Misti said, “Yeah. Because that doesn’t test anything that’s relevant. Besides I’d out-condition all of you anyway. If you want to get the nub of your concern, why don’t we just cut to the quick? Any of you that thinks you can take me in hand to hand, with or without a weapon, feel free to step forward. No time like the present.”
Misti looked at all the men, her husband included. “Anyone?”
Jacobs spoke. “Well if you really do want to cut to the quick, then I’d put Bitters forward first. Best trained, most experienced hand to hand we have.”
Misti said, “Ok Bitters, you’re up. After he goes down, I’ll come after you next Jacobs. Any problem with that?”
“Nope. Happy to oblige. If you can get past Bitters you can have a go at me. If, that is.”
“Once I put Bitters down, I’m comin’ for you right quick. So, pay attention and get ready.”
Bitters said, “What’re the rules?”
“One rule,” Misti said. “No rules.”
Bitters lunged right away, misjudging Misti’s quickness and dexterity. She dodged his lunge, then readied herself for some sparring to gauge his level of skill. She took nothing for granted other than that he would almost certainly take her lightly. She considered letting him take some shots but decided to take him down quickly and then go for Jacobs. After him, she would take all comers.
He circled her cautiously, so she patiently waited for him to make his move. He jabbed at her, then tried a kick to her solar plexus. He missed, and she leaped up quickly, scissoring him in a headlock with her legs. He was on the ground and gasping for air that never made it past his neck. She choked him out quickly, then jumped up. Jacobs had watched her lightening quickness, and already calculated how to defend against her. He would get in close and use his superior weight and punching skills to put her off balance. If he could get her on the ground, it would be all over quickly. However, given her Black Belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he would have been gravely mistaken.
The other men watched with interest but thought that Bitters had been too non-chalant and had taken her too lightly. Given a chance, they wouldn’t make the same mistake. But first, the Captain was up. In the end, he fared no better, as Misti traded punches and blocks, then swept the Captain, putting him on his back. She was on top quickly with a neck punch that stopped just short of his throat. Had she followed through, it would’ve caved in his windpipe and death would’ve followed quickly. Jacobs acknowledged that she had taken the round and got up. Her speed and agility were difficult to gauge in real time and two of the three remaining men lined up for their turn, each believing these two previous bouts were anomalies that they would soon correct.
Misti looked at the two men, and said, “C’mon boys. I know you both want a crack at me too. Let’s get this over quick; I’ll do you both at the same time. Consider it a threesome you’re going to want to forget. Let’s go.”
The two men eagerly began circling Misti, one in front and one in the back. They had done this dance before with men and believed they could never be taken down together. They were wrong.
Misti struck first, landing the sole of her foot squarely in the chest of the man behind her, Cartago. He went down. She swung around and landed an elbow in the stomach of Charlie Bent, causing him to double over in pain, as she brought her knee up just touching his head. She let him go. Jacobs waived him off, signaling his turn had ended. She turned to face Cartago again who had popped back up. They traded shots from hands and feet, nothing landing on Misti. In the end, she put him in a disabling arm bar and forced him to the ground.
“Enough, or would you like me to break it?”
“OK, OK, you win.”
Misti was pumped from the live action she hadn’t had in a while but released him. She turned to the sole remaining soldier, Apple.
“No way,” he said. “Let me be the first to welcome you to the team. I’ll be happy to carry your bags. Just ask, ma’am.” He smiled.
All the men were smiling, and though unhappy about being whipped by a girl, and a 5’1” girl at that, they recognized and accepted that she had major skills and far superior to theirs. They stood watching as Jacobs said, “Welcome aboard, Mrs. St. James. What’re your thoughts on how we should train?”
Misti turned to Octavio and his team, and her husband. “We’ll drop by tomorrow morning early. Right? Now the lads and I have some things to discuss. Adam, could you grab my duffel? I need my gear.”
She turned to Jacobs and said, “Lead the way. I have some gear and we need to figure out who buddies with me using it.”
***
The team retreated to their campsite nine hundred or so yards away and began discussing the tasks assigned to them, the probability of contact and how they’re to proceed if contact was made.
“These are very dangerous folks, but we really have no first-hand idea of just how lethal they are in a confrontation with us. However, they have shown themselves to be very aggressive and quite willing to use force, whether justified or not. They’re deeply paranoid and value secrecy above all else. They will likely kill first and ask questions later. Remaining hidden and avoiding them is our highest priority, though if attacked, we will respond. In kind and intensity. We will need to use this piece of gear here to take readings on these folks, their habits and security practices. This we will eventually disseminate to other field teams as intel on behavior and threat assessment.”
Misti pulled out the gear that looked like a motorcycle helmet with a clear visor.
“You control the range and focus of the camera with this keypad, which is contained in this glove. You can zoom in on a subject from over a quarter of a mile away in perfect focus. We should just be within range, so I need to know which of you gents is the most comfortable with the dexterity requirements of gaming technology and can work the helmet and glove.”
Jacobs said, “That’s Bitters. A lot of high school wasted playing computer games and fooling around with computers. If it’s electronic, he can manage it. Bitters, you’re up.”
“Yes sir. What would you like me to do, ma’am?”
“Stop calling me ma’am and lose the military bullshit. I’m Misti and we have a lot of work to do.” Misti turned to the other men, “Gents, we’ll see you in a couple of hours. Right now, Bitters and I are going on a little field trip. Bitters, consider it our first date.”
***
The two disappeared in the direction of Team One’s campsite, where Misti put Bitters through some live action surveillance using the technology as she explained it to him. She didn’t have time to explain the whys of the tech, or even what the tech was supposed to do, just rote instruction on the usage of the electronics.
“This is point and click and I will need you to switch modes as often as you capture data in one mode or another. We need photographic capture as well as thermal and other imaging. Use thermal first, always first. Even if you can’t physically see the target through your telephoto, you need to capture data on the target in all other modes. Even if you don’t get a visual, just keep snapping photos. We will look for images later, even if they’re only distortions. Are we clear, Bitters?”
“Yes, ma’am. I mean sure. Loud and clear.”
“I don’t want you to think about the task, just do it. Requires discipline to go from target to target, especially if all you get is a thermal image. Go through the protocols as I have given them to you. We good?”
“We are.”
“There are thermal parameters embedded in the imagers. If it shows up as a deer or any other mammal, just move to the next image. Everything you record will be time stamped and numerically ordered. Just make sure the counter clicks forward. Everything you snap will be recorded, even if it turns out to be a rabbit. Of course, you should also have the digital imager on as that will show size of the target. Too small move on, too big, say a bear, move on. Snap a pic even if you’re in any way unsure. We’re looking for thermal signatures within a specifi
c temperature range. Whatever you do, take snaps that fit or are in anyway near the profile that’s on the software running the tech in your helmet. We good on the protocols.”
“Sure. When do we test?”
“Right now. Let’s sneak up on Team One and scare the fuck out of them. Except Adam. Can’t scare him; his heart rate is steady even during sex. Can you fuckin’ believe that?”
“Seriously. After meeting the two of you, yeah. I think I can.”
***
Over the next four days Misti continued her education of Bitters, who turned out to be quite adept at the use of new and rather complex technology. He picked up the mechanics of how the helmet worked and became very proficient with its use with minimal wasted time. Had Misti not known Bitters had no prior knowledge of the technology or how it worked, she would’ve thought he had been involved in testing the prototypes. Obviously, he hadn’t.
But also included in the daily forays to ‘scare the fuck’ out of Team One were the rest of Team Two, one by one, during a morning scare and then the afternoon scares. During these daily trips, Team One knew that Team Two would be coming. For the most part, it didn’t matter; Misti and the others found ways to penetrate the outer defenses of Team One following the tactics developed by Misti.
As the days went by, the admiration of the members of Team Two grew for the skills Misti possessed. Her temperament was ice cold; they could imagine her armed with either a silenced firearm or another sharpened implement, blade or garrote. In that case, they would prefer to be on her team, not opposing her. They each spoke among themselves and separately about how wrong their initial impression of her had been. By the end of the week there was new and total admiration for the slight woman who looked so small, feminine, and defenseless. They also claimed to possess not an insubstantial amount of fear and trepidation that she should ever turn her attentions, in a negative way, on any of them. They preferred to curry her favor and went out of their way to be helpful as the week wound down.
Simply stated, none of them, either in or out of the military, had ever met such a skilled and efficient human weapon. That Adam had shared she had never been allowed to take a life, astounded them all. However, he assured them all that there had been a trail of unfortunates that had run afoul of her temper and ire, and although they all walked away with their lives intact, they may have experienced some challenges walking, chewing or speaking immediately following the encounter.
On the last night before the surveillance was to begin in earnest with both teams, the men of Camp Two decided to pay their respects to their diminutive team leader by giving her a special award.
Martin Jacobs asked Misti to attend the ‘men only’ session in progress. They had put together an impromptu award that Bitters had designed. It was a piece of wood that Bitters whittled into a figurine of a woman from a dead branch. It was attached to a piece of cardboard on which was written:
“Craziest chick on the planet. With respect.
Martin Jacobs
Charlie Bent
Eric Bitters
Nelson Cartago
John Apple
Jacobs said, “We thought that we should show you a little token of our appreciation and affection. We originally didn’t think you were much more than a girl with an attitude and nobody to be taken seriously. Fluff. But we were wrong. We all were. You are formidable in ways that make us want to sleep with one eye open at night. We’re happy to be on your team. Please accept this award in the spirit in which it is given.”
Jacobs looked around at his men. They raised their plastic glasses, filled with a thimble full of the one beer they had brought with them.
“Here, here!”
Misti was touched and thanked them. Then she walked off into the night to spend the evening alone in the wild, as she had all week. She had night work to perform and the men would only get in the way. When she was finished, as she had all week, she bunked in the crease of an old pine tree ten feet off the ground. She expected to encounter resistance; the idea that the opposite Rim of the Canyon from the location of their Great Library would be left unguarded was ludicrous.
Pressure plates, video, audio, trip wires and any and all manner of electronic gadgets would likely be employed by the Gens Collective. She hadn’t initially found anything obvious during her night forays, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. It would be interesting to see how quickly they would deploy countermeasures and what those countermeasures would be. She would tell both teams about her suspicions in the morning and allow any team member to elect to stand down.
She herself wouldn’t hold a decision to leave against any of them, no matter the reason that the decision would be made. The Gens Collective were live psychopaths when it came to the genus homo sapiens; it would take a serious sociopath/psychopath to understand and fight them.
She was one. Her husband was another.
It would begin at daylight.
Chapter 7
Both teams gathered at the campsite of Team One, to review final instructions and to be briefed by Misti. At night over the past week Misti had left the campsite of Team Two, and disappeared into the surrounding forest, returning sometimes as late as daylight the following morning. Both teams had chosen to camp inside rocky outcrops surrounded by thick underbrush and massive boulders that were passable, but only with some difficulty. In both cases, there were two ways in and two ways out following paths created by wildlife over many years. Both campsites had narrow openings between larger boulders that led south to the Rim of the Canyon. Each site was easily defended, and if the entrance path from the direction of the Rim was blocked or in hostile hands, the back entrance would be available as a means of retreat to a site a mile away designated for retrieval by helicopter.
A large aerial plasticized map of the area was spread out on a small folding table held flat by a rock in each corner. Misti had a grease pencil and began to explain positioning to the men assembled around the table. They had long ceased to have any objections to her leadership on the mission; she had proven herself to be tough and stealthy with excellent fighting skills.
Misti said, “Today we move into position with our gear to begin our recon of the area across the Canyon. Our goal is to take extensive video of activities in and around the South Rim in the target area during the day and at night. We are also tasked with mapping the face of the Canyon to see where individuals are going when they repel down the Canyon side from the Rim. We want to know whether there are two entrances to a facility we believe is located there, or whether there is one entrance for each of two separate facilities.”
She paused.
“Ocatvio, Adam, Bitters and I will take up primary positions along a quarter mile stretch of the North Rim at these four points here.” She pointed out the locations. “Use the GPS in your helmets to find your marks. After you’re settled, calibrate your cameras for focus exactly as we have trained, then start your protocols for the various cameras and instruments. This should take about two hours to go through. Any questions?”
There were none.
“The other team members will take up supporting defensive positions around each of the two outside photographers protecting their backs and sides. We will go to the Rim once in the morning, once in the afternoon and once at night to take video and other readings. We’re looking for activity and to understand what we can of their numbers and security protocols. Eventually, but not on this trip, we will want to get inside their facilities to see what goodies they’ve hidden there. Questions?”
There were none.
“Over the past week, I have re-conned the area at night with instrumentation to detect any audio, video or other electronic gadgets our targets may have placed in and around our side of the Rim. I eventually detected both electronics and trip wires placed throughout the area which we can assume will alert our friends to our presence. I have no idea whether these things are actively monitored in real time or simply reviewed p
eriodically. I have noted several nighttime squads of three patrolling this side of the Rim and determined that there is a safe path for us to our positions undetected. Bitters and Octavio will take the outside positions while Adam and I take the inside positions. There’s a risk of detection at any time since we’re not sure of the placement of all their electronics, just the ones I could detect with my instrumentation. If there are no questions, let’s get going and get in place. We move out and enter the target area from the east and west along the Rim walking path. Team One, you enter from the East, Team Two from the West. Have your coms on but please maintain radio silence unless you spot trouble, or something unexpectedly comes up. If there is any chance of contact, withdraw along the escape routes I have mapped.”
The teams got into place and had a successful day one, day two and day three of taking video and instrument readings three times a day.
Day four was a little different.
***
The Gens tech said, “Sir, I think we may have company along sector seven across the Canyon. We spotted some movement from last night and again this morning. The objects move along the Rim path, then disappear. A couple of hours later, the blips appear back on our screen again, headed in the opposite direction, then disappear again. Not sure what to make of it.”
The tall man named Darius was standing in the communications center of the facility directly behind the tech who was seated in from of multiple monitors and computer screens.
“Run tape from yesterday and the day before at the same times and tell me if there was movement then too. Might just be deer or wolves, but not if they keep to a regular schedule.”
The tech did what he was told. “Sir, it looks like a pattern. Same blips at regular intervals entering and exiting from the east and west. Looks like we may have some company.”
“Sure does. Snap some video; I want to see who our friends might be. May just be campers or hikers taking photos of the wildlife. Then tell Titus to meet me in the Great Room.”
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