Chapter 3 - The Rain in Spain
Soon the gals are standing outside the farmhouse of Esteban Ocello. Jerry thoughtfully put their voice jet/hover cycles on board the hoverjet, so that they wouldn't arouse suspicion by landing the hoverjet too close to the farm.
The gals saunter up to the door and knock. Soon the door opens. A young blond haired man answers. "Si? May I help you?"
Sam answers, "We are looking for Esteban Ocello."
"Si! That is I! What can I do for you?"
The girls know something is wrong. The WOOHP database clearly identified the black curly hair as belonging to Esteban Ocello. This guy is blond. Besides, Ocello wouldn't have had time to return home.
"We're from the Farm Institute! We are here for an inspection!" Clover jumps in, giving Sam and Alex a wink.
"Inspection?" says the purported Ocello weakly.
"Yes! It is a new government requirement. We choose farms at random. You are the first lucky farmer to undergo our inspection! Now, let's start with the farmhouse!"
The purported Ocello looks panicked. "Uh, can we start with the barn? The house is a bit of a mess!"
"That's ok," says Clover "we aren't here to inspect for neatness!" With that the girls brush past the purported Ocello into the farmhouse.
"We will split up, so as not to take up too much of your time!" says Sam. "Clover, you check this floor. Alex, you take the upstairs, and I'll take the basement!"
The purported Ocello says to Sam, "I better accompany you downstairs! You may hurt yourself on some of the tools lying around!"
"Ok," says Sam as she activates her barrette listening device. So do Clover and Alex, as they split up.
Sam and the fake Ocello go downstairs. She starts looking around. He seems to be trying to block her from going in a certain direction in the basement. He is trying very hard to make it seem natural.
"Well, let's see what's over here!" says Sam as she walks quickly in the direction Ocello has been trying to stop her from going. She immediately sees a door. "What have we got here?" she says.
"Oh, that's my root cellar! Nothing important there!"
"I still have to inspect it!" Sam insists, as she opens the door. She does not find a root cellar. She sees a hall leading off. As she turns to face Ocello, he sucker punches her, knocking her out! Her barrette listening device falls unnoticed to the floor, from the punch. "This should take care of you!" he says and he loads the unconscious Sam into a nearby wheelbarrow and starts to take her down the hallway.
Of course, Alex and Clover have heard everything. "Sammy? Answer me Sammy!" says Clover.
Clover says, "I can't get Sam!"
Alex responds, "Me neither! Let's get downstairs ASAP!"
Clover and Alex rush to the basement. They employ their compowder tracking devices to see where Sam is. They go straight to the door, and immediately see the barrette listening device and recover it.
"We have to keep following the compowder homing beacon to find her!" says Clover.
The gals walk down the hall. Eventually, they find themselves in the barn. They see the fake Ocello, but not Sam. He is about to start the threshing machine! As they check the machine, they see a woozy Sam right in its path!
"This will take care of one meddler!" says Ocello as he starts the machine.
"Not so fast, you phony!" says Alex as she nails him with a roundhouse kick to the head.
Clover rushes into the path of the threshing machine, grabs the woozy Sam, and jumps out of the way, just in the nick of time!
Alex has handcuffed the fake Ocello to a barn beam, and rushes over to Clover and Sam.
"Are you two all right?"
"I'm fine. Sammy, how are you?"
Sam responds, "A little woozy! And I have a splitting headache! What happened?"
Alex responds, "The fake Ocello must have hit you with something, knocking you out! He then tried to 'thresh' you!"
"Where is he?" Sam asks, as she struggles to her feet.
"Are you sure you're up to standing?" asks a concerned Clover.
"I'll be fine, but I want to talk to 'Mr. Ocello'!" Sam starts to walk toward the now woozy fake Ocello. Alex breaks out her truth spray and sprays Ocello. He is helpless to resist. Clover hits her WOOHP distress button.
"Ok! Who are you?" demands Sam.
"My name is Vitas Ocello."
"What is Esteban to you?"
"Esteban is my brother."
"What do you know about creating manmade earthquakes."
"Nothing."
"Then why did you attack me?"
"Esteban told me to guard the farm with my life. If anyone came snooping around, I was to dispose of them – or he would dispose of me!"
"Your own brother would dispose of you???" asks Clover incredulously.
"Yes. Esteban has fallen in with a group called Freedom Through Force (FTF). He does everything they tell him. He is more loyal to them than his family. He disposed of our brother Octavio when he opposed what he was doing."
The girls look at one another in disbelief.
Sam says to Vitas, "WOOHP is on the way to pick you up. You'll be safe with them!"
Then turning to the girls, Sam says, "Let's give this farm a good searching. Stay in contact via barrette listening devices."
"Sure, Sam. By the way, here is yours," says Clover.
Sam puts it on and says, "Thanks! Let's do it!"
They decide to search the barn first. Alex takes the loft, Sam is searching the perimeter, and Clover is searching inside the barn, just as WOOHP picks up Vitas.
"The loft is clear," says Alex.
"So is the perimeter," says Sam.
"Ladies! I think I found something! It looks like a trap door underneath this bale of hay!" says Clover.
"I'll be there in a sec!" says Sam.
"Me too!" says Alex.
Soon the girls are opening the trap door. Descending some stairs they find themselves in a room filled with boxes.
"Let's use the x-ray contacts to see what's in the boxes, Alex!" says Sam.
"Ok, Sammy!" Alex starts to scan the boxes. "Each box is filled with dynamite!" Alex exclaims.
"Let's see how many boxes are here!" says Clover. The girls take a quick inventory and see that there are 270 boxes. All boxes were procured from the Auburn Explosives Company. "Let's call Jerry!"
"Wait, Clover!" says Sam as she stops her from deploying her compowder. "We don't know how sensitive these things are to radio waves! Let's go back up the stairs, close the trap door, and call Jerry from outside of the barn!"
"Phew! Good idea, Sam. I never thought of that!" says Clover.
Quickly the gals make their way up the steps, re-secure the trap door, and go outside of the barn. Clover then calls Jerry.
"Yes, Clover. How's the mission going?" Jerry asks.
"Well, Jerry, Vitas Ocello sucker punched Sam knocking her out, and tried to feed her to a threshing machine!"
"Sam! Are you all right?" asks a concerned Jerry.
Sam says, "I'm all right Jerry. Still a bit of a headache, but otherwise, all right."
"Good! I am relieved to hear that."
"Jer, we found a cache of 270 boxes of dynamite, purchased from the Auburn Explosives Company. We need to find out how many were delivered to the Ocello farm," says Clover.
"Yes, Clov, let me check. ............According to the shipping manifest, 300 50-pound boxes were shipped to Ocello Farms last month."
"That leaves 30 boxes unaccounted for!"
"We can account for 5 boxes! Didn't Dr.Terran's notes cite 250 pounds were used to trigger that quake in Tennessee?" asks Alex.
"You're right, Alex! So now we have to account for the remaining 25 boxes!" says Sam.
"Jerry," continues Sam, "can you give us any information on an organization called 'Freedom Through Force'? According to Vitas, that's the organization Esteban is a member of."
"Let's see........................ 'Freedom Through Force' is a terrorist organization that appears to be headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It has cells throughout Europe and the Middle East. They are rumored to be trying to build cells here in the USA. It is a particularly blood thirsty organization that eliminates any resistance quickly."
"We guessed the later part, when Vitas told us about his brother Octavio!" says Clover.
"It looks like you should pay a clandestine visit to their Zurich headquarters!"
"Right, Jerry! We're on it!" says Sam.
"Please be extra careful, ladies! This is an organization that definitely shoots first and asks questions later!"
"We will, Jerry! We promise!" says Sam, as she hangs up.
The girls go over to their WOOHP hoverjet on their jet cycles and fly to Zurich. Once again, they deploy their jet cycles and are about to visit the headquarters for Freedom Through Force, when they receive an urgent call from Jerry.