Missy Makes Mayhem (Missy the Werecat Book 5) (30 page)

“I understand.  And, I assure you, these files will never be provided to anyone else.  Of course, if your client doesn’t agree to purchase them, I will then find another buyer.  I’m offering them to you with first refusal because of our past relationship and because your client is probably the one most interested.  Because of that whole Candace Axtell business.”

“Okay, I’m having your payment sent now.  When your bank confirms the funds have arrived, which should only take a few minutes, I’ll want the link to your encrypted files delivered to this email address.  And, of course, I’ll want you to provide me the access code before you leave this table and we go our separate ways.”

Thirty minutes later, after downloading and decoding the files back in his room, Pancholi began reading all about Oliver Bessom and Missy McCrea.  He was not disappointed with what he’d invested so heavily to obtain.  No, quite the contrary.  The U.S. government was obviously using supernaturals and he was confident WIJO would be willing to pay a great deal for what he could now provide them.

Nov 23, 2019

Missy enjoyed the flight to Tallahassee which she and her soccer team were on.  They’d boarded their bus at oh-dark-thirty that morning back at the academy, had departed JFK at a little after ten and then had changed planes in Charlotte, NC.  That layover had been only an hour and they now were about to land a little before three.  This would allow them plenty of time to get to the stadium and warm up before their game at six.

Barbara Rozak had been in the seat next to her on both flights and had been talking non-stop, except for when they’d both been eating their snack-lunches, which they’d brought with them.  The whole team was amped up which Missy thought was good.  She had managed to shed much of her excess energy over the past twenty-four hours and was now only amped up by a normal amount.

Momentarily, she tuned Barbara out and reflected on the various events which had occurred over the past few days.  That led to thinking about what everyone was doing right then.  Could they prevent any suicide bombings from happening at the Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City, now only a few days away?

Robert and the others had flown to New Jersey the day before, direct from Chicago, except for Mike who had flown to Florida so he’d be there for her game.  By the time Millie and Oliver had sifted through all the items waiting at Newark Airport which Team Twenty-Two had sent back from Afghanistan, it had been too dark to go searching in any helicopter.  So, that effort had been postponed until today.  They’d needed to get a good night’s sleep anyway before attempting to locate wherever that third terrorist cell might be or may have been.  No one believed any explosives would still be there.  If the search was successful, she’d be joining them tomorrow to go check out the facilities and memorize all the scents from those who’d been there recently.

But, for Missy, all that was for yet another day and sufficient unto the day were the problems thereof! Thus, she put those thoughts out of her mind and tuned back into what Barbara was telling her.  She began focusing on their big soccer game coming up and on her fellow teammates.  What had Barbara just been saying?  If they could win this one, they then would be in the Final Four.  Otherwise, their season was over.  Yes, but either way, she knew everyone at the academy would be proud of what they’d accomplished that year.

Since she’d been able to re-connect with Mike, she once again was feeling whole and happy.  His location had come within her five-hundred mile radius right before her landing at Charlotte and her distance from him had been shrinking ever since.  Her cat nature, which never worried about anything, was purring inside with content.  This, of course, grounded her human nature and enabled her to truly enjoy the moment.  She would go out on the field at the soccer stadium and play her very best and then she’d spend the night with Mike.  Life for Missy the girl was very, very good.

-----

Millie looked at the others and sadly shook her head.  “We’re sorry, but we just can’t do any better than this.  The general areas we showed you are the best we can do.  We can’t identify any particular buildings or suggest which of those places might be better than any of the others.  The signals are there but they’re not concentrated like in Philly and Chicago.”

They had all returned from flying over several buildings all scattered around Brooklyn.  Wes and Chris had taken them out over these areas three different times.  They were now seated around a conference table reviewing everything with “P” Branch.  None of the other agencies were being conferenced in, however.  Major Schermerhorn had downloaded their photos which were being projected onto a screen at the end of the room.  One by one, they’d been looking at them all yet again.

“Hey, if Missy only checks for those four missing guys from Philly?  She can probably get through these areas in a few hours, right?  In her spirit form?”  Oliver was just as disappointed as Millie but there was only so much they could do.

Robert said, “There will be several hundred different scents in those buildings … maybe even thousands.  We were hoping to pin down the location for her.  Hell, we don’t even know if those missing guys will actually have come up here.”

“And, if she doesn’t sense any of those four guys or find any explosives down there, we really won’t have any other way to track down where this cell may have gone off to.”  Major Schermerhorn was not optimistic.  “It looks like we’ll have to rely on surveillance during the parade.  Hopefully, that might find these guys before it’s too late.”

Drew said, “Well, you’ve at least narrowed the search area down somewhat.  I suppose that’s better than asking her to search the entire city, with millions and millions of scents for her to examine.  I’ll let the Secretary of Defense know where we stand.”

-----

Kristen Cassalia could see what the other team was doing but there was nothing she could do about it.  In all her years of coaching, she never before had witnessed a team employing keep-away tactics to the extent Florida State was doing so today.  They obviously had watched game films and had realized the only way to prevent Missy McCrea from dominating things for West Point’s offense, thus greatly reducing the time their own offense would have to work, was to do everything they possibly could to keep the ball in play on the opposite side of the field, away from Missy.

Kristen had just sent her team back out there after giving them her usual half-time pep talk.  They’d all been complaining and they had thoroughly discussed this keep-away issue during the first half.  The game had been very exciting up to now and the score was tied two-two.  But, in spite of all her players now knowing what the other team was managing to do, they really didn’t have any good strategy for how to deal with that.

Missy played left forward and Barbara played right forward, although these positions were very fluid and they often mixed things up.  Still, they were the two primary strikers and the West Point offense was built around how the two of them would interact throughout the game.

Today, it didn’t matter that Missy was tireless and could cover half the field.  She wasn’t over on the
opposite
side of the field and, whenever FSU had the ball, that’s where they’d kept it.  Doing so had resulted in much longer times of possession for their offense and, as the game played on, that was making a difference.  This difference was likely to continue since they were very much a championship team and were taking excellent advantage of those longer times of possession.

Twice Kristen tried to mix things up, with Missy and Barbara actually swapping fields.  That hadn’t mattered as the other team quickly adjusted, continuing their keep-away strategy so Missy simply wasn’t allowed many opportunities to handle the ball.  Yes, her own teammates did often succeed in getting the ball over to her but, as the game wore on, the skill which the FSU offense had was working for them.

At the end of the day, it was the penalty kicks which decided the game.  The score had been five-five when regulation time had expired.  At the end of the five rounds of penalty kicks, it was still tied since both teams had scored four of their five kicks.  In sudden death, FSU won when their kicker scored and then the West Point kicker’s shot was successfully blocked.  Game over.

Mike tried to cheer Missy up during dinner.  She and her teammates had all been pretty bummed over their loss.  Once they’d all finally been released, free until the next morning, she had said her goodbyes to everyone and had gone off with Mike.  He’d taken her to an excellent seafood restaurant where she’d enjoyed huge helpings of fish, shrimp and crabs.  Even so, she was still very disappointed and her mood was uncharacteristically bleak.

“You can’t let this bother you so much,” Mike told her.  “You did score three goals and you made your penalty kick.  You can’t do
everything
, you know.  They had a great team and they outplayed you guys.”

“You mean they outplayed
me
, since they really worked at always keeping the damn ball over on the opposite side of the field from wherever I was.”

Mike laughed.  “Can you blame them for that?  Look what happened when you did manage to get near the ball.  Three goals, remember?”  In spite of how lopsided the times of possession had been, Missy had indeed been spectacular during those few instances when she’d gotten the ball.  Hence, the game ending up in a tie score and needing to be decided by penalty kicks.

Missy sighed.  “Lately, things just haven’t been going very well.  From what you’ve said about today’s search in New York, I’ll now need to be sniffing around for days hoping to find some trace of one of our mystery men amongst the many millions.”

“You really
are
depressed, aren’t you?”  Mike shook his head and sighed.  He’d never seen her so disconsolate before.  “Drew told me there might be a few
hundred
for you to sift and sort through … okay, maybe even more than a thousand … but not many millions.”  He signed the check which the waiter had left and pocketed his credit card.  “Let’s get out of here.  Where would you like to go now?  We have all night.”

“Ooohhh!”  Missy did perk up.  She knew she’d been wallowing in a funk and decided enough was enough.  She lowered her voice to a husky whisper and said, “Take me to our room, Mike!  Ravish me!  Let’s be wild and crazy while we romp and play.  Do me as you’ve never done me before!  Punish me!  Reward me!  Finish me!  Then begin again … make me frantic!  I want some fabulous fun and frolic!  Make me forget and then make me
remember
!  Make me
love
how you love me, forever and
forever
!”

“Forever and
forever
?”  He laughed as he watched her eyes sparkle, filling up with golden speckles.  Suddenly, her emotions overwhelmed him and his passionate arousal in response, which he had no control over, was immediate, powerful and rather painful.  He sat there unable to leave the table.  His throbbing erection would be quite apparent to anyone who might look his way once he stood up.

She was well aware of all this of course, and enjoying it.  “Maybe not forever and forever.  But, you did say that we have all night, right?”  She giggled and, once he did manage to rise, she led the way outside.  She was determined to thoroughly enjoy the rest of the evening.  And, she did.

Nov 24, 2019

Captain Bonomo and Major Schermerhorn were both waiting at JFK for Missy when she and her soccer team landed there mid-afternoon.  Drew had once again cleared things with the Superintendent at the academy and who had sent the captain down so Missy’s staying behind with the two Army officers when the rest of the team boarded their bus to return to the academy would appear very official.  The Army had need of Missy’s services for a confidential matter.

After saying goodbye to her coach and teammates, she rode with her two Army escorts out to Newark Airport where Robert and the others were waiting.  Mike had flown home to Massachusetts but would be using the special telecommunications equipment “P” Branch had given him to stay in contact with everyone.  Once Missy went searching, he’d perform his usual role as her interpreter.  He could do this while back at school since he’d be well within her five-hundred mile radius, even if she went down to Philly again.

Once they were all sitting around the conference table with “P” Branch and Mike on the speaker phone, Missy was shown all the Brooklyn area photos.  Millie and Oliver briefed her as best they could about each of the buildings from which they’d sensed some energy signals.  Or, to be more accurate, from which they’d sensed some energy traces.  However, there were several of these buildings in each location with several locations scattered all throughout Brooklyn.  Since only minor energy traces were being sensed from these locations, there just hadn’t been any way to isolate any specific buildings.

Missy was asked if she thought it was too large an area with too many scents for her to sift through.  She answered, “All I can say is it will take time.  If any of the four men from Philly have been there within the past couple of months, I’ll be able to tell you that.  And, since I won’t be trying to store any scent memories, that does allow me to go through these places much quicker.  But, I have to go through them slowly and thoroughly in order to do this.  As I said, it will take time.  Possibly days.”

Mike had been worried about her remaining in her spirit form for any extended periods and had questioned her about this subject before.  Now he told the others, “Missy doesn’t really know how long she can exist in her spirit form.  Up until now, she’s been extending these time periods gradually.  She’s now done several hours at a time, as you’ve seen, but if there’s a limit to how long she can go, she doesn’t know what might happen.”

Robert said, “What you mean is, if she has some limit, she doesn’t know if she’ll get any warning when she nears that limit so she can complete her Change and materialize before … well … before whatever!”

“Exactly!  She exists during these time periods in some sort of an energy state and uses energy while she does that.  Of course, she also draws energy from all around but …”

“But, there are risks.” said Drew.  “We’ve been trying to understand this spirit form phenomenon back here at “P” Branch.  Ever since Missy first told me about it, I’ve had several people researching, checking through our archives, looking for any evidence of this.  So far, nothing.  We’re dealing with a complete unknown.”

Marsha’s voice now came through the speaker phone.  “Missy, can you maybe complete your Shifts every so often, continuing the gradual time period extensions like you’ve already been doing?  We are not looking for this to be any great experiment and we certainly don’t want you to suddenly go
poof
, ceasing to exist!”

Missy laughed and said, “Especially if that
poof
might release the sort of energy you could expect from a nuclear bomb, right?  It’s not only
me
who might be at risk.”

Millie said, “Marsha’s suggestion does make sense.  Doing that will at least mitigate the risk.  Especially since you can’t
feel
anything while a spirit, right?  Maybe you’ll
experience
something as any limit is approached … I don’t know.”

“Alrighty, then!”  Missy had listened to all this enough.  “I’ll go one hour longer each time and then I’ll blink myself right back here and finish my Change.  Millie can check me out and, once she’s satisfied I’m okay, I’ll go back out and continue wherever I left off.”

Knowing Missy would need to eat before she started out on her big search, they’d arranged for meals to be brought into their conference room with some extra rare steaks special for her.  She told Millie to have some raw steaks waiting when she returned later on, since she’d then be in her cat form.

Once she was ready to go, it was getting dark outside.  Although Wes and Chris had kept their night vision goggles, Missy said she didn’t need to be flown out to Brooklyn.  She had visited New York City enough times so she didn’t need any helicopter ride. She could teleport to a nearby restaurant where she and Mike had been which was close enough.  She’d be able to find her way after that, having studied the aerial photos of Brooklyn all afternoon.

Major Schermerhorn announced he wanted to film Missy’s departure so they all gathered around and waited until he was ready with the video camera.  Missy then gave Millie her earrings and asked her to take care of the clothes she’d be leaving behind.  She waited while the major filmed her for a few minutes, with the others all out of sight from the camera.  Then, she focused and … moments later … she vanished into a shimmer of light, with her clothes dropping into a pile on the floor.

Once again, Chris said, “Damn!  I’ll
never
get used to her doing that!” and the others all laughed.  Millie and Oliver could still sense her presence for a few more seconds, but then … she was gone.

-----

Mike opened his door for John and said, “Come on in!”  It was obvious John had driven directly there after leaving Tracy down at West Point.  When he glanced at the clock, he was surprised to see it was almost midnight.

John asked, “How’s my sister?”  Tracy had filled him in on everything she’d learned from Missy and he was well aware the search for the third terrorist cell was now underway.  Captain Bonomo had alerted Tracy as well, just prior to his going out to JFK, that her roommate would not be returning to the academy for a day or so.  At that point, Tracy had already known much more about things than the captain.

Mike put his microphone on mute so the folks at “P” Branch and down in New Jersey wouldn’t overhear him talking to John.  “She’s been working her way through some tenement buildings in Brooklyn for the last six hours.  So far, no joy.”

John looked around at Mike’s apartment, which was a single unit like his own.  “P” Branch had suggested they both find places off campus this year to avoid any of their conversations being overheard by others.  Now that Missy and Tracy were actively assisting the U.S. government as supnats, privacy and security were a necessity.  “Why do I get the feeling this search might be more difficult than the others?”

“Well, it turns out the signals which Millie and Oliver were able to follow were merely traces and there wasn’t any concentration like in Philly or at that farm in Chicago.  She’s only trying to identify whether any of the missing terrorist cell members from Philly might have visited their buddies up in New York.”

John nodded, saying, “Tracy told me about that.  So, if she can recognize anyone, she’ll go back to Philly and sniff around down there until she locates where they live.  Millie and Oliver can then identify some objects which have a really strong energy signal for that person.  If so, those can lead them back to the actual person’s current location up in New York and, hopefully, to wherever the whole gang’s now holed up.”

Mike paused while he listened to the latest messages from Missy.  After turning his mic on and repeating her messages for the others to hear, he again put his mic on mute.  Looking at John, he said, “As you could hear, still no joy.  That’s the third building she’s been through.  There are lots more to go, however.”

“There are actually people living in those buildings?”

“Yeah, that’s what’s making it so difficult.  She actually had me call nine-one-one about an hour before you got here.  Some asshole was pretty drunk and started beating up his wife.”

John grimaced and said, “I doubt she let that go on for very long.  I’m surprised she didn’t cold cock the bastard.”

Mike laughed.  “She did!  That’s why she had me call nine-one-one.  She made it look like he tripped and banged his head.  The wife then was so upset she grabbed some of her stuff and left.  Missy was afraid nobody would find the guy and bring him to the hospital for treatment.  She could have healed him, of course, but she wanted the cops to find him and handle things.”

“Good call.”  John thought for a moment and then asked, “Did you say she’s been doing this for
six
hours already?  Just how long can she pretend she’s Casper the Not-So-Friendly-Ghost anyhow?”

“Don’t worry.  She’ll be checking in as a cat with Millie in maybe another hour.  If anyone can sense Missy having any problems, it would be Millie.”  He then explained the plan for extending the periods Missy went back out as a spirit one hour each time.

“What about you, Mike?  My sister can draw enough energy now to black out half of Manhattan but you’re only human.  How the hell can
you
keep going through all this?”

“Well, she tells me I can snooze between her sitrep messages and, unless there’s something urgent, she’ll only give me those every hour or so.  You realize, of course, your sister can always wake me up if she senses I’m asleep.”

“Oh, yes.  And, I don’t envy you at all.  I’m soooo glad Tracy can’t do that to me.  This whole mind share thing the two of you can do?  That’s unique.  Nobody else can do that.  It’s not a witch thing or a soulmate thing.  Tracy thinks it’s because Missy’s cat is so strong inside of her.  Lucky you!”  He laughed and Mike laughed with him.

-----

Nov 25, 2019

Just before one a.m., Missy teleported back to the conference room at the airport and found everyone still there, waiting for her. 
Mike, tell them I’m going to re-appear back at the same spot as before, right where I was when I vanished.
  She heard Mike’s voice on the speaker phone giving them the head’s up.  Major Schermerhorn then got out his video camera and got ready and the others all gathered around.

She focused and, with her typical pulse of energy, she was back.  She took a moment to experience the return of all her physical senses and adjust to those, rather than how she’d been experiencing sights, sounds and scents for the past seven hours.  Existing as only an energy spirit having just three senses providing any input to her mind was indeed different.  It felt good to be back.

For the benefit of those on the phone, Millie announced, “Missy’s back and I’m going to take a minute to examine her.  So far, she seems okay.  I’ll let you all know.”

John’s voice came over the speaker phone, saying, “Hey baby sister, I’m up here with Mike.  Millie?  You’re making sure she has all four paws, two ears, one tail … stuff like that, right?”

The others had already known John was there but Missy was only now finding that out.  She sent Mike a message.

John’s voice again was heard as he yelped, “Ow, ow!”  Laughing, he asked Mike, “What was that for?”

Mike said, “Just doing what your sister wanted.  She insisted the next sounds she heard you making needed to sound like you were experiencing some serious pain.”

John said, “Obviously, she’s feeling okay down there.  Go ahead and give her some food and water.  Maybe that will distract her from giving Mike any more suggestions concerning her loving, caring brother.”

Missy actually was enjoying the banter and liked that John was keeping Mike company.  She went over to Millie and sat back on her haunches.  With Mike speaking for her, she then managed having some two-way conversation with the others which she also enjoyed.  Millie meanwhile did examine her and was satisfied Missy’s “energy” felt normal enough.  Thirty minutes later, fed and refreshed from interacting with everyone, Missy once again Shifted to her spirit form and teleported back to Brooklyn.