JoJo and the Unit Ch. 01

The storeroom now had all I needed.

*******

Once Maggie and I stocked up from the storeroom, we carried a backpack each as we headed out across country. It took us three hours to get to the Ortiz and another hour to reverse her into the slip, moor her up and pull the reeds across, concealing her from inquiring eyes.

As we sat and had a coffee, she could no longer contain her curiosity. "I know for a fact that Freddy hasn't seen the garage you keep out of the way of prying eyes, or the equipment you have stored in there."

"I call it my rainy-day garage Maggie; at the moment, I believe it's positively pouring down."

Maggie nodded her head; she stared at me for a while longer and then just shrugged her shoulders. "Boys and their toys, please tell me that Freddy isn't going to turn into you when he retires?"

"God, I hope not." We both laughed.

It set the tone of how we treated each other from then on. She knew she was protected, even if she had never made the helicopter. All we had to do was sit and wait for her husband and the rest of the Unit to return. I thought it wise not to venture any further into the future from the Unit's return. We took stock of supplies and worked out that we had enough for two weeks before the need to venture out into the world again.

Neither of us knew what was going on out there. I still kept my phone closed down and the card out; my boss knew that I would for a week after I closed it down. To Maggie and me, it was a waiting game. It was time to leave the authorities to figure out where Prince Ahmed bin-Oman was hiding. All I knew was that he wasn't here and he didn't have Maggie.

I switched my phone back on after a week, and the only person I called was my boss. The update wasn't good: it was like the prince and his men had just vanished. We all knew that wasn't possible. He also told me that the police, backed up by the army, were searching everything local and widening their search daily.

All I felt was a growing unease, confrontation was coming and it would be soon.

*******

The quaint and quiet village of Pullman sat halfway between Dartmoor National Park and the town of Paignton, just shy of four hundred miles from London. Sarah Marshall had no desire to go to the big city; she loved her little part of the world. When she became a member of the police force, her regret was that the higher ups would move her away, after all, nothing happened in Pullman, ever. Hell, they didn't even have the obligatory town drunk.

Sarah's morning shift meant that she had taken over from Mike an hour before; Mrs. Calderwood came in five minutes before to do her two hours required cleaning. She waved morning to Sarah, made them both a cup of tea and took her cup with her upstairs. It was still dark outside, and due to the late summer, early autumn months, it would be for another hour.

Sarah had her back to the door when she heard it open. She still had a couple of files to put away, so she said, "I'll be with you shortly." When she turned and stared at the three women who entered, each of them couldn't have been more dissimilar if they tried.

The blonde was just gorgeous and wouldn't have looked out of place on a fashion runway. The darker haired woman with eyes that made Sarah feel uncomfortable simply stared at her. The dirtier blonde on the other side of the wet dream looked familiar. The combat uniforms worn by two of them stalled all other thought.

The moors a few miles up the road was a national park, but it wasn't unusual to see soldiers on the moors or the surrounding roads every now and again. With what happened just outside of London a little over a week before, the military had effectively locked themselves in. She had also noticed that even more of her fellow police officers were now armed.

"Please call the cleaner down from upstairs."

Sarah's brow creased in confusion. "I beg your pardon?"

The action of a loaded and made ready MP5 being slapped onto the counter and yet still within easy reach of the dirty blonde, made Sarah's heart stop for a moment.

JoJo repeated herself to the officer behind the desk. "I said, 'please call the cleaner down from upstairs.'"

Instinctively, Sarah raised her hands, stepped back and called up the stairs. "Mrs. Calderwood, could you come down here please."

A minute later, with cup still in hand, Mrs. Calderwood descended the stairs and stopped behind Sarah as she herself took in the scene at the front desk of the town's police station.

"Please listen, we only plan to be here for an hour at best, and then we will leave you in peace. Your cooperation is mandatory, I'm afraid, more so since I have a lot to get through."

JoJo then stared harder at the Police officer's chest, or rather the name badge that adorned it. "Officer Marshall, I need you to take this young lady down to the cells and lock her in."

"On what charge?"

"If there is one for annoying the hell out of me, then use it. Failing that, lock her up anyway."

Sarah's cheeks went bright red. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but that's against the law."

The blonde stuck her elbow into the side of JoJo causing JoJo to glare at the blonde. Both were roughly the same height. Officer Marshall noticed that the woman doing the talking carried more muscle; it was the blonde who carried the soft curves, and Sarah wasn't even gay.

"See, I told you it's against the law but you wouldn't listen to me. Now you have a police officer telling you, and a rather cute one as well, locking me up isn't legal"

JoJo rolled her eyes. Sarah Marshall spotted it and tried hard to hide her own smile.

"Doesn't matter, you're going in a cell for your own protection. It's more difficult for me to shoot you and explain it as an accident if you're in a locked cell."

The blonde gave out an exasperated sigh. "Mark my words, JoJo, you're going to pull that gay card out of your wallet one day, and I'm going to be the lucky girl who's going to be ready to pounce your bones when you do."

Feeling as though someone had just slapped her, Sarah Marshall took an involuntary step back, almost colliding into Mrs. Calderwood. All three women watched her more closely just then.

Sarah looked directly at the women this country has been waiting for since the gun battle at Kenton Barracks, it had been all over the news. One news helicopter even got pictures of the damage inside the barracks before an Air Force helicopter shooed it away.

"My apologies, Captain Carmichael. If you will go upstairs and use the room directly in front of you, signed "Inspector Olson." The file you require is top left-hand side of the desk. I will take the prisoner to the cells and lock her in."

All three women were still looking at each other when the woman officer placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder and helped her behind the desk and down the stairs to the cells. That left Ashley and JoJo staring at each other, wondering what they had missed. With a shrug of resignation, JoJo was halfway up the stairs when she heard the clank of the jail door slamming shut.

JoJo placed her weapon on the desk, hoping she didn't scratch it. Her hand found the drawer and gently pulled it open, and the file slid into view when she did. Her rank, full name, as well, and in brackets, her nickname given to her by the Unit appeared across the front as more of the file came into view.

She took a deep breath and opened the file; after twenty minutes, her hand came to the back of the folder and closed it. JoJo felt sick.

JoJo pulled her phone out, and for the very first time since the Unit went dark as part of her extraction plan, she switched it on. She then dialed one number from memory.

*******

My cell vibrated in my pocket, I looked but the number was withheld. At any other time, I would have ignored it. "Yes?"

"Boss? Boss is that you?"

Out of habit, my eyes scanned the area around me, the sun wasn't due to make its mark for another forty-five minutes, so the night-sight was doing its job well. "Require sit-rep one (JoJo)."

For the next ten minutes JoJo managed to find the space and time to breathe as she told me everything about the mission, from the time they went dark until finally walking into the Police station twenty minutes ago.

The one question that was also screaming at JoJo finally found its way out. "Boss, how did you know we would surface here, in this particular place?"

I chuckled. I hadn't meant to, but it found its way out. I told JoJo that our boss and I had discussed the Unit going dark and I offered three places that I figured you would resurface.

"You talked about Pullman, JoJo. It's where your family usually spent their summer holidays as a child, since your grandmother lived there all her life. You also told us how pissed you were with your father when he sold your grandmother's house; you were so pissed that you refused to ever go back to Pullman."

I told her that we had to give her a heads up on what had gone on at Kenton Barracks, rather than blunder into something that could get them all killed, so the boss made arrangements for all three suspected destinations to receive a file to update her.

"Know this, all are well, all but one of the wives and children are in good health and are being looked after with no chance of them being harmed in any way."

I sensed the pause at the other end of the phone, the hesitant breath as she pulled it into her lungs to ask questions about the families. She was still the leader of the Unit; her loyalty was to the people of the Unit, as well as the families. It was also time I put her at ease before I continued to update her.

"One (JoJo) the second I found out that your operation could have after effects, I instigated my own plan. My second had a bird in the air as soon as she could sort out the logistics; all the families are with my second in America."

I took a breath, I needed to. "Two's second, is with me, we got separated from the others in the firefight. She is safe, Two (Freddy) has my word."

I heard the pause; so far, she seemed relieved that I had re-taken control of the Unit.

"So what happens now, Sir?"

"Two things are inevitable, One (JoJo). You must get that girl home and in the arms of her family at all cost. Since the failed attempt at the camp, Prince Ahmed bin-Oman and his men have gone to ground. The police are tearing up every abandoned building and parcel of land looking for him, but so far they've come up short."

JoJo's mind screamed denial as she realized the second part of this conversation. She heard the softness of her boss's voice as he put into words what her own mind had no choice to accept.

"Prince Ahmed bin-Oman is a vengeful man, One (JoJo). The second the girl appears on the national television, his attention will return to Two's second. I have to break cover and get her to the barracks."

JoJo thought hard about her next question. "Sir, can you tell me where you are?"

Once again, habit made me look around my area one more time before I replied, "Yes of course, I'm at the three cherry blossom trees."

I had already sensed her reluctance in asking me my location. The relief in her voice when I told her, knowing it wasn't on any map on this island made me smile. Both Ashley and JoJo still lived on the canal boat; they even came with us on occasions when we toured the waterways. She also knew how far I was from the boat club and from the barracks.

"One, (JoJo), you need to let the boss know where you are. It's time to break cover. This has to end now."

I heard her confirm my last statement and the phone disconnected.

*******

Officer Sarah Marshall watched as Captain Carmichael came down the stairs with the folder under her arm.

JoJo looked at her friend across the counter, and said, "Seven (Ashley), take over from Two (Freddy), tell him I need him in here, now."

Ashley nodded, backed a couple of paces away then left the station. A minute later, Freddy joined her, she handed him the file, he took it to the end of the police stations counter and started to read it.

JoJo turned to Sarah, and said, "Explain to me how your phone system works."

Sarah explained that they had two lines, one was for all local calls, the other was more secure and went direct to the county headquarters. All JoJo did then was nod her acceptance that she had heard her. Her thoughts then went onto other tasks that lay ahead. She also continued to ask her questions. Freddy needed time to finish the report in front of him, so keeping the police officer occupied fell on her.

Freddy finally looked up from the file and stared at Sarah Marshall, she was waiting for the question; she could see it, right behind his eyes.

"Excuse me, officer, have you read this file?"

Sarah shook her head. "No, I haven't. Not even Inspector Olson has, and he runs this station."

Freddy's eyes narrowed even further, suspicion still written across his face as his concentration became more fixed on Sarah.

"How can you be sure?"

Sarah just stared right back; she knew what she said now could tilt any decision these two made. "Two reasons: Inspector Olson is a career officer, and two days ago an armed motorbike officer came direct from London. I personally went and got Inspector Olson. That same officer made me stand with my boss and made him sign for the file. The letter that came with the file was simple. It said the file was to reside in his desk until Captain Carmichael came for it; the heading on the letter came from Downing Street and was signed by the Prime Minister, personally."

Both JoJo and Freddy looked at each other. Sarah noticed something pass between them, an understanding that she was telling the truth, she hoped.

"Please forgive our sounding like we're blundering around with our questioning, Officer Marshall, but due to the sensitivity of the operation we are on, this unit went dark as the only way we could have total security when we traveled back home. The downside to that policy was, of course, when we once again surfaced we were in total ignorance of anything that had happened; the attack on Kenton Barracks, for example."

Ashley burst back into the room, quickly scanned it and then looked directly at JoJo. "Two armed men just walked up the middle of the road towards the police station."

Ashley stepped aside to watch over those in the reception room of the police station as JoJo and Freddy ran outside. Both looked down the road that led to the town's school and the main road beyond it out of town. Both figures stopped and by the dim light of the street lights, they watched as both men simply knelt and waited. JoJo walked towards them, Freddy had already blended into the shadows and matched his boss's movements towards them.

JoJo stopped about ten feet from both kneeling men; they had watched her exit the station and continued to watch as she closed the distance between them.

After a moments silence, one of them sat down on the road, his college followed suit. "Welcome back, Captain Carmichael, I'm Major Finnegan of the 22nd SAS Regiment." He then tilted his head towards the man sitting to his left. "And this is Captain Trent, whom I'm told you used to work with in your other job."

JoJo looked harder at the shadowed figure. "Andrew?"

She watched the man's face, his teeth visible through the camouflage paint covering everything else. "Hello, Joan, my haven't you been a busy girl."

JoJo took another four paces towards both men. Freddy was already aiming his own weapon at the two seated men, his safety slipped off by the time she had covered the last of her four paces.

Major Finnegan took over the conversation again when he told JoJo that she was to contact her boss immediately. If she didn't have that ability, then he would hand her a sat-phone.

JoJo pulled her cell out of her pocket and dialed his number. He answered on the third ring. After both using caution and coded words that they each had drilled into each other, the tone of the conversation slowly eased.

"What you and the Unit have done has been extraordinary, JoJo. I am to tell you now that you are to relinquish your charge to the two men in front of you." He knew she was going to fight him on this, so he continued anyway in the hopes of staving off the coming confrontation. "JoJo, when I put this phone down you are ordered to call God's Brother directly; one of the men in front of you will give you his number. His already expecting your call."

The boss continued to tell her that the town was surrounded by members of the SAS. They were under orders to get Becky back to London and into the arms of her family.

"JoJo, I know you have contacted Zero. We both know confrontation is imminent. The people in front of you are going to help get the Unit back to Zero's location in time for Zero to break cover. Two's second is your priority now. Get her out of harm's way."

Her boss terminated the call. JoJo moved her cell away from her ear and looked at it, then at Major Finnegan. All he did was recite a set of numbers from memory. When she dialed, it rang twice before an all too familiar voice congratulated her on her success.

"It's been explained to me the downside of a 'going dark' mission and the information overload that occurs when you re-establish contact. More so since it all hit the fan here. I'm taking nothing away from any of the Unit, Captain. Up to this point you have all done an outstanding job, just as I know that given the choice, the Unit would rather stand alongside Curtis than let me send in the SAS to support him."

JoJo thanked her boss, and he terminated the call. As she put her cell back into her pocket and all three stood, she made a fist of her hand and placed it onto her head for three seconds and then lowered it. Freddy eased his finger off the trigger of his MP5, just as the SAS sniper, tucked into the shadows between two chimneys further up the road had watched Freddy from the time he had left the Police station and took up a covering position of his own boss, had eased his own finger off his trigger.

"Please give me five minutes to remove my team, Major."

Major Finnegan nodded his head, and then said, "Of course, Captain. When you're ready, just leave Miss Harmsworth in the police station and walk down to the school. A helicopter will be landing there in three minutes to take you onwards. It has food and replacement ammunition on board. I suggest you take advantage of both."

With a nod, JoJo turned and headed back to the police station, Freddy had rejoined her with thirty feet to spare, she quickly got him up to speed, told him to round up the Unit and be ready to move in four minutes.

Ashley had moved away from the door, but still had it covered, as well as the door to the cells. Officer Sarah Marshall still stood alongside the cleaning lady, and both stood by the door to the cells. JoJo asked for the keys; she even held out her hand. Sarah paused for a moment, then raised her hand and handed the keys to the cells over to JoJo, who thanked her and walked down the steps. She knew no-one would follow.

JoJo smiled as she noticed her hand shake just a little, as she placed the key into the lock and opened the door, then stepped inside and pulled the door almost closed.

"Is everything okay?"

JoJo nodded her head and then smiled. "Yes, everything is fine. In a few minutes you will be on your way back home to your folks."

Becky's eyes narrowed as she stared hard at JoJo. "You're leaving me. You promised that I will be back with my folks and that you and the Unit were doing it personally."

JoJo spotted the fear cross her face, her whole body started to shake, her eyes were in full panic mode.

Her scream traveled up the stairs, filling the reception room. "YOU FUCKING PROMISED ME."

Seeing the situation disintegrating before her very eyes and acting purely on instinct, JoJo pushed her personal weapon so it rested behind her back, she then stepped forward, grasped Becky either side of her head, and kissed her. Raw passion pushed her panic out of the way and Becky pulled JoJo tight to her as she kissed her right back.