. 01

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Chapter 28, Part One

Location: 'Site E' Waxahachie, TX

Date: 27 January

Time: 1243hrs CST

It had been three weeks since the Critical Design Review (CDR) and the final build-out of Evangeline was finished. Ellie and Heather, feeling excited and nervous, walked from the main dining facility near their quarters, heading for a complete diagnostic of the deployed system architecture. It took a herculean effort to get to this point, now just 24 hours from the cruise ship departure from Galveston. Only one step remained in preparing for Evangeline to come home to stay. This final effort required a grueling 18-hour block to initialize and test the system.

Ellie would observe Andrea Beach, who was in charge of the test. The entire team would be in support. Heather and Ellie, their hearts pounding with anticipation, were en route to the nearest tram platform to hop for a ride back to the control point for the test. Confidence was high for success; completion would certify final readiness to receive Evangeline. The NSA and Space Force team had already successfully tested and signaled readiness for reception. All that remained in that critical area was the actual signal from the team's transmitter the team would deploy onboard the ship. The terahertz Ultra Wide Band SATCOM satellite in geosynchronous orbit above North America was cleared of all traffic and devoted solely to this mission.

Ellie looked at Heather as they walked together. "OK, Bestie. What's on your mind?"

Heather laughed and said, "What makes you think there is?"

Ellie patted her best friend on the shoulder, "I guess you and Kat want a rematch at darts Friday night at the club after the pasting Hallie and I laid on you last weekend."

Heather said, "No, I wanted to come clean and tell you something to clear my conscience."

Ellie stopped cold and spun Heather, locking her eyes on hers, "What have you done?"

Heather shrugged, "Two weeks passed when Hallie watched my kids, I, I.

Ellie grabbed her by the shoulders, "You what?"

Heather lowered her head, "I went on a date with Kat Abdullah." Ellie stared at Heather, unable to say a word. Heather's hand went to Ellie's face. "I thought it was just two friends out doing late shopping, but we grabbed a bite and knocked back a few cocktails. I learned a lot about her. She is a good woman."

Ellie shook herself out of the shock of anticipating the worst, "Yes, she is Heather. What did you learn that you found most intriguing?"

Heather took a deep breath. Ellie was her best friend. They were best friends with benefits and part of an agreement to keep the swinging within the team and with their spouses present. Heather took a deep breath and began, "We returned to her quarters and kept chatting into the early hours. She held her index finger to her lips, signaling me to say nothing. I played along with her to see where she was going with it. Kat pulled out a laptop and plugged it into the ethernet port on the wall beside her table. I watched the lights on the two cameras in her quarters go dark. Kat smiled at me, saying 'now we have privacy.' I was stunned."

Ellie guided Heather to the side of the passageway. She leaned into Heather's ear and softly whispered, "Did you sleep with her?"

Heather shook her head no, lowered her head, and whispered, "We made out like gangbusters, and our hands were free with each other's tender areas."

Ellie looked at her quizically, "Why would you do that to Seth, the team? Why?"

Heather cocked a sly smile, "To gain her confidence. I had to know where she got the software to disable the security system without triggering an outage alert."

Ellie sighed in relief, "Was it worth what you risked, Heather?"

Heather said, "Oh Yeah, I learned she got the software from her friend with benefits, dare I say her lover?"

Ellie's face got serious. She opened her mouth and began to form the apparent question when a general announcement call came across the nearest loudspeaker, "Priority one alert. Dr. Hansen, please report to your quarters immediately. Repeating, Dr., please report to your quarters immediately."

Ellie walked to the nearest wall interface and pressed the flashing button on the mount, announcing, "Hansen acknowledging, I am on the way to my quarters." Looking at Heather, she said, "Let's go, Heather. You can finish your story after we find out what's going on. I hope it has nothing to do with what you told me."

Both women jogged down the central passageway, reaching Ellie's quarters within a few minutes. Panting, Ellie pressed her index finger on the entry pad and said, "Dr. Eleanor Hansen, open, please."

The speaker on the entry control pad replied, "Finger and voiceprint authenticated; please enter." The door slid open along its track, disappearing into its slot in the wall. Both women looked in and saw Control standing with her hands on her hips and looking very pissed off.

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Control was silent for ten seconds; a decided downward curl to her mouth emphasizing acute displeasure. Finally, she lost patience and boomed, "Well, are you both just going to stand in the doorway like two fools? Or are you coming in so we can have a little heart-to-heart chat? Humm?"

Ellie and Heather entered the quarters, and the door slid behind them, closing with a loud click.

Ellie and Heather scanned the room. Ellie spoke first, "Control, what's wrong?"

Control cocked her head and eyed Ellie with an intensity that sent a chill up her back. "Sit down, both of you." Ellie and Heather moved towards the chairs at the table. "Please sit," Control asked. Softening her tone, she announced, "I am here because we have several problems on our team that I must take immediate action to correct."

Ellie's heart began to race. She drew her hand to her heart. "Is the team safe? Are Jare and Annie alright?"

Control nodded, "The team is safe. However, there has been a failure to disclose protocol breach, which is now putting the mission at risk."

Ellie turned to look at Heather, and they exchanged worried glances. Control noted their reaction and continued.

"Agent Hansen, why didn't you disclose that you had an affair with Jason Hendrix ten years ago?" Ellie began to open her mouth to answer. Still, Control silenced her, asking, "Agent Hansen, why didn't you see the potential threat to our mission posed by Mr. Hendrix remaining on your team?" It was then that Control paused for Ellie to respond.

"That affair was ended, and its impact on our marriage was resolved between me and my husband. We both underwent a soul-baring series of marriage and trust-related counseling sessions. As to the other question you asked, Mr. Hendrix is a key technical contributor to my development team and essential to ensuring its synergy and success. I made the judgment call to retain him. His role, experience, and presence were, in my professional judgment, essential to mission accomplishment." Ellie said in a commanding voice.

"Agent Hansen, You don't get to make those calls!" Control countered.

Ellie stood and faced her defiantly, "Control, I respect you greatly, but have you forgotten my role here? In this facility, I am not an agent. I am referred to as Dr. Hansen, the Program Manager for Project 'E' in the Ellis Engineering district. I answer to the Director of the National Security Agency, and the team I lead is designated as a Direct Reporting Unit (DRU) to the President of the United States herself. I have full operational Control over my team, this project's security, and Evangeline's transference, awakening, implementation, and God willing, her future deployment."

Control backed up against Hallie's bunk and sat down. "I apologize, Ellie, I forgot myself," she said.

Ellie nodded as she sat, "Think nothing of it now."

Control wasted no breath: "Unfortunately, your failure to disclose your extra-marital affair withheld a key element of intel that our analysts at Langley needed to complete their exploration of a possible rationale for how Evangeline's design was stolen or leaked to Crossthwaite."

Ellie mutterred, "What?"

Control continued, "This oversight also masked a failure to recognize the impact working with Jason Hendrix would have on your husband."

Ellie's jaw dropped as Control continued without pause, "Your lack of appreciation for the risk and impact that failing to disclose your affair could have has placed the mission to uplink and transfer Evangeline at risk. It has also emotionally compromised and possibly crippled a key member of that team. I have no recourse but to render that individual unfit for field duty and relieve them accordingly."

Still stunned, trying to absorb all Control had levied at her, Ellie repeated, "What?"

Control barked, "You can enter now." The bathroom door slid open, and Jared stood there.

Ellie slowly stood, kicking her chair backward. "Oh my God, Jared," she cried out. Ellie's heart fluttered, processing the reality that her husband was there and that Control had taken him off the team bound for Crosswaite's ship in Galveston. Ellie wasted no motion as she flew past Control and threw her arms around Jared as he exited the bathroom entrance. She inhaled Jared's unique scent, and this triggered within Ellie that familiar rush of security and safety she felt when near him. She allowed herself to revel in his touch as Jared closed his arms tightly around her. Jared, in turn, immediately felt the familiar 'binar' connection with Ellie return. He cupped his wife's face and drew her mouth to his. Ellie's soft, pouting lips parted, and she and Jared felt that electric jolt of being one again.

After what she perceived was a minute or more of passionate, unbroken kisses, Ellie pulled away to look up into Jared's eyes. "Oh, Jare," she said. "What have I done to you?"

Jared smiled, but his eyes reflected sadness. "I am so sorry, El," he began. "The old wounds. I thought we had healed them. Somehow, they ripped open and have haunted me since we parted."

Ellie stroked the five o'clock shadow on his face and smiled, "No more worries now, sweetheart. You are here with me to stay. Wherever this adventure takes us, we stay together." Ellie laid her head tight against Jared's chest. She could hear his heartbeat slow at her simple touch.

"We have more to discuss, Dr. Hansen." Control said, trying to re-sieze the initiative.

"Not now," Ellie replied. She clung to Jared and added, "Heather, take Control to main security immediately. Report everything you have learned and were in the process of telling me. I mean everything."

Control protested, and Ellie's voice took on a commanding tenor: "Please go. Jare and I do not want to be disturbed. Heather, please get in touch with Andrea and tell her to continue the test without me. I will rejoin the team at 1900 hours."

Heather stood and said to Control, "Come with me, please, Chief." Both Heather and Control exited the room, and the door closed.

Ellie called out, "Computer, secure quarters." A noticeable engagement of interlocks on the door could be heard. Ellie's eyes remained locked with her husband's, "You have no idea how badly I need you here at my side," she said. Ellie led Jared by the hand, and they sat on her bed facing each other. Ellie's eyes welled with tears as she stroked her husband's face. "I have missed you, love," she said as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Jared smiled, "Obviously, I am next to useless now, according to Control. Either way, I was empty apart from you, El."

Ellie wiped her face of wetness. She sniffled, "Jared Hansen, I need you to know that only you have my heart. You are the only man who will ever touch me intimately ever again. I will never again betray or take your love for granted again." Jared nodded as he took Ellie's face in his hands. His lips found hers, and their tongues joyfully began to play hide-and-seek. Ellie maintained her lip lock as her hands undid Jared's shirt. She pulled the tails from his slacks and discarded them on the floor.

Standing up, Ellie seductively stripped herself nude. The pleasure and appreciation she saw in Jared's eyes made her feel sensual and beautiful. As she removed her bra and released her breasts, Jared shuddered, drawing in a deep breath. He unsnapped Ellie's slacks and tugged them down along with her bikini panties. Ellie stepped out from the slacks as Jared reached out and pulled her down with him onto the bed, rolling her onto her back. The wondrous scent of Ellie's sex registered in Jare's nostrils, and this fired his passion. He took his turn to stand and kicked his shoes off while stripping his pants and briefs. Freeing each leg, he finally kicked the pants free.

Ellie smiled and licked her lips as she gazed at his manhood so hard, so close, so very erect. She pulled herself up to a sitting position and took Jared into her mouth. His scent and the slight saltiness of his shaft had her mouth-watering, and Ellie could feel Jared's heartbeat throb as her head slowly engulfed her husband's shaft. She felt the crown reach the back of her throat. Slowly, she used her throat muscles to begin to swallow. Jared was lost, awash in a tidal surge of sensations, instinctively grasping Ellie's head on each side, encouraging her to continue. Ellie drew her head back and dove downward, repeating the motion again, and again. Jared felt his climax building, boiling upward to inevitability. Ellie, in turn, felt Jared expand in her mouth, and she resumed swallowing his shaft, drawing it deeper into her throat with each added breath.

Jared released Ellie's head and placed his hands on the small of his back as he leaned away. Ellie bobbed slightly, and this was all Jare needed to trigger delirious spasms. Ellie could feel him pump into her throat, which, not surprisingly, triggered an orgasm of her own. She hummed as the tide rose and swept over her. Surging from her loins and up her spine, Ellie's climax exploded like fireworks in the night sky. She opened her eyes and saw Jared looking down at her most adoringly. He was moaning in ecstasy, tears on his face, as he watched Ellie hungrily devour the last of his essence.

Jared slowly pulled his softening shaft from Ellie's mouth. Ellie kept her mouth open as a connecting strand of semen between Jared and her tongue finally released into her mouth. Ellie laid back on the bed as her tongue pulled a final dollop of passion left on her lips into her mouth as she swallowed. Jared lowered himself onto his side, pulling Ellie against him. Jared kissed her adoringly, reverently. The nutty flavor of his semen lingered on Ellie's tongue. Mixed with her saliva, it was a heady combination, spurring him on as he began kissing his way down from his wife's lips to her neck.

Jared's tongue lashed against the lobes of her ears as he went from one side of Ellie's face and neck to the other. Ellie allowed herself to become lost in the sensations of their lovemaking. Her body was flush with a passion that radiated within her. She arched her back as Jared's mouth found her left breast. His left hand kneaded her right breast, and his fingers danced across her tight areola. He tweaked her right nipple playfully as his mouth found its counterpart on her left side.

"Oh, Jare," Ellie sighed. "God, I have missed you. I need you so very much. Promise you will stay with me."

Jared broke his soft suckle of Ellie's breast and lifted his head, "You know that is all I have ever wanted, Ellie. I am bound to your heart and soul. I always have been, ever since we both sat on that bench near our dorms when we first connected 25 years ago. You own my heart. I willingly gave it to you that first day. I love to make you happy. To be the loving husband you deserve. O'Hanlon women seem to have a powerful hold over their men."

Ellie smiled, "My loving man, I think our parents are proud of us. We truly complete each other." Jared beamed, his smile bright as he bent his head and continued his travels south.

He moved impatiently past Ellie's torso until he caught her scent again, leading him to her treasure. He loved that Ellie was shaved smooth. Jared extended his tongue as it ran down Ellie's warm hood. Delicately parting her lips, he focused on the tip of her clitoris. His lips puckered as they surrounded her womanhood. His mouth watered in expectation as he bathed his prize in a wet embrace. He suckled it as his tongue pressed and flicked across the hardening little shaft extending outward from her. Ellie arched her back as another climax overtook her. A shot of liquid jetted from her into Jared's mouth. Briefly caught off guard, he gratefully swallowed her treat, confirming that he was indeed, doing what she liked most.

Ellie tossed her head from side to side as Jared slowly slid the index finger of his right hand into her. She rocked her hips against his hand, and she could feel his finger curl against the wrinkled mound just inside her. His tender tapping of her 'G-Spot' coupled with the assault of his mouth as it ran the length of her labia on each side of her hood threw Ellie into orgasmic ecstasy. One after another, potent spasms exploded across her thighs and fired delirious lightning bolts up her spine. Ellie lost Control as her hips humped rhythmically against Jared's face, ever faster and with the sense of urgency for release building exponentially. Wave after wave crashed inside Ellie's body as her hands clutched her husband's head, and she forced his mouth tighter, sealing it against her sex.

Jared continued to selflessly focus on giving Ellie the most resounding orgasm he could. The two were locked in an exchange that had only one ending. Ellie mouthed to Jared, "Yes, more love, left, oh yes. Now over. Harder, flick it, suck it, press flat against the tip. Take me, Jared. Ahhhhhhh."

Ellie's hips thrust hard, Jared's face riding what was his as his only. Ellie's final orgasm was a tidal wave that she surrendered to, awash in utter delight. Eventually, the waves retreated, and Jared could sense she was entering the super-sensitized post-orgasmic afterglow. Her hips slowed, and her bottom rested finally against the bedspread beneath her.

"Jared Hansen, you are the quintessential, undisputable, oriental lick master from the far East," Ellie said with a little girl's squeal.

"Fucking 'A' Ellie. Don't you forget it, either. What did you think all those trips to Tibet were for?" he smirked.

Ellie exploded in laughter. "My loving man, you never fail to outdo yourself. "

Jare slid up Ellie's body, and his arms caught her legs and drew them upward. Ellie could feel the head of his cock slide perfectly between her wet lips. His shaft descended into her, and she accepted him as he filled her. Ellie did her kegels and squeezed him tightly. Jared had risen to this occasion once again. Ellie met his thrusts, and her hips rocked in unison to meet him each time he drove himself homeward into her. She tightened her core and drew her legs upward ever higher. Jared sensed her need and lifted each leg to his shoulders, pressing Ellie into a tight 'V.' With no resistance and fully exposed to his desire, Jared began an increasing tempo as he pounded his wife's sex with his own.

Their eyes locked as Jared drove harder. Ellie climaxed and announced, "Look in my eyes, Jare. Watch as you make me cum again." She arched, and her face turned scarlet as she cried out happily. As the wave subsided and began to build up to another crashing explosion, Jared withdrew suddenly and spun his wife around. His strength was surprising, and Ellie offered no resistance as Jared flipped her around. Ellie moved with the motion, pulling her knees up as they planted and settled into the bed sheets.