Emily smiled and said, “No. Not exactly. But some are part of a coven. They’re witches. My grandmother is a fire witch and my brother Scott is a water witch. They are supernaturals. They can harness and control energy. For obvious reasons, they don’t want that information to become public.”
Witches? Donald stared at her. He could see that she believed this. Just then, their waitress approached with the food they had ordered. He waited until they were alone again and then asked, “Are you a witch, Emily?”
“No, not me. I’m normal. No special abilities or anything supernatural about me that I know of. But, being a member of a witch family, you could say it’s in my genes. In fact, it’s quite possible any children I might have someday could be supernatural.” She glanced down at the food on their table and said, “Let’s eat. Then I’ll tell you everything you want to know about witches and supernaturals.”
They did eat and she did tell him all about things he’d never dreamed possible before. She even explained how Missy was an earth witch and Tracy was a fire witch. Yeah … his former team leader and mentor Tracy was a very powerful supernatural. As was Emily’s former team leader, Missy. Go figure! But they were the only ones at West Point. And, she had their permission to tell him.
When they finally settled up and paid their bill, Donald had managed to process most of what she’d told him. She led him out of the restaurant and then brought him over to one of the hotels right there in Times Square. She reminded him how she wanted to really enjoy spending this spring break with just him. When she checked in at the desk and he learned she’d made a reservation for only one room, he suddenly had even more he needed to process. He followed her onto the elevator and together they went up to their room.
Yes, Emily had thoroughly enjoyed her day. Then, she thoroughly enjoyed her night as well … in that hotel room with Donald.
Chapter Eleven
Monday, Mar 16, 2020
During the “P” Branch flight to Berlin, which took just over eight hours, everyone tried to grab a few hours of sleep. With the time difference, their arrival was just before noon local time. Of course, there had been some lively discussions prior to anyone nodding off.
First, of course, they’d talked about the wedding they’d just attended. Then Linda and Captain Bonomo wanted to know the details concerning when Candy had been kidnapped. Gene and Amanda were also interested in that story along with how she’d been rescued just prior to her scheduled beheading. Sergeant Town was quite entertaining with his description of Tracy’s role in that. He’d explained how watching her set fire to the village perimeter as a diversion had been his introduction to supernaturals. Marsha then reminded everyone they needed to be well rested for the days ahead so they all quieted down and drifted off to sleep.
The flight was uneventful and, after dropping off the Germany group, the jet was back in the air and arrived in Kabul just after eight p.m. local time. Major Grimes and several of the Team Twenty-Two guys welcomed everyone and quickly escorted them over to the special office they’d been using at the Army’s Camp Eggars facility. They’d used it so many times now it had been permanently established just for “P” Branch to use. Their liaison officer Major Flament was there. He and the other Army personnel supporting them were not aware of the supernatural aspects associated with these “P” Branch visits, but it was known they worked closely with Team Twenty-Two, Colonel Chory’s quick reaction force. This Special Forces A-Team had an expanded roster and added resources. Their missions were always highly classified.
Once everyone was settled in and Major Flament left them, Colonel Chory and Sami Massallah made an appearance. Sami was the CIA’s top operative in Afghanistan and handled assets all over the Middle East. He was very appreciative “P” Branch and Missy were back for the week.
Colonel Chory looked at Mike and said, “I’m glad you’re finally here. We’d all love to know what Missy has been doing but, so far, she hasn’t communicated with us.” The office was equipped with one of the special laptops Lisa and Marie had configured for Missy to use, where she could blink in and type text-to-speech messages to everyone, but so far that hadn’t happened. Missy had been doing whatever it was she’d considered appropriate without bothering to check-in.
Mike grinned and said, “She’ll be here shortly and brief you herself. She assures me she’s been busy and figured she could best explain things once we were all together.”
Just then, they all felt her characteristic energy pulse as she Shifted to her human form in the adjacent bathroom. There were clothes in there for her and, after only a minute, she came out and greeted them all. She pulled Mike close and gave him a big hug and a kiss. She turned to the others and said, “Pardon my need for some touchy-feely stuff with Mike but, after spending the last sixteen hours in my spirit form, I kinda need to do this.” She laughed and kissed Mike once again.
“Take all the time you want, Missy,” said Colonel Chory with a big grin. “We’re all thrilled you’re back here again, doing that spirit form stuff you do.”
“Well, I made the rounds, visiting all the WIJO leaders for a quick recon,” explained Missy. Then she briefly described what she’d noticed at each person’s current location. She’d been to the top three leaders, of course: Shahid Omar Aziz, Mullah Ahmed Kahtar and Mohammad Nabir. She had also popped in on Askar-Samar Karimi and several others whom she had visited in the past and thus could teleport to wherever they were located. When she pointed out on the map where each person was, there were a couple of surprises. Mullah Ahmed Kahtar and Mohammad Nabir had both eluded surveillance; Major Grimes got on the phone and issued orders to have that re-established. Everyone else was where they were supposed to be.
Major Grimes knew how Missy typically needed to eat and asked, “Should we have some food brought in, Missy?” He knew the others had all eaten on the plane but was willing to arrange for a special meal just for her if she needed it.
“No, I’m good right now.” Missy had been pulling lots of energy from her surroundings and, being in close proximity to the Hindu Kush mountains once again, she’d been careful not to overdue things in order to keep her essence relatively balanced. She did want to spend the night with Mike in order to fully get in touch with her humanity once again and get back to normal. “We’ll want a big breakfast tomorrow morning, though. Thanks!”
It was agreed to let everyone get a good night’s rest and review their plans and objectives for the week early the next day. General Blake had already provided some input for that and was planning to call in so he could participate in the discussion. Then, everyone said good night. Missy and Mike retired to their room while Les and Marsha retired to theirs. It would be a very full week ahead and both couples were glad to have some alone time before things really got started in earnest.
-----
Tuesday, Mar 17, 2020
When Mike woke up early the next morning, he realized Missy was still sound asleep and he was glad. He knew she really only slept this well when her arms and legs were entangled with his and she had her body pressed this firmly against him. She wasn’t sending him any mental messages which she would be doing were she awake. No, instead she was actually making some purring sounds, her cat obviously somehow melded within her human form. He’d noticed before she would occasionally purr like this when in a deep, deep sleep. It meant she was truly relaxed and at peace with herself and the world around her, a state she insisted she could only achieve when sleeping with him.
He had stopped questioning ‘why him’. They had been bonded for two years now and he knew she benefited from that bond. Possibly … perhaps even probably … their bond was why she had developed so many powers and abilities, far beyond what any other Shifter or witch had ever managed before. She was unique and it made him very proud and happy his love and support meant so much to her and was helping her the way she claimed it did.
She shifted position, snuggling even closer, and the purring sounds stopped. He knew she was waki
ng up. Soon her stream of consciousness mind speaking would begin and she’d be focusing on all the tasks ahead, the peace and tranquility of this moment together quickly fading away. There would be no time for further lovemaking but, that was okay. They’d fully enjoyed themselves before falling asleep.
Missy did awaken and began stretching, untangling and extricating herself from Mike’s embraces after momentarily squeezing him in a quick hug and saying, “Morning, Mike!” She quickly bounded out of bed and headed into the bathroom.
Two hours later, they had finished breakfast with the others and were gathered with them in their secure conference room at Camp Eggars. General Blake was on the line, as was Charles Winword from the CIA along with “P” Branch members in D.C. and Robert’s team members (minus Robert, of course) at Hanscom AFB.
Colonel Chory welcomed everyone and then asked the general to start things off.
General Blake said, “I’m hoping this week will be productive. The White House, Congress and the Pentagon have all been more focused lately on China, North Korea, Iran and various other concerns with WIJO’s threats being at a lesser priority. That’s partly due to how successful we’ve been in stopping their attacks in the U.S. While the bombing in Germany was a win for WIJO, that doesn’t get as much visibility and WIJO terrorism around the world is perceived as secondary to the nuclear threats.
“That said, let’s further the gains we’ve made in spying on WIJO leaders, compromising their communications and learning about their plans. Colonel Schermerhorn? What has the task force there learned about this latest bombing?”
“Sir, we don’t have any useful Intel yet on who the terrorists in Germany might be,” explained Lieutenant Colonel Schermerhorn. “But, as you know, we’re hoping your niece Candace and Oliver Bessom will provoke them enough to contact the leadership there in Kabul. By monitoring email communications from those leaders, we can then identify and trace any calls back to the team in Germany responsible for that attack.”
Colonel Chory said, “We have a list of additional WIJO leader computers we want Missy to install that virus software on this week. Phones too, if possible. That will add to all the communications we’re currently monitoring. And, we’re hoping her invisible spying on them will also provide some leads.”
“We should be able to identify all calls from Germany to any of the WIJO leaders we know about,” said Charles Winword. “Likewise, we’ll be tracing calls made from burner phones. Even though we might not know who is making those calls in Germany or which WIJO leader in Afghanistan is getting them, the mere calls themselves will raise red flags and we can follow up. Hopefully, we can provide our Germany team with some locations to check into.”
Missy said, “I will visit each WIJO leader on a continuing basis after this meeting. By popping in on them every hour or so, I’ll know if they’re planning anything or communicating with anyone about attacks or about Candace’s visit there in Germany. But I also want to do some damage here as retribution. I warned Karimi to advise his leaders I would interfere with any future terrorist activity. I want to make good on that before I leave. They know who I am and they know who Oliver is.”
Marsha said, “Yes, we’ve discussed this. Keeping WIJO on the defensive is the best way to prevent them from making other attacks. And, Missy can strike fear in the hearts of these leaders while she’s here. Rather than merely eliminating the leaders we know about, who then would be quickly replaced by those we don’t know, she can persecute those leaders, disrupt their effectiveness while allowing them to continue in power. Better the demon you know then the demon you don’t.”
“And, my wife’s ironic reference to demons is intentional, folks!” exclaimed Les. This brought laughter and chuckling from everyone.
“Agreed,” said General Blake. “Let’s see what we can learn about that WIJO group in Germany. Hopefully, our team over there can then deal with them while Missy makes an appearance to some of the leaders in Kabul to mete out whatever punishment we consider appropriate for their sponsoring that bombing. WIJO has claimed responsibility and we need to make it clear that such terrorist acts will never be a win for them.”
The meeting continued for another forty minutes for further discussions about strategy, tactics and possible punishments Missy might carry out. Then, shortly after the meeting was over, Missy said she would get busy and would keep Mike informed. She left them to go get undressed back in her bedroom and Shift to her spirit form.
After she left, Colonel Chory asked, “When she says she’ll be visiting each WIJO leader on a continuing basis and popping in on them every hour or so … does she mean twenty-four seven? From now on?”
Mike answered, “That’s exactly what she means, Colonel. Until and unless there’s a new development which requires her to speak with any of us, she’ll be working nonstop in her spirit form. She knows I’ll let her know if we need her back here for anything. But she draws whatever energy she needs as she goes along. We have no idea what limitations, if any, she might have on how long she can exist in spirit form. She doesn’t need to eat or sleep and has learned how to balance the energy she uses with the energy she draws.”
“What about this list of WIJO leaders we want her to …” began the colonel.
Mike answered him before he finished his question, saying, “She will pop back to the office here to look at that list from time to time. She’ll notice if we add any names. But remember … she can teleport from place to place in a nanosecond.”
Les said, “She’ll let Mike sleep, of course. She can then communicate with us on that special laptop, typing words with her telekinesis ability, if we need to know anything. I’m guessing she’ll be keeping all of us quite busy with whatever messages she sends back, either through Mike or with that laptop. We’ll keep the lines open to D.C. and Hanscom.”
“Let’s hope Candace and Oliver succeed in stirring things up sooner rather than later,” said Marsha. “That’ll make things easier and very interesting!”
Chapter Twelve
Mar 17, 2020
Missy did keep busy and made visits to more and more WIJO individuals as the day wore on. Those whom she’d never met before, she located by the address provided on that list Colonel Chory had provided. There was also a map showing where each address was, so she was able to easily find her way around, teleporting to nearby locations she’d been to before and then navigating from there.
She managed getting the Missy virus software installed on two computers and one phone but, for most, that task would have to wait until later when she’d have a better opportunity. This software had been created by Lisa and Marie to enable remote access. They now worked on Robert’s task force and had named it after Missy since she’d helped them the first time they’d used it, back when they were still in college.
During each visit, she determined whether the individual was doing anything or saying anything significant or related to any threat or attack, past or future. If the activity wasn’t meaningful, she quickly moved on, only to return again later. Her ability to understand Pashto was excellent, due to all she’d learned in Khan’s Klass back at the academy. General Blake had arranged for that class and it was definitely proving worthwhile now.
While she knew how important her spying on these leaders was, she did not enjoy being a voyeur. She often encountered situations which were difficult to observe and some that were downright disgusting. The way these leaders abused women … often merely young girls? It made her very upset. But, invading their privacy the way she was doing, typically in their homes … it was what it was. As much as she wanted to interfere, it was not the time for her to do so. Instead, she forced herself to ignore such actions and leave.
She kept Mike updated on all she was seeing, hearing and doing. Since at first, she didn’t find anyone worth staying with for very long, she managed visiting all the new WIJO individuals on the colonel’s list within the first three hours. Over an hour of that time was actually spent doing the two softw
are installations.
That gave Lisa and Marie some work since, once she got the initial software installed providing them access, they then had much more to do running additional software. In addition to downloading files, emails, messages, etc. from each computer, there was a special program which they executed which thoroughly masked all they had done. Once a computer or phone had the Missy virus installed, it belonged to them and the owner would never know it had been hacked.
She eventually overheard an interesting conversation during one of her visits to Karimi. He was in his office and talking to his assistant Kahliq Abdul Tabish, whom Missy had heard about but not met before. One of Sami Massallah’s CIA operatives had been sleeping occasionally with Kahliq and been able to provide Sami with some valuable intelligence information earlier.
When Missy arrived, Tabish was asking, “Did Mullah Ahmed Kahtar know whether Oliver Bessom had any information about his team?” Apparently, they were rehashing something.
Karimi answered, “No, he only received a report last night that Bessom and the Axtell girl had made an appearance at the American Embassy. He called me right away, of course, to get my recommendation.”
“And, even though you suggested he have his team leave Germany, he told you he wanted to wait,” said Tabish with obvious concern in his voice.
“Yes, that nightclub bombing was a big success and he has confidence in his team,” said Karimi. “He does not want to be accused of running from these demons the U.S. has been sending to interfere with his plans. He still hopes to learn more about them from that spy Abu Habib has sleeping with that congressman. After all, it’s the U.S. government that’s been sending these demons.”
Tabish nodded and said, “So, for now, his team in Germany will stand down.”
“Yes, stand down and stay away. Until we know how to deal with these demons, he is ordering everyone to avoid them. Only careful surveillance by independent observers will be performed.”
Missy Goes to Hong Kong (Missy the Werecat Book 8) Page 8