The discussion about the latest crisis had been going on for forty minutes. Deputy Secretary of State Ted Hanson, as usual, was highly critical of everything that had happened. Summing up, he said to the Secretary of Homeland Security, “So your man Pritchard couldn’t just have our task force watch everyone? Instead, he had his investigators go out like bulls in a china shop and interrogate members of that mosque in Philly? No doubt that’s why their cell leader Parvis wanted to clear out of that warehouse … he knew his operation had been compromised.”
The Homeland Security Secretary said, “We don’t know yet why they were moving all their explosives. And, we couldn’t allow them to just drive off in that truck. The risk was too great. If they managed to evade our surveillance, not only would all the evidence proving these guys were terrorists be gone but they’d be using those explosives somewhere else. Unacceptable.”
“But that’s exactly what those New York based terrorists will now be doing!” Hanson sputtered. “When those “P” Branch witches go looking for them, all they’ll find will be an empty warehouse!” He looked over at Drew who had already explained Robert Ulrey had his team heading to Newark Airport. However, if indeed the search only turned up vacant facilities, Drew wasn’t optimistic they’d have any way of finding where the terrorists might have gone. The objects from Afghanistan, when combined, might lead to where the terrorists had been. However, they simply wouldn’t provide strong enough energy signals to track any individuals after that.
Congressman Barrows said, “I may have come to this party a little late. Tell me again why we have witches finding terrorists? I’ll concede it looks as though these witches may have been right, from all the evidence we now have obtained, but I can understand why Pritchard wanted more to go on. I mean, until his guys saw that truck being loaded, there wasn’t any hard evidence at all. I have every confidence in our police and FBI investigators. They’ll find these terrorists using tried and true proven procedures. I’d rather rely on them and all the high technology they’re using than hope we’ll get any more lucky guesses from the Land of Oz.”
“I disagree,” said Hanson. “And, this was far from any lucky guesses. The problem is we’re keeping everything about these witches much too secret. Hell, half the people in this room still have no clue what miracles these supernaturals are capable of.”
Charles Winword from the CIA laughed. “Ted, you’re the one always saying we can’t let the rest of the world know any details about our witches. And, now you’re complaining about too much secrecy?”
“I’m not asking to share secrets with the rest of the world. But, those of us gathered right here ought to know a lot more than what we’ve been told.” Hanson looked over at Drew and asked, “For example, what’s your angel of death been doing in all this? How come I haven’t heard anything about him yet?”
Drew looked around the room and grimaced. “For those wondering who Ted is referring to, we have a special asset who not only rescued those three Germans from the Taliban back in January but this asset also managed to locate that new base they had over there.”
Hanson grumbled, “See what I mean? Drew always calls his guy a special asset but never really explains how this witch manages to do what he does. We all realize that new base was subsequently destroyed during Campaign Angel’s Wing. And this witch somehow helped with that, right?” He looked around the room at the others to see how many were seeing his point.
Drew smiled at Hanson. “Yes, our asset actively participated in the combat operations over there. Her assistance made a huge difference and helped with the success of that campaign. However, we’re not here to review any details of what she did then. Or, to discuss her role in rescuing Candace Axtell, which some folks in this room are probably not aware of.”
“Wow! Wait a minute! Your guy is a woman?” Hanson blurted. Then he laughed. “Of course! No wonder those Germans called her an angel. Next you’ll be telling me she’s young and beautiful, right?”
The Defense Secretary looked at Drew and then looked around the room. “I’ve met the young lady, actually. And, I don’t see how we can keep having her help us without letting the others in this group know a bit more about her. Maybe Ted is right about our keeping too many secrets from ourselves. But, her identity as well as her abilities must continue being guarded. This is about one of our Nation’s highest priority weapons systems. Does everyone in this room understand that?”
Drew watched as the others all acknowledged what the Defense Secretary was getting at. Then he said, “Getting back to Ted’s original question, our special asset was actually right there, at the scene in Chicago, when all the arrests were made. She eventually confirmed every member of the Chicago cell has indeed been apprehended.”
“What about at Philly? Was she there as well?”
“Yes, she was there earlier. She’s the one who confirmed the explosives and suicide vests were in that warehouse. Once Robert Ulrey’s finder witches succeeded in locating the warehouse, we had her go inside. She described what was in there, who was in there and who was not in there. There are four Philly cell members who were not there and were not placed under initial surveillance. It’s yet to be determined whether or not they now might be in custody. If we’re lucky, perhaps they’ll have joined the cell in New York City.”
Barrows said, “You’re going much too fast, Drew. You need to explain some of these things. You’re saying your angel witch was in there with the terrorists? And, she can describe members who were not in there?”
The Homeland Security Secretary said, “I remember all that reconnaissance she did concerning that Taliban base. She was inside there as well. Can she somehow make herself invisible?”
Drew looked at the Defense Secretary and Charles Winword, who both had met Missy and had read her file. But, he hadn’t had a chance yet to update them about her new ability. “There are a great many supernatural powers and abilities which this special asset possesses, and yes … that’s one of them. She can be invisible. She also can recognize and identify every person’s unique scent. That’s how she knows four members in Philly have not yet been accounted for.”
There were a few moments of complete silence as the others processed what Drew had just explained. Then, several voices all spoke at once, most exclaiming shock and disbelief. Someone asked, “Can’t you send her back to Philly so she can track down whoever is missing?”
“That’s one of the actions we have planned, yes.” Drew then went on to outline what “P” Branch was hoping could be done. “Robert Ulrey will use the New York objects sent back from Afghanistan to hopefully have his finder witches locate the facilities which the third terrorist cell has been using. As Ted mentioned, we are expecting to find those facilities vacant. However, they’ll have left their scents behind and our special asset can go in and identify those. Think of this as though we were gathering fingerprints with our high tech devices. She can later match up each person’s scent to the actual individual once we find them.
“If we get lucky, one or more of our missing terrorists from Philly might be with them. If so, we’ll next have her visit and examine the home of every known associate for this Philly group. Assuming the person now in New York did live in Philly and she finds their home? We then can provide our finder witches with an object from there, owned by this individual, which they can use to track that person down in New York.
“Once that person is located, our special asset can determine if the other cell members are also nearby. We believe this plan provides our best hope for containing this third cell. These people are very knowledgeable about all the high tech methods which we have, due to what was recently leaked by the traitor from Homeland Security. However, they won’t know about our witches.”
There was some more discussion and Drew was asked several questions about this plan which his agency had come up with. Someone referred to it as a “witch-tech” plan rather than a high tech plan and many started calling it that afterwards. When the
meeting ended, everyone was well aware there were no guarantees but there was some optimism. Maybe their witch-tech plan might yet save the day.
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Arvind Pancholi had insisted on meeting face to face with Felipe Benedict prior to depositing what amounted to half his entire life’s savings in the traitor’s bank account. It had not been easy to convert all his various assets into cash, but -- having known he’d eventually want to do so at some point -- it hadn’t been all that difficult either. He’d carefully made all his investments over the years so cashing them out, when the time came, would be manageable.
But he needed to be certain Benedict would be delivering everything he’d promised concerning this Cancun Cancan Girl and the FBI’s psychic. His ability as a water witch to know when a person was telling the truth or lying could only be used when that person was actually in his presence. Once he assured himself Benedict fully intended to provide everything they’d agreed upon, arrangements for payment would then be completed.
“Your files on these two individuals are complete and accurate? There can’t be any mix-up or mistaken identity … if this information turns out to be false, I guarantee you’ll regret it.” Pancholi had never needed to carry out any of his threats but, had it been necessary, he’d always been fully prepared to do so. Early in his career, he’d considered working as an assassin rather than as a spy. His ability to control all the fluids inside anyone within a hundred feet gave him several ways to kill them. Or, to torture them, should that be called for.
But, he’d left such acts of violence far behind when he’d left India. Violence begat violence and he much preferred his chosen role, quietly manipulating from behind the scenes rather than exposing himself. He was careful and his risks were minimal. He was not one who thrived on the adrenalin rush associated with higher risk actions. No, he was quite content to merely live as he’d been living, saving his money gradually for the future. And, his future had now arrived.
Benedict said, “Your client will be more than satisfied with the dossiers I’ve put together. Especially the one on the girl. She has quite an amazing history but what she’s doing now is even more amazing.”
Pancholi nodded; if she was a supernatural, as he suspected, then indeed it was likely there would be some very incredible things in those files. “My client is insisting on exclusivity. If you should sell this information to anyone else?”
“I understand. And, I assure you, these files will never be provided to anyone else. Of course, if your client doesn’t agree to purchase them, I will then find another buyer. I’m offering them to you with first refusal because of our past relationship and because your client is probably the one most interested. Because of that whole Candace Axtell business.”
“Okay, I’m having your payment sent now. When your bank confirms the funds have arrived, which should only take a few minutes, I’ll want the link to your encrypted files delivered to this email address. And, of course, I’ll want you to provide me the access code before you leave this table and we go our separate ways.”
Thirty minutes later, after downloading and decoding the files back in his room, Pancholi began reading all about Oliver Bessom and Missy McCrea. He was not disappointed with what he’d invested so heavily to obtain. No, quite the contrary. The U.S. government was obviously using supernaturals and he was confident WIJO would be willing to pay a great deal for what he could now provide them.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Nov 23, 2019
Missy enjoyed the flight to Tallahassee which she and her soccer team were on. They’d boarded their bus at oh-dark-thirty that morning back at the academy, had departed JFK at a little after ten and then had changed planes in Charlotte, NC. That layover had been only an hour and they now were about to land a little before three. This would allow them plenty of time to get to the stadium and warm up before their game at six.
Barbara Rozak had been in the seat next to her on both flights and had been talking non-stop, except for when they’d both been eating their snack-lunches, which they’d brought with them. The whole team was amped up which Missy thought was good. She had managed to shed much of her excess energy over the past twenty-four hours and was now only amped up by a normal amount.
Momentarily, she tuned Barbara out and reflected on the various events which had occurred over the past few days. That led to thinking about what everyone was doing right then. Could they prevent any suicide bombings from happening at the Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City, now only a few days away?
Robert and the others had flown to New Jersey the day before, direct from Chicago, except for Mike who had flown to Florida so he’d be there for her game. By the time Millie and Oliver had sifted through all the items waiting at Newark Airport which Team Twenty-Two had sent back from Afghanistan, it had been too dark to go searching in any helicopter. So, that effort had been postponed until today. They’d needed to get a good night’s sleep anyway before attempting to locate wherever that third terrorist cell might be or may have been. No one believed any explosives would still be there. If the search was successful, she’d be joining them tomorrow to go check out the facilities and memorize all the scents from those who’d been there recently.
But, for Missy, all that was for yet another day and sufficient unto the day were the problems thereof! Thus, she put those thoughts out of her mind and tuned back into what Barbara was telling her. She began focusing on their big soccer game coming up and on her fellow teammates. What had Barbara just been saying? If they could win this one, they then would be in the Final Four. Otherwise, their season was over. Yes, but either way, she knew everyone at the academy would be proud of what they’d accomplished that year.
Since she’d been able to re-connect with Mike, she once again was feeling whole and happy. His location had come within her five-hundred mile radius right before her landing at Charlotte and her distance from him had been shrinking ever since. Her cat nature, which never worried about anything, was purring inside with content. This, of course, grounded her human nature and enabled her to truly enjoy the moment. She would go out on the field at the soccer stadium and play her very best and then she’d spend the night with Mike. Life for Missy the girl was very, very good.
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Millie looked at the others and sadly shook her head. “We’re sorry, but we just can’t do any better than this. The general areas we showed you are the best we can do. We can’t identify any particular buildings or suggest which of those places might be better than any of the others. The signals are there but they’re not concentrated like in Philly and Chicago.”
They had all returned from flying over several buildings all scattered around Brooklyn. Wes and Chris had taken them out over these areas three different times. They were now seated around a conference table reviewing everything with “P” Branch. None of the other agencies were being conferenced in, however. Major Schermerhorn had downloaded their photos which were being projected onto a screen at the end of the room. One by one, they’d been looking at them all yet again.
“Hey, if Missy only checks for those four missing guys from Philly? She can probably get through these areas in a few hours, right? In her spirit form?” Oliver was just as disappointed as Millie but there was only so much they could do.
Robert said, “There will be several hundred different scents in those buildings … maybe even thousands. We were hoping to pin down the location for her. Hell, we don’t even know if those missing guys will actually have come up here.”
“And, if she doesn’t sense any of those four guys or find any explosives down there, we really won’t have any other way to track down where this cell may have gone off to.” Major Schermerhorn was not optimistic. “It looks like we’ll have to rely on surveillance during the parade. Hopefully, that might find these guys before it’s too late.”
Drew said, “Well, you’ve at least narrowed the search area down somewhat. I suppose that’s better than asking her to search the entire ci
ty, with millions and millions of scents for her to examine. I’ll let the Secretary of Defense know where we stand.”
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Kristen Cassalia could see what the other team was doing but there was nothing she could do about it. In all her years of coaching, she never before had witnessed a team employing keep-away tactics to the extent Florida State was doing so today. They obviously had watched game films and had realized the only way to prevent Missy McCrea from dominating things for West Point’s offense, thus greatly reducing the time their own offense would have to work, was to do everything they possibly could to keep the ball in play on the opposite side of the field, away from Missy.
Kristen had just sent her team back out there after giving them her usual half-time pep talk. They’d all been complaining and they had thoroughly discussed this keep-away issue during the first half. The game had been very exciting up to now and the score was tied two-two. But, in spite of all her players now knowing what the other team was managing to do, they really didn’t have any good strategy for how to deal with that.
Missy played left forward and Barbara played right forward, although these positions were very fluid and they often mixed things up. Still, they were the two primary strikers and the West Point offense was built around how the two of them would interact throughout the game.
Today, it didn’t matter that Missy was tireless and could cover half the field. She wasn’t over on the opposite side of the field and, whenever FSU had the ball, that’s where they’d kept it. Doing so had resulted in much longer times of possession for their offense and, as the game played on, that was making a difference. This difference was likely to continue since they were very much a championship team and were taking excellent advantage of those longer times of possession.
Missy Makes Mayhem (Missy the Werecat Book 5) Page 27
