Mike realized she was thinking ahead, working out the timeline which she had explained to him in great detail earlier. Any delays now, right at the beginning, would mean she might not return in time to celebrate Christmas with him and her family. And, once again, she was dealing with many unknowns, testing her abilities and doing things no one had ever done before. While he knew getting over to Afghanistan would be okay, her teleporting all the way back? Stopping only a few minutes at each of her so-called lily pad stops as she did that? He said, “Hey. You know how much I love you, right? Go do what you’ve got to do.”
They went back inside the hotel and a few minutes later, up in the room which they’d originally booked for a last night together, he watched as she removed all her jewelry, kicked off her shoes and stepped out of her dress. She handed that to him, gave him a long, lingering kiss and then stepped back a few feet. When he saw the shimmer of light from her Change and watched her bra and panties drop to the floor, he could only marvel yet again at how much she filled up his life, even when she disappeared.
-----
Arvind Pancholi had returned to his hotel and believed he’d made some significant progress that day. He’d finally seen Missy McCrea and had taken photos of her and everyone in her family. He’d determined she actually was the only supernatural amongst them. He was pretty certain he’d get confirmation from his source that the dark haired witch was Tracy McGonagle. He’d emailed his source with her photo right from his phone before even returning to the hotel.
Robert Ulrey was running this so-called Psychic Division of his to mask the U.S. government’s employment of witches. Of course, while Arvind could sense supernaturals and thus identify each of them, that unfortunately wasn’t evidence he could provide Karimi to convince those WIJO leaders. He would need to gather more data. But, he was confident his plan to follow Ulrey around would eventually result in getting what he needed.
He stopped and enjoyed a delicious meal at the restaurant right there in his hotel. He hadn’t yet gone looking for any female companionship. He couldn’t help thinking about Maria down in Bogota. He’d have to make a similar arrangement sometime soon. That had been very enjoyable. One of his better such liaisons. He felt certain there would be girls available when he wanted them. He’d simply been too busy.
He was getting into the elevator to head up to his suite when he suddenly could sense another supernatural was nearby. Instead of going up to his suite, he got back out of the elevator and began walking around. He wanted to identify whoever this person might be. His earlier feeling of euphoria quickly evaporated. He began searching all through the various places on that floor of the hotel. This unknown person was powerful, a witch, and yet? There was more. He had never quite experienced anyone or anything quite like this before.
After finishing the entire first floor, he ascended the stairway and repeated his search, checking everywhere on the second floor. He couldn’t seem to get any closer or move any further away from this mysterious presence. Very unusual.
He took the elevator up to the top floor of the hotel. Still, no real difference. He went back down. He could sense this strange source of supernatural energy was a constant. He began to wonder about being so close to Salem, a location steeped in witchcraft lore. Its history was perhaps the most notorious for all of the U.S. Was he simply experiencing something coming from there? Maybe.
He finally went up to his suite. Again, there was no change. His sense of this strange energy remained the same. He decided he may as well ignore this anomaly as he couldn’t see how he was affected, in any case. And, he was anxious to check his email to learn whether his source would confirm the McGonagle girl’s identity. Plus, he wanted to upload all the photos he’d taken so he’d be able to identify everyone else who had been at this wedding.
After pouring himself a glass of wine and sitting down at the small desk in the living room section of his suite, he booted up his computer.
-----
Missy had been following him around for close to an hour now but was pleased to find he was staying in a large suite which had a separate bedroom area from the living room and kitchen/dinette areas. And, as she’d anticipated, he wanted to check email, go online and thus had finally set up his laptop, powered it on and keyed in his access password. She relayed that password to Mike. Hey, it looks like he’s using one of those CIA laptops with the operating system in English. She’d been a bit worried his system might be using a foreign language with keyboard settings she wasn’t familiar with, such as one of the dialects used in Turkey or India.
She watched him login to his secure VPN account (which was not one provided by the CIA) and open up his email; again, she relayed the passwords on to Mike. Oh, guess what? He’s got an email which identifies Tracy! Wow. Bet she’ll be really thrilled about that. He must have sent her photo to someone earlier today. She watched as he read some of his other messages.
And, now he’s transferring a whole bunch of photos which he took today into some folders on his computer. She watched as, once he’d finished that task, he then began uploading the folders, zipped as attachments, to some emails he composed and subsequently sent. Looks like, between what he took at the church and at the reception, he’s got pics for just about everyone. He’s emailing these to someone. Make sure to have Marie find out who is getting these … he must be asking for further identifications on all of us. She could sense Mike’s affirmative to her request.
Arvind next checked several internet sites. He was not in any hurry to end the evening and Missy patiently watched and waited. Finally, Arvind logged out, shut down his computer and put it away. Then he finished his wine, got ready for bed, turned on the TV in the bedroom and eventually settled down for the night. After a half hour, he seemed to have fallen asleep. Missy waited several minutes more.
Satisfied he truly was in a deep sleep, she went into his living room and materialized, making the Change with as little a burst of energy as possible. She waited a few minutes and then peeked into his bedroom to check on him. She’d been worried he might wake due to that burst of energy which accompanied her Change but, luck was with her. He was still in a deep sleep.
Quietly and carefully, she brought out his computer and booted it up, entering his password which was accepted with no problem. Once it was up, she waited a bit for it to fully stabilize. Then, after logging into his VPN account, she fired up his internet browser. She was getting ready to type in the URL for Marie’s website when she suddenly heard Arvind begin to stir. This would not be good.
She was sitting at his desk, naked. And, his computer was up and running. If he decided to get up, she’d have to somehow knock him out before he had any chance of noticing. She was prepared to do that but held her breath, hoping it wouldn’t be necessary. After several anxious moments, she sensed he was not awakening but merely tossing in his sleep. Whew! She took a breath, greatly relieved. Then she returned to her task.
As promised, it didn’t take long to go to the website Marie had provided, click on the appropriate link, download the file, unzip the program and finally run the program. Mike? Still awake? When she sensed he was paying attention, she continued her message to him. You can let Marie know her program seems to be running exactly as she’d explained it would. I’ll run that little test she wants me to do at the end and, once that confirms success, I’ll be logging out and shutting down. But, let her know she’ll be able to do her magic once he powers up and connects to the internet again.
She was careful to put the computer back exactly where she’d found it and then checked around to be sure she wasn’t leaving any trace of having been there. She Shifted, once again into her spirit form. And now she waited, making certain her shimmer of light when doing so had not awakened Arvind. Since his TV was still on, she hadn’t been too worried but she wanted to make certain before she left.
Mike, things here are all set. I’m off to join Marsha and my plane up in Charlottetown. Love you more than I can possibly say. I
’ll try to show you how much on Christmas when I return. They’d talked about how once she left Prince Edward Island for Newfoundland, she’d be out of range and losing contact with him. He could reach her after that by using the radio, of course, calling “P” Branch and having them set that up. They did plan to connect and stay in touch during her various flights during the next two days.
-----
The four pilots for Operation Lily Pad were men who had worked several years for “P” Branch, had learned about supernaturals and had all flown Missy across the ocean for one or more of her past trips. Two had even seen her when in cat form. But, none had fully understood how she could teleport. Marsha had explained things to them yet again, when they’d left Boston without Missy on board.
The plane had two lavatories but one was now marked for women only. Marsha had a robe waiting in that one, should Missy choose to arrive in human form. And, Missy did eventually choose that option after first teleporting to where Marsha was, leaving the plane still in her spirit form and checking around outside. Once she’d experienced enough of the area so she knew she could teleport back to it later on, she’d returned to the plane and materialized inside the lav. She didn’t need to worry about how much energy she was releasing this time.
“Hi, everyone!” she said, stepping out of the lavatory and wearing her robe. “I’m all set here so we can take off for our next hop.”
Les and Marsha greeted her warmly while the others still seemed somewhat startled, gaping at her in spite of having known she’d be arriving exactly the way she’d just done. But, everyone quickly recovered and before long, their plane was taxiing down the runway and taking off. Operation Lily Pad was underway!
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Dec 23, 2019
Tracy woke up and realized several things all at once. She was in a hotel room in Salem since they’d opted to spend the night right there rather than driving back to John’s place after the wedding. John wasn’t in the room so he was probably bringing her back some freshly brewed coffee plus a few pastries from somewhere downstairs. Her body felt really great with just a little soreness in all the right places … it was still thoroughly satisfied from all their lovemaking the night before. And, she was on vacation. She and John could continue doing fun things together for several more days.
John opened the door and entered, carrying a tray. When he saw her awake and looking at him, he said, “Morning, beautiful!”
She giggled and said, “Unlike your sister, who can make her appearance perfect in a blink, I think I need to spend some time making myself presentable before you can refer to me with that particular adjective.” She pushed back the covers, climbed out of bed and slowly made her way towards the bathroom.
“Well, your ass sure looks pretty perfect and presentable right now, just the way it is. I especially like that hickey I gave you on your left butt cheek.”
“You didn’t!” exclaimed Tracy, stopping to glance down and back behind to check herself out. “Oh, you did! You pervert! How dare you!” She massaged the area with her hand and realized that was one of the areas of soreness she’d been experiencing earlier. Feigning mock horror, she said, “I’m going to get you for this!”
He laughed and said, “I’m counting on it!” He continued to admire the way she looked, standing there naked and twisting to get a better look at what he’d done. “You better hurry into that bathroom or I’m going to give your right butt cheek a matching hickey.”
She glared at him and disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door and then locking it with an audible click.
“Don’t be very long in there! Your coffee will get cold. And, we’re meeting Robert and Connie for brunch in about an hour.”
When they joined the other couple and took their seats, Tracy looked very presentable indeed. As did John. Connie said, “There you are. Such an attractive couple. Sleep well? I know I did but I don’t think we can say that about Robert. He was up, on the phone half the night.”
Robert said, “Well, I actually did get a few winks in. But, I had to keep checking with Mike and Drew. And, with Marie, of course. She and Lisa were very excited about what Missy told them she wanted to do. I’ll need to bring them both into my Psychic Division as special consultants. It’ll be fun to eventually explain how Missy managed accessing Pancholi’s computer. Which, by the way, Mike tells me she did. Marie is now anxiously waiting for the guy to connect to the internet again so she can start copying whatever files he has. Drew wants me to have them both sign all our typical paperwork and then he says I can explain about supernaturals. He’s already cleared them for that.”
John said, “Great! And, if they need to be convinced that witches really do exist and can do magic tricks, Tracy here will gladly light a few fires, maybe toss around some of those fire balls of hers, and …”
“Pleeeeese, John!” exclaimed Tracy. “Enough with the magic jokes! I thought we agreed you’d stop.”
He laughed and looked at Robert and Connie with an exaggerated expression of false innocence. “Nix the magic tricks. She’ll maybe just bring down some lightning bolts, hit the same tree three times. That should work. But no magic.”
They waited until their waitress came and took their order. Once she left and was out of earshot, John asked, “What if all the files are encrypted? Will you then need to arrest him? Somehow force him to give you access? That’ll be rather difficult, since he’s not likely to cooperate and it’ll be dangerous for anyone to even approach him. You do realize water witches can kill anyone within a hundred feet or so, right?”
“Yes, Oliver warned everyone all about that. His mother was a water witch but didn’t actually kill anyone. If Pancholi is powerful, which we’re guessing he probably is,” said Robert, “then yeah … he’s dangerous. That’s why Missy’s plan to merely spy on him is a better option. Now that she’s experienced him in person, she can always find him later on and neutralize him, if that becomes necessary.”
Tracy said, “I’m going to place my bet on Lisa and Marie. Missy told me all about those two. Hacking and decoding stuff? Even if a foreign language? They’ll figure it out.”
“That’s what Missy told Drew. She convinced him they’ll be a big help, especially if she manages accessing other computers later on as well.” Robert smiled. “She said Mike thinks General Blake is taking advantage, wanting her to be his invisible spy, his supernatural soldier. But, she’s actually all in for that plan, ready to go anywhere, help interfere with terrorists, do whatever she can. Access enemy computers like she’s doing with Pancholi’s. Even so, she also wants to earn her commission by graduating from West Point so she can have a career in the military, based on her human abilities.”
Tracy nodded and said, “Yeah, her vision is that’s how she can help her country the most.” She looked at John and then back at Robert and Connie. “Me too. We both want to be witch-warrior-women. Only, in her case, that’s a witch-werecat-warrior-woman. We believe the Fabulous Fates want that for the two of us.”
-----
The Secretary of Defense looked around the room. While not as many key officials were there, in person, as had been at his earlier special sessions, most of those not present had called in and were still able to participate. Terrorist threats trumped Christmas vacations. He said, “Okay, let’s get started.” Everyone calling in had already identified themselves over the speaker phone and initial greetings had been gotten out of the way.
The Homeland Security Secretary said, “I’ve received a status update from Dale Hewson who reports directly to me. He’s in charge of our Boston Anti-Terrorist Team, our BAT task force. He has surveillance teams watching everyone associated with the Zahir Transportation Services up in Dorchester. They’re the WIJO cell we were warned about at our last meeting.”
Congressman Barrows asked, “So, you think you’ve found them?”
“Yes, thanks to Robert Ulrey’s witch-psychics, we’ve identified this group. We know they’re planning to use d
rones next Sunday to disperse some sort of deadly liquid where there’ll be a large crowd. The New England Patriots are playing at Foxborough that day and we think their game is the most probable target. But, in any case, Dale tells me we’re watching everyone and will stop any attack before it can get started.”
Barrows looked over at Drew Martinson and said, “Witchcraft again? No, wait. Witch-tech. Isn’t that what we agreed to call this?”
Drew said, “Yes, these are the same witches who identified all the terrorists and helped prevent those Thanksgiving Day Parade attacks.”
“Does that include your invisible angel witch?” asked Deputy Secretary of State Ted Hanson. “Why don’t you have her call into this meeting? We understand the need for keeping her identity secret. Have her disguise her voice or something.”
“That’s a good suggestion and perhaps for some future meeting, we’ll have her do that,” answered Drew. “At the moment, she’s en route to Afghanistan and not available for today’s session.”
The Homeland Security Secretary said, “From what Drew told me, I understand she actually listened to the leader of this group, Abdullah Zahir. He mentioned doing this for WIJO and stated next Sunday was when their drones would be used. There’s no doubt his group is the cell we were warned about.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Go arrest them all!” said Barrows.
The Defense Secretary said, “They will be arrested, once there’s enough evidence for doing that. Or, if nothing turns up beforehand, they’ll be arrested when they actually start out next Sunday. Then we’ll have them red-handed, just like when we arrested those terrorists in Philly and Chicago.”
Barrows said, “Okay, I get it. We can’t have the news media squawking about illegal searches or false arrests. And this angel witch can’t testify. We can’t just say our psychics know about these attacks. Soooo, catch them red-handed. Understood. And, I suppose if that fails, you can always send angel witch back in like you did last time. I mean, once you accept the fact the US government will use secret, supernatural, invisible, hit squads then, as long as we don’t get caught doing it, there’s nothing stopping us. Right?”
Missy's Operation Lily Pad (Missy the Werecat Book 6) Page 26
