Chapter 5

Each day Raven rose early, went to Prescott Park (a small park on the bank of the Piscataqua river) and did her martial arts exercises. The Piscataqua is a tidal river, so the salt content of the air is very pronounced. The salt air and the exercises, over time, helped Raven to find her center again.

Jack was still hunkered down within the safety of his bunker. He talked with Raven twice a day. For those of the Native culture that have returned to the old ways, patience is a principle characteristic.

The two each had a job to do, and both felt that it was unwise to rush their work.

Raven varied her schedule to keep her landlord off balance. She even stayed out all night on occasion to simulate the behavior of the hormonally charged teenager. The old man was still entering her room on a regular basis and searching for she knew not what.

Early on, Raven realized that she had made a big mistake. She professed to be taking a class or two, yet there were no books or papers in her room as there should be. Signing up for a math and advanced electronics courses quickly rectified the mistake. She could do both courses in her sleep but purposely made mistakes to keep her grades in the 'B' to 'C' rage, thus steering clear of those looking for an electronics genius.

Raven felt that she was indeed safe for the moment; but she never felt relaxed enough to let her guard down.

A problem, however, began to develop as the summer progressed. Raven was becoming a woman! Her period had started, and the shape of her body was becoming much more feminine.

The young woman had celebrated her fourteenth birthday alone, weeping, in her hide-away. If not for Jack's constant contact Raven was sure that she would have walked in front of a bus. The constant grief never let up, and was like a knife in her heart and bowels.

Doing her martial arts forms and talking with Jack gave her the strength and the resolve to go on.

Of late her landlord seemed to be less interested in her room.

"I wonder if it is the books and class papers scattered all over the place, or has he put in video and recording devices? I need to increase my surveillance of him." thought the young woman.

To that end, she had Jack send another care package. She then installed the wireless cameras and microphones all over the house.

In a further move to conceal her gender Raven had decided to soup up the trail bike. Changing sprockets and rebuilding the engine gave her hands a decidedly non-feminine look with grease and broken fingernails. Added to that, the baggy clothes she now wore covered the changes taking place in her body.

The entrance into womanhood was taking its toll on the young woman. Concentration on her quest was the first thing to suffer, the constantly vacillating hormone levels causing her mind to stray to the male bodies that shared the campus with her.

Next to go were her emotions. One moment she was happy the very next moment she was in total despair or a burning rage that threatened to blow her cover!

"Jack, I'm getting worried that I won't be able to keep my cover much longer, this puberty thing is driving me nuts!"

"Is your landlord doing things again?"

"Well... no... yes... maybe... I just don't know. He does, however, keep looking at me in a funny way. It makes me really uncomfortable."

"OK. Let me think about this tonight. You do the same and then we will talk tomorrow morning. Keep safe and watch your back."

"I will. The old boy has his cronies over tonight, for the weekly card game. Maybe I will get some intel, he does get a bit chatty with the old gang around. Now that I have the whole place bugged, I should be able to see just what is on his mind.

That evening Raven sat in her hidey-hole watching the four ex-soldiers play poker, drink, smoke and talk. The wireless surveillance system working so flawlessly, that Raven felt as if she were in the room with the 'gang'.

After the usual chatter, the flow of alcohol loosening the tongues of the men, their conversation then moved away from the normal things and onto Raven.

"So have you found anything about that young'n?"

"Nothin' bad anyway, but there's still something off about him. The other day, ya know the real hot one, he was working' on that there bike of his, ok? Anyway, I went out to chat, to see if'n I could get some answers.

"Well, he was sweatin' to beat the band and... now don't laugh, but the closer I got to the fella the more he smelt like my old woman, when she had the rag on. I got so distracted that I forgat to ask 'im my questions."

The others erupted into howls of laughter as one of the men spoke through his tears, "The ol' farts been without a woman for so long that he's all a twitter over a young boy. I never thought I'd see the day! Hahahahahahahaha!"

The game didn't last long after that comment! The old soldier took exception and would not be consoled, finding no humor in the comment at all.

"Shit, shit, shit! My cover is blown!" howled Raven silently.

She would have to go to ground, now, and have Jack figure a way to get her bacon out of the fire. The old soldier had his dander up, now. He was sure to be a continuing problem, for the foreseeable future.

"Jack, I'm screwed! The old man is on to the fact that I'm not who I say I am."

"How? I know you. You are nothing if not careful."

"By smell."

"Excuse me? Did you say by smell?"

"Yep!"

"But that doesn't make any sense. You don't wear perfume."

"Nope."

"Please, this is getting us nowhere, just spit it out."

"This is embarrassing!"

Taking a resigned deep breath, Raven then told Jack of her growing womanhood and how her menstrual scent had given her away. She further told her teacher that she feared to return to the house to retrieve her belongings and the surveillance equipment.

"Well we could just leave the stuff there... but I think under these circumstances that would be unwise..."

There was silence for some time as Jack went through the various permutations of options that were available to them.

"You said that you thought that this guy might be a bigot?"

"Yes, I got that feeling in a couple of our discussions."

"Good!"

"How is that good?"

"We can use his own bigotry against him. I will meet you at your storage unit, in two hours."

"Are you sure you want to leave the bunker just yet?"

"I'm not going to use the house exit, or my car. I'm sure that those options are covered, by whoever is the cause of all of this grief. No I'll use the tunnel route, a cab then our new SWAT truck."

"Ok, see you soon."

Good to his word Jack showed up on time. Climbing into the Jeep, he indicated for Raven to drive.

They arrived at the house in a matter of minutes. They could see that the light in Raven's room was hastily shut off, as they entered the driveway.

With her emotions still wildly vacillating, Raven rushed into the house in a blind rage, to confront the old soldier. Jack quickly followed, fearing that Raven would really do some serious damage to the old man.

As he descended the stairs the old soldier could clearly see Jack coming in behind Raven

"Jack! Jack? Is that really you? They told us you were dead!"

Jack's mouth dropped open, and then he let out the war cry of his people. That cry was followed by an answering cry from the old soldier.

Raven's rage dissipated into total confusion, as she looked from one man to the other.

The two men clasped each other in an emotional bear hug.

"Billy, you old goat! What a sight for sore eyes you are," said Jack as he slapped and punched the other man playfully.

"Wait 'till the others see you," said Billy.

""What others?"

""Joe and Charley, from the old unit, and Frank. You don't know Frank; he was transferred into my unit toward the end of my career. We became good friends. He was my aide-de-camp. He blew out his knee just about the time I retired so he stayed with me, they all did. He's good, Jack, almost as good as you! They all live near here

Raven regained her voice finally, and said in wonder, "You two know each other?"

Jack looked at Raven with a huge smile on his face as he said, "Sure! Billy here was my second in the unit I ran in Viet Nam."

He lost the smile suddenly and turning back to Billy said, "I didn't expect that you would take up burglary in your old age, though! What were you doing in this persons room Billy?"

"Jack, I run a clean and legal rooming house. I don't cotton to bleeding heart liberals, druggies or any other un-American types. Now this here 'person' that you seem to be with, ain't right. I don't quite know what the matter is, but I won't rest until I find out what the secret is that this 'person' is hiding."

"I do hate to burst your bubble but this 'person' is my responsibility and under my protection. You will stand down, or deal with me! Billy, you know that I never let anything mess with my assignment! Understood?"