Chapter 922

That Is Risky

John and John Henry watched it all come to a head at the Syndicate casino from the Command Center. It looked like it was going to be a little more involved and violent than they'd first thought.

"The Syndicate thugs are going to try to stop 'The Enforcer' from leaving." John said. "I can see everyone is posturing."

John Henry could tell why. It was because all of their cash was in the back of the armored car.

"They think they're being robbed again." John Henry said.

'The Enforcer' directed the Grays to keep collecting the cash and load it in the armored car.

As they watched the security feed, several of the Syndicate thugs pulled weapons. It looked as if they were going to have a shootout inside the lower level of the casino.

There were four Grays with 'The Enforcer'. He moved forward and slammed two of the Syndicate thugs into the ground. They didn't get back up.

Another thug shot at 'The Enforcer'. There was no apparent effect.

'The Enforcer' pulled a suppressed MAC 10 from behind his back and opened up on the Syndicate thugs. The three that were still standing all fell. None of the Grays appeared to be injured. It all happened in seconds.

The Skynet force seemed undamaged. The Syndicate force of thugs appeared terminated.

One of the Grays pulled a pistol and went from thug to thug. He shot them each once in the head except for one. He then pulled out a knife and started to pull down the pants on one of the thugs that the Terminator slammed into the ground. It looked like he was about to collect a few souvenirs. 'The Enforcer' stopped him and indicated they needed to finish up and get in the armored transport. The Gray kicked the last thug in the side of the face and then shot him in the head as well. He then rejoined the work party loading the money into the armored car.

The rest of the money was rounded up unchallenged.

There were no other Syndicate forces that were dispatched to engage them before they collected everything and left.

They quickly loaded up the last of the money and piled in the armored car. The rear door of the armored car closed. It was followed momentarily by a puff of black smoke from the exhaust as the armored car started up.

The armored car drove away from the casino loading dock area.

The Gray's drove the armored car down the side streets at first. They didn't pull onto the main highway. It appeared they may have thought they were being followed.

John Henry knew that everything was about to break loose on their end.

"They're on the move." John Henry said. "The girls are all getting the same feeds we saw."

John could see that the Skynet crew used a lot of caution. That would make their job a little tougher. They needed a direction so they could turn the girls loose after them.

"We'll track them and see where they go." John said. "They seem wary of picking up a tail. The girls need to be careful and not get overconfident."

John Henry had access to two drones. They'd previously been there where the girls waited at the airport. He redirected both of them to follow the armored car.

"I already have one drone locked up on the armored car." John Henry said. "The second drone is running recon and searching for any other targets."

John wondered if maybe a drone strike on the armored car might not be the best approach. It would be the safest for Savannah. Maybe he should take a page from Young Allison's playbook.

"Do you think we need more drones?" John asked.

John Henry only had one target to track currently. If the Skynet group were to unload some of the items from the armored car, then maybe at that point they would need more drones. It didn't appear that they were going to unload the armored car anywhere.

"At the present time I would say 'no'." John Henry said. "Then again, we've been receiving direct assistance from CamNet."

John was sure that statement needed a little qualification. Even though it hadn't been declared, it was fairly evident what actually occurred behind the scenes.

"And by whoever CamNet is being promoted to act by." John said.

They both were sure they knew the answer to that.

"They were all 'good calls', John." John Henry said. "Cameron and Savannah as well as the others were all undamaged because of them."

John knew it was true.

It was time to get the ball rolling.

"Cameron, your target is on the move." John said. "They've taken some evasive action but seem to be headed in one direction at this time."

John still didn't want Cameron to make a direct assault on the armored car. It was risky to her and risky for Savannah and all the others.

He needed to wonder how they were at this point. So many things happened since the two boxcars were detected in the desert headed for Las Vegas. Now they were involved with several Skynet related targets. There were the Fanatics and the Syndicate to contend with as well. They most likely weren't done with either of those groups yet.

The worst part was that they simply didn't have a clue where things were headed or what could happen next. No one saw everything coming that happened so far.

Cameron started the SUV and was already headed out before the armored car even pulled out of the casino parking lot. Gail and Cam both followed behind her. They left the airport behind.

"Cameron, your target is on the move." John said.

Cameron wanted to be on the road before the armored car made it to one of the major streets. If anyone was watching the traffic, she didn't want them detected if they started to move after the armored car passed by them, if that were the case.

"We saw, John." Cameron said. "We're rolling."

John thought it was a little premature for them to be on the move. He wondered what they were up to.

"What's your plan?" John asked.

Cameron did have a plan. It wasn't a detailed plan. It was only a general plan. It was the same plan as always.

"We will stop the armored car and then terminate 'The Enforcer' and Grays." Cameron said. "We will also take the money."

John was about to respond that wasn't a plan at all. Savannah spoke before he could.

Savannah could see that Cameron's plan seemed a little vague. She wanted to put a little spin on it herself. She also hoped to interject a little control and restraint.

"John, it will depend on where the armored car goes." Savannah said. "It may lead us to a bigger fish. They most likely have a lot of money on board and are headed to a specific destination. We don't know that yet but it could be something bigger."

John knew the armored car must have a specific destination, maybe there would be a bigger target like Savannah suggested.

"It might." John said.

There was an additional worry in the back of Savannah's mind. She knew that the earlier incident at the Syndicate casino's vault wasn't reported to the authorities. Both the Syndicate and Skynet knew that someone took their money. It was clear that they planned to get it back one way or another. As to exactly how they would do that, it was undetermined as of yet.

"We also need to consider this is all a set up to lure us out into the open." Savannah said. "I'm advising we all use caution. They have to know that whoever hit the casino vault earlier is still out there."

Cameron didn't want to lose sight of the target. There was no need to deal with 'what ifs' currently. They had a clear cut target and that was all that mattered right now.

"Knocking off the armored car should be easy." Cameron said.

John Henry was more than a little worried that Cameron wanted to conduct another robbery. There is a serious Skynet threat associated with the armored car. That was mainly in the form of 'The Enforcer'. There's been some speculation as to whether he was Liquid Metal or not. Based upon the actions they saw him take at the casino vault just a few minutes ago, they appeared to be the actions of a standard endoskeleton Terminator. He wanted to make sure that the idea was out there that there were other options available other than a direct assault.

"You have the option of a drone strike once they're clear of traffic or preferably out of the city." John Henry said.

Cameron didn't want any second guessing from the Command Center. She was the one on the ground and she would make the determination as to how the target was engaged.

"I'll think about it." Cameron said.

Cameron felt a drone missile strike would be messy. It may destroy the Terminator and probably the cash. They would lose two valuable assets that way.

She wanted a better plan and she wanted to be in control of it. She wondered if either of her girls would come up with a workable solution at the same time she formulated one. She hoped that they did so they could compare them.

Gail's team received the information.

Ally didn't care for what she heard. She'd been down that road before.

"I hope it isn't a drone strike." Ally said. "That will be a hassle to clean up."

She pictured picking pieces of Coltan and other debris from the Terminator out of the sand and dirt surrounding the road where the missile strike would take place.

Gail wanted to use the option that posed the least amount of a threat to the team.

"It will be safest for Savannah if a missile is used." Gail said.

Sheila was in agreement with Ally on this one. She'd been on more than one of the cleanup expeditions after a drone strike at some of the locations that they dealt with.

"It will still be a hassle to collect all the Terminator parts." Sheila said.

Gail looked at both of them with more than a little irritation.

"I'll do it myself." Gail said. "You two can do whatever you want. Savannah shouldn't be exposed to an unnecessary risk."

Sheila knew what she was going to do while Gail cleaned up the mess. She wanted to rib Gail a little bit about it.

"Gail has it real bad." Sheila said.

Ally was more than willing to jump on the bandwagon and rag on Gail.

"Yup…." Ally said.

Gail glared at both of them. She wanted to make her discord clear.

"Shut up." Gail said. "I mean both of you."

Ally and Sheila were only trying to have some fun. They could both tell that they'd hit a 'nerve'.

Gail wasn't in a joking mood; she never was, unless she was around Savannah. At those times Savannah encouraged her to see what was really being said instead of the sum of what the words were. Sometimes when the words were taken at face value, they might actually seem insulting when that wasn't the intention.

What she didn't need right now is any backtalk from Ally or Sheila.

Cam didn't like to play 'follow the leader' unless she was the leader. The 'Cameron' in her didn't like to play 'second fiddle'. She wanted some better planning if there was any time to do it.

"Once we determine which way the armored car is headed, one of us needs to get in front of it." Cam said.

Hanna was ready for some preemptive action.

"Maybe we should do it." Hanna said.

Holly thought they should all work together as a team and not try to branch out and do things independently of each other. She wasn't usually out on operations but she thought they should follow some operational framework of some type.

"I think we should run it by Cameron and John first." Holly said.

Cam reconsidered her earlier thought.

"Maybe we all should be on the same page." Cam said. "I'll contact Cameron first."

Cam called Cameron and ran the idea by her. She would have just as soon taken direct action. She would try and follow protocol and be a team player. There were three teams after all.

Cameron put the call from Cam on speaker phone.

"That's what I planned with a twist, Cam." Cameron said. "We have Samantha with us. I think they will stop to pick her up if they see her."

Cam was pretty sure that the sight of Samantha would send up a few red flags at this point in time since she'd been missing for more than a few hours.

"Or they might run her down." Cam said. "That also must be considered. She has been out of contact with everyone since she headed for our casino hotel."

Savannah could see the danger any operation like that would pose for Samantha. She would be totally exposed and out in the open.

"That's risky for Samantha." Savannah said. "We don't know what could happen. Even if they didn't run her down they might stop and then when she approached the armored car, they could Taser her and capture her that way. 'The Enforcer' could pull her chip and turn her chassis over to the Grays to use as they continued their journey."

Samantha didn't like that last prospect at all. She was very pleased that Savannah showed and voiced concern for her. It was clear that to Cameron, she was little more than an expendable asset. The possibility of what could happen to her chassis did bother her immensely in Savannah's scenario.

Samantha smiled at Savannah.

"Thank you, Savannah." Samantha said. "I'm glad that one person cares about me, even if my time is limited."

Cammy gave Samantha a dirty look.

John was glad that Savannah shot down Cameron's idea on how to deploy Samantha. He thought it was a bad idea as well. He was sure if he would have indicated that himself that Cameron would have decided to use it anyway. The armored car was on the move and it must have a destination.

"Maybe we need to wait a little and see where they lead us." John said. "They have to be going somewhere."

Savannah was a little worried that they didn't know the exact size of the force they would face. They only had a limited amount of facts to work with.

"There are five of them that we saw." Savannah said. "There could have been more waiting inside the armored car or more Grays could meet them. There could be additional Terminators or Grays setting up an ambush for them to pass through and for us to trigger."

John understood the severity of Savannah's warning. Right now there were too many unknowns and not enough answers.

"I want everyone to hang back and the drone will follow them." John said. "We don't want to get caught in a sucker play."

Cameron understood the importance of finding another target wherever the armored car ended up at. She wanted to deal with the known threat as soon as they could because it was the most serious threat to them at this point.

"I think we should take the armored car down first." Cameron said. "I want 'The Enforcer' deactivated. That's the immediate threat."

John Henry was sure there was a more serious undertone. He'd already been targeted once at their casino hotel.

"Cameron, they may lead us to Skynet, a Skynet." John Henry said. "The 'Metal Bi…', I mean Samantha, was told to check out where we were staying at the hotel. I never detected anyone watching me. That disrupted our operations. There must be something out there that we haven't found yet. They found me earlier. I'd like to find them and return the favor."

Cameron thought about it. The attack by the 'Metal Bitch' spoiled the consummation of John and Savannah's relationship. If 'a Skynet' was behind that, it needed to pay for that transgression. That event was a serious disruption in the establishment of the 'Natural Order'.

"OK, we will follow them with the drone but still stay within stinking distance." Cameron said. "I don't want 'The Enforcer' to get away."

Cameron was ready to act on her own if it looked like 'The Enforcer' was going to elude them or pull a fast one. It wouldn't be the first time that she needed to deal with events by herself.

Vanna was in charge of Precious. Allison assisted her. It was time to bring her back to her mother. They wanted to make sure that Derek and Riley were 'finished' before they interrupted them. They were. They knocked on the door and Riley soon appeared.

Vanna and Allison returned Precious to Riley.

"Thank you so much." Riley said.

Vanna looked at the tiny infant in Riley's arms with love in her eyes.

"Thank you for allowing me to help in this way." Vanna said.

To Riley and the other girls from the future it was no big deal. All of the females helped each other out in any way that they could. They seemed to be the only ones who watched over each other.

Vanna and Riley both thanked each other again.

Allison and Vanna left and headed back to Vanna's room.

Now that all the activity and drama was over Allison had time to think. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. She began to worry about her Metal lover. She knew that her Metal girlfriend wasn't the only one that was out in the field right now facing danger.

"I'm worried about Holly." Allison said. "I'm worried about all of them."

Vanna knew there were several options open to them. They could go to the lab and watch events unfold silently or they could join John and John Henry and find out more about what was going on with the planning of everything. They knew that they needed to stay out of the way if they did that.

"We can go by the Command Center first if you want. I'm worried about Cam." Vanna said. "I'm worried about all of them as well."

Allison felt guilty about her earlier thoughts. She'd been making plans and there was no guarantee that any of that would play out.

"Here we are dreaming of a future and they're out there trying to give us one." Allison said. "Savannah's the one that is out there with them. It isn't fair. We need to do more."

Vanna felt she'd been out of the action for too long. Now her body had new importance in another way. She felt the need to do more as well. The future shouldn't fall on Savannah's shoulders alone.

"We've gone soft." Vanna said. "I lose sleep over it sometimes."

Allison worried about it too. She worried about it for more than just herself. It seemed for the last few years Cameron wanted something else for them.

"I do too." Allison said. "Cameron wants us 'barefoot and pregnant'."

Vanna couldn't disagree with that assessment. She felt there was a little more to it as well.

"She wants to protect us." Vanna said. "She cares about us."

Allison was appreciative of that but that didn't include all of them.

"What about Savannah?" Allison asked.

Vanna didn't plan to let anything happen to Savannah. She would take matters into her own hands if she needed to.

"I'll use the TDE myself if anything ever happens to her." Vanna said.

Allison didn't think anyone would authorize that.

"I don't think we have that kind of 'pull'." Allison said.

Vanna considered that possibility as well. She also considered a 'workaround' to make it happen.

"Maybe not but you know someone real well who does." Vanna said.

Allison knew Vanna referred to Young Allison. That was another contentious issue with her as well. She'd tried to put the brakes on it numerous times and there was no stopping it.

"She wants to fight alongside Savannah." Allison said. "It's like how we used to fight together alongside of each other."

Vanna couldn't hope but think about where they were now and where they'd been.

"We're still alongside of each other even if we're not in combat." Vanna said. "That's how it is supposed to be."

Allison looked at Vanna with love in her eyes.

"It's OUR 'Natural Order'." Allison said.

There was no doubt by anyone anywhere what the 'Natural Order' of Savannah Weaver and Allison Young was and would always be. It didn't matter what the timeline was, where or when.

Jesse pleasured Claire to the point past where Claire wanted her to stop. Instead she intensified her actions and drove Claire a little further than she'd been before.

Jesse hoped it wasn't too far. She'd decided to stop when Claire's eyes rolled back in her head and she was unable to speak. It took almost a minute for things to start to return to normal.

"Are you sure you're OK?" Jesse asked.

Claire's mouth moved a few times before any words came out.

"You're – – very – – satisfying." Claire said as she caught her breath.

Jesse was relieved to see that everything appeared to be normal. It made her think of when Gail took her 'all the way'.

"Don't feel bad. I had a real rough go with Gail the first few times." Jesse said. "I could hardly see, speak or move."

Claire's eyes widened with excitement. She knew what she just experienced felt like. What Jesse described sounded even more extreme.

"Was it that intense?" Claire asked.

Claire thought what she'd just experienced with Jesse was intense. She really wondered what it was like to be pushed farther in that way.

Jesse was aware Gail needed to bring her back more than a few times from the other side. She experienced such extreme pleasure that her body 'quit' and left her in Heaven.

"Yes." Jesse said. "I made it all the way to Heaven."

Claire wanted more, she wanted to go further.

"Tell me about it." Claire said.

Jesse knew it was the most intense satisfying pleasure that she'd ever experienced. If she would have 'gone out' permanently, she would have gone out happy. She couldn't help but think 'what a way to go'.

"Gail was worried she damaged me and told Cameron. Evidently she'd done the same thing to Duplicate Jesse with similar results. Cameron issued orders to all the Metal females not to take it that far with human females again." Jesse said. "Sheila told me Vanna asked her to do it anyway one time. She told her not to stop until she blacked out."

Claire was worried that Vanna experienced the same thing.

"What happened?" Claire asked. "Was she OK?"

Jesse didn't want to know all the details. She knew what it was like 'to cross over'.

"I think so." Jesse said. "I'm not sure if it was Vanna or Duplicate Vanna. I asked her not to tell me more. Those moments are private."

Now Claire wondered what it would be like to be taken that far. None of the Metal girls she was with ever pushed her beyond what she could tolerate. She understood the reason now why, if Cameron ordered them not to push the human girls that far.

She didn't know if she should speak to Vanna first or seek out Sheila and tell her to do the same thing to her that she'd done with Vanna. She wanted to try it at least one time and see what it was like. It excited her greatly that it would be the Terminator version of Jesse who would do it for her.

She'd heard stories about some of the terminations that Sheila did. Some of them were very graphic and brutal as to how she handled both male and female terminations. It really made her wonder if Sheila ever purposely pleasured someone to death. She would look into that and see if that were the case. She wanted to make sure that she wouldn't be the first.

Earlier:

Anna wanted to warn Young Allison about the violence that was about to occur in the casino. Young Allison asked Anna and CamNet both to allow her to witness everything unfiltered with what was about to unfold.

Young Allison didn't think the gunfight at the casino was a big deal. She did see the Gray with the knife and knew what he intended to do. She thought the Syndicate thug may have been still alive at the time. She knew that would be very traumatic for someone to lose body parts, even as they were in the process of terminating.

"The violence was no worse than expected." Young Allison said.

Anna didn't feel any remorse for the Syndicate thugs. She wanted the Skynet group to be terminated as well.

"Cameron will take them down." Anna said.

Young Allison listened to the conversations between Cameron's group and the Command Center.

"Why does Cameron always want to push it?" Young Allison asked.

Anna thought the answer was rather straightforward.

"She's a Terminator." Anna said. "It's what WE do."

Young Allison disagreed with that. The other Terminators didn't act the same way.

"You know what I mean." Young Allison said.

Anna did know what Young Allison meant and she knew what her real concern was.

"I do." Anna said. "You're really worried about Savannah."

Young Allison was more than worried about it. She'd seen it play out numerous times.

"I am." Young Allison said. "I know she won't back away from the danger so she can protect Cameron."

Anna wasn't sure what the problem was.

"Isn't that what we all want?" Anna asked.

There was a 'far off look' in Young Allison's eyes.

"It is." Young Allison said.

Anna picked up on the 'far off look'.

"I can see you're thinking." Anna said. "What is it?"

Young Allison wanted some better answers.

"I don't like them following the unknown." Young Allison said.

Anna tilted her head slightly.

"Everything is unknown until it's known." Anna said.

Young Allison frowned slightly.

"I'm not so sure about that." Young Allison said. "There are some things we can figure out before we know."

Anna tilted her head slightly in the other direction.

That Is Risky

There's only one constant in life
It's not taxes, it's death
For some it may occur
Before their last breath

Life is always in flux
Many things are a gamble
To pick up the broken pieces
Many must hurry and scramble

When two first meet
Where will things go
That probably all depends
If they go fast or slow

Each one must decide
How far to open the door
Do they call it quits
Or seek out a little more

Some may want too much
They become more than frisky
To continue the association
That is risky

Nobody