Sal had two children but they were both away at boarding schools. Teenagers, one a Freshman -- his daughter -- and the other a Junior -- his son. From the sounds and scents Missy was getting, Sal’s wife was in their bedroom which was located on the other end, away from his office. Missy could hear a TV playing in that bedroom.
She reached the top of the stairs and moved silently down the hallway, stopping outside Sal’s office door which was closed, probably so he and Marchitto would not be bothering his wife. She listened to their conversation for a minute which was all about some arrangement with one of the other New York families. Apparently, the split was not going the way Sal had agreed and Marchitto was explaining what Sal’s options were for dealing with the situation. Missy smiled to herself. Life was complicated for poor Sal. So many decisions to make. She opened the door and walked in.
The two men were seated in easy chairs and had drinks on a table between them. The office was good sized -- about fifteen feet by thirty feet -- and there were bookcases all along one wall and a large flat screen TV centered on another wall. One wall had windows which looked out towards the front of the house and, as she’d anticipated, they could see the gatehouse down by the street. In the opposite direction, off to the side of the house, the large garage was also visible. This was the garage that housed the backup generators. This layout -- and the intel that Sal would most likely either be in this office or could easily be brought up here -- was part of what she’d based her plan on. When she walked in, both Sal and Ben stopped talking and looked over at her.
Missy raised the .38 revolver so it was clearly visible and said, “Ben, I’m sure you’ve told Sal all about me, including my marksmanship skills with a pistol, so I trust the two of you will sit right there and not make any sudden moves. From this close, I’m quite sure I could easily blow off someone’s finger. Unlike when I removed a finger from one of your guys -- you've talked to Billy about me, right? -- I don’t think this time anyone could sew it back on again later.” She smiled at the reactions she was getting.
She looked closely at Salvatore; she had seen several photos of him, of course, but now she was finally seeing him in person. He was looking at her and she could see he also was making comparisons to various photos he’d seen before of her.
Sal said, “Obviously, you are this crazy person Missy McCrea that I’ve been hearing about. And, if you think you’re going to get away with anything, you definitely must be crazy. I’ve got guys all around this place and …”
“Well, I didn’t bother with the guys in your control room. But, don’t bother signaling them … before they can get up here? You’ll be missing more than a finger, Sal. Your guys outside? Resting comfortably. So, let’s not bother with any more threats … you know why I’m here, right? I’m quite sure Ben told you I’d be visiting if you didn’t do as I’d asked. But, you haven’t set up that trust fund yet, so here I am. The Roseanne Fund. For those girls you’re holding. Do I need to go and release those girls myself, Sal? I can do that … but, I want you to do more than just release them. You understand about that, right? I want them properly taken care of so you really need to establish that Roseanne Fund.” Missy had walked up and was now only ten feet away. Their eyes were staying focused on the revolver she was slowly waving back and forth.
Sal said, “You’re crazy all right. This is all bullshit and you’re trying to shake down the wrong guy.” He was still trying to pretend she was merely some deranged female whom he could easily handle. “You breaking into my home like this? You’re going to really regret it, Miss West Point Cadet McCrea. You aren’t going to shoot me. You’d never get away with that.”
Missy put the gun in the holster she’d strapped on and said, “You’re right. I’m not planning on shooting you. Ben told you I’m a witch, right?” She pushed out some energy -- just enough so both Sal and Ben could feel it. “You don’t really want to mess with me, Sal. Let me give you just a little demonstration why not. I want you to call your guy out there on the gate. Tell him he needs to get outside and stand at least fifty feet away from that gatehouse. Can you do that, Sal?”
Sal and Ben looked at each other. Ben said, “She’s going to blow up the gatehouse, Sal.” Looking at her, Ben said, “Missy? You can’t be serious … what the hell do you think you’re doing? You’d have to be crazy to …”
Missy said in her most severe tone, “Call your guy right away, Sal. Use that phone right there. But, if you call anyone else? I’ll change my mind about not shooting you and I’ll blow your hand off. And, if you don’t call him in the next thirty seconds? You’ll have to explain to all his buddies how you let him become a crispy critter … like those other guys I’m sure Ben told you about. Luis and Jose. Ben, you explained all this to Sal, right? About how when you mess with me you might die a horrible death … you mentioned that part, right?” Missy’s eyes were now glowing because of all the power and energy that she’d brought into them.
Sal was very much impressed with Missy. He didn’t dare make any attempt to do anything physical -- he'd read the file on her and he knew better than that. He figured there was no harm in having his guy stand outside the gatehouse and so he made the call. Missy then waved them both over to the windows and they came over to watch. They saw the guard open the door and walk out -- he then ran over to a spot about eighty feet away, on the other side of the driveway and just inside the fence.
Missy sent Mike a message. Now, Mike. Have Tracy do it now. She waited thirty seconds and then sent out a very noticeable pulse of energy. Just at that same instant, there was a loud crack and a bolt of lightning hit the gatehouse, followed by a second bolt. The gatehouse disintegrated and there was a small fire clearly visible. Thunder could be heard rumbling right afterwards, not far away.
Missy turned to Sal and said, “I know you realize that was lightning, right? You’ll never prove that I did that, of course. But, in case my demonstration of witchy power isn’t enough to convince you? Take a look over at your garage.”
Having pre-planned targets was definitely a wonderful strategy. Missy had studied how this was often done for field artillery targets and she’d adapted the concept for her plan tonight. She was having Mike pass on her messages to Tracy who was with him outside, not far off, along with John and Tracy’s Mom. Tracy had taken the one pass she was allowed and was using it for this three day weekend, since she hadn’t used it earlier for Labor Day weekend. Her Mom had picked her up but John and Mike were with her now. They were all inside a circle that Tracy had set and Missy knew Tracy was drawing power from each of them.
As both men turned to look at the garage, Missy sent Mike her next message for Tracy. She timed another energy pulse just as Tracy’s lightning cracked again, with several bolts coming down and doing some very obvious damage to the garage. Missy was quite certain this would be taking out the backup generators inside. And, Sal’s two expensive luxury cars in there should likewise pretty much be scrap. Because Sal and Ben were experiencing her energy pulses at the same moment as these incredible lightning bolts, they couldn’t possibly be doubting that she was doing all this. Now, even more thunder could be heard, booming loudly.
Missy had figured this little demonstration of what powers a witch might wield should probably be enough. But, she wanted to make certain Sal was a total believer -- any thoughts of retaliation needed to be completely wiped away; the safety of her family depended on that. So, she wasn’t quite finished. “Sal, have I made my intentions clear enough, yet? Apparently, whatever Ben told you wasn’t enough. I trust my little visit here tonight has convinced you? Let those girls go home and set up that Roseanne Trust Fund. I’m going to know if you don’t fully carry everything out, exactly the way I want, so don’t even think about crossing me. And, I’ve just now decided that I want an extra million dollars added to that fund … in case I decide there are any other deserving young girls who need to be helped.”
Both men were still speechless but they were staring at Missy and had
clearly understood her. Finally, Sal said, “Okay, okay. You win. Fuck! A witch. Why do I have to deal with a fucking witch! This is unbelievable -- there is no way anyone would ever believe this, but you’ve convinced me. Fuck! Ben, take care of it.” He turned and walked back to the chair he’d been sitting in earlier, but then he turned around again to stare at Missy. “How is shit like this even possible? Fuck!”
Missy smiled and said, “The extra million I want in that fund? That’s because I had to make this trip out here to visit you, Sal. Don’t make me come back again. And, don’t ever try contacting me. Any future contact will all be one way, me to you. If you mess with me in any way? Or, with my family? Well, I’m not quite through yet. Here’s a little more for you to remember me by.” She sent Mike another message. All and everything, Mike. Now! She wanted Sal and Ben to see how much energy she was able to push at them and drawing on all she had, and all she was able to pull in using her connection to Mike, which now also gave her access to John and Tracy and Tracy’s Mom, since all four were in that circle Tracy had set -- she pushed out the most energy she’d ever done before, all at once.
Sal and Ben were both knocked across the room, each ending up flat on their ass, while objects were sent flying in all directions. Missy’s energy pulse was tremendous and the glass in the windows was all blown out. At the same time, the house was struck with lightning, again and again, and suddenly all the lights went out. The power was gone.
That was what Missy had asked Tracy for -- to continue hitting the house with lightning until she saw the lights go out. She had only an approximate location for just where the power lines were entering the house, since the utilities were all underground. She and Tracy had discussed this part of Operation Roseanne the most. Missy was going to be drawing on all the power she could pull at the same time that Tracy would be doing that, with bolts of lightning coming down again and again until finally the power was cut. Ah, yes, Missy loved it when her plan all came together!
Having all this energy and power they were tapped into and sharing? Awesome!
Since the generators had already been damaged by the lightning strikes on the garage, there was no power recovery -- everything went dark and stayed dark. All systems were out. Missy left the revolver and holster behind and quietly made her way out, going down the stairs and back out of the house. She could see just fine. The guards from the control room in the basement had all reacted to the lightning strikes by running outside and still had not even bothered going up stairs to check on Sal. Missy had no problem eluding each of them and returning to where she’d left her backpack. She stripped her clothes off and quickly packed everything back into the backpack, double checking to make certain she was leaving nothing behind. She also had wiped off the revolver and holster and had been careful not to leave her fingerprints anywhere else, so there would be no trace of her whatsoever.
Once she’d strapped the backpack into place, she Changed. This was the third Shift for her in only two hours but she had no problem doing that. She was still bursting with all the energy she’d been able to pull from the others and was actually feeling as though she were about to explode. Changing back into her cat form once again was now a huge relief, releasing some of that energy, and she immediately felt much more normal. Yes, being a cat was so much better! Whew!
She quickly raced over to the tree she’d selected during her planning of this operation and climbed up to a limb high enough for her to once again leap across the double fence. She gathered her strength and felt very good about this jump. Being able to pull energy from others was a new experience. She’d only been doing that from Mike before now, but this was much greater -- Tracy had described how it was but actually experiencing all this was really something else.
Missy landed easily on the ground, outside Sal’s fences, and raced off into the surrounding area. She could scent everything and see everything and hear everything to a degree far beyond anything she’d ever done before and the exhilaration was amazing! That, even more than knowing how she’d caused so much damage to be rained down on Sal’s property, was filling her with an incredible self awareness. She was a witch and a werecat and it was wonderful!
She had no trouble running all the way back to where Mike was waiting for her, along with Tracy and her Mom and her brother John. When she ran up to them and was obviously still amped up with power, they all began to cheer. She’d already sent Mike several messages that everything had gone as planned. She was indebted to each one of them for the way they’d helped her in all this. When she finally appeared, racing out of the shadows and jumping onto Mike, knocking him down, there indeed was a great deal of excitement being shared by the whole group.
Missy had executed her plan and they were all now very optimistic. Mission accomplished and message delivered. All that Sal would ever be able to find, or anyone else find for that matter, was evidence of some incredible lightning strikes which had somehow hit several locations all over his estate. His home, his garage, his gatehouse. Lightning. What terrible luck, right?
The guards Missy had taken out with tranquilizer darts would wake up the next day, only to learn they’d missed the whole thing. They each would be clueless as to what had happened to them. The guards from the control room were pretty much clueless as well. Sal and Ben would certainly not be saying anything about a witch or anything supernatural. No, that surely wasn’t anything they’d ever want to discuss.
Missy did Change back, once Tracy and her Mom finally stopped making a big deal about how great it was for them to be seeing her in her cat form. Mike then drove her back to her hotel and, with only a quick kiss goodbye that somehow managed to convey all the love and admiration that he was feeling for her, he left her and drove away. She made her way up to her room and quietly went inside. Sharon woke up, gave her a questioning look, and when Missy gave her a reassuring smile and a thumbs up, she smiled back, rolled over and went right back to sleep.
Missy did not sleep. She was so filled with residual energy and emotion from all that had happened that she stayed wide awake for the rest of the night. Even so, she was fresh as a daisy the next day and joined her teammates at breakfast where they all were still congratulating one another on the big win at last night’s basketball game. Missy’s life at West Point could now get back to normal.
Missy was pretty happy about her big accomplishment. She was quite sure Sal would no longer be a problem for her. And, she was also pleased knowing she’d saved several young girls from ending up in Brunei, living in a harem as helpless sex slaves. Her “P” Branch buddies should be happy -- she hadn’t even killed anyone this time. Sometimes -- being a wicked witch was wonderful!
-----
A week later, Missy learned the Roseanne Trust Fund had indeed been established and was well endowed. There was also some info from Robert about all the young girls who were showing up back home, each with an unusual entitlement. There had never been any trust fund quite like this before. True, when all was sifted and sorted out, Sal was benefiting by a huge tax write-off, so it wasn’t really costing him all that much. But, he clearly had gotten her message. He did not want her to make any return visits.
The media made a big deal out of all the mysterious lightning damage that Sal’s estate had experienced. What an amazing amount of bad luck. Lightning hadn’t just struck twice but had struck more than a dozen times … all hitting Sal’s property. This had never happened before. There hadn’t even been much of a storm that night and most places nearby had only gotten some rain. It sure was strange how so much storm activity had all taken place out at Sal’s home. Since it was well known that Sal was a mobster, heading one of the five families in New York, the editorials had gone on and on with speculation all about retributive justice and various other possible reasons why the heavens may have decided to dump so much of its venom all on Sal.
Missy was unable to thank Tracy enough; Tracy and her Mom had really come through for her. Tracy, of course, had thoroughly enjoyed the w
hole thing and having those three days with John had more than made up for any debt to Missy. Not only had she been able to use her witchy powers to the max, she’d been able to have John be there helping her, feeding her power. He was still not exactly sure what witches were all about but he was more enamored than ever with Tracy. And, Tracy’s Mom was ecstatic about John being such a wonderful boyfriend for her daughter. Tracy really had never been so happy.
Of course, all her buddies at “P” Branch were pleased with how things were going. No, she didn’t even need to ask for forgiveness this time. With Sal now so completely convinced to avoid anything at all associated with Missy, Missy’s family, or anything else connected to Missy, they could back away from the close scrutiny they’d been giving Sal and his organization. Missy was safe and their non interference policy could continue. They soon ended the surveillance on Billy and Donny since that was no longer needed. Going forward, it didn’t look like Missy would need much support. She seemed to have things pretty well in hand.
Epilogue
Nov 2018
The wedding for Mark and Alice was perfect. Even the weather had cooperated. They had never looked so happy and more than two hundred guests were there to see them make their vows. After the ceremony -- with the groom kissing the bride and then the two of them raising their joined hands high overhead -- they were greeted with a standing ovation. Everyone then regrouped over at the hall where the reception was being held and waited to welcome them there all over again. Everyone agreed there was a special excitement about this wedding.
Alice’s Mom had done a fantastic job and it was obvious how devoted she was to making everything absolutely perfect for her daughter. Earlier, she had broken down completely when Alice had insisted on her being the one to give the bride away. Fortunately, there had still been a month after that for her to recover, prior to the actual event, and when she actually did appear with Alice by her side, there could not possibly have been anyone prouder or more radiant.
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