Chapter 3: The Family Grows

After returning Liz to her home in Buckingham Palace, Linda returned to her mansion in the Grand Caymans to show Patti around. Upon arriving, Black Angel and Wonder Angel left. Shortly after that, Linda and Joyce joined the girls in the main lounge of her home.

“Linda, this is my good friend, Patti. Remember me telling you about her?” Jessie asked.

“Hello Patti. Jessie has told me a lot about you. Most of it was good! I’m just kidding. It was all good. Welcome to my home. I hope you can stay for a few days at least,” Linda said as she hugged Patti.

Oh My God! Patti has a talent, too! Her traumatic breakthrough occurred during the pirate attack on the Hoppin’ John, the same as Jessie’s did, Ret told the Posse.

What’s her talent then? Tink wanted to know. The rest of the girls were curious, too.

I’m not positive, but I think she’s the opposite of Tinker Bell. She grows things instead of shrinking them! Ret was astonished. None of them had thought about this possibility before!

Sabrina arrived home from school and walked into the lounge, trailed by her governess, CeeCee. Linda introduced them both to Patti while Sabrina grabbed her in a big hug. The young girl had blossomed and grown to love her new life in the islands.

“What are your plans for the rest of the day now, Sabrina?” Linda asked her.

“Homework first, then Julia and I are going to play some tennis!” the thirteen year old girl exclaimed happily.

“Juan told me you’re getting pretty good at tennis. I’m going to talk with him about hiring a coach for you. Would you like that?” Linda asked.

Sabrina beamed at her. “I’d love it! Linda, you’ve been so good to me. Ever since I got here I’ve felt like I belong. I’m so glad you’re feeling better. I was so worried about you when you got hurt. If I ever find out who did that to you, I’m going to Angelize them my own damn self!”

“Language now, Missy. Young ladies don’t say damn. Wait till you’re sixteen!” Linda looked at Sabrina and they both burst out laughing. The rest of the girls in the room joined in. Sabrina was fourteen now.

“Okay then, run off and get your homework taken care of. I’ll come out and watch you and Julia play later,” Linda told her.

Linda told the ladies, “Joyce, we need to have an insider team meeting in my suite. See if you can get Juan on the phone, and ask him to join us. Girls, please follow me.”

The ladies sat around Linda’s spacious private lounge and talked, getting to know each other better while waiting for Juan. The cook had her assistant deliver cookies and coffee. All of them enjoyed Linda’s coffee made from fresh ground Jamaican Blue Mountain Beans, and who doesn’t love delicious home-made cookies? Oatmeal and raisin, chocolate chip with walnuts, and peanut butter cookies with real peanut chunks.

Once Juan made his appearance, Linda started her impromptu meeting. She introduced Patti and Juan. Then, while Juan was still fixing his own cup of coffee Linda told him, “Juan, it’s time to send Nurse Ratchet back to the hospital. I don’t need her any longer. I also need you to hire a tennis coach for Sabrina. I’ve been watching her. She really is talented. Julia will improve with a coach here, too.”

Juan nodded his understanding. He started to remind Linda, once again, that Ratchet wasn’t the nurse’s name, but realized it was a lost cause. Linda had the name stuck in her head.

“Moving on from that, have you hired anyone to take over the initial Emergency Response Team for the Caribbean yet?” Linda asked.

“No, we haven’t. Every time we find a qualified person FEMA steals them from us! It’s almost like they have a spy in my office.” Juan was not happy with FEMA at all. “You’re friends with the president, maybe you could ask him to tell FEMA to back off.”

“It doesn’t work that way, mi amigo. You know that. Still, I have the perfect candidate for you to hire. She’s very qualified, has field experience, and is currently unemployed. She’s also familiar with the Caribbean. What do you think?”

“Where is this paragon of Emergency Management? I need to hire her before FEMA wakes up!” Juan exclaimed, rather emphatically. He really was frustrated with the process.

Linda looked at Patti, who was busy watching the back and forth conversation between the two. “Patricia? Would you be interested in working for me? The job is right in line with your qualifications.”

Patti squeaked, “Me? But, but, I’m...”

“Perfect for the job? Yes you are! It pays well, too. You’d have to move back here, to Grand Cayman Island. There’s a lot of work to be done still. The entire project is trying to get off the ground, but it needs a firm hand at the helm. See, Jessica? I did learn a nautical term! Helm! So, what do you say, Patti? Interested?” Linda smiled at Patti. She knew from Ret’s snooping that Patti was perfect for the job and very, very interested. Ret also passed on that Patti’s depression was lifting with the prospect of a good job doing what she was trained for.

“Well yes, but I need more information. What is this Emergency Response Team? What would my responsibilities be?” Patti was curious and interested.

Juan took over the conversation then as he said, “Linda has funded the Caribbean Emergency Relief Organization, or CERO. It has an annual budget slightly higher than FEMA in the United States. There are two basic branches. One is initial disaster assistance after a major catastrophe. Think of hurricanes and earthquakes here in the islands. The other branch is follow-up aid in rebuilding homes and infrastructure. You would be in charge of the entire Immediate Response Department, answering only to the Managing Director of the CERO. Both positions pay double what FEMA pays for a comparable job. Linda believes in taking good care of her people.”

“That does sound good. Linda, can you afford to do this?” Patti asked.

In answer, Linda changed into the Black Angel. “Yes, I can afford it. Being an Angel has some financial perks. We’ll discuss the whole Angel thing, later. Let’s get this job stuff done first.” Mouse dropped the Black Angel disguise.

Patti was gobsmacked. Linda was one of the Angels! My God! The whole holiday party in Rio made sense now. She noticed Jessie, Joyce, and Juan weren’t surprised. They must’ve already been aware of Linda’s secret.

On top of the Angel revelation, she never expected to be offered any job of this magnitude. “Who is the Managing Director then? Is that the same thing as CEO?”

Juan replied, “Yes Patti. The Cayman Islands are connected to the United Kingdom, and we call the head of a business Managing Director instead of CEO. To answer the rest of your question, I’m still searching for someone to fill that job as well.”

“I have the perfect candidate for you! Norm Peski. Norm’s currently working for FEMA as the Emergency Response Coordinator, Southeast Region. He joined FEMA during the Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. Norm and I exchange emails on a monthly basis, at least. The guy is sick of all the red-tape and politics involved at FEMA. He told me he’s going to tender his resignation the end of this month,” Patti told them.

Juan looked at Linda, who nodded her head. “He sounds good. Give me his contact information and I’ll get him down here for an interview. Be sure to send him an email to let him know this is legitimate, and that I’ll be in touch.”

“I need to sit down with you, Juan, and get more details about this job. I need to know my budget, the scope, personnel, training, equipment. My goodness, I can think of a thousand questions just off the top of my head,” Patti declared. She was energized and excited.

Jessie caught Linda’s eye and mouthed ‘Thank You!’

“Now, about all the Angels,” Linda began. “They’re all me. I’m the Vigilante. The Angels are disguises to protect my identity, inspire the innocent, and strike fear into all the corrupt evil shits that I plan to kill. If you have a problem with what I do, then we should probably part company here.” Linda already knew from Ret’s snooping that Patti was in complete agreement with the basic principles of Angel retribution. She wasn’t thrilled with the methods, but understood the necessity.

“No, I think I’ve come to agree with what’s happening. At first it was simply incredible that Angels even existed. I was shocked! I mean just think about it! Real Angels flying around in the sky doing things the rest of us wish we could do! Everyone in the world is amazed that Angels have arrived here on Earth. It certainly shook up a lot of religious beliefs. Scientific ones, too! After watching what was happening, all the corruption and criminals in the country being eliminated, permanently, it gradually became obvious to normal people everywhere just how badly we’d lost control of our country and our very lives. What you’re doing is bloody and frightening, but it’s absolutely necessary. I couldn’t do it. I’m damn glad that you can. The world needs you, Linda.”

“Linda?” Joyce asked. “What about those Rainbow things in Australia?”

“Me too. I can make just about any illusion I want,” Linda answered. “The dragons in Game of Thrones?”

“Jesus! That was you, too?” Joyce gasped!

Linda laughed. “No, but I could do a dragon as easily as an angel.”

Mouse flexed her muscles. That would be me! She whispered to the rest of the Posse. Tink patted her on the back. DRAGONS!!

“Now, if you can, tell me how you do it? If this isn’t divine intervention from God, what the hell is going on?” Patti asked. She was both confused and extremely curious.

“You’ve heard of Psionics or ESP right?” Linda asked.

“Yes of course. Most of the scientific studies about ESP are inconclusive, though. It’s not something that’s easy to prove,” Patti responded.

Linda used her mind to lift the coffee carafe, move it over and refill half of her cup. She added touch-ups to the rest of her guests, then moved the milk and sugar, refilling the other half of her cup the way she preferred her coffee. “Still have doubts?” Linda smiled at Patti as she took a sip of coffee.