Her Last Bow Ch. 01

It was Laura that replied: "The computers there are several generations behind their newest stuff, and eons behind ours. Our old XT computers from twenty years ago are more powerful than what is in those facilities. I'm the only person left in the Directorate of Science and Technology that knows how to operate those old computers, and there's not time enough to train anyone else."

"And because of your impending retirement," the CIA Director said, "you do not have as much knowledge of current operations as you once would have. So you're the ideal choice for this mission, Dr. Fredricson. Do you have your equipment ready?"

"Yes sir." Laura said. "Our techs made memory sticks for me that can be inserted into their machines and copy the data. One memory stick alone can handle more data than the entire computer system. The problem is that it will take time to download the information. Once that is done, I have to get clear of the building and link up with the satellite, and transmit the data back here to Langley."

"While your explosives are destroying the facility." said the DDI. "That may be the key to this whole operation. Destroying the computers is paramount in importance."

"Is there no other way to destroy the facility?" asked the FBI DepDirector. "One guided cruise missile, after Dr. Fredricson has uploaded the data?"

"No." said the DIA Chief. "It might be... 'misinterpreted' as a Russian or even a NATO attack on Eastern Europe, and start World War III."

"Are you ready, Doctor?" asked the DNI. "Transportation is ready for you... we're going to piggyback the President's trip to NATO Headquarters in Brussels.

"Yes sir." said Laura.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After the meeting broke up, as Laura went into the hallway, she was shocked to see the woman known as 'the old mother'... whom Laura's daughter Carole Diana had been named after. The woman was in a wheelchair, and was obviously very ill.

"Come this way, Laura." the woman said. Laura followed her into a small office.

"I just wanted to say goodbye to you, and wish you well." said the old woman. "It has been a great honor and an even greater joy to have served our country with you."

"You sound so final about it." Laura said sadly.

"I think you know, my dear," said the old woman, "that this will be our last time to talk together. I am not even supposed to be here, but I insisted on saying goodbye to you."

Tears were forming in Laura's eyes. "I will find a way to see you again." she said, knowing that the chances of keeping that promise were slim and none... and slim was leaving the country. She hugged the old woman, feeling the frailty of her body. "I love you." she said.

"I love you." said the woman. "It's time to go."

As Laura got to the door, she turned back and said "This is meant to be a suicide mission, isn't it?"

"More like a homicide mission, if you ask me." the woman replied. "They certainly do not expect for you to return alive... but if there's a way to do so, you're the one that will find it. Watch your back, as always... and Godspeed to you, Laura."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In another office, Melina was meeting with a tall man wearing a full three-piece suit, wire-frame glasses that seemed too small for his face, his forehead dominating his head.

"Okay, Huntress," he said, "do what you can to bring your sister back out alive. But the NOC list is the most important thing to us. We must recover it, and then destroy Molotov's computer systems."

"Yes sir." Melina said. "I just don't understand why we can't have more of a team to do this, Mr. C. Or at least let me bring Agent 'Darkwave' along."

"The fewer people, the better." said Mr. C. "Darkwave is not seasoned enough, and if a full team were detected, it would be a disaster for us all, especially while the President is in Europe. We have full confidence in you and Dr. Fredricson. Just be sure to not miss the extraction point in the required time interval."

"Yes sir." Melina said, wondering if anyone would be at the extraction point at all.

Part 4 - Newsworthy

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" yelled the lovely redheaded reporterette from in front of Police Headquarters at 7:00am, Wednesday, January 11th. "The Board of Inquiry has reached its conclusion regarding Captain Teresa Croyle being wounded at the seminar hosted by Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart two weeks ago!"

"The Board has concluded that Captain Croyle should receive her fourth Purple Order for her bravery in saving the life of Dr. Eckhart and his staff." Bettina said, only now beginning to report correctly that it wasn't just Dr. Eckhart who'd been the target.

"However, the Board has found that Captain Croyle's number of Purple Orders is a cause for concern, and has instructed the Sheriff and Police Chief to evaluate Captain Croyle's continued exposure to danger, and if that can be minimized."

Bettina went on: "No one has earned more Purple Orders than Captain Croyle, except for the late Joe Smedley, who earned six with the Police and Fire Departments. However, his career was terminated after it was determined he was exposing himself to danger too often, and the Town & County Council and Public Safety Department will have to determine what to do about Captain Croyle."

"Jesus Christ!" gasped Captain Cindy Ross as she listened in MCD with the Detectives. "The woman put herself on the line for those Vision kids, for me at Ward Harvester, for her SWAT Team and for Vice... and the God-damned ingrates want to kick her to the kerb!"

"Not yet, Captain, not yet." said Chief Moynahan, who had just walked in. "I can assure you that we are working to ensure that Captain Croyle continues in her current capacity with this Police Force. And nobody wants to be the one to tell the Iron Crowbar that Captain Croyle cannot remain... he damned near beat down and killed the entire Council over Tanya Perlman."

"I wish... ah, never mind." Cindy said. She was about to say 'I wish he had killed them.', but knew she'd be in deep kimshee if she did say it.

"Good." said the Chief, who was no slouch at understanding some things himself. "Okay, everyone, let's get to work... and let's make sure everything is in perfect order for when the Commander gets back and inspects us again. Hell, I'm his boss, and I'm scared of what he's going to find in my office."

"And I could use a couple of shots of that, sir." Cindy quipped. Everyone laughed.

Then Diane Williams of City News Network came on the television screen. "The President is on his way to Europe after being delayed by a major snowstorm over the Continent. He will attend the NATO summit in Brussels, and then a meeting of the G-7 in Paris. This is a major diplomatic mission, as the nations of the European Union and the United States are at odds over several military and financial policies..."

"How's Captain Croyle doing, ma'am?" asked Joanne Warner, speaking to Cindy.

"Very good." Cindy said. "She's been walking around for days, though she's still sore and has to take it easy. She says she'll be back Monday."

"Has she started the... treatments?" asked Joanne. That got everyone peering at Joanne. "Oh, crap." She had let the cat out of the bag; not everyone knew that Teresa had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer before she'd been wounded.

"That's okay." Cindy said, rescuing her Detective. "It's about time to let everyone know..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Did you get the heaters working?" Sergei Molotov asked one of the four men at the facility with him.

"Barely, sir." said the man, a tall, muscular blonde, who was a native of Finland. "But we don't want too much heat, anyway... the Americans's satellites might spot our infrared signature."

"True." said Molotov. "Hopefully this will be over soon. The bidders for my information have been very slow in their responses. I was expecting more from Paul Claisson, but he has not even made a bid. None of the Intelligence Services who are to be compromised have even made an effort to negotiate for the information."

"What about the Russians?" asked the Finn.

"I have had to work carefully, through intermediaries." said Molotov. "Mr. Putin's reply was very unsatisfactory. He sent word that in exchange for all the information, he would pardon me and not have his agents shoot me on sight. Considering that his worthless agents have utterly failed to find and kill me up to now, that's hardly a worthy offer."

"And the Red Chinese?" asked the Finn.

"They don't care." said Molotov. "All I've gotten is a few feeble offers from a Scottish separatist group, a white supremacy group in America, and the Japanese Yakuza."

"Now that the weather is letting up," said the Finn, "perhaps we shall be hearing from others?"

"No." said Molotov. "What we will be hearing from... is the CIA. I have been alerted that they are foolishly sending a small team in to take the information from us, and to destroy us. And sending women, too. You and your men will have an enjoyable night when we capture them."

"That sounds good." said the Finn. "We haven't gotten laid in three weeks. By the way, as you know, our support team will be arriving soon, probably Friday. Eight people. They'll take us out of here after you transfer the information to the highest bidder."

Molotov nodded. "Yes, we need to be out of here by the weekend. It is dangerous to stay in one place too long. Mr. Putin has ways of penetrating American spy satellite systems, and can use them to locate me. That would not be a good thing to happen... to any of us."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The beautiful blonde Jayne Hallerton was sitting in the dorm room of her friend Sean as he prepared the camera. She was dressed for an impromptu photo session: clear acrylic high-heel slides with a clear strap, white athletic socks with pink and black bands just below the knees, extremely tight black hot shorts, a black athletic bra and a pink 'blouse' over it.

"All right, are you ready?" Sean said. "Now we have to make sure that nothing shows up in any of these pictures that reflects the University, and you're not showing their blue colors at all. If you did, the basketball coach might take away your scholarship."

"That's what he wants to do anyway." said Jayne. "Ever since I refused to suck his tiny cock, he's had me sitting on the benches, the bastard."

"Well, this is going to get him back, and then some, no matter what he says or does." Sean said. He began taking pictures as Jayne posed in several provocative positions.

She then changed her shirt to a pink t-shirt that barely covered her nipples. The underboob pictures were steaming hot, and Sean's pants were tenting with his huge erection underneath.

"Okay, Sean," said Jayne after he put the camera down. "Time for your reward." She opened his pants and fished out his huge cock. It did not need preparation, but she sucked it vigorously as her hand found its way inside her pants. Soon she would be sopping wet, and taking Sean's meaty inches balls-deep in her tight, wet vagina...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"It's bad." said Wallace Bedford as they talked at the Lakeside Inn & Suites in Nextdoor County. "The FBI connected Doug and Roberta Jackson to the attempt by Raoul to kill Dr. Eckhart's acolytes, and they took the Jacksons into custody. She's holding out like a trooper, but he's wavering."

"Yes, that's bad." said Conrad King. "But I'm going to be very honest with you, Wallace: why are you operating so close to the Iron Crowbar? Things go wrong when he's around. If we're not careful, he could blow open our entire operations. We lost Henry Wargrave, we lost Providence Springs and Apple Grove, we lost Mitt Baker, we lost the Jacksons, and we lost some of our operatives in the recent raid over that drone system."

"I know." said Bedford. "But we can't move BigPharmaCorp, which is here. And we have other very good assets here. Furthermore, the Iron Crowbar did us the huge favor of removing Pastor Raymond Westboro, the Consultant of Crime. Without him constantly harassing us and extorting from us, we're a lot better off. And I think you know the other reason why we have to operate here."

"Yes, I do." said King. "So... there was something about a possible problem in our midst?"

"Yes sir." said the third man in the room. "Michael Burke and his wife Jeanine. She was once a lawyer in Town, and married to the Iron Crowbar's nephew before leaving him for Michael. They're living at Michael's place up at Lake Amengi-Nunagen. The problem is that Jeanine may have spilled something to the Feds; we know they've been watching the Burkes up there. And Roberta Jackson warned us that Jeanine was wholly untrustworthy and not committed to our Cause. Roberta feared that Michael's loyalties might be tested by his wife."

"We then learned," continued the third man, "that she's been doing some investigating of her own, ostensibly working as a lawyer on a case for a client, but definitely trying to find links between her husband's recent businesses and our organization."

"We will need you to take care of that, Dick." said Wallace Bedford. "And before she finds something and gives it to the Iron Crowbar."

"If she does, it will be my pleasure to kill both of them." replied Richard 'Dick' Ferrell...

Part 6 - Penetration

Dawn, Friday, January 13th. Friday the Thirteenth.

The cloud cover to the east obscured the sun, casting the landscape in a gloomy mixture of gray skies and white ground. The snow was piled deep in the forest, contrasting with the seemingly solidly black trees. There was not a drop of color anywhere.

Laura and Melina had skied across several miles of the landscape, mostly on wide white paths that had roads somewhere underneath. A final trek from the west on snowshoes, from the direction believed to be the least detectable, had brought them to the edge of the facility, and the entrance that faced south.

To their surprise, there was no one guarding the door. "I don't like this." Laura whispered. "Something's wrong."

"Are they still here?" Melina whispered.

"There are no tracks in or out of this entrance, which is the only one." Laura whispered back. "So unless they left before yesterday's snow, they should still be here."

Laura used her infrared binoculars to check the building. The heat signature was very mild, as if the building were cooling down after the heat inside was turned off. "Okay, let's go in. Keep your eyes peeled." Both women took out their .22 WMR auto-pistols with silencers attached, and approached the building.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Half a world away, just past midnight, Phyllis Troy woke up with a start. Something was not right.

She was staying at Todd's house, with all the kids in their beds, and Bowser and Buddy also there. Then she realized that it was Bowser who was restless. He was moving about the house, sniffing around.

"Hey, Bowser," she whispered, "what's the matter?"

Bowser looked at her, then at the window. Peering through it, Phyllis saw what was agitating the dog, who was still a part of the TCPD K-9 Corps: there was a car parked on the street several houses down, facing them. Considering that this was the Heritage Cloisters, cars parked like that were very rare, and stood out.

"Is everything okay?" Cindy asked, coming out of her room to see what was going on. In truth, she had a serious vibe going on, and it was not a good one.

"Stay back from the window." Phyllis said. "If you peek out, you'll see there's a car parked on the road down there, and I think someone's in it."

"Well, no need to call the Police." Cindy said. "Bowser and I are already here." She got on her Police cellphone, avoiding usage of the radio, and called Sergeant Rudistan. She then placed a second call...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Reaching the door, Laura found no one at it. She tried opening the door, it pulled towards her. No one was inside guarding the door.

Laura was wearing a uniform coat that had once been a Soviet-era uniform now worn by Officers of the Eastern European Front. If anyone had been there, she was going to say she was a liaison to Molotov from them, before killing that person she came up against. But there was no need.

She walked inside, slowly, looking around corners. Melina was right behind her as the rearguard. They came to the main room, which had several consoles. Once upon a time, these consoles could launch nuclear missiles at the West. Now, they barely did anything at all.

Laura took her infrared binoculars out and looked around. No heat signatures from human bodies hiding behind anything. Only a couple of the consoles gave off heat, which were the only operating computers.

"Something's bad wrong, here." Laura said, her Texas twang slightly coming through. "But we don't have time to figure it out. Hide in the corner and watch out for me." With that, Laura went into the room and to the main console. She sat down as Melina crouched in a corner. Laura inserted what looked like a floppy drive with thin wires protruding from it. On the other end of the wires was what looked like a very large cigarette lighter.

It did not take Laura long to start the process of downloading everything, but that process was excruciatingly slow. Laura looked around again and again, listening intently as well, but unable to hear anything.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Town & County Police cars converged upon the vehicle from both sides. The driver inside had attempted to start the car, but was surrounded before he had any chance of driving away. As Phyllis, Cindy, and Bowser watched from the window of Todd's home, Officers converged quickly upon the car.

"Hands up! Out of the car!" yelled Patrolman Morton, who was wearing a no-shit armored vest over his uniform coat. The two men in the car exited, and were swiftly frisked for weapons. A search of the car was made.

"Interesting radios you dudes have here." said Sergeant Rudistan as the bagged radios were handed to him. "What is this hi-tech stuff for?"

"None of your damn business." said the driver. "I want a lawyer. Now."

"Oh, you're going to be afforded one, that's for sure." said Rudistan. He then gave orders to take the two men in, and to impound the car.

Meanwhile, Cindy was getting reports on her Police cellphone. "This is Sergeant Irwin, ma'am. We've caught two people on the path from the University towards the Commander's Mountain Nest home. They tried to drop radios when we converged upon them. We're taking them to County Jail."

"Roger that." said Ross. She then called Patrolmen Hicks and Johnson. "Yes ma'am, there was a car literally at the edge of the Commander's Cabin driveway. They tried to start their car and get away, but they have been apprehended. They tried to throw their radios out of the car, but we've got 'em bagged and tagged."

"Good work, guys." Cindy said. She then called Jack Muscone.

Jack Muscone was just entering the Federal Building when Cindy called him. He said he'd call her back. He went up to the top floor, where the communications equipment was, along with the two Agents manning it.

"Yes sir." said one of the Agents. "Two drones. Highly sophisticated, the frequencies used are reserved for the Government. They're broadcasting in blurps, too infrequently and too quickly for us to get real locks. We're tracking them with microwave radar attached to the transmitter towers of KXTC, KSTD, and the University's radio tower, KUMS. One of the drones has been flying around the mountain ridge, while the other has been going back and forth just north of North Street."

"That would make sense." said Muscone. He went back downstairs to make calls to Cindy, to his boss, and to a U.S. Attorney to make damn sure these arrested perps did not get released from custody any time soon...