She of the Jade Skirt

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

<Mar 1973 - Somewhere in Mexico>

The quarter moon was hidden behind thick clouds that blocked what little light it might provide and the local air temp was a pleasant 72 Fahrenheit with low humidity. Compared to the jungles of Vietnam, it was a pleasant change for the eight men dressed in camouflage uniforms and sporting dark green face paint as they ghosted through the forest that led to their rendezvous.  Their op plan called for them to meet their DEA contact at the ruins of an ancient Aztec temple that was only a mile from their area of operations.  

He was supposed to give the team the current location of their target, a local drug lord that lead the smuggling operation that sent millions of dollars worth of heroin into the United States annually. Heroin as a drug that the members of the team were all too familiar with as it was a drug that was a big problem for some of their fellow soldiers in Vietnam.

As takedowns go, this should be one of the team’s easier missions. There were no VC or NVA patrols to dodge, but it was complicated by the rival drug lords who wanted to take control of his lucrative business. As a result, their target feared for his safety and to make it more difficult for his competitors to take over his business, he would randomly spend the night in one of the five different homes that he owned.  Their contact was to give the team his current location so that they could eliminate the drug lord and send a message to his rivals.  

The message being, that there were people much more dangerous than them and sending drugs to the United States wasn’t a good long term plan.  There were also rumors that the drug lord was working with the Soviets. So, their secondary mission objective was to gather any intel that they might find.

There was a narrow trail that led to their rendezvous point, but they didn’t take it. Instead, they all followed 30 feet behind their point man with each of the remaining team members maintaining 10 feet of separation between themselves as they silently stalked beside the trail and about 10 feet off to the side of it. Even though there were no VC in Mexico, they were far too experienced with booby traps to feel comfortable with taking the easy path.  Plus, the jungle here wasn’t as thick as what they were used to, so even without using the trail, they still made good time while not making any noise.

While not visible to the naked eye with all the undergrowth, the terrain beneath their feet changed. It became more regular, as if the area had once been worked by man.  That barely perceptible change sent  their point man's instincts into overdrive. He dropped to a knee and signaled a halt. Every man behind him dispersed, fanning out to the left and the right to make themselves harder targets and to allow them to lend each other supporting fire in the case of an ambush.

Their team leader crept silently to his point man’s side while the rest of the team kept silent watch to their flanks. The point man pantomimed smoking a cigarette before he pointed out two features that looked like a good position to mount a machine gun.  The trail, if they had been taking the trail, led right in between the two locations.  The tip of the barrel of a heavy machine gun stuck out from behind a break in what appeared to be some ancient man-made stone work.  The barrel would have been invisible if not for the fact that whoever was behind the weapon was dumb enough to smoke a cigarette.  The glow of the burning cigarette had been more than enough to draw the alert eye of the point man.  An added benefit for the team, was the fact that the cigarette smoker’s night vision would be shot.  Thus making what they needed to do easier.

The addition of two machine guns set up to cover the trail was not in the op plan.  Their contact was supposed to be alone.  The presence of an ambush indicated that someone had screwed up.  The team leader signaled for one of his men to come forward. Then, he pointed to the left gun emplacement to that man, then tapped his point man’s shoulder and pointed to the right gun emplacement. They nodded their acceptance, moved forward and melted into the jungle.

The team leader gave them each five minutes to take out the gun emplacements before he motioned for the remaining team members to move forward.  Their point man and the second man were waiting for them just inside ancient stonework that marked the entrance to the area.  They each held up two fingers, and then made a slashing motion across their throats to indicate that two men were killed in each position.

The two men then signaled that an additional four targets had been spotted and that they were roving patrols.  All but one of those rovers were smoking, which made their team leader smile since that sloppy discipline would make it easier for them.  Their mission was no longer to eliminate the drug lord. Now their mission, if possible, was to find out what happened to their DEA contact. Then, evac back to the U.S. Navy sub that was resting silently off the coast  waiting for the team to return.

The team leader silently signaled for the point man plus three others to work their way around the sentries while he and the remaining three would take out the sentries.  Once the sentries were engaged, the hasty op plan was for the advance team to service any targets that they found since even suppressor equipped rifles were not 100% silent in this kind of environment.

The point man followed by three of his teammates silently worked their way past the roving sentries.  As sloppy as the sentries were, it looked like the entire team could have ghosted past them, but it would be bad form to leave them in the rear where they could cause trouble later.

They quickly spotted both their target and their contact in the center of the ruins.  That made the point man and his teammates show the first sign that they had emotions.  They smiled at the spectacle below them as their target made their jobs even easier by coming in person to what was supposed to just be a rendezvous site.  The only tricky part was the addition of four more guards, each holding a submachine gun in their hands and at the ready. They would all have to be taken down by a single shot, and then one of them would need to shift to their primary target before he could react. The range was less than 50 meters, so they felt confident that they could achieve their objectives. They were further helped in that objective by the target himself. He had the rendezvous point well lit with a few gas camp lanterns set up on the ground to help them see.  That would cost them dearly.

Their DEA contact was lying on the ground. He looked a little worse for wear. He had been worked over pretty good. Resting against an old stone table, their target lazily held a garish nickel plated .45 pistol.

“Please Senor Rodriguez; I know nothing about who they are sending to meet with me. I was only supposed to give them the info on your shipment routes.  That is all I know.” The DEA agent’s voice echoed off the stone walls.  He knew more than that, but it was obvious that he had held out under direct questioning for a long time.

“Is it?” The Drug Lord asked as he raised his weapon, aiming it at the DEA agent.

The point man’s team heard the distinctive sound of four suppressor equipped weapons firing nearly simultaneously. They used that as their signal to fire on their targets just as the drug lord and his men started to react.

“What was...” One of the drug lord’s guards started to ask.

Their first four shots came as close together in time as the other team’s first shots, but unlike the first team, they didn’t need to use suppressors on their weapons.  Three of the guards dropped immediately with part of their heads missing.  The fourth guard reflexively fired a few shots from his weapon as his throat was torn away. The primary target reeled as he reacted a tick faster than his shooter expected.  The shot that was meant for his head only grazed him across his forehead. Momentarily dazed, he fell back, against the raised stone table as he tried to raise his weapon.

“Holy fucking shit!” The DEA agent yelled as he pushed himself backwards. His hard soled shoes scrambled to find traction on the ancient stone courtyard until his desperate retreat was halted when he slammed his back into a low stone wall that enclosed the courtyard. It was then that he saw the point man, with a blackened blade in hand, seemingly materialize from thin air.

The man was huge. At least 6’ tall and built like an NFL football player. How a man that large could move so quickly and silently was a mystery to the DEA agent. He watched in stunned disbelief as the man’s blade caught the drug lord completely unaware. The drug lord’s eyes bulged in shock. His mouth gaped open as he tried to scream, but not a sound came out.  The man twisted his knife in the drug lord’s back and the drug lord’s legs started to collapse. Next, he casually pulled the drug lord back and onto the altar. An efficient twist of his blade and he eased the drug lord back on the table, waited a few seconds and withdrew his knife.

The light in the drug lord’s eyes faded as his blood trickled from the wound in his back. The point man idly noted that there appeared to be channels built into the table, but he was not sure why someone would have channels built into a table. Regardless, the blood slowly draining from the drug lord’s back wasn’t enough to do more than show him that there were channels. That was one of the reasons why he liked the knife in the back; the target’s muscles usually closed the wound enough to prevent making a mess on his uniform. He calmly wiped his knife blade clean on the drug lord’s expensive looking pant legs.

The team leader surprised the DEA agent again when he spoke from  his side. “Sir, are you injured?”

“Ahh! Who are you?” The DEA Agent asked, flinching away from the team leader.

“Sorry sir. I need to confirm that he was Senor Antonio Rodriguez.” The team leader asked as he gestured to the dead man lying on the stone table.

“Y-yes. That was him.  He must have had me followed.” The DEA agent said, sounding a bit ashamed of himself, while stating the obvious. “His briefcase is over there, with his lieutenant's body.”

The team leader gestured at the briefcase and another of his men seemingly materialized from the darkness and retrieved it.

“Hey, Wolfman.  What the fuck is this?” One of the men asked as he walked over and inspected the table.

Wolfman shrugged his shoulders. “Beats the fuck outta me, Mongoose. It looks like a table to me.”

“That is the sacrificial altar of the Aztec goddess Chalchiuhtlicue. She was the goddess of love, beauty and the ocean. Well, all water actually.” The DEA Agent said, regaining some of his composure as Wolfman and Mongoose turned to listen to his explanation.

Mongoose turned back to look at the altar with a whistle. “Nice one Wolfman. I hope that this goddess Chalchi-something likes your offering. I didn’t realize that you were so religious.”

The DEA Agent coughed. “Well, for it to actually be counted as a sacrifice, umm, Wolfman would have had to also rip out and offer the late Senor Rodriguez’s heart too. Plus, there isn’t enough blood to fill the channels.”  He pointed out the channels and showed the two men how the channels were designed to divert blood to a small basin built into the bottom of the altar.

“Wow, talk about some sick shit.” Mongoose said as Wolfman studied the channels with a critical eye.

“They typically only did that to convicted criminals or prisoners of war.  They believed that taking their hearts during the sacrifice would allow them to steal their enemies’ strength.”

“Yeah, you can bet that they never followed the fucking Geneva Conventions back then, not like we have had much luck with those either. Fucking VC.”

“Well, the world is golden now. ‘Nam is officially over with and our ‘esteemed’ leaders told everyone that we won, right?” Wolfman said with a smirk as he calmly used the razor sharp tip of his knife to slice open the top of the drug lord’s suit, exposing the skin of his right shoulder.  Then, with the barest of pauses, he stabbed his knife three inches into the drug lord’s right shoulder, just behind his collar bone, he twisted the knife once to the right then back to the left before removing his blade.

The drug lord’s blood started to rapidly drain from the wound and fill the channels; allowing his blood to slowly, but steadily drip into the altar’s sacrificial basin. Satisfied with the results, Wolfman calmly wiped his blade clean and stowed it in its sheath.

The DEA Agent looked at the wound, then back to Wolfman. “That is a lot of blood, but why didn’t you slice into his jugular?”

Wolfman glance down with clinical indifference. “Because those veins are protected by more muscle than the axillary artery and the subclavian veins. Plus, the jugular is smaller than the ones in the shoulder.  I figured that this goddess would want more blood, right?”

Mongoose chuckled and slapped Wolfman on his back. “Wolf, yer one funny guy!  Are you sure we picked the right team name for you. Joker might have been better, ya know?”

“Okay you two clowns, can it. Nice work Wolfman. Time to didee mau.” The team leader said before he turned back to the DEA agent. “Sir, are you going to be okay?”

“Sure, I just have a few things back in town to tidy up, and then I can get back to the real world.” The DEA agent said with a smile of appreciation.

The team leader nodded and the eight men disappeared back into the forest as silently as they came, leaving the dead as the only evidence that they were ever there.  Not even a spent shell casing was left behind to provide anyone evidence of their presence in this country.  For the Mexican Federales that found the bodies the next day, it looked like the drug lord and his men had died from vengeful ghosts. The blood drained body of the drug lord resting on the altar of Chalchiuhtlicue coupled with the lack of blood in the altar’s sacrificial basin served to reinforce that superstitious perception among the locals.
 

<April 7th 2012 - Salina Cruz - Mexico>

OMG! I can’t believe that we are finally here! It is the first full day of our va-cay and my ‘rents are sleeping still.  What is it about old people?  It’s 7AM, the sun is shining and I can practically taste the ocean and beach from the fresh air coming in through the open windows of our cottage.  Why aren’t they awake yet?  I tried to make just the right amount of noise to ‘accidentally’ wake them up as I dug through my suitcase to find my new bikini, but that didn’t work.  It’s not like they drove all night to get us here.  We took a plane from San Diego to Acapulco, then a boring 6 hour bus ride from the place I wanted to va-cay in to old person central, Salina Cruz.

“Seriously, old people can be so lazy sometimes.” I muttered, frustrated as I glanced back at my ‘rents.

I would just go to the beach by myself. I am 12, almost 13. I should be able to go by myself now, but nooo, my parents would have a cow if they woke up and I wasn’t here.  Sigh. If only we were in Acapulco instead of here, I could sit on the beach and scope out all the hawt college boys and their tight abs. There probably won’t be any of that kind of boys here. Just old people in speedo’s who are far too old and fat to be wearing speedo’s.  There should be a law against that or something!

I glanced down at my new jade green two piece and pushed up my boobs. If only they would grow faster!  I am glad that they are growing, but A cups are just so not cool.  Zoey, my BFF, is a B cup already. It’s not fair. My mom is a C cup, so I do have some hope that I would end up like her up there too. I would put some breast forms in there, but my dad would freak. I do have to admit that I look pretty good in my bikini and sadly, I think that is probably why my mom and dad decided to take us to Salina Snooze instead of Acapulco.

I decided to root through my suitcase to find the breast forms that I snuck in there and maybe make some more ‘accidental’ noise. I hopefully paused my search when the ‘rents shifted in their sleep.  Bummer...they didn’t wake up.  Oh well, I will just have to go into the bathroom and see how the breast forms will make me look.

I closed the door and this time, I really did accidentally close it a bit too hard and made more noise than I intended to make.  I did not want my ‘rents to see me stuffing my bikini top!  The breast forms fit in there nicely and make me look like I was a B cup, maybe even a small C cup.  Wow, if only I could get away with wearing my suit like this, but no, I am still Daddy’s little girl and little girls don’t stuff their bras and parade around half naked for all the boys to drool over.

I spun around to check out my butt on the mirror. Oh yeah, my bikini fits perfectly and I am glad that I grew a few inches over the winter.  Now that I am 5’ 6” and one of the taller girls in my class, I get a lot more attention from all the boys. It’s so nice, but I wish that that annoying bully, Jason Thompson, would stop picking on me.  Seriously, if he calls me fat and tries to stick gum in my hair one more time, I will punch him in his face, or something. I dunno. He is pretty big. Sometimes, I wish that I taken that karate class like my dad wanted me to take instead of dance.

Besides, I am not fat!  I am 115 lbs and since my growth spurt, I don’t have an ounce of fat on me.  Dance all year, plus the start of soccer season has seen to that.  Yep, I have to admit, my legs are nice.  I wish that I had been able to talk my mom into letting me buy those four inch heels that I saw when we were shopping for my bikini.  They felt so awesome and I didn’t have any problems walking in them, but even my mom is getting all uber protective of me saying something about, little girls don’t wear four inch heels. I am not a little girl anymore!

I have my mom’s beautiful and long, raven black hair that comes down to the middle of my back and my dad’s hazel eyes, matched with my mom’s heart shaped face and cupid bow lips, but I have my grandma’s pert nose and dimples.  Yep, I think I am pretty darn cute. I want to be a model when I grow up, but I have a small scar on my right hamstring from when I crashed my bike when I was 9.  It is mostly gone now, so I hope that it is all gone by the time that I am 16 and old enough to try modeling.  That is, if I grow a few more inches. My mom is 5’ 11” and my dad is 6’ 2”, so I pray to god that I will be at least as tall as my mom before I finish growing.

Oh well, if not, I also wouldn’t mind being a veterinarian either.  I love animals, but I wish that my mom wasn’t allergic to cats. I am just glad that I am not.  A dog would be nice, but my ‘rents think that they are too much work. I promised that I would take care of it, but I don’t think they believed me.

I did look a lot like my mom and even though my mom was 32, and really old, she still gets asked if she is my older sister when we are out together.  I wish I had a sister. Even a brother would be nice, but Zoey has a brother and man is Mark a pest sometimes.  He always makes fun of us when we hang out and work on our makeup and fashion skills. I am still mad at him for tying one of my Barbies to his water rocket and launching her into “space”.  He claimed that he was just doing it so that she could be the first woman astronaut in their backyard space, but he ruined her outfit when the rocket landed in their neighbor’s yard and my Barbie got chewed on by the neighbors’ dog, Barney, before we could get it away from him.

I was just very glad that this week wasn’t that time of the month for me. I just started having those things three months ago. It was kind of scary and cool, but also gross at the same time. Why can’t boys have periods too?  Then, they might not make so many jokes about girls taking longer in the bathroom or being mean and saying that a girl was on the rag just because she was in a bad mood. Yeah, I would like to see them try to jam a tampon up their you know whats and see how chipper they feel. Boys are so lucky and if I hear one more boy try to tell me that not-funny joke about not trusting something that bleeds for a week but doesn’t die, I think that I will scream! Why do some boys have to be so dumb, yet so cute at the same time?

So, my dad is a doctor, but not a medical doctor. He’s not Quincy MD, whoever he is. I dunno, but my dad likes to make that joke sometimes. Oh well, I didn’t say he was the funniest dad, but he is still the coolest.  He is a chemist and gets to work in a lab where he is helping to find the cure for cancer.  He works long hours though, so sometimes it is hard to have fun with him. I still love it when he takes me to the amusement park and takes me on the roller coasters.

My mom is great too, though. She has a degree in finance, or something, and works at an investment firm managing other people’s money.  Last year, she made more money than my dad, but instead of getting all jealous about it, my dad joked about how he could now retire and become a stay at home Dad.  I liked the idea, but Mom was not amused.

I took one last look of my profile in the mirror with the breast forms, and then reluctantly, I removed them. I peeked out of the door and my ‘rents were still peacefully sleeping.  Seriously!  Va-cays are not meant for sleeping people!

Grrr! And the weather was so nice right now.  The forecast for today and almost every day this week was for sunny and highs in the low to upper 80’s. Perfect weather for me to return home with a tan that would make Zoey totally jealous.  I tried one more time to ‘accidentally’ wake them up by rooting through my suitcase as I tucked my breast forms under some clothes, then I grabbed some shorts and a top to wear over my bikini.  

I tried plopping down on my bed to make more accidental noise, but the bed was too soft for that.  Dang it.  I decided to just read some more of my “Twilight” book, again. I have only read it four and a half times now. It is just so good and Edward is so dreamy. Why can’t vampires be real?

“Melody sweetie, you reading your book again?” My mom asked, softly.

“Mom! You’re awake!” I said, more than loud enough to make sure that she stayed that way as I slammed by book closed. I glanced over at the room’s clock and was surprised to discover that an hour had already gone by. “Morning Mom. When can we go to the beach?”

“Hehe, not so fast my little marsh-mellow.” My dad said as he rolled over and hugged my mom in a mushy display of affection.

“Daaad! I am not a ‘marsh-mellow!” I said, pouting for all of two seconds before I couldn’t contain my giggles.  I just loved it when he called me by my secret name. It made me feel so, frustrated and loved. Did I mention that my dad is cool?

They both laughed, teasing me as they extracted themselves from their bed.

“Can we go to the beach? I’m not hungry, please, please, please?” I asked, pleading for them to let me do something that I knew that they wouldn’t let me do. Maybe they weren’t awake enough yet to realize that.

“Melody Amber Lynch!” My mom said with mock anger before she laughed and gave me a hug.
“Sorry sweetie, I know that you can’t wait and that you have probably been up for an hour or two already, but you know the routine. Your dad and I need to take our showers, then we will all go and eat breakfast, together and as a family.”

“Okkkaay.” I said as I opened her book and searched for my place so I could read some more while I waited for the slow pokes to get ready.

Breakfast was interesting. The resort had the usual popular American breakfast items, but they also had some traditional Mexican breakfast dishes . Following breakfast, I was forced to walk around and explore the resort with them for another 45 minutes before they would let me go down to the beach.

“Don’t want you to get cramps if you go into the water, sweetie.” My mom said when she noticed my expression.

“But Mooom, I’m not going in the water, that is just an old wive’s tale and you’re not really an old wife, are you?” I asked as I tried not to laugh at her shocked expression.

“Stinker!” My mom said as she made a face at me.

I thought she might have a bout of temporary insanity and let me go.

“No.” She said.
Fine!” I said, sighing with frustration and crossing my arms over my chest.  The resort was kind of nice though.  They had a dock and we could check out jet-skis to ride for 200 pesos for 30 minutes, which sounds like a lot of money, but it was only $15.

By the time they finally let me onto the beach, I was so bored that I could only sunbathe for 20 minutes with my mom before I had to ask my dad if he could take me out on a jet ski.  The jet ski was fun and it was even more fun when my dad let me drive it all by myself.  I loved going back and forth really really fast and jumping over the small waves that I made. It was even better when a bigger boat would go past and make a big wave for me to jump over. I just wished that this beach was more like home.  There were almost no waves because the beach was in a small bay and none of the big waves reached inside. I really was looking forward to doing some body surfing.

After lunch, we returned to the beach and this time I decided to hang out with my mom while my dad played on the jet-ski. I was watching him and sort of regretting my choice.

“Honey, I am going to go the bar over there and grab myself a drink. Do you need anything?” My mom asked, snapping me out of my jealous gaze. As I started to look over at my mom, I spotted a cute boy walking down the beach.  He had the tightest abs and he reminded me of the dude who played Jacob.  Maybe I could join Team Jacob instead of Team Edward?

“Melody?” My mom asked, snapping me out of my daze.

“Umm, sure? A coke?” I asked, blushing as she caught the reason for my distraction.

Thankfully, my mom just laughed as she walked away so that I could study my Team Jacob dude a little more.  He turned to look at me and at first, I thought it was because he spotted me drooling over him, but why did he look surprised and maybe a little bit scared too?  

I found out when someone roughly grabbed me and before I could do more than yelp with surprise, I felt a nasty rag over my nose and mouth as I was lifted out of my beach chair by three or four dudes.  The rag smelled horrible and I tried to hold my breath, but I couldn’t because I needed to scream. I thought that I heard my mom scream my name, but she seemed so far away. It sounded like she was screaming my name from a very long tunnel.  Then, I felt myself being tossed on the floor of a van or something and everything went black.
 

Michelle Lynch reached the beachside bar and was about to order her drink, as well as Melody’s drink. Plus, maybe a drink for husband, Tom, when she heard some people screaming with panic from behind her.

As Michelle turned, couldn’t believe what she was seeing.  A group of men wearing black ski masks and holding machine guns were kidnapping her daughter in broad daylight and in front of hundreds of witnesses.

“MELODY!” She screamed as she started running toward her daughter’s attackers without any regard for her safety.

Michelle was in pretty good shape and even ran a few miles every week as part of her training program, but she wasn’t fast enough.  The kidnappers had her daughter’s slowly struggling body loaded into the back of a plain white van and peeling away just as she reached the road.  In desperation, she tried to run after the van, ignoring the sharp stones on her bare feet, but she was unable to catch it. She slowed, and then collapsed in the middle of the road sobbing as the van turned a corner and disappeared from her sight.

The Mexican Federales arrived in force very quickly and initially, the sight of the heavily armed men reassured her and her husband, but the police captain didn’t sound like he was very optimistic that they would find their daughter.

“I am sorry, Senor and Senorita Lynch. My men will look for your daughter for as long as it takes, but in these cases, it is very rare that we will find the missing girl.” Captain Martinez said.

“What? Why?” Michelle asked, hardly believing what the police Captain was telling them.  It sounded like he had already given up on finding their daughter and she had only been missing for less than an hour now.  Couldn’t they use a helicopter to spot and track the van?

“Because, these men are good at what they do.  A rich drug lord or one of his lieutenants must have spotted your daughter and decided that she would belong to him. By now, your daughter could be almost anywhere in Mexico and even worse, no one will be willing to risk their lives by trying to help us find her either.” Captain Martinez said, helplessly.

Both Tom and Michelle pleaded with the Captain to do more, but in the end, he shrugged his shoulders as an apology and left them on their own.  From their room, Tom immediately called the American Embassy to report the kidnapping of their daughter.  They remained in their room with the hopes that someone would call to notify them that their daughter had been found and that this nightmare was just a college prank gone wrong.

Their hopes took a blow when the American Embassy returned their call and apologized that there wasn’t more that they could do except offer to notify the DEA and DHS to keep an eye out for their daughter.

Night fell on the Lynch’s first family vacation with Melody’s dad protectively hugging his sobbing wife to his chest as he blamed himself for their daughter’s kidnapping.

“If only I had been there with them. I could have stopped them.”

He tried to fool himself into thinking that, but he wasn’t a trained martial artist and he wasn’t bullet proof either.  There was probably nothing that he could have done to stop them, but he damn sure would have tried.

The ringing of the room’s phone snapped both him and Michelle to full alertness. Tom lunged for the phone. “Hello! Has anyone heard anything?” Tom anxiously asked before the caller could even identify themselves.

“Greetings, Senor Lynch.” A man’s voice said with smallest hint of a Spanish accent.  “I am sorry that I am unwilling to identify myself to you, but I have some information regarding your lovely daughter. Melody I believe her name is, no?”

“What? What do you know?” Tom desperately asked as Michelle’s eyes began to show signs of hope.

“There is a bar, just outside of town on the north road called El Toro’s. In one hour and do not call the police. Come alone and do not bring your wife. She will only complicate what should be an understanding between two men. If you do call the police, I will know and I will not be there and you will never find your daughter, understand?”  The man said with a hint of steel in his voice.

Tom had no choice. He had to find Melody and this was their only hope. “Yes, yes, I understand and I will be there.” He said with a guilty glance at Michelle as he slowly hung up the phone.  She was not going to be happy, but it was the only option that they had.

He was right. Michelle was not happy, but in the end, she reluctantly agreed. “But what if they take you too?” She asked.

Tom couldn’t really think of a good answer for that. “I don’t know Michelle, but what else can we do?  This man claims that he knows where she is and we have to take the chance if it means that we might get Melody back!”

Tom dressed in his casual dress clothes. He didn’t want to appear too poor or too rich if this was a ransom demand.  He took his wallet and as much cash as they had, plus his checkbook. Not that he expected to gain his daughter’s freedom so cheaply or that they would even accept a check.  That absurd thought brought the ghost of a smile to his lips as he anxiously waited for the town’s taxi in front of the hotel.

The man waiting for him at the cantina was young. He appeared to be in his mid to late twenties, dressed in an expensive, but casual suit and flanked by two mountains with prominent bulges in their suit coats that could only mean one thing.  They were armed and they didn’t care if people knew that.

“Ahh, Senor Lynch! A pleasure to meet you! Come, come, sit! Why don’t you join me?  The tequila here is quite good.” The man said with an amused smile.

Tom was not sure what to do.  This man was obviously expecting him, but Tom was not expecting to meet someone who so obviously looked like the stereotypical Mexican drug lord. For all he knew, this man could actually be the person responsible for his daughter’s kidnapping.  “Okay...” Tom said as he hesitantly sat down in the offered chair.

“Now, Senor Lynch, it has come to my attention that your lovely daughter Melody has been kidnapped by a ruthless band of criminals. Such a tragedy, no?”

Tom’s anger almost boiled over.  This man was fucking with him, but he managed to contain it because venting his anger would not help his daughter.  “What do you want?”

“Ahh, I see there is no point in pretending with you, plus, it is such a tiring game anyway.  Your daughter is safe, at the moment, but for her to remain that way; well, that depends on you.”

Tom wanted to just reach over and strangle the man with his bare hands, but that wasn’t an option.  Maybe he could brew up a batch of Ebola and infect the bastard with it, but that would probably be too easy  a death for this man.  “Go on.” He said, far calmer than he felt on the inside.

“You see, the life of a struggling businessman in Mexico is not easy. I had a wonderfully profitable import business going until two years ago when the U.S. Government pressured the Indian chemical manufacturers to stop sending Ephedrine by the ton to my medical manufacturing plants here in Mexico.” The drug lord paused as if collecting his thoughts.

“So, I have been struggling to find a replacement and your name came up in my quest. You see your thesis paper on the possibility of cheaply and efficiently producing an ephedrine-like compound using the cocoa plant and the coffee plant sounded very promising.  It is a shame that the DEA thought so too and classified your work soon after you received your final grade. An A+ if I recall. Good work, Dr. Lynch!”

Tom thought that he could see where this conversation was going.  “So, you want me to get you a copy of my thesis since the DEA buried it except for the synopsis, right?”

“Excellent deduction Dr. Lynch, but no. I realize that you are probably not in the habit of bringing your 10 year old thesis paper with you on your family vacations, so I will need a bit more than that from you.”

“What?”

“I need you to work with my chemists to show them how create the substance that you managed to create for your thesis’ proof.  I figure that with your intelligence and motivation, you should be able to accomplish that well before your family is to return to America.”

“And you will return Melody to me, unharmed?”

The drug lord laughed. “Oh no Dr. Lynch, as a gesture of goodwill, I will merely insure that she is found and returned to you unharmed.  Such criminal acts cannot be allowed to continue in my city. It is bad for business.”

“I see, when do you want me to start?”

“Oh, how about tomorrow? That way you can get a good night’s sleep while I make sure you have all the equipment and supplies that you need for a speedy success.  Your daughter will surely be frightened to be away from her parents and everything that we can do to limit that time is good, no?”
 

<Apr 7th 2012 - Somewhere near Salina Cruz, Mexico>

I woke up and realized that I was lying on the top of a bed, but I am not snuggled under the covers like I should be.  I think that had the scariest dream, ever, because I dreamed that I was kidnapped while at the beach.  It was a dream, right?

When did I fall asleep and why am I still wearing my bikini?  

My head is killing me and I feel a little sick. I open my eyes and look around the room. There is a small lamp on a nightstand that is putting out enough light for me to tell that this is not our room.

Where am I?

“Mom...Dad?” I said, timidly calling out for them. Based on how I was feeling, I expected them to rush into the room to see if I was okay. But, they didn’t.

“Mom?” I asked again. Nothing.

Then, I saw an attached bathroom and my stomach chose that moment to remind me that it was not happy with me. I jumped up and ran into the bathroom, just in time grab my hair and puke into the toilet. As I was puking up my lunch, I couldn’t decide which was worse, my headache or the puking.  After I puked for five minutes, my head felt better, so maybe it was something that I ate and my ‘rents took me to some strange hospital. I had no idea where I was or why I was here.  

My head still felt a little fuzzy. Even a couple of generic ibuprofen would have rocked, but the medicine cabinet was empty. So, I splashed some water on my face and that helped some.  Then, I realized that I was thirsty and I drank the water directly from the tap. It wasn’t until I had drunk my fill that I remembered that I was in Mexico and you are not supposed to drink the water here.

“Oh god! Where am I?” I asked to no one in particular.  The room’s window curtains were closed, so I walked over and peeked out.  It was night out. How long was a asleep for?  My window looked out into a huge pool area that overlooked a forested valley. The moon was full, so that helped me see everything better. The pool was one of those cool infinity pools where the water runs right up the edge and spills over.  Did we get an upgrade on our resort?

“Mom? Dad?” I called out as I walked over to the room’s door.  I opened it and that is when I remembered what happened at the beach.  There was one large Mexican dude with a Uzi or some kind of gun and a smaller dude who had the same kind of gun.

“Niá±a, no trate de salir de su habitaciá³n o voy a tener que hacerte daá±o!” The big dude yelled with a sneer that exposed a few missing teeth.  He was not a nice person, but the smaller dude really freaked me out the most.

He had a cheap wooden handled kitchen knife partially wrapped with black electrical tape that he had pulled halfway out of a stained leather sheath to expose the blade to me.  If my dad had seen the dude’s blade he would have chewed him out for taking such crappy care of it.  The blade was all nicked and scratched, but even worse I could see that it had rust stains on it from not cleaning it properly. If that wasn’t bad enough, it was the way that the smaller dude looked at me and smiled that scared me the most.  He made me feel like I was naked and sizing me up for something creepy.

“Whhaat? Umm,  ¿qué?” I asked as I retreated back into the room until I bumped into the bed and fell onto it, sitting down. I think that he said girl and something about my room, but he yelled it so fast, that I couldn’t get it all. Plus, I was still trying to figure out what was going on and my head hurt.

“estancia de mierda, puta!” He yelled, pointing at the bed.

Okay, those Spanish words I understood completely and I don’t think that I need to translate. I was supposed to stay in the room.  Okay, dude, I got it, but you didn’t have to be so nasty about it.

“ ¿Puedo tener una aspirina? Tengo un, umm, headeache.” I said because I could really use something for my head.

“Chica, tengo algo para usted que le ayude con eso …” The smaller dude said with a leer that made me decide that my headache was just fine the way it was. I did not need any of his ‘help’ with that.

His buddy thought it was pretty funny too because he laughed and slapped him on his back while he undressed me with his eyes. “Oh, sá­, la puta está¡ muy bien!” He said.

I crossed my arms over my chest in an attempt to cover up.  They left the room, laughing at my reactions to them, but before the big dude closed the door, he licked his lips as he smiled at me. Then, he glanced back at the smaller dude behind him and something in Spanish that I won’t bother trying to repeat.

Their laughter carried through the door, even after it was closed. They were not nice men and what I was able to translate scared the crap out of me. He said something about wanting a turn when his boss was done with me and that I had a tight, umm, never mind. I might only be in 7th grade, but I have heard enough Spanish swear words to know that it wasn’t nice. I shivered from both fear and well, more fear because even when them gone, I still felt like they were looking at me. They made my skin crawl, literally. I could not spot any cameras, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. I did not feel at all safe with those two ‘guarding’ me. I had to get out of here.

I ripped the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around myself.  That did not really help me feel any safer. Warmer, yes.  I parted the window curtains and looked out. If I jumped out my window, I could probably land in the pool, but it was two floors down.  I bet that hitting the water would hurt and it was probably not deep enough.  Breaking my leg or worse, my head would not help me get out of here at all.

What was that other show my dad liked? MacGyver or something?  I needed a rope to climb down.  Bedsheets!  That is what they used on TV shows to escape from jail.  I ripped the rest of the sheets off the bed and tied them together and to the blanket to make my rope as long as possible.  Then, I tied one end to the bed frame and gave it a good tug to confirm that it was tight enough.  I just hoped that Shifty and Creepy didn’t decide to check on me.  They probably would not be very happy with me if they caught me right now.

MacGyver rope in hand, I peeked out the window.  I didn’t spot anyone outside, so I carefully opened the window. Lucky for me it was one of those European ones that opened from the bottom and swung out to allow the window to be open even when it was raining.  Plus, it was nice and quiet too.  No squeaks here!  I carefully poked my head out and looked around.

There was a dude with one of those machine gun things walking around the house. I pulled my head back in and prayed that he did not spot me or notice the open window.  

“Crap!” I said, accidently whispering to myself. Fearful that Shifty and Creepy might have heard, I glanced back at the door to my room.

Yes, I said, “Crap!” I think that I deserved just a little bit of frustration at this point. I listened for yelling, but nothing happened so I cautiously peeked outside again.  He was walking right below my window!  

Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap and more Crap!

I froze, but I did not actually say crap this time. If I pulled back in, I might make noise and attract his attention, but if I stayed out; he might look up and spot my face.  I was a nervous wreck until he turned the corner of the house and disappeared without spotting me or raising an alarm.

Phhhheeewww!

I started breathing again.  I looked back the other way and I didn’t see anyone else. It was now or never!  Before I could change my mind and chicken out, I tossed  my rope out of the window. No one yelled or fired their gun at me, but it stopped about five feet off the ground.  Perfect!  

While it was nice that the moon was full and I could see, it was also not nice because they could see too and I am sure that my winter non-tan skin almost glowed.  Not the best of light to have when you are trying to sneak out of the house, not that I have ever done that or anything. Honest.

I edged my body out of the window as quickly and carefully as I could. Then, using my feet to hold on to my rope, I shimmied down as fast as I could. I brushed up against the side of the house a few times, but I hardly felt it since I was so scared that I was going to fall, be spotted or my rope would break.

Once I reached the end of my rope, I pushed off the house with my feet and dropped the last eight or so feet to the ground. I managed to surprise myself and land lightly on my bare feet. I expected the landing to hurt more without shoes.  God, I hoped that there was a sidewalk that I could run down, because I was not one of those granola girls who walked around with bare feet all the time.  Especially not when I had so many pretty shoes in my closet that I could wear instead.

I decided that the pool and over the edge would be the best route since I had no idea which way to go or how long it would take before someone else decided to walk past the pool.  My rope was pretty darn easy to spot and there wasn’t anything that I could do about that. I slid into the pool and quickly swam across.  The outer edge looked over a large hillside and I could see the glow of a large town off to the right. I couldn’t see that from my room since the house blocked the view.  Okay, I had a direction to go. Now, I just needed to figure out how to get there from here.  

The pool wall looked to be about eight feet from the ground below, but I was not sure how I could get out of the pool and down the hill without breaking my neck.  The slope was kind of steep and rocky for the first 20 or 30 feet.  I glanced back at the house and not spotting anyone who might see me, I crawled over the edge, hung by my fingers on the outer pool splash guard, then dropped the last few inches to the ground.

Ouch!

The rocks hurt my feet, but I don’t think that I cut them.

“Okay, easy does it, nice and slow. No noise.” I said, muttering softly under my breath as I cautiously worked my down the slope. I felt so happy when I made it all the way to the brush line and softer ground for my feet.

“ ¡Mierda! La niá±a ha escaped!” Some dude yelled.

He was not my friend, but at least he didn’t call me a bad name.  Then, there was a lot more yelling, but I decided that I didn’t want to listen, so I started running. I made it five or so feet before I learned that running with bare feet in the woods or forest or jungle or whatever this stuff was called was a bad idea.  I stepped on something was a little sharp, then I fell down, scratching my knees and making a lot of noise.  Okay, it wasn’t a lot of noise, but apparently it was enough.

“Ella está¡ ahá­ abajo! Ella está¡ ahá­ abajo!” My not a friend yelled from somewhere above me.

[BBBbbbbrrrraaaaappppp!]

Then, I decided that maybe I wasn’t running fast enough when someone fired their gun in my direction. I made it another 100 or so yards before I tripped again and bounced my elbow off of something, but I could hear men yelling behind me and I did not have time to stop.  I wanted to cry, maybe even stop running and find a place to hide. Like up in a tree somewhere or in a bush, but I didn’t see anything that looked promising.

I lost track of which direction I needed to go.  From deep in the jungle, I couldn’t see the glow of the city anymore, but I could hear men swearing and hacking at bushes as they searched for me.

“Ven aquá­ niá±a. No te hará¡ daá±o.” I heard them yelling out to me, but after Shifty, Creepy and the other dude firing his gun in my direction, I did not believe them. My feet felt pretty cut up, but I so far, the adrenaline must have been keeping the pain at bay. That was good, because I knew that if I stopped, I probably would not be able to start again.  Plus, if they found me, they would not be happy campers.  They would probably hit me a few times or something.

I felt so relieved when I found a trail. A trail would lead me to someplace. Hopefully someplace that I could find some help. A trail was also easier to follow and had less stuff for me to step on and hurt my feet. A trail also meant that I could run faster.  A trail also meant that I had two directions to choose from and I had no clue which one I should choose.  Left or right?  I was about to go left, because I think that most people would go right, but then I heard some of the men yelling from that direction. Okay, so right it was.

I ran. I fell and I stepped on a few more sharp things that hurt my feet even more, but I also heard them yelling behind me. I think that I had a three or four hundred yard lead on them and I wondered how they were following me. I wasn’t yelling or screaming like they were. Except for my ragged breathing, I wasn’t making a lot of noise.  This was way, way worse than running wind sprints during soccer practice, but I also didn’t have meanies chasing me with guns during soccer practice either.

I think that I lost them after I managed to run without falling down for five or so minutes. I had to stop and catch my breath. My knees were scratched and I had blood running down my shins. My feet, I didn’t want to look, but they hurt, a lot. I managed to catch my breath and look around. I hoped that I could spot the city glow again and that maybe I was actually on a trail that led to the city.  This trail had been heading mostly downhill, so I had to be getting close to something.

I had to start moving again, but now that I stopped; I found it hard to get started again. My feet hurt so much that I could barely walk.  They really hurt and I could not help it. I started to cry and whimper with every slow and painful step.  They probably would have been able to catch me right there.

“Voy a matar a esa puta, cuando yo la cojo!” I heard Creepy yell with frustration.

“Cá¡llate idiota!”

Shit!  I did not understand exactly what Creepy yelled, but I did not have any problem understanding his buddy. I forgot all about my feet and started running again. Why wouldn’t they give up?

I tried looking behind me.  Big mistake because I ran right into a big freaking rock.  Not just a big freaking rock, but a big freaking square rock and it hurt. A lot and I accidentally screamed.

“De esta manera!  ¡Date prisa! La puta es de esta manera!”

They were a lot closer now. I rolled off the rock or big brick or whatever it was and ran.  There were a lot of rocks here now. There were also walls. I spotted some stairs and ran up them.

[Bbrrraaaappp!]

I heard someone shoot their gun at me and I heard things ricocheting behind me against the rock walls. Yeah, I figured out that those were bullets and that made me scream again. I reached the top of the stairs and the ground here was nice and flat, so I ran without really much thought as to where I was going.  There were structures here and I ran around, over and through them.  Then, tripped at the top of some stairs and landed right on my chest.  That hurt and I am sorry, I screamed from the pain and I could not get back up.  I tried, but all I could do was crawl. My feet hurt so much. I spotted a table and I tried to reach it. Maybe I could hide behind it.

I heard someone running up the stairs behind me. I scrambled to reach the table, but someone kicked me in my side and knocked me over.

“ ¡Maldita puta!” Creepy yelled at me.  Then, he grabbed me by my hair and dragged me towards the table.

“Please, Please, Please! Let me go!” I cried.

He slapped me. “Cá¡llate puta!”

I felt his hand on my chest, so I kneed him in his balls, but I guess I didn’t hit him hard enough.

He slapped me again and this time I saw stars. “Mantenga ella! Mantenga ella!”

I screamed when I felt some other hands grab my legs and hold them down.

“No, No, No! Let me go!” I tried to kick and twist away. Then, someone else grabbed one of my arms.
 

<Apr 7th 2012 - Florida >

At 58 years old, I was almost too young to die, but death was coming for me and pretty damn fast.  I guess that I couldn’t really complain because I don’t feel surprised. I never expected to last past my 30th birthday. Hell, just making to my 21st birthday was a big surprise for me.  I guess you could say that I almost had a death wish by joining the Navy as an underage enlistment at 17, but I had to get away from home.  Even going to ‘Nam was better than listening to my pop rant about how I wasn’t man enough for him.  I think that becoming a Navy SEAL showed him, but not like I really cared what he thought anymore.

At 6’ 2” and 250lbs and none of it fat, I was pretty damn tough. I thought so anyway. That is why I volunteered to try out for the SEALS. The UDT/SEALS program squared away my little ego problem for me right damn fast. I was a good little SEAL though and took to the “work” far easier than I probably should have.  I did so many things back then that seemed right at the time, but now, it all seems kind of grey. Oh sure, there were definitely some folks that just needed killing and I was more than happy to take them there, but some were harder than others.  Not that I let that stop me from getting the job done.

No, the past was in the past and I am sure that the devil had a room all ready for me in hell.  Nothing that I could do about that except keep the bastard’s room empty for as long as possible. Maybe he would give up and rent it out to someone else.  I had the love and acceptance of my daughter and that was my redemption.  My other kids, not so much, but I refused to let them get me down. I had enough parts of my own body letting me down. I still wanted them to succeed and do well. I would gladly support them in anything they did; that is love for you.

The pain meds and other shit they had me taking were really kicking my ass and I kind of wished that the docs would come up with something better. I hated how they made me feel and worst of all, I couldn’t drink beer. Well, I wasn’t supposed to anyway. Not that I complained when Danielle would sneak in a small cup or two of my favorite beer for me.  Now that was love.

Even with all the pain meds, I still felt something go wrong in my chest.  I realized that I was having difficulty breathing, but Danielle was right there with me. Holding my hand and whispering that she loved me over and over. I wasn’t worried and I guess that I started to dream, because in my dream, I felt a strange sense of lightness. It reminded me of the times that I was forced to wait for the bubbleheads in their rubber coated dick to come pick me up after an op. We called the sub something else, but that is close enough.

It was usually night and at 30 feet below the ocean surface while floating with perfect neutral buoyancy; it can be very relaxing, especially after a hairy mission. Some of the other guys hated it like I hated HALO drops, but me, I loved it.  It was almost like being in a sensory deprivation tank, but the ocean isn’t silent.  It is alive and when you are in the water while breathing with a rebreather apparatus, there was not even the sound of your bubbles to distract you from hearing the ocean sing to you.  I remembered the one time that a pod of whales sang from miles away and the sound went straight through my bones, melting all the stress away.

“Am I dead?” I asked.

I was not sure where I was, but if I was dead and not just dreaming, I expected hell to be a bit more, hellish.  I thought that I heard a sound off to my right.  I listened and then I heard it. It sounded like a little girl was crying. I did not think that it was Danielle. The girl’s cries sounded too young to be her, but with the meds, it could be.  

I oriented on that sound and willed myself to go in that direction.  I could not feel my feet, my arms, my hands or anything really, but this was just a dream, right? I knew that I should feel alarmed by that realization, but I felt more alarmed by the sound of the crying girl than anything else. She sounded like she was in desperate need of help and my father instincts were kicking in full force.

I felt a tearing and wrenching sensation and my non-existent stomach dropped for a fraction of a second.  Then, I felt my body again and as I looked down at myself, I noticed that I looked young again. I was wearing one of my old team camouflage uniforms, but the focus of my attention was grabbed by the sight of a young Caucasian girl with long raven black hair. She was lying on her back and crying her heart out while softly repeating, “Mommy...Daddy...” over and over again. That just about killed me.

She was bleeding from a stab wound in her chest and she had blood on her thighs and dirt with minor scratches on her face, arms, knees and elbows. Her feet were bloody, like she had run barefoot over glass or something. She did not go down without a fight. I could see that from her wounds and many abrasions.

She looked like she might be 10 or 12 years old, at the most, and even with all her wounds, I could tell that underneath all of that, she was a very pretty girl. My heart ached to try and comfort her, because based on her wounds; I could tell what had happened to her.

However; the one thing that stopped me from running over and trying to help her right away was the thing that she was lying on.  It tugged at my memory for a second until it clicked. The girl was lying on top of the altar to that Aztec goddess that I had used to off that drug dealer so many years ago.  Except this altar looked brand new and it was painted in gold, silver and other bright colors.

Still, she needed help. “Shhh, it’s okay, you’re safe now...” I said, softly as I crept closer and to almost within arm’s reach of the girl.

“She can’t hear you.” A woman’s voice said with a deep sadness that seemed to stretch beyond time.

I turned toward the sound of her voice and was stunned to find a very beautiful woman with reddish skin, raven black hair and the most stunning sea-green eyes that I had ever seen studying me. She was bare chested, but wore what appeared to be a skirt made of gold and jade.

“Excuse me, who are you?” I asked, trying to be polite as possible in the presence of a half naked sort of American Indian dream girl. It was hard to place her nationality, but she was stunning regardless.  Stunning doesn’t quite capture her beauty. No, she was a goddess and that is when it hit me.  The altar, my dream, the girl, my offing or maybe sacrificing the drug lord on the altar. Maybe this wasn’t a dream and maybe this woman was that goddess. I couldn’t remember her name, but I think it started with a ‘Ch’ or something.

The goddess did not seem to notice her lack of a top as she took a casual step closer to me. “I am Chalchiuhtlicue, but who I am is not important right now. It is for this woman child that you see before you that I have brought you to this place.  You see, she is dying. However, she has a chance to live. Her physical wounds, she may recover from, but her psychological wounds, those will never fully heal for her.”  

I almost missed her whisper. “...but you, Donald James Wolf, can help her.”

I did not understand. I had some emergency medical training. I knew how to stop the bleeding and get her stabilized until she could be med-vacced, but not the mental part. “How?”

The woman smiled seductively at me as she caressed the side of my cheek with the back of her hand. “Give yourself to me.” She said, whispering in my ear.  

The feel of her hand on my skin, the scent of her body and the warmth of her breath in my ear made it incredibly difficult to concentrate and I felt my body responding like it hadn’t for longer than I care to remember, but her answer didn’t make sense.

“What?” I asked.

She gave me some breathing room and stalked over to her altar with the girl. “You might not realize this, but you and she are linked together. When you killed that drug lord using nothing but your blade, a warrior’s blade tempered in battle and quenched in the ocean, you were the first in almost five hundred years to present me with a worthy sacrifice. I would have preferred his heart, but I believe that your culture has a saying about never looking a gift horse in the mouth, no?” She asked with the slightest of pouts that just made me want to kiss her.

I nodded my head yes and held my ground. She was very good at being very distracting.

She seemed amused by my reaction. “If this woman child dies, she will be the first in almost five hundred years to be murdered on one of my altars. The blade used was not worthy of me. It is insulting to think that the pig that stabbed her used a low quality kitchen knife. Worse yet, she was raped, her virginity and more importantly, her innocence was brutally stolen from her. It is those crimes that I find the most appalling.  I would have vengeance for myself and for the girl.”

I had no problem with those reasons. I wanted more than anything to help the girl, but I didn’t see how I could be of any use. 20 years ago, sure; I would have been more than happy to hunt down and kill the dogs who did this to her, but that wouldn’t heal her. “Okay, how can I help? I’m dead or mostly dead and even if I wasn’t; I am still too old and thousands of miles away from where ever she is.  She is in Mexico, right?”

“Yes. Do you, Donald James Wolf, give your immortal soul to me? Freely and without regret for me to forge into the instrument of my vengeance?” She said with an expression that spoke of barely restrained power and anger.

That was a lot to ask for, but a single glance at the girl was all it took for me to decide.

“Yes.”  I said, while wondering if my soul was really worth that much. I am sure that it was blackened and tarnished in many places.  I doubted that it would make a good weapon for her.

“Then, kiss the girl on her forehead and take away her pain.  Live her pain so that you may know who it is that deserves my vengeance and be my instrument on this earth. Know that water is my domain. Rivers, lakes, seas, oceans and the storms are of my body. Return to my body if you are injured during your journey.”

I looked down at the girl’s tear streaked face. She was so young and so pretty. She didn’t deserve whatever had happened to her. I didn’t care what it took. If selling my soul to Chalchiuhtlicue would help this girl, then my soul was hers to take.  I looked back up at Chalchiuhtlicue one last time. She smiled at me and the warmth of her smile was all it took.  I kissed the girl’s forehead.

Her name is Melody Amber Lynch and she is only 12 years old.

Those fuckers are going to pay for this.

She of the Jade Skirt

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

** Part II **

The drop of rain on my face and the sound of thunder is what woke me. I felt very disoriented from the after effects of my dream. Who left the window open and when did it start to rain? It must be one hell of a storm for the rain to reach me all the way from the window of my room and I felt pretty certain that Danielle would not have left it open if there was a storm coming. I opened my eyes and I could not see the ceiling, just open sky above me.

“What in the...” I said, before the pain in my throat and the sound of my own voice caused me to stop. My throat felt so raw and my voice sounded so high pitched.  Not at all like my voice should have sounded with my throat feeling the way it did. I felt something heavy around my neck. I brought my right hand up and felt a short  necklace that fell to the top of my breastbone. I did not remember getting a necklace or putting one on before I went to bed.  This one felt very heavy with long segments that felt like polished stone.

I tried to sit up in my bed so that I could look down at the necklace and see what happened to my room, but a sharp pain in my chest stopped me. I let out an involuntary gasp of pain and forgot all about the necklace.  Was I having another heart attack? It did not feel like a heart attack. No, it felt like I had been stabbed and I promised myself the last time that had happened that I would not let that happen again. I had far too many “I forgot to duck” awards on my dress blues already.

That was also when I realized that my bed felt like it had been replaced with a slab of rock and that my groin felt very very wrong. It felt like the nurse had jammed a catheter right through my nuts and into my stomach in an attempt to tap directly into my bladder, and then repeated that a few times just to make sure. I knew that I was old, that my dick was useless and I hated the fact that I was born with one, but a man still has some instinctual concern for that region.  In addition to that, the skin of my thighs felt raw and my muscles screamed in agony. It felt like someone had ripped my legs apart.

The rain was really pouring down now and it washed over every inch of my body. It felt like the rain was washing both over me and through me. As it did, a sense of peace settled over me. I didn’t want to get up. I felt like I was snuggled under the warmest of blankets on the softest of beds, but that didn’t stop me from realizing that except for the necklace, I was completely naked.

Why was I naked?

Why was I lying on some stone table?

Why was I not in my room?

Was that dream real?

Why did the rain feel so good?

Did I really die and meet an Aztec goddess?  

Was I confused?

Hell yes!  

The Goddess said something about storms and healing me if I was hurt.  Is that why the rain on my exposed skin felt so heavenly?

Based on everything I could see, touch and hear, I had to be in Melody’s body, but I could not summon the energy to do anything more than just lay on the hard stone surface as the warm rain washed over my body. I felt thirsty. So, I opened my mouth and greedily drank from the sky.  The rain tasted heavenly and as I swallowed, it soothed my torn throat.  

I did not know how long it rained for, but when the rain stopped; I felt my lassitude fade and I found the energy to sit up.  Long wet hair was plastered against my back, then as I looked down I was further stunned when I confirmed my theory. I was in Melody’s body and with a flash of lightning, I remembered the men raping me, no raping Melody, but it felt like it was me. I started to cry and I knew why my groin felt the way it had when I first woke up.  They had done things to me. Horrible things to me. Then, they had stabbed me, narrowly missing my heart and left me for dead on the altar. I felt like I should scream in horror, but instead, I felt pissed. How could these men, no animals who call themselves men, have done this to such an innocent young girl?

Now, I remembered my promise. Melody did not deserve this and yes, those fuckers were going to pay for what they had done.

I quickly checked over my body and discovered that there was no sign of a stab wound and I didn’t feel any pain in my groin.  I hoped that Melody’s virginity had been restored as well and that if she was fertile, that the goddess had taken care of that as well. I also noticed the lack of scars on my body. My old body was riddled with scars, so not having those scars wasn’t a big surprise to me. The big surprise was the fact that after a quick inspection, I couldn’t find a single scar anywhere on Melody’s body.  Her skin was absolutely perfect; not a single blemish, mole, freckle or scar anywhere that I could see.

I knew that her body was much younger than my old and worn out body, but the lack of any kind of blemish at all kind of worried me. I hoped that there weren’t any identifying marks that we might need in order to prove our identity with later. I was not sure why I thought of ‘me’ and ‘Melody’ as ‘us’ or why I was worried about ‘our’ future. It just felt right.

I was able to get a better look at my new necklace. It was absolutely beautiful and it looked very expensive to me. Instead of a simple chain, the necklace was constructed from two inch long jade segments that had been carved to resemble fangs. I guessed that they were supposed to be jaguar fangs, but I could not be sure of that. Each jade fang was hollowed out to allow a sturdy looking gold band to link the fangs together with a large semi-circular jade centerpiece.  The centerpiece was about the size of a half-dollar coin and it had the stylized image of an Aztec goddess carved into it. That had to be Chalchiuhtlicue.

I spun it around a few times and I first, I could not find the clasp. Just a small, marble sized, oblong shaped polished bit of jade that looked seamless to me.  That concerned me because the necklace was also too small to slip over my head. I guessed that the Goddess wanted me to leave it on.

From my perch atop the altar, I looked around and spotted Melody’s green bikini bottoms on the ground next to the altar. Her top was further away. The top was the first item of clothing that the men had ruthlessly ripped from Melody’s body before they pinned her struggling body on top of the most convenient flat object, the altar. Then, the pigs pulled off her bikini bottoms as she screamed and begged for them to stop.  The rest of what happened flashed thru my mind like a nightmare, burning the leering faces of the pigs into my brain. Calling them pigs was an insult to pigs everywhere, but I refused to think of them as men. A real man would not have done this to Melody or any woman. While I was not exactly sure how I was going to go about accomplishing my mission, I was sure that no matter what it took; I would fulfill my promise.  

Not wanting to waste any more time, I jumped down, grabbed the small pieces of fabric and put them on. As I did so, I felt something happily stir inside of my head.  It was Melody and I got the sense that she was peacefully asleep.  The bikini was something that she was proud of. It gave her happy memories, but from the memories of hers that I now seemed to have; I knew that the bikini being forcibly removed from her struggling body would not be a happy one for her.  I prayed to Chalchiuhtlicue that Melody would never wake up and if she did, that she would no longer have the memory of the rape that I now had.  I drew comfort in that idea by the fact that other than her name and the rape, I couldn’t see or feel any memory of hers.

The top was a bit of struggle for me, but I figured it out pretty fast. I just snapped it together in the front, then spun it around and covered my small breasts with the fabric while I adjusted the shoulder straps. I guess that I shouldn’t have judged them so small because I thought that they were perfect. They were something that I would be proud to have and I figured that Melody was probably rather proud of them as well. However, if Melody was like my daughter when she was her age, Melody probably wished that they were larger.  That thought made me smile.

I felt good. No, I felt great and as a 58 year old man, I shouldn’t feel this way about my sudden transformation into a girl. I knew how any normal red-blooded, apple pie eating, pickup truck driving American male would probably have felt. He would have felt horrified, completely freaked out or even sexually aroused by the sudden change, but I did not feel that way at all. I felt like I was finally in the body that I should have been born in from the beginning of my sad life. I was finally a girl and I felt myself smiling with true happiness for the first time in almost a decade.  

The lack of pain in any part of my body and the feeling of complete health was just an added bonus. I could see without using a magnifying glass and could stand without feeling like my knees were about to explode. Hell, I could even walk, too. I felt so light on my feet that I briefly considered trying to jump up to see if I could fly. Although, the bar was set kind of low since just being able to take a piss in the toilet was enough to make me feel happy these days.  Hell, that was actually something that I was looking forward to now. Sitting down to pee because that was how my body was designed and not because I was too sick to stand.

That feeling of happiness was somewhat spoiled by the reason that I was here. I had a mission to complete and animals to put down. I really was on a mission from a goddess and I was all out of bubblegum.

Unlike my prior life, this time, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that my mission objectives were 100% on the side of good.  There were no shades of grey.  The animals who had done this and caused this were evil. Their deaths would not stain my soul in anyway.  Not that I had to worry about that now. Not since, I had valued my soul so cheaply and given it so freely to the first goddess who had asked for it.

In my defense, I can’t say that I had a lot of experience with either gods or goddesses. Actually, I had zero experience since I kind of gave up on that ideal decades ago because what kind of all knowing and all loving god could just stand by and allow the things that I have seen and to my shame, done, without fixing it?

I can’t say that I instantly adjusted and was completely at home with my new body either. I noticed pretty damn fast that I was no longer 6’ 2” and 250 lbs. I guessed that I was now maybe 5’ 6” and umm, 100 and something pounds.  “Half the man I used to be” ran through my head.

That made me smile, but something told me that I would not be able to bench 400 lbs like I could before I got sick. My arms looked positively tiny. Hell, my old thumb was probably bigger around than my new wrist. Okay, maybe not, but it sure looked that way from my viewpoint. My legs, those looked nice. Okay, they were pretty damn tiny too, but I liked them.  They looked perfectly toned and exactly right. They matched my butt perfectly and flowed into the trimmest tummy I have ever seen on a girl. My tummy, I mean, stomach looked liked I could have wrapped my old hands around my new waist and touched my fingers together. Okay, I liked my arms, too. I guess that I would look rather silly with my old Popeye arms on this body. It was just a bit of a shock at first.

I caught myself making a mental checklist of all the exercises I could do to help improve my strength and fitness levels after I finished my mission.  That sobered me real fast because I was not sure if I would be alive when I finished my mission.  Would the Goddess just take my soul out of Melody’s body and throw me away like a old and worn out knife? Oh well, time to worry about that later.

I had a mission to plan.

Okay, the first rule of planning a mission is to take an inventory of your assets and determine your desired end results. Let’s see, I had me, I had a bikini, a necklace from a goddess and as I looked around, I spotted...nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Well, that was a fast inventory. I laughed at that thought, but my laugh came out sounding like a giggle instead.  My goddess!  I sounded so cute.

Okay, mission objectives, those were easy. Kill the animals that raped Melody, but the lack of equipment and intel was going to be a problem.  If need be, I decided that I might be able to use the straps of Melody’s bikini top as a garrote. Yeah, that would probably be an embarrassing way for a man to die. Strangled by a topless 12 year old girl and her bikini. That mental image kind of made me feel a little creepy, but that kept me from giggling again. So, it was golden.

The next thing that I needed to worry about is how visible I that I was.  While Melody’s dark hair and jade green bikini was helpful, her abundance of pale white skin was not. The necklace was also a little too reflective and I had no idea if the pigs who did this to me were going to return or not.  If they returned right now, I would be an easily spotted target and from my experience, an easily spotted target is not a happy target.  

With that in mind, I gave the area one more quick once over, just in case they left something that I could use, but they did not.  I could see surprisingly well in the dark and I was not sure if that was due to my young eyes or something else.  I hoped that it is a bit of both, because if the goddess just brought me back into the body of a 12 year old, but healthy girl; I did not see how I could fulfill my promise to Chalchiuhtlicue or to Melody.

There was a lot that I could do with the proper tools, but the old saying about, “there is no replacement for displacement” certainly applies when hand to hand combat and lugging around lots of ammo and weapons are involved.  I would have to be sneaky instead of relying on brute force.  Old and sneaky, I could do, but young, wise and sneaky, I could do even better.

Okay, I had no weapons, no support, and no clothes, other than a bikini and a necklace, and no idea where to even start looking for my targets.  I would try tracking the men by their footsteps, but the rain had to have washed them away by now. I also did not have Melody’s memory on how she got here, so I cannot even retrace her footsteps. All in all, I would have to rate this op as the worst planned op that I have ever been tasked with completing and I only had myself to blame. I thought that I had learned my lesson about volunteering when I joined the Navy all those years ago.

Oh well, I am a good little mushroom and good little mushrooms only grow up big and strong when fed shit op plans. I started my mushroom growing phase by hunting down a good sized mud puddle and jumping into it with another annoying giggle escaping my lips. I covered every inch of my skin with a light coating of mud, even my face. The mud would help me blend in with the jungle and even help to keep the bugs at bay. I felt a little guilty about coating the necklace with mud, but it would wash off and I am sure that the Goddess understood.

I left my hair alone though. It was black and I really did not want my scalp to feel, umm, yucky, to use the technical term for how it feels to have mud in your hair. If you think that mud drying on your skin is itchy, try having it caked into your scalp as it dries. I braided my daughter’s hair for her often enough. So, I debated trying to braid my hair or use a vine to make a ponytail, but decided that the wild child look might actually offer a psychological advantage.  Besides, my hair was still wet and easy to manage.  When it dried, I might have to rethink my hair plans.

All my old skills came back to me and with my new body; I found it even easier to move silently.  I felt so light and supple on my feet that it was almost impossible to move and make noise. My muscles flowed so smoothly beneath my skin. I ghosted over and through the forest. Maybe I did not need to be able to bench press 400 lbs anymore.  Melody’s body felt amazingly fit and agile. After all, a good, sharp knife does not take a lot of muscle when properly used.

I was in the zone and in total harmony with the land around me and it felt wonderful.  It reminded me of the time that I ghosted past an entire company of VC to setup the shot of some sick bastard who enjoyed torturing captured American servicemen. Getting out proved to be a bit harder because the VC were pissed when their man died. It took me two days of lying doggo, buried under one foot of mud and breathing through a bamboo straw before I was able to ghost my way back out.

I got the crap bit out of me, but thank the fucking goddess that I had my big mama panty hose on to stop the crawlies from burrowing into my legs. My single regret was that the bastard never felt even the slightest remorse for all the sick shit that he had done to captured American soldiers. Me, I barely even felt the recoil when his head exploded as my round entered his temple from just shy of 900 meters.

And, that is why I did not want to have mud in my hair.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, like if I had to bury myself in mud and breathe through a straw to escape a VC patrol again.

Okay, so maybe never.

It was about then that I heard them.  It was kind of hard not to hear them. They were making enough noise and swearing enough at each other to wake the dead, or at least disturb their dreams.  The strange part about me hearing them wasn’t the fact that I heard them. The strange part was the fact that I could understand every word. Living in Florida, you pick up some Spanish by default, but I could never understand Spanish like this before.  

Maybe the Goddess gave me an unexpected asset that I could factor into my op plan.

I easily zeroed in on their location and stalked them as they cursed their way through the jungle.  Maybe the rain helped me even more than I expected because their once fine suits were soaked and covered in mud. I watched as the man in the lead slipped and fell on his ass. It was one of my targets. He was one of the animals that held me down, and then took his turn after his buddy was done with me.

His ‘friends’ laughed at him. “Serves you fucking right Carlos.  If you hadn’t left the bitch here, we wouldn’t be out here.”

“This fucking sucks. What was I supposed to do?  Juan stabbed the bitch after she scratched his face.” Carlos said with disgust while glossing over the fact that he raped me too.

“Doesn’t matter. The Don said not to come back until we had the girl’s body. Just be fucking lucky that he didn’t shoot you like he did Hector!”

“Yeah, Juan is fucking lucky that he is the son of the Don’s favorite lieutenant. He’s the one who should have been fucking shot!”

I could not listen to them any longer. I wanted so badly to just run down there and kill them all with my bare hands, but that would be a suicide mission and Juan, aka Shifty, was back at their HQ somewhere. Since Creepy was the other man who raped me, I guessed he must have been the Hector that this “Don” person killed for me. I did not like this “Don” person one bit.

Okay, Op plan edit time.  

I decided to back track their trail while they wasted their time hunting for Melody’s body, I mean, me. I bet that they would shit a few bricks and waste time hunting for me when they didn’t find me on the altar. With them slogging through the mud out here, that should make infiltrating and taking out the enemy at their HQ a little easier.  Then, when they returned, I could deal with them and my new buddy Carlos at my leisure.

Their trail was so fucking easy to follow that even a 12 year old girl could have done it.  I crack myself up sometimes.  I managed to avoid cutting my feet up as I traced the back trail to their HQ.  It was not that hard to be careful where I stepped so I guessed that poor Melody must have really been in a panic when she ran from her attackers.

Their HQ or Mansion looked like a pretty nice place to live, very swank and very modern. Not at all like I expected. I made a cautious circuit of the perimeter as I easily avoided their roving sentry. The mansion grounds were bisected by a large detached garage. I decided not to check it out because I noticed that there were motion lights above the entryway doors. I did peek into one of the garage’s side windows and I was amazed at what was parked in the there. Four of the five stalls in the garage where empty, but the fifth stall had a sweet looking Audi R8 parked in it. It was even in my favorite color, black. I guess crime does pay because those things are hard to get. I was a little jealous, but it was not like I would have a chance to drive the thing anyway.

Aside from the R8 looking all badass, there were no hostiles in the garage. I did worry about the garage being empty of any other vehicles.  How did the current hostiles get here and why didn’t they have transportation?  That meant that someone was planning on picking them up sometime in the near future. Which also meant that I could be overwhelmed by additional hostiles at anytime.

Not much that I could do about that right now. So, I circled the house area proper and spotted my buddy, Hector the Creepy.  He was lying face down next to the pool with his skull looking oddly distorted.  From the look of it, I decided that he had been shot, execution style in the back of the head by this “Don” person. Yes, I knew that “Don” is a title used in Spanish speaking countries to denote respect.  That made me wonder what in the hell was going on.  Why was Melody here in the first place?  She did not seem like the kind of girl who would get mixed up with drug lords.

The single perimeter patrol dude was an idiot. He never ventured off the sidewalk that ran tightly around the house.  He was bored, lazy and a chain smoker. For me, those all added up to three strikes and you are out! Predictably, he lazily strolled clockwise around the mansion and if he even glanced to the outer perimeter, I never noticed it.  I used that to scope out their security system.  

It proved to be very basic. I decided that the owner of this place trusted his muscle more than electronic security systems. I spotted a single, easy to avoid camera in each corner of the house. They were positioned more for watching the doors than the exterior perimeter.

There were also motion sensor lights set up above the entrance doors.  Those went off every time the rover walked past them. His night vision was totally gone. I found a nice rock, then ghosted over to the north side of the house and waited for him to walk past me.

With his night vision utterly destroyed by the pool lights, motion lights and his cigarette, I figured that he would effectively be blind when he turned the corner.  I waited for him to pass me and he made my job easier by stopping to light another cigarette.

[Crack!]

He never knew I was there, but that was the plan so I did not gloat over it.  An easy kill is just fine in my book. A quick search of his body revealed a wallet with some ID, cash, somewhere between 100 and 150 pesos, a cheap cell phone, a switchblade knife, a crappy Llama 44 special with a 4 inch barrel, and a cheap Spanish clone of an mp5 submachine gun.  This Don dude needed to pay his people better and based on that, I was skeptical of what I would find when I tested the switch blade's edge with my thumb.

I was totally surprised when I discovered that it was both dull and poorly maintained. Not!  He must have used the switchblade more for show than anything else, which made me wish he was conscious when I thrust the blade into the side of his neck, severing his arteries and windpipe in the process.  I waited until his body relaxed in death before I pulled out the blade. I hated getting sprayed with the target’s blood when I killed someone and blood was such a PITA to wash out of my uniform, errr, bikini. I took better care of his blade than he did when I wiped it clean on his pant leg before hitting the button and retracting the blade with a snickt.

I was not sure how long I had before whoever was watching the cameras noticed the fact that their buddy was no longer walking around the house.  So, I quickly pulled off his belt and removed the clipped on belt holster that held his Llama. I wanted to use his shirt to cover my upper body and protect my skin, but when I rocked his body from side to side so that I could slip his belt off; I discovered that he was too damned heavy. A dead body is hard to move and extra hard to move when the body is twice your size. So, I ditched the plan to take his shirt too. I just did not have the time and it wasn’t really that critical to my plan.

Okay, lesson learned. I was a 12 year old girl and not a big, strong man. His shirt would have probably fit me like a tent and gotten in my way anyway. The belt was definitely too large and even on the smallest setting, it was still too large for my waist. Using the knife, I quickly performed a field expedient size alteration and buckled it tightly around my waist.  The man’s clip-on belt holster pinched my skin a little, but it was bearable and I would not need it for very long anyway.

He proved to be even dumber than I previously thought. The fucktard did not carry a single extra magazine, or mag for his mp5. Was the damn thing even safe to fire? With that in mind, I checked the action of both weapons, first the mp5 and it seemed to be good, then the Llama by flipping the cylinder open and checking the barrel to make sure that the idiot didn’t have a cigarette butt or something stuck in the damn thing.  It looked okay, so I snapped the cylinder closed, then made sure that there was a round under the hammer before I slid it into the holster on my hip.  

For the mp5, I carried that using its sling. Thankfully, I was able to adjust it enough to make it more useful.  I slung that across my back and held the switchblade with the blade extended as I cautiously peeked around the east side of the mansion and into the pool area.

There was nobody there, except for the body of Creepy.  That still pissed me off. I wanted to kill him. The pool actually tempted me for a second. My body was still caked with mud and it did itch a little where that had worked its way under my top. That was a new sensation, but I could worry about the mud and where else it had worked its way into when the mansion was secure.

I closed my dominant eye for when the pool’s motion lights kicked in. A pirate eye patch would have come in handy.  

Arrrr Matey!  

Sorry.

Just past the lower level entrance, I noticed a pile of sheets and blankets that had been tied together. That must have been how Melody escaped. I looked up and spotted an open window three levels up.  The second floor of the mansion, but third floor from where I was standing.  Melody was one brave little girl to have climbed down from that high up using bed sheets.

By sticking to the wall of the house, I was able to avoid tripping the sensors until I was at the door handles.  They activated and bathed the pool area in bright light.  Thank fucking goddess that I had my shooting eye closed.  From a crouch, I slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open. Then, as soon as I had a gap large enough for me to squeeze thru, I slipped into the room and gently closed the door behind me while I let my night blind eye regain some effectiveness.  The room was dimly lit with recessed ceiling lights and looked like it was used as a home entertainment center.  There was a bar off to the side and a very large big screen TV against the back wall surrounded by pale white leather couches. I heard the sounds of a soccer game being played at extra loud volume echoing down from the floor above.

Staying low, I kept to the darker edges of the room as I made my way counterclockwise around the room.  I found a heavy duty steel reinforced door that was secured with an electronic cipher lock.  Past that was a set of stairs that led up to the next level and the soccer game.  I heard a man scream and yell at the play. He sounded very invested in the game and completely unaware of my presence. Just the way I liked my targets.  

I continued my circuit of the room.  I was not about to go up to the next level without ensuring that this level was clear first.  I did not like surprises and the locked room concerned me.  What if there were additional hostiles in that room?

I slipped past the TV and felt a twinge of jealousy. It was a fucking nice one. I bet that watching a movie or the big game on it was fucking awesome.  I did not like the owner of this house even more now.  Past the TV was a small 10x10 storage room and its door was wedged open. There was a lock on the outside of the door, but not on the inside and no windows or exits from the room. Strange. Maybe they intended to use this room to keep cleaning supplies safely locked away from children or something?  I thought that it might make a decent holding cell. If there was not all the other crap in there that someone could use to escape with.

Things like a large tub sink, mops, buckets and racks of cleaning supplies mixed in with a random soccer ball, camping gear and other miscellaneous office supplies and junk.  The camping gear looked brand new and never used.  From the sight of the mansion so far, I couldn’t blame whoever bought the gear. Why would anyone want to sleep in a tent when they had a place like this?

Okay, storage room was clear.

Past the storage room was a small office that had a cluster of security monitors, but even better, there was no one watching the feeds.  Idiots!  I liked easy jobs, but this was getting ridiculous.  Could they really be that dumb or was this all just a big James Bond style trap designed to lure me to my doom?

The quote, complete with German accented English, “No Mr. Wolf, I expect you to die!”, ran through my head.

Yes, the strangest things run through your head in the middle of an op, but you had to find something to occasionally find funny to relieve the tension. Stress can cause you to make mistakes and mistakes get you killed.  I did not like making mistakes.

I noticed that three of the feeds were turned off and that made me curious. So, I found the switches for the corresponding screens and turned them on.  

The room upstairs with the soccer fan came to life.  Excellent, he was alone and facing away from the stairs that I would have to use to enter into that room.  The second screen showed me the same room, but from a different angle while the third screen showed me a large, formal dining room. That was a strange choice for a room to monitor, but maybe he liked watching people eat? After watching the feeds for another minute, my JB villain senses were slightly reassured. I decided to continue my scan of the basement level.

The bar area made me pause.  There were some really nice bottles of booze and beer in his collection. I am sure his wine collection was nice too, but meh. Give me a bottle of 20 year old single malt scotch over some old sour grapes any day.  He had three bottles of 20 year old and one bottle of Macallan’s Centennial that made my eyes pop out of my head.  The fucking bastard had the Macallan’s mixed in with the cheap shit instead of someplace safe. A $600+ bottle of 100 year old scotch deserved to be in a safe or on the top shelf under lights to inspire your guests. I really really hated him even more now. Just to spite him before I killed him, I might have to try a sip or two of that when I was done securing his mansion.

The cipher locked room was the only area that I had not been able to secure on this level and that really bugged my Combat OCD survival instincts.  I debated trying to CSI the lock open by using some clear tape on the keypad to find the keys that had been pressed the most, but I wasn’t sure if I had the time. It would really suck major doo-doo if the soccer fan or someone else decided to walk down the stairs while I was playing with the lock.

The downstairs area was as secure as I could make it, even with my Combat OCD bitching at me.  So, I flipped my OCD the bird and crept up the stairs.  The kitchen was off to my right and the soccer game was in front of me with the large dining room past the kitchen.  I glanced down at the crappy switchblade knife in my hand and decided that it would not do. It was just too dull to be useful for taking down the soccer fan.

Unfortunately, procuring a better blade meant that I would have to take a chance by slipping into the kitchen.  A boning knife is what I wanted, but a good filet knife would work in pinch.  I waited until the soccer fan screamed profanities at how a play was called, and then I slipped undetected into the kitchen.  The knives were easy to spot. They were all stuck to a magnetic rail and they looked pretty high end. Better yet, I spotted a boning knife. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that the soccer fan was still paying attention to his game. Then, I reached up, grabbed the knife and crouched back down.  I was not disappointed in my selection. The blade was perfectly honed and crafted from good high quality steel.  Yes, it would do nicely. Thank you Senor Don dude for having only the best.  

The soccer fan, he was a little trickier to take down than his buddy outside. I was able to get behind him and hide behind the couch that he was alternating between sitting on the edge of his cushion, to standing up to cheer, to collapsing back into the cushions in frustration when his team missed a goal.  That was what I was waiting for.

I heard the announcer say that the kicker was fouled and my little soccer fan’s team would get a penalty kick.  Soccer fan sat back up and as he moved forward, I vaulted over the back of the couch and with my left hand; I slid my knife into the middle of his back while I wrapped my right arm around his chest and held him close against my body to prevent him from pulling away from me. I might not be as strong as I used to be, but my aim was perfect. I got him right in the sweet spot because my blade paralyzed his lungs and severed his descending aorta all at the same time.

Of course, he tried to scream, but nothing came out of his mouth. It is impossible to make a sound when your lungs don’t work. He tried to stand, but I twisted the blade back and forth, and that was enough to make him forget about that idea.  He tried to roll away, but his effort was half hearted at best. I easily kept him from going anywhere and as his body began to relax, I hugged him tightly to me as I leaned back into the back rest. He turned his head to look at me.  His eyes pleaded with me for a second before the light faded and he was dead.

Of course, he was just as fucking heavy as the other asshole because it took me a second or two to push him off of me so that I could extract my knife from his back and get out from behind him on the couch. I also left the cushions smeared with dirt and mud, but not my problem.

I ignored his cheap mp5 that the idiot left sitting on the coffee table in front of him. He had a Smith and Wesson SD9 in a shoulder holster and after a quick once over, I decided to dump the sentry’s belt and crappy Llama 44.  He also had a spare mag for it in his shoulder holster. Okay, so this guy wasn’t as big of an idiot as his buddy outside.  I guessed that the sentry must have been the Fucking New Guy or FNG as we liked to call the newbies because it didn’t pay to learn their names until they got their cherries popped by surviving their first mission or two. FNG or not, they were both still idiots for working for the Don guy.

After a bit of a struggle, I managed to push a few seat cushions behind his body to prop him more upright on the couch. Hell, it took more effort do that then it took to kill him. Since he was more or less upright, I was also able to remove his shoulder holster and adjust it to fit my body. Satisfied with the fit of the holster, I closed the dead dude’s eyes and covered his eyes with his sunglasses. If someone walked up on him, maybe they would think he was asleep instead of dead.  Well, maybe for a second or two.  The TV, I left on. It provided plenty of noise to cover just about anything I might do.

With the soccer fan taken care of and myself better armed, I slipped over to the main staircase. No movement from up there and no noise either.  Well, no one screaming or yelling anyway.  The TV pretty much ruined any chances of me over hearing anyone moving around up there.  I searched the main floor and found the servant’s quarters.  

The servant's quarters contained two sets of bunk beds with two dressers, a vanity, a couple of sitting chairs and a small LCD TV in the corner.  It looked very utilitarian and not at all up to the same standards as the rest of the house.  Can’t have the servants living on the same floor with the regular folks or give them nice furniture. They might start thinking above their station.

I also found two additional people that I might need to kill. There were two female targets sleeping in the bunk beds against the north wall of the room. The female on the top bunk looked to be in her late teens to very early twenties, while the bottom bunk occupant appeared to be in her mid-thirties to early forties.

They just worked here and didn’t deserve to die, but I also could not leave them unsecured.  I knew where I could get some rope to tie them down with, but I needed a good gag too.  They probably had something in their dressers that I could use, but pawing through those was too risky. I needed to find a linen closet or a bathroom with some towels that I could cut up for gags.  A nice thick bath towel makes a good gag.

I eased their door closed again and continue my search of the main level.  The Don’s office was the next room that I found.  His office was huge with a large expensive wooden desk with a long rectangular cutout off to the side and at an angle. I didn’t see a monitor, so I assumed that he had it made retractable. I didn’t spend any time looking for how to raise it because a quick glance under his desk showed me a Kahr 9mm attached to the desk via a magnetic holster to the underside of the desk with the barrel pointing toward the guest area and the trigger exposed. Kind of sneaky, but very predictable and it just goes to prove that even the bad guys know that Han shot first.

Past the desk and against the back wall there was a small set of file cabinets. The north wall was full of expensive looking leather bound books, so I ignored that wall. I did check the file cabinets for weapons, but all I found were partially full drawers with a few bits of paperwork. I could see that he was not a fan of filing or he just didn’t like leaving evidence of his criminal operations in easy to access locations.

The south wall had a large stuffed marlin mounted to it, along with scores of photos showing how manly he was. He looked rather pleased with himself posed next to a huge fresh caught marlin with the stern of an expensive and sleek looking yacht docked in the background.  I was able to make out the name of the yacht. I was called “El Conquistador” and with my new found appreciation for the Aztecs, I really disliked him even more. I hoped that the pictures on his wall were old because he looked pretty young, maybe 25 or 30 at the most. Far too young to have this much wealth.

The item on the wall that chilled me to the core was the garish nickel plated 45. It looked like the same 45 that the drug lord I killed almost 30 years ago had on him.  The framed college diploma made out to one Victor Rodriguez banged in the final nail on the coffin for me. The ‘Don’ had to be the grandson of the bastard I killed.  This family was actively trying to prove Darwin’s Theory of Evolution all by themselves.  

I noticed a conspicuously placed picture frame on that same wall and proved to be poorly hiding a wall mounted safe.   Unfortunately for me, the safe was closed and locked. It was also protected by a fancy cipher lock with a biometric finger pad.

The next room I found was the washroom.  I also found my gag materials for the maids and I cut the heavy duty towels into long strips to use as gags and ropes. I readied those because I would need to secure the maids before I searched the upstairs level for more hostiles. As thick and high quality as the towels were, I figured that I wouldn’t need to venture back down to the basement storage room for the rope. The main dining room was empty as well as the formal sitting room.

The maids proved to be more difficult and stressful for me than the two guards.  It is far easier to quietly and quickly kill someone than it is to quietly and quickly subdue them.  I started with the younger woman on the top bunk because I did not want her waking up and jumping down on me.  I climbed up the ladder and stood above her with my feet on each side of the bed to prevent disturbing her mattress as little as possible. She looked very young and pretty.  Well, not as young as me, she was maybe 18, but when you are 58, everyone under the age of 30 looks young to you. I really prayed to the Goddess that I would not need to kill her.

Knife in hand, I quickly lowered myself down and used my knees to pin her body down under her blankets as I covered her mouth with my hand.  As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was my face and the boning knife held at the ready.

“Don’t scream, because if you wake up your friend, then I will have to kill you both, comprende?” I said, whispering in perfect, unaccented Spanish.  I didn’t even realize that I had spoken in Spanish until after I said it. I had no idea how I managed that trick, but I guess the Goddess provided me with a language dump or something to help me.

Her eyes immediately began to tear up with fear, but she nodded her head once to show me that she understood.  Now for the really stressful part.  Removing my hand from her mouth and gagging her.  

“Roll over.” I said, whispering as I lifted myself off of her body and pulled her blankets aside.  Thank the Goddess that she followed my instructions.  I quickly gagged, and then hog tied her hands to her feet behind her back.  Not the most comfortable of positions, but it would keep her very secure and helpless.  At least, she had her bed and pillow to lie on.  It really sucks to be hog tied and on a hard floor for hours at a time.  

I didn’t make a lot of noise, but there was still enough to make me nervous. Thankfully, her bunkmate did not wake up. As I climbed down from the top bunk, I held my fingers over my lips as a warning her.  Her pillow was soaked with her tears and she was softly whimpering through her gag, but she didn’t scream or go out of her way to make noise.

The older woman on the bottom bunk proved to be harder. She was so panicked by my appearance that she flailed around for almost 10 seconds before I had to press the flat of my blade against her neck to help her focus on my words.

“Quiet! Don’t make me kill you.” I said, whispering in her ear.

In hindsight, I probably should have said something a bit less threatening, but it worked. She stopped struggling and trying to scream. Her partner on the top bunk whimpered even more during that time.  The older woman looked like she could be the mother of the woman on the top bunk and that would not have surprised me in the least.  Jobs are hard to get in Mexico and nepotism was very common.

Once she was gagged and hogtied, I double checked the younger woman on the top bunk. Her bindings were still secure and yes, she did look like the older woman’s daughter.  

“Stay here and do not try to escape. If I have to come back before I have killed the rest of the animals, I will not be happy.” I said, softly enough for them both to hear as I left their room.  

They were both crying pretty good now, but they quickly nodded their heads to show me that they understood. I really hoped that they decided to stay put. I made another cautious circuit of the main level. Just to make sure that no other hostiles decided to join the party.

I climbed the main staircase to the upper floor and the first room I checked was a winner.  My buddy Juan, aka Shifty, was passed out on the top of a naked mattress.  Based on that and the still open window, I guessed that this must have been Melody’s room. I smiled when I noticed a half empty bottle of cheap tequila on the nightstand next to the bed.  I needed more ropes, but I needed to clear the rest of the floor first.

The remaining five guest rooms on this floor were empty and so was the huge master bedroom.  The master bedroom confused me.  Well, the closet did.  It was full of expensive men’s clothes, but there was a small section in the back of the closet with some expensive looking women’s clothing and shoes.  By small, I mean 15 to 20 dresses and only 10 pairs of women’s shoes.  

At first, I thought that that The Don Rodriguez was a closet crossdresser, but based on the men’s clothes and shoes, the women’s clothing were all too small.  Maybe the clothes belonged to an ex-girlfriend or something. There were also two black plastic trash bags on the floor.

I was a little worried about the first bag.  Based on the shape of the objects inside the bag and a stray bit of long blond hair showing from the top, I expected to find the bag filled with human heads. I hate to say it, but it would not have been the first time I have seen a bag of human heads before, but no, it was only 4 or 5 Styrofoam mannequin heads and wigs thrown haphazardly into the bag.  The wigs appeared to be high quality wigs, maybe even real human hair wigs.

The second bag was full of a mixture of women’s panties, bras, socks, nylons, t-shirts and jeans. Basically, clothing that would belong in a dresser. Did The Don kick out his last girlfriend or something and why didn’t she take her clothes?

I did find a big ass Desert Eagle .50 under the pillow of his King sized bed though. In my old body, I might have ‘secured’ it in my pack, but it was just too big for my body now. I did hide the Desert Eagle’s mag and empty the chamber before I left the room though. Big fish on his office wall, big yacht, big house, and big ass hand cannon under the pillow and nice fucking car in the garage; He must be trying to compensate for something.

I also found a bowl full of random spare change mixed with a few 100 Dollar, 100 Peso and 200 Peso bills. I brushed them aside to see if there was anything else hiding under them.

“Hello, what do we have here?” I said, whispering with amazement when I found his Audi R8 keys sitting below the bills. I longingly held them in my hand for a few seconds before I dropped them back into the bowl with a sigh.

The master bath was also drool worthy and I found some women’s cosmetics randomly jammed into a drawer.  Yeah, something did not go well with his ex-girlfriend. I could see a woman leaving a few dresses or pairs of shoes, but not their cosmetics or intimates.

The mirror captured my attention for a minute or two.  My field expedient mud camouflage was starting to wear off, but even where it had rubbed or flaked off my skin; my skin was still stained a pale brown instead of pale target white. With all the mud mottling my body and face, I really did look rather scary in a beautiful kind of way. My hair was a tangled mess, but that added to the overall effect.  My eyes also drew my attention.  They were a brilliant emerald green color that really stood out due to the dark mud that stained my face.  No wonder why the maids were so scared of me. Hell, even I would be a little worried if I saw some girl who looked like this coming at me in the dark. I looked a little crazy and crazy is dangerous.

I liked what I saw, but as I studied myself in the mirror, I caught sight of a familiar object sitting on top of the towel reservoir.

“Fucking A!” I said, whispering with amazement.

The fucker had an USMC K-Bar knife sitting in its genuine USMC Made in Mexico leather sheath next to the shitter. What in the hell was he so worried about and why would he have a knife here?  If he was so worried about getting whacked while on the shitter, why not the Desert Eagle or something that didn’t require you to pull your pants back up to use?

I felt a little dubious about the blade. It was almost too good to be true, but the blade was razor sharp and in perfect condition. While the kitchen knife was a pretty good tool, I dumped it in favor of the K-Bar.  When your target absolutely, positively has to be dead overnight. Accept no substitutes.

I clipped the K-Bar to my bikini bottoms on my left hip. Yep, I looked even scarier now and I liked it.

Finally, I appropriated and modified a few more towels to use as restraints for Shifty. I also grabbed some belts from The Don’s closet.  Except for the soccer game still playing downstairs, there were no further sounds to indicate that anyone returned or discovered their dead buddies. That was a good sign. I entered Shifty’s room and closed the window. It would not be good to have the screams I planned Senor Shifty to make, be heard by anyone outside the house.    

I studied the animal passed out on the mattress for a few seconds. I was not sure how I wanted to go about making his remaining time on this earth as painful as possible.  I could just kill him now.  That would not even require a lot of effort, but I did not think that I would feel satisfied by that and I doubt that Chalchiuhtlicue would either.  No, Shifty deserved something special.  He deserved to be a sacrifice performed old school Aztec style and for that he needed to be tied down.

Brute strength was not the approach that I could take with Shifty. No, he required a more subtle touch.  I set the mp5 on the floor, then like a little mud covered geisha; I gently kneeled by his side on the mattress. He didn’t stir. Next, I pulled the k-bar from its sheath and placed it beside me on my right side and out of his reach in case I needed to use it on him.

I studied his face for a second before I could dredge up the courage to do what had to be done.  I began to slowly unbutton his shirt while whispering sweet nothings in his ear. Once his shirt was unbuttoned, I slowly and gently rubbed his chest with my hands as I continued to whisper in his ear. That took more effort than I expected. I hated him so much that the thought of what I was doing to him made me feel like throwing up.  

He began to respond to my touch by smiling in his sleep as his pants began to tent.

“Oh yeah, you like this, don’t you lover? Let me give you more...” I whispered, breathlessly in Spanish as I started working on maneuvering his left arm above his head. It was so hard to not gag on my own words, but I kept going. It was just one more dirty job that had to be done.

“...you’re such a stud...” I said while I thought ‘disgusting animal’ instead of ‘stud’.  

I used a slip-knot to bind his left wrist with a thick strip of towel and secured it to the bedpost. The slip-knot would just get tighter the more he struggled when he finally woke up. I didn’t care that it would also cut off the circulation to his hands in the process.  I also twisted the towel like a rope to keep it from tearing when he pulled on it.

“Uhhhh, you make me feel so, wet...” I said, whispering as I leaned over his body and wrapped his right wrist in another thick strip of towel using a slip-knot again.

“Sick and the only wet I want to feel is your blood!”

“Oh yeah, you’re so fucking hot...” I said as I grabbed my knife and cautiously stepped over his body to kneel at his right side so that I could tie off his right arm to the other bedpost.

His hips started to slowly grind back and forth.  His dick was really tenting his pants and it was probably getting a little uncomfortable for him. I did not want him to wake up just yet.

“Oh my, you look so uncomfortable...let me help you with that....” I said, whispering in his ear as I unbuttoned his pants. I made sure to exhale so that he would feel my warm breath against his ear.  I remembered how much that turned me on when a woman did that to me.

I just about puked when I had to reach in and adjust his penis for him, but as soon as I did, his body relaxed once more.  Feeling disgusted, I wiped my hand against the bed.

“Oh yeah baby, I’m going to fuck you so good.” Juan mumbled in his sleep.

That was what he said to me just before he raped me. I tasted some bile in my throat and it took all of my self control to not barf and kill him right then and there. He was going to suffer and with that promise, I worked my way down his body, teasing his dick by rubbing it through his pants. I dry heaved once before I could regain control of myself. I did not want to touch the repulsive thing again!  Unless it was to cut the fucker off.

For his right leg, since Shifty was still wearing pants, I used one of The Don’s belts to secure his leg to the bedpost.

“Oh my goddess, you are just so...dreamy. I can’t wait to fuck you...up.”  I said, softly as moved over to his left side and started to wrap his left leg in another belt.  The ‘up’ part, I whispered more to myself.

He started to wake up. I left his left leg alone and grabbed my knife. Maybe he would fall back to sleep, but I guess that the bindings were uncomfortable enough to wake him all the way up. He was confused and he started to weakly struggle against the ropes.

I could not have that.  So, I slammed the haft of my knife into his sternum and followed that up with rabbit punch to his nuts with my left. That took the wind out of his sails and I easily finished securing his left leg to the bedpost.  

“What the fuck!?” Shifty yelled, slurring his words as he tried to pull his arms down.  He tugged a few times and I moved over to stand on his left side. That is when he finally saw me. He started to violently thrash around in an attempt to break free, but the towels around his wrists held and so did the leather belts around his feet.

I smiled with satisfaction as I held my k-bar up where he could see it. “Hello Juan. I bet that you didn’t expect to see me again. Especially, since you and your buddies raped and left me for dead.”

He started to scream bloody murder and flail around even harder. So, I had to punch him in his nuts again. Except this time, I made sure to get them good.  That stopped him from trying to escape his bindings, but it did not shut him up.  Not that I really cared about what he had to say because it seemed like the only words he knew were too dirty for my young ears.

I stepped up, onto the bed and straddled his body as I absently tested the blade of my knife.  “If you are trying to make enough noise to bring your friends in here to save you, you can stop now.  They are all dead.” I said, softly so that he would have to stop yelling to hear me.

“Get off me, you crazy bitch!” He yelled.

“Tsk, Tsk, Tsk.” I put the tip of my blade in his shoulder, just above his heart and where it would not hit anything vital. “Now, that is no way to talk to a girl Juan.” I said as I rammed my knife into his body and left it there.

“Ahhhhhh!” He screamed and thrashed around some more. I could see his hands starting to turn purple.

“Oops.  Did I just accidentally stab you?” I asked with mock concern.

“You fucking crazy bitch! I’m going to kill you!” He screamed.

I looked down at my mud covered body, and then shyly smiled at him. “But, Juan, you already did.”

His face turned a delightful shade of white as he finally rubbed enough tequila drowned brain cells together to really see me and put two and two together.

“Ahhhh! Get off me! Get off me!” He bucked and screamed until I reached back and squeezed his abused nuts with my hand.

He screamed in agony and I was actually surprised that he could still feel anything down there with all the nut shots he took.  “Now, now, now.  Isn’t that what I said.... and how well did that work?” I asked with a mock pout.

He started to cry and beg. “I didn’t mean to. Please don’t kill me!”

I slowly took out my SP9 from my holster.  His eyes widened in panic and he begged and pleaded even more.

“Shut up.” I said, both disinterested and bored with what he had to say to me.

[Whack!]

I pistol whipped him across his face and that finally got him to shut up. Yes, I know that going all Hollywood on him could affect the point of aim and it was very unprofessional of me. I would have just punched him, but with my size and weight, I doubted that I could have made enough of an impact. Plus, I didn’t want to accidentally break a knuckle or a finger.  

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?” I asked, innocently.

Shifty started to cry, beg and plead for his life now, but I ignored him. “Well, now that I have your full attention, here is what is going to happen.” I pulled my knife out of his shoulder and was rewarded with an excellent blood curdling scream of pain from him.

“You crazy bitch!  You don’t know who you’re fucking with! When Don Rodriguez finds out he is going to kill you and your parents!”

“Interesting, tell me more. Why did he kidnap me?” I asked as I dragged the bloody tip of my blade across his chest, leaving a shallow line of blood as the tip scratched his skin until I stopped at his left shoulder.

“I can’t tell you! He’ll kill me!” Shifty said, crying with pain and fear.

I slammed my knife into his other shoulder.

“Ahhhhhh! Okay, okay!  He wants your father to make him some new wonder drug!  Please stop!  I’ll tell you everything!” Shifty said, openly weeping in pain now.

“What were his plans if your friends couldn’t find me or I was dead?” I asked.

“I don’t know...” Shifty said.

I wiggled the knife a little inside his shoulder causing him to scream in pain again.

“Okay! Okay!  He said that if we couldn’t find you, that he would have to grab your parents!”

“When?”

“I don’t....” Shifty stopped himself. “Tomorrow! Tomorrow morning! He said that if we didn’t find you tonight, then he would have to grab your parents in the morning!”

I pulled my knife out and he screamed again. I was really starting to get tired of hearing him scream.  I needed to get this over with. The three hunting for me back at the ruins were probably on their way back by now.

I dragged the tip of my blade down to the bottom of his rib cage, leaving a trail of blood as the knife cut into his skin.  

“Ahhhhhh!!! Please, please, please...have mercy! Don’t kill me!”

Oh, that was rich. I laughed. “Like you had mercy on me when you and your friends raped me as I begged for you to stop?  I’m sorry, but you fucked up. One, you raped me, which was bad enough, but two, you also raped me on the sacrificial altar of Chalchiuhtlicue and boy was she fucking pissed.”

“No, no, no! I didn’t know! It’s not my fault! It was Hector’s idea!” Juan said, his eyes desperately searching for something, anything to save him.

“Well, isn’t that convenient? Hector is already dead. So, I can’t really ask him now can I?” I asked, tilting my head to the side, pretending to be disappointed with his answer.

He pissed his pants, and then flushed with embarrassment. “Please...” Juan said, blubbering almost incoherently.

I glanced over at the clock next to the bed. Then, I wiped my knife off on his pant legs before I put it back in my sheath. “Well, I am sorry lover boy...” I patted his leg. “...but I think that I need to ready a warm welcome for our buddy Carlos and his two friends when they give up trying to find me.”  

I turned and started to leave the bedroom. “Hey! Where are you going bitch?!? I’m bleeding here and I can’t feel my hands!” Shifty yelled.

That made me smile. I could not have asked for a better prompt. “Oh crap! I like almost totally forgot! Chalchiuhtlicue wants your heart. Silly of me to forget something like that!” I said as I pulled out my knife again, set my mp5 down on the bed between his legs and kneeled back down on his right side so that I could face the door in case we had invited guests.

“Hey! What are you doing!?!?” Shifty screamed.

I have patched up a lot of fellow soldiers and dealt with more than my fair share of sucking chest wounds, but I have never performed open heart surgery.  I knew that I could not break through his rib cage to get to his heart. I would have to come up, from below to reach it. “Oh yes...” I put the point of my blade just below the bottom rib on the right rib cage. “Here it is. I think. This might sting a bit...”

I thrust the blade in at an angle, up and into his chest cavity. Then, I sliced across his chest to the other side of his rib cage; creating a slot for my left hand. Oh yeah, it hurt. He screamed and writhed in agony as his blood gushed out of the wound. Next, I grimaced with distaste as I reached into his chest cavity with my left hand and found his heart.

Shifty was in such exquisite agony, but he was a trooper; he had not passed out, yet.  I kind of expected him beg more, but apparently, he was in too much pain to form a coherent word. I pulled, and then used my knife to sever the arteries holding his heart in place.  It came out of his chest and he sagged. His eyes, filled with horror, remained focused on his heart that I now held in my left hand as blood drained down my arm.

Amazingly, he was somehow still alive and conscious.

“Oh, look...you did have a heart.” I said with a smirk. Then, I walked over, opened the window wide and held Shifty’s heart and my bloody knife up to the moon as his blood dripped down my arms.

“Chalchiuhtlicue, please accept this offering and thank you for allowing me to achieve vengeance for this man’s crimes against us.” I said, softly as tears began to spill from my eyes.

Other than the mess running down my arm, I didn’t really expect anything to happen, but I guess that I should have.  In my hand, his heart erupted into pale, ghostly flames that flickered and licked their way down my arm, following the blood. Cold and unearthly, the flames danced in the moonlight as his heart and blood were consumed without burning me in the process.

I glanced back at Shifty. His face was frozen in horror from watching his own heart burn up. I don’t know if he actually lived long enough to watch his heart burn up or how he even stayed conscious while I cut his heart out, but I felt pretty damn happy that he was dead. I glanced down at arms and hands, expecting them to be covered in blood, but instead, I only found perfectly pale and clean skin. Even my knife was clean of blood.

Damn it! Now I had to do something about camouflaging my hands and arms again.

I ran into the bathroom and got my hands wet. Then, as I headed back down to the servant’s quarters, rubbed some dirt back onto my arms and hands from the rest of my body. It wasn’t perfect, but it got rid of my pale target white skin tone.

The two maids screamed and whimpered into their gags even more when I entered their room.  “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I just have a few more animals to kill, and then I will be done.” I said as I checked their bindings. They were still trussed up pretty securely and it looked like they tried to escape, but my work held; just like I expected it too.

“I am sorry if you are uncomfortable, but I have to leave you like this. If I am able to, I will come back and let you go.” I said as I climbed down to check on the older woman’s bindings.

I felt a little bad for them.  They both looked positively terrorized by me and I am sure that they heard Shifty’s screams.  That had to be messing with their heads, but I had a mission to finish and they could cause problems for me if they worked their way loose.

The operation clock was ticking. From the time that I found the mansion to now was 30 minutes.  Carlos and his buddies had to have given up on finding me by now.  Since Carlos and his buddies could be getting back any second now, I treated the house as insecure as I cautiously made my way down and into the basement level. It would not be good to just run into them.

I walked over to the doors that lead out to the pool area and flipped off the switch labeled “Piscina”.  Just in case that wasn’t the correct switch, I closed my dominant eye and stepped outside. The motion light above the door did not come on.

Crappy mp5 tucked into my shoulder and ready to service targets, I slipped over to the balcony that overlooked the valley below and the direction that I had came from. About a half of a mile away, I spotted the intermittent flicker of light coming through the trees down in the valley below me. That could only be Carlos and his buddies returning. Based on the difficult terrain and the fact that they were probably not in a rush to return empty handed, I estimated that I had between 20 and 30 minutes, tops, before they got back to the mansion.  

Hmmmm, I decided to see if I could get into that cipher-locked room.  I rubbed my finger tips on the dried mud on my legs, then lightly across each number on the keypad.  Next, I used the tape on each number and I was pleased when my CSI watching days paid off for me. The five, eight, nine and one keys were the four keys that had fingerprints on them.  Hmm, that looked suspiciously like it could be a year.  The owner wouldn’t be that stupid, would he?

1985

[Beep][Click]

Yes, he was. I opened the door and holy fucking shit!

It was his arsenal and from what I could see, his stuff was much better than the crap he gave his men.  Thank the Goddess for Fast and Furious because he had an M4A1 with all the goodies just waiting for me. Actually, he had five of them, but one was plenty for me.  I dumped the cheap ass mp5 clone and the Smith and Wesson 9mm from the soccer fan.  

“Holy fucking shit!” I said, whispering with amazement as my eyes tried to pop out of my head.

I spotted the carrying case for an M4 SOPMOD Block II kit. So, I grabbed that, plus the M4 and set them both on the room’s workbench.  Then, I rapidly disassembled the M4 to check it out, then satisfied, I reassembled it. I was a little bit slower than my best time, but I still managed to get that all done in less than a minute.

Fearing that the SOPMOD kit was just an evil trick to get my hopes up, I cautiously opened it with one eye closed so that if it was not what I expected, only half my brain would be disappointed.  I had to open my eye to prevent excitement overload on the other half of my brain. It was a complete and brand new kit. Not wanting to waste any more time, I threaded the suppressor onto the barrel to reduce noise and almost eliminate muzzle flash. After a second of internal debate, I also attached the EOTech 553 Holographic Sight to use for aiming my weapon at night.

Next, I grabbed 10 spare magazines and a 1000 round box of 5.56mm ammo for the M4. The damn ammo box was a bit of a struggle to lift.  I had to use both hands and even then it was a struggle to lift it up and onto the workbench. No upper body strength, check. I used to be able to carry four of the damn things pretty easily. So, I was feeling a bit wimpy, even if I had a good excuse. I quickly popped the top and loaded the first three mags with 25 rounds each. Each magazine held 30, but I knew that filling it to capacity was more likely to cause feed jams. I looked around for what else I could use.

I spotted an adjustable MOLLE Vest that I could use to hold my extra mags and even attach my K-Bar’s sheath to instead of having the metal clip dig into my hip or pull down my bikini. I grabbed the vest and was delighted to discover that it looked like I could make it fit me. I had to tighten every strap all the way to their stops and it was still a little loose, but it was something that I could work with it.

Oh Goddess, I was literally a kid in a candy store in here.  I spotted a Glock 17, but next to it was a H&K USP tactical 9MM with a suppressor kit for its threaded barrel.

*Drool*

I snatched it up, along with its holster and attached the H&K’s holster near the bottom of my vest and on the left side so that I could easily draw it; If I needed to drop the M4. However, if it came to that; I was truly in a world of shit.

I found the three spare mags for the USP, but I was worried about the time. So, I only loaded one before I slapped it into the USP, racked the slide, put it on safe and snugged it into its holster. Finally, I grabbed the mag carriers for the vest and loaded my spare mags onto the vest, attached the K-Bar and put the vest on.  I had to quickly redistribute a few things to make it feel right, but I was rather pleased with the results.

I wished that I had more time to search the room, but I needed to be gone. With that in mind, I grabbed the M4, seated a mag, cocked the loading lever and flipped the selector lever for semi-auto fire mode as I left the arms room. Just in case they made better time than I expected, I cautiously made my way back to the doors that lead out to the pool area. I didn’t spot any motion, so I crept out, M4 slotted into my shoulder and ready to service targets.

Staying low, I ghosted over to the railing and lying on my belly; I spotted my new best friends trudging up the hill about 250 meters away. Sighting through the kit optics, my buddy Carlos was in the middle, a perfect asshole sandwich.  I wished that I had been able to zero my weapon, but maybe with the suppressor, I could get in an extra shot or two before they even noticed that they were being shot at.  They were certainly making enough noise to not hear my weapon and with the suppressor, they wouldn’t see the muzzle flash either.

“I’m so excited!” by the Pointer Sisters flashed through my mind before I took a slow breath to calm my breathing as I lined up my first shot.

I waited until they were 100 meters downrange and a little more in the open before I fired my first shot. I aimed for the head of the asshole in the trailer position and squeezed the trigger between heart beats.

[Pffftt!]

Miss, damn it!  The sights were off, but I expected that. The M4 was probably still using the factory settings and I was a little too high, but none of them noticed.  Instead of messing with the sights, I applied some Kentucky windage and adjusted my aim and squeezed the trigger once again.  

[Pffftt!]

He fell backwards and his asshole buddies were swearing too much to even notice him falling.  I adjusted aim for the lead asshole.

[Pffftt!]

He dropped like a marionette whose strings had been cut, spraying a fine mist of blood on my buddy Carlos’ face.  

“What the fuck!? Watch where the fuck you’re...” Carlos yelled wiped his hand across his face.  He probably thought his buddy had spit on him or something, but then he noticed that his buddy was lying boneless, face down on the ground and not moving.  

It was just about then that it looked like he was figuring out that something wasn’t right and that it was not spit that he wiped off his face.

[Pffftt!]

I shot his leg and I was rewarded with a scream as he fell to the ground and clutched his leg. Oh yeah, that looked like it hurt. I smiled when he crawled over to the lead asshole and grabbed his mp5.  He looked scared. He probably thought that his boss was trying to kill him for being an idiot.  

“Juan!? Don Rodriguez!? Victor!? What is happening?” Carlos yelled as he started to aim the mp5 up and towards the mansion.

“Sorry ya fucking turd, but I am going to kill you, you sick degenerate little fucker.” I said with a whisper as I squeezed the trigger once again.

[Pffftt!]

He screamed in agony and dropped the mp5 when I put a round through his right shoulder. That was my cue.  Keeping my head low, I scooted over to the edge of the pool area, and then ghosted down the hill until I was level with his position.  He hadn’t moved, but he was sobbing in pain as he desperately tried to tie a rag around his leg with one hand.

He did not notice me until I placed the suppressor equipped muzzle of my M4 against his temple. If the goddess dropped down or up or from wherever she is and claimed my soul right then, I would gladly go; Happy with the knowledge that Carlos was literally scared shitless by my sudden appearance. His face turned absolutely white as all the blood drained out of his head, followed immediately by the crap from his bowels.  Then, he passed out.

Damn it!  

I forgot to find something to stake his ass down so that I could cut out his heart.  He also stank to high heaven, but that didn’t stop me. It just made me want to get it done with sooner, but I also wanted to verify the intel that Shifty gave me.

I sighed with frustration.

What to do, what to do?  

I think that I saw some camping equipment in the storage room.  There should be something I could use to hold him down in that. Not knowing when he might wake back up and try to leave, I shot him in his other leg.  That didn’t wake him up, but it made me feel better.  He wasn’t going anywhere now.  

I carefully made my way back up the hill, but instead of just running inside the mansion; I checked to make sure the room was clear before I rushed inside.  It would suck for me if the maids figured a way out of their bindings and had arranged an ambush for me.  Okay, not that likely  a scenario, but it’s the details that will kill ya.

Hell, the Don Rodriguez dude could have returned with his entire posse and be waiting for me too.  They would have to be a fucking elite posse for me to not have heard them, but again, it could happen.

Nope, the mansion was silent and I could only assume that the maids were either still in their room or they had managed to slip their bindings and escape. Right now, it did not matter either way because I had Carlos to play with.

I grabbed the tent and extracted the tent stakes from the bag. Then, I grabbed the rope and made my way back down to my buddy Carlos.

Thankfully, he was still unconscious. So, I pounded the tent pegs into the ground with a rock, then I used the rope to tie his body, spread eagle against the hillside.  I waited for a good five minutes and I was just thinking about running back up the damn hill to get some water to splash him with when he came to.

He was not happy to see me.  He screamed and thrashed against the ropes in a blind panic.  They all held.  I smiled at him when he finally ran out of steam.

“What are you?” He asked, wailing in fear.

Honestly? I did not actually know. Was I really here or was I back in Florida having the most vivid drug induced dream ever?  I was tempted to tell him, “I am your worst fucking nightmare. I am a pissed off rape victim with a gun.”, but instead, I said, “Chalchiuhtlicue’s vengeance...”

He almost passed out on me again. I saw his eyes start to roll back in his head, so I dug my foot into the wound on his leg. That made him scream again.  I debated fucking with him like I did with Juan, but I was feeling a little impatient.  Melody’s parents were in trouble and I worried about them.  

I questioned Carlos just to confirm what Creepy told me.  Actually, Carlos was able to provide me with one additional bit of intel.  Don Rodriguez was staying on his yacht and it was docked in Salina Cruz’s harbor. I didn’t bother asking him why he raped me. I didn’t care. In the end, his heart went up in flames just like Shifty’s heart did.

I felt emotionally drained and thoroughly conflicted as I made my way back up the hill for the last time. On one hand, I was pretty damn satisfied with myself and what I accomplished with so little to work with in the beginning.  I was also pretty damn happy to be young and a girl. Being a 12 year old girl was a bit of an adjustment, but I did it. So, on that side, I was one happy little mushroom.

One the other hand, I was feeling very concerned for Melody’s parents. Now that I had avenged her, was the goddess going to come and take me away?  What would happen to Melody? Was Melody even alive anymore? Other than that brief ghost of emotion when I saw her bikini, I wasn’t sure if she was.

I ignored Creepy’s body as I walked past it on my way a pool side table and chair set. I set my M4 carefully down on the table and sat down on the chair.  Then, I realized that I had not checked my M4. It was a habit born from many mission and experience. Never put your weapon away without checking it first because the first time that you didn’t check it; that would be the time that an easily corrected deficiency would get you killed. I checked the chamber and the mag, then satisfied, I loaded a full mag and put my M4 back down on the table.

Before I could sit back down, I decided to check on the maids. I should have done that first, just to make sure that they were still secure, but I had a lot on my mind. I debated just pulling the USP out and leaving the M4 behind, but habit prevented me from taking more than two steps away from my weapon. Never let your weapon out of your sight and unguarded. I carefully stepped back inside the mansion and headed back up to the servant quarters.

They whimpered in fear when I entered the room and that made me feel like a bad person. Okay, I guess that, technically, I was a bad person, but sometimes it takes a bad person to make things right.  I could not just leave them hogtied for who knows how long before someone came to release them.

“Okay, sorry about all this, but the Don’s men are all dead now.  I am going to release you, but please don’t try anything. I don’t want to have to kill you.”  I said.  I was still a little curious about how I was able to understand and speak Spanish fluently now, but the Goddess did say something about not looking a gift horse in the mouth.  

They both nodded their heads frantically in agreement. So, I started with the older woman on the bottom bunk.  She panicked a little when I drew my k-bar, but relaxed with visible relief when I only cut her bindings off. Then, she quickly huddled back against the wall as far away from me as possible. So, I let her remove her own gag. I did not think that she would appreciate me using my knife for that anyway.

The younger woman was less fearful of me. She actually looked a little angry when I cut her loose.  As soon as her hands were free, she ripped off her gag and I jumped down.

“Momma? Are you okay?” She asked, sounding pitiful and concerned.

“Rosalita? Yes, are you okay?” Rosalita’s mother asked.

I stood in the center of the room, relaxed, but with my M4 ready on the off chance that they tried to rush me.  With a scowl at me, Rosalita climbed down and joined her mother on the bottom bunk.  I debated just leaving them here, but I could not take the chance.

“Grab your pillows and a blanket or two. We are going to the basement and you two are going to stay in the storage room so that I don’t have to tie you back up or kill you. I really don’t want to have to do that, but I will if you force me to,” I said, feeling and sounding emotionally numb.

Rosalita almost yelled at me, but her mother held her back with a fearful glance at me.  “No! Do what she says.”

I smiled in response and gestured toward the door. “Please, I am a little tired of killing right now.”

They both grabbed their pillows and a blanket. I waited until they were a few paces in front of me before I followed them down to the basement; ready to snap my weapon up for a hip shot if need be and at this range, it would be hard to miss.  I directed them into the storage room and gave the room one last once over for anything they could use as a weapon. I did not spot anything that anyone short of myself could whip together in a pinch. It really is amazing what you can make with simple household cleaning chemicals.

Satisfied that they would not be a threat, I closed and locked the door. Then, I walked back to the pool area as I felt the weight of the world settle onto my now tiny girl shoulders.  Melody’s parents were in danger and they were probably worried sick about their little girl.  They didn’t know what had happened to her or if they were ever going to see her again. Hell, even I didn’t know that.

I automatically began to think of an op plan to rescue them, but I did not like the odds.  Even if, right this second, I rushed into town and pulled them out of their hotel; How would I get them to safety? In addition to his goons, Don Rodriguez probably had a few cops and politicians on his payroll.  The American Embassy was in Mexico City and a long way from here. If I we were exceptionally lucky, we might have an hour or two before The Don realized his pigeons had flown the coup.  That still left him plenty of time to find and kill us enroute to Mexico City.

“Oh fuck...what’s the use?  I killed the bastards that raped Melody. My mission is done...” I said as tears of frustration began to fill my eyes.

The caked on mud started to really irritate me. Especially when the mud around my eyes started to absorb my tears and run down my face. I stripped off the MOLLE vest and set it on the table next to my M4. Once again, I managed to only get a step or two away from my weapons before I felt naked.  I pulled the K-Bar with its sheath off the vest and clipped it back onto my bikini bottoms. Then, I set the M4 on top of the vest next to the edge of the pool, where I could get to it quickly and without exposing myself to fire.

With my Combat OCD satisfied, I tested the water with my toes and reassured that it wasn’t freezing cold; I jumped in feet first. When my head went under the water, I felt an overwhelming sense of panic hit me from out of nowhere.

{“Oh my god! What’s happening?!”} Melody screamed from inside my head as I felt my body thrash around on its own.

She of the Jade Skirt

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

** Part III **

If she kept this up, we would both end up drowning.

{“Melody! Calm down.”} I said as I fought her for control.  It took me a second or two, but I managed to relax our body and we floated to the surface. I coughed and grabbed onto the edge of the pool.

{“Whhhho are you?! Where am I!? What’s happening?!”} Melody said, stuttering with fright.

My heart, our heart, went out for her. I felt my eyes beginning to sting and it wasn’t from the chlorinated water. I just wanted to hug her so badly and tell her that she was safe and that everything would be all right.  

{“I’m sorry Melody...”} I started to say, but I felt so overwhelmed and confused because it was at that moment that I realized that I didn’t know the answers to her questions either.

Who am I?  Was I still Donald James Wolf?

Where am I? Was I really here or was I back in my room in the hospice having a very vivid dream?  

Everything felt so real.  Chalchiuhtlicue presence felt real. Did I take the red or the blue pill? The emergence of Melody threw everything I thought I knew on its head. What is really happening?

It was then that I realized that I was sitting on the steps inside the pool. Melody was hugging and gently rocking me back and forth. Well, she was hugging and rocking herself, but it felt like she was hugging me. It felt good. I decided to just relax and enjoy the feeling.

{“Thanks Melody...”}

{“Ummm, no problem, but this is a little weird.  What’s going on? Who are you? Why can I hear you inside my head? Are you an alien?”}

She had me seriously considering how to best answer her questions; all the way until her last question.  That one did me in and I laughed.

{“Hey! It’s not funny!”} Melody said, full of indignation.

{“I’m sorry Melody, but I don’t think that I am an alien.”} I said, still feeling amused by both her question and her reaction.

{“Okay then, what are you and how are we talking to each other?”}

That question brought me back to earth. {“Honestly?  I don’t know.”}

I could feel her confusion and she wanted to say something, but I decided to just charge ahead and rip the bandaid off.

{“Up until an hour ago, I was a 58 year old ex-Navy SEAL who was dying from a host of issues, including cancer. Now, as to how we are talking to each other right now...I have no clue about that either.”}  I laughed at the absurdity of the situation, but Melody didn’t say anything. If anything, I sensed that she felt curious instead of alarmed by the idea that some 58 year old dude was in her head.

{“Okay, well, it is a little weird, but at the same time, kind of cool. I mean, I always wondered what it would be like to have mental telepathy, but if you were a SEAL, then why do you sound like a woman?”}

That question surprised me. {“What do you mean?”}

{“I mean, I thought that SEALs were all men, but when you talk to me, you sound like a woman. Shouldn’t you sound like a dude?”}

If I was surprised before, I was really surprised now and I didn’t know how to explain it to her. I was more afraid of freaking her out if I told her the truth. {“Ummm, maybe my voice changed to make you feel more at ease with me in your body?”} I said, hesitantly as I glance over at my M4 assault rifle. I felt my Combat OCD kick in again. So, I swam over to the edge of the pool until I was next to my gear.

{“How did you do that?”} Melody asked.

{“Do what?”} I said, absently as I visually checked over my weapon.  The routine helped to distract me from the issue at hand.

{“Take over...are you sure that you’re not some alien or something?”} Melody asked, dubiously.

I could almost imagine her standing next to me with her arms crossed and her head canted to the side with a look of disbelief on her face. That made me smile. {“Hehe...No, I am most ‘definitely’, not an alien. I don’t know how I took over and I don’t know exactly why I sound like a woman to you. Maybe it is like I said, so that I don’t creep you out as much?”} I said, hopeful that she would buy it.

{“Hmm, I’m not sure about that. It feels like you are afraid to tell me the truth. Are you sure that you’re not really a girl?”} Melody asked, not buying my explanation at all.

*Sigh*

{“I’m sorry Melody, but I have some trust issues and I am afraid that if I told you the truth; you wouldn’t like me.”}  I felt a lump forming in my throat. It took all my self control to not cry. Melody was the primary protectee. It was my job to keep her safe and from all of my past protection jobs; I knew that getting too close to your primary was bad. It made you react in ways that could get you both killed. Maybe if I adopted that mental mindset, things would be easier.  Of course, that mindset was a little harder to follow through on when you happened to be sharing bodies with the person you were supposed to protect.

{“Hey, it’s okay. It can wait. I’m sorry, umm, what is your name?”} Melody said, softly and supportively leaving me feeling like she was leaning over my shoulder and hugging me.

{“Ummm, it’s Donald James Wolf, formerly Chief Petty Officer, United States Navy.”} I said, hating the sound of my own name.

{“I’m sorry, but that won’t work!”} Melody said, triumphant mixed with mischievous. {“Navy, yes, but you just don’t sound like a Donald or Don to me. How about Dawn? That’s kinda close, right?”}

I hesitated. I did not like ‘Dawn’ and I found her eagerness to find me a female name to be very
surprising, pleasantly surprising. {“I don’t know Melody. It’s kind of too close to my real name.”}

“Hmmm, Donna? No...that doesn’t feel right. Doris? Yuck, never mind. Denise? More ditto. I know a girl in school named Denise. She’s a total b.i.t.c.h. Oh! I know, Danica! I can call you Dani for short. What do ya think?”

I feel like crying, but I can’t let her know that.  I can’t believe that she picked Danica/Dani. {“I, umm, I kind of like that name.  Reminds me of my daughter, Danielle.”}

{“Oh, I’m sorry. Is that why you’re so sad? I can come up with something else...”}

{“No! I mean, no. I love it. Thanks Melody.”} I said, fighting back tears.

{“Awesome!”} Melody’s excitement was infectious. {“Dani...I like it and I’m glad you like it. It fits you. Not sure why, but it just does.”}

{“Thanks.”} I said, happy with her acceptance.  Maybe she would not freak out if I told her about how I have felt all my life.

{“So, umm, Dani. Why are we in the pool and why is there a gun sitting there and why do we have a knife on us and where are all the bad guys?”}

{“Weapon.”} I said, automatically correcting her. {“And that’s kind of a long story, Melody.  What is the last thing that you remember?”}  Please, please, please don’t tell me that you remember being raped.

{“Well, I climbed down from my window. The dudes were chasing me and I was running through some old ruins out in the jungle, then I woke up back here. Why?”}

Thank the Goddess! {“Oh, no real reason. I was just curious because I saw the rope you made and I thought that you were very brave to do that.”}

{“You’re hiding something from me again, aren’t you?”} Melody asked, full of suspicion and curiosity.

{“Yes.”} Melody is the primary. Melody is the primary. I needed to keep that firmly in mind.

{“What is it?”} Melody asked, not willing to let it go.

{“Nothing.”} I said as I felt a touch of the memory wash over me before I could stop it and I felt brief flash of panic.

{“What was that? Are you okay!?”} Melody asked full of concern for me.

I was not sure what leaked through and she felt from me. {“I’m fine...really.”} I said as I felt my resolve strengthen. I hope that she never finds out what happened to me and her.  

Melody paused for a couple of seconds. I could feel both her concern for me and her curiosity wage war with each other. {“Oh, okay, umm, but where are all the bad guys?”} She asked.

I hesitated with my reply. I was not sure how to tell her about what I did to secure the mansion. She was only 12 and I didn’t want to freak her out even more, but she was probably going to find out pretty soon anyway. {“Ummm, well, I kind of killed them...”}  

{“Seriously!? All of them?”} Melody asked, incredulously.

{“All of the hostiles that were here, yes.”} I said using a business like tone that I found easier to adopt now that we were talking about the mission.

{“How many, umm, hostiles did you kill?”}

{“Six, but Creepy was killed by his boss for letting you escape.”}

{“Hmm, his boss is not a nice person.  Are we going to kill him too?”}  Melody asked, indifferent to the challenge that casual statement entailed.

{“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is this ‘we’ thing?”} I asked.

{“Well, I’m me and you are me. What else could ‘we’ do?”} Melody asked as if it was only natural and expected.

It was time to set her straight. {“First of all, you are far too young to be killing anyone let alone watching someone be killed.  First thing ‘we’ are doing is getting you to safety.”}

{“Oh, so you’re going to take me back to my mom and dad?”} Melody asked.

Crap, crap, crap with some fuck on top of the crap. {“Umm...”}

{“What?! Are they okay?!? Dani! What’s wrong!?”} Melody asked.

I could feel her desperation and concern for her parents. If I told her, then she would want me to rescue her parents. A true Catch-22 situation since I wanted to rescue her parents, but doing so would automatically put Melody in danger too. {“I think that the drug lord who kidnapped you is going to grab or he might have already grabbed your parents.”}

{“What!?! Why? Dani, we have to do something!”} Melody said, wailing with desperation.  Her concern was so great that she managed to take over and pull us out of the pool.

{“Calm down, calm down. I’m not sure why. I think it has to do with your dad making a new drug for the drug lord and I was starting to work on a plan, but I just don’t know what I can do right now. I need more intel.”} I said, regaining control and crouching down next to my M4.

{“Can’t we just call the police?”} Melody asked, full of trust.

{“Umm, Melody, this is Mexico. The drug lord probably owns the police and that is also why we can’t just run in and spring your parents.  The only safe place is the American Embassy in Mexico City and we would probably never make it.”}

{“Oh...”} Melody said, much subdued.

{“Yes, Oh.”}

{“Umm, Dani, why were we in the pool?”} Melody asked, abruptly changing subjects in a direction that surprised me.

{“Because we are covered in mud.”}

{“Why are we covered in mud?”}

{“Melody, do you always ask so many questions?”}

{“No, why?”} Melody asked with fake innocence.

Grrrrr...

{“Hehehe...Seriously though, why are we covered in mud?”}

{“Camouflage.”}

{“Oh, okay. Kind of gross, but I guess that I can see that. My, umm, our skin is kinda white.”}

{“Exactly!  Anyway, we need to get moving.”}  I said, diving back into the pool and scrubbing our body as best I could while holding my breath.  Yes, with Melody awake, it was a little confusing about me, her and us.

{“Well, that feels, umm, strange.  Can I do that myself? I mean, if you really are some old dude, I am not so sure you should be touching me...you know...good touch, bad touch.”} Melody said with a mental giggle that told me she found the idea more humorous than creepy.

{“Umm, sure...will try, but I am not sure how.”} I said. I am not sure how I managed to do it, but I switched off and Melody took over the scrubbing. She was right; it did feel weird to have someone else washing your body for you.

{“Seriously, how did you get mud in here? Did you swim in a mud puddle or something?”} Melody asked, incredulously as she took off her top and cleaned out the mud.

{“Actually, yes.”}

That stopped her for all of two seconds as she tried to figure out if I was joking with her or not. {“There’s nobody here, right?”} Melody asked, timidly.

{“Just the two maids that I locked in the storage room instead of killing them.”}

{“Umm, so not going to touch that right now because I need to take my bottoms off too. Seriously Dani, next time, try not to get mud in there or down there, it’s kinda yucky.” Melody said, cleaning out the mud from our privates and bikini bottoms.

{“Umm, Dani?”} Melody paused with her cleaning.

{“Yes Melody?”} I asked, patiently because it was a little bit of a struggle to keep up with her. She changed conversations on a dime.

{“Why are we not drowning?”} Melody asked, full of confusion as she looked up at the surface one or two feet about our head.

{“Because we are holding our breath.}” I said.  Then, I thought about it because it did seem a little strange. {“How long can you hold your breath?”}

{“Hmmm, I dunno? 30 seconds?”}

I could not believe that we had been under the water for over two minutes, yet I didn’t feel the slightest need to breath. Was it my SEAL training?  I was not sure because that involved increasing lung capacity and reducing both the mind and the body’s reflexive need to breath with training, lots and lots of training.  {“I told you that I was a SEAL. We are fine. Keep going and I will let you know when we should surface for air.”} I said, curious to find out just how long we could hold our breath.

Reassured, Melody swam down to grab her top off the bottom and I thought that the water felt wonderful on my bare skin. Our body felt so sleek and supple. I also felt the beginnings of a slight pressure from my bladder.

{“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”} Melody asked, giving me the sense that she was smiling at me.

{“Yes! It feels so good to be able to move around so easily and freely. Plus, the water feels wonderful! What about you?”}

{“Well, it does feel kinda good, but I feel weird being butt naked in a pool and we need to pee. So, can we hurry up and find a bathroom?”}

I hate to admit it, but I was actually kind of looking forward to using the toilet. Not because I wanted to go to the bathroom as a girl, but just because I wanted to pee without using a catheter or a fucking bedpan. I had been stuck using one of those damn things for over a month now and it is amazing how much a person can take for granted about their health. Okay, so I also wanted to see what it was like with my new plumbing, but sadly, we did not have the time. So, I surfaced, then swam a few feet away and let go. It felt...different, but the relief was the same.

Melody was not amused. {“Eeww!  You didn’t just make us pee in the pool?!”}

{“Well, yeah, that is what SEALs do to keep warm in our wetsuits.  Urine is sterile anyway.”}  I said, laughing at her reaction. {“Hey, I kept our head out of the water!”}

{“O,M,G, so gross! Let’s get outta here, please?”}

{“Okay.”} I said as I swam over to the edge and with bikini in hand, pulled our body up and out of the pool. My gaze passed over Creepy as I automatically scanned the area for threats. I did not spot any so I picked up my gear and transferred it to the table so that it would be closer to hand while I put back on our limited amount of clothing.

{“Come on! Naked here! Some clothes, please! OMG! Is that guy dead?!”}

I glanced over at Creepy as I started to put the bikini bottoms back on. {“Yes. Don’t look.”} I said as I started to feel a bit nauseous. I look back down at our body instead and I start to feel better. I have not had that kind of reaction in decades.

{“What do you mean don’t look?!? He’s right there and you made us look at him! Was that Creepy?”} Melody asked, going from frustrated to angry before landing back at curious and all in the span of one thought.

Melody really made my head spin. I felt like I was trying to keep up with a caffeinated squirrel. {“Yes, that was Creepy. Can you put your top back on?”} I asked, giving her control again in an effort to refocus her attention and give me some breathing room.  {“And...don’t look at him again. I don’t want us to get sick.”}

{“Yes, Mom!”} Melody said, a little snidely as she expertly put her top back on. {“Umm, did you kill him?”}

{“No, the fu...damn Don Rodriguez did.”} I said, instantly censoring my language mid-stream.

Melody giggled at me. {“You almost dropped the f-bomb there, didn’t you?”}

{“Yes, sorry. I’m just not used to being around young people anymore.  My youngest daughter moved out of the house a few years ago and she was used to my salty language.”}

{“Oh, that’s okay, I’ve heard it before. You had a daughter?”}

{“No, it’s not okay, but yes, I have or had, not sure if I am dead or not, a daughter plus two other children with my ex-wife.”}

{“Oh, I’m sorry.”} Melody said, softly and with compassion before bouncing back. {“So! What’s next Miss Kick-Ass Navy SEAL dudette?”}

Her can-do attitude made me smile.  She was definitely worth protecting and so were her mom and dad because any parent that could raise a daughter like Melody had to be worth at least trying to help. I hoped that Chalchiuhtlicue would agree and let me stay long enough to accomplish that goal.

{“Intel gathering time.”} I said as I took back over and re-equipped the MOLLE vest, grabbed my M4 and walked back into the mansion with my weapon at the ready, just in case.

{“Whoa! This is so cool!”} Melody said, giddy with excitement.

That is when I decided that I needed to have some of that Scotch, well, after I checked on the maids and double checked the mansion and checked the Don’s office for more intel and, well crap. Maybe I would just have to liberate the bottle and bring it with me when we left.

{“Melody, can you close your eyes and not see things?”} I asked as I walked over to the storage closet.

{“Hmmm, I dunno...umm...whoa!”}

{“What? What’s wrong?”}

{“I can’t see!”} Melody said, panicked. {“Oh, phew! That’s better.”}

{“Melody...”}

{“Sorry, I just imagined myself closing my eyes and I couldn’t see, but I could still feel my eyes open and everything else. It was weird and kinda scary, like I suddenly went blind or something.”}

I paused outside the door. I didn’t want to open it until I was sure that Melody was ready for possible action. {“Okay, how about your ears? Can you make yourself not hear?”}

{“Ummm, not sure...Hmmm, maybe, kind of sort of?”} She said sounding a little dubious about her results.

{“What do you mean?”} I asked.

{“Well, I imagined myself sticking my fingers in my ears and the TV wasn’t as loud. Why do you need me to do this?”}

{“If I have to do something that might, umm, make you sick, I don’t want you to see it. If it grosses you out and makes you sick, then that will make me sick too and that would be bad, okay?”}

{“Oh, okay...like what?”} Melody asked.

Of course she asked.  I sighed. {“Look, I’m sorry, but there are things that a child...”}

I felt her starting to interrupt me. {“...sorry, young lady like you should not have to see or experience. Hell, no one should have to see or know about some of those things. What kind of things?  Bad things and when I ask you to close your eyes, please trust me and do like I ask. I’ve seen it far too much in my life and it darkens your soul. It gives you nightmares that take years to recover from, if ever, and you are far too precious to me for me to allow that to happen too.”}

{“Okay, but if you are talking about shooting someone, I’ve seen people get shot on TV...”}

{“Not the same. Trust me on this one Melody. It is totally not the same when you see it in real-life.”}

{“Okay, I guess so. I mean, I did sorta feel a little sick from seeing Creepy there.”}

{“Exactly! So, if I tell you to close your eyes, please close your eyes and cover your ears right away, okay?”}

{“Okay...”} Melody said, sounding a little dejected.

{“Good, now, I am going to open this door and check on the maids, but if something goes wrong and I tell you to close your eyes; what are you going to do?”}

{“Close my eyes and cover my ears?”}

{“Yes, good girl. Now, I don’t expect anything to happen, but as a test can you please not look?”} I asked.

{“Yes, Mom...”} Melody said impatiently just to give me grief.

I imagined myself sticking my tongue out at her as I turned the handle, pushed the door open and took a step back with the M4 at the ready.  The maids were sleeping, but that woke them up and they screamed again.

{“What was that?!”}

{“Melody...”}

{“Sorry...”} Melody said sounding a little contrite.

“Are you two okay?” I asked. They both fearfully nodded their heads yes.

{“Ask them if they need to go to the bathroom.”}

{“They are fine, they have a sink right here.”}

{“Eeewww! Gross, ask them.”}

“Do you need to use the restroom?” I asked.  They both nodded their heads yes.  Great.

“Okay, Rosalita, you first, then when you are done, your mom.” I said gesturing for Rosalita to come toward me.  She hesitantly rose and glanced nervously back to her mom.

{“She looks scared. What did you do to them?”}

{“Nothing, just hogtied them and the bad guys sort of made a lot of noise, so, ummm...yeah.”} I said, stopping before I got into the details.

{“Well, tell her it’s okay. Geesh, you don’t have to be such a meanie and keep pointing your gun at her.”

“Come on.” I took another step back and relaxed my stance a little. Rosalita cautiously stepped out of the storage room and I directed her toward the small downstairs restroom.  Then, I closed and relocked the door before I followed her.

{“Weapon. It’s not a gun.”} I said, trying to correct Melody again.

{“Whatever, just don’t point it at her. No wonder she is so scared of you. Hey, how do you know Spanish?”}

{“Melody, busy here.”} I said, trying to not snap at her, but she was distracting me.

{“Okay, okay...”} Melody said, sounding a little dejected.

Rosalita entered the restroom and started to close the door for some privacy. “No, leave it open.” I said.

{“Meanie...”}

{“I didn’t check the room for hidden weapons.”}

{“Geez, paranoid much? I mean, look at her, she’s petrified and you’re worried about her finding a weapon?”} Melody asked incredulously.

{“Yes, now be quiet, please.”}

Once Rosalita finished, I led her back to the room and exchanged her with her mother.  Her mother was a little less terrified of me. She also kept looking back and it looked like she was trying to study my necklace.  Again, I had her leave the door open and thankfully, Melody did not call me a meanie.  

{“What’s her name?”}

{“I don’t know.”}

{“Why don’t you ask her? I mean, just because she is your prisoner doesn’t mean that you that can’t find out her name, right?”}

{“Can you go back to sleep?”}

Melody mentally stuck her tongue out at me. Then, she giggled. The brat.

“Sorry senora, but what is your name?” I asked the mother as she finished doing her business.

“Mmm, Michelina.” She said, stuttering fearfully.

“Well, Senora Michelina, I am sorry to have frightened you two so much, but I had some animals to put down.” I said as I followed her back to the storage room.  

“Yes, we heard.” Senora Michelina said, glancing back at me as her hand hovered over the door handle. I motioned for her to open the door.

She entered looking a little less frightened and even a little curious.  I started to close the door and she looked back. “Where did you get that necklace?”

“I’m not sure, it was a gift.” I said, softly as I absently touched it before I closed and locked the door once more. I almost told her that I got it from Chalchiuhtlicue, but I doubted that she would believe me. That’s if she even knew who Chalchiuhtlicue was.

{“See, that wasn’t so bad, now was it?”} Melody asked.

I sighed and glanced longingly over at the bar.

{“Ooohh, nice bar. Can we get a soda? I’m thirsty.”}

“Fine...I need a f’ing drink now anyway.” I said, muttering softly under my breath.

{“Hey! Language!”}

{“I censored myself.”}

{“Not enough. I know what you really said there.”}

I walked behind the bar and took out a soda from the mini fridge and then, I pulled down The Scotch, with a capital S, and place it on the bar top.

{“What are you doing?”} Melody asked rhetorically.

{“Getting a drink.”}

{“We can’t drink that!”} Melody said emphatically.

{“Why not?”} I asked, feeling a bit frustrated because having her as my shoulder angel was a little distracting at time.

{“Hello! We are only 12!”} Melody said like we were breaking a huge law.

{“So? Pretend you’re German or something.”} I said, dismissing her legal argument as baseless since it has been more than a few decades since I was 12 years old.

{“I, we, am not German and I am pretty sure that even they do not let 12 and a half year olds drink booze.”}

{“Okay, then, between the two of us, we are 70.”} I said as I ignored her complaints and poured myself a finger of Scotch, then sniffed it.

The heavenly peaty smell and crisp flavor could be sensed in the aroma.

{“Gross...smells like burnt nail polish remover or something.”} Melody said.

I pictured her turning up her nose and making a disgusted expression, but I ignored her as I took a sip and let the warm liquid wash over my tongue. Savoring the rich and complex taste that only aged scotch can provide.

{“Oh my god! That’s nasty!”}

Saliva filled my mouth and my throat constricted as Melody’s body reacted to the taste.  

{“Soda! Please!”} She said as we started to gag a little and in her desperation, she took control.

{“Noooo! Not with 100 year old Scotch!”} I said, desperately. {“You can’t wash it down with soda!”}

“I don’t care!  That stuff is nasty!” She said out loud as she took a large gulp of the sticky sweet soda.

{“It’s not fair. Can’t you just not taste it?”} I said, plaintively.

“No, can you just ‘not’ taste the soda?” Melody said, giving me plenty of sass.

*Sigh*

{“Fine...”} I said as I wrested control back away from her and decided that we needed to inspect the arms room more thoroughly.  I still was not sure how or if we could rescue Melody’s parents, but the arms room might give me some extra options.

Jackpot! In addition to the Glock 9mm pistol, the M4 assault rifles and ammo, I found two 20 kilo packages of C-4 with 10 blocks each, a roll of blasting tape and plenty of blasting caps for setting all the goodies off.  I also found a crate of Russian F-1 grenades, a crate of smoke, ballistic vests that were too large for us, an extra USP, two extra k-bars,  two boxes of MRE’s and two rucksacks to carry the goods in.

Even Melody was a little excited by all the stuff. {“This is too cool! Can I have a gun too?”}

{“Weapon and No.”}

{“Ahhh, why not?”} Melody said, whining.

{“Because I don’t have the time to right now to properly train you and I don’t want you shooting our foot off.”} I said, ignoring the fact that since I was in her body, technically she was armed.

Into one of the rucksacks, I loaded a box of 50 rounds of 9mm for the USP, one extra k-bar, 5 smoke grenades, 10 of the Russian grenades, the blasting tape, a box of blasting caps and one of the 20 kilo packs of C-4.  I know that the C-4 was going to make the rucksack heavy for me, and it did, but I figured that I might need it.  It is always better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

With the rucksack loaded, I added four MREs and a couple bottles of water. Finally, I almost fall over trying to lift it the first time.  

{“Melody, you really need to work out more.”} I said, gasping for air.

{“Hey! You’re the one who put too much stuff in there!”} Melody said, indignantly.

{“Oh fu...crap! I almost forgot more 5.56mm for the M4!”}

I want to add my standard 2,000 rounds of 5.56, but I know that the extra 200 pounds will be too much for me to carry. I decide to compromise with 1,000 rounds.  

{“That’s going to make it too heavy.”} Melody said, chanting snidely.

I ignored her. It’s nothing. Just mind over matter. Then, I tried to lift it and instead of me lifting it, I fell over.

Melody did not say anything as I cut my ammo load in half to reduce it to 500 rounds, but I got the feeling that she was laughing at me.  It was a struggle, but I managed lift it and get it settled on my shoulders.  It was pretty damn heavy, but I thought that I could manage it.  Satisfied, I dropped it and took the time to load all the mags for the M4 and the USP 9mm.

All of that took 30 minutes, but it was worth it. I closed and locked the arms room door, then on a whim, grabbed the bottle of Scotch and stuffed it into my pack for later. Maybe Melody will fall asleep and I can try it or something.

{“Why did you grab that? You know that it tastes nasty, right?”}

{“Just in case. Can’t leave a $600...”}

{“$600!  Holy crap! Sorry. For that?!?”}

I sigh with frustration as I trudged up the stairs. The rucksack is not going to work. It is just too large and too heavy for my body. Sure, I can carry it, but if shit hits the fan; I will have to drop it in a hurry and leave it behind.

{“Is he sleeping?”} Melody asked as the soccer fan’s body entered our vision.

{“Yes.”} I said, looking away from him.

{“Oh, are we going to wake him up?”} Melody asked, concerned that we might actually wake him up.

{“No.”} I said as I forced my way into Don Rodriguez’s office and thankfully lowered the rucksack onto the leather couch. I will have to plot a path out of here that does not involve walking past the first guy I killed.

I started my search for intel by giving the safe one more once over before giving up on it.  Melody did not say anything until after I found the button that caused the monitor to rise up from inside the desk.

{“Whoa! That’s pretty cool.”}

I pulled out the keyboard and mouse, but when the screensaver stopped, I didn’t recognize the operating system. It’s not Windows and it’s not Apple. I know my way around Windows pretty damn well and I have had to use a few Macs, but whatever The Don had loaded on this PC, I don’t even know where to start.

{“Fu...Fiddle sticks!”}

Melody laughs. {“Seriously Dani, you can say it because ‘fiddle sticks’ just sounds lame. Oh, and that is Ubuntu. My dad uses this on his workstation at home.”}

{“Can you see if you can find anything useful on this thing?”} I said, giving her control.

{“Sure! Piece of cake.”} Melody said as she started by opening a terminal window and typing in  strange commands like ‘ls’, ‘find’ and ‘grep’.

The ‘find’ command I can understand, but why did it have to be so complicated? The OS looked like it had a graphical UI. Why couldn’t she just use the file manager thing?  Within five minutes she had a list of document and spreadsheet files that looked very promising, except they were all password protected.

{“What was the code to get into the arms room?”}

{“1985, why?”}

{“Just going to try something...”} Melody said as she used ‘1985’ with the find command plus something called xargs plus the grep thing.

That search returned 10 files, but one of them stood out. It was called, ‘.passwords.txt’. That was a strange name to call a file. It looked too obvious.

{“The dot in front makes it a hidden file.”} Melody said, explaining it for me as she typed ‘pg .passwords.txt’.

{“Bingo!”} Melody said, shouting with glee as file names, user names, passwords, account numbers and item names scrolled across the screen.

The safe’s fingerprint override combo plus the passwords to his files and what looked suspiciously like bank account numbers and passwords for each scrolled off the screen.  I let Melody stay in charge. She seemed to be pretty happy and in her element. The first thing she wanted to try was the safe and I can’t say that I wasn’t curious about its contents either. I expected it to be empty, but Melody was hoping to find a few thousand dollars.  She giggled with excitement as she punched in the safe’s combo.

[Click!]

It opened and there were two briefcases plus a small stack of $100 US, a stack of $100 peso, some jewelry and a USB drive.  

{“See, told ya that there wouldn’t really be much in here.”} I said.

{“Shush...not done yet girlfriend.”} Melody said as she pulled out one of the briefcases and set it down. It wasn’t locked, so she popped it open.  {“Booya! In your face!”}

Even I was surprised. The fucking case was full of $100 dollar bills wrapped with $10,000 wrappers.  And a standard run of the mill Beretta 9mm semi-automatic pistol. I estimated that there was probably one million, easy.

Melody could hardly contain her excitement as she grabbed the second briefcase and tested the weight like it was a Christmas present.  {“What do you think? Drugs or more cash?”}

{“Umm, drugs?”} I said, kind of hoping it was drugs because I was kind of worried where we could stash that kind of cash, but I was also thinking about it.  One million, properly laundered, could come in handy for Melody’s college fund.

It was not drugs and I am glad that everyone was dead because Melody’s scream of pure excitement was pretty damn loud.  {“Holy crap Dani! I haven’t seen this kind of money before. Are all these pesos?”}

I checked the bills over. {“Nope. About half of them are, the other half are Euros.”}

{“Wow, this is soooo cool!  Now what?”}

{“Now, I need for you to check out some of those files on the PC and see what is on the USB drive we found in the safe. I am thinking that the DHS might be interested in some of the data in there.”}

{“Sir! Yes sir!”} Melody said, jumping to her feet and saluting before she broke down with a giggle that destroyed the near perfect salute she started out with.

{“Sir? Don’t call me sir, I worked for a living!”}  I said before I broke down and joined her in giggle-dom.  So, embarrassing.  She really is a bad influence.

After Melody got to work on the PC and she found some very interesting intel.  Yes, several police, including the Salina Cruz police captain were on the take and so were more than a few high level Mexican politicians, high ranking military personnel, the Mexican Attorney General and a Supreme Court Justice.  The Don was an idiot to have all the pay off information so well documented.  

However; I was kind of expecting that kind of intel, but it was the files on the USB stick that had me taking back over.  Melody found blueprints and pictures of drug submarines as well as project plans, timelines, materials and construction site locations. The submarine plans looked very high tech and stealthy to me. Diesel electric, complete with oxygen generators that could allow them to stay submerged for weeks at a time. Way more advanced than the death trap drug subs that I saw on one of the Discovery channels a few months ago.  

No, these were worse. They had seating for passengers as well as cargo configurations. Perfect for sneaking people into the country that probably should not be sneaking in.

We needed to make a call.  {“Okay Melody, we need to call some of my old, umm, friends.”} I said, reaching for The Don’s fancy executive desk phone.

I paused before I punched in the number.  {“I think that it might work best if you talked to them.”} I said then gave her a quick rundown of what she should say.  It wasn’t hard, plus I figured that I could just feed her what to say with our telepathy thing, but she was excited to be able to help out.  Once she calmed down, I dialed the number.

{ring}{ri...}

“Lieutenant Archer, SouthCom Command Desk. How may I direct your call sir or ma’am?”

{“Okay, Melody, you’re on.”} I said giving her back control.

“Hi, umm, I’m sorry, but this man told me to call. He just came into Senor Victor Rodriguez’ mansion in Salina Cruz and shot everyone. He’s like this big drug lord or something who kidnapped me. I mean, the Senor dude is.”

{“Tell him that it is an S-2 Alpha Priority Active Op”} I said.

“Oh yeah, he said to tell you that it was an S-2 Alpha Priority Active Op and that he had some intel that he needed to pass on. I am sitting at the drug lord’s PC and there are all these spreadsheets here with payoff information, but there are also plans for submarines. Do you all have, like an email address or something that I can send it to?” Melody asked.

“Sorry kid, but you do know that it is a Federal Offense to prank call a U.S. Military Installation? Are your parents there?”

{“Okay, Melody, I can take over from here.”}

{“Sigh, and I was just starting to have fun!”}

“I’m sorry Lieutenant, but have you followed SOP and traced this call yet?”

“What? Oh crap! Umm...”

“Relax LT...Just give me an email address that I can send some intel to, then it is out of your hands and you will be in the clear. Okay?”

{“You tell him sis!”}

{“What?”}

“Sorry ma’am. Here is one of our S-2 drop boxes.  Alpha one Juliet X-ray Echo tree niner niner at Sierra Charlie Oscar Mike dot Mike India Lima dot November Echo Tango. Did you get that?”

“Got it, thanks. Don’t forget to log this call Lieutenant. Bye.”

{Click}

{“OMG! That was so cool!”} Melody said, giddy with excitement.

{“And you were such a peaceful little sleeper...”}

{“H-Hey!”} Melody said, indignantly just before she broke down and giggled.

{“Hehe, okay. Now, can you zip all this stuff up and send it to the email address for me while I think?”} I said.

{“Sure thing...sir.”} Melody said, cackling gleefully as she went to work.

I decided to not dignify her dig with a response.  Okay, mission planning time.  

First order of business is to take stock of my assets and compared to my first mission, I had oodles of assets to work with.  I have cash for buying stuff and bribes. An adequate amount of weapons and ammo. Adequate because there is no such thing as too much.  The C-4 was icing on the cake and the Audi, transportation, check and mate!  Okay, so the Audi was a little flashy, but it was all I had.

Okay, next up are my liabilities.  Age or the lack thereof, that could be a problem with driving or interacting in an adult world. While our body is extremely healthy, the lack of upper body strength will limit my combat load. I already feel my Combat OCD bugging me about not having a full 2,000 rounds of 5.56. Clothing, that could be a real problem, but money could easily solve that issue.  

Okay, the age thing. Not sure if that is actually a liability for us. I know from personal experience that very few people expect a kid to try and kill them.  That thought dredged up a memory that I would rather have not remembered because it sends me back to a very dark place.

{“Dani? Are you okay?”} Melody asks, concerned.

{“Umm, sorry, was just thinking. Thanks.”} I said as I started to feel our eyes begin to tear up. It felt so good having someone here with me.

{“Hey, no problemo sis!  Is why I keep you around! hehe.”} Melody said.

That is the second time she called me that. {“Umm, what is this ‘sis’ thing?”}

{“Oh, I dunno. You kind of feel like a big sister to me. I mean, you’re bossy enough, but I guess you could just be a BFF if that bothered you.”}

{“No, it doesn’t bother me. Not at all. Thanks, umm, sis and I am not bossy. It’s for your own good.”} I said trying to retain my dignity by not laughing and crying.

{“What-ev-ah...”} Melody said before she giggled and got back to sending all the files.

Okay, the clothes liability problem.  I doubt that we will get far walking around in a bikini everywhere.  We need a purse to hide a weapon or two. We need clothes to blend in to non-beach locations. We need makeup to help us look older.  Hmmm, maybe we would have to check out those clothes in The Don’s room again.

{“There! All done. Now what?”} Melody asked, triumphantly.

{“Now, we head upstairs to The Don’s bedroom and check out his ex-girlfriend’s left over clothes. Maybe if we are lucky, some of them will fit us.”} I said, not really expecting us to be that lucky.

I left the pack and the briefcases in the offices. No sense in lugging all that weight up the stairs when I didn’t have to and no, it would not be ‘good training’ as we used to say. I did not hear any changes in the mansion’s general noise signature that might indicate that someone had entered the mansion. Still, I kept the M4 at the ready as I carefully stalked up the stairs.  

I could sense Melody’s excitement just bubbling over by all the combat stuff, but halfway up I realized that I had left Shifty’s door open. I did not want Melody to see his body because there was no way that she would think that he was sleeping.

{“Okay Melody, close your eyes please.”} I said.

{“Umm, okay...”} Melody said, sounding less than pleased and a little scared.

{“It is just for a little bit. Don’t worry.”} I said as we topped the staircase.  I headed for the door to Shifty’s room. I could have just closed the door, but my Combat OCD insisted that I at least give the room a quick visual before moving on.  

{“Okay, do you have them closed?”} I asked.

{“Yes...”} Melody said, clearly not happy.

Reassured, I entered the room and glanced around. Shifty’s body was more than a little gruesome. It looked like he had been the victim of a low budget slasher movie. It also smelled like death in here with all the blood and crap that drained when his bowels relaxed.  No, death is not pretty like they make it look on TV.

I was about to close the door behind me when I felt Melody panicking, our body start to hyperventilate and that icky bile taste form in our mouth. {“Melody!”} I said, yelling at her.

{“Oh my god, oh my god, I’m sorry...”} Melody cried as our stomach started to heave.  

I ran into the bathroom and managed to just make it in time as we heaved the remains of her soda and unknown bits into the toilet.  At first, I was mad at Melody for not listening to me, but it was hard to stay that way when she was crying, puking and apologizing. We were a mess with tears, snot and barf making a triple threat.

{“I didn’t mean to look. I just didn’t hear anything, then I smelled something and I thought that a little peek wouldn’t hurt. I’m sorry...”} Melody said, managing to get all that out while crying, heaving and sniffling at the same time.

I imagined myself hugging her. {“Melody, I am sorry that you saw that and I am sorry that you were even put into a position to see that.  If I could take away that memory too, I would, but I can’t. I’m here for you, remember little sister?”}

{“Y-yes...”} Melody said as she started to get herself back under control.

I grabbed some tissue and blew our nose.

Melody laughed. {“Sorry, that is still kind of strange. Having you do things like that for me.”}

{“You’re telling me!  At least you’re in your own body!”} I said with a mock indignation.

{“Hey! I can’t help it if you decided to possess me, turn me into Rambo-ette and become my bossy big sister!”} Melody said, sounding miffed yet pleased at the same time.

{“I didn’t decide to possess you. It was the Goddess’ idea.”} I said.

{“What?”} Melody asked.

I sighed.  I have to tell her something, but I can’t let her know all of the truth. I tell her about my dream and the deal I made with the Aztec Goddess Chalchiuhtlicue. I leave out the part about her being raped, but explain it as her being beaten up and stabbed by Shifty. That is close enough to the truth.

{“So, that is why, when I killed...”} I started to feel her panic again. {“Look, Melody, I’m sorry. We will rescue your parents. I will help you and be your big sister for as long as the Goddess will let me, okay?”}

{“Okay...but, do you really believe in this Goddess?”} Melody asked, skeptically.

{“Yes, it is either that or one of us is having a very strange dream. Which do you think it is?”} I asked.

{“Ummm, now that you put it that way. I really don’t know.”}

{“Okay, now, can you please close your eyes so that we can get out of this room?  I will take us into The Don’s master bath where we can get cleaned up properly.”} I said.

{“Sir, yes sir! Eyes closed! Not opening them until you give me the all clear. Sir!”} Melody said.

I sighed with frustration, but smiled as her zest for life made its reappearance. {“Please, I told you. I am not an officer. I work for a living.”}

Melody giggled. {“Chief Petty Officer, I can’t hear you. La la la la la”}

I quickly rinsed out our mouth and I caught a glimpse of Shifty’s body reflected in the mirror.  Melody didn’t react, so I assumed that she had learned her lesson.  Our hair was still damp from the pool and a total mess.  I hoped that The Don didn’t toss out all of his girlfriend’s shower stuff because we really needed to do something about our hair.  I know, I know, not something that I would normally be worried about during a mission, but if we didn’t do something about our tangled mess, we would attract attention.

I exited the room and closed the door behind me. {“Okay Melody. All clear.”}

{“Phew!  Thanks for rinsing our mouth out. Where is The Don’s room?”} Melody asked.

Melody was impressed when we entered The Don’s inner sanctum, but it was mostly the size of his closet that she was most impressed with. I showed her the dresses and let her have control. After all, she was the expert here and it showed.  She knew that all of the dresses were designer and very expensive.  Same with the shoes. She kept gushing about the brands and squealing over Jimmy Choo, Coach and Micheal Kors.  I swear that she was more excited about that than the cash.

She was even more excited when she tried on a pair and they fit.  She pulled down a dress and after holding it against her body, she was a little disappointed. {“I don’t think this will fit. My boobs aren’t big enough.”}

{“Umm, don’t they make things that you can stuff your bra with?”} I asked.

{“Yes, but I don’t see any breast forms, do you?”} Melody asked.

{“Not yet, but there are two bags on the floor there, plus I saw cosmetics in the bathroom.”}

{“Oh, okay.”} Melody said, her excitement levels increasing again as she opened the bag with the heads and wigs.

{“These look like nice wigs and O! M! G! Purses!”} Melody said, yelling in our head loud enough to give us both a headache.  Still wearing the heels, she quickly dragged the bag out and dumped it onto the bed.  She gasped at the name brand purse labels.

I thought that most of the purses looked hideous, but Melody had to pick up and touch each and every one of them.  One of the purses, a small clutch purse felt heavy. Like it had something in it.  

She opened it and we found some cash, pads, a few photos, driver’s license and credit cards all in the name of Carmelita Rodriguez.  She looked pretty in her license photo and now I knew that she wasn’t an ex-girlfriend. She was The Don’s wife and I doubted that she was alive anymore.  Absolutely no woman would leave her purse behind with all of her identification.

{“Dani, what’s wrong?”} Melody asked.

{“Umm, nothing, but I think our ‘friend’ had his wife murdered. What about the wigs?”}

Melody paused for a few seconds as she studied the woman’s face on the license.  She was clearly disturbed by that thought as she absently replaced the license into the clutch and zipped it closed.  Next, she put all the foam heads on the dresser and put the wigs on them.  There were two blonde wigs, one short and one long. Two red wigs, one short with straight hair and the other long with tight ringlet curls.  There was also one short, black haired wig.

Satisfied, she pulled out the last bag and dumped it onto the other side of the bed.  Panties, bras, lots of different bras, nylons, tights, jeans, leggings, t-shirts, tops, socks, three bikini’s, a skimpy red negligee and an even skimpier black negligee spilled out of the bag.  Of course, everything was high-end and wrinkled, but that wouldn’t matter for some of the items.   Amazingly, it looked like everything except the bras would fit us. Much to Melody’s disappointment, Carmelita was either a C or a D cup.

We didn’t spot any breast forms until Melody started sorting the clothes, when she found a pair of medium forms. That helped explain the different cup sizes for her bras.  {“Okay, now what?”} Melody asked.

{“Bathroom. Check the cosmetics and we take a good shower.  Then, you get us dressed and made up to look older so that we can hopefully pass as at least an 18 year old.”} I said.

{“Okay!”} Melody said, excited with the plan so far.

I was glad that I had something she could do to take her mind off of everything.  She was excited and looking forward to working on our disguise. As an extra bonus, I was also glad that she didn’t say ‘sir’ this time.

Melody checked over the cosmetics and she also found some name brand bath products. Then, we locked the bedroom door, jammed a chair under the door handle, locked the bathroom door and brought both the knife and the USP 9mm into the shower with us.  Melody stayed in charge the entire time and that felt extremely strange to me. It felt strange feeling yourself wash yourself, but not actually do the actually washing. The spray of hot water felt wonderful, but I absolutely marveled how smooth and sleek our body felt as she washed her skin. It took her forever to wash her hair with the extra step of needing to condition her hair too.   She also decided to shave her legs, armpits and bikini area. I didn’t think that she needed it, but I was over ruled.

It was not until we were done with the shower and she started on our hair and makeup that she stumbled.  {“What happened to my eyes!?”} Melody asked as she opened them as wide as possible and moved them desperately around.

I did not see anything wrong with her eyes. I thought that their brilliant green color was extremely attractive. {“What do you mean?”}

{“My eyes, they changed color!”} Melody said with alarm.

{“Well, I think they look stunning. Why, what color were they?”}

{“Hazel.”}

{“Kind of close, maybe they changed on their own?”} I asked, not really believing that.

{“Ha ha, very funny...well, I guess they do look pretty.”} Melody said, after a moment of studying her reflection.

After we located a hair dryer, Melody went to work on her hair. First she dried it, then pulled it back and into a tight pony tail before she pinned it up.  Next, she selected three different dresses along with multiple shoe selections for each before picking an sophisticated looking black mini dress that wrapped around one shoulder and draped loosely across her chest. Perfect to hide her chest.  She selected a pair of black French cut panties with a matching demi-bra, stuffed the breast forms in them and shimmied her way into the dress. It looked great on her and after she put on the black and white four inch heels, she easily looked 16 and that was without any makeup.  She selected the short blonde wig and pinned that to her hair. Finally, she went to work on her makeup. It was an amazing transformation.  When she was done, I thought that we could easily pass for 18 and maybe even 20 with some sunglasses.

We dug through some more drawers and found a large smattering of jewelry that The Don must have just tossed in the drawer.  Melody grabbed some gold bracelets, a silver thumb ring, a pair of large hoop earrings. She wanted to change out the necklace for a nice thick gold and sapphire torc, but I had to put the kibosh on that by telling her that Chalchiuhtlicue’s  necklace was there to stay.

All done, Melody grabbed a medium sized rolling suitcase from the closet and then, she folded and packed away the wigs, 4 different dresses, 6 pairs of shoes and the coordinating undergarments. I had to stop her from packing the negligees and she pouted until she remembered the jewelry and cosmetics packed.

I suggested the purse. We needed one that was large enough to hold the USP without leaving a bulge.  I put the Audi’s keys in our purse, along with the spare change and Carmelita’s ID and credit cards.  Hey, they weren’t expired. Finally! We were ready to go. So, I took over, hobbled my way back into the closet, grabbed a pair of flats and put them on instead of the heels.

{“Dani!  Those do not go with this dress!”}

{“Sorry, we still need to get the car loaded and if we run into hostiles, I don’t want to break our ankle in those shoes.”}

{“But...}”

{“No buts, we can take them with us.”}

I think that we probably looked rather silly when we exited the room dressed to kill with a suitcase towed behind and holding the heels by their straps with one hand while holding an M4 assault rifle in the other hand, ready for action.  Yep, a real on the go drug lord wife. All I needed to do was put the k-bar between my teeth instead of in our purse.

There really is no combat effective way to go down a staircase while carrying a suitcase, an M4 and while wearing a mini-skirt.  I had to tell my OCD to take a hike.  We got the suitcase loaded into the car. So, I pulled it out of the garage and parked it closer to the front door to make loading the rest of our gear easier.  The rucksack was a real struggle to carry without ruining the dress, but we did it and it barely fit in the tiny trunk with the suitcase. The briefcases with all our expense money, I was able to squeeze behind the seats. I debated putting the M4 in the front seat, but it would be too visible there.  It would also be too visible behind the seats, so I had to stuff it in the trunk.  I felt twitchy just thinking about not having it next to me and easy to grab.

Ready to go, I started the R8 and the purr of the big 5.2 liter V-10 motor sent tingles down my spine. I adjusted the seat, set the mirrors, programmed the GPS for Melody’s hotel and started to slide it into gear.

{“Wait! We have to take the maids with us.”} Melody said in a near panic.

{“What?”} I asked, incredulous.

{“We can’t leave them here.”}

{“Umm, we can’t take them with us. No room and no reason.”}

{“If we leave them here, they might get hurt by The Don dude or they will tell him what we look like or they might escape and call someone. We should just take them to their home and ask them not to call anyone.”}

{“Hmmm, you bring up some interesting points.”} I pull out the USP and screw on its suppressor. {“I’ll be right back, oh wait, never mind, I will need you to close your eyes in a minute or two.”} I said as I opened the door and struggled to get out of the car without flashing our panties.

{“Wait! What are you doing?”} Melody asked, desperately.

{“Getting rid of a security risk.”}

{“No! You can’t! I won’t allow it!”} Melody said as I started to have difficulty walking.

Melody fought me for control. It soon became a struggle to walk even a few steps and then, she made me drop the USP.  I managed to pick it back up, but that was a struggle too.

{“Melody, stop. I have to do it. I promise that they won’t suffer.”}

{“I won’t let you...”} Melody said, grimacing with effort.

{“Melody...”}

{“No! You’re a monster! I hate you!”} Melody said, screaming at me with disgust.

That made me stop. {“Melody, what else can we do?”} I asked with a much calmer voice than I felt.  It hurt to hear her say that to me. Yes, I am a monster and she if she really knew me, then she would hate me for real.

{“I told you, take them with us and drop them off at their house. We can give them some of the cash, maybe then, they won’t need to call The Don because they won’t need the job anymore.”}

{“Then, The Don comes and kills them, plus their entire family for stealing from him.”}

{“He’s not going to do that because we are going to kill him.”} Melody said, growling with frustration.

{“Why are so you determined to take them with us?”}

{“I don’t know! Okay? I don’t know! It’s just a feeling...I don’t know why. I know it’s dumb, but we have to take them with us!”} Melody said, crying uncontrollable inside while tears ran down our face.  

I sure hoped that our mascara was waterproof. {“Okay. We will do it your way. If your gut feeling is that strong, then we would be foolish to ignore it.”}

{“Really?”} Melody asked, hopefully.

{“Yes.”} I said as I took out some tissues and blotted our eyes. It was a good thing that the prior Mrs. Rodriguez packed them in her purse because I would have never thought of them otherwise. {“Come on, let’s get this over with. They probably won’t want to come with us anyway.”}

{“Can you put away the gun?”}

{“Pistol and no.”}

{“But, you’re not going to use it, so why keep it out? It might scare them.”}

{“Because they might attack us and I don’t know when we might get more company. We do have to stay safe, ya know?”}

{“Okay, but we need to wear the heels.  These flats do not go with this dress, at all.”}

{“Not safe. I can’t move in them.”}

{“You need the practice and the women would suspect that something was wrong if you wore the flats with this dress.”}

{“No they wouldn’t. You just want me to break  our ankle, right?”}

{“No, that would hurt, but you need the practice and now is a good time. What could happen? Everyone is dead, right?”}

Damnit, she was right. I did need the practice.

{“Ever hear of Murphy’s Law?”} I asked, rhetorically.  

She did not reply, but I did not really expect her to. {“Fine, but don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”} I said, shaking a mental finger at her.

High heels and all, I gingerly made my way from the car, into the house and back down the stairs. With Melody’s helpful hints, it wasn’t as hard as I expected and it was kind of nice actually. It made me feel kind of sexy and dangerous. With the blond wig, I almost felt like I could be Sarah from that TV show, Chuck. Which, after I thought about it, was kind of a strange comparison to make while sharing the body of a 12 year old girl.

I opened the storage room door, once again waking up the maids.  This time they didn’t scream, but maybe that is because we didn’t look as crazy and I was not pointing an assault rifle at them. I did keep the USP hidden behind my back though. I am guessing that with the dress, the wig and everything else, they probably didn’t recognize us at all.

{“Well, aren’t you going to talk to them?”} Melody asked.

{“It’s your show.”}

{“I can’t speak Spanish!”} Melody said, flustered.

{“Try.”}

{“What?!?”}

{“Try speaking Spanish.”}

“Ummm, sorry, but I need to take you both home. Your sister needs you.” Melody said, speaking perfect and unaccented Spanish.

{“Holy, how did I do that?!”} Melody asked.

{“Beats me, the Goddess and what did you mean about her sister?”}

{“I dunno...”} Melody said, perplexed.

“W-who are you?” Michelina asked.

“Umm, I’m just Melodá­a. The scary girl is, umm, not here right now. Come, come.” Melody said using the Spanish pronunciation for her name as she motioned the women out of the room.

{“Nice, thanks a lot.”} I said with a smirk.

{“Hey! What else could I have said?”}

{“How about, ‘come with me if you want to live” using an Austrian accent?”}

{“What? Is that from a movie?”}

{“What do you mean? Are you trying to tell me that you haven’t seen Terminator 2?!?!”}

{“Yuck...have you seen The Hannah Montana Movie?”}

{”*sigh*”}

Melody decided to take the lead instead of following the maids up the stairs. So, of course they cringed away from us when they saw the USP in her hand.

“No, no, no. It is for just in case we run into more bad men. Please, I’m not going to hurt you, but we need to leave.” Melody said, pleading with them.

Somehow, Melody was able to win them over and they followed us out the front door. Just in time to see the headlights of a vehicle pull into the driveway.

“Fuck me to tears...” I said before I realized I that I had taken over and said it out loud.

{“Dani!”} Melody said, chastising me for my slip.

{“Sorry...”}

“Back into the house and lie on the floor! Now!” I said, yelling back at the maids. They scampered back into the house as I debated on how to handle this.  The R8 was out and ready to go. I am sure that they would see it and probably even recognize it as The Don’s.

{“Melody...”} I said, warning her of the violence that was to come.

{“*Sigh* I know, I know. Close my eyes, right?”}

{“Yep...”}

I held the UPS 9mm behind my back and as the vehicle pulled up to the house I smiled and waved at the vehicle with my other hand.  Then, I tip toe ran my way towards the vehicle as if I was happy to see them.

“Oh thank god you’re here!” I said, yelling with relief as I closed the distance while a man with another mp5 exited the black SUV from the front passenger door.  The goon looked at me with dismissal in his eyes as he saw what I hoped that he would see, a blond bimbo who was not a threat to anyone or anything.  I just hoped that I wouldn’t trip in the heels.

“What is going on!? Who are you?” The man asked.

It was time to play the damsel in distress card and distract them from what I was hiding behind my back. “Oh it’s horrible!  The Don sent me to grab him a spare suit, but when I got here, no one answered the door! So, I tried to walk around to the pool,” I pointed with my left to the north side of the house were the first sentry’s body lay. “, b-but there’s a dead guy back there!” I said, breathlessly and with a panic strained voice as the driver exited the vehicle and joined his passenger. It was just the two of them. They both looked past and through me to scan the house. I put my other hand behind my back, bit my lip and kept my eyes open as wide try and appear as scared as possible.

They took a second to glance at each other, back to me and finally, back to the house as they weighed my story.

“Wait here...” The driver said, like he was going to protect me as he directed his partner to move around the east side of the house while he started for the door.

“Oh my god! Please be careful!” I said with desperation as I stepped aside to give them room.

{“Eyes closed, right?”}

{“Yyyes...please be careful.”} Melody said, fearfully.

I waited until they were two meters past me.

[Pfffrhipt!][Pfffrhipt!]

The suppressor equipped USP spat as my first round punched through the middle of the driver’s back with the second round immediately following in a nice tight shot group. My small arms instructor would be proud.

Confused by the strange sound, the passenger started to turn as his buddy fell to his knees with a gasp.

[Pfffrhipt!]

My third shot instantly dropped the passenger as my round entered his temple and blew out the opposite the side of his skull with a spray of blood, bone and brains.  I swiveled back to check on the driver. I estimated that my total time to kill was slightly over two seconds and that made me feel slow. It should have taken less than two seconds, but maybe I was just being too critical with myself.  It is not like I ever trained while wearing a mini skirt and high heels for f’ing sake.

Amazingly, the driver was still on his knees, struggling to understand what was happening as he clutched the large exit wound in his chest. He looked down at his bloody hands, and then with a horrified and confused expression he turned his head to look back at me. He tried to say something, but only blood bubbled out.

[Pfffrhipt!]

Out of pity, I shot him in his head as a coup de grá¢ce.

{“Keep ‘em closed...hostiles are down, but we are not done yet.”} I said.

{“O-Okay...”} Melody said.

I double checked the SUV, just to make sure that there wasn’t someone sleeping in the backseat.  I pulled the keys out of the ignition and debated swapping vehicles, but I didn’t feel like messing with the luggage.  With the latest adventure, I doubted that even Melody could get the maids out of the house now.

I retrieved our purse from the Audi; put the SUV keys and the USP sans suppressor into it.  I debated that move a lot, but I talked myself into it by leaving my purse open and the USP in an easy to draw position.  I had to admit that women might be onto something with purses. It certainly made conceal and carry a lot easier, but I hoped that Melody appreciated my sacrifice as I made my way back into the house while still wearing four inch heels. I cautiously opened the door and spotted the maids hiding fearfully in the small formal sitting room.

“It is safe now.  See? I even put the pistol away.” I said, gesturing to my purse and empty hands.

{“Can I look yet?”}

{“Yes, but I will need you to close your eyes before we leave the house. It’s kind of messy out there.”}

“Ww-we can stay, please?” Michelina asked, stuttering with fear.

{“Tell them that this Chalchiuhtlicue goddess warned you or something.”} Melody said, trying to be helpful.

{“Shhh, I can’t tell them that! They probably wouldn’t believe me and she didn’t warn me.”}

{“Maybe she did warn me. Why else would I mention her sister?  Does she even have a sister?”} Melody asked.

“Sorry, but I need you to come with. I don’t know why, but someone is telling me that your sister is in trouble.” I said as I absently touched my necklace drawing their eyes down to it.  I don’t know why I touched it, but Michelina’s eyes widened with recognition.

Did she know who Chalchiuhtlicue was?

Michelina stood as her daughter clutched at her arm and tried to pull her back down.  “We will come with you, Melodá­a.”

“Good, come and try not to look at the dead guys.” I said as I turned back toward the door.

{“Eyes...”} I said.

{“Yep, got it! Thanks Dani.”} Melody said, pleased that we managed to convince the maids to come with us.

I had to take the heels off to drive. I know that some women can drive with huge ass heels, but I was not even going to try. Not with the R8. One wrong move with the gas pedal and we could end up in the weeds.  Michelina and Rosalita managed to squeeze themselves into the passenger seat, but it was a tight fight for them.  Thank the Goddess that their house was on the way and just outside of Salina Cruz. With their help, I did not need to use the GPS, but it was still nice to have.

While Melody, or Melodá­a, as the other women called her chatted up a storm, I drove. It was freaking weird hearing Melody speaking while I paid 100% attention to the road and handling the car. Talk about true multitasking. However, I have to admit that the R8 was f’ing nice. I toyed with the idea of just driving back to the States and skipping everything else.  Okay, maybe for a second and it was not that serious of a thought, honest.  Damn it, now Melody had me censoring my thoughts too. That’s not going to fucking work. Hah! Sorry. Damn it.

It was 4 AM when we pulled up to their tiny little house with a dirt covered yard that probably would not count as a yard in even the poorest of states in the U.S.

{“We should give them some money. Rosalita wanted to go to the University, but her family couldn’t afford it.”} Melody said.

{“What?”} I asked, confused because I did not remember them talking about school. Actually, I did not remember them talking about much of anything really. It was more background noise than anything else while I concentrated on driving the car.

As Rosalita and Michelina extracted themselves from the car, the front door opened spilling warm light onto the mud stained front steps.  An older woman’s grey haired and wrinkled face peered out and her eyes widened with surprise.  

“Michelina! Rosalita! What are you doing here?! Come! Hurry, your sister needs you.” The woman said looking at Rosalita.

The briefcase with the pesos was behind my seat, so I opened the door, exited the car and extracted the case.  I managed to do all that without flashing my panties even once or tripping on my heels.  I think I was starting to get the hang of this.

{“Way to go sis!”} Melody said, cheering me on.

{“Thanks”} I said, pleased by both my minor accomplishment and her encouragement.

“Momma, what’s wrong!? Is Maria’s baby okay?” Michelina asked, in a near panic

That is when I heard a woman scream in pain from inside the house. It sounded like a woman in labor and not having an easy go at it. Fuck.

{“What was that?”} Melody asked.

{“Sorry.”} I said until I realized that Melody wasn’t asking me about the F-bomb I just thought about.  {“Oh, I mean, it sounds like a woman in the middle of a difficult birth.”}

{“Oh, should we try to call a doctor or rush her to the hospital?”} Melody asked, full of concern for the woman.

{“They don’t use doctors in most countries, they can’t afford it.”} I said.

{“Oh, well, is there anything that we can do?”}

{“I doubt it.  They should have an experienced midwife in there helping, but I guess we can check, just in case.”} I said as I grabbed our purse from the front seat and failed miserably with my girl wearing a dress technique. I totally flashed our panties to the world, but no one saw so it is not a big deal, right?

I tip-toe ran to catch up with Michelina and Rosalita before they closed the door in my face. “Wait for me!” I said, yelling anxiously.  Damn heels. I should have just let Melody take over.

Inside, there was a young woman or older teenage girl lying on top of some blankets on the floor. I assumed that she was Maria, Rosalita’s older sister. Next to her was a young boy, maybe three years old, holding a wet washcloth over her forehead as she whimpered from pain and exhaustion!  I guessed that the boy must be Maria’s son and on the other side and holding her hand was a young man. He must be  Maria’s husband because he looked worried and I did not blame him.  

Michelina stood at her mother’s side as her mother sat anxiously in a well worn rocking chair working over a rosary as she looked at the young woman on the floor.  Rosalita joined the young man and comforted both him and her sister.  The only person who didn’t seem to belong, other than me, was a young woman wearing hospital scrubs who was kneeling on the floor in between the woman’s spread legs.  She had the mother’s blood on her gloves and some smears on her scrubs.  She looked scared and way over her head.

Since there was not much that I could do at the moment, I glanced around the room, looking for exit and entry points. Attached the room we were in was a small dining area and a kitchen. Past that were two small bedrooms and the back door. I would be very surprised if the house was more than 500 square feet. I did not see a bathroom, so I assumed that they had an outhouse in the back.  As poor as they obviously were, the house was neat and clean as a pin.  Against the north wall of the main room was a small Christian shrine set up with an image of the Virgin Mary and a bronze Jesus on a cross. A rosary was draped over the bronze Jesus.  There were also a couple of white candles burning.

Next to that was another small shrine. I found myself drawn to it and as I walked over to it, I discovered a simple shrine that was devoted to Chalchiuhtlicue. It contained a small ceramic bowl filled with water and a small jade figurine of Chalchiuhtlicue.  I touched the figurine and I felt a tingle travel up my arm.

{“What was that?”} Melody asked.

{“Either it was stone somehow conducting electricity or it was Chalchiuhtlicue trying to tell us something.”} I said as I thoughtfully rubbed the tips of my fingers together. I shifted my gaze over at the Christian shrine, then back again. What an interesting dichotomy.

Turning around, I glanced back at the Maria. She looked exhausted and I spotted more blood exiting her dilated birth canal than should have. Yes, I know that I was a 58 year old guy, but I have also delivered three babies on my own.  When you’re in the middle of a jungle and the nearest medically trained person is over 100 miles away, by helicopter, you tend to get asked by the natives to help do some unusual things, like deliver babies.  

Plus, even if I didn’t have all that experience, I knew that the feet are not the first things that should be coming out. The baby was breech and the midwife must not have been able to or know how to turn it.

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, we do not have time for this!

{“Dani? What’s wrong?”} Melody asked, slightly panicked.

{“The baby is breech and if someone doesn’t do something soon, both the mother and the baby are going to die.”} I said.

{“Can you do something?”}

{“I could try to push the baby back up and turn it, but that might kill it at this stage. Only thing that might work is a C-section and this is not an operating room.”}

{“Do you know how?”}

{“In theory, yes.”} I said as I studied the sweat drenched, pale and exhausted mother. I absently rubbed Chalchiuhtlicue’s stone on my necklace as I considered the options. I did not see how I could help. I might be able to save the baby with a c-section, but the mother had already lost a lot of blood and a c-section would probably kill her.  

I looked over to the grandmother and Michelina.  They were both calmly studying me.  The grandmother’s features looked different that most Mexicans that I have seen. Her nose and face were more chiseled in appearance.  Her features vaguely reminded me of Chalchiuhtlicue’s.  

“Elder, do you want your granddaughter and her baby girl to live?” I asked, not in Spanish, but in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs.

Her ancient eyes widened in shock as Michelina looked back and forth between her mother and me with confusion.  She stopped fingering her rosary and bowed her head to me. “If the Goddess Chalchiuhtlicue deems our simple shrine worthy of her blessing.” She said using the same language.

I gave her simple nod and kicked off my cursed heels.

{“What are you doing?”} Melody asked with a touch of panic.

{“I’m not sure. Work with me here.”} I said.

I switched back to Spanish and looked over at Rosalita. “Rosalita. Please get me a mug of fresh goat’s milk.”

Rosalita looked up at me, anger mixed with shock danced across her face. I could almost read her thoughts as she struggled to form words.  She looked absolutely pissed at me for daring to her to fetch me something to drink while her older sister lay near death on the floor.

“Rosalita! Now!” Her grandmother shouted and Rosalita jumped to obey.

Michelina clutched her mother’s arm and glared briefly at me before turning back to plead with her mother. “Momma, what is happening? Why are you letting this gringo devil woman order Rosalita around?”

I pretended to ignore the tension in the room as I calmly set my purse down with a solid thunk from the USP hitting the wooden chair. Next, I reached up and removed the hair pins holding my wig in place. The wig soon joined the purse on the chair as I pulled out the pins holding my hair down, letting it fall and cascade naturally across my shoulders.

{“Dani, you’re starting to freak me out. It took me a long time to get my hair up like that.”} Melody said, frustrated.

{“Sorry, just running on instinct here and the next thing is probably going to freak you out even more, so please try to be calm.”}

{“Oh, now I’m worried...”} Melody said, anxiously

I reached behind my back, unzipped the dress, pulled it off and draped it neatly over the back of the chair.

Melody nearly panicked and I felt her trying to take control and cover us up. {“Dani! There are people here! Strangers!”}

I ignored her as I removed the bracelets, and hoop earrings and set them down next to our purse.  Melody was totally going to freak out here in a second or two.  I removed my bra, and then followed that up with my panties. Just in time for Rosalita to return from the back of the house with a simple clay mug filled with goat’s milk.

{“DANI!”} Melody screamed with panic.

{“Calm down. We don’t have anything that these folks haven’t seen before. Pretend that you’re in gym class.”}

{“My school canceled gym! Budget cuts and hello, there is a small boy in the room. What about him?”}

{“Don’t worry, they aren’t looking at you. They are looking at me.”} I said, smugly.

{“...”}

I crouched down and pulled the k-bar from my purse. I was not about to bend over because that would just not be dignified in my current state of dress.  Everyone except for the grandmother jumped a little when I pulled the knife from its sheath.  Knife in hand, I walked back to Chalchiuhtlicue’s shrine and carefully removed the bowl of water before resolutely walking back to the young mother’s side.  

I calmly looked down at the midwife. “Move.” I said using my NCO voice of command while pointing for her to stand over by the grandmother with my knife.

She was brave. I will give her that. She looked like she was going to fight me.

“Nelli!” The Grandmother shouted to gain the midwife’s attention before continuing in a more reasonable tone. “Your work is done. Maria and her baby are now in the hands of the Goddess. Please let her try.”

Nelli looked frustrated. She had tried so hard to deliver this baby.  I could see that she was weary, but she did not want to give up and she most certainly did not want to let someone who looked like a child take over.  

“Please child. I know that you did your best, but sometimes even the best will fail. Nothing in life is certain.” I said, smiling down at her. I had no idea what possessed me to say that. Well, I did, but I did not want to dwell on it too much because as much as Melody was freaking out right now; I did not have time to freak out.

Nelli stared at me with stunned disbelief as she struggled to contain her emotions. I could see her fighting herself over what to do. She sighed with defeat and moved to make room for me.

I refused to show any sign of victory. I kept my features calm and serene as I took her place, kneeling on the blood soaked blanket facing the mother. I reached across the mother’s pelvis and placed the bowl of Chalchihuitlicue’s water next to her left hip.

With that in place, I motioned for Rosalita to bring me the mug of goat’s milk.  I could sense Melody’s intense curiosity, but she seemed to have calmed down enough to stop asking me questions.

{“What is the goat’s milk for?”} Melody asked.

Okay, so I was wrong.

{“I’m not sure. Just wait. You will find out as soon as I do.”}

{“Should I close my eyes for this?”}

{“No. Whatever happens, this is life and worth witnessing.”}

I set the mug of goat’s milk down in front of me, then continuing on the path of least resistance, I sliced the palm of my left hand with my knife.  My hand instantly began to bleed and I held it over the mug to allow my blood to drip into the milk.  The milk turned a pale pink color as my blood blended itself into the milk. Satisfied by the results, I reached over with my bleeding hand and placed it palm down in the bowl of water.

My blood swirled in the water and I held my hand there for a few heartbeats. When I removed my hand, the cut was completely healed without a trace.  Everyone in the room gasped by that display, but I was more amazed by the fact that the water looked as clear as it did before I placed my bloody and bleeding palm into the bowl.

With that little miracle displayed, I picked up the mug of blood stained goat’s milk and handed it to the man at her side. “Have her drink this.” I said.

He numbly accepted the mug and put it to her lips. Then, helped her tilt her head forward and with a whimper of pain, she began to drink from the mug.  As she drank, her breathing became more regular and less ragged. She also started to relax and the pain in her eyes faded.  For the first time since I arrived, she looked over at the man holding her hand and wanly smiled at him.

With her taken care of, the baby was next and I was not sure how I could perform surgery using only a k-bar, a bowl of water and not anesthesia.

{“You’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do, are you?”} Melody asked.

{“Probably...”} I said as I dipped my blade in the bowl of water.  Then, with my other hand, I felt her belly to locate the child inside her.  Locating the child, I removed my knife from the water and cut into her belly. As I cut into her belly, I pushed into her to move the baby away from the outside. My initial cut was about four inches long across her the bottom of her belly. I noticed a curious lack of bleeding and the mother did not seem to even notice me cutting into her.

I dipped my blade into the bowl. Then, ever so carefully, I used my other hand to help feel the mother’s tissue and guide my blade, I deepened the cut until the placenta was visible. The mother bled, but very slowly.  

I looked up and into the blissfully happy face of the mother. “Maria, your baby girl will be with us soon.”  

How did I know that the baby was a girl?

I re-dipped my blade while keeping Maria’s incision open with my blood soaked left hand.  I pulled the placenta away from the baby and cut the sack open. With the sack open, I set my blade in the bowl of water. Then, while maintaining light pressure on the incision with my left hand, I moved and kneeled down on the mother’s left side. With my right, I felt inside for the child’s head and after finding it, I carefully shifted her head towards the opening, pulling and shifting  her around until her head emerged from her mother’s belly.

As soon as her head cleared the opening into the air it started crying, a very good sign indeed. I finished taking the little girl from her mother’s womb.  She was so tiny. Blood and all, I clutched the child protectively to my breast as reached over her mother and grabbed my knife once more.

I looked over at Nelli. “Do you have a clamp or some string that you can use to tie the cord?”

She jumped up and retrieved two surgical clamps from her bag and locked them onto the cord an inch apart for me. That way, when I cut the cord, blood wouldn’t spray out.

With the cord clamped,  I cut and quickly tied it in a knot at the child’s belly button.  With the baby clutched to my breast with my left arm, I used my right hand to gently pull out the remaining umbilical cord and placenta from Maria’s womb.  Yes, that made a mess, but leaving it in could cause complications for Maria.

I felt a curiously pleasant sensation on my nipple and when I glanced down, the baby was trying to suckle from my breast.  I smiled at her initiative, but I doubted that she would get anything from me. She needed her mother’s milk.  With my blood stained hand, I reached across the mother and grabbed the bowl of water.  Then, I slowly poured the water over the incision.  As the water poured into the incision, the blood washed away and the incision closed.

{“Wow...”} Melody said, clearly amazing and for the first time, limiting herself to a single word.

{“Yes, wow is putting it mildly.”} I said, amazed myself.

{“What is the baby doing with our breast?”} Melody asked.

I looked back down at her and she seemed to be happily suckling me.  I felt so bad for her. She had to be so hungry and she had to be frustrated by the lack of milk in my breasts. I gently pulled her away and her little mouth continued to try and reach for my breast.  The midwife appeared with a blanket for the baby and grateful, I handed the baby to her.  She expertly cleaned and wrapped the softly crying baby before handed the baby to her beaming mother.

I looked back down I was covered in blood and embryonic fluid from the baby.

{“Okay, you were right and now I am glad that you took off our clothes.”}

I smiled at Melody’s comment, but as I checked my breasts, they appeared to be a little fuller. We looked like we might be a full cup size larger. I couldn’t be expressing milk, could I?  I lightly pressed my left breast where the baby was trying to suckle and a drop of milk leaked out of my nipple.

{“No way!”} Melody said, shocked

I was even more shocked when Maria, with her husband’s help, handed me her baby again. “Please Lady Chalchiuhtlicue...” She said, hopefully.

Feeling slightly dazed, I held the baby to my breast again and she immediately latched on. I felt her feeding and a deep feeling of contentment flooded through my body.  I smiled at the baby and my heart melted.  

{“Dani, that’s so...”} Melody said, euphoric as tears began to drip from our eyes.  

I felt a blanket being placed over my shoulders and wrapped gently around my body. I looked back up and everyone except for Maria and her husband was bowing to me, but even those two were smiling at me reverently.  “Please, you don’t need to do that, I’m not Chalchiuhtlicue.” I said.

With the baby suckling me, I helplessly watched as Rosalita reverently picked up my blade and the now empty water bowl. She placed the bowl back in the shrine. Then, Michelina and her mother stood at her side. As Rosalita held the bloody blade over empty bowl; Michelina slowly poured fresh water over the blade, washed the blood from the blade and into the bowl without allowing a single drop to fall outside the bowl.

I felt the baby release my left nipple and begin to get fussy.  She couldn’t still be hungry, could she?  I reversed my grip and transferred her to my other breast.  Once again, she immediately latched on and began happily suckling from me.

{“When we get home, can we have a baby?”} Melody asked, wonder filling her voice.

{“No.}” I said, feeling slightly depressed because I felt the same way, but I knew that Melody was far too young to have a baby.  She needed to finish college first, then maybe if she had a good career and stable home environment. Oh yeah, and if she and her husband both agreed that it was a good idea.  Okay, so maybe never.

I looked back up at the shrine and my k-bar had been carefully set beside the bowl. My OCD urged me to retrieve my blade, but with a baby suckling my breast; I could not move. Plus, even if I could move, I didn’t want to move. I was enjoying myself far too much.  We both were. I could feel Melody’s emotions matching my own.  We both started crying again when the baby stopped feeding and fell asleep nestled up to our naked breast.

I looked over to Maria and she was crying too, but her tears were tears of joy.  Reluctantly, I handed her sleeping baby back to her and she pulled her baby tight to her body, smiling at her baby. I was a little surprised when Michelina and Rosalita arrived with a large pot of warm water, towels and washcloths.  That was rather thoughtful of them because I needed to clean all the blood off my body before I could get back into my dress.

They motioned for me to stand and as I stood, I let the blanket drop to the floor.  Rosalita soaked a washcloth in the water then began to gently clean me. I did not expect that at all.  Especially when Michelina joined her.

After the blood was cleaned from every inch of my skin, a second pot of water was brought out, but this pot smelled of flowers.  Once again they gently rubbed my entire body, leaving a light fresh floral scent in its wake. My skin also felt so much softer. What else did they put in that water?

{“Can we get dressed now?”} Melody asked.

{“I was just about to do that.”} I said.

I turned back to the chair that had all my clothes on it and except for my purse, were all gone. The grandmother must have noticed my expression.

“Come.” She gestured for me to follow her into one of the small bedrooms and sit down in front of a small vanity. I must have been in shock because I left my purse with the USP and my knife out in the other room.  I was about to get up and retrieve them when Rosalita and Michelina entered the room with all my clothes and then, laid them all out neatly on top of the bed.  Next, Michelina grabbed a silver comb and began to work on my hair.  She very quickly and professionally had my hair back up and into a tight roll for the wig.  Then, she pinned the wig to my hair and when she was done, I couldn’t tell that I was wearing a wig.  I could feel it, but visually, it looked like my real hair.

{“Maybe we should hire her?”} Melody asked.

{“No.”} I said.

{“Meanie.”} Melody said.

Rosalita replaced her and she began to re-apply my makeup.  Unlike Melody and me, she was a pro and had us looking stunning, sophisticated and older in no time.

{“How about Rosalita?”}

{“No.”}

{“Geesh!”}

{“You forgot meanie.”}

I got the feeling that Melody was sticking her tongue out at me.  I smiled at both Melody’s antics and Rosalita’s skills.  

{“I hope you paid attention to how she did that...”} I said.

{“I did and I think I can duplicate it.”} Melody said.

Rosalita helped me get back into our clothes. Sharing a body with Melody was starting to get me confused with my self identification pronouns. Sometimes I felt like me and sometimes I felt like us.  I gave Melody control and with Rosalita’s assistance, we were dressed to the hilt again very quickly. It was very handy having a real second hand to help you zip up the back of your dress.  

{“Ahhh, why couldn’t our boobs stay big?”} Melody asked, disappointed as she stuffed her bra with the breast forms before Rosalita finished zipping up the back.

{“Don’t worry, they’ll grow. My daughter felt the same way when she was your age. Then, when they did grow, she complained about all the boys who tried to cop a feel and stared at her boobs.”} I said, trying to be helpful.

{“*sigh* you’re no fun sometimes.”} Melody said as she slipped the high heels back onto our feet.

When she stood up and checked out how she looked in the mirror; all I could was stare at the elegant beauty reflected back at us. If I got the chance, I decided that I needed to ask Chalchiuhtlicue if I could stay until Melody turned 21 or something because she was going to be beating off the boys with a fucking baseball bat or two.

{“You like?”} Melody asked, sounding pleased.

{“I want to yell at you to take all that stuff off because you can’t leave the house looking like that, but I can’t because you look absolutely stunning!”} I said.

Melody laughed and I felt her eyes starting to tear up.  Rosalita quickly handed her a tissue and Melody dabbed her eyes to keep her mascara from running.  {“Thanks, but you’re looking kinda hot yourself.”} She said as she turned and hugged Rosalita. Then, she hugged Michelina before we ventured back into the main room.  

It was a happy but tired family we joined.  I would have liked to stay, but we had work to do.  The old SEAL motto of, “The last easy day was yesterday” was never truer.

“I’ll be right back!” I said as I made my way back to the Audi.  The sun was starting to rise in the horizon.  We were running out of time, but this time, when I extracted the briefcase from the front seat, I didn’t flash the world.  

{“Good job, you go girl!”} Melody said, cheering me on.

I returned to the house and politely gestured for the grandmother to follow me back into the bedroom.  I placed the briefcase on the bed and after she entered the room, I peeked out at the curious stares directed toward me, smiled and closed the door.

“What is it Lady Melodá­a?” She asked, concerned.

I really liked how she pronounced Melody’s name. “Nothing much, I just wanted to give your family a hand, maybe help Rosalita get an education so that she doesn’t have to work for a drug lord. Also, to help with some clothes for the baby.” I said, feeling a twinge of wistfulness over the baby.

“That is not necessary Lady Melodá­a! You have already given us more than you can know.” She said with tears in her ancient eyes.

“Please, I insist.” I said as I opened the briefcase and pulled out over half of the pesos. As I stacked them on the vanity, with the 200 and 500 denomination bills, I estimated that there was around 4 million pesos for her to divide up however she saw fit.  She tried to refuse again and even hand the stacks back to me, but I snapped up the briefcase and refused to take the money back.

“Just don’t try to deposit or spend it for a few more days. Don Rodriguez won’t miss it after that.” I said as I walked out of the room leaving her mouth agape with shock.

I tried to leave right after that, but everyone insisted on giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek before I could even think of reaching for the door. I grabbed my purse and retrieved my knife from the shrine. I fondly touched the jade figurine, and then gave the baby girl one last kiss before I left.

I blissfully slid our body into the leather driver’s seat, slipped off the heels, closed the door and started the motor.  I gripped the wheel and stared straight ahead, lost in thought.  What I had just done was a miracle.  There was absolutely no doubt about it and it kind of scared me. I just performed an emergency c-section without any modern medicine or surgical instruments.

{“That was cool.”} Melody said, softly snapping me out of my reverie.

{“Yes, yes it was.”} I said as I put the Audi in gear and slowly drove away from the house with a heavy heart.

The GPS system wasn’t any help until we made it back to the main road, then I told it to direct us to Melody’s hotel and we were off.

“Well, that put us behind, but no matter what happens, I think it was worth it. Don’t you?” I asked.

It took Melody a few seconds to reply. {“Yes. That was truly amazing.  Thanks Sis.  Now I know that you’re not all mean.”} Melody said before she broke down and giggled.

“You stinker! Well, it’s the morning, it’s less than 10 miles to the hotel, we are out of cigarettes and I need to buy some sunglasses.” I said with a smile as I adapted the Blues Brothers quote to fit my needs.

{“You’re weird...”} Melody said.

In response, I laughed, dropped a gear and punched the accelerator.

{“Daaani!”} Melody screamed as the R8 accelerated like it had a JATO pack strapped to the roof.

She of the Jade Skirt

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

** Part IV **

{“Can I drive?”} Melody asked a few minutes after the blistering acceleration came to a halt and the routine of driving helped to dim the excitement.

However, I have to admit that driving the R8, did not, in any way, feel routine. I felt completely wired and I tingled, for lack of a better word, in places I never tingled before. I worked hard to focus on the road to help get those tingles and our breathing under control. Melody’s excitement must have bled over and caused those sensations.

{“Not right now, but maybe later.”}  I said because I could not really say that she was not old enough to drive when technically, she was driving.  Plus, it might be a good idea for her to know how to drive if something happened to me. I would hate to have her stranded in the middle of nowhere if Chalchiuhtlicue decided to pop in and take me away.

{“Really!?!”}

Melody sounded shocked and based on the renewed increase of our heart rate, I imagined her jumping up and down with excitement. I struggled to not smile at her reaction and I failed, miserably, by giggling at her reaction. {“Yes, but when I have time to show you.  This isn’t your parent’s minivan.”}

{“Camry.”}

{“That either.”}

{“Okay, but, umm, now what?”}

{“Well, now we find out what we can do about your parents, but we need to be careful because there were a lot of police officers on the Don’s payoff lists.  We can’t just jump in with guns a’ blazing.”}

{“Weapons, hello!?”} Melody said with mock frustration.

{“Wow, you can teach a young whippersnapper new tricks...”} I said using my best cranky old person voice.

We laughed together and I found it hard to keep the silly happy smile off my face.  Having Melody with me made me feel so ridiculously happy that I never wanted to leave her because I could not imagine living without her. When I am done, I might have to beg the goddess to let me stay.

It only took us 15 minutes to reach  Melody’s hotel and thankfully it was still too early for a lot of people to be up and about.  At least, not vacationers, because the only street traffic I saw appeared to be Mexicans coming to or leaving from work.  I did notice a few people checking out our car, though.

{“Hmm, maybe I should have appropriated the SUV...”} I said with some regret.

{“What? Why? This car is so cool! Oh-”} Melody stopped as she realized how much attention our car attracted.

There were three police vehicles parked near the front doors of Melody’s hotel. Their presence confirmed my suspicions about the police.  Fortunately, there were only a couple of officers standing outside and they did not appear to be paying very close attention to the street traffic.  Their focus was directed to the interior of the hotel.  

That was not a good sign because they were probably waiting for some of their friends to come out with Melody’s parents in tow.  My guess was that police were going to pretend to be taking them to Melody, but instead they were simply going to hand them over to The Don.

I drove a few blocks past the hotel and then, I turned around and parked on the side of the street approximately a hundred meters from the hotel entrance. I had a pretty good line of sight with the hotel lobby doors, but now I wished that I had found some binoculars in The Don’s stash.  I debated digging out one of the kit scopes from the trunk.

{“What are we doing?”} Clearly, Melody felt a little anxious just sitting in the car and doing nothing.

{“Umm, waiting to-”} I stopped when I spotted a cluster of police officers escorting a man and a woman from the hotel.

Melody instantly tensed. {“They have my parents! We have to help them!”}

I mostly ignored her demand because we had already gone over this. {“We can’t, yet...we need to wait.”}

{“Grrrr...this is so frustrating...”}

Melody did not like my answer, but she settled down as I studied the area to try and figure out some options. Yes, the scope would have really come in handy because from our current position it was hard to make out the details. It appeared that the man leading them was a high ranking officer versus the standard rank and file. His body language appeared to show that he was relaxed and happy as he gestured for Melody’s parents to get into the lead vehicle.

{“Maybe he is trying to protect them?”} I said for Melody’s benefit even though I found the odds of that to be rather low.

I quickly ducked down in the seat when their convoy turned and headed right for our position. My smaller size worked in our favor because I was able to completely hide our body. I waited until they passed our position before I sat back up and started the Audi.  We had to follow them, but do so from maximum distance. The flashy Audi was definitely a liability when trying to tail someone.

Thankfully, three police cars were not that hard to follow and we did not have far to go. By keeping an eye on the trailing police vehicle and the Audi’s GPS, I found it fairly obvious that they were heading to the city’s marina instead of the police station.  

“Hmmph...” I said, absently tapped the steering wheel as I thought things over.

{“What’s going on? Is something wrong?”} Melody asked as I felt our heart race.

{“I believe that they are taken them to our buddy, The Don, but there still isn’t a lot that we can do about it right now.”}

Melody did not say anything, but I could feel her disappointment and that made it harder on me. Her disappointment made me wish Chalchiuhtlicue had turned me into a superwoman, able to just rush in and free her parents from the clutches of the evil drug lord.  This mission was starting to feel personal and that could cause me to make mistakes. Mistakes that neither of us could afford.

The marina’s parking lot proved to be far easier to blend in and hide an expensive sports car than I expected.  The lot was full of $100K+ cars. I simply pulled into an open spot next to a Mercedes SUV and opposite from the police officers’ position.  The bigger SUV helped conceal the Audi and us from the police.  The downside to that concealment was that it also made it impossible for me to watch them directly.

I spotted Melody’s parents being escorted into the marina by three officers. I knew that there was zero chance of me following them into the marina without being spotted. So, I decided to take a risk and grab the scope from the R8’s forward trunk, or boot as the crazy Brits would say.  Yes, it is true. Every British special operative that I worked with was certifiably insane, but you could also depend on them to not crack under pressure.

While not as handy as binoculars, the scope proved to be helpful. Not exactly the most clandestine of methods, but if it is stupid and it works, then it isn’t stupid. From the comfort of the Audi’s driver’s seat, I was able to see most of the marina and I quickly spotted our, I mean, Melody’s parents directed to turn down a dock that lead toward an ultra-modern, sleek and clearly expensive yacht that bore the name, “El Conquistador”.

It was pretty easy to hate this guy and the name he chose for his yacht made it even easier.  I knew that the yacht did not have a choice in the matter, but now I hated his yacht, too.  I know, it was just a yacht. It did not have feelings, but if I had the chance; the “El Conquistador” was going into the Goddess’ loving embrace.

Thanks to the scope, I was able to make out their facial expressions and read their body language better. It was pretty easy to see that Melody’s mom was very scared. She was holding onto her husband’s arm and glancing nervously about, as if looking for a way to escape.  Melody’s dad looked angry as he tried to comfort her. If he was going to do something courageous, now was the most likely time for him to do so.

“Please don’t try to be a hero...” I whispered as I anxiously shifted in my seat and absently rubbed the centerpiece of my necklace. Somehow, the cool jade and texture of Chalchiuhtlicue’s image helped to calm and reassure me.

One of the three officers who ‘escorted’ Melody’s parents appeared to be wearing a captain’s uniform.  I presumed that the good captain did not bring all his men with him because it would have angered The Don. While I could not see the captain’s name badge from our angle, I felt fairly certain that he was the same person listed on The Don’s pay off report. The report plus his current actions just added him to my targets of opportunity list.

The Don made his appearance with a few of his thugs as backup. He looked suave and relaxed in his Miami Vice white suit jacket, grey t-shirt, white dress pants and dock shoes. Could he be any more stereotypical? I saw a flash of metal on his wrist and with all his other big ticket purchases, I would not be surprised if he was wearing a real Rolex. The scope was good, but at 300 meters, 4x magnification is not enough to make out watch logos.

His personal guard appeared to be better equipped. They openly carried MP5 submachine guns held at the ready as they kept a distrustful watch on the police.  If I was unsure about the Police Captain being on The Don’s payroll; his disregard of the Don’s thugs and their weapons  removed all doubts because suppressor equipped MP5’s are not legal for a private citizen to openly brandish, not even in the good old U S of A.

Their MP5’s were not the cheap clones his goons back at the mansion carried. No, these were the Heckler & Koch MP5SD3 variant that included a retractable butt stock, fully automatic fire mode selector, an integrated suppressor and they carried them like a pro would.  No, his personal goons were probably not going to be easy to neutralize.

{“Dani, what’s wrong?”} Melody asked.

{“Umm, nothing. His guards are going to be a problem. Nothing major.”} I said, trying not to sound too concerned about them.

The Don greeted the Police Captain like he was an old friend, slapping him joyfully on the back, but based upon the Captain’s body language, it appeared that he did not feel the same. They spoke to each other for a few seconds before Melody’s parents were turned over to The Don’s men. My mom, I mean, Melody’s mom almost broke down, but Melody’s dad was able to reassure her as the two of them were led onto the yacht. I followed the two as they were led up the stern deck stairs by the professional goons and until they disappeared into the stern cabin area.

{“Okay, so now we wait for the fake police to leave and then, kill everyone and free my parents, right?”} Melody said with a quiet intensity that concerned me.

I felt extremely worried by her attitude toward killing someone. I knew that she felt extremely worried about her parents; so, perhaps she was justified, but killing was my job, not Melody’s.  I did not want that stain on her soul because that kind of stain never comes out.  I was undead proof of that fact.

{“No, ‘we’ do not ‘kill everyone’. ‘I’ kill everyone, but only after ‘we’ have a plan that gives us a good chance of success.  Rushing in now would just get us both dead and maybe your parents too. Got it?”} I was probably a little hard on her, but it was for her own good.

I could feel Melody’s frustration attempting to boil over. Our eyes began to water as her emotions ran wild. She wanted to scream, punch and kick at me, but she could not because deep down inside, she knew I was right and that I was there mentally hugging her the entire time.

{“Yes, ma’am. Sorry...”} She said softly and sounding genuinely apologetic.

{“Okay, now, we will need to find the plans for his yacht. Figure out how much opposition he has on board and how they are armed. What their schedules and habits are, good and bad.  How large  a crew he has to man his yacht and if they are armed. We need something better than a scope for surveillance...}” I said as I started to run through all the things we would need and the list kept getting larger.  I started to worry that we would not have enough of a lead time to even attempt a rescue tonight.

{“Oh...”} Melody said, sounding dejected.

{“Yes, oh, and that is just the start. We also have to plan for our withdrawal. It would not do us any good to succeed with our primary mission, then fail at getting your parents to a safe place and out of the country, will it?”} I said.

{“Umm, sure, but what is their boat doing?”} Melody asked, breaking me out of my mission planning fugue.

{“Ship...”} I absently corrected her as I focus my attention back on the yacht and what I see throws a giant monkey wrench in the works.

{“Fuck me to tears...”} Slips out before I even think to censor myself.  The asshole and his crew are preparing to weigh anchor and depart our little slice of paradise.  There goes the entire mission planning.  It is kind of hard to plan for something that doesn’t exist.  Where in the fuck is he going?  

From the data back on his PC, he had all sorts of places that he could be going to right now.  He could be going to his secret sub construction yard in Puerto Madero or anyplace else on the entire west coast of Mexico. Fuck, he could even be going to entirely somewhere else. It is a big fucking ocean out there.

{“Dani, we have to stop them!”} Melody said, her voice full of desperation and anguish as we watched the asshole’s yacht begin to pull back from its berth.

{“Yes, but there is nothing we can do right now.”} I said, gripping the steering wheel of the Audi until my knuckles turned white.

That was the wrong thing to say or think, or whatever it is we do because in her desperation to help her parents, Melody managed to get us out of the car before I was able to take back over.

{“Stop it! Leave me alone! I have to stop him!”} Melody screamed at me.

I felt her heart, our heart beating furiously from the panic that she felt for her parents.  I wanted so badly to just hold her and tell her that it would be okay, but holding her was a bit hard and I could not guarantee that everything would be okay.  Not that I would not die trying to make it so. Without Melody fighting me, I got us back into the R8 and then, like she did for me in the pool, I hugged my arms against our body.

“I am not giving up...Sis...I promise that we will get Mom and Dad from that bastard. It is just going to take a bit more work, that is all.” I said, whispering out loud to make my promise more real for both of us.

{“Really?”} Melody asked like she trusted me to make it true, but still felt a little unsure.

{“Really, Really.”} I said with a slight smile as my eyes prickled with tears. I had not had someone depend on me like that in years.  It reminded me of the time my daughter asked me to help her with a wounded bird.  I knew that it was probably hopeless, but I could not let her down because it would have broken her heart to just let the bird die as nature intended.  Chipper, as she named him, flew again.  I did not have the heart to tell her that I found Chipper dead a week later. I think that a cat got him.

{“You called Mom and Dad, Mom and Dad...”} Melody said at almost a whisper, her voice filled with wonder.

{“Umm, yes, well, you did say that I was your bossy big sister, so I was just trying to perform to mission specs, or something.”} I said with a hint of bluster as I tried to cover my mistake while at the same time realizing that I actually felt that way about them.  Logically, I should not because they are most definitely not my parents because I am not Melody, but that did not really help because technically, I am Melody.  Confused much? Me too. Oh, fuck it. Sorry about my French.

{“Yes, okay. We ‘will’ rescue Mom and Dad, but first we have to find out where the bastard is taking them.”} I said, practically giving up on maintaining my objectiveness.

I felt Melody cheering inside my head and I imagined her doing a cute little happy dance.  That made me smile and love my little sister even more.  {“Yeah!  We are back in the game and my sis has a plan! You do have a plan, right?”} Melody asked, shifting from jubilant to suspicious in less than a heartbeat.

{“Yes, and I will tell you as soon as I figure it out.”} I said as I started the R8.  The throaty sound and vibrations of the big v12 springing to life helped focus my attention to the task at hand.

{“What?!?!”} Melody asked, shocked by my admission.

I ignored her as I put the R8 in gear and began to pull the car forward.  I had to slam on the brakes when the three police cars cut across our bow.  I guess that the SUV blocking our car from them also blocked them from us because they surprised me. Thankfully, neither the drivers nor the occupants spared us a second glance.  Their attention appeared to be focused on something else and shortly after they exited the lot, their lights and sirens began to blaze.

{“Where do you think that they are going to now?”} Melody asked.

I had to think about that for a second. {“Hmm, hard to say, but worst case is that they are going to check out the bastard’s mansion.”}

{“Okay, then what do we do about ‘the Bastard’?”}

{“Well, first, I need to stop swearing. You are picking up some naughty words young lady.”} I felt Melody mentally sticking her tongue out at me. {“And second, we need to figure out where he is going with your parents and to do that we have a few options depending on how sneaky he is being.”}

{“Okay...”} Melody sounded hesitant.

{“The simplest and least risky option is that we watch which direction they turn when they leave the harbor. If south east, then he is probably going to his ship yard in Puerto Madero. If north east, no idea, but if he just goes straight out until we lose sight of him, then we are screwed. I mean, in trouble.”}

Melody giggled at my slip up. {“Oh, why would he do that?”}

{“Mostly to keep someone from doing what we are trying to do. It is an old trick that traders used to keep their competitors from figuring out their destination based on the direction they left port.”}

{“Oh, what do we do if he does that then?”}

{“Well, we can waste time watching him or try Plan A.”} I stopped there knowing that Melody is going to ask.  It took her almost 10 seconds before she could not take it anymore.

{“Aaaannnd Plan A is?”}

{“Oh, was wondering if you were still awake there.”}

{“So mean...”}

{“No, I’m not. Plan A is simple. We just ask the Port Captain if they called in a sail plan. That would probably be the least risky, but Plan B would be to have a little talk with our other friend, the police captain.  That option might cause us lots of problems, but shi... stuff happens.”}

{“Oh, okay.”} Melody said, sounding somewhat mollified.

{“So now we need to find the Port Captain’s office and...”} I glanced down at our cleavage and felt a little dirty for even considering what I was planning, but I knew what we looked like and how easy a pretty girl, like Melody, could extract information from a mark. {“...use our ‘assets’ to get some information, if possible. Are you on board with that, Melody?”}

{“What do you mean by ‘on board’?”} Melody sounded suspicious.

{“I will need you to take over and interrogate the Port Captain.}

{“Umm, okay, but why can’t you do that?  I don’t wanna mess up.”}

{“Simple, for this operation, we need a young lady and I am not a young lady. I know how to break people’s fingers until they tell me what I want to know and I don’t think that would be a good plan for this mission. So, do you think that you can handle it?”}

{“Umm, I guess I can try?”} Melody sounded hesitant.

{“There is no try, only do.”} I said in my best Mr. Miyagi impression.

{“Is that from another one of your dusty old movies?”} Melody teased me.

{“Brat!”}

She giggled at me, but I ignored it, mostly. {“Grrr, okay, you’re 16, you are a reporter for your high school’s student paper and you are here to do an interview about the job of a Port Captain. Crap, we need a tape recorder or a notepad.”} I quickly pawed through the center console and glove box hoping that we would get lucky and find something.  

{“No luck, let’s head over to the Port Captain’s office. Maybe we can figure something out once we are there.”} I said as I put the Audi in gear and drove the half mile down the street to the office.  

Melody was quiet until we parked. {“Hmmm, what is the name of the high school here?”}

{“Good question. Why don’t you look it up?”}

I let her take over again.
 

I felt Dani give control of my body.  Did she really expect me to ‘interrogate’ the Port Captain?  I was not a secret agent like she was. Well, not really a secret agent, but...

Oh crap!

Yes, I said a bad word, but you should hear Dani talk sometimes.  I cannot believe that she expected me to sweet talk this Port Captain dude into telling us where the bas’, umm jerk, took my parents.  Instead of worrying about it, I used the GPS to find the nearest high school.

“Okay, got it. It is not actually in Salina Cruz. The, umm, Estado De Oaxaca Santo Domingo Tehuantepec. Does that sound good to you?” I asked because I really was not sure if that would work or not.  This spy stuff was kinda new to me and the fact that I could somehow speak, read and understand Spanish like I was a native freaked me out a little too, but it was also pretty darn wicked.

{“Yep.”} Dani said, flat and all business like.

I could feel her plotting and adjusting her imaginary mission plan with the school name and location.  She was probably working out a way to blow the school up as a distraction in case this Port Captain dude got nosy or something.  She is kinda violent and scary, but I could feel how much she loved me. She really was like a sister to me, but more. If that makes any sense.

I glanced down at my dress and all I could think was, “Wow! I’m wearing a Donna Karen and I look hot! “, but I also did not look very, umm, tan.  There was no way that I could pass myself off as a Mexican, but I was pretty proud about how nice my breasts looked.  After my mom got over her jealousy, she would kill me if she saw me dressed like this.

“Umm, I don’t look very, umm, Mexican.” I said, hoping that Dani would have an idea.

{“Good point...”} Dani said as she thought it over for a second. {“German. You’re an exchange student from Germany.”}

Melody paused as she thought it over. “Umm, okay, but do you speak German?”

{"Ja, na sicher spreche ich Deutsch, Mann."} Dani said, smugly.

"á„ch du meinst Frau, oder?" I said with a pleased smirk as I simultaneously realized that I could both understand and speak German.

{“Holy crap! I mean, cow. I guess we do speak German. Did you know that before?”} Dani asked, sounding flabbergasted. See what I mean about her language?

“Nein Grossmutter.” I said as I briefly stuck my tongue out at her while I checked my makeup and hair in the car’s driver mirror.

Dani elected to not reply, but I could tell she was miffed about me calling her a grandmother. My makeup looked perfect. Senora Michelina and Senorita Rosalita did a very good job. Way better than I would have been able to do. I would have used too much eyeliner and made my eyes look too young. I started to think that with this dress, makeup and hair; I might actually be able to pull this off.

{“Okay, so I think that we have a pen in our purse. We will just have to figure something out as to why we do not have a notepad or recorder.”}  Dani said, snapping me out of my confident feeling.

{“Okay...”} I said as I exited the car, purse firmly in hand.  I felt extremely nervous, but as I approached to entryway door, I started to feel more relaxed and confident.  I could not explain it, but somehow, I had the feeling that someone was watching over me.  The strange part about that feeling was that it was not Dani.  I mean, I knew that Dani was, but it was not her.

{“Yer doing great kiddo.”} Dani said, encouragingly.

{“Thanks.”} I said as I entered the small reception area of the Port Captain’s building.  

I spotted an attractive, professionally attired Mexican woman sitting at a receptionist’s desk.  She appeared to be in her mid-thirties and confused by my presence. I guessed that not many people visited the office this early in the morning wearing a Donna Karen dress.

“Hola? May I help you, Senorita? Are you lost?” She asked in Spanish.

I smiled at her with what I hoped was a confident and friendly smile. “Hola, Senora. No, I am not lost, but I kind of need your help.” The woman did not immediately say no or try to shoo me out of her office.

I took that as a good sign. “Sorry, but umm, I am going to school at Estado De Oaxaca Santo Domingo Tehuantepec and I was given the assignment of doing a story for the school newspaper. It is about careers and I thought the Puerto Capitan’s job would be very to our students. I know that he is probably very busy, but do you think that it might be possible for me to interview him?” I asked, cringing a little since I expected her to tell me no.

She did not say no. At least, not right away, but she looked genuinely regretful. “I am very sorry Senorita, but the Puerto Capitan is very busy this morning...”

I ‘had’ to talk to him. If I did not, we would not be able to find my parents. “Please, I only need a few minutes. I need the grade...”

The woman looked like she might change her mind. “Your Spanish is very good, but where are you from?” She asked with a perplexed frown.

Hah!  She might change her mind.

I worked my way to her desk and smiled at her. “Germany, Senora. I am here as a foreign exchange student and I love your country. The people are so nice and the weather is so warm. Much nicer than my hometown. It rains too much there.” I said, sighing as I imagined myself coming from a miserable climate instead of sunny California.  I had never been to Germany, but I heard it was nice there. So, I was not sure where I got the rain idea from. Maybe there is a part of Germany that gets more rain and nasty weather?

{“Watch it Melody...”} Dani said, reminding me that she was looking out for me and that I might be ad libbing it a bit too much.

The woman thoughtfully pursed her lips. “Hmmm, let me check with the Capitan. He is normally not so busy first thing in the morning. He might be able to see you, but only for a short time.” She cautioned me as she picked up her phone and pushed a button labeled “Puerto Capitan”.

“Thank you so, so much...” I said, whispering gratefully to the woman as she spoke on the phone with the Port Captain.

“He will be out in a few minutes.” The woman said with a pleased grin.

{“Her name is Alba Fernandez.”} Dani said.

“Oh my god’dess!” I stuttered a bit because I meant to say ‘oh my god’, but goddess somehow came out instead. Dani has been saying it so often. I blame her. “Umm, thank you so much, Alba! How can I ever repay you?”

“Oh, it is not a problem, umm...” Alba said, expectantly.

“Ma’rina Kuhne” I said with a distinct German pronunciation of my fake name before I realized that I had used her first name. A big no-no and I could have just ruined everything if she got upset with me. “I am so sorry; I did not mean to be so familiar with you Senora Fernandez.”

Thankfully, Senora Fernandez just laughed and waved my little social gaffe away. “Oh, that is okay, Senorita Khune. Ma’rina is a very pretty name.”  She stumbled just a little over the German pronunciation, but got it mostly right except for rolling her ‘r’.

{“Wow, you’re doing great Melody. Are you sure that you’re not really a secret agent?”} Dani said, sounding both pleased and concerned at the same time.

{“Thanks Sis!”} I said. It felt so nice having her there.

{“Note pad. Ask her if you can borrow her notepad.”} Dani said, reminding me that as a reporter, I needed to have something to take notes with.

I bit my lip with apprehension as I looked down at Senorita Fernandez’s desk. I felt so bad asking her.  “Umm, Senora Fernandez, I kind of hate to admit this, but I, umm, in my rush to get here before school started, I forgot my notebook. Do you have something that I can borrow?”

Senora Fernandez smiled, nodded her head and reached for her notepad. “I think so, Senorita Kuhne. Will this work?” She asked as she held it up for me to inspect.

“Yes, but umm, I am not a very good reporter, am I?” I asked, softly because I was beginning to wonder if I could really pull this mission off.

Senora Fernandez smiled encouragingly at me. “Oh! Of course you are Senorita Kuhne” She said as she quickly tore off the top page and handed me her notepad.

I felt extremely grateful for her help as I clutched her notepad against my body. I, I mean we, were one more step closer to finding my mom and dad and I did not think that I could thank Senora Fernandez enough. “Thank you Senora Fernandez! You have been so helpful and I am so sorry for interrupting your day. I think that I need to do a second article about the importance of someone working in your job because without you, how would the Puerto Capitan get his work done?”

Senora Fernandez and I shared a giggle that was quickly cut by the sound of the door leading to the back area opening. A reasonably handsome and fit middle aged man wearing a neatly pressed military style uniform strode confidently into the front area. I felt Dani’s alarm at his appearance. I guessed that she expected him to be sloppier or something.

Me, I was just glad that he had agreed to at least see me. “Oh, Senor Capitan, umm, it’s so nice to meet you.” I said, as I felt myself blush and clasp my hands behind my back before I realized what I was doing.   I was acting like a shy 12 year old girl when I was supposed to be a 16 year old high school girl and everyone knows that high school girls are way more confident.

I did notice that he checked me out and strangely enough, that actually made me feel more confident. I could feel Dani snickering at the poor man’s reaction before she suddenly grew alarmed by something.

I smiled at him as I confidently strode to him and extended my hand to shake like a professional business woman would do.  “Hola, I am Senorita Ma’rina  Kuhne. Thank you so much, Senor Capitan, for agreeing to speak with me.”

He surprised me when he smoothly twisted my hand and gallantly kissed my knuckles. I had never had anyone do that before and it was so charming. It made me feel like a princess or something and I knew that I had him under my power. Muh ha ha!

{“Victory!”} I cried to Dani.

“Oh, sie sind so ein Gentleman! Sorry, you surprised me; I did not expect such gallantry Senor Capitan. Are all Puerto Capitan’s as noble as you?” I said, switching from German back to Spanish in an effort to further sell my cover, as Dani would call it, to the Port Captain.

{“We are going to talk when we are done here little sister...”} Dani muttered grimly in the back of my head, but I ignored her. I think that she was worried about how much that I was sort of flirting with the man, but I was winning and that is all that mattered.

“Noble? Me? Hardly Senorita Kuhne, I am merely extending you the same courtesy that I would any woman.” He lied so convincingly to me. “Now, how may I be of service to such a beautiful and charming Senorita?” The Port Captain said with a smile and a brief nod of his head that actually seemed to signal respect for me as a woman.  

Hmm, maybe he wasn’t lying?

“I am grateful for that Senor Capitan and I am sorry if I am imposing on you because you are clearly a very busy and important man, but I was wondering if you might be able to find the time for me to do a short interview with you for my school’s paper.”

“Ah, for you, certainly and it is no trouble at all.” The Port Captain practically marched over to the door and held it open for me. “After you, Senorita Kuhne.”

“Thank you.” I said, feeling very flattered by the man. He really was kinda handsome, for an old man that  is.

{“He only did that so he could check...”}

{“Shhh!}” I said to shut her up before she could finish.  The Port Captain was a nice man and I refused to think that he would be so crude as to check out my butt, but it did make me feel good and I added a bit of extra sway to my gait. Just to make sure that he was firmly under my power.

Muh ha ha ha!

Sorry about that, but I guess Dani was right about me being the right girl for the job.  Dani would have probably turned around and broken the dude’s knee or something.

I felt pretty good about myself as I glided into a large open room filled with boards, charts, old grey Government Issue chairs and old computer workstations. Half of the workstations were shut down and they appeared like they had not been used in some time because they had paper neatly stacked on top of their keyboards and on top of their ancient 13 inch monitors.  Everything in the office looked well used, but like the Port Captain himself, the space was clean and organized.

“What school do you go to Senorita Kuhne?” He asked, jolting me with surprise at his question.

“Estado De Oaxaca Santo Domingo Tehuantepec, have you heard of it?” I asked as I readied my borrowed notepad to signal that I was ready to begin the interview. Maybe he would leave it at that because he was probably too old to have gone to the same school or know anyone who does.

The Port Captain appeared pleasantly surprised. “Emiliano, my son, attends the same school. Do you know him?”

{“Crap, crap, crap...”} Dani muttered with concern.

{“Language...”} I reminded her feeling more confident about myself.

“Emiliano?  The name sounds familiar. Is he on the soccer team?” I asked, pretending that I had heard of him before.

I watched as the Port Captain’s already straight spine, appeared to straighten even more as he thrust his chest out with pride.

Bingo!

“Yes, he is their star winger and he might go pro. So you have seen him play and you enjoy the game, no?” He asked as he expansively offered me a seat.

“Oh yes. He is very handsome and I can see where he gets his looks from.” I pretended to nervously tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, momentarily lost in thought as I focused on the final soccer game I played last season. Of which, I kicked butt and scored a goal. I hoped that he would think that I was recalling his son playing on the field.

I snapped back and sat up a bit more attentively. “Anyway, soccer is very popular in my country, but please don’t get me started on the game.” I laughed, feeling amused by the idea that I would even consider trying to fool this man about the sport. I needed to get him back to doing the interview. “Because then we would never talk about the reason that I am here, you and your very critical job.”

Dani was beside herself inside of me, if that makes any sense.  I could tell that she felt very pleased at how well I was doing, but she was also even more worried that something would go wrong. I began the interview by asking him about his education and how he got started. What it would take for a student to get started in his profession.  All of the normal interview type questions I could think of and as he answered, I made sure to jot his answers down on the notepad. I got him to talk about his job and what kind of work that he did. That eventually got him to tell me about sail plans. It took almost 15 minutes to get him to that point, but I had to somehow get him to show me the El Conquistador's sail plan thing without him becoming suspicious.  The clock was ticking and my parents needed our help.

“That is amazing Senor Capitan. I did not know that ships filed a ‘sail plan’ like pilots do for airplanes.  Do all ships file sail plans?” I asked as I shifted forward on my seat.

His eyes briefly traveled down from my face, but he managed to get them back up before I felt like he was being rude.  I could tell that he liked what he saw and I could not help feeling just a little proud.

“Oh yes, because if they do not, they might not be found if they get in trouble on the open ocean.”

“What about power boats and yachts?” I asked, pretending to not know that smaller boats did not need sail plans. It was not that hard because up until 30 minutes ago, I did not even know what that there was such a thing.

“Little power boats, no, but most yacht captains do file with us.”

“Oh, I did not know that either.  I will be sure to tell my readers of that fact. What does a sail plan look like? May I see one?” I asked, struggling to contain my glee and sound more curious instead of desperate.

“They are not that impressive to see,” He leaned forward, pointed behind me to a workstation and casually patted his hand on my knee.  With that, he stood and offered his hand to help me up like a gentleman would. “, but come Senorita Kuhne, follow me and I will show you.”

{“If the little piss ant mother fucker touches you like that one more time I am going to break his fucking neck!”} Dani said, furious enough to chew nails.

Wow, she was P.I.’ssed with a capital P.

{“It’s nothing. He was just being nice.”} I tried to defend the Port Captain as I followed him over to one of the more modern looking workstations.

Surprisingly, Dani elected to remain silent, but I could tell that she was still very upset about it because she had not apologized for swearing like a sailor.  Well, she was in the Navy, so maybe she would not apologize for swearing like a sailor when she was...oh never mind.

Senor Capitan appeared rather proud of his system when the old CRT monitor finally warmed up enough to display the status page that listed all of the recently departed ships. I immediately spotted our target, “El Conquistador”, on the top of the list as the most recent departure.  Acapulco was its stated destination with an ETA of 1900 hours.  Heck, now Dani had me thinking like her. Target? Where in the heck did that come from?

{“Fuck, that is pretty damn fast...”} Dani swore when we spotted the ETA.

{“Hey! Language. Remember?”} I said just to tweak her nose since she still had not apologized for her earlier language.

{“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, sorry sis, but I am still upset about that asshole touching your leg.”} Dani said as I watched the Port Captain click on the entry of a freighter ship that departed yesterday for China.  

A second screen popped up to display that ship’s data.  Crew size, ship tonnage, cargo, passenger count, cruising speed, the ship’s owner, nationality and captain’s name are all listed.

{“That’s some good intel, see if you can get the good Captain to show you that for our target.”} Dani said as I thought the same exact thing.

{“Umm, duh...”}

“That looks like very good information for possible rescuers to know about a ship. This is a large, commercial freighter, right?”

The Captain turned back around and smiled at me. “Exactly and yes, that was for a freighter. Why?”

“What does a private ship’s information look like? Do they give you the same information in case they have a problem?”

“Excellent question, Senorita Kuhne. Allow me to show you one.” He said as he spun back to face the workstation.  He returned to the main page, but hesitated before clicking on the El Conquistador’s sail plan. Instead of selecting the obvious choice; he moved to the second page of ships. After a quick scan of that page, he moved to the third before finally giving up in frustration and returning to the first page.

I reached out and rested my hand on his shoulder. “Is something wrong Senor Capitan?”

He felt a little tense at first, but at my touch, he relaxed and chuckled. “Oh no, Senorita Kuhne, I am just surprised that I did not spot this one before.” He lied as he clicked on the El Conquistador’s sail plan.

I studied the screen with Dani, but nothing jumped out at me as important. Well, the three passengers did because I knew that two of those passengers were my parents. Dani hmmm’ed a couple of times before I felt safe enough to ask her a few questions.

{“Why didn’t he just click on the El Conquistador from the start?”}

{“I am guessing that he knows who the El Conquistador belongs to and is probably worried that if the Don found out that he showed someone his private data, his own family could be in danger.”}

{“Oh...that would be bad because he seems like such a nice man.”} I said.  

Dani did not say anything, but I could feel her growling in the back of my mind as I returned my attention to what Senor Capitan was showing me.

“Oh, I see, it looks pretty much the same as the freighter.” I said, trying to sound disappointed by the fact that the data looked the same.

The Puerto Capitan spun back around and surprised me by gently holding the hand that I had resting on his shoulder as he rose from his chair. “I pray that I was able to answer all your questions, but, as pleasant of a diversion you are Senorita Kuhne, I am afraid that I must return to my duties.” He sighed with regret and actually looked disappointed before he straightened back up. “However, if you should have additional questions, feel free to call me.” He accented his offer with a grin and a slight bow from the waist before he released my hand.  

I kind of felt a little disappointed that he did not kiss my hand like he did the first time.  I swear that if the boys back home acted even half as nice as he did, they would never have a problem getting a date.  “Thank you so much, Senor Capitan!  I have so many notes that I am now worried that my article will be too big, but if I find that I am missing something, I will call. Do you have a card or something?”

The Senor Capitan extracted a crisp, white card from his front pocket and handed it to me with a flourish.  “If you require any further assistance Senorita Kuhne, I will be at your disposal.”

I felt my knees tremble and my heart skipped a beat.  This man was good.  I felt my face blush as I accepted his card.  “Thank you, Senor Capitan. I don’t know what I would have done without your help.” I said with complete and total sincerity.  Thanks to him, I was now one step closer to rescuing my parents. Well, we were.

I left the office floating on cloud nine. I was so happy!  “Oh my Goddess, Dani! That was so wicked cool!” I yelled as I beat on the steering wheel of the car with excitement.  Now I was stuck saying ‘Goddess’ instead of God. What was up with that?

{“Yes, you did surprisingly well in there, Melody.”} Dani said reluctantly praising my performance.

I ignored her lack of enthusiasm. She was just jealous. {“Okay, spill it. What did you see?”} I asked, anxious to hear what my sister thought.

{“First, let me take over so that we can get out of here and I will tell you, okay?”}

Dani surprised me with her polite request because normally, she just took over. {“Umm, sure.”}

Dani started the Audi and put on our seatbelt. {“The ship’s captain reported that he had a 10 man crew for a ship that should only need 6, max. A Captain, First Officer, maybe an Engineer plus two or three servant types like a cook and maids.  My guess is that he is listing his thugs as crew because the El Conquistador's Captain only reported 3 passengers,  the Don and your parents.”}

{“But, you saw something else, right?”}

{“Yeah, the El Conquistador’s cruising speed was listed as 28 knots and that surprised me a little because when I was active, the yachts we trained against were lucky to have a cruising speed above 15 knots.”}  

I did not understand why Dani sounded so worried about the ship’s speed. {“28 miles per hour doesn’t seem that fast to me.”}

{“Knots, not miles per hour. A knot is equal to 1.15 miles per hour, big difference.”}

I was not impressed. {“Umm, I can go faster than that on my bike...but anyway, what now?”}

I could tell that Dani wanted to lecture me, but she decided to stick to the ‘mission’. {“Hit a library and see if I can find the yacht’s floor plans on the builder’s website, then try to beat them to Acapulco. Oh yeah, and we need to find a PC to look at the Don’s data again to see if we can figure out where in Acapulco he is planning on having your dad work from.  My guess is that it will be a warehouse or something similar.”}

It was a struggle to let her finish with her library plan.  I knew that she was old, but who uses libraries these days? {“Library? Why don’t we just use my laptop? My dad and I rooted my phone so that I could tether it to my laptop and do my homework from anywhere.”}

I tried not to laugh, but her confusion was just too funny.  For once, I was the one who knew more than she did about how to ‘gather intel’ for a mission. Dani grimaced and closed our eyes with frustration as she picked up on my emotions. {“Yes, I know about laptops and even this new fangled thing you kids call the internet...”} She let out a breath to relax and as the tension fled, I felt her start to smile.  That reaction made me worry because it seemed like Dani was always the most happy when she was plotting ways to kill someone.

{“Okay, securing your equipment is too risky. So, we find a computer store and since you volunteered, you buy us what we need, okay?”}  Dani said as she used the GPS system to find a computer store.

{“Hey! I didn’t-”} I could feel her satisfaction starting to build and I could not let her win. {“Fine, I will be the one to buy the stuff. After all, as old as you are, you might try to buy us an Apple or something.”}

{“Oh, snap...that is what you kids say these days, right?”} Dani said as she slipped the Audi into gear and tried to scare me with the acceleration.

This time I was ready for it and I refused to give her the satisfaction. Plus, we were in the city. 35 Miles per hour is still kinda slow, even if we got there in two seconds or less. {“Ha! It will take more than that to scare me now.”}  

Instead of getting depressed, Dani laughed, at me. I got the feeling that I was missing something. {“What?  You’re thinking about something...”}

{“Oh, nothing...”} Dani did not even try to fake it.  She was plotting something.  {“Anyway, I hope that you can shop for what we need, fast. We need to get to Acapulco ASAP. Something about your mom and dad...”}

{“Are we there yet?”}

{“Don’t make me pull this car over!”} Dani said, sounding like a parent who had to use that threat many times.

It started with a giggle. First, I giggled at her mock parental mode that sounded so dead on and then, she giggled and it was all over after that. We both laughed so hard that she had to pull the car over.  The laughter feedback loop was almost more than our body could handle. It took Dani almost 30 seconds before she was able to control her laughter and me, another five minutes.  I had the giggles pretty bad, but I felt tons better. A good girlfriend giggle fest is the best for relieving stress. Way better than crying and that was a good thing since we did not have any ice cream.

Thank Goddess that Dani was so serious or we might never have made it to the store.  Dani transferred 20,000 pesos into our purse and all that cash made me feel extremely nervous.  Dani just pointed out the USP gun slash weapon slash pistol thing we had in our purse and told me not to worry.

The first computer store, if it could be called that, was just a tiny hole in the wall and they did not have what we needed. I walked in, took one look at the bored kid behind the counter and the assorted three plus year old laptops on display, spun on my high heels and left.  The only satisfaction that I got was hearing the boy fall off his stool as I walked out the door.  

The second store was a bit more upscale and had everything we needed.  It even had some iPads, not that I wanted one of those things.  I was quickly intercepted by a dude wearing a white dress shirt and one of those trendy slim ties that went out of style last year.  I knew that I would not pass as a native, even if I spoke flawless Spanish. So, I stuck with my German exchange student cover story. I told him that I needed a good laptop and a cell phone or two for class.

The salesman was extra nice and extra condescending to me. He tried to talk me into getting a cheap netbook that was not actually very cheap, but it was pink so he must have thought it was something a girl would want. He also kept trying to get too familiar and touch me. He would point out a product, and then touch my back to help direct my attention to the item. The first time, Dani threatened to shoot him, but I talked her down.  By the third time, he ‘accidently’ let his hand brush against my butt, I felt my fingers twitching and I almost asked Dani if I could shoot him myself.

I decided that it would be better if I just walked out when I saw an older and professionally dressed woman exit from the back of the store.  Her eyes performed a quick scan of me from head to toe and then, her eyes darted back to my shoes and she gasped.

“Julio!  Your Papa needs you in the back, now!”

Julio smiled at me before turning to the woman. “I’m sorry. Mama, I am with a customer...”

“Julio...” She simply pointed to the back of the store.

Julio stiffened with surprise as he finally caught the woman’s extreme displeasure. “I will be right back. One minute, Senorita.”

The woman smiled at me mouthed, “Please wait, so sorry.” Next, she grabbed Julio by his arm as he passed and forcibly dragged him to the rear of the store while voicing her extreme displeasure with her son.  “How many times have I told you...” I what I heard before they turned the corner.

She popped back and flashed me a smile before disappearing again.  The volume increased as she really laid into him for treating me so badly.  After about 30 seconds, she finished with, “You wait right here! If she leaves without buying anything, you will go to work with your cousin Jepe down at your uncle’s restaurant!”

The woman emerged from the rear and briefly paused to smooth out her dress to compose herself. Satisfied, she hit me with a pretty good welcoming smile as she approached my position.

Crud, now I was thinking all military like Dani.  

“Hi, I am Angelita and am sorry about that. He is new and not completely trained yet.” She shook my hand as she spoke in surprisingly good English.  I guess that I should not have been surprised, but I was.

“Oh, that is okay Senora Angelita. With computers these days, it is so hard to keep up.” I said with German accented English. I felt like being nice since she was going out of her way to treat me nice and did I mention that I really liked how I could do that language thing now?  I could not wait until I get back to school and try it with my teachers.

{“Ya should have told her the truth and get the little--”}

{“Shush!”} I said, interrupting Dani before she really got started.

“Oh, thank you, but sometimes...” Angelita glanced back to the rear of the store with displeasure. “Anyway, what may I assist you with this morning, Senorita, umm?”

“Oh, I am sorry. Kuhne, Marina Kuhne, but you can just call me Marina if you like.”

Once we got past the initial pleasantries and apologies, Angelita proved herself to be very knowledgeable about the products.  She did not even bat an eye when I paid for everything with cash. Computer prices in Mexico are pretty high compared to the US. I knew that the Peso was a little low compared to the dollar, but wow, just wow at the price. We walked out of the store with almost half of the 20k gone.  

I guess that her son got paid on commission because he looked a little pale when she had him help me carry my purchases to the car. I think that Angelita used our car to further drive home her point about how badly he screwed up.  They both smiled and waved at us as we drove away, but could not help feeling a little satisfied when I spotted Angelita gesturing violently for her son to get back into the store.  She did not look at all happy with him.

We filled the front seat with electronic goodies and I wished that we could keep them. We had a good laptop, a netbook, an Android tablet with 3G prepaid for 20 gig, an Android smartphone, also prepaid, a simple flip phone, why? I don’t know. It was Dani’s idea. A Wireless 3G USB card for the laptop, also prepaid, a ruggedized case for the tablet, a case for the laptop, a case for the netbook and a free laser pointer that doubled as an ink pen. And a partridge in a pear tree...

That gave me an idea. {“Hey, can we tape the laser pointer to the gu-pistol and make it look all cool?”}

I was messing with Dani because I knew that she would say no, but hey, I didn’t call our gun a gun.

{“Good idea, but won’t work due to the slide. We did that with the CAR 15 to add lights. We could tape it to the suppressor though, but it would not be accurate--”}

I had to stop her. {“Dani, I was kidding!  Geez, you’re so serious.”}

{“Oh...brat.”} Dani said, but I could feel her love and affection. So, I let the mean name go as she drove us to a spot that we could do some research.
 

I had to admit that I was impressed with Melody’s work in the Port Captain’s office and in the computer store. She has a gift or the Goddess was helping her, but I would like to think that my sister was just naturally good with covert ops.  I never felt so simultaneously proud and scared shitless in my life.  Well, I had been scared more shitless before, but never has a mission felt so personal to me.  I mean, sure, there were a few targets that I eliminated with extreme satisfaction, but that was different.

It was also very strange being on the receiving end of a man’s sexual advances. I should probably apologize to Melody for my reactions, but I could not help it.  I am just wired to be protective toward women and especially Melody, but she handled what I would call sexual harassment so effortlessly and gracefully. Hell, she even turned things back around to get us even more intel. She had the Port Captain eating out of her hands and never once questioning our cover story.  He was probably even planning on encouraging his son to try and date her.

*sigh*

The jerk, sorry, fucking asshole of a prick in the store just about caused us both to ruin our cover.  I could not believe the nerve of that guy and I could tell that even Melody was beginning to lose her patience.  However, the fireworks when the prick’s mother came out from the back were entertaining.

Based upon my daughter, I felt pretty sure that Melody is going to be a handful for her dad when she starts dating. She is going to be beating off the boys with a f’ing bat. Hell, she probably is already, but I did not expect to be around to help her. I pray to Chalchiuhtlicue that her dad owns a few weapons and has a good shovel to hide the bodies with.

I do not know what I am going to do when she claims my soul and removes me from Melody’s body.  I guess that even if she sends me to burn in the fires of Aztec hell; I will always have my time spent with Melody to help me find a kernel of happiness. She really does feel like she is my baby sister and I cannot help loving her.

*double sigh*

{“Dani, what’s wrong?”}

Oops, I guess I am feeling a little too morbid right now.  {“Nothing, sorry, was just thinking about my life. You know, nothing serious...”}

I forgot about my problems when I felt her mentally hugging me. {“Oh Dani, you worry too much, but I still love ya. So, cheer up sis!”}

Her metaphysical hug helped. {“Okay, sorry. Let’s get started on this.  The sooner we figure out where in Acapulco to go, the sooner we can rescue your parents.”}

{“Don’t ya mean ‘our’ parents, hmmm?”} Melody asked expectantly.

{“Oh yeah, sure...”} I still felt very conflicted with that designation. I covered my confusion by spotting a good semi-secluded parking space where we could do our research from.

Of the computer stuff that she bought, the only two things I felt comfortable with were the laptop and the simple cell phone.  I know that she was not impressed with that phone, but it was cheap,  disposable and I had a possible non-standard use for it in my hypothetical op plan.

Once again, I let Melody drive the computers. Not because I could not do it myself, but because she was more efficient. She knew all the tricks and shortcuts. In no time at all, we had two possible locations for where The Don was taking ‘her’ parents.  Sorry Melody, but it was just easier to think of them that way. I figured that it would help mute the pain I felt sure to follow when I had to leave.

It did not take long to completely sell me on the internet from anywhere via wireless 3G.  The satellite imagery was even good enough to plan missions.  Well, not as good as what I could get from the government, but acceptable enough to get a very good idea.  On the other hand, Google’s Streetview on the tablet Melody insisted on buying was both amazing and convenient.  I could have used something like it back when I was ‘consulting’ in the former Eastern Germany. Using that, plus Google’s satellite pictures, we were able to quickly narrow it down to one location.

It was a dockside warehouse in Acapulco and according to our multiple GPS devices; we found out that it would take us 7.5 hours to reach our destination.

{“Fuck me to tears...”} I did not take that bit of news very well.

{“Dani!} Melody actually sounded shocked by my language.

Now I felt bad. {“Sorry...”}  

It was almost 10am and I wanted to beat The Don to Acapulco.  I needed some time to scout the location and take care of some business.  Business like laundering the cash for Melody’s college fund and securing some additional equipment, like SCUBA gear for the covert assault of his yacht.  I was not exactly sure of the plan, but I was pretty sure it would involve boarding the yacht at some point. Preferably tonight because I wanted to extract her parents ASAP.  There was no telling what the Don would do once he found out that his men were all dead.

I also needed some shut eye. While I could probably get by without sleep, I learned a long time ago that lack of sleep made me sloppy and sloppy gets ya dead.  It would help if Melody could drive because maybe I could get a couple hours of sleep while she drove.  With that idea in mind, I checked the fuel gauge and decided that a full tank would be a good idea to start out with since I doubted that Melody would be able to fill it up on her own.

To say that we attracted only a little attention as we filled up the R8 would be a gross understatement.  Every bleeping mechanic at the station wanted to check both the car and us out. I wanted to shoot the fuckers because I knew that they only wanted to sabotage our car so that they could arrange for some friends to ‘help’ us a few miles out of town, but Melody convinced me to let her take over and handle the ‘boys’.

{“Violence never solves anything.”} Melody sang to me as she smiled at the guys.

{“Bullshhhh..stuff!”}

Once again, I prayed that her dad had a shotgun or a Glock or something handy because as soon as she smiled at them, their greedy and leering expressions changed to something resembling fond adoration. Kind of like how they might look at one of their sisters or their mother. A light touch on this guy’s arm, a chaste hug with the other guy and in no time flat, we had a NASCAR quality pit stop with a full tank, a clean windshield, oil level checked and tire pressure adjusted to their recommended psi.  The guys even warned us of a speed trap set up just a few miles out of town.

I still watched the fuckers like a hawk to make sure they did not try to sneak something into our gas tank or rig the motor to fail a few miles out of town.

After the pit stop and a close family style hug fest where Melody gave each of the men, no matter how smelly, a hug and a sisterly kiss on the cheek; I put the Audi in gear and guided it onto the highway. I was silent for the first few miles. I had a lot to think about.

First she effortlessly charmed the Port Captain and then, she got the computer store lady to help. Both of those displays could be explained, but not this one.  Those men were ready to rob, rape and leave the rich gringo bitch for dead when Melody literally put the whammy on them.

{“Hmmm, Melody?”}

{“Yes?”}

{“Pardon my French, but how in the bleeping hell did you do that?!”}

She of the Jade Skirt

** Part V **

Melody paused for a few seconds, deep in thought. {“Ya know, now that I think about it, I don’t really know.}  She mentally shrugged her shoulders. {“Oh well, must be the Goddess or something.  Hey! We need some tunes; can you turn the radio on?”}

{“Umm, sure...”} I hesitated because I was worried about her; us and she appeared to be dodging the issue.  I absently turned on the satellite radio and it immediately began blaring some Mexican pop song. So, after flipping through 50+ different channels of crap, I finally found a channel labeled “60-70’s Rock”. Ahh, the Rolling Stones and “Paint it Black”.  How did the DJ’s know how I was feeling at this very moment?

Melody seemed to kind of like the first song, but when “A Horse With No Name” started playing, she reminded me of my age. {“OMG, can we find something that is a little more current? Like maybe something that is not from the previous century?”}

I would protest, but she was helping to keep me awake. {“Okay...what would you suggest young whippersnapper?”}

{“Umm, some Justin, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, you know the good stuff, Grandma...”} Melody had the nerve to giggle as I reluctantly acquiesced to her request.

Some song, intelligently titled “Starships” started to play and it took all of my willpower not to groan as Melody started to joyfully sing along. {“Starships are meant to fly? Really Melody, you like this cra-stuff?”}  I hated the stuff kids these days are calling music.

There is only so much sugar-pop music that a ma-girl can take before it all started to sound the same and lull me to sleep.  {“Dani! Wake up!”}

“Ahh! I’m awake, I’m awake....Melody, I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to work. We need to stop. I need some downtime.”

{“But...we can’t stop...”} Melody sounded desperate and I could not blame her. {“Umm, remember what you said about maybe letting me drive?”}

I knew what I told her and I knew that, logically, Melody driving while I slept would be a good plan, but I did not see how I could teach a 12 year old, who has never driven anything larger than a go-kart,  how to drive a 525 HP Supercar. I mean, I was pretty sure I could, but not in just a few minutes.  Yes, the Audi has a cruise control, but what if she had to stop? How would she start again? It takes a lot of practice just to learn how to shift. Shifting is more of a learned feel thing because every car is different. Hmm, we are sharing the same body...

{“Okay, Melody, let me see if I can teach you how to drive this thing...”}

{“Really!?!?”}  Melody bounced around performing imaginary cartwheels inside our head.

Yep, she was wide awake.  {“Okay, here is what we are going to try...”}  I outlined my plan to start out with her in partial control of our body. Just enough for her to feel what I felt as I shifted the transmission while working the clutch in parallel with the throttle. I downshifted and upshifted a few times before giving her more and more control until she was in charge just enough to direct our body.

{“Now, you do it...”}

Melody tensed up and I could feel the blood rushing through our veins as her adrenaline hit our system. “Are you sure?”

{“Yep, and I am right here. Just imagine me with my hands over your hands, helping guide you as you do it and don’t forget I am here in case something goes wrong...”}

Nothing went wrong and Melody gained more confidence while I gave her more and more control until she was doing it all by herself.  I repeated the lesson with stopping the car. Especially with trusting the ABS, that lesson leads to starting from a dead stop.  We only lost 15 minutes total and while Melody was super excited about driving, she did everything right and paid attention to the things she needed to pay attention too. She expertly divided her attention between the road, the mirrors and the instruments.

{“Doing good Melody...”} We entered a long sweeping corner and she started get nervous and drift a little inside our lane. {“Remember, look through the turn.”}

Melody lifted her eyes up, relaxed and the Audi practically carved the corner in half.  {“Oh, wow, that was fun...”}

I watched over her for a few more miles and I could not help it. I felt proud of her. She was doing great. {“Wake me up in 20 minutes...”}
 

~o~O~o~

I felt Dani’s presence fade from my mind and that worried me. What if she fell asleep and never came back?  I concentrated on Dani and phew, I could feel her. It was kind of hard to describe, but she kind of felt like a warm fuzzy little kitten in the back of my head. I would not tell her that I thought of her as a kitten. She was totally ‘not’ a kitten. More like a giant saber toothed tiger or something, but she was my saber toothed tiger.  Rawwrr!

I could not believe that I was driving!  OMG, all my friends back home where going to be so jealous when I told them. Now, I know why Dani felt so excited about this car. I never really thought of a car as anything other than transportation and a way to get to the mall, but this car is so freaking awesome, no, it is be-awesome!

I dropped it down a gear like Dani showed me and hit the accelerator.  

“Yippie kiaaay, mother...” Oops, I better not finish that, but wow, just wow.  I glanced down and we were doing 140 mph.  

“Holy crap!” I let off the gas and gingerly applied the brakes to get us down to 75 mph. Once slowed, I upshifted to drop the RPMs and my heart hammered in my chest, but wow, what a rush!  The car felt really stable.  

“Hmmm...”  I glanced at the GPS and it appeared like we had a decent straight section coming up.  As soon as the road straightened up, I dropped it down a gear again and I was about to accelerate again when I got the feeling that I shouldn’t.  The speed limit was 110 mph?!?  Holy crap! Oh, wait, metric system. Kilometers Per Hour, not Miles Per Hour.

“Doh!”

According the kph part of the gauge, I was doing 120 kph and I was not used to using the metric system for speed limits, but I was also not used to using speed limits. Hehe. The bad feeling was still there and getting worse. So, I dropped down to 110 kph and a few seconds later I passed a Policia car hiding behind some bushes.  I did not want to stare and attract the officer’s attention, but I could not help it. I snuck a glance.

I breathed a sigh of relief. The dude was taking a nap with his radar gun pointing out the window.  I passed the sneaky devil without him stirring and a few seconds later, I felt totally relaxed and eager to go faster.  So, I did. A lot.  

I sort of became numb to the speed. I saw 200 kph pretty much constantly with a smattering of 300 kph thrown in for the super long straight sections.  Every time I had that ‘feeling’, I slowed down and I quickly learned to trust my ‘danger sense’. I whispered my thanks to Chalchiuhtlicue every time I safely passed the danger zones. My ‘danger sense’ mostly warned me of speed traps, but it also warned me of animals, big pot holes and tricky turns.

Once, my danger sense flared and I came across a farmer with a huge herd of goats walking down the middle of the road.  That would have been, messy, but to my amazement and I think, the farmer’s, his entire herd parted for me as I cautiously approached the herd at the grandma speed of 40 kph. The farmer dude stood beside the road with a confused expression. I watched with some amusement as he scratched his head and swiftly shifted his eyes between the Audi and his herd.  The herd closed back up as soon as I passed them.  I never realized that goats were that smart and polite.

There was one bad thing about going so fast.  The Audi guzzled gas and I had to stop twice to fill up.  Initially, I was a little worried about pulling into some strange gas station without Dani to protect me, but cold hard cash fixes everything.  When I pulled into the station, the attendants initially looked lazy.  Well, until I rolled the window down and held out a 1,000 Peso note.  I know, I know, 1,000 Pesos is really only $70’ish dollars, but it only cost $40 to fill the tank. So, they would get about a $30 dollar tip out of the deal.

“Fill it up, clean the windshield and this is yours!” I yelled in Spanish.  “An extra one for you all to split if I am out of here in less than five minutes.”  I showed the amazed attendants a second 1,000 Peso note.

They wasted a few seconds trying to figure out if I was for real, but once they got their act together; they moved like a trained pit crew and managed to earn the extra 1,000 Pesos with a four and a half minute pit stop.

“Muchas Gracias!” I gratefully blew them all a kiss as I burned some rubber leaving their station.  Geez!  I loved that car!

The second pit stop was even easier. I think the previous gas station dudes called their buddies because as soon as I pulled in, my car was swarmed with attention.  Filled, windshield cleaned and even the tires checked in less than four minutes. They earned themselves the 1,000 Peso bonus plus I gave them each an extra 300 Pesos.  They seemed pretty darn happy and even shouted encouragements as I pulled out.

The third and final pit stop is when I decided to try and wake up Dani.  I had to pee and it was only 25 km or so to Acapulco. I figured that my sis had plenty of beauty sleep and I bet she was going to be a bit cranky about being woken up three hours past her wakeup time.  I hoped that she would let me drive the rest of the way because this driving stuff was kind of fun.

Yep, the gas station people are networked because the attendants were all over the car before I could roll to a complete stop next to the pumps.  They swore a lot.  Things like, “Madre de Dios! Can you believe that this chick made it from Pinotepa in only one hour?!?!”, “Hot chick driving a hot car...I think I am in love!” and “That’s like an f’ing record!”
 

~o~O~o~

{“Dani?”} It felt so good to sleep. I could not remember the last time I slept so well and woke up feeling so pain free and alive.  {“Dani? Dani, wake up, We are almost there and I need to pee...”}

I was awake, but I was sort of lurking in the background and not letting the girl in my room know that I was awake. It was a habit of mine that saved my life a few times in the jungle.  The VC were pretty damn sneaky, but if they thought you were still an easy target during an ambush; you could return the favor and surprise them when they attacked.  

Someone must have elevated my bed because I seemed to be sitting upright, but the scent of fine grain leather confused me. What was going on here? Did someone spray some ‘New car scent’ in my room? The girl sounded young and slightly scared, and I don’t want to scare her even more by pulling out my trusty M1911 .45 cal like I would have for an intruder.  I swear to god that one of the more mobile patients here were pilfering my supplies and if I caught the bastard I would make him regret fucking with my shit.

Who was this girl and why was she asking for my daughter to wake up? Did Danielle fall asleep in my room?  Why is the girl telling me that she needs to pee?

{“Dani, I could really use your help. Please wake up...”} the girl was starting to sound a little scared and desperate. She had to be lost. I guess I could open my eyes and try to help her.  

Holy fucking crap! I was sitting in a car that was in the process of being serviced by Mexicans.  I tried to reach for my weapon, but my hand hit a leather wrapped head rest instead of a soft fluffy pillow. What in the fucking hell?

I was sitting in an Audi. Oh...I knew the girl.  Everything came back to me in a flash.  {“Holy fucking shit! This really isn’t a dream!”}

{“Dani, what’s going on? You’re starting to freak me out here sis...”}

Sis, that made me feel good. Wait, did Melody say that we were almost there? Fu-crap, she was not supposed to let me sleep that long.  No wonder why I was so out of it and wow, we really needed to pee. “How long did you let me sleep?”

{“Dani, what’s wrong?”} Melody sounded a little relieved.

{“Sorry Melody. I got a little lost there, thought I was back in my room and all this was just a dream. So, how long?”}

{“Umm, well, kinda 4 hours?”} She cringed, expecting me to yell at her.

{“Oh, I thought I asked you to wake me in 20?”}  I know I did, but I was trying to be nice.

{“Yeah, I know, but you obviously needed your sleep and I was having fun...”} Melody trails off as I catch a fleeting impression of her driving the Audi as if she was in a race.

I elected to ignore my impression, for now. We should be just over 50% of the way there and we probably need to fill up. I can drive the rest of the way. Maybe we can make up some time.  “So, where are we?”

{“Well, San Marcos...”} Melody slowly grinds to a stop as if she is guilty of something.

I glance over at the GPS and then, the clock. “Holy fucking shit!”

Oh crap, I totally lost my bearing there with Melody, but that can’t be right.  There is no way that we can be this close to Acapulco after only four hours.  I performed a quick mental calculation and the numbers I arrived for average speed seemed impossible. Well, impossible if the driver was not a World Rally Car driver, or something.  {“Sorry about that Melody, but is our GPS right?”}

Melody giggled at my reaction. {“Yes, I was, umm, in the zone and kinda drove a little fast, but...can we talk about this on the way to the bathroom?”}

I glanced out at men happily and speedily working to fully service our car. I casually double checked my purse to confirm that the USP was still in there. {“Why are they working like a pit crew on our car?”}

{“Well, because at the first pit stop I offered them 2,000 Pesos if they got everything done in less than five minutes. Apparently, these gas station guys talk to each other because the second stop was even faster.”}

Melody continued to amaze me, but she raised too much attention to us. Now, everyone was going to know about us.  On the other hand, we did make very good time and are now ahead of schedule, by a lot.  It will probably take another day or two for our legend to make its way into the official government gossip line and draw attention to us. We should be done by then.

{“Okay...”} I reached down and slipped on our heels because driving with heels is not good. Shoes on our feet, I opened the door.

{“Remember, knees together...”} Melody happily sang as I spun around in the driver’s seat.

I felt a little flustered with Melody laughing at me from the back of our head.  {“I know, I know...”}

We had been sitting for so long, that I felt a little uncoordinated, but I was saved by a polite attendant. “Permá­tame ayudarle seá±orita!” He said as he held out his hand for me to grab.

His hands were even mostly clean. “Gracias!” I smiled at him as he easily assisted me to my feet.

{“Ohh, he’s kinda cute...”}

{“Melody...not helping...”}

I tried to ignore the wolf whistles as I head toward the station. I failed, because my unconscious reaction to the whistle was to look over my shoulder with the intent to chew the man out for being so crude.

{“Oh, nice twist and hair flip...work it girl!”} Melody giggled at me.

{“I didn’t-”} Oh, crap, I did.

“Santa Madre de Dios...” One of the men whispered reverently as he hastily tried to make it look like he was busy with our car instead of staring at our ass.

All of the men grew still when I stopped, turned around and marched over to the most senior looking guy.  I accidently, on purpose, let the USP show to him as I pulled 2,000 Pesos out of our purse and made a production of handing him the cash. “I have to use the bathroom. Don’t fuck with my car...” I tip my sunglasses down and look up at him over the top of my shades.  The ‘or else’ is heavily implied by the display of my weapon.

His eyes widened with panic. “Si, Senora!”

I calmly slid my sunglasses back over my eyes and turned to find the restrooms. I tried not to feel satisfied by the whispered prayers by the men as I walked away. I failed because it felt so good to know that I had every man’s attention and respect without having to resort to violence to get it.

{“Oh. My. Goddess.  Dani, that was too freaking cool!”} Melody vibrated with barely contained excitement.

I was not surprised by the mess when I opened the door to the women’s restroom because it did not look a woman had used or cared for it in a very long time, if ever.

{“Oh, gross...”} Melody made her opinion known.

Yes, the women's restroom was a disaster, but I guess a station full of guys would have no need to keep the women’s restroom clean. I poked my head into the men’s room and it was in much better shape.  Still, it was nowhere near the levels found in most U.S. highway restrooms, but usable and I have seen worse.  

{“Hey, we can’t go in there!”} Melody recoiled with shock as I proceeded to do just that.

{“Sure we can, see?”} I glanced around the room and pointed to the door.

{“Hmmmphh!”} Melody pretended to be upset. {“I’ve never actually been in the men’s room before...well, not since I was like, five or six...don’t say it!”}

I giggled. {“Hey, I was not even thinking about how that must have been last year...”}

{“Grrrrr...”} Melody stuck her tongue out at me and managed to hold in the giggles for two or three seconds before losing it.

I felt extremely content and happy with Melody and I could tell she felt the same toward me. It took some mental exercises on my part, but I managed to keep myself from crying because I was really going to miss her when I finished my mission and went to hell or wherever Chalchiuhtlicue wanted to send my soul.

I felt Melody’s internal hug as I distracted myself by the task of cleaning off the toilet seat.  I used a large amount of toilet paper to thoroughly wipe down the toilet seat before I felt it was safe enough to sit down. It was not that bad. It did not have muddy boot prints on the seat like the women’s stall had and there was no piss on the seat from the guys not lifting the seat. I guess they did not like their buddy’s crappy aim either. Besides, I do not think it gets much worse than having to use a hand dug hole in the mud and having only wet leaves to wipe your ass. Okay, I lied, there is.

Try lying doggo in the mud for six days without being able to move from your position because some NVA asshole decided to camp his troops on top of your hidey hole. Never mind the smell because you kind of get used to the smell of your own crap mixed in with the swamp smell. Use your imagination at what kind of rash and how many bug bites you might end up with after that experience.  Trust me, it was not pleasant, at all, but ‘mission successful’ and my CO let me write off my odiferous uniform as a combat loss. HUAW!  

Yeah, the bathroom was not ‘that’ bad, but I still got us out of that restroom as fast as possible. As we approached our car, the man I handed our money to, rushed to open the driver’s door for us.  He even used a mostly clean rag on the door handle.  “All ready to go Senora!”  He beamed a slightly nervous smile at me as I bypassed him to walk around to inspect the other side of the Audi.

{“Dani? What are you doing?”}  Melody asked, exasperated by my caution.

It looked good. No flat tires or anything suspicious. {“I am keeping them honest...”}  Without a word, I stalked back around to the driver’s side where the nervous attendant stood waiting. I ignored him as I sat behind the wheel and he politely closed the door for me as I carefully buckled myself into the seat and kicked of my heels. After I started the motor and verified that the fuel gauge was full, I rolled down the window and handed him another 1,000 Peso note. “Gracias Senor. Well done!”

I spun the tires on the way out and it was a blast. “Wow, I really love this car...”

We both said that simultaneously as I rapidly accelerated the car to just above the legal speed limit.  I did not want to get pulled over.  The radio was still blasting the same sugar pop crap, but I decided to ignore it.  I felt too damn good to complain.  Fuck, it was nice being young again!

{“Hey, can I drive again?”} Melody asked a few kilometers later. {“You’re driving it like a grandma!”}  

{“No, we can’t risk being pulled over or getting into an accident.”}  I only gave her half of my reason why she should not drive.  I wanted to drive the car too.

{“Well, go faster! The Goddess is on our side, or I mean, ‘use the force’!”} Melody impatiently taunted me.

I stuck my tongue out at her. “Were ya even alive when that movie came out?”

{“Umm, no, duh...weren’t you 20 back then granny?”}

{“Don’t make me pull this car over!}”  We both laughed, but I did drop it down a gear and accelerate up to 20 over the limit.

{“Come on, this car can go waaaayyy faster than that!”} Melody was very impatient.

{“I know...”} Should I ask her how fast she drove to get us so far ahead of schedule?  Well, if she was able to drive that fast after just learning how to drive; I should be able to do it too.  We hit a straight section and I briefly punch it up to 200 kph before slowing down to more sane speeds for the curves.

{“Well, that’s better, but you can go faster. Come on, we got bad guys to, umm, ya know...”}

{“Yes, but we can’t do that if we crash or hit a deer, a chupacabra or something...”}

{“A what? Oh, hey, just relax, like I said, ‘use the force’. You will know when you need to slow down.  That is how I was able to get us this far. I just knew, somehow.”}

I found it pretty hard to believe, but Melody did make excellent time.  Could the Goddess have really helped Melody with the drive or did she just get super lucky somehow?  I focus on my breathing, looking ahead and relaxing.  Before I realized it, we were doing at least double the posted limit, but I did not feel at all concerned.  I, or we, just seemed to know when we needed to slow down and when it was safe to speed back up again.  

The land flattened out and the traffic on the road began to get a little busier. As in, there was consistent traffic versus a random car here and there.  We slowed down to sub-orbital speeds before finally getting the danger signal too consistently for us to do more than cruise at the legal limit.  After going so fast, doing the 100 kph speed limit made it feel like I could have gotten out of the car and walked faster.

When we arrived at the target area, the harbor and warehouse district was fairly busy. I wanted to scout the target warehouse, but we had some business to take care of first. Mostly in order, we needed to:
 

• Launder the cash for Melody’s college fund.
• Change clothes.
• Scout the warehouse.
• Obtain some SCUBA gear.
• Rent a boat.
• Kiss the Audi goodbye.
• Wait/Pray for the Don to arrive where we expected him to.
• Rescue Melody’s parents.
• Terminate the evil drug lord. Yes, trite, I know, but it was true.
• Figure out an extradition plan to get Melody and her parents back to the U.S.

That last one could be a bit tricky, but if I made it to that step; it should also be fairly anticlimactic. Get Melody and her parents to the U.S. Embassy, suffer through the bureaucratic bullshit and win.

We needed to change our clothes because stomping around in a designer dress and shoes would not only attract attention; it would be uncomfortable. I also wanted to find a dive shop and get some gear.  I felt pretty certain that we would need to perform a covert, night time, underwater boarding operation because I doubted storming the dock or pulling up to the side of the Don’s yacht with weapons blazing would work.  Shit like that only works in the movies.

I also wanted to have the option of extracting Melody’s parents underwater as well because it pays to be invisible when you have made a ruckus. Convincing two panicked adults that their daughter was an expert diver and leading them through a nighttime dive operation would just have to be another ‘opportunity’ to figure out a solution for.

I found a bank less than a block away from the target warehouse, but I kind of doubted we would be very successful laundering the money.  We had no ID and I was pretty sure the Mexican authorities would be called to investigate such a large deposit. I knew Melody would want to keep the clothes, so I decided we could try mailing the designer clothes with a good amount of the cash tucked safely inside. Maybe we would get lucky and the U.S. Customs folks would not spot the cash.  If they did, I felt fairly certain that Melody would be able to convince them that she had no idea where the money came from.

Conveniently, there just happened to be a full service Mexican post office right around the corner from the bank. It was not busy and we found a quiet little, camera free corner in the post office to load a couple of boxes with our “dirty” laundry.  We utilized the office’s much cleaner restroom to change out of the dress and into a dark red, okay, maroon top with black legging pant things and the black and pink Puma sneakers. We kept the blond wig on since it would help if we broke Murphy’s Law by running into any of the Don’s men.

In addition to the blonde wig, we also kept the long red one, all of the cosmetics, our current shoes, the dark green dress to go with the red hair and all the under-garments. I thought we kept too much, but we still managed to fill two medium sized boxes with clothes.  Once the boxes were packed and sealed, Melody held onto them for a few seconds and chanted, “Please, please, please make it through customs...I really really really want the clothes...”  She repeated that a few times before finally letting me take the boxes up to the counter.  I was a little surprised that she was not more worried about the 500,000 dollars we had split between the two boxes. I debated shipping the scotch, but I did not want to risk it breaking and Melody, the heathen, did not appreciate it anyway.

Items one and two on the op plan were taken care of. {“Okay, Melody, now we need to scout the warehouse.”}

{“That’s awesome, but I kind of doubt these guys will just let us walk in.”} Melody sounded skeptical.

I laughed, but she was mostly right about our reconnaissance liabilities. {“Ye of so little faith. Let’s find a place to park and see what we can see...”}

At first glance, it did not look good.  On one hand, the target warehouse was easy to spot because the Don had a goon stationed outside to guard the entrance. On the other hand, the Don had a goon stationed outside which meant that ‘accidentally’ walking into the warehouse or pleading to use the bathroom was probably not going to work.  I spotted an old colonial fort that overlooked the harbor and conveniently, our target area.

{“Let’s run up to that fort over there...”} I gestured toward the walls built into the hillside. {“And take a look?”}

{“Sounds good to me. You’re the expert!”} Melody pictured herself snapping me a salute.

She had a good imagination because her salute looked almost perfect. In addition to the normal stuff in our purse, we took our binoculars and cell phone with us. Sadly, the binoculars did not fit in our purse, but we were tourists and tourists carry binoculars, right? With that in mind, we casually strolled across the tourist foot bridge and made our way into the old fort.

No one gave us any trouble or even looked at us funny.  The view of the harbor and our target warehouse was fantastic and I spotted a possible means to scout the warehouse interior without getting detected.  All of the warehouses had opaque sky lights that with a little work, may allow us to peek inside without being seen and the adjoining building had a ladder that dropped down to the warehouse roof.

{“Fu-crap!”} Too bad we did not buy a good camera because it would have been nice to get some good hi-res shots to send back to our friend Lieutenant Archer at SouthCom Command, just in case.

{“What’s wrong?”} Now that we were in the process of gathering intel that could help rescue her parents, Melody was a little worried.

{“Oh nothing. Don’t worry. It is just me being a dumbass because we should have got a good camera too...”}  I continued to scan the roof top.

{“Oh, well, we could use the cell phone’s camera. It’s an eight megapixel.”}

{“Hmmm, interesting...”} I processed Melody’s comment while surveying the warehouse’s roof.  In addition to some extra exhaust vents on the roof, they also had a satellite dish, but it was not the usual receiver dish.

{“Yeah, the phone is a good one.”}  Melody thought I was interested in the phone’s camera.

{“Not that...”} I focused the binoculars on the dish. {“See that dish?”}

{“Yeah...”}

{“That is an uplink dish.”}  I could tell Melody was unimpressed. {“It can be used to securely send and receive data from a satellite in geosync orbit.  Very handy if you are a drug lord and need to coordinate your shipments without using the public networks.”}

{“Oh, okay. Should we get a picture of it?”}

I gave Melody control. {“Yeah, go ahead. Get some good shots of the harbor too.  I am not sure where our buddy will anchor tonight. He probably has a slip here at a marina, but he may just set up shop in the harbor like some of the other boats out there.”}

Melody took some good shots and the camera was actually not too bad. I was surprised by how good  a camera they are putting into cell phones these days, but a good telephoto lens would have been better for the detail shots.

We headed back to the car to drop off the binoculars and to gather some additional supplies.  The skylights on top of the warehouse gave me an idea or two for the extra cell phone and half a kilo of C-4.  Being able to call in a little diversion might come in handy.  The block of C-4, a detonator and the cheapo cell phone fit easily in our purse.  

In the time it took us to walk down from the fort, a fuel truck had backed into our target’s loading dock and the driver was hooking up fuel hoses to some external fittings.  Printed on the side of the tank was “gasá³leo” or diesel fuel.  {“Interesting...It looks like they have a generator in there.”}

Instead of trying to stroll down the raised loading dock shared by all of the warehouses to reach the larger building with the roof access point, we used the street’s pedestrian sidewalk. We might have been able to get a closer look at the target, but I did not want to take a chance that the goon would recognize us. However; as we casually strolled past the target warehouse, I had Melody play the tourist and snap a few more pics.

The sun was just starting to get low on the horizon, it would probably be another 45-60 minutes before the sky started to become noticeably darker.  We had some daylight left and I was a little worried about that.  Based upon what I was able to see from the fort, we would be very visible to direct observation while on the roof.  Well, from anyone using the elevated footbridge or watching from the fort’s walls.  My other time concern was the fact that the Don was also due to arrive in another hour or two.
 

~o~O~o~

Doctor Thomas Lynch snorted with derision as he anxiously paced inside the confines of the luxury cabin aboard Senor Rodriguez’s yacht. It had been three hours since he, Michelle and their suitcases had been unceremoniously dumped in the room. In that time, no one had bothered to check on them and he was too afraid to even test the door to see if it was locked.

Not that it being unlocked would do a hell of a lot of good because they were now miles away from the nearest shore with nowhere to escape too. Their kidnappers had not even bothered checking their suitcases for weapons. That was how little of a threat he represented to them and he had to agree with them because thanks to the TSA, he did not even have a pocket knife hidden in their luggage.

He paused as Michelle briefly stirred in her sleep before settling down again. She had finally succumbed to exhaustion less than 30 minutes ago and he was afraid to wake her. One of them needed their sleep since in the last 24 hours since Melody had been kidnapped; Tom had only managed to get three hours of fitful rest. He wished that he could rest as easily as Michelle, but he felt as if the entire world now rested entirely on his shoulders. If he failed to make the drug for Senor Rodriguez, his family would die.  Hell, even if he succeeded, his family might still die.  

Their cabin could be used in a glossy brochure to provide the definition of luxury. Tom was forced to admit that Senor Rodriguez’s yacht was a marvel of high tech tastefully blended with rich leather, soft fabrics, wood and carbon fiber.  In any other circumstance, the view of the distant coast of Mexico out of the large cabin window would be inspiring, but none of that mattered to him.

Once again, he glanced down at Michelle and his heart skipped a beat. She looked so beautiful and Melody looked so much like her mother that he felt his fists begin to clench with rage. How dare the bastard use his family like this? He pictured Melody’s bright and cheerful smile and briefly wondered if she was still alive.  No, he could not think like that. She had to be alive! He wanted to punch the smug bastard in his face, but he knew that would be pointless and only make things worse. Fuck, it might even break his hand.  

Maybe he could make a garrote out of a belt or something?  That idea reminded him that he was a science geek and not a trained killer, no matter what his instincts were trying to tell him.  God, how he wished he had taken that Karate class in college now.  Maybe if he had, he would not feel so utterly helpless right now.  His only option was to do what Senor Rodriguez requested and pray that he would honor his word and let his family go free.

It was the only thing he had because he felt very little hope of being rescued.  The bastard owned the fucking police and despite what the Hollywood movies might portray, there was no SEAL team or Delta Force standing by to rescue his family. A Doctor he may be, but he was not a Nobel physicist able to make an atomic bomb with duct tape and dynamite. No, he was a Chemical Engineer and as such, hardly a threat to National Security that would warrant a Hollywood style rescue attempt.

A polite knock sounded from their cabin door, surprising him because why would they knock?  Confused, Tom carefully opened the door to find a crewman standing politely in the hall.

“Hola Senor Lynch, The Don has requested yourself and Senora Lynch’s presence in the aft lounge for lunch and cocktails.” The man spoke in lightly Spanish accented English.

Tom glanced back at his wife, torn about waking her. “Can my wife stay here and sleep?”

The crewmen helplessly shrugged his shoulders.

“Now?” Tom glanced back at Michelle.

“Si, Senor...” The crewman appeared sympathetic. “Perhaps if the Don needs her, I can come back and get her for you?”

Tom quickly debated the proper course of action and decided that it was more important for Michelle to get some rest.  He quickly scribbled a note for her before leaving with the crewman.  As the unnamed crewman led him, Tom was forced to marvel at his surroundings.  He had to admit that despite all of the bastard’s other shortcomings, he did not lack taste.  He was forcefully reminded of his situation with his arrival on the upper deck and the presence of the bastard’s armed thugs lounging around with their guns openly displayed.  

As he approached the Don’s table, his thug’s dismissive glances were all it took to tell him that they did not consider him a threat to the bastard’s safety or their continued employment.

Senor Rodriguez looked up and smiled ear to ear. “Ahh! Doctor Lynch, I am so delighted you could make it, but where is your lovely wife?”

Tom wanted to strangle the bastard, but he controlled his temper. “Sorry, she’s sleeping...”

Senor Rodriguez looked momentarily upset before his expansive smile returned. “Oh, that is too bad; I hope that my little invitation did not wake her.” He turned to the crewman who escorted Tom up and snapped his fingers impatiently. “Julio, instruct the chef to deliver some sandwiches and beverages for Senora Lynch when she wakes.”

The crewman snapped to attention and gave Senor Rodriguez a slight bow. “Si, Don Rodriguez.”  He said, before he turned to head back into the interior of the yacht.

Tom felt torn between feeling grateful for the asshole’s courtesy and still wanting to strangle him.  Maybe he could use the bastard’s own lab to create a nerve agent that would slowly and painfully kill the asshole. It would not be that hard. Common household pesticides are very close in chemical composition to military nerve gas.  A few tweaks and he could easily come up with a chemical that would, if not kill a man, make that man very very sick.

“Come, sit, Doctor Lynch.” Senor Rodriguez gestured to the open chair across from him. “You look exhausted and that makes me feel inadequate as a host because you will not be at your peak when you perform the little favor that I am asking in return for finding your missing daughter.”

“You fucking bastard!” Tom banged his fist on the table and stood. The thugs noticed Tom now.  The two nearest him moved toward him, but Senor Rodriguez waved them off and relaxed into his chair, smug smile infuriating Tom even more. Tom forced himself to calm down. “You have her! You can stop this fucking charade right now. Just let my wife and daughter go and I will gladly make your fucking drug!”

Exhausted by the heat of his anger, Tom bonelessly sat back down while Senor Rodriguez silently considered him. “I see...tsk, it is useless to continue this, charade as you called it, plus it was rather tiring anyway.” He took an appreciative sip from his martini. “Despite what you must think of me, I am not an evil man Senor Lynch.  Harming women and children is for lesser men, desperate men, and as a businessman, I cannot afford to sink to those levels.”

Tom looked up, feeling a small measure of hope return even as he knew Senor Rodriguez was delusional about his claim of being just a businessman.

“Yes, my men have found your daughter. She is safe and if you hold up your side of the deal, she will be returned to you. Then, you all will be allowed to resume your vacation and as a sign of my generosity, I will even throw in 20,000 dollars US to help your family with expenses.”

Tom did not bother trying to form a coherent reply to the bastard’s offer because all he wanted to do was tell him to stuff it up his ass.  He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to look.  A Caucasian man with short cropped dark hair and wearing loose fitting military style khaki pants, military boots, a tight grey t-shirt under a military style black mesh vest with lots of pockets and a gun sticking out approached the table carrying a cordless phone.  Senor Rodriguez looked happy to see the man.

“Sir, a call for you...” The man said with Russian accented English as his eyes swiveled to glance at Tom.

The man looked military and Tom found his dispassionate stare unnerving.  Tom felt like the man was cataloging everything about Tom, but unlike the thugs, this man did not seem to entirely dismiss Tom as a threat.

“I suggest you take it in your office.” The man turned back to politely gaze at his boss.

Senor Rodriguez pleased smile faded with the man’s recommendation. He rose from his chair and took the offered phone. “Rodriguez...Capitá¡n Saludos.  ¿Qué ha encontrado?”  

Tom managed to understand just enough to know that the bastard was speaking with his puppet police captain, but the rest was too fast for him to even hope to understand.  

“ ¿ ¡Qué!” The bastard angrily yelled before he stormed off and launched into a rapid fire stream of what had to be profanities as he addressed the person on the other end of the phone.

Tom was not sure what to do or how to take the bastard’s reaction to receiving a call from his police lackey.  Should he be happy that something was not going according to plan for the bastard or worried?  

“Miguel, Garcia.”

Tom looked up as the Russian man spoke to the two goons nearest him.

“Take the Doctor back to his cabin.”

“Si, Senor Bogomolov!” One of the men said as he jumped to obey the Russian.

As the two goons reached for Tom, Bogomolov grinned down at him, his smile never reached his eyes. “Enjoy your stay Doctor Lynch.” He said before turning back to follow his boss into the interior of the yacht.

The goons were less than polite in their guidance back to his cabin, but Tom could not stop thinking about the bastard’s reaction to the phone call.  Michelle woke as he was unceremoniously shoved through the door.  She flew to his side, her face full of concern. “Tom! Where did you go? What happened?”

Tom hugged his wife tightly to his chest and took a deep breath.  The press of her body against his along with the slight, fresh peach scent of her hair helped calm him.  He kissed her fondly on her ear. “Oh god Michelle, I love you so much! I am so sorry...”

Michelle abruptly pushed him away.  “Thomas Lynch!  This,” She glanced around their cabin. “Is not your fault and I refuse to allow you to take the blame for that fucking bastard’s actions. Do you understand me?!”

Tom could only nod with agreement as his emotions overwhelmed him.  God, she was so beautiful and strong. “What would I do without you?” He asked as she let him pull her to him once again.

Michelle answered by hugging him back and resting her head on his shoulder.  The moment only lasted for a minute, but Michelle’s unconditional support for him buoyed his spirits.  

“So, what happened? Where did you go and why didn’t you wake me?” Michelle asked, pulling back to study his tired eyes.

Tom sighed. “Senor Rodriguez wanted me, no, us to eat lunch with him, but I wanted to let you sleep. You looked so peaceful and you needed it, but it was cut short when he got a call from the police captain.”

“Oh?” Michelle raised a questioning eyebrow as she moved over, sat down on the bed and patted it as a signal for him to sit.

“Yeah, but I am not sure how to take it. I couldn’t understand what was said, but whatever it was, he was not happy. Pissed is more like it. He also has some scary Russian dude. Not sure what he does, but it looks like he might be his security chief or something...”

“Do you think he was pissed because Melody escaped?” Michelle clutched Tom’s arm and gazed up at him with hope filled eyes.

Once again, he hugged her tight. “I don’t know hon, but I hope so...”
 

~o~O~o~

Viktor Bogomolov, formally a Spetznaz Captain in the Soviet Union, listened impassively as his current boss berated him over the deaths of the men who had been charged with the simple task of holding the young American girl.  It was not his fault she escaped from the incompetent idiots the Don left in charge of the girl.  Viktor knew they were not up to the task and did not take the job seriously enough, but what could he do about it? Yes, he was The Don’s Chief of Security, but he was not the one who hired the idiots and to make matters worse, the chief idiot of the bunch was related to The Don.

After he heard about the girl escaping and then, being raped, stabbed and possibly killed by the idiots that were supposed to be guarding her;  he personally shot the one least likely to be connected to one of The Don’s relatives, before he sent the rest back into the jungle to find and bring the girl back. Just in case she had help, he also decided to send some re-enforcements, but apparently, his reinforcements were too late and not up to the task either.

He did know one thing for sure; who ever took out The Don’s men was a professional. However; the ritualistic sacrifice of the remaining men directly responsible for the girl’s rape confused him. A professional would not take the time or the risk to tie someone down and cut out their heart. A professional would simply kill the man, preferably with a single bullet to the back of the head.  If he was trying to punish the man, a professional may shoot their target in the knees, groin or gut before taking their time about finishing them off, but cutting out their hearts?  That made no sense at all.

It did spook The Don, a lot, and Viktor did not know why, but when The Don’s face turned deathly pale from looking at one of the pictures; Viktor got worried.  The Don had seen much more gruesome deaths, but something about these had driven the man to a near panic.

“I want whoever did this found and killed like the dog that they are!  No one does this to me! No one!” The Don said, pure panic in his eyes that he tried to hide behind a mask of rage.

“Yes sir, and, I will make some calls, see if any of my contacts know of anyone operating in the area.” Viktor said, forcing himself to remain calm and impassive under The Don’s maniacal gaze.  He had never witnessed The Don losing it this badly before, but Viktor’s battle hardened, calm assurance under fire seemed to help The Don regain some control over his emotions.

The Don sat down heavily in his chair and reached, with shaking hands, for his cocktail. He downed it in one hurried gulp.

“Sir, I will also beef up our security here on the ship and I recommend doing the same at the warehouse.”

“Yeah, okay...” The Don looked at his empty glass with confusion and longing. “Damn it! Bring me another martini!” He bellowed.

Viktor remained silent until after the visibly nervous steward left after delivering the Don’s drink. “I will have to pull in some men from other locations. So, our security won’t be up to where I would like it to be until tomorrow, but for tonight, instead of the marina, I recommend that we moor the Conquistador in the harbor, well away from any other craft.”

The Don looked up from his already half empty glass with surprise mixed with suspicion. “Why? What are you not telling me?”

Viktor sighed. It was so much harder to do his job when the person he was responsible for questioned his reasons. “A) Whoever attacked your mansion was a professional and that concerns me. B) Attacking a docked vessel is much easier than one protected by water.  It will be far easier for my team to spot any potential threat and C) It makes it harder for our ‘guests’ to escape or draw attention to themselves.  We know that the Americans called their embassy. So, there might be someone looking for them right now. Finally, D) It will be far easier for you to retreat to the relative safety of international waters if the worst happens.  It would give you time to organize your friends...”

The Don nodded his head with reluctant acceptance. Viktor was grateful because he did not want to bring up the additional risk to the sub base The Don had hidden under the warehouse. No amount of The Don’s political connections would be able to save his sorry ass if the Americans found out about those little beauties.  No, the Americans would not be happy to learn that a Mexican drug lord possessed state of the art, silent diesel electric mini-subs capable of penetrating their territorial waters and delivering drugs, guns or terrorists onto American soil undetected. Instead of mentioning that, Viktor decided to bring up his next concern. “We need to ‘ask’ our ‘guests’ who else they may have called...”
 

~o~O~o~

{“This is so cool!”} I am sorry, I could not help it, but all this spy stuff that Dani was doing was cool.  I liked it when she decided to ship all the dresses home and I guess the money would not be a bad thing, but now that we were actually on the roof and ‘scouting’ our ‘target AO’, as Dani likes to call it; things were getting even more fun.

{“Ain’t over yet, keep your eyes open...”} Dani could be such a wet blanket at times.

{“Hey, your eyes are my eyes.”} I imagined me sticking my tongue out at her.  She needed to be reminded whose body we belonged to.  Ouch, that is kind of confusing to think about.

I was in charge of taking pictures and Dani was going to let me sneak into the office building, but the closer we got, the more nervous I became.  I did not think my nervousness was a sign from the Goddess of anything bad. It was just the fact that we were so close to the real bad guys and I was worried about messing up something fierce.  What if the office workers would not let us use their roof access? What if the door was locked? What if someone spotted us on the roof?  

Dani made getting on the roof look easy. She simply opened the door to the tourist office, waved at the woman behind the counter and calmly walked up the flight of stairs that lead to the second floor.  There were no shouts to ask what we were doing there, nothing.  Once on the second floor, Dani took a second to orientate herself and spot the door leading to a small maintenance closet. Again, no one came rushing out of their office wondering what she was doing there or if she belonged.  

{“Oh, heck, I coulda done that!”} I could not believe I had been such a nervous wreck.

The closet did not look like much on the outside, but inside, it contained some old, beat up tools, half empty paint cans, some mops and more importantly, a ladder that lead up to the building’s roof. From there, we climbed onto the roof and made our way over to the ladder that lead down to the warehouse roof.  

Dani stopped to study the target roof, it’s skylights, the dish, extra exhaust pipes and after what seemed like forever to me, I started to worry again. {“Dani, is something wrong?”}

“Hmmm? Sorry, no, but I think we might need some tools and we should have bought a backpack...”  Dani retreated back to the maintenance room and quickly stuffed a few small hand tools into our purse.  Two different kinds of screwdrivers, a pry bar, a half used roll of duct tape, an almost new roll of black electrical tape and a small hand drill with a broken bit.  After some digging, she found a new bit and used it to replace the drill’s broken bit. Satisfied with her finds and after a little creative stuffing of our purse, she climbed back up to the roof. After a small pause at the warehouse ladder to confirm that no one appeared to be watching them, she scared the crap outta me when grabbed onto the sides of the ladder with her hands and the insides of her feet and rapidly slid the 15 feet down to the next roof.

{“Whoa! Where did ya learn how to go down a ladder like that?”}

{“Hehe, the Navy. Lot of ladders in a ship...”} Keeping low, Dani crept over to take a peek from the rear, harbor side of our current warehouse.

{“Hey! Aren’t ya a little close to the edge there?”} I did not want to think about what it appeared Dani was thinking about because it was a long way down and even further down to the water.

“Hmmm, looks like we might be able to clear the docks down there and land in the harbor, if we had to.” Dani ignored my observations as she, for real, planned how to jump off the roof and land in the harbor.

{“Dani! No way, that’s crazy!”} I looked back down at the harbor so far below us and shuddered just thinking about it.  We would have to run and jump pretty hard.  The roof of the warehouse was not a single flat expanse all the way across. No, each warehouse had a section of roof that rose four to five feet above the main roof line, then across another 20 or so feet before dropping back down to the main roof level again.  It kind of resembled one of those old castle walls with the slots in the wall to fire arrows or cannon through.  You know, up and down, up and down and a real pain in the butt to climb.

Hmm, we were on the low side of the roof, but maybe if we jumped from the upper roof?

Dani crawled back away from the edge and proceeded to climb onto the first warehouse’s upper roof by pulling up with our arms and jumping at the same time. I thought it was going to be hard, but she made it look easy.  

{“Damn...it’s so nice being young again!”}  Dani happily grinned as she crawled over the roof and without making a sound, smoothly dropped back down on the other side.  

It took three more roofs before we reached our target roof and I guess I was in better shape than I thought.  Dani inspected the satellite dish to confirm her suspicions. {“Yep, it’s an uplink dish. Take a picture, please.”}

Dani surprised me by her request. I know she can operate a cell phone camera. {“Umm, okay, but...oh nevermind.”}  I guess she wanted to make me feel useful.

The skylights were next on her agenda.  They were made of a thick white plastic and convex in shape to allow rain to roll off the surface. They appeared like they could be raised or opened from the inside to help cool the building, but they were currently closed.  Dani tried the pry bar, but it would not budge.

“Hmm, I don’t think forcing this would be a good idea...” Dani put the pry bar down and used the hand drill to bore a small hole off to the side of the convex surface while being very careful to not block the light and cause our shadow to show on the other side.  Once the hole was bored, she used our cell phone’s camera to look through the hole.

{“Hey! I thought that was my job?”}  I knew that she could work the camera, but I had to complain about something, right?

{“Oh, sorry, but I thought you wanted me to learn how to do this myself?”} Dani tried to act innocent, but I was not fooled.

{“Fine! You do it, but don’t come crying to me when you mess it up. Hmmmppphh!”} My statement may have worked better if I had not broken down and giggled immediately after I said it.

After she took a few pictures from that hole, she used a small piece of duct tape to seal it before moving to the other side of the skylight. She repeated the drill, camera and duct tape trick on the other side and then, did the same on the other edges until we had pictures from every angle.  The sun was too bright and the screen too small to really make out any details from our pictures, but from what I could see, they looked good with lots of stuff going on inside the warehouse.

{“Okay, all done with the pictures. I hope we got enough.”} Dani sounded a little concerned, but I knew it was because she hated not knowing exactly what she is up against.  {“Now to setup my lee-tle distraction...mu ha ha ha!”}

Seriously, Dani is so weird sometimes. {“Yer scaring me sis and do I really want to know?”}

{“Oh, nothing bad, but we have some C-4 that is just begging to go boom.”} Dani jumped down from the upper roof and using the duct tape, she shaped the clay-like stuff into a cone and then, using the duct tape, she secured it to the side of the roof with the pointy side facing out.  Next, she broke open the cheap cell phone and wired the ringer to the detonator thing.

I did not understand what she was trying to do or even how it would work. I thought you needed to set explosives off with one of those boxes that had the plunger thing like they used to blow up stuff in the westerns. {“Dani, what are you doing?”}

{“Oh, just shaping the charge so the force of the explosion will be directed through the wall here when I...”} She pointed to the cell phone. {“Wire this to the detonator. Then, if we need a good distraction, we can call the phone and detonate the C4. Simple, right?”}

It was kind of simple. {“Umm, I guess so, but what happens if someone else calls our phone?”}

{“Well, then it goes boom before we wanted it to go boom, but the odds are kind of slim because we just bought this phone, we have not given our number out to anyone and no one has called it yet.  So, I think we stand a good chance of it still being there when we need it, I hope.”}

I still thought she was crazy. The darn telemarketing folks called my cell phone all the time. {“Okay, but can we leave now, you know, just in case...”}

We made it into the office building and back down to the street in front of the warehouses without anyone appearing to notice us or calling our old cell phone.  Dani let me take over again. She claimed that I walked more naturally as a girl than she did, but I think she was just feeling lazy. The fuel truck was gone now, but the same guard was hanging out in front of the warehouse door.  I occasionally glanced back at him as I pretended to be a tourist and he never appeared to find us all that interesting. Well, no more than any other girl walking past his station. He did not try to chase us down or yell at us.

Once we made it back to the car, Dani had me copy the pictures off the phone and onto the laptop so she could view them on a bigger screen.  Except for one, the pictures turned out pretty darn good. I was still a little miffed about her doing my job, but I guess you can teach  an old dog new tricks.  

“Son of a fucking bitch...” Dani muttered softly under her breath, surprising me by her uncensored use of the f-bomb. She almost never does that and I think it is kind of funny when she tries to censor herself with me.

I tried to see what got her so upset in the current picture, but all I saw were some openings in the floor and maybe a boat or something in the water. Wait, the boat was under the warehouse. How would it get out? Oh, I know what the boat is now. {“Oh, aren’t those the subs we found the plans for?”}

Dani closed her eyes, pressed herself against the seat and gripped the steering wheel like she wanted to try breaking it off. “Grrrrr, I fu- oh, fuck it, I fucking knew it was going too well!”

{“Dani!”} Wow, she was pissed.

Dani ignored me for a few seconds, but I could feel our body start to slowly relax as she furiously thought about the subs.  I was about to ask her what she was thinking about, when she suddenly opened her eyes and intently returned to studying each of the pictures. I decided that interrupting her while she was ‘in the zone’ would be a bad idea. Some of the pictures, she merely glanced at, but other’s she zoomed in and panned back and forth between other pictures. After a bit more of that, she closed her eyes and relaxed back into the seat.  Now, I was almost beyond curious about what was going through her devious and violent little head, our head.

Finally, after another minute or two, she exhaled with purpose and opened her eyes. “Okay Melody, sorry about that, but I know what we are going to do today...”

I do not think she found it at all amusing when I broke down into uncontrollable giggles when she said that phrase, but after all the stress; I could not help myself.

She of the Jade Skirt

by

Sleethr & Draflow

	Dani makes some plans and buys some hardware for her favorite hobby, blowing stuff up. Melody checks them into a hotel so they can dress for success and spend a ton of money shopping. The Navy SEALS make their own plans.
Image Credit: photo_5466834 from 123rf.com.

** Part VI **

I did not understand what set Melody off, but her giggles were kind of infectious because I soon found myself feeling happier than I should.  “What’s so funny?”

{“Oh my goddess, Dani. Sorry, but you just said the catch phrase for a cartoon show and I just couldn’t help it. If you had asked ‘Where’s Perry?’, I think I would have died!”}  Melody giggled a little bit longer before reining in her enthusiasm.

Melody’s explanation kind of helped, but I still did not see how what I said could be that funny or how someone named ‘Perry’ might factor into this.  “Okay...well...we kind of have a lot to do, umm, right now.”  I refused to say it again.

I had a lot to plan for now that the fucker had already completed the subs because that made the intel we sent to South Com outdated and potentially deadly if they sent a team to neutralize the threat those subs represented.  Hell, based on the sat setup on the roof and the fuel delivery, I think I could safely assume the two subs sitting in their pens were operational and had already completed a few runs into U.S. Territorial waters.

Now, it was not ‘just’ a rescue mission, but also a materiel remediation mission and that complicated the plan, a lot.  I know, the subs should not be my problem and I was no longer active, but I could not ignore them.  Especially, if ignoring them might cost American lives somewhere down the road. It would be far easier for me to take care of them now versus endangering a Team or causing an international incident later.

I just did not know if I would have the time to take them out as definitively as I would prefer. I had a satisfying amount of C-4 to work with, but simply slapping some C-4 to the side of the sub’s hull would not cause enough damage. I needed some shaped charges to cut into their steel reinforced hulls. I could use some buckets and some cement to jury rig some shaped charges, but it would add an hour or two to the op plan. An hour or two that I might not have.

Grrr, I hated to do even think about doing something by halves, but 8-10 lbs of C-4 with some ball bearings wrapped around it, tucked into a backpack and dropped down the sub’s hatch would definitely render the little fu-, umm, suckers inoperable, maybe even permanently if the overpressure caused enough hull damage. After my last outburst, I was trying not to swear so much around Melody. Okay, maybe I could classify them as targets of opportunity and plan accordingly?  

{“Okay Melody, it’s shopping time. We need to find a hardware store.”}

{“Yeah! Shopping! Wait, hardware?”}

{“Yep, sorry, but we need some ball bearings and maybe some nails.”}

{“Oh, okay, are we going to use those like James Bond to make the bad guys fall down or pop their tires?”}

{“Ahh, no. We are going to use that to blow the sh-stuff outta the subs.”}

{“Really?!?! Cool...”} Melody bubbled with enthusiasm and it reminded me of Danielle when she was her age.  She had so much fun when I took her to clear stumps with explosives in the Florida swamps.

A ten pound box of roofing nails was pretty easy to find. Ball bearings, not soeasy.  Pressed bearings and needle bearings are quickly replacing free bearings. So, I got two ten pound boxes of roofing nails, three small backpacks, one for each sub, plus one extra, some Ziploc bags, silicon caulk to seal the bags better, five kitchen timers, extra wire, wire cutters, solder, a rechargeable soldering iron and a bunch of nine volt batteries to help boost the kitchen timer’s voltages enough to trigger the detonators.  Of course, I did not buy all that from the same store. I could only imagine the hardware store dude calling the police as soon as we walked out of his store with all the items from the Anarchist’s Cookbook.

{“Okay Melody, now we need to buy the SCUBA gear and it is not going to be cheap.  I think we will need to pull the spoiled rich girl trick, again.  Do you want grab a bite to eat and change into our dress at the restaurant?”}

{“Heck no! We need a shower. I dunno if you have noticed, but we stink and there is no way we could pull off that kind of transformation in some restaurant’s bathroom.”}

I performed a sniff test and I did not think we smelled that bad.  Maybe a little less fresh, but still all girl versus the heavy musk I am used to smelling after a workout.  {“Melody! We don’t smell that bad and we would have to get a hotel room.  We don’t have that much time...”}

Melody did not budge. {“30 minutes! Gimme 30 minutes and we can pull it off.  Heck, order room service and it might take the same amount of time if we had stopped to eat.”}

Even though I had planned on eating at the American burger franchise, she had a good point.  While I highly doubted it would only take her 30 minutes to shower, dress and make us look put together, a hotel room would give me a good place to put the charges together. Using the GPS along with the pictures we took from the fort, I found two large hotel resorts that overlooked the harbor from the south.  Either of the two would give us an excellent vantage point to keep an eye on the harbor and the warehouse.  The GPS found only one dive shop and I found that alarming because it was already 1800 hours and I was afraid they would be closed or closing by the time we could make it.  A quick call and I felt much better when the worker at the shop informed me they were open until 9PM since they also provided night dive tours.

{“Umm, Dani...”}  The hotel was in sight, but Melody sounded worried.

{“Yes?”}

{“How are we going to get a room, exactly?”}

Why was she asking me that now?  {“Walk in and pay for-”} It finally hit between the eyes why she asked that question. In our current “disguise”, we looked maybe 16, if that.  We were able to use that to our advantage at the hardware store, but I seriously doubted a hotel would rent out a room to some scruffy 16 year old girl. Even if said girl had tons of cash to wave around. “Oh, fu-fudge balls...”

{“Hehe, you're too funny Dani.  Seriously, you can swear. I have heard it before.”}

{“Sorry, not happening young lady. Not if I can help it anyway.”}

Melody sighed. {“Fine, just find a good spot and we can wiggle into our dress.  We will look like crap, but we can play the travel weary bitch-”}

“Melody!”

{“Hey, I’m a girl, we can call ourselves that. It’s in the rulebook.  Anyway, we won’t look 100%, but it should work.”)

I let Melody drive with our makeover. With the driver’s seat all the way back it was much easier than I expected to get into the dress.  Far easier than it would have been for a guy to put on a three piece suit or a tux anyway.  

Melody touched up our makeup and sighed with frustration. “This dress does not go with our blond wig.  We need the red to make it work, but I guess it will have to do for now...”

I thought we looked awesome. {“Okaayy...are we ready?”}

“Yepper, but can I drive?”

“Ye-No.” I took back over, started the Audi and drove us the rest of the way to the hotel.

{“Meanie...”} Melody sulked in the back of our mind for a few seconds.

I did not expect to receive instant service because it was the middle of the week and I doubted they received a lot of guests who drove their own car. Most of their guests would be bused in as part of some tour package. So, I found it equally surprising and amusing when two of the hotel’s valets raced each other to reach my door.

{“Okay Melody, I need you to take over. We need graceful, sophisticated, mature and a touch bitchy, but not too much and all that has to look natural. Can ya do it?”}

Melody gasped with nervous surprise at first, but I felt her resolve quickly solidify. {“Ha! Bitchy. Got it.”} She said as the winning valet opened the driver’s side door with a slight bow.

“Senorita.” He said as he offered his hand to assist Melody from the low slung car.

“Uno momento.” Melody held out her hand impatiently signaling stop, as she pointed to her shoeless feet.

{“What do we do about the weapons in the trunk?”} Melody asked while she slipped on her heels and grabbed our purse.

{“Crap...we do NOT want them to see all the weapons in the rucksack, but we need the suitcase. Hmmm...Okay, we will get a room first, then come back for our suitcase and the other supplies.”}

{“Okay, got it.”} Melody said as the valet helped her from the car and replaced her in the driver’s seat.

Melody smiled graciously at the valet, Carlos. “Gracias Senor, Carlos.”

She was forgetting something. {“Tip him.”}

{“Oh! Umm, how much?”}

{“Give him a 500 peso note.”}

{“500!?! Just to park the car?”}

{“Yes, that’s only $40 and you’re rich, remember?”}

{“Oh, yeah, sorry. Only $40 she says...ha!”} Melody said as she pulled out a 500 peso note.

“Thank you and please park it close. I might need to get another bag and I don’t want to have to walk very far.” Melody said in accent free Spanish while she smoothly bent at the waist to give the valet a perfect view of her pushed up breasts while discreetly handing him the 500 peso note.

I had to hand it to her, she was a natural at this stuff and that still scared me. {“Good call and excellent use of our assets there to distract him.”}

{“Thanks, this is so exciting!”} Melody was giddy on the inside, yet somehow managed to appear calm and sophisticated on the outside.

I watched our reflection in the glass doors as Melody confidently strode towards the main entrance and I thought we looked just the right amount of travel weary and spoiled rich. Hell, we might actually manage to pull this off.  We had the old credit card of the Don’s ex-wife. I had no idea if it was still active, but we could always give it a try if it looked like they wanted to insist on not taking cash.

Before we could reach the doors, they were opened by another male hotel staff member and behind us, we heard the valet yell to his partner to move someone’s Mercedes so that our Audi could have the best spot. Melody smiled and I also found myself feeling very pleased by state of affairs.  Yes, a person could get used to this kind of lifestyle.  Melody graciously tipped the door man with a 200 peso note.  I thought it was a bit much, but she was in the role and I did not want to jostle her elbow.

I know we only walked 20 or so yards and only interacted with two employees, but the worker grapevine was fast because the woman behind the check-in counter was VERY attentive to our needs.  The doorman probably tipped off the receptionist via some secret hand signal as soon as we turned our back on him.  “Hola Senorita, how may I help you this evening?” The receptionist behind the service desk asked with an eager, yet warm smile.

Melody noticed the receptionist’s behavior. {“Okay, change of plans. I don’t think me acting bitchy is going to work here. I have a different idea...”}

I realized that no plan survives contact with the enemy, but it still made me nervous.  However, Melody was the expert on the social engineering front. {“Okay, go for it.”}

“Sorry, I know it is kind of late, but do you have any rooms available? I drove all the way from Salina Cruz. I know I probably should not speak of this to you, but my husband and I had a fight and I just had to get away for a few days to clear my head.” Melody looked down at her hands as if she was ashamed of herself.  She even managed to let a tear out.

The receptionist reached out and patted Melody’s hand. “There, there dear. That is a long drive. Men can be idiots sometimes, but I am sure he will come to his senses soon.”

Melody looked up and wiped a tear from her eyes. *sniff* “You think?”

The woman smiled encouragingly at Melody. “Of course, now. We do have a few rooms available.  Would you like a harbor side room on the sixth floor or a ocean facing room on the ninth?  The harbor side room is a bit more expensive. It is a suite and it has a Jacuzzi tub.”

Melody blotted her eyes and waved aside the price concern. “Oh, that is okay.  He is paying for it, one way or another...”  She growled a little at the end.

Wow, she was good.

The receptionist flashed a conspiratorial grin at Melody. “Excellent, do you have a credit card?”

Melody dug into her purse and handed the lady the card we found in the Don’s house. “Yes, but he may have canceled it on me. He is kind of sneaky that way, but I have cash just in case.”

“Oh, well,” She glanced at the name printed on the front of the card. “Carmelita, don’t worry about that, we will just do a quick check. Sometimes it can take a few days for a card to stop working...”

We both anxiously waited for the outcome because I was pretty sure the real Carmelita was long gone, but Melody played it calm as a cucumber. “Thank you so much, umm...” She made a show of reading the woman’s name tag. “Beila?”

Beila glanced up and her face positively glowed as she handed the card back to us. “It worked!  Sign here please...” She handed Melody the release form and Melody signed Carmelita’s name as if it was her own.

Melody smoothly exchanged a 500 peso note when Beila handed her the room key. “Gracias Senora Rodriguez, enjoy your stay!”

We needed to extract our suitcase without anyone raising an alarm due to all the firepower packed alongside it and it was very hard to not be noticed with the staff practically tripping over themselves and treating us like visiting royalty. {“Uggg, how are we going to get our suitcase out of the car now?”}

Melody giggled. {“Oh, don’t worry. The valet is a guy and I know what I am doing.”}

{“Yeah, that’s what worries me...”} I muttered as she mentally blew raspberries at me.

Melody exited the lobby and approached the valet who parked our car. She smiled at him. “Carlos?”

His name tag was fairly obvious, but his chest visibly expanded with pride as she used his name. “Si, Senora, how may I help you?” He gave Melody a slight bow.

Melody coyly glanced down to the ground, as if surprised by his respectful bow, before gaining the confidence to look him in the eyes. “I’m sorry, but I need to get my suitcase out of my car. Would you mind helping me?”

{“No, no, no, we don’t want help. We want him to stay here.”}

{“Shhh...I told ya, I’ve got it covered.”}

I worried even more when Melody lightly leaned on the young man’s left arm, as if he was escorting her to a fancy formal ball.  Her touch made Carlos act even more like a gentleman. During the short walk, Melody engaged him in small talk where she discovered he was married and had a young daughter, of which he was proud to show pictures of.  Poor Carlos was so distracted by Melody that he barely glanced into the Audi’s trunk when he reached for our suitcase. The military green rucksack stuffed full of ammo and equipment did not even register with him as Melody kept him focused on her as she praised both his wife’s and his daughter’s beauty with the exact correct amount of wistful longing for his adorable daughter.  I did not refer to her as ‘adorable’, did I?  I needed to kill someone soon because Melody was a bad influence on me.

{“Do you think the baby girl we delivered is okay?”}  Melody asked, her mental voice full of concern.

Melody was not acting, well, not completely.  She was pretending to be someone she was not, but the connection she made with Carlos was real and that concerned me more.  Was I really that cynical and untrusting of people?  I had a lot to think about as Carlos went out of his way to escort Melody safely to our room as she continued to distract him by asking him questions about his family.  Hell, I was almost surprised the poor man did not ask Melody to visit his house for dinner and I regretted not getting him to carry the rucksack for us too.  He might not have even noticed it with Melody distracting him so much.

With the door closed and locked behind us, Melody let out a huge sigh of relief. “Wow, that was...” She faltered for a second as she searched her feelings. “I’m not sure, but I am not at all nervous or stressed out like I thought I would be. Carlos was so nice, wasn’t he?”

I did not trust myself to reply because I did not really understand what I was feeling either, but it was now 1815 hours and time was wasting. {“Let’s call room service, then shower, now. We need to move it. We are behind schedule and the Don is due to arrive here in 30 minutes.”}

I was nervous about the shower for two reasons. One, the schedule and two, I felt guilty because I knew I would enjoy it when I should not because I was a man and a father. Melody tripped all my protective father instinct buttons, but at the same time being in her body let me feel how I had longed to feel for so many years. I was a girl and I never felt happier about my body, but it was not my body.  I was very confused.

The shower was over quick, almost too fast, but Melody understood the time crunch and only ‘freshened up’ by washing our body and rinsing the full day of wig induced sweat out of our hair.  Our hair was going to be hidden under a wig, so we only needed to blow dry it enough to keep it pinned under the wig.  I simply sat back as she worked her magic with the cosmetics and treated it like a salon trip I could have never enjoyed in my past life.  

Room service delivered our meal shortly after Melody started putting on our makeup. Much to Melody’s chagrin, I made the room service person properly ID themselves before opening the door and even then, I kept the USP 9mm hidden and at the ready. Melody gave the poor woman a 200 peso tip, but I have learned it pays to be careful.  It is not paranoia if they really are out to get you, right?

From start to finish, and with us sneaking bites of food as she worked to get ready, Melody managed to squeak the full transformation in 32 minutes, just two minutes over the 30 minute deadline. With the red hair, pouty expression, expertly applied cosmetics, designer dress, shoes and accessories we looked every inch the young, early 20’ish, sexy spoiled rich woman out to spend her husband’s money or the young, late teens, spoiled daddy’s little princess out to spend more of her daddy’s money.  

Beyond young woman, I found it hard to determine our age and based on Melody’s past performances, I expected she could pull off either role. She seemed to have the knack for it and I was now positive Chalchiuhtlicue was lending Melody a hand with her seduction parts. I hoped it came from the Goddess because if not, I would seriously have to question Melody’s parents about how they were raising their daughter.

I briefly took over long enough for a quick peek out the window to see if the yacht had arrived yet. It had not and I prayed to the Goddess he had not changed his plans about coming to Acapulco. If he was not somewhere in the harbor or docked by the time we finished at the scuba shop, we would have to drive around and check the other marina’s in Acapulco.

I also performed a quick search of the room to insure we did not leave anything important behind. Due to a previous fuckup on my part in a hotel in some country that may not be named, clearing the room was now a habit of mine. It was that fuckup that always made me make sure any room I stayed in was clear of any incriminating evidence before I left it. The only possible evidence I found was the bottle of 100 year old scotch because scotch was not something the average woman would lug around with them.

I used that as my excuse, but I did not want to leave the scotch behind. “Shit, we can’t leave that bottle here, umm; someone might be able to link it back to the Don’s mansion...”

{“We’re not coming back?”}

I looked at the room’s clock and cycled through my framework of a plan.  “I don’t think so. We are going to be pretty busy once the Don’s yacht arrives...”

Melody had the nerve to laugh at me. {“Oh come on sis! Like the suitcase, the clothes or the credit card wouldn’t be the same?  You just want to keep that nasty stuff!”}

{“Why you and no I don’t! We could leave it, but it could come in handy later...it’s very valuable...”} Even to my own ears, my excuses sounded lame.

Melody smirked at me. {“Uh huh, riighht, anyway, lemme call room service again. We will need a box for it.”}

Thanks to Melody’s extra-good tips, we had a selection of liquor bottle boxes directly from the hotel’s bar to choose from in less than five minutes and with my boxed bottle of liquid ambrosia in hand, we strolled into the hotel’s lobby. Not that it would have helped, but I think we should have tried sneaking out of a side door because all eyes were on us. I overheard more than a few whispered comments asking who that woman was, but not a one asked who the teenager thought she was dressing up in her mother’s clothes. A few even asked if they should try getting our autograph, so I am sure they thought we were a star of some sort.

A lot more attention than I felt comfortable with, but at the same time, maybe hiding in plain sight would work out in our favor if any of the Don’s goons tried to find us.  As the doorman held the door open for us, Melody blew him a kiss and thanked him. As we exited the hotel, our car pulled up and Carlos exited the driver’s seat like it had an ejection rocket. Melody gave Carlos a sisterly kiss on his cheek and another 500 peso tip for his exceptionally prompt service.

On our way to the scuba shop, we found and briefly stopped at a good spot that overlooked the harbor.  A large yacht was just now arriving and it did not take much, even with the setting sun, to positively identify it as the Conquistador. I smiled with satisfaction when it slowed to a stop in the middle of the harbor and dropped anchor. {“Good, he’s anchoring in the harbor, which will make things easier for us.”}

{“What? How will that make it easier?”}

{“Simple, because no one expects the Spanish inquisition! Muh ha ha ha!”}

{“Dani...you’re weird...”}

{“Oh, sis! That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me!”} I pretended to go all gushy on her. I am sorry, but I could not help it. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders now that the hard part of waiting for the Don to arrive was over.  The final parts of my mission plan were locking into place and at the risk of quoting another famous TV show, “I loved it when a plan came together.”

Since no one was around, I did what I should have done a long time ago. I re-arranged and covered up our weapons. I was pretty certain we would need to use the space our suitcase was filling for the scuba gear and I did not want anyone spotting them if I could help it.  Once last inspection of the yacht showed me the captain was definitely settling his ship in for the evening.  I had Melody take a few more pictures and since our phone would soon be history, I had her email them directly from the phone to South Com.  These new smart-phones were pretty handy and much easier to carry than the old sat phone backpack things I was forced to lug around in the past.

{“Okay, can I drive now? Please, please, please?”}

{“No, it’s too dangerous...”}  I did not want to risk getting in an accident.  Acapulco city traffic was a little trickier than open highway.

{“Come on, you know I can do it. Pretty please?”}  Melody gave me her best puppy dog eyes treatment.

The puppy dog eyes, those I could easily resist. My daughter had been an expert puppy dog eye pleader, but Melody was right at the same time.  She probably could drive and this might be the last time we had a chance to drive it. Maybe I was being selfish?  “Okay, but if it looks like you’re having trouble, I will take over, understood?”

{“Ma’am, yes ma’am!”} Melody pretended to salute me, the brat.

We made it to the dive shop without incident.  I tried to pretend like I did not enjoy the pleasure she derived from piloting the Audi, but her pleased giggles while accelerating from each stop light and stop sign were too hard to not join in. I almost wished we could take the Audi out of the city and really open her up again. I think I created a monster and I could not find anything wrong with that because Melody was happy.  She was also a pretty good driver and I felt the warm glow of satisfaction since I trained her. Her parents may or may not be pissed at me when it was time for them to train her.

Since the plan was for Melody to do all the talking in the scuba shop, I let her stay in charge. Unfortunately, my plan went all to hell as soon as we entered the shop.  Melody took one look at the older gentleman behind the counter and panicked.

“Hola Senor...ita, how may I help you this evening?”  The man’s rich voice rumbled from deep inside his barrel chest.  

{“It’s not going to work for me, you talk to him!”} Melody pleaded with me.

I did not have time to argue with her or try to talk her out of her panic. “Hola Senor, sorry to bother you at this late  an hour, but I was wondering if perhaps the shop owner would be available?” I asked as I hastily formulated my plan for how to deal with the target.  The man appeared to be in his mid-forties, maybe early fifties with closely cropped graying hair.  His hands were a working man’s hands, calloused with his right hand sporting a nasty scar that looked like a barracuda bite to me.  A well worn, but high-end dive watch on his left wrist told me this man had a lot of dive experience.  Perhaps, Melody was right.  This man appeared to be a grizzled veteran who would not be willing to overlook important safety rules when selling equipment to his customers.

As I threaded my way deeper into the shop and towards the counter, I also inspected the shop’s displays.  The shop was well stocked with tourist gear, flashy wetsuits designed to attract the eye of a tourist and low to mid-range diving gear priced to appeal to a vacationing tourist looking to get into the sport.  I was not impressed. We needed the high-end gear including rebreathers and I was not sure if this shop could provide them.

The man chuckled and stood as he noticed my inspection. “You are in luck, Senora.” Even though we were young, he changed his address of me to the more respectful. “Fernando Vazquez at your service.” He said with a rakish smile and a slight bow.

I had to admire the man’s polite interest in me. I knew what I looked like and how young I appeared.  I also knew how wealthy I appeared since I could see a security monitor that showed our car parked outside his store. I decided to play the part of an executive secretary sent by her boss to purchase equipment on his behalf. “Senor Vazquez, my employer's dive gear has been delayed or the airline lost it. We are not sure which, but he is a very busy man and as his executive assistant, he asked me to purchase a full replacement set.”  I watched as Senor Vazquez’s eyes grew wider and wider as they filled with dollar signs. “Now, I see your shop is well stocked with ‘novice’ level gear, but my employer is looking for expert level equipment. Specifically, a VR Tech Rebreather apparatus or similar.  I need three of them. Do you have any in stock? ”

Senor Vazquez’s brow furrowed as he was forced to re-appraise me.  A rebreather, any rebreather, was not cheap. The standard regulator with air tanks equipped set can retail for as little as $3,000 for a full set of gear, including the wetsuit, fins, mask and buoyancy compensator ( BC ) while rebreather systems start at $7,000 and that is just for the rebreather.  I could go without the rebreather, but only if I had to because a sharp eyed sentry can spot the bubbles from a standard SCUBA system when they rise to the surface.

“Ahh, Senora, what you ask for...is uncommon and does not come cheap...” He licked his lips nervously.

“I am aware of that and my employer is also. Do you have any in stock or not?”

{“Dani, aren’t you being a little, umm, you know, with him?”}

{“Bitchy? No. I just know what I want.”}

{“Oookaaay...”} Melody backed off.

“Si, Senora. I have one of those in stock, but it is equipped with the optional CO2 system. I am sorry, but those systems are not in high demand in this area...” He raised his hands apologetically. “And  pardon me for being so rude, but how does your, umm, boss plan to pay for it?”

I did not like what he was implying and I was starting to get a little irritated with the man.  Perhaps he could help me wipe out my earlier ‘adorable’ thought from looking at Carlos’s family photos.  I tapped my finger on the counter as I contemplated that course of action.

“No, no, no, sorry Senora, I did not mean to accuse your boss of not being able to pay. It is just that my credit card system cannot handle such a large transaction in a single day. I would have to break the transaction up over the course of a few days.”

Hah! Now we were getting somewhere.  Yes, I do love it when a plan comes together. “I see...” I looked through my purse and pulled out a few bundles of 1,000 peso notes and set them on the counter. Each bundle contained 25,000 pesos and I estimated we would need between 200,000 and 300,000 for our gear. A trip to the car for our briefcase would be necessary. “Well then, will cash be an acceptable substitute?”

As it turned out, Senor Vasquez was more than willing to accept cash and while I could tell he was curious about who my fictitious employer might be, he was also smart enough not to ask because someone who pays in cash is someone who values their privacy, for one reason or another. I could tell he was a little skeptical about my cover story, but he was willing to accept my story about my boss’s plans to dive around La Roqueta Island first thing tomorrow morning as the driving reason for my boss’s last minute purchases.

For Melody’s parents, I purchased a full package of standard SCUBA gear for them, but I added an underwater communication system.  Since neither one of Melody’s parents had dive experience, I did not want to be limited to gestures in murky water if it came to extracting them underwater. I also purchased a simple, all black, ladies dive watch to help monitor our time underwater.  After wearing a full function men’s diving watch for so many years, I was amazed how large and bulky the positively slim and compact ladies watch appeared on our wrist.

Conveniently, the dive shop also rented diver friendly boats.  Well, 20 foot speed boats with tank storage and a stern deck extension to make it easier for divers to enter and exit the water. Renting one of those took a rather hefty cash deposit, but I did not want to tempt fate by using the late Mrs. Rodriguez's credit card again.  It may not have been able to process a $10,000 transaction without raising a lot of alarm bells with the card company.   

I was fairly confident Senor Vasquez figured out that La Roqueta Island was not our planned dive destination and things might not be completely legal. That was why he insisted on such a high “damage deposit” for his boat, but I did not care. It was not my money and I did not have to lie to him about it.  Insurance would pay for his boat if it got sunk and in addition to all the equipment we bought, he now had a 10k bonus on top of it.

An hour and a half after entering the shop, Senor Vasquez and one of his employees loaded all our gear into the back of one of their pickup trucks and we followed them to the marina where our boat was docked.  I continued to play the part of a CEO’s executive assistant as I supervised the men while they stowed our gear on the boat for me. Once the gear was loaded, I slipped off my heels and inspected the boat. Engine compartment looked clean and well maintained, the bilge was dry, the fuel tanks were full and the battery looked in good shape.

I think I surprised Senor Vasquez’s younger employee with my competence because I caught Senor Vasquez shake his head no a few times during my inspection. “Okay, everything looks good to me, but I am not a mechanic.  My employer will be most grateful and I am sure he will enjoy his dive at La Roqueta Island in the morning.”

I purposely restated our false plans as I gave them each a 2,000 peso tip for loading our gear into the boat for me. They both protested, but ultimately accepted the tip. I figured it might not hurt to keep them both too dazzled by our cover story to really question things. I waited until after they left before I humped our gear out from the Audi to our boat. Senor Vasquez might be willing to ignore a lot of things, but I did not want him to see our overloaded military style rucksack and ask questions.

I should have swapped everything over to a large duffel bag because it is pretty common for divers to literally, have a ton of personal gear like stainless shark suits and bulky underwater cameras.  However; It was not every  day that a woman wearing designer clothes decides to accessorize with a huge military green rucksack that contained large amounts of ammunition and explosives.

With that in mind, I quickly, as I could, carried the rucksack to our boat. It was not easy. The damn thing was heavier than I remembered, but we got it, plus all our other purchases loaded into our boat.  As a plan C, I decided to leave one million in US dollars plus another two to three hundred thousand in Euros and Pesos in the Audi for just in case we needed it later.  I did not expect to need it, but we could not take it with us and it did not cost us anything to have it there, just in case.  After giving the Audi a final inspection to make sure I was not forgetting anything, I locked it and hid the extra set of keys by duct taping them under the rear wheel well.

It was 2100 hours and the sun had completely set by the time we pulled our boat away from the dock.  That did not mean it was quiet and peaceful.  Oh no, there were tons of parties going on in the larger cabin cruisers and yachts docked in our marina. As a result, our slow and wake free exit into the main harbor attracted little attention other than a few playboys in an expensive and sleek go-fast boat waving and whistling at me on their way into the marina.
 

~o~O~o~

[USS Jimmy Carter ( SSN-23)...Pacific Ocean...2100 hrs]

The SEAL team members sitting in the cramped trunk ready compartment of the Navy’s newest Seawolf class attack submarine appeared as if they did not have a care in the world. The last they had heard, they were on their way to Hawaii to prep for the upcoming RIMPAC exercise, but the sudden course change six hours ago followed four hours later by a boost of acceleration and now a constant, yet slight shimmy told everyone that the Carter was running at flank speed. They were going somewhere and going there fast.

The men all noticed, but did not react as their CO entered the trunk ready compartment. This compartment was SEAL country and the men were not expected to jump to attention here. This compartment was treated as if they were on an active mission where saluting your superior officer was a good way to get the man targeted by the enemy and killed.

Reaching the front of the compartment, Lt. Commander Jenkins nodded to the enlisted man posted near the compartment’s hatch. He dogged the hatch closed and Lt. Commander Jenkins powered up a big high def LCD monitor mounted to the bulkhead. The three men who appeared to be sleeping, simply opened their eyes as if they had only blinked.

“We have a ‘problem’ to fix gentlemen, and I use the term loosely with you GQ...” Jenkins smirked at the single man who had been boasting about his swimsuit model girlfriend.  GQ was not his real name or even the initials of his real name, it was his team name bestowed upon him after a long and careful evaluation of his character culled after hours of time spent together working as a team, but in GQ’s case, his commander made it up right now.

“Fuck dude, burn!” The man next to him elbowed him his ribs.

“Ah, shit...” GQ, formally Paul Rogers muttered under his breath as he considered all the additional crap he could now expect after being awarded his team name.  He had been in the teams for over two years now. So, being awarded a team name should not have come as a surprise to him.  The biggest surprise was more at how apt his new name was for him because when off duty he tended to dress for success and that, coupled with his strong good looks attracted the ladies to him, much to the chagrin of his fellow SEALS.

“Okay, okay, pipe down now...” Lt. Commander Jenkins’ eyes sparkled with amusement as he gestured to the screen behind him.  The small space instantly fell silent as the men studied the plans for a mini-submarine. It only took two seconds before the first surprised whistle softly rang through the room.

“Yes, these are plans for midget submarine based upon the highly successful, and thankfully, too late to do any good, WWII German  Type 127 Seehund midget submarine and according to our intel, now in operation and being used against the U.S.” The picture changed to show a picture of the rear halves of two completed subs resting in their pens.  The picture was somehow taken from high above the subs and appeared to taken without the knowledge of the busy workers below.  The images cycled through a series of five pictures showing the inside of what appeared to be working warehouse with the sub’s pen area cut into the warehouse’s floor with heavy steel reinforced concrete doors currently open to display the subs.  

“This picture here shows what the image analysts believe how the floor would appear with the doors closed.”  The picture of the warehouse’s floor looked normal with the middle seam made to look like and blend into the standard drainage grate that ran down the middle of the warehouse’s floor.  “So, yes, nearly impossible to detect, even if you knew to look for it...”

“The DEA, CIA, FBI, DOD, DHS, ATF and probably a few more capital letter agencies were taken by surprise when this little gem of intel was sent to South Com less than 24 hours ago.  At that time, there was not a lot of concern, since it was believed that the subs were still under construction. However; all that changed...” Jenkins glanced down at his watch. “...three hours ago, when those last pictures surfaced. The existence of the subs answered a lot of questions the DEA and FBI have been worried about over the past few months because the DEA has noticed a huge increase in both the quality and the quantity of Meth coming into California. An increase they found very confusing considering that arrests and seizure at the traditional borders are at an all time high.”

Lt. Commander Jenkins surveyed his men and he was met with calm acceptance. “Now, as you can probably tell by now, our mission is to destroy these subs. Simple, yes?” He smiled as every man in the room struggled to contain their laughter.  He waited for a few seconds before advancing to the next slide.

“Holy shit! I think I found my first wife...” GQ whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Jenkins pretended to not hear his remark. “This young lady is Melody Lynch, age 12-”

“No fucking way!” GQ said, shocked at his commander’s announcement along with the rest of the men.

“Yes, but if it makes you feel any better, your future wife will be 13 in one month. Do you think you can wait and remain chaste for another 5 years?”

“What in the hell are her parents feeding that girl?” GQ shook his head with numbed disbelief.

“Where was I? Oh yes, yesterday, at approximately 1300 hours, GQ’s future wife was reported kidnapped by her parents...” The slide changed to show a young couple. “...a Doctor Thomas Lynch, research chemist at UCLA Medical Labs and his wife, Michelle-” He was forced to pause.

“Hey GQ, your mother-in-law is fucking hot too!”

“Fuck you man! There is no fucking way that chick is only 12. It has to be a misprint. She looked 18 in that picture, okay, maybe 16...”

“Ha ha! Jaaailbait...”

“Hmmmphh!” Jenkins cleared his throat to recapture his men’s attention. The interruption was good for morale and he decided not to dress his men down for it. “As I was saying, their daughter was taken in broad daylight, but here is where it gets more interesting.  This morning, at approximately 0700 hours, Doctor Lynch and his wife were reported as being taken aboard Senor Victor ‘The Don’ as he prefers to be called, Rodriquez’s yacht...” The screen changed to show a shot of the ‘El Conquistador’.

“Our ‘friend’ Victor here, is a third generation scumbag and the leader of the largest drug cartel in Mexico. He also owns a large number of legal businesses, of which he uses to hide his profits from his illegal endeavors. Cloaked in an aura of legal respectability, he has evaded being arrested by Mexican authorities via careful bribes of elected officials and where that would not work, elimination of the official causing him trouble.”

Lt. Commander Jenkins paused for a few seconds to let the info soak in. “Now, why would a known scumbag want to ‘entertain’ Doctor Lynch and his family?” The image behind him switched to show a picture of a research paper titled, ‘The Extraction of Amphetamine from Cocoa and Coffee Plants’. Every man nodded their head with understanding. “Yes, it appears that our friend took an interest in Doctor Lynch’s earlier research and wants to compel him to reproduce it.”

“Okay, sir, but when are you going to tell us about the other ‘little problem’?” Chief Petty Officer Rollins asked as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat as if relaxing before the start of a movie.

Jenkins grinned at his senior enlisted man. “Are you sure you don’t want to be a Mustang?”

CPO Rollins yawned and stretched, “Hell no sir, someone has to keep these knuckle heads on their toes.” He gestured back toward the rest of the men. “And everyone knows that being an officer turns your brains to mush, excepting yourself, of course. Sir.”

“Okay then, Brass...” Jenkins used his team name to address him. “Why don’t you enlighten the rest of us as to what that other ‘little problem’ might be?”

“You haven’t mentioned where all this juicy intel came from...how do we know we can trust it?”

“Excellent question Brass and that leads us to our actual mission objectives...” The screen behind him changed to a bullet point list.  “The Primary objective is to locate and destroy those subs while the secondary objective is to rescue Doctor Lynch and his wife...” Lt. Commander Jenkins paused, as if waiting for someone to ask a question. No one said anything until he glanced meaningfully at GQ.

“And GQ’s bride?” The SEAL sitting next to GQ hesitantly asked.

“God damnit man! That shit’s not funny anymore!” GQ growled. “I swear, she looked 18...” He said, muttering under his breath as everyone in the room snickered.

Jenkins grinned at GQ. “Yes, Melody Lynch, aka Jailbait. She is now the center of a little mystery that command is most interested in finding some answers to.” A high resolution satellite image with a mansion with a few miles surrounding it displayed on the screen behind Jenkins. A row of police vehicles could be seen approaching the mansion from the east. “This is a shot taken this morning of ‘The Don’s’ little vacation home near Salina Cruz. It is believed that ‘Jailbait’ was taken and held at this location.”  The image jumped, making it appear as if they were looking down at the mansion from only 1,000 feet, close enough to make out what appeared to be bodies scattered around the area. “These are ‘The Don’s’ men left to guard ‘Jailbait’ and ensure her father’s cooperation.”  Every man there studied the imagery with an eye to the tactical situation each body was displayed.  Jenkins let his men study for a minute or two. “Any questions?”

“Sir, it looks like these men were each taken out separately and without the other group knowing what had happened to the other. Any estimates on the size of the force that did this?”

Jenkins shook his head slowly back and forth. “No force estimate, but it is believed that ‘Jailbait’ was rescued and that is the mystery. Command is not sure, but what we do know that _she_ called South Com and appeared to be properly briefed on procedure, giving the correct code words to elevate her call to the proper authority.  She also indicated that a man told her what to say and send the intel on the subs, along with some intel the State Department has found most interesting.”

Lt. Commander Jenkins paused to let his men absorb the data before he switched to the next slide.  A close-up of the hillside below the mansion’s pool displayed on the screen.

“Holy fucking shit...”

“As you can see from this slide, one of the three scumbags here did not die like the rest.” He pointed to the two with parts of their skulls missing and the third who was on his back, staked out spread eagle.  “These two were taken down at long range and based on the status of their weapons, without either of them realizing they were under fire. This man was disabled first, then staked down and while it may be a little hard to make out his exact cause of death from this picture, the intercepted police reports indicated that his heart had been removed from his chest.”  He pointed to the blood pooled just below his rib cage. “Here.  The police also indicated that they found two additional men inside the mansion,  with one of those men treated in the same fashion. Their hearts have not been found and as you might imagine, that spooked the fuck out of the locals.”

Jenkins switched back to the mansion overhead shot and pointed to the single sentry lying on the east side of the mansion. “This man was taken down with a blunt object, probably a rock, and then his carotid artery was severed.”  He pointed to the man lying in a pool of blood in the pool area. “This man appears to have been shot in the back of the head, execution style, and we are not sure by whom because his cause of death does not fit the MO of the rest of the dead.”  Finally, he pointed to the two dead lying in the front lawn. “These two appear to have been ambushed and shot at close range, probably by a pistol.”

“Any questions?” Jenkins gave his men another minute to study the battlefield, they might spot something the analysts back in South Com missed.  

“Sir, can you zoom in on the pool area?” The man next to GQ asked.

“What do you see?”

“I’m not sure, sir, but...the bottom of the pool is dirty and, there! Is that a rope made out of sheets?”

“Good catch on the rope. The analysts missed that and the sediment in the pool. Theories?”

GQ reluctantly spoke up. “Umm, Jailbait escaped via the rope and the three on the hillside were bringing her back when they were ambushed?”

Jenkins and the rest of the team nodded their approval. “Sounds plausible, beyond having a crappy cleaning service, any thoughts on the pool?”

Jenkins waiting another few seconds without receiving any further ideas. “Okay, more for the mystery...” He advanced the slide to the next picture of a warehouse complex. “The next few pictures were taken today, at 1500 hours, from a fort overlooking the target warehouse.” He brought up a window with a satellite image of the harbor area and pointed to a spot on the image. “From the angle, it is believed the images were taken here.”   

He glanced back to his men to confirm they all saw the image before he removed the window overlay and advanced to the next picture. “This shot was taken from the street directly in front of the warehouse that is believed to be harboring the mini-subs...” He pointed to the obvious guard. “Command as verified that this warehouse is owned by ‘The Don’. Note the fuel truck.”

Once again, Jenkins brought up an overhead picture of the interior of the warehouse. “The next shots were all taken from the roof, probably via a pinhole bored into the skylight, and apparently without the hostiles below noticing.”  He cycled through the shots in the timestamp order they were taken, pausing briefly on the shots that displayed the subs.  

“Sir, it looks like they are setting up a lab in there...”

“Exactly, Command believes ‘The Don’ intends for Doctor Lynch to work out of this location. Those bags over there are most likely coffee beans.” Jenkins pointed out some burlap bags on the far edge of the picture.  “Now for the fun part...”  

A picture taken from the west side of the harbor showed the Don’s yacht anchored in the harbor. “Our mystery intel gathering service snapped this picture at 1900 hours and it looks like The Don is there to stay, after the condition of his mansion, he probably doesn’t feel safe docking his yacht.”

Lt. Commander Jenkins wolfishly grinned as the men all chuckled at that statement. “Now that you all have all the background data. Here are the mission objectives. 1) Destroy the subs. 2) Rescue Doctor Lynch, his wife and if the opportunity presents itself, their daughter. 3) Identify the mystery intel source, if possible...”

He paused to let the simplified objectives sink in. “Now, our ride will be in position to drop us off at 2330 hours. Chief, plan for two, four man teams utilizing the SDV to get us and all our gear to the harbor and back, so no extra long swims tonight.”

“Hoo-ya!” The room chorused.

Jenkins waited for the cry to die down. “The Chief will have the list of all the gear we’ll take, remember nothing personal to identify you or nation of origin. As far as the rules of engagement go, we have a free pass on all the baddies with no holdouts except the family, so any body looks like making noise or alerting friends we discourage that with a permanent fix. Try not to hit the local police if you can help it, but they often are on the payroll of the bad guys so... just try okay?”

He pulled up the deck plans for yacht and split the screen to also display the warehouse intel. “Let’s work through this to eliminate confusion and mistakes, who wants to take the building? And who wants the boat? We need four on each, but I’m going to have the chief take the boat, and I’ll lead the building because I like blowing stuff up. Who wants to join me?”

“Fucking hoo-ya!” A few of the guys sang, indicating their desire to blow shit up with their commander.
 

~o~O~o~

With the blessing and curse of a full moon, I quickly spotted the Don’s ultra-modern, large and well lit yacht in the small harbor.  I made a full circuit of the harbor both to scout for a good hiding spot and to clandestinely inspect the yacht from all sides using the binoculars.  Once again, I regretted not purchasing a real camera with a telephoto lens, but my inspection reminded me that I had forgotten to do something even more important.  I had forgotten to research the Don’s yacht and see if I could find floor plans online.

{“Fu...Crap!”} I gripped the binoculars even harder in frustration as I committed to memory every external detail and used that to extrapolate possible deck plans for the interior of the yacht.  There really were not too many options for the internal spaces and ship design was a fairly standard process these days.  The crew quarters would be on the lower deck, near the rear of the ship and closer to the engines.  The owner’s quarters would probably be in the center for stability, but the rest was pure conjecture based on past experience.

{“What?!? Is something wrong? Did you spot our parents? Are they okay?”}

{“No, I’m just a bleeping idiot!  I forgot to research the yacht online. If they were available, floor plans would be very nice to have right about now...”} I sighed with frustration.

Melody giggled at me. {“Silly, we have the laptop with the wireless card, remember?  Why don’t you look it up right now?”}

I groaned with frustration because I should have remembered that. {“Thanks sis, sorry. I got so wrapped up in the planning that I forgot we had that capability.”} I booted up the laptop and since I was not ready to drop anchor, I simply kept the motor on idle and occasionally adjusted our position to maintain station. It only took a few minutes to find the yacht’s builder online and the common floor plan for the Don’s model.  I was mostly right about the plans, except unlike older yacht designs this one did not have a central corridor that connected the passenger and crew cabins.  The crew area was next to the engine compartment, but it was completely separated from the passenger cabins and had its own access point.  That could come in handy for securing the crew and keeping them from causing mischief.  Killing them would be an easier solution, but I was reluctant to contemplate such a plan with Melody present.

*sigh*

Civilian oversight made things so much harder sometimes, but the newer technology was kind of handy. “What I would have given to have one of these little babies on a few of my missions...” I muttered while Melody smugly grinned in the background.

I studied the plans for a few more minutes, but I was distracted by a go-fast boat heading directly toward the yacht.  It was piloted by a man wearing the standard Don thug suit.  He pulled behind the yacht and a couple of crewmen assisted with securing the boat so its cabin was next to yacht’s rear deck. Nothing happened for a few minutes, but based on the boat’s pilot remaining in the cabin and the yacht’s crew standing by, ready to cast the boat off, it appeared that someone would soon be leaving the yacht.

I spotted the Don escorting Melody’s dad while an unknown Caucasian male escorted Melody’s mom with additional thugs bringing up the rear. I did not like surprises and the addition of that unknown male unsettled me.  He looked out of place and based on his posture, appearance and military styled attire, he radiated danger to me.  He had to be ex-military of some sort and with my luck, he probably had some special ops training.  His nationality was hard to make out from just a visual, but I felt he was most likely from Europe and even worse, maybe a former Soviet bloc country or territory.  Highly trained and experienced Russian soldiers were in high demand by merc units and as private security consultants. It was hard to blame the poor bastards for being forced to choose between living in poverty or taking dangerous, yet high paying jobs using their military skills outside of their home countries.

“Dad! Mom!” Melody surprised me when her excitement at seeing her parents allowed her to take over our body. Fortunately, her initial outburst was more of a gasp than a full yell and I was able to regain control as she began inhaling for a full volume scream.

{“Daannii! Do something!”} Melody wailed as we watched her mom being handed off to the two thugs while the Don, her dad and the unknown male entered the waiting go-fast boat.

{“Melody, we can’t do anything yet. A frontal assault would only get us and maybe your parents killed.”}  It was harder than I expected to divest myself from the emotions of the situation, but simply yelling ‘no’ was not going to reassure Melody.

{“Can’t you just, you know, shoot them with your sniper rifle thing?”}  Melody focused her attention on our rifle.

I pointed out our lightly rocking boat. {“No, we do not have a stable enough shooting platform for that. Plus, we would only take down one or two before our ‘rescue’ turned into a hostage situation and trust me; it sucks to be the hostage.”}

{“What?”}

{“Sorry, but hostage situations suck and unlike on TV, the hostages usually don’t survive the experience.”}

{“Oh, I’m sorry Dani...now what?”} A much more subdued Melody asked.

{“We wait, we watch, we gather more intel and then, when the time is right, we strike.”}

As the Don’s craft pulled away from the yacht and headed north, to the warehouse. They only had about four to five hundred meters to go, but they insisted on ignoring harbor wake rules and speeding. I wanted to watch what they did once they reached the warehouse. So, I set our throttle for a leisurely six to seven knots and aimed our boat to pass about halfway between the yacht and the warehouse.

I did not draw attention to ourselves by going either too fast or too slow. There was a public beach to the west of us with a lively party going on. So, I kept most of my attention in our direction of travel with an eye towards finding a good spot to anchor our boat. While doing that, I would occasionally steal a glance back to keep an eye on the scene unfolding on the warehouse’s dock. I could not spare more than a second or two without worrying that we would be spotted watching, but those glances were enough to witness Melody’s father being manhandled into the warehouse by an additional two thugs and then, followed into the warehouse by the Don and the unknown male.

I anchored us just offshore from a public beach and in about 30 feet of water.  There were a few speed boats, personal water craft anchored closer to shore to take advantage of the party currently happening.  Our anchorage was far enough away from the beach and the other craft to keep anyone from trying to join us, yet close enough to make it look like our boat was part of the beach party. I wanted to be close enough to the beach to blend in with the party, but not close enough to accidently encourage any horny, drunk college guy to swim from the beach and to our boat. Someone on shore might miss them and call the authorities.

Our anchorage was also an easy 200 meters west of the yacht’s port bow while at the same time, three to four hundred meters south west of the target warehouse and where the Don took Melody’s dad.

Fortunately, our boat had a small covered cabin area and we used it to change into our bikini because there is nothing more out of place in a small speed boat than a woman in a designer dress.  Our head was sweltering under the wig, but I decided to leave it on until we took to the water. Even though it was night out and we were hard to see against the dark cabin, I did not want to take the chance one of the Don’s thugs would spot and recognize us.  In our favor, the thugs had plenty of other sights to distract themselves with.  The beach and some of the other boats were very active with half naked and drunk college girls.  I liked that because a distracted sentry is an easier target and thoroughly enjoy it when they made my job easier.

I prepped our dive equipment first, and then, I put together the set for Melody’s parents.  I did not expect to need it for their extraction, but better to have and not need, than to need and not have was my motto.

{“Well, there’s the yacht, when are we going to rescue our parents?”} Melody sounded a little impatient with all the prep work.

{“Soon, but we need more intel. Are you ready for a dive?”} I asked as I pulled on our wetsuit. Not for the thermal protection because the water temp here was a pleasant 70 degrees and we would not be in it long enough to worry about hypothermia. We needed the wetsuit more for the camouflage our suit’s black surface would give us when under the water.

Melody panicked a little. {“No! Wait, we need to clean off our makeup first.”}

That was not what I expected her to be afraid of right now. {“Sure? Besides gasoline, do we have anything that will remove this stuff?”} I glanced around boat, looking for some rags and solvent that might remove mascara without burning our face off in the process.

Melody giggled. {“Silly, we have some wipes in our purse. Do you want me to do it?”}

I answered her by giving her control. She quickly scrubbed our face clean and with our face taken care of, I waited in the cabin area until the current sentry turned away and then, I slipped over the side and into the dark, moonlit water, opposite of the yacht.

It felt good to be back in the salty ocean water. It was almost like coming home after a long vacation and night diving was what I enjoyed the most. The water was dark and silted, just like I wanted it and it made things have that creepy feeling you either loved or hated, I had always loved it, but so many were terrified of that black depth.  Especially in the murky, low visibility conditions common in active harbors where you could not see past your own hand due to all the silt churned up by the ships and tidal action.  Ships, that was another reason other divers feared the dark waters of a murky and busy harbor because you never knew when some big tanker would run over you.

The dark waters of the harbor felt like my own home and just like my home, I somehow knew where everything was and flawlessly navigated to our destination.  400 meters, underwater, at night, in a murky harbor and all without needing to glance at the compass or correct our heading even once. I knew I was good, but I was never that good or lucky. Someone had to be helping me down here.

{“Wow...Is that the tunnel?”} Melody gasped with astonishment.

The tunnel entrance was carved into the reinforced concrete docks, flush with the bottom of the harbor at 40 feet in depth. I actually felt a touch of respect for the Don because constructing a tunnel like this was no easy feat. Especially, in a busy and very public harbor.

{“Yep, and it appears fairly well constructed.”} I said as I inspected the entrance with an underwater flashlight, while cupping my hand over the top of the light to limit the odds of it being spotted from above. I did not spot any trip wires or sensors that might trigger an alarm. Before we headed in, I checked our O2 gauge, expecting to see between 20 and 30 minutes of O2 used for our swim. It was not a long swim or even a hard one. Actually, it was far easier than I expected because the currents inside of harbors can be tricky and Melody was not a trained swimmer.  Our gauge had to be broken.

{“That’s strange...”} I muttered as I read our O2 gauge. We were breathing, I knew we were because I could feel us breathing, but we had not used up any of our tank’s oxygen.  How is that possible?  I glanced at our watch and discovered we also swam the distance in a little less than half the time I expected.

{“What? What’s strange?  Is something wrong!?”} Melody asked, her voice full of concern.

{“No, no, no, nothing is wrong...well, I don’t think so anyway, but for some reason, we are not using any of our O2.”}

{“Is that bad?”}

I frowned as I mulled over my answer. {“Well...hard to say, but I suspect Chalchiuhtlicue is lending us a hand down here.”}

{“Oh, phew! You had me worried there for a second!”}  Melody was surprisingly accepting of my little pronouncement.

I, on the other-hand, was concerned. I had witnessed some pretty incredible shit over the past 24 hours, but I was still not sold on the idea of a divine being who was willing to directly aid a person. I had too many years, no decades, of experience of praying and not getting results that said otherwise.  Oh, I believed in God and now, in Chalchiuhtlicue, but for some reason, I felt reluctant to completely accept the idea that a god, or goddess, would directly aid a person.  On the other hand, I was also a little pissed at myself because, had I been able to accept that idea, we could have skipped the risky hotel and scuba purchases; saving us both time, money and lowering our profile.

Maybe I was reluctant to let go and trust because I still wondered if this was all just a dying man’s final dream.  Fuck it, all this soul searching crap is not getting the job done. {“Well, sis, let’s see if this tunnel takes us where I expect it to...”}

{“Oh my Goddess, this is sooo 007!”} Melody giggled and clapped her hands, giddy with excitement.

She of the Jade Skirt

by

Sleethr & Draflow

Note:I rate this part as "V" for Violent. Much violence happens in this part. If you do not like graphic depictions of violence, skip this chapter. Maybe it isn't actually violent by today's standards, but I still felt I should warn you. Okay, with the extra warning out of the way...this took some time to write. Well, not really, it just took me some time to get back to due to the other story. Sorry. Thanks go out to Beyogi and Draflow's daughter for her assistance. Any tactical errors are my own. Additional thanks again to djkauf for editing and I think it is 13 with this chapter.
 

** Part VII **

After 20 meters, the tunnel expanded into a large pool. Approximately 10 meters above me were two subs silhouetted by the lights above.  We slowly ascended from below and into the darkest corner away from the subs. I didn’t want to pop up right next to someone.  The sub pen area was clear. Not a soul in sight, but I could hear the occasional clang of heavy objects being moved and the muffled cries of men barking orders on the floor above our position.

Melody was still giddy with excitement and the two subs only added fuel to the fire. {“Wow! This is like the super secret villain lair! I guess it’s a good thing he doesn’t have sharks with frickin lasers! Right?”}

I groaned at her reference. {“I can’t believe your parents let you watch that movie...”}

{“That was from a movie? Wow! I thought it was just cool idea. I mean, I would if I was an evil villain.”} Melody giggled.

I found it very hard to maintain my tough guy attitude with her in my head.  She was truly a one in a million girl and I loved her dearly.  I sighed with frustration.

Melody calmed down and got back to the issue at hand. {“Okay, now what?  We sneak in and rescue my dad from the bad guys?”}

{“Sorry, no. We are still gathering intel. Rushing in, weapon’s blazing will only suck for everyone. Besides, we left our weapons in the boat.”} I calmly pointed out.

{“Oh...”} Melody deflated with my reminder.

{“Hey, don’t worry sis. We _will_ get your parents, but we gotta be smart about it.”} I imagined myself lightly tapping her on her head as a reminder to think.

I could tell she wasn’t happy about it, but she understood the reason and trusted me to get the job done, for now. Without leaving the water, we scouted the sub pen.  I didn’t want to leave a trail of wet footprints to betray our presence if someone came down to inspect or work on the subs.  The pens were approximately 15 meters wide by 15 meters long separated by a floating dock in the middle to separate the two subs. A concrete platform on the west end of the pen area opened into a small cargo area and a set of stairs leading up, to the warehouse.

Based upon the large hydraulic pistons on this side and the pictures we took earlier, I figured the entire floor above us would open up to allow workers to lower cargo down to the subs.  The Don spent a lot of time and money on this little operation. That made me wish I had more time and C-4 because I would have loved to drop the entire building into the harbor, but I guess I would have to be satisfied with wrecking his subs. After all, wrecking or even better, sinking his subs would pretty much make this little area worthless to him.  Not that he would be in any position, except hell, to worry about it.

{“Okay, I think we got what we need. Ready to head back?”} I asked Melody.

{“Yepper!”} Melody was back to her normal chipper self.

We made it back to our boat in record time and without the need for a single course correction.  With the Goddess’s help, my underwater navigation was spooky good and I silently thanked her for the assist. Once back in our boat, I began prepping my little surprise presents for the Don’s subs.  I debated splitting the C-4 in half and placing 10 lbs of C-4 in each satchel charge, but I decided to keeps a few pounds in reserve, just in case.  Into two of the backpacks, I placed an eight pound ball of C-4 surrounded by 10 lbs of nails wrapped with copious amounts of duct tape.  You can never have too much duct tape!

With the balls of death complete, I rigged the kitchen timers with a 9 volt battery to give the alarm enough of a boost to trigger the blasting caps.  I placed the jury rigged kitchen timers into a double wrapped ziploc bag with the detonation wire exiting via a small, silicon sealed hole on the bags.  Finally, I secured each timer bag to the C-4 ball with more duct tape, but left the detonator cap out.  Before I set the timer and dropped the backpack into their sub, it would only take a second or two to insert the detonator into the soft, clay-like C-4. I did not want to take the chance of one of these puppies performing an unscheduled detonation.  The bombs were now ready to be armed and I treated them with the utmost respect because Murphy loves fucking with careless explosives experts.

{“I hope you paid attention to all this Melody. If something happens to me, you need to know how to arm these.”}

Melody sighed with exasperation. {“Nothing’s going to happen to ya, but I just stick that stick thing inside the ball and set the timer, right?”}

{“Yep, okay, now to pack...”} I reached for the third backpack.

Into it, I placed the remaining 5 pounds of C-4 along with a few extra detonators and timers sealed in ziploc bags that I pre-rigged with the extra 9 volt batteries. I also added some extra magazines of ammo for both the M4 and USP 9MM. Into the side pockets I added two of the Russian fragmentation grenades and three smoke grenades.

As I finished my prep work, the Don’s speed boat returned to his yacht with four scantily clad and overly excited looking bimbos. I was probably generalizing a bit too much, but any woman who thought it was a good idea to hang out with a known criminal kingpin had to missing a few crayons from their box.

After dropping off the bimbos, the Don’s speed boat departed for the warehouse, again ignoring harbor speed rules as the pilot raced to retrieve his boss. The Don and a couple of his guards returned, leaving the unknown military expert and Melody’s dad behind.  After dropping off the Don, the speed boat departed and returned to the warehouse with the pilot tieing up his craft and entering the warehouse.

{“How about now? Do we rescue my dad now that the asshole is gone?”} Melody asked.

{“Not yet. First, we, meaning just me, neutralize the Don and his goons on the yacht to secure your mom.  With the Don out of the picture, the hostiles holding your dad might just run for the hills and make our job easier.  Well, if I give them the chance to realize their boss is dead...”} I chuckled at that thought. Yes, I could see my previous ‘adorable baby’ thought being completely purged very soon. I loved target rich environments.

{“Geez sis, you’re kinda spooky when you go all badass on me.”} Melody shivered. {“But, I guess they deserve it.”}

{“Yep...”} I checked the time, 2200 hours. I figured it would be best to let the Don and his men get settled in and cozy with the bimbos and the booze.  An hour to an hour and a half should dull their edge enough to make my plans a bit easier to implement. As sloppy and cocky as his goons were at his mansion, I figured the bulk of his security team will be shitfaced and passed out in no time.  It took less than 15 minutes before the Don’s roving security man was nursing a cocktail of some sort while making his rounds. 

At 2250 hours, three cocktails later for their rover and some of the cabin lights began to go dark as the music volume was cranked back a few notches. It looked like the party was winding down and I expected a few of the guards and the Don to be rather distracted with the bimbos. After one final check of my equipment and weapons load-out, we slipped over the side and surprisingly, Melody didn’t say a word, but I could tell she was feeling extremely anxious by the butterflies in my stomach.

Me, I didn’t feel anything except the cool water running through my long hair as we swam 10 meters below the surface. I reveled in the sense of freedom and how easy it felt for my lithe female body to cut through the water. I almost felt like I was a dolphin. I was going to miss this when I passed on, but for now, I simply enjoyed it while it lasted.

Once we reached the yacht’s anchor chain, it was go time and time to bottle up all those feelings. I couldn’t afford to feel anything right now. I had a mission to accomplish and scumbags to kill. Fear or concern for anything else other than the mission only got in the way. 

With that in mind, I removed and secured my diving gear to the anchor chain, 3 meters below the waterline. I had zero problems holding my breath as I equipped the Molle vest over my wetsuit.  From the backpack, I pulled out two of the smoke grenades and clipped them to my vest.  They could come in handy if I needed to flush some rats out from below decks. The M4, I slung over my back so the barrel would point down and allow water to drain from it. The suppressed USP 9mm went into its place on my vest. 

With my weapon’s check complete, we swam under the yacht, still with the last breath I took before removing my diving gear and reached the stern deck without incident. I stayed under the deck until the rover made his pass.  Then, after a 15 count, I climbed aboard without bothering to ask for permission from the officer on deck. I’m sure he would have refused anyway. Hehe. 

I timed my insertion onto the yacht pretty well. I watched as the rover’s back disappeared around the bow of the ship and with my backpack of spares in hand, we climbed the short set of stairs that led up to the stern party deck. Except for some half empty drinks, it was deserted.

Coming from the main lounge area, I heard what sounded like two of the bimbo’s giggling as a male yelled for more to drink. I kept low to the deck as I followed the rover over to the side of the starboard or right side of the yacht.  He was leaning up against the starboard bow rail and lighting a fresh cigarette.  I wasn’t sure if he was going to stay there long enough for me to make my way around the port, or left side of the yacht to come up behind him, but when he took out a pair of binoculars to scan the party happening on the beach, I figured I would have a minute or two before he got bored with the sights.

I doubled back around and crept around the port side to end up behind my target.

{“Okay Melody, now is the time to close your eyes and plug your ears.”} I warned her as I snuck to almost within striking distance using the raised picnic table slash sun bathing deck as cover and concealment.  I felt her internal gasp of surprise and reluctance to follow through with our plan. {“Melody...”}

Melody jerked with surprise. {“I know, I know. Sorry, I just got so caught up with what was going on...sorry. Closing my eyes now, la la la la.”}

K-Bar in hand and tucked, reverse grip under my forearm to minimize the chance of reflection, I calmly stepped forward instead of rushing the man. I discovered a long time ago that rushing someone only alerted them to the danger sooner, while a calm stride threw off their instincts.

My target remained blissfully unaware of my presences until I slammed my knife all the way to the hilt into his back, angled up to puncture his lung and freeze his diaphragm with shock.  A quick twist to find and sever his descending aorta caused his knees to start to buckle. I removed my blade as I guided his dying body down to the deck. I didn’t want him or his weapon fall and clatter against the deck and maybe alert someone below of a problem.

The scumbag was still trying to understand why he was dying as the lights went out inside his eyes and his body relaxed in death.  I moved upwind from his body before the smell of his bowels releasing hit our nose.  I figured Melody wouldn’t be able to ignore that smell. 

{“Okay, one down. Keep your eyes closed...}” I gave Melody an update in an attempt to help calm her nerves. 

Melody whimpered a little with fear. {“Already?! How can you be so calm about this?”}

{“Years of training and practice. Too many years.”} I sighed as I considered all the things I had done. 

{“I’m sorry sis, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”} Melody hugged me.

{“Thanks, but I need to keep moving.”} I reluctantly brought her mental hug to an end.

{“Okay, please be careful.”} Melody retreated deeper into our mind.

I acknowledge her concern with a nod as I made my way back to the stern of the ship. Reaching the main cabin, I cautiously crept forward.  A large sectional couch with a coffee table was on the starboard side of the cabin facing a large, big screen TV on port side of the cabin. Seated, with his back to me was one of the Don’s guards. The top of his head rested against the top of the cushions. He was lightly groaning with pleasure and complimenting someone on how good they were making him feel. The addition of a woman’s muffled moan told me all I needed to know about what was happening on the other side of the couch.

{“What’s going on? What’s that sound?”} Melody asked.

{“Nothing you need to know about right now...keep your ears plugged and sing that silly Starship song, or something, please.”} I prayed to the Goddess that Melody still had her eyes closed because this was not something a young girl needed to see or even know about.  I couldn’t decide which would be worse for her to see. A man being killed or a man getting a blowjob? I  knew she was going to grow up eventually, but I wouldn’t have wanted my daughter to see or even know about either at Melody’s age.

The second girl I heard earlier was nowhere in sight. I decided to wait a few minutes before taking action. I didn’t want to kill the girl if I didn’t have to. My patience was justified when the man groaned and spasmed a final time as the girl gasped with surprise. She giggled and said some things that are best not repeated with young ears present that told me she might wish to clean herself up a little. Melody didn’t ask what she meant, so I hoped she hadn’t heard. Since I was next to this cabin’s toilet, I backed out of the cabin and hid just outside until I heard the girl enter the bathroom. 

As I reentered the cabin, the ‘lucky’ guard was standing with his back to me and attempting to zip his pants back up. I simply climbed over the back of the couch and gently placed my left hand against his shoulder blade. “Sorry I got messy lover...” I whispered into his ear just before I used my right hand to slam my blade into his back.

The second guard went down just as easy as the first, except, as he started to collapse, I guided him back into the couch. I propped him up with an extra cushion and after he died, I closed his sightless eyes and made it to make it look like he passed out.

{“Two down, keep your eyes closed...”} I reminded Melody.

{“I am, I am, geez!}” Melody groused.

I heard the bimbo fiddling with the bathroom door release. With that warning, I vaulted over the rear of the couch and caught her just as she stumbled out of the bathroom. In her drunken state, she barely reacted to my presence before I slammed my knee into her midsection, knocking the air out of her and causing her to bend forward. I followed that up with a quick guillotine choke hold. Her body went limp and I released the hold before I killed her. 

Compared to Melody, the bit-beatrice was heavy, but I managed to get her back into the bathroom and seated on the toilet. “Phew, this lady needs to go on a diet!” I muttered as I quickly ran a strip of duct tape over her mouth and around the back of her head.

{“Whoa! Who is she?”} Apparently, Melody was no longer keeping her eyes closed, but I guess I couldn’t blame her. I’d have a hard time myself and technically, I wasn’t killing the woman.

I sighed. {“Just one of the party girls or hookers that the Don brought over earlier.”}

{“Is she dead?”} Melody asked, timidly.

I was not used to the distraction of having an ever-present civilian overseer in my head, but I refrained from saying, ‘not yet’. {“No, I wouldn’t be using the duct tape if she was.”}

Melody giggled nervously. {“Oh yeah, umm, sorry and sorry I opened my eyes, but I got curious when I heard the duct tape being ripped.”}

{“No problem, but warn me next time. I don’t want you to see something you shouldn’t, okay?”} I asked, gently reminding her of our deal.  Well, of my orders since I never really gave her an option.

{“Ma’am! Yes, ma’am!”} Melody cheered. {“Umm, that’s going to really be hard for her to get out of her hair.”}

{“I could kill her.”} I felt a little guilty about enjoying Melody’s shock with my answer, but she had to expect it from me and there was no way I wanted the girl to rip of her gag and yell bloody murder. 

{“So mean...”} Melody pouted.

With the girl’s gag firmly in place, I duct taped her arms behind her back and pulled her feet as far back as possible on either side of the toilet bowl before I duct taped her feet together behind the rear of the toilet to keep her from going anywhere.  Yes, it would be very awkward and uncomfortable for her when she woke up, but it beat being dead.  I doubted she would appreciate the distinction though.

With bimbo one secure, I cautiously exited the head and made my way through the main cabin, towards the forward access stairs that lead down and into the main living quarters. There were two cabins located, side by side in the bow of the ship. From the port cabin came the unmistakable sounds of a man and a woman having ‘fun’, while from the right cabin, all I heard was snoring.

I decided to take out the sleeper and/or sleepers in the starboard cabin before dealing with the port cabin sex show. From all the grunting and moaning, it sounded like they had a couple of minutes before anything dramatic happened and once it did, they would both probably be a little slow to react when I decided to take action.  In addition to that assessment, the floor plans stated the starboard cabin was configured with a bunk bed system, thus there were probably two targets to eliminate in there and I didn’t want them jumping me from behind if they happened to hear me take out the sex show next door.

Once again, I decided to use the knife as my main method. When used properly, a knife is always more silent than firing a weapon because even a suppressed weapon makes more noise than a simple knife.

{“Eyes closed.”} I reminded Melody and received the sense she was complying.

I slowly opened the hatch to the starboard cabin and entered, closing it silently behind me. I stood next to the door as I waited for me eyes to adjust to the dark room. I also used the adaption time to get a feel for the soundproofing of the cabins.  With the hatch closed, I could barely hear the couple next door. The soundproofing was pretty good and that filled me with some hope in case I needed to resort to firing the USP.  They might not hear it firing.

It was nice having young eyes because they adapted in record time.  While the target on the top bunk was sleeping on his back and snoring like there was no tomorrow, the man on the bottom bunk was a stomach sleeper and his sleeping habits made it easier for me. The bottom bunk target died without a sound, but he did rattle the bunk a bit when he spasmed and filled his shorts with crap.

The spasm, plus the smell is what woke up his buddy on the top bunk. “Shit man, you stink!” He muttered as he began to roll over in an attempt to look down at his buddy.

If I had still been in my male body, I would have had a few more options to take the target down. I probably would have just reached up and dragged the target bodily from his bed, slamming him on the deck before crushing his esophagus with a quick strike to his throat and holding him down while he died, but that wasn’t really an option for me now. Even with my reduced strength and stature, I had no worries about taking the man down, but quickly and quietly in a small cabin where my opponent could brute strength me long enough to yell for help was a big problem.  I decided to take the risk and use the USP 9mm.

I simulated a loud moan of sexual pleasure as I squeezed the trigger when his face appeared below the level of his bunk.  The back of his head splattered against the opposite bulkhead and I hoped Melody kept her eyes closed. Thanks to the swim and the little bit of water still trapped inside the suppressor’s baffles, it did a damn good job of muting the sound of my weapon firing, but I kept up with the sexual moans and even added a few “Yeeeesss, oh, yesssss!” in there for good measure while I listened to see if anyone overheard and identified the single report of my weapon firing.

{“Daaanni, why are you making, umm, sex sounds and what stinks?”} Melody asked.

{“Just creating some noise to cover firing our USP. Two more bad guys down. Keep your eyes closed, it’s a little messy in here.”} I stopped simulating sexual pleasure and listened. The noise from the neighboring cabin was still going strong.  I almost felt sorry for the dude. He appeared to have some stamina.

Careful to not step in any of the blood and brains, I opened the hatch a crack and after confirming the passway was still empty, I stepped out and gently closed the hatch behind me.  I needed to pick up the pace a bit and I wasn’t sure if the girl on the receiving end of my current target was going to be as lucky as the first.  I preferred not to kill innocent bystanders, but sometimes ‘collateral damage’ was unavoidable. Completing the mission took priority and if leaving an ‘innocent’ civilian alive could compromise the mission, the civilian had to die. It was that simple. If she had to die, at least her final moments would be happier than most of my previous targets.

Instead of busting the hatch down or opening it and rushing in, I decided to simply open the hatch, give it a gentle push and let it swing fully open on it’s own. Make it seem to be an accident or that one of them failed to properly dog the hatch.  As busy as the pair was, they might not even notice or care.  The man was on top and the woman was barely aware of anything else as he plowed into her.  I sure hoped Melody had her eyes closed and ears plugged because this was a little less innocent than accidently walking in on your parents in the middle of the night and asking why mommy and daddy are wrestling.

The male target’s head exploded out from his right temple and he collapsed on top of the woman, knocking the wind from her and stunning her. It wasn’t until the target’s blood began to pour onto her face that she started to wonder what was wrong, but before she could process what happened to her companion, I performed a side-kick and slammed the heel of my foot into the side of her head, KO’ing her. I had to work quickly if I was going to avoid killing her. 

{“One more down, keep ‘em closed. Dealing with the girl and may still have to neutralize her.”} I warned Melody.

{“O’kkkay”} She sounded suitably scared.

I braced myself against the cabin wall and pushed the dead body off of the woman with my leg. Dead weight really is, dead weight and it was a bit of a struggle but, I managed. With him off the woman, I pulled her out of the bed and onto the deck.  I quickly repeated the duct tape gag by wrapping a strand around her head and over her mouth. Next, I hog tied her with duct tape to keep her from going anywhere.  Baring her puking and choking on her own vomit, she should live. I hoped she would learn from this experience.

According to the deck plans, I still had two cabins to search before I reached the master cabin and presumably where the Don was staying.  I made my way back through the galley and paused for a few heartbeats to listen for any signs that my handiwork on the upper deck had been discovered. Still silent as a ghost up there, but there were some sounds coming from directly ahead. I moved into the main passageway and after listening in on both cabin doors, decided the sounds were coming from the master cabin area.

It sounded like the Don was enjoying himself with one of the girls. Correction, I heard the sound of two distinct female voices in there. The Don was a real stud to attempt to pleasure two women at the same time, but he probably wasn’t worried about their pleasure. 

But first, I had to check the port and starboard guest cabins to a) find Melody’s mom and b) eliminate any additional targets before I dealt with the Don and his bimbos.  The port cabin was empty, but in the starboard cabin, I found Melody’s mom with her head buried under a pillow and at the sound of me opening the door, she whimpered and wrapped the pillow over her head even tighter.

I felt bad for her and wanted to comfort her, but I knew we weren’t ready to deal with her. I gently closed the hatch. {“Your mom was in the last cabin-”}

{“What!?!? Oh my god! Is she okay? Can I see her? Please, please, please!”} Melody cried with relief.

I pretended she hadn’t interrupted me. {“But, we can’t afford to deal with her right right now. We still have the Don to deal with and I highly doubt your mom would be happy with letting you take care of him, correct?”}

Melody sighed heavily. {“I guess so, but did she look okay?”}

{“She had her head under the pillow.”} I focused on the memory of her mom so she could ‘see’ her.

{“Oh, she looks scared. are you sure we can’t...”} Melody asked, concerned for her mom.

{“No, it would only put her in danger. Now, make sure your eyes are closed nice and tight and your ears are plugged real good because it’s time to dance with the devil.”}

For the Don, I decided that the M4 would be a better way to get my point across to him and his ‘guests’.  I holstered the USP and brought the M4 around. After confirming it was ready to go, I brought it up to my shoulder into a modified firing position that allowed me to move, quickly aim my weapon and fire as soon as a target presented itself. As I approached the double doors that opened into the master cabin, I heard tango music softly playing in the background. It was just loud enough to help cover some noises, but not loud enough to fully cover up the noise of the Don groaning with pleasure and enthusiastically ordering someone to suck harder.

I sighed with resignation as I considered the possibility of Melody overhearing what the Don said. As I silently opened the door a crack, it made me feel a little disgusted with the man’s sexual appetites. As expected, I spotted the Don laying on his back and in the process of receiving a blow job by one of the girls while the second snuggled up against him and giggling happily as he played with her tits.

{“You better have your eyes closed young lady...”} I muttered, hoping that Melody would hear me and not be curious enough to ask why.

She was. {“Why?”}

{“Nevermind, just keep ‘em closed and start singing that song again or something.”}

Yeah, this was not going to be as easy as the first few.  With that in mind, I stepped into the room and it wasn’t until I kicked his door closed that he noticed me.  He reacted exactly how I expected him to react. He made an attempt to reach the firearm hidden under his pillow by pushing the girl off his dick and twisted around to his right.

If he had only stayed still, I would have had a harder time getting a clear shot, but since he moved and effectively cleared my line of fire for me while exposing his back to me; I fired one round into the middle of his lower back.

[Phhhittt!]

The M4 recoiled against my shoulder and the Don cried out in pain.  I worried about his cries alerting or waking the crew his cabin shared a bulkhead with. In effort to help delay or prevent that from happening, I reached over and turned his stereo volume up to party levels to help cover the noise.  Amazingly, beyond the initial gasp of surprise, the girls didn’t scream, but it looked like they might. Before the Don could try to recover and try reaching for his hidden firearm, I ran forward, jumped on his bed and rewarded him with a butt stroke to the back of his head, knocking him out. 

That action broke both of the girl’s paralyses. They squealed with panic and jumped off the bed. The one laying next to him, the cuddler, rolled off the right side of the bed and hit the deck with a thump, while the girl who had been giving him a blowjob rolled off the left side of the bed.  Great, just great.

“You!” I aimed my weapon down and to the right side of the bed at the cuddler girl. She looked appropriately terrified at the sight of me and for the record, standing on top of a mattress is not the best shooting platform. With that in mind, I jumped down, placing myself between her and the door. I hoped she didn’t do something stupid because dealing with both of the girls at the same time was a big concern. “Over there, on the couch. Don’t make me shoot you.”

I could see it in her eyes. She was going to rabbit on me. “Don’t...” I tried to warn her, but she panicked and ran, hunched over with her arms over her head as if she expected falling debris or something. With her arms raised in an ineffectual attempt to protect her head, or just block out what she was seeing, I took a step forward and slammed my right knee past her meager defenses. My knee strike to her stomach took all the wind of her sails, stopping her headlong rush for the door. I followed that up by rotating to my right and driving my left elbow into and through the back of her head. Knocking her face first to the deck and hopefully unconscious. As she was falling, I continued with my momentum and spun around, bringing my M4 back to my shoulder, ready to fire in case the blowjob girl wanted to try something stupid.

She did.  Sadly, she took my momentary distraction to make a grab for the Don’s weapon, a Desert Eagle .50 AE. She had it in her hand and the massive barrel was beginning to swing in my direction. I highly doubted she could hit me with it, but I couldn’t take the chance and the thing firing would definitely alert the crew that something was not right in the Don’s cabin.  A Desert Eagle firing was more than just the Don enjoying a little rough sex.

[Phhhittt!]

My round struck her in her right temple, killing her instantly and spraying blood and brains against the Don’s pillows and headboard. “Stupid bitch.” I muttered, shaking my head with disgust at the waste.  She was beautiful and I had to admire her fighting spirit, but she was also damn stupid. Why in the hell did she have to try to be a hero? All she had to do was, well, nothing and she would still be alive. Oh well, she wasn’t my first and she probably wouldn’t be the last wasteful death.

With the Don unconscious and the threat from the blowjob girl eliminated, I turned my attention to the panicked cuddler girl.  She was beginning to shake off the blow to the back of her head. I grabbed her hair and forced her to knees.  “Over there...” I made her look at the couch located against the port wall of the Don’s cabin.

She shook uncontrollably, lost control of her bladder and I had to forcible assist her, but she managed to follow my instructions while she whimpered at me to please not kill her. “On your stomach...” I duct taped her the same way I did the second woman.

{“Dani, I’m scared. What’s going on?”} Melody voice trembled with fear.

I wished she was asleep like she was at the mansion. I’d feel a lot better knowing she wouldn’t ever have to know about this part of the mission. {“Keep ‘em closed, sis. I love you and I don’t want your soul to be stained like mine is. There are some things a person should never have to see and those things, cannot be unseen.”}

{“Okay,”} Melody hesitantly replied. {“But please be careful...”}

Now, I only had the Don to deal with.  His Desert Eagle was proof he was compensating for a certain lack because who keeps a fucking Desert Eagle .50 AE under their pillow? The damn things are just too bulky to get a good night’s sleep with the overbuilt barrel poking through the pillow.  In addition to that, their bulk make them a bit hard to manage and line up with your target in a last ditch holdout situation. 

Ignoring the dead blowjob girl and the weapon, I pushed the Don onto his back, but unlike the bed as his mansion, this one did not have convenient tie down posts.  I couldn’t tie him down spread eagle like the previous two sacrifices.

Oh well, no time to waste. With the hole in his back and the internal damage, he was pretty close to death already.  I slammed my knife into his chest, just below his rib cage to create an opening so I could reach his heart.  That woke him up, but he was in too much pain to do more than gasp and clutch his sheets in an attempt to raise his upper body up and away from me. His legs did not seem to be working. I guess my round caused a little spinal damage. Good, that made dealing with him a bit easier.

I used my left arm to shove him back down as I reached into his chest cavity and grabbed his heart. With my hand clutching his heart, I stared into his eyes, my face inches away from his. Now that he was about to die, I felt a little disappointed that it was almost over. “Ya know Mr. Rodriguez, you should really avoid pissing off your local gods and goddesses. Your grandfather dying on Chalchiuhtlicue’s altar should have been enough of a warning for you, but oh well, I guess stupidity is hereditary.” His eyes widened with surprise at the last bit of information and with that, I yanked and pulled his still beating heart out of his chest.

I kind of wanted him to reply, but he was having a hard time breathing and I’m sure the fact I just removed his heart had something to do with his inability to form a coherent response.  Still, it would have been nice for him to at least try to say something stupid. You know, like, “You’ll never get away with this...”  That is kind of popular for bad guys to threaten you with, but nope, I got nothing. He just gasped like a fish out of water as his blood poured from the wound in his chest.

On the plus side, he did give me a very satisfying expression of horror when I held up his heart so he could get a good look at it. It was even still twitching a little as it tried to pump.  All the blood made me feel exceptional grateful for our wetsuit because I hated cleaning that stuff off my uniforms. Ignoring the gasping dead man, I walked over to the large bay windows set above the couch. I also ignored the very much scared shitless girl whimpering and crying on the couch. Literally, she was scared shitless and it stunk.

I raised his heart to the moon and whispered my prayer to the goddess. “Lady Chalchiuhtlicue, please accept my humble offering [and thanks for allowing me to avenge my sister’s rape.]” That part I only thought. I didn’t want Melody to accidentally overhear it. “Our people now have one less scumbag to worry about. His life’s ambition was to take from our people, may his blood feed and nourish our people with his death.”

I had no idea why I thought of her worshippers as “our people”, but it seemed to fit with how I felt about her and the baby Melody and I delivered.  Michelina’s family seemed like “our people” for some reason.

Like the late Creepy, the Don stayed alive long enough to witness his heart get accepted by the goddess as a pale blue fire engulfed and fed off his heart until my hand was left empty and all of his blood was cleaned from my body. I glanced down at the cuddler girl. Her eyes promptly rolled up into the back of her head and she passed out.

Now, it was time to consider getting Melody’s mother out of her cabin. My only concern with doing that right this second was the crew, or lack thereof.  Technically, the ship was not secure until all of the crew was accounted for. All it would take for a monkey wrench to be thrown into my plans would be for some crew member to make a trip to the galley and spot the dead guard the main cabin.  While I felt the unfamiliar urge to get her mom to safety right now, I realized that she was probably more secure in her cabin. Plus, Melody’s mom would probably try to stop me from completing the mission.

I sighed with frustration. Rescuing civilian hostages is always such a pain in the ass.

{“What? Is something wrong?”} Melody asked, sensing my mood.

{“No, but before we can pull your mom-”}

Melody interrupted in an effort to correct me. {“Our mom.”}

I would have liked to agree with her, but the Goddess could take me any second now. I couldn’t afford to become too attached. {“YOUR mom,”} I forcefully reminded her as my throat briefly tightened with emotion. {“And before I can safely extract her, I need to secure the crew. I expect her to freak out and try to get all parental on us and I can’t allow that right now.”}

{“Dani? What’s wrong?”} Melody asked, sounding hurt.

{“Sorry...”} I fought back my tears. {“I just can’t. I want to, but my stay here is temporary.”}  I felt Melody mentally hugging me and giving me her love. {“Thanks, but...”} I took a calming breath. {“I need to finish the mission.”}  I was going to miss her, a lot.

I purposely did not look around the Don’s cabin before we exited it and entered the main passageway leading back to the bow. 

{“Okay...I understand. You’re the expert.”} Melody softly whispered. {“Should I close my eyes again?”}

{“Yep.”} I nodded my head and blinked away the excess moisture from my eyes as I crept forward, M4 against my shoulder in the firing position while I scanned for targets.

The ship was still silent and it wasn’t until we stood next to the spiral staircase that led down to the crew’s quarters in the stern that I heard any noise. It was coming from the bathroom where I secured the first blowjob girl.  She was managing to make some sounds through her gag, but they weren’t loud enough to carry more than a few feet from the bathroom.  Thankfully, she was not smart enough to bang her head against the bulkhead.  A noise like that would carry much further and probably alert the crew.

I ran back to the stern and retrieved my backpack with the extra C-4. I had an idea for how to use it, but a lot would depend on how uninformed about rigging explosives the captain and the rest of his crew was. While it would probably be easier to simply kill them, their deaths weren’t required by the mission and I felt a reluctance to simply murder them. As a result, I needed a place to secure my prisoners and prevent them from notifying the authorities before I could complete my mission and rescue Melody’s dad. With some C-4 and a liberal amount of fear to keep them trapped inside, the port cabin across from Mrs. Lynch’s cabin would make a good holding cell.

It would only take me 30 seconds to set up. I ran back down to the cabins and duct taped 4 pounds of C-4 to the outside of the cabin door. I stuck a blasting cap into the C-4 and added some extra duct tape to secure it, then tied a string to the end of it. My plan was to close them in the cabin, then run a line from the detonator to the opposite hatch. If they tried to open the hatch, it would trigger the blasting cap and ignite the C-4, killing them all and blowing a pretty good sized hole in the side of the ship. That is what I would tell them. They didn’t need to know that a string wouldn’t detonate the blasting cap.

Yes, I could make it work, but I couldn’t trust them to not try something stupid with me or Mrs. Lynch still on the ship. A little sleight of hand and fear should go a long way into making them think it was armed and going to kill them.  But first, I had to get them out of their cabins. 

60 seconds later, I crept halfway down the spiral staircase and tossed two of my smoke grenades into the main cabin area below. “¡Fuego! ¡Fuego! Salir rápidamente! Moverlo! Moverlo!” I yelled as smoke began to fill the area.  I returned to the upper deck and heard the sound of people coughing below deck and a man yelling for everyone to get out.

The first person up was a twenty something woman clutching a sheet to her chest, she screamed a little at the sight of me aiming my weapon at her. I gestured for her to go to her right and towards the main cabin. “Over there!”

Behind her was a male, wearing a white t-shirt with his pants half zipped up.  He had a cell phone in his hand and began to reflexively recoil when he caught sight of me.  “Hands up! Drop it!” I growled at him.  He rewarded me by immediately raising his hands and dropping his cell phone on the deck. It clattered against the deck as an older man followed behind him.  Unlike the first two, he was wearing a uniform.  Two more people followed him. An older, maybe mid-thirties woman partially dressed in a maid’s uniform and a male crew member, judging by the grease stains on his hands, he was probably the ship’s mechanic.

“All of you, in the cabin, there.” I used the barrel of my M4 to provided emphasis to my command. They were slow to respond until I fired a round into the deck between the feet of the man I assumed to be the captain. “Move it!”

I maintained a 3 meter distance between myself and my targets. I wanted to have plenty of room to drop any potential heroes and right now, the odds of one or more of them getting stupid were high. Once they were all in the cabin and could see the dead guard laying on the couch, I aimed my weapon at the Captain. “Cell phones! Out, now.”

Two more cell phones hit the deck. One from the captain and the other from the older woman.  I glanced over at the mechanic.  “Do I have to shoot you?”

I could see it in his eyes. His disdain for women and dismissal of me as a threat. I knew he was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. “I don’t understand.” He said in Arabic, pretending he didn’t understand my perfect Spanish. 

I started counting down from three in Arabic. His eyes flared with shock and surprise. I made it to two before he scrambled for his cell phone hidden in his back pocket. I took a step back. “Slowly...” I said in Arabic, ready to drop him in a heartbeat if he pulled out anything other than a cell phone.

It was a simple flip style cell phone, but I was kind of hoping he was going to try to pull something. One less hostile to worry about would have been nice.  “Drop it and kick them all over to me.” I said, still in Arabic.  He complied with my order and I kicked the phones further away, toward the couch.  I moved deeper into the cabin, positioning myself for a clear line of fire in case one of them tried to escape to the stern of the ship. 

I didn’t want to give any of them time to think. I aimed my weapon back at the man I assumed was the captain. “You. Are you the Captain?” I asked him in Spanish.

He took my question as permission to take a step forward, partially shielding his crew with his body in the process, very admirable or stupid of the man.  “Yes, I am. Captain Geraldo Ferdinand. Who are you?”

“That isn’t important right now. What is important is how much do you and your crew wish to live.  The Don...” I spat his name. “Is dead. All of his men are dead.” I glanced over to the dead guard on the couch. “Do you wish to join them?”

He gulped and nodded his head. “No...” He glanced back at his crew. They all appeared suitably scared.

“Good. If you follow my instructions, you will live. If you try something, you will die. It is that simple.” The barrel of my M4 never wavered from Captain Ferdinand’s chest. Again, he nodded his understanding. “Now, Captain, I want you to retrieve the girl from the head and bring her here.”

He entered the head and I heard the girl’s desperate whimpers increase in volume. “Leave the hatch open and use your knife to cut the tape holding her feet. You can worry about the rest later.”  Yes, I knew he had a small belt knife, but I wasn’t worried about it right now. Letting him know I knew about his knife and didn’t consider him or it a threat told him everything he needed to know.

He brought the now hysterical girl back into the main cabin with him.  She nearly panicked at the sight of me, but the Captain was able to calm her. “Good work Captain. I was worried I would have to shoot her and that would have pissed me off after going through so much trouble to keep her alive earlier.”

The girl did not look happy to hear me admit that, but screw her. I had a room full of hostile targets and was feeling exceptionally jumpy because this was the most dangerous phase of my hasty battle plan. If any of them did something stupid, everything could get very messy, very fast.  “Now, down below and into the port guest cabin. It might be a little tight, but I don’t think you all want to be in the Don’s cabin right now.”  I gestured with my eyes for the mechanic to lead. “Captain, you will go last. If any one of your people try something stupid, you will be the first to die.”

The Arabic mechanic glanced back to Captain Ferdinand and received a cautious nod of approval.

I smiled at the man. “Go on Akil, live up to your name. You may be the youngest of five, but no reason for you to join your other two brothers in a meaningless death.” The man’s mouth dropped open with shock, but I wasn’t done. “You should visit your home in Riyadh soon. Your father is not doing well.” I spoke to him in Arabic and I had no idea where I pulled that data from, but I suspect a certain divine being had something to do with it.  It had the desired effect. He listened and followed my orders, leading the rest of his crew members into the cabin across from Mrs. Lynch’s cabin.

I noticed a few of them glance curiously at the duct taped package on the hatch. I held the Captain back. “Okay, I need you to retrieve two additional ‘guests’. Then, I will explain that,” I pointed to the C-4 package. “Before I leave you all in peace.”

Captain Ferdinand frowned at my explaination.

“Now, in the port side bow cabin is another guest. Can you retrieve her?”  I backed out so he could reach the bow. “It will be a little messy...”

The good captain brought the woozy woman out of the cabin, her gag still in place. She never saw me, so she barely glanced at me as the Captain led her past my position. If she was conscious, the remaining woman was probably going to be more of a challenge. Once she was safely in the cabin, the Captain turned back to me. He looked a little pale at what he saw in the cabin. “Good, now you know the stakes, but I am afraid the last ‘guest’ might be more difficult. The Don’s cabin is a bit more of a mess. His second guest tried to be a hero and it did not end well for her.”  I couldn’t help it. The gallows humor made me smile and made the captain appear even more nervous. “Go into the Don’s cabin, the remaining girl is on the couch.”

I heard the Captain puke shortly after entering the Don’s cabin. I guess he had a little too much reality, but he managed to bring the girl out. She caught sight of me and screamed. “No, no, no! Ella es un demonio!” 

I felt a little miffed that she called me a demon. At a minimum, I thought I deserved the devil title. She tried to turn and run back into the Don’s cabin, but the Captain caught her. He looked at me with an anger that would have been admirable if he hadn’t worked for the Don.

“Don’t look at me like that. You know perfectly well how much blood the Don had on his hands, yet you chose to take his money.” I sneered contemptuously at the man.  He glanced away with shame as he lead the now completely hysterical woman into the cabin.

I pointed to the C-4. “This is four pounds of C-4. It is enough to blow this entire section of the ship to bits and kill everyone in this area.” I pointed to the detonator. “That is the detonator and when I close this hatch, I will connect the detonator to the opposite bulkhead.” I pointed to the bulkhead behind me. “If anyone attempts to open this hatch...boom. You all die.”

“We’ve got to get out of here! She’s going to kill us all!” I heard one of the women yell and a struggle ensue. I guessed it was the cuddler from the Don’s cabin.  I waited a few seconds for the sounds to die down.

“Good, work you all. I was afraid we are all going to die there for a second. Now, I will call the police in one hour. From this side, the bomb is simple to disarm.”

With the immediate danger past, I turned to Mrs. Lynch’s cabin and sighed. {“This is going to be difficult...”}

I opened the hatch and peeked inside. Melody’s mom was pressed against the headboard with her pillow over her body for protection.  The light was behind me, casting my face in shadow. I shifted to English for the first time in what felt like days. “Ma’am, it’s time to leave. The Don is dead.” I spoke in a deeper tone of voice to try and throw her off as I motioned for her follow me out of her cabin. 

The expression on her face nearly broke my heart. She looked so relieved and hopeful as she followed me out of the cabin. I kept my face away from her as I lead her up to the main deck. We passed the dead guard on the couch, but the way he died made it look like he was only sleeping. “Is he dead?” Mrs. Lynch asked, anxiously as we passed is body.

“Yes, now come this way ma’am.” I lead her down to the stern landing deck. “I need to leave you for a few minutes while I retrieve my boat.” I slung the M4 over my back and dove into the water before she completely caught up to me.

I was actually a little surprised she hadn’t recognized her daughter yet, but I guess the wetsuit plus the Molle vest and all the weapons helped to throw of her senses. Well, those plus the fact that her daughter was probably the absolute last person she would expect to be rescuing her.

{“When can I hug our mom?”} Melody asked quietly as we swam down and retrieved our diving gear from the anchor chain.  I felt surprised by her question. I expected her to ask sooner or just go crazy and try to take over.

{“Sorry sis, I know it’s tough for you. It’s been surprisingly tough on me, but we still need to extract your dad from the warehouse and I’m worried your mom will make things harder because I doubt she will be willing to let her 12 year old daughter run off and assault a warehouse full of armed men; no matter what we tell her.”}

{“Why do you keep on saying that? She’s your mom now too you know...”}

I sighed as I equipped our fins. {“Yeah, but I’m not going to be in this world much longer. The Don is dead and now we only need to rescue your dad. I can’t afford to get emotionally invested.”}

If it wasn’t for the water, I was sure tears would be streaming down my face. I felt so sad, hopeless and lost. I really loved Melody and would do anything to be her sister for real, but I knew it couldn’t last. Now that she had been avenged and Lady Chalchiuhtlicue’s requirements filled, my time was limited.

I slung the rebreather over my Molle vest to make it easier to carry. I didn’t want to just leave it there. It was some good equipment and I still wasn’t 100% sure if I didn't need to breath while in Chalchiuhtlicue’s domain. Dead people don’t need to breath either, but that morbid realization didn’t make me feel any better.

We made the swim in record time. Actually, we beat the world record 400 meter swim by two minutes, but we sort of cheated. We had fins and the assistance of a goddess.  My mood was still a little low, but Melody was practically bursting at the seams with excitement.  The reunion with her mom was going to be hard. I pulled in our anchor and started the motor.  I could see her mom standing anxiously at the stern of the ship, exactly where we left her. As we pulled up to the stern of the Don’s yacht, Mrs. Lynch’s eyes grew wide as saucers when she recognized her daughter at the helm of the boat.

“M,Melody?” She stuttered.

I needed to delay the inevitable explosion as long as possible. “Hop in Mom. We need to rescue Dad now.” 

She was too shocked to move. “Mom! Get in, please.” I reached for her and she allowed me to pull her inside our boat.  I directed her into the front passenger seat and gunned the throttle to get us away from the yacht and further delay the inevitable Mom explosion.

She of the Jade Skirt

by

Sleethr & Draflow

Note:This is Part 8 of 9 and Part 9 is in the can. I just need to let it simmer a bit. Again, a big thanks go out to Beyogi and Draflow's daughter for their assistance. Any tactical errors are my own. Additional thanks again to djkauf for editing and I'm lost count, but I think we add a few more with this chapter.
 

** Part VIII **

I ignored the harbor speed limits and kept the boat’s throttle pinned as we raced for a small public dock located about a mile north east of the warehouse. I felt it would be safe to leave Mrs. Lynch there before I began phase two of the rescue operation. It would be a gross understatement to say that Melody was excited to see her mom, but she showed remarkable restraint.

“Melody Amber Lynch! Stop this boat right now!” Mrs. Lynch screamed from the passenger seat.

I ignored her and refused to acknowledge her request until she began to try and stand, intending to take action despite the risk. “Ma’am, please stay seated.” I calmly glanced over to Mrs. Lynch before I returned my attention to our course.

{“You might wanna slow down some, or even stop. I don’t think I have ever seen Mom looking that upset before.”} Melody cautioned.

We still had a few hundred meters before we reached the dock. I decided we couldn’t avoid the issue any longer. {“I guess you’re right...”} I sighed as I backed off the throttle and slowed the boat to halt.

Mrs. Lynch caught me by surprise when she forciblypulled me from my seat and tried to crush me against her body with a hug.  It had been a long time since anyone had manhandled me so effectively. It was always me crushing my children with a hug, not the other way around.

“Oh my god, Melody! I thought I would never see you again. My baby, my poor, poor baby!” Tears streamed down Mrs. Lynch’s face as she pulled back enough to study my face long enough to confirm that the girl she was hugging really was her daughter before crushing me to her chest again.

{“Umm, Melody? I think you should take over here, but we don’t have much time. I can give you a minute, maybe two, tops. Got it?”} I gave her back control, but I felt guilty limiting the reunion to such a short amount of time, but every second increased the odds against Dr. Lynch surviving to be rescued. If the men in the warehouse discovered their boss was dead, Dr. Lynch would be the first witness to die.

Melody returned her mother’s hug and began to sob in her mother’s arms. {“Oh, Dani...thank you so much!”}

“Mom...” After about 20 seconds, Melody gently pushed herself out of her mom’s death grip. “Mom! Please, you’re crushing me.”

Reluctantly, Mrs. Lynch let Melody go and returned her attention to Melody’s current state of dress along with the gear secured to the deck.  “Melody, what’s going on? Was that really you on the bastard’s yacht?”

“Umm, kind of?” Melody guiltily glanced away from her mom.

Mrs. Lynch grabbed Melody’s arms, forcing her to look at her. “Young lady, answer me. Was that you on the yacht with the guns?”

“Weapons...” Melody made me proud with her correction. “Yes and no, it was Dani. She’s the one who rescued me from the Don’s mansion and planned the rescue. Speaking of which, umm, we need to drop you off so we can rescue Dad.”

Mrs. Lynch crossed her arms against her chest as Melody tried to explain the situation. I could tell she was going to find it hard to believe Melody and let go when it was time to continue.  The boat rocked, forcing her to grab onto the cockpit’s windscreen to steady herself. “I see...” She glared skeptically at Melody. “_we_ will do no such thing young lady. I don’t know what you think _we_ will do right now, but _we_ will most certainly not rescue your father. _We_ will call the police and let the proper authorities handle it.”

“Mooomm, we can’t call the police.” Melody pleaded desperately.

Mrs. Lynch gasped with surprise at her daughter arguing with her. “Melody Amber-”

Undeterred, Melody interrupted her mom. “Look, Mom...the police will only get Dad killed and they are on the Don’s payroll. Who handed you and dad over to the Don in the first place?”

Mrs. Lynch halted in her tracks and I felt so proud of Melody. She stepped forward and hugged her mom. “Mom, I know you’re going to have trouble believing me, but you have to trust Dani. She will rescue Dad, just like she rescued you.”

“Dani? Who is Dani?” Mrs. Lynch glanced anxiously around the small cabin of our boat, as if she expected me to be hiding somewhere.

“Dani,” Melody paused as she hunted for the right words. “Well, Dani is a little hard to explain. She was a Navy SEAL and Chalchiuhtlicue brought her back from the dead to help me out.”

“Ookaay...where is she?” Mrs. Lynch asked, confused by Melody’s attempted explanation.

It made perfect sense to me, but I had a bit of an advantage. {“Okay Melody, show time.”} I decided it was time for me to take over again.

“Mrs. Lynch...” I took a step back, toward the pilot’s chair and gestured for her to take a seat next to me. “I’m Dani and I don’t have time to explain things to your satisfaction; if that is even possible. Your husband is in danger and every second we waste only increases his danger.”

Mrs. Lynch couldn’t comprehend what I was trying to tell her. In her mind, I was Melody, her 12 year old daughter.  I placed my hand on the throttle and turned back to her. “Ma’am, please sit down.” I glanced meaningfully at the passenger seat next to me. “Melody would be most upset with me if you became injured.”

She hesitantly took her seat. “Melody?”

Instead of full throttle, I brought the boat up to 25% throttle and reversed course. “Like Melody said, it’s complicated and now I need to revise my plan of attack because I highly doubt you would willing exit this craft with your daughter on board. Additionally, Melody wouldn’t like it if I threatened to shoot you.”

{“Say what?!?!”} Melody gasped.

{“Kidding...”}

Mrs. Lynch was officially and 100% at a loss for words. Silence is consent and I took the initiative to keep her confused and pliable. “Now, I am piloting us over to the end of the main pier there.” I pointed ahead, to the dock shared by the warehouse. “Once we reach that point, I will exit the craft. I need you to continue another four to five hundred meters south west and maintain station there.” I pointed in the general direction I wanted her to go after I jumped out.

I chopped the throttle when we reached my drop zone point and gestured for Mrs. Lynch to take over as I made my way to the stern of the craft.  She reacted instinctually, but still confused by her daughter’s actions.  I decided to trust the goddess and leave my rebreather in the boat. I grabbed the two backpacks; Ziploc® bagged our cell phone and stuffed it into the front of my suit. It was nice to have a little cleavage to help store small items and keep them snugly in place.

“Melody, what are you doing?” Mrs. Lynch twisted back around.

“Checking my gear...” I said, distractedly as I focused on my gear more than her. I removed the M4’s magazine and seated a fresh magazine. Next, I slung the M4 over my back and double checked my USP 9MM. I restocked my smoke grenades, double checked my knife and satisfied with everything; I climbed onto the stern dive deck with my fins in hand.

“Now,” I turned back to face Mrs. Lynch. “I’m going to swim west and to the fourth to last warehouse. There is an underwater tunnel the Don used for his subs. I’m going to set some charges to blow the subs and then, extract your husband. Probably via the pier here. I will pop a smoke. When you see the smoke, I need you to come get us. Understand?”

Mrs. Lynch glanced from me to my weapons with confusion. “What? Wait, Melody, what’s going on?”

“I told you, I’m Dani.” I sat down on the stern and worked my feet into the fins. “Now, if you do not see us in 30 minutes, something went very wrong. If that happens...” I pointed to the distant lights of the marina we parked the Audi. “Head to that marina. In the parking lot is a black, Audi R8.” Mrs. Lynch looked even more confused. “It’s a very fast sports car, hard to miss. Duct taped to the driver’s side rear wheel well are the keys. Behind the driver’s seat is a million in cash. Take the car and drive directly to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.”

“Oh yeah, and if the roof blows up, that’s just me creating a diversion. Nothing to worry about.” I chuckled at her shocked expression.

{“Do you want to say goodbye?”} I asked Melody.

{“Yes, please!”}

I gave Melody control again.

“Umm, well, sorry Mom, but gotta go. I love you, but please try not to worry too much. Dani is pretty daa-rn good at this stuff!” Melody kind of ruined our momentum by giggling.

I took back over as Mrs. Lynch stood and began to head our way. She looked determined to stop us. “Melody! This has gone on long enough. You stop-”

I missed the rest when I jumped into the water. {“You almost said ‘damn’ there, didn’t you?”}

{“Maaybee, maybe not. Anyway, I don’t think I have ever seen my mom look more confused in my life. That was pretty cool...”} Melody chuckled as I oriented myself and began swimming toward the tunnel.

{“Cool or not, your mom is very worried about you and rightfully so. Anyway, what do you think she will do now?”}

{“Honestly?  I don’t know, but she will probably end up following your instructions.”}

{“What makes you think that?”}

{“She hasn’t jumped in after us yet, has she?”}

A minute later, I heard the sound of our boat’s motor as Mrs. Lynch accelerated; and based upon the fact that the sound was going away from us, she was probably following my instructions. Without the bulky rebreather to slow us down, we made even better time reaching the tunnel entrance.  However; the backpacks with the C4 did add some drag.

The subs were right where we left them, but I didn’t expect them to not be. I clipped my fins to my molle vest and crawled onto the first sub.  The small conning tower hatch was open. So, I set the timers in each backpack for 15 minutes, started them as close together as possible, dropped the first backpack down the hatch and closed the hatch behind me. I repeated the drop and hatch close on the second sub.

{“Okay, 14 minutes to go. It’s party time upstairs!”} I grinned as I unslung the M4.

I carefully climbed the small set of stairs and pushed on the trap door set into the floor.  This is where the plan could go all to hell because if they had something stacked on top, we were screwed.  It moved, but someone stepped on the door and pushed it back down.

“Whoa!” I heard a man’s voice exclaim.

“Que pasa?”

“Nothing, the trap door was just a little loose when I stepped on it.”

{“Hmmm, looks like we will need to shake things up a bit before we make our grand entrance.”} I unzipped my wetsuit and extracted our cell phone.  Without opening the bag, I punched in the number for our IED cell phone on the roof.

[Boooom!]

{“Okay Melody, eyes closed!”}

Melody sighed dramatically. {“Fine...”}

The sound my improvised diversion going off was satisfyingly loud, even from down here.  I heard screams of panic and confusion from above. With the diversion working, I put my back into the trap door and lifted it enough for me to roll out from underneath it.

Chaos greeted me. I loved it when the enemy was too confused to notice the monster in their midst. I spotted one of the Don’s goons and dropped him, no one noticed. I scooted over to a nearby pallet to get some concealment. A second goon ran past and he followed the first to the floor. The hard part about all my lovely chaos proved to be spotting Dr. Lynch.  There he was, the military guy and another goon were attempting to extricate him out the back doors while the majority of the staff worked on escaping via the front doors.

I decided to help encourage them to continue doing so. I tossed a smoke with a fragmentation toward the front entrance of the warehouse. With those two items still in play, I took down the goon nearest Dr. Lynch and the military guy holding him.  The guy was good; he reached cover as soon as the first metallic tinkling echoes of the grenades bouncing off warehouse floor reached him.  The frag only bounced twice before it blew, causing even more confusion and separating the rest of the Don’s forces from my target.  The smoke caused helped me even more, leaving the unknown military guy, Dr. Lynch and myself in our own little pocket of isolation.

Weapon at the ready and in a modified tactical firing position, I raced forward to the next spot of cover, closer to Dr. Lynch.  The military guy spotted my movement and snapped off one shot with his pistol.  I felt the air of his round’s passage. It was a very close call.  The man was good and that was bad.  I popped around the other side of my cover and took aim. He had his pistol tucked securely into Dr. Lynch’s side.  None of that Hollywood held to the head bullshit.  A good solid hit to the chest cavity was just as deadly as a headshot and it was easier to maintain control of the meat shield.

I advanced a few steps forward to get a better line of fire and hopefully make him decide to take a shot at me again. If he did that, I could drop him with less risk to Dr. Lynch.  It didn’t work. He kept Dr. Lynch firmly under his control. I hate Mexican stand-offs. “Fuck me to tears...” I muttered softly.

{“What?!? Is something wrong? Oh my Goddess! He has Dad!”} Melody’s desperation almost broke my control.

{“Damnit Melody, not now!”} I was not happy.

{“Sorry...”} She sniffed.

“American, if you try to shoot me, he dies.” The man spoke with Russian accented English as he kept Dr. Lynch’s body in front of his own.  He also shifted his body around enough to keep me from getting a good instant kill shot.  In other words, he kept his head close to Dr. Lynch’s.

Once again, the Goddess provided me an intel dump and I switched to Russian. “Captain Bogomolov, my briefing told me you would be present, but I did not expect us to meet this way.”

I had hoped my surprise would cause him to freeze or expose himself long enough for me to get a clean shot. It didn’t. “What? Who are you?”

“Captain Natalia Platikanova, FSB, at your service. We seem to be at somewhat of a quandary here, no?” I canted my head to the side and grinned at him.

My announcement certainly surprised him, but not enough to get him to alter his grip with Dr. Lynch. “Impossible! Why would the FSB be here?”

“Believe it or not, Captain, your ex-boss had the right man, just the wrong research. You see the Americans are working on a VX vaccine.” His eyes flared with surprise before shifting to doubt. “No, not a true vaccine, but a way to give their soldiers some temporary protection from the agent and the good Dr. Lynch there is the leading scientist on the team.  The Russian military want his work and I was sent to get it, but your ex-boss beat my team to him.”

“Ex-boss?”

“Da, my team has removed him from play and captured both of the pieces needed to ensure Dr. Lynch’s cooperation, and he,” I gestured to his hostage. “Is the last item we need to complete the set.  If you would be so kind as to hand him over, I will instruct my team to let you walk out of this warehouse unarmed.”

He appeared somewhat skeptical. “Captain, you no longer work for Senor Rodriguez and it will not be long before I will be forced to choose for you. You would not like my choice. However; in light of the years of service you gave to Mother Russia; I am willing to provide you with, what do the American’s call it?” I pretended to hunt for the words. “Ah, yes, a severance package.”  The sounds of sirens were just beginning to be heard. They were maybe half a mile away.

I had piqued his interest. “In the marina parking lot is the Don’s Audi. Inside is a million US, plus some additional funds. The key is taped to the rear wheel well. It is yours if you simply walk away, now.” I steadied my aim and began to count down from five.

“pyat'...”

I pretended to acknowledge someone behind him.

“chetyre...” At four, he held his weapon up and took a step back from Dr. Lynch.

I kept my weapon steady on him. “Excellent choice, Captain Bogomolov. Now, go!” I motioned for him to exit the warehouse as I cautiously creeped forward to take control of Dr. Lynch.  With his pistol held high, Bogomolov cautiously backed out of the warehouse, keeping Dr. Lynch’s between us to prevent me from getting a clean show.  The man was good. I liked working with professionals. You could always count on them to be smart.

I could feel Melody bouncing around with joy and excitement. {“Ohmygoddess, ohmygoddess, ohmygoddess! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved Dad and it was so freaking awesome how you conned that dude!”}

{“Damn it Melody! What were you doing watching?”} I was not happy. What if I had to drop him?

{“Oh, umm, well, I kind of heard you talking and I got curious...sorry?”} Melody cringed and I felt her giving me the puppy dog eyes treatment.

She sounded so pathetically cute, I decided to drop it. No harm, no foul. As I passed a thoroughly confused Dr. Lynch, I motioned for him to follow me. Thanks to Melody’s transgression, I actually felt a little upbeat and it showed. “Come with me if you want to live.”

I’m sorry, but I always wanted to say that line.  I even kept the Russian accent to help make it sound more mysterious and to keep Dr. Lynch from recognizing his daughter’s voice. To further aid with my objectives, I kept my weapon in the ready position and used the darkness to keep our features obscured from him. He followed me without question.

While the good Captain Bogomolov was a professional, professionals are also known to fall back into a stronger position before renewing their assault.  He might have noticed I was solo and decided to change the deal after he exited the warehouse.

He didn’t. I spotted him running west and toward the marina.  I tossed a smoke to signal Mrs. Lynch and provide us some concealment.  The fire department and police were bound to come down the backside of the dock sooner or later.

Our boat with Mrs. Lynch sped over to the dock.

“Jennifer?” Surprised, Dr. Lynch glanced back at me for confirmation at what he was seeing.

“Down.” Before Dr. Lynch could become even more confused by the sight of his daughter, I directed him to climb down the rusted steel ladder to the reach the boat while I stood guard. I didn’t follow until he was safely on board the boat.

My plan was to head back to the hotel room we used to change clothes. They had a dock and it would only take five to ten minutes to reach the other side of the harbor from the warehouse.  From there, we could call the U.S. Embassy and work out an extraction plan. As soon as my feet landed on the deck, I pointed east, out of the harbor and along the pier. I wanted to keep our boat under concealment for as long as possible. If the fire department or police drove around the backside of the warehouse complex, a boat speeding directly away would be extremely suspicious. “Head that way ma’am. Stay close to the pier until we clear the tip.”

“Melody?” Dr. Lynch asked, tentatively touching my shoulder as Mrs. Lynch complied with my instructions by spinning the boat.

{“Dad’s talking to us...”} Melody hopefully informed me.

{“I know.”} I cut her short as I glanced over my shoulder.

“Sorry, Dr. Lynch, not right now. We aren’t out of the woods yet.” As we pulled away from the warehouse, I remained, knee down, facing the stern and scanning for targets with my weapon ready to bring up to a firing position. All it would take is for one of the Don’s goons to run out of the back and start firing at us.  Sure, they probably wouldn’t hit anyone, but I wasn’t willing to take chances. Not now when we were so close to the finish line.

No one tried to follow and it wasn’t until we were in the clear that any emergency vehicles started to head down the backside of the warehouse.  There were a lot and I mean a LOT of police vehicles responding to the call. I wondered why. Hehe.  I hoped they didn’t spot the sub pens. I didn’t want any of the first responders to accidently get hurt when the subs blew. I probably should have set the timers for 10 minutes instead of 15. I checked my watch, I still had 10 minutes before they were due to detonate.

When we reached the end of the pier, I pointed to the starboard and out of the harbor. “That way ma’am and you can add a bit more throttle now.”

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed “066”. As soon as the emergency operator answered, I switched back to Spanish. “Oh my god! I was on the fort when the roof of warehouse exploded, but I saw some men shooting machine guns and carrying something that looked like bundles of TNT inside! It was like a gang war or something!”

I hung up and tossed the phone overboard.  I warned them and I hoped they would delay their response long enough for their bomb squad to arrive.  That might keep the first responders out of trouble.

“Okay, back it down now and bring us to a stop.”  I waited until we were dead in the water. “Now, the plan is to get you to a safe place for the evening, make a call to the U.S. Embassy and apprise them of the current situation.  Ideally, I’d aim to get you both out of the country tonight, but I’m guessing the Mexican authorities will be a bit jumpy right now.”

Dr. Lynch glanced anxiously to his wife and cleared his throat. “The Don took our passports; will that be a problem, umm?” He shook his head with confusion as he studied my face.

“Fuu-dge...” I turned back to study the yacht. It appeared dead. So, I guessed the crew was still secure.  They could probably do without their passports, but I’d rather have them. It would give me more options.

“Dani. You can call me Dani.” I could see the disconnect in his eyes. He saw his daughter standing in front of him, but the fact she was armed and in charge of the situation was throwing off his parental instincts. I needed to keep them both off balance for a few more minutes.

Melody was giggling at me. {“What now Miss Bad Ass SEAL sister of mine?”}

I sighed with frustration. {“Melody, language, please...”}

“Okay, Mrs. Lynch. You seem to be doing a good job with piloting.” I pointed back to the yacht. “Head back to the Don’s yacht. Bring us to the stern. I’ll retrieve your documentation.”

“Melody, what’s going on?” Dr. Lynch broke out of his fog sooner than I wanted, but he was a pretty smart guy.

I kept myself busy by replenishing my ammo. “Sorry, Dr. Lynch. I’m Dani. Melody is here, but we don’t have time to explain right now.” I glanced back up and took a quick peek to monitor our progress. “Looking good, Mrs. Lynch. Start backing off and ease us up to the stern.”

As soon as the boat neared the stern, I jumped lightly on board. M4 at the ready, I glanced back at Melody’s parents. Mrs. Lynch was mostly focusing on piloting the boat and Dr. Lynch looked like he wanted to follow me or put a stop to his daughter’s actions. I completely empathize with the man, but I didn’t have time to deal with him right now.

“Thanks,” I pointed away from the stern. “Pull out about 30 to 50 meters in that direction. If you see anyone other than me, put as much distance between you and the yacht as quickly as possible. I’ll signal you when I am ready for a pickup. The crew is still onboard and I don’t trust them to not try something stupid. “

Surprisingly, Mrs. Lynch followed my commands as I quickly and cautiously made my way back through the ship, ready for any surprises. I stole a quick glance in Melody’s parent’s direction before I headed below.  The two of them were stationed about 50 meters off the stern and appeared to be having an animated discussion with each other.

{“I’m surprised they let you go...”} Melody sounded a little wistful.

I shrugged as I turned away from watching her parents. {“Well, not like I was going to give them a choice...”}

I was worried more about the crew because if they were stupid enough to test my dummy bomb; they could try to ambush me below decks.  When I reached the galley area that lead to the cabins, I found the bomb still in place and I heard them inside the cabin.  “I’m back. The police are a little busy with the Don’s warehouse right now. Someone blew a hole in the roof. Hehe.”

“La demonia está de vuelta! Ella va a matar a todos!” It sounded like the cuddler chick was a little stressed out. Seriously, why does she keep calling me a demon? I still felt a little insulted at such a lowly rank. With all the shit I’ve done, I figured I had earned the arch demon or even full fledged devil title by now.

“No, I’m not here to kill you. I just need to retrieve something from the Don’s safe.” I called back as I made my way to the master cabin.

I figured Melody was probably watching and she did not need to see the mess in the Don’s cabin. {“Time to close your eyes. It’s a little messy in there.”}

{“Okay, but we are going to have a talk when this is done. You’re acting weird and I don’t like it...”} Melody sounded a little PO’ed at me and I think I knew why, but it was for her own good. I wasn’t going to be around much longer.

{“Sure, but later.”} I said, distracted as I studied the cabin walls.

“Now, where would the builders put a safe?” I muttered softly to myself before I noticed a likely spot against the stern bulkhead and sure enough, there it was hidden behind a horribly garish bullfighting oil painting.  It did not match the decor at all.  The Don’s password proved to be the same, but it failed to open this time. I noticed a fingerprint scanner set into the keypad. “Crap! Two-factor authentication. The bastard!”  I pulled out my knife and hacked off the Don’s index finger.

Thank the Goddess the scanner didn’t have pulse detection built into it. The simple finger did the trick, the safe popped open and inside were the Lynch’s passports, including Melody’s. In addition to that, a huge bundle of cash and tucked off to the side were a few unmarked DVD’s.

Old intelligence gathering habits die hard. I grabbed the DVDs. They probably had some sort of useful intel on them because I doubted the Don would store pirated DVD’s in his safe.  The cash, I tucked a few ten thousand dollar bundles into my vest. The rest would have to stay.

I felt a presence wash over me and suddenly, I knew we were about to have visitors.  An U.S. Navy SEAL team was approaching the yacht from below while a second team of SEALS were heading toward the warehouse.  I estimated the second team would reach the warehouse a minute or two after my surprises blew while the assault team would reach the yacht in 45 to 60 seconds.

No time to waste.  I grabbed a pillow case and stuffed the cash into it. “Ho, ho, ho...” I giggled at my joke and closed the safe before I left with my haul. The cash, I couldn’t use and I doubted the SEALS would let me keep it, but I did sort of feel bad for the crew.  I stopped and gently tapped on their cabin door.

{“Can I watch now?”} Melody asked, impatient to know what was happening.

{“No, we have some SEALs coming to the party and I still might have to ‘handle’ these folks if they try something stupid.”}

{“SEALs, really?!?! That’s awesome!”} Melody clapped excitedly.

{“No, it’s not. They will fudge up my extraction plan and make it harder to cover up what happened here.”}

{“Oh...”}

{“Now, keep ‘em closed and cover your ears again, please.”}

“Hola in there. I am disarming the bomb.” I ripped the C-4 off the hatch and dropped the pillow case on the deck. “Captain, would you please be kind enough to step out of the cabin, slowly...and with your hands in the air.”

The hatch opened a few seconds later and he cautiously followed my instructions while motioning behind him for the rest to remain calm.

“Excellent job, Captain...” I pointed down to the deck. “Inside that is your crew’s severance package. You can take it or leave it. I don’t care. A SEAL team is about to join us. I advise you to keep your crew calm and not do anything stupid.  Staying where you are is probably the smartest thing you can do. After they leave, I’d call the police and pretend you never saw or even heard anything about the SEALS. They were never here. I don’t give a fuck what you say about me, but it might be wise to tell them it was a group of bandits or some competitor of the Don’s.  They would probably never believe that a ‘demon’ did all this, correct?”

The Captain glanced down at the pillow case before looking back up to me. “Si...”

I began to back away from him while he hesitantly reached down to grab the pillow case. His eyes flared with surprise as he saw the bundles of cash inside. I returned to the main deck and felt the SEALS getting ready to begin their assault.

Crap. No time to warn Melody’s parents.

They would probably freak a little when the SEALS started boarding the yacht. I hoped they didn’t try to get in the way or interfere when they saw the armed men swarm onto the yacht, but I had bigger things to worry about. I was armed to the teeth and I doubted they would take too kindly to that situation. Mainly the M4.  I decided the safest course of action would be to make myself comfortable on the stern lounge and set my M4 on the deck in front of me where the SEALs could see it and not feel threatened by it.  Nothing makes a boarding team more nervous than an unknown and possible hostile with an assault rifle in their hands.

The rest of my gear, I couldn’t do much about, in the time permitted. Ideally, I would strip out of the wetsuit and pretend to be 100% Melody with her parents trying to rescue her, but that plan was not an option because two of the team was coming out of the water now. I sighed and held up my hands as I waited for the remaining four SEALs to exit the water.

They were a little cautious. I think the lack of any resistance at all threw them off their game.  It took almost a full 30 seconds before the first pair made it up to my position. I wanted to say something smart ass and berate them for taking so long, but I figured a 12 year old girl wouldn’t react that way.

Melody needed to take over and play, well, herself. {“Okay Melody. You’re on.”} I gave control to her.

{“What?!?”}

I was not happy with suddenly being put back in charge. I mean, they had their weapons pointed at me. {“Dang it Dani! A little warning?”}

“Umm, hi?” I wiggled my fingers as a wave. “I’m Melody. You’re some of those Navy SEAL dudes, right??”

The two guys looked a little surprised at first, but they quickly got rude. “Down, now!” The pair advanced, weapons uncomfortably aimed at me.

I dropped to my knees and laid flat on the deck with my hands held out in front of me.  An additional two SEALs joined the first pair as one of the men began relieving me of Dani’s weapons. They seemed impressed with the pistol thing, but I felt a pang of concern when they took our knife. “Umm, don’t toss my knife please...it was a present...”

The one guy, he looked kind of handsome and even in his wetsuit thing, I thought he looked very GQ.  That was his team name! Somehow, I just knew it and I thought it was so cool! Anyway, he glanced at it and me, then shrugged and tucked our knife into his vest.

“Thanks, Mr. GQ!” I giggled a little at his and his friend’s shocked reaction. Well, more his friend’s reaction because he playfully punched GQ on his shoulder and chuckled.

“Not funny, man!” GQ whispered fiercely back to his friend.

{“Stop flirting with him...geez!”} Dani sighed.

GQ and his buddy relaxed and let me up while the remaining four SEAL dudes began to “secure”, as Dani would call it, the rest of the ship. I figured they might want to know about the crew Dani locked into the cabin. Oh yeah, and the fake bomb.

“Oh, the crew is in the port side passenger cabin. That’s the left, right?” They both nodded their heads. “Anyway, Mr. Wolfman told them to stay put and pretend they didn’t know about you guys, but he had a fake bomb made with some of that C-4 stuff to keep them honest.”  I put little air quotes around ‘honest’ just because that is what Dani would have said.

That got them nervous. “Brass, possible trip on portside cabin.” GQ said into some sort of high tech mic thing.

“Oh, he took it down a few minutes ago, so it should be safe.” I pointed to the DVDs. “Mr. Wolfman also thought you all might want those. He wasn’t sure what is on them, but he found them in the Don’s safe and my parents are out there on that speed boat. I’m guessing they are a bit worried about me. Can they come in now?”

I heard two muted booms come from the warehouse. “Wow, that’s a little louder than I expected. It sounds like Mr. Wolfman’s nail bomb things went off inside those two subs...”

The guys looked at each other with concern.

{“Did that other team get hurt?”} I asked Dani because she could somehow tell where they were underwater.

{“Probably not. They just reached the tunnel entrance, but their ears are probably going to be ringing a bit.”}

I sighed with relief and two of the other SEALs joined the first pair in confusion. “What was that?”

GQ glanced over at his other two friends. “Jailbait said someone named ‘Wolfman’ put some IED’s in the subs.”

Did they just call me Jailbait? {“What does Jailbait mean?”}

I could tell Dani felt amused. {“Umm, it means you’re underage, but don’t look it.”}

{“Oh, cool! Does this mean I have a ‘team-name’ like you now?”} I liked that name. It made me feel like I was a SEAL like Dani.

{“Weeelll, sure?”} Dani was hiding something from me.

The final pair of SEALs joined us and I could tell Dani recognized one of them. {“Who’s he?”}

{“Brassman, I trained his sorry ass and gave him his team name, but that was over 10 years ago. I figured he would have gotten smart by now.”} She remained alert in the back of my head.

Brassman pointed to the M4. “Ma’am, is the M4 yours?”

“Umm, well, not really. I was just holding it for Mr. Wolfman, but it was pretty cool. A little heavy with that silencer thing on the end.”

Dani sighed. {“Suppressor”}

“Sorry, umm, suppressor thing, but we have more stuff for it in the boat.” I glanced over at our boat as Mom drove it to the rear, sorry, stern of the ship.

Brassman glanced over at my parent’s boat and frowned. Mom was still driving the boat, but they both looked a little worried about me. “GQ, secure her weapon. Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth.”

{“They shouldn’t have approached the ship...”} Dani lamented.

Once my parents were “secure”, we didn’t get a chance to do more that exchange hugs before the SEALs wanted to get us moving. My ‘rents were still a little freaked out by me, well, Dani, but they hid it well and seemed relieved to have me back.  I was too. I missed them so much!

The SEALs were pretty cool, but their reactions to Dani’s prep work was priceless.  They planned on having each of us share a tank with a SEAL, but when I showed them all the SCUBA gear Dani bought for me and my parents, they whistled with a mixture of envy and appreciation.

Mom and Dad were pretty confused by everything, but it did make things easier. I had to help Mom and Dad into their suits and get kitted up in their SCUBA gear. The SEALs helped, but not as much as they expected.  They were all impressed with my skills.  It was mostly Dani telling me what to do, but they didn’t need to know that.

I was also very glad Dani got the underwater communication things.  It allowed us to talk to each other and since the SEALs didn’t have them, we were able to have a private conversation while we waited for the sub to pick us up. I tried to explain what happened, but Dani warned me to leave out any reference to her and to only be Melody right now. Something called “Operational Security” due to underwater comms not being secure.

We got to ride inside this underwater sub thing they called a SDV or Seal Delivery Vehicle and I thought it was pretty darn cool. I mean, how many people can say they were sort of rescued by Navy SEALs and got to ride in one of their subs? My mom insisted on sitting next to me and she held my hand like I was going to swim away or something.  Needless to say, Mom was even more confused by the time we boarded the sub.

Dani almost took over when they found the nasty scotch stuff she insisted we bring with us, but we were able to bribe, I mean gift, the Captain with the bottle in return for getting our knife back. I overheard the Captain ask how dangerous could a 12 year old girl be with a knife.  The SEAL commander elected not to answer his question, but both Dani and I could tell he was a little nervous.

Oh yeah, and talk about the “debriefings”. Those started as soon as they had us in dry clothes. Amazingly, they had a “civilian rescue and survivor” kit on board. We each got a pair of canvas deck shoes, a simple jumpsuit and some clean underwear. They even had bras on board. Well, plain bras. Nothing fancy or anything, but they beat nothing.

During the debriefing, Dani coached me on what to say and helped keep my story straight. All I had to do was tell them the truth as I saw it. I escaped, found some old Aztec temple, passed out and when I woke up, I was back at the mansion with Mr. Wolfman. I was just along for the ride, literally. It was sort of lying, but it wasn’t, because Wolfman was Dani’s team name.

I did feel a little bad about sort of lying to my parents though, but I couldn’t exactly tell them the truth with all the ears listening.  My parents knew something strange happened, but they were also worried about me.  Me, I was worried about Dani because we still hadn’t had a chance to have a good talk. She wasn’t calling me “sis” anymore. I did not like how she was trying to distance herself from me now.

We didn’t get done with the debriefings until four AM. They put us together in an officer’s cabin. Mom and Dad shared a bed while I got the top bunk. It was really the first time we had any alone time and despite feeling exhausted, my parents wanted to try talking about what happened. I couldn’t tell them anything we didn’t already cover in the debriefings.  Mom tried to ask about Dani, but I both Dani and I agreed that telling her the truth now would be a bad idea. Especially since we couldn’t count on our room not being bugged.  I had to pretend to not know what she was talking about as I glanced meaningfully around the room in an attempt to let her know about possible bugs.

Needless to say, I was pretty worn out by the time the ‘rents let me retreat to my bunk. After I whispered good night to my parents, I whispered the same to Dani.

{“Good night, Melody. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely be dead in the morning...”} Dani thought she was being funny by butchering the line from “The Princess Bride”, but it made me not like that movie as much anymore.

{“Dani! Stop it! Why are you being this way? You’ve been giving me the cold shoulder all night now. Pretty much ever since we rescued Mom.”}

She didn’t reply right away and for a few seconds, I almost expected her to not reply. {“Melody, look. We both know that my assignment here is temporary-”}

I interrupted her. I didn’t like her temporary assumption. {“How do you know that!?”}

Dani whispered softly as she struggled to control her emotions. {“Because, I’m just an instrument of vengeance and my mission is complete. You’re safe now and the bad guys are dead. It’s time for me to move on so you can live your life without some old and bitter dead guy dragging you down with his decades of regrets and mistakes.”}

{“How do you know you’re dead and what does it matter if you are? You’re here with me and I’m not going to let you go! I don’t care what the Goddess’s original deal was. You’re my sister now and that’s that!”}  Now I was crying. Well, we were both crying.

My mom’s arms wrapped themselves around me and we cried into her chest. I cried because of Dani and Dani cried because of me. “Shhh, it’s okay sweetie, I’m here.” Mom rocked gently back and forth as she hugged me tighter.

“I’m sorry mom. It’s, umm, you know who. She doesn’t want to stay with me.” I blabbed the big secret, but I didn’t care.

{“That’s not it...”} Dani mumbled softly as I felt her presence sort of back away from me; adding even more distance between us.

I don’t think my mom knew how to handle that. Her breath caught and she stopped rocking for a second before continuing. “I’m sure she has her reasons dear...”

“She thinks she does. Oh mom, what am I going to do?” I asked, knowing my mom didn’t really understand.

“It’s okay; we’ll work it out together. Now that I have my baby girl back, I’m never letting you go!” My mom crushed me even tighter against her chest as her tears began to drip onto my cheek.

I guess I fell asleep with her holding me because I felt a little disorientated when I woke up and discovered I was sitting with Mom and Dad in the ‘galley’ as they called the cafeteria on the boat. I had an awful taste in my mouth and looked down to discover Dani had me drinking coffee. Not just coffee, but black coffee. No cream or sugar! Gross.

{“About time you woke up sleepy head...”} Dani said with a hint of a smile in her voice. {“I’m glad you’re awake now. I grabbed us a bite to eat and sorry about the coffee, but we needed the caffeine. You’re mom and dad kind of looked at me funny when I drank it, but they didn’t stop me.”}

She immediately let me take over. I grabbed the glass of OJ and swished it around in my mouth to get the nasty coffee taste out. {“Oh man, so gross! How can you drink that stuff?!?”}

{“Hey, it’s good! Do you know how long it’s been since I had a cup of Navy coffee?”} Dani tried to defend herself, but I wasn’t feeling it due to it taking over half the OJ to get rid of the taste.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Mom asked.

“Oh, nothing, hehe, just thirsty!” I smiled at her and tried to pretend like nothing was wrong with the horrible taste in my mouth.

Mom patted my leg and smirked at me. “I tried to tell you the coffee was strong, but you were bound and determined to drink it and we did have kind of a rough night.”

“Oh yeah, I can’t believe I drank it all myself, but wow, I’m awake now!” I did feel pretty energized. I don’t think I have ever had that much caffeine before.  It didn’t take long before I was bouncing up and down in my seat as I waited for mom and dad to finish their meal.

{“Ah shit, sorry Melody. I forgot how young you are...”} Dani apologized for some reason.

The GQ guy and the team leader dude Dani knew joined us at our table. I felt Dani hunker down and go all stealth alert in the back of my head.  “Oh! Hey GQ and, umm, Brassman?” I asked, trying not to laugh at GQ’s expression. “Why do they call you GQ? Is that your team name? Can I keep my team name?”

Dani was trying not to laugh as Brassman glanced nervously at my parents before turning back to his buddy. “GQ, is there something I need to know?”

I know ‘Jailbait’ just means that I was young, but the way he was reacting; I began to suspect Dani didn’t tell me everything.  The color drained from GQ’s face as he glanced nervously back at his team lead. “Umm, I kind of used her nickname on the yacht sir...”

Brassman glared at GQ. “I see, and she overheard you.” He sighed. “Well, ‘Raven’, I guess you can keep it. I mean, if you want to have an official SEAL Team name.”

Actually, I really liked that name. It was way cooler than ‘Jailbait’, but I wasn’t about to let them off that easy. “Oh yeah, can I?” They eagerly nodded with agreement as my parents looked on with amusement.

{“Good recovery...He owes us.”} Dani smirked.

“Great! I love it! Thanks!” I drank another sip of OJ and held my glass to the side of my mouth to block my parent’s sight. “You owe me...” I mouthed silently to both of them. They acknowledged me with a barely detectable nod.

The XO or some officer came and fetched my parents for some meeting. Brassman decided to ask me if I wanted a tour of the sub. Well, the parts they could show me and weren’t Super Top Secret. Dani suspected he was up to something, but I just felt glad that I didn't have to go to a boring meeting with my parents.

“So, Melody...this ‘Wolfman’, how old was he again?” Brassman asked once we entered the part of the sub Dani recognized as SEAL country.

{“Ah ha!”} Dani pounced. {“I knew he was up to something. The bastard could never keep his nose out of trouble. Oh, sorry...”}

“Oh, I dunno. Old, like maybe 30 or something, why?” I asked as his smile faltered for a second.

{“She shoots, she scores and the crowd goes wild!”} Dani cheered from the sidelines.

{“What? Come on, 30 is old!”}

{“Yeah, well, he’s 35 or 36 now...”}

“Oh my goddess! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean...” I grabbed his arm tried not to die from embarrassment.

He waved my apology away with a chuckle. “Oh, it’s okay. I guess I am getting a little too old for this shi-stuff.”

His language correction made me giggle. He was just like Dani.

“What?” Brassman asked.

“Oh, nothing. You just sounded like Wolfman with the censoring thing. Too funny, but like I tried to tell him, I’m 12. I’ve heard it all before.”

{“Doesn’t matter...”}

“Doesn’t matter,” Brassman and Dani said in stereo. “A young lady shouldn’t have to hear that kind of language.”

I could tell he was a little down about something. “Oh, do you have a daughter?”

{“He can’t. They’ve tried for years now, but he received a free vasectomy while on a mission in the Sudan.”}

Brassman sighed. “No...not yet...”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” I gave him a hug and was overcome with the urge to give him a kiss. Brassman was kind of tall. So, I stood up on my tippy toes and kissed him on his cheek.  We both felt kind of a shock from the kiss. My lips tingled as I pulled away and he rubbed his cheek for a bit.

{“You didn’t just, umm?”} Dani gasped with astonishment.

{“Beats me, but I just felt the urge.”} I shrugged, feeling just as lost as Dani by the entire thing. I couldn’t believe I kissed him!

Brassman was still rubbing his cheek as he showed me the small private gym the SEALs had in their part of the boat. It looked like they could use the same area for multiple things, but right now there was an exercise mat on the floor and a couple of the guys were practicing karate or something.

{“Jujitsu...”} Dani corrected me.

“So, Melody, have you taken any martial arts courses back home?” Brassman asked.

{“He’s fishing...”}

I was surprised by his question. “Me? Oh no, I did some dance and gymnastics, but mostly soccer now, why?”

“Would you like me to show you some useful escapes and locks? I young lady can never be too careful, ya know?” Brassman casually gestured for the other men to make some space on the mat.

Dani sighed. {“The damn fool...Kick your shoes off before you step on the mat.”}

I felt worried about this, but it sounded kind of cool to know. {“Aren’t you going to take over?”}

{“No...that is what he wants. He’s testing you.”}

{“Oh...cra-ude.”}

Brassman started out pretty easy. He showed me a few tricks, but Dani already knew them so it wasn’t anything special or top secret.  He threw me once, but Dani took over and helped me fall without hurting myself.

She was not happy. {“Damn it! The fucker is pissing me off!”}

“That was a good fall, Melody, are you sure you don’t know any martial arts?” Brassman smiled encouragingly as he helped me to my feet.

“Me? Oh no, but I took gymnastics. I know how to fall!” I giggled because it was partially true. I fell a lot while trying to learn some of the tumbling exercises.

“Do you wanna try some simple sparring?” Brassman asked, a little too casually for Dani’s liking.

{“Okay, that does it! Lemme take over, okay?”}

{“Umm, sure?”} I didn’t know why she was asking me. It’s never stopped her before.

“I dunno Rob, all these people make me a little nervous...” Dani glanced shyly around the room.

I couldn’t believe she used his first name. {“What are you doing?!?”}

{“Wait for it...”}

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Out!” He glanced at the other SEALs watching the exchange. “The young lady doesn’t want all you pervs staring at her!”

They cleared the room pretty fast and as soon as they did, Dani turned to face her old buddy. “So, did Admiral West ever figure out who was banging his daughter?” She had him on the mat and in a painful arm bar before he knew what hit him.

“Who’s your Daddy now, bitch?!” His eyes almost popped out of his head when Dani taunted him.

{“Bit of a potty mouth?”} I teased her because I thought it was actually kind of funny how she surprised him.

{“No, it’s what I always used to say...”}

Dani applied just enough extra leverage to keep him honest. “Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way old buddy. You’re too damn smart for your own good, but this time, I advise you to let it go.”

Dani quickly released him and rolled away, springing lightly to her feet in a fighting stance.

I was almost as surprised as Brassman. {“Dani! What tha’ hell? I thought you didn’t want to tell anyone?!?”}

{“Shhh, busy here. He’s going to try an attack now.”}

Brassman rubbed his arm and cautiously regained his feet, keeping his eyes on Dani the entire time. “Maybe I’m just a little slow...” He launched an attack on Dani that I never even saw coming, but Dani did.

She stepped inside his reach and rotated around, slamming our hip into his thigh, causing him to fly through the air. He almost hit the wall, but he managed to twist around enough not to get hurt by Dani’s throw.  He still woofed as the air was knocked out of his lungs.

“Yes, slow, but stupid is as stupid does...” Dani mocked him.

{“Dani! Why are you being so mean to him?”}

He stood up and dusted himself off with a smile. “Damn it Wolfman, she was 18 and I guess I kinda deserved that. Sorry, but I just can’t believe...” He glanced meaningfully at Dani.

She relaxed her stance. “Yeah, me either, but it’s a temporary duty assignment. I did what I had to do and I expect to be off to the farm for real any minute now that my mission is done.”

Brassman appeared surprisingly accepting of all this. He glanced curiously at us. “So, how does it work. Is the Lynch’s daughter really alive now?”

“Oh, you mean Jailbait?” Dani innocently asked.

“Sorry about that. GQ thought she was 18 during the briefing and well, you know...” Brassman trailed off self-consciously.

“She’s here.” Dani pointed to our head. “And she was mad at me for being ‘mean’ to you just now.”

Brassman raised an eyebrow at that.

“Yeah, we kind of have a split personality thing going on here.” Dani chuckled. “Umm, sorry about missing your birthday last year, I was a little distracted...”

“Fu-dge man...” Brassman glanced self-consciously at Dani as she laughed at him. “Sorry...you just look so...”

“Different?” Dani grinned.

“Yeah, I still can’t believe it...” Brassman shook his head with wonder.

“Me either, but it just goes to show you that there really is some shit you can’t explain. I advise you to send a prayer or two to the Aztec goddess, Chalchiuhtlicue every now and then,” Dani smirked mischievously as Brassman glanced up, startled. “Because, if my guess is correct, you might wanna hold off pounding your pud in the shower.” Brassman glared at Dani.

Hey, I didn’t say it.

Dani chuckled at her friend’s reaction. “Melody’s little kiss on the cheek might make you and Brenda a happy couple in a few months.”

Brassman gulped and glanced down at his pants. “No shit?”  He released what he was doing and blushed as he glanced back up. “What do I tell the old man?”

Dani chuckled. “The truth, duh!” She stuck her tongue out at him like I would have. “Melody has zero training, she’s from California and she’s only 12.” She held out our arm and made a muscle. “Can you see this slip of a girl take down a man three times her size using only a knife or being comfortable doing so?”

I felt a little miffed at her for putting me down like that. {“Hey! You did it! And...I’m almost 13!”}

{“Yeah, and going on 21...”} Dani smirked.

Brassman shook his head with confusion as he tried to process what his eyes were trying to tell him against what the evidence he found on the yacht with what his old friend was telling him and I could tell he was thoroughly messed up by it all. {“Lemme take back over sis.”}

“Look, Mr. Brassman..” His eyes shot to my face as he detected the change in our demeanor. “Dani was awesome, but it wasn’t me. I kind of find it hard to believe myself, but we can’t let the ‘spooks’ know about it.  Dani doesn’t trust them.”

Brassman nodded his head with understanding and I was a little surprised at how much they both distrusted those spook people. “And she doesn’t want me or my family to have to deal with them if they found out about ‘us’. So, can you keep it a secret, please?”

Brassman stared intently into our eyes for a few seconds before he sighed. “I guess so, but I expect the full story sometime. Got it Wolf?”

{“Sure, if he doesn’t mind waiting for you to turn 21 and his wife wouldn’t kick his ass for being seen with you...”} Dani commented dryly.

I nodded for her. “Wolf says, not a problem.”

{“You ever consider a career as a translator?”} Dani giggled at me.

She of the Jade Skirt

by

Sleethr & Draflow

Note:This is the End. Phew! I can't express just how much I miss having Wolf/Dani peering over my virtual shoulder and providing her insight and expertise. I hope I was able to do the final chapters justice. A super big thanks go out to Beyogi and Draflow's daughter for their assistance. Additional thanks again to djkauf for editing.
 

** Part IX **

After our run in with Brassman, Dani let me stay in charge all the time. She claimed it would help sell our story with the spooks because the more of Melody they saw, the less they would be able to believe that I could have done what Dani did. Confused? Me too.

We surfaced at 1700 hours, or 5pm for you civilians, somewhere off the coast of California. The Captain was super nice and gave us each a baseball cap with the SSN-23 and “USS Jimmy Carter” embroidered on the front with gold stitching. He also gave me an honorary Submarine Warfare Insignia pin, or “dolphin” as he called it.

{“Damn cheap ass bastard. We gave him a fricken 100 year old bottle of scotch! He could have at least given you the officer’s version!”} Dani made her opinion known.

It was really the first I had heard from her since Brassman. She was definitely trying to piss me off with her attitude. {“Hey, it’s not like you could drink it! You’re just going to be leaving me here soon anyway, right?”}

She didn’t have anything to say, but I could tell I hit the nail on the head when she sulked and retreated even deeper inside my mind. I was distracted by the sound of the helicopter they sent to come take us to shore and probably for more debriefings. I hated those things, but the helicopter ride was awesome. Dani did help me a little with the seatbelt thing, and the headset. The flight crew dude was a little surprised by my ability to get myself properly buckled in, but he didn’t make a big deal of it. He simply smiled and thanked me for making his job easier.

My mom glanced nervously at me before she broke into a smile when I distracted her by grabbing her arm and pointing out the window as we rose up and into the sky. When we landed in San Diego, we were greeted by four guys and one token woman in suits. From the helicopter crewman, one of the guys took the case containing all the hard copy intel Dani recovered from both the mansion and the yacht. The rest of the suits directed us into a waiting SUV.

They were all friendly about it, but Dani told me to be careful because these guys looked like pros. I wasn’t sure what I could do, but I guessed they were just being professional about things. I was still mad at Dani for giving me the mostly silent treatment, but I decided to not bust her chops for giving me the warning. Not that I planned on doing anything. I mean, I wasn’t a crazy super agent like she was. If she wanted to, she could probably take out all these guys and drive us home in their own SUV without breaking a sweat.

The “debriefings” took another two days. Two days of telling our story multiple times to many different people before we returned to telling the same story to the same people. They even had us all take lie detector tests. That was the only time during the entire ordeal Dani made herself known to me.

{“Okay, these are simple. You just need to stay calm and remember it wasn’t you; it was me who did it all. You’re not lying, got it?”}

I sighed and felt a little depressed as they hooked up the wires. {“Yes, I know, but you could still try talking to me once and awhile.”}

She didn’t respond and that made me cry a little, which delayed the inquisition by a few minutes as my mom ran in and got all protective over me thinking that I was upset about taking the lie detector test.

Yes, I passed the freaking test and with flying colors. I don’t think the spooks expected that, but what could they do with all the evidence pointing away from me, I mean Dani. The only “witness” they could find that in any way pointed a finger in my direction was deemed “crazy” for ranting and raving about me being a demon. The rest of the crew on the yacht all blamed it on a rival drug lord. They couldn’t find the Russian Spetsnaz Captain, but I think they didn’t really try that hard due to the rocky relations with Russia.

We made it home just in time for me to go back to school the next day, joy. As soon as we walked into the door and the spooks left our front doorstep, Dani took over, the selfish bitch. Yes, her silent treatment was really starting to piss me off. Much to my parent’s consternation, she turned on the TV and insisted on no one talking about anything until she had a chance to secure the house. In the span of 30 minutes, she had torn apart and rebuilt all our phone receivers and rigged up a simple bug detector using an old walky talky of my dad’s.

I tried to talk some sense into her. {“You know that probably won’t work against the new stuff they have these days. I mean, they can just tap our phones at the phone company and everyone uses the internet these days to say anything important anyway. They probably have that bugged too.”}

{“Maybe, but it can’t hurt...”} She curtly replied and ignored me and my family as they followed her around the house.

Of course, she didn’t find anything and all she accomplished was freaking my parents out some more because they were just starting to think they had imagined Dani.

School on Monday sucked. I couldn’t tell any of my friends what happened. The government wanted it all kept “hush hush” as they termed it to me like I was a small child and couldn’t understand bigger, grown up words. It wouldn’t have been as bad if Dani didn’t insist on giving me the silent treatment. I tried yelling at her and even calling her bad names, but she never took the bait.

Wednesday, they took me to a shrink after I broke down in the middle of History class. Mr. Franks asked a question about the Vietnam War and I could tell Dani wanted to help me answer the question, but she pulled away from me again. My mom got off work, retrieved me from the nurse’s office and took me to see one of the government arranged shrinks at the VA Hospital.

I didn’t want to talk to him. I kept my answers to the minimum and pretty much whispered the entire time. I never once told him about “Dani”. I might be crazy, but I’m not stupid.

I could tell Dani was worried about me, but she still refused to even try to help me and that hurt me even more. I cried and hugged my mom for the remaining 30 minutes of the session with the dude. PTSD is what he diagnosed me as having and he gave me a prescription for a few days of an antipsychotic to help relieve “severe anxiety and related problems” as he euphemistically termed my relationship problem with Dani.

We filled the prescription on the way home, but I refused to take any of the crap. “She won’t talk to me, Mom. I don’t care about all the “horrors” I was supposedly subjected to. I want my freaking sister to just talk to me, but she won’t. ‘It’s for your own good Melody.’ or ‘I’m only here temporarily’ is what she told me and I hate it!”

{“I’m not your sister...”} Dani whispered.

{“Shut up! You are and even if you’re not, you don’t have to be such a bitch about it!”}

Of course, she elected not to answer me, again.

Mom held me up and looked into my eyes. “Dani, I need to talk to you.”

That got Dani’s attention, but she still refused to say anything.

My mom was pissed. “I don’t know what you ‘think’ you’re trying to do with your refusal to talk to Melody, but you better get your ass out here and talk to me. Now!”

Dani took over and sighed. “Yes, Mrs. Lynch?”

My mom let Dani go and took a step back as she studied her. “First of all, cut the Mrs. Lynch crap. Got it?”

“Okay, ma’am.” Dani sure was brave because even I know better than to sass my mom like that.

That earned her a slap in the face. “Listen here young lady, or whatever. I don’t care what the fuck you think you’re trying, but all you’re doing is hurting Melody with this macho bullshit of yours.”

Wow, Mom was pissed, the slap stung a little and she never uses the f-bomb unless she’s extra, super-duper mad.

Dani glanced away and struggled with her emotions as tears began to form. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I was only trying to make it easier for her...”

“News flash, it’s not! All you did get her was a prescription for some antipsychotic crap!” Mom glared at Dani with her hands on her hips.

She didn’t say anything for almost a minute. She really let Dani stew before she continued. “Now, with that said, I haven’t really had a chance to thank you. So, thanks for helping Melody and getting our family out of that hellhole. Melody might have really needed one of those pills the doctor gave us if you hadn’t been there and protected her.”

Dani glanced back at my mom with surprise before she acknowledged her with a nod. “Maybe...” She whispered as she buried some memory deep inside herself.

My mom’s expression softened as she studied Dani’s face. I think she saw something because she surprised both of us by giving Dani a hug and not just any hug; she gave her a patented bone crushing, I love you so much, hug before she pulled away just enough to look Dani in the eyes. “Now, I don’t know how long you’re going to be with us, but I want you to stop ignoring Melody and us. I would like to get to know you and enjoy whatever time we have with you.” Mom leaned forward and affectionately kissed Dani on her forehead. “Okay?”

“Umm, sure, umm?” Dani wasn’t sure how to address my mom.

Mom chuckled. “Mom will work. Calling me Mrs. Lynch when you’re so obviously my daughter might cause people to talk, right?”

A smile escaped Dani’s face. “Probably, umm, Mom...”

{“Oh yeah! Dani’s back! Woo Whooo!”} I felt so happy, I could burst.

{“Sorry sis...”} Dani guiltily whispered to me as she tried to return control me.

I wasn’t about to let her off that easy. {“Oh no, you heard Mom. She wants to get to know you and you know what that means, right?”} I couldn’t resist messing with her.

{“No, what?”} Dani glanced over at Mom as she walked back to the door and grabbed her purse.

I knew that today was her regular salon appointment and after our week’s ‘adventure’ she would not want to skip it. {“Wait for it, waaiit for it...”}

“Come on Dani, it is still Dani, right?” Mom smiled tentatively as Dani nodded. “I’ve got a manicure appointment and I figured it would be the perfect time for us to get to know each other a little better. Besides, your nails could use some work too.”

I was overjoyed. My nails were wrecked and even better, I got to go get them done with my mom and my sister. The rest of the day was pretty darn awesome and I could tell Dani enjoyed it also. I couldn’t believe she had never had a manicure or a pedicure before, but I guess a SEAL wouldn’t really go for that kind of thing.

The rest of the month was a blur, but having Dani there really helped me a ton. At school, it was always me, but Dani would occasionally help me with my school work. She refused to give me the answer, but she didn’t mind giving me hints. At home, we worked out a system using hairstyles to let Mom and Dad know who was who. Dani liked a simple pony tail, while I preferred to let my hair down or sometimes, pigtails. Anyway, whatever the style I liked, Dani was always a pony tail.

We kept a hair scrunchy on our wrist all the time because Mom had a bad habit of wanting to talk to both of us. Whenever she asked Dani something, Dani would automatically put her hair into a ponytail as she replied to the question. She would stay in Dani mode until mom would ask me a question and I would remove the scrunchy and put it back on our wrist. Sometimes, I think Mom liked to mess with us by asking back to back questions just to force us to change hairstyles every few words.

Dani was also much more difficult to make smile, so sometimes my ‘rents didn’t need to see the hairstyle to figure who was who. She saved us almost a thousand bucks by helping Dad replace the brakes on Mom’s car and she was an awesome chef. She made some Chicken Marsala that was to die for and cooked dinner for the family almost every night. Mom and Dad were quickly spoiled by the home cooked meals waiting for them when they got home from work. Dad used to miss dinner and work late, but not with Dani cooking dinner for us. It was so awesome with us all eating together as a family.

When it came to doing the more girly stuff like hang out with my friends, try different hairstyles and makeup tricks or watch “chick-flicks” as she called them, that was all on me. I mean, I’m not that girly, but I guess Mom is kind of because she booked us both a trip to the spa to be pampered. I loved it, but Dani was jumpy the entire time. She hated having strangers at her back and her eyes covered during a facial. It made her feel exposed or something. She also hated the waxing.

{“A 12 year old girl is just too young to get their legs waxed!”} Dani grumbled as she simultaneously enjoyed how smooth it made our legs look and feel.

We did have one Dani moment at school. Jake Kirkpatrick, the school slime ball who thought he was the goddess’s gift to women, tried to force a kiss toll from me in the hallway between classes. He and his two cronies blocked the hallway and refused to let me pass until I gave him a kiss, on the lips. So gross. I dunno why he decided to pick on me this time, but it didn’t work out the way he expected it to.

Dani took charge and pretended to like the idea of kissing him. Her reaction got him to relax and Dani kneed him in his nuts, hard. Next, she grabbed his arm and torqued it behind his back before slamming his body into the lockers. “Listen you little fucker. You try that stunt on me again and I’ll rip your fucking dick off, got it?” She whispered fiercely into his ear as she put some additional pressure on his arm, causing him to whimper in pain. He nodded and satisfied, she released him with a push that caused him to trip over his own feet and fall on the floor.

She dismissively walked away without even a backwards glance while everyone in the hall was too stunned to even react. She had her hair up in a ponytail before we got 10 feet away from the scene.

Even I was a little surprised by her reaction. {“You didn’t have to be so rough on him...”}

{“I let him live, didn’t I?”} Dani calmly noted.

{“Yeah, but you could have just dodged him or maybe just given him a little kiss, like all the other girls. It’s just a kiss. It wouldn’t mean anything.”}

{“You mean, take the easy way out. Just relax and go with the flow?”}

She could be so weird sometimes. {“Well, umm, not really...”}

{“Did you ever notice that death is a gentle flow?”}

{“Geez Dani, Kirk’s just a bully. No need to get all Kung Pao on me.”}

I could tell my remark amused her, but she was in a mood. {“When you’re freezing to death, it’s the pull of sleep that’s dangerous. You can’t relax and take the easy way out because that is death. It’s always easier to give up and just go with the flow, but if you refuse and follow your own path; then you can live while others simply fade away and die.”}

We reached my next class and Dani sat us at our desk, completely ignoring Stacy who was trying to get our attention before the bell rang. {“Umm, Dani?”}

{“Yes?”}

{“Are you going to take this class for me? I mean, if ya are, great! I can take a nap or something.”}

Dani gave me back control and I took her pony tail down. I tried to chat with Stacy, but the bell rang. Dang it.

Class was okay and I had a few notes passed my way asking me about what I did to Kirk. I replied, “nothing...:-)” After that, it amused me a lot to watch Kirk duck out of my path whenever our paths crossed in the hallways.

Two weeks after we got home, we received a notice to pick up a package from the Customs Office. I was pretty excited about the clothes and cash, but Dani had to sort of ruin it by letting Mom and Dad know about the cash and that it was for my college fund. Well, she had to warn them about it in case the Custom officials found it. They could claim to not know who sent the clothes and money and if they made a big deal of it, refer them to the DHS so they could handle it.

We didn’t need to worry about it. Be it divine intervention or luck, they took one look at us and stamped the box approved without a glance. I was thrilled with the clothes and Mom was too because there were a few items that fit her. Dad, not so thrilled due to the bundles of cash he now had to worry about with the IRS. Mom wasn’t worried. She had a plan on how to get it deposited and invested without trouble, but it would take a few years.

Yeah, everything was going great until the night before the full moon. I dreamed I was back at the temple, except it was in perfect condition and I had to admit; it did look very impressive with all the bright colors painted on the carvings. Chalchiuhtlicue stood next to her altar and a huge man wearing an old style combat uniform and holding an M-16 kneeled down in front of the altar watching me approach. He had tears in his eyes and I knew right away he was Dani.

I rushed to his side and hugged him. “Dani, what’s wrong?” It was about that time I realized I was wearing an outfit that matched Chalchiuhtlicue. Yeah, nothing covering my chest, but I refused to get all flustered by it because it was only a dream, right?

“Nothing, but I think this might be it, Sis.” Dani looked at me like he was afraid it would be the last time he saw me and now, I was worried he might be right.

I turned to Chalchiuhtlicue and knelt at Dani’s side. I never felt the urge to kneel before anyone before, but she was just so amazing and everything. She took my breath away and made me feel so tiny, but I had to ask her. “You’re not going to take Dani away from me now are you, Lady Chalchiuhtlicue?”

She smiled at both of us and I instantly felt so warm and loved. I never wanted to see her frown or feel like I wasn’t good enough for her. “No my child, not yet, but soon.” She surprised me by kneeling down in front of me and pulling my chin up with the lightest of touches. “I’m sorry, but it is time to separate you two, else your souls will merge and wipe both of you out.”

“I don’t mind. Really, I don’t want Dani to go away. I love her!” I pleaded with Lady Chalchiuhtlicue.

“I know child and I know she loves you.” She smiled sadly at both of us before standing again. “But, just as the tide of the ocean rises, it must also fall and Dani must depart with it to continue with her soul’s journey. I am proud of both of you. Very proud. You have surprised me and filled me with hope for our people. A hope I dared not dream until you two entered my realm.”

I didn’t like the direction this was going, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Dani told me she was just going to be here temporarily. I reached for Dani’s hand and squeezed it tightly. Her hand was huge compared to my tiny hand, but she returned my grip and her firm, yet gentle squeeze reassured me.

“I’m sorry Sis, but I have to go. I can’t let your soul be stained by my past. It would break my heart if that happened to you.” Dani gave me a hug.

Lady Chalchiuhtlicue smiled down at both of us. “Tomorrow is the night of the full moon. At the zenith of the moon’s path through the heavens, you must submerge your body in my domain. I will come and start Dani’s next journey; allowing your journey to continue on its destined path.”

What would I do without Dani? We had only been together for a month, yet I felt like she really was my sister and my best friend. Needless to say, I did not feel like going to school the next morning, but Dani insisted. My education was too important. I told Mom and Dad. They asked both of us if we were sure. I tried to tell them no, but Dani assured them it was true. They believed her, the beatrice, and they still made me go to school. Double whammy.

I should have stayed at home because I couldn’t concentrate, at all. Dani had to take over a few times because I didn’t feel like going to the next class. My friends tried to ask me what was wrong, but what could I say? They didn’t know about Dani and I couldn’t exactly tell them either.

That night, my parents tossed a beach blanket, a few chairs and extra towels in the back of the car and we drove to the beach. I tried not to go, but again, Dani made me. For revenge, I refused to take over for her. So, she had to talk to Mom and Dad. She happily went over some of her recipes with Mom and shared some stories from her life. The one about her first motorcycle and how she almost totaled it after owning it for less than two hours had Mom and Dad in stitches. I thought it was pretty funny too, but I refused to break. Nope, name, rank and serial number was what Dani taught me.

Mom and Dad took us to a very nice sea food place on the boardwalk. I was forced to admit, the food was excellent and the view of the ocean was rather nice, but couldn’t they see it was like giving the condemned their last meal?

After dinner, we spread the blanket on the on the sand and spent the next few hours just being a family. Dani did most of the talking. I didn’t bother to remove the scrunchy for the few words I felt like saying.

Just after midnight, I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt the pull of the ocean and the moon on my body. I knew it was almost time. I pulled out Dani’s scrunchy and latched onto my mom. “I don’t want her to go Mom! Please don’t let her leave me.”

{“Sis, I have to go...I’m sorry. I really am. I’d love nothing more in the world than to stay with you, but I can’t”} Dani hugged me.

I felt her love for me and our family pouring out of her and that is when I knew it was no use. As much as I loved her and wanted her to stay, I knew she had to leave me. It wasn’t fair for me to try holding her back. The old, if you love someone, set them free saying, except it was true this time.

At 1 AM, it was time. Mom followed us the first few steps into the ocean, but I stopped her. “It’s okay Mom. Don’t worry about us. We can hold our breath a real long time and Chalchiuhtlicue won’t let anything happen to us. I’ll be back.” No, I did not try using our old Governor's accent. I wasn’t feeling that funny just then.

Reluctantly, she let me go. Dani and I walked the rest of the way into the ocean. We swam out until we were in about 20 feet of water and I sat on the bottom to wait for this to be over with. Neither one of us had much to say to each other. We both knew what the other felt.

I saw a glow begin to form around us. I looked up and it looked like the moon was touching the water above us. A shadow passed through the light. It was a shark. It swam closer and closer to me, but I could tell it wasn’t here to eat me. Like a dog, it bumped my shoulder and I reached out to pet it. The light from the moon became brighter and brighter until I couldn’t see anything else.

I felt Dani leave me and despite trying to remain strong for Dani, I couldn’t help it. I started to cry as I petted the shark that was now resting upside down on my lap, letting me pet her belly. I watched with amazement as the shark’s body began to change as the moonlight washed over her skin. Her tail split and became legs while her dorsal fins became arms. Her body continued to change and become more and more human. Long black hair grew from her head as her face formed, mirroring my own. I gasped with astonishment when she opened her green eyes and smiled up at me.

“Oh my goddess!” I burbled and hugged my twin tightly, daring to hope she was Dani. She returned my hug and suddenly, I felt the need to breathe.

Together, we both rose to the surface. When our heads broke the surface, we both gasped for air, sweet glorious air. “Dani?” I gasped as we treaded water almost a 100 hundred yards from the beach.

She laughed and hugged me tightly, causing us both to drop below the surface for a second. When we came back up, she grinned mischievously at me. “Yep! It looks like Chalchiuhtlicue had a different plan for my soul. You don’t mind, do ya?”

“Oh my goddess, NO!” I cried tears of joy at the incredible sight before me.

“We should get back to Mom and Dad. I’m sure they’re a little worried about us.” Dani pointed toward the beach and our mom. She looked completely distraught and was sobbing on our Dad’s shoulder as he tried to comfort her.

“MOM! DAD! Here I am! Dani is too!” I happily yelled at the top of my lungs. They both stood and tried to spot us in the water.

“Race ya!” Dani cheated and started for shore as she said it.

Of course she beat me. She’s not only a SEAL, but a freaking shark. She waited for me in the surf as Mom and Dad rushed to reach her side. I wasn’t that far behind her, only 10 or so feet. It would be a huge understatement to say they were surprised at the sight of both of us standing happily together. I was a little embarrassed to discover that except for us both now sporting matching gold and jade Aztec necklaces, we were both naked as the day we were born.

They were floored and beyond happy. I was down for almost 20 minutes and I think they thought I had drowned. So, having both of us walk out of the water made them beyond happy and speechless at the same time. They couldn’t figure out which one of us to hug first or who was who. They cheated and hugged us both.

After they realized we were naked, they bundled us both up in towels and took us home. Dani and I sat on the top of the steps and hugged each other as we eavesdropped on them while they made a few phone calls to the DHS folks that interrogated us when we got back to California. Yes, it took a ‘few’ calls before their call got routed to someone high enough on the food chain to have a high enough clearance to help us, but we ended up with an appointment to see some Director dude at 0900 hrs the same morning.

None of us got a lot of sleep that night, but Dani and I caught a few extra Z’s in the back of the car during the ride to the DHS place in San Diego. It was so nice having a flesh and blood Dani to hug!

<April 27th 2012 16:23 - DHS Building, San Diego - California >

Department of Homeland Security Deputy Director Jake Ferguson entered the meeting room with a frown on his face. The events over the past month had been nothing short of extraordinary and he had an interesting little mystery on his hands. One that he intended to get to the bottom of.

The Lynch family, Medical Research Chemist Doctor Thomas Lynch, his lovely wife Michelle and their beautiful identical twin daughters Melody and Danica sat at the conference room’s table. Their eyes anxiously followed his progress as he walked across the room to take his seat. Except for Danica, who appeared calm and remote, but he could see the flicker of danger in her eyes. Jake glanced away from her jade green eyes and briefly looked at the girls matching gold and jade necklaces. They were stunning replicas of ancient Aztec jewelry.

He smiled when Melody hugged her sister and gifted the entire room with a smile that could power the entire building for days. Even though they were very obviously twins, their personalities were night and day different. Danica was the silent, watchful and introspective sister, while Melody was the bubbly and outgoing one.

“Sorry for the delay folks. My people have been rather busy gathering the facts and putting them together into something that might resemble the truth.” Jake said, setting three manila folders on the table in front of him. He shuffled through each of them, quickly glancing at the contents in each until he reached the thickest folder. That one, he set on top and opened.

“What I have in these three folders are three separate stories.” He looked up to make sure he had their attention. Satisfied and not expecting anything else, he continued. “One is what I will file as the official story because the other story is simply too impossible to believe.”

He shuffled the next folder to the top of the pile. “The second is Danica’s story and it could be one of those made for TV movies that make a lot of people cry. It is simply amazing that the twin sister everyone thought died at birth was really switched by an unscrupulous nurse. Then, while running away from her fourth foster home, Danica spotted a girl struggling in the water and being an excellent swimmer, unselfishly decides to rescue her.”

He smiled as he reached for the thickest folder again. “Now, the story in this folder is so farfetched that I believe we could publish it on a fiction site somewhere. It really is that unbelievable.” Jake said with a grin as Danica’s face and body grew even more still.

Jake noted her posture and decided to get to the point a little quicker than he intended. “I thought about just tossing it in the shredder on the way to this briefing, but I decided at the last minute maybe I should keep it. It might be fun to post it on one of those fiction websites because no one would ever believe it. I mean, really? An ancient Aztec goddess takes the soul of the Navy SEAL who, during a Top Secret mission in the Mexican jungle, killed and effectively sacrificed a drug lord on one of her old altars. This is where it gets even more interesting because 39 years later, he dies and this goddess takes and puts his soul into the body of a young girl who was kidnapped from her parents and left for dead at the very same alter.”

He laughed and dismissively tossed the folder aside. “Yeah, no one would ever believe that. Especially the part where the goddess somehow splits their souls apart and into twin sisters? Impossible!”

Jake opened the last folder. “Okay, so the official story is that Melody was rescued by an unknown agent who just happens to have resembled the former Navy SEAL, Chief Petty Officer, Donald ‘Wolfman’ Wolf. Amazing coincidence, right?” He grinned mischievously. “He takes Melody with him to keep her safe while he rescues her parents, then he disappears. We have asked a few friendly foreign agencies if they know anything, but we don’t expect them to give us anything or to find him. He was much too professional for that.”

Jake closed that folder and set the last folder in front of him, but he did not open it as he studied at Danica. “Now, I understand that you have lived a rather rough life after the people you thought were your parents were killed in a car accident when you were five. Then, foster home after foster home didn’t help either, but if you don’t believe in a higher power, you probably should now. Because it is nothing short of a miracle that you just happened to be taking a stroll on the beach last night. I can only imagine how confused Mr. and Mrs. Lynch were when they saw you both standing there together.”

He slid the folder across the table to Danica. She looked at the folder with confusion. “Go ahead, open it.”

Danica hesitantly opened the folder as her sister struggled to contain her curiosity. In the folder, Danica found a birth certificate for Danica Jamie Lynch. Her eyes began to tear up as she slowly studied it and Melody read it over her shoulder.

“Hey Mom, what time was I born?” Melody asked.

Mrs. Lynch thought about it for a few seconds. “I believe it was 2:25 AM and I only remember that because you didn’t want to come out.” She smiled at Melody affectionately. “Why do you ask?”

Melody pointed to her sister’s birth certificate. “Because, it looks like Dani was born two minutes before me!” Melody hugged Danica. “I always wanted to have a big sister!”

It was a few minutes of silent tears for Danica as she read the contents of the folder, but after she turned over her birth certificate to study the remaining documentation that established her life as the legal daughter of Thomas and Michelle Lynch and sister of Melody Lynch, Danica slowly closed the folder. Then, she hugged it protectively to her chest. “Why?” She asked, softly and without looking up as tears left tracks down her cheeks.

Jake chuckled. “Because Danica, the rookie DEA agent that Chief Petty Officer Donald Wolf saved 39 years ago, was me and I figured that I owed him a favor or two.”

During a much safer family va-cay to Disney World, as Melody likes to call them, Melody and I managed to talk our parents into letting the two of us visit my grave. Kinda spooky, I know, but I had to say goodbye. The marker made me cry. Melody and I each laid a single red rose on the marker and I couldn’t help but notice how well kept it was compared to some of the other markers in the cemetery. I know that it had only been a year and not many weeds could grow in that time, but all the edges were straight and clear.

We took some time off from school and went during the week of my birthday, my former birthday. I didn’t expect to feel as much as I did about what was effectively an empty grave. Someone was taking care of my marker and I really didn’t know who would feel the need to spend the time. Well, except for my daughter, who was now older than me, which was also kind of weird when I stopped to think about it.

It has been a little over a year now and Melody has been the best sister a girl could ever have. She is my rock, my reason for being. She is so full of love that it is almost sickening at times and she is right here with me; sniffling and hugging me as I do the same.

I’m not saying our parents haven’t been awesome either. Mom and Dad are great. My second childhood has already been one thousand million times better than my first. It has been a little hard for me to adapt to being a minor, but Mom and Dad also give me more leeway than Melody. Melody kind of hates that at times, but she is a smart kid; she understands the reasons and it works in her favor more often than not because as long as I am with her, Mom and Dad let her do things they would have never have let her done before. Like, go to the movies with a boy or stay out late, as in past 9pm, on a Friday night.

They realize I have a lot more life experience than even they do, but at the same time, I have almost zero “child” experience and that is what I need the most from this second spin of the wheel. It has been fun being a girl. A lot more fun than it was as a guy. Sure, there are some disadvantages like the monthly visitor and other female plumbing limitations, but I can’t complain because it beats being dead. I have found I love the freedom I have to express how I feel; not just with words, but with clothes, hairstyles and occasionally a little makeup.

I also like being underestimated because I am ‘just a girl’. I know it pisses a lot of women off, but not me. I will take every advantage I can get and I have to say, when used correctly, sexism is a powerful tool against the arrogant and ignorant.

The year hasn’t been all fun and games though. It seems that the Goddess wasn’t done with the two of us. She has received a huge boost in the number of worshippers since our little adventure and California has a huge population of people who originated in Mexico and further south or who have family living in the Goddess’ old stomping grounds.

As a result, we have been ‘asked’ to attend ten births, two weddings and sadly, one funeral. Yes, the first few births freaked Mom the f’ out, but she saw the good we did and how happy it made the families with just us being there for them.

We have not needed to pull any medical miracles out of our hat, but we have had one or two cases where it was easy to see there was some sort of divine intervention happening. Melody’s presence was often enough to ease the pain of labor and increase the mother’s milk production while my presence seemed to help the mother recover faster and with fewer complications. We have a small shrine set up in the living room to Chalchiuhtlicue and I sometimes catch Mom whispering a thanks in her direction.

I spotted a small weed trying to worm its way into onto my marker and removed it. I glanced back at our rental car and spotted Mom and Dad hugging each other. They joined us for a few minutes and said a few words of appreciation for me, or the old me before it got too strange for them to deal with. After all, I was standing right there. So, they decided that it might be best if they waited near the car for Melody and me to finish up on our own.

I really didn’t have much to say to myself, because I didn’t really miss me. I might have missed myself before I got the crud, but the years of pain really sucked. I couldn’t really say, “Hey, wish you were here dude, I miss you.” or “Damn dude, I opened a bottle of JD the other day.” I couldn’t drink yet and I wanted to stay away from that crap anyway. Only the good stuff for this temple of a body. You know, stuff like 20+ year old single malt scotch or good German beer.

Melody and I somehow managed to talk my dad into stopping at the liquor store that I used to go to and grab me a bottle of Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel beer imported directly from Germany. I wanted to leave it with my marker as a final goodbye to my old life. I figured it would be a waste and very irresponsible to leave an unopened bottle where anyone could take it. So, I decided to open it and dump it out on my grave as a symbolic final toast to myself.

I had to use the edge of my marker and the palm of my hand to open the bottle. Once it was open, I decided to sneak a sip or two because it was for me, right? Besides, just dumping it out would be alcohol abuse. I mean, why would I want to let a perfectly good beer go to waste? My only regret was that I couldn’t drink it all. I am sure that with my new body, one beer, a real beer, would probably have a noticeable effect and I didn’t want to get sick on the rides at Disney.

The beer tasted good. Just as good, if not better than I remembered it tasting. All the meds screwed up my taste buds, so having non-medicated taste buds made the beer taste even better. Of course, Melody wanted to taste it and who was I to tell her no? She hated it, but before I let her try a sip, I told her that she couldn’t spit it out. I don’t think that I will have to worry about my sister going to a party and getting drunk anytime soon.

Once I had my taste, I poured it all out. Maybe whatever was left of my ashes would like a taste too. Then, I set the bottle back where I planned and put the cap in my purse. I was rather surprised when I turned around and saw my daughter standing a respectful distance away, watching the two of us.

She looked good, but I always thought she looked good. I could claim it was because I was her dad, but it wasn’t just me who thought that way; she had refused many offers to model. Looking at her now, I thought she was even more stunning since she looked well rested and healthy. I bet that taking care of my sorry ass during that last year must have really sucked for her. “Umm, hi. You must be Danielle?” I asked, just to keep from freaking her out too much by the fact that I knew her name.

Danielle looked confused. “Hi, how did you know my name?”

Melody is not helping here; she is the talker and the one who is supposed to run social interference for me. I poked her, but she just poked me back. “Oh, sorry, my uncle, umm, Brassman as your dad called him, heard that I was going to visit Disney World with my family and he asked me...” Melody poked me again. “...I mean us, if we could visit his buddy’s grave. Leave him one of his favorite beers or something.”

I wasn’t lying. Brassman really did ask me to do that. About six months ago, he called my parents and asked if he and his wife, Brenda could come over and say hi. He wanted to follow up with the family he helped rescue and wanted to introduce us to his wife because she really wanted to meet us.

I wasn’t surprised by the fact Brenda was just starting to show her pregnancy, about four months at that time. They were going to have twin boys and the real reason for their visit was to thank Melody and ask us if we minded being their kid’s Godparents. I think everyone in the state knew what Melody’s answer was.

The birth of little Michael and Robert Jr three months ago was also one of those births we were asked to attend, but it was in a hospital so there wasn’t much we were allowed to do during the childbirth. Melody was allowed to hold Brenda’s hand and I think the doctor was a little surprised by how easy and trouble free those little bundles of joy were for him to deliver. He said they practically delivered themselves.

That brought me back to the present situation with a jolt.

“Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Dani.” I said as she walked over to stand with us. Danielle missed a step when I told her my name, but she recovered nicely. I might not have even noticed if I had not been watching her so closely. Melody poked me, again. My glare only made her giggle at me. “...And this is my sister, Melody.”

I found myself feeling a little freaked out by the fact that I now had to look up at Danielle. Melody and I were both up to 5’ 8” now. We were both sort of used to being on the taller scale in school with most of the other girls shorter than us. I wanted to ask her so many questions. Like, was she still working out? How was she doing in martial arts? How was her job? I didn’t see a ring on her finger. Did she have any boyfriends that she was thinking about getting serious with? Grandkids would be nice.

But, I couldn’t. Not only would that really freak her out, but if she got pissed at me, I am not sure if I could stop her from breaking me in half. Well, not without hurting her anyway. I still have some pride about my skills. “So, umm, is it okay if I get your email address or something? Now that I visited him, I kind of am interested in learning more about him.” I said.

I felt pretty relieved when Danielle smiled at me, reached into her purse and handed me her business card. “Sure, here, lemme give you my personal one too.” She said as she wrote it on the back.

“Oh, thanks. Well, it was nice meeting you Danielle, but we really need to go before our parents get impatient.” I said as I carefully put her card in my purse. I didn’t really need it. I already knew her email address, but I still had to play the game.

Danielle surprised me by giving me a hug and a kiss on my cheek. “Thanks for visiting him Dani. I am sure that he would have loved to have known both you and your sister.” She also gave Melody a hug and a kiss before we could escape. Melody and I walked back to the car hand in hand while tears poured down my face. Melody didn’t say a word to try and cheer me up, which was almost even more surprising than meeting my daughter.

“What’s she doing?” I asked just before we reached the car.

Since I was too much of a chicken to do it myself, Melody glanced over her shoulder for me. “She’s watching us and smiling.”

Melody gave me a quick hug and I smiled all the way back to Disney World.