Chapter 21

Thursday, the 20th of October, dawned cool and bright. We saw no sign of the FBPI that day. There were, however, other concerns to be dealt with. Among the first were money and food.

Most of our employees had been shopping on Monday for the week, but few of them had enough food on hand for a prolonged period without additional shopping. Dad and Thomas Stuart transferred down to a local rental location and rented a small bus and a van. Thomas had a license to drive a bus. They drove out to Uncle Will's old address to pick up our other employees and take them shopping. We had transferred all of them down there.

First though, we stopped at the banks where they had their accounts so they could withdraw their savings and other money before the Government thought to freeze their accounts. Our Moms also checked on their own accounts, and they were still okay. Our parents still had a large amount of cash on hand at the house to pay salaries and for other necessities. Our Moms just about emptied out their bank accounts that day so the government couldn't take it.

We then proceeded to a couple of large warehouse clubs where our employees purchased food in large quantities along with clothing, shoes, and other needed items. As they checked out with full carts, we loaded the marked bags and boxes into the bus and van that we had rented while they returned to do more shopping. We made several trips to the Stuarts' old address where we unloaded it all and transferred the marked cases, and boxes of food stuffs and other things, to the O'Connell Realm where they were distributed to the families who they were marked for by our sisters.

Our Mothers also arranged to rent a large above-ground gasoline tank, the kind used at large construction sites, and had it delivered to our original property where they then had it filled by a gasoline tanker late that afternoon. Then we prepared it to be transferred to the O'Connell Realm the next day along with a small dispensing unit.

Lastly, our employees arranged to purchase a number of chest type freezers and have them delivered the next day to Uncle Will's old address. We could keep their frozen food frozen with a spell until the freezers arrived, but not permanently.

By the time we turned in the bus and van, it was very late afternoon. On returning to the O'Connell Realm, we helped sort through the last of the purchases and to get everything delivered to the correct families. It had been a very successful day.

That evening our family watched the news to see what the FBPI was doing. There had been no big announcement, or celebration of the agencies first birthday. Reporters had questioned the agencies spokesperson about a supposed big announcement that they had been alerted for previously, but the spokesperson had been very evasive about that.

When asked about the operations that had been in the news the previous day, the spokesperson only commented that "they didn't discuss ongoing operations."

When asked if those operations were still "ongoing", the spokesperson had no comment. The talking heads on the news were full of speculation as to just what all of that meant.

Friday, the 21st, was again a quiet day in Statesboro with no sign of the FBPI, which the press and the media had reduced to the initials 'PI' by now.

That morning we transferred the full gasoline tank to the O'Connell Realm and positioned it near the printing plant. When the freezers were delivered later that day, we transferred them to the housing area near the lake and helped get them located in the peoples' houses. It had been another very successful day, but we knew that this couldn't last.

Dad had been in contact with the Boston Council on both days, and that night at dinner reported what he had learned.

"They are sure that they are still being watched, but they have successfully reestablished contact with most of their far-flung locations. They too have stocked up on food, gas, clothing and money, but they are as apprehensive about what will happen next as we are," Dad told us.

It was Saturday morning, the 22nd, when the next attack came. Sean and Sara had joined Annie and me for a late breakfast at our house when the wards triggered the alarm, as they were struck by two explosions very close together.

"What now!?" Sean asked again in exasperation.

"It sounds like we have visitors," I said. We all called up our Sun Swords and then transferred to our parents' house where we were joined by our Sisters and their husbands.

"We have visitors," Dad announced. He already had Fragarach in his hand.

"You don't suppose it's that same agent again, do you?" I asked.

"Justin?" Dad asked. "I wouldn't be surprised. He never did know when he wasn't wanted."

"How do you want to handle this?" I asked Dad.

"I'll go down there with the four of you, and we'll see what is going on," Dad told us.

"You girls check on the various employees' old house locations and the printing plant's location to see if any of them are there," Dad ordered next.

"Katie, you and Margie stay here and keep things under control," Dad finished.

"All right, Dad," our Sisters agreed and soon departed.

"Like hell we will!" our Moms answered.

"If you think we are going to allow you and our children to go down there alone and face those people without us, you have another think coming, Mark!" Mother Katie told him.

"Yes, we're going with you," Mother Margie agreed. Both Moms had their Bata sticks with them and I noticed that they also had long knives sheathed at their sides.

"All right," Dad agreed, but looked agitated. "Let's get down there before they make any more noise." We transferred down to the old road about a hundred feet from the perimeter wards and the glamour.

We could see that the PI had brought in two of the newer Humvees. I recognized them from a search I had done on the Internet, as the up-armored M1114 model with the 50-caliber machine gun and an armored surround protecting it. They were parked on the right and left shoulder of the entrance road about fifty feet from our defensive shell.

Between and behind the Humvees, about twenty feet, was an M 2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Behind it were two black Suburbans. A number of men in black armored assault gear were spread out behind the two Humvees and the Bradley.

"How are the wards?" Dad asked. I reached out and touched the perimeter wards and they felt fine. A little farther on I touched the defensive shell wards. They likewise were fine. Whatever they had used hadn't affected the wards or the defensive shell.

"Listen," Sara said from behind me. "They are on the radio." And she chanted a short spell and we were able to hear what was being said.

"I'm telling you, Colonel, those two LAW rounds didn't even scratch this thing," we heard a voice saying.

"What?" we heard him say next, apparently in disgust. "No, sir. I don't think a TOW would do any good either. We were only seventy feet from that thing when we fired." Sara closed the spell then, as we had heard all that we needed to know.

"Well, now we know what they used, and that it didn't have any effect on the wards," Dad said.

The Government people had noticed that we were here by now, and one of them hailed us with a bullhorn.

"You O'Connell people are under arrest and have five minutes to come out and surrender, or else," we heard him say.

"Do you girls know the spell to amplify my voice," Dad asked Annie and Sara.

"Certainly, Father O'Connell," Sara answered, and she and Annie used another spell that focused on Dad.

"Or else what?" Dad said in his normal voice, but it boomed out much louder.

"OR ELSE WHAT?"

You could actually see the Government agents on the road cringe at the volume of his voice. Annie and Sara canceled the spell after that.

Justin came out from behind the Bradley fighting vehicle then and started toward us.

"Oh, you will surrender this time, Farm-boy," he shouted at us drunkenly as he capered toward us. "I have a special ... special reason why you'll surrender," he continued, but then noticed that something was missing.

He staggered back to one of the Suburbans, reached inside one, and pulled a woman out of it. He dragged her back towards us with him. We could see that her clothes were torn, and she had trouble staying on her feet. As they neared us, we all recognized the woman as Annie and Sara's Mother, Laura O'Neill!!

"If you don't surrender, I'll see that those girls' Mother goes to jail for the rest of her life," he bragged drunkenly. "And I'll make sure that the guards know that she murdered her husband, Derick, and that her two daughters are Witches. I'll make sure that they treat her like the slut she is every single day for all of those years. DO YOU HEAR ME?" Justin screamed in a drunken rage, obviously unable to control himself.

"YOU!! ... You terrible little man! Release our Mother this instant, or you won't live long enough to regret it!" Annie screamed at him in anger. She and Sara had already joined hands and were glowing.

"Come out here and do something about it!" Justin jeered drunkenly.

Annie was glowing so brightly by now that she appeared to have increased in size. Her voice took on a low rumbling sound as she chanted a curse in a language that I had never heard before, and traced a strange complicated sign or glyph in the air.

Justin instantly disappeared as the curse ended, and a ward appeared around Laura O'Neill, as Sara drew her Mother to, and then through the defensive shell. We all moved to see how she was.

At Justin's sudden disappearance, all of the other agents and the vehicles opened fire on the defensive shell. It did them no good of course, but did create a terrible racket.

"We need to do something about this," Sean said to me.

"Yes, apparently they need another lesson to teach them not to come around here making threats and noise," I said, as we used the spell that created our strongest ward around us.

We moved forward through the defensive shell and brought up our arms while activating our rings. Bullets bounced off of our wards, as we cleared the defensive shell, but we paid no attention as they couldn't breach our wards.

Instead we focused on the vehicles and used our rings to cut the vehicles to pieces. Magic Force that could cut through six to eight feet of solid granite had no trouble cutting through the Humvee's ceramic applique armor and we cut both of them into large chunks.

We then turned our attention to the Bradley and its chain gun, which had also been firing at us, and cut it to pieces with no more trouble than we had with the Humvees. We sliced up the Suburbans as an afterthought.

Some of the agents in their assault gear charged us, and we deactivated our rings and brought up our Sun Swords. Most of those men on seeing the flaming blades quickly changed their minds. All but one, who continued to close with us. Incandescent flames leapt from both swords as he neared us, and he was consumed by them in seconds. The rest had either disappeared, or were dead in the vehicles, not having had time to get out before we dissected them. Sean and I returned to the others with no feeling of victory, just a sense of waste. A waste of men, time, and material; and for what?

When we returned to the others, our Moms were taking care of Mother Laura. Annie and Sara were standing there in tears watching them. Sean and I returned our swords to their resting place and went to comfort our wives. We had just reached them when Micheal O'Neill appeared on the far side of our Mothers.

"Who are you?" our Dad challenged. "And how did you get in here?"

"I'm Michael O'Neill," he told our Dad. "And those are my Daughters, of whom I am quite proud. The lady on the ground is my wife, Laura. Please have your wives move aside so that I may heal her," he finished.