Missy Makes Mayhem (Missy the Werecat Book 5) (8 page)

Oct 22, 2019

Ben Marchitto waited until his boss Salvatore D’Amato was finished issuing orders and everyone else in the office had then cleared out.  Once they were alone, he said, “Alice Mathews called me.  Missy told her about the little war we’ve got going on down here and has insisted Alice stay at school in Boston until further notice.  She’s to let those assistants she hired over the summer handle things with the Roseanne Fund.  She also is passing along notice to us that Missy expects those assistants to be fully protected around the clock, just in case they’re targeted.  If we allow any harm to come to any of them, there will be dire consequences from Missy.”

Sal stared at Ben and nodded, sighing.  “Shit!  I gotta worry now about that damn witch in addition to everything else? Of course Missy knows about this war … she always knows
everything
.  Do I need to arrange for some people up in Boston to watch over Alice?”

“Actually, no.  Missy has her FBI buddies doing that.”

Sal laughed.  “Of course she does!  Just another reminder of the dire consequences she might bring down on us if things go wrong?”

“Oh, I doubt Missy will ever turn us in to the FBI … that’s not exactly her style.  She’s a lot more direct in the sort of trouble she’d cause us, remember?  Fire and brimstone?  Lightning bolts?”

“Very funny.  But, I suppose you’re right … things have been okay with her, especially after you helped get that asshole cadet arrested, the one who wanted to kill her, right?  As long as we don’t piss her off, she’ll leave us alone.”  Sal thought for a few moments and then said, “Okay, have Billy Martin and Donny Delgato take care of it.  They already know Missy’s a witch so they’ll understand how important this is.  Tell them to use as many guys as they need.”

“Missy actually has a valid concern.  I can see how our Roseanne Fund might be targeted in retaliation … we already had received several complaints from the other families before all this, as you know.  They think we created that Fund just to steal girls from their stable.”  Ben paused as another thought occurred to him.  “You don’t suppose these guys who have Sandy are insisting on this war because of that, do you?”

“Nah, I doubt that has anything to do with it.  These bastards are going to somehow profit from this war but damned if I know how.  Of course, that’s probably the fucking point, right?  Makes it impossible for us to figure out who the hell they are.  We’re supposed to keep hitting each of the other families and hope Sandy will be released at some point.”

Every few hours, Sal had been getting an email from an untraceable source.  Attached would be a video clip showing Alessandra, proving she was still alive and still being held.  The instructions in each email had been clear.  Either Sal have his organization hit each of the other families, robbing them of whatever cash or drugs might be available, or else.  And, these hits had better result in damage to those other families worth at least a million dollars a day.

Of course, after the initial attacks, Sal’s organization had now had to go on the defensive since those other families were fighting back.  Sal had managed it so many of his attacks couldn’t be traced back to him and so the families were now attacking each other, and not just Sal’s organization.  Sal had over thirty capos, each with several crews, and things were now a bit crazy with an all-out war between the families.  No one knew where this might go and he had resisted, so far, any requests for a meeting.  Naturally, he’d been claiming his organization was the victim in all this and, after the many attacks his guys had needed to defend against over the past three days, it would be very difficult for anyone to prove him wrong.  Aside from Ben, no one else actually knew he indeed was the one who’d started everything.

-----

Vincent Cappiello said, “See?  What did I tell you, Stan?  Things are looking up.”  They’d just returned from their meeting with Sal who had ordered them to hit another casino that night.

Stan Prudente could only acknowledge what a huge success this had been so far.  This would be the third location they’d be hitting and with all the confusion, no one knew just how much anyone was collecting in these hits.  There were too many of them and skimming a few hundred thousand dollars had not been a problem.  Not bad for three days work and they were only just getting started.

Vincent said, “Sal’s probably gonna let me have Tommy’s territory, now that Tommy’s been killed.  He agrees there really isn’t anyone in those crews Tommy was running who can step up.  Sal pulled me aside just before the meeting and said if I can handle this hit tonight the way I’ve done the others, he’ll consider it.”

“That’s what you were hoping.  Too bad about Tommy, of course.”  Stan had watched Vincent kill Tommy Muccio the night before, as planned.  Naturally, Sal was blaming Tommy’s death on the war and promising a big reward for proof as to which of the other families was responsible.  “Sal sure appreciates the way you managed to implicate other families for each of your hits.”  Again, this was as they’d planned.  Vincent had been well prepared for the places he’d attacked.

“How’s our little princess doing?  Any more temper tantrums?”  Alessandra had screamed for an impressive amount of time, promising her captors how they’d all be suffering excruciating torture before her father would eventually get around to killing them.  Yeah, she knew who and what her father was all right.

Stan laughed.  “No, she finally wore herself out and fell asleep.  All that ranting and raving was tough on the little darling.  She’s never had to deal with people who didn’t jump through their ass to grant her every wish.  Other than Sal, of course.  And even he will give in to her half the time, as we all know.  You’re still gonna let her go in another week or so, right?”

“Just as long as she can’t recognize anyone.  Everyone had better be keeping their hands and faces covered, no tattoos showing anywhere and making sure she doesn’t have a clue.  Otherwise, I’ll be fulfilling that promise she’s making them about their dying an agonizing death.  She’s the goose that lays the golden eggs.  We’re maybe gonna want to grab her and do this all over again some other time.”

-----

“Well, it’s official.  Her evaluation is over and Emily’s now on the team.”  Missy made this announcement right after entering her room and closing the door.  “Even though she didn’t try out earlier, I’ve convinced everyone she’s just got too much talent and we don’t want to make her wait until next year.  I’m going to have her go out for our Rifle Team as well.”

Tracy said, “Wow!  That’s great!  I know she doesn’t really have many other activities here and if she’s able to shoot as well as you’re saying, then way to go.”

“Hey, in just a few weeks, she’s probably gotten as good as you are with a rifle.  And, she can handle herself with the M9 pistol as well.”  Missy knew this was high praise, as Tracy had arrived at the academy already an expert due to all the times Tracy’s father had brought her out to the rifle range.

Of course, Tracy was totally committed to her fencing which she claimed helped with her body coordination, something Tracy believed she needed.  Tossing fireballs around and bringing down lightning bolts from the heavens above was a “total body experience”.  Thus, Tracy had declined Missy’s attempts to get her to consider either the Combat Weapons Team or the Rifle Team.

“It’s nice you now have a buddy you can take along on all these shooting matches you go to.  Does this mean you’ll stop bugging me?  I can continue with my fencing, right?”

Missy giggled.  “You know the only reason you’re fencing is so Fargarson will keep letting you and my brother enjoy wild monkey sex shenanigans in his guest room practically every week.  Whew, the pheromones you’ve been emitting lately are enough to make a sensitive …”

Tracy had to interrupt this and did.  “Enough with all that sensitive nose nonsense and all the jokes about your brother and me.  Besides, you know you’re the one most likely to have wild animal sex, thanks to that
dual
nature of yours which you’re always bragging about.”  As expected, Missy laughed and Tracy joined her.

“While we’re enjoying our wild sex fantasies, were you able to get our overnight passes approved for this weekend?  You promised to make my dreams come true, remember?”  Missy had been too busy and was counting on Tracy to manage things.

“Don’t worry, we’re all set.  And, your brother has made the reservations at the hotel.  He and Mike will pick us up here and then we’ll join Robert, Connie, Millie, Oliver and Candy for lunch at a place yet to be determined.  Millie is having her friend from the New York coven join us there as well.  They sort of want to prepare us.  Unlike in Texas, this coven meeting will be a lot more formal.  It’s sort of a big deal … you know several witches from Salem are coming down for this, right?”  Tracy hadn’t seen much of Missy, outside of class and where it was just the two of them, in spite of their being roommates.  This was the first chance they’d had to catch up about covens and other witches.

“Yeah, I talked to Mike.  He warned me about the Salem coven not being at all like the one in Texas.  And, from what Millie told him, the New York coven is even more uptight about having any outsiders know about witches.  Apparently, there’s quite a buzz all about you and me being here at West Point, something they’re all just learning.”

“I know your Emily is thrilled.  She came by yesterday, while you were off playing soccer.  She still can’t get over how there are witches at the academy and she said she just
had
to see me.”  Tracy laughed.  “Her family was so against her coming here, nervous about the Army maybe somehow finding out about witches.  And, here we are, obviously a much greater threat for that happening.  It’s taken all the pressure off her.”

Missy said, “She told me the same thing.  I haven’t let her know anything about “P” Branch or my government buddies who know all about supernaturals.  I did explain about Robert, but only how he’s heading the FBI’s Psychic Division and telling everyone he’s using psychics, rather than revealing they’re witches.  I explained how this all came about after what he, Millie and Oliver did when looking for Candy.”

“So, you told her about our finding Candy?”

“Only the short version.  No point in overwhelming the poor plebe with just how all that went down.  I did explain Candy and Oliver are now soulmates.  She thought that was pretty special.  She also is amazed you and I have managed to find our soulmates as well.  From what she knows, that’s actually extremely rare.  Only a few of the witches in the New York coven have ever managed to bond with soulmates.  Interesting!”

“Yeah, that might have something to do with how paranoid most witches tend to be … keeps them from venturing out, meeting people, taking risks.  They end up settling for a
safe
relationship.  Or, like my mom, they leave their coven and become mostly latent, not using their powers.  Of course, she
did
find her soulmate.”  Tracy giggled.  “Thank goodness for that!”

Missy asked, “Several of the witches in your coven somehow managed though, right?”

“Well, yeah … there actually are five of us now who are currently in relationships with our soulmates.  Plus, Millie managed finding hers … that’s why she’s so powerful.  It was sad, how her husband passed away due to a brain tumor, but at least she had him for ten years.”

“I know, she told me.”  Missy studied her friend.  “I can relate to the paranoia and keeping things secret.  I didn’t tell my family about my being a werecat until a year after I’d returned.  And, I didn’t tell Mike until we’d been dating for months … you could say I waited over a year to tell him if you count all those months he was sort of chasing after me
before
we started dating.”

“Hey, you know how uptight I was around guys before your brother.  The fact he already knew about you made it a lot easier for me to tell him how I was a witch, but I’ll never forget how nervous I was.  But, you already know all about that.  And, you also know how crazy I am about John now, so I don’t need to go on and on about it.

“No, you two are the perfect couple.  Of course, that’s after Mike and I …
nobody
can possibly compare with what I have with my Mike!”  Missy laughed.  She and Tracy had enjoyed many conversations about their wonderful boyfriends and neither was at all jealous of the other.  She was also thrilled it was with her brother whom Tracy had found such true love with.  They both agreed it had been those Fabulous Fates who had paired them together those first weeks at the academy.

Missy said, “Mike still hasn’t explained things to his family.  He doesn’t think he needs to get into my being a supernatural … they do realize I healed Michelle, of course.  And, they’ve just accepted me.”

Tracy laughed and said, “Well, it was a good thing they did since you didn’t give them much of a choice.”  She knew Missy had actually moved herself into Mike’s bedroom right at his parents’ home when she’d returned from Afghanistan in August.  Missy had then made it very clear this was a permanent arrangement; any time she wasn’t away at West Point, she would now be living with Mike.

“The thing is, keeping secrets about our being supernaturals does get complicated.  I can appreciate why Emily’s family and the New York coven are concerned.”  Missy paused for a moment.  “My sister called me.”  She waited for that to register with Tracy.