Victoria sits up all of sudden in the middle of the night gasping for air. A sharp pain in her lower abdomen causes her to grit her teeth as the pain causes her to double over in bed. Her silk nightgown was soaked in sweat. Her jaw clinches tighter as other areas of her body remind her that she has been injured.

“Vicky!” Tammy comes running into Vicky’s bedroom after hearing her scream out in pain.

She rushes over to Vicky and uses her ability to soothe Vicky’s pain and help her. She wishes her best friend hadn’t had to go through what she did. It was a miracle that she survived having a building brought down on top of her. It was also a miracle that the first responders had found her still alive under all the rubble that had buried her.

Vicky feels the pain she was experiencing slowly subside. She could hear Tammy’s calm and soothing voice humming a tune her mother uses to do when she was scared and frightened. She feels a warmth enter her body.

Tammy helps Vicky sit up and lay her back down on the mattress. She wishes she could do more for her friend, but she wasn’t trained to handle the mental or emotional scars her friend has. The only thing she could do was handle the physical scars her friend has.

Once Vicky was lying back down on the bed. Tammy goes and gets a wet clothe to wash Vicky’s face and lay it on Vicky’s forehead to cool her down. Once Tammy feels Vicky has relaxed and fell asleep. She takes the wash cloth off Vicky’s head and put it back in the master bathroom.
She looks at her tired face in the mirror and hopes her best friend pulls through the pain.

Tammy washes her face and turns the light off as she exists from the bathroom. She walks back into Vicky’s bedroom and lays down on the bed next to Vicky. She holds Vicky as she falls asleep.

Tammy feels Vicky snuggle against her and relax. She holds Vicky and reassure her that she was safe. She was sleeping in the other room, but she decided it was better to sleep with Vicky instead.

Throughout the night Tammy feels Vicky’s body shiver against her own body. She holds Vicky to her body and hopes her friend gets better. She finally let her mind rest.

Vicky wakes up feeling a little better. She finds herself being held by her best friend Tammy. Her face was buried between Tammy’s ample breasts. She could smell the lavender scent left over from the body wash Tammy uses.

Vicky inhales Tammy’s scent and let it washes over her. She carefully extracts herself from Tammy’s arms trying not to wake her. Vicky carefully stands up, using the bed post for support. Her legs still felt wobbly as she makes her way towards the bathroom.

Walking over towards the toilet and sitting down on it. Her body protested as she sat down, but she manages. All her muscles and joints were sore and breathing was still difficult, but she wouldn’t let it stop her. After doing her business, she strips out of her nightgown and fill the tub with hot water. She adds some of her favorite scented bath balls to the tub as it filled with hot water.

Vicky slides into the hot water and let the heat from the water soak her sore and abused muscles. She looks at the bruises covering her whole entire body. The ones on her chest hurt the most and the ugly scar that went the length of her left leg was jaggered and inflamed.

Her mother and several other doctors did everything they could for her. The physical injuries she could deal with, but the mental and emotional injuries she suffered were going to take time. Until she got a clean bill of health, she couldn’t go back out into the field.

“Hey, do you mind if I come in and uses the toilet?” Tammy woke up because of her bladder threating to empty.

“Come on in, Tammy.” Vicky didn’t care if Tammy came in and used the toilet while she was in the tub.

The two of them have been friends since elementary school and there wasn’t anything that the two of them didn’t know about each other. If nothing else, Vicky was kind of envious that Tammy had the bigger breasts and fuller hips. She took after her aunt on her father side of the family.

Tammy on the other hand took after her great aunt that looked like Velma Dinkley from the Scooby Doo cartoon. According to Tammy, the artist who drew the character Velma Dinkley was inspired by Tammy’s great aunt Violet. Tammy on the other hand looks like she was related to the cartoon character, except she had bigger breasts and a curviest body.

Once Tammy was done doing her business and wipes herself. She washes her hands and looks over towards Vicky in the tub. She walks over and sits on a stool she brought into the bathroom to wash Vicky.

When Vicky first came home from the private hospital, she had been unable to move or care for herself. Mrs. Wolfhart had contacted her and asked if she wouldn’t mind helping to care for her friend, since Mrs. Wolfhart knew how close the two of them were. She said yes, Vicky was her best friend and there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for her friend.

Tammy knew all about Vicky being a special agent for the US government. She had followed in her father’s footsteps and went on missions that were so classified, that if her team got caught. The United States government wouldn’t acknowledge them.

This last mission was a set up. The terrorist group they had been assigned to go after had set them up and dropped a building on them. The terrorist managed to kill most of her team members. She would have died if the first responders hadn’t found her when they did.

She had been trapped in a small space under some heavy rubble. The space had a limited amount of air, and it was almost gone by the time she was rescued. Besides being bloody, beaten, and having several of her bones broken. She managed to survive.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Tammy looks towards Vicky as she soaked in the tub.

“Better than I did last night. Did I wake you?” Vicky looks at her best friend as she sat next to the tub.

“Yes, but you’re my best friend, Vicky. You should know by now there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. Plus, I promise your mother I would look after you.”A smile appears on Tammy’s face.

“Still, thanks.” Vicky was glad her best friend was here with her.

“I better go and make us something to eat. Are you going to be able to get out of the tub on your own, or do you need me to stay here with you?”

“I’ll managed. Go ahead and make us some breakfast, please.” Vicky figures she could get out of the tub on her own and dry off.

“Okay, but if you can’t press the call button and I’ll come running back to help you. I’ll also lay out some clothes for you to wear as well.

Remember, your mother and aunt said no pants or leggings for a while.” Tammy knew the pants and legging would irritate the scars on Vicky’s legs and also make it hard for Vicky to push down her legs to do her business.

“God, I hate wearing dresses and skirts.” Vicky wasn’t a dress or skirt person.

“I know, but I agree with your mother. Besides, you got to let your kitty breathe as well.” Tammy had noticed that Vicky had trimmed her pubic hair to the bare minimum. She had shaped it into a short landing strip.

Tammy stands up off the stool and walk out of the bedroom. She lays out some clothes for Vicky to wear, and afterwards, get dressed herself. Once she is dressed Tammy leaves her bedroom and head towards the kitchen to fix breakfast for herself and Vicky.

Once the water starts getting cold, Vicky releases the drain stopper and stand up. She felt her muscles protest, but she manages. She grabs her towel and starts patting her body dry, before stepping out of the tub carefully, using the hand bar on the wall next to the tub.

She finishes drying her body and make her way back to the bedroom. She notices Tammy had laid out some clothes on her bed to wear and notices Tammy had selected a pair of panties with Hello Kitty on them for her to wear. A smile appears on Vicky’s face, because she loved Hello Kitty. She also loved her Spider Woman cartoon printed panties as well.

She notices that Vicky didn’t lay out a bra for her to wear, but one of her camisoles. It matched the material of the light color dress that came down to her knees. She was lucky that she could get away without wearing a bra. Her breasts were smaller than Tammy’s and not as round and full as her friend’s.

After getting dressed and slipping on her slippers. She walks towards the kitchen where she smelled bacon cooking. Her house had an open designed, so if someone was in the kitchen, they could see their guest in the living room and dining room. Also, the house had a beautiful view of the beach, just outside the back door and the front door.

“Watch you making, Tam?” Vicky walks over and sits down on a stool in the kitchen.

“Omelets, I know how much you like them. I’m making a western one for you.” Tammy knew Vicky loved the way her father made them.

Vicky’s father was the cook in the family. He was a hell of a solider and could kill people in hundred different ways. But, put him in the kitchen and he could turn military rations into a gourmet meal. He passed on some of his knowledge to her when she uses to visit Vicky.

“Sometimes I think my father liked it when you helped him in the kitchen.” Vicky knew her father loved teaching Tammy how to cook.

“I enjoy cooking when I’m upset or just want to relax. It’s too bad you didn’t pick up his talent for cooking.” Tammy knew Vicky was a lot like her mother. Vicky’s mother could cook, but it wasn’t in the same class as Vicky’s father’s cooking.

“Well, not all of us can be outstanding chiefs, like my father.”

“True, do you want coconut juice or Pineapple juice to drink?” Tammy had grabbed a juice glass form the cabinets for Vicky.

“Coconut juice, please.” Vicky loved her coconut water and coconut milk.

Tammy fills the juice glass with coconut water from a cartoon in the refrigerator. She hands it to Vicky. “Drink up.”

“Yes mom.” Vicky picks up the glass and drink some of it.

“Your dad sent me a text informing me that the burial of your fellow teammates will be in four days. Do you want to attend or stay home?” Tammy knew each and every member of Vicky’s team.

“I want to attend. I owe them that much. I shouldn’t have survived having that building dropped on us.” Goose pimples form on her skin as she shivers.

“You’re not the only one who survived, Vicky. Your communication specialist Sergeant Ralph Jones and your explosive specialist Sergeant First
Class Henry Grassfeild also survived. They are still in the hospital you guys were sent too.” Tammy has been checking in on them. She knew the nurses looking after them.

“Ralph and Henry are still alive?” Vicky was surprised to hear that news.

“Yes, but they are still in a coma. Your commanding officer and field officer were found dead. Colonel White was found shot in the head from a sniper bullet and Captain Grossfeld, was blown up in his Jeep, according to our friend.” Tammy and Vicky had a friend that was a special investigator that had a knack for solving crimes.

Their friend and his specialized team were brought in to investigate all sorts of crimes scenes. They had a high success rate and no one in all the different military branches could match their record. They also had clearances that gave them access to any record they needed.

“Did Jay say who did the job?” Vicky knew it had to be Jay who told Tammy about the deaths.

“Nope and you know he won’t give us the information. He keeps things close to the chest.” Tammy knew Jay never gave out any information that
might jeopardize his investigation, that included any suspects he was investigating.

“Are all the burials going to be at the same place or do I need to fly out to Washington D.C.?” Vicky didn’t want to fly out to Washington D.C. with everything going on there.

“We’re going to have to fly to Washington D.C. All your teammates remains are being buried at Arlington Cemetery.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that. When do we leave?”

“In two days. I’ll pack something nice for you to wear. Now, enough of the shop talk, let’s enjoy these fabulous omelets.” Tammy sets a plate in front of Vicky with her omelet on it, hashbrowns cooked just the way Vicky liked it and some toast.

Tammy sits down next to Vicky and enjoys her own meal. She was drinking papaya juice and a cup of coffee afterwards. She loved papaya juice and her dark roast coffee with just cream added to it.

After breakfast, Tammy cleans up the mess she made and escorts Vicky to the exercise room. She was instructed to start Vicky on some light exercises by Mrs. Wolfhart.

“Who put you up to this?” Vicky looks at her friend.

“Your mother. Don’t worry, you won’t have to changed. We are just going to use the treadmill at a slow speed.”

Across the Country In Washington D.C.:
A small person wearing a decorated fox mask with shoulder length white hair darts out of the shadows and attack a bunch of Ice agents and National Guards men. They have been patrolling the streets of Washington D.C. on the orders of the jackass in the White House. She tosses several egg shape bombs at the feet of them and watches as the people starts coughing and throwing up. For the soldiers and Ice agents in their vehicles, the figure aims a paint gun at the vehicles and shoot the front windshield. The figure covers the front windshield in neon bright paint balls, covering it entirely.

The figure tosses down something and a smoke cloud engulfs them. By the time anyone could react or do anything, the figure was gone. All over the city, anyone following the order of the jackass in the White House was being attacked by nonlethal means. The person manages to sneak onto the grounds of the White House and set off paint bombs to ruin the umbrellas and the new patio.

Before the security team or snipers that protect the White House could do anything, the figure disappears. The security team and secret service agents that responded to the attack can’t find a sign of them and the dogs they use to try to locate them, fall unconscious.

The fox wearing figure manages to make their way back to where they had hidden their air bike and take off. They knew there were satellites and video cameras that monitor the city. The person cuts across the Potomac River and disappear on the other side.

The figure approaches a store front and touches a concealed button on the console of their air bike. A garage door silently opens and the figure flies inside and lands. The metal garage door starts to lower and when it shuts completely, the figure dismounts the air bike and takes off the kitsune mask they were wearing.

Under the mask is an Asian looking girl with frosty white hair. Even her eyebrows were the same color as her hair. She refuels the air bike and afterwards walks up a flight of stairs towards her apartment. She hangs her mask on the mannequin head and places her outfit inside the decom unit to make sure no one managed to spray her with the special dust the CIA developed.

She stands there in the room in just her panties and bra. She was upset that business had decrease because of the jackass in the White House. She would love to take the bastard out, but he was to well-guarded, and it would take more than her to do anything. She could harass the National Guards and Ice agents and get away with it. They were too slow to do anything and even if they managed somehow to capture her, she had a few other tricks up her sleeve to deal with them.

Miko strips out of her panties, bra, and tosses them into the dirty clothes hamper. She walks into the bathroom and set the water temperature for the shower. Once the temperature reaches what she likes, she steps into the shower and let the water cascade down her body. The water hides the tears as they start to fall.

Her best friend Sergeant Freddy Mitchell of the Black Talon squad was recently killed along with several other members of the unit. She didn’t know the exact details of how he died, but she did know it took a very skillful person to kill him. They had attended boot camp together and even joined the Green Berets. The training was harder for her, because of her being a woman and because of how tall she was. She was four foot eleven inches tall.

Freddy was five foot six inches tall but could move like a jungle cat. The two of them had to prove themselves to the other recruits who tried out. The thing was, they both passed all the requirements and set new records.

Miko lets the tears fall as the water covered them up. She was going to miss her friend. She washes her body and shampoo her hair. She exists from the shower, after patting her body dried. Miko puts on a pair of flowery print panties and an oversized t-shirt that she could wear as a dress if she decided to go out anywhere.

She walks into the kitchen and start fixing herself something to eat. The Chinese restaurant that was below her didn’t open until eleven o’clock. She owned it but let someone else run it.

After fixing herself some fried rice, Miko sits down and watches the news. A mischievous smile appears on her face when they show footage of her embarrassing the Ice agents, and the National Guard protecting them. She knew it was going to take special chemicals to remove the paint off the windows of the hummers she painted with her paintballs.

As for the paint on the patio and the umbrellas the jackass brought up from Florida were ruined. The patio could be pressure wash, but the umbrellas couldn’t be. Miko makes plans to harass the agents again in a few days. She wanted them to relax some.

A Few Days Later at Arlington Cemetery:
Miko looks at all the family members gathered to honor the members of the Black Talon Squad. Some of them she recognized, from the special gathering she attended with Freddy. She notices Victoria was there with a woman who looked like she could be related to the cartoon character Velma from Scooby Doo.

The other woman was staying close to Victoria as she stood in her uniform. She saw tears leaking from Victoria’s eyes. She also noticed the nasty scar running the length of Victoria’s leg as well. The cover up story the military was telling the family of each solider that it had happened during a training exercise.

After the ceremony was over, Miko walks over to Victoria, who was sitting down. She had wiped her eyes and her markup was all messed up.

“Vicky, I’m Miko Liu. I was a close friend of Freddy Mitchell. He spoke very highly of you.” Miko knew Freddy held Vicky in high regard.

She had gotten out when the rapist in the White House had taken office a second time. She didn’t feel like serving in the military any more under him or the dork he put in charge as Secretary of Defense. So, she got out just as Frumpy took office.

The Chinese restaurant she has owned since she joined the service. She bought it with the money her great-grand father left her.

“It’s nice to meet you, Miko. Freddy spoke highly of you too. He said you always pushed him to be better. I’m sorry that he didn’t survive.” Victoria liked Freddy a lot as a friend.

“Vicky, I know you can’t tell me exactly what happened to you guys. But how did my best friend die?” Miko was trying to keep from breaking down.

Victoria leans forward until she was next to Miko’s ear and whisper “we were set up and had a building dropped on top of us.”

Miko looks at Vicky “who set you up?”

“Don’t know, but someone I trust with my life is checking into it.” Vicky couldn’t give Jay’s name out.

“Is it the same people responsible for the death of Colonel White and Captain Grossfeld?” Miko had seen the announcement in the newspaper.

“I don’t know.” Vicky wasn’t sure who did what.

“If you and your friend have time, why don’t you come and have a free lunch on me today at my restaurant?”

Tammy had stood quietly by Vicky while she spoke to Miko. She tried not to pay that much attention to what they were talking about, but when she mentioned food. That got her attention.

“What type of food do you serve, ma’am?” Tammy was curious.

A smirk appears on Miko’s face “Chinese food, of course.”

“What style of Chinese food?” Tammy was curious.

“It depends on what you order. My staff makes it differently all the time, but it is always of the nature they were taught.” Miko knew what the other woman was asking. Was it Cantonese, Mongolian, Shandong, or some other version.

Tammy looks towards Vicky “are you up to going out to eat?”

“Yes, that way Miko and I can talk about Freddy and the rest of the team.” Vicky squeezes Miko’s petite hand.

“Just follow me, ladies.” Miko stands up.

Tammy helps Vicky up and the three ladies walk to the cars. Miko had come in her BMW convertible. She had the top up, because she didn’t want to ruin her hair.

Miko spotted that Tammy and Vicky had arrived in a black Nissan Altima. She bets if she ran the plates, it would be a rental. She helps Vicky into the car. She wonders what exactly happened to Vicky and the rest of the team.

“Just stay close, and I’ll lead you to the restaurant.” Miko starts walking towards her car.

“Okay.” Tammy gets into the Altima and puts her seatbelt on. She hopes no one tries anything while they are in D.C.

Nothing occurs on the way to the restaurant. Tammy manages to follow Miko without getting cutoff or lose her. When they arrive at the restaurant, she notices they were already busy. She parks the rental they were in next to Miko’s car.

Tammy helps Vicky out of the car and walk inside the restaurant, by passing several people waiting in line to be seated. Miko leads them to a private are. Tammy helps Vicky sit down and then she sits down.

“We should be okay in here. I normally reserve this area for myself or special functions I sometimes host.”

“How often did Freddy and the guys come to eat here?” Vicky was curious, because Freddy uses to bring food with him whenever they were about to go on an assignment.

“Freddy, I would say about four times a week. The other guys use to bring their families here sometimes. I always gave them a discount.”

“That was nice of you.” Tammy looks at Miko when she says that.

“I used to serve with a lot of them before they were recruited into Black Talon squad. I turned down the request because I saw where the political wind was blowing. I can’t serve a president that I don’t respect, especially a rapist.” Miko pours sweet tea for all of them.

“I can respect that.” Vicky knew that Trump was the wrong person to be president. He proved that the first time he was president and later when he left office.

“So, how close were you and Freddy, Miko?” Tammy was curious.

“Probably as close as you and Victoria are.” Miko noticed how Tammy looked after Vicky.

“We grew up together and grew close as friends. We joined the military together and trained at the same boot camp. I became a nurse, while she became a Ranger.” Tammy takes a sip form her tea.

“That explains why you’re hovering over her.” A smile appears on Miko’s face.

“You try having a building dropped on you and see how you feel afterwards.” Tammy knew her friend was still suffering mentally from the experience.

“That brings me to my next question. Why did you guys go inside the building.” Miko looks at Victoria when she asks that question.

“We had intel informing us that the group we were after was inside. So, we infiltrated the place and when we got to the room where they were supposed to be. All that were in there were dead bodies; someone had rigged to appear alive on the scan we did before entering. No sooner after we busted down the door and entered. We found out we had been tricked. Explosives went off at the base of the building. The building started coming down around us.”

Tammy noticed that Vicky was starting to relive the experience. She places her hand on top of Vicky’s to calm her down. She sends her gift to Vicky, letting it calm her down.

Miko saw Vicky’s eyes take on that faraway look, and her breathing started to become ragged, her body trembling slightly. She picked up the fear in Vicky’s voice as she recounted what happened. She saw Tammy lay her hand on top of Vicky’s, and after a few minutes, Vicky began to calm down.

“I’m sorry for making you relive that experience, Vicky. I just needed to know what happened to my best friend.” Tears were sliding down Miko’s cheeks.

“I know, I miss them as well. I can’t figure out why I was spared?”

“Vicky, from what I learned, you were barely alive when the first responders found you. If they hadn’t found you when they had. I would have been attending your funeral today.” Tammy squeezes Vicky’s hand.

“That still doesn’t explain why I was spared.” The tears begin to flow from her eyes.

Tammy turns Vicky towards her and holds her as she cries. She rubs Vicky’s back and uses her ability again to comfort Vicky. She wishes her best friend had never had to experience what she did.

Miko was kicking herself for what she did. She just wanted to know why her best friend had to die. She knew in their line of work that it would happen, and she knew Freddy and the others had accepted that. But having a building dropped on you just seemed so extreme.

Miko helps Tammy with Vicky and sends a meal home with them. She was going to investigate why they had been given a setup. She let the manager on duty know that she was going out and might not be back for a while.

Miko goes upstairs to her apartment and grabs her gear. She walks back downstairs and outside to her vehicle and gets in. She looks at the folder containing the operation details and programs her GPS to direct her there. She’ll be gone for a few days to conduct the investigation.

She was lucky that the terrorist was on American soil, instead of overseas. She backs out of the parking space and heads towards the destination.

Vicky’s and Tammy’s Hotel Room:
Tammy unlocks the hotel room and escorts Vicky inside. She helps her friend undress and go to the bathroom.

“A good soak will do wonders for you, Vicky.” Tammy helps lower Vicky into the tub after filling it and adding Vicky’s favorite scented bath balls.
She brought them along, just in case Vicky had a breakdown.

Tammy stays by Vicky’s side as she helps her friend relax. When the water starts getting cold, she helps Vicky out and dresses her in her favorite nightshirt. She doesn’t bother with panties because she knows Vicky didn’t like wearing anything at night.

Once, Vicky was lying on the bed and fell asleep. She takes a shower, changes into her nightclothes, and lies down in bed as well. During the night, she is woken by some noise coming from the door to their hotel room.

Tammy grabs her can of mace and her hand-held stunner. She never leaves home without it. She waits until the door opens. She spots a single black dressed figure sneaking into her and Vicky’s room. She watches the person as he pulls a gun with a silencer out from behind his back.

Just before the figure can shoot Vicky, Tammy shoots the figure with the stun gun. She watches as he hits the floor as the gun goes off, hitting the wall just above Vicky’s head. Tammy springs onto the figure and sprays the mace right into the person's eyes. She also uses her elbow and strikes the figure in their ribs. She hopes she cracked some of them.

The figure tries to fight Tammy off, but she had them pinned, and the person couldn’t see thanks to the mace that was sprayed directly into their eyes. The person feels punched in their manhood.

“Let’s see who you are, asshole!” Tammy pulls the head covering off and looks down into the face of a young Middle Eastern man.

Amer couldn’t believe a woman with big tits had him pinned to the floor and managed to pull off his mask. He could barely see thanks to the burning sensation of the chemicals she sprayed into his eyes. He was fighting to escape from her, but she was holding him down with her knees.

Vicky is woken up by the sound of someone wrestling around in the room. She spots Tammy straddling a guy’s chest and using her legs to pin the guy’s arms down. She also spots a gun on the floor near her bed.

People were coming out of their hotel rooms because of the ruckus coming from the hotel. She dials the police and informs them.

“You'd better start talking or I’m going to smash your grapes.” Tammy moves her right foot and presses down on the guy’s private area.

The guy tries to force the woman off him, but she counters his move and punches him in his throat. She also presses harder on his manhood.

“Try that again and I’ll use my other foot.” Tammy looked the guy right in his face so that she wouldn’t forget him.

The police finally showed up and were surprised by what they saw. One of the officers chuckled because he had never seen someone restrained like the woman was with the guy. Tammy gives her statement and makes sure Vicky is alright.

Vicky looks at her friend, “I’m sorry, I was of no use to you.”

“It’s okay, Vicky. I had everything under control. I’m just going to have to find a way to explain this to your parents.” Tammy knew what Janet and
Leland would do when they heard what had happened.

“Why don’t you go back to sleep?” Tammy grabs the desk chair in their room and jams it up under the doorknob.

“Only if you sleep with me.” Vicky didn’t want to sleep alone in her bed.

“No problem.” Tammy grabs her pillow from her bed and lies down next to Vicky in her bed.

Vicky snuggles up close to Tammy and slowly drifts back to sleep again. Tammy stays awake for a while, holding Vicky next to her body. She was wondering who the man was and why he was sent to kill Vicky. There had to be some sort of connection between him and her. She also wasn’t looking forward to calling Janet and Leland tomorrow either. She closes her eyes and lets Vicky’s warm body put her to sleep.

Earl’s Diner, Alexandria, Va.:
Ada and Alya were having breakfast together, just as they normally did every morning, before heading to work. Lately, things have been strained at the Museum of Native American History. Alya’s hand was still wrapped up from when she punched a DOGE agent and his US Marshal escort when they tried to come into the museum to get access to their computer system.

She was ready to go full fox on them, but didn’t want to expose who she was. She looks over towards Ada, who is reading her tablet. “What got you so engrossed this morning?”

“The funeral announcement of members of a special ops team and their commanding officers.” Ada looks over the top of her tablet towards Alya.

“Is that it?” Alya knew that unless Clair or Jack gave the word, they were to stand down.

“Nope, there was a disturbance down at the Marriott last night.” Ada watched as the article she was reading was updated.

“What happened there?” Alya was now curious.

“It seemed an armed assailant went after one of the guests staying there. The armed assailant was taken down by the person he was sent to kill.”

“Does it give the name of the guest or why they were targeted?” Alya’s curiosity was piqued.

“Nope, it doesn’t. Aren’t you dating that Metro police officer?” Ada knew Alya had a new boyfriend.

“Yeah, and he was working last night. I can ask him tonight when we meet up for dinner.”

“Cool. So, any more trouble over at the museum with DOGE?” Ada knew Alya had fun punching one of their agents.

“Nope, none lately. I threatened to cause bodily harm to them next time one of their agents tried to enter and access our computer system. It
seems that every time they work on the computer system of a department, They manage to fuck it up so badly that it takes weeks to fix it.”

“That’s what I have been hearing all over the hill lately. Our department is so ignored that they aren’t even going to bother to mess with our system. Not that it would do them any good. I still have half of one room to finish and a new one that has been assigned to me.” Ada hated working in the archives, but it had its advantages as well.

The advantages were that she could work at her own pace and was largely ignored even by her coworkers. If she didn’t feel like working that day, she could skip it as long as she doubled her efforts the next day.

Also, having access to all those records has let Deanna and Becky update their computer system at the Den. So, it worked out for them, and no one was any wiser. It also allowed them to tap into the government computers of several different departments right under DOGE’s nose.

“You said a unit was killed. Did it say which unit?” Alya had seen a few people she knew dressed for a funeral the other day.

“Nope, but that’s typical. The government wouldn’t want that information to get out.” Ada knew that from experience.

“Who were the commanding officers who were killed?” Alya was curious.

“A Colonel White and Captain Grossfeld. Have you ever heard of them?” Ada looks at Alya for an answer.

“No, forward their name to Deanna and see if she can find out about them.” Alya was curious now.

Ada types up an email and sends it to Deanna. She uses their special encryption that Becky created for them. The two of them finish their breakfast and head to work.

Marriott Hotel:
Tammy and Vicky transferred to another room, as theirs had been invaded the previous night. Tammy knew Vicky wanted to visit the Wall. So, they get dressed and have breakfast down in the hotel. Tammy had received a message informing her that some bodyguards had been hired and would meet them downstairs. The code word they were supposed to use to identify themselves was cats in the cradle.

After Tammy and Vicky finished their breakfast. They received an email informing them that their protection detail was waiting for them and was at the front desk. When Tammy and Vicky arrived at the front desk, two women were waiting for them.

One woman had shoulder-length strawberry-blond hair and was wearing a custom-fitted business suit. She was rather tall, even in her dress shoes. Her companion was shorter than the three of them and had light blonde hair. It was cut in a Paige-style haircut.

Tammy walks up to them with Vicky by her side. She wonders who they worked for.

“Hey Deanna, I think those two women are our clients.” Becky spotted a younger woman who looked like she could be related to Brooke. And the
other woman with her had dirty blonde hair and looked tired.

Deanna looks over towards the two women and checks them against the description Jasmine gave her. Jasmine owned a specialized private security company that focused on protection for high-end clients. Since Deanna didn’t have anything planned for the week, she took the assignment.

“I think you're right, Becky.”

When the women approach them, the one woman who looks like she could be related to Brooke stands and holds out her hand. “Hi, we were told to expect you.”

“Don’t you want to hear the code word first?” Deanna looks at the brown hair woman who approached her.

“Sure.” Tammy smiles at the strawberry-blonde-haired woman.

“It’s Cat In The Cradle.” Deanna wonders who came up with that.

“See, I was right about you. I’m Tammy Gatlin, and my companion's name is Victoria Wolfhart.”

“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. I’m Deanna Wixx, and my companion here is Becky Gannon. We’ve been assigned to protect you until you leave Washington, D.C. Where would you ladies like to go today?”

“I would like to visit the Wall if we can and later, Arlington Cemetery afterwards.” Vicky wanted to visit her comrades one more time.

Tammy looks at her friend, “Are you sure?”

Vicky looks at Tammy’s face, “Yes. I want to say goodbye to them one more time.”

“We’ll, your chariot awaits, ladies.” Deanna takes the lead and leads everyone out of the hotel to a black Cadillac Escalade.

Becky opens the door for Tammy and Vicky to get into the SUV. Deanna stood nearby watching everything. Once Tammy and Vicky are inside the SUV. Becky walks around and gets in on the driver's side.

Becky drives the SUV over to where the Wall is. She notices that the woman, Victoria, is staring out the window.

“Do you ladies have friends and family members' names on the Wall?” Becky was curious.

“Yes, both of us do,” Tammy answered for Vicky because she noticed Vicky was lost in thought.

“Did the two of you serve?” Deanna was curious because of the way both women acted.

“Yes, I’m a nurse currently in the military, and my friend here is a ranger.” Tammy couldn’t really state what Vicky was.

After the Wall, the ladies head toward Arlington commentary. Tammy helped lead everyone to the section they had been at the other day. Becky leans close to Deanna. “Brooke would have a field day here.”

“I know.” Deanna was being watchful.

They follow Tammy and Vicky to the recent grave sites. Vicky kneels at the headstones and cries. She was still feeling upset that she had survived.

Deanna and Becky stood discreetly nearby, giving Tammy and Vicky space, but keeping an eye out for trouble. Becky was about to say something to Deanna when she spotted a drone hovering nearby.

“Deanna, to your right.” Becky glances to her right.

Deanna taps the side of her shades and zooms in on the drone. She’s never seen a design like it before. “Someone is spying on us.”

“Let's see how serious they are.” Becky takes out a simple laser penlight from her pocket and discreetly aims it at the camera on the drone.

She watches as it tries to avoid the penlight after being hit by it. A sly smile appears on her face as she keeps contact with it. The drone keeps trying to avoid the pen laser Becky was shining at it..

Deanna pulls her cell phone out and activates the frequency finder app. She scans the airwaves to find the frequency and locks onto it. She had to admit she was impressed by what she saw. The frequency it was using was shielded, and also jumped from one band to another before someone could lock onto it.

“I’m impressed, whoever is controlling this drone has designed it well.”

“Can we do anything about it?” Becky kept blinding it with the pen laser pointer she carried with her.

Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Va.
“Can we do anything about it?” Becky kept blinding it with the pen laser pointer she carried with her.

“Not without drawing attention to ourselves.” Deanna didn’t have any of her special gear with her.

Tammy spotted Becky and Deanna looking towards an object. She looked in the direction they were looking towards and spotted a drone. It wasn’t built like normal drones were, but more like a flying saucer.

She pulls her taser gun out and aims it at the drone and squeezes the trigger. The gun fires the taser prongs towards the drone and sends a millions volts to it. The drone was taken by surprise because of Becky blinding it with her laser pen light.

Becky looks over towards Tammy, “Do you always carry a taser gun with you?” As she walks towards the downed drone.

“Yes, I follow the old Boy Scout motto, Be Prepared.” Tammy reloads her taser gun.

“Where did you learn that?” Becky wonders if Tammy was like Jasmine and herself.

“My father. He was a boy scout troop leader.” Tammy watches as Becky walks over towards the downed drone. She was also keeping an eye on Vicky.

Becky picked the drone up and couldn’t believe how small it was. It looked like it was about half the size of a Frisbee and had a hard outer skin. She tries squeezing the shell to determine what it was made of, but it doesn’t bend. It also had four rectangular solar cells on top of it. She notices it was built to record video and sound.

Deanna walks over to where Becky was standing. She was curious about the drone as well.

“So, what is it?” Deanna was curious as she looked at the drone in Becky’s hands.

“Well, this is a professional stealth drone. It has a carbon fiber body with small blades that encircle the disk, providing lift. This is something I would say the CIA or NSA would use in the field.” Becky was surprised at how light it felt.

“Why would they be sending something like this to observe these women?” Deanna was puzzled.

“That’s a good question, Ms. Wixx.” Tammy was walking towards them.

Vicky was walking next to Tammy. She was curious about the drone Becky was holding.

“Have the two of you ever seen anything like this before?” Deanna looks at Tammy and Vicky for an answer.

“No, but we might know someone who might.” Vicky snaps a few pictures of the drone and sends it to her father.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who did you send those pictures to?” Becky was curious.

“My father, he is well known in the Black Ops community.” Vicky figures her father might know. If not, she could always ask her aunt Tabitha.

“Who’s your father?” Deanna wonders who Victoria Wolfhart was related to.

“General Leland Wolfhart.” Victoria had to hide who she was related to when she joined the military. She didn’t want anyone to know she was related to a well-known black ops commander.

Her father and mother were well known in the black ops community. Especially her mother, who was a civilian. She was a performer and a medical doctor. According to everything she heard about her mother, she was capable of getting into countries or places others couldn't and get out again without being caught. Her father was a former Delta Force operative and was well respected among the different branches of special forces. There were a lot of stories about him among the community.

“I’ve never heard of him; then again, I’ve never been in the military before.” Becky didn’t feel right joining because of how she felt about her body.

“Well, let’s continue this conversation in the SUV.” Deanna felt they'd better get out of the open.

“I think that might be a good idea.” Tammy felt like eyes were watching them.

The four of them start walking back towards the Cadillac. As they get close to the black Escalade, a beeping sound starts sounding from Becky’s pocket.

“Stay here.” Becky moves towards the SUV and carefully looks around it and under it. She spots a block of C4 attached to the frame of the SUV.
She traces the wires coming from it towards the electrical wires going to the brake lights.

“What did you find, Becky?” Deanna saw Becky reached up under the SUV.

“Oh! Someone left us a gift.” Becky disconnects the wiring going to the C4.

She didn’t see any backup explosives or anything else that could be dangerous to them. Whoever did this wasn’t a real professional. However, this was military grade C4 explosives.

Becky stands up and looks towards the group, “Who is trying to kill you two?”

“We don’t know.” Victoria wonders who was trying to kill them. This was the second time since arriving in Washington, D.C., that someone was trying to kill them.

“I think we need to move you two, to a safe house. Going back to your hotel room is going to put innocent people in danger.” Deanna didn’t want any innocent people to get hurt.

“I think that might be for the best. Where do you suggest?” Victoria looks towards Deanna and Becky.

“Let me make a call,” Deanna calls Clair as they get into the SUV.

Clair’s Place:
Carol was in the kitchen when the telephone started ringing. She couldn’t believe her grandmother still used an old-fashioned landline. She picks the receiver up “Hello?”

Deanna recognized the voice who answered the phone, “Carol, this is Deanna. I need to talk with your grandmother. Can you let her know, please?”

“I wish I could, Deanna, but she and Brooke are at the grocery store. Is there anyone else who can help you?” Carol knew what her grandmother and the other ladies did.

“Is Jasmine around?”

“Yeah, she’s upstairs changing out of her work clothes. I’ll let her know you want to speak to her. Hold on one minute.”

“Okay.” Deanna waits for Jasmine to pick up.

A few seconds later, Jasmine's voice comes over the cell phone.

“What’s up, Deanna?” Jasmine hadn’t even finished getting dressed when Carol informed her Deanna was on the line.

“We need a safe house. This protection detail has become a lot hotter. Also, have Ada and Alya go by the Marriott and pick up our client’s luggage.”

“Where are you guys?” Jasmine wonders why the situation has escalated.

“We’re about to leave Arlington Cemetery.” Becky was driving slowly towards the entrance of the place.

“Go to 3571 Military Rd. Let me know when you arrive, and I’ll send you the entrance code to the place.”

“Is it prepped?” Deanna knew some of the safe houses were and some weren’t.

“It’s got some provisions already there.” Jasmine figures she could always have Ada and Alya bring whatever Deanna and Becky needed or wanted.

“Alright, I’ll call you in thirty minutes.” Deanna looked up the address on Google Maps.

Deanna ends the phone call and looks at Becky, “Go here.”

Becky glances at the address on Deanna’s cell phone. Since joining Clair’s crew, she has become familiar with where some of the safe houses are located.

Undisclosed Location, Middle East:
Miko arrives at the site where Black Talon Squad was murdered. She had her mask on to hide her features. The area was still active with hostiles, so she was sticking to the shadows and moving quietly. The black bodysuit she was wearing hid the fact that she was a woman. She had her sidearm on and her web belt. She also brought her custom-made rifle and specially made grenades and flash bangs with her. Normally, she tried to use non-lethal means to subdue people, but in this case, she decided to carry more lethal rounds instead.

She examines the remains of the building where her best friend was killed. She could just tell from the destruction that the building had imploded in on itself. If this had been a normal explosion, the debris would have been blown away from the building, spreading out away from it. However, this explosion caused the building to implode inward towards the center of the building.

This proves it was a setup, but why? Who would want to kill the team? And why? She tries to collect some residue to determine what type of explosive was used. She started thinking of several different types of explosives that could do the job.

3571 Military Rd., Arlington, Virginia.:
Becky pulled in front of the address Jasmine gave her and loved how the place looked. It was so nondescript that no one would ever think about it being a safe house. It was a modern ranch-style construction, and as she got closer to it. She noticed it had a two-car garage.

Becky calls Jasmine to get the access code. She steps out of the SUV and starts talking with Jasmine. She walks over to an innocent-looking statue and tilts a flower pot back, revealing a weatherproof keypad. She inputs the code, and two keys drop out of a little door.

Becky walks back to the SUV and over to the passenger side. She knocks on the blackout passenger window. Becky watches as the window lowers. “Let’s go in.”

“Alright.” Deanna opens the SUV door.

The passenger doors open as well. Tammy helps Vicky out of the SUV and closes the door behind her. The four of them walk towards the front door, with Tammy and Deanna keeping an eye out for trouble.

“Hey, Becky, how did you know the SUV had been tampered with?” Tammy had heard the alert on Becky’s cell phone when they got close to the SUV.

“It’s a program I wrote for all our vehicles. The SUV has micro-cameras embedded around it, and when someone comes close to it, it records their presence. So, when I or any of my teammates get close to any of the vehicles equipped with the cameras. It lets us know.” Deanna had explained the process to them.

Becky walks up to the front door and inserts the key. After unlocking the door, “Voice verification required.”

“Bubba, come and get it.” Becky gives her password.

“Verification accepted.” A clicking sound sounded.

“Come on, ladies, let’s get inside, and I’ll park the SUV in the garage.” Deanna opens the front door and walks inside.

Vicky and Tammy follow next. Becky had turned around and headed back to the SUV to drive it into the garage.

“This is a nice place.” Tammy walks into the place and looks around.

Vicky follows and stands next to Tammy. She will be happy to get off her feet. Her legs were killing her.

“Why don’t the two of you make yourself comfortable, while I let Becky in?” Deanna walks towards the kitchen and out into the garage.

Tammy noticed Vicky was trying to cover up the pain she was in.

“Come over and sit down, Vicky.” Tammy figures the wounds on her legs were hurting her.

Vicky walks over and sits down on the nice sofa. She wished she wasn’t in so much pain, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

“I brought your pain pills and antibiotics with me.” Tammy pulls out the pills for Vicky and hands them to her.

“Thanks.” Vicky accepts them and takes the amount her doctor prescribed for her.

Deanna and Becky return a few minutes later and sit down in the living room with Vicky and Tammy. The two women look towards Vicky and Tammy. “Do you ladies have any idea who is trying to kill you?”

“Nope, but I think you got it wrong, Deanna. They are trying to kill my best friend.” Tammy squeezes Vicky’s hand.

“But why, is the question.” Vicky knew it had nothing to do with her family because her mother would send her older siblings and Sasha after them.

A ding sound could be heard coming from Becky’s cell phone. She pulls it out and looks at the message.

“What is it, Becky?” Deanna looks at her short cohort.

“It’s from Ada. She said that the hotel room looked like someone had tossed it. She also said that she and Alya will bring groceries and dinner with them as well.” Becky shows the text message to Deanna.

Deanna looks at it and sends a message to them to bring her armor from her secondary storage unit. She sends them the access code to Ada.
After she does that. She looks towards Vicky, “Start from the beginning on the assignment the government sent you on.”

“You know I can’t tell you everything about the assignment.” Vicky looks at Deanna.

“That’s fine. I can get the original order from the source itself. Just tell me what you were told.” Deanna hits the record app on her cell phone.

“Alright, we were sent to eliminate members of a terrorist organization known as The Shadow Collective. They have been operating behind the scenes on a lot of conflicts going on around the world. They’re also responsible for supporting a bunch of terrorist organizations and donating to several senators and congress members in our government. They want to change how our government works and get their agenda pushed through.”

“That explains a lot about our current political environment.” Becky hated the current person in the White House.

“Well, we were told a meeting was supposed to happen, and to eliminate everyone there. It’s standard practice for my team to do a thermal scan before entering a building to give us an idea where everyone is. We did the scan and picked up seven people sitting around a table. So, the order was given to break into the room.”

“Is that where you discovered that the information was false?” Deanna was starting to see this was a setup.

“Yes, it was. No sooner had my team entered the room than we discovered someone had been there before us. The bodies were dead and made up to make us believe they were alive. Just as we discovered the truth, the bombs started going off. We couldn’t react fast…” Vicky starts
breaking down as the tears start to flow, and a horrified look appears on her face.”

“Easy, Vicky.” Tammy wraps her arms around Vicky and holds her close to her body. “You’re not there, sweetie. sshhh!!” As Tammy brushes Vicky’s hair.

Deanna and Becky were concerned about Victoria’s mental state. She was suffering from PTSD. Becky figures that what happened to Vicky has scarred her for life.

Tammy uses her gift to calm her friend down. Vicky was going to need to see a specialist to help her overcome what happened to her. Tammy feels Vicky quieting down and relaxing as Vicky calmed down.

Deanna noticed that whenever Vicky broke down, Tammy managed to calm her down. “How do you do that?”

Tammy inhales and slowly exhales before speaking. She looks directly at Deanna and Becky, “I was born with a special gift. I can influence a person’s emotional state when I touch them. Vicky has always known about my ability, and her parents as well.”

“So, that’s why you became a nurse?” Becky could see how Tammy’s gift could be helpful as a nurse.

“Yes.”

“I see. Vicky, are you okay to answer a few questions for me?” Deanna wanted to know who gave them the order.

“Yes, what do you want to know?” Vicky takes a tissue out and wipes her eyes.

“Who normally gives your group your orders?” Deanna wonders how they got their orders.

“Don’t know. Colonel White normally receives the orders and then passes everything along to Captain Grossfeld to give to us. After that, Captain Grossfeld and Lieutenant Highwater, our strategist. They plan out how we are going to handle the problem.”

“Which means, they give you your matching orders. What was your position in the group?” Becky was curious.

“I was the team sniper and hand-to-hand expert. We didn’t need sniper support on this mission. So, I went in to support my teammates.” Vicky takes a breath and tries to relax.

“I really need a drink.” Vicky wanted a stiff drink.

“Which you can’t take with the pills you are taking.” Tammy knew Vicky couldn’t drink any alcohol with the pain pill she was taking.

Deanna turns the recorder off and gets up to stretch her legs. She had to admit that Vicky and her team had been set up. She gets an alert letting her know Ada and Alya were approaching.

“Well, dinner is here.” Deanna stands up and walks towards the garage.

The garage was big enough to park four vehicles. Becky looks towards Vicky and Tammy, “I hope you ladies like Thai.”

“We grew up on Thai food.” Tammy loved Thai.

Vicky didn’t say anything. She just looked over towards the door leading to the garage. She wanted to see who these other women were.

3571 Military Rd., Arlington, Virginia.:
Vicky and Tammy watches as two women they haven’t met yet come walking in with their stuff and food. One woman looked like she was Native American and was dressed like someone who worked in an office or museum. As for the other woman, she was about the same height as her partner, but she was wearing a custom fitted business suit. Even her shoes look like they were government issue.

Tammy leans next to Vicky “I bet one of them is either FBI or a US Marshal.”

“I think your right.” Vicky figured the other woman had to be some sort of government agent.

Ada and Alya spotted the two new women. They walk over with their luggage and whatever personal hygiene stuff they had in the hotel room.

“Hi, I’m Ada and this here is my partner Alya.” Ada had a smile on her face. She also noticed one of the women had bandages and bruises on her face.

“It’s nice to meet you Ada and Alya.” Tammy reaches out and shakes their hands.

Alya does the same thing. A smile appears on her face. “So, which room has been assigned to you two?”

“We haven’t chosen one yet. We were waiting for you ladies to appear.” Vicky had a pleasing smile on her face.

“Well, we got everything that was in your hotel room. We also brought food, so why don’t you choose a bed room and after you do that. We’ll sit down to eat.” Ada watches both women.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Just as Tammy stood up, her cellphone beeps letting her know a text arrived. She pulls her cellphone out of her pocket and check who was texting her. She reads the text and types a reply.

“Who was that?” Alya noticed the expression on Tammy’s face.

“A nurse I know looking after two members on my friend’s squad.” Tammy looks at Vicky.

Victoria looks into Tammy’s eyes and could see the sadness in them. “Who passed away?”

“Ralph and Henry just passed away an hour ago. According to my friend, both of them died from embolism. She said they were doing fine, and there was no reason for that to happen to them.” Tammy knew her friend could be trusted.

Ada and Alya heard the news. They look at the two women they were protecting “why are people trying to kill you?”

“I don’t know.” Vicky was trying to figure out who was trying to kill them.

Undisclosed Location, Middle East:
“Shit!” Miko was driving like a mad woman in the Range Rover she stole.

She had two black SUVs chasing after her. Whoever they were, they were trying to kill her. She makes a sharp turn, bring the range rover up on two wheels, almost tipping over. She spots a place where she could lose them. She makes a quick right and jerk around and back the range rover into an alleyway.

She watches as the two black SUVs zoom past her. She waits before pulling out and going back the direction she came. She knew a place where she could hide. She wanted to know who was chasing after her and why?

Miko makes herself comfortable and puts her disguise on before heading out again. She wants to know who those men were and why they started chasing after her. She mingles in the market looking for the men who had chased her. Gathering intelligence was what she trained to do and she was good at it.

Miko manages to locate the two black SUVs but has to be careful, because the place where they were parked. There were surveillance cameras watching the court yard where the SUVs were parked. She takes two small baseball size balls from under the abaya she was wearing. She rolls them into the courtyard and maneuvers them right under the two SUVs. She presses a special button and six spider legs unfold from the ball and attach itself to the undercarriage of the SUVs.

After they were attached, she pulls out two medium size match box boxes, but longer. She presses the center button and they transform into small drones. She gives them a little toss and the blades start up. She guides them towards the main house and listens for where the people could be. Only one of them had infrared sensors built into it.

Once she finds the room the figures were in. She lands them against the window and records the conversation going on inside the room. She wants to know who is behind killing her best friend.

Undisclosed Location, Middle East:
Miko wakes up and searches around for her supplies. She barely got any sleep last night. She looks over towards the windows and the door to make sure the alarm system she set was still set. Anything could have happened last night, and she didn’t want to be caught unprepared. She searches through her supplies and takes out some instant coffee.

She boils some water and mixes it with the instant coffee she brought with her. She couldn’t believe the intel she learned last night. Someone in the States was smuggling American-made weapons to the terrorists here in the Middle East. But why did they kill her best friend? The elite group he belonged to was sent to eliminate a criminal organization.

Miko drinks her coffee and chews on a granola bar. She needs to find out who else in this part of the world was connected to these men. Miko thinks about eliminating each of the men, but all that would do is alert them. I would let them know someone is watching them.

Miko reviews what she has so far and makes plans to infiltrate the building she was at and plant some bugs. She already knew some of the layout of the place, but she needed to know more about the personnel coming and going. She was going to make a map of the place and learn everything about it.

After Miko is done with her simple breakfast, she puts together an identity that would allow her to pass as one of the people. She double-checks her disguise and leaves the safehouse she was using and blend in with the crowd.

3571 Military Rd., Arlington, Virginia.:
Tammy looks down at Victoria as she gets out of bed. Vicky woke her up twice last night from the nightmares she had. She really needed to get Vicky to someone who specialized in PTSD. This matter about Vicky’s friends was taking a toll on her best friend.

Tammy grabs her robe and slippers and puts them on. She leaves the bedroom and heads towards the bathroom. After doing her business in the bathroom, Tammy heads towards the kitchen. When Tammy enters the kitchen, she spots a woman who looks almost identical to her, except more like the live-action character from the Scooby Doo movie. The other woman’s chest was bigger than her own.

Brooke turned around when she felt the presence of another person in the kitchen. She was covering for Ada because Ada was going to see if she could get her hands on the original mission assignment given to Victoria Wolfhart. She noticed the other woman looked identical to her, except a little younger. The other woman’s chest size was a little smaller than her own.

“Well, good morning, twinsies. Would you like a cup of coffee?” Brooke had already poured hers.

“Yes, please.” Tammy couldn’t believe she was looking at a double of herself.

Brooke pours another cup of coffee and hands it to Tammy.

“Thank you.” Tammy accepts the coffee cup.

Tammy walks over to the refrigerator and adds cream to her coffee. She puts the cream back in the refrigerator. She turns around and notices that the other woman hasn’t taken her eyes off her.

“I bet you're wondering if we have a common ancestor?” Tammy was thinking something like that.

“My name is Brooke. I’m the forensics expert of my group.” Brooke takes a sip from her coffee cup.

“Tammy, I’m a certified nurse. Vicky is my best friend.” Tammy takes a sip from her coffee cup.

“How long have you two been friends?” Brooke was curious about the two women.

“Since we were kids. We attended the same private school and went through the same boot camp. She became a Green Beret, and I became a field medic.” Tammy has always wanted to be a nurse.

“Since the two of you have been friends for that long. Do you know if your friend has any enemies?” Brooke drinks some more of her coffee.

“Personally, no. Vicky doesn’t go out of her way to piss people off, unless you’re being a bully. As for her family, they have a lot of enemies.
The thing is, I don’t think the accidents and attacks against Vicky and her team are personal. I think it’s on purpose.” Tammy has been thinking about the situation and why someone would be after her friend’s team.

“Is the coffee ready, Brookie?” Joker comes walking into the kitchen and notices two Brookes.

She rubs her eyes to clear the sleep and stares at both women. She shakes her head, “I must be seeing doubles.”

Tammy looks towards the woman who walked into the kitchen. Her face and hair look like she was the Joker from the Batman cartoons. She wasn’t wearing very much clothing. She had on a tiny thong that barely covered her groin area and a tan color camisole that draped over her huge breasts.

“You’re not seeing double, Joker. Tammy, here is one of the women we are protecting.”

Joker walks over and looks down at Tammy. She looked identical to her teammate Brooke, except her chest wasn’t as big as Brooke's, and she looked older.

Tammy looked at the woman named Joker and wondered why she looked like she could be her namesake. She could smell the strong perfume the woman was wearing and noticed the madness in the woman’s eyes. She has seen that look before among certain vets who experienced a very traumatic event.

“Well, Brookie, if I didn’t know you had a child, I would say she was your daughter or something.” Joker walks over to the coffee pot and fixes
herself a cup of coffee.

“So, how many people are going to be babysitting us today?” Tammy looks back towards Brooke when she asks that question.

“Just me and Joker today. Ada, Alya, and Deanna are looking into the orders your friend received and getting me the forensics report on the two accidents. They are also getting me the blood work on the two members who died in the hospital.”

Hopefully, we will find something.” Joker takes a sip of her coffee.

After Tammy finishes her coffee. She takes a shower and gets ready for the day.

Federal Evidence Yard:
Becky had pulled some strings and managed to get access to the federal impound yard. She pulled up in her antique looking pickup truck. She knew the manager of the impound yard and he didn’t mind her looking around. Slipping the manager a little extra on the down low also helped.

Becky says hello to some of the people she knew as she walked towards the two cars. She knew cars would be stored near the back of the yard, to keep their damage hidden. She starts at the front of the vehicles and scans the whole vehicle. She also investigates the inside of the vehicles.

When she hooks her scanner to the vehicles data port, she didn’t get anything. She locates the engine management computer and removes it. Luckily, it was still intact. Becky goes to removes the engine management computer. She notices something that shouldn’t be there.

She carefully disconnects it from the wiring and puts it in a plastic bag. She labels that box and goes over to the second car and examines it the same way. She makes sure to scan the whole car and when she goes to remove the engine management computer. She spots the same device
in the same place as the other car. She carefully removes it and places it in a plastic bag.

Medical Hospital Morgue:
Ada uses her FBI credentials to get access to morgue and the autopsy report. Since the bodies were still stored in the morgue, Ada requests to see them. She uses the hidden camera in her glasses to take pictures of each body. She figures Brooke will want to examine the footage of the bodies. She tries to get as close to the bodies as possible. She wanted the scans to be as detail as she can make them. Brooke was a detailed person and looked for the smallest detail or problem in what she examined.

After getting what she wanted from the morgue. Ada leaves and heads to meet Alya for lunch. The two of them have grown close since their first meeting. She learned that Alya’s fox totem around her neck was passed down from one user to the next by the totem itself.

Ada walks out of the morgue and leaves the building. The morgue has always given her a creepy feeling. How anyone could work on dead bodies, she’ll never understand. She knows death is part of life and sooner or later, she’ll end up here one day. Hopefully, it’s later, because now she was enjoying life.

She wonders how Alya was doing with her police boyfriend. If anyone could get information, it was Alya. As she walks out something didn’t seem right to her. She stops and turns around just in time to see someone aiming a gun at her. She dives out of the way, while pulling her own gun.
She rolls and comes up with her gun in her hand.

The person who had been aiming at her fires their gun. The shot misses her as she fires her gun twice, hitting the person in their leg. She stands up and walks carefully over towards the person.

She notices the person was still alive. Ada kneels next to the person “start talking or I’m going to put my next bullet right between your eyes.” Ada aims her gun towards the person forehead.

Agent Travor looks up into the woman’s face he was sent to kill. He was told she was sticking her nose in important matter, and he was to take her out.

“What do you want to know?”

“Who sent you and why?” Ada looks down at the person.

“No one sent me. You’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.” Agent Travor

A smirk appears on Ada’s face. “Is that so?”

“Well, since you’re going to be a difficult person. I’m going to have to call in someone else to interrogate you.” Ada puts her gun away.

“What about my wounds?”

“What about them? I don’t care if you bleed out.” Ada stands up and pulls her cell phone out and call the emergency room.

She turns back around and takes a picture of the guy. Before the paramedics arrive, she searches the guy and finds out he was an agent with DHS.

“Interesting, why would DHS be interested in what I am doing?” Ada makes sure she has all his information.

Agent Travor doesn’t say anything. He looks away from Ada.

“Fine, don’t say another word. I’ll let you meet the boogie man and he’ll get the information out of you.

Undisclosed Location, Middle East:
Miko managed to pass as one of the women that went in and out of the compound she had been monitoring. She planted her bugs throughout the compound. A few times she almost got caught, but managed to bluff her way through the problem. It was a good thing she could speak the language and dialect that the people spoke.

When she was done, doing what she needed to do. She managed to add a mild poison to some of the drink the guys liked to drink when they got together. It wouldn’t kill them, but would give them the runs after a while.

When she gets back to her safe house, she changes out of the clothes she wore and put on some new ones and mingles back into the crowd in the market place. Most of the time she could learn more mingling with people she didn’t know or had no connection to the subject she was observing.

She moves among the people quietly asking questions and watching. She knew if she asked too many questions, someone would report her. She stays alert as she continues her reconnaissance. She wanted to make the people responsible for her best friend’s death pay for their deed.

Pentagon, Washington D.C.:
Alya had a difficult time getting into the Pentagon. She had to use several different illusions to get to the department where the records for special projects were kept. A few times, she almost got clocked, but she managed to bluff her way through the security.

Thanks to a special device Deanna gave her, she was able to access the special mission files. She accesses the files and makes a copy of them. Just from her observation, the mission looked like it was straightforward.

After she gets everything she needs. Alya makes her way out of the Pentagon and heads back to Clair’s house with the information. She double-checks her rearview mirror several times to make sure no one is following her.

Using her illusion while she is driving is dangerous. She could hide from sight with her ability, which would confuse anybody following her. Also, with other drivers around her, it would cause problems.

Alya wonders how the other members of the team are doing. She hopes they aren’t drawing attention to themselves. This mission alone was turning into a mess.

George Washington University Hospital:
Agent Trevor was resting in a private hospital room when a nurse entered the room. She looked cute and had a nice figure.

“How are we doing today, Mr. Trevor?” The nurse looks at him with a pleasant smile.

“I’ve been better.” Agent Trevor kept staring at the nurse moving around his room.

The nurse pulls a needle out of her pocket and inserts it into the IV line. She squeezes the plunger and waits for the chemical to start taking effect. She keeps Agent Trevor’s attention on her as she waits for the chemical to begin working.

When Trevor started slurring his words and complained of feeling a little hot. Jasmine knew the drug was entering his system. A sly smile appears on her face as she sits down next to Agent Trevor. “Now, let's talk about who sent you to kill Agent Ada.”

Agent Trevor looks at the nurse and, in a slurred voice, “Who are you?”

An evil smile appears on Jasmine’s face, “I’m the boogie man.”

By the time Jasmine extracts every bit of information from Agent Trevor. She was feeling so dirty and couldn’t believe what he told her. The drug she used was developed by Clair when she worked as an agent for Jack originally.

There was no way the modern-day agents or training centers could prepare their people for the effects the drug caused in the person. She was glad she didn’t have to use the second drug that Clair had developed for Jack. That one was extremely nasty and caused mental and physical damage to the prep.

She discarded the nurse's outfit she wore and put her custom bodysuit back on. She had everything recovered, so Clair and the others could hear what she learned. The corruption at the Pentagon and the White House was unbelievable.

She mounts her custom motorcycle and heads back to the den to go over everything she has.

3571 Military Rd., Arlington, Virginia.:
Vicky was up and moving around. Tammy caught her up on what she had missed so far. She was surprised to see an older version of Tammy in the house. According to Tammy, the woman called herself Brooke. She was the team’s forensics specialist. As for the other woman, who looked like the female version of the Joker from Batman. She was Deanna’s partner and the muscle of the group.

While Tammy and Vicky are sitting in the living room, Vicky’s cell phone beeps, letting her know someone is trying to contact her by video. She recognizes the person as her older brother Kris. She wonders what he wants.

“Hey, Kris.”

“Hey, little sister. How are you and where are you?” Kris heard through his mother that someone tried to attack his sister and Tammy while they were in Washington, D.C.

“At a safe house that the bodyguards' mom and dad arranged to protect me. Where are you right now?” Vicky wonders why her older brother was calling her.

“Twenty miles from Arlington. Mom wanted me to check up on you.” Kris had been contacted by his parents, and they wanted him to check on his sister.

“Look, I don’t think it would be a good idea to come to the safe house. These women who are protecting me might not like visitors.”

Brooke happened to walk by the living room when she heard Vicky talking to someone. She looks at Vicky, “whoever you are talking to, they can come by as long as they play nice.”

Vicky looks up at Brooke, “It’s my older brother. My parents sent him to check up on me.”

“That’s fine. As long as he plays nice, there’s no problem. By the way, what does your brother do?” Brooke was curious.

“He’s a kite for the CIA.” Tammy knew what Kris did for a living.

He specialized in infiltration and assassinations. He had the training to get into and out of the most secure locations without leaving a trace. Most of his training came from his mother, from her days as a stage magician. She also taught him skills she learned from the secretive Hattori clan from Japan.

He bore the mark as an official member of the clan. She knew Vicky had three family members who bore the same mark. Vicky’s mother was one of the three. Her fourth-oldest sister bore the mark and Kris. Not even Sasha had the mark, but then again, Sasha didn’t need the mark. She was dangerous in her own way.

Brooke lets out a low whistle. She knew from working for Clair that only certain people were granted kite status. If any of those people are captured by the enemy, they will be disavowed by the United States.

“Yeah, my older brother isn’t someone you messed with. Most of my family are dangerous people, but the ones who are extremely dangerous are
my parents and my little sister, Sasha.” Vicky knew Sasha was just like their mother.

Thirty minutes later, a fancy beige color car pulls into the driveway. The thing looked like it might be a new type of Ferrari, but the style didn’t match. A female-looking occupant exists from the car. They had dirty blonde short hair and a slim build. They were also dressed in a custom-made business suit that could be either male or female.

Kris had pulled up into the driveway at a normal-looking house in a nice neighborhood. The lawn was manicured, and everything looked like it was well-maintained. He did spot several concealed surveillance cameras and devices. If he were an ordinary person, he wouldn’t have noticed them, but he was trained to spot things others ignored. Not only that, his car had detected the surveillance devices.

Becky had arrived with her intel and gave it to Brooke. She did say that the devices she spotted and disconnected were five years ahead of anything she knew of. Whoever they were dealing with had access to advanced tech.

Becky walks outside with Joker next to her. Vicky and Tammy were behind them.

“Well, if I knew I would be greeted by so many beautiful women, I would have arrived dressed better.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” Joker could sense that this person was dangerous.

“Ladies, this is my older brother. His name is Kris Wolfhart. Kris, this is Joker, and this is her partner, Becky.” Vicky introduces her brother to the ladies.

“Working partner or partner, partner?” Kris wanted to get everything straight.

“No, working partner. But sometimes we do enjoy each other’s bodies.” Becky loved seeing how people reacted to her directness.

“Ah, well, I’m used to both.” A smile appears on his handsome face.

“By the way, that’s a nice car. What is it?” Becky wanted to walk over and check the car out.

“It’s a ZXR Storm. Our aunt builds them.” Vicky spoke up because she knew her brother wouldn’t.

“Never heard of them.” Becky wanted to examine the car.

“Only special agents are given those cars. Each car is custom-built to the owner.” Kris figures his sister trusted these women.

“It looks like it was from a Hot Wheels collection.” Becky looks towards Kris and notices he didn’t respond.

A smirk appears on Kris’s face. He chose it from one of his favorite Hot Wheels cars.

“I think we'd better take this inside.” Tammy didn’t want anything to happen to Vicky.

“I agree.” Kris walks over to his injured sister and hugs her.

Afterwards, they all head inside the house.

The Wolf Den:
Brooke looks over towards Clair. Clair had decided to work with Brooke on all the evidence they had collected. They have been going over everything. Even Becky was confused about what she found.

“Clair, this doesn’t make any sense?” Brooke looks at Clair when she says that.

“What do you mean, Brooke?” Clair turns to look at Brooke.

“Everything I have gone over is straightforward. The thing that doesn’t make sense is why they try to kill members of Black Talon Squad?” Brooke found out that the squad had been set up on purpose.

The mission they had been sent on was legal, and the orders were simple. If nothing else, Black Talon Squad was too qualified for the mission.
The Director of Special Projects, Marcus Hampton, should sent a team that was better suited for this task.

“Maybe they stumbled onto something they shouldn’t have?” Clair knew they had been set up before in the past.

“Still, why take the whole team out? They took out the operators and the commanding officers who oversee the team.”

Clair thinks about that statement. Brooke was right. Why take out the whole squad?

“The only thing I can guess is that the commanding officers of Black Talon Squad might have been suspicious about what happened to the others.”

“That does make sense. I examined these modules that Becky found. They allow a person to take control of the vehicles.”

“How close does the operator have to be?”

“Not close at all. I could put one of these on your computer management system and operate it here from the den.” Brooke had Deanna look at it to confirm her findings.

“Good thing my truck is old school.” Clair loved her old pickup truck.

“They could always put it on the ignition coil or on your fuse panel and remote shut off your truck, Clair. If not one of these modules, a claw-like
device that they can fire at your vehicle and shut down your electrical system.” Brooke has been keeping up with the latest devices.

“So, after they eliminate everyone associated with the Black Talon Squad. What would be their next move?” Clair has been out of the game for a long time.

“Start more wars and get richer?” Brooke figures she might do that.

“You may be right. How was everything at the safe house?”

“Everything is going fine. Mrs. Victoria’s older brother tracked her down. According to her, he’s a kite for the CIA.” Brooke wonders what that world is like.

“He is. I checked him out with a friend of mine who has access to classified personnel files. He’s one of their best.” Clair had gotten word from Joker about his visit.

“I’m surprised you have contacts there.” Brooke loved teasing Clair.

“I may be old and have been out of the game for a while, but I still have some contacts in high and low places.” A smile appears on Clair’s face.

Brooke just shakes her head. As she goes over everything, they have collected a second time.

3571 Military Rd., Arlington, Virginia.:
Deanna and Joker were guarding Vicky and Tammy. Joker was playing solitaire on her tablet, while Deanna was working on her armor. The targeting system was off, and she was realigning the system.

Vicky was in a meditation trance, along with Tammy. Tammy had helped her achieve the trance, and it was helping to center her. She still suffered from being pinned under all the rubble that had fallen on top of her.

Those thoughts and feelings still haunted her. Her younger sister Sasha had the same thing happen to her recently, and she knew how she felt. They had talked till late in the night about how to deal with how she felt.

Tammy was wearing one of the old exercise leotards she had packed. When Vicky comes out of her meditation trance. Tammy has Vicky strip out of her leotard and lie down on some towels on the floor. She had Becky pick up some massage oil and start working it into Vicky’s body.

Tammy knew which muscles her friend always had tight. She massaged the oils into Vicky’s skin and between her legs. She knows all of Vicky’s sensitive spots and ticklish spots.

“Turn over, before I spank you.” Tammy watches as Vicky carefully turns over.

Vicky does as Tammy says. She looks up at her friend with a smile on her face.

“I like it better when you are naked, too.” Vicky liked it when Tammy was naked and straddling her.

“You’re in no condition for any foreplay, sweety. Your body is still healing.” Tammy leans down and kisses Vicky’s nose.

Vicky closes her eyes and enjoys Tammy’s treatment of her wounded body. She loves it when Tammy straddles her, but she knew her friend wasn’t going to do that. She feels Tammy’s hand move gently over her bruised and abused body. She watches as Tammy pampers her body.

Tammy uses a little bit of her ability help heal Vicky’s body. She hated seeing her best friend like this, and wonder show the investigation was going as well. She knew Brooke and the other ladies had left to go over everything they had collected so far. She also wonders how Miko is doing in her investigation.

She knew Miko had gone back to the scene of the crime to gather more evidence. Tammy continues massaging Vicky’s body. She uses a special coconut lotion on Vicky’s vaginal area.

Undisclosed Location, Middle East:
Miko kept watch on the men who had something to do with her best friend’s death. According to what she has learned so far. They had connections in Washington D.C. that were funneling weapons and intel to them. However, they didn’t like the fact that they were having to give up too much. So, they decided to do something about it.

The problem now is that she needs to know who in Washington D.C. was selling weapons and intel to these men. She loved the fact that the poison she used was working its charm on these men. She continues to monitor the men but goes ahead and makes arrangements with her contacts to be extracted from the area.

3571 Military Rd., Arlington, Virginia:
Vicky snuggles closer to Tammy, burying her face between Tammy’s breasts. She relaxes even more as she inhales her best friend’s scent. She could still taste Tammy’s juices on her lips. She rubs her groin area against Tammy’s leg. A tingling sensation is felt when she does that. Her groin area was still sensitive after Tammy ate her out.

She had been the one who initiated the sex. She knew her best friend didn’t want to irritate her healing wounds, but she wanted to feel alive. So, she waited until Tammy was almost asleep, before she started kissing her and removing her nightshirt. Both women enjoyed feeling a man entering them, but the two of them did enjoy feeling and making love to each other.

They have always been like that since they were in high school. It started off innocent at first and soon developed into something stronger and a learning experience. They also learned that they enjoyed having sex with men as well. They knew they were bisexual.

After Vicky initiated the sex, things just went from there. Both of them had been holding back for a while and when the dam burst, they cause each other to cum heavily. Vicky starts kissing and massaging Tammy’s breasts, that she loves so much.

Before long, Vicky had Tammy so horny, that Vicky knew she was close to exploding, but wouldn’t allow her. Vicky takes Tammy’s hand and leads her to the bathroom, where they continue their love making. Vicky causes Tammy to lose it and squirts all over her.

Tammy kisses Vicky and holds her tight against her body. She looks into Vicky’s eyes and could feel that her best friend better.

“I take it that you needed that?”

“Yes, I did. Do you think they have found any answers yet about what happened and why my unit was targeted.” Vicky leads Tammy back to the bedroom to get dress and change the sheets on the bed.

After changing the sheets and getting dressed, Vicky and Tammy head towards the kitchen. Just as they walk into the living room, the front windows explode inwards and several flash bangs goes off blinding everyone in the room. Six figures dressed in full tactical outfits and carrying AR-15 drop down from a hovering helicopter.

They rush into the house and shoot Vicky and Tammy with tranquilizer darts. Right after they shoot Vicky and Tammy, two of them walk over to secure them. The other four go looking for the other two heat sources they had picked up inside the house.

Deanna and Joker heard the explosion in the living room. Joker grabs the cast iron frying pan from the stove and wait for the intruders to come into the kitchen. As soon as she sees the attacker toss a flash bang into the kitchen. She back hands it back towards the attackers with the frying pan.

The flash bangs go off, blinding the attackers. Joker twirls the frying pan “Oh! I love this pan.” She runs towards the attackers using the frying pan as a weapon. Deanna shakes her head as she grabs a can of air fresher and a lighter. She also picks up the gun the attacker dropped when he was smacked by Joker.

Three other attackers managed to make it past Joker, after subduing her with ten tranquilizers. Deanna looks at the three figures and sprays them with the air freshener, while lighting the fluid being sprayed out. She moves as the attackers fire their darts towards her. She grabs some pans and tosses them at the attackers. She knew she was running out of options.

She feels the darts hit her body. The sharp pain from the needles penetrating her skin and the warm feeling over coming her. Just as she falls, she presses the alert button she carries to alert the Wolf Den. It also activates the surveillance drone in her armor.

The mysterious attackers secure Joker and Deanna. The person securing Deanna, failed to noticed the small silver cylinder object fall out of Deanna’s hand. The six figures pick up Deanna, Joker, Vicky, and Tammy and carry them out of the house and toss them into a black van that had come up the driveway. After securing the four women in the van, they fail to noticed a small drone attaching itself to the van. Once the ladies are loaded into the van, the six figures are lifted back up into the helicopter hovering above them.

The Wolf Den:
Brooke and Clair were down in the den working on some new information that got their hands on. Jasmine, Carol, Becky, Ada and Alya along with Brooke and Clair receives an alert from the emergency signal device. They bring up the hidden security camera footage remotely and watches as six figures dressed in tactical gear knock out and apprehend Deanna, Joker, Vicky, and Tammy. The outside security cameras picked up a stealth helicopter of unknown configuration leaving the area. They also watch as all four women at the safe house are loaded up into a black van and driven away from the house.

On a separate signal, they were picking up the signal from one of Deanna’s new surveillance drones she installed on her armor.
“Who are they and where are they going?” Ada was trying to understand who these people were.

“Who knows, but Deanna did managed to activate the emergency beacon and launch one of her new mini drones. Get your gear and I’ll guide you from here.” Clair looks at the other standing near here.

“O’ boy! I get to take the tank out.” Becky slaps her hands together and rubs them.

“Easy, Becky. We just did a complete overhaul on it. This will be the first time it has been out in twenty years.” Clair was amazed on how detail the blue prints had been on it. But then again, she shouldn’t have, because the person who built it was a member of her original team.

“Come on ladies, let’s go and rescue our team mates and the people under our protection.” Jasmine turns to leave.

Jasmine, leads Becky, Ada and Alya to the tank. It was a custom built SUV that had a bunch of hidden onboard weapons and a secret weapon locker built into it. The best thing about it, it was heavily armor and built for difficult terrain. On the top of that, it had a powerful drive train and turbo diesel engine with enough torque to pull a full size train a mile or so.

Becky waits until everyone was seated before starting the rebuilt powerful turbo diesel engine. She had pulled the engine, transmission, and the differentials. Everything about the vehicle had been completely overhauled used the original blue prints to help upgrade the vehicle.

Becky follows the beeping sound on the new GPS tracking screen. The tank was equipped with all the latest electronics and shielded to prevent EMP or any outside interference from messing with it. Jasmine was sitting up front with Becky as she drove.

“Becky, how fast is this thing?” Ada was curious.

“Fastest enough to outrun those new police SUV’s that Ford and Chevrolet are producing for the police and FBI. This thing will eat them for breakfast.” Becky gives the turbo diesel a little more juice.

“Hey, Clair. Are you and Brooke getting this?” Alya wonders if Clair, Carol, And Brooke were receiving the transmission back at the Wolf Den.

“You’re coming in crystal clear, Alya. We can see everything around you and inside the Tank.” Brooke watches as her teammates headed towards the location the drone had stopped.

The tracker was leading the team to the industrial area of Arlington. Becky engages the new stealth features of the Tank. The outer skin allows it to blend in with its surroundings. Becky slows down, so the skin doesn’t blur. She taps into the drones controls and uses it to scout ahead of them.

“How many are we dealing with, Becky?” Jasmine was watching the information they were getting back from the drone on the HUD system on the front windshield.

“It looks like we’re dealing with eight people, Jasmine. Our girls are being kept back here.” Becky points to where the girls were being kept.

“We need to get an inside view of the place.” Jasmine didn’t want to be surprised.

“No problem. Deanna and I have already thought of that.” Becky presses some buttons on the console of the Tank.

A trap door opens beneath the Tank and two r/c’s that Deanna designed drop down and could be remote controlled from the Tank. A smile appears on Becky’s as she directs them towards the building. She finds a spot where they could enter.

Everyone inside the Tank watches on the front windshield as the remote r/c’s enter and start mapping the inside. When they come near the men, they could see that the men still had on their helmets and were armed. As for Vicky, Tammy, Joker, and Deanna they were inside an old style gorilla cage. Joker was bound and gagged. Deanna was bound by police style zip cuffed.

Vicky and Tammy were also zip cuffed and their legs were bound. The lock on the cage looked to be just a metal chain and a heavy duty lock.
“Man, you would think they could be more creative.” Becky wonders why they were using an old gorilla cage to hold everyone.

Inside the Building:
“When is he going to get here?” One of the people looks towards another a person standing close to him.

“Soon, he’ll be here soon and then we can do whatever we want with these women.”

“Did you hear that?” Ada looks towards Jasmine when she ask that question.

“Yeah, let’s wait and see who is coming. While we’re waiting, let’s get ready to storm the place as well.”

“Roger.”

The girls start departing from the Tank and take up entry points. Alya would be the first one in to distract them with her illusions. Then Ada and Jasmine will enter and take down the ones holding the others, while Becky waits to drive them out of there.

Flight Back To Washington D.C.:
Miko listens to all the recordings she has gathered from all the surveillance she has done. One person mentioned that she didn’t know. The person went by the code name, War Chief. She isolates the person’s voice and clears the audio. Miko plays the voice again and listens carefully to it. She plays it repeatedly and runs it through an audio collection of voices she has collected.

The program identified the voice as belonging to Justin Lin, Director of Intelligence. She looks at his name as she hacks the computer system at the Pentagon. No one knew she had access to the Pentagon computer system. She had managed to install a back door to the computer system the last time she was temporarily stationed there.

She digs into Mr. Lin’s finances and discovers he has several offshore accounts. She also discovers that not only has he been taking payments, but he is working with Russian oligarch Mikhail Aven.

“Son of a bitch.” Miko looked at the name and knew who the bastard was. He owned a private mercenary company that only hired former KGB, Spetsnaz, and KSSO/SSO personnel.

He also had several independent groups that did jobs under the radar that specialized in terrorism and sabotage. They also did assassination jobs as well. Miko digs deeper into General Justin Lin and notices he was a two-star General. She pulls his military record and tries to see how he knew Mikhail Aven.

Warehouse in Alexandria, Va.:
Vicky watches as the men who kidnapped them stand guard over them. She noticed that they were waiting for someone to show up. She manages to escape from the zip cuff and has Tammy cover her as she removes the hidden lock picks her mother drilled into them. The picks were kept under a flesh-tone bandage that blended with her skin. Most of the time, she forgot that she had them.

Once she was free, she nodded to Tammy, who freed herself. Mrs. Wolfhart taught Tammy how to escape from cuffs, as she did with her own children. Tammy moves over to Deanna and helps remove her cuffs and shackles. A smile appears on Deanna’s face as she looks towards Joker.

Deanna is careful as she removes Joker’s restraints. She knows Joker wants revenge for what they did to her. “Don’t do anything, yet Joker.”
Joker leaves the gag in her mouth to let their captors think she is still secure. She kicks the cage to get the attention of one of the guards. When no one responds, she kicks it again.

One of the guards turned around get close to the cage, “Stop it bitch, or I’m going to shoot you.”

Vicky reacts fast and uses the atemi ability her mother taught her to numb the guy’s leg. As the guard starts falling, she touches the guy again, while Tammy grabs his rifle.

The other guard watches as their companion falls to the concrete floor. Before they can do anything, one of them gets hit in the face by the metal police cuffs. Tammy points the gun at another guard and fires. The guards take cover as they start shooting back.

Joker pulls the gag out of her mouth and puts her weight against the back of the cage to knock it over, so they have some sort of cover. It causes all the ladies to fall onto each other, but at least they had some sort of cover.

“FUCK!” Jasmine watches as the ladies inside are fired upon.

“Floor it, Becky.” Jasmine braces herself.

Ada and Alya get ready to enter. They wait as the tank crashes through one of the walls. They follow it, using it as a shield. Alya uses her magic and natural talents to disarm the guards, while Ada moves quickly over to the cage to break it open.

The ladies in the cage are startled by the crushing sound of the wall and the tank coming through it. Vicky uses her lock picks to unlock the cage. Just as she gets the door unlocked, Joker jumps up and out of it. She heads towards the nearest kidnapper and starts pounding on the person.

Alya was fighting one of the kidnappers and was forced to block all his attacks. The man was coming at her hard and fast. Luckily, she has been putting in some extra training with Jasmine. She finds her opening and strikes hard and fast. She follows up with a swift kick to his manhood, which causes him to drop in pain.

“All is fair in love and war, asshole.” She looks at the guy as he rolls around in pain.

As for Joker, she wasn’t giving the guy she was fighting a chance to hit her at all. She blocked and struck hard at him. She wasn’t holding back as she whaled on him. Vicky strikes the guy she already struck again, paralyzing him until she undid it or until the atemi effects wear off.

Tammy uses the rifle she took from the first guard and shoots two of the guards in their knees. She doesn’t feel sorry about doing it either. Becky was monitoring the fighting from inside the tank. When she spots Ada getting sucker punched by one of the kidnappers. She wanted to help Ada, but everything built in the tank was meant to take out bigger objects. The knockout gas the tank was equipped with would knock everyone out.

She watches as Ada recovers and knocks out the guy she was fighting with. Becky picks up the dispatch call as police are directed to come to their location.

“Ladies, the police are on the way.” Becky’s voice comes over the loudspeaker from the tank.

“Thanks, Becky.” Jasmine pulls a set of quick cuffs and starts securing the kidnappers.

Deanna had to pull Joker off her guy. She was still beating the guy.

“Joker, get in the tank. The police are on their way.” Deanna knew Joker was still wanted for the murder of the medical examiner down in Georgia.

Joker looks at Deanna, “Fine!” She kicks the guy one last time before getting into the tank.

“I’m backing out, ladies.” Becky wanted to warn everyone before she did it.

“Okay,” Jasmine responds to Becky's announcement.

Becky carefully takes the tank out of the building. As she is backing out, she spots a van pulling up and then stopping. Just as the van starts backing up. A dark figure drops onto the top of the van.

Miko landed on top of the van she had tracked that was supposed to have the General in. She had tracked his cell phone with her laptop and had her friend drop her off. The suit she had been wearing had glider wings built into it.

She activates the magnetic boots, and she pulls her hammer off her utility belt and smashes the front windshield with it. She keeps hammering the windshield and tosses a flash grenade into the van. She looks up just in time as the van rams into the back of some sort of armored vehicle backing out of a building.

The side door on the van opens, and four men dressed in tactical gear come stumbling out. She tosses down four large baseball-sized balls, and brown foam explodes from them, trapping the men.

Becky felt the vehicle behind her hit the tank. She couldn’t believe someone was dumb enough to hit something so armored. She spots the figure on top of the van tossing something down towards the men coming out of the van. When she sees what is forming, a smirk appears on her face. She watches as the men are struck by the substance.

Safe House Four, Secret Location:
The four men Miko trapped in the foam were taken away by a special team sent by Wolfhart Industries. As for the other kidnappers, they were taken away by Metro Police. Ada had authorized their arrest and confinement. She had to use her FBI authorization to enforce her orders.

The team split up to set up and meet at the new safe house. Jasmine, Deanna, and Alya went back to the old safe house to pack it up and meet with the owner of Expert Restoration to have the place repaired. Jasmine had to authorize the repairs, since she was acting as Clair’s second.

Clair has known the owner of Expert Restoration for over forty years. He has done work around her place and several other properties that the team still owned under their company. Jack and Nick had established several businesses to finance their operations and to hide the money they had confiscated from the enemy.

As for Tammy, Vicky, Becky, Miko, Joker, and the others, they head towards the new secret location. The four prisoners who were sent to kill everyone were taken to the location as well. Vicky, Miko, and Joker knew these guys were hard-core and wouldn’t volunteer any information.

After the ladies arrived at the new location and had everything secured, Becky checked the tank to make sure there wasn’t any hidden damage. This was the first time they had used it in the field since they rebuilt it.

As for the others, they were inside the new place, taking showers and freshening up. The showers were big enough for four people, so Miko, Tammy, Vicky, and Joker were all taking showers together. Joker resisted touching places on the other woman that she wanted to touch. However, she notices how much Tammy’s body resembles Brooke’s. Every curve and even her skin tone.

She couldn’t resist and accidentally touched between Tammy’s legs, causing Tammy to squeak. Tammy looks at Joker, “Maybe we can continue this later?”

Tammy didn’t mind being touched by another woman. She wasn’t currently involved with anyone, and she swung both ways like her best friend Vicky.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Joker smiles as she dries her body and steps out of the shower.

Vicky turns to face her best friend, “Looking for a new partner to play with?”

“After everything we have been through. Some mindless sex with a stranger is a good release.”

“After all of this. I’m taking a vacation for two weeks.” Miko looks towards Tammy and Vicky when she speaks.

“I know what you mean. I might head home or visit my brother and sister in Italy.” Vicky heard about the operation underway in Italy to capture two wanted agents that her sister, Sasha, had run into.

“Why did they hide in Italy?” Miko was curious about why anyone would hide there.

“Because they own a privately owned undersea city/research facility there under a fake name. It’s within another country's territorial waters, protected from certain laws. So, a specialized team from my family has gone to apprehend these men.”

“So, you want to go and jump into another situation after this?” Miko couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to do that.

“No, I’m not going to get involved in their operation. I’m just going to enjoy the sand and sun through the company they formed.”

“How about you, Tammy? What are you going to do?” Miko looks towards Tammy when she asks.

“Unfortunately, I have to go back to my day job. I’ve taken as much time as I could off to help my best friend.” Tammy knew the hospital she worked for would extend her vacation to tend to her friend. But she didn’t want to take much time off. She loved her best friend, but she still had other patients she cared for.

“So, what did you find out? While you were gone?” Vicky and Tammy look towards Miko.

“I’ll explain everything to everyone. We’re going to have to be careful with this information.” Miko knew that going after a four-star general was dangerous, especially one well respected in the Intelligence field.

Once everyone was back from everything they had been assigned. Miko had managed to slip out to go and buy some groceries at a wholesale warehouse. Jasmine and Tammy had volunteered to keep watch while Miko was inside the warehouse.

After Miko gets everything she needs from the warehouse store, she heads back to the new safe house to cook everyone some dinner. While she is cooking, Jasmine gets in touch with Clair to set up a video conference so Miko can bring everyone up to date on what she found out while she was gone.

Joker and Deanna help Miko in the kitchen. Jasmine and Becky make sure the conference call is set up and secure. They couldn’t risk the information they were going to share being intercepted by any government satellite or listening device, especially the surveillance system Homeland Security had established.

The connection to Jack’s black satellites was super secure and monitored by Camelot Network. Jack trusted them because they had proven that they could be trusted. How they proved it, Jack never told Clair, but she trusted him, and she’ll extend that trust to them.

Outside General Justin Lin's House:
Ada and Alya were watching the General as he paced back and forth inside his den. Becky had designed a specialized stealth drone for them to
use for surveillance. It took Alya several hours of training to master the little thing, but she finally managed it.

Ada, on the other hand, had to train longer before she got the hang of controlling the drone. All they could see was General Lin pacing back and forth in his home office, a satellite phone pressed to his ear. They could hear the general’s reply, and they didn’t know who he was talking to.

“This suck, we’re only catching half the conversation.” Alya was watching the monitor that the drone was linked to.

“I know, and even if we had the equipment to listen to the conversation, it wouldn’t do us any good. That particular model of sat phones is equipped with a 256-bit encryption system. It’s one of the newer models that the government is using now.” Ada came across a memo while in the archives.

“I bet they are using SpaceX for their satellite phones.” Alya didn’t like Mr. Musk much after his DOGE goons broke into the Native American Museum and messed up their computers. There were protective files that were completely deleted from the system of historic value. They also locked out several of their users to prevent them from putting the information back into the system. She also suspected that the president was looking for something, but what it was, she and the other director didn’t know. Luckily, she managed to save a bunch of information to the new computer system Deanna built at the Wolf Den. There would be no way the wannabe hackers working for DOGE could get into the system or track it. Deanna and Becky made sure of that.

“Yeah, from what I heard, they went in and fucked up a bunch of computers and such. They said it was to update the systems because the old code used to build many of the forms and operating systems was causing problems. However, several other agents and I were placed in positions normally given to newbies or to people retiring from the agency. We think they were looking for something. Something they can use to either blackmail or punish people with.”

Ada disliked the new FBI director. Not only was he incompetent, but he was also a drunkard. The things she heard from several of her friends and associates at the main FBI building. Only reinforced everything she has heard so far about the person.

When the power indicator on the control panel starts flashing, Ada brings the drone back and changes out the power pack. At the same time, Alya uses one of her illusions to continue the surveillance. Between Alya’s illusions and the drones, they managed to gather plenty of information on the general.

During surveillance, they noticed he liked to hit the decanter of whiskey hard. Ada researches an online alcohol supplier to see what type of whiskey the general liked chugging.

“I think I’ve found a way to get an inside bug on him.” Ada looks towards Alya when she speaks.

“Oh?” Alya likes to look back at Ada.

“Yep.” Ada places an order for a bottle of whiskey to be delivered to the dear general.

She relays that information to Jasmine and Clair. They should be able to intercept the package and bug the bottle. While investigating the
general, they noticed he had a top-tier security system that would be hard to disable or bypass.

The company responsible for the general’s security was Delta Security Systems. From the research Ada did on the company, they were among the top five companies a bunch of top-ranking military and government directors used. Not only that, they provided security systems to some of the top rich people.

Once General Lin goes to bed, Ada and Alya leave and head back towards the wolf den with everything they have. Alya watches the expensive houses as they pass them.

“I wonder why General Lin turned against the US?”

“Money is my best guess.” Ada knew the reason most people changed alliances was the promise of power and money.

“True, and judging from the amounts in his offshore bank accounts. He has been making some serious green either by selling weapons or betraying the people under him or the US.” Alya had the general’s file in front of her on her tablet.

The drive back to the safe house was quiet, and no one followed them. Ada enters the secret entrance to the building they were using and parks the car next to another one that looked out of place for a place like they were in. Ada gathers up all the drones and the remote that recorded everything.

Alya helps Ada with the surveillance equipment they had taken. When they walked into the main area, they noticed everything was quiet. A note was left on the refrigerator for them. It was from Miko, and she said she set aside some dinner for them. All they had to do was warm it up.

Ada takes a look at the food Miko made for them and notices it's a chicken-and-noodle dish. The noodles were in a separate dish, with directions for reheating.

“I have to say, I have become addicted to Miko’s cooking.” Ada pulls the dinner out that was left for her.

“I know, she’s a good cook.” Alya reaches into the refrigerator and pulls the dish left for her out.

Ada reheats hers first, following Miko’s directions. She stands near the microwave, looking over towards her partner. “I think once this mission is
over. I might start going to Miko’s restaurant.”

“I might join you.” Alya liked Miko’s cooking, and she might have to bring her dates there.

Once Alya and Ada’s dinners are reheated and eaten, they transfer everything back to the wolf den for Jasmine and Clair to look over and see if they can piece together who the mysterious caller was on the other end.

Secret Warehouse:
“Becky, how much longer before you are done making the adjustments to that rig?” Jasmine walks over to the eighteen-wheeler Becky had acquired from a friend.

It was going to become one of their mobile command centers when they were out in the field. They also had several trailers that they could swap out for different missions.

“I need another two hours to get the hydraulics bled and pressurized.” Becky was installing the new hydraulics on the folding ramps at the end of the trailer.

Deanna was helping her. She was on the other side of the ramps, making sure they were bled properly.

“Are Ada and Alya still monitoring the General?” Miko was now working with Jack’s team.

“Yes, they are still monitoring him and keeping track of his location. Deanna and Camelot Network managed to break into Musk’s satellite system and are monitoring all incoming and outgoing calls from his cells.” Clair had Brooke monitor the general.

“Did you say cells?” Miko looks over towards the older woman in charge of the Wolf team.

“Yes, he has two cells he uses. One is for official government business, and the other he is using for his unofficial business. We have tapped into both of them and are monitoring everyone he has contact with.” Clair knew Miko wanted revenge for her friend.

“I’m in this operation.” Vicky walks in, dressed in a brand-new operator’s outfit that was delivered to her and Tammy.

“Where did you get those outfits?” Jamsine spotted Vicky and Tammy when they walked in.

“From my aunt’s company. She sent outfits and equipment for everyone.” Vicky even had her favorite rifle and handgun.

Clair walks over and examines the skintight black bodysuits Tammy and Vicky were wearing. She notices the utility belt and vest straps, equipped with pockets and small equipment. She notices Tammy had a specially designed shotgun rifle.

“What is your shotgun equipped with?” Clair wanted to hold it.

“Special design taser rounds that would knock Hulk Hogan or any muscle man out. You can switch the ammo out for these dragon rounds, which packs a fiery punch to them, or these heavy hitters that can knock down a four-inch reinforced door.” Tammy hands the different rounds to Clair.

Clair accepts the rounds and looks at them. She figures they could update the type of ammo their shotguns use. She looks back up towards Tammy, “Do these rounds come in different sizes?”

“Yep, Mrs. Blake’s Special Projects division can make these specialized rounds in any size.”

“I’m going to have to remember to order some for our weapons.” Clair knew Jack would approve the ammo from outside the organization.

During the next few hours, Becky and Deanna double-check the folding ramps and the reflective camouflage system. The trailer can assume any product or company and disappear entirely while they are moving or sitting still. The jammers were working, and the knockout gas could penetrate any vehicle equipped with pressurized cabins. The powerful laser Deanna installed could even cut through the armor of “The Beast", the presidential Limo.

“Everything is ready for the operation to capture the bad guy.” Becky walks over, cleaning her hands.

“That is a terrible name for this op.” Miko looks at Becky when she says that.

“Then come up with a better one. I’m just the grease monkey on this team.” A playful smile appears on Becky’s face.

“You’re more than that, Becky.” Clair looks at the young woman with respect in her eyes.

“Yeah, you’re the token short person on our team.” Joker playfully smiles at Becky.

“Alright, let’s mount up and go fishing.” Miko wanted to capture this traitor.

“Remember, Miko. We want to take the general alive.” Vicky looks over towards Miko when she says that.

“I know, but I still want to make him pay for what he did to my friends.” Miko walks over and gets into the box truck they were going to use to force the general into the trap.

Brooke looks at Clair, “I think there's going to be blood later.”

“I agree. I’ll be monitoring everything from here.” Clair had the mobile command center set up.

“Okay, ladies. Let’s go fishing.” Jasmine walks over to the other vehicle, which is a tricked-out F350 with a high-performance diesel engine and enough torque to pull a full-size eighteen-wheeler with a trailer attached.

Becky beefed up the F350 so it could help capture the general. Becky gets into the eighteen-wheeler’s driver's seat, since she, Jasmine, and Clair were the only ones capable of driving it.

She pulls out of the warehouse first and starts heading towards the capture location, where Ada and Alay have tracked the general. Behind the truck were the two box trucks and the supercharged F350.

Ada and Alya receive a text from Becky saying the team is heading their way. Ada looks at Alya, “Are you ready to do your illusion thing?”

“Does a bear fart in the woods?” Alya stops under an overpass at the capture location.

They wait until they get the go-ahead from Becky, as Alya makes it seem like a car accident happened on the interstate. Ada spotted the truck in front of the general and the two box trucks blocking the general from escaping or moving towards the emergency lane.

The general driver spotted the back of the eighteen-wheeler in front of them, opened their doors on the back of the trailer, and set the ramps lower down. He tries to move out of the way, but is trapped on either side by two box trucks.

The general pulls out his cellphone and tries to make a call, but there's no signal. He feels the back of his car being tapped, as it is pushed forward towards the ramp. His driver tried to stop them from being pushed up inside the eighteen-wheeler, but the brakes on the car weren’t working.

Once the front wheels hit the ramp, something clamps onto them. The car starts moving forward up the ramp.

“General, what the hell is this?” The driver wanted to know what the hell was going on.

“I don’t know.” The General was wondering who these people were.

Once the General’s car is in the back of the trailer, the ramps fold back up, and the doors start closing. The laser cuts a hole in the roof, and a silver disk attaches itself to the roof and pumps in knockout gas.

Outside the truck, Alya makes the accident disappear as the team drives off, heading towards another location. Joker checks on their captors and makes sure they are still alive.

“They are still alive.” Joker looks towards the group.

“They should be. The drug should only have knocked them out.” Tammy used her medical knowledge to put together the drug they used.

Interrogation Room:
Miko looked at the General as he sat naked on a metal chair. As soon as they got back to the warehouse, all his clothes were removed from him and secured to a metal chair in a plain grey room. There was a small metal table with two needles and two small vials on it.

Miko was waiting for the General to wake up from the knockout gas that had been administered. She had to agree not to kill the son-of-bitch for what he had done to her friend. The drugs sitting on the table next to the general made him tell them everything. Clair had told her that the effects of the green-labeled one were extremely nasty and that the person normally didn’t survive them. The second one was a little milder, but it took longer to work.

“How much longer should this piece of shit be unconscious?” Miko looks towards the concealed mirror wall.

“He should become awake in a few minutes, Miko.” Tammy was the one who designed the knockout gas.

Miko paces back and forth until she hears the groaning sound of the general waking up. Miko reaches over and rips the black hood off the general’s head.

“Good morning, asshole.” Miko punches the general before he can even get his bearings.

“Ouch! She should at least give him the chance to wake up.” Jasmine watches Miko as she starts interrogating the general.

At first, the general couldn’t figure out where he was or why he was naked. But after being slapped a few times, everything that had happened to him before started to come back. He looks at the woman slapping him hard on his cheeks.

He notices that he is totally naked and secured to a metal chair. There was a small metal table sitting next to him. He only caught a glimpse of what was sitting on it.

Across Town at The General’s House:
Alya, Ada, and Deanna got access to the general’s house and were going through everything there. All his electronics, all his hidden safes, and the concealed safe room they found. All his phones and the general's concealed communication system. Deanna had access to every bank account the general had hidden in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and the British Virgin Islands.

“Man, this guy has so many fake companies and such to conceal his activities. That it would take even a professional hacker to cut through all this mess.” Deanna couldn’t believe how connected this general was and how well he hid everything.

Ada looks over at Deanna. “Don’t worry about being nice about getting the information. The general isn’t keeping any of this, and neither are his relatives. All of it is being confiscated under the original charter that Mr. Bounty and Mr. Law operated under.”

“That’s good to know.” Deanna was busy getting every bit of information from General Lin’s accounts and all his business contacts.

“How do you think they are doing in interrogating the General?” Deanna looks towards Ada since she knows everyone’s background.

“As pissed as Miko is. I’m betting that the general isn’t going to live long.” Deanna knew how pissed Miko was.

“I hope she doesn’t kill him before she gets everything out of him.” Alya was concerned about that.

“Don’t worry, if I know Clair and Jasmine. They will be watching her and making sure she doesn’t go too far with her interrogation.” Deanna knew Clair wouldn’t allow Miko to kill the general yet.

Over the following days, General Lin is interrogated by Jasmine, Miko, and Clair herself. When Clair does it, she uses the drug that takes a little longer to work. The General couldn’t resist any question after Clair gave him the drug.

As for the General’s assets, everything the General owns is transferred to the organization through one of its many false companies. On top of that, with Alya’s help, Ada can access the general’s office at the Pentagon. That took some creative effort, but between the two of them and with Deanna’s help. They managed to break through military codes and into files that General Lin accessed or copied.

At Clair’s Farm House:
While doing her homework at home, Carol heard someone knocking on the front door. She opens the Ring app on her phone and notices a girl her age standing on the front porch. The girl looked tired and had a black eye.

Carol gets up, walks to the front door, and opens it. The girl had black curly hair that looked like she hadn’t washed it in a while. She had a freshly bruised right eye and was wearing a dingy-looking long-sleeve shirt under faded blue jean farmer bib overalls. The coveralls looked like they hadn’t been washed in a while.

“Can I help you?” Carol looks at the young girl.

Sara looks at the young teenage girl who answered the door. The girl was a few years older than her and looked nicely dressed.

“Are your parents around, ma’am?” Sara was nervous as she spoke to this girl.

Carol could tell this girl was nervous when she spoke. She guesses that the girl felt embarrassed by the way she looked or something.

“No, my aunt isn’t home. But what is it that you wanted to talk to her about?” Carol figures she could help this girl.

Sara tries not to act nervous. “I was wondering if she had any job around the property that I could do for some money or food.”

“Let me call her. Why don’t you come inside and cool off for a while?” Carol steps aside to let the young girl into the house.

Sara cautiously stepped into the house and immediately felt how much cooler it was inside than outside. She looks around and notices that it is just the two of them. She watches as the young woman who answered the door closes it behind her.

Carol turns around and looks at the young girl “are you thirsty? We have ice-cold sweet tea or, if you prefer, soda, or ice water if you want that instead.”

“Sweet tea will be fine.” Sara hasn’t had anything to drink all day long.

“Are you hungry?” Carol wonders if this girl has eaten anything lately.

Sara wanted to say no, but her stomach started growling at that time. She looks at the young woman, embarrassed.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” An amused smirk appears on Carol’s face.

“Come on, and follow me into the kitchen. I’ll fix us some lunch, and we can talk for a while. By the way, my name is Carol Cross.” Carol holds her hand out to the young girl.

“I’m Sara Jones.” Sara shakes Carol’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Jones. Let’s see what grub my aunt has in the refrigerator.” Carol leads Sara into the kitchen.