A voice in the back said, “Yeah, but if we lose our funding, Drew, our activities will be dropping to a whole new level, right?” Others in the room were clearly thinking the same thing and several voices all chimed in saying so.
“Marsha? You and Les have obviously been considering something.” Drew looked at them and shook his head, smiling ruefully. “With Missy so busy at West Point, surely you’re not thinking she could somehow help in any way. Are you?”
Marsha looked at her husband and then back at Drew, with a wide grin on her face. “Actually, we were. Les and I have talked about this. We didn’t realize you’d need to demonstrate anything but, when we saw on the news last night about that kidnapping in Kabul? How those three German engineers who were helping repair those roads over there were now probably being held by the Taliban for ransom?”
Les said, “Supposedly, they’re somewhere in the Kunar Province, up in those Hindu Kush mountains, between Asadabad and Nuristan. That area was always a haven for al Qaeda and the Taliban, even before the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Now? Getting around would be impossible for anyone, except maybe someone like Missy. We were just talking about her … how she lived up in the mountains for those two years and everything.”
Drew studied the two of them. “So, the thought crossed your minds how maybe Missy might be capable of finding them. In those Hindu Kush mountains. This time of year, in the snow and freezing cold, when our military obviously can’t be doing that. Not without causing all kinds of problems.”
Marsha said, “Exactly! We were only talking about how she could do something like that. Recon. Then, once the location of the hostages was known, our military could go in and do the actual rescue. That, I’m sure they could manage. But, the search? Not likely … at least, not as you say, without problems.”
“We were only discussing it as a possibility. Something we knew she probably could do.” Les looked around the room at everyone. “We weren’t going to propose it. We merely were talking about her unique capabilities. But, if you thought a special recon like that might help? She does have a couple of weeks coming up. Her Christmas break starts next week, right?” He looked around the room again. Suddenly, there were a lot of eager faces looking back at him.
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Dec 22, 2018
Missy was in first class, so she didn’t need to wait long after landing. She was one of the first to get off the plane. She knew Mike was already there and sent him a mental message. I’m here, Mike. See you soon!
She could feel exactly where he was of course, so headed in his direction. No need to read any signs to know where baggage claim was. Not when she had her special bond with Mike and could feel exactly how far and in what direction he was. He and Robert had arrived from Boston two hours earlier and she’d been able to experience his being there all during her flight from New York. Robert Ulrey had called her two nights ago and asked if she and Mike could fly down to Washington D.C. They’d finally get to meet Drew Martinson. Interesting!
While it was fun being treated like a celebrity -- "P” Branch had not only arranged for her flight and the nice hotel room she and Mike were booked into for the night, but had even arranged for that limo which had brought her from West Point to the airport -- she suspected this meeting was probably not just for fun. No, they probably wanted something. Poor Mike! His presence had been absolutely necessary, according to the way Robert had explained this request for a meeting.
She indeed owed “P” Branch a debt for all the help they had provided her with and so refusing their request was not something she had even considered. And Mike, as always, was fully supporting her. She couldn’t wait to see him again! These past four weeks had gone by in a blur but no matter how busy she was, she always missed being with him. She was definitely looking forward to spending the night with him, later. First, they would be going directly to the meeting and then there was a special dinner afterwards. Drew would be there at the dinner, along with Robert and Les and Marsha. Maybe even a few others. Yep, the celebrity treatment.
“Hey, there’s my girl!” Mike rushed up and grabbed her as soon as she entered the baggage claim area. His arms crushed her up against his big, solid body and then he bent down and kissed her, claiming her. She so loved being claimed, too! Her body responded and she kissed him back, suddenly oblivious to everything around her. She was experiencing Mike, feeling his body pressed against hers and allowing his wonderful scent to be the only one she noticed. Soon, kissing him made her completely relax all her controls. Mike’s emotions had always resonated with hers, even before their unique mating bond had united them. So, her emotions now overwhelmed him, of course. After just a brief moment of mutual bliss, she quickly recovered, letting him tune back in as she regained her own controls and took a step back. They were in the middle of the airport, after all.
Robert came up and laughed at the two of them. “Hi, Missy. Glad to see how much the two of you are enjoying this reunion, but we probably should get going. Has your bag arrived yet?”
Missy turned and, while still holding one of Mike’s arms tightly and leaning up against him, she gave Robert a kiss on his cheek. Since she was wearing two inch heels, Robert didn’t have to lean forward that much for her to reach him. He was six feet and still presented a somewhat military appearance, in spite of it being twenty years since he’d been a Military Police officer in the Army. He kept his hair neatly cropped close to his head and it was now somewhat grey.
Mike was six-three, big and handsome, very masculine with a strong jaw. He had dark, thick, wavy hair. He had amazing blue eyes, something he shared with his twin sister, Michelle. He was a good athlete, with a real swimmer’s build: solid muscles but not a lot of bulk, broad shoulders, narrow waist, great abs, powerful legs. He had long arms with big hands. Missy could instantly get aroused and very wet, thinking about his hands and how it was experiencing them as he touched her. Of course, just as all her senses were enhanced, so was her libido.
Mike had been looking at the bags which were parading around the carousel and he recognized Missy’s right away. He knew she only had the one small bag, since she didn’t keep many of her civilian clothes with her at the academy. He’d picked her up there at Thanksgiving and later had driven her back. In addition to the Red Sox and New England Patriots stickers, her bag had one that said Go Army. He pointed it out to their driver, who added it to the other bags already sitting on a cart, and they all went out to the limo waiting for them.
As they rode to their meeting, Missy snuggled up to Mike. Robert was seated across from them and she asked him if they were in any kind of trouble. After all, she’d done a few things, back when she had no idea there was a “P” Branch or that any other supernaturals even existed. But, lately she’d been good. Right?
Robert laughed and assured her she was definitely in their good graces. “Relax, Missy. Drew is very excited to finally meet you. He’ll have several others on his staff there as well. I don’t want to say anything more but I do want you to know it’s okay to just say no. You don’t owe us anything. Your willingness to serve your country, going to West Point … that’s more than enough. We all do consider that as your first priority.”
Missy wasn’t fooled. Obviously, her “P” Branch buddies wanted her to volunteer for something and they needed her to say yes very badly. Since Robert was acknowledging West Point to be her first priority, she was partly relieved. But, she did feel an obligation and hoped she could accept whatever task it was they were probably going to ask her to do. Yeah, all this celebrity treatment was surely coming at a price.
They arrived at an ordinary looking office building, which wasn’t a surprise. Nor was all the security they had to go through upon entering. Then, Robert had them on an elevator and they went up to the seventh floor. There were at least twenty floors, so this was not near the top. Again, ordinary looking, appropriate for such a secret agency.
More security met them when they got off the elevator, but once th
rough that and through the two doors -- with some sort of sophisticated check in between those doors that Missy had no idea about -- they finally were escorted into a very nice conference room. There were a dozen people waiting there and everyone looked pleased to see them walk in. She recognized Les and Marsha but needed to be introduced to everyone else. Drew came forward right away and Robert introduced him.
He was a very nice looking man, quiet and easy going, with a warm pleasant demeanor. “Missy, it is indeed a great pleasure to finally meet you. And, to meet your boyfriend Mike, as well. You both are very special.” His manner made most people willing to readily share little tidbits of information. Missy wasn’t like most people and she waited to see how things would go.
She let Drew introduce her to everyone else, and knew she probably wouldn’t remember their names. But, she recorded each person’s individual scent and would always remember each of those. She never forgot a scent; her scent memories were stronger than her visual memories. There were five men and four women in addition to Drew, Les and Marsha.
Then, they all sat down and Drew quickly explained what the meeting was all about. He then turned it over to Les and Marsha. They even had slides, showing some aerial photos of the area of interest. Afghanistan. Wow! Recon. Was this something she could do for them?
Mike said, “I’ve heard about that area. Isn’t that where the Korengal Valley is located? The Valley of Death? They even made a movie about that Seal team … Lone Survivor, right? Operation Red Wings? Four guys went in for recon but then were attacked and only one guy lived. Plus, one of the helicopters sent to rescue them? It was shot down and all sixteen on board were killed in the crash. That was over ten years ago and I’m guessing things there are much worse now. But, you want Missy to go and recon that area?”
Marsha said, “Correct, Mike. You’ve summarized things quite well. This recon would indeed be impossible for any human. That’s why having Missy provide her reports, relayed through you of course, will be such a big deal. Even if she doesn’t locate those three Germans which have been kidnapped. Whatever info she is able to provide us will be really important. Especially since we now know so very little about who might be in that area, for all the reasons you’ve just stated.”
“There are dozens of villages, both in the valleys and carved into the mountain sides.” Les had been doing most of the briefing earlier and now he resumed. “This whole area has always been a safe haven for al Qaeda and the Taliban. And, these kidnappings … the Taliban have been collecting huge ransoms and this has become a cash cow for them. Countries like Germany have been paying exorbitant amounts. There’s a lot of debate about that, internationally, since those funds are then used to buy weapons that end up killing a lot of soldiers.”
Missy stood up and said. “Okay, I’m in. I get it. And, I’ll do it. I’ll let Mike speak for himself. But, if we can provide some good Intel, helping our guys go in there and root out some bad guys? Not stomp all over those Pashtun locals you’ve explained are living there but actually grab some terrorists and kidnappers? I can see how that will cascade on down and save a lot of lives. Whatever I can learn while exploring the region over several days might help. You said I can return in time for my classes at West Point in two weeks, right?”
“If you and Mike can agree to do this, Missy, we’ll really appreciate it.” Drew looked at her and then at the others in the room. “Not only will your Intel save some lives, but … as I explained at the beginning … you will be validating what all of us here at “P” Branch are doing as well. Showing the benefit of what a supernatural like yourself might contribute to this country will go a long way towards having our organization continue in what we do and being fully funded to do it.”
“Yeah, I see that too, guys,” said Missy. “I’ll give you all this info which you can say a little birdie told you and then, when they learn the info is good info … more birdseed for the birdie, right?” Everyone laughed and seemed very pleased at how well Missy was accepting everything. They glanced at Mike and could see he was in. The way he looked at Missy, there was no doubt about how completely he would always be supporting her.
“What kind of wildlife and game will there be for Missy to eat?” asked Mike. “She loves deer, of course, but I suppose she can manage with sheep and goats?” This brought more laughter and assurances that indeed there were plenty of wild sheep and goats.
“Tell me again how that GPS collar will work,” said Missy. “I think you explained these are the same collars that the Wildlife Conservation Society has been tagging snow leopards over there with, right? You’ll be getting GPS coordinates for me every couple of minutes, so whenever I give Mike any report you’ll know exactly where I am. I can see how that will be helpful.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to downplay how risky this is for you, Missy.” Drew looked at her and his tone was very serious. “If someone does manage to shoot and kill you, in spite of all the endangered species laws … your dead body will appear to be just another cat, with its GPS collar from the WCS. We’ll of course try to claim your body but I don’t want to mislead you.”
“Yes, I got that part of the briefing, Drew.” Missy looked at Mike. “Plausible deniability. There won’t be any evidence the U.S. Government was doing anything and the only effort would be that which the WCS would typically perform to recover any carcass fitted with one of their collars. I’ll just have to avoid getting killed. When do we go?”
Les said, “There’s a military flight leaving for Kabul tomorrow. With the nine and a half hour time difference and the fifteen or so hours for the flight to get there, you’ll arrive a whole day later. Marsha and I will be setting up there, with Mike of course. Kabul is a hundred and fifteen miles away from Asadabad, if you draw a straight line on the map, but of course it’s much further when you drive over the roads. First you go east to Jalalabad and then north to Asadabad. We figure we’ll let you go in somewhere between Jalalabad and Asadabad and you can work your way west from there.”
Mike said, “So, if she goes in that first night on the day we arrive there, that’ll be Christmas Eve. Then, Christmas will be day one. Ten full days to recon and then she comes out on day eleven. Then, we all fly home on day twelve, so we’ll be back here two weeks from today. Just in time for her to go back to the academy the day after that.”
Missy was looking at the map that was displayed and noting the location for each of the cities Les had mentioned. “I guess I’ll be between a hundred and a hundred and fifty miles from Mike, as I explore these mountains. That shouldn’t be a problem for us … it’s much further from West Point to the Boston area and he always gets my messages just fine. We haven’t yet determined what our limits might be.” No boundaries, Mike, right? She began blushing like crazy after sending him that message. It was a private joke … when she first had allowed him to take some sexual liberties, going beyond first base with her? She’d told him she’d be telling him where to stop … but, he was still waiting to find out where those boundaries might be.
Drew asked, “What about the high elevation of those mountain peaks? Those can go well above twelve thousand feet, twice what you’ve experienced in the White Mountains over here. How will you know if Mike is even getting your messages? It’s all one way, right?”
Missy laughed and explained, “No, that’s not right. While the messages only go one way, me to Mike, I actually experience his emotions when he gets those messages. Other times, too. I can always feel him … he’s now as much a part of me as any of my other parts. If he wasn’t getting my messages? I’d know. I’d feel what he was feeling, which would probably not be very happy.” She looked at Mike and giggled.
Robert had been quietly sitting there and hadn’t spoken since he’d first introduced her to the group. Now he said, “Maybe the briefing notes about Missy and Mike that we shared with everyone here were not complete. We didn’t exactly explain that part … about their mysterious bond. It’s quite unique, of course …” He looked
at Missy and then at Mike. “While Mike’s not really a supernatural, they do have this connection … umm … we think maybe because Missy is more than just a werecat.” Again he looked at Missy, hoping for some help.
Missy laughed and, when she saw how Mike now was blushing, she laughed even harder. “People, it’s because I’m a witch! Surely that’s in those briefing notes, too, right?” She knew they all were aware of her additional powers, both for healing and for using energy. “I can use energy. And, I’m still getting stronger and stronger. Plus, now I can control my energy pulses … let me demonstrate!”
Suddenly, her eyes began to really glow, changing from green to gold. She focused, going to one of the many places in her mind … special compartments where she’d learned she could go. And, using her will, she pushed. Just a little, but suddenly everyone in the room was experiencing her energy. Instead of the momentary pulses that she’d always sent out before, which Robert and Les and Marsha had felt and no doubt had reported about, this time her energy was something they each could feel as a steady pressure all around them. And, it gradually grew, increasing in force but then it began cycling, decreasing and increasing again. This continued for more than a minute; then, the pulsating stopped completely.
“There! My friend Tracy has been helping me with that … I wanted to show you how well I’ve learned to control my energy by giving you these gentle caresses. You’ll notice I didn’t blow out all the windows … I definitely can do that now by sending my energy out in one really big blast all at once. But, I’m not finished yet …”
Before anyone could say anything, Missy pointed to an empty water glass several feet away and about halfway down the conference table. When each person was looking to see what she was pointing at, she crushed the glass. It completely disintegrated, but without any shards of glass flying outward. Instead, it merely was ground into tiny pieces which formed a small mound, just as though someone had poured some sand out onto that spot. Only, this sand was all that remained of the water glass.
Missy's First Mission Page 4
