Interestingly, she was not able to use her healing ability. She couldn’t use it to wake herself up nor could she do anything to help Mike, John or Tracy. Apparently, she needed to be “whole” for that. She knew she could heal when she Shifted to her spirit form but, now being separated from her body, this was the one ability she wasn’t able to have. Oh, well! Her life was a constant learning experience.
The FBI had brought two EMT’s and they took charge of the four victims, getting them transported to the nearest hospital and monitoring everyone’s vital signs until each was safely under a doctor’s care in the ER. The tests at the hospital revealed no problems other than the tranquilizer drugs which the doctors believed would begin wearing off anytime. The doses were heavy since each patient had been hit with two darts, but due to the good health each of them was in, there were no other adverse effects.
Probably because of his larger body mass, Mike was the first to regain consciousness. He was very groggy and felt lousy, but once awake, he immediately looked for Missy. Finding only a nurse at his side, monitoring him, he asked, “Where is Missy? Are she and the others okay?”
The nurse smiled and said, “Yes. Everyone is fine. Stay right there and I’ll get someone.” She left the room but moments later, Ed Collinsworth came in.
“Hey, Mike! Glad to see you’re awake.” Ed walked over and chuckled nervously. “You’re the first one to do that. Wake up. But, the others are okay and should be waking up soon. What do you remember?”
Mike tried to sit up but that made him dizzy so he laid back. “One minute, Missy was asking these two witches what they wanted and the next? I felt sharp pains in my neck but then nothing. Everyone is really all right? What happened to those witches?”
“They’ve been arrested by the FBI, along with several of their Zhu-Gung members who were with them. They had brought you all to a warehouse in Brooklyn, not far from this hospital. But, thanks to Missy, we were able to get an assault team there and make the arrests. There was some resistance but none of the FBI guys were hurt. I’m hearing five Zhu-Gung were killed and another eight wounded. We found all of you locked in cages. There were three witches there with you but two had been knocked out … I’m guessing by Missy … and the third, Wagner Shen, was just standing there. Immobilized. Again, I’m guessing Missy.”
Just then, Missy began mindspeaking, explaining things as well. Experiencing her mental messages once again was so reassuring, Mike barely could focus on what she was saying. He grinned and said, “Hold on, Ed. I’m getting the story from Missy now.” After a brief pause, he said, “I’m gonna ask her to start over … can’t process what she’s telling me, ‘cuz I’m so relieved just to be hearing her.”
Ed rolled his eyes and shook his head. He would never understand quite how the whole Missy and Mike mindspeak thing worked, but he had gotten very used to the fact that they were special. “Hey, Mike … ask her if she knows when she and the others will wake up?”
Mike looked at Ed and grinned. “You do know that I can’t speak to her like she speaks to me, right? But, she heard your question and is telling me she doesn’t know. She also says she’s getting a bit antsy. She’s been out-of-body for over seven hours now and that’s already one hour beyond what she considers her limit.”
As it turned out, Missy was the last to awaken. John woke up not long after Mike and, a half hour later, Tracy woke up. Finally, after over eight hours of being out, Missy’s body began to stir. She was not yet awake, however. Since her spirit form was still hovering outside her body, she couldn’t. But, Missy sensed the change and decided it would be okay to re-enter. She was careful and, it did take her several minutes. Then, able to experience feeling in her fingers and toes, she opened her eyes. She was back.
Two nurses were staring at her. One said, “I think she’s waking up now.”
Missy said, “I think she is as well. Hi!”
“Welcome back, Miss McCrea. You’re going to feel groggy and …”
Missy had closed her eyes, briefly, and drawing energy in from all around, she had quickly healed herself. Completely. Now she interrupted, saying, “I’m okay. I want to see the others, please. Will you let me walk or do I have to be in a wheelchair?” She knew they would want to insist on her taking it easy and resting, but she wanted to heal everyone else so they could all check out as soon as possible.
It ended up taking another two hours before the hospital would release them all. They each needed to wait for further test results to be processed, but Ed helped expedite that and, eventually, they were able to sign themselves out. Ed assured the doctors he’d bring them to their hotel back in Manhattan where they were already registered. Since there were no residual effects associated with the drugs they’d been hit with, other than possible drowsiness … nothing a good night’s sleep wouldn’t take care of … it was agreed Ed could do that.
Ed helped them with another matter as well. The media. The FBI arrests of their kidnappers had not gone unnoticed. There were stories running on all the networks and dozens of reporters were outside the hospital, clamoring for updates on the four victims. Their names had been released but not until after they each had been able to call home to let their parents know what had happened. The heads up was needed since the media would no doubt be bothering them as well.
Ed arranged for John’s car to be brought over to their hotel and, after dropping them at the hotel entrance, he said his goodbye. There would be a lot to talk about later, of course, but that could all wait. They agreed all they wanted to do was retire to Missy and Mike’s room and order room service. It was late but, fortunately, they were still able to get some nice dinners brought up for the four of them.
As they all began digging into their delicious meals, John quipped, “Hey … I knew I was at risk for being knocked out, going to Missy’s game and all. Of course, I’d always figured that would’ve been getting hit by a freakin’ foul ball …” The others chuckled but then Tracy reminded him this wasn’t the first time he’d passed out at a ball game with her along.
She looked at Mike and said, “Remember when I brought him with me to that Dallas Cowboy’s game, right after Christmas? He won’t stop complaining how he ended up in the hospital after that. Such a big baby!” Everyone laughed at this.
Tracy and John had both collapsed, of course, after she’d drained both him and herself to pull the energy she’d needed to completely incinerate the three drones which were overhead, carrying deadly toxins. She’d wanted to completely burn up those toxins so had gone on full overload, using all the energy she could possibly pull without worrying about the consequences that might have on the two of them.
Mike said, “Well, speaking only for myself, I feel great right now.” He looked at Missy and grinned. “Getting hit with Missy’s magic healing power is actually quite a rush. She told me she popped in and gave you two some of that during that hospital visit of yours, so you probably know what I’m talking about. This is actually a first for me, though!”
Tracy groaned and said, “What is it with these men, Missy? Always talking about magic, which they fully realize does not exist. It’s witchcraft, guys!”
They continued bantering long after their meals were gone. It had been a very close call and, had Missy not managed to successfully use her latest out-of-body ability, things could definitely have gone very badly. But for that, the Zhu-Gung witches would probably have shipped them over to Hong Kong, never to be heard from again. They eventually did grow weary but by then, it was late into the night.
John and Tracy said goodnight and headed off to their own room. They agreed they would again meet in the morning for breakfast, again at a very late hour. No one mentioned anything about painting the town red. Nope.
Both couples did make love that night before finally falling asleep. Tracy would comment to Missy later that it was “recovery sex”. Tracy and John liked naming all the different reasons they would have sex and this was a new one.
Missy was awake
long after Mike fell asleep. Yes, she was pleased with the defeat they’d given Zhu-Gung that day. But she was experiencing some raw emotions over how close a call it had been for Mike. John and Tracy, too, but … for her Mike to have been in such danger? That was especially difficult for her to process.
-----
Sunday, Apr 26, 2020
By the time Missy and Tracy signed back in at the academy, the news had gone nationwide. There were more arrests being made by the FBI, but the story the media wanted to focus on the most was that of two West Point female cadets being kidnapped. Since Missy had already been written up in numerous magazine articles, her name caused even greater interest. While she wasn’t a celebrity, exactly, there were many reporters who considered her a public figure. They wanted to interview her but, if that failed, they wanted photos.
Since the seven p.m. check-in requirement after any weekend pass was well known, there was a huge crowd waiting when John drove them back and parked outside the Visitor’s Center. They’d managed staying away from the press all day but facing them on their return to West Point was unavoidable.
There were two representatives from the academy’s public relations office who assisted Missy and Tracy with their return. These reps had been issuing statements all day and had promised the girls would agree to a few photos. Thus, with as little fanfare as possible … but, a few gazillion photos nonetheless … Missy and Tracy finally managed getting inside, signing back in and heading off to their barracks.
Naturally, their classmates were waiting, anxiously looking for an update as well, so it wasn’t until late when they each finally managed to reach their rooms. Explaining things to their roommates had been easy, after all that. Whew!
John and Mike fared much better. After leaving the girls and working their way back out of the parking lot, they managed to reach the highway without being followed. They of course had much to talk about as they drove back home to Massachusetts. From time to time, Mike even let John know what Missy was telling him.
When John finally dropped Mike off at his apartment, he said, “My sister has done a lot of crazy things, going all the way back to when she disappeared for two years. But, this latest thing she does? All I can say is it’s got to be those Fabulous Fates she and Tracy keep talking about.”
Mike grinned and asked, “Why’s that?”
“Because otherwise, without them giving her all those abilities, where would we be? Hong Kong. Geez! Obviously, those Fates are looking out for her. Tracy too. I used to worry. Now? I think I need to stop doing that. Nope. No more. All I’ll be doing from now on is thanking those Fates. I mean … not only did they make our girls magic. They made things happen such that we get to be the ones our girls want to share their magic with. So, come what may, I’m all in. I know you are too. If that ends up being the death of us? I wouldn’t want to live any other way.”
Mike watched as John drove away and pondered his words. Yeah … come what may … he wouldn’t want it any other way.
Chapter Forty-Two
Monday, Apr 27, 2020
“Hi, Drew. Thanks for stopping by.” Charles Winword had asked if Drew could come to his office, not wanting to discuss this on the phone. After Drew closed the door and took a seat, he said, “I finally received a detailed report from Sami Massallah on that Ayleen Malik. Very interesting. Your suggestion about trying to turn her might be possible.”
“Well, it’s been a week. I was almost ready to give up on that idea.” Drew smiled at his friend. They’d gotten a lot closer, working together these past several months. “I trust Sami was thorough?”
“Oh yes. That’s why this took so long. He had several of his people checking on her. It took some digging but one of his informants managed to chase down some leads and come up with something rather surprising.”
Drew nodded and raised his eyebrows. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”
“Right. Well, it seems Ayleen was recruited by WIJO at the tender age of fourteen. Their training program pretty well brainwashed her. The reason she went into their program was her mother had died. She never knew her father but … and this is where it took some real digging … apparently her mother always told her about being brutally raped by her father. The only information Ayleen had about him, besides the rape which the man was never prosecuted for, was that he was this diplomat from the U.S.”
“Would that maybe explain her appearance as well as her hatred for Americans?” asked Drew. “She gets her exotic beauty from her mother but looks more American than Afghan?”
“Probably. From the photos, the mother was very attractive, but the father was quite good looking as well. Here’s the thing. The mother wasn’t raped. She actually was a spy for the Taliban and seduced him. Her getting pregnant was an accident. Then, when she refused to get an abortion, the Taliban wanted to get rid of her. This was in 1994. Ayleen was born in 1995.”
Drew was getting interested now and didn’t mind that Charles was taking so long in telling the story. “Those were the years when the Taliban were gaining control. I read there were over thirty thousand Afghans killed or wounded in Kabul alone during 1994. Eventually, the Taliban occupied Kabul in 1996, right?”
“Yes,” said Charles, pleased that Drew was aware of the history. “Mullah Omar was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. His refusal to extradite Obama bin Laden led to the U.S. invasion in 2001. But, getting back to Ayleen’s mother … she had been forced to become a spy. As I’m sure you know, women didn’t have many opportunities or options under the Taliban.”
“Yes, the Taliban were notorious back then for their brutality against women. Was the mother’s exceptional beauty what led to her being chosen to become a spy?”
“That, and the fact she could speak English,” explained Charles. “She wasn’t educated but had managed to learn the language during her childhood years. All this, of course, led to her assignment. The details of what happened are sketchy but she had no alternatives. Then the so-called diplomat died and Ayleen’s mother was suspected of killing him. She fled and went into hiding.”
“The so-called diplomat?” asked Drew. “Who was he? And, was she guilty?”
“He was there on a one-year assignment. He wasn’t really working for the State Department, but that’s neither here nor there. Long story short, the only way the mother managed to survive, after refusing to get the abortion, was by claiming she’d been repeatedly raped and forced to defend herself by killing the guy. Only, she’d had nothing to do with that. He’d been assassinated by the Taliban but they wanted to cover that up so they allowed her to live, provided she kept telling that story. Then, when Ayleen was fourteen, they killed her mother anyway. It was a convenient way to bury the fact they’d assassinated Ayleen’s father since, by that point, her mother had convinced everyone she’d killed him in self-defense.”
“Wow. Pretty complicated. I can see why your informant had to dig so deep in order to come up with this. Is there any documentation?”
Charles nodded and said, “Yes. The man who actually killed Ayleen’s father wrote some letters to his brother, explaining the whole plot and his role in it. He was rather proud of executing an Infidel and avoiding discovery by the Americans.”
“How did those letters manage to show up?”
“After the U.S. invaded, there were a lot of documents which were recovered. By then, the two brothers were dead, the woman was in hiding and there were too many other priorities for anyone to follow up on the assassination. But, when our informant went looking for background on Ayleen’s mother, copies of these letters were in one of the databases.”
“Does Ayleen know they killed her mother?” asked Drew. “I’m guessing WIJO used the mother’s own story to radicalize the daughter, convincing her to hate people in the U.S.”
Charles said, “No, that was something one of Sami’s other informants came up with. The mother’s death was ordered by the same group which then took Ayleen in and began her training. Even at four
teen, the girl’s looks were exceptional. Getting rid of the mother merely helped with the whole indoctrination. They made it look like an accident with their then coming to the rescue, providing Ayleen with a good education in addition to food, clothes and a place to stay. While other girls were being denied any opportunities for going to school and struggling to survive, she was given a golden ticket.”
Drew nodded and thought for a moment. “And, you have documentation for all of this. If we can get Ayleen to understand what really happened … and, in spite of all the brainwashing she’s been through … come to believe it’s what happened? Yes, that might work.”
“A lot will depend on whether she has any feelings for Nolan,” said Charles. “If she truly hates him and is forcing herself to do everything because of that hate, this may not be enough. Then, of course, there’s the whole trust issue. How will we know whether or not Ayleen is merely pretending to be turned?”
“Well, ever since she dealt with Arvind Pancholi, Missy claims she can determine whether a person is truthful or not.” Drew shook his head. He’d been monitoring supernaturals for many years now but had never found anyone like Missy. “If anyone can convince Ayleen to switch loyalties and know for certain whether or not she truly does that, it’s Missy.”
“Speaking of Missy. Is she okay? I mean, I heard about the kidnapping. But I’ve been too busy to ask anyone about that. It’s another reason for my asking you to stop by today.”
Drew explained everything that had happened and how, miraculously, Missy and the others were none the worse for it.
Charles had not heard of Missy’s ability to leave her body and was very impressed. He asked, “And, after all that … our girl is ready for more? No need to, say, rest a day or ten before venturing out on more adventures?” He chuckled.
Missy Goes to Hong Kong (Missy the Werecat Book 8) Page 27
