Chapter 7

A new day dawned, cool and damp, as spring continued its slow edge toward summer. A light shower fell on the courtyard as Erin sat in her suite preparing to face the day. Freshly showered and blow-dried, she reviewed the revelations of yesterday afternoon. Emory hadn’t really held much back, though he continued in his annoying habit of making her tease the information she wanted out of him. The fact that Emory knew it irritated her, and did it anyway, brought a slight smile to her lips. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate all that he had done, and she had to admit that once she got him talking it was always ‘educational’, but still, his whole manner toward her was one of gently urging her to think things out on her own.

After a slight knock, the door to her suite opened to reveal Jenny and Anna and announced the end of her current reverie and the start of another day as the crown princess. Jenny strode in and started the morning briefing, while Anna puttered about straightening things and generally pulling the loose threads of her existence into order. It never ceased to amaze Erin how Anna could with a simple tug pull so many loose things into order, it was almost as if by magic ... Jenny was clearly the one in charge of her staff, and as her majordomo, she ran a pretty tight and efficient ship. Anna was the creative part of her team. Always the quiet one, Anna was clearly a thinker, and she saw things that others either failed to see, or saw them in a light that just never occurred to others to look for. Either way, Anna was one of her most trusted advisors and clearly one of her closest confidants as well.

When Erin took a moment to think about it, she was surrounded by loyal people who did all they could to both advise and protect her, as well as to try to ease the transition of a nineteen-year-old woman from clueless college student to crown princess of the fairy. Not that it was all roses and chocolates, but at least Erin no longer fought it outright. If she were totally honest with herself, she would have to admit that it wasn’t a bad gig.

“Listen, ladies,” Erin said when Jenny paused in her morning brief, “I feel the need for a little ‘retail therapy’ today! Is there any chance we could hit Nordstrom sometime today?”

Smiling in a conspiratorial way, Jenny said, “Why, your highness, what could you possibly mean? I mean, my goodness, you have every shoe known to man already!”

This was a running joke between Jenny and Erin. Jenny was always practically dressed, usually in slacks and flats that were, well, practical. Erin was, and most likely always would be, a ‘girlie girl’. She preferred dresses and heels and all the finery that she could lay her hands on. It was not that Erin was becoming an airhead, not at all, but if she had a choice, she wanted to dress and look like the princess she was becoming.

“Heck, if I have to be a princess, shouldn’t I look the part?” Erin asked with a grin.

“Of course, your highness, pray forgive me for not realizing the importance of your quest. We are but humble servants, and we await your command.” With that, Jenny and Anna both sketched perfect court curtsies before falling onto the bed in laughter. Erin quickly joined them in the laughter, and the mood brightened considerably as a result.

“Erin, let me consult your detail on a suitable plan of attack. Nordstrom won’t know what hit them after we’re through.” Chuckling to herself as she left, Jenny made her way down to the lower level Operations Center, where Laurel was stationed as her head of detail.

“Doesn’t she already own all the shoes known to humankind?” snorted Laurel when Jenny filled her in on the rough plan. Waving her hands in resignation, Laurel nodded and said, “I know, I know. Come up with a plan that will survive first contact. God, I hate shopping!” Jenny merely laughed and exited the room.

In short order, all the members of the security detail were in the Operations Center, leaving Jenny to monitor the perimeter. Laurel went over the ops plan for the trip.

“It’s another shopping op”, said Laurel, to general grumbling from the detail. “I know, I know, she has to have bought one of everything by now, but... “What’s that famous quote, ‘Ours not to reason why... “‘. This was met with general laughter all round. “Well, let’s try to keep it from becoming a clusterfuck, okay?”

Both of the SUV’s swung onto the main boulevard that surrounded their neighborhood. The lead vehicle had Hannah at the wheel, with Kundry as backup. Anna rode in the back seat, lost in her own little world as she shuffled through a report she was immersed in. The second vehicle had Laurel at the wheel, with Debi as the backup. In the back seat were Erin and Jenny, who talked about simple things such as the weather and the plans for the trip south in general terms.

“Echo Two, Echo One: ETA for Nordstrom is fifteen minutes.” Said Laurel into her throat microphone. A short burst of static from the other vehicle indicated acknowledgement of the update.

Once they pulled up in the loading dock behind Nordstrom, Hannah and Kundry were left to watch the vehicles and be ready to move if called upon. Erin was a regular at the flagship Nordstrom store, and entrance via the loading dock had been arranged long ago. This allowed the SUV’s to remain on station, and allowed her to avoid the public entrance. If nothing else, Nordstrom was famous for catering to its customers, and this was one customer they wanted to keep extremely happy.

Linda, her personal shopper from Nordstrom, was waiting when Erin and party emerged from the employee entrance and into the women’s shoes department. Linda had a long-standing relationship with Erin and knew what her tastes were and sizes by heart. The two settled into ‘ubershopper’ mode, and the remainder of the detail fanned out to form a perimeter. To the untrained eye, they all appeared to be shopping. To the trained eye, they had settled into the best positions to maintain security and provide covering fire if needed. Since all of them knew this store’s layout like the back of their hands, they also had all the exits mapped out, just in case. Only Anna followed in Erin and Linda’s wake, and she still seemed intent on whatever she had been worrying over on the trip in.