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"Where'd they go?" Kim asked. We both looked around, but there was no sign of them. Then I noticed some movement in the water, and dived in.

I looked around frantically and spotted several figures moving through the water. The nearest one was Melissa. Like me, she was using her wings to help her along. You'd think wings would get in the way underwater, but ours are strong enough that they help us to swim faster. I had a little trouble at the pier, where there wasn't as much room to move, but once I was clear I started gaining on her.

I stayed well off to the side of her, so our wings wouldn't interfere with each other. Thanks to that I was able to see where she was going. About twenty feet in front of her, I could see Lek and Muay being dragged through the water by a mermaid! She was moving pretty quickly, but the thrashing of Lek and Muay was slowing her down. Both of the girls had some kind of breathing masks on, so at least they wouldn't drown.

We were keeping up with the mermaid, but despite our strength we couldn't overtake her. As I realized this Melissa suddenly moved upwards, so I followed. When she got her head above the water she was gasping for breath, so I realized she had run out of air. "Let me give you a boost." I said when I caught up with her. She looked at me quizzically so I explained, "I can breath underwater, you can't. So I'll follow underwater and you can follow in the air."

"Oh, okay." she agreed. I braced myself as best I could with my wings flat on the surface and grabbed her around the waist. With her help, I managed to throw her several feet up into the air. She floundered for a moment; unsurprising with wet wings, but managed to get herself airborne. The force of the throw pushed me back under water and I wasted no time getting back on the trail of the mermaid. She was quite a ways away now, but with Melissa tracking from the air I was sure we'd catch her.

She must have thought her pursuit was over, as she'd slowed down a little. As a result, I was able to make up most of the lost distance before she realized she was still being chased. She put on a burst of speed, but she couldn't maintain it and slowed back to the pace she'd been swimming at when I first entered the water. I still couldn't overtake her, but I wasn't too far behind.

I'd been following her for only a few minutes when something suddenly plunged into the water directly in front of the mermaid. She was caught completely by surprise and Muay managed to break free. I hurried forward and helped Muay break the mermaid's grip on Lek. With both girls firmly in hand I turned to see the mermaid being held with a dagger to her throat by Melissa. I pointed up and Melissa nodded and followed as I headed for the surface. She dragged the mermaid girl with her.

"Are you two alright?" I asked Lek and Muay once we'd surfaced. They nodded, but kept their eyes fearfully fixed on the mermaid.

"Why did you grab them?!" Melissa growled in the mermaid's ear.

"Si...sister!" she stuttered, staring fearfully at the dagger in Melissa's hand.

"One of them is your sister?" Melissa asked.

The mermaid shook her head carefully, "My sister! I had to!"

It was hard to tell since water was dripping down from her hair and she was, of course, soaked; but it looked like she was crying. "Is someone threatening your sister?" I asked. She nodded cautiously. "Let's take her back to the plane where we can talk more easily Melissa. You take the girls and swim back on the surface, and I'll take her underwater." Melissa nodded and she and the girls started swimming back to the plane.

"Will you...kill me?" the mermaid asked fearfully.

"No. What's your name?" I said.

"Janet." she replied meekly. She didn't seem to have any fight left in her. For that matter, she'd never really fought us at all.

"Ok Janet, let's go back to the plane." I said, and waited for her to start swimming. Once she did I followed closely behind. I wasn't sure she was telling the truth about her sister, so I wanted to keep my eyes on her.

We got back to the plane well ahead of Melissa and the girls. Once we'd surfaced and could talk, I directed her to climb up on the pier. She was reluctant, but complied. She was very clumsy on solid ground, which might have explained her reluctance. Kim's proximity might have had something to do with it, though. She must have figured out what happened, as she was growling a bit as she kept her eyes locked on Janet.

"Relax Kim. I don't think she's an enemy, and you're in no shape to fight yet, anyway." I told her. She relaxed a little, but she still kept a close eye on Janet.

"So she kidnapped the kids?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it sounds like she was coerced into doing it. Why don't you tell us about your sister?" I said, directing the last part to Janet.

Janet looked fearfully between us for a moment, and then started talking, "Well, she's like me. We were grabbed by somebody and separated. Then they mutated us. It was just luck, I think, that we were sold to the same person. Anyway, he tried to get me to have sex with men!" she looked really angry, and rather disgusted, at that part. "After I bit the dick off the guy they tried to get me to have sex with, they gave up on me. But then they tried to get my sister to do it! They kept us in the same tank, so I didn't let them get near her."

"But you can't protect her if you're out here." I pointed out.

Janet smiled, "Yeah, but I don't need to anymore! She's got this sonic thing she does. She can shatter glass, or eardrums! We discovered it after all of that, so I let her protect herself, so they would know she could. After that discovery they just used us as eye candy. I still didn't like it, but we're just about helpless on land so I couldn't risk trying to get away without a water route. But they setup a separate tank and moved her to it while we were sleeping." She seemed really upset by this. I guessed they were the kind of twins who were especially close.

"So what did they threaten your sister with?" I asked.

"They said they'd kill her if I didn't cooperate! They get the salt water for our tanks from the ocean and setup a way for me to come and go from my tank, but kept hers separated." Janet explained.

"So what exactly did they want you to do?" Kim asked. She seemed to have calmed down more, so I guess she believed her.

"They wanted me to retrieve the girls you freed. I think they were going to ask me to kill some of you, too, but they haven't yet. Look," she said, "I never wanted to help those creeps. I only agreed to protect my sister. If you can help me rescue my sister, you won't have to worry about anybody coming at you from underwater ever again!"

"How many people are in this place where your sister is?" I asked.

Janet stopped to think for a minute and then said, "I think there's about thirty there during the day. But they have 'customers' there a lot at night, so there are a lot more people."

"How are we supposed to get her out if there are that many people?!" Kim exclaimed.

"I can take you in the same way I go, but it's completely underwater for a ways." Janet said.

"That's not much help!" Kim griped. "And how do we know this isn't some kind of trap to get Cat?" she added suspiciously.

"Who is Cat?" Janet asked. "Is that one of the girls you rescued?"

"I'm Cat, and I think I've got an idea. How is this place laid out?" I said.

Janet did her best to give us as many details of the place as she could, but her experience of it was limited since she was restricted to the water. Still, what she told us was enough to confirm that my idea would probably work. "Okay, I think I know how to do this. But we'll need Melissa for this, and maybe some of the others as well." I said.

Kim went to wake the others while we waited for Melissa to return. Paul and the others returned once they realized we were back and we filled them in on what was happening. Finally, Melissa returned with Lek and Muay, who were exhausted from the swim. After getting them dried off and settled in the plane to sleep the rest of us got together to plan the rescue of Janet's sister. The others were still a little wary of Janet, so she was left out of the conversation.

"I don't like this Cat. You go in the way she's described and you'll be all alone in the middle of that place with thirty or more guards all around you!" Paul said.

"I won't be alone." I said. "I'll have Janet with me, and her sister before long. Besides, I don't plan on fighting anyone."

"How are you going to pull that off?!" Tina asked.

"A distraction. Melissa can go in with grenades and make lots of noise to pull the guards away from Janet's sister. Some of you will then start shooting to draw more attention. The idea is to make it look like they are under attack from multiple directions, but not to actually go inside." I explained.

"What about all of them?" Mike asked, pointing at the girls resting in the plane.

"I can guard them." Kim said. She was the only one of the girls we'd rescued so far who was involved in the conversation. Jessica, Clarice, and Jordan were still sleeping, and Lek and Muay had joined them.

Tina shook her head, "No, you're still not recovered yet. You need more food and rest before you'll be ready for that, and even then guarding the plane by yourself would be too much."

"Everyone will fit on the plane. I can take it out away from the pier until you all return." Carl suggested.

"Okay, that should work. Paul, you should take Tina and Mike and some weapons and get moving. It will take you three a lot longer to get there than it will us. Make sure you take some rifles and plenty of ammunition, along with some grenades. We want to make lots of noise. Melissa, you should stay airborne and drop the occasional grenade to keep them off guard. Just make sure the explosions are well away from the building Janet's sister is in!" I said.

After a little more discussion they all agreed to my plan and started gathering weapons. I waited until they'd all left before going back over to where Janet was waiting. "Okay, let's go get your sister."

Janet nodded, so I helped her back into the water and jumped in after her. We started swimming back in the same direction we had been going when we'd chased Janet before. Even at the fast pace Janet set, it still took us almost an hour to reach the pipe that gave her access to her tank. She pointed it out to me and then swam in with me right behind her.

The pipe was a tight fit for me; I was forced to fold up my wings and push off from the walls of the pipe at times to keep from running into it. Janet didn't seem to have the same problem, but then she was built for it. Before long we came out into a large open tank. One side of the tank was thick glass and I could see a large empty room beyond it. That would be where men came to look at the mermaids, from what Janet had said. The other side was also thick glass, showing a very large room with another glass tank in it. A slightly smaller, sleeker mermaid was resting inside.

Janet shot to the top of the tank and gestured for me to follow. Once our heads were above water she said, "We're in luck, there's nobody here! Please hurry and get my sister, she's right over there!" She was, of course, pointing at the mermaid in the other tank.

"It's not luck, my friends are providing a distraction for us. I'll be right back." I said, climbing up onto the rim of the tank and jumping down. I was tempted to simply smash the other tank, but the girl could be hurt that way, and it would make too much noise. So, I jumped up and climbed inside the tank and tapped the sleeping girl on the shoulder.

She started awake and stared at me in shock for a moment before she started screaming! Everything seemed to be vibrating, and my ears hurt more than anything I'd ever felt before for a moment, before everything went strangely quiet. I shook my head to clear it and saw blood floating around me. Janet's sister looked away for a moment, and then looked back at me and pointed upwards. I followed, a bit confused. When we both got our heads above water her mouth started moving, but I didn't hear anything!

Oh yeah! Janet said her sister could project sonic pulses. That must be what that scream was. But does that mean I'm deaf now?! I thought. Sure enough, I couldn't hear anything! I decided now wasn't the best time to worry about it, though, and climb up onto the rim of the tank. I held my hands out to Janet's sister. She grabbed on and I pulled her out of the water and over my shoulder. Once I had a good grip on her I jumped down to the ground.

I couldn't really climb into Janet's tank while carrying her sister, so I tossed her in as gently as I could. Then I jumped up and climbed into the tank myself. I heard a weird buzzing sound, so I was hopeful that my hearing would recover. In the meantime, Janet was saying something but I couldn't hear it. I just gestured downwards and dived down towards the pipe. I glanced back to make sure Janet and her sister were following.

They seemed a little confused at first, but soon followed me. Once we were clear of the pipe I surfaced and waved at Melissa. It took her a few moments to notice me, but when she did she flew off to tell the others that we were clear. Then we started swimming back to the plane.

I'd been feeling a bit disoriented since the scream so I probably wasn't moving very fast. As it was, Melissa and Paul were back before we were. I was just starting to feel normal again by the time I climbed back up on the pier. "What happened Cat?" Paul asked worriedly.

"I made the mistake of startling Janet's sister, I think." I said ruefully.

"I'm sorry!" she called from the water.

I waved that off, "I should have known you'd be frightened by some stranger showing up in your tank like that. And my hearing has healed up now."

"Is that why there's blood on your ears?" Paul asked. I was a bit surprised at this, but when he handed me a towel and I pressed it up to my ear it came away with blood on it.

"I guess so. Not surprising, now that I think of it. I was deaf for a while there." I said thoughtfully. "So, how did things go on your end?"

"Fine. Melissa started things off by dropping a couple of grenades. We spread out and started firing so it would look like there were a lot more of us than there were. I'm afraid we're all out of grenades, though; Mike got a little over enthusiastic." Paul replied.

Mike smiled sheepishly and shrugged, "What can I say, it was fun."

"That's all right, hopefully we won't need any more. So nobody was hurt?" I asked.

Tina shook her head, "Nope, not even on their side. I think the only casualty this time was your ears."

The sound of the plane's engine started up then, and we all turned to see the plane start moving back towards us. "I don't suppose you've made any progress on another place for us to stay yet?" Tina asked.

"Actually," I said, smiling, "that's the easiest thing in the world. There's a bunch of fishing boats at another pier nearby. They've all been abandoned and it looks like the entire area with them."

"That makes sense." Melissa said, nodding. "Arachne was telling me about how all the fishermen in her village had to give up fishing because they couldn't afford the expensive testing to make sure the fish wasn't contaminated. And I think even some of the ones that could afford it were driven out of business when too many of their fish were contaminated."

"Exactly. So that should be the perfect place for us. The pier will still provide limited access so we can guard it easily, and the boats will provide us with plenty of shelter. And our new friends, I believe, can keep us from having to deal with attacks from under the water." I said, looking inquiringly at Janet and her sister.

"Huh?" Janet's sister said. Janet hadn't had time to tell her everything that had happened yet, obviously.

"Uh, I kind of kidnapped two of them to keep those creeps from killing you." Janet said sheepishly to her sister. "I promised to keep anyone else from coming at them from underwater if they helped me get you out."

"Janet! I could have gotten myself out without you having to resort to that!" her sister said.

"Jeannie, that wouldn't have worked and you know it. We're helpless on land!" Janet replied.

"Not that helpless. I do have my scream, after all!" Jeannie said petulantly.

"Your sister's right, there were too many men there for you to get out if you had to go over land for any distance at all." Paul said. "Even Cat would have had trouble with all those guys if we hadn't kept them away, and she doesn't have the same mobility issues you do." Jeannie accepted that reluctantly.

"So, when do we move to our new HQ?" Mike asked.

"As soon as Carl gets the plane back over here we'll tell him the plan and get anyone else on board that we can. Then we'll go. Melissa and I will fly ourselves, of course, and Janet and Jeannie would probably prefer to swim." I replied.

Jeannie shuddered, "Yeah, I don't want to ever leave the ocean again!" Janet nodded her agreement. I felt rather bad for them, as it would be difficult for them to have anything remotely resembling a normal life. Not that any of us really had that!

When the plane arrived we filled Carl and the others in on what happened. We were able to get Mike and Tina on the plane, but it was stuffed at that point. So I carried Paul while Melissa and I flew to the pier. It wasn't far, so the others caught up fairly quickly. As I'd thought, there was no sign anyone had been on any of the ships or the pier itself for a long time. The ships were stripped bare, of course, but they were still shelter. Carl tethered the plane at the end of the pier and everyone started touring the boats tied up at the pier to see if anything was left behind, and which ones were in the best condition to use. While they did that I talked to Jeannie and Janet.

"So how did you two end up here?" I asked as I sat on the end of the pier by the plane. They were in the water, of course.

Janet looked nervous when I asked that, but Jeannie answered, "We were kidnapped. They took us somewhere and separated us, so I don't know exactly what happened with Janet. But I know that they injected me with something, and within a couple of weeks I was as I am now. I wasn't too happy about it, as you can imagine, but there wasn't anything I could do. They kept me locked up in a small, concrete room the entire time. Then one day they drugged me and I woke up in that tank. Janet was already there. She looked a lot different, of course, but I recognized her right away because she looks so much like me."

Janet glared at Jeannie, who nodded and turned back to me. "They wanted to use us as prostitutes. Janet took care of that, though! She's pretty strong, even on land, and has some very sharp teeth. And she wouldn't let them near me. And then I learned about my scream, so I could protect myself, too. Then they separated us, but I didn't realize what they had in mind until now." she said.

Janet's glare made me curious. Obviously Jeannie was getting close to something Janet didn't want her to tell me. I also noticed that Janet's behavior had changed fairly drastically since rescuing her sister. She was much more withdrawn and her entire attention was devoted to her sister. I had the impression that she would hide under the waves if not for her desire to be near and or protect her twin.

"Are you okay Janet?" I asked.

Jeannie looked to Janet, but she shook her head. There was obviously a lot of unspoken communication going on between these two! "I'm fine. Thanks for helping me get my sister out." Janet said.

"No problem. I would have even if you hadn't offered to protect us from underwater threats. It's kind of what I do, these days. Would you two want to come to our island when we leave?" I said.

Janet looked to Jeannie as if deferring to her. "That's probably a good idea." Jeannie said.

Paul came back then, wanting to show me a small boat he'd staked for us. It had been gutted rather aggressively, but Paul had piled some blankets and cushions from other boats inside to make a nice nest for us. When we came back out I found Lek and Muay waiting.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, noting their fearful expressions.

"Not want alone. Stay with you?" Muay said hopefully.

I glanced at Paul and he nodded and squeezed my hand. I turned back to Muay and said, "It's alright with us, but it's going to be rather crowded."

Muay smiled, "Thank you! We not mind crowded!" She turned and said something to Lek, who then smiled at us. "Lek thanks, also." Muay said.

"Your welcome." Paul and I said. With another 'thank you' Muay led Lek inside to look around. And to rest, I guessed. They'd been pretty exhausted after the struggle with Janet and the swim back.

We headed back to the plane and found Carl unloading a few things from the plane. "Have you found a boat to stay in, too?" Paul asked him.

He shook his head, "No, I figured I'd stay in the plane. I've got everything I need in there. I think this is a great idea, though. We can see an enemy coming even better than we could before, and we have plenty of space. Food and water are going to be a problem, though."

"I can take care of the food issue, I'm used to that." I said. "I'm not sure about water, though."

"I think we should have the girls handle the food gathering, or at least most of it." Paul said thoughtfully.

"Why?" I asked. Kim was the only one I felt was strong enough to venture out, and she still needed some time to recover from her wounds.

"Well, they don't really have anything to do. That's not much of an issue right now, but it will be eventually. And they might like a chance to feel useful." Paul replied.

"But sooner or later those men will figure out where we are. It isn't safe." I said.

"We don't have to send them out alone. We're farther from the Bangkok Zoo area out here, so you and Melissa will have to do most of the rescue work. That leaves Mike, Tina and I to guard them whenever they leave the pier." Paul said.

"So you're content to stay behind now?" I asked, surprised.

"Well, I'd rather be with you. But that's not practical. And the girls here will need me more than you anyway." he replied.

"He's right Cat. I'm not much good as a guard, and these girls need to not just be safe, but feel safe. The more people who can defend themselves that are around, the better." Carl added.

I had to agree with that, some of these girls are very fearful. Especially Lek and Muay. Paul decided to help Carl unload the plane, and I wandered off to see how everyone else was doing. Melissa had found a good sized boat and was already decorating it with her collection of blades, along with a few new ones, I noticed. And a few guns, too. Tina had settled in the smallest boat that had a covered cabin area and was already wandering around the area.

"This was a great idea Cat." Tina said as I got closer. "We won't run out of room for quite a while. I'm all settled, so I'm going to get familiar with the area and keep guard." With that she walked off again, towards the shore.

As I wandered down the pier it seemed that everyone was settling in nicely.

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To Be Continued…