Authors note: - This is a follow on to the previous episode of Becca XXX. Spring Tide. Please read it before reading this or you will not understand the plot or characters
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Becca XXX. Spring Tide. Ch 04.
The sun was shining the next morning as we woke up back at The Surfiety. The storm had passed and things were far more tranquil. There seemed to be a theme developing here, involving me waking up with a sticky body and a wet pussy and, after the previous night's excursion, it was hardly surprising. Our night at the gloryhole being used and abused by Yuri, Dimitri and his happy band of perverts had left us both in a mess. I was awake first for a change with Natalie snoring beside me. Her hair was stuck to her cheeks and her make-up was smeared all over her face, but she still looked gorgeous to me.
My mind had been racing all night and I hadn't slept very well. After leaving the toilet block in Penzance, we'd got back to the van and driven straight to the railway station to retrieve our grab bag and weapons. We'd left the train tickets in the locker, knowing that they might come in handy in the future especially as we were going back to Penzance on Saturday. After the short journey back to Reef's camp, we'd arrived in the early hours and went straight to bed, feeling exhausted both mentally and physically.
I'd had a restless night trying to make sense of the new set of initials we'd been given and by the time it was light, I'd finally given up and decided to get up and give Naomi a call. She and Arrow needed to be updated about the new letters and I hoped my little genius, Arrow, would be able to come up with something useful. I knew she'd be working tirelessly to find out more about the Russian's objectives and that she'd be trawling the dark web to find more clues which maybe Lexa's team had missed.
I wrote a quick note for Nat, saying that I'd gone for a run and then I got dressed. I pulled on a pair of running shorts and a crop top along with my running shoes, picked up my phone and quietly slipped out of the van. I turned to look through the window to make sure I hadn't woken her, but she was still fast asleep.
The spring air was cool and fresh and laced with smells of the sea. I looked out across the ocean to see small swell lines approaching, but it barely looked surfable. The Surfiety's vans were parked up in a line next to us and the windows were steamed up with condensation. I guessed everyone was having a lie in, so I pushed past them and walked down the shallow-sloping cliff to the beach below.
As soon as I was out of ear shot, I dialled Naomi's number. It was just after nine and I knew she'd be at the gym with Arrow. The pair of them practically lived there. She answered after the fourth ring with her usual corporate response.
"Good morning. Naomi's Gym," she said in a professional tone. "How can I help?"
"Naomi. It's me, Becca."
"Hey, babe. How's the surf?" she replied, sounding happy to hear from me.
"It's flattened off for now, but there's a big swell heading our way in a week or so. How's the gym going?"
"It's going great. I'm signing up new members all the time and the classes I'm running are becoming very popular."
"That's brilliant news. I knew you'd make a go of it. How's our mutual friend getting on with her research project?" I laughed.
"She's right here with me. I'll put you on a video call," she said.
I'd made it to the beach by now and I walked over to a small alcove and sat down on a rock as the screen changed to a FaceTime call. The screen looked chaotic for a second as Naomi positioned her phone so I could see the two of them in Arrow's operations room.
"Hi Arrow," I said, in a jolly tone. "How are you getting on?"
"Hi Becca," she replied, sounding positive and excited. "I've got some news for you. I was going to call you today."
"I have an update for you too," I smiled. "We got some more intel yesterday that I need to pass on to you."
Arrow was sitting at her desk surrounded by computer screens. She had her usual messy hair draped over her shoulder like a scarf and she was wearing her black-rimmed glasses that she always wore. Being out of prison hadn't made any difference to her skin - she was still as white as a ghost.
Naomi was dressed in skimpy gym gear and looked as sexy as ever. Her neon-pink sports-bra and tiny shorts really showed off her amazing body, but this call was all about business.
"I'll go first," said Arrow. "I've found more initials on the Russian chat room you told me about. The traffic on the site has been increasing all week. I think this Victor guy is upping his game."
"Good work, but I already know about the initials," I replied. "The Facility have told us about them and that's why I'm calling you. They're F and A, right?"
"Two of them are yes," she said.
"Wait. What? What do you mean two of them are? We have GH and now FA. Are you telling me there's more?" I quizzed in shock.
"Looks like your intel team aren't as good as me after all," she said sarcastically. "Yes, I've found another set."
"Really? What are they?"
"Alpha Charlie," she said, using the phonetic alphabet.
"AC?"
"Yes, as in 'air conditioning'," she laughed. "But I don't think that's what it means unless the terrorists are getting too hot."
"Me neither," I giggled. "Does it spell a word if you put the three sets of letters together?"
"No. At least not a word I've ever heard of. I know it's all in Russian on this chat room, but these three initials are always referred to separately as though they are three different things."
"Like locations?"
"Yes. Or people. Or objects. They could be anything, but I'm convinced that whatever they are they are three separate entities," she explained.
"In what context are they being used?" I asked.
"My translation software isn't the best, but they appear to be targets of some kind. They talk about hitting GH and following up with FA and AC, but the order keeps changing. I think they're trying to come up with a plan of attack on either three places or three people."
"Do we know anyone important with those initials in their name?" I asked.
"I haven't found any. My algorithms are still searching for a pattern in the initials, but so far, it's come up with nothing obvious," she shrugged.
"This gets weirder by the day," I sighed. "Keep looking into it. Have you got any leads on Valentin or Victor's whereabouts? If we can find Victor it might not matter what the initials stand for. We'll just ask him before we take him out."
"I've managed to get hold of the CCTV footage from Folkestone from when he arrived," she explained. "I tracked his vehicle on the ANPR cameras, but they lost him somewhere near Exeter. He must have switched vehicles and there's been no other sightings of him or any of his team."
"Sounds like he was heading in this direction," I pointed out, forming a mental map of his route in my head.
"If you do come face to face with him, please be careful Becca," Naomi added. "I've read his file and he's a nasty mother fucker. He's a serial rapist and ends up killing most of his victims. Only a few have lived to tell the tale and it doesn't make easy reading."
I saw Arrow visibly shudder and pull a face of disgust as the conversation moved on to sex. She didn't like talking about it, but she had something to add.
