as an eel when escaping, but it was Erik's job to keep her safe, which required a lot of planning and reconnoitering before he sent her onto a pathway. The consequence of being trapped by the enemy was unthinkable, as was the consequence of being caught by his own government.
His intentions for certain organizations were destructive, and for certain individuals, deadly. If anyone learned he was behind the planned mayhem, it would not turn out well for him. Even the Australians might disavow him, though they and the Americans would celebrate long and hard if he was successful. He understood that, and why, but he refused to spend the rest of his life as a moving target! Sooner or later, someone would get lucky, regardless of how well prepared he and his security contingent were.
He had to take the fight to them, gut them, amputate their resources, and expose their asses, while remaining unknown. It was a daunting task, but one he wouldn't shy away from.
When he did have down time, he usually obsessed about what Annika was doing, or why he had begun to revert. His flirting with Cassie and Hanna had turned into something akin to pursuit, and every time Kelly appeared on his monitor, TV screen, or news media, he found himself stiff and wondering what if.
Before meeting, getting to know, bedding, and falling in love with Annika, these behaviors would have been SOP. But she had fascinated, claimed, and changed him - until Mardi Gras. Something twisted loose there, and it had never been properly reattached. In fact, while watching Jake paw his fiancée, his mind had run two tracks at once. In one, he was planning mayhem options for Jake; in the other, nonchalantly considering his own options if she succumbed. That track came up with something like, 'then we'll fuck gorgeous Kelly, become master of the waif/ slave girl, and determine whether Hanna is as hot as she appears.'
That his actions would likely destroy a marriage and two sets of wedding plans impinged on his conscience, but did not prevent his considerations. Even Kerri had flittered through his thoughts a time or two, and he hadn't seen her in over a year.
There are lots of very attractive girls out there - a fact he had mostly ignored between Mackinac and Galveston, absent the flirtation with Kerri - but lately he had been noticing them more, without immediately feeling guilty. Was he getting cold feet, or had Annika's nonchalance about nudity, touching, kissing, and making out, in the course of her job responsibilities and associated social life, rubbed off on him?
That was another conundrum to be resolved before March, and he was pleased to be limited to cute and brilliant geek girls while on the campus.
On December 7, Pearl Harbor Day, he launched his own surprise attack on three key players, and was more successful than the Japanese had been in 1941. As the carnage became known, he pressed his advantage, launching what appeared to be retaliatory strikes against three more, all of whom had been protesting their innocence to their devastated peers - just before getting hammered by what appeared to be those peers.
That left the kingpin and his two closest allies, who hunkered down with all weapons systems go. But on the third day, even DefCon 1 didn't help them, and their riches disappeared into the ether while a passel of their deepest secrets became readily available to anyone with a computer.
Soon thereafter, servers burned up, electronic tracks were erased, and Aizel disappeared. For three days Erik rarely slept, watching and waiting to see if the fallout from a mistake would reach him.
Had they been focused on finding the culprit instead of blaming and fighting each other, and had the Ukrainians not launched an extremely effective counteroffensive seemingly based on intimate knowledge of Russian positions, equipment, personnel, and plans, distracting the kingpin, there was a slight chance they might have found him.
But his enemies were blinded by the brilliant light and deafened by the sonic boom of their personal implosions, and all efforts were directed elsewhere long enough that reconstructing the cyber attack became impossible.
They might suspect, and suspicion might be sufficient for action... if they still had sufficient wealth, power, and prestige to put together an attack. It remained a possibility, but not one that kept him awake like it had.
A certain government, however, was prepared to quietly act on their suspicions, and they came calling. His own forces were marshalled, ready, willing, and able to create a huge uproar even if unable to keep him safe from such a massive threat, but both sides knew that would result in, for want of a more modern term, mutually assured destruction. No matter how well they planned, it was certain that the foe had his retaliatory strike primed for delivery in cyberspace, and they wouldn't be able to stop it.
A most accommodating Erik invited them to send representatives to his office at the SEAM site, they agreed, and he was as well prepared as expected. After a brief welcome to the four representatives, which included General Hinkle, he asked to go first, and they agreed.
Then Erik gave the disclaimer. "Just so we're on the same page from the git-go, everything said and done here is being recorded and distributed to a number of cloud storage spaces for safekeeping, so we should all be circumspect with questions, answers, and especially, with allegations. If at any point I determine that this is an effort to entrap me, I will end this conversation and disappear like Russian Rubles. Are we clear?"
They were, so he continued, "Great! Then tell me why you asked for this meeting?"
General Hinkle spoke in response. "We are hoping that, with your laser-edge understanding of artificial intelligence and the webs, you can help us understand how the mayhem in Russia came about. Given your preeminence in the field, we solicit any theories or hypotheticals you may offer. You may be suspicious, but our purpose is not to entrap you: rather, it is to determine if the same kind of thing could happen here, and how we might prevent it."
With an unwavering focus, Erik responded, "Like every other computer nerd on earth, I was immediately captivated by the scale and effectiveness of the cyber-attacks, and by the way those affected turned on each other rather than banding together in response. Whomever or whatever precipitated those efforts precisely predicted how those affected would respond, and used that knowledge against them in the most egregious ways possible.
"Based on communication with others like me who have been searching, I learned that their enemy or enemies delved deeply into their systems, extracted information deemed secure, and extrapolated future actions from it. He, they, or it likely had access to or created psychological profiles upon which to build a plan. The first three that got hit were known to be the most paranoid, and they already had problems with one or more of the other oligarchs, or the big dog himself.
"According to my sources, two of the second group were 'peacemakers' who had been trying to keep everything stable, and the third was allied with a member of the first group. The two had opposed the invasion of Ukraine, however, and were not on good terms with the big dog.
"So, at this point, insiders say fingers were being pointed in all directions, but more were being pointed at the big dog than any other. He surrounded himself with loyal troops and dug in. That was physically effective, it seems, but he traded his personal safety for his fortune, and secrets that explain his power within and outside the borders of Russia.
"But I assume you know all about that, since it's been all over cyberspace and several Americans were named as being members of his cadre!
"Anyway, from what I was told, the other two oligarchs targeted in the final round, or what seems to have been the final round - who knows? Those two were closely allied with big dog and were being targeted by those who had been hit before, in retaliation. And then their fortunes fled, their curtains were thrown open, and everyone got to look at their private and political lives.
"At that point, no one knew who to blame and they tried to make peace, but too little, too late.
