They all knew that Missy wanted them to be at least two hours away before she triggered the initial “electrical failure”starting the first fire. She would continue “helping” those fires as they cascaded from place to place until, finally, their main target’s ordinance would begin to explode. From that point on, the subsequent explosions would need no help from Missy. With over one hundred thousand tons inside that arsenal, scattered over more than eight hundred acres, there would be a big boom all right.
The U.S. had its satellite cameras aimed at this facility and it would be quite a show for all those who were monitoring this mission.
Missy gave them the signal to go and she watched as they all headed off, each following the path which she had selected for them to take. She sent Mike a mental message letting him know this. Then, in a shimmer of light, she Shifted to her spirit form and teleported ahead to the arsenal to await the approach of her team.
When Mike alerted everyone concerning this latest status, they all knew the next hour would be crucial. It would require that much time for the team members to get into the arsenal and place their explosives. Missy would let Mike know once that had been accomplished. Then, there would be the suspense of waiting until Missy acknowledged all team members had safely returned back to those two vehicles at Checkpoint Charlie-Two.
Although the subsequent two or more hours after that would be suspenseful, they all understood that Missy would be monitoring the target to make certain that nothing prematurely disturbed any of those explosives which the team had positioned.
When Missy was ready at last to start the initial fire at that electrical outlet, she would again let Mike know. Then, the anticipated fireworks would begin!
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Sunday, July 24, 2022
What initially appeared on the satellite videos was a small explosion and fire at the Russian arsenal in Barsovo. That quickly spread and numerous fires broke out. Within one minute, the explosions were catastrophic with huge fires raging throughout a large portion of the monstrous facility. Yes, it was indeed a “big boom” and those fires continued to spread, out of control. It would take many hours before the blaze would die down and eventually be put out.
Missy had stayed in the midst of all this, her spirit form able to see, hear and smell everything but, with no physical form to experience any harm, she was unable to feel things. The explosions and the incredible heat from the fires had no effect on her. Nor could she taste anything. In her spirit form, she only had the equivalent to three of the five senses which she could experience in her physical forms as either a human or a cat. She lingered long after being satisfied that no further use of her fire witch ability was needed. She had helped a few of the fires move along earlier.
The plan which she and her team had devised came together beautifully and Missy wanted to fully appreciate this tremendous conflagration which continued long after all the major explosions had stopped. Every once in a while, of course, there would be yet more small explosions as the fires reached locations where some additional ammunition or other ordinances had been stored. It was truly an amazing experience for her!
Finally, she teleported back to where her team had stopped and pulled over. As they had done when driving towards Barsovo, whenever one of the vehicles needed to stop for fuel, both vehicles would stop a short distance away. Then, either Mel or Ruby would drive the truck or the SUV into the station and pay cash after filling the gas tank back up. Having only a lone female being seen during such stops was less likely to draw any attention or to be remembered as anything suspicious later on. Plus, of course, they never used the same station for both vehicles, only fueling them up one at a time at different stations.
Mel had just returned with the truck after getting that refueled and when Missy signaled her that she had returned, tugging on Mel’s left ear. Mel collected Missy’s clothing and headed over to where they wouldn’t be seen behind some bushes. Missy then materialized with a burst of energy and said, “Thanks, Mel!” She quickly got dressed and they both returned back to the two vehicles.
Missy said, “Our mission was a complete success! You guys will love seeing the satellite videos when we finally get back home to our headquarters.” She had already briefed Mike, of course. Her mood was very elated. They were making a difference.
The team all cheered this news and then they once again got into their vehicles and continued on their journey back towards Ukraine.
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General Hingham was very congratulatory towards everyone who had supported this Barsovo Mission. He had enjoyed watching the satellite feed videos and he now calledMajor Grimes to personally thank him. Once the major was on the line, the general said, “That was one hell of a fire! Our Missy has done it again only this time, she and your team were acting on my orders so EUCOM will get the credit rather than CENTCOM.”
Major Grimes chuckled, knowing there was a friendly rivalry between General Hingham and General Blake. He said, “We always aim to please, sir! We do appreciate you thanking us but we’re merely just doing our job. We’ve trained very hard so we can perform missions like this.”
“Well, I know you had some help from a man who doesn’t actually train with your team, exactly. That Mike Ryan … Missy’s husband … I plan to recommend to the Defense Secretary that he be awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award. I think you would agree that man is highly deserving of that, right?”
“Absolutely, sir, yes I do agree,” said Major Grimes. “He, like Missy, doesn’t care about getting any awards but he has been selflessly supporting the Army for more than three years now. They’re an amazing pair, sir. I think recognizing him like that will make Missy very happy.”
“Great! I’ll see if I can make that happen.” The general and the major continued to discuss things for a few minutes longer and then they disconnected.
General Hingham’s next call was to the Defense Secretary. Their conversation was very upbeat and when the general suggested that Mike receive that award, which was the highest civilian award which could be bestowed by the DoD on their employees, the Defense Secretary wholeheartedly agreed.Mike did have SOD Group credentials, after all, so this medal was quite appropriate.
Meanwhile, Mike of course was still getting Missy’s messages and reporting on the team’s progress, retracing their way back through all those checkpoints which they had used earlier. By late afternoon, Missy was back within five hundred miles of Kiev, so he, Lieutenant Colonel Grady and Master Sergeant Town said goodbye to Captain Andrich and returned to the Ukraine Military Intelligence Office back there.
Dmytro Kovalchuk, the highest member of that agency, was thrilled to welcome them back. He too had been following all the events during the past few days and he had learned about the huge explosions and fire at that arsenal in Barsovo. He did not know about supernaturals but he had met Missy a year earlier when she had visited his office as a staff sergeant.
Dmytro said, “Congratulations to the U.S. forces for this spectacular job. I understand that Sergeant McCrea has been promoted and is now an officer. She’s the one leading that team, right?”
Lieutenant Colonel Grady said, “Yes, I’ll have her say hello when they all get back. They’ll be going through here on Thursday or Friday, if all goes well.”
“I was very impressed when you brought her and Sergeant Avalon to meet me last November,” explained Dmytro. “It was obvious then that she was someone very special. Her Russian was excellent and I know my agent Wolf Volkov very much enjoyed meeting her as well.”
After Dmytro left them, Mike and the two others settled down inside the same office which they had used earlier. Mike soon was relaying messages and status reports once again.
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Thursday, July 28, 2022
