Anna's Mystery Plan

Anna's Mystery Plan - Part 8 - A Strange Plot and Counterplot

Chapter 23 - Stray bullet syndrome

In the days following Rupert's visit and the revelation that Professor Greenberg was a consultant to Anna, our group worked frantically to finish the underground Armory in back of our new hillside home. At the same time, we felt adrift from any rationale for what was going on in Anna's big picture. Communications from her, relayed through Chelsea, were terse and focused on logistic details of combat preparations.

Late one afternoon, Talia wandered into my study area, "I have an idea."

Not looking up, I teased, "Only one?"

The deadly chokehold, her specialty, was swift. "You will pay attention, young one!"

Quickly, she was in my arms and we were headed out the door to the patio, where the big hole was now full of water residing in a beautiful pool. It looked great but was not yet ready for swimming.

She got to lie on me in the sunshine on the sofa. I said, in my toughest male voice, "Tell me you have this mess figured out."

"The door is going to be tested tonight. The compressed air mechanism is ready. The access road needs asphalt, but is usable as it is."

"You are leading up to?"

"What if there has been a leak somewhere and the other side is just waiting for the facility to be finished to drop in with the ambush you predicted, and seize it and the rest of us?"

"No defense in place except an unarmed guy and his smart girl friends?"

Karen's smiling face and tickling hand came over the back of the sofa.

Her voice was light, but the words weren't. "There's no hope? We should pack and get lost in the desert someplace?"

Talia ruffled her fingers through my hair and waved the other hand in the air.

"What if we are deliberate decoys? What if she rushed here when the ambush word surfaced because our preparations would ruin her plan?

I closed my eyes and said "Oh fuck" silently to myself. All too possible. I reached and dragged Karen to our heap. Two smart female bodies were better than one right now.

Karen continued, "She isn't going to let us get killed or injured. We are too valuable for that. So the counter ambush, the counter plot, includes a rescue, or kidnapping, or something like that."

"Thanks a lot. I'd rather leave for the desert than catch a stray bullet being kidnapped."

Talia giggled and kissed me. "It's not funny, but you sounded really irritated saying that."

Karen eased our heads into contact. "For all of her smarts, Anna has her own problems with execution. We need a plan B to avoid the stray bullet syndrome."

Talia giggled harder, "Stray bullet syndrome. I like that."

Karen was suddenly serious, "Pay attention, you two. We can't tell the others. Too big a chance of inadvertent comment. A stray comment without the bullet."

Talia was mumbling and burying her head in my shoulder. "Oh god, once upon a time I was a simple agent..."

I said, "We need a dip in the pool. The cold water will clear my head..."

Talia interrupted, "Jeff will be pissed. There is no chlorine, no pump, nothing but cold water."

I whispered, "Last one in makes dinner," and began easing out of the pile. I didn't even have my pants off and the black body was sliding in and staring daggers at me, "You will suffer for this."

Two laps later, we were discovered, "Is that permitted? I thought it still needed a pump and a heater..."

"It's his fault. Said we needed cold water immersion to clear our heads."

Sophie gave me a nasty look and came down the steps, cursing and raising beautiful goosebumps as she descended. I grabbed Karen and said, "They must be told. We need the team energy we had in the desert."

Soon, I was surrounded by goosebumps. Gorgeous goosebumps. Carolyn's laughing voice said, "Look, he is totally shriveled!"

I roared and chased them up the steps and into the towels Chelsea had brought. "Sit in the sun and warm yourselves. We have to talk. That darn Talia has been thinking too hard again."

I took the towel wrapped body into my lap and said, "Talk."

She began reciting the idea that we were about to be attacked without any ready defense. At the same time, her hand was secretly finding its way under the beach towel to a limp item it could squeeze. I made a low warning noise in my throat.

A sudden idea struck me and I traded a Talia body for a Karen body. They both bit me. I pinched boob tips and said, "Quiet for a minute. Here is an idea to smoke out some action. This coming weekend we disappear. Tell Jeff to take several days off. Lock the house, but leave phones here turned on. Leave all electronic devices here. Find a rental cabin in the deep woods and ask Greenberg to rent it for the weekend, saying he is doing some research on signal propagation in forests. Swear him to secrecy."

There were wide eyes and sucked in breaths.

Talia smacked me, "Damn, you know how to look for trouble. Both sides will notice activity has ceased. They will suspect each other..."

Chelsea said, "Anna will be really angry when she can't reach me."

I waited, almost holding my breath, for opposition. Glances were being traded around.

Karen stood up and assumed leadership. "This is a risky idea. A very risky idea. But Talia and Jeremy have made clear that we are sitting ducks at the moment. Unarmed, untrained sitting ducks. I don't understand why Anna permits it, but there are lots of Anna moves we don't understand."

She paused and looked around. Everyone was hanging on her words. Talia pulled my arm around her and pressed tight.

"What if we are wrong about an immediate attack? We make Anna and her lieutenants angry, but we also make her aware that we won't play a decoy game. So if nothing happens and we come back to town on Sunday night or Monday morning, she has decisions to make that one way or another are going to move the situation off dead center."

You could almost feel the solidifying decision in the room to go ahead. Talia prodded me, "We just lost our field general jobs." I looked at her and found a smile.

I sat back. "You started this, kiss me for luck."

Chapter 24 - Extraction

The conflict started early the next morning before we had a chance to act on our disappearing act. What actually happened was that we were extracted from the Armory site by helicopter. I was standing next to the coffee maker when the first one landed and Rupert appeared at the patio door.

"All of you must leave now. There is trouble coming. Tell the others to pack one change of clothes and assemble on the hill. You will go three by three to a safe place where Anna will explain the situation."

There was no discussion. I went around turning off things and securing doors and windows. Karen packed for me. Talia posted some notes about a vacation trip and called Jeff to cancel work for the next few days. The streamlined helos had room for a pilot and three passengers. The turbo engines were silenced in some way and I doubted anyone noticed the quiet arrivals and departures. Chelsea and Karen went with Rupert in the first helo. The second boarded Carolyn, Sophie and Talia. The pilot looked at me standing by myself and gestured to the back.

The two youngest ones forced me across their laps and put a belt over all of us. "You are to behave!" We lifted and zoomed at treetop height south, staying to the west side of the Valley. The pilot gestured to a headset and one was placed on me.

"We are headed to a landing site west of Hollister. These helos are needed elsewhere, but your transportation should show up in an hour or so."

By the time I was getting restless lying face down, we were descending for a landing and shortly six bodies found themselves standing in a grassy pasture on the west side of the town of Hollister. I sat down in the dry grass, griping to myself that once again we had been outmaneuvered and left in the dark by Anna. Karen sat down next to me and opened her fist in front of my face. A two inch iridescent globe with a green light showing lay in her palm. I knew what it was before she said, "Beacon."

Showing my pique, I said, "What if the other side uses it to get to us first?"

Talia added, with a snicker, "Decoys, that's us."

Karen poked me, "One of these days, we will be able to push back. Right now, we can't." She laughed and said, "Jeremy, it is grin and bear it time. Close your eyes and enjoy the sunny morning with your friends in the outdoors!"

Talia flattened me and said she was providing TLC. "You are not to grump. Leaders do not grump." I paddled her rear as a new idea filled my head. I pulled her head to mine and transferred some of it directly. She went still and then sent back directly that I was truly a devil and would get us in trouble with Anna. But she was wiggling and making me hard, which was a different kind of signal. A hot woman egging on her hot man kind of signal.

I stood up and reached for Karen's hand, drawing us a few feet away. I noticed Sophie, Chelsea and Carolyn staring at us. Damn, the power was spreading in the group. Instead of talking, I took her into a total clinch and whispered threats of violent sex in her ear.

She stepped back and asked, "What are you up to this time?"

Her body was delicious in my arms. I was sure she could feel my erection.

"They heard me talking to Talia. There are no secrets in the group anymore. Slap my face and tell me I am to behave."

She pulled up her arm, but stopped and collapsed back into my arms, muttering, "Bad, bad, bad."

I picked her up and walked back to the group. Talia gave me a hostile look and asked, "Are you molesting that poor woman again?"

What followed was the grassy meadow equivalent of one of our bed conferences. I began, "Now that we don't care much, the transportation will arrive imminently, so this will be quick.

"Anna undoubtedly intends to squirrel us away somewhere while a major conflict takes place. We would have been left where we were if it was a minor skirmish. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be hidden somewhere while the fate of our family is decided. When she tells us what she has in mind, I am thinking about rejecting the idea and saying we are ready to be front line players. Maybe not with guns, but there are other jobs. One that occurred to me was to send us back to the place in the desert. We could establish a reconnaissance outpost, and back up other fighting groups."

Karen held up the beacon, which was flashing rapidly. I ended quickly, "If I play the disobedient grandson, are you with me? Willing to go back to Chelsea's hideout?"

Before anyone could answer, a large transport helo dropped out of the sky in front of us and landed with a thump. We were waved urgently to an open hatch, and were back in the air in seconds.

A uniformed guy with sergeant's stripes said, "Hi, we are doing a favor for Anna. Will have you at destination in twenty minutes. Strap in and relax."

Talia and Karen were across from me, both frowning. I gave them my best angry male frown back and broadcast, "I've had enough!"

They looked at each other and high fived! Damn, my women were with me. I got elbows from either side and open palms. Even kisses. My morale was improving, but the collision with Anna was still to come.

The trip was over quickly, as we were dumped out in a clearing with a brief comment, "Someone will come for you." My phone map said we were in the Los Padres National Forest inland from Big Sur. Deliberately roadless interior to protect Ventana Wilderness.

Someone asked, "Do you suppose this is her headquarters hideaway?"

Chelsea answered, "Backup headquarters. Used only when needed."

I gave Sophie and Carolyn each an arm, "Enjoying life, Professors?" They leaned into me and responded, "A Field Trip, how exciting!" before beating my head and shoulders to relieve tension.

"Useless bum, getting us out in the middle of nowhere! There are probably nasty rattlesnakes under every bush!"

Everyone looked around. The warm grassy hillside was certainly good snake territory. Before snakes became a big deal, two jeeps appeared coming toward us from deep brush in a ravine to the west. Hands pointed to seats and we climbed in without discussion.

The track we followed was classic 4WD Jeep terrain. For half an hour we made slow progress before following a rocky overhang into a manmade opening that closed behind us.

A group of a half dozen figures were there to greet us, all of them clad in military fatigues. By the time we had dismounted, one of them stepped forward and hugged Karen before taking my hand.

"It's good to see you here safe and sound. Sorry, Jeremy, for the abrupt extraction this morning. Our plans are still fluid. Come and meet some of my senior staff."

Anna looked good in her uniform. None of the group had any insignia of rank, but she was clearly the leader. I decided it was not the time for young male bad behavior.

One other uniform was a female, the rest males. We only used first names and I doubted they would be remembered, given the circumstances.

"Come, you must need food, and there is a briefing." We followed down a corridor into a largish room with sunlight coming down a two foot wide shaft.

"One of the family discovered this cave system a hundred years ago and recognized its potential value. There is a Los Padres branch that maintains it and preserves its secrecy."

She added, with a laugh, "There is a hidden periscope antenna that is extended when we need communication."

Chapter 25 - Repelling Takeover

In a space with cave walls rising into darkness, there was a U shaped table with more chairs than we needed. At one end were projection facilities. Anna remained standing.

"Events are moving rapidly and I decided last night that your group would be safer and more useful away from your current home in Silicon Valley, especially since your underground facility is not yet finished. I'm sorry for the lack of notice, but the rogue group from Arizona has created a provocation."

When Anna paused, Karen said, "You should provide some background for the new additions to our group."

I said to myself, "what about old additions?"

"Yes, you are correct." Taking a deep breath, she continued, "About a hundred years ago, after the first World War, some of the elders with the power decided to take advantage of new medical research and attempt to discover why just a few humans have the telepathy related powers. At the same time, it was decided to more formally organize, to establish rules to maintain the secrecy of our numbers and powers, and to create loosely coupled regional groups."

She paused, looking around the group, and went on.

"About forty years ago, tension developed within the southwest regional group and it was decided to divide into two regions - Basin and Range, and Coastal. The dividing line is approximately along the California-Nevada state border. Since that time, relations have been cool, but not actively hostile until the last year. There is a group of young men in Basin and Range that believes they are economically deprived, and have been agitating for a rebalancing of geography and wealth..."

Her words were cut off by an alarm klaxon going off, which caused her lieutenants to rise and walk quickly out of the meeting space.

"I am required in the Command Center but will return as soon as possible. Please stay seated where you are."

Karen rose, her hand resting on my shoulder. "I can fill in a few more blanks. Anna has been playing peacemaker, but frustrated by the stubbornness of the rogue group. The three who died attacking you were part of that group, out looking for trouble."

We sat there, stewing on that, for an hour before Anna returned with one assistant with her.

"Our aerial surveillance has just revealed a massing of open trucks with trailers in the desert east of Beaumont. Under the canvas covers could be combat supplies. This follows a note from two days ago saying that one of our sites has been mined and will be destroyed in 72 hours if immediate agreement on wealth and geography transfers is not reached.

There was extended silence until Karen said, "All of this could be bluffing."

"Yes. I have sent notes to previously trusted contacts in Basin and Range, but there is no response. How would you evaluate that, Karen?"

"Could be reluctance to get involved. Could be they have been physically silenced. Or somewhere in between."

"My inner circle agrees with you. I am in the process of devising a hard response if they do attack."

I decided it was time to lay my plan on the table. "Anna, we do not wish to be on the sidelines in any conflict. Please allow us to return to Chelsea's motel site and establish a reconnaissance post. An armed post. There are important advantages to our side in having an experienced team at that location."

Frowns indicated Anna and her helper did not think much of that idea.

To my surprise, Karen said, "Don't dismiss Jeremy's idea out of hand. Properly equipped, possibly even with some of your new drones, that site could provide early warning as well as validation of whether motorized movements actually contain attack materials or not."

Carolyn jumped in, "There is an old game to be played here, Anna. I suggest you make a show of mining culverts and bridges on all sides of this convoy near Beaumont and announce that an attack on us means an instant response on their desert force."

Anna asked our sociologist, "Take that one step further, Carolyn. If I announce the mutual destruction option, and they scramble the convoy in retreat, does that mean there is serious combat material in the trucks?"

Talia saw through this immediately. "More bluff? I think someone from our side needs to get close. Adopt Jeremy's proposal and let the two of us conduct forward reconnaissance from the motel location. We were just in that area a few weeks ago and know how to move so we aren't noticed."

Even I was impressed and intrigued by her idea.

Karen said in a very low voice, "You had them train for trouble."

Anna turned to her assistant and spoke rapidly. We couldn't hear, but he was nodding in assent.

While he was leaving the room, Anna turned and said, gesturing to the retreating back, "Anthony will be your temporary liaison to our forces. There will be a helo lift for you back to the Valley as soon as it can be arranged. Close things there and prepare to deploy to Chelsea's former motel site as soon as tomorrow morning. Anthony will be working on the logistics of getting you and the necessary material support positioned quickly. I am not authorizing any forward reconnaissance now, but you are to prepare to conduct that operation on very short notice, perhaps only a few hours."

We were all standing, a bit awed by the quick series of command decisions. Not only was Anna the Head of Family, she was also, obviously, Commander in Chief. Anna made a motion with her hand and she and Karen walked to the side of the room. They appeared to be talking with voice, which surprised me. Couldn't she have gone direct?

In just a few minutes, they finished and Anna went down our line with kisses and hugs. When she got to me, the voice said, "I'm leaning on you, grandson, even though I wish it wasn't necessary."

I said only two words in response, "We're ready," and stepped back.

Chapter 26 - Taking Position

On the helo flight back, I sat with Karen and Talia. Using my voice, I said, "I think we should brief Greenberg and ask him to supervise Jeff finishing the vault. We may need his smarts before this is over, and having a completed underground facility may be useful as well."

Talia elbowed me, "Thinking overtime again, nogoodnik."

Karen showed her agreement, "Go see him as soon as we get back. Find out if he can come to dinner and do a quick inspection."