Chapter 09: A Woman Scorned

The next morning, over breakfast, Linda and the girls chatted and considered all the suggestions Liz had given them.

I agree with the Queen. I can’t keep all those different Angels straight in my head, little Tink told her sisters.

The Twins said, It doesn’t bother us one way or the other. We don’t have to pay attention to what we look like. We just locate and jump.

Mouse added, I like using the different illusions. It’s fun for me, but it’s getting to be a bit much. I think we should follow the Queen’s advice, but still bring the other Angels out to visit occasionally.

Ret whispered, I think Mouse is right. Use the White Angel for western America with occasional appearances by the others, and the Burning Angel for the east. Let’s split the country down the middle at the Mississippi River.

What about Canada? Linda asked.

We can just extend an imaginary line up from the river through Canada. They might as well be one country as far as the Angels are concerned, Ret whispered.

Everyone agree with that? I do want to keep the Black Angel for Sabrina. Let’s move her to the Caribbean instead of Ohio, Linda decided. She got five nods of agreement. It was decided.

How about Europe then? Ret asked. Do we follow the Queen’s advice here, too? Ret asked.

We don’t have to decide on Europe yet, do we? It’s not like Angels are going to storm the beach at Normandy next week, Mouse whispered. Now that would be a fun illusion. Vampires and demons manning machine guns as Angels wade ashore throwing lightning bolts or something back at them. Hey! We could make our own movie! That would be so cool!

No, Mouse. We don’t have to decide yet. I do like the idea of Artemis, the Huntress for the Turkey, Greece, Rome area and the islands around there. Crete and Cyprus if I remember right from school. A Valkyrie for northern Europe would be fun, too. Then use Silver Angel for the rest, Linda mused.

I like it, too, Tink added. A Valkyrie with a big axe, and Artemis with her bow and arrows. I get to be the axe and the arrows.

The Twins nodded. Kelly whispered, We agree. The Valkyrie and Artemis sound good to us.

Like Mouse said, we don’t have to decide just yet, but those ideas do sound good, Linda whispered.

What do we need to accomplish still before Jessie gets here? Ret asked. She should be here in two or three days.

Let me think. I want to do another run through here in Britain. Like the Queen said, we’re not done cleaning yet. We need to check out a lot of prisons in America, and we need to sweep those remaining four cities to wake them up and introduce the new Angels, even if they’re not around a lot. We probably need a run through Canada, too. I think a lot of our missing creeps ran across the border to be safe from retribution, Linda decided as she thought about their options.

That’s one day for the British Isles, one day for the four cities and prisons, and one day for Canada. Three days total, unless the President comes up with something new. Then Jessie should be here and we can go on our Mediterranean jaunt, Linda whispered.

We haven’t checked the television recently either, Tink pointed out.

Cartoons! The Twins gleefully exclaimed.

You can watch cartoons tonight, before bedtime. We need to check the news, and see if President Fredricks is trying to reach us, Linda told the youngsters.

Linda TK’d the television on and changed channels from the Cartoon Network to CNN. The screen was filled with the crushed buildings and damage from yet another earthquake near Mexico City. Hundreds were already dead. People were frantically searching through the ruins trying to find anyone left alive before it was too late.

The girls all looked at each other.

We have to go. Tink can dissolve those crushed buildings a lot faster than anyone can dig them out. Twins, can you get us there from the Caymans? Linda asked.

Kelly and Karen thought for a minute.

Yes we can. I can see two hundred miles away now and Karen can move us there. We’ll make sure we arrive five hundred feet in the air so we don’t get all wet, they giggled.

Linda made a quick decision. Mouse, most Mexicans are strong Catholics. Make us look like a traditional Angel with a Latin face and skin. Twins, take us to the Cayman Islands.

The Posse left London with a loud air-pop.

Arriving in the Caymans, moments later, the Twins took a few seconds to get oriented in the right direction, and the girls jumped their way across the Gulf of Mexico. Mouse perfected her disguise along the way.

When they made land-fall it was a simple matter for Ret to snoop, and discover the easiest route to Mexico City. When they arrived it was still dark, with fires and sirens everywhere you looked. Tink began dissolving concrete, wiring, glass, anything that got in her way. She was careful not to cause debris to shift and move. Linda convinced Kelly and Karen they could find people trapped in the collapsed buildings and teleport her in if there was enough room. Then she could grab someone and teleport them out with her. Ret used her telepathy to find the hidden injured victims. Mouse kept Linda disguised as Latina Angel. All of the Posse was involved in the rescues. Everywhere they went crowds of people cheered, took pictures, and videos. Many of the religious Mexican people kneeled down and prayed when they saw Latina Angel coming to help alleviate their pain and suffering.

Days later, the Mexican Cardinal would apply to the Vatican to make Latina Angel the Patron Saint of all Mexico. His petition was granted.

Linda and the Posse spent ten hours flying above the damaged city. They dissolved the worst of the wreckage. Clean up crews could handle the rest. The girls were exhausted. Kelly and Karen barely had enough energy left to teleport them back to Linda’s bedroom in her mansion on Grand Cayman Island. Mouse dropped the Angel illusion and Linda collapsed on the bed, fully clothed. The Twins didn’t watch cartoons that night.

Three hours later Linda woke up feeling slightly better. As far as she could tell, no one had been in the room to discover her presence. The Twins took them back to their Royal Hotel suite where Linda ordered a sirloin steak with all the fixin’s from room service. She showered, ate supper, and went right back to sleep.

After breakfast the next morning Linda decided to spend the day cleaning up the United Kingdom. She’d already run through terrorists and rapists / pedophiles, so she concentrated on murderers, drug dealers, pimps, and wife beaters. She added criminal computer hackers because she hated the thought of getting a virus on her laptop.

The entire process, including Scotland and Ireland, took eleven hours. Linda didn’t limit herself and the Posse to just the major cities this time. She searched out the smaller cities and towns as well. The AD’s or Angel Deaths totaled over five hundred. The British Isles were as clean as she could make them.

While bouncing around the country Linda included prison inmates in her search. Those who were guilty of heinous crimes, and were totally unrepentant, died. She found seven innocent men and women. They were delivered to Buckingham Palace, and dropped off with the Royal Guard. Linda contacted the Queen to inform her. ‘Liz’ promised the innocent would be properly taken care of. A Royal Pardon exists for a reason, after all.

Just before bed that night Linda air-popped to her master’s suite onboard the Lady Whisper to check on Jessie.

Hey Jessie. It’s me, Linda. I’m down in my room if you have time to visit, Linda told her best friend.

Less than a minute later Jessie knocked lightly, twice, on the door and entered. She rushed over to hug Linda. Jessie was overcome with emotions. She was holding onto her friend and crying, softly.

“It’s only been a bit over a week, but I feel like you’ve been gone for months. You’ve accomplished so much in nine days! I’ve missed you tons!” Jessie got out between sobs. “The Whisper has been busy dodging dicey weather all the way across the Atlantic. You’ve got to tell me everything that’s happened! I only get to see what the TV broadcasts. We both know they don’t get the whole story!”

“Let’s get some Moscato and sit down. I’ll go over everything with you. The last nine days have been ... interesting. I saw the storms, and thought about trying to help, but there’s not much I can do. I can’t dissolve the weather, either. It just keeps getting worse. I wonder how bad hurricane season will be.”

Linda and Jessie got full glasses of pink Moscato wine and sat down in Linda’s soft comfortable lounging chairs. “Let me think for a minute. So much has happened. Let’s see. I’ll start with arriving in London after the tournament. I got a hotel room and a phone call from George. That would have been Tuesday by the time I got here. He told me he was being forced, for family business reasons, to marry some woman with a major league dowry. His father’s company was almost bankrupt. They needed her family’s money to meet their loan payments, or lose the business entirely. He didn’t bother to check with me. I could have financed four or five companies their size. So, our big romance ended the same day I arrived.”

“You killed the whole family, right?”

“No, but I did tell Juan Gomez to dig up all the dirt on Waters International Holdings for me. I’m going to buy the company and fire all of them.”

“Oh! Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Serves them right.”

“It gets even better. On Monday, a day after the marriage, I dropped into the Bridal Suite very early in the morning. I was invisible, and wanted to see what this floozy looked like. George was snoring away on the couch and Miss Princess was sleeping alone in the bed. Turns out she’s a full blown one hundred percent lesbian! George is stuck married to a lezzie! For better or for worse, and all that!”

“No! You’re making this up! Fate isn’t that nice,” Jessie started laughing. She couldn’t help it. Linda joined her.

“Whew. I need a refill on my drink after that. What about you?” Jessie asked.

“I’m still good. Maybe later. It’s not safe to drink and fly!

“So, what’s next. Okay. I got really pissed off after I found out George was dumping me. He dumped me on Tuesday, and I didn’t find out his bride’s sexual preferences till after the wedding. You can imagine how pissed off I was. The day after George and I broke up, I created the Silver Angel, and began killing terrorists in London. That would be the Wednesday after the tournament.”

“Yes, that part was all over CNN. Did you know the vids went viral again? You seem to have a knack for shutting down the social media sites. They should probably pay you to be more discreet!”

“I spent the next few days doing the same thing in other cities. England, Scotland, and Ireland all got cleansed of radical Islamic terrorists. Did you know they all expect to be rewarded in heaven with seventy-two virgins? Cutting their dicks and balls off kinda ruins that fantasy. I did it so the virgins could put their knives away. Community service, Angel style. Can you imagine being a virgin, and being forced into servicing some idiot martyr who blew himself to pieces?”

“Yeah. What I can’t figure out is how they can actually believe that? Are they really that desperate for women? Now, what happened next? I’m all ears here.”

“Well, let me think again. Oh right. Drugs. I busted the major Fentanyl drug ring pouring drugs into the northern states. It was the Winnipeg Six. Got them all in one major bust. They’re all dead now.”

“Of course. They got Angelized!” Jessie laughed.

“I adopted a young girl, too. Her name is Sabrina. I stopped a pimp from raping her, addicting her to drugs, and putting her on the street to turn tricks for him. She’s thirteen.”

“Dear God! Where is she now?”

“She’s staying with Juan in the Caymans till they get some paperwork straightened out letting me be her guardian. Then, with a governess to watch over her, she can live in my place. I’ll have one of the Angels bring her here to meet you soon. She’s a real sweetheart.”

“No family?”

“No, her mom died from cancer. Her stepfather was going to turn her into his new wife. I took out him and the pimp, too. No other relatives. She’s an orphan like me.”

“Then I did a rapist and pedophile sweep of the UK. That took a full day. I rescued a bunch of Navy SEALs from Iranians and destroyed a nuclear bomb research facility. Let’s see. What else. I busted some terrorists using buses full of illegals as a cover to smuggle drugs. I executed some deserving types serving time in prison and freed a bunch of innocent prisoners, too. Then I destroyed a Mexican drug and prostitution ring operating in Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. I went to Mexico City, and helped with the rescues from the earthquake. Finally, I had a nice dinner with the Queen and Prince Philip. Oh, the Prime Minister of Britain was there, too; and the Ambassadors from America, and Israel. I spent today finishing the clean-up of the UK. Murderers and stuff. And British prisons. It was a lot of fun. Now that I look at it all, it does seem like a lot. Day by day I guess it was busy, but it didn’t feel like all that much.”

“Linda, I don’t have the words for this. I can’t even think what to say. You’ve had more adventures and accomplished more in one week than anyone else in history. Well, maybe not Jesus, but still, you know what I mean. And you’re just ‘Ho hum, another day at the job.’ You’re incredible, and don’t even know it.”

Linda finished her drink and stood up. “Whatever. It’s bedtime for me. I’ve got to get back, and sleep. I still have a lot to take care of before you get to London.”

“Where are you going tomorrow?”

“Back to the USA. I need to finish everything back home before I can move on.”

“Okay honey. You go back and get a good night’s sleep. We’ll be there day after tomorrow. The whole crew watches you on TV, you know, every night.”

The good friends hugged goodbye. Linda air-popped back to her hotel room and went to sleep.

Eight o’clock in the morning found Linda dressed warmly and floating above London. It’s only three in the morning back on the east coast, Linda complained. I hate time zones!

It’s late afternoon back in Sydney, Ret offered.

We could take a look for a few hours. We could kill some time and maybe a few crooks while Atlanta catches up to daybreak, Mouse suggested. I’ve got a passable ‘Rainbow Serpent’ disguise worked up for Australia, too. We won’t need to make another Angel there.

Sounds good. Let’s go back and change to summer clothes for Australia then, and put these warm winter clothes in the trusty backpack for later, Linda decided.

Fifteen minutes later, Linda and her all girl Posse, were floating five hundred feet above Sydney, Australia. It was after five on a warm, bright, late-summer day.

Mouse, do your snaky serpent thing. Ret, scan for us. Tink, be ready to slice ‘n’ dice. I’ll keep us floating and flying. Kelly and Karen keep us popping around so no one can decide to shoot at us! Linda’s orders made sense to the five girls. They were used to bossy Linda by now. She kept them alive, after all.

The gangs here have pretty much cleared out. I have a small terrorist group from Indonesia, I think, plotting something at the Sydney Opera House, Ret told them. Their thoughts are coming through mostly in English. We need to stop them.

I’ve got ‘em targeted, Kelly responded.

Poof! Four dead terrorists, Tink giggled. I took off the arms and legs this time.