Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
We meet Anita Okoye at Fort Campbell, Kentucky as the trial of a man who drugged and raped her comes to an end. Anita had a stellar military career, and if she had stayed in the service, she probably would have gone very far in her career. However, after a very traumatic assault and rape, she decides to look elsewhere for a career. By the way, Anita is gay, and that is certainly not a negative issue..
“Before I pass sentence, do you have anything to say to the court?” Colonel Adolphus Mayer, the presiding judge, asked.
“Don’t say a damn thing, Major,” his counsel whispered in his ear. “You have already damaged your case enough as it is.”
For once, Major Jonathon Drake followed his lawyer’s advice. “No, your honor.”
“Major Drake, based on the evidence presented to this court, the testimony of your convicted co-conspirators, and the testimony of Captain Okoye, I sentence you as follows: For the assault consummated by battery, I sentence you to ten years at hard labor. For unlawful detention, I sentence you to ten years at hard labor.
“The maximum sentence for rape is no longer death; however, had it been, it would not have been this court’s intent to impose that sentence. Your sentence is as follows: You will be reduced in rank to E-1, forfeit all pay and allowances, and spend the next 30 years in the Federal Prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. You will then be dishonorably discharged.
“Bailiff, secure the prisoner and return him to his cell. This court is adjourned.”
Captain Anita Okoye sat silently at the rear of the courtroom. Her companion of three years, Sergeant Janice Holloway covered Anita’s hands with hers. There wasn’t much that could be said. It had been a rough six months.
“I’m going to miss you,” Janice said with more than a little emotion in her voice.
“And, I’m going to miss you. This is the best for both of us, though. I’ll let you know how things are going.”
One other courtroom attendee had remained. He stood as Anita and Janice embraced, and watched as Janice stoically left the room.
“You did well,” the tall, rangy, dark skinned man said as he hugged his daughter. “They never could be punished enough for what they did to you.”
“Daddy, they got what they deserved. The automatic review won’t change anything, and they will be behind bars for at least 20 years. They will be under the thumb of the authorities for the rest of their lives.
“What a bunch of cowards. They would never take no for an answer, and had to drug me to get what they wanted. But for the drugs, I probably would have killed them with my bare hands. I could have done it afterwards, but I decided this was the best way.
“Look, the movers are coming in two days. I’ll see you in Reston Saturday evening.”
“Are you and Janice through?”
“Pretty much, I don’t think we were ever truly in love. We’ll always be good friends, I imagine. In some ways, I think the rape was harder on her than it was on me. Oh, she supported me and all that. You know she did. But after that, she just began to distance herself from me. I guess in some ways I became impure, sullied. After that we hardly ever made love.”
“TMI, I think.”
“Oh, Dad,” she said with a bit of a mock scolding tone. “You have always supported me, and Mom did, too. You never showed any surprise when I came out to you, nor did Mom.”
“Of course not, my beautiful African princess, you were always so rough and tumble, but in a very feminine way. You didn’t have any male friends –Well, Raymond was always around.”
“Daddy, you always knew Rachel was a girl. You never bothered us during our makeup sessions. You and Mom never batted an eye when she dressed at our slumber parties. Her parents were so supportive. You even came to her wedding.
“Gosh, that was right after Mom died.”
Their conversation paused for a moment. Robelia Okoye had died of brain cancer several years before. When the doctors discovered the glioma mass it was already too late. She died in dignity as she had lived her life. She had been a champion for female equality as well as LGBT causes. She was born of Haitian parents who had escaped to the US many years before. She spoke English, French and Haitian Creole with facility. She had insisted that her only child learn those languages as well. In addition, Anita studied Spanish and Arabic during high school and college, and became very proficient in both. That would be very valuable in the years to come.
Anita’s father, Robert Okoye, was Ethiopian. At least his parents were. They had immigrated to the US before being a Muslim was a block to immigration. Not that mattered in their case, as they were Christians. That was difficult to explain to some people, preconceptions being what they were. He was tall, wiry, and dark skinned. That being said, he was Caucasian; something else some people had trouble believing. DNA analysis would show that his ancestors were mostly Arab and Northern European. He and Robelia met in college, and it was love at first sight, although Robelia did wait a month before she allowed Robert to seduce her.
Anita inherited an interesting mix of genes. Her mother and father were both tall, and Anita was 6’ 1”. Her body was more like her father’s in many ways. She was almost as dark skinned as her mother, and she had inherited her mother’s African hair, but she had inherited her father’s sharper features to a certain degree. Her mother had had a rather voluptuous figure. Anita was closer to average in the bust and hips. There was no mistaking she was all woman, and she constantly attracted the appreciative glances from men and women. She made no secret of the fact that she was gay, and did all she could to eliminate the thought that she might be leading someone on.
In college she had excelled in sports, and several pro basketball franchises had been after her. That was never to be. Anita had intended to join the Army very early in her life, and her parents did nothing to discourage her. She graduated first in her ROTC class and was commissioned a second lieutenant. She went on active duty a month later as a Military Police Officer. That had not been her goal, though. She had one thing in mind. She wanted the Green Beret. As soon as she reached her first permanent station, she applied for Special Forces training. Regulations being what they were, she was not accepted for Special Forces training until she’d been in her current assignment for two years. She was basically accepted because of the quota system. Perhaps, finishing first in her Military Police class had something to do with it, too.
Once again Anita excelled. The rules had changed to allow women into the infantry and Special Forces. The tough thing was there was no double standard. The physical requirements were exactly the same for the women as they were for the men. Several women in the class dropped out rather quickly, as did several men. One of those men was Captain Jonathon Drake, Jr., son of Major General Jonathon Drake, Sr.
Drake was one of those officers who felt because his father, or mother as the case may be, was a high ranking person that the rules and standards of performance didn’t apply. He was wrong on several accounts. The fact he was the son of an active duty Major General didn’t mean shit to the instructors and staff of the school. What mattered was the lives of the men and women whom they were supposed to be leading. There was no cutting corners. They either cut the mustard or they were out. It was that simple.
Anita did not finish first in her class, but there was no question she was near the top. She never failed a test, physical or academic. There were only three others who could make that claim. She was the only woman who graduated with her class. The others had either dropped out or were washed back. One of her female classmates did graduate with the next class.
Her first assignment was with the 5th Special Forces Group, headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Beginning was the best part of her military career; a great adventure. She was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group. There, she became the Executive Officer (XO) to the B Company Commander, Major Stanley Black. For her entire military career and afterwards, she would always hold Major Black in the highest regard. The man was a leader in the truest sense. He did not fall to the prey of many stereotypes that still existed in the Military. There was one thing, and one thing only. Do your job. Do what you were trained to do, and if you weren’t trained to do a particular job, learn it and learn it quickly.
The respect ran both ways. He had suspected Anita was gay but never pressed her on the issue (which in the modern military should never have been an issue in the first place.). She came out to him fairly early.
“Anita,” first names behind closed doors, “I am very happy to have you in this organization. The fact that you are gay means nothing to me other than I respect your privacy. It’s really none of my business. Under different circumstances I might have had to request that you be transferred to another Company. Let’s just say that I’m very happily married, and have no intentions of jeopardizing my marriage. If I were single, and you were straight. I probably would have asked you out very quickly. That’s a moot point.” Years later General Black confessed he’d been out of line for his comments. His respect for Anita Okoye never diminished.
Anita’s promotion to Captain was a foregone conclusion. Shortly afterwards she became a Detachment Commander for an ODA, a Special Forces Operational Detachment-A. In her previous position as the XO, she helped support the six ODAs that belonged to the Company. She’d made several trips to the field in a support role. She was never on the ‘front’ of battle, but she gained the respect of those who were.
Shortly after her promotion to Captain she was given the command of a detachment. Her detachment was immediately deployed to the Horn of Africa where they worked to weaken the militant Muslim factions. Some of the locals had problems dealing with the very strong willed African woman who eschewed the traditional roles of the tribal women in the area.
That being said, many they dealt with did not realize that she was a woman. The uniform and gear detracted them from the truth. In their first skirmish with the Al Shabaab she proved her mettle.
She knew something was wrong as soon as they entered the desiccated little village. The first clue was the absence of the barking dogs who’d always announced their approach. The second was the absence of the children who had seemed to rather quickly overcome their shyness of the American visitors who gave them books and writing materials to them. Every once in the while they would get something sweet. Chocolate would never do as it melted rather quickly.
“Sarge, it’s too damn quiet.”
“No shit, Captain; somethin’ ain’t right.”
“No dogs, no chickens, no kids, no cattle. I don’t hear a damn thing.”
“I do. Do you hear it?”
“I do now: flies.”
War is never a pleasant thing, especially when you’re dealing with radical fundamentalists, such as Al Shabaab. It’s going to get nasty, but Anita is one to never back away from battle. The first few chapters are setting the scene for when the 1872 production begins. For those familiar with the story, there have already been enough clues. PM me if you know the answer.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Anita, never one to turn down a challenge, finds herself in The Horn of Africa leading a team that is tasked with slowing down Al Shabaab, a brutal radical faction. She very quickly proves how good she is as she is awarded the Army’s second highest recognition for valor. Anita is not particularly proud of what she did; however, most believe it was the right thing.-->
They spent the next day and a half burying the dead. Somehow two children, a boy and a girl had been missed. They had called in a chopper with some able bodies to help bury the dead. The two traumatized children were taken back to the main camp where hopefully they would be taken care of until they could find a place for them. The cattle and sheep, and based on their count, a number of female children had been taken by the attackers to an as yet unknown place. They would begin the tracking process as soon as they could.
The area had not been that particularly active over the last year, and most of the intelligence interest had been elsewhere. That didn’t mean that someone, or something, as this case may be, wasn’t watching.
“Jesus, I ain’t never seen anything like it, Captain, and I’ve seen a lot. They tied the elderly up and just blew their brains out. They just decapitated the men and boys. I hate to think of what’s happenin’ to the women and girls. They just buried the babies alive. What sort of people would do something like that?”
“Sarge, they’re not much different in many ways to many people back home. They have their set of dogma, and they repeat it often enough that they believe it even though it is against the very basics of the religion they grew up with. They call themselves Muslim, but they certainly aren’t. They aren’t much different than the folks back home who call themselves Christians, the ones who preach racism, misogyny, bigotry and subjugation of women. They could switch religions and you would hardly know the difference.”
“Colonel Leach said they’re on the run and that there are only a few isolated factions that are on the verge of defeat.”
“Pardon my French, Sarge, but the Colonel is full of shit. He’s just repeating what he was told to say. We leave this area tomorrow, and the same crap will be going on from here to eternity. The only way for this shit to be over is if the religious big wigs get some sense and take a stand for humanity. We can’t fight their religion. They will have to change from the inside. I don’t see it happening.”
“So this is a lost cause?”
“Maybe, maybe not; perhaps someone with enough charisma on both sides can pound some sense into the population. They’ll never change these murderous sons of bitches though. So I guess we’ll just have to kill them.”
Thankfully, even though real people hadn’t been paying much attention to the local intelligence, it was all on record. Someone a couple of levels above Anita started searching the recent archives. It was all there. The satellite imagery had it all. It wasn’t contiguous data, but there was enough that they could piece together what group had attacked the village and to where they had retreated. It was a rather simple matter to place the high altitude drones in ‘orbit’ over the area and start a continuous stream of data back to headquarters before forwarding it to Anita and her detachment.
Anita’s detachment was not the first to be given the assignment to ferret out the Al Shabaab terrorists, if terrorists was the right title for them. Mao called them guerillas. They were much better equipped than the guerillas of previous generations, and they had the advantage of superior reconnaissance; not nearly as good as the US Special Forces, though. Bill Hardy was considerably senior to Anita, and in fact had a line number for promotion to major. He and Anita had great respect for each other, and there was absolutely no professional rivalry or jealousy. They were first and foremost professional soldiers dedicated to the mission, whatever it was at the moment. As much as they had their personal beliefs and politics, that part of their lives had to be put aside.
Colonel Teitler was old school but he didn’t get to be a full colonel by being stupid, not that some who had reached that rank weren’t. The selection process wasn’t always perfect. He had three of his detachment commanders sitting around a table in the tent that was their headquarters at the moment. In spite of the heat, each was nursing a cup of GI coffee. It was 5:00 AM.
“I picked Captain Hardy to be in charge of this little operation because he is the most experienced. I don’t mean to take anything away from either of you, Captain Dillon or Captain Okoye, because you’re going to be mostly on your own, although I expect you to maintain close communications with each other and with the recon folks. Our imagery tells us there are about forty of the bad guys plus about the same number of women and young girls being held in these two larger tents,” he said pointing to the drone imagery taken the night before. “There are also about 50 non-combatants living around that little oasis,”
“As we know, they have their eyes in many places. So any activity on our part will probably be reported to them.
“Any retreat, if they decide to try will have to be either up this canyon or down the canyon. They cannot retreat to the east. That cliff won’t allow it. What I think is that we block their exits north and south, then attack from the west. We’ll have the drones in position, and they’ll soften them up at your direction.
“Any comments, so far?”
“Anita.”
“Colonel, I think we should take out as many of their vehicles as we can. The drones can do that. I don’t think they’ll let any of their captives near the vehicles. I doubt if any of them can drive, as it is, but they might be worried that some might be able to.”
“What’s your point, Anita?”
“They won’t use the prisoners as human shields for the vehicles; however, I’m sure they will as soon as we begin to close in on them.
“Do we have anything more on who these murderers we’re chasing are?”
“The latest intelligence suggests that their leader is Osama Hammami, AKA Abu Mansoor al Amriki.”
“No shit, so that’s where the son-of-a-bitch disappeared to.”
“You know who he is?” Captain Hardy asked.
“Yeah, I know who he is. I went to school with him from the fifth grade through high school. He was one nasty ass hole who tried to make my life miserable because I was gay. He let up a little after I broke his nose. It was worth the suspension, but it cost me the valedictorian position. I lost track of him after high school, not that I was looking for him. He had a distant cousin who came over here a long time ago. He was moving up in the ranks, but stepped on too many toes. They took him out in 2013.
“So, he took his cousin’s name. That figures.”
“This is not your battle, Anita,” the Colonel said. “Don’t let your personal feelings get in the way of the mission.”
“As much as I would like to take him out, I won’t sacrifice the mission. That always comes first.” Anita’s thoughts weren’t exactly in line with her words.
***
The terrorists weren’t exactly caught off guard. Several caught sight of the incoming rockets and sounded the alarm seconds before the first rockets hit the six trucks. The thought was they would hit the tents that didn’t hold the prisoners; however, the latest images indicated that many of the prisoners had been moved into the tents holding the terrorists. So instead of selectively targeting the tents with guided bombs, they would just have to selectively target each of the enemy fighters. The odds had definitely a bit in favor of the enemy. Anita was not pleased at all about the shift in their advantage, if they even had one. Bill Hardy’s detachment took most of the return fire; however they incurred no casualties in the first few minutes of battle. Although one of the men received a nasty knife wound when he killed one of the sentries. They closed up the cut and he pressed on. He would wear the scar proudly.
One thing working in their favor was the terrain. Several small gullies ran between them and the camp, and the bottom of the wash afforded a bit of protection. Unfortunately, it afforded the same protection to the other side.
They had expected a nasty battle, and they weren’t disappointed. Technology was on their side, fortunately. The goal had been to save as many of the hostages as possible, but they all knew there would be losses even if things went their way, and even that wasn’t a sure thing. Their first break came when they managed to separate a fairly significant group of the enemy from the rest. Captain Hardy alerted the ‘watchers’ in the US and elsewhere. They launched an anti-personnel rocket that had a fairly short effective radius. It was basically like several well placed hand grenades. Ten men died and another 15 were taken out of action. Hammami had lost two thirds of his men in two seconds.
There was no question what would happen next. Hammami and his men resorted to human shields.
“Bob, Bill, Eddie, Elijah, do you think you can get to that little ridge?” Anita said as she pointed to a spot on the rise behind the camp to the east.
“Yes Ma’am, er, Captain. What do you want us to do?”
“Hammami is getting desperate. He will want to kill as many of the hostages he can before he loses the battle. If he does what I think he will, he will make a big display of killing them. I want you to take out as many of the enemy as you can.
“When Hammami knows it is a lost cause, he will try to make one last heroic statement. On my signal, I want you to take out the two men on either side of him without hitting the hostages. Do you think you can do that?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Head shots?”
“Preferably. I’ll signal when I want you to fire.”
Anita coordinated with Captain Hardy and Captain Dillon what her plan was. Captain Dillon thought they should just firing into the enemy and try to save whomever was left.
“That will be our objective if this doesn’t work. If we can save more hostages, it will be worth it.” Captain Hardy responded.
Dillon and Hardy’s detachments kept Hammami’s troops busy as Anita’s four snipers crawled their way to the small out crop that projected from the cliff behind the camp. They were soon in position.
Hammami did not disappoint them. He knew the game was up, and he had only one thing on his mind, and that was to spill as much blood as he could. By this time he was down to nine men from what they could tell. Four had retreated to the tents holding the prisoners, and under orders previously delivered, brought out their captives along with four more of Hammami’s men. Things did not look quite as good as they had a moments before. The forty or so prisoner would be decimated if they didn’t do something and do it quickly.
“Bill, I have do something, or we’re going to end up with just a lot of dead people. If they’re all dead, we lose. I am going to create a diversion. If it doesn’t work, try to save as many as you can.”
“Anita, are you out of your fucking mind?”
“Probably, but we have to try to put a stop to this shit.
“Bob, Bill, Eddie, Elijah, cover me. Hopefully, I will catch them off guard enough, so that they won’t know how to react. If they shoot me, just take out as many as you can.
Anita found a stick about two feet long that must have come from a tree up the wash. There were few trees as it was in this god forsaken land. She took a white handkerchief and tied it to the end of the stick. She stood and shouted in Arabic, “Hammami, you know this is a lost cause. Give up and let those women and children go. I can assure you that you and your men will be treated fairly. You don’t stand a chance.”
“You Americans are so brave. You fight us with weapons we can’t see. You are cowards. Not one of you is brave enough to face us man to man. Allah is on our side. He sees you as the cowards you are.”
“Hammami,” she said in English as she approached him, “you are the biggest coward of all. You hide behind these women and children. Then you blame us for their deaths. In your skewed brain you justify having us killing good Muslim people because it is “Allah’s” plan to rid the world of infidels. When in reality, all you want to do is rape women and children, and kill as many Americans you can for no reason than you are one sick mother fucker.”
“Who are you? You’re very brave to say such things with all your cowardly warriors hiding behind rocks and gullies and in the air where we can’t see them.”
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll fight you unarmed. If you can beat me, we’ll let you and your men go. If I win, you will be our prisoners. You will be treated fairly as prisoners of war. In either case, your prisoners go free.”
Hammami had been wondering who this foolish soldier was. He had to have been young as he spoke with the voice of a youth. Yet he wore the insignia of an American captain.
“Go back to your mother, child. This is a man’s war. You have no business here.”
“Osama Hammami, get rid of the phony Arabic accent. You’re as Jersey as I am. It’s just that I never picked that accent up. You wonder who I am. I’ll show you.”
Anita shed her protective vest and BDU shirt; leaving her in her BDU trousers and T-shirt. Her breasts suddenly became very evident. She wore an athletic bra, but there was no hiding her femininity. She stood quietly ten feet in front of her adversary with a smile across her face. It wasn’t a happy smile.
“Who the fuck are you? They are sending a woman to do a man’s work, not that a woman could ever do a man’s work.”
“Your memory isn’t very good, although it never really was. So, you never did anything about that broken nose of yours. What did you tell your men; that you broke it defending Allah’s honor?”
Hammami suddenly realized who she was. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
“That’s right, you should have killed me when you had the chance, not that you really did. I’ll tell you right now, you should give up before you lose face in front of all these witnesses.
“No weapons, just hand to hand.”
“Gladly, you muff diving bitch.”
“Okoye, he still has a knife,” Captain Hardy shouted.
Hammami lunged at Anita with the knife he’d produced from its hidden scabbard. She was not caught off guard. Other than being big, stupid and uncommonly brutal, Hammami didn’t have much going for him. It happened in a flash. The knife went flying, and Hammami was flat on his back nursing a severely sprained or broken wrist.
“Why you fucking whore, I am going to kill you.”
“You just tried and failed. Also, you should be speaking in Arabic so your men know exactly what you’re saying, what you’re going to do to me.”
Hammami struggled to his feet and faced Anita who hadn’t moved since planting him on the ground. He rushed her with the idea of crushing her. He probably outweighed her by fifty pounds.
Anita’s challenge had already accomplished its desired results. The men from the three detachments quietly moved in. It was all over but for the fight going on in the sand in front of them. Hammami was so enraged, he had no idea what had happened. His only objective was to kill the woman facing him. Once again, it was over in seconds. He was flat on his stomach and Anita had an unbreakable lock on his head and neck.
“Time to call it a day, Hammami, “Anita said in Arabic. “Your men have already given up. It’s time for you to do the same.”
“Never, you daughter of Satan. Kill me. You don’t have the guts.”
She broke his neck. “Go to your 77 virgins or whatever it is.” And after a brief pause, “I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
Anita walked back to her uniform and gear and donned them. She walked a few hundred feet away and looked at the setting sun. Then she returned to help with the wounded and burying the dead. The choppers would be there shortly.
A somewhat sanitized version of the activities that day went forward to higher headquarters. It had all been recorded; however, the higher ups decided not to release the recordings to the public. The final outcome was that Anita received the Army Cross. She wore the ribbon, but would never discuss it. It had not been her proudest moment.
Six months later, she was back at Fort Campbell.
Anita reminisces about what happened to her after she returned to Fort Campbell. She is taking a two day trip from Kentucky to Reston, Virginia, where she will be starting a new job. They aren’t all pleasant memories
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Anita takes two days to travel to Virginia. She needs some time to herself to think about what went right and what went wrong. She makes it to Charleston, West Virginia after a long drive and after a nice dinner, she finds peaceful sleep.-->
After the movers left her apartment, Anita went down the road to a motel in on the outskirts of Clarksville. She’d call Janice and said goodbye. Janice was still on duty, and didn’t have much to say other than she would miss Anita, and wished her a safe journey. Next Anita called her father to say she would be leaving in the morning. She was going to go north and east rather than take the Interstate. It was a bit longer and considerably more mountainous. Plus, it would give Anita a little time to contemplate the direction her life was taking. There had been times that she thought she would be a “lifer”. She knew she would have no trouble making O-5 and even O-6. There was a good chance after the incidents in Africa that she might even make Major early; however, that was all past now. All it took was that one little slip up at that party to help her make up her mind that there were better places to go and better things to do than kill people for a losing cause.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Anita Okoye,”
Anita recognized the voice instantly. It was Jonathon Drake, now Major Jonathon Drake. She’d run into him at the Post Exchange. He was cordial, but it was only a façade over a cold interior. He hadn’t been stationed at Fort Campbell when they had been in Special Forces training, but he was there now. It must be nice she thought to have friends in high places; especially a daddy who was now a three star. He was now the commander of a communications squadron. He was far removed from the battle field.
“That must have been quite a battle. Congratulations on the recognition.”
“Thank you, Major. I appreciate your comment.”
“Now, Anita, that’s Jonathon. Let’s not something like rank get in the way of old friends.”
“Certainly, Jonathon, it’s good to see you again.” Anita turned down the aisle to continue shopping.
They would run into each other infrequently, and Anita got the feeling that Jonathon was trying to hit on her. He knew she was gay, and his sometimes overt friendliness bothered her.
She had returned from her last nearly yearlong deployment to the area in the Horn of Africa, and immediately renewed her relationship with Janice. She had spent two of the last three years in Africa, and she was physically and emotionally tired. Janice had managed a few visits while Anita was in Africa. The visits were ‘official’, but they did manage to get together several times. Now, they could look forward to at least a year together in their pleasant apartment in Clarksville.
A lieutenant she knew had told her about a party being held that weekend at a place occupied by several officers. They were supposed to be pretty cool, and their parties, if she remembered correctly were supposed to be pretty sedate affairs. Yes there would be some drinking and music, but they were mostly just a time to let their hair down a bit, if they had any. After spending six months in a war zone, being able to veg out and not having to look over your shoulder every minute was very enjoyable. The bad dreams and the night sweats were bad enough as it was. She was going to have to learn how to relax, even if it was going to be only for a year, if that. That was her big mistake.
It turned out the party was being held in the clubhouse facility at the apartment complex. It adjoined a rather nice swimming pool and pavilion. The enclosed recreation room was air conditioned and it was very pleasant to get out of the humidity. Obviously, the word had gotten out as there were not parking places close by. She’d had to walk the equivalent of about two blocks from where she’d parked to the party area. There was a good representation of the base population. The mix of gay and straight was probably at the same proportion as that on base. At least they didn’t have to hide that any more, not that it made much difference to the troops. With a few exceptions it seldom had.
“What would you like, Anita?” a very familiar voice asked.
“Hi, Jonathon. Got any Pilsner Urquell?”
“Coming right up. I remembered that was your favorite.” He popped the cap off the ice cold bottle and handed it to her.
“Thanks,” she said as she took a deep swig.
Anita looked around and saw many familiar faces, including some members of the LGBTQ group that met off post. She attended their meetings infrequently. She had no problems with coming out as she never tried to hide who she was. When she did attend, she was there to lend support to the unsure. Janice attended a bit more often as she spent most of her time at Fort Campbell, other than the few short TDYs she’d had to Africa. Janice was currently working swing shift, but had promised to come to the affair as soon as she was off.
The music was good, if not a bit loud. The pool looked inviting, but Anita was not prepared to go swimming. That hadn’t been on her agenda that night. She wasn’t ashamed of her body. On the contrary, she was very proud of her fitness and how she looked in a bikini. And, Janice didn’t have any complaints, either.
She realized that her bottle of Pilsner Urquell was empty and she looked towards the bar while raising her bottle.
“Coming right up.”
A captain Anita vaguely knew brought her the freshly opened bottle. It was cold and the cold pilsner went down easily. She had nearly finished the bottle when she started feeling light headed and a bit out of it. She looked for an unoccupied chair and stumbled slightly. She braced herself on the edge of a table.
“Come on Anita, I think you need some fresh air.” Her unfocussed eyes tried to make out the shape of whom was talking to her. She realized it was Jonathon and the bartender was standing next to him. She knew what had happened, but it was too late. They led her out the door and to the parking lot where they were met by a third person she couldn’t recognize. She was bundled into the back of a minivan and driven to who knows where.
“Where’s Anita?” Janice asked the girl who was currently passing out the last of the iced beer. “Didn’t she show up? She was supposed to.” The party had slowed down a bit, if the empty cans and bottles, and filled ash trays were any indication. A couple was slow dancing over in a darker corner, and there was more than a little bit of PDA going on.
“Who’s Anita?”
“She’s my girlfriend.”
“What’s she look like?”
“She’s black, very tall, and very pretty.”
“Oh yeah, she was here a couple of hours ago, but she left with a couple of guys. I think they were going somewhere to have some fun. I think she had a lot to drink. She wasn’t feelin’ any pain.”
“Shit, call the police. Never mind, I’ll do it myself. She would never go anywhere with any man to have fun.”
The police were there within five minutes. They went through some standard questioning that included asking if anyone had seen her leave.
“Yeah, she left with the Major and some lieutenant.”
“When was that?”
“Two, three hours ago.”
“You said Major. Was he in uniform?”
“Naw.”
“How did you know he was a major?”
“He’s Major Drake, the commander of the comm outfit at Fort Campbell. I had to fix their AC last week. I’m a refer. I work with CE. He invited me and a couple of the other guy to this shindig because we fixed it so fast.”
“You’re a what?”
“Refrigeration specialist. We were fixing his air so the comm gear wouldn’t overheat.”
The officer turned to Janice. “Do you know who this Major Drake is?”
“Yeah, I’ve met him. He and Anita were in Special Forces training. He was asked to leave. Anita was one of the top graduates. She doesn’t think much of him.”
“Why would she leave with him if she didn’t like him?”
“It doesn’t take much of a stretch. I imagine they drugged her.”
“Couldn’t she just gone off with them to have a good time?”
“Not a chance, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, Anita’s gay and I’m her girlfriend. Anita’s not bi. She’d never go anywhere with guy to have sex. They drugged her.”
“Did she drive here? Where’s her car? She may have just driven off after getting some fresh air.”
“We can find that out pretty quickly. Follow me.”
“Sure, Miss.”
“Her car wasn’t out front, so she had to have parked down either side of the circle. Listen carefully.”
Janice held up a key fob. “This is her spare key. I carry it because I sometimes use her car. When she’s out of country I take care of it and keep it in running shape.” She held the fob up and pressed the ‘lock’ button twice. They both heard the faint honk of a horn.
“It’s down there,” she said pointing up the circle drive that ran to the left.
They walked about a hundred yards before Janice pushed the button twice more. The horn was louder, but still no car. The third time they saw the blink of lights. They weren’t prepared for what they found.
Anita was sprawled across the back seat. She was moaning and moving a bit. Her clothes were piled on the floor of the rear of the car. She was naked, there was blood on her thighs, and her lip was split. She would have a black eye by morning. Her hair, face, and pubic hair were matted with dried semen. Janice cradled her as best she could. She couldn’t control her sobbing.
They let her ride with Anita in the ambulance to the hospital. They didn’t take her to Fort Campbell. Under the circumstances, they took her to the closest hospital in Clarksville. While they treated her in the ER, they were careful to take semen samples from her hair, body, vagina, and rectum. She needed a couple of stitches.
Modern science being what it is, the DNA analysis came back rather quickly. It seems most everyone in the military has donated a DNA sample for the records. They quickly matched three of the donors of the DNA. The donors were Major Jonathon Drake, Lieutenant Anson Biderly, Captain Joel McMaster; all stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. A fourth contributor of the DNA could not be immediately identified. The fourth person was identified when Captain McMaster and Lieutenant Biderly confessed. They got 20 years. The civilian was tried in Tennessee. He got 30 years.
Anita took it easy, but it was a long drive to Charleston, and she pulled into her motel a bit after 6:00 PM. After taking a relaxing shower, she asked the desk clerk where there might be a nice Italian restaurant. It turned out there wasn’t one too far away; so she decided to give it a try. The chicken Marsala was excellent, the calamari was hot with a very nice batter. The two glasses of pinot noir, just chilled enough, were perfect.
When she returned to her room, she called Janice to let her know she was doing okay. She left a message.
“Hi Daddy, I’m in Charleston.”
“How was the drive?”
“Not bad. It was a bit long, but traffic wasn’t too bad. Had a couple of brief showers, but other than that it was smooth sailing.”
“Well, be careful. Your bedroom is ready for you, and I have an apartment agent looking for something for you.
“The folks at Langley are very eager to get you started. You knocked them dead with that interview. They know you want to take some time off, but Jake told me your desk is ready. They had to knock down two stalls in the ladies’ room to fit it in.”
“I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you, too, Sweetheart. Drive carefully.”
“I will. See you tomorrow.”
Anita found herself falling asleep during the evening news. She turned off the light and turned to her left side. The gentle humming of the air conditioning unit was almost like a lullaby. She slept better than she had for a long time.
Anita arrives in Virginia to find out her father has a secret. She is going to have a brother. Then she gets down to learning about her new job. Her first mission is going to be a doozy.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
After a shorter day behind the wheel, Anita pulls up to her father’s house to find he has a guest: her future stepmother. She is not much older than Anita. They hit it off very well. Anita rather easily moves into her new job at the “Agency”. Soon, she is handed her first major assignment.
One look at the breakfast being offered by the motel was all Anita needed to convince her to look elsewhere. She found an IHOP that was on her way out of town to the north where she had a generic but acceptable breakfast and pleasant waitress who kept her coffee cup filled.
She basically had two routes to choose from. One went south and eventually took her to I-64 before connecting with I-81 to I-66. She chose instead to take the shorter but slightly longer timewise route on I-79 and the two lane State Highway 93; eventually going through Elkins. The area was mountainous and very scenic. She just wanted to have a little more time to herself before she had to fight the traffic heading into the DC area. Depending on how much she dawdled, the trip would probably take a bit more than six hours; quite a bit shorter than the drive the day before.
She’d been to her father’s home a number of times over the years, and just to save time, she’d drive to Nashville and get a direct flight to Dulles. Her father’s home was less than 15 minutes away from Dulles in a nice planned community just off West Ox Rd. After her mother’s death, and her father’s promotion, he’d moved there from New Jersey. The home was very nice, but Anita felt her father was a bit lost in the spacious abode. When he was home, he did travel quite a bit, he seemed to spend most of his time in his library, eat in kitchen, or bedroom. If it wasn’t for the nice furnishings brought from New Jersey and arranged by Anita, the place might have sounded like an echo chamber.
Once on I-66 she was pretty much on auto pilot before exiting at West Ox Road and heading north. As she pulled into the driveway in front of the double garage she noted a late model Chevy Impala parked at the walk leading to the front door. Her father drove a Lexus that he was very fond of, and if he wasn’t driving it somewhere, he kept in in the garage. He must have a visitor, she thought.
Unpacking the car could wait. She didn’t have that much, and most of her household goods were in a crate at the mover’s local storage warehouse. When she found a place to live, they would be delivered. She really didn’t have much and she knew she’d probably be visiting a lot of thrift shops and used furniture stores. Right now she needed to give her father a hug and a kiss.
As she walked in, she could hear some activity in the kitchen. Her father greeted her at the passageway with the expected hug and kiss. Then he handed her a chilled margarita.
“I have someone I’d like you to meet,” he said turning to the alcove where he ate most of his meals.
“Leslie, I’d like you to meet my pride and joy; my daughter Anita.
“Anita, this is Leslie Baumgarten. She works at the Puzzle Palace doing things we can’t talk about; at least not here. We met last year at one of those joint meetings. We were seated next to each other at the luncheon, and something happened. I asked her out to dinner, and she accepted.”
“Leslie, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My father’s been lonely too long.” By this time, Anita was taking stock of the much shorter woman. Her father had pulled her close and had his arm around her waist. She was considerably shorter than Anita, maybe five-six – five-seven. She was a ‘ginger’; that was very apparent. She was probably in her early 30s – just barely, and she was drop dead gorgeous. She was also seriously in love with her father. There was nothing ‘put on’ about it. It was obviously apparent that her father was equally in love with her.
“So when’s the wedding,” Anita asked with a bright smile.
“We haven’t set a date, yet. Your father proposed a month and a half ago, but he didn’t want to tell you until that mess was over in Kentucky. They should have strung that bastard up.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought that up.”
“That’s quite all right. I’m sure the subject would come up before long, anyway. He’ll be in his fifties before he gets out and will probably be lucky to get a job at McDonalds. He and his buddies will be registered sex offenders. Their lives are fucked. Pardon my French.”
“Why don’t you ladies talk while I start the barbecue. There’re more margaritas in the pitcher in the refrigerator.”
“Are you surprised?” Leslie asked.
“Not very, my father has been alone too long. He is healthy and not yet fifty. I’m a bit surprised he’d not found anyone before now. You are a very pleasant surprise.
“I do have a question, though.”
“Yes?”
“How far along are you?”
Leslie’s complexion turned almost as red as her hair. “How’d you find out? I haven’t told anyone. I just found out last week.”
“Lucky guess. You are glowing even when you’re not blushing down to your toes.”
“We’d talked about adding more to the family, and agreed we’d certainly try. My first husband wasn’t interested in a family. In fact, he cared more about his lawyering and hobbies. It didn’t take me long to get rid of him. I make plenty of money, and I certainly didn’t need his income. I took a hundred grand and left him to play with himself, his first love.”
“What do you do?”
“Like your father said, I work at the Puzzle Palace. I have a PhD in International Relations. I do intelligence analysis. I knew of your little conflict in Africa an hour after it happened.”
“I’m not particularly proud of that.”
“If you hadn’t done it, we would have; however, what you did had far more reaching effects. A woman killed a terrorist with her bare hands. That word went out very fast. It created a lot of doubt among the locals, and a lack of confidence among some of the Al Shabaab.
“The biggest thing was that you probably saved a hundred lives. If we had sent more bombs in there, they would have been very non-selective. No, what you did was above and beyond the call of duty. I will be very proud to have you as my step daughter.”
“It doesn’t bother you that I’m …”
“Of course not. The most important thing is that I want you to be happy with your father’s decision to remarry.”
“Okay, but we can’t have any family secrets. You have to tell Dad about that little surprise.”
“Ladies, the fire’s about ready. Let’s get those lamb chops out there. Why don’t you come out and sit on the deck. The temperature isn’t bad, and we can talk.”
“Bob, I have something to tell you.”
“Hmmm, could that be that you are about a month along; that our family is going to increase in size?”
“How did you know?”
“Other than the fact you’ve been walking on air for the past week, I’m also able to follow a calendar. We never had that four or five day break in our love making, easy peazy.”
Bob and Leslie married a week later in a quiet civil ceremony. They spent a pleasant weekend in a very nice B&B in Charlestown, West Virginia. Anita spent the weekend with a professional apartment hunter, and found a nice townhome with a single car garage in Falls Church. She knew it was going to be temporary, a year or two at best, before she found a nice unattached home. It was a bit closer in than her father’s home, but at least she wouldn’t have to take the tollway, and she could avoid the inner loop. Getting used to the insane drivers in the area would take some time.
Inprocessing was not much different than being in the military. They had copies of all her military records, but they had to redo most everything so it would fit their particular forms and needs. Her ID badge, one of several forms of identification, had an electronic chip that would allow her into the areas which she was cleared for. She would have to be escorted to many areas within the confines. She was excused from the combative techniques training and fire arms training. She was as capable as the instructors, perhaps more so.
Her facility with languages made her a valuable addition to the organization. She hadn’t received any assignments as of yet, as just getting used to the place and the policies and procedures would take some time. The first three weeks were mostly familiarization briefings plus the standard updates all the folks who needed to know received.
There was one thing that bothered her, and that was because of her facility with Arabic and her appearance, she would be a natural to be sent to Africa, the place she had not too long ago returned from. She would really prefer not to go back there very soon. She enjoyed being able to take a nightly shower.
The quiet ding on her computer let her know she had a message. Changing screens, she saw that her division head wanted to see her. Jake Axelroth was a retired general who rather quickly slid into his current position as Division Director. He’d been one of those who had interviewed her when she made her first trip there many months before. She had filed her separation papers and was basically waiting for the Court Martial proceeding to begin. As things worked out, the trial was before her separation date. They probably would have delayed her separation if necessary, but that was moot
Axelroth’s receptionist waved to the open door of the inner office. Anita nodded and entered the hallowed interior. She was surprised to see her father sitting in one of the chairs in front of the mahogany edifice.
“Have a seat, Anita.”
“Yes Sir.” Anita had to suppress the urge to salute.
“Your father and I have been talking about a little problem we have south of here. I was wondering how proficient you are with your mother’s native tongue?”
Anita was taken aback a bit. She searched through her language files, and there it was. “Mwen se yon ti kras soti nan pratik, men mwen ka ratrape byen vit.”
“What in the world did she say?” Jake asked her father.
“I believe she said she was a bit out of practice, but could probably get up to speed fairly quickly. I had to learn what I could for my self-protection. Anita could speak it before she was four.”
“Anita, do you know who Tommaso Costa is?”
“Wasn’t he one of those drug lords who filled in the niche after El Chapo was taken down?”
“That would be the one; however, he has expanded into many other fields besides drugs. He is very big in human trafficking, arms dealing, prostitution, money laundering, etc. You name it. If it’s illegal, he probably has a finger in the pie.”
He pushed a button and the office door closed silently. A screen dropped from the ceiling and a ceiling mounted projector came to life.
“When El Chapo’s regime collapsed along with several other and their successors, Costa moved a major portion of his operation from Sicily to Haiti. Here’s some recent satellite imagery.
“The compound as you can see is mostly surrounded by walls. They are substantial and held up very well during that big quake. This belonged to one of Duvalier’s cronies at one time, but most of it dates from the late 17th and early 18th centuries. On the sea side, the cliff is about 30 meters high. There is a modern stairway and an elevator that go down to the modern dock, his yacht and several other boats. The boats and the yacht are heavily armed. The word among the local fishermen and others is you don’t want to get within three miles of the place or he will ask you to leave. If you don’t do it quickly, they will fire a 50 caliber across your bow. If that doesn’t get your attention, they will sink you.”
“What’s that area to the east of the buildings?”
“That’s the old cemetery. The chapel is that largest structure closest to it. Costa is a devout Catholic, and holds services there every Sunday. I imagine he gets absolution for all his sins so he can start out fresh on Mondays. You can see how he built part of the nine-hole golf course around it. It could be quite the tourist spot, but it’s not.”
“I don’t imagine you brought me in here for a slide show. I have a feeling, but what do you want me to do?”
“We want to take him down. We want you to get inside, find out what we need to know, so that we can destroy him and his organization.”
“Why not just bomb the place and be over with it?”
“Over the years, he has kidnapped or bought hundreds of young women to keep his men happy. Currently, there are about a hundred fifty young women, and boys, in there for the pleasure of his soldiers. We want to avoid killing or injuring them if at all possible. We also do not want to piss off the Haitian government too much”
“Jesus, this sounds too damn familiar. I just went all through that a year ago.”
So Anita’s first assignment will be to infiltrate a notorious drug lord’s operation in Haiti. She does have an advantage. She should be able to convince just about anyone that she is Haitian. But how to get her in there?.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
One thing we learn about Anita is that she never turns down a challenge. Her assignment will be complicated and preparation for it will take several months. Soon, she is ready, and they work to insert her into Haiti as a native Haitian. She is going to be a cook, and what better way to get prepared other than go to work in a restaurant.
“If you were still in the Army,” her father asked, “would you still go back if it came up?”
“Of course I would. I’m not saying I’m unhappy with the assignment. It’s just that the situation is similar in many ways. I guess many of those big time mobsters get off on the same thing.
“What do you have in mind? You know I don’t speak Italian.”
“That’s not a problem,” Jake said. “At least I don’t think it is. We’ve set you up with the DLI (Defense Language Institute) just down the street across from Reagan. If I remember, during your interview process you essentially aced the Arabic, French, and Spanish proficiency exams. They have someone down there who will immerse you in Italian. You don’t have to speak Italian, just understand it. We’d prefer if they just thought you spoke Haitian Creole and maybe a bit of French. A little knowledge of English wouldn’t hurt; after all, with the tourist trade being what it is, I imagine many of the vendors speak a little.
“There was one other qualification that none of our other agents could fulfill. It seems that Costa is a gourmet, or at least he thinks he is. He is very fond of the Haitian cuisine among other things, and spends a lot of time sampling the local establishments. He’s made it known that he is looking for an excellent cook. According to your father, you are that cook.
“We really want to get that SOB, and we want as little collateral damage as possible. If we can get you inside, I think we have a chance.”
Anita paused for a moment before answering. “This sounds like an interesting challenge. If I am able to get inside, who are the people I’m going to have to deal with?”
“Glad you asked,” Jake said as he clicked to the next slide. “This is Tommaso Costa. As you can see, there is nothing particularly notable about his appearance. He does like Cuban cigars and willing women. They have to be white and very willing.”
“Slime ball,” Anita muttered.
“This is Marietta Costa, Tommaso’s wife. She’s not a natural blonde in case you’re wondering. They don’t sleep together. She is rather ravenous, and swings both ways. Please excuse me.”
“No offense taken. She’s definitely past her prime, but probably has no trouble finding satisfaction from the willing.”
“That’s what our reports say.”
“Do you want me …?” Anita asked.
“Anita, we expect you to be a professional; however, we can’t tell you what to do or not to do. You are very intelligent and resourceful. We expect you to do what you feel is necessary.”
Jake went to the next image. “This is Eleonora Costa, Tommaso and Marietta’s daughter.”
Anita looked at the attractive brunette. There was an appearance of self-confidence and wisdom about her, but there was something else.
“She is being groomed to take over the operation someday. She is US educated and speaks English fluently as do most of the higher ups in the organization. Allegedly. She is supposed to marry the gentleman in the next picture and help keep the organization solidified.
“This is Pietro, Peter, Mongini, son of Adolpho Mongini who is the head of security. He is also US educated. Peter is supposedly being groomed to take over the security position when his father retires. He received a degree in fine art’s. He also has a degree in kinesiology, and several black belts in the self-defense arts. He is supposed to be very good. ”
Anita stared at the photo of a rather androgynous looking young man. Comparing him to the others around him, he might have been around five seven or five eight. He wasn’t slight of build, but there was just something about him. He wore his hair in a man bun. The way he held his cup of what she assumed to be coffee seemed to be a bit incongruous.
“This is Adolpho Mongini, father of Peter. Obviously Peter did not inherit his father’s looks. I had a picture of his mother somewhere, but she’s long gone. He definitely favored her side of the family.
“This is Paolo Medini. I guess we could call him the consigliore of the organization. He is well educated, very intelligent, and is probably the glue that holds the outfit together. He has put away millions into several different off-shore accounts. He could walk away tomorrow and never have to worry about a thing.
“Luigi Bottardi is sort of a gofer and triggerman. He has probably single handedly executed more than a hundred of the outfit’s enemies.
“Any questions?”
“May I have a copy of that material?”
“Certainly, but it can’t leave the building.”
“I understand.”
“Suppose I get inside this place, how do I communicate with you?”
“Only the upper echelon are allowed to have cell phones inside the compound. If you do get in, they will search your personal belongings very thoroughly. The Haitians are quite religious. Costa would expect you to be the same.”
Jake paused for a moment as he pulled a box from one of the upper drawers of his desk. “This cross is essentially a cell phone, but it operates only on one sending frequency and one receiving frequency. Turn the ring at the top and it becomes a camera. There will always be a ship or boat within range that will relay any message to or from you to headquarters. I’ll have “Q” show you how it works.”
Anita laughed out loud. “Tell me you’re joking. “Q”, you’d think this was a James Bond movie.”
“Well he likes that name. He feels it’s better than ‘Quartermaster’, and it gives his ego a bit of a boost. Seriously, he is an exceptional talent, and he’s never let us down. Quite frankly, the man is a genius.”
“What if I have problems and can’t get in touch with you?” Anita asked.
“We have some people in the area that you can contact. “Q” will show you how to contact them if there is an emergency. Here’re their pictures. The big guy is Mike Donatella. He operates a small sports fishing fleet and also leases out a couple of yachts. His wife is Ashley Finlayson Donatella. She operates a major orphanage run by the Catholic Church. She’s a nurse, and a very good one.”
“Dad, she looks a lot like Leslie.
“Donatella? That name’s familiar to me. Wasn’t there a mobster by the name of Donatella?”
“Yeah, that’s his dad. He’s retired now. Went straight some years ago. Ashley’s father is Sean Finlayson. He ran the Irish mob in Boston. He’s gone straight too. The two families shut down all their questionable activities some time ago. We didn’t see any point in pursuing them. They never had anyone killed. Really, as crooks go, they weren’t much of a problem. Donatella’s enforcer was a bit of a problem, but when his son was killed he retired to Florida. He lives in the Villages, and has been a model citizen. The place is like a minimum security prison in many ways. They have their own watchers down there. If he steps out of line, Florida can have him.
“Any other questions?”
“Nope. Let’s get started. I’ve been sitting on my butt too long as it is.”
Like fine wine some things take time. Anita enjoyed her language training; although it could be frustrating at times. The concentration for her training had been on developing her comprehension of the Italian language; not too much on her speaking skills. That, however, was not a problem. After 90 days, the instructor, admitted she was probably the best student she’d ever had. Her fluency in Spanish and French had obviously been a great benefit.
Now it was time for the next step. She would be in Port au Prince in a week. The whole reason she was picked for the assignment was her familiarity with the local language and with the Island. She had been to Haiti a half dozen times with her parents. The last time had been just months before her mother had died. This time the trip would be a bit different, this was business.
They brought her into the harbor in a non-descript trawler late at night, and transferred her to a yacht owned by the Donatellas. The trawler immediately returned to sea. The Donatellas were there to meet her as she came on board. Ashley was carrying a baby in a sling. The baby was obviously mixed race. Ashley obviously saw Anita’s reaction.
“Unfortunately, I am not able to have children, but there are so many abandoned and orphaned children here that we have brought several into our home, and fortunately found homes for many others. We thought it best not to bring our older children tonight. Hopefully, there will be a time when you get to meet all of them. My aunt is babysitting tonight.”
“Anita,” Mike interjected, “we have been thoroughly briefed on what it going on. It is a bit ironic that our parents used to be involved in some less than above board operations; however, they never dealt in what Costa has been involved in. Dad and Aunt Trina know what’s going on, and Dad has no mixed feelings about taking Costa down. Costa tried to frame Ashley’s dad so he could take over the Boston operation. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
“Okay, the Captain’s Cabin has been prepared for you. There’s plenty of food in the larder. The satellite TV works just fine. If you need us, contact us on the ship’s phone. Your phone should have no record of our numbers. I’m sure Costa will have yours examined in great detail if you manage to get inside. Giuseppe and Ruggeri will come on board tomorrow to do some maintenance. They will leave you alone. They know what’s going on to a certain degree, and they are eminently trustworthy.”
The biggest problem now was to get Anita and Costa introduced. There had to be a slight change of plans as the restaurant where she was supposed to be employed as chef had burned to the ground the week before. Now they would have to find another restaurant that Costa frequented where the ownership would allow Anita to come in as a chef. Costa had patronized several restaurants over the years, but the one that had burned to the ground had been his favorite. Now they would have to get her into the kitchen of a restaurant where Costa would shift his patronage.
The second most favorite restaurant was Quartier Latin. It was a bit more than four miles out of the city in Pétionville to the southeast of the main city; however, it was on the route from Costa’s compound. After a substantial bribe, the head chef and restaurant manager at least acquiesced to the point of allowing Anita a chance to show her stuff in his kitchen. By this time, Anita had been moved to an efficiency apartment on the outskirts of Port au Prince. It was much nicer in the inside than it appeared on the outside. The agency had equipped it with everything she needed. Her last name as far as anyone in the area knew was Dangervil.
“So, what languages do you speak,” Rene Portier, the restaurant manager asked. “Hopefully you speak something besides English.”
“My mother was born here,” she answered in French. “I can get by in English, Spanish and Creole.”
“C’est bon. Now show me what you can do. We open in an hour.”
Taking stock of what was available, Anita decided to fix one of her father’s favorite dishes - Poulet Aux Noix (chicken and cashew nuts). She found fresh chicken, tomatoes, the appropriate spices and onions. She quickly put together a sauce, she would have loved to have had more time, and mixed in the chucks of chicken she’d been preparing at the same time. Fortunately, there were plenty of unsalted cashews to add to the mixture. She topped the dish with sliced fresh onion.
“You’re too slow.”
“Granted, but I didn’t know where anything was.
“Why don’t you taste it and see if it meets your approval?”
Rene took a bite, savoring the chunk of freshly cooked chicken. It might have been a bit too hot, but he went back for a second bite. He let it cool before depositing it in his mouth. “Excellent, can you do Griyo?”
“Certainly, my mother taught me well.”
“You’re hired. Here’s our menu. Learn it. You’ll be working with our head chef so you can learn the little nuances of our menu. That was very good,” he said while taking another bite.
Now, all they need to do is to get Anita to meet Costa and his group. She does, and makes a great impression with several in his group. Peter Mongini’s reaction to seeing her is a bit interesting, or is it just her imagination?
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Anita takes a cook’s tour of the Costa compound. She very quickly finds out Marietta’s intentions. Of course she accepts the job.
Costa showed up with his entourage two weeks later. By this time Anita and the head chef were on good terms. They would talk mostly in Creole, something that Rene didn’t understand more than a few words of. Anita assured the chef she was not after his job. She was just thinking of opening a restaurant elsewhere on the island, and wanted to polish her skills. That really wasn’t far from the truth.
“Costa likes to praise the chef if the meal is especially good,” Rene said. “He will call for the chef to come out if the chef isn’t already out greeting the diners. There is usually a very large tip for the chef separate from the tips to the other staff.”
Anita got a good look at the group as they were seated at what was obviously their special table. It had been marked ‘reserved’ for several hours. The bar was also obviously aware of their pending arrival as several ice filled buckets of pinot Grigio and prosecco were immediately brought to the table.
The order came in rather quickly: two orders of Griyo, fried pork with an assortment of fresh vegetable; two orders of Lanbi Boukannen, Woma Boukannen, grilled conch, grilled lobster, and two orders of Tassot/Taso, dried fried meat. The first course was pretty much the normal selection of salads and seafood cocktails. Anita didn’t have to worry about those. Samuel, the actual chef assisted, but it was Anita’s project.
Meanwhile, the first two bottles of wine were quickly consumed, and immediately replaced. The ladies and one of the men stayed with the prosecco, the other three men changed to a pinot noir. The six of them got a bit louder as the evening progressed, but quieted down a little as Anita helped the wait staff present the main courses. She quickly identified each member of the party. Tommaso Costa and his wife, Marietta, sat at opposite ends of the table. Eleonora Costa and Peter Mongini were side by side on one side of the table, and Paolo Medini and Adolpho Mongini sat on the other side. Anita’s assessment of Peter Mongini had been pretty accurate. He was the shortest one of the group; probably about five-eight. She could also see that he was quite fit in appearance. Eleonora Costa spent more time talking to others at the table than to Peter. Neither seemed to be paying much attention to the other. His eyes caught Anita’s once, but then quickly moved on. Anita retreated to the kitchen.
“Anita, Costa wants to talk with you,” Rene approached her in the kitchen. “I think you impressed all of them.”
Anita, with a bit of trepidation, followed Rene to the table. She stopped a bit behind and to one side. “Monsieur Costa, this is Anita Dangervil. She has been honing her skills with us for several weeks. She desires to open a restaurant in her home town far to the northeast. She has been a great help. Her mother taught her well.
“Anita, this is Signore Costa. He wants to tell you something.”
“Parli italiano?”
Anita turned to Rene with a confused look.
“He wanted to know if you spoke Italian.” He turned to Costa.
“She speaks French quite well as she does Creole. She knows a little Spanish and English.”
“Well, I guess it will have to be French or English, then.”
“Mademoiselle, how would you like to come to work for my family? We have other cooks who cook for the men, but they cannot cook like you do. What do you think?”
Anita tried to give a look of timidity while looking at Rene.
“Tommaso,” Marietta said from the other end of the table, “you’re scaring her.
“Come here, child. Let me look at you.”
Anita timidly approached Marietta while Marietta scanned her from bottom to top and top to bottom. Anita noticed she had slightly opened her lips and was running the tip of her tongue over them. The implication was not missed by Anita.
“My goodness, you are a tall one. May I ask how tall you are?”
“One hundred eighty-five centimeters, Madam.”
“Do you have a family, any children?”
“No Madam, no children. My parents were killed in an earthquake many years ago.”
“How about a boyfriend or husband?”
“No Madam, no one.”
“Tommaso,” she said in Italian, “I want her. Make her an offer she can’t refuse.”
“Yes, dear,” he replied in Italian.
“Mademoiselle Dangervil, my wife would like you to become our cook. You must think about it. The pay will be very good. You will have your own suite with all the amenities. We live in a secure environment, and there are some strict rules; however, you will get Mondays and Tuesdays off to go to town or elsewhere if you wish.”
“I don’t know, Monsieur, I am just a poor black girl from the hills. You are a very important man. I can see that.”
Costa handed five $100 bills to her. “This is to thank you for the most wonderful meal I’ve had in a long time. Please think about it. Someone will call you later this week.”
As the Costas and associates left, Anita could hear Tommaso and Marietta arguing.
“I told you I want her. If you scared her away, I’ll never forgive you.”
“Would that make things any different than they are now?” he replied not too quietly.
As they passed the staff holding the doors for them, Peter Mongini looked back at Anita as if he were appraising her. He had a very nice smile.
***
“I think I’m in,” Anita said over her secure line. “There were several factors in my favor. They all liked my cooking and Marietta wants my bod. Apparently, Costa puts up with her desires. I’ll have to see where that goes.”
“Just be careful, Anita. We just need to know his plans, when he will be vulnerable. If things go sour, we can get rescue craft there within an hour.”
“I seriously doubt that. It’s what, 250 miles to Gitmo.”
“We’ll have ships off the south coast no more than 50 miles away. Costa has not shown a history of being concerned about the US Navy. We’ll have someone there. You can count on that.”
“We really don’t have an idea what we’re up against. This may be over quickly, or it may take months. We’re just going to have to play it by ear.
“Is my father there? May I talk to him?”
“Certainly, he’s been listening.”
“I know that. Would you turn off the speaker?”
An audible click and the lack of background noise let her know the speaker was off.
“Hi, Daddy, how’s Leslie doing?”
“Great, so’s your little brother. It won’t be long before he makes his appearance. We’ve already agreed that we are going to try to make a little sister for you.”
“Well, let’s get everyone through the current ordeal, first. I’ll be so excited to see him when this is all over.”
“Just be careful, baby.”
“I won’t be the baby for too much longer. Hug Leslie for me. Love you, bye.
“Bye.”
***
The phone call she expected never came. Instead, there was a knock on the door shortly after she started breakfast on Monday morning. She had planned to take the day off after a very busy weekend.
“One moment,” she said in French.
She fastened her robe around her, and opened her phone to get the feed from the security camera mounted in the hall. It was Peter Mongini. At first, she thought about not opening the door, but after checking the other cameras, she realized he was alone. A lone Mercedes sedan was parked on the street. In spite of what Mongini’s reputation was as a martial artist, Anita was pretty sure she could handle him. She opened the door.
“Oui?”
“Mademoiselle, Signore Costa would like to talk to you about future employment. He asked me to take you to the estate.”
“Oh!’
“He asked me to come alone. He doesn’t want to intimidate you; however, he is not one who takes disappointment very well.”
“Perhaps then, I should come. Would you please wait outside so that I might get dressed?”
“Certainement.”
She quickly dressed, and then checked out everything to make sure there was nothing there that would tip anyone off about her true mission. She sent an email and shut down the computer. It would be safe. The silent security system was armed and ready to record if necessary. She walked through a mist of Channel and checked herself out in the mirror. Her shorts and blouse brought attention to her very fit body and long legs. Now, to find out whom I am seducing she thought as she made her way down the stairs to the Mercedes waiting for her.
The route to the coast had been easy for her to find on one of the popular websites. The preferred route would take them over the mountains on roads that would be considered cow paths in the US. The predicted time was a bit over three hours. That meant for the 70 kilometer route they would be averaging only 20 kilometers an hour, or less than 15 miles an hour. It was going to be a long ride. She knew it was a good thing that she didn’t get carsick.
Peter had left the engine running and the car was pleasantly cool inside. He had been waiting at the passenger door for her. The first part of the trip took them through the suburbs away from the tent villages. Still, it was difficult to get away from the smell, even in the air conditioned car. Finally, they were away from the populated areas and entered the denuded mountains. There was nothing tropical looking about them.
“You speak excellent French, Anita.”
“Why shouldn’t I. It is my second language.”
“It’s not like the French I hear around here. It is almost too formal.”
“Ah, a bad habit I acquired in France. I went to cooking school there for two years.
“I must say your French is very good, too, for an Italian.”
“Touché. What else do you speak, may I ask?
“A little English, a bit more Spanish, and my native tongue, Creole.”
“That should be very helpful. Some of our men are Caribbean. Others are from this island.”
They spent most of the trip in silence. There wasn’t any way that the big sedan go much faster than the predicted time from the computer. It was about an hour into the trip when her phone gave a silent vibration. Suspicions confirmed, she’d just have to wait until she returned to see whom her visitors were.
She’d caught sight of the Caribbean several times as the car crested a ridge. Now, for the first time it was spread out in front of them. They turned along the shore, and in another five minutes they arrived in front of a massive steel gate at the point where the short drive met the massive limestone walls. This wasn’t your nice wrought iron variety garden gate. A darkened window had obviously been added in recent history. It was set in concrete and was most certainly bullet proof. The gate slowly opened; the steel wheels traveled along a concrete way. The wall had to be eight feet thick at the base while it tapered slightly as it rose to about 25 feet. The assessment she had been given was right on the mark.
The guard at the gate took her phone. Peter assured her she could have it when she left.
The place was huge; in excess of 300 acres. The property was wider than it was deep, and the wall followed the terrain up and down. Several small gullies penetrated the wall; however, she’d been assured those points were as impenetrable as the rest of the wall. Peter drove her to the front of the large French Colonial mansion. She could see where repairs had been made to the stone walls where it had been damaged by the massive earthquake decades before. There had been several since then, including the one that had killed her fictitious parents. Several out buildings were located around the main building that were contemporaneous to it. They had obviously been modernized. Beyond the main buildings were several low buildings that could easily have been taken from a motor court. Those had to be the barracks occupied by the men and their concubines. A larger building amidst them was obviously the chow hall. She could see the kitchen vents. Then there was the rather nice helicopter in a hangar beyond the chow hall.
“Signore and Signora Costa are waiting for you. Please follow me.” Peter led her up the fan shaped stairway to the front door that might have seemed a bit conservative when taking in the opulence of the place. The door opened into a large foyer or entry room with doors leading in all directions. She followed Peter to mahogany paneled library where Tommaso and Marietta were sipping what appeared to be glasses of wine. There were several other glasses and chilled bottles.
Tommaso rose to greet her. “Come in, Mademoiselle Dangervil and please have a seat. Would you like some wine?”
“Yes, please.”
“Peter, pour the lady a glass.” He turned to Anita, “Forgive me, I forgot to ask. Would you like: white or red? We have an excellent Pinot Grigio or a very mellow Pinot Noir.”
“The Pinot Grigio would be fine.”
“Please sit by me,” Marietta said while patting the space next no her. “I won’t bite.”
I wouldn’t bet on it, Anita said to herself. She sat next to Marietta while Peter handed her a glass of what proved to be a very pleasant Pinot Grigio. Tommaso Costa and Peter remained standing.
“Mademoiselle, our offer still stands. We will pay you €1000 a week. You will cook primarily for my family and close associates. Normally, that will be four to six people for dinner. There will not be so many for breakfast or the mid-day meal. We do have a larger number of guests on the weekends. There are times when we have more important guests. For those times you will have help from the dining hall.
“Any questions so far?”
“Do I have an assistant?”
“Certainly, you will have Marie Vasquez for all meals. There are others who may help if the need arises.”
“May I see what there is to work with?”
“Certainement.”
“Tommaso, I would like to show her around the house. Peter can show her around the compound.” Marietta was smiling at Anita when she said it.
“Come Dear, I think you will like what I have to show you.” Marietta took her hand and led her to a long hall that turned out to be a rather large butler’s pantry. A door led to the right where Anita caught a glimpse of an opulent dining room. It could probably comfortably seat twenty or a few more.
From there they entered a spacious kitchen. It took Anita only seconds to take it all in. If she would ever be able to build the kitchen she wanted, this one was a close second. The massive Vulcan stove was perfect. The large walk-in refrigerator and freezers were very impressive. The stacked ovens would be perfect for larger meals as would the two microwaves. Just off the kitchen was a room the size of full bathroom. It was the wine cellar and probably held over a thousand bottles of some of the finest vintages. Within was a separate refrigerator for chilling those wines that should be chilled before serving. She would find that the liquor cabinet adjoining the casual living area was equally impressive.
“You will have plenty of time to familiarize yourself with all of this later on.
“Oh, here’s Maria. She speaks mostly Spanish. Since you speak some Spanish, that should be good enough. She is very good and will not give you any trouble.”
Anita looked at the shy dark haired girl who was probably about four or five months pregnant. She couldn’t have been much more than 16.
“Como esta?”
“Estoy muy bien, gracias,” María said with a little curtsey.
“Maria belongs to one of our men who seems to have fallen in love with her. We had a very nice wedding in the chapel a few months ago. She has the best medical attention.
“Come on, I need to show you where you will live. I think you will like it.”
Immediately outside the kitchen was a small area for refuse; beyond, a wall and an unsecured gate. Marietta grasped her hand and pulled her to a small bungalow. The building was probably original to the estate, or very close to it. Like the other older buildings the exterior was made of the yellowing limestone blocks; just on a smaller scale than the main building and wall.
The interior was very up to date; however, there was no kitchen, just a small counter with a coffee machine and a small microwave. A small refrigerator sat below the counter. If the eating area was spare, the bathroom made up for it. A large multi nozzle shower was in one corner, and next to that was a large tub with all the bells and whistles. The WC was enclosed. The bedroom was just as opulent. The king sized bed obviously freshly made up looked very inviting.
Back to the living area, Anita took in the large entertainment system. “This is cool, and so is the atmosphere in here. If I come, may I bring my computer?”
“Certainly; however, access is controlled for the sake of security. You can get just about anything you want on the television. We get all the major US, European, and Latin American Channels. We get our electricity from Haiti; however, we have a generator that will keep everything running in the event of a power outage. All our utilities are underground.
“So what do you think?”
“It’s very nice. I like it.”
“I do have a question. I think I know a bit about you.”
“Oui?”
“Would you be offended if I said I think you are a very attractive woman?”
“Of course not, you just said it.”
“I find you very exciting. I know that I am old, not as beautiful as I once was, but do you find me attractive enough that you might want to spend some time with me in private?”
Here goes everything, Anita thought. She towered over the much shorter woman. She pulled her to her and gently kissed her fully on the lips. She let the kiss linger for a long time. Marietta moaned slightly as her knees buckled. Anita let her break the kiss.
“Now is not the time, but I think I know your answer. My daughter said she would be interested, too, if you didn’t mind. It can get lonely out here.”
“Oh, I thought she and Peter ….”
“Oh, they are, but that’s just for the sake of the organization. We want to keep this a family operation. She will bear children to help things along, and eventually she and Peter will take over everything. Unfortunately, after Eleonora I was never able to conceive, or we might have had a son to take things over. There has to be a man in charge for appearances sake.”
“It will be getting dark soon, and it’s a long drive back to the city.”
“Don’t worry about it. We will fly you back in our helicopter. We seldom drive. It takes far too long. When business requires us to travel we take our jet which is at the airport. Have dinner with us. One of our other cooks will fix dinner for us. I am so looking forward to your working here.”
“I think I will like that.”
Peter gives Anita a fairly detailed excursion of the compound. When they return Anita fixes lunch for them. Afterwards Peter says he has some more things to tell in her cottage. Anita is shocked by his revelations, but then again, maybe she isn’t.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Peter takes Anita on an extended tour of the compound. She is a bit surprised about his candor. She has a nice dinner with the Costas and others before she is flown back to Port au Prince. She surveys what was done at her flat while she was gone. It does not appear that they found anything. Then it hits her. She had made a big mistake. Did they notice?
Peter was waiting for her at the front of the manor house. The golf cart made a lot of sense due to the size of the place. They headed to the west, away from the house and the other buildings. The chapel looked pretty much like she expected it to look; perhaps a bit more ornate. ‘1720’ stood out, chiseled in the corner stone.
“This is one of the newer estates on the Island. This was built after the French took over this end. Most here haven’t paid much attention to what happened here over the last three or four hundred years.”
“What exactly do they do here?” Anita asked.
“If I told you, I would probably have to kill you,” Peter replied.
“Oh.”
“Do you mean you haven’t figured it out?”
“Drugs?”
“Yeah, that and a lot of other stuff.”
“So, who’s buried in that huge crypt?”
“No one currently.”
Anita decided that she’d better let the current direction of the conversation come to an end. She might pursue it later. She was a bit surprised about Peter’s candor. They followed the perimeter of the property until they came to the opening to the small bay below. A large hoist was lowering a pallet of shrink wrapped packages to the dock. Obviously, they were more than the small passenger elevator was capable of handling. A rather large yacht was being loaded with provisions, not the palletized items being lowered to the dock. Those were being loaded onto what looked like a small submarine on the other side of the dock.
“The entrance to the stairs and elevator are electronically controlled. They won’t operate unless security allows it. Things go on here 24 hours, seven days a week. Those cameras see everything.”
“I think I understand.”
“Let’s move on. Most of the men and women live in this area,” Peter said pointing to the rows of buildings that looked like a motel. “Usually only about half the men are here at any one time.”
“There are two helicopters. They are pretty long range. One is in Venezuela at the moment. This one will take you back to the port tonight.
“I wish you wouldn’t take this job, Anita, but I think it’s already gone too far. Just be careful, very careful.”
They traveled silently for a while Anita took in the soccer field and baseball diamond. A nine-hole golf course followed the path. There was probably room for another nine. A second lake similar in size to a lake by the cemetery was beyond the athletic fields. Several people were fishing.
They finally arrived back at the main house. “How far around is it?” Anita asked.
“It is 2.5 kilometers. The men have to run it every morning. I usually run with them.”
“Would you mind if I joined you? I like to keep in shape. At one time I thought about trying out for our Olympic team, but I had too much going on to train properly.”
“What did you do?”
“Pentathlon and 10,000 meters.”
“Impressionnant!”
Marietta and Eleonora were waiting for them at the top of the stairs. Eleonora greeted Peter with a kiss that appeared to be more of a formality than a sign of affection.
“How did you like your tour, dear?” Marietta asked.
“Very nice, I think I will like it here.”
“I’m sure you will. Why don’t you freshen up in your new home. Dinner will be at seven. We’ll have cocktails at 6:30.”
Anita turned to Peter, “Thank you for the very interesting tour. I am looking forward to running with you in the mornings.”
It only took a glance to realize Eleonora was not happy about the comment. “I think I can find the way to the cottage. I will see you at 6:30.”
Eleonora’s voice followed Anita as she went down the hall. She was shouting in Italian. “What did she mean she’ll be running with you in the morning?”
“She’s an athlete. She likes to run.”
“Well, don’t you even think ….”
Sounds like trouble in paradise, Anita thought as she entered the place she knew would be her home for an undetermined time. She decided to take a shower even though she hadn’t exerted herself over the last couple of hours. Fresh linens were in place. She hadn’t thought about it before, but wondered about linen and laundry service. There weren’t any laundry facilities in the cottage, and it wouldn’t be like she would be able to run down to the closest laundromat because there wasn’t one until one arrived at Port au Prince.
The shower met her expectations and more. Like a five star hotel everything she needed was there for her. They might not have been her brands, but everything was top of the line. She was drying her hair with the outstanding hair dryer when she heard the door chime. Wrapping the plush robe around her, she peered through the spy hole. It was Maria.
“Señora, Madam asked for me to give you this skirt. She didn’t want you to be uncomfortable at dinner.”
“Gracias, Maria.”
At least Marietta has good taste, she thought.
Like the dinner at the restaurant, everyone was drinking Italian wine. Although she was offered her choice of drinks, she opted for prosecco, something she hadn’t had very often. Dinner was good, not great. There weren’t any of the touches Anita would have liked to see, and apparently the Costas felt the same way.
“May I ask what happened to your last cook?” Anita asked, realizing she probably shouldn’t have asked.
“She decided not to return after her two days off,” Tommaso replied. “She’d been with us for about a year and we were thinking about letting her go. Her food just didn’t have the je ne sais quoi we were looking for. I think she moved to the Dominican Republic.
“What you showed us the other night at that restaurant was exactly what we were looking for.”
“We really do want you here, Anita,” Marietta added. “We will work together on the menus, but you will be left alone in the kitchen. We expect you to eat dinner with us except when we have the meals with our associates. You will have carte blanche for most of the meals; however, I’m sure there will be special requests.” Marietta’s hand was resting on Anita’s thigh throughout the conversation.
“Would next weekend be too soon for you to start?”
“I don’t think so. I will have to let the restaurant know, although they have known that I would leave. I will also have to let the owners of my flat know that I will be leaving. I’ve already paid through the end of the month.
Dessert was very nice: a choice of gelato and a glass of limoncello. It was close to 10:00 PM when things finally came to close, and Anita was beginning to wonder if she would get her phone back. She thought it best not to ask. They would either return it, or they wouldn’t. That question was answered when Peter handed it to her as she got in the golf cart for the ride to the helicopter that was warming up on the pad in front of the hangar.
“I’ll ride with you. It will take less than 20 minutes to get there. A cab should be there, but if it’s not, I’ll see to it that one gets there and gets you to your flat.”
Anita ducked under the main rotor, although it was several feet over her head. She had recognized the helicopter earlier in the day. It was capable of speeds over 200 mph and a range of more than a thousand miles. It certainly beat the three hour trip it took to get there.
The cab was waiting for them and alongside it was a fuel truck. The chopper pilot shut the chopper down as they got out and made their way to the cab.
“We normally fuel at the estate; however, the fuel truck was delayed. It didn’t make curve going over the mountain. We may have to get another delivery company.”
Looking up at the woman who towered over him, he said, “I had them put my number in your phone. Let me know when are ready to have your items packed. We’ll have someone there. The helicopter will pick you up. Our cab will bring you here.
“I enjoyed giving you the tour today. I guess we’ll see you on Saturday.” He took her hand. “Just be careful, very careful.” He held the door for her, then watched as the cab took her off the tarmac. He shook his head and returned to the chopper which had finished refueling and the pilot was running the engine back up.
Once back in her apartment, Anita .turned on her computer. As near as she could tell nothing had been done to it. Her phone had a ‘bug’ detector app that was neatly hidden. Turning it on, she acted as if she were cleaning up a bit before getting ready for bed. As near as she could tell, the place was bug free, including the computer. If she had found a bug, she would have just carried on as if it weren’t there. She would just have to carry on communications from a different location.
Once satisfied she was bug free, she connected to the server that would have the recording of what had gone on while she was gone. It was all there. Adolpho Mongini and someone she assumed was one of his henchmen carefully went through her dresser, medicine cabinet and cupboards. They attempted to turn on her laptop, but were unable to break in. They checked every nook and cranny, but missed the cameras, that were hidden in the design of the woodwork. They checked all the pockets of her cloths, the inside of the toilet paper spindle, and the inside of the paper towel roll. They checked her spice containers to the extent of shaking them. Finally, they put everything back the way they had found it, or at least pretty close to it. When they left they got in a cab that was probably the same one that had taken her back from the Airport. She would wait until the next day before contacting headquarters.
She had a lengthy conversation with Jake the next morning, before having a talk with her father. She passed on what she could remember including information about the helicopter she’d ridden in. They’d already known about the choppers, but it was good to get the confirmation. She told the restaurant she’d be leaving. By this time Rene wanted her to stay, but he’d known that was not to be.
It was Friday when it hit her. She was thinking about what she’d take on the chopper just in case the truck ran into problems. There really wasn’t much besides her clothes. She would any pack any of her immediate needs in her small carryon. That would be easy to throw on the chopper, and everything else would be there just a few hours later, if that. The helicopter ride several nights before had brought back some memories. She probably had close to a thousand hours as a passenger in her four years in a combat role. Suddenly the hair on the back of her neck started to rise. After the chill passed, the rush of adrenaline figuratively made her body temperature rise 10 degrees.
“You shit! You stupid fucking shit. Jesus Christ, what a God damn idiot!”
Anita discovers that her error was noticed by only one person: Peter. Then she discovers quite a bit more, including that Peter has known who she was all along. And that’s not the only shocker.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Many secrets are found out as Peter and Anita get better acquainted. Things are going to get a bit complicated.
What choice did she have? She could run, but if she did all the work everyone had done would be flushed down the toilet. There was always the chance that her mistakes had been overlooked, but somehow she had trouble believing that. Peter was no idiot. He was well educated, and rather cute in sort of a feminine way. Why would she think that? If he knew what she thought he knew, it was all over before she even started. Still, there was the chance that he hadn’t noticed what she’d done.
No, she was not going to quit now. She might still have a chance to pull this thing off. If she failed, it would probably be over quickly. The only prisoners they took were the young women who were there to keep the men happy. They were probably the lucky ones, she thought. She had trouble imagining what some of those who were sold off to the sex trade were enduring, if they could. She thought back to the previous year when she woke up in the hospital. She knew what had happened to her; every second of it, and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. She remembered thinking that she would just kill herself. As she recovered, her attitude changed to the point where she decided she would hunt each one of them down and kill them with her bare hands. By the time she felt capable of doing that, her four rapists were in jail. That was the best solution. She could start over after the trial, and move on.
Well, here she was moving on, and she’d already shot herself in the foot: maybe worse. She would just have to face the music. Maybe she’d blown it, maybe she hadn’t.
Peter greeted her with the golf cart at the chopper pad. “So, in spite of my warnings, you decided to take the job.”
“Why would I do anything else? I want to open a restaurant, and this will give me the financial strength to do it. Monsieur Costa has given me this opportunity, and I plan to take full advantage of it. What he does here is none of my business. He wants a cook, I will be the best damn cook he ever had.”
“Obviously, I hit a sensitive spot. I’m sorry.”
“No, my fault. It’s my time of the month, and I got a little air sick.”
They traveled the last few hundred yards in silence. He opened the door to the cottage for her. “Your other things will be here in a couple of hours. Cocktails and wine will be at 6:30. Dress is informal.
“I’ll have to take your phone, but it will be returned to you when you leave the estate. You may use the phone that’s here, if necessary. Photographs inside the walls are forbidden. You have unlimited access on the internet, however, it is strictly monitored. Hopefully, your firewalls are sufficient. I wouldn’t go anywhere you don’t want them to know where you are going. As Marietta told you, the television access is almost unlimited. Many of the employees enjoy some of the less than savory channels.
“Laundry and linen service is weekly. If you need something cleaned sooner, just let Maria know.
“Your privacy in this cottage is sacrosanct. What you do outside here is not. You are free to use any of the facilities that any of the other employees use, including the gym. There is some excellent scuba diving around the bay. Costa and his guests frequently use the facilities. Scuba gear is in the shed at the top of the stair. Armando, you will meet him in a day or two, is in charge of the equipment. Costa also takes clients on fishing expeditions.
“I will see you at dinner.”
“Is it too late for lunch?”
“The kitchen is yours. I imagine you can fix just about anything you want.”
“Have you had lunch, yet?”
“No.”
“How about I fix us a couple of sandwiches? We can sit and talk and you can brief me on the rules around here.”
“Okay, I think I’d like that. I will have to take your phone to security. I’ll see you in the kitchen.”
It would probably be another two hours before her goods arrived, so she left things where they were, locked the door behind her, and made her way to the kitchen. All was quiet, but she could hear some music coming from another part of the house. It sounded like opera; at least she thought it was. Opera had never been her thing, and it certainly wouldn’t be something a ‘poor black girl’ from a village north of there would be interested in.
Inside the refrigerator she found part of a large turkey. The container was date marked the day before. She was glad to see that because it meant there was an inventory system. A bowl of hard boiled eggs was also date marked. Goodness, there was fresh lettuce that had to have been flown in. There also were several containers of pickles and olives all neatly labeled.
“May I help you Señora?”
“Why yes, I was going to make sandwiches for Signor Mongini and me. I was looking for some ingredients. Do we have bread?”
“Si, we get fresh bread every day. It is in the pantry.”
“I think I have a lot to learn. Would you please slice some fresh bread for sandwiches while I’m putting the ingredients together.”
She shredded some of the turkey breast in the processor, added mayonnaise, freshly ground celery, dill, chopped onion and parsley. She spread the mixture on the freshly sliced bread, and then added some thinly sliced tomato to top it off. She found two bottles of Peroni in the beer refrigerator. All in all, it made a very nice presentation with a little fresh lettuce with Italian dressing on the side.
“That looks very nice,” Peter said as he approached the table.
“I hope you like it. It’s the first meal I’ve prepared here.”
“This is wonderful. Is this a Haitian recipe?” Peter said after taking a couple of bites.
“Yes, I learned it from my mother many years ago. It was one of my father’s favorites.”
They ate in silence for a while, sipping beer from the ice cold bottles between bites.
“Anita, you’re going to make someone a wonderful wife one of these days.”
“Merci. That will be a long time in the future. I thought I’d found the right one years ago, but things happened.”
Peter turned to Maria, “Maria, please clean up. I need to show Señora Dangervil some things about her cottage.”
“More orientation?” Anita asked.
“You might say so,” Peter responded.
Once back in the cottage, Peter locked the door behind him.
Damn, Anita thought, was she going to have to fend him off. She could probably handle him in spite of his alleged skills. Maybe the smart thing would be to give in. Then she remembered telling him she was having her period, which was the truth.
Then came the first of many shocks she would have that afternoon. He handed her cell phone to her while putting his finger to his lips. He motioned to his ear and pointed around the room.
Oh my god, she thought, he wants me to check for bugs. He must know about me. I was right. I blew my cover.
Anita, turned on her phone and quickly checked the rooms for any bugs or cameras. It was clean.
“I blew it didn’t I,” she said in English. “I realized the other day that I’d probably given myself away when I got on that chopper. A ‘poor little black girl’ from the Haitian hinterlands would never have been so nonchalant getting on a helicopter. So, am I dead meat?”
“Hardly, you’ve been very convincing. Marietta wants you to entertain her, and Eleonora, that bitch, is right in line behind her.”
“Yes, Marietta made her intentions known very early on. She mentioned that Eleonora was also interested. Does that bother you?”
“Not a bit, I know that’s part of your cover. Concerning the helicopter, no one noticed, but I already knew. I knew the first time I saw you in the restaurant.”
“How could you have possibly known? I don’t think I understand,” Anita said, obviously a bit confused.
“Well, I got my undergraduate degree at Austin Peay University. Does that help?”
“So, you found out what I did in Africa?”
“Yes, that and many other things. The medal presentation was on local television. They described what you did in broad terms. You saved a lot of lives that day. Your father must be very proud of you. I’m sure your mother would have been. I did a little research and found a bootleg video of what was left out of what was released to the media. I am rather envious of your skills. One thing though, why did you kill him? He wasn’t going to be able to do anything.”
“I shouldn’t have. He dared me. We went to high school together. He was always bullying me and other gay students. I largely ignored him, but he attacked me one day and I broke his nose. Never had a problem with him after that.”
“Remind me to never piss you off. I’m good, but not nearly as good as you are. Besides, my skills are mainly defensive.”
“You said you knew other things. May I ask what?”
“The court martial: it didn’t get the same media exposure, but a friend in Clarksville told me about it. I was able to get copies of the newspaper articles. She saved them for me. I think those bastards got off pretty lightly, all things considered.”
“I thought about killing them at one time, but decided, I didn’t want to have to go through a trial and spend the rest of my life in prison. I’d let the justice system take care of them.”
“By the way, how many languages do you speak?”
“Arabic, Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, English obviously.”
“What about Italian?”
“My comprehension is very good. I’ve not had much practice in speaking it.”
“Let’s keep it that way. When you are at the table, they will speak mostly French, in deference to you; however, they will, as you’ve noticed, speak Italian if it’s something, they don’t want you to hear. Just keep going the way you have been.”
“So, where does this leave us?” Anita asked. “You don’t seem very concerned about having a spy in your midst.”
“I am very concerned. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Why is that?” Anita suddenly had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“You’re my ticket out of here. If your people can’t shut down this operation, I am going to be stuck in a loveless marriage to a woman I despise, while I am forced to support a business I hate. They want us to have children to carry on the family heritage. I’m not very excited about it, but I suppose I’ll have to give in to her. These are evil people. They murder at will. If you cross them, they have a particularly nasty way of getting rid of you. You asked about the large crypt. That’s the death chamber. They’ll lock you in there, seal the place up, and flood it with nitrogen. They’ll wait a day or so before taking your body way out to sea and feeding it to the sharks.”
“The cook?”
“Yes, they caught her stealing some silver. They just gagged her, tied her up and took her up there late one night. I understand it’s pretty quick.”
“So, you want me to get you out of here. I can’t say that I blame you. This isn’t going to be easy, though. At this time, there’s no real plan. That’s why I’m here. We’re trying to find out what sort of operations are going on and when they might be most vulnerable.”
“I can’t appear to be close to you, but obviously, I am going to do what I can to get away from here, or die trying.
“There is something else you need to know.”
“What might that be?” Anita asked, not sure what to expect.
“There was something about you that got my attention. That has to be obvious. I guess you could say that I became infatuated with you. My heart ached for you when I found out about the rapes. But when I saw you that first night at the restaurant I knew for sure that I loved you. Everything that has happened since then has only reinforced that feeling.
“I want you to look at me,” he said as he stood in front of her and released his hair from the confining man bun. “If you can, I want you to peer into my soul. Can you see the real me?”
She peered into his dark eyes. There were some tears. Then she could see everything. “Oh baby,” she said as she hugged his sobbing body to hers.
Things begin to accelerate in their relationship. Things will not be easy, but they finally get the break Anita was hoping for. Mother nature does them a favor.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
As unexpected as it might have been, Anita and Peter’s romance takes off. They are going to have to be very careful.
“So, what are we going to do?” Anita asked after Peter had his emotions under control. “I never thought I would ever be attracted to a man, especially after what happened. That’s the strangest thing, because I did feel an attraction to you. You carry off your disguise very well. When, I first saw your picture I noticed something about you. You were drinking a cup of coffee at a restaurant, and you were holding the cup in a rather effeminate way.”
“I have to watch that. I’m just more comfortable that way. Mannerisms like that got me in a lot of trouble when I was in boarding school. I was bullied constantly. I hated school in Italy, so they sent me to the US. I found a coach who sympathized with me. He helped me muscle up and taught me how to protect myself. It took a while, but I could finally hold my own. I gained quite a bit of respect, but the inner me never went away. I was just a lot more confident.
“I never came out to anyone except my two friends in Clarksville. I would spend weekends with her and her partner, and they would teach me things. Those were happy times, because I could be comfortable with them.
“It wasn’t a sex thing. I was just their friend, and they were very sympathetic. They obviously knew I was Italian, and that I was very uncomfortable with the macho Italian image. With them, I was just another girl, a friend. I could be myself.”
“That had to be tough. Does anyone here have any idea?”
“Not as far as I know. Eleonora has insisted that we remain pure until the wedding. That wasn’t a difficult decision on my part. Of course remaining pure didn’t include her relationships with several women.”
“Okay, back to the original question. What are we going to do? I have a mission, and that is to help bring the entire Costa organization down. May I count on your help?”
“Absolutely, as I said before, you are my only hope of getting away from here. I will do everything possible to help you without giving us away.”
Marietta made it known several weeks later that she was interested in spending some time with Anita. Tommaso was somewhere in South America, probably working on a cocaine shipment. Maria had gone back to her husband in the compound area. As Anita was turning out the light after making the preparations for the morning meal, Marietta showed up wearing an elaborate robe. She nodded towards the door leading to Anita’s cottage.
Anita thought it best to freshen up before she joined her boss’s wife in bed. It became obvious very quickly that Marietta was starved for love. She let Anita take charge very early on. She was very appreciative of the attention Anita payed to her, and eventually reciprocated.
“Thank you, my dear,” she said as she cuddle closely. “You did not disappoint me. I think I will keep you.” After that, she would return about once a week. There was no question that Tommaso knew what was going on, but with rare exceptions, Marietta would only approach Anita when Tommaso was away on business.
Eleonora was a different matter. She knocked on Anita’s door three nights after Anita and Marietta’s first tryst. At first she tried to give the impression of being a dom, but Anita would have nothing to do with it. She realized rather quickly that Eleonora was putting on an act. It didn’t work. Anita overpowered her rather easily. She wasn’t into the dom/sub thing, but if that’s what it took, then that’s what she’d do.
Anita and Peter would run together almost every morning. They would warm up behind the others who were going through the mandatory fitness program. Anita unintentionally was the ‘rabbit’, and she heard many of the men saying in a joking manner what they would like to do to her if they caught her. None of them actually had an idea what she was capable of. It was June, beginning of the tropical storm season when things took a turn.
The rather ornate cross she wore proved to be a significant asset. She was able to provide updates and a few pictures. Taking pictures was rather risky because it would look like she was warding something off with the cross. But she did manage to get some details about the place out to headquarters. “Q” and his crew’s invention had already proved itself to be very worthy.
Anita found her affection toward Peter to be growing and it was difficult to hide it. She knew it had a lot to do with the ‘hidden’ Peter. Anita didn’t hate men, and never had. She had good male friends throughout school and the military. She did hate rapists and had good reason to.
A tropical storm was brewing east of Martinique, and would soon be entering the Caribbean southeast of Haiti. It was expected to stay south of the island before turning northwest between the Yucatan and Cuba before turning into a hurricane and impacting northern Mexico and southern Texas. The physical conditioning program would normally go on rain or shine. They had started their run even though lightning was flashing just of the coast; however, when lighting hit the far corner of the wall. That ended the program for that morning. The rain came in torrents and the men broke for the barracks. Peter and Anita headed for their respective quarters. At the last second, Anita pulled Peter into her cottage.
“We need to talk.” She started stripping off her outer clothing, not paying much attention to Peter’s discomfort.
“Er, okay.”
“Does Eleonora know how you feel about me? I get the feeling we are not quite as opaque as we think we are.”
“I think she suspects I have feelings for you. She’s hinted at it. I think she’s jealous of you, and I don’t know why. She knows our arrangement is strictly political. There are others out there, but they know her reputation. Besides, her father doesn’t want to bring someone in from another organization.
“Jesus Christ, it’s cold in here.”
“Come here,” Anita said as she turned up the thermostat a bit. She stripped off his soaked clothing, removed her bra and panties, and pulled him into the large shower with her.
“Anita, what …?”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re just girls if it bothers you.”
She soaped him down before asking him to return the favor. He hesitated briefly, before she pulled his hand with the bar of soap to her breast and had him gently pull the bar across her nipples. He became less tentative after a while noting his pale hands in contrast with her mahogany skin. He hesitated a bit at her pubic mound, but she encouraged him downward. It wasn’t long before he was nursing at her beautiful breasts.
Stepping out of the shower she quickly dried as he did the same thing. Then she grabbed his hand pulling him to her king sized bed.
“I guess now’s the time,” she said as she pulled his now warm body to her.
“But, I’ve never ….”
“I haven’t either. At least not when it counts. I think we can do this, and I think we need to find something out. Let’s enjoy the moment.” She pulled him on top of her and he came only seconds after reaching her depths.
“That’s okay. We have more time before we have to get the day started. Let’s enjoy being close while we can.” She pulled him to her like a larger husband would his smaller wife. They kissed and caressed each other. It took a little while but eventually she knew she was ready, and there was no doubt he was.
“I’m on top this time. Let’s see if we can control things a little.” This time it was good, very good.
“Anita, you’ve never made love to a man before, right? What just happened? I don’t think I understand.”
“It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I just looked into those beautiful brown eyes of yours. I looked into your soul. That was all it took.”
That’s when the lights went out. The big generator kicked on for a moment, but the lights kept dimming and brightening. Then they just browned out. Leaving them in the storm darkened early morning. It may not have been a hurricane yet, but it was very windy and the rain was torrential.
“I’d better get my ass in gear. Most everyone is gone, and I’m in charge of security until father gets back.” He put his wet clothes on again, and kissed her before he went out the door.
“My God, what have I done?” Anita said quietly to herself. “You did exactly what you intended to do.” she replied. “And you liked it,” she added.
The lights came on an hour later, but the generator was toast. Anita managed to get a message off through her phone, letting HQ know that the compound was a bit more vulnerable than it had been. The question now was could they get anyone in to repair the generator. The torrential rains had washed out the roads leading to Port au Prince.
They made love again two nights later. They woke early in the morning with her wrapped around him. He quietly slipped back to his quarters.
Tommaso, Marietta, Eleonora, and Adolpho Mongini returned two days later, after the weather had settled a bit. Anita was able to pick on the buzz. Apparently, Costa had secured a billion dollar cocaine deal with a major producer in Colombia. This also entailed some hefty bribes of the local authorities; well hefty in relation to the sad economy of the area. The outfall of all of this was that there was to be a major banquet in a few weeks. Eleonora brought a suggested menu she and her mother had put together. Anita didn’t feel it would be a problem other than they would have to go to Port au Prince for most of the items, and the road was still impassable. The telephone land lines were still out, but cell phone communications was still up, but unreliable.
The second problem was the generator. Costa had some good technicians to take care of the boats, helicopters, communications, and IT; however, the fried generator was beyond their capabilities. The closest distributor was in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic next door, but they had nothing could come close to the 1.5 megawatt generator. The company that made the generator said they would have to send a technician to see what the damage was and what it would take to get it running. Of course the roads were still impassable. There was one bit of good news for Costa. The generator was still under warranty. The company would send their own technicians at their expense. But getting them there would be a different matter.
As the days and weeks passed, Anita discovered more and more how deeply evil Tommaso Costa and his henchmen were. The concubines were confined to the area of the barracks, gymnasium and chow hall. The exceptions were Maria and two other young girls who had the good fortune or misfortune to have married the men they had been assigned to. All three girls were pregnant. The youngest couldn’t have been more than 14; however, that wasn’t that unusual in Haiti.
The first real atrocity Anita witnessed was when one of the older concubines attempted to escape. According to Maria, the young woman had been in trouble before. It was a bit like three strikes and you’re out. They confined her to a cell until the next morning. Then they brought her out so that all the other prisoner could watch her being whipped. The purpose was to intimidate the concubines. It didn’t matter to the young woman. They forcibly marched and dragged her to the crypt, threw her in, locked the door, and then turned on the valve on a nitrogen tank. Some of the young girls were crying as they were marched back to the chow hall to what would me a mostly uneaten breakfast. The woman’s body was taken out to sea the next day.
Anita noticed that day that there were two young teenaged boys among the concubines.
The team from the generator manufacturer shows up to see if they can fix it; however, they are there to fix far more than that.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
A team of three men arrive from the manufacturer of the generator, only they are not. There is going to be a major celebration put on by Costa. Costa closed a billion dollar deal, and he’s bringing his customers in for a very big part.
The team of three men from the generator company in the US arrived in Port au Prince by air, and Adolpho Mongini was there to greet them. After brief introductions and handshakes, Adolpho took them to the far side of the airport where one of Costa’s helicopters would take them to the compound.
“You don’t have very much equipment with you,” Adolpho asked as they loaded their equipment and luggage.
“If it’s just a minor problem, we might be able to fix it,” Randy Sullivan, the head engineer said. “We really don’t know what’s wrong with it. If it’s what I’m hoping it’s not, we will have to get some parts flown down here. Most of what we have is just diagnostic equipment. It might take us a day or two to figure out what’s wrong. Once we know, it will take two days to get the parts down here and depending on what we need to do, it might take up to a week to fix it. We’ll just have to see.
Anita heard the helicopter approaching and could see it landing in front of the hangar. Tommaso and Peter were there to greet them. She was fully aware of who they were. Randy Sullivan was an electrical engineer who oversaw the operation of the agency’s support equipment; in particular, the various standby power systems the agency had in their facilities around the world. Don Clark was an EE who worked for him. The third person was Robert Okoye.
When Anita told them about the problem, Randy immediately got in contact with the generator company letting them know, at very high levels, what the problem was. Randy was there the next day in a vacant office to handle all the communications with Costa’s organization. Other than the size, Costa’s generator was essentially the same as most of those Randy had under his control. He knew them like the back of his hand.
They really weren’t much closer to a conclusion for their mission, but now they had three more people on the site, and if they played their cards right they would be able to gather a great deal of intelligence before they decided to pull the trigger.
Costa left it to Peter to bring the men up to their quarters. They would have a larger cottage that sat between Peter’s cottage and Anita’s. That might be to their advantage, and then again, it might not. They were brought up in three golf carts. Randy rode with Luigi Bottardi who was a bit of a jack of all trades, gofer, and executioner. Don Clark rode with Federico Bellini, another gunman. Lastly, Robert Okoye rode with Peter. Peter deliberately lagged behind.
“Anita will be happy to see you, sir,” Peter said when he knew they were out of hearing range.
“I don’t think I understand,” Robert said feigning ignorance.
“I went to Austin Peay. I was there when she got the medal for heroism. I also know about the court martial. I recognized Anita when I first saw her at the restaurant. I saw your picture in the newspaper articles about both events.
“I think you need to know several things about me. First of all, I am very much in love with your daughter.”
“That could be difficult,” Robert said in a somewhat subdued voice.
“I understand; however, she loves me.”
“I find that very difficult to believe. After all, she’s ….”
“I know she’s gay. That’s not a problem. It seems I have this little problem. It seems I was born in the wrong body.”
“I see,” Robert said.
“I’m hoping that you can get me out of here. I hate this place. I hate these people and what they do. If you can get me out of here I will gladly be a witness. I will tell you everything I know. That being said, if they find out about me, they will kill me. They will gladly kill the three of you. They’ll kill Anita, of course, if they find out about her. They have a very unpleasant way of executing their enemies. They seal them up in a crypt over there, and suffocate them.
“Enough of that, the three of you will be having dinner in the house. It probably won’t be that way every night that you are here. Anita usually eats dinner with us. Your cottage has a well equipped kitchen. Anita can also fix breakfast and lunch for you at the house.
“It would probably be best if you spoke only English. They think Anita has a limited understanding of English. They have no idea she understands Italian.”
“You seem to know quite a bit about my daughter.”
“I told you, I love her. It’s difficult to really love someone without knowing a lot about that person. It’s real, I assure you.”
“So, do you plan on being my son-in-law or daughter-in-law?”
“Whatever it takes.”
The other drivers left after taking the baggage inside the cottage. Peter motioned to everyone indicating there might be bugs before handing Anita’s phone to her father. Robert quickly ran a scan throughout the cottage.
“It’s clear. What the hell are you doing with my daughter’s phone?”
“I just borrowed it. Being second in charge of security makes it pretty easy. I replaced it with a lookalike, but I will have to take this one back. They don’t want anyone taking pictures in here. I imagine your intelligence photos can show you everything that’s outside without any problem.”
“Bob, what the hell is going on?” Randy asked.
“It seems Peter, here, is on our side. My daughter told me. I’ve known about it for a while. If we don’t do anything else, we’ve got to get them out of here.
“I think it would be best if we took some time fixing the generator, if we can fix it. If not, we’ll just have to make sure the parts take a while getting here.
“I guess we’d better get ready to meet our hosts.”
Anita did not eat with Costa and Company that night. She and Maria served dinner. The group spoke mostly English in deference to their guests. They spoke French to Anita, and heaped praise on her for her ability as a cook.
“We were so lucky to find her,” Marietta said. “She was a new employee at a restaurant we go to every once in a while. Our favorite had burned to the ground. We had to have her and managed to steal her away.”
Anita and Maria brought the men breakfast the next day. After Maria returned to the kitchen, they talked quietly among themselves.
“There will be a major get together here in five days. Peter told me there will be major cocaine suppliers from South America, and major buyers from North America and Europe. Costa is basically the pipeline, but it is his money that does the purchasing and he reaps the rewards at the other end. That way, there is less risk to the sellers and buyers. I think Costa may be spending close to a billion dollars on these deals. You can imagine what the street value is.”
“We have to get you out of here,” her father said.
“That’s not a problem for me; however, I’m not leaving unless Peter is with me. The trouble is that we can’t be together that often. Costa’s daughter is beginning to suspect there is something between us. As attractive as she is, her reputation is out there. She wants him to father her children and strengthen her standing in the company. She just wants him as a sperm bank. He hates her, but at least has to make it appear as if he’s somewhat interested.
“If Costa goes outside the company to find a husband for her, he will have to be a member of one of the cartels. Costa fears there would be a takeover attempt in that case, and he doesn’t want to lose control.”
“Are there any times when they are more vulnerable than others?” Randy asked.
“If they lost power; however, the power is underground for at least a mile. It would be pretty obvious if we cut power, or had someone do it. I imagine there’s another tropical storm or hurricane brewing somewhere. They knock out power rather routinely around here. You might delay repairs on the generator if you can.
“I have to get back. I’ll let you guys figure out what to do.”
“I thought she was gay, a lesbian. Sorry sir, I ….” Don was lost for words for a moment.
“Not a problem, Don. She surprised me with her little announcement, but now I understand what’s going on. We do need to get him out of here. He has information that will be invaluable in helping slow this bunch down.
“I guess we’d better find out what’s wrong with that generator.”
As it turned out, the generator gods had not liked the generator at all. The bearings had seized in the generator, and it was frozen. It would go to the scrap heap. The drive shaft had sheared at the U-joint, and it was damaged beyond their capability to repair it. They would need a machinist, and he would have to be flown in if there wasn’t one available in the local area. As near as they could tell, the diesel engine was still functioning properly.
The guests started arriving the next day. Many arrived by air and were flown from Port au Prince to the compound. Several arrived by yacht. Obviously, there had been ‘rules’. The meetings and dinner were male only affairs. Wives and lovers were not allowed. If there were other people on the yachts, they remained there. In all, there were 19 guests.
Obviously, the guests’ desires were well known in advance. Of the three men who had arrived by yacht, two spent their nights at the compound. Five of the 19 stayed in the main house. The remainder were either placed in the empty cottages or the barracks. Perhaps barracks was the wrong thing to call them. Anita had checked barracks out during her familiarization tours with Peter. Each man had a two room suite plus bath. Included was a kitchenette with microwave, refrigerator/freezer, and coffee maker. Those who desired it were also provided with a willing or unwilling bedmate.
For the first night, Anita prepared primarily Haitian dishes. It was so involved that breakfast and lunch were prepared at the chow hall and brought up to the main house so Anita could work her magic with the main meal. While she and Maria were serving, she managed to get photos of all the attendees. One of the members even managed to take a ‘selfie’ while he was hitting on Anita. He was complimenting her on her cross while trying to peek at her cleavage. She let him stare for quite a while.
The next morning most of the men played golf. They ate lunch in the chow hall. Anita had no idea what they ate. Afterwards, they returned to their rooms where their temporary bedmates, freshly bathed and perfumed, were waiting for them. After that, there was a long siesta. Dinner would start at 7:00 PM.
The generator really is quite broken and they need a major shipment of parts. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the roads are still out. The parts will have to come in by sea. The bacchanalia begins. It is quite an affair.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Costa is celebrating cornering the market on most of the Western Hemisphere drug trade. All the biggest players are there and Costa sees to it that they properly feted. The parts for the generator arrive, and inside there is a bit extra.
The dinner was Italian from start to finish. Fortunately, Marietta was there to supervise some of the preparation. Anita could cook Italian, but Marietta knew details that helped put the meal over the top. There were seven courses in all.
The antipasti consisted of four large trays of salami, assorted cheeses, assorted olives, artichoke hearts, crusty bread with garlic balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dipping, ceviche with fresh caught mahi-mahi, and a nice Shiraz.
The second course, the salad or insalata started about 45 minutes later. There were choices: Caesar salad with plenty of anchovies on the side, a pasta salad, and marinated vegetables. Tommaso had selected a special chardonnay to go with it. After about a thirty minute interval, the staff brought out two soups: cioppino – a fish soup, and minestrone. The wine continued with the Shiraz and chardonnay. They had probably consumed close to 50 bottles by this time.
By this time several of the guest had taken brief breaks, and others were not so politely belching. There was little letup with the food, though. The pasta course consisted of a spaghetti with mushroom marinara, or spaghetti with a clam sauce. Costa now brought out a merlot and a different chardonnay, as if that weren’t enough.
There were a few good humored groans as the main course was brought out. Several guests didn’t bat an eye. The grilled salmon had turned out perfectly; just moist enough. It was seasoned with olive oil, lemon, and a crust of sea salt. The pork loin was served with roasted potatoes, onions and mushrooms. Anita had created a mango chutney for the pork. As far as she was concerned the orzo with parmesan was perfect. For those who wanted it there were grilled marinated vegetables consisting of asparagus, colored bell peppers and zucchini.
As the china and used utensils were cleared, the staff brought out platters of fruit and cheese. And, as if that were not enough, the dessert was a choice of panettone, white cake, gelatin, dark salted fudge, and a cream cheese pie with blueberries and cherries. Strong espresso and port were poured for everyone.
Tommaso stood and clinked his glass to get everyone’s attention. “Everyone, this has been a triumphant few days for us, and will be even more of a triumph for all of us as what we have worked out comes together.
“Before the entertainment starts, I want to recognize some people who made this wonderful evening possible. First of all, let’s give my beautiful wife a hand for putting this wonderful menu together.” There was good amount of applause.
“Secondly, this wouldn’t have been possible without our wonderful chef, Anita Dangervil. I know you met her yesterday, but everyone give her a round of applause for preparing this wonderful meal.” Once again, the guests responded enthusiastically.
“Now, I would like to make some announcements. First I would like to reemphasize what a coup, what a triumph this weekend has been for all of us. We will control more than a sixty percent share of the cocaine trade in the western hemisphere. We have more than fifty percent of the trade in cannabis. We have more than fifty percent of the opioid market and eighty percent of the methamphetamine trade. Gentlemen, it will only get better. That I can assure you.
“Secondly, I would like to announce officially what many of us have known for quite a while. My lovely daughter, Eleonora and Peter Mongini are to be married next year. We have not set a date yet, but you can be assured you will be on the guest list.
“Peter, Eleonora, please stand so everyone can see you and congratulate you.”
They both stood, smiling brightly. Peters smile was forced but not detected. He was a good actor.
From the dining room, the guests moved to the large living area that sometimes was a small theater. The band and dancing girls had been flown in earlier. The girls, scantily clad at the beginning, became even less clad as the night progressed. Things wound down as the sun began to rise.
Peter and several others departed early. Anita helped with the cleanup, but was back in her cottage by 2:00 AM. She hadn’t seen her father and the other two since early the previous day.
“So as you can see Mr. Costa, this entire unit,” Randy said pointing to the generator, “will have to be replaced. Through no fault of yours, the main seal broke and the generator bearings froze. We have ordered one, but until the road can be repaired, it will have to wait at the airport.”
“Can it not be put on our helicopter?” Tommaso asked.
“Possibly, however the crate is quite large, and it is on a pallet. There is another option, though. Do you have the ability to receive it by sea? I noticed you have a rather nice looking dock down there. I noticed you have a forklift at your warehouse. We would need it to put the generator in place and to remove the old generator.
“That should be no problem. If we can provide it, it is yours to use. How long do you think this will take?”
“No more than a day once we have everything. I do have some good news, though. This particular unit had two version. This is the later one. The drive shaft connecting the diesel to the generator was redesigned. It used to be a single shaft to that U-joint that broke. In this unit, the shaft is bolted to the engine drive shaft. We just disconnected it at the engine. We have ordered the two sections of drive shaft and a new U-joint. We no longer have the need for a machinist.”
“Good, I do not like not having the electricity,” Tommaso said.
“I have a suggestion,” Robert said. “We have a saying, and you probably do too: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. What you really need here are three or four smaller generators. That way it would be highly unlikely that you would ever be without some power. Locate them at your most important locations. If you’d like, I can have one of our engineers do an evaluation to see where they should be located.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary. Just get this generator working.”
“I don’t like those guys,” Adolpho Mongini said. Adolpho, Tommaso, Luigi, and Paolo Medina were in the library behind closed doors discussing things over a brandy
“I know what you mean,” Luigi said. “There’s just something about them. They smell. They know what they are doing with the generator, but they’re too smooth. They don’t ask questions about what’s going on here. They don’t even seem to be curious.”
“We’ve been monitoring all their calls,” Adolpho added, “and they seem to be perfectly legitimate. They go to the factory, and all they talk about is the generator. Well there is a bit of small talk, but nothing that even hints of anything out of the ordinary. I just have this feeling. That girl, the cook, has been fixing meals for them in the morning. But to me, she spends too much time with them. I don’t think she’s fucking them. As far as I know, she’s a lesbian, and that’s been pretty much confirmed. No, somethings rotten in Napoli.”
“Paolo, do you have anything to add?” Tommaso asked.
“I share your concerns. I don’t think we have enough to go on, though. I think we should bug their cottage to see if we can pick anything up. If they are spies, I say kill them as soon as they fix the generator. Don’t do it the usual way. Just shoot them. Luigi can do it. Just weight their bodies down and drop them in 4,000 meters of water.”
“I say kill them anyway,” Tommaso said, taking a sip of brandy. “Where is that girl? I asked her to bring some antipasto.”
Anita took that moment to knock on the closed doors.
“Entrez.”
“Excusez-moi, we had a little accident in the kitchen. I had to prepare another tray.”
“Thank you, Anita, just place the tray there,” Tommaso said indicating a place on the table. “Will dinner be at the usual time?”
“Oui.”
“Good, we will call you if we need anything else.”
Anita had heard everything.
Anita was preparing pizza dough when Peter came in the back door. He smiled at her and stood next to her as she sprinkled flour on the marble pastry slab. “Why do you do that on marble?”
“It keeps the dough from sticking. It just makes it easier to work with.”
He wrote “Bugs” in the flour with his index finger, then wrote “Both.”
She sprinkled more flour on the spot and dropped the mass of dough on it. She rolled the dough out before wadding it up again. She added more flour to the marble and rolled out the dough. She looked at him and mouthed “They know.” It was not a question.
He nodded almost imperceptibly.
The pizzas were for her father and the other two. She topped the dough with the ingredients they had ordered and placed the pizzas in the oven. While they were cooking, she went to the wine cellar and picked out three bottles of wine. She carried the bottles in an ice filled wine cooler – a pinot Grigio, pinot noir, and a cabernet. Maria carried a tray of antipasti.
As Anita set the large cooler of wine down, her father had a look of horror on his face. He looked at her with a very perplexed expression.
“Messieurs, the pizza will be ready in about fifteen minutes,” Anita said in halting English. As Maria left, Anita pointed to her ear and then to the room. It suddenly became very clear to them. Something had happened.
FedEx delivered the parts to Port au Prince two days later. They had removed the old generator using the forklift Tommaso had supplied several days before. It would end up being donated to the scrap collectors who would make a small fortune from the copper. A truck then transported the crated generator to the harbor where it was loaded onto a very small freighter that would take it around the west end of the island before turning back to the east. The trip was more than 350 nautical miles, and would take nearly two days rather than the four hours it would have taken by truck.
Although the boat owner had been paid handsomely to deliver the generator, he was antsy to get it unloaded as quickly as possible. The forecast was for a hurricane to be entering the Caribbean in about a week, and the ship had several more stops to make. As the small ship pulled away from the dock, a forklift brought the pallet containing the new generator and parts to the pad below the crane. The pallet had been nicely shrink-wrapped to protect it from the elements. The crane had been marked on the boom “2000kg” which assured Randy and the others that it would have no problem lifting their precious cargo. The last thing they wanted to do was unwrap the pallet, and have to bring up several loads of parts.
Randy, who really was a jack of all trades, drove the forklift to the concrete pad and set the pallet next to where it would be mounted. It was getting late; however, they removed the shrink wrap. There were two ways to get the generator on its platform. The outer protective shell over the unit had been removed when they demated the original unit. There were two eye bolts on the top of the unit for hoist purposes, and there was a steel box permanently mounted on the bottom.
In the gathering darkness, after making sure none of Costa’s personnel were close by, Robert reached into the space, removing the packages that had been securely taped in place. The three 9mm Glocks and extra clips were quickly secured. Robert placed the fully charged cell phone in his pocket. The odds were shifting a bit in their favor.
The generator is finally fixed, and now they are going to have to get the heck out of Dodge. It aint going to be easy.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
The good guys know they have only hours, if that before Costa will decide to kill the lot of them. There’s a chopper coming to get them. They hope the element of surprise will allow them to get away. All works well until Peter is hurt. He can’t make the chopper. He begs Anita to leave with the rest; however, she refuses to go without them. Then she tells peter something we should have known all along.
The three knew they were under suspicion, but they had to act as if nothing was amiss. They were going to have to try to get out of there, and they were going to have to get Peter and Anita out as well. In fact, their main priority would be to get the other two safely out. What Peter knew would be instrumental in bringing the Costa Empire down. But it would only work if they could get him out of there. They were going to have to meet somewhere out of earshot and explain what was going to happen. They would have to rely on Anita to tell them where.
They would be ready to do a test run on the generator the next afternoon. They asked that Anita bring them lunch. She had warned them that she might be suspected as a spy, but the area around the generator, at least for the moment, was the only place they could talk while being relatively unobserved. Robert had scanned the area for listening devices and cameras, and they hadn’t detected any.
“We’re going to get you and Peter out of here tonight,” Robert said while biting into a sandwich. “There’s a chopper on a destroyer waiting for the word. They will come in low over the water and then land where you think the best spot is. It will have to be away from the habitation areas. What area would you pick for a landing? I think the best area might be by that lake on the far side of the cemetery.”
“I agree. I’m going to have to get word to Peter, and that hasn’t been easy of late. At this point I don’t think they trust any of us. I’m beginning to think they suspect Peter as well. What do you have in mind?”
“We will do a test run on the generator this afternoon to show everyone that the system is up and working. When we know the chopper is on the way, we’re going to blow the switchgear. There won’t be light one. We’ll turn out the lights in our place to give you a five minute warning. The chopper won’t be on the ground for more than 30 seconds, and we’re gone.”
“Alright, we’ll be there unless I tell you otherwise.”
Anita hadn’t been able to talk to Peter until dinner. Perhaps that was a good thing. She could at least be out in the open about asking him to do something for her. Another thing would be that he wouldn’t know what was going on. He wouldn’t be able to give anything away.
“Monsieur Costa, I think I may need your assistance. There is something wrong with the television, and something is affecting my computer. I think there is something wrong with the cable or something. It’s been acting funny ever since those men have been working on that generator.”
Peter knew immediately that something was up. “Certainly, how about right after dinner.”
“Thank you, there was a program that I wanted to see on that American cooking channel.”
Peter showed up at Anita’s cottage just minutes after she closed the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
“We’re getting out of here. There’s a chopper coming in a little while,” Anita said as she passed a dark sweat suit to Peter. She was already wearing dark clothing. “I disabled the bugs. They may not notice for a little while. When the lights go off next door we have five minutes until they blow the main power distribution panel. The generator may come on, but it won’t be able to connect to anything.
“We’re going to meet at the lake beyond the cemetery. The chopper’s coming in and we will have only seconds to get on board.”
They were ready when the lights next door blinked off. Anita turned off her lights in acknowledgement. They waited at the front door, and they weren’t disappointed when the explosion rocked the area. The lights went out immediately and stayed off. They took off on a fast trot towards the cemetery and lake beyond. Shouts were ringing out and flashlights were coming on at several points.
Street shoes are not the best running shoes, and Peter slipped and fell just short of the lake. He yelled out in pain as he struggled to get up. Anita turned to help him. She could see the flashlights of their pursuers. They were only a few hundred yards away.
“Get out of here Anita. Save yourself.”
“You’re coming with me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Save yourself. You’ll take them down. I know you will. I love you Anita. I always will.”
Anita helped him to his feet. He could barely stand on what had to be a badly sprained ankle. “Then know this. I will always will love you, too, and your love will live. I am carrying your child.” She kissed him and turned to sprint away as several shots rang out. Some came from in front of her. She had heard the approaching helicopter, and it suddenly popped up over the wall. She sprinted to where her father was covering her.
“Hurry. What happened to Peter?”
“He sprained his ankle. There’s not enough time to get him to the chopper. Look, I’m not going with you. I am going to save him. Give me your gun and phone. We will see you in a couple days.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m damn sure. I told you I wasn’t going to leave without him. I can take care of things. Besides, he is the father of your first grandchild. I have too much to live for.”
“Oh my God!”
“Give me your gun, phone, and go.” He did, but she followed him towards the chopper. She took out two of the pursuers as she hid in the reeds at the edge of the small lake. As she hoped, they assumed she was on the chopper that made a combat takeoff and headed towards the sea. Some fired off a few ineffective shots at the fleeing aircraft.
“I have work to do,” she said to herself. She had two full clips of ammunition plus what was in the gun. She waited until she was sure the pursuers had given up before working her way around the lake.
The flickering candles did nothing to ease the sense of impending doom that Peter was feeling. He knew what was going to happen. It was written into the manuscript of the Costa Empire. It didn’t matter what one’s relationship was; cross the Costas and you were dead meat. No one ever talked about it, but he was certain that had been what had happened to his mother and her not so secret lover. He had been told his mother had run off with Eugene Onegin, a Russian drug lord. He was certain that both of them were at the bottom of the Mediterranean. He would probably end up in a watery grave, also. But first, he would be allowed to die a rather unpleasant death in the crypt.
They had been rather rough with him as they threw him into the cell reserved for those who committed the most egregious crimes. Now he was sitting in the library tied to a chair, awaiting his already predetermined fate.
Tommaso Costa was furious, without a doubt. His florid face was only the tip of the iceberg of the rage that was boiling inside.
“Who were they? Obviously, she was with them.”
Peter was silent.
“How long have you known about this?” Adolpho Mongini demanded in a tone that indicated his rage that had to have been equal to Tommaso’s.
Peter continued to remain silent.
“What have you told them?” Paolo Medina asked in a lawyerly tone.
“Enough, but not nearly as much as I would have told them had I gotten away,” Peter volunteered.
His rage boiling over, Adolpho slapped him rather hard across his face, cutting the inside of his cheek. “You are nothing but scum. You could have had anything you wanted, but you threw it all away for that whore. You are no son of mine.”
“Unfortunately, I am,” Peter responded, bringing another retaliatory slap across the face.
“Take him to the crypt. We don’t need to waste our time with him. We have too many other problems to take care of,” Tommaso said turning away from Peter to take a sip of coffee. “At least, we have fuel for the stoves.”
“The electricians will be here with the small generators in about an hour. Then we will have power for the house and the chow hall. They will bring in more tomorrow, for the other areas. I’ve been told that the road from the west will be open tomorrow. These people are idiots. They can’t keep anything from breaking down. And now, there’s another hurricane coming.”
Paolo and Luigi jerked Peter to his feet. His ankle throbbed, but he could walk on it, barely.
Tommaso Costa stood in front of him, looking him in the eyes. He grabbed Peter’s head, pulling him to him. He kissed him fully on the lips: The Kiss of Death, Il bacio della morte.
“Take him away. Do it.”
The daylight was fading into night, and the high overcast from the storm that was a few days away helped give an eerie feeling to the event. There wasn’t a crowd of observers as there had been for the execution a few weeks previously. There wasn’t any ceremony. Peter caught a glimpse of the two biers that were inside as they opened the door. He didn’t fight them as they pushed him inside. Then it was pitch black.
“Dio, ti amo, Anita,” said Peter trying to hold back his tears.
“Beh, ti amo anche tu. Ma abbiamo il lavoro da fare.” (Well, I love you, too. But we have work to do.)
“Anita, what are you doing here?” They hugged and kissed in the darkness.
“Well, I’m certainly not planning on dying, in case you’re wondering.”
“But, they’re going to flood this place with gas. We have only minutes.”
“We have bit more time than that. I drained the nitrogen tank last night. They will have to get another from the shop.” She turned on the cell phone which gave them adequate light. There was no reception inside the marble structure when the door was closed.
“I borrowed these from the shed down there. We have enough air to last us about four hours,” she said indicating a stack of tanks and scuba gear. “I gave a signal when they threw you in here. They have a code to pass when they open the door. If anyone else opens the door, they will have to argue with this little pistol I acquired. I am a very good shot. We’ll have to run for it, and you’re not exactly in the best condition for that.
The sounds of something being done on the outside indicated the gas would soon be flowing. They donned their masks and made sure everything was working properly. They were about half way through their third tanks, with one more to go, when they thought they heard gunfire. Then there were three sharp raps on the door. No one would think about knocking if they thought there were dead people inside.
The door swung open and they were met by several uniformed and armed men, including a lieutenant colonel. “Come on Anita, we don’t have much time. These two,” he said while indicating two muscular NCOs, “will carry your friend here. Some of our men have the dock secured. Somebody will be picking us up in about ten minutes.”
“Stan, it really is you! What are you doing here?”
“We were in the area and thought we’d drop in, literally. Enough chit chat: those guys will be coming after us very shortly. They are really pissed about our intrusion. Let’s go. We need to get to the dock.”
“That may be a problem. The elevator will be inoperable, and without power the entrance to the stairs can’t be opened.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Have your men cover me. I think I can get there, as dark as it is. But once I start it up, I’m going to be an easy target. Have all your men head for the opening that leads to the dock.”
Anita took off on a run towards her old cottage and the spot where the generator sat impotently. She jumped on the yard lift, and fortunately, it started immediately. As she suspected, it wouldn’t go unnoticed. A shot caught her in the left shoulder. It hurt like hell, but she was pretty sure it hadn’t hit anything critical. She’d take care of it later.
As she came around the corner. Paolo Mongini stepped in front of her. He was about 30 feet away. Like many men in high places, he was one arrogant son-of-a-bitch, and he had little respect for women. His pistol was levelled at her head.
“Just who in the hell are you?”
“I am your worst nightmare, signore. The line is not original, but I am your worst nightmare,” she said in very acceptable Italian.
“Don’t make me laugh. You are a woman, and a black woman at that. You’re not worthy enough to suck my cock. I might have you do that, anyway. My men will have your friends taken care of in a few minutes. You have caused me to lose my son, but there are other women. I will have other sons. Men who are real men, not effeminate omosessuali.”
“Listen to me carefully you miserable asshole. Your son lives, he knows you killed his mother. As for being a man, he is more of a man, a decent human being, than you ever could be.
“Just one last thing, I am carrying your grandchild. You should know that.”
“You lie!”
“Not at all.”
He raised his pistol, which had drooped a bit during the conversation. He fired a shot, but it was too late. Anita had fallen to the side. Paolo’s head basically exploded as the bullet passed through it.
Anita ran the yard lift at maximum speed as more shots were fired in her direction. She slowed up at the fence and lowered the forks. She ran the forks into the fence and then raised them, ripping the fence out of the pavement. Then she attacked the gate to the stairway, ripping it apart. Their path to below was open.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Peter was able to get down the stairs on his own. But once at the bottom, they picked him up and ran to the end of the dock. A rather large speed boat was racing toward them. As it pulled up to the dock, they jumped aboard. It pulled away immediately and headed towards the southern horizon.
They make their escape. Mike Donatella rendezvous with a Virginia Class submarine where he leaves Peter and Anita. The Costa adventure is mostly over, but Peter’s is just beginning. By the way, he proposes.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
They make their escape without further problems. Mike Donatella picks them up in a high speed boat. Peter and Anita are transferred to a Virginia Class attack submarine where Anita’s father is waiting for them. Anita’s wound is not serious. They will be in Newport News in two days.
“You’re hurt,” Peter said as he embraced Anita.
“It’s nothing to be worried about. It’ll probably leave a couple of nice scars, but that’s all worth it, now that you’re safe.”
“You weren’t kidding about being pregnant, were you?”
“No, I’ve known it for a couple of weeks. At least, I’ve known it unofficially. All the signs are there. Does that bother you?”
“The only thing that bothered me was that I thought we wouldn’t be able to live the rest of our lives together.
“Anita, would you please marry me?”
“Of course I will. We’re just going to have to figure out how we’re going to live the rest of our lives.”
Anita turned to LtCol Black. “Where are we going, Stan?”
“We’re going back to Gitmo. We have an exercise in progress. The government will neither confirm nor deny what happened here tonight. As far as you two are concerned, we are meeting a vessel that will take you home. This little beauty,” he said motioning at the vessel that had to be doing 30+ knots, “belongs to someone you met in Port au Prince. He has a bit of an interest in taking Costa down.”
Anita made her way to the bridge. Mike Donatella was maneuvering the boat to keep thing as quiet as possible. The sea was getting rough. “Thank you, Mike. We’ll never forget what you’ve done for us.”
“Believe me, it’s my pleasure. Anything you can do to take those bastards down makes it all worth it.
“We’ll be at the rendezvous in a couple of minutes. You and your friend need to get ready to transfer. We’ll have to use the bosun’s chair. Then I have to get the rest of these guys to a Navy ship.
“Ashley and I are planning a trip to the mainland next year. We’ll have to get together. We have a lot to talk about. You need to take care of that shoulder. It’s starting to bleed again.”
Mike started to slow down after a few minutes. Anita looked out over the moonless sea and sky. It took her a moment to see the dark form that sat low in the water. They sent Peter across first. Then Anita followed. The lines were released and the boat they’d just left departed in a cloud of spray. A couple of crewmen helped her down the ladder where her father and Peter greeted her. They took her to the ship’s doctor who treated her wounds. She cleaned things up and took a precautionary X-ray. Anita would be sore for a while, but the damage was minimal. She acquired several stitches at both the entrance and exit points. The doctor put her arm in a sling and gave her a course of antibiotics, some pain killers, and the usual instructions. They also took X-rays of Peter’s ankle, and taped it up. He would get further medical treatment in Virginia.
“Peter, you need to know something.”
“Yes?”
“I killed your father. He tried to stop me from taking the yard lift. I had no choice.”
“I don’t see that as a problem. You did what you had to do. Besides, he stopped being my father many years ago.”
The officer’s mess had prepared some sandwiches for them. There wasn’t much else to be said at that point. After their brief meal they were shown to what had to be VIP quarters. There was a full sized bed, bath with a shower, television, a small table, and a good sized desk. There were also several changes of clothing lying on the bed. Robert Okoye had a cabin further down the passage.
“When are we going to get under way?” Anita asked. “I would have thought we’d have left by now.”
“We left right after you got on board,” Robert replied. “We are at about 500 feet and are doing about 30 knots. We’ll be in Virginia Beach in two days. Both of you get some rest. You’ve been through quite a bit.”
The shower was not big enough for two. Anita went first. When Peter joined her in bed, she was already asleep. He kissed her, and wrapped his arms about her. She mumbled something and snuggled back against him. He realized they would never have to hide their love again.
A couple of seamen were ahead of her in the sick bay. She picked up a copy of The Navy Times, and found no one had done the crossword. She had just about finished it when the doctor called her in.
“Good morning, Anita, any problems with the arm?”
“It’s pretty tender. I slept on my right side last night. I usually sleep on my left. I didn’t wake up until this morning. Having Peter with me helped.
“That being said, how many females are on this beast?”
“Twenty, why?”
“I think I’m pregnant.”
“When was your last period?”
“Eight weeks ago.”
“Regular?”
“Like a clock.”
“Okay, take this in there. I think you know what to do. The instructions are on the label.”
Suspicions were confirmed rather quickly. “Based on what you told me, I would say you are right at six weeks. Of course, sometimes we can be off by several weeks, even a month or two. Mother nature has ways of fooling us.”
“No, six weeks would be exactly right. The first time we made love was six weeks ago, then a couple of days later,” Anita responded.
“No precautions?” the doctor asked.
“None: that was the first time I’d ever made love to a man. I don’t count the time I was gang raped. They gave me a morning after pill for that. What’s nice is that it was his first time with a woman. It was very special for both of us.
“Our conversation is privileged, isn’t it?”
“Mostly, we do have the Human Reliability Program to deal with. Some medical issues may remove someone from duty in certain areas. I don’t think we have to worry about that.”
“I’m gay, a lesbian. I’d never seriously thought about making love to a man, and being drugged and gang raped did nothing to change my mind. Then I met Peter. He is quite athletic and skilled in martial arts. He had been unmercifully bullied as a child. I realized something very early about Peter. The inner Peter was somebody quite different. Peter is transgender, something he gladly admitted to me.
“As you may or may not know, I was Special Forces. I received the Army Cross for something that I’m not particularly proud of. I resigned my commission after the court martial, and went to work for the Agency.
“When I took the Costa assignment, I knew who the people were at the top. However, I didn’t know the details, although I suspected something about Peter. What I didn’t know at first was that Peter knew more about me than I’d ever suspected. He was in love with me, and as it turned out I was in love with him. It didn’t take long for me to find that out.
“Look, I’m sure you are very busy, and you don’t need to know my life story. What we’re going to have to figure out is what to do with Peter. There’s all sorts of stuff, including the witness protection program. I suspect we’ll be married very soon. Doctor, I love Peter very much. It has nothing to do with the package he occupies. It’s what’s between his ears, the person. I am so happy to carrying his baby, and I hope there will be more.”
“What if he decides to transition?”
“We haven’t had a chance to discuss that in depth, but I will support whatever decision she makes.”
“Aren’t you making an assumption here? You’ve already assigned a gender to Peter.”
“Doctor ….”
“I think you’d better call me Lucille. I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we meet. If you will take a look at the diplomas I’ve hung over there you will see I am both a Doctor of Medicine and a Doctor of Psychology. That saves having to have two bodies down here. I have as much work as a shrink as I do an MD. They take very good care of us down here, but we could be under water at six months at a time or more. You probably haven’t noticed, but we cycle the lights to imitate day and night. It does help a bit.
“Two of our crew members, at least two I know of, are transgender. Both are male to female. Because of the idiocy of those in higher places, they are not secure in their careers. I give them the support I can, but I can’t do too much else. When they retire, they will finally be able to transition. In each case, it will be 20 years late. I will give them the psychiatric support they need to continue on.”
“Thank you, I guess I’d better let my father and fiancé know that the good news has been confirmed.
The Captain who was a Captain by rank, the equivalence of an Army Colonel prepared to give them a tour of what turned out to be a very large vessel.
“Mr. Mongini, as a foreign national, I’m afraid your access is limited to only the common areas. We have verified Anita’s and her father’s clearance levels, and we will be able to show them some other areas on a need to know basis. We’ll start at the bridge because that is really the most interesting place. I’ll neither confirm nor deny any of the readings you see on the gauges or screens.”
Anita was very impressed with the quality of the food, and spent some time in the very efficiently run kitchen. Peter visited the small library while the Captain took Anita and her father to some of the more restricted areas. It was interesting enough, but really, when you’ve seen one or two nuclear weapons, the rest is figuratively and literally overkill.
With the possibility of their being killed greatly reduced, their love making that night was much less hurried and far more satisfying.
“Peter, I love you very much, and I want to marry you. That won’t change. As father told you earlier, we want to get you into the witness protection program. I’m still not exactly sure what you’d like to do, though. The government will take care of all expenses, regardless.”
“Making love to you as a man has been a wonderful experience. Finding out we created a baby was something I’d never expected to do. But deep inside, and maybe not that deep, I know I am a woman. It has been my dream as long as I can remember to be a woman inside and out. You could teach me the finer points of making love as a woman, and being made love to as a woman, and I think I would be an eager student.
“I would probably have to detrain my body a bit. I’m a bit too muscular.”
“What about your face.”
“For you, I want to be as beautiful as possible. Can they do that? I want breasts as pretty as yours, too. They have to be real. I don’t want plastic.”
“I think it’s most important that you are happy,” Anita said giving him a kiss. “Do you have a name? We’ve never talked about that.”
“Alexandra, Alexa for short; I’ve been Alexa for more than 20 years.”
“I like that. That’s a pretty name. It fits you. What would your last name be? If we get married, I would assume it, if it pleases me.”
“Da Rimini, it was my mother’s maiden name. I want nothing to do with Mongini.
“We have doctors and psychiatrists at the home office. They will want to evaluate you to make sure there aren’t any mistakes. Due to the nature of the overall situation, and your situation for that matter. I don’t think we will be dealing with any real life test. They will probably want to start as soon as possible.
“I think we have several things going in our favor. They, Costa’s bunch, don’t really know who we are. I could be Army, after all, I once was. I could be part of any number of US organizations.”
“Shit, I just thought of something. Did you keep any memorabilia about me on what went on at Fort Campbell?”
“Yes, I kept the newspaper articles in a locked box. They are a bit worn.”
“They will find them, if they haven’t already. They are going to come after you with flame throwers. They are going to think that we’ve known each other for much longer than we have. They are going to have a lot of incentive to come after you and make what would be left of your short life very miserable. They will be looking for you, and it won’t take them much to find me. We will have to make some preparations.
“Okay, are you ready for lesson number one?”
“Most definitely. I think I know what you have in mind.”
“Oh, you do!”
They finally arrive back in the good ol’ USA. Alexa’s transitioning process starts almost immediately. Alexa will be hiding in plain sight for the most part.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Anita and Alexa move into wedded bliss. Alexa has her facial feminization surgery. Their daughter arrives big and healthy. Things are looking very good.
They arrived in Virginia Beach early in the morning, and not having much more than the clothing on their backs, it was easy to transfer immediately to a government sedan with non-government plates. Anita had provided a treasure trove of information. Her father and the other two technicians complemented the information she had sent forward.
Of course there were many other problems. Peter had arrived without a passport or any other form of identification. The powers that be decided that unless intelligence revealed something new. It would be acceptable for Alexandra to live as Alexandra with Anita. Peter Mongini no longer existed unless it was necessary for legal reasons. Peter was now Alexandra da Rimini, past resident of Firenze, Italia.
Part of Alexa’s transition was going to have to be rather rapid. Other stages would take much more time. One of the most immediate changes had to be in appearance. Peter’s, now Alexa’s hair had been fairly long, and it was now shoulder length. Because of her Mediterranean heritage, it wouldn’t be wise to do anything drastic such as going blonde. Instead, they gave her a nice layered cut, a good perm and auburn highlights. Her makeup was subtle. The last thing they wanted was for her to look like a drag queen. The transformation was stunning, and would be even more stunning as her other changes took place over the weeks and months.
No one, unless they looked closely would suspect that Alexa was not a ciswoman. She needed a wardrobe, and through the witness protection program the government would pay for most if not all of it for the first few months. Alexa was very familiar with American stores from her college days.
“You know, this is the first time I’ve been able to go shopping for nice clothes and not have to feel guilty about it. I don’t have any idea of how many hundreds of dollars in clothing that I threw out over the years. My friends let me keep things at their place in Clarksville. That did make it nice. When all of this is over, I want to find them.”
“I don’t think that will be any problem when the time comes. We do have a pretty good search system. Unfortunately, with the internet the way it is, Costa will also have a good search system. Let’s hope our intelligence keeps up with him.
“Now, let’s find the right outer and undergarments for you.”
“I’ve been thinking about that …”
Anita cut her off, “I know you have; probably most of your life.”
“Please let me finish.”
“Sorry.”
“I’ve been wondering about getting some long line bras and maybe some corsets.”
“Let’s get your starting sizes first. I don’t think you’ll need a corset. We do need to get some nice bras and panties. After we get the measurements, I’m going to get on Amazon and order some special items for you. We can’t have anyone detecting that you have something extra down there. We’ll also get some realistic breast forms for you.”
Nordstrom’s was an excellent start. Anita led Alexa to the dressing room. On the way, she borrowed a tape from a sales lady she had known for a while.
“Oh my, your waist is 28”. I haven’t been a 28 since I was 14.”
“I imagine that might be true, but you’re nearly 186 cm tall. You are my giantess. I wish my proportions were like yours.”
“All in good time, with the proper training, and I know you’re motivated, you can probably drop two inches off your waist. We have absolutely nothing to worry about. Your hips are 30”. That’s a good start. Your chest is 36”. That means a 36 for a while. With the HRT you will lose some muscle mass. You might drop to a 34. I think we’ll stick with a “B” cup until we see how you develop.
“I remember the first time I saw your picture. I remember telling you about the coffee cup, but I saw so much more. At least I thought I did. Then you confirmed it for me.”
“Up to that point, that had to be the happiest day of my life,” Alexa said. “Meeting you at the restaurant held that honor previously. Now the days just get better and better. I love you so much.”
They hugged briefly, but were interrupted by the sales lady knocking on the door. “Is everyone okay in there?”
“We’re fine. We’ll have some measurements for you shortly.”
Their selections that day were mostly casual wear, but Anita insisted on a few nicer items. After all, as wife and wife, they would be attending some official events. Anita also wanted Alexa to be properly accoutered when she met her step mother. They stopped at the shoe department where they determined Alexa was a 9 ½ in ladies’ sizes.
“I love your little feet,” Anita remarked that night while they went through their mutual seduction.
“Look at these water skis I have.” Alexa did. It turned out that Anita was very ticklish.
The psychological evaluations were multipurpose. One part of the interview was to determine if Alexa were really what she appeared to be, that she was not an infiltrator from the Costa Empire. The determination was that Alexa was exactly who she purported to be: someone fleeing a very oppressive organization that she wanted nothing to do with. After all, they had unsuccessfully tried to kill her. The second part was to determine if she were really transgender and a suitable candidate for GRS. The results were very positive in both cases. Alexa had expressed to Anita that she wanted to transition as quickly and as soon as was possible. The government had no objections. They wanted to protect the person they assumed would be their prime witness against Costa and his organization.
“My love, you told me you wanted to have more children. I want you to have what you desire; however, I don’t want to delay the process I’m starting. I’ve left deposits to be saved so that you can become pregnant when you think it’s time. I’ve talked to the doctors about scheduling an orchidectomy for next week. I want this process to go as quickly as possible. Of course, you know what this means as far as our bedroom activities are concerned. I will miss it, but I am very thankful we had this time. Now, I think it’s time for me to assume the role I was meant to assume.”
There was no question that Anita understood the implications of what Alexa was talking about; however, she felt very strongly that things would be okay. Their love had been getting stronger and stronger, and their relations in bed had become more woman to woman over the weeks. This was an important step for Alexa.
The surgery was performed very quickly, and Alexa was home only two hours after its completion. She’d been on hormones for two months at that point, and their effect had become noticeable, if only emotionally. With the removal of the testosterone producers, things shifted into another gear. Alexa returned to the gym two weeks after the surgery. She continued to refine her skills in self-defense. The agency had some of the best instructors in the defensive arts around. Few people knew who the rather stocky, somewhat butch woman was. She was good at what she did, and after a few months started working on her offensive skills as well.
In Anita’s business it was best to not ask questions. People went about their business. Some did wonder about the quiet, well-spoken young woman who seemed to belong to Anita Okoye. The fact she had a foreign accent was not that unusual in an organization like theirs. The fact she seemed to ‘belong’ to Anita was not that surprising to most. What did surprise many was that Anita was noticeably pregnant.
Anita was starting to show when they decided to make their relationship official. They married in Falls Church, in a very quiet ceremony with just her father, step mother, and half-brother as witnesses. Although her brother seemed to be only interested in suckling at his mother’s breast. They had an excellent dinner in Reston at a nice restaurant called ‘Passion Fish’. The name was appropriate. They made love that night as woman to woman. They didn’t need a honeymoon. Things were just fine. They were now Mrs. and Mrs. da Rimini.
The twice weekly laser hair removal treatments were a literal pain, but they worked quite well because of her dark hair. She was lucky that her body hair was not particularly thick, and the hormone treatments had already reduced the amount and coverage. She continued her daily physical conditioning program, and over a period of four months had lost 20 pounds. The other physical changes were also becoming noticeable. She had banged her developing breasts a couple of times, and it hurt, really hurt. To her, that was good news. Things were happening as they should.
Computer generated images were a tremendous asset if they were accurate. The Agency had seen to it that the best facial feminization surgeon in the eastern US was assigned to her case. Alexa and Anita spent several hours with him reviewing the options that were available based on Alexa’s bone structure. They finally agreed on a goal, and the surgery was scheduled.
“You do realize this is going to be no picnic, Alexa?” the surgeon asked early in the process. “You will be in considerable pain for quite a while. Also, don’t get your expectations too high at the beginning. You are going to look for several weeks like you went 10 rounds with Floyd Mayweather.”
“When it’s all over, will I look like a woman?”
“Well, you already have had a good start. I wouldn’t have to do much; however, based on the secondary reason we are going through this is to make you unrecognizable to anyone but the experts. There’s one thing that can’t be changed and that is the distance between your pupils. We do it in cases of severe facial defects, but there is no reason to go to such extremes. I will do a lot of work on your nose. It will look natural. It will not say “nose job” but that bump will be gone and it will be a bit narrower. We will narrow your jaw and modify your chin. Your brow ridges, although small, need to go. Your cheek bones will be a bit fuller. You have a good head of hair, but I will pull your hairline forward a bit. I will also do a little tightening around your eyes
“Okay, this is the digital image of your face as it is now. Here are the areas of your skull we will work on,” the doctor said as he pressed some keys on the computer. “As you can see, we’re going to do quite a bit. Remember, we went through a number of images last week, and you picked out the features you wanted us to work on. Based on what we’ve discussed and what we are able to do, I think there is a 95 plus percent chance this is how you will look after you have healed. I took a little liberty with the makeup.”
Alexa gasped, “Mio Dio, she is beautiful!”
“No more beautiful than your beautiful heart,” Anita said holding Alexa’s hand and giving it a squeeze.
“Doctor, you can do this?”
“Absolutely. I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t.
“We discussed breast augmentation last time, and I understand why you don’t want to do it. You are very early in your HRT. Let’s wait a year or so to see how things develop. As far as your voice goes, you have done very well. Just keep practicing. It has to become automatic; however, if necessary, we might be able to some adjustments to keep you from slipping out of that mezzo range. I’d prefer not to have to have that done because sometimes it doesn’t work very well.
“Any other questions?”
“No, I am ready for this. I’ve been ready for a long time.”
“Okay, we’ve taken care of all the preliminaries. We’ll see you in two weeks. Here’s a list of everything you need to do before you show up the night before.
“You’re going to be fine, baby. Don’t try to talk. Everything went very well.” She was holding Alexa’s hand that didn’t have a tube running out of it. “Just go back to sleep for now. I will be here.” Alexa squeezed her back.
“Who is that hideous looking woman? Surely that can’t be me.”
“It’s you, and you are going to be beautiful.”
“You know, behind all that bruising and swelling I see some potential. I looked this bad when those kids attacked me in Palermo.”
It was about a month later when Anita awoke to Alexa’s sobs. “What’s wrong baby?”
“Not a thing, not a damn thing: in my most speculative imagination did I ever think this day would be a reality. I wanted to be pretty for you. I wanted to be pretty for me. The next time we see Dr. Franks, I’m going to kiss him.”
“Come here, little Robelia is kicking up a storm.”
Alexa put her hands and ear on Anita’s swollen belly. Their first child was less than a month away from making her appearance, and all the signs continued to be very good. Alexa kissed Anita’s swollen breasts, eliciting a sigh of pleasure from Anita. That led to other things for a while.
They had literally tossed a coin to decide on their first child’s name. She would either be named after Anita’s deceased mother or Alexa’s presumed deceased mother, Francesca.
Anita’s apartment would be fine for another year, but they were going to be looking for a home in the not too far future. Anita loved being pregnant, and barring complications, they would have another child in two years. All this meant that Anita would not be going into the field for some time; however, there was plenty for her to do at Headquarters. For that matter, Alexa was now a full time employee. Her knowledge of Costa’s operation, and the operations of his associates was far deeper than anyone had imagined. She knew the codes, and if the codes changed, her knowledge helped break them.
Costa’s operation had pretty much recovered after a month. At least things at the compound did. They didn’t seem to be quite as open to observation as they had been.
Six weeks after Anita and Peter’s escape, the owner of the restaurant was assassinated. The local authorities weren’t sure why it had happened; however, Anita had no doubt as to why.
Much to the displeasure of Tommaso Costa, many of the shipments they had guaranteed were being intercepted. They had no choice but to pay for the losses. It was not so much a problem for the suppliers as it was for the receivers. If Costa couldn’t supply, the receivers would have to look elsewhere for their drugs. His human trafficking hadn’t been affected that much; however, that was not the biggest source of their income. The problem was the drug business, and he had a good idea where the problem was coming from. When they had opened up the crypt, there was no body, only eight scuba tanks and two masks. That meant two people were involved, and it was obvious who they were. He put a five million dollar reward for each of them, dead or alive.
Anita went into labor right when they expected. It wasn’t easy but after eight hours, the dark haired little girl made her appearance. They had reason to expect a large child, and they weren’t disappointed. Robelia came in at a hefty ten pounds, four ounces. She had dark hair and dark eyes, but her complexion was quite fair. She was as beautiful as a new born baby could be. It had been a tough day for both of them, and sleep was the order of the day. Alexa never let go of Anita’s hand except when they had to transfer her to her bed. Robelia was in her little bed next to her mother. She slept like a log until about six o’clock the next morning. Then it was time for the first feeding. Everything couldn't have been more perfect.
Tommaso is madder than hell. He’s already killed the restaurant owner, and now he is looking for Anita and Peter, and anyone else associated with them. He knows where Anita is as well as her father and his family. The agency is onto Costa, but too late. Interestingly, someone else has been watching Costa, too, and they are going to take him out. .
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Anita and Alexa have moved into their new home just off Fox Mill Rd. Things are going very well; however, there is this guy named Tommaso Costa, and he is not a happy camper. He has located Anita and her companion whom he has no idea about. Costa wants all of them dead, and the sooner the better. Someone else is watching costa and they seem to have as much interest in taking him down as the agency does. Costa is on the move, and the Agency may have found out too late.
Alexa’s dream had been to be a mother. Well she would be to their first child; however, she was also her father in biological terms. She’d often thought about nursing her babies, and what a wonderful experience it would be. She asked her doctor about it, and she explained it in very simple terms. Alexa was not nearly far enough along in her development to even consider it. As she matured as a woman, it might be possible. But that was something she shouldn’t really consider for a while. They would know more as her development continued.
Alexa was putting on her makeup under the watchful eye of her wife. “You are doing very well. I like that shade on you. It brings out your beautiful eyes.” They were going to have dinner at the Okoye’s home that evening. Their dinners together had become a weekly routine. The two relatively young mothers were able to compare notes about some very important things. Leslie had seen pictures from the agency files as well as pictures Robert and Anita had taken before Alexa had started her transition. She probably provided as much support as Anita did. She found that Alexa was very easy to love. She was part of the family, and had escaped a horrible fate. She had also helped bring her first grandchild into the world; a grandchild who was less than a year younger than her first born who was starting to walk. It wouldn’t be long before the two would be playing together.
“Are you nervous about your appointment with the doctors next month,” Leslie asked, knowing full well that Alexa was probably not exactly at ease about it.
“No, I’m looking forward to it. What I had done here,” she pointed to her face, “scared me. What if it was botched, and I was stuck looking like a troll or some drag queen. As far as what’s happening next, I just want to appear natural. I don’t think there’s ever been a beauty contest for vaginas. I just want to look at myself in a mirror and say ‘At last, I am a woman’.”
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Leslie responded.
Alexa may have been hiding some fears went she went in for surgery, but her support group was there the entire time she was in recovery, and when she was back in her private room. The surgery went very well, and the doctors were very optimistic. They probably said the same thing to every one of their GRS patients. She was up and about, albeit very tentatively, walking the hall dragging her IV and her catheter bag the next day. One was draining fluid into her and the other was collecting the processed fluids. The doctors gave her a mirror so she could see what they’d done, and watch as they gave her instructions on what she was to do. Her wife took notes.
She went home in ten days, and discovered she wasn’t nearly as peppy as she thought she was. There was a huge difference, though. When she was Peter, she had to fight bouts of depression. When Anita showed up, it started to disappear. When she and Anita escaped, the depression just about disappeared. After her facial surgery she never looked back.
“I want them dead, and the sooner the better. What have you found out?” There was no question that Tommaso Costa was pissed off, and that was putting it mildly.
“Thanks to those newspaper articles, we know who she is. Her name is Anita Okoye. The origin of the name is Ethiopian. If you look carefully at this picture, she was getting a medal for heroism, you can see a man who looks a bit like the fellow who was here to fix the generator. That is a bit strange, because they actually did fix it.
“Any information on Anita Okoye stops shortly after a military trial where some soldiers were convicted of raping her,” Paolo Medini said. “She left the service and disappeared. We found information on a number of Okoyes including an obituary for a Robelia Okoye who died a while ago. Her husband was a Robert Okoye, and her daughter was Anita Okoye. I think that’s a definite hit. We found a Robert Okoye who closed on a house in Reston, Virginia several years ago. There is also a marriage record of a Robert Okoye, age 51, marrying a Leslie Baumgarten in Reston a bit more than two years ago. We went into the Fairfax County records and found the house he’d purchased. We had a private detective take a picture of the man who lived there. There’s no question this is the man,” he said as he handed Tommaso a picture.
“Notice the woman is considerably younger than he is. She’s also carrying a small child.”
“I will personally kill him. It will give me great pleasure,” Tommaso said, not hiding his anger.
“Now this is getting interesting,” Paolo said. “Our man took this picture a couple of weeks ago
“Merda! That’s the bitch. Who’s the woman with her?”
“We don’t have any idea. She’s holding a baby. We know the bitch is a lesbica. Maybe she is her lover. The baby looks to be white.”
“We need to find her. I will personally kill her. Maybe I will kill the baby first. I’ll make her watch.
“Make arrangements for me to get to the US. We can’t take the jet.”
“Do you think that is wise? It would not be good if you were recognized.”
“Luigi will come with me. We will kill all of them,” Tommaso said while gritting his teeth.
“Where is my coffee? That new girl is useless. Where is Maria? This is Wednesday. Isn’t she supposed to be back?”
“She did not return. Her husband and children are gone, too. I told you it was a mistake to let those who married the concubines to take the same days off. There is nothing to hold them here.” Paolo was beginning to show his frustration.
“They’re watching us like a hawk does. How do you plan on getting to America?” Paolo asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.
“We’ll use our other Italian passports and fly from Kingston to Miami. We will rent a car and drive north. I want to meet with that detective. Have him find out where that bitch lives. We’ll take care of all of them. It’s past time. They have cost me billions.”
“We’re being watched,” Robert Okoye said as they sat down to dinner at Anita and Alexa’s new home. “I have him on camera, and we know who he is. He’s a private dick who will do work for anyone for money. He showed up at our place a little while ago. I imagine he will be watching here soon. I’m glad the cameras are in and working.
“We can see each other’s video, and headquarters gets both feeds.”
“Who would be doing this?” Anita asked. She knew damn well who it was.
“I always thought he would,” Alexa said quietly.
“So what do we do?” Anita asked. It was more or less a rhetorical question.
“Right now, we wait. He’s still at the compound. We have a lot of resources watching them.
“I think both of you will like this news. We got Maria Vasquez, her two children, and her husband. We took them to Costa Rica. They’ve been very cooperative. We found a nice job for Antonio. He no longer has to worry about taking care of his family. We’re trying to get some of the others you told us about out of there. It’s not going to be easy. Costa has a hair trigger, and they’ve murdered at least two more of the prisoners for who knows what offenses.
“We know this, the money’s getting tighter and tighter. He’s probably down to a few hundred million. Our intercepts have really hurt him. That’s good news and bad news. He will come after us. It may be personally, or it may be some other killer. We’re going to have to be very careful, but we have the best people in the business watching things. On the other hand, we can’t see everything. Costa didn’t get to where he was by being stupid.”
“I can vouch for that,” Alexa said. “Other than my time at school, I was close to that figlio di puttana for twenty years. Regardless of that box of newspaper articles, he would have eventually come after us. He has contacts everywhere. I will be ready for him when he comes. Our family, our children will be secure.”
“Speaking of children, I guess this is as good a time as any to announce that Alexa and I are expecting,” Anita said. “We confirmed it earlier today,”
“Drat, you stole my thunder,” Leslie said in a bit of a put off tone, “We’re expecting, too.”
Based on the camera images at Robert and Leslie’s home, they were pretty sure that Costa would know that Anita was close by. Because Alexa’s appearance had changed so much, they probably wouldn’t know who she was. That certainly didn’t make her any safer.
Anita realized that she missed the action she’d had in the Army and earlier with the agency. The fact they were in danger from a known opponent got her mental juices flowing. She’d been static too long. In a way, she was sorry things were coming to a head, but in other ways, she felt excited. Their mission to Haiti had not been completed. Maybe they would finally be able to put an end to it. Maybe then they would be able to concentrate on raising their family.
“I just received a message from Ruggierio. Costa has left the compound. He flew into Kingston this morning. Two hours later he boarded a flight to Miami. Luigi is with him.”
“Why in the hell would he go to the US?”
“I think you know that answer. He has found out who got to him. It took him and his people a while to figure out who did it. We know they killed Adolpho, and they rescued some people who were trapped there. The US military had been watching, but had been strictly hands off until they were needed to affect a rescue. They dropped at least 20 Special Forces people in there, and caught Costa totally off guard. And, that was after the first rescue effort that was only partially successful.”
“What about that black woman?” her companion asked.
“Yes, Anita Okoye, she really pulled the wool over Costa’s eyes. That took us a while to figure out who she was, but our research people are very good. She is a very talented warrior. I think she may be the reason Peter disappeared; if he did disappear, if he was not murdered by that pig.
“Business has not been going well for Costa since then. They’ve been having trouble making deliveries, and Costa has had to make good to the tune of several hundred million dollar. That means someone has gotten inside their system. Serves the son of a bitch right.”
“What else do you know about this Anita person?”
“Well, she’s obviously with the agency.
“Now here’s something very interesting. She got married a while ago to a woman named Alexandra da Rimini and she took her name. That’s very interesting.
“I think it’s time we took a vacation.”
“Where did you have in mind?”
“Ruggierio says his man in Miami says Costa just rented a car and is heading north on I-95. I feel lucky. Let’s go to Dulles. There’s a supplier near there who can get us everything we need.
“I hear the cherry blossoms are going to be spectacular this year.”
The pair flew their own plane from Valletta to Paris where they boarded an Air France Air Bus to Dulles International. Of course, they flew first class.
“Robert, I don’t like this,” Jake Axelroth said looking at the memo Robert had sent him a few minutes before. “Where is he now?”
“We don’t have an idea, other than most likely he headed in this direction. He rented a Chevy Impala in a champagne color. There are probably only ten million similar cars out there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they switched plates.
“TSA notified me a while ago a while ago they had a hit on their digital ID system. He’s traveling as Giuseppe Rodrigo. His hit man, Luigi Bottardi, is now Cesare Siepi. They entered as olive oil salesmen from Genoa. The trouble is, they entered yesterday. They’ve probably been here for hours, and they know exactly where we are. I notified Leslie immediately. She has locked everything up, and is well armed. Little Robby’s in the safe room. The cameras are working.
“I tried to get hold of the girls with no success. They’d been at Anita’s doctor for her three month checkup. Let’s do a fast run through of the video of their house and see if we can pick anything up.”
They went through the rapid replays trying to see if anything unusual had been going on. The mail truck did its usual thing. There were some of the neighbors’ cars coming and going, a FedEx van, a laundry truck, etc.
“Wait, go back. Didn’t that BMW pass through there previously?”
Jake reversed the recording. “Yes, there it is.” He zoomed in. “That looks like a man and a woman. I can’t tell if there’s anyone else in the car. That couldn’t be his wife. The detail is pretty shitty with light reflecting off the windshield. They are definitely checking the house out.”
The BMW went out of the picture and they were back in the real time video. “Oh shit,” was the simultaneous response from both of them. Anita’s Toyota Prius pulled into the driveway followed by a light colored Impala. The Toyota entered the garage, and Luigi got out of the Impala. His gun was drawn. He entered the garage, and the door closed.
“What the hell are we going to do?” Jake asked.
“I don’t think we want to call out the troops. If they realize we know who they are there, they might kill them. I think they will be contacting us.
“Cancel that thought. They want to kill them, and they want to kill me. I suspect they will want to kill Leslie and our son. Regardless of whether or not they figure out who Alexa is, she’s as good as dead, too. I think we do this with as few people as possible. This not going to be good.”
Time for the big showdown. Costa has Anita, Alexa, and their child. Robert and Jake are on the way, but it may be too late. Costa had a big head start.
Introduction: In a sense there is a connection to this story and several other non-magic stories I’ve written. Two characters from Mike and Ashley show up briefly. They would be Mike and Ashley. This story, Like “Mike and Ashley”, “Discovery”, and “Cynthia and the Queen of Knight” takes its storyline from the work of someone else. In this case, a production by an Italian fellow named Joseph Green. The story is 16 chapters in length plus an epilogue. I’ve done as much tweaking as I can. Any errors are mine and I will gladly accept constructive criticism; as long as you’re nice.
Costa has Anita, Alexa, and Robelia in a very difficult position. His anger towards Anita rises to the top. Anita will be the first to die.
“That went very well,” Alexa said as they entered the underground parking lot from the elevator. “So, now we have Francesca. We’ve never discussed boy’s names. We probably better start thinking about boy’s names. The odds are the next one will be a boy.”
“It doesn’t exactly work that way. The odds are the same for each child. When we decide to have another child, whether it’s a boy or a girl won’t matter. He or she will be our child, and we will love that child as we love each other.”
“That’s very romantic ladies, but I’m afraid that neither of you will ever live long enough to bear another child.”
“Costa!” Anita said in a rather venomous tone. “What brings you here?”
“You know damn well what brings me here. You and your friends have cost me considerably.
“Now, if you will kindly pass me your purses, we will return to your house and wait for the others to show up. I’m sure they will.
“I don’t know who you are lady,” he said to Alexa, “but unfortunately you will have to die too. I don’t have time to distinguish between the unfortunate and the guilty.
“I will get in the back seat with the baby, and you two will be in the front. If you try anything, the baby will be the first to go.
“Now drive out carefully and quietly. We do not want to arouse any attention. Luigi will follow.
Anita’s phone and Alexa’s phones started to signal, but they weren’t able to answer them, obviously.
“We know where you live. So don’t do anything stupid. If you do, this child will die and we will still go to the house. Please proceed.”
Anita and Alexa were powerless to do anything. They made the short drive from Chantilly back to their home off of Fox Mill Rd. in Reston. There was no time to think of some sort of action. Tommaso and Luigi led and followed the three into the living room.
“May I feed my child?” Anita asked. “She will get cranky very soon if she doesn’t get fed.”
“No, you will stay right here. No one leaves this room.”
“I wasn’t going to leave this room. I was just going to nurse her.”
“I thought that woman,” Costa said pointing to Alexa, “was the mother. The baby’s white.”
“Well, our daughter is three quarters white; if that matters to you. But it doesn’t matter to me. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
“I’ve just about had enough of your insolence, bitch. I don’t care if the others are here or not. You die now.”
He raised the gun, but never had time to do anything else. The shot caught him above his ear. His gun fell uselessly to the floor. A second shot caught Luigi in the right shoulder. His gun spun up against the wall. Robelia erupted in tears.
A middle aged couple entered the room from the kitchen area. “Is everyone okay, excluding those two?
“Anita, get their guns. You may keep them. You might as well get your purses, too.
“Now, everyone relax. It’s over. Costa is dead, and his empire will crumble. I’m sorry it took this long. My friend will secure Luigi. I don’t think he’s going to go anywhere.”
Alexa had been silent through the entire time that had taken less than a minute. Tears were streaming down her face, and she was close to sobbing. She was doing her best to console Robelia.
“Come here my child. Let me look at you,” The woman said to Alexa.
“Bu-u-u-t, you’re dead,” Alexa said as Anita took Robelia from her.
“I think that you’re obviously wrong,” the woman said.
“I must say that I highly approve. I knew this was the best thing for you. There just wasn’t anything I could do about it. Your father would have killed you had he known. Here, give me a hug.”
Alexa and Francesca hugged and sobbed for quite a while.
“How did you know?” Alexa asked when she regained her composure.
“I didn’t know for sure until you turned to me after I shot Costa. I would never forget my child. I knew your eyes. I had no doubt who you were. The names on the marriage certificate were my first clue, though.
“I think you need to introduce me to this beautiful woman,” she said looking at Anita.
“Madre, questo è l'amore della mia vita, mia moglie, Anita.”
“E chi è questa bella bambina?”
“This is our daughter, your granddaughter, Robelia. She is 15 months old. We are expecting a second daughter. Her name is Francesca. We had to keep the memories of our mothers alive.”
“Anita, tell your father that everything is over. We’re going to need an ambulance and the coroner. I imagine your father will know what to do.”
They moved to the dining area in the house. There was no need for Robelia to be exposed any more to what had happened. Anita went to the front yard to meet the expected arrivals. Robert and Jake arrived five minutes later. The police weren’t far behind them.
“Who are these people? What interest do they have in this?” Robert asked.
“One is Alexa’s mother. Everyone had assumed she was dead. Obviously, she’s not. The fellow she’s with hasn’t said much, but I think he’s Russian. I have no idea what their relationship is. Maybe they will tell us. Maybe they won’t.”
The Reston Police were obviously very interested in what had happened and were in their post shooting mode. Jake explained things to them in the simplest terms. The IDs of four of the adults helped ease their concern. They explained that Francesca and her friend were foreign agents (an assumption at this point) with whom they happened to be working. They convinced the police not to put up the crime scene tape. Obviously, some neighbors had heard the shots, and most heard the sirens. The ambulance and coroner’s truck furthered their curiosity. Anita told those who bothered to ask, that there had been a home invasion and they had shot the invaiders. Everything was undeer control and no one other than the invaders had been hurt.
Leslie had arrived shortley after the police. She took in the carnage and noticed her still somewhat distraught grandchild. It would be a while before things at the Da Rimini household would be back to normal. “You’re welcome to stay at our place until they get this mess cleaned up,” she offered.
“That would be nice,” Anita said. “They’re going to have to replace the carpet, patch the wall and do a little repainting.”
As the police and ambulance departed, the chief of detectives showed up in an unmarked car. Jake, Robert, and Anita met him in the yard.
“Would you folks mind telling me what the hell is going on? I am Captain Anderson of the Detective Division. Officer Presley told me what happened, but some things don’t quite compute. Could we go inside away from prying eyes and ears.”
“Everyone is in the rear of the house. I’d prefer to stay out of the living room for a while,” Anita said as she opened the door and led them in.
“I think introductions are in order,” Alexa said as the officer took in the crowd. “I’ll start with my mother, Francesca Mongini. I haven’t seen her in many years and assumed she was dead. I’m not sure who the gentleman is, so I’ll let my mother introduce him.”
“Since my husband was killed two years ago, I have officially reverted to da Rimini, my maiden name. My companion is Eugene Onegin. We have been together for many years. Our story is very complicated, and is of no importance at this time. We are Interpol agents, and have been trying to take down Tommaso Costa for a long time. By the way, I killed Costa. He was going to kill my daughter-in-law. Eugene took out Luigi Bottardi. You are welcome to check out our identification.”
There was a quick and satisfactory verification of identifications.
“Yes, I guess we do have a lot to talk about, mother,” Alexa continued, “Anita is my wife, Robert and Leslie are my father-in-law and mother-in-law. We all do work for the same agency as does Jake Axelroth. Jake is our boss. We don’t need to go there. Little Bobby is my brother-in-law. Figure it out. And Robelia is Anita’s and my daughter.”
She didn’t tell him that Leslie also worked for a government agency. He didn’t need to know that.
“I’m sure Mr. Axelroth would be glad to help you with any reports. Obviously, this doesn’t need to be publicized quite yet.
“This has been a very stressful day, and I think our families need some time alone for a while. Just go through proper channels, and we will be glad to help.”
“Thank you everyone. I think I understand a little more. Thankfully, the media has not shown up yet. I’ll be on my way.”
“I’m going to call the remediation folks so we can get this mess cleaned up. I think I could use a drink, just one,” Anita said. “We’ll meet you at the house in a little while. As soon as we figure out who they rented the car from, we’ll have them pick it up on a roll off. I imagine it will have to be impounded. I think we can get by it okay.”
“We’ll get our car,” Fracesca said, “and will meet you at the other house.”
“Where is your car?” Robert asked. “It is the blue BMW, isn’t it?”
“So you saw us.”
“Yes, you drove by twice.”
“We parked next door at the back of that huge church. It was easy to get here. I picked the locks, and Eugene disabled the alarm system, then reset it so no one would know it had been tampered with.. He is very good at that. We were in about 10 minutes before they arrived; just in time, I would say.
“Pizza’s on the way,” Leslie said, as she welcomed her step daughter and daughter-in-law. “Bobby’s asleep, and it looks like Robelia could use a nap.”
“Robert, Jake, and Eugene are having a beer, and Francesca is enjoying some prosecco.”
“Prosecco would be fine. I think we need to get to the bottom of things,” Alexa said, as she sat down next to her mother. “Where have you been? I was told you left with Eugene Onegin, but many of us were sure you were dead. We thought you might have been dropped into the Mediterranean. Then Costa moved the operation to Haiti.”
“Adolpho’s plan was to kill us, but we were long gone by the time he found out where we were. We fled to Odessa, Eugene’s home. I had long before decided to flee. Your father was such a cruel man. I was afraid he would hurt you. When you went to the US, I talked to the man who was in charge of the physical education department at your school. I wanted you to be able to protect yourself until you could get away. But you never did leave.”
“Things did get complicated. The Costas wanted me to marry their daughter, Eleonora.”
“Oh dear, she was a nasty piece of work as a child.”
“Still is, I imagine. If she had been a nice person, someone who was understanding, I might have thought about it; however, when Anita showed up, I never thought about anyone else. We have a lot to talk about.
“You’re with Interpol.” That was not a question.
“Yes, Eugene recruited me. I can’t tell you exactly what we were doing, but we were keeping close track of Costa’s operation. Then we heard that Adolpho had been killed.”
“I killed him,” Anita said. “I told him that I was pregnant with his grandchild. He didn’t believe me. I had to kill him, I had no choice.”
“Wait a minute, do you mean ...?”
“Yes, Mother, I am actually Robelia’s real father as well as Francesca’s. Robelia was conceived the old fashioned way. You have to understand that I am very much in love with Anita, and it didn’t take much for her to fall in love with me. When she found out about the real me, it became very easy to make love.”
She described how her attempt to escape failed, and how Costa intended to kill her. The fact that Anita refused to leave her, and what she did to keep her from dying, had Francesca in tears.
“Mother, why are you here?” Alexa asked.
“To kill Costa. We couldn’t touch him in Haiti, but we had eyes and ears there. We knew Adolpho had been killed, and then you disappeared. Of course, it was difficult to get details. We were able to find out about Anita. I was very impressed. It was just a little while ago that we found the marriage records of an Anita Okoye and an Alexandra da Rimini. I remembered when you were small and your girl name was Alexandra. You were only four or five at the time. Anyway, I was certain it was you. The name couldn’t have been a coincidence.
“Finding your home was no problem. Our original intent was just to meet you there; however, if we could find your home, Costa could, too and we expected him to act very soon. So we broke in, hid, and waited. You know the rest.”
The men retreated to the patio. Eugene wanted a cigarette.
“May I ask a personal question, Alexa?”
“Certainly, you’re my mother.”
“Are you ...?”
“Complete, a woman? Most certainly. The government paid for everything. They put me in the Witness Protection Program, but I didn’t want to be away from Anita, and she didn’t want to be away from me. So we had my facial feminization surgery done fairly early. We bypassed the normal administration delays. So what do you think?”
“You are very beautiful, and without a doubt my daughter. You were always my daughter. And the rest?”
“All done about eight months later. Everything works fine, if you’re interested.”
“You just told me. I’m very happy for you. More children?”
“Certainly, I made a few deposits for the future. When we have a boy, he will not be named after my father.”
Anita and Alexa had had a neighborhood party shortly after moving into their new home, and most of the neighbors were very welcoming to the mixed race, same sex couple with a beautiful daughter. Like many, they thought that Alexa was the natural mother. That would be dispelled after the birth of their second daughter.
After the excitment of the shooting died down, they thought it would be a good idea to have another neighborhood get together. By this time Anita was visibly pregnant. Someone asked how she got pregnant. Was it by invitro fertilization? “Certainly,” Alexa responded, “we haven’t been able to have sex that way since I had the operation.” Everyone laughed at the joke. Sometimes, the best defense is a good offense.
Francesca and Eugene married a few months later in Valletta. The Okoyes and Da Riminis managed to spend a week on the small Island. Francesca and Eugene would come to Washington at least twice a year. They would usually spend their time there at Alexa and Anita’s home watching their grandchildren grow, and meeting their new grandchildren. They were very happy grandparents. They also met with several agencies that were on both sides of the Potomac.
The Costa empire crumbled rather quickly. Paolo Medini disappeared with his millions never to be seen again. The Costa millions had dwindled away. Marietta Costa and Eleonora Costa tried to flee the island in their jet; however, the government had impounded it. They had no desire to go back to the compound as there was no way they could control things. Fortunately for them, they had access to some money, and they were able to return to Italy where they lived far below what they’d been used to. Every once in a while they would sell a piece of their jewelry to help them make it through another year or two. Eleanora finally met a woman who decided she would let Eleanora live with her. There were rules, lots of rules, and if they weren’t obeyed, there was punishment. Eleanora frequently broke the rules. She was very happy – that also resulted in punishment.
Things at the compound were reduced to chaos. Some had left, but others had nowhere to go. The Costa’s yacht and fishing boats were never seen again. The interior of the big house was ransacked, as were the cottages.
The Haitian army took the place over. They had no record of any of the people, with a few exceptions. So they just put them in a line and gradually processed each individual and couple. There was no question that the police knew what had been going on. The girls, young women and a few boys had come from all over the world.
The process was over-simplified. If a man and woman appeared as a couple, they would first determine if they were legally married. Then the women were asked separately if they wanted to remain with their spouse. They said yes. Most were pregnant, had a child or children. Two unmarried couples also asked to be married. What to do with all of them was another matter. Then there were those individuals who had nowhere to go. There were more than 100, and every one of them was 18 years old or younger. Most had been abused. The Haitian government, who had become a lot bolder since Costa’s demise, would have prosecuted more than a hundred of Costa’s men had they remained. Most had fled to places unknown.
The helicopters, fully fueled, had headed to South America. The Haitian Government would have loved to acquire them. They were occupied by ten of the hard core drug runners and ended up with competing cartels. The boats and yacht probably ended there, too.
The solution to the problem came much more quickly than anyone had expected. It’s amazing what money can do. Mike Donatella showed up with a cash offer for full title to the entire property as soon as Costa’s death became public knowledge. Actually, it was much sooner. Included in the offer was that they would take care of all who remained, including those couples who would stay to work there. Mike and Ashley’s parents actually provided the cash.
Six months later, The Donatella School for Orphans opened its doors. It was for children from age five to eighteen, and scholarships for those who went on to college. The place was to have an atmosphere that was conducive to mental and physical health. All the physical education facilities, including the golf course remained open. The golf course was open to the public for a fee. Most who played there were visitors to Haiti. Mike moved a portion of his sport fishing fleet there. The gate had long since been removed, and the fence overlooking the pier was reduced to a protective fence to keep people from falling. They did have full time security.
The orphanage in Port au Prince remained, but they transferred the older children to the new school. Although the administration was strongly Catholic, the school was never touted to be a Catholic school. Many of the teachers were nuns; however, the curricula had to be secular. The little chapel continued to hold services, and they had a fulltime priest.
Years later, Marietta Costa was found dead in her little flat. She was close to 70. Everything pointed to natural causes. The doctors found a picture of a very attractive black woman clutched in her hand. They had no idea who she was.
Some clarifications: The core part of the story is based on Giuseppe Verdi’s monumental opera, Aida which was set in ancient Egypt. Aida was a captive Ethiopian princess. In this case, Egypt became the Costa compound in Haiti, and Anita/Aida became a US agent disguised as a Haitian cook. Of course details had to change a bit, and there had to be some personality changes to make this work in the modern day. In the original story, we had the Egyptians at war with the Ethiopians. There never really was a clear cut ‘good guy’ or ‘bad guy’. For those familiar with the original story, the crypt should have been obvious. In the opera, the two lovers die in there. That has always bothered me as the suffocation death came too rapidly, and really didn’t make sense. I wasn’t going to let them die, and thanks to Jacque Cousteau, there was a way to save them until a rescue could be put in place. Their death in the original opera comes at the end; however, there were many things to resolve in this story. I am still not totally satisfied with how the ending is presented. I revised it a bit, but I feel it is too easy.
The names of the people in the Costa Empire are actually the names of the singers who portrayed the characters in the first performance of the opera in 1872. Although Pietro/Peter/Alexa is transgender, there is far more to this story than that. I think this story is more about love and how it goes beyond gender. Anita never transferred the disgust of her rapists to other men, and the fact she let Peter make love to her was probably cathartic. Of course her knowledge of the inner Peter made it easier.
The location of Anita and Alexa’s home is in a housing development on Fox Mill Rd. in Reston, VA. It is easy to find on Google Earth as there is a huge church complex just to the north. Our good friends had a home there before they moved to Florida. We’ve been there dozens of times. It is a very nice PUD.
I think RJ pinged on Eugene Onegin. Francesca da Rimini, a real person, was depicted in Dante’s Inferno. Eugene Onegin is a famous opera by Tchaikovsky, and he wrote a symphonic work about Francesca da Rimini.
Cast of Characters
Aida/Anita Anita Okoye
The King of Egypt/Head of Costa Empire Tommaso Costa
Amneris/Daughter of King Eleonora Costa
Radames, son of the Head of Security Peter Mongini
Head of Security Adolpho Mongini
Amonasro, Anita’s father Robert Okoye
Ramfis, High Priest- Consigliore Paolo Medini
A Messenger/Gofer and executioner Luigi Bottardi
High priestess/Costa’s wife Marietta Costa
Rapist at Fort Campbell Major Jonathon Drake
Leslie Baumgarten Okoye Robert Okoye’s second wife.
Francesca da Rimini Mother of Pietro/Peter/Alexandra
Eugene Onegin Interpol Agent with Francesca