Code Name: Buffy and Buddy
Chapter Eight
Xander had briefed Cordelia by the time we arrived. I told them about the dark blue van. No one else spoke of what happened after Xander left while I was alone with the three captives. I was sure they would discuss it later. Frankly, I was not really happy with myself just then, but we still did not have the girls and if and when we rescued them, I would think about what I had done.
“I think you’re right about the blue van,” Cordelia said. “A dark blue van came through the fast food drive through and placed a big order. One of the items on the order was a chocolate shake with no whipped cream. That’s the way Buffy likes her shakes.”
“Was one of the burgers with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s how Beth Anne likes hers. Did you follow the van?”
“Yes, they drove to an old warehouse. The gate stood open, and the loading door was open. The van drove right in.”
“I guess we go attack the warehouse,” I said.
“Aren’t you afraid it’s a trap?” Cordial asked.
“I am sure that it is. We have to figure out how to spring it without getting pinched.”
“Shouldn’t we call the cops?”
“The bad guys probably have scanners monitoring the police frequencies. Too risky. Cordelia, send two of your ladies to my house. Have them enter through my bedroom window on the second floor. It does not lock. Tell my parents everything and have them contact Chief Johnson. He’ll know how to deal with this.”
“Do your parents know you can fly?” Cordelia asked.
“Yes. Chief Johnson knows, and apparently, half the town knows, but nobody thought fit to tell me that they knew.”
“Until yesterday?” Cordelia asked.
“Yes.”
“Must have been quite a shock.”
“You could say that.”
“You seem to be holding up with it, better than my son would and he’s your age.”
“Yeah, well, I wish I felt better about it.”
“It’ll be fine. We’ll get the girls back, and life will return to normal.”
“It can’t. It’s not a secret anymore, and I met all of you, and I’d rather be part of your group than alone like I was.”
“All that can happen.”
“I hope so.”
Giles said, “We need to move. People will be starting to arrive to use the beach soon. There’s an abandoned storefront in a strip mall on Highway 50. We can use that as our base.”
“Is it locked?”
“Yes, but I think you could take care of that with your motivational abilities.”
I looked at him warily and thought about what he was saying.
“What if there’s an alarm?”
“We make sure the power is off first.”
Just as I was wondering what had happened to the drone, I head it approach from low over the ocean. It did not look armed, but I decided I was not hanging around to find out. I intercepted it. It was not armed. Based on its markings, it could only be real Air Force. I had to figure out how to turn this costly government play toy to my advantage. Flying slightly above it I realized I could ride it and control it. I landed on it and wrapped my feet around the fuselage and hooked them under the wings. I felt sorry for the drone’s pilot who would probably be called on the carpet for losing control of her aircraft. I would apologize later. I now owed two drone pilots apologies. Controlling my own flight and the drone’s flight turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. Waving my arms and yelling like a cowboy at a rodeo, I came back around and buzzed the platform. I landed the drone on the road. With its little prop spinning its little heart out, I held it in place. Everyone ran down to the road.
“Change of plans,” I said. “Cordelia, show me the warehouse and then send the people to my parents. Giles, break into the storefront and set up headquarters. When you’re in the storefront, send someone to Space View park to meet Cordelia and me. Everyone unassigned goes with Giles.”
Cordelia asked, “Do you know what you are doing?”
“I’m not sure.”
I lifted off and drove the drone toward the city. I motioned for Cordelia to fly above me and stay out of the drone’s vision. She located the warehouse, pointed it out and peeled off to find the rest of her crew. I circled the warehouse several times. Each circle I took the drone higher. I stayed over the warehouse for at least half an hour before dismounting from the drone. The drone climbed a little higher and maintained the circle. I would prefer someone else flew top cover.
I coasted toward the park as the gray light of false dawn cast its promise of hope across the Space Center. Caleb napped on a park bench. “Hey, Caleb, wake up.”
“Hey, Buddy, how are you?”
“I’m starving. Do you think that fast food place is open?”
He held up a paper bag and said, “They are.”
“I am starving.”
“You haven’t eaten since this started have you?”
“Nope.”
We ambled to the restaurant and ate inside. “Any news,” I asked.
“We haven’t heard anything,” Caleb said. “You’d think the extortionists would be pissed that you slipped out of their grasp on the island. You’d think they would say something.”
“Nothing on the social media sites?”
“Giles has been checking.”
“On his cell phone?”
“Yes.”
“Then they know where our headquarters is.”
“Who they?”
“The Air Force for sure. The private security firm that works for the rocket manufacturer probably knows. The people that tried to kill me may or may not know, and the extortionists probably know.”
“Wait, that’s four groups of people. I thought we were only up against three.”
“Yeah, and don’t forget the local cops. They’d throw me in jail in a heartbeat for some of the stuff I’ve pulled in the last two days.”
“There is that. So now what?”
“I expect the local police will show up here soon. We need to think about our next step.”
“Which is?”
Poor Caleb. Before today, his most extreme adventure had been bareback horseback riding. He was in way over his head.
“We finish our breakfast and quietly walk away toward downtown.”
“Then what?”
“We go to the storefront and see who has set up around the perimeter. Depending on who is there, we decide what to do next.”
“How do we get there?”
“We walk like normal people.”
“Oh.”
We had just turned the corner past the convenience store on the opposite side of the street when we heard the sirens. Caleb and I ducked into the side street and kept walking. We stuck to the small side roads and the residential areas as we walked to the storefront. We didn’t talk much, but I could tell that Caleb was scared out of his mind. I was, too, but I could not tell him that.
We stopped across the street from the shopping mall and surveyed the parking lot. A blue Air Force step van was parked in plain sight. I pointed it out to Caleb. “Surveillance.”
“What do we do?”
“We knock on the door and introduce ourselves.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Disable the electronics, tie them up and undress them.”
“You’re really sick about this undressing thing.”
“It puts them at a psychological disadvantage and makes it difficult to hide weapons.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
I opened the van’s driver door and removed the keys. I was not surprised who I found in the back. “Good morning, Captain Thomson. May I have your sidearm please?”
The pistol popped into my hand. The other man in the van threw up his hands and bolted for the rear door. Caleb intercepted him and pushed him back inside closing the door behind him.
“Caleb, change of plans. There’s only two of them. Can you drive one of these?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent.” I tossed him the keys. “Take us to the suspect warehouse.”
As I tied Captain Thomson up in his clothes, he protested that he was on my side. He was with the Air Force, and they did not want anyone shooting down a spacecraft regardless of whose craft it was.
“Captain, although I do not believe that is either your rank or your name, why was that woman at my cousin’s house only torturing Mrs. Carson and not you? I don’t think so. I think it’s because you are with her. I watched your reaction when I hit her. I paid real close attention to you when I threatened to cut off her nipple. You didn’t flinch. Mrs. Carson cried out like it was her I was threatening to cut. And you’re here now. No, Captain, it stinks. Caleb, at the last stop sign before the warehouse, you bail. Go to the warehouse and see if the two sharpshooters are hiding in the woods. They should be hard to find, but I think you can handle it.”
Caleb turned in his seat. “This is the last stop sign.”
“Good, bail. Walk do not fly.”
“I got it. Are you going to be okay?”
I untied the assistant and motioned with the pistol for him to take the driver’s seat. “Drive into the open bay door nice and slow.”
“You’re a dead man.”
“Boy. I’m not even out of high school. Drive.”
The van drove into the warehouse. A guard greeted the driver. “Hey, man I thought you were doing a stakeout.”
“He’s here! He’s in the van!”
I bolted out the van’s rear doors, snatched the guard’s pistol and flew a quick circle around the truck. As I left I spotted Beth Anne and Buffy inside a chained area that looked like it had once held tools for whatever business had previously occupied this space. Bits of aircraft parts, missiles, and miscellaneous debris were strewn around the floor. I barely missed being trapped by the steel mesh that dropped in front of the door.
Flying in daylight was dangerous. I knew that, but I had no choice. Caleb had evidently chosen to fly since he arrived at the storefront before I did. When I touched down, he pointed. “Sharpshooter.” He pointed again. “Sharpshooter.”
“Thanks.”
“Walk around to the back and go into the building. It’s probably a trap, but act surprised.”
“You want me to get captured?”
“Yes, so you can tell them I am right out front waiting for them.”
“Do you know what you are doing?”
“Yeah, I do.”
I slid behind one of the sharpshooters. “Are you ready for some target practice?”
She jumped to her feet. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Sneak up on me like that.”
“Light feet.”
“Oh.”
“Kid, you look like hell. Are you all right?”
“You know a lot of people have said that to me lately. I feel really crappy right now, and when this is over, if we all live, I’d really like to chat with you and your friend. I have done some really mean things to people in the last couple of days.”
“Fair enough, but if it’s any help, it comes with the territory.”
“Did you see that surveillance van that was parked here a little while ago?”
“Yeah, Air Force.”
“Bogus.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh look, one of your friends is coming out of the building. This is not good.”
“Walk with me. Keep your rifle at the ready. Stay a little behind me.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll shoot you in the back?”
“No. Kick my ass for dumping fire ants on you, yes, but shoot me, no.”
She laughed. “You’re right, and we will make you sorry you did that.”
“I’m already sorry.”
We walked toward where a man stood with a pistol to Cordelia’s head. It was the guy who drew the knife on me on the island.
I was twenty feet from him when I said, “I brought reinforcements, and they’re wearing bulletproof vests, and you’re not.”
“I brought reinforcements too.”
Ten men filed out of the building each with a hostage. I could see that the men were chained to the hostages which would keep the hostages from flying. I abandoned Plan A. The sharpshooters dropped to prone firing positions to provide the minimum target area. I looked to either side to see them on the ground ready to fire.
“Wow. I’m impressed. That’s a lot of firepower.”
“So, you’ve gone to a lot of work to try to capture me. You know, you probably could have just asked me, and I might have been willing to help you.”
“Not likely. Get in the car, and nobody gets hurt.”
“Not likely. I get in that car, and everyone dies. We need to come up with a better plan. You need to let my people go. You need to let all my friends leave.”
“Not.”
I had left the drone circling over the warehouse. It had followed me here and was now circling overhead. “You know my friends, and I love to dance. We especially like the Conga. Have you ever danced the Conga?” I mimicked the steps with my hands. “One, Two, Three, Kick. One, Two, Three, Kick.”
I captured the drone and brought it screaming low over the parking lot barely missing a couple of light poles on the way. It distracted the shooters, but not my friends who, while they had no idea what I was doing, knew I was up to something. “ONE, TWO, THREE, KICK!”
On command, they kicked or kneed their captors firmly in the balls. The men went down. My friends grabbed the weapons, retrieved the keys and released themselves.
I shouted “FLY!” and my friends took off leaving their former captors writhing on the ground.
I pulled the driver out of the car they had intended to take me away in and motioned for the sharpshooters to get in with me. “Now, where do we go?”
“Boy Scout Pavilion, Kennedy Parkway, Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.”
“We’re with you.”
“Thanks.”
“We’re still going to kick your ass.”
“Fair enough.”