Once they had departed, many others also left. Missy went with Mike and the group who were leaving that night on the “P” Branch jet. Sergeant First Class Town was already waiting on board and looking forward to rejoining Team Twenty-Two for the next week. He, Mike, Les and Marsha would continue over to Kabul after dropping the others in Berlin. Missy would be teleporting, of course, so she would reach Afghanistan in only two hours. The Germany group consisted of Gene, Amanda, Oliver, Candy, John, Tracy, Linda and Captain Jesse Bonomo.
Missy waited until the jet took off from Logan Airport and then, wishing the others good luck and kissing Mike goodbye, she disappeared in a shimmer of light and was gone. Marsha went over and picked up all the clothes Missy had left behind.
Linda was very impressed and said, “Wow! I hadn’t actually seen her do that before. Seeing is believing!”
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Monday, Mar 16, 2020
During the “P” Branch flight to Berlin, which took just over eight hours, everyone tried to grab a few hours of sleep. With the time difference, their arrival was just before noon local time. Of course, there had been some lively discussions prior to anyone nodding off.
First, of course, they’d talked about the wedding they’d just attended. Then Linda and Captain Bonomo wanted to know the details concerning when Candy had been kidnapped. Gene and Amanda were also interested in that story along with how she’d been rescued just prior to her scheduled beheading. Sergeant Town was quite entertaining with his description of Tracy’s role in that rescue. He’d explained how watching her set fire to the village perimeter as a diversion had been his introduction to supernaturals. Marsha then reminded everyone they needed to be well rested for the days ahead so they all quieted down and drifted off to sleep.
The flight was uneventful and, after dropping off the Germany group, the jet was back in the air and headed on to Kabul. The group was met right at the airport by Candace’s new security team which had come up from the Army Garrison in Ansbach. Since her regular team back in the U.S. had remained behind, General Blake had arranged for this team to provide security for his niece during her stay in Germany. They provided transportation for everyone over to a secure facility which had been assigned for their use inside the old Clay Headquarters Compound in Berlin’s Zehlendorf district.
After the U.S. Army’s command in Berlin was inactivated in 1994, its housing areas, schools, and various other facilities all reverted to civilian use. Some were for German citizens while others were taken over by the U.S. Embassy. When the new Pariser Platz building for the embassy opened in 2008, it was not large enough and parking was limited at that site. Thus, the Clay Atlee building had continued to be used and the Army still had housing nearby which it could utilize for VIP’s, when needed.
Of course, arrangements for Candace and her group had been made very quickly and when they arrived, there was a glitch. Only four rooms had been made available and, due to all the security requirements, finding another room would be difficult.
First Lieutenant Saunders, the officer-in-charge of the security team, told them, “All of the rooms are set up with two double beds in each. We knew there would be four men and four women in your group and hoped this arrangement would be adequate.”
Tracy said, “Unfortunately, there are three couples in our group and each couple will want their own room. When John and I agreed to this trip, we definitely were counting on staying together the whole time.”
Captain Bonomo offered to bunk wherever the security team guys were staying but, unfortunately, that wasn’t a practical solution. After a brief discussion, it was clear there were complications with that as well as some security concerns.
Linda had gotten to know the captain quite well during the many hours they’d now been together and was not at all averse to possibly sharing her room with him. She said, “Well then … in the interest of keeping things simple and due to security and all …” She looked with raised eyebrows over to see what Captain Bonomo might say to what she was now proposing. “Maybe Jesse can stay with me. Since there are two beds in the room, it really shouldn’t be a problem.”
Jesse was finding her more and more attractive and, realizing what she was offering, he was quick to reply. “This would of course be strictly platonic, but yeah! If that’s really okay, then sure. Simple. Secure.” He smiled warmly at Linda and then looked around at the others.
Tracy had been noticing the way the two of them had been getting quite comfortable with each other and thought this was indeed an excellent solution. “Great! Problem solved. Let’s all drop off our bags and then we can maybe go over to the embassy for a quick tour. Right?” She would tell John later how she was convinced those Fabulous Fates may have once again allowed Cupid to shoot a few of his arrows. Yes, it was going to be an interesting week!
Gene said, “Good idea. Amanda and I served years ago with Felicity Miller. She’s been assigned here for the past two years now. When we emailed her about this earlier and mentioned how General Blake has been having his niece visit embassies, she agreed to be our host. I’ll let her know we’re on our way.”
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When they arrived at the embassy, Felicity was waiting with several others. She greeted them warmly and made the introductions. Looking at Amanda, she asked her, “How does it feel to be here in Germany again?” While not aware Amanda was a werewolf, she did know some of Amanda’s history.
Amanda had not been back since her family had sent her away to Canada when she was thirteen. Once females in a werewolf pack demonstrated they were able to Shift, it was common for them to be exchanged to other packs. Arranged marriages were the norm. Being a werewolf was a rare genetic thing, so packs were always concerned about breeding. The best chance for giving birth to more werewolves was when both parents were werewolves. Even then, it was only fifty-fifty.
She was very excited now to once again be returning home. She had kept in touch with her family, even after the disgrace which her mating with Gene and being expelled by his pack had caused. She had moved in with his family and was supposed to mate with his brother Dylan, the Alpha’s oldest son. She had no regrets about hooking up with Gene instead, however. Gene was her true soulmate and she looked forward with pride to finally introducing him to everyone here in Germany. She smiled and answered, “I am thrilled about this opportunity to finally return home. Gene and I are very happy we were asked to accompany Candace and her fiancé on this tour.”
“Well, good. Let’s get started then,” said Felicity. “Today will merely be an informal tour, as you’ve requested, with the formal visit and tour to be on Wednesday.” She and the other staff members then led the group out of the Visitor’s Center. For the next three hours, they got to see all the key points of interest, visit various offices and meet with members from several other U.S. Government agencies working out of the embassy as well. Candace was quite a celebrity now and, once word got out she was there, everyone wanted to see her.
Tracy and Oliver both checked for other supernaturals but did not notice anyone. Oliver’s ability enabled him to sense any residual energy which might remain had any supernatural been present in the recent past, but he didn’t notice that either.
At the end of the day, Candace had an opportunity to address everyone interested in hearing from her in one of the large auditoriums. She had spoken about being kidnapped and then sold to WIJO at her other embassy visits and had earned the respect and admiration of many. She had a reputation for being not only beautiful and exciting to see but inspiring to hear as well. There was a huge turnout and it was therefore quite late when the group finally relaxed for dinner in the VIP dining room.
Felicity had arranged for them to dine with a dozen other staffers and, once everyone was seated, she stood and raised her wine glass in a toast. “I want to thank Candace Axtell for visiting us today. The story she told us about her ordeal when WIJO was holding her captive was inspirational. Not many of us could have survived what she did and then been able to confront her enemies afterward as she has been doing.” Everyone cheered and then sipped their drinks.
Gene stood to say a few words. “My wife and I served in the foreign service for more than ten years. When Candace visited our embassy in Kabul last Thanksgiving, we learned how important it was to stand up against WIJO the way she is doing. Her presence makes a clear statement against them. The recent bombing attack in Munich was the act of cowards, killing innocent civilians. Candace’s presence here is to again make that statement, showing WIJO can be defeated and their acts of terrorism will not succeed.” Again, everyone cheered. Then, dinner was served.
Later, when Tracy and John finally were alone in their room, having been escorted back by the security team without incident, John said, “I’m sure word will get out that Candace is here. That speech she gave was wonderful. Do you think any WIJO teams in this country will make any attempts to grab her or kill her?”
“No, I doubt that. From all the Intel which Robert’s team has managed to collect since Missy infected so many of the WIJO leaders’ computers, they’re very determined tonotfail going after Candace yet again. Their original attempt backfired when we rescued her and, when they failed again in Pakistan, that only embarrassed them even worse. They aren’t likely to approve anything their local teams over here might want to try. But, if they do approve sending anyone to go after her during the brief time we’re here, Robert’s team should hear something. We can get ready if that happens.”
The Missy virus software, which Lisa and Marie had created and Missy had installed while in her spirit form, had indeed provided Robert’s team with a huge advantage. It enabled remote access to each computer, was not detectable, and allowed the team to review hundreds of communications between the WIJO leaders. Some of those had allowed them to make timely interventions, thwarting WIJO attacks.
John said, “Well, good. We can relax then for now, right? How about you and I getting naked and seeing how quickly we can eliminate all thoughts about WIJO from interfering with howrelaxedwe can get?” He knew how she loved getting naked.
