Missy Makes Mayhem (Missy the Werecat Book 5) (9 page)

“Heather?  Really?  What’s up?”

“She wants to explain things to Donald.”  Heather had moved in with her boyfriend Donald Whalen that May, after graduating with her engineering degree.  They both worked at the same company which was where they’d met more than a year earlier.  Heather had been working there for most of her co-op job assignments which had alternated with her semesters in school.

Tracy giggled and said, “You mean she wants
you
to do that … show Donald what you are and what you can do.  Otherwise, he’ll never believe her, right?”

“Well, she thinks he’s getting ready to propose.  And, she wants him to understand about her genetics before he does that … you know … how she might bear a child who is a supernatural.  I think I told you that was the reason I eventually decided to tell my family about myself, right?  So none of my future nieces or nephews would get surprised the way I was when my first Change happened.  I felt they needed to know.  And, of course, that’s what Heather’s feeling right now: Donald needs to know.”

“I’m guessing she’s feeling a little nervous, just as I was with John.  If Donald isn’t willing to risk having little witches or werecats, that no doubt will be difficult for Heather.  I can see why she wants to get this over with
before
he proposes.”

Missy nodded her head.  “Since we’re signing out this weekend on those passes you’ve arranged for, I told her I’d drop in Saturday night.  She’ll have explained things beforehand and I won’t have to stay long.  Then, I’ll pop right back down here and join Mike.”

“Wow!”  Tracy stared at Missy for several seconds, sorting through all the implications.  Then she laughed.  “You will be soooo starved, Missy!  You know how all that will affect you, right?”

“Well, I told Mike I’d be stopping on the way back at that State Forest in Connecticut where he usually brings me.  That way I can grab something to eat.”

“You mean you can kill a deer, which I’m sure you’ll thoroughly and voraciously devour in your cat form, and then you’ll magically reappear in your hotel room, naked in your human form and ready for some of that wild animal sex stuff, only it won’t be any fantasy … ummmm!  Mike is such a lucky guy!  I’m sure you’ll thoroughly and voraciously devour him as well!”

Oct 24, 2019

Alessandra had never been so frustrated.  At first, she’d been angry.  Well, after she’d stopped being scared, of course.  And now?  Now she was way beyond angry.  Obviously, her kidnapping was aimed at demanding things from her father.  And she was positive her father would do whatever they asked.  So, why was she still here?

They had been careful about not hurting her, taking adequate care of her and making sure she couldn’t hurt herself.  No, they obviously considered her a valuable prize and had provided her with food, TV to watch, toiletries for her needs, etc.  Not right away, but once she finally had stopped ranting and had settled down.  Great.  What they had not allowed was any way to escape or communicate with the outside world.  And, they’d been very careful about not giving her any clue she might ever use later.  She didn’t know where she was or who they were.  The fact they kept themselves always hidden behind masks and even used devices to alter their voices was what convinced her they really intended to let her go.  Eventually.  After they got what they wanted from her father.

She had been so stupid!  That damn party!  While it had been fun, she hadn’t dared to drink any alcohol or risk anyone putting anything in her soft drinks.  She knew all about what drugs and alcohol might lead to and had even kept Maria from getting too drunk.  At first, it had been exciting.  As Maria had promised, the guys had indeed come around and seemed very interested.  Only, their interest wasn’t about anything she had to say.  Instead, after telling her how hot she was and how much they wanted to kiss her, she soon would feel their hands exploring.

Although it was very exciting to have them touching her breasts, making her nipples grow hard as rocks and ache like crazy, she knew they were moving too fast and only interested in feeling her up, rather than getting to know her as a person.  Yes, she enjoyed the way her panties got wet but there was no way she was going beyond second base with some guy she didn’t even know and who could care less about her, other than as some sex object.

As she forcefully rejected one guy after another, the guys who came around afterwards were more and more drunk.  It stopped being fun and exciting and started being difficult.  When she wouldn’t cooperate, they started getting mean.  One guy even called her a cock-tease and angrily demanded to know how old she was, anyway.  That’s when she’d stepped outside, hoping to get a few minutes of fresh air and escape all the pawing and undesired advances from a bunch of drunken slobs.

She was just about to go back inside and demand Maria get her brother to bring them back to St. Ann’s when it happened.  Out of nowhere, two dark figures had appeared and held that towel against her nose before she could yell for help.  When she woke up, nauseous and feeling as though hammers were pounding inside her head, she was here.  Wherever the hell here was.

When they saw she was awake, two men came into her room.  One of them had a video camera and they told her she’d better behave herself and smile nice for her daddy or they wouldn’t bring her any food.  She quickly stopped being scared and let them know where they could stick their fucking food.  But, they ignored her threats and filmed her anyway.  Then, they left her alone.  With no food.

Every time they came back, it had been the same.  It didn’t matter how much she yelled and screamed at them, they simply stayed for a few minutes, filmed her with the camera and then left.  Still no food.

She even yelled at them after they’d left but nothing changed.  And, when she eventually fell asleep after her emotions ran down, the bastards came in and woke her up.  They were relentless and screaming at them didn’t help at all.  After maybe the fourth or fifth time, she merely sat there.  She didn’t say a damn thing.  After they left, however, the door opened a few minutes later and a tray was pushed inside and left on the floor.  Food.

And, so it had gone on, day after day.  They’d film her every few hours and nothing she would say or do mattered.  She even found two surveillance cameras so she knew they were watching her all the time.  There was a small bathroom where she didn’t think they had any cameras.  That was the only place she had any privacy.

After two days, they provided a few pairs of sweat pants and sweat shirts she could change into and told her she could leave her clothes for them to wash.  By the third day, she decided to take advantage of that, only she kept her panties and bra, washing them in her bathroom and letting them dry in there.  No way was she letting the bastards have those.  Ewww!

She continued wearing the sweats, even after they returned her clean clothes.  She watched some TV.  She napped.  And, she waited for this to all be over so she could go home.  What was taking so long?

Yeah, she was frustrated.  But, there just wasn’t a damn thing she could do about that.  Sure there was some guilt and remorse over having slipped away from her dad’s watchdogs at the academy; admittedly, that had been stupid.  But now?  Mostly she was simply frustrated.  She knew her father had millions of dollars and an army out there.  What was taking so long?

-----

“Sal, I got a call from Missy McCrea herself.  She’s insisting on seeing you this Sunday afternoon and won’t take no for an answer.  She said she’ll be here around one and we’d better be ready to explain what this stupid mob war is all about and why it hasn’t ended yet.”  Ben watched as Sal grimaced and processed this information.  “I’ve rearranged your schedule so you’re free.  And, I’ve asked Billy Martin and Donny Delgato to be here.”

“Why bring them into this?  I realize they know she’s a witch, but …”

Ben rushed to answer, saying, “She asked for them.  She asked me who was protecting the Roseanne Fund people and when I told her, she laughed.  She told me, and this is an exact quote:  ‘Oh, goody … nothing like a couple of hit men to make everyone feel safe.’  Then she insisted I have them here also.”

Sal said, “I guess I’m okay with her showing up here if she’s determined to do that.  Will she be driving up to the gate this time?  Or, will she magically appear the way she did last time?”  He and Ben had never figured out how she’d managed getting in or out during that last visit.  She’d knocked out all his guards with tranquilizer darts and then had barged into his office.  But, how she’d gotten inside his estate, surrounded with its double electrical fences twelve feet apart and each twenty feet high with barbed wire … that was still a mystery.

Ben smiled.  “Her boyfriend Mike Ryan will be coming with her.  She has a weekend pass and says she’s having him drive her here for this meeting before she returns to the academy.  She suggests you put the word out this visit is routine business and that you’ve invited her here because you’re planning to give West Point a huge donation.”

“Does that sound plausible?  Why would I invite some cadet, rather than an official from the academy?”

“Oh, it’s because you’re so impressed by all those magazine articles about her.  Since those stories are just now hitting the stands, you can explain how those inspired you and how you wanted to meet her in person.  Before making your five million dollar gift.”

“Five million?”

“The D’Amato Endowment will be for the advancement of other female cadets.  Now that you’ve made such a wonderful name for yourself with your Roseanne Fund, she says this would be appropriate.”  Ben didn’t add how Missy had mentioned she knew Sal’s crews had been grabbing millions in their raids on the other families in this war he had going.

-----

Sami Massallah had arranged for this secret meeting with Captain Grimes, now that he had returned to Kabul and settled back in with all his other duties.  As the CIA’s key SOG operative, running a network of other CIA operatives and informants, taking care of that had taken a few days.  But he’d also been tasked with working with Team Twenty-Two and becoming fully aware of both their missions and capabilities.  Hence this meeting.  Since paranormal and supernatural threats had never been anything he’d worried about before, he was still trying to fully understand what might be involved.

“So, you’ve actually seen her do this?  Change into a mountain lion?”  He’d seen all the photos of Missy McCrea, which of course he hadn’t been allowed to hold onto.  He’d destroyed all the briefing materials from Winword after he’d had the chance to fully go through them.  He had been discussing some of the things Captain Grimes had seen Missy and Tracy McGonagle do.

“Oh, yeah, sure have.  She made me turn my back on her, just for a moment, during which she disrobed and Changed.  There was a shimmer of light and a pulse of energy and when I turned back around, she was a huge cat.  Great big scary fangs showing and a long tail.  She purred at me while letting me examine her closely, making sure I could recognize her by all those scars she has on her shoulder.  Then, she made this chuffing noise and off she went.  She was gone a week.”

“Well, I can see how that would certainly come in handy.  And the fireballs this Tracy was using?  I checked and there was a report that came in about a village near Kushk which was badly damaged by fires.  WIJO claims there was an attack out there by U.S. forces using high tech weapons but they aren’t sharing any specific details.  And, there’s no admission that was where Candace Axtell was being held.  I’ve asked my informants with WIJO to look into it.  That whole incident was rather embarrassing for WIJO.”

Captain Grimes laughed.  “I can guess why.  Our guys never even went inside the village.  Once Tracy had half the perimeter blazing away, the initial reaction in there was aimed at putting out fires.  We knew which path Missy and Oliver were taking, bringing Candace out, and we merely needed to put down some suppressive covering fire with our weapons.  Only then did the WIJO guards even realize they were being attacked.”

“No problem retreating back to where the helos were waiting?”

“Missy stayed behind.  She had promised us there wouldn’t be anyone coming after us and nobody got past her.  Once we lifted off she disappeared … Changed back into her cat form.  She jokes about how she had to carry her boots, dangling around her neck, while trekking to her extraction point over ten miles away.  They wouldn’t fit inside the little backpack she was wearing where she put the rest of her uniform.”

“A cougar wearing a pack on her back with combat boots hanging down … too bad we don’t have a photo of that.”  Sami laughed.  “I’d like to have seen that.”

Captain Grimes laughed also.  “Yeah, but she was back wearing her uniform when the Black Hawk arrived to pick her up.  I don’t think they’d have let her hop in their helicopter had she still been out there as a big, bad mountain lion.”

“I guess I can understand why General Blake and the others are so worried.  If the enemy has anyone half as bad as our witches …”

“You know they named Campaign Angel’s Wing after Missy, right?”  Captain Grimes chuckled.  “I was the one who debriefed the three Germans she rescued last January from that cave fortress.  One of them described her as an angel.  Only, he described her as an angel of death who could kill someone by just pointing at them.  Back then, only those “P” Branch folks knew who or what she was.”

Sami said, “The file I read wasn’t very clear about exactly what she does, aside from Changing into a cat.  Oh, and healing.  I guess she saved a couple of your men as well as that Oliver.”

“All true.  She saved herself as well.  Those three bullets she took would probably have killed anyone else.  Two in the shoulder, one in the gut.  Lucky she didn’t bleed out but healing like that is just one of the things she does.  She has all this energy she can use, both for regenerating and for destroying.  General Blake told me she can probably crush the life out of an entire room full of people.  So yeah, he’s right to worry whether the bad guys might have anyone like her.  Or, like Tracy.”

“Winword tells me that’s why the general is bringing Oliver over here in a month, touring all of our Mid-East embassies.  If he notices any supernaturals during his travels, he’ll point them out.  Then the rest of us can try to figure out what we might need to do about them.”  Sami shook his head.  “I sure hope we won’t have to deal with any supernatural spies but, if we do, I guess that’s where your Team Twenty-Two will get a chance to prove themselves, all over again.”