Tracy the Fire Witch

by P. G. Allison

  Tracy nodded and said, “Yeah, and one of them must be Dhanial. I heard Saeed mention his name when he told Tariq to have everyone hide from us.”

  “Wait, isn’t that the name I heard Talib mention back in the liquor store?” asked Amanda. “I didn’t understand what he was saying but …”

  “Talib was saying Dhanial was supposed to be at home. That’s who he asked Ravi to go and check on. I don’t think he’s supposed to be out here today. Let me text Linda with what we’ve noticed so far.” Tracy pulled out her phone and saw she had received a couple of texts with the most recent one being from Linda. “Hey, she just sent both of us a message … let’s see what she’s got to say.”

  Amanda pulled out her phone and they both read how Ravi was now headed out in their direction. She said, “Oh, oh! We might need to fix our car and leave before that tow truck gets here. We don’t want to be recognized.”

  “Let’s see what else we can learn about this warehouse before we do that. We have some time yet. I’ll see if I can distract Tariq while you sniff around with that wolfy nose of yours.” Tracy unbuttoned the top two buttons on her blouse. While she didn’t have the biggest boobs in the world, she knew the curves she did have would still be of interest to Tariq from the way she’d been ogled when she’d removed her coat.

  “Good idea,” agreed Amanda. “I’ll start with that van. Send your text and then let’s go.”

  Tracy quickly sent Linda an update and then lead the way back out of the restroom. Sure enough, as she sidled up to Tariq and began talking nonsense in French, she totally had him mesmerized. When she began asking him questions, pointing at some of the boxes stacked nearby while invading his personal space with her closeness, he was definitely affected and paid very little attention to where Amanda was.

  Amanda quickly headed over to the van and began registering everything she could scent. She distinctly noted the four individuals she’d not seen yet who had just been in the area. While she could not see inside the van, there was an odor coming from it which she had learned to associate with munitions and explosives. It was quite unique and different from all the various odors in the warehouse from beer, wine and liquor bottles and she began tracking it back away from the van.

  Just as she was approaching one of the storeroom doors where the unique odor seemed strongest, the man Tracy had been distracting finally noticed where Amanda was going and began yelling at her. She quickly turned back and headed towards him and Tracy, feigning innocence. She said, “My cousin said she wanted a few moments alone with you …” She let that thought hang there, unfinished, hoping whatever act Tracy had been putting on had been convincing enough.

  Tracy grabbed the guy’s arm and hugged it tight, up against one of her breasts, and said something in French which neither she nor the man understood. Tariq did notice her firm breast pressing against his arm, however, as she led him back towards the office. Amanda followed along behind with the guy again paying her very little attention. Yea, Tracy!

  -----

  On re-entering the office, Saeed barked at Tariq in Pashto, “What took so long?” Then, without waiting for an answer, he continued, “Stay here with these women while I go back and talk to the others. Talib called and is very upset. He wants me to make sure they stay here.”

  “You better hurry then,” replied Tariq. “I think Dhanial is almost ready to leave. They were just finishing up when I asked them to get out of sight.”

  Saeed cursed and rushed back into the warehouse without paying any attention to Amanda or Tracy. Amanda walked over to the chair behind the desk and sat down, taking advantage of how Tracy was now again keeping Tariq occupied. When she glanced at the monitor, she could see several surveillance views of both the exterior as well as a couple views showing inside the warehouse. In his haste to go talk to the men back there, Saeed had been too distracted to hide these views.

  Tracy worked her way over to one of the two chairs in front of the desk, pulling Tariq along with her and getting him to sit down in the other chair which Tracy dragged up close to hers. Amanda looked away from the monitor whenever Tariq glanced in her direction but then returned to study it closely whenever he focused back on Tracy. One of the views showed Saeed was currently in heated conversation with another man, whom she assumed was Dhanial. With her enhanced hearing, she could hear them arguing back there but since she didn’t understand Pashto, she could only guess Dhanial and the other three wanted to leave in the van.

  Sure enough, the bay door in front of the van began to open and, moments later, the van headed out leaving Saeed standing there all alone. Amanda then watched the exterior views which showed the van leaving the warehouse and driving away.

  Since she knew Saeed would be returning to the office, she quietly got up from the chair and strolled leisurely over to the area on the other side of the counter. She then looked out the window and, after a quick glance back at Tariq, asked in German, “How much longer before our tow truck gets here?”

  Tracy had noted Amanda getting up and so she also stood up and followed after her. Tariq followed Tracy, of course, but answered Amanda by saying, “Maybe Saeed will know. He will be back soon.”

  Moments later, Saeed did return. He was very upset and, on being questioned about the tow truck, had nothing to say. Instead, he went over to the desk, picked up the telephone and called Talib. His day had now gone from complicated to totally screwed up.

  Chapter Eleven

  Mar 19, 2020

  When the van with Dhanial and the others drove away from the warehouse, Jesse told Lieutenant Saunders to have one of his vehicles follow it, being careful to not be noticed. The lieutenant quickly made the call and the van was put under surveillance. Meanwhile, Jesse called Linda.

  “We just spotted a van leaving from inside the warehouse. It’s headed west, away from Leipzig. Lieutenant Saunders has some of his men following behind and they will keep us updated on where it goes.”

  “Any sign of the girls?” asked Linda.

  “Not yet.”

  “I got a text from Tracy a few minutes ago. She said there were six men in there. Two were helping them and called Talib to arrange for a tow truck but the other four kept out of sight.”

  “I’m guessing Amanda was able to scent them,” said Jesse. “Were they in that van?”

  “Well, Amanda was able to scent they were hiding in one of the back rooms when she and Tracy went to use the restroom. But, Tracy said she heard Dhanial being mentioned as one of them. He’s the guy Talib was worried about and sent Ravi to check on.”

  “Well, you told us how Ravi was now headed this way with five other guys.” Jesse paused to consider things. Then he said, “Talib must have sent them here to stop Dhanial. I’ll bet he’s now in that van and headed somewhere to cause trouble.”

  “Assuming you’re correct, Talib won’t be happy. I’m starting to worry about the girls being caught in the middle of this. They might not be allowed to leave, even if their tow truck gets there before Ravi and the others arrive. How many armed men does Lieutenant Saunders have out there right now?”

  “Well, in addition to him and the driver in this car, there’s one other vehicle still here with four of his guys,” answered Jesse. “Including me, that’s seven. I’m sure we have plenty of firepower, if needed.”

  “Okay. Good to know. I’ve been keeping Colonel Schermerhorn in the loop. I know he’s been in contact with someone in Germany’s anti-terrorist group. Once we can confirm Talib and his men are holding any explosives, we can get the German authorities to move in. However, it might be necessary for you to act beforehand.”

  “Right. Understood. We’re ready and can do that. It all depends on what Tracy and Amanda are finding out at this point.”

  -----

  When Saeed explained how Dhanial had left, headed for their target in Frankfurt with some bombing devices, Talib got really upset. Their conversation got very heated with Saeed on the defensive, claiming he’d not been able to
stop anything, especially in front of the two women.

  “What two women?” yelled Talib. “Wait … you mean the ones I called that tow truck for?” In his excitement, he’d almost forgotten about them. Suddenly, he got suspicious. “Are they still there?” He realized there had not been enough time yet for the tow truck to have arrived. “What do these women look like? Describe them to me.”

  Although Tracy and Amanda were with Tariq on the opposite side of the counter and a good distance from where Saeed was sitting, when Saeed’s voice had risen that allowed Tracy to hear him describing her and Amanda. She left Tariq and moved closer toward Saeed, realizing the situation might suddenly be getting out of control. She grabbed her phone but kept it hidden.

  Sure enough, after hanging up the phone, Saeed reached into one of the desk drawers and pulled out a handgun which he aimed at her. Then he yelled at Tariq to grab Amanda.

  Recognizing it was time to call for help, Tracy dropped to the floor where Saeed couldn’t see her and pulled out her phone. Amanda kept Tariq busy while Tracy quickly sent a text to John, signaling it was time for the Army guys to come to their rescue. Then she put her phone away, raised her hands, slowly stood up and faced Saeed. In Pashto, she asked, “What about our tow truck? Why are you holding a gun?”

  Saeed was surprised at her speaking in Pashto but quickly answered, “Talib has cancelled your tow truck. He has instructed me to hold you both until he can get here. Come and sit down in one of these chairs.” He waved his other hand at the two chairs in front of his desk.

  Tracy glanced at Amanda and saw Tariq was now holding her arms and pushing her around the end of the counter, intent on forcing her towards a chair. With Saeed threatening them with his gun, she thought it best to play along until the reinforcements showed up. She followed behind Amanda but told her in English, “Let me know when I should make a distraction.” She knew Amanda would sense when the guys were outside and ready to burst in.

  Tariq pushed Amanda down into one of the chairs. Then he asked Saeed, “What’s going on? What have they done?”

  Saeed was staring at Tracy and said, “Talib thinks these women were at his store earlier today. They might be spying on us.” He approached as Tracy took her seat in the other chair. Then, in Pashto, he yelled at her. “You can speak Pashto? How does a girl from Paris know our language? And, was that English just now?”

  Tracy wanted to stall for time so she began talking, in Pashto. “I study languages at the university. But, we have done nothing wrong. My cousin and I stopped to buy some wine at a store in Leipzig today. This Talib person you speak of. Is he your boss? I think we met him at that store. Why does he accuse us of being spies? We have done nothing.”

  While she rambled on at the two men, she glanced around the office. She noted there were several sprinkler heads mounted in the ceiling, which was only eight feet high rather than the thirty feet typical out in the warehouse.

  Just then, Amanda said in English, “Now would be good.”

  Tracy immediately created a small fireball just below four of the sprinkler heads near Saeed with more than enough heat to trigger each of them. As they began spraying water down, Saeed and Tariq were both caught by surprise. When the office door flew open and armed men rushed in, they were slow to react. Tracy and Amanda, meanwhile, dropped to the floor.

  Before Saeed had a chance to fire his gun at anyone, he heard all the shouts from the intruders telling him to drop his weapon. Realizing he had no other option, he did so. Then, he and Tariq were forced to sit in the two chairs while others took charge of things.

  Lieutenant Saunders yelled to one of his men, “Go shut off the water valve for all these sprinkler heads.” Then he asked Tracy and Amanda, “Are you two ladies okay? We came as soon as we got your text.”

  Jesse could see the girls were fine. With a big grin, he said, “Lucky that sprinkler system suddenly decided to go off. I told the lieutenant not to wait for anything but to bust in here as soon as he could do so.”

  The sprinkler system soon was shut off and things quickly got sorted out. The office had been thoroughly drenched and was quite a mess. Fortunately, however, none of the electrical systems had shorted out. A couple guys began mopping and cleaning up.

  Tracy gave the distributor rotor for her vehicle to one of the men to reinstall. However, they decided to leave the vehicle parked where it was with the hood still up since that was what Ravi would be expecting. The other two vehicles were then brought inside the warehouse behind the bay doors to get them out of sight.

  Finally, after locking up Saeed and Tariq in one of the storerooms, they began a thorough search of the warehouse. When they opened the storeroom which Amanda had scented the odor of explosives coming from, sure enough, they found it contained several bombing devices along with plenty of materials and explosives to create even more. Plus, there were various weapons. Finally, they had the proof they needed.

  They alerted Linda to have Lieutenant Colonel Schermerhorn put in a call for the German authorities. Then they waited for Ravi and the men he was bringing to arrive.

  -----

  Ravi had only one of the five men with him while the other four were in the car right behind him. Since he was driving, he had the man with him accept the call coming in from Talib, telling him to put it on speakerphone. Then he answered, “Yes, Talib. This is Ravi.”

  “How far away are you?”

  “Probably ten minutes, fifteen at the most. Why?” He could tell from Talib’s tone that he was upset about something.

  “Dhanial and those guys with him have already left. They loaded one of the vans with two of our bombing devices and are driving to Frankfurt. As you suggested earlier, they intend to bomb that nightclub we have next on our list.”

  “Do you want me to try to catch up with him? Or, maybe try to get to that nightclub before he does so I can stop him?”

  “No, it’s probably too late for that. Besides, Saeed tells me there are two women in his office right now. I want you to see if they might be the same ones who were in our store earlier today, right before I sent you to check on Dhanial. Remember the married couple? She had her cousin and the cousin’s boyfriend with her.”

  Ravi was surprised to hear this and asked, “Why do you suspect they might be the same women? And, if they are, what about the husband and the boyfriend?”

  “I’ve asked Saeed to hold them until you get there. I don’t know where their men are. But, from the descriptions he gave me, I’m pretty sure they are the same women. They claim their car broke down and they needed a tow. I actually had called and arranged for that earlier but, after Saeed described them to me, I just now cancelled that tow truck. These women might be spies and … well … you know how worried I’ve been all week.”

  Yes, Ravi knew how paranoid Talib had been, ever since hearing about Candace Axtell and Oliver Bessom. He said, “Okay, I will check out these women. If they are spies, I’ll let you know. You’re still planning to come out here, right?”

  “Yes, we need to all stay together right now. I have tried calling Dhanial but he doesn’t answer. We need to listen to the news to learn if he does bomb that nightclub. Meanwhile, we will need to clear everything out of our warehouse and hide everyone at one of my safe houses until we know for sure about these spies and whether Dhanial succeeds or not.”

  “Okay, Talib. I will call you as soon as I’m at the warehouse and get a look at these two women. It should only be another five minutes or so.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Mar 19, 2020

  Upon Ravi’s arrival, Lieutenant Saunders and his men quickly surrounded both cars. With weapons pointed at the occupants, the capture was without incident. In addition to being surprised, the men had not been armed and had no choice but to surrender. Ravi and all five of his men were brought inside to join Saeed and Tariq.

  When Ravi spotted Tracy and Amanda, he began swearing in Pashto. Then, in German, he snarled, “Spies! Talib was right! You were at his s
tore today. What’s the meaning of this?” He hoped to feign innocence and somehow convince the men pointing guns at him that a mistake was being made.

  Amanda answered in German, saying, “We have found the explosives which Talib has been storing here, Ravi. That evidence will prove Talib has been operating a terrorist cell and that you all are responsible for that bombing in Munich. These American soldiers will be turning you over to the German authorities.”

  Ravi responded with more curses, again in Pashto.

  Tracy grinned and told John, “Wow, I’m learning so many new words today. I can’t wait until I’m back at the academy and can share them with my classmates.”

  Just then, Gene and Oliver walked in. When they had gotten close to the warehouse, Linda had told them to stop and wait. She’d briefed them about the situation and the girls being rescued. Gene, of course, was greatly relieved that Amanda was okay. Then, after only a few minutes, Linda had told them they could continue and drive right up to the office, since Ravi and his men had now been arrested.

  Amanda went over and told them how Tracy had created a diversion, setting off sprinkler heads, and how the Army guys had done an outstanding job, both rescuing them and then capturing Ravi and his men.

  Oliver said, “Great! Sounds like things are under control. Talib and his other two men at the liquor store are being kept under surveillance by some of the men Lieutenant Saunders left behind. Candace doesn’t really need guarding any longer, although two men are there, still doing that. And Linda told us the van which left here is under surveillance. Let’s go check with Lieutenant Saunders for the latest on that.”

  They looked over and could see the lieutenant was briefing Jesse about something. They walked over but before they could ask any questions, Jesse announced, “We have a problem. The van which left here with explosive devices has managed to lose the tail we had on them. Lieutenant Saunders just heard from his guys. They’re really sorry but, in staying back to avoid being noticed, they got snarled up in some traffic at two intersections. When they sped up on the road they thought the van had taken, they soon found they’d guessed wrong. They’re backtracking now and will try taking another road but, with the lead the van now has on them, they’re not sure they’ll catch up. There were several possible routes and they’ll only be guessing.”