Chapter 5: The Launch of a Mission
Kitt, Laura and Marissa didn't have all that long to wait.
"Laura, Rissie, I have an incoming call. It's the True Liberty Movement."
Marissa looked at her older friend and said, "Let me know when you're ready."
"One moment…all right. Speak clearly…and choose your words as an adult would. You're on."
"Hello?" Marissa asked.
"Who's this, and where's Knight?"
"Michael Knight is indisposed at the moment. For this call, you're dealing with me, and my own name is unimportant."
"Okay lady, I'll settle for you…for now. What about our demands?"
"We're seeing what we can do. Currently, we're tracking the locations of the prisoners you want."
"Keep in mind, 48 hours, or Miles gets it first."
"Speaking of which, I want to speak to Devon Miles."
"Whatever for?"
"I want to make sure he's all right. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"What, you don't believe me? You playing with me, babe?"
Laura winced but held her tongue.
"Now you listen to me, buster. I don't play around, especially with stakes like these. Now, you let me speak to Devon Miles, or the deal's off. You hear me?"
There was a long pause before he replied, "I'll get the old man. Hold on."
"Nice work!" Laura whispered.
Marissa nodded and said quietly, "Kitt, when you hear father get on the phone, drop the phony voice."
"But of course."
Another pause ensured before a more familiar voice came over the line.
"Hello?"
Marissa felt a wave of pain hit her, but managed to keep her tone to only a small waver, "Father?"
"Poppet!"
"Yes, it's me. Is everyone all right? Are you okay?"
"Yes, we're fine…a little groggy, but we're okay. Where's Michael?"
"Busy, like I said. Father, listen. We're organizing a rescue. You will know when we get there."
"I expect it."
Marissa's voice caught in her throat for a second and she said after taking a breath, "I love you, father."
There was a small gasp on the other end, then a quiet and soft, yet touched voice said, "I…I…" He then breathed something before saying, "We will be in touch."
There was a quick interruption before the voice from before said, "You satisfied, woman?"
Kitt signaled that the older voice was back online, so she replied, "Yes, quite. Knight will be on the other end next time."
"He better be. Remember, the clock's ticking."
There was a loud click.
"How'd I do?"
"Excellent, Rissie."
"Kitty…what does 'poppet' mean? Father's calling me that a lot lately."
"It's a British term of endearment, meaning 'dear'."
"Oh…did you run the trace?"
"I certainly did. The phone line wasn't scrambled, thank goodness. I've located the call from a recently abandoned building that was last used as an office, about 19 miles south outside of the city. I have some photographs online of the building as well. Do you want to see them?"
"Yes," Laura agreed, and Marissa echoed the reply.
As Kitt began to display the pictures, he was surprised that Marissa had not asked what it was Devon had breathed before being taken off of the phone. Although, it was strange of him to say "Je t'aime".
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Devon listened to the terrorist as he spoke some final words before hanging up. He sat back down, beside Bonnie.
"Some man I am," he murmured sadly, "Even now, I can't even outright tell my own daughter that I love her…dearly."
She touched his shoulder gently and said, "I think she knows anyway…I mean, if you know what to look for, it's obvious how you feel."
"Yes, but…" his voice caught in his throat, "Just then…even though she was worried and maybe frightened…she said that she loves me, flat out. I…it took me a long time before I could admit to Michael my feelings about him…I don't want it to take years for this."
"Maybe your feelings now are strong enough to block being able to express them."
"Hey! What're you talking about?" one of the terrorists snapped.
"Cool it," the man that was on the phone said, "As long as they're not planning to be heroes, let 'em talk. Ain't that right, Miles?"
"Yes…quite," he said faintly.
"Good," he said then turned back to his partner. "Keep in mind the extra. Our friends in Mexico want the guy in Canada back…and they've said that if we find any Gypsies here, they get hauled off to Mexico, dead or alive, and we get a bonus coming to us."
"How do we know a Gypsy from a normal person, anyway, Marco?"
"Believe me, Torres, I'll know…I've been told what to look for. But if you must, you'll get a certain vibe from the person…"
Devon listened quietly. He had a feeling that these men were not talking about the nomadic people when they said "Gypsies".
Rissie…please, don't get yourself killed.
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Marissa's eyes went wide as she looked outside.
"Oh my…Laura!"
Laura went to the window and looked, then said something incredulously in Spanish before adding in English, "That's all of them…raising the total to 50."
"There'll be more before we're finished," the younger girl stated, and then asked, "The strategy?"
"It's ready. All 50 won't be able to see the strategy from Kitt's monitor, so I suggest that every 10 people select a group leader. That way, 5 group leaders and us will be able to see properly."
"Good idea. Although when we see about the rest, Kitt might have to use that projector Bonnie fitted him with before all this started."
"The rest…? Riss, what are you talking about?"
It was surprising. Ever since this mission had been born and the first group accepted it as such, Laura had stopped calling her Marissita, or even "kid"…but called her "Riss", as though it were a nickname for an older girl.
"We're going to make a small stop on the way to the hostage grounds," she replied, "and see if we can use Chris' idea."
Laura's eyes went very wide. "Th-the street punks?"
"Why not? Even if they are street punks, they've seen more fighting than most in this group has done. It wouldn't hurt to have some seasoned firepower on our side to back us up, in case the terrorists decide to forget that we're not exactly adults and engage in hand-to-hand combat."
"I don't like this…but you are our leader. If you say we go see Chris' friends, that's what we'll do."
"And I do say so. Now, have those 5 group leaders meet me at Kitt."
"Yes, Marissa."
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As good as her word, within 15 minutes, Marissa and Laura were standing around Kitt, as well as 5 other people.
Chris Sato, one of the leaders, looked anxiously at the others that had been chosen to represent 10 people each. Janice Tampa was sixteen and tall at five foot seven, with flowing brown hair, brown eyes, good complexion, shape and tone. She was also the kind that while friendly was no-nonsense, a quality that had come into play when she was selected to lead her group. Christina Wilkins was mousy for a seventeen year old, with blonde hair and blue eyes, but beneath that, she was skilled at karate and was good at mediation. Mark Towers was the oldest of the five at nineteen years old and six foot, with curly black hair that was in copy of Michael's hairstyle and looked as though he had been busy at the gym…which he had, since he was fourteen. He too was skilled in fighting, although his was more of a brawler's style, opposite Christina.
The other group leader was Kate Sora, the youngest of the group leaders at fourteen years old and five foot 2, with red hair and green eyes. She had been studying leadership for the past few years, as well as a type of martial arts. She rarely spoke, but when she did, others listened.
Laura now spoke to them all.
"So that everyone knows, this is the command structure: Your groups answer to each of you, you 5 answer to both myself and Marissa Miles…and I answer to her. She is the leader, I am the second-in-command and strategist."
The group leaders nodded assent and made positive sounds.
Marissa said, "As you know, our parents have been taken hostage by a terrorist group called the True Liberty Movement. In less than 48 hours, they intend on killing the first hostage: Devon Miles." Her words were intentional: not simply her father, though that was true, but by name.
Now there were plenty of angry sounds coming from the group, and no wonder.
"Becky Curtis, Laura Mariz and Kitt have come up with a strategy, as well as a road route we'll be taking." Marissa then turned to the vehicle and said, "Kitt, let's go over the strategy."
"Yes, Marissa," he replied and brought up the first diagram, a blueprint, on one of the monitors. "The place that the hostages are being held is approximately 19 miles south of Los Angeles. The building itself is approximately half the size of the Foundation headquarters, with three entrances: at the south end, the north and the east." Kitt then brought up on the second screen a map, as well as a specific route, marked in red lines. The three entrances to the hostage grounds were also marked: South in green, north in black, east in yellow. "When we leave here, we have one stop to make: 5 miles from the city limits is a bar, where one of the local gangs hangs out. Marissa and Laura will be attempting to enlist their assistance."
"When we go in, I want only myself, Laura, Chris, Mark and one other to go in. Make sure the other person is at least sixteen," Marissa put in.
"Whether or not this is successful, we will pause once we're outside the city limits to review the strategy one last time. We will then approach the structure from the south side, which is a security camera blind spot. Then, I will deactivate any security alarm systems the enemy will have in place." On the blueprint screen, Kitt marked the trail in red. "At that time, the five groups will split up. Team 1, Chris' group, will take the south side, while Teams 2 and 4, Christina and Janice's respectfully, takes the east and Mark's team, 3, will take the north. At the same time, Kate's team will make a diversion in order to bring some of the terrorists out of doors." Team 1 was marked in cyan, 2 in orange, 3 in brown, 4 in gray and 5 in magenta, all in the appropriate positions. "If we are successful in securing the gang, we should be able to have backup on all groups. Once the east side has been secured, Teams 2 and 4 will split up, the former making their way towards the largest rooms, located at the center and will rescue the hostages as they go along, while the latter meets up with Laura and Marissa, who will be going to the center as well from another direction. Team 4 will then act as armed escort for them."
"You mean a bodyguard unit," Christina said.
"That is correct. Once the teams reach the center, Marissa will send me a signal via her comlink, at which time I will call the police."
"Sounds simple enough," Mark stated, "But what concerns me is if any of the teams get ambushed."
"There is only a 10.03 probability that they will be able to recover enough to pull an ambush."
"One other worry," Chris asked, "I know we're doing this without any of the adults. If Michael and the others catch up, they're going to try to take us back. What then?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there…if we do," Laura replied, "And if they try to…that doesn't mean they'll succeed."
The others nodded. They knew from reputation that Laura was the kind of girl that was good at sneaking off when she wanted to.
"Are there any questions?" Marissa asked.
"I guess the only thing to ask," Janice said, "Is when we depart."
There was a rather definite affirmative sound to this.
She replied, her tone solid and firm…just as it had been in her nightmare, "Round your team members for a short address. We leave immediately afterwards."
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Michael looked from a window in the living room to the telephone. Even though they had said they would call every hour, the True Liberty Movement was an hour late…and he didn't know if that was because they had a mishap…or if they were playing with him.
He waited, wanting to speak to one of the hostages while he was using the Sato's computer to find information on the Movement… and he was waiting as well, to try to get a trace on the hideout.
He checked his watch…and saw that in a few seconds, it would be 2 hours since the last phone call.
The phone rang. He immediately went and picked it up.
"Hello?"
"So it's you, Knight. You're there."
"What about it? You didn't kill anyone early, did you? Never heard from you."
"No games, Knight. I know you were out an hour ago, checking the locations of our comrades. So that you wouldn't be stalling, we just sent that info to you."
"What! I don't know what you're playing at, but you never called."
"Bull! We know where you were an hour ago."
"Whatever. Let me talk to Devon Miles."
"What, you too? What's he to you, anyway?"
"Wait a minute. What do you mean, me too?"
"The FLAG woman an hour ago wanted to talk to him, too…and she was more honest than you are."
"FLAG woman…?" he asked, puzzled…then added angrily, "Cut the games yourself. We don't have any female FLAG staff here!"
Right then, he heard a familiar sound…the sound of a vehicle starting. A second later, two more turned over the engine...then three…until it seemed there were at least 50 or so engines running…all at one time.
Then, he heard another familiar sound…of a certain vehicle taking off.
Oh no, he thought, dropped the phone and brought up his comlink.
"Kitt, what's going on?"
There was no answer.
That's when he had a sick feeling in his gut. A FLAG woman that didn't exist here, the missing phone call, someone wanting to talk to Devon…
Michael immediately ran out of the mansion…and was greeted by a sight…the sight of 10 vehicles of different kinds pulling away from the place.
He peered to the right…and saw who was the one in the lead…and that he was leaving.
"Kitt! " he shouted into the comlink, "Where're you going!"
"Michael, forgive me…this is the only way."
"You come back here right now!"
"No, Michael…that is one order I will not obey. I have no choice. I'm sorry."
"Kitt!"
The 10th vehicle was now turning the corner…and went out of sight.