Missy's Operation Lily Pad (Missy the Werecat Book 6)

by P. G. Allison

  Sally actually blushed but it was obvious how happy she was. “Troy is more than I’d ever dreamed possible. We had such a great time! And, my parents even like him. Lots! They know I’ve been hurt before and were ready to give him a hard time about treating me right but … well … he just couldn’t have been nicer. They could see he really does care about me.”

  Tracy was thrilled since she also knew about all those times Sally had been hurt. “When I asked you to spill, I wasn’t asking for you to talk about your parents. Now, how was it with Troy?”

  Again, Sally blushed, but only a little. “You know how it was. I’m totally in love with that man and I don’t care about how that helps him be a witch. He tried explaining what you just said, how we’re soulmates and how he has already experienced some changes, some increases in what he can do … you know. But, that doesn’t matter to me. What matters is he really says he loves me and I’m the most important person in the whole world for him.”

  “Well, like I said when you first came in … welcome to our world.” Tracy was getting a big kick out of how love-struck her friend was and was also pleased Sally now knew about witches. She didn’t have many non-witch friends whom she could talk openly with about some of the things she and Missy had been doing. And, she did like Troy. She even liked his mother. Sortof. “Hey, have you met Angelina yet?”

  “His mom? Well, not yet … but, I’ll be staying there at his home for Christmas. He says he’ll introduce me to his coven then as well.” Looking over at Missy’s bed she asked, “So, where is Missy, anyway? It’s way late now … I know she can magically just make herself appear but, what about signing in?”

  Tracy laughed and said, “Oh, she really is out chasing after spies. Our Superintendent knows she’ll probably be a few days late returning. I’m sure he’ll cover for her. Sergeant Town is with her, if that matters.”

  Sally was one of the ones taking the extra language class and knew Sergeant Town was only back on temporary duty, still assigned to the Special Forces unit which Missy had served with that past summer. “Are these spies here in the U.S. or is she back overseas again?”

  While Sally had recently been introduced to the supernatural world, Tracy knew she hadn’t yet learned all about “P” Branch. And, although Troy had agreed to join the other finder witches with the FBI Psychic Division, he hadn’t learned about them either. She said, “You did hear me explain how if I told you, etc., etc. right? You really do not want to know.”

  Sally laughed and said, “You’re right! I really don’t want to know. I’m betting those government folks who Troy was helping … um … they’re much higher up than that FBI Division he’s part of now … never mind. Troy and I talked about that. He doesn’t want to know either.” She let out a long sigh.

  Tracy nodded and said, “Hopefully, you and Troy won’t need to know. Then again, you did agree to take that extra language class with us. You do know General Blake requested that special class, right? Now that the genie is out of the bottle, I’m not sure you can really put it back in again.”

  Chapter Ten

  Dec 2, 2019

  Missy woke up that Monday morning feeling especially great. Ankara, a city of five million people, was situated like a bowl surrounded by mountains and high hills. Her body had drawn energy from those mountains and hills all night long and, combined with the wonderful lovemaking she had enjoyed with Mike right before blissfully passing out, she now was feeling more alive than ever before. She had learned to really appreciate all the things she could feel and experience while in one of her physical forms, now that she’d been in her spirit form a number of times. There was nothing like having absolutely no sense of touch, taste or physical feelings whatsoever to heighten her awareness of how special it was when she did have those senses.

  She quickly roused Mike and then they both showered and dressed for the day. Their Army fatigues had no names, ranks or insignias and Missy wore no makeup or jewelry. They didn’t really want to get noticed and, luckily, no one seemed to pay them any attention as they made their way back down to their special conference room. They slipped inside and joined Les and Marsha for breakfast.

  Meanwhile, Candace Axtell was in the cafeteria, wearing a very pretty dress and looking gorgeous. She had been in Ankara now for two days and everyone knew who she was. Being beautiful and famous, she was quite the celebrity and her entourage was definitely drawing quite a crowd of interested onlookers. Colonel Chory and Major Grimes were there, as were “Goldie’s Boys” and various embassy staff personnel, both those who had come along from Pakistan and those from right there in Turkey.

  Sami Massallah had avoided being seen in public with any of them, of course, and would be meeting with his operative Mamdouh Ozdemir secretly to learn what, if anything, he might know about Arvind Pancholi. Having a suspect he could now name and provide a photo of might help Mamdouh in his efforts to uncover secrets on his end.

  The plan was for Candace and Oliver to tour the embassy, as had been arranged. They’d be able to meet with everyone, as they’d done in Islamabad, with Colonel Chory introducing them and assuring they received the full VIP welcome. Since the colonel was acting on behalf of General Blake, this carried the full weight of the CENTCOM commander, but that was hardly needed due to Candace’s own celebrity status. Oliver, of course, would be able to sense if any other supernaturals might be there.

  Missy waited just long enough for the embassy to confirm Pancholi hadn’t shown up for work and then she Shifted to her spirit form and blinked herself to where Staff Sergeant Brent Carter was watching Pancholi’s home, a townhouse. Her teleporting ability enabled her to find and go to any person she already knew, provided that person was within five hundred miles. And, Carter was one of the guys she’d been close with that summer, fighting side-by-side with him on several occasions.

  Her bronze star award had been for dragging him and another team member to safety. After seeing them each go down, she’d gone out under enemy fire to pull them back from their exposed positions, in spite of having already been hit once herself. She’d been shot twice more while doing so but had still managed saving them before passing out.

  Thus, she quickly took herself right to where Sergeant Carter was waiting for her. Using Mike to communicate with him on their special radio headsets, she then had him point out where to go. She had studied a map of the area the night before, during their briefing, so once Carter identified the exact location, she was able to go on, no problem. She could tell he was finding it a little hard to believe she was actually right there with him, only invisible. He grinned broadly, however, once she tugged a little bit on his beard right after she had Mike tell him she’d be doing that.

  She was glad she had now learned a little bit about protection spells since it was very likely Pancholi had warded his place. She therefore proceeded with some caution, rather than simply blitzing directly inside. Having experienced what it was like to pass through wards when she’d visited the Salem coven was already coming in handy. And, sure enough, Pancholi’s place did have a protection circle and several strong wards which she was able to detect.

  She had no idea whether Pancholi might notice when she breeched these protections of his. Margaret Adamson had certainly noticed but, of course, she’d been right there, inside her circle. Once a witch was some distance away, according to what she’d been told, his or her ability to notice would fade. The wards themselves, however, would remain at full strength, only fading gradually over time.

  At any rate, she worked her way around, then up above and finally down below, sensing what was there. She could tell the resistance would be minimal for her entering from directly under his place and coming up from there. So, she did that and had no difficulty passing right through. Once she was inside, she could no longer detect any wards or energy spells. She went to work, then, searching carefully throughout his home.

  She needed very little light to “see” but she did need to move things around in order to e
xamine them. Reading any books or documents required opening them up and paging through the contents, “experiencing” one page at a time. This was tedious and not very helpful since she wasn’t able to read any of the foreign languages and only a few things were in English. She made certain to place them all back in their original locations and moved on. There was a desktop computer but it was off and she made no attempt to power that up. Let the government experts handle pulling any data from that, should doing so be needed.

  She spent the entire day in there, checking with Mike every so often. Carter remained on watch outside along with two other Team Twenty-Two guys. Pancholi never showed up, unfortunately; she’d have been quite happy to have him walk in so she could confront him. She conducted as thorough a search as she could but nothing was jumping out which might be useful.

  The man not only lived alone but apparently never had any visitors. His scent was the only one she was able to experience. What struck her the most about him and convinced her he really must be a spy of some kind was how he really had left behind nothing of significance. His personal belongings could all be abandoned and easily replaced. There were no keys. She had already learned, while they were trying to trace him, that he apparently didn’t own any vehicles and only used public transportation.

  Other than some utility bills, his mail was yielding nothing … mostly just a few magazines and some recent junk mail. She found no bank accounts, no credit card accounts, no identification papers or passports, no deeds or property records … whatever he needed, he either had taken it all with him or else he could access it electronically.

  This was not typical of a home in which someone lived a normal life, especially for as many years as he’d been there. No, this seemed more like a temporary place for him with hardly more than what might be found in a hotel suite. Just his clothing and some toiletries but no photos or special personal items. There were inexpensive prints hanging on the walls but these were merely for decoration and didn’t reveal much about him as a person. The kitchen wasn’t stocked with much either, other than some canned goods, some coffee and some tea. There was little in the refrigerator. She guessed he probably ate out most of the time. There were a couple bottles of wine.

  The more she searched, the more convinced she became. Pancholi had been living in this townhouse in constant readiness for taking off at any time and never returning. Whatever he might own that had meaning or value was somewhere else and not here. She found no secret compartments or hidden places and, being able to pass right through all the furniture as well as the walls, floors and ceilings, had there been any such places she would have found them.

  -----

  Colonel Chory looked at the others and said, “So, we’re not much further ahead today then we were yesterday.” They were once again gathered in their special conference room back in the compound. Missy had described what she’d noticed inside Pancholi’s town house and Sami had briefed them with what little info his operative Mamdouh Ozdemir had been able to provide. Looking at Oliver, whom he’d spent the day introducing to everyone at the embassy, the colonel added, “I suppose the fact Oliver couldn’t sense any other supernaturals over here today is good.”

  Les said, “While we haven’t obtained any proof Pancholi is a spy, everything we’ve learned about him is all very suspicious, pointing to that. And, from what Sami’s told us, there definitely was someone right here in Ankara feeding WIJO with leaked information. If and when Pancholi returns, we should be able to grab him easily enough. No one at the embassy was told about him being a suspect, right?” They’d agreed the night before to not explain anything to Pancholi’s supervisor.

  “No,” said Major Grimes. “And, I’m leaving Warrant Officer Morley plus six others from my team back here to watch his place and wait for him.” Warrant Officer Thomas Morley was his assistant commander and had been fully briefed on what a water witch might be capable of doing. “They’ll make certain to apprehend this guy with at least two men positioned more than a hundred feet away, ready to take him out with tranquilizer rounds if needed.”

  Oliver said, “If he doesn’t return in a week or so, you can confiscate his office equipment from the embassy. There’s enough residual energy from his mouse and keyboard and the seat from his chair … those can be used by any finder witch to get a signal, once he’s somewhere inside of a hundred miles or so.” Looking at Missy he added, “And, Missy knows his scent, of course. Hopefully, you’ll find some way to narrow the search area so this can help you get him.”

  Marcia asked, “What more can we learn about the WIJO connection?” Looking at Sami, she continued with, “Can Ozdemir find out any more from that group leader who was passing info on to WIJO? I realize this is closing the barn door after the horse has fled but still … I’m sure General Blake must be asking his Intel team who over here was behind those Thanksgiving Day Parade attacks, right?” She looked at Candace and added, “Not to mention who was responsible for holding poor Candace.”

  Sami chuckled and said, “You mean, whoever might have survived what Missy and her friend Tracy did?” He gave Missy an admiring glance. “I realize that was merely a surgical strike and you two didn’t actually kill everyone out there but I’ve received several reports now from my sources. There was a group of WIJO high officials who went out to Kushk to investigate. They executed the top individual at that camp just to make a clear statement about those who fail in their duty. I understand he was actually only second in command but the one in charge had already been killed during your attack.” He looked back at Marcia and said, “At any rate, to answer your first question, my operatives have been working on locating and identifying all the WIJO leaders as top priority.”

  Colonel Chory said, “Yes, I know General Blake’s been getting those reports of yours from Charles Winword’s office. We can ask him tomorrow how well his Intel team is doing with what they have so far. He’ll be there when we arrive in Kabul. He’s hoping Missy might come along with us, since she’s already over here anyway.” Looking at Missy, he said, “He doesn’t think another day or so away from West Point will matter but, if you want, he can call the Superintendent for you.”

  Missy said, “That won’t be necessary, sir. The Supe was briefed about my possibly coming over here back when this tour for Candace and Oliver was first arranged. This way, if Oliver finds any more witches at our embassy in Kabul, I’ll be right there, merely a blink away.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Dec 3, 2019

  Askar-Samar Karimi returned to his office after yet another special meeting with the other leaders. Once again, they’d wanted to review recent events, looking for some assurance their future plans had not been compromised. With three of their teams all captured or killed, were their other teams at risk?

  What those three teams all had in common, aside from their intended targets and the Thanksgiving Day attack date, was each team had contained many new members, all volunteers recently sent from various WIJO training camps. Since Karimi had provided the Intel helping to get those new members into the U.S., he had been thoroughly questioned. In addition, not only had those volunteers managed to infiltrate, using his Intel, but likewise all the explosives and equipment sent separately had been cleared through customs because of Intel he’d obtained from the same source.

  Although the Intel had proven accurate and reliable, helping place many WIJO trained personnel into other teams as well, they didn’t want to take any chances. Even more a concern, were their special shipments somehow being tracked? These had all arrived safely enough but what if the U.S. had merely been clearing them in order to determine final destinations? Could that have been what had happened to their teams in Philadelphia, Chicago and New York?

  Karimi asked his special assistant, Kahliq Abdul Tabish, to join him. Tabish had been at this meeting and had watched and listened while Karimi had been answering all the various questions the leaders had asked him. He gestured for Tabish to close his office door and then he
waited for him to be seated. Tabish had been with him for a long time and he wanted his advice.

  Tabish sat down and said, “They don’t trust your spy in Ankara very much. Even if all the information he sold you was good, they now suspect either he or that Homeland Security traitor might be playing us. Your spy is with the CIA, right? Either one of them, or possibly both of them … yeah, one or both might be feeding us those procedures we used for our shipments and then tracking them once they’re inside the U.S. I can see that.”

  Karimi shook his head and said, “While they’re all scrambling in there to explain things in ways which make sense, that’s not really possible. Our shipments were not tracked. And, what about those explosions? How were all those suicide vests and explosives detonated at the same time? No, those were not somehow tracked and then also fitted with remote controls as was suggested at our meeting. Giving these cursed Infidels credit for high tech abilities which we can never discover is not helpful.”

  “What other explanation is there? After all, the U.S. technology is the best in the world.”

  “No, no, not that. I have been reviewing some of the other ways the U.S. has been hurting us recently, ways that have nothing to do with any shipments into their country or any Intel they might have provided to us.”

  Tabish asked, “You mean like how that girl was rescued? Candace Axtell? Ever since you returned from your investigation into that, you’ve been saying there’s more to it than we know.”

  “Yes, and my spy in Ankara is trying to sell me some files which just might reveal more. He claims the U.S. government has special individuals with special powers. According to him, they were definitely involved in rescuing that general’s niece and may have been how our teams were located and how those explosions in Pennsylvania were triggered.”