Missy Makes Mayhem (Missy the Werecat Book 5) (15 page)

“Exactly!”  Mike laughed.  “Missy insisted he see us today and demanded to know why this mob war was going on.  She’s worried about the folks she has helping with the Roseanne Fund becoming collateral damage.  If anyone got hurt, she’d feel responsible.”

“And Sal admitted his daughter was being held and he was being forced to attack the other families?  He must trust Missy which actually sounds wrong but …”  Troy paused and thought a moment.  “He didn’t realize she might actually
help
, did he?”

“No, not at all.  And, he wasn’t going to mention anything at first.  But, he saw how she was getting ready to really explode with power and he didn’t want any repeat of the last time.  She’s been leaving him alone since then, without revealing anything to the Feds or causing him any problems so, in a way, I think he does trust her.  They’ve sort of established this strange
relationship
and he definitely respects her.”

Just then, Missy was asking how much longer until Sal’s crew would show up.  Mike sent a text to Sal and learned they were still ten minutes away, which he managed to communicate to Missy by having her ask him a few yes and no questions, for which she then could sense his answers.  They’d gotten really good at doing this ever since she’d done all that recon over in Afghanistan, in her cat form, with him then relaying all her messages back to “P” Branch.

Missy had been working her way through all the rooms and listening to the various conversations.  From what she could tell, only a few of the men were actually aware they were holding a hostage.  The second floor was completely off limits to almost everyone with only two or three of the men downstairs allowed access.  When one of those men, a guy named Buck, went up to chat with the man watching the monitors, the conversation made it pretty clear this upstairs operation was a big secret.

And then, she heard them talking about getting rid of Sandy.  Apparently, they’d just received word from their boss and later that night, after the men downstairs went off on yet another mission, Buck was supposed to take care of things.  She heard him actually bragging about it, promising there’d be nothing left of the girl for anyone to find.

The man who’d been watching Sandy said, “It’s about time.  Watching this kid has gotten real boring, you know?  She knows we’re watching so she doesn’t give us much to look at.  Are you really going to have some fun with her before you kill her?  I mean … she’s not even sixteen yet, right?”

“Hey, every time I see those big tits of hers, my dick gets hard.”  Buck reached down and grabbed himself appreciatively.  “Those sweats she’s been wearing aren’t really able to hide the kinda curves she’s got.  Those curves are telling me that sexy body in there wants to get fucked really good and it doesn’t matter what her age is, okay?  I’m gonna give her a real nice send off, now that we’ve finally been given the okay.  No more hiding behind any stupid masks or using those damn voice machines.”

“Will you do her right in there, so I can watch?  Or, are you gonna wait until after you’ve taken her for the long ride out to wherever you plan to bury her?”

Buck actually considered that for a moment and then smiled.  “It’ll be a while yet before I can take her outta here … I may as well enjoy myself while I’m waiting, right?  If you wanna watch, I don’t have any problem with that.  Just don’t interrupt me while I’m getting my rocks off, understand?  And make sure nobody else does either.  Maybe I’ll give you sloppy seconds.”  With that, he began really chuckling to himself and walked away, headed for Sandy’s room.

Oct 27, 2019

Sal D’Amato studied the email he’d received which once again was insisting he attack a number of locations and, as before, contained a video clip showing Sandy.  The video had obviously been taken earlier that day and showed a copy of the latest issue of the New York Times.  He could see how scared and miserable Sandy looked and, when he’d first received it about a half hour earlier, his continuing frustration at being unable to protect her from such a horrible ordeal had been agonizing.

But, shortly after that, he’d gotten Missy’s text message.  Now, his guys were closing in on where his daughter was supposedly being held and the suspense was even more unbearable.  “Tell me again why I don’t have to worry about Sandy.  When Billy and Donny hit this place, what’s to prevent the bastards in there from hurting her?”

Ben Marchitto said, “What you have is the word of a witch, Sal.  But, Missy has always been very clear about what she can do.  Her latest instructions say nothing will happen to Sandy and your guys are free to blast away downstairs all they want but only Billy and Donny are to go upstairs to get Sandy.  I think she must somehow be either using a protective spell or, hell, maybe she’s actually up there.  Those messages saying Sandy is okay are very definite, so that wouldn’t surprise me at all.  You remember how she just popped in here on us last year, right?”

“Yeah, I remember everything she’s done only I don’t understand
any
of it.  Fuck!  This is my daughter we’re talking about … if anything happens to her …”

“It won’t, Sal.  Missy told us this afternoon that if she found Sandy, our guys would need to come to the rescue.  She explained how she didn’t want to leave any evidence behind.  You know … nothing
supernatural
which you’d have trouble explaining.  I think that’s why she’s saying we can only have Billy and Donny go upstairs.  She knows they can be trusted to clean things up, if necessary, and make sure there’s nothing left that needs to be explained.”

Sal nodded and said, “Yeah, yeah … I know, I get that.  I suppose I should be grateful.  What about this house?  Do we know who owns it yet?  When I find out who the hell has been fucking with us all this time …”

“Actually,
we
own it.  It’s one of our safe houses.  You know how we have this dummy real estate corporation which is being held under another dummy corporation.  If it hadn’t been
our
dummy corporation, we’d still be trying to track down ownership.”  Ben looked again at his laptop’s computer screen.  “At any rate, there’s not supposed to be anyone there right now.  But, whoever it is that’s using the place, it has to be someone in
your
organization, Sal.  One of your capos.  No one else could be doing this.”

-----

Sandy saw the door open and when Buck walked in, with no mask, she immediately began crying.  “No!  Please, no!  I promise!  You can let me go.  I promise I’ll never tell on you guys, okay?”  She had been lying on her bed and now she jumped up, frantically looking towards the bathroom but she could see she’d never get there in time.  Buck was closer than she was and would easily grab her.

“Well, now, princess!  Y’all know we can’t risk lettin’ you go an’ tell your daddy any stories ‘bout us.  That’s not the way this is gonna work.  Besides … you and I are finally gonna have us a little bit of
fun
.  Y’all ready to be
nice
to me, princess?  ‘Cuz, I’m the one standing here, deciding just how things will be and, who knows?  If y’all can be nice to me, maybe I’ll be nice to you.”  Now that he didn’t need to disguise his voice, he was really enjoying being able to lay it on thick, dragging out his pronunciation and swaggering in what he considered to be his very best Texas drawl.

Buck was originally from New Jersey but when he’d been kicked out of the Army ten years earlier, down at Fort Hood in Texas, he didn’t have any money and had stayed right there in that area for a few years.  By the time he’d managed to work his way back to the East Coast, he’d changed his name and had adopted all the Texan mannerisms and speech patterns he could possibly manage.  It hadn’t really mattered that most people didn’t really believe he was from Texas.  He’d proven he could use a gun and could be trusted to carry out whatever orders he was given.  And, he didn’t do drugs.  He’d been with Vinnie for the past four years and had been more than satisfied with his role as one of Vinnie’s soldiers.

Sandy wanted to scream but knew there would not be anyone coming to help.  And, it was obvious there was no threat she could use.  They had decided to kill her and she needed to find some way to escape, all on her own, before that happened.  She was growing more and more terrified but was trying not to panic.  She wondered if maybe by talking to him and keeping him talking, somehow she could find a way out of this.  She was desperate and asked, “How, exactly, did you want me to be nice to you, Buck?  Are you thinking we might go away somewhere?  You know … someplace where I can be
nice
?”

Buck laughed and said, “Oh, we’ll be leaving in a little while, sweetheart.  Don’t y’all worry ‘bout that.  First things first, though.  I’ve decided y’all can be real nice and everythin’ right here.  Right
now
.  Why don’t y’all take off that sweatshirt so’s I can get a good look-see at the goods?”  He took several steps towards her and she tried to scamper across the bed, hoping to avoid him and maybe get to the bedroom door, just in case it wasn’t locked from when he’d entered.  He had no trouble stopping her, quickly leaping onto the bed and grabbing one of her legs which he pulled back, sliding her underneath his body and pinning her down completely.

Sandy did scream then, desperate to escape and she began flailing her arms wildly, but to no avail.

“Y’all are making this really fun, now, princess!  I’m bettin’ y’all are still a virgin.  Am I right?  I’m gonna take care of that right now.  We can’t have you dying while still a virgin, now, can we?  Y’all needs to
experience
what all a man can do for you, before
that
happens, right?”  He began fumbling with the zipper to his trousers, so he could let her see just what he had for her.  Yep, this was gonna be some fun all right!

But then, something strange happened.  Sandy was screaming, which was really getting him more and more excited, but all of a sudden … he found himself being thrown completely off the bed, almost as though she had somehow found super strength.  He knew that was impossible but yet, here he was, being flung across the room and hitting hard up against the wall, which hurt.  Before he managed to figure out what might have happened, he felt an incredible pressure on his chest, crushing him.  He was unable to move and the pain was incredible.  And then, it all slowly went away and everything went dark.

-----

Billy and Donny arrived on the scene with a crew of nine others.  They were all reliable soldiers in the D’Amato organization, working directly for Sal rather than any of his capos.  And, they were heavily armed.  After casing the place for a few minutes, during which a couple of the men went around back and advised they were in position … they were all using the latest commo gear … Billy gave the signal.  It was shock and awe time, since there were surely some sensors outside which they didn’t want to bother with.  So, they donned their gasmasks and quickly followed right after the guys carrying the battering ram.

Simultaneous with the ram smashing into the front door, windows were shot out and several tear gas grenades were tossed inside.  They were not using silencers on their weapons but weren’t all that concerned.  This property was far enough out in the suburbs that whatever noise might be heard wouldn’t matter.  It would all be over quick enough and then they’d clear out before any cops might arrive.  With all the publicity this mob war had been receiving, who cared if some more bodies turned up?

Although there indeed were some warning signals which were heard inside, thanks to various sensors all going off, along with flood lights which went on outside, that didn’t matter.  The attackers knew how many guys they’d be finding and about where they’d find them, thanks to the text messages Sal had received from Missy.  They went in with their guns firing and it was all over in a matter of a few minutes.  Their attack was very successful and only a few of the men inside even managed drawing their weapons.  Only one managed firing off a shot, which went wild and missed.  Then, they were dead.

Billy had his guys make certain everyone was dead by going around and double tapping each one of them, two rounds in the head.  Their orders had been to kick ass and not bother taking any names.  These were the bastards responsible for not only kidnapping Sal’s little girl but for causing the war they’d had to wage for more than a week now.  There had been casualties, like Tommy Muccio, and whoever was behind all of this was going to pay.  These men were completely expendable.

Donny recognized several of the dead men, saying “Hey, these guys work for Vinnie Cappiello!  Un-fucking-believable!  Are you sure we have the right house?”  He wasn’t going to mention anything about Missy, of course, since he and Billy were the only ones who knew where Sal’s info had come from.

Billy said, “Let’s go upstairs and find Sandy.  If she’s there, we’ll have our answer quick enough.”  Signaling for the others to stand by, as had been rehearsed ahead of time, he and Donny went up the stairs, guns drawn and ready.

They found a room where monitors were set up with a man sitting in a chair; he was slumped over and either dead or unconscious.  Donny double tapped him, just to make sure.  They could see on the monitors where a young girl was lying on the bed in a bedroom, but as she appeared to have pulled herself into a fetal position it wasn’t obvious yet whether that was Sandy.

They raced down to where they found the bedroom with the closed door.  It was locked but they smashed their way inside.  As soon as they did, Sandy sat up and stared at them.  She’d heard all the gunfire down below and had known
something
had been happening down there.  But, until she saw Billy and Donny, she’d been too afraid to even hope it might actually be her rescue.

And, she was still in shock from what had happened to Buck.  He’d not moved after, by some miracle, he’d been lifted off her and sent flying.  One moment, she’d been about to be raped, with no hope at all.  And the next?  Buck was gone.  She’d waited for a full five minutes before daring to go over and check.  When she did, she’d found him not merely unconscious.  No, he’d been dead.

She knew the guard outside must have seen everything on those cameras and had expected he’d come charging in any second.  Only, nothing had happened.  She’d gone and checked the door but had found that locked.  She hadn’t dared yell out and had gone back instead to lie on the bed.  Not long after that, all hell had broken loose downstairs.

Billy rushed over and asked, “Sandy, are you okay?  We’re here now.  We’re going to take you home.”  She climbed off the bed and rushed into his arms.

Donny walked over and looked down at Buck.  He glanced back at Billy who was holding Sandy tight against him.  “Sandy, ahh …?  Do you know what happened here?  Did you manage to somehow …?”  He realized, of course, that even if Sandy had managed taking care of Buck, that still wouldn’t explain the guard who’d been watching the monitors.  No way had Sandy done that.  Not with the bedroom door still locked.  Well, Sal had assured him Missy was protecting Sandy.

Sandy pulled away from Billy and said, “No … he was on top of me, over here on the bed … he was getting ready to … he was going to …”  She began crying, unable to continue.  Finally, she looked over at Buck’s body and said, “I’m
glad
he’s dead!  I don’t know how he got over there or
why
he’s dead, but I’m not sorry!  He … he …”  Again, she began crying and looked away.

Billy guided her gently out of the room, soothing her and assuring her everything was okay.  He gave her the gas mask he’d taken off when he’d gone upstairs, helped her put it on, and then called down to the men below, “Hey, I’ve got Sandy!  Is it all clear down there?”

“Yeah, come on down!”

He managed bringing her down and outside without her seeing any of the carnage down below.  When they heard Donny’s two shots, double tapping Buck the same as all the others, he again reassured her.  “You’re safe, Sandy. Relax.  It’s really over.  Let’s get you home.”

-----

Missy gave Mike a brief run down on everything that had happened inside the house and how Sandy was now headed for home.  She then asked him to tell Troy how much they appreciated his help and to remind Troy about that ticket to next week’s football game which she’d have waiting for him.  She also told Mike what he should send back to Sal as a final message: Sal was to make peace with all the other mob bosses and end the war as soon as possible.

She explained she was now heading out to the State Forest in Connecticut so she could finish Changing into her cat and then search for some food.  She knew she’d be starving once she materialized again, after all the energy she’d just used.  Then, she’d finally return to her room at the academy in time for classes the next day.

When Mike shared all this with the others, John laughed about the football ticket.  He said, “My sister will probably have Sally Navarro holding that ticket for you, Troy!  After all … isn’t that why you’re really coming to the game?”  Missy had explained to him and Tracy during their ride back to the academy how excited Troy had become on learning Sally was a former roommate of hers and how she’d promised to set them up if Troy would join Robert’s team.