Chapter 268

JUST OUTSIDE A SMALL NORTHWESTERN TOWN

Nichols walked into Mr. Moreau's office and stopped before the giant desk, aware that another man sat on one of the couches. The wealthy man propped his feet on his desk, leaned back as he took a pull of his big cigar, and in a decidedly menacing voice, gave Nichols his orders. "Cofield has your identity worked out. You have forty-eight hours to memorize everything about the person whose identity you are assuming – and I mean everything. This is your chance. If you pull it off, I will reward you. I want this Hanes character dead. This should get you inside this hotel or whatever it is where this Matthews guy and his family are living and ... consequently get you within striking distance of Hanes. Do not fail in this. You know what happens to people who do."

Motioning, "Go with Cofield; he has everything you need. And Nichols..."

"Yes, Sir?"

"Do not let me down."

Nichols managed a worried, "Yes, Sir," before following the little, mostly-bald man out of Moreau's office.

An hour later, Nichols was back in his quarters studying both from his laptop and a stack of hard copy material. His new identity was that of a recently deceased teacher from a small town in Alaska. The town and everything in it was owned by Moreau. The teacher had died, presumably, from hitting the back of his head when he fell on icy steps, but the death had never been reported to authorities.

Nichols wondered if the man had really died from an accident, or if Moreau had him killed so they could more easily use his identity. The little man had told him he would be tested on the teacher's background material. Nichols made himself a pot of strong coffee and started his studies like his life depended on it.

The Retreat

"HELICOPTER PILOTED BY CAPTAIN REED APPROACHING FROM THE NORTH – PASSENGERS ARE KEI YOSHIDA AND HER HUSBAND, EDI. SECURITY HAS GIVEN REED PERMISSION TO LAND," the AI announced.

After thanking the AI, Jeff jogged down the hallway to the garage area and backed an Escalade out. As he turned toward the helipad, Reed was settling his craft onto the concrete. Jeff waited until the rotors stopped spinning before driving near. He keyed the remote to open the SUV's hatch, but left the engine running as he got out when Reed put the steps down and began to assist his passengers from the aircraft. As the Captain began moving their luggage to the Escalade, Jeff met the couple.

The Prime put out his hand as they approached. "Mr. Matthews," Edi said, very formally, stitching a bow, then shook Jeff's hand.

"Just Jeff," the Prime returned, matching the partial bow, then shaking Edi's hand. "Always just Jeff, remember?"

"Jeff," Edi repeated. "It is rare that a person such as yourself," he began, obviously frustrated and ill at ease.

"I've told him over and over that you do not stand on formality," Kei said, breaking in, then ignoring Jeff's outstretched hand, grabbed him in a hug. "Thank you sooo much for recommending me for the Midville job. We're having a wonderful time."

"And making some money also, I hope," Jeff said with a chuckle as they broke the hug.

"That too," she responded, her smile getting even bigger, if possible. "Mr. Tingle is a good man to work for, and he told me to take as much time as I needed to update your new acquisition here."

"All set," Reed called out as he closed the Escalade's hatch.

"Thank you, Captain," Jeff responded, turning to the pilot. "Won't you stay for a cup of coffee?"

Reed hesitated. "I really would love to, but may I have a rain check on that? I have another fare waiting in Denver, and my wife is on a flight that will last several hours. Thanks to Mr. Wainwright, our business is booming."

"Okay, I'll let you off this time if you and your pretty wife will eat supper with us in the near future, and of course, spend the night. No use your flying over these mountains in the dark unless you have to."

"Thanks, Jeff. We'll take you up on that."

With a wave, Reed hurried back to his aircraft.

Jeff ushered Kei and Edi into the pleasantly warmed up Escalade. He was aware that Edi had been staring, and rightly so, since Jeff was wearing only a short-sleeve tee shirt to go with his jeans. It was a beautiful day and the wind, for once, was barely blowing, but even so, the temperature was still only about ten degrees Fahrenheit. As the Prime dropped the SUV into gear, he casually said to Edi, "I, uh, have an unusual body chemistry. If I'm going to be outside for just a short while, I don't bother with a coat."

"I did not mean to stare," Edi responded.

"And you didn't," Jeff assured him with a smile. "Seeing a nut running around in a tee shirt as cold as it is up here would cause most anyone to take a second look."

In his peripheral vision, Jeff saw the blush on Edi's face. Kei had already told Jeff that her husband was more old world than she was.

As they entered the building proper, Jeff picked up a phone and paged Diana, telling her that their guests were here. He had barely gotten Kei, her husband and their luggage to their suite before Diana hurried up.

"Hey, Kei," the Queen said just before grabbing the young woman in a hug. A moment later, Di ignored Edi's outstretched hand to hug him, too.

Jeff noticed the blush creep up Edi's face and thought, Well, my young friend, at least she has on an exercise bra under her top, but Di doesn't bother to give fake hugs. You get a full frontal if she decides to hug you. The hug would have been a lot more intimate without the bra, though, and besides, you best get used to it. As easily as you blush, the women here are going to have a ball teasing you.

"Did you guys eat breakfast before you left?" Diana wanted to know as soon as the luggage was deposited in the couple's bedroom and everyone was back in the suite's sitting room.

"Well, we were in a hurry, so we just ate a croissant before we left for the airport," Kei responded.

"Oh, goodness. You'll dry up and blow away," the Queen responded. "We'll have to correct that." Snatching up the phone, she dialed. "Tell Nat, Nicki and Whitney I need them in the kitchen, please." Hanging up the phone, Diana grabbed Kei's hand, before turning back to Jeff. "Baby, you and Edi go do some man things while we get the food ready."

Kei finger waved to her husband as Diana hurried her out the door.

Jeff stood. "Come on, my friend. Let's go sit in the living room and get to know each other a bit better while we wait. How did you like Midville?" he continued as he ushered Edi out the door.

Kei and her husband had left their SUV in the Matthews' outside garage when they had flown to Midville on the helicopter. Late breakfast over for Kei and her husband, the four now sat in the living room. "I started your vehicle and let it run for a few minutes every few days so the battery would stay up," Jeff told them.

Kei smiled at the Prime. "Thanks. We appreciate it."

"There is one thing, though," Jeff said, wondering how to approach the subject before deciding to just go straight forward with the story. "Look, one of the previous owners of the ski lodge that we want you to enhance, well ... he's in jail now. He was, or is, the head of one of the larger crime families in the U.S. We had a little ... incident with another member of the family when we bought the lodge..."

"Incident?" Edi repeated with a frown.

"What kind of incident?" Kei injected.

"Well, he arrived with a security team comprised of, shall we say, three rather large men. One of my team was female, and well, one of his security decided to embarrass her by very openly putting his hand where he shouldn't. She took him out in just a few seconds, then after the signing was over, awakened him. He almost certainly had a broken instep, not to say anything about what she did to his ego. Oh, he had it coming, but I strongly suspect that Mazarella considers that he also lost face in the incident. One of his bullies got his rear handed to him on a platter – by a young female, no less. And ... I'm worried that the lodge might have a fire; oh a perfectly 'natural' accident, but still something that would allow Mr. Mazarella to regain face. So we now have round-the-clock security at the main lodge and its surrounding buildings, and you will have additional body guards while you two are there – just in case."

Kei sat with a frown on her pretty face, but not nearly as deep as the one on her husband's. "I do not like this," he emphatically stated. "Perhaps it would be better if I took the measurements and pictures alone..."

The two were sitting on a couch. Kei reached to put a hand on her husband's knee. "Not going to happen, my Husband. We will work together just as we always do."

Turning back to Jeff and Diana, Kei continued, "Edi majored in business, but has also studied interior decorating, so our educations mesh very well, indeed. As I have said before, many of the ideas in your school came from him."

"She gives me too much credit," Edi said, his face again flushing in embarrassment. "But I am concerned that she will be in danger..."

"My Security force will see that nothing happens to either of you," Jeff injected. "And please understand, this is just a precaution. Mazarella was very polite, even after Janette spanked his bullyboy, but he is reported to be part of a crime syndicate. Whether that is true or not, I don't know, but we're being safe. We have hidden cameras throughout the place, both inside and out. And ... there are already armed Security troopers hidden there watching 24/7. The two of you, please understand this: the watchers are not rent-a-cops. They are professional military personnel backed by the latest high tech. In addition, they are the elite of the elite. Nothing will happen to you two while you're there, no matter how long the updating of the lodge and area takes."

"I am still uncomfortable with this..." Edi started, but his wife cut him off.

"How soon can we go and inspect the lodge? I'm anxious to get started."

"We've converted the suite next to yours into a temporary office for you two," the Clan Queen interjected. "No use your driving back and forth to your office in Winter Park when the Retreat is much closer to the lodge. We know that you moved your desktop computer and your large screens to Midville, so we suspect you had rather work with a full size dual screen system, rather than just your laptop. With that in mind, we had a system installed for your use here. And, we also installed a top-of-the-line CAD program, should you need it."

"Thank you very much. That was very thoughtful. Mr. Tingle told us you were going to set us up with an office here, so I brought my software with me."

Smiling at her husband, Kei continued, "I told you they were super people to work with." Then back to Jeff and Diana. "Working here at the Retreat should greatly expedite things. We really appreciate it."

Edi spoke to Jeff. "Would it be possible for me to see the school my wife designed? I was out of town on business and I never got to see the finished work."

"Certainly," Diana said, then as she and Jeff stood, "Perhaps you two would like to inspect the school on your own. Jeff and I will be either here in the living room or the kitchen when you return. Take your time and enjoy the product of your talents."

After the couple had left, Diana motioned for her husband to sit, plopping down in his lap as soon as he did so. She reached under her top and shoved her bra above her breasts. Moving Jeff's hand under the top, she placed it onto a bare boob before continuing their conversation. "I'm going to give Alesha a call to see how it went when she turned in her notice. She was worried about how her boss would respond. Her best description of him was an irresponsible ass. Unless she's exaggerating, she's been doing most of the manager's work as well as her own."

Jeff gave a quiet chuckle as he teased a nipple. "He might have outsmarted himself. By forcing her to manage the lodge while also doing her job, she's learned to be a lodge manager as well as working the front desk. As we've talked about before, that should make managing our lodge a lot easier for her to learn."

"Yeah, I know," Diana worried, "but Alesha's past life has been a hard one, and I'm being charitable in my terminology. Her comments about her current manager lead me to believe he's a bit of a hothead. She doesn't need any more stress in her life. When I talked to her on the phone this morning, she was really worried about his reaction when she turned in her notice. Nonetheless, she doesn't want to leave this manager, even the asshole he apparently is, in the lurch. She asked me if I thought you would be upset if she gave three weeks' notice instead of two, so he would have ample time to hire her replacement and get the person trained before she left."

Jeff smiled at his wife. "And what did you tell her?"

Diana pushed her breast harder against her husband's hand. "I told her to do whatever she thought was right, and that you would not be upset no matter which route she chose."

Jeff smiled as he moved the top out of the way and captured a turgid nipple with his lips. "Oh, Jeff. That feels sooo good," his wife cooed as he began his job of relieving her of her milk.

Shortly after noon, the Alphas, wearing their new, all-weather fatigues, jogged single file behind Sergeant Higgins on the way to Security's range. To keep out the cold and allow the fatigues to do their job properly, they were all wearing battle helmets, but these remained inactivated, other than Art's, of course.

The path had been cleared enough for the troopers to get to the range without having to slog through deep snow, but it was far from being totally clear of snow and ice. Wainwright found one of those icy spots, much to his disgruntlement. His feet went out from under him, and he landed hard on his ass.

Fred, who was directly behind Frank, reached down to give him a hand. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Wainwright muttered, "only hurt my ass and my ego. But I didn't let my rifle hit the ground."

As Fred, standing on the same icy patch, gave a tug, he almost joined Wainwright, but managed to stay upright – barely. Laughing along with the others, and with a fading wet spot on his ass, Wainwright jogged on, but he had made a decision. Nobody else fell, and I should not have either. Been sitting on my ass too much. I've been working out fairly regularly, but a few minutes on the elliptical machine isn't the same thing as running over uneven ground. Back to the treadmill, then when I've built my endurance, I'm going to start running on the road. Time to quit talking about it and start doing.