Chapter 23

Early Thursday Morning

Nexus Ranch

Near Harborton, Washington

Ben was starting to get worried and was trying not to show it. Gunny Jean and her team had been able to pick off most of the tangoes on their side of the road without a shot being fired, but four of the intruders had avoided the glamor traps and were still unaccounted for.

“Fenri, any word from Tinkerbell on the squirters?” said Ben.

“She says that there’s some kind of interference that she can’t see through. Captain,” replied the dwarf.

“Is this something magical Fenri? Does this sometimes happen?” asked Ben.

“Well sire it shouldn’t be possible inside the warded area but Tinkerbell is very upset and thinks something is deliberately blocking her sight,” said Fenri.

“Alright, then we don’t have enough people to blindly cover all the approaches this far out so let’s fall back to control line Bravo. Maybe we can intercept them before they get too close to the women’s quarters.”

“Gunny, would you relay our situation to the inner security team and let them know we are falling back to Bravo,” said Ben.

“Aye aye sir,” replied Gunny. She was confident in their training and plans. She knew the rescued women were safely barricaded in the below ground bunker with Carl and John watching them and that the house itself was a disguised fortress with inch thick bulletproof windows.

But she also could hear the carefully disguised stress in Ben’s voice and knew that he was intimately aware of what 4 heavily armed professionals could do to the women they were responsible for.

Billy had to shake his head to clear it. He could swear that just for a second he had seen a lone man walking up the driveway in front of him. From his kevlar reinforced post atop the grain silo Billy had a nearly 360 degree view of the Nexus compound but his field of fire was focused entirely on the driveway to his direct front. He repositioned the M60 more comfortably against his shoulder and carefully scanned again looking for the lone gomer walking up the drive determined not to miss him if it wasn’t just a blip in his night vision goggles.

Billy was tenacious about his duties at any time but he knew how especially important it was that nothing got by him tonight. Earlier that day Ben had handed out the team assignments and initially Billy had been devastated to learn he wasn’t on one of the patrol or security teams.

He had been upset but respectful as he had confronted Ben in front of the silo.

“Sir with all due respect, I belong out there, with the rest of the team. I’m trained, I can fight. I haven’t had an episode since I got here. I can and will defend us and you can count on me.”

“Billy, I know I can trust you to fight. I’m not holding you back because of your PTSD. Hell, if I did that I wouldn’t have anybody left to fight for us, including me. “ said Ben wryly.

“But why am I all the way back here out of the fight?” said Billy.

“Billy you are our last line of defense against an all out assault. We are betting that they won’t just push armored SUVs straight up the driveway into the compound. If I have bet wrong we will need you and that M60 to give us time to fall back. Anyone you don’t get in the first few bursts will be throwing everything they have at your position, maybe even a LAAW or an RPG. You will need to stick. The reason you have this assignment is I know you can use this old hardware and beyond that I know you never quit. I read your service record and I know men like you. It’s a hard thing I’m asking but I’m trusting you with the lives of all those I love and a bunch of innocents who deserve a better hand than they’ve been dealt so far.”

“Yes ... yes sir. I can do this,” Billy said as he had saluted and turned to set up his post. As Ben had been speaking, the faces of the women and girls that he was there to protect had flashed through Billy’s mind. They would be safe, whatever the cost.

But now Billy was faced with a conundrum. His mission was to stop any vehicles or frontal assault, not one man, who may or may not be an optical illusion. He had just reached for his radio to get some clarification when he heard Gunny Jean on the inner team frequency.

“Team 1 is falling back to Bravo. Post Charlie, consolidate with inner security at pos Alpha 1,” said the Gunny.

“Acknowledged. post Charlie moving out to Alpha 1,” replied Billy as he stood and gathered up the M60, his personal weapon and ammo load and prepared to head out.

This was a little unexpected, he thought. But then with a shrug which has probably been a grunts prerogative since the days of the Roman empire he set off to do his job.

“Alright, gather round everybody. You all know the situation. We are going to be setting up an ‘L’ shaped ambush in the clearing here,” Sarah said as she gestured on the map to a small clearing a few hundred yards away from where her team was gathered alongside the trail.

As one of her fire team leaders started to speak up a hush fell over everything and a tingling chiming vibration spread over the gathered humans and Fae.

“Daughter, I need a word with you,” Sarah heard in her mind as her celestial mother, the tiger goddess Waghoba appeared next to the trail, enveloped in a glowing golden cloud. This time she was clad in a tiger skin loincloth, with her taut muscular legs flashing in the moonlight. Her upper body was naked and gleaming and shimmering golden and black stripes flowed over her firm high breasts and across her dark skin. Waghoba’s eyes flashed a yellowish amber under brows as dark as midnight as she tossed her waist length raven hair over one shoulder.

“Um ... lil’ busy now mom, can we catch up later? I have some bad guys to tag and bag,” said Sarah distractedly.

The goddess laughed in deep dulcet tones. “Dear Sarah, you always make this old goddess smile, you are like no other!” Waghoba said with pride. “But I need to ask you to make some changes to your plans,” replied Waghoba.

Sarah just then realized that no one else was moving, there was a complete silence, and the air itself seemed thick and syrupy.

“Sorry, your goddessness, I didn’t mean to be flip. This must be pretty important for you to be here personally,” said Sarah deferentially. Sarah wasn’t intimidated. The only thing she truly feared was losing Ben or one of her sisters, but it was probably not a good idea to let the pressure of her first command lead her into annoying a goddess.

“Sarah, you are my most beloved, no need to apologize. You are so different from my other children and are precious to me,” Waghoba said with a smile.

“Thank you ... mom. What can I do for you?”

“Let me explain. Those that are coming soon are the ones that you dealt with at the dive bar when this whole affair started.”

“Those freakin’ a-holes! Dammit! Lanie said they were out, but I didn’t think they’d have nerve enough to come back for more after I warned them away.”

“Well, about that. I’m going to ask that you allow me to handle them this time.”

“What! No way! I can grill their grits just fine mom, you don’t need to help!” said an outraged Sarah.

“Yes, I know dear child. There are few mortals who could stand against you, but these particular ‘a-holes’ as you call them, need to be dealt with in a specific way. This is not about right and wrong, or even about justice. Balance needs to be restored and I am duty bound to do so myself as it was one of my supplicants who requested intervention. I also need to send a warning to those who manipulate creatures like these in this and other dimensions that their fate will not be a kind one if they choose to interfere with those I protect.

“Please trust me, daughter, this will help keep you and your people safer. I cannot keep you from danger, but this should at least give you breathing room from those in my dimension that would think you easy prey,”

“Alright, I guess I understand, and I trust you. What do you need me to do?” asked Sarah.

“I need to work through you. So just relax and observe. Some day you may need to do the same as I am about to,” said Waghoba.

Ferg was caught up in his role as mentor/observer and truth be told was enjoying himself. The Fae were not only top notch recruits but were turning into fine scouts and Sarah, well she was just Sarah and Ferg caught himself wishing she were his daughter. She was a pistol alright and tonight had really shown what she and the Fae were capable of when working together.