Missy Makes Mayhem (Missy the Werecat Book 5) (25 page)

Andy laughed and looked at the two firsties. “When he says he
sees
her all the time, he’s not just talking about those times he manages
being
with her, but
all
the time.  He sees her in his
dreams
and he can’t stop talking about her.  Those Quigby girls have been having lots of fun with that, lately, all at his expense.”

While Don’s countenance turned even deeper shades of red, the other three all laughed at his obvious discomfort.  Hoping to distract them, Don asked, “What about Melo?  I heard he finally did quit maybe ten days ago, right?”

Ron said, “Yes.  No one knows exactly why since he wouldn’t say; he just marched into the Supe’s office, gave his notice, then packed up all his stuff and left in a cab right away.  All very mysterious.”

“So?”

“So, he’s been arrested.  We just found out and that arrest is also very mysterious, since he’s pleading guilty to attempted rape.  Two goons frog marched him into the police station and he willingly confessed.  Gave them his signed statement and everything.  I’m guessing he wasn’t really all that willing but was being threatened.  However, he’s not changing his story so whatever those threats might be, going to jail must be the lesser of two evils.”

Nov 19, 2019

Felipe Benedict had been reviewing many of the files he’d brought with him, looking for things which other groups or organizations might be interested in paying him for.  While he was quite pleased with all his transactions so far, mostly with Arvind Pancholi, those had primarily been satisfying requests for specific information which his buyers had hoped he could provide, knowing he had been with Homeland Security.

Now he wanted to further his profits by selling information those buyers had no idea about, but would definitely want to have once he revealed it was available.  And, having started with things and events which had been recent, just prior to his sudden departure from the U.S., it soon became apparent he indeed might just have something.

Amongst the various items he’d been asked to provide Manuel Rodriguez with, during those final weeks, was one file which had greatly intrigued him, back when he’d been putting all the information together.  He had quite a large file on a West Point cadet named Missy McCrea.  He’d started out researching her, on request, due to events associated with the Candace Axtell kidnapping in Mexico, since there’d been some rather remarkable coincidences suggesting she may have played a key role in those events.

Early on, right after the Axtell girl had disappeared, there’d been a huge effort to locate her, hopefully still alive, as well as to investigate what had happened.  The U.S. government had sent down a significant task force, led by Army Intelligence -- since, after all, the girl was General Blake’s niece -- with members from various agencies, including the FBI, the CIA, and Homeland Security.  His ability to stay fully informed concerning all developments for the task force, thanks to his agency being involved, was why he initially had been called.  He’d provided Rodriguez with constant updates which, at first, had all been about the complete lack of success by this task force.

Then, the FBI had brought down psychics.  Unlike all the other investigators the U.S. government had sent, the psychics had actually had some success.  Next, this West Point cadet had shown up out of nowhere, also searching for the general’s niece.  She apparently had been successful somehow, since Jacques
Arbogast
had then disappeared.

Coincidence?  Maybe.  Of concern to Rodriguez was whether his man Arbogast had been flushed out by what she’d done.  Did the U.S. government have Arbogast?  And, was there anything connecting back to Rodriguez and his organization?

She’d made quite a scene with her dancing out at several nightclubs while screaming out the name of one of the kidnappers.  Although the media had never identified her, other than as the mysterious Cancun Cancan Girl, the task force down there had reported her identity and he’d followed up, based on that.

They obviously were all connected: the psychics, the FBI, the cadet from the Army’s academy, the U.S. government investigators.  They were all working for that General Blake.  And, when WIJO released their video, showing they had the general’s niece and making demands, threatening to publicly behead the girl?

Right after that, this Missy McCrea disappeared, along with one of the psychics, Oliver Bessom.  Three days later, a miracle.  The Axtell girl was rescued.  Coincidence?  Maybe.  He’d been asked by Rodriguez to further check on the cadet and the psychic.

Then, the damn task force had left Cancun and had gone to Bogota.  Allegedly, it had information from Arbogast leading them to Rodriguez.  Only, that info was via some top secret government agency named “P” Branch, which he’d never even heard about before.  But, it was “P” Branch who’d gotten all the other agencies stirred up, which in turn had forced him to get out of town.  And, like Arbogast, Rodriquez had disappeared soon after that.

So, he’d come to Paris using his Felipe Benedict identity and was certain he’d barely escaped in time.

What was really getting him excited now, though, was reading all the magazine articles he’d recently found, all about this Missy McCrea and General Blake.  While these stories were all about her doing things
prior
to what had happened in Cancun, there were simply too many coincidences.  And, too many amazing, impossible things.

General Blake, currently the CENTCOM commander in charge of the Army’s forces in the Mid-East.  His niece Candace Axtell, whose miraculous escape had greatly embarrassed WIJO.  The psychic Oliver Bessom.  And one mysterious cadet at West Point named Missy McCrea.  Would WIJO be interested in what he had managed to pull together in his files on these individuals?  He thought they would be, no matter if there still were many, many dots he wasn’t able to connect.

He’d get in touch with Arvind Pancholi and see just how much all this information might be worth.  He once again started playing one of the many videos he’d obtained, showing that crazy Cancun Cancan Girl. Yeah … he was pretty sure what he had was of great value.  Just watching her?  Priceless!

-----

Millie and Oliver made a large circle around all the items they had identified as having residual energy.  Then, one by one, they again examined each item, this time for whether they sensed anything providing enough of a signal or direction they could follow.  While few of these held any strong essence from an individual, as items having great meaning for a person might have provided, nonetheless there were several from which they noted some definite signals.  The fact those which had these signals were all aiming towards a similar direction, somewhere in or near the city, was encouraging.

Next, they combined all those items which had signals to follow and obtained an excellent and very clear reading; they now had a very definite group of Philadelphia objects.  They set aside the other items, which hopefully would make a similar group of Chicago objects for them to follow later.  This whole process was rather unique and quite different from how a finder witch would normally go about searching for a missing person, but -- with several missing persons all likely to be grouped at the same location -- this approach did seem very promising.

They also found they complemented one another, with their combined abilities often making it possible to get a sense of energy or a signal to follow which otherwise might be missed.  Millie teased him about how much his abilities had increased, now that he’d found his soulmate.  Or, to be more accurate, now that he’d
bonded
with her.  He was now truly reaching his full potential.

Because of the FBI’s new Psychic Division which Robert had established, “P” Branch had recently hired some helicopter pilots.  These individuals had all been carefully screened, not only for their flight qualifications but also for whether they could be granted clearance to learn all about the various paranormal and supernatural activities which “P” Branch was monitoring. Once accepted, these individuals were allowed to go through training and orientation by “P” Branch, with an increasing amount of knowledge of all things supnat slowly divulged to them.

Not all those who started this indoctrination were granted full disclosure; many were rejected at different points along the way, for various reasons.  But, thankfully, there were now a select few who had successfully made it completely through and these pilots had been assigned to the FBI.  While their FBI duties gave them plenty of routine flights to perform, which were not related to anything “P” Branch was associated with, they were on call for special assignments with Robert’s Division having priority.  Merely getting accepted by “P” Branch and being on call entitled them to additional special pay, whether or not they ever were asked to do anything special.

Drew Martinson had convinced those who approved his funding that, indeed, rather than having any reductions in funding, his organization now needed an increase.  Having pilots like these available was a necessity.  While in the past, “P” Branch had merely monitored supnats around the world and investigated whatever activities might be paranormal or supernatural, the government officials he currently worked with all wanted more than just that.  The former non interference policy was being revised, with the U.S. government now interested in having supnats provide their unique assistance, if willing, as Robert’s finder witch psychics were able to do.  And, as Missy and Tracy had recently done.

Not wanting to use any of the local police helicopters, arrangements had been made with the National Guard to borrow one of their aircraft.  Should anyone check, this would be reported as operating around the city on a routine training mission.  Thus, there was much less likelihood the cell they were searching for would have any cause for alarm.  Since both Wes and Chris, the two FBI pilots now there on special assignment, were former Army pilots with lots of experience flying the Army’s UH-60 Black Hawks, getting one of these aircraft from the National Guard was also a plus.

By early afternoon, Millie and Oliver were directing their special pilots as their Black Hawk slowly flew over and around a section of the city where mostly large warehouses were located.  Robert and Major Schermerhorn were up there, right along with them, while Connie had stayed behind with a couple of Robert’s staff members to facilitate communications on the ground.  Major Schermerhorn was using a camera to photograph all the buildings being identified and he was also taking a few videos.

After hovering at a few locations in their helicopter, with each of these locations about a mile or so from their target area, the signals from the Philadelphia objects had been strong enough that triangulation had brought them to this particular section.  And, there was one particular warehouse which really seemed promising.  As Oliver pointed this out to the major, Millie explained what she could sense about the place to Robert.

“We are actually experiencing many, many signatures from these objects we’ve selected, and as expected, they point to more than one place.  A lot of this is vague but, the fact we’re sensing anything at all for these Afghanistan items suggests we must be in the right area.  The only way we’d be sensing even these vague signals is that the people whose energy was absorbed are down there right now.  We’re tracking energy from a number of different individuals and those people have been coming and going.  But, we are sensing a convergence on that one place, right there.”  She pointed to where Oliver was already having the major take his photos.

When the major had finished taking pictures of the entire area, their pilots flew them back to the airfield.  Two hours later, they were all gathered around a large conference table and discussing things on a secure line with Drew, Les and Marsha at “P” Branch.  Charles Winword had also been conferenced in.  They all had been provided with the photos and videos which Major Schermerhorn had downloaded.

Robert explained how the local FBI office, with Homeland Security and local police assisting them, were now arranging for around-the-clock surveillance.  Anyone coming or going from the warehouse Millie and Oliver had identified would be kept under careful watch, until further notice.  And, it was clearly understood by all just how vital it was for this surveillance to go unnoticed.  It was critical that none of these individuals got spooked.  Should anyone even become suspicious, not only was there risk that members of this cell might disappear, but likewise for the other two cells as well.

Major Schermerhorn said, “We really need to see what these people are doing inside that warehouse.  Can Missy McCrea really make herself invisible?  Could she somehow go in there unnoticed and help us with this?”

Drew explained, “I talked to Missy last night, after hearing what Millie mentioned about her having these new abilities.”  In order to have all their calls secure, using the latest encryption technology, “P” Branch had earlier provided special smart phones to Missy, Mike, Tracy and John.  “We had quite a conversation.

“She can indeed go places as an invisible spirit with almost all her powers and abilities fully functioning.  She can see and hear and scent things, only she does that as a spirit, which is rather remarkable.  However, she cannot taste anything or feel anything, so without having any physical body, she only has those three of her five senses.  She can use energy bursts and pulses, same as before, as well as still having all her telekinesis abilities.  And, she can communicate with Mike.  She says as long as he’s within five hundred miles, she can blink herself to wherever he is just about instantaneously.  She also can go to other places or other people in about that same radius, as long as she’s either been there before or knows them.”

Millie said, “There have been some other witches over the years who were also Shifters but, they were very few.  Most Shifters, as you probably already know, are not witches.  However, I’ve never heard of
anyone
who could do the things Missy can do.”

Winword asked, “Why didn’t she tell us about any of this earlier?”

Drew laughed.  “She says she only just learned how to do this stuff and has been sort of practicing, testing herself, seeing what she could and couldn’t do.  Then, recently, she and Troy Dangelmeyer rescued Sal D’Amato’s daughter.  It turns out, the daughter’s kidnapping was behind that recent mob war they had up there.”

“Wait a minute.”  Robert looked around at the others in the conference room, then went on to ask, “There hasn’t been anything in the news about any kidnapping.  I did hear one of the D’Amato organizations was completely wiped out.  Then, the mob war seems to have stopped.  Was Missy involved in any of that?”

“Oh, yes.  Les, go ahead and give them the Reader’s Digest version of what happened.”