Chapter 1652

Only Way To Be Sure

Young Jesse and Hanna-Camille only dabbled in a few types of gambling. It was more for the experience of trying it. There was a certain thrill associated with it because it was something different and the chance it involved. It became quite depressing early on. It was clearly the road to nowhere. It was a shame the other patrons didn't realize it.

Mary, Laura, Leticia, Holly-Cam, and Tricia were all engaged a little more gaming actively.

The three girls from the ship encourage the two Terminators to 'clean up' at some of the gambling tables. They were already told they would win at any of the electronic games they played. They wanted to see something which would be a little more of a challenge.

It was the Metal girls against the system. The house always held the advantage for the majority of the different types of gambling. Well, until a Terminator came along.

The 'Cameron' in Holly-Cam was up to the challenge. The same applied with Tricia with 'CamNet' on her chip, which was indirectly 'Cameron' as well. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly all emanated from Cameron.

Young Jesse and Hanna-Camille watched what was happening.

"This isn't a Syndicate casino is it?" Young Jesse asked.

Hanna-Camille tilted her head slightly.

"I don't believe so." Hanna-Camille said. "It's possible they have some type of background footprint or control. This isn't the casino where the girls ran into a problem before."

It was an incident Young Jesse studied. It wasn't a Resistance matter. It was purely an 'off the books' operation. It became a Resistance matter indirectly since the casino was infiltrated by Skynet Terminators and Grays. She wondered what Cammy, Sheila, and Ally were actually up to.

"I don't think it's anything those who were involved with are going to forget about anytime soon." Young Jesse said.

Cammy moved into position across the street where the smoker was at. His filthy habit clearly marked his position in several ways.

Ally and Sheila continued forward on their path. They would act as bait to see what happened when they approached the location.

Cammy moved along the buildings on the other side of the street. She was in communication with Ally and Sheila through the com system. She also had them under direct visual observation as they approached the location. She knew if she could see them, they could see her. It could be beneficial in case anyone attempted to jump her.

The smoker was directly in front of her. She scanned the area through several different vision spectrums. She spotted he wasn't alone. There was at least one other individual there with him.

Cammy checked behind her to make sure she hadn't picked up a tail. She hadn't. Not yet anyway. There could always be someone pop up unexpectedly.

The smoker took a long drag on his cigarette. As he looked in the darkness, he suddenly became a little more upright. He quickly lowered his cigarette.

"I think we got something." The first man said.

The second man looked up from his phone.

"Is it a hit?" The second man asked.

The smoker strained his eyes in the darkness to look at the two figures who approached under the street lights.

"I think you should take a look." The first man said.

The other man got up. He wondered if he would need to do everything for the other man. A verbal description should have been good enough. He held a pistol in his hand.

"This better be something good." The second man said.

The smoker took another puff. He used his other hand to shield the end of the cigarette as he sucked the carcinogenic fumes through it. He looked at the pistol the other man held.

"I don't think you're going to need a weapon yet." The first man said. "We need to see what happens first."

The second man could see it was two females. He didn't think they would be much of a threat if they needed to deal with them. He put the pistol away. How much of a threat could a couple of broads be? He examined their physical features as best as he could. He actually found them to be quite appealing.

"What are they doing here?" The second man asked. "Those are some fine looking sluts."

The smoker could already envision himself in several scenarios with the females.

"Do you think we should put the grab on them?" The first man asked.

The second man was a little worried.

"We're supposed to watch the location to see who checks it out." The second man said. "Those aren't homeless broads. Someone's going to start looking for them if they turn up missing. You know the boss doesn't like trouble. They're still trying to recover from the mess last time."

The smoker thought there was more to it than they heard.

"The casino got cleaned out." The first man said. "It was clearly an inside job. It was probably one of the other Families attempting a power grab. You heard all those crazy stories. Someone got mixed up with another group when they got greedy. I think it was the Cartel."

The second man wanted to play things cool.

"Let's see what the bimbos do first." The second man said.

Cammy was able to move up to within a few feet of the two men. They concentrated all of their time on Sheila and Ally. She communicated with them through the com system with a very low decibel level.

Sheila kept track of where the two men were at.

Ally continuously checked around them.

They received the updates from Cammy as to what was happening. So far the men didn't make a move. It was time to step things up a little and see what happened.

"Cammy wants us to approach the building." Ally said. "She thinks it will provoke an incident."

Sheila was all for it. She actually thought there should have been an 'incident' already. It was clear they weren't seen as a threat. She smiled to herself at the thought. The men were in for a big surprise when they made their move.

"It will make it easier if the 'wankers' come to us." Sheila said. "Let's get them out of their element and base of operations. We're already familiar with the area. I don't think much has changed since we were here before."

Ally was glad to see the building wasn't being used as it was, when they freed the females from it before.

"I think the only thing that's changed is where they're holding the latest group of females." Ally said. "We both know it's the type of trade which never stops."

Sheila wanted to find out. She'd like to put a dent in their business. She planned to put a few dents in their skulls while she was at it.

"I think I can make them tell us everything we want to know." Sheila said.

Ally saw Sheila touch where her knife was at. She could tell Sheila's excitement level was extremely elevated with the prospect of being able to 'question' some Syndicate thugs. She was certain violence stimulated Sheila as much as sexual activity.

Cammy kept a careful watch out on the two men. She wanted to see at what point they would call someone else.

Sheila and Ally turned off of the main street and approached the building they freed the females from the last time they were in Las Vegas. They terminated everyone inside with extreme prejudice who was involved with the sex trafficking operation.

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Temporal Mission:

Past Timeline:

November 26 1963

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Young Allison opened her eyes when she heard the air horn blast. She recognized it as a P3. She resisted the urge to get up and look. She heard it twice more. She drifted back off to sleep. If she heard the M5 air horn on a passenger unit, she would get up to see the Owl. She didn't see the need to get up when she heard the shrill horn on a Santa Fe unit.

Cameron made her way out the north side of the hangar and secured the door behind her. She made her way over to the next hangar to the east. The PBY-5A Catalina was parked near the outside of it. She went over to it and decided to check it out. She opened the side blister and climbed inside. She made her way to the cockpit and looked over the controls. She looked forward to being able to fly it. She wanted to try a water take off, as well as a water landing.

She closed up the Catalina and left it behind. She made her way to the fourth hangar. She could see it was getting late. She didn't want to leave Young Allison unattended for too long. The incident at the previous hotel they stayed at was still fresh in her mind. Then again, everything was fresh in her mind whenever she thought about it. It was always like it just happened. It was why she could never get over the incident with John and Future Riley. Time didn't dull her pain like it did for a human.

She used the set of lock picks and entered the fourth hanger. She was a little surprised at what she spotted. There was an F-86 Sabre sitting there. She looked at the registration number near the tail. She felt a twinge in her left hand. The jet she currently looked at would experience difficulty on takeoff in a few years at a different airfield. It would go off the end of the runway and crash into an ice cream store. There would be several fatalities. It would create a negative uproar about Warbirds because of the incident. She always found it somewhat surprising how some groups would attempt to push their personal agenda whatever there was a tragedy.

Cameron briefly considered creating a malfunction on the F-86. She could rig it so it would crash soon after takeoff the next time it flew. She quickly pushed the thought from her head. If she was going to do it, it's what would have already happened. She moved on.

There was also a T-33 Shooting Star, often referred to as a T-Bird. Both of the jets appear to be in good condition to her. She was aware all mechanical devices were subject to wear and malfunction. She could attest to a few malfunctions herself.

Cameron went through the interior of the hangar and checked out the other aircraft. She made her way to the office area and looked around. She let herself out the front entrance and made sure the door was secure behind her. There were still other hangars to check out a little further to the east. They were closest to the west side of the long runway. It was orientated in a more north south direction.

She felt the need to check up on Young Allison and make sure there weren't any problems. The incident at the other hotel still bothered her. She didn't care for the desk clerk at their current location either. He seemed as shady as he did creepy.

She already found enough things to pique her interest. She took a route a couple of streets north back towards the motel. As soon as she crossed over the railroad siding, she could hear another train in the distance. It just came around the corner after having traversed Tehachapi Pass. It was headed for Mojave. She could see there were Santa Fe F7 Units on the point. They were situated in an ABBA configuration. It seemed to be a fairly standard configuration for Santa Fe. It appeared they liked to keep matched sets together when possible. Southern Pacific was much more flexible and diverse. When they needed power for a train, they grabbed whatever was available to meet the tonnage requirement to get the train to its destination.

She spotted some movement on the western fringe of the airport. It was an open field. Most of the land to the north of the airport was nothing but open desert terrain. It might be the high desert, and lack the sand dunes of the low desert, nonetheless, it was still a desert. The amount of rainfall is what dictated the designation rather than the terrain.

The movement was a coyote. She could see it stalking her. She thought about drawing her Hi-Power and terminating it. It would most likely end up grabbing someone's pet animal for its nocturnal meal. Coyotes, unlike dogs, pursued other animals for food. A dog would bark at a cat. It was more inclined to let the feline know it didn't like it in its territory. A coyote would simply move in and grab it. It needed to eat. It's all it knew to do. Food was food.

She thought about turning and heading towards the coyote to face it head on. She was pretty sure when it realized she was headed towards it, it would turn tail and run. Predators didn't like being the prey. It was how she felt. She assumed the animal would feel the same way. The difference was, she was sure of her ability. There was no animal she couldn't kill with her bare hands, including a tiger or bear.

The Santa Fe train activated its air horn for the first of the crossings as it neared Mojave. She recognized it as twin Leslie A200-156 horns. It gave her an idea. She modulated her audio system to emit a high frequency sound in the direction of the coyote. It immediately stopped. She changed the frequency, and did it again. She saw the coyote lower its ears down on his head and curl its tail behind it as it ran off. It didn't look like it would get an easy meal in the small community of Mojave tonight. It might always return later on. It also might associate the sound of the air horn, with the high frequency sound which caused physical pain to its ears.

Cameron continued along the street. She could see the Santa Fe train passing directly in front of her next to the main highway. She continued along the side street until she reached the alley. She hoped she didn't encounter any bums or hobos lurking behind any of the buildings as she made her way southward through the alley. She was aware any of them riding the rails might take the stop in Mojave, as the location to get on and off of their preferred mode of transportation.

She made her way through the alley unopposed and crossed over several small streets. When she crossed the street before the block the motel was located in, she looked over to see if the Highway Patrol cruiser was still there. It wasn't. It was gone. She briefly wondered where it went. It could have gone in either direction of Route 6 or Route 466.

She was just about to cross the small street when she saw a vehicle moving slowly on the main Highway. She wasn't sure if it was going to turn or not. Maybe someone was about to stop for a bite to eat. It crossed over the intersection at the same slow speed without slowing further. She quickly crossed the small street. She approached the motel from the rear.

Young Allison had drifted in and out of sleep several times. She heard the shrill air horn of a Santa Fe F7A. She much preferred the tonal qualities of the P3 used by the Southern Pacific. She waited to hear the melodic tones of the M5 on a Southern Pacific passenger unit.

She felt the comforting cold steel of the Browning under her pillow. Her hand made its way around the grip and her thumb rested on the safety. She was ready to lower it down if necessary. She was pretty sure she heard some movement on the walkway outside the door of the room. The chair was still up against the door handle. She set the glass from the bathroom on top of it as she did in San Antonio. If anyone was able to open the door, the glass would immediately fall off of the chair before whoever tried to enter could force their way in. She would let the barrel of the Browning speak for her when she confronted them.

She already picked her fields of fire if it became necessary. She would roll off the bed with the Hi-Power in her hand as she lowered the safety. She would use the bed for cover. She would engage whatever targets came through the doorway. She would fire her first shots at waist level. The follow up shots would happen at ground level to further strike the targets she already hit. So far she only needed to kill those associated with Skynet. She didn't just shoot them. She killed them. She made sure they were dead. She always followed up with a head shot. It was the only way to be sure.

Young Allison heard the Santa Fe train again. She didn't hear any additional noise outside of the room door. She checked the time. It was almost midnight. She reflected on all the activities they did throughout the day. It was quite substantial. She didn't know what adventure would await them tomorrow. Cameron was very clandestine and tight lipped about it. She knew it didn't really matter what it was. It was Cameron who would determine what they did and when they did it.

Only Way To Be Sure

Some stand out in a crowd
Others desire to remain obscure
Perhaps the ones of greatest interest
Are those who are demure

Things which are a mystery
Seem to radiate their own allure
When there are no good answers
It can leave one feeling insecure

Those who stick around
Are able to build tenure
The hardships of daily life
They're able to endure

There are many along the way
To hear lecture or confer
It may cause an unwanted detour
If there's too much pressure

To think of the next day
One can use vigor to assure
A heart that beats true
Is the only way to be sure

Nobody