FLAG Today: When the Law is Above the Law
Chapter four: 1975
"Aldean! Aldean, darling, look this way! Marvelous! Now twirl and give me a big, happy smile…wonderful, wonderful! OK, now pout like one of the pigeons just shit all over your beautiful shoes, darling. Amazing!"
It went on like this for another half-hour as Aldean Sylvester, the youngest, hottest (yet coolest) and leggiest blonde American model posed in and around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. It was May and the humidity was rising along with the tides. Despite the sweat undermining her make-up, leggings, and underwear, she smiled on command and ignored the pinches the Italians around her gave her bottom every chance they could. They had started at 7 am that morning when it was still cool, but as the morning wore on the temperature and the crowds increased. At first the macchiato, strong and black, had gotten Aldean up to speed, but the strong shot of caffeine only added to her sweating later on. A little later they put out some bottled water which quickly warmed up, but when they moved on to pictures on the gondola, at about 10, there was well-chilled prosecco. By noon, when they finally had the cigarette boat ready for the shoot by the Lido, Aldean was smashed.
The photo shoot was to highlight the creations of some young, new designers. Most had sent mid- and senior-level staff with their creations, but only the Denislovan-American, Passionata Edinia had deigned to show up herself. The head of Passionata, Inc. was only two years older than Aldean, and had been a mannikin herself; voluptuous with reddish-brown hair cut into the latest Sassoon style, and large blue eyes. However, Passionata seemingly hadn't cared for the limelight, despite making a significant impression on the straight men around her. Her interests were in becoming successful in the fashion world and she was expending a great deal of energy to move past her position of a local, independent designer. Despite not being attached to a major fashion house, her avant-garde looks were finally gaining attention, especially in Italy and Germany. This layout for an international fashion magazine was a huge break for her and she was not going to let anything go wrong.
The choice of Aldean Sylvester to showcase the Passionata Collection for Winter, 1976 hadn't been her idea, but it was perfect; the blonde was spot-on for the vision she had and could change between youthful innocence to sensually provocative with a mere turn of her head, just like the clothes. Naturally, the two women had spent some time getting to know one another over the course of the two days they were in Venice and had spent dinner together the night before in an out of the way trattoria. Over calamari, chianti, and a shared cannoli, they formed a friendship out of their interest in fashion and surprisingly, politics.
Aldean, despite being a quintessential good ole southern girl, was gripped by the civil rights movement and had opposed the war in Viet Nam. Although she would have liked to announce her support of the Women's Movement, in her line of work that didn't go down too well, especially for someone only getting established. Passionata had no such issues to deal with. In fact, the more controversial she was, the better. Still, she didn't support causes just to look liberal and unnecessarily attention-grabbing. That would have violated her cardinal rule of protecting herself by keeping everyone around her a little off the mark, but she did support causes she believed in and having been born in Europe, she had a global interest in politics.
She also had that "international sophistication" that Aldean admired. Although it was still early in Passionata's career, she seemed to be able to at least suggest an elegant life-style and she knew a lot of the "important" people. The next day as Passionata was reviewing the proofs from the previous day's session, and keeping an eye on the competition's designs, Aldean noticed a youngish and well-dressed dark-haired man with her. He had a face that couldn't be called handsome; it was all angles with a pointy chin and sharply angled cheeks, yet there was something in his smoldering dark eyes that kept you from looking away. He and Passionata obviously knew each other and were flirting with each other in a casual way. Aldean had an intuitive feeling that this was someone else she should get to know.
Passionata introduced them to each other during a brief break in the photo-shoot, as more glasses of prosecco were handed out. His name was Bernardino Korva-something-or-other, and he was a rising politician in Denislova. Aldean didn't know much about the country, other than it was emerging from communist domination and it was her new friend's birthplace. For someone who had been raised in a communist-controlled country, Bernardino was quite well-dressed. Although he had removed his jacket and slung it over his shoulder in a casual way, the broadcloth shirt was well-tailored, the shoes and belt were of fine leather and the watch probably was a Rolex. Later, Passionata would tell her that Bernardino had a twelve-year-old son by the name of Baldor, but there was no mention of his mother. She never did explain how they had come to meet, but it was certainly clear that their relationship was intimate.
In fact, later that day when Bernardino and Passionata had stopped off in Switzerland on their way to their respective homes, they could be found cuddling in bed after some post-dinner love-making. As Bernardino nuzzled Passionata's silky hair, he praised her for introducing him to the young American.
"Even if she doesn't end up in an important position, she will still be useful. At the very least, she would be a good courier since she will do more and more traveling as she becomes better known as a model."
Passionata moved in even closer to Bernardino. "Last night she was talking about returning to the university and taking a law degree. She has interests in both legislating and in the courts. I think that although it would take time to become a useful asset to you, she should be encouraged, especially in a career that could carry her to Washington."
"Excellent idea, my dear. We have time. We can always get couriers. A member of the U.S. Congress or Senate, however, would be a golden prize. Too bad any direct gifts from my group would be noticed, but I'm sure we can work out a way for you to help her modelling career be more lucrative, while continuing to support her way out of the fashion industry and into law school and then onto a political path."
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When KITT had still been housed in an automobile body, he had always disliked it when Michael took him to the beach and stretched out on his hood, either wet from the ocean or sandy from the beach and always sweaty from the heat. While he had had an impressive array to sensors, he could neither smell the salt air nor enjoy the warmth of the sun. Most often he was annoyed at the sand that made its way into his cabin or the feel of Michael's suntan lotion on his hood. But now that he was much more like a human, with the electronics and programming to derive human-like emotional responses from his environment, he finally understood what Michael loved about the beach. He didn't need to swim to keep in shape; his titanium skeleton and micro-woven titanium "muscles" and "ligaments" did that for him. His shell had been constructed with a medium "six-pack" because he wanted it, not because he needed it. So getting into the water was a completely sensory experience for him and one he enjoyed totally. Body surfing or just enjoying the rise and fall of the waves, inhaling the clean salt air and feeling the silkiness of sandy bottom was exhilarating. When he would come back up to KELI, he would very carefully brush the sand off of his feet and place a dry towel on her hood, while he leaned back and enjoyed the sun warming his "skin". She seemed to be less perturbed by the environment than he had been, once upon a time. He supposed that Bonnie had made sure that his partner's programming had been adjusted for it.
As KITT leaned back on KELI's windshield, the breeze whipped his hair about a bit, flinging drops of water on her. She giggled, a sound he'd never heard from her before and a sound he himself had never uttered. In fact, he rarely laughed. He had always preferred to be the one to produce the laughter with his dry asides. It was a control issue, he supposed. But KELI's reaction told him that she was more than an updated version of himself; she was developing in her own direction and he was glad of that.
After a few minutes, KELI spoke; "KITT, while you've been enjoying the beach, I've been uploading and analyzing more background on Passionata Edinia."
"Yes?"
"I believe that she's known Koravalinkov longer than we first detected. Their families were familiar with each other in Denislova. Although Bernardino is thirteen years older than Ms. Edinia, he seems to have started grooming her very early on, from just before her family left the country. In fact, it seems to me, after looking closely of the details of their leaving, there was some behind-the-scenes assistance. By the time of their departure, Denislova was in a state of turmoil and within a few weeks it was controlled by a nascent oligarchy. The Edinia family obtained documentation and funds with little difficulty. I would say that they may have been placed in the United States for less than benign purposes."
"An interesting theory, KELI. It is possible that Passionata Edinia was groomed to be a sleeper agent. It would require a very long-played game, though. It can be difficult to control assets over decades and generations. But we do know that both Koravalnikovs are master players of the game. We will have to look more closely into contacts between Passionata and the men and whether Aldean Sylvester has more ties to them than we know about.