Chapter Eight
Friday, June 3, 2022
The SOD Group conference room was filled with many people all watching the satellite feed photos being displayed on the large screen up on the wall. They had stayed late just for this. Then, as had been predicted by the Team Twenty-Two Headquarters, when the time in Bryansk, Russia reached four a.m. local time (which was nine p.m. at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts), there was a small explosion visible at the manufacturing plant which the team in Russia was targeting.
Soon after that, more explosions were noted followed by a huge one at the location where the plant stored the munitions it had manufactured. Fire erupted throughout and there were a few more explosions after that. It was obvious the plant had suffered some major damage and, as everyone watched, the fires there continued to rage for a long time.
It took almost a half hour before various firefighting personnel and equipment arrived and began working to put out these fires. The location where munitions had exploded had by then become a total loss. It would take several hours before this huge conflagration would finally burn out.
Lisa and Marie were both there in the conference room, enjoying what obviously was a successful mission for Team Twenty-Two. Mike approached them and asked, “Are you girls having fun now?” They all chuckled.
Marie said, “Your Missy and her boys sure know how to light things up. And yes … seeing this is definitely more fun than what we do most days.”
Lieutenant Colonel Lightfoot, who was Air Force, said, “Mike, your girl does it again. Although this isn’t anywhere near as big as those explosions when she blew up the Iranian missile site at Mount Dena in Iran, they certainly are pretty big. I know General Hingham is happy.”
Mike nodded and said, “Making all that appear accidental is what I’m sure the general will be most happy about. I’m sure whatever investigation they do over there won’t find any other explanation. Now we need to wait for the team to return safely without leaving anything to show they were ever there.”
“According to the checkpoint they reported hitting twenty minutes ago, they’re now more than a hundred miles away from Bryansk,” commented Lieutenant Colonel Schermerhorn.
Brigadier General Chory said, “No doubt they left after planting all their explosives and then Missy teleported back in her spirit form to make sure it all wentboom, as planned and on schedule. Being an invisible soldier as well as an invisible spy is what makes her so valuable.”
Dale Hewson was there and added, “Our Defense Secretary now fully understands all that.” Dale was the leader of all the SOD Group civilian employees while Brigadier General Chory was in charge of all the group’s military personnel. With a big grin, he added, “He seems to have stopped worrying about how to control Missy ever since she triggered all those earthquakes in Iran to stop them from assembling nuclear warheads.”
“That’s true,” agreed Lieutenant Colonel Schermerhorn. “While there may still be a few in the administration here who worry about our supernaturals being possible weapons of mass destruction, he now has them convinced that he has adequate control of that situation.”
Gradually, the conference room emptied out as most went home for the night. Mike, however, remained behind. He went back to his office and continued to watch for further updates on his computer. He knew he wouldn’t really get much sleep until there was word the team had once again returned to Ukraine.
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Saturday, Jun 4, 2022
Again taking advantage of the darkness, Missy led her team back along another pathway through the woods and across the border into Ukraine. They had all stopped for a short time while Missy drove the truck back to the location near where she had originally stolen it from. She had again worn that shirt she had stolen which she abandoned in a nearby trash barrel when she teleported back. She then had gotten dressed again behind some convenient bushes and had rejoined her team.
Now, as they emerged on foot from the wooded area, they were met by Captain Andrich with the same three vehicles they had used earlier. These brought them back to the hanger at Kharkiv’s airport where they would spend the night. In the morning, they’d be flown back to Kiev where a C-130 aircraft would then bring them home to Izmir Air Base.
Although the hour was late, they were met at the hanger by several other Ukrainian soldiers who cheered them when they arrived. There was delicious food for them to enjoy along with plenty of Ukrainian beer. Yeah, it was time to celebrate!
These soldiers all had orders not to reveal anything about American soldiers being there. They were very appreciative of this opportunity to say thanks. Most had been on earlier missions when members from Team Twenty-Two had helped. When Missy was introduced to everyone as the lieutenant who had led this latest mission, that did get some attention. Here were ten men, all with beards from short and scruffy to long and bushy, some in their twenties and others in their thirties, all gathered around one very attractive young woman with dark red hair. She simply appeared much too young and innocent to even be there, much less to be their leader.
Missy however soon began telling them stories in Russian, a language which most understood much better than English. Yeah, she had spent three prior summers with these crazy guys in the Mid-East. Yeah, she had also just graduated from West Point. And yeah, she was getting married in a mere three weeks from now. Soon the camaraderie amongst them all was very evident.
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Sunday, Jun 5, 2022
Mike was thrilled to finally hear Missy on the phone. She was back at Izmir Air Base and excited about how well her recent mission had gone. Now she wanted to explain how things looked for the next couple of weeks.
“Next Friday, I’m flying from Moscow to Beijing to join Yury for a couple of days,” explained Missy. “He will be at this big Petro Tech Conference where some of his companies will have booths. They’ve been gearing up for this for months now. In particular, he’s hoping I can further influence Jiakun Wu who has been helping him win some especially lucrative energy contracts. The Chinese do want to buy their energy from Russia, of course, but having Jiakun’s support has really benefitted Yury.”
“Will you be back here in time for the full moon celebration?”
“Yeah, I’ll be flying back to Moscow on that Tuesday and can teleport to my Missy Mansion in plenty of time to lead my pack on their run that night. I’ll spend Wednesday with you before I teleport back here. We’ll have a few hours of quality time when you can thoroughly ravish me to your heart’s content.” Missy giggled.
Mike laughed and said, “I’m looking forward to doing exactly that, Missy!” It had been two weeks since the last time they’d been together and just thinking about her promise was getting him aroused.
“Have you decided where we should go for our honeymoon?” Missy had insisted this decision was to be his alone and she had refused to make any suggestions. She had claimed her decisions had taken both their lives in so many directions it was only fair that this direction be one which was truly his decision.
“Well, now that I’m sitting in that office of mine at the SOD Group every day, I get asked about that more than anything else. Your two pilot buddies have arranged for the “P” Branch jetto take us anywhere in the world.” The private jet which Missy owned was a Learjet 60 and wasn’t really able to take them on transatlantic or transpacific flights while the “P” Branch aircraft could do that.
