Missy Makes Mayhem (Missy the Werecat Book 5) (23 page)

Nov 16, 2019

Sami Massallah was in Eskisehir, a four hour drive from Istanbul and where he could avoid drawing any unwanted attention to himself.  He actually had some distant relatives who were living nearby.  This location was close enough for Mamdouh Ozdemir, his informant in Ankara, to drive over in less than three hours.  They had met there often, whenever a face-to-face meeting was needed.  And, one was needed now.

Mamdouh wasn’t normally a source for information concerning WIJO but his position in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs enabled him to learn all sorts of interesting things.  Sami had recruited him years earlier to infiltrate those factions and groups inside Turkey which were very anti-American.  There were several such groups, in spite of there being an alliance between the two countries going back for more than sixty years.

These groups had gained many members after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 which most Turks had been opposed to.  Many also blamed those in the U.S. government who misguidedly proposed Turkey as a model of “moderate Islam” which they then wanted to sell to the rest of the Muslim world.  And, the way the U.S. always favored and supported Israel provided further reason for disliking Americans.

Finally, the worry about whether the Kurds in eastern Turkey might possibly secede to join Kurdistan, after the U.S. clearly endorsed the partition of Iraq, was very upsetting.  American policies seemed to favor an independent Kurdish state which many in Turkey viewed as their worst nightmare.  Thus, the majority of Turks had now grown to dislike America a great deal and some groups, whose hatred of the U.S. was particularly great, were now actively supporting WIJO.

As it turned out, one such group had apparently made contact through one of its agents or spies to obtain high level secrets concerning U.S. border security.  Since Mamdouh belonged to this group, he had been able to report on the various files and information which he’d learned had been sent on to WIJO.  

After Winword had alerted Sami to the significance of that report, which contained info which could only have been leaked by the Homeland Security traitor, Sami had asked Mamdouh to go back for more.  That effort had been rewarded by all this additional information concerning the three attacks being planned against Thanksgiving Day parades.  It helped that Mamdouh was fluent in Farsi, which was how he’d managed to hear about this latest threat.  He had been able to listen in on conversations between his group leader and WIJO about the actual plans, although he still had no idea from whom his group leader had originally gotten all this leaked information which WIJO was now using.

“What have you learned about the men who have gone to the U.S. for these bombings?”  They both had finished eating and were now waiting for their waiter to return with a second bottle of wine.  They were quite safe in this restaurant and were speaking in Turkish.  Even if anyone noticed them, it wouldn’t cause any alarms to go off or require any difficult explanations later.

Mamdouh said, “Well, everyone who went to Chicago or Philadelphia came from this training camp somewhere near Kabul but the ones who went to New York came from one near Herat.  They’ve all joined up with cells which were already at these locations in the U.S., although each of those cells only had a few members before this.”

“I know this maybe sounds crazy, since these men have all flown the coop as it were, but I’ve been asked to get details if possible concerning those training camps.  We might still manage to learn something helpful by conducting some raids on those camps.”  Sami knew the guys from Team Twenty-Two were ready to go.  They would be going along as “advisors” to the Afghan military which would conduct the actual raids.

If they could confiscate anything left behind by these terrorists, containing enough of an energy signature for the “P” Branch finder witches to follow, perhaps the location for these cells might be found in time.  If nothing else, they’d at least grab the mattresses which these men had slept on; hopefully, there might still be enough residual energy in those.  The raids would of course be conducted as though these training camps had merely been chosen at random, in order that no suspicions be raised that the U.S. had learned about the planned attacks.

Mamdouh said, “I’ll see what I can find out.  I’m pretty sure I already know the location of the camp near Herat since that’s where the WIJO guys whom I heard talking about all of this with our group leader are from.”

-----

Mike once again watched as Missy and her teammates triumphantly celebrated yet another victory.  They’d just won their NCAA Playoff game against Northeastern University and would be moving on to the Second Round.  Wow!  Army had rarely managed getting this far in woman’s soccer and he knew how excited Missy was that her team was doing so well.  Her exuberant thoughts were filling his head in a steady stream, making it rather difficult to listen to what his sister Michelle was saying.

“That was sooooo exciting!  What a game!  What a thrill being here to see it!”  Michelle could see her brother wasn’t listening so she turned to Aaron.  “Let’s try and go down there.  Maybe we can congratulate the players before they head back into the locker room.”  It appeared as though half the stadium had the same idea as hundreds were now streaming out onto the field.  It was obvious that no one from the Army team would be leaving any time soon.

Aaron tried to keep up with his girlfriend but she was too amped up and quickly charged on down the steps, pulling away from him.  Fortunately, Missy’s brother Patrick joined her and the two of them streaked on out ahead together.  Aaron and Mike followed along, as best they could, with Missy’s parents not far behind.

“It’s worked out great having these last two games right here in Boston, where we all got to watch Missy.”  Aaron looked at his best friend and smiled.  “Of course, I know you try to go to all her games, wherever they are, but the rest of us aren’t really able to do that.  Next game will be down in Florida, right?  Next Saturday?”

“Yes, and like this game … win or lose … they’ll get to stay overnight at a hotel.  Their coach says they can enjoy having some free time away from the academy as a reward for making the playoffs.”  Mike was already thinking ahead to later, being alone with Missy.

“You know, Michelle and I were talking … those magazine articles which came out, telling all about how she was in combat and everything.  I mean, we knew that, of course.  But, then she came home in August and you guys were together again.  We just had no idea she’d actually been
wounded
over there.”

Mike looked at Aaron and knew what was coming.  Missy had kept quiet about the extent of her injuries, hoping few would notice how quickly she had managed to heal.  But, there would be those who would do the math, as his sister and Aaron had obviously done.  “You’re wondering how she can be playing out there like that today … and all season really … just a few weeks after getting hurt, right?”

“Well, yeah!  The magazines say they gave her a Bronze Star medal for saving a couple guys, while getting all shot up and nearly dying.  Is that true?”

“Pretty much.  Look, Aaron, you remember how Missy was somehow able to heal Michelle after your car accident?”  They had stepped out onto the field and had stopped, letting Missy’s parents go by.  Mike looked at Aaron and waited.

“Well, I know Michelle really believes Missy saved her.  And, the doctors all acted like it was some sort of miracle.”  Aaron had tried talking to Michelle about this but she would always shrug and just say Missy was magic.  He’d let that go, not needing to really understand and not wanting to put Mike on the spot.  Until now, all of Missy’s many secrets hadn’t mattered.  But, now they did.  Not only was Mike his closest friend, but Aaron was planning to propose to Michelle during the Thanksgiving holidays.

Mike said, “Look, Missy can heal people and she can heal herself.  But, we don’t go around telling people she’s a healer or she’d never be left alone.  Those bruises you saw her get during that Mixed Martial Arts sparring match?  Remember?  She really did heal those overnight.  Broken bones take her a day or two.  The three bullets?  That took her about a week.”

“Mike, what
aren’t
you telling me about Missy?  I know Missy has moved herself into your room.  And, I’m guessing that’s permanent, right?”

Mike laughed and said, “Oh, yes!  Forever and ever!”

Aaron continued, saying, “I’m getting ready to ask your sister if she’ll marry me.  I’ve already got the ring and I know she’ll say yes.  So, we’re all going to be family, okay?”  He and Mike hadn’t had much of a chance to discuss things like this for months and he wanted to clear the air.  Finally.  So, he was taking this opportunity, right as they were heading out onto the field.  While they would all be together for dinner later, he knew Mike would disappear with Missy right after that and he doubted he’d have another chance to review any of this with him.

“Okay, okay. I guess I know what you’re asking me.  And, yeah … there’s more about Missy … lots more.  I’ll talk to her.  So, be patient.  Now get out there and congratulate her and then take good care of my sister!  You have my blessing and of course I wish you luck.  You’ll be needing that!”  They both laughed and then continued walking down the field; while the pandemonium out there seemed to finally have subsided, there was still plenty of excitement in the air.

-----

As they walked towards Mike’s car in the parking garage, Missy said, “This has been
such
a great day, winning our playoff game … seeing everyone up here again … then that wonderful lobster dinner we just had … now spending the rest of this night with just you … you and me … me and you …”  She stared at Mike and waited for him to look over at her and see all the yellow speckles she’d brought into her eyes.  When he did, she added, “You,
doing
me … me,
doing
you …”  She began giggling, enjoying herself as she teased and flirted.

“Right!  The best is yet to come, of course.  Only … you do have to Shift first, right? 
Then
I get to make you come?”  He laughed and so did she.  Having Missy’s thoughts constantly flowing into his head, day and night, meant he was well aware she had ovulated only two days earlier.  Her cycle always started over whenever she Shifted and, fourteen days later, she would ovulate.  She was very regular and would get her period exactly fourteen days after that, or twenty-eight days after restarting her cycle, unless she Shifted once again.

“True, we can’t risk making any babies just yet.  I can do my blinky-blink-blinky-thing, as Tracy would say, and join you up in our room in maybe a half hour or so.”  They had agreed long ago this was the only method they could be sure of.  With Missy’s ability to resist most drugs and even poisons, they doubted birth control pills would be effective.  And, now that she no longer needed to wait for very long in between her Changes, it was easiest to merely have her Change and then Change back to restart her cycle.  “I’ll just make a quick visit out to the State Forest where no one will notice.”

“That’ll work.  It’ll probably take me longer than that, driving over and re-parking the car, then checking in.”  He watched as she removed her earrings which she handed to him.  Then she gave him a quick kiss on the lips, hurried over to his car and waited for him to unlock the door using his remote.

Once she was sitting in the car, she grinned at him and said, “Wait for it!”  He was still outside, looking around, which she knew wasn’t necessary.  She had already determined no one was anywhere nearby.  She focused for a moment and then vanished, leaving her clothing behind for Mike to take care of.

There was the usual shimmer of light but no burst of energy.  That would come later, when she materialized and reappeared.  She had now gained complete control of this incredible process and, after taking only a moment to enjoy the expression on Mike’s face, she blinked herself over to the State Forest in Andover twenty miles away.

She checked no one was there to see her and then completed her Change.  Getting to again be in her mountain lion form was fabulous, an experience she always enjoyed and always savored.  Her cat was every bit as much a part of her as was her human form; she had melded her two natures into one long ago.

Quickly, she climbed to the crest of a familiar hill, overlooking a large section of hemlock and white pine trees spreading out and all around far below.  She was able to scent the river which ran through, off in the distance, along with so much else.  Having just enjoyed that wonderful dinner, she didn’t really need to hunt.  But, there were animals all around and it was great being able to sense them.  She let out a particularly loud cougar scream, just because she could, and listened as that echoed all across the land before her.  Yeah, she was woman and she was cat … hear her roar!

She bounded into the forest and followed a pathway which she had used several times during the past four years, ever since her return home from her two years up in the mountains.  It was a brisk November evening, very typical of what New England always brought, with its distinctly different four seasons.  Roaming like this, as a cat, even though for such a short period, was a really wonderful stress reliever and she took full advantage.

Nov 17, 2019

Mike woke up and the first thing he realized was Missy was still asleep.  Usually, when he’d awaken she would already have been sending him her thoughts, as she required very little sleep and was such an early riser.  He often laughed how it was as though he too were in the academy, constantly in training.  But, today, she was still unconscious, in one of those deep sleeps she occasionally could manage, especially when they’d made love and all those incredible needs of hers had been thoroughly sated.  Yes, being able to satisfy a supernatural was indeed a marvelous thing and he was thrilled he’d succeeded in doing so once again.  Actually, he supposed it had been three times again.

She had arrived back the previous night in a huge burst of energy, materializing in his room in all her wondrous glory -- completely naked of course -- so beautiful and so exciting.  They indeed had enjoyed themselves.  Then, they’d fallen asleep and had slept for six hours.

As he shifted his position, preparing to get up, he once again appreciated her still being partly splayed on top of him, her limbs entangled with his.  He figured it was probably the cat part of her nature which would manifest whenever they slept together, resulting in her always wrapping herself around his body to the maximum extent possible.  He really loved sleeping with her.  Carefully, he extricated himself without disturbing her and, happy to see she continued sleeping as though in a coma, he headed for the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, when he emerged from taking his shower, she was once again awake and once again flooding his mind with her messages.  She was also really happy and in a great mood.  She of course had immediately ordered room service and delighted in telling him all about the big breakfast which would soon be getting delivered.  He pulled on one of the giant fluffy white robes he found hanging in the closet, which barely fit around his large frame, and walked out to find her sitting up in bed.  “Morning, Missy!”

Using her voice and answering out loud, she said, “Morning, Mike!”  She gave him a huge grin, and added, “Ummmm, it’s early so I think we still have a few hours before I have to join my team and get on that bus to go back.  I’m really glad we’ll get to do this all over again next Saturday, down in Florida.  Then, just a few days after that, I’ll be coming home again for Thanksgiving vacation.  Can’t wait!”

He didn’t ask her about any of the mid-term exams she’d be taking prior to that vacation, knowing from all her previous comments the last few weeks just how well she was doing in each of her courses.  “I can’t wait either.  Both, for my getting more time with you as well as my taking a break from school.  I realize you don’t need much preparation for any of your exams but, since I don’t have your supernatural ability for soaking up knowledge by osmosis, I’ll be pretty much full time with my books from now on, except for when I see you in Florida.”

She laughed.  “Very funny, but I know you’ll ace those tests, same as always.  Since you’re already so smart, you don’t need any supernatural osmosis.  Besides, you always say my pushing my thoughts into your head the way I do somehow makes you able to do better, right?”

“Okay, okay … that’s true.  But, don’t go trying to take all the credit for my doing well.  Even though you do help in some mysterious way, I’ll still be studying full time, struggling along like the rest of the mere mortals out here.”  He paused, enjoying the way her pretty face lit up from his joking with her, and then he added, “Speaking of mysteries and mortals … you need to let my sister and Aaron know a few more of your many secrets.  They read in those magazines all about you getting badly wounded and now Aaron is asking.”

“But, didn’t we agree your sister was okay with not really knowing any details?  She knows I somehow healed her and she knows I have my secrets.”

“Yeah, but Aaron isn’t okay with not knowing … and, since he’ll be family …”  He went over to the large chair near the bed and sat down in that.

Missy interrupted, all excited, “Did he ask her to marry him?  She didn’t say anything about that yesterday!”

“He didn’t yet, but he’s going to be asking her sometime during Thanksgiving.  He already has the ring and he’s really excited about this.  I guess I am too!”

Missy giggled.  “They’re a perfect couple.  I’m really glad for Michelle.  She’ll be so thrilled!  Just like Candy is!  She’s still on cloud nine after Oliver gave her that ring last week.”

“Yeah, I get that.  You girls really like being able to show the whole world when you’ve got your man, right?”  He wondered if he ought to be giving her a ring.  She’d moved herself into his room in August and he knew she considered him her mate.  More than her mate.  Her soulmate.  Or, actually, was being mated to a werecat an even higher status?  Which was greater?  Mate or soulmate?  Whatever!

She could see him thinking it through and she laughed.  “
This
girl doesn’t care about the rest of the world, Mike. 
You’re
my whole world and I don’t need to show anyone anything.  What we have is sorta
out-of-this-world
, anyway, right?”  She tossed back the covers and hopped out of bed, still naked.  She was feeling quite mischievous and enjoyed how his eyes filled with heat as he watched her.  Then she went over and made herself comfortable sitting on his lap.  She pulled his head down and began passionately kissing him but, before he had a chance to respond, there was a knock on the door.  Their breakfast had arrived.

“You wicked witch, you knew that room service guy was out there, getting ready to knock on our door, didn’t you?”  He laughed and pushed her up and off, to which she feigned giving him a great deal of resistance.  “Now, go get into that other bathrobe so when I let this guy in here, he isn’t staring at those pretty pink nipples of yours or watching you parade around here bare ass.  Didn’t you just say you didn’t need to
show
anyone anything?”  They both laughed and, as she disappeared into the bathroom, he went over and opened the door.

Thirty minutes later, he had finished eating and she was almost finished.  He said, “Getting back to what I started asking you about before … is it okay to tell Aaron and my sister about you being a witch?  I mean, that will help them with the whole healing thing you do.  Maybe you could tell them you have some telekinesis abilities, too, like you’ve done with your Granddad?”  Missy had shared that much with her Granddad McCrea, but not that she was a werecat.

Missy giggled and said, “Sure!  I’ll move a few objects around and maybe bend a couple of spoons for them.  Any other parlor tricks you’d like to have me do?”

“Very funny.  No, no parlor tricks.  And, I do get how nervous all those coven witches are about non-witches even knowing they exist.  Troy really helped me see things from their point of view.  But, I know Aaron and Michelle can be trusted to keep quiet and no supnat secrets will ever be revealed.  You’ve shared lots more with Heather’s Donald, including being a cat and being invisible, right?”

“Only because any children he might have with my sister might be supnats.  Heather couldn’t let their relationship go any further unless he was completely okay with that.  Which, thankfully, he is.”  Missy smiled as another thought struck her.  “I’m betting Heather will also be getting a ring over Thanksgiving.  Did I mention how not only Candy but now Connie as well wants me as a bridesmaid?  That’ll be whenever she and Robert finally get around to having their wedding.  Soooo many weddings, sooo little time!”

-----

There was a huge crowd of cadets waiting when the woman’s soccer team bus arrived back at the academy.  They had finished welcoming back their football team, also victorious, just a short time earlier and were still euphoric.  It indeed had been a great weekend for West Point teams and the loud whooping and cheering they all gave to welcome back the soccer team was pretty great.

As Missy and the rest of her teammates descended down the steps from the bus and looked around, there were dozens of banners and placards all waving high in the air, in addition to all the noise that greeted them.  She noticed Tracy and several of her friends all there and headed over in their direction.

Tracy was especially jubilant and raced forward, grabbing her into a big hug.  “Congratulations!  You guys were fantastic!  Everyone here watched the game on TV and they all think so.  This might just be the greatest woman’s soccer team in West Point history!”

After extricating herself, Missy looked around at all the other happy faces and said, “Well, you know how proud I am to be a part of it.  But, next week we’ll be facing our toughest competitor … Florida State has won this championship before and I’m sure they’re going to be trying their hardest to beat us.  We’re all looking towards that game and not thinking about what we may have already accomplished.”

There were many more who came up and praised both how great the team was doing and how well they thought Missy had played.  It took more than an hour before she and Tracy were finally alone in their room and Missy managed to sit down and relax.  She said, “My weekend was the best ever!  Wheh!  Winning that game, going out with my family after, then spending the night with Mike … I even got to be a cat for close to an hour.”

Tracy looked at her quizzically, saying, “You did?”  Then she said, “Oh, right … you didn’t want to be a Fertile Myrtle, so you made yourself safe for all that wild monkey sex stuff?  Gosh, I do envy the way you can control your cycle like that.”

“Well, since my brother’s scent is once again rather overwhelming right now, wafting from every pore of your body, I know you’re not envious about any of the monkey sex stuff.”  Missy laughed and so did Tracy.

“John told me to tell you how proud he is that you’re his sister.  You should have heard the way he and Troy were rooting for you during the game.  They dominated everyone else, drowning out all your other fans, which were plentiful.  We maybe had a hundred of us gathered around that big screen TV yesterday.  It was a good time had by all, of course, especially since you guys won.”

“Gee, I’m almost sorry I missed it!”  Missy giggled and then said, “Troy was here, huh?  Sally had to be happy about that.”

“Oh, she was!  He had to leave last night as he had a swim meet today but they were both saying how lucky they’ve been with their schedules so far.  Her meet was on Friday.  But, they won’t see each other at all next week because of conflicts.  That’s okay, though … she told you how he’s going to be with her for Thanksgiving, right?”

“Yeah, she’s giving off all those
I-think-I’m-in-love
vibs again.  Has John told Troy how badly we’ll be hexing his new best buddy if he breaks Sally’s heart?”

Tracy laughed.  “He sure has!  I made certain of that, threatening him with some hexing if he didn’t.  But, he tells me Troy insists that won’t happen, even if his mother objects.  Don’t tell Sally this but I think Troy plans on inviting her to his place for Christmas.  That’s when Angela will finally get to meet his Jersey Girl, the girl-who-ain’t-a-witch, and who knows what might happen after that.”

They continued chatting, catching up on things for a while longer, but then both needed to spend some quality time catching up on their studies.  Fortunately, they weren’t interrupted and managed to get a lot done before it was finally time for lights out.

-----

General Blake called Drew Martinson who picked up the phone on the first ring.  “Hey Drew, this is Paul.  I just heard from Colonel Chory over in Kabul.  Team Twenty-Two went out with their Afghan Army friends and hit one of those training camps Charlie Winword was telling us about.”

Drew was well aware of what the CIA sources had reported concerning the camps where the terrorist groups which were now in the U.S. and planning on attacking the Thanksgiving Day parades had previously been training.  “Were they able to get any useful items which might contain energy signatures?”

  “Well, they can only guess, not being witches themselves.  But Major Grimes thinks the stuff they grabbed might be good, plus they grabbed all the sleeping gear they could find.  The Afghans really kicked some ass and then they destroyed the whole camp, leaving nothing much behind.”

Drew had discussed the plan with the general earlier and understood the strategy for destroying the camp, so nothing they took would be missed.  “Great.  I assume this stuff is already on a plane headed back here?”

“Yeah, it should arrive in Philadelphia tomorrow.  I’ll arrange for Oliver Bessom to meet that plane.  Can you get Ulrey and anyone else over there?  They can divide the stuff up and take half of it on to Chicago.  Winword says these are the two cities this particular group will have gone to, with a different group from a camp near Herat having gone over to New York.  Team Twenty-Two plans on hitting that camp in another day or so.”

“Okay.  Robert has been standing by.  And, he’ll be bringing Millicent Pratt up from Texas.  Chicago doesn’t have any finder witch but she’s offered to help.  After they barely survived working together in Cancun, they now have a special relationship.  Plus, she’s maybe the strongest finder witch there is, so that’s really good.”

The general laughed.  “You know, if anyone had told me a year ago how I’d be more concerned with witches and how strong their abilities were than with positioning any of my troops?  I’d have told them they were crazy!”

“Not to mention how one of those witches would be marrying your niece, right?”