Missy's Operation Lily Pad (Missy the Werecat Book 6)

by P. G. Allison

  But, he now credited Tracy for changing his views. She, along with all the other “Quigby girls” she’d organized to help him, had really made a difference. He would not be making it through this extremely difficult plebe year without them. Of course, his brother had also now changed his views as well, largely due to Tracy’s roommate Missy. He and Ron had both argued with their dad, pointing out how many women could indeed meet all the academy standards, often exceeding them by great margins. They’d earned the right to serve as officers in whatever capacity they might choose.

  “Thanks, Cadet McGonagle.” He addressed her formally in spite of being in her room where being less formal was allowed. Her door was open, as required by protocol. He’d made it a habit to always speak to any upperclass cadet this way, no matter what the circumstances.

  Tracy said, “If you hurry, you might get to watch the end of the Rifle Team’s competition. I bet your girlfriend Emily will be making our team proud and I know you’ll enjoy seeing that.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend,” protested Donald sheepishly. Of course, he actually did have a huge crush on Emily Robinson and couldn’t help blushing. What had started out as mischievous matchmaking by those Quigby girls had in fact been welcomed by them both. He and Emily had found they really did enjoy each other’s company and had continued to build on that; they now really were in a relationship although there was never enough time to do much about it. They still hadn’t even kissed. Plebe life was such that opportunities for such things simply didn’t happen, unless there was a lot of careful work and planning.

  Tracy laughed, fully aware of his discomfort. “She’s not? Okay, well then … I’ll be sure to alert the media. Newscast at eleven.”

  Donald smiled and shook his head. He was used to her jokes and said, “I guess I could go over there, of course. Nothing better on a Sunday afternoon than watching my classmates compete out on the rifle range.” His earlier plan to do that without it being noticed by the Quigby girls had obviously failed but he still did want to watch Emily compete. He wanted to be there for her no matter how well she did.

  Tracy watched as Donald hurried out. While not the most gifted academically, there was no one who worked harder or was more determined to do well. Some of that, of course, was due to always competing with his older brother, who seemed to have a much easier time with his subjects. But, Donald had many admirable qualities and she was growing very fond of him. She hoped he and Emily continued to hit it off. They made a nice couple.

  She headed over to Cullum Hall where she suspected she’d find some of her friends gathered and, as she entered the building, she noticed energy from another witch. She could feel it wasn’t from Missy, who she knew was in New Jersey anyway, and quickly guessed it was from Sally’s boyfriend Troy Dangelmeyer. Sure enough, she found the two of them sitting with her friends. Sally obviously was showing him off and looked radiant, happier than ever.

  Tony and Marcus were there, with their girlfriends Cassie and Chandra. Both girls attended the same college in New York City and managed to visit most weekends now. Gary and Kelly were there as were Mitch and Kelsey. Kelsey was looking almost as radiant as Sally, since the conversation was about the big win for Army’s football team the day before; Mitch Cooper was the team’s star running back and his performance had been key in their victory.

  Everyone greeted Tracy and she joined in with their conversation. It was late in the afternoon and there wasn’t much time left until visitors would have to leave and the cadets would all need to get busy with their various duty assignments. Then, of course, there’d be their studies. Cadet life was mostly hard work of some sort with few windows of opportunity for relaxing like this. But, the satisfaction in what they were accomplishing, striving towards their goals and overcoming all obstacles along the way was very rewarding.

  Sally made a point of pulling Tracy aside, after about ten minutes had passed, and quietly asked her, “What have you and Missy heard about searching for any more terrorists up in Boston? Troy tells me Robert Ulrey has him on standby, along with a few more of the Psychic Division witches, but other than that, he doesn’t really know too much.” She knew her witch classmates had connections to those government officials in high places which she and Troy hadn’t wanted to ask about earlier.

  “Nothing much, really, other than that’s where the Turkey Day task force is now. As you know, Robert’s team is part of that task force.” Tracy shrugged her shoulders. “The FBI is still interrogating everyone they arrested but so far that’s all they’ve learned. Boston is where there might be more bad guys. Try not to worry, though. Everything possible is being done to find them and stop them before they can do anything.”

  -----

  Missy and Sharon were enjoying their bus ride back to the academy. They’d won their game and it looked like this year their women’s basketball team would be doing even better than it had the previous year. While a couple good players from the year before had graduated, the improvement by the remaining players this year was more than making up for that loss. And, the new plebe year players were showing a lot of promise.

  Their coach, Irina Borovsky, was still congratulating each of the girls, gradually working her way down the aisle in the center of the bus. She stopped near them and said, “Nice teamwork, you two. And, Missy? Those jump shots of yours? Let’s see more of them, okay?” Missy had scored four times from beyond the three-point line and those twelve points had definitely helped assure their victory.

  Missy played guard and always managed to draw lots of fouls due to her aggressive yet skillful play. Since she almost never missed her foul shots, that typically racked up several points for her team in every game. Today she’d ended up scoring twenty-seven points total while Sharon, who played forward, had scored thirty-one. Their teammates had started calling them the Dynamic Duo after some of their earlier games and in today’s game, they had more than earned that title.

  After Coach Borovsky moved further down the aisle, Sharon turned to Missy and said, “Hey, Ginger tells me she’s really worried about her sister. I think that’s why she didn’t play as well as usual today.” Ginger Gettmann also played forward on their team and was in the year ahead of them.

  She had been the one who’d warned about the Caesar Club, the secret sex club which Missy had ended up exposing the year before. While most at the academy considered Missy a hero, there were a number of guys who greatly resented her for how that had turned out, with many of their friends forced to resign. Missy, of course, felt indebted to Ginger.

  “What’s happening with her sister?”

  “Well, she’s been trying to break up with her boyfriend but that hasn’t been going very well.” Sharon grimaced. “Up until Thanksgiving, she thought she’d truly found ‘the one’, you know? Smart, handsome, star on their college football team, lots of money which he freely spent taking her places and buying her presents. Perfect.”

  “So, why breakup with him? I know there’s more you’re not telling me yet.” Missy was patient, but Sharon seemed reluctant to divulge the whole story.

  “Ginger’s sister Bridget is just starting college this year and really wasn’t prepared for how this guy swept her off her feet. She was blinded by all the attention. At first it was all fabulous fun. Then? She learned he’s not merely related to some pretty big criminals but is actually working for them. Gambling, loan sharking, enforcing … he’s bad news. Right there at their university. Really bad news. She knows she was such an idiot for not seeing it at first and for ignoring stuff. But, now she’s telling him to leave her alone and he’s saying, sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”

  Missy said, “Let me guess. She already started sleeping with him, right?”

  “Yeah. Ginger says he wasn’t her very first but, well … Bridget is rather inexperienced. Now she realizes she’s in way over her head. The guy is insisting she continue putting out for him. And, get this. If she dares talk about any of his extra curricula activities? While
he hasn’t said exactly what he’ll do, his warning has been very clear. She doesn’t want to know what will happen to her. It won’t be pretty.”

  “Okay,” said Missy. “Ginger and Bridget are from Connecticut, right? So, where does this guy come from? Give me a name and I’ll tell my friend Alice. Bridget can become one more of her Roseanne girls. Problem solved, right?”

  Sharon nodded her head. She’d known Missy would probably say that. “Well, maybe. Only, here’s the thing. That mob family this guy is part of? His uncle is Raymond Morelli. Thanks to you educating me all about the New York mob families, I recognized him right away. I’m sure he’s one of the ones your buddy Sal just finished making peace with, right? After you saved his daughter Sandy for him last month?” While Missy and Tracy had kept a lot of secrets and didn’t go into detail about the stuff they did reveal, they’d shared enough information with their closest friends that Sharon was at least aware of some of the things which had been going on in recent months.

  Missy smiled. Salvatore D’Amato was hardly one of her buddies but she of course did have quite a history with him now. The recent mob war had ended once his daughter had been rescued. That, of course, had been thanks to Missy. And, it was his henchmen who dealt with all those who might be a threat for any of the girls Alice was helping. It was now widely known how the Roseanne Fund girls were all under Sal’s protection. This was no doubt why Sharon had been reluctant to talk about Bridget’s predicament.

  “You’re worried about another mob war?” Missy raised one of her eyebrows and stared at Sharon.

  “No, I’m worried about you maybe getting into this somehow. You can’t save the whole world, Missy. As you like to say, we shouldn’t try to boil the ocean. Where do we draw the line?”

  Missy smiled and said, “Well, we do protect our own, Sharon. And, Ginger is one of us. So, her sister gets to be inside of wherever that line might be.” She could see Sharon already knew that.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Dec 9, 2019

  Edward Collinsworth took a seat next to Robert Ulrey in the large conference room. This was at the FBI’s office in Boston and, although he was normally part of their Organized Crime Division rather than Counterterrorism, he’d been one of the ones detailed to the special task force to deal with the threat to the Thanksgiving Day parades. Like with Robert, the FBI wanted him to continue on in that task force.

  “Hi, Robert. Glad to see they’ve got your division still working on this.” Ed looked around and saw Major Schermerhorn sitting on Robert’s other side; he’d met him down in Philly and they nodded to one another. “Are those two psychics I met in Philly also up here?” He’d met Millicent Pratt and Oliver Bessom and been very impressed.

  Robert said, “Sure, Ed, they’re both here. And, I’ve got more people on standby, ready if we need them.” Millie was staying with Desiree Yerger in Salem while Oliver had just flown up the night before from D.C. and had checked into a hotel near the airport. They both were now working full time for Robert. While Millie had been retired, Oliver had needed to quit his job as a social worker; his role in the FBI Psychic Division was now demanding all of his time. While the division had initially been created to assist local law enforcement in their search for kidnap victims, the recent need to find terrorists had taken priority.

  In addition to the FBI and Homeland Security at the meeting, there were representatives from U.S. Immigration and Customs, Transportation Security, Border Patrol, plus several local law enforcement agencies. And, of course, various U.S. Military personnel were also in attendance. Even the Coast Guard was there.

  Dale Hewson from Homeland Security was introduced as their new leader. He wasted no time and quickly told the group gathered there what the government investigators had managed to learn so far. He also explained they were giving their joint task force a new name. Since they were now focusing on the Boston area, their team would be called the Boston Anti-Terrorist Team or BAT Team.

  Hewson said, “There are more than two hundred individuals on our BAT watch list who have been identified as having ties to radical Islam and who are living within a hundred miles of Boston. Most live within ten miles. These all need to be investigated. Over five hundred others have been supposedly cleared but their names and dossiers will be kept on file, just in case. Unfortunately, so far, none have been connected to any of the terrorists from New York, Philly or Chicago.

  “Then, there are all these names of those who recently managed to enter the U.S. but then disappeared, their work visas apparently false.” Dale flashed the list up on the screen but since this was also in their handouts, he didn’t dwell on them and moved on.

  “Our investigators have learned, in hindsight, how many have managed getting in using trains, buses, boats and even by merely walking across the border, all at locations where clearing immigration was not that difficult. Knowing the U.S. policies, procedures, protocols and vulnerabilities, all due to the information provided by Philip Arnold, has enabled WIJO to get their people into position, joining the existing terrorist sleeper cells already here, waiting for them.” Hewson didn’t like mentioning Arnold but it hadn’t been his fault there’d been a traitor in Homeland Security.

  “Even more difficult is tracking all the cargo which has cleared customs and then, like the suspect terrorists, has now disappeared. False paperwork was presented, again taking advantage of where the U.S. was vulnerable and what Philip Arnold had provided. While most of this missing cargo will eventually be determined as okay and merely missing due to administrative errors and oversights, there will no doubt be some shipments which are now with the terrorists.” Hewson looked around the room at everyone. They all knew about the explosives, suicide vests and other materials which had ended up in New York, Philly and Chicago.

  Then, he ended his briefing by saying, “Thus, in spite of reports we have a cell here in Boston, getting ready to cause some major catastrophe, our BAT Team has very little to go on. Sifting and sorting through all the possible leads will take a lot of effort and a great deal of time … time which we don’t really have, if the WIJO retaliation threat is real. We need a break of some sort and we need it right away.”

  A voice from the back said, “Hey, what about the FBI psychics? That’s where we got our breaks in those other cities, right?”

  Hewson looked over at Robert Ulrey who stood up and faced the rear. Robert said, “I’ve got several psychics from my team up here on standby but as of right now, we don’t have anything for them to go on and they aren’t yet able to give us anything.”

  There were some more questions and the discussion went on for several minutes, but nothing very helpful was identified.

  They all were then divided into various groups, each given some specific mission or approach to follow. As with any investigation, it came down to working hard to develop leads and then working even harder to see where those leads might take them.

  -----

  Ironically, there was another group meeting going on at the same time in a warehouse located in Dorchester only four miles away. This group was led by Abdullah Zahir and the purpose of the meeting was how to best deploy the drones they would be using to disperse some special toxins which WIJO had provided. These toxins contained botulism mixed with some other chemicals so the airborne transmission would actually be best in cold, dry air. Since their first target was the New England Patriots final home game right there at Foxborough on December 29th, a clear day would be ideal. But, even if it snowed, their attack would still be successful. The stadium would be completely full, regardless of the weather, and thousands of diehard fans would be doing exactly that: dying hard.

  Zahir had been leading this cell for four years and was very excited his group had been selected for this mission. He was especially pleased about the target which was one he had recommended. Yes, he was determined to bring Jihad home to Boston, which many Americans referred to as the Hub of the Universe.

  His resolve to succeed only increased wh
en their New York team was blown up and those in Philly and Chicago were all arrested. He didn’t know how those other teams had been identified and, from the communications he’d been having with those back in Herat, the WIJO leaders didn’t know yet either.

  They had insisted on his checking once again for possible tracking devices, either on the shipments which he had carefully stored away or on any of the team members who had recently joined his group or on anything else which his team might have come in contact with during the past six months. Yeah, they were paranoid but he had just finished complying with their request.

  His assistant Yuri Qabani had gone through all their living spaces and vehicles, electronically sweeping with the latest scanning device which had just arrived, thanks to arrangements made by those back in Herat. They hadn’t trusted him and had insisted on arranging for this special device which they had ordered and had delivered to a new post office box. Since all their drones, laptop computers, remote controls and other equipment were now inside those vehicles, he was satisfied there were no bugs. Yuri would be checking the empty storage lockers where he’d initially been storing these items, but he was certain nothing would turn up there. No, there was just no way his team was going to be located because of any tracking devices.

  As for the special toxins which would be dispersed, these were safely being stored at Yuri’s home. Only he and Yuri knew this and Yuri’s home had been the first to be swept. There were no tracking devices or any electronic surveillance devices of any kind where either he or Yuri lived; that had always been a concern and a top priority for them both.

  “Why must we no longer attend any mosques?” asked Nasir Fadal, one of the new men. He had trained for months in Herat and had arrived just three weeks ago. Like most of the other new members, he would be remotely controlling one of the drones. Their roles did not require their suicide; they would be protected by special gas masks when the toxins were released. They would then drive away from the stadium parking lot in the vans used to bring in the drones and inside of which they would remotely control these drones once launched. Risk of discovery was minimal but, if caught, they then were prepared to die.