Assassin Affairs (48 page)

“Is it
working? Are you getting aroused?” Jessie asked teasingly.

“Yes, can't
you tell? I can barely contain myself.”

“And what
happens after the whipping?”

“What do you
think?”

“May we
watch?” they asked.

“Hmmm, I'll
have to think about that.”

The trio continued
to needle her about it as the final transfer completed.

“Oh, all
right,” Renée relented. She headed into the bedroom, the
others followed.

By the end of the
week, and with the help of Sam, Dex and Sandy, Delilah had been
located. That wasn't her real name, that remained a mystery, but the
nickname had stuck. It was time to reconnoiter. The foursome, with
the baby in tow, took an hour drive to an area outside Philadelphia.

“Wow, what a
difference from Samson!” exclaimed Jessie. “This place
reminds me of the Royal Palace in Thailand, and then some. I see
security cameras everywhere.”

Renée looked
through her binoculars and said, “I can see some motion and
sound detectors, too. I bet that field between here and the house is
mined. This barbed wire fence looks challenging as well.”

As the group
watched, they witnessed a half-dozen armed guards and attack dogs
patrolling the compound.

“Delilah must
be the top dog,” observed Ashley. “Since Samson had
nearly five billion dollars, I'm betting she has lots more.”

“Yeah, and
lots harder to get to, too. We're going to need to bring in the whole
team on this one,” said Renée as she snapped a few dozen
photos of the area.

Each of them had
left Washington with several burner phones. Renée had all of
the numbers and determined it was time for a conference call. She
included Sam, Dex, and Sandy in on the conversation.

“This place
is worse than a castle with a moat,” she said, then went on to
explain the details of what they had seen.

“My husband
Randolph is combat-tested and insists on joining us,”said
Kristie. “His sister Janine was trained by Alexei and might
come, too. I could pick those guards and dogs off with my sniper
rifle. It worked before at that banker's estate.”

“That would
be good, but we think the field might be mined,” added her
sister Kacey.

Dex pitched in,
“What about choppers? That worked for SEAL Team Six. I can get
us the necessary gear. We obviously can't use any government
resources, but Jessie, you said you could fly a helicopter, right?”

“Yeah, but
only a Vietnam-vintage Huey and not that reliably. I'd need more
training, I'd need Gus.”

“We found Gus
during our initial search for information on your group,” said
Samantha. “I'm sure he'd help.”

“Jess, I went
to visit your mom the other day,” said Dex. “I met Danny.
He said he'd be on board if we needed him for something.”

Then Laura chimed
in, “I spoke with Alexei last week. He offered to provide as
many mercenaries as we need, no questions asked. I bet he could get
us some experienced chopper pilots.”

“Damn, I
think this could work,” said a smirking Renée. “I
do have one more thought, and it's a big one. It's kind of an
off-the-wall crazy idea, though. We'd need buy-in from everyone on
this call.”

“Well, don't
keep us waiting,” one of them said.

“If we can
take Delilah by surprise, fast enough that she can't communicate with
the other members, we could become both her and Samson. Pepper said
the group is so secretive that they've never met one another and that
they don't know each other's real names. We could covertly take over
the Ruling Council.”

“Maybe we
could get Dex or Danny inside as this Samson fellow and destroy them
from within,” suggested Samantha.

“Our coffers
are full,” Renée added, “so if anyone needs some
funds for anything at all, just let me know.”

“Why not just
hire mercs to do the whole job?” one asked.

“It's our own
necks on the line. Do we really want to leave it up to hired
outsiders when we can probably do it ourselves? Hiring professional
pilots make sense though,” said Jessie.

A number of ideas
were brainstormed. In the end, they agreed on the helicopters. Night
vision equipment would be used. Power and communication lines would
be severed. When the generators kicked in, the power would be
limited. Body-heat finders would be used in an attempt to locate the
communications center. Each chopper would fire a missile into any
suspected area. There were flaws, but it was a plan everyone could
agree on. There was a one hundred percent buy-in on the idea to try
to take over the council, as long as the goal was the safety and
security of the country. It was felt that if they merely took out the
group, another one would replace it.

Danny and Ashley
gave more training to the newer members of the group. As always, time
was of the essence for purposes of secrecy and surprise. Final
details were worked out, and the night of the assault was soon upon
them.

Everyone felt the
chilly nighttime breeze on their faces as the choppers rapidly
descended from a high altitude. They were running on silent mode, so
the 'whop, whop, whop' sounds were barely audible. All were heavily
armed and wearing Kevlar vests and night vision gear as they scurried
off the two crafts in rapid order. Kristie and Randolph positioned
themselves in the shadows, hidden from the outside security lights,
using their sniper rifles to pick off half of the perimeter guards
and their attack dogs. Janine gave them cover fire. Danny and Dex
wrestled with a few more, snapping their necks. Several of the others
severed the power and communication lines. The back-up generators
promptly kicked it,.

One of the choppers
swung around and made a low-level pass at the mansion. A small
missile screamed overhead and slammed into the side of the structure,
creating a large, fiery explosion. The second chopper came in low and
fast from the other side. Another bright fireball could be seen.

Each newer team
member was teamed up with several of the more experienced ones.
Renée, Laura and Kacey entered the building first, as the
attack choppers pulled away. It was still a few hours before dawn and
everyone there had been caught sleeping. They ran down the hallway of
a bedroom section, firing their automatic weapons at anything that
moved. The resistance intensified. Ashley, Julie and Karlee hit
another section of the interior. Samantha, Jessie and Sanford headed
to the lower level. The exchange of gunfire lasted several hours,
several grenades went off, then things began to quiet down. Renée
clicked on her comm-device.

“This is
Mother Goose. All teams check in.”

“Mother
Goose, this is Daffy Duck, lower level is secure,” advised
Jessica.

“Team Bravo
here. North side secure.”

“Team
Charlie, south secured.”

“Team Delta
here, outside perimeter secure,” responded Kristie.

“Chopper one
hovering. Area appears stable.”

“Chopper two
standing by.”

“Okay you
guys, stay alert. Initiate phase 'mop up',” Renée
ordered. “Secure any computer gear, damaged looking or not. We
may be able to resurrect the hard drives. Look for anything that
looks like back-up computer storage devices or banking records. I'm
not expecting much of a response from the authorities out here, but
be prepared to move out quickly just in case. Chopper two, remain on
stand-by for computer gear loading.”

“Roger that,
Mother Goose. Chopper two standing by.”

Each team member
had their own specific instructions and moved efficiently and
quickly. Computer gear was retrieved and loaded, the area was
double-checked for survivors. Several wounded ones were found and
terminated. Casualties on Renée's team, zero.

“Good job
everyone. Let's get out of here. Chopper two, lift off when loaded.
Chopper one, move in for final pick-up and departure. All are
accounted for.”

A short time later,
the two choppers landed in the initial staging area. Everything was
unloaded into cars and trucks and everyone scattered in different
directions. The next night everyone rendezvoused in downtown Philly
at one of the luxury hotels where Renée had gotten a set of
adjoining suites.

“Damn, what a
rush that was!” exclaimed Kacey.

“Welcome to
the big leagues, little sister,” said Karlee.

“My body is
still full of adrenaline,” said Julie.

“You did well
for a slave-girl,” teased Kacey.

Sanford and Renée
brought each other drinks and continued their father-daughter
bonding. Jessie and Dex did likewise, with Samantha at their sides.
The festivities lasted into the early hours of the morning, then
everyone began slowly settling into their own bedrooms.

Over the following
days, hard drives were salvaged, back-up storage devices were
examined, and computer records deciphered. Kacey and Julie were put
in charge of the project.

“How's it
going, Julie?” Renée inquired.

“Good and
bad. A lot of this stuff was damaged when the missiles took out the
communications. My guess is that nobody got off any messages. These
storage devices show promise, but it's too early to tell for sure.”

“You seem a
little down today. What's the matter? Too much work?”

“No, it's
just personal stuff between me and Kacey. We can probably work it
out.”

“Is it a
slave issue or a love problem?” Renée inquired.

“Both. Things
were working out well between us when we could swap roles as
submissives. This new ownership thing has her on a power-trip and is
corrupting our love.”

“Don't worry,
we'll work it out. You're far too important to me to let things get
out of control. If you two can't work things out on your own, I'll
intervene. Don't tell her that though.”

“Okay,
thanks.”

“Can you keep
another secret?”

“Of course.”

“You probably
heard we took in quite a haul from that Samson character,” said
Renée.

“Yeah, that
should fund your operations for quite some time.”

“Not my
operations, it's our operations. You're an integral part of all this,
Julie.”

“Yeah,
thanks.”

“The secret
is that I've decided to divvy up a big chunk of the spoils between
our team members. Each of you will have to establish an offshore bank
account. Any transaction over ten thousand dollars in the states gets
flagged. This will have a lot more zeroes, so can't be done
domestically.”

“What are you
saying exactly, Renée?”

“You should
have a lot of money already, Julie, from your earlier assignments.
Did you give it all to your owner Kacey?”

“Pretty much,
yeah.”

“I'm
beginning to see what she meant when she admitted she'd been abusing
you.”

“That's just
a small part of it.”

“Well, thanks
to Samson, Mother Goose is going to be dispersing a sum of one
hundred million dollars to each person on her team, all seven of you.
Don't tell anyone yet. I want it to be a surprise, and you are
definitely not allowed to give any of it to Kacey. Understand?”

Julie's face turned
ashed and it looked like she was about to faint. She started to keel
over and Renée caught her. She carried her to a nearby sofa.
Her eyes opened a few minutes later as Renée peered down at
her.

“You okay,
kid? You fainted.”

“I did?”

“Julie, I've
brought a lot of suffering into your life. There's no denying that.
There have been some good times too though, right? Hacking into CIA
computers, missions like the other night, tasting parties, all kinds
of things. Where would your life be if we'd never kidnapped you from
that hotel? You'd probably be some bored housewife with a cheating
husband. Very soon you're going to have an account with a hundred
million dollars in it. You can diss Kacey all you want. Nobody is
going to care about it, especially me. Now can I see a smile on that
pretty little face?”