"Well done", the major stated with his Scottish accent. "Well done indeed." He knew that none of his men would show any satisfaction at all on the outside no matter how he congratulated them. "Let's get to it and find something useful in this heap."

The soldiers who weren't watching the perimeter searched hard and quickly. They opened some creates and a soldier shook his head. "One of these wounded my cousin in Afghanistan", Quentin Mayer observed and lifted up a RPG-7 from its case.

Major Weir looked back with a smirk. "Would you like to shoot this dead gun runner again as retribution, Trooper Mayer?"

"No sir", he replied quickly and put the rocket propelled grenade launcher back where he'd found it.

"Very well. Begin setting charges", Major Weir ordered then headed to another room to see if those soldiers were having any better luck finding something useful. Curtis went to the bookshelf and removed all the books, checking each one for loose paper or hidden compartments. When the shelf was empty he looked to the wall behind it and saw a depression. Major Weir shined his light on the spot before pealing back the wallpaper to find a thumb drive sitting there along with some cash and a pistol. Major Weir put all three items in his collection bag and had his men search for any other hidden compartments. When their searching was finished, the SAS left the building then blew it sky high.

"Pints on me when we get back boys", Major Weir said as he took one more glance at the mostly demolished building. "Now get back safe." The British soldiers left the scene and exited the area.

Down the road two Israeli agents looked on through high powered optics as their planted package was received by the Brits. "We're finished here", the lead agent reported as the team began packing up their equipment. "And tell the Institute that if Avi has any more plans, make him climb out from behind his desk and execute them himself!"

"Poor bastards", Lloyd Davies breathed as his colleague and old friend Sebastian Howell sat a cup of tea down in front of him.

"At least they won", Sebastian remarked as he took his seat and had a bit of tea. "It's always worse if you lose good men and get your ass handed back to you on a platter at the same time."

"Hmpf", Lloyd grunted and continued looking at the television on the shelf as a reporter from Sky News recounted what was known about a serious terrorist attack in Atlanta, Georgia that involved US military personnel and people from several different Federal law enforcement agencies. It seemed like the attack had been contained, but there were lots of bodies being taken away. Lloyd listened for a few moments more before picking up the remote and turning off the set. "They probably only have half the facts anyway", the Welshman said before taking a drink from his cup. "Umm. This is half decent tea. I'm surprised a gentry type like you can make a decent cup with your own two hands."

Sebastian chuckled. "Be careful Lloyd, or I'll make your next cup with water from the loo."

Lloyd nearly spit onto the floor laughing. "I don't normally take sides in fights between mates, but that was one scuffle Sharpe should have won!"

"Sharpe was an ass then, and he still is today", Sebastian remarked about their old boarding school classmate. Lloyd chuckled and Sebastian's smile grew as they both thought back to that afternoon nearly ten years earlier. "I wonder if he still rubs his tongue every time he sees me?"

"Best if you two aren't in the same room at the same time so he won't see you", Lloyd replied.

"Yes, well we should get to work while we have the time. We aren't here to reminisce", Sebastian said and lifted up one of the files the cryptographers had sent them. It had taken a little while, but eventually they'd decrypted everything on the flash drive. Sebastian and Lloyd had it all, down to the 1s and 0s. Neither of them understood binary very well, but they poured over everything else.

Lloyd and Sebastian had bounced ideas off of each other in the past, but this was the first time they'd worked together on a project. Lloyd had worked for the UK's Secret Intelligence Service for seven years, but he rarely got a chance to spend much time with the intel he got. Lloyd was the point man for targeting information for NATO attacks in two sectors in ongoing war. Sometimes he had hours to report back to the generals but in some cases there were only minutes for he and his team to dissect information and give a shoot or no shoot recommendation. Lloyd was used to his choices either saving or costing dozens of lives, sometimes during the same mission. He was constantly reading intelligence information so he could keep a full picture of the battle areas, but it was really nice to have more time with the intel, time to really poke and prod the information.

"I heard a rumor", Lloyd began after an hour of silence, "that we have the Israelis to thank for this cache of intelligence."

"Quite true", Sebastian replied without looking up from the page he was reading. "They planted it at a site they knew was going to be hit. They made a show of hiding it just enough that it seemed to be real, but made it obvious enough so that it would be found by a trained person. They actually got this intel more than a week ago. They caught a courier at the border trying to smuggle this flash drive and a bunch of money to a terrorist cell. Mossad kept the money I'm sure, but they didn't think the intel pertained to them. I'm fairly certain they're slapping each other's backs in Tel Aviv without a single thought that we might have figured out their ruse."

Lloyd chucked. "We should tell them we know about their sneaking."

Sebastian looked up with a grin. "No they're much more useful if we keep letting them think they're as slick as they believe themselves to be."

Lloyd grinned and shrugged. "I suppose."

Sebastian leaned towards Lloyd. "What do you make of this?", he asked and showed his partner something on page 28.

Lloyd flipped to the proper page in his report and frowned. "It's an unencrypted file, unlike the others so far, and… it looks like the scoring of a chess match, although I'm not much for chess these days."

"I haven't played in an age myself", Sebastian admitted.

"But weren't you school champion one year?"

Sebastian grinned. "Yes but I was just trying to impress Mary Shepherd. Once she graduated and went to university, I lost interest."

Lloyd grinned. "You could have gone to Kings College too, chasing after her."

Sebastian shook his head. "Mary knew I couldn't wait to get back to the city, so her going to Cambridgeshire was a deal breaker."

"But you're a Howell. You're supposed to like the East of England."

Sebastian grinned. "Yes well, I'm also supposed to have a cush job in the finance industry, and yet here I am with you... in a prison. A rogue like yourself might have ended up here anyway, but not me. I'm a Howell after all."

Lloyd laughed. "You're such a dog, Sebastian."

Shu ducked a hook then quickly rose onto her toes, causing the musculature of her lower body to show off its tremendous definition. Her muscles looked extremely hard, even when she was relaxed, but when she really did flex it was like a revelation. Ultra dense knots of cross striated muscle welled from somewhere deep inside Shu's little body making her look like she'd been laser etched from solid living stone. She twisted a little at the waist as she loaded up her punch. The muscles of her midsection were like jagged twisted steel wreckage with muscle shapes jutting from every surface, all of it covered in more striations. Her gloved fist slammed into Chris Adam's headgear with more force than a woman her size should have ever been able to produce. It rocked the much bigger opponent, sending him backpedaling to regain his footing. Shu charged after him, her feet gliding across the mat like she was floating on a cushion of air. Chris brought his hands up to protect himself, as he watched her core muscles tighten again. This time though her legs tensed up too, all four quad heads thickened and sharpened while her calves flared on either side of her shin as her leg came towards Chris like a blur. At the last moment the former track star moved his head. Shu's leg harmlessly brushed against his shoulder as he charged in while she was somewhat vulnerable.

Chris was quick and he was strong. Shu knew she couldn't avoid his blow, so as Chris' kick sailed towards her stomach, Shu, with her leg still outstretched, tensed her body to brace for the impact. Her muscles flexed like steel armor from her pecs to her abs, obliques, and intercostals. The impact created a loud SMACK when bone hit the even harder muscle of Shu's midsection. The blow didn't hurt the compact powerhouse, but Chris' kick was strong enough to send her sliding sideways across the mat. She kept her balance and smiled as she pulled out her mouthpiece.

"Well done", she exclaimed, sounding much like Ansari had when he'd been training her. While Ansari wasn't in the room, she was sure he was observing.

"What do you mean? My kick didn't even hurt you", Chris said with a shrug as he pulled out his mouthpiece.

"That's not the point', Shu told him. "The point is that you saw the opening and you struck. You weren't timid and you didn't second guess yourself. Most importantly, Chris, you were actually trying to hurt me." Chris just nodded. Sometimes it still seemed to him like he was feeling his way through an unfamiliar room in the dark, but having Shu training him made things easier. It wasn't just that she was very pretty because Miyu was attractive too, and Shu looked just like Wen. It was that Shu was patient with him and positive. Chris wasn't sure he could take any more negativity.

"Now, let's go again and this time kick like you mean it."

"Huh? I kicked you pretty hard."

Shu came over quickly and gripped Chris' thigh, driving her fingertips into his flesh only for him to tense his strong quads and force her fingers back to the surface. "See. You aren't weak. You're not like the new guy. You've got plenty of strength and explosiveness. Come at me controlled, like we've been working on, but like you want to rip my head off of my shoulders." Chris looked a bit skeptical and Shu smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'm not actually going to let you hurt me, but let's see what happens if you try."

Shu was still smiling as she stepped towards the middle of the mat. Sparring with Chris had become pretty fun. He wasn't nearly good enough to even begin to test her skills, but it was important for him to know that he was making progress. Shu had gotten her marching orders from Ansari, but it was up to her to carry them out. She had to do her part to turn Chris into a soldier that Damteni could use.

He came at her, throwing a hard tight hook towards Shu's head which she ducked. She wove in towards him, crashing her shoulder into his midsection and wrapping her left arm around his side as she lifted the much bigger Chris off the ground. Chris tried to roll against her grasp, but Shu tightened her arm around his waist until the peak of her bicep actually pressed painfully into his side while at the same time she pressed her head against his other side, clamping him in tightly. She spun him around for a half turn before jumping in the air with their combined weight and pushing him off of her shoulder, only to reverse her grip in the air and press him towards the mat where he landed with a thud.

Chris' eyes watered after the impact and he was next to defenseless as Shu took the mount position on his chest, smiling down at him which was enough for him to snap out of his discomfort. Shu had his arms pinned beneath her knees, but that didn't stop him. His chest flexed like he was doing dumbbell flys, easily lifting Shu up and tossing her to the side. She was still smiling as she kept her balance and landed on her feet a few feet from Chris.

Shu liked Francis, but she was so glad Ansari hadn't asked her to keep working with him. He was as powerful as any of the students on the island, including Shu herself, but he was weak in every other way. He was easily distracted, easily discouraged, and he was barely strong enough to train for the full allotted time. Shu was sure Chris was eying her body as they trained together. It seemed that he liked muscular girls, which was nice since she was muscular all over. She wasn't sure though if he noticed that she enjoyed watching Chris' body almost as much as he enjoyed hers. Shu was working to maintain a decent student, teacher separation with Chris, because her first choice would have been to screw his brains out right there on the mat. Instead she'd beat on him for a minute or two more to get out her frustrations.

Chris was up, working his way towards Shu who put her hands up in the ready position as they got closer to each other. "Poor Wen", she muttered before Chris came charging in for another attack.

Grunts and curses peppered the air while sparks flew from the brake pads attached to the bottom of a weighted sled as it inched up the rough concrete ramp. Francis Peng's expression was beyond strained. His head looked ready to pop as he dragged the sled behind him with both of his hands holding onto the rope slung over one shoulder. His legs pumped step after step with everything in his body. He seemed moments from collapsing, but his overseer looked on with no mercy.

"Hurry! Or I'll take a step back!", Wen threatened in their native Cantonese without raising her voice because she didn't have to. Francis took a deep breath and pulled the sled a bit faster. The lighter weights on top jiggled and clanked against the heavier weights below as the sled moved, but the brake pads on the bottom of the sled fought Francis for each step. Finally though, with a desperate pull, he stepped past Wen and dropped to his knees. After a few seconds he managed to turn his head to look up at Wen expecting to see some satisfaction there. Instead she glared down at him.

"You're not finished!", she yelled. "Get the sled to me! I don't give a damn about the mule pulling it!"

The instant anger on Francis' face made Wen smile. She seemed to be enjoying his pain. Despite that, Francis stood up, grabbed the rope and pulled again. His muscles were on fire and his heart pounded. He felt the sled start moving again. He looked over his shoulder, counting the steps until the sled made it to Wen, but just as he came within half a step of completing his goal, Wen took a big step back. It was just one step, and Wen's legs weren't long, but that infuriated Francis.

"Fucking bitch!", he growled and pulled with every single thing inside of him. When his head was down with sweat and tears of effort dropping to the ground, Wen took a moment to glance behind her to see how much ramp was left. He was almost halfway to the top, but she didn't take another step. She turned to him and watched the sled completely pass where she was standing. Then she allowed Francis to drop to the ground.

"Good", she said. "You're not too fast, but you went further than at any time before." Wen was trying to be nice to Damteni's newest student, but she pushed him too far for him to accept her kindness.

"Screw you Wen! You put brand new brake pads on the bottom of the sled and put more weight on top of it… AND YOU MADE ME DRAG IT FARTHER! Did I do something to piss you off?!?"

Wen's brow gathered and she leaned down in Francis' face. "Do you think we're playing games on this island? Do you think I'm training you hard because I get some satisfaction out of it? I was told that you were smart, but you're too stuck on yourself to see anything from any point of view other than your own."

"I'm sorry that I'm weaker than the mighty Liang Wen and not as wise as her either", he said in a mocking tone.

"You're damned right you're not", Wen declared and put her hands on her slim little hips. "When me and Shu came to study under the Master, our trainers were harder than I've been on you. Me and my sister were half starved and orphaned. We weighed half as much as you and they made us drag that sled all the way up the ramp with more weights on it! If I failed then they made Shu pull my extra distance and when she failed they made me do it, but even back then Francis, I was smart enough to figure out that they were honing me and my twin for something more important than dragging a sled up a damned concrete ramp. Of course I also figured out how to beat this test of endurance and told Shu how to do it too. Our trainers were so impressed that we never had to drag it again."

Now Francis was intrigued. He got to his knees, but his legs were too wobbly for him to stand up. "Beat this? How do you beat pulling a sled up a ramp?", he asked.

Wen shook her head and put the rope over her shoulder. "I waited until my trainer filled the sled with weights, and then I did this." Francis saw an intense look of almost inhuman concentration grip Wen's face before she gripped the sides of the weighted sled and lifted it. Her petite body exploded with razor sharp, striated muscle. Her bare arms looked hard enough to stop bullets and Francis was sure that every vein and capillary from her trapezius muscles to her fingertips was showing as she shifted the weight a little to get a better grip. Her shirt rode up a little as she turned to face Francis, but the muscles he saw weren't simple abs. They bulged like biceps and were as striated as her pecs which looked like a thousand dense fibers strung from her shoulders to her sternum. Wen didn't have breasts to speak of, but her cleavage grew inches deep as her pecs inflated and thickened. Her shoulders were so utterly shredded that he could watch the individual muscle fibers bunch against each other as they swelled with strength. Francis was too stunned to move out of her way, so Wen stepped over him while holding the sled and started up the ramp.

Beads of sweat rolled down the back of her neck, darting all around as they navigated the deep switchbacks of Wen's muscular back. She didn't even seem tired as she walked all the way to the top of the ramp and set the sled down as if a jolt would break it. She let out a sigh and stared down to Francis for a few seconds before walking out of his sight.

"Holy shit", he breathed then struggled to his feet, realizing for the first time that Wen's display had given him a raging hardon. His first thoughts were of Miyu. He wished that he could go to her to help him with this particular problem, but that wasn't going to happen today. His imagination would have to do for now. He stayed on his knees for a while, the images of Wen's cast steel muscles fresh in his mind until he realized that it was his responsibility to put the sled and the weights back in their storage place. He got to his feet and trudged up the ramp, his hardon still raging.

Lloyd got to Sebastian's office a little before their normal time so he could brew the tea. He sat a steaming cup on his old classmate's desk guessing that Sebastian would arrive soon. Their work on this side project didn't take priority over any of their other duties so it wasn't unheard of for either of them to be late. Lloyd opened the safe that contained the intel and got to work on what they'd figured out over the last couple of days. They'd hoped to be further along, but intel work progressed at its own pace most of the time.

Lloyd took a long drink of tea and for no reason that he could think of, flipped back to page 28 and looked at the summary of that game of chess. It was an extremely poorly played game with no teachable information to be gleaned from it. Lloyd had never been a chess champion, but he wasn't a novice either. Matches between masters were often studied for years, decades, or centuries after the match had taken place, but Lloyd was sure there were children could have played a better game than that. The queen side knight had checkmated the king with a setup that a blind man could haven from a mile away.

Lloyd wanted to flip back to the more important information on the flash drive, but no matter how many pages he turned away from the chess game, his mind just wouldn't leave it alone. He sat the report on the desk with page 28 showing and he just stared at it, letting his brain work out the problem without his conscious mind getting in the way. His sharp mind was like an old fashioned analogue computer chomping away at the data until his brow gathered. "They wouldn't", he said aloud then grabbed a notepad to order his thoughts.

Sebastian walked quickly down the hall after a meeting with the Joint Special Forces Command brass to give them an update on his ongoing missions. The American General Biggs always seemed to be chewing him out even if he wasn't. That was just his way, and Sebastian was working hard to get used to his gruff manner. He still had a little way to go on that front. He let out a sigh before opening the door to his office fully expecting to see Lloyd there, which he did. Maybe they'd have a breakthrough this afternoon.

"You're here!", Lloyd uncharacteristically shouted.

"I'm only a couple of minutes late", Sebastian replied and took his seat.

"Well while you weren't here to distract me, I think I made some progress. Now, I know we'd moved on from that chess match, but something about it kept bugging me. I kept asking myself why a low level bloke working for a bunch of terrorists would risk putting a file for personal use on a flash drive meant for business."

"He most likely wouldn't have put a personal file on that flash drive, if he wanted to keep breathing that is", Sebastian said then took a drink a tea, giving Lloyd a nod for making a nice cup with just the right amount of milk.

"So that means that the chess summary was put there by the terrorist organization itself."

Sebastian shook his head. "To what end?"

"It wasn't encrypted like the real information on the drive. It was just hidden, but any teenaged boy knows how to do that these days to hide the dirty pictures on his computer. Now I bet you a pair of those Church's shoes that this chess game is a message in code to the courier himself!"

"These are shoes are Berluti, but yes I think I'm coming to your way of thinking", a suddenly interested Sebastian said.

"We just have to figure out how to crack this code, find out what they used for a cipher."

Sebastian stared at nothing for a moment before his face broke out into a broad smile. "We already have the cipher. We touched on in last night. There're a series of numbers on page 75 that were just there with no context, but they weren't encrypted either. Just hidden in another folder on the drive. And I think I know what they mean. My friend, we need a chessboard and a map!"

Miyu couldn't believe that she was actually doing this, but she was. Francis was stretched out on her bed wearing nothing but shorts, while she expertly massaged his tired, battered muscles. It seemed that he'd gotten on Wen's bad side over the last couple of days. She'd really let him have it during their 'sparring session'. It was called sparring, but if Wen broke a sweat it was only from the heat. Wen was trying to make Francis tougher and the end result was that it hurt for him to move any body part. Even blinking his eyes wasn't painless. All of this was for his own good, and hopefully he was realizing that.

The other gifted people who had come to study under Damteni had been hardened by life in some way, either physically, emotionally or both. Francis though had been able to use his power to keep himself out of real danger for years. He'd even killed people to protect himself and to enact revenge for slights. This was coupled with him coming from a seemingly loving home. It surprised Miyu that Damteni would be interested in a marshmallow soft spoiled brat, but his abilities were powerful. Damteni just had to mold the wielder of that power into something usable. Miyu wasn't sure if Francis could ever become as tough as nails as the rest of the students here on the island, but if Damteni saw something then that was good enough for her. The master didn't waste his time.

"Mmmmm", Francis moaned as Miyu's hands went to work on the back of his leg. Normally Miyu thought of bodies based on their anatomy with muscles and such, but Francis had no visible muscle and even as she massaged him only her expert fingers were able to feel any muscle density in his dough body, so she wouldn't call the back of his leg a hamstring.

"Enjoying yourself?", she asked. Miyu had just the faintest hint of a Japanese accent. That hint was like a tantalizing clue that Francis wanted to explore. They both spoke English to each other and speaking your second language always hid a part of who you really were at your core. Maybe that's why Wen was always able to slice deeply into Francis psyche, because they spoke the same language. He didn't want to think about any of his conflicts at the moment and focused on Miyu instead.

"You're amazing", he uttered in a breathy voice.

"Shiatsu is something I'm decent at", she replied.

"Decent? I've had shiatsu massages plenty of times back home. You're good even compared to them."

Francis opened his eyes in time to see Miyu grin at his compliment. She was so frighteningly deceptive with her soft features and soft spoken manner, but her grin revealed what Francis has already figured out about Miyu. There was a tigress under there. He smiled back while her hands kept busy, pressing with her fingertips in spots while rubbing with the palm or heel of her hands in other spots.

"Are you being nice to me because a: you were told to, b: I'm conveniently available right now, or c: because you actually like me?", Francis asked after a long period of silence.

"Which answer do you expect me to say?", Miyu asked with a chuckle while continuing the massage.

"I expect you to say C, but then I'll know you're lying."

Miyu's eyes narrowed with amusement as she looked at Francis' face for a moment before saying, "D, all of the above." Francis let out a small sigh, but didn't move any of his aching limbs at the news. "I always expected that you knew I was placed with you."

"I suspected, but I could never know for sure", Francis said matter of factly. "So have you reported anything about me?"

"Not really", Miyu responded. "I haven't had to. You've told Ansari everything that he's learned so far."

"How's that? I've barely said a word to him outside of training since I've been here."

Miyu's smile broadened. "You told him that you are the type of person who will accept some fruit from a person even if you suspect that fruit to be tainted. A person like that is either firm in their strength or extremely naive."

"So are you tainted fruit, Miyu?"

"Of course I am", she said with a sigh of her own. "A friend, romantic or otherwise, should be loyal. My loyalty doesn't lie with you. However, I don't think you're naive Francis. So you must think you're strong enough to handle any situation that might arise."

This made Francis laugh hard enough to hurt his already sore core muscles. "You could kill me in a couple of seconds. I couldn't hope to get control of your mind before those nicely trimmed nails of yours became claws and you ripped my throat out. Right now I'm completely at your mercy, Miyu, just like every time we're together."

"Then why be with me?"

"Because you're beautiful and you're complicated. You scare me and drive me completely wild at the same time. I've never met a woman remotely like you… ever."

Miyu's hands stopped and she looked down into Francis' eyes for a trace of irony or to see if he was joking like he did so often, but all she saw there was nervous apprehension as he waited for her response. He worried that she'd reject his honesty, but she didn't. Miyu's entire body flushed as she bent down and kissed Francis' lips tenderly. He'd just said the perfect thing to her. She pulled away and smiled down at him for a moment before Francis reach up and gently pulled her lips back to his. She lay down on top of him this time as they kissed.

Miyu's hard muscular body pressed against his much softer one, aggravating his bruises, but he ignored the pain. He ran his hands along her shoulders and then down to her hips as they kissed while her hands worked down his body and gripped his hardening manhood in a firm grip.

"I hope this isn't bruised", she said with her lips just above his.

"Not yet", a grinning Francis replied and Miyu's eye took on the naughty look that drove Francis absolutely mad. She gripped the bottom of her dress and pulled it over her head, showing off her tremendous body, covered only by a white lacy bra and matching panties. Francis reached up and ran his fingers along Miyu's stomach, feeling her abs contract as she breathed. His cock got harder still as he watched Miyu's delts and pecs define themselves as she tossed her dress onto a chair. While Wen and Shu had bodies like steel knots, Miyu's was a little softer. Her muscles were a tad more rounded and fuller even though she was plenty lean. She reached behind her back and unfastened her bra. She pulled her arms free and tossed the garment atop her dress on the chair and looked down to Francis' lust filled face. She leaned down as Francis leaned upward. He opened his mouth like a hungry chick and took Miyu's left breast into his mouth like it was a meal.

Norma Carlton had her travel bag draped over her shoulder when she entered the old Polish Prison for the first time in over two weeks. Part of her wished that she would have requested a few extra days to attend Agent Wills' funeral, but she hadn't. Even if she'd barely met the man she wanted to support Jan, but Norma reminded her that Jan had other friends for that, and they might not have wanted her there in the first place. Norma might have buried the hatchet with Sara, Alisha, and LaShaunta, but none of them would ever forget where those hatchets had been laid to rest. She'd more than likely never be friends with any of them even if they'd bonded in the heat of battle. This new relationship would have be good enough for Jan because it was certainly good enough for Norma. With each step deeper into the facility, Norma put those thoughts further and further behind her. It was time to get back to work, only she was surprised just hot quickly work was going to resume.

She was almost to her private quarters when she heard jogging footsteps coming her way. She turned to see Mike approaching. "Carlton", he called. "Stow your stuff and head up to level three. We're back at work."

"Already? We don't get a welcome back party?", she asked her squad mate with a grin.

Mike laughed. "Green Berets don't get those", he reminded her. "Congrats Norma. You deserved it."

"Thanks Mike. I'll be up in two shakes."

Mike's grin turned sideways. "What ya shakin Carlton? Are you lying to get that private berth?"

Norma blushed then laughed. "You're not faster than me Mike. I'll chase you down."

He turned and started up the stairs. "You wouldn't have to force yourself on me Carlton", he deadpanned. "I'm an easy lay!"

Norma laughed all the way to her room. She didn't even bother changing clothes before heading up the serpentine route to the meeting room. She met Brett on the way and the two talked about what they'd done while on R&R. Brett boasted about some hot chicks he'd bedded, explaining how awesome his vacation had been. Norma waited until he was finished to tell him that she'd fought in the Battle of the Old Fort. Brett instantly became jealous and asked her all about it. She was in the middle of explaining the special armor some of the terrorists were wearing when an SAS soldier stopped and faced them. "Thank the graces your team is back", he exclaimed.

"So Roper, you had to put down your tea and crumpets to do some real work while we were gone?", Brett teased with a twinkle in his brown eyes.

"Battie's been running us as ragged as dogs", Roper exclaimed. "I don't know how you stand it!"

Norma raised an eyebrow. "Battie?"

"Don't even think about it Specialist", Sebastian warned with a smile. "Come on in everyone. We're onto something." Norma, Brett, and Roper walked into the somewhat cramped room. The Green Berets were on the far side of a large table in the middle of the room with a team of SAS operatives on the near side of the table. Sebastian shut the door and headed towards the front of the table while the soldiers settled into their places around the table. Norma had seen some of the SAS guys around, but didn't know their names, except for Roper. She also didn't know the man standing next to Sebastian at the head of the table although she'd seen him around as well.

"I know all of you are wondering why you're here", Sebastian started the meeting. "First let me introduce you to Lloyd Davies from SIS. You Yanks usually call that organization MI6. He's helped us with target info in the past, but he's volunteered his time to help us even more."

"I'm locked in this prison along with the rest you", Lloyd said with a smile. "I might as well donate my downtime to the cause as well."

"So gentlemen and lady, for the past several days Lloyd and I have been working on some information Major Weir and his team found for us. It had us stumped for the longest time, but a breakthrough has opened up some promising targets for us. Our operations against the groups smuggling arms and equipment into Afghanistan has been a side project until now. London and Washington have given us the okay to make this our focus. We aren't simply going to harass them. The people in this room are going to become a biblical plague against them. They aren't going to be able to hide from us and we're going to give them no opportunity to rest of get their balance. We are going to slice the body of this snake to pieces until we ultimately find its head."

Sebastian took a moment to look around the room and saw the appropriate expressions on all of their faces. He had certainly gotten their attention. These people were the sharp points of their nations' swords and they didn't like being kept in a scabbard for long. Which was good because Sebastian and Lloyd were about to give them plenty of things to stab.

Sebastian had been leaning on Steve's team of Green Berets hard, so now he brought in Major Weir's team of SAS commandoes. He'd known Curtis Weir for years and had worked with him in the past. It helped too that this particular SAS team was used to dealing with enhanced individuals.

"No more beating around the stump. Every mission we execute will have one purpose, to further our goal. I know that your teams haven't worked together in the past, and I hope that won't be a problem."

Weir grinned and looked across the table at his counterpart Steve. "No problem on our end, so long as the Yanks can keep up."

Steve chuckled. "We'll try not to slow you down too much Curtis."

"Sometimes you'll both work together and other times you'll separate assignments, but our missions will feed off of each other. Intel from the Americans might send the SAS on a mission and vice versa. All gathered intel, no matter how insignificant is seems will be analyzed", Sebastian said then glanced over towards Norma remembering how he'd doubted her before. "Hit the lights Lloyd", Sebastian said then turned on a 3D projector. "Okay everyone, this is Operation Thor's Hammer and here is our first target."

"No thank you", Damteni told the stewardess as she came by to offer to fill his glass of wine. He smiled up at the woman who smiled back and headed to another passenger aboard the 747. Damteni laid his head against the soft first class seat and closed his blue-green eyes.

Liv turned away from her master as he tried to relax. Sometimes she felt like a puppy studying its owner. Liv wanted to know as much about her master as she could, but time and time again he surprised her. Like getting her a first class ticket. That was a nice touch she thought. Perhaps it was a reward for performing to his satisfaction over the couple of months that she'd been at his side. Whatever it was, Liv wasn't going to ask any questions. Her body healed quickly, but she felt a lingering fatigue that had crept in as she taxed herself over and over and over. It wasn't as if she couldn't transform on the spot inside this big airplane and tear it to pieces. It was just that she needed some time to relax and to unwind.

Maybe her master needed some time to unwind too. She glanced over at Damteni again before looking away. He had something on his mind, and she was sure that he wouldn't tell her about it. She wasn't upset though. Liv hadn't served Damteni long enough to have earned that kind of trust. Plus she had a tendency to screw up right when her mater didn't want her to. Sometimes Liv wished that she wasn't so honest with herself about herself, but that was just one of many character flaws she had. She was honest with herself about that too.

Liv decided to stop thinking about herself or her problems. She thought about the island that had been her and Lars' home for the last several years instead, but it wasn't really home though. In her mind's eye she saw the bright rays of sunshine that seemed to always stream through the large skylight in her old bedroom back home. She thought of the smells of the forest behind their house, a place that she'd spent lots of her time. Then she thought of her mother and father. In her mind she always saw them hugging or doting on Lars instead of her, but that didn't make her upset at them. It made her upset at herself. Upset that she'd pulled him from what had been his happy home. He didn't complain though, and that only made it worse for Liv. Some days she just wished he'd get upset and blame her for what had happened. She wished that he'd slap her and punch her and hit her with his most powerful energy blasts because she deserve it. In that instant, an image popped into Liv's mind and tears welled in her eyes. She smiled for a moment when the memory of Lin smiled, but just as quickly Liv pushed the memory from her mind and blinked back the tears before they fell.

Crying was a sign of weakness and Liv didn't like to have any of those. She pulled out some school work that Ansari had assigned. She made her way to a lounge style stool and table set up to one side of the first class cabin and buried her head in the text book.

Bullets zipped overhead slamming against the armored sides of a custom Toyota 4runner. Norma peaked her head around the front of the SUV just long enough to see the two guys taking cover in a narrow alley between a couple of buildings. Norma thought about taking some shots over the hood of the Toyota, but from her angle her shots would have just hit he brick walls. Mike, Clay and Steve couldn't get clear shots either. They were going to have to maneuver to get better shots which would put them right in the bad guys' field of fire. Norma though had a better idea. She slung her rifle and turned to Steve, her commander.

"I've got an idea, sir."

"Don't explain it Carlton. Just do it", he replied and Norma gave him a quick nod. She slung her carbine and squared up on the 4runner. She sucked in a breath, stretched the material of her special uniform as her chest expanded. A moment later, all of her muscles expanded to match her prodigious chest, as she started pushing the vehicle sideways across the street. The normally 2 ton vehicle had another ton and a half worth of armor added to it, but Norma's legs churned as they worked. The tires squealed in protest as the vehicle was forced sideways like it was being pushed by some machine that the gunmen in the alley couldn't see.

Norma grinned when she heard bullets plinking off of the side of the vehicle as her legs churned faster, picking up speed. When she heard shouts from the men between the buildings she knew she had to hurry. Norma's shoulders, lats, quads, and calves expanded again to another level of massive as she pushed the last few feet and slammed the side into the two buildings, blocking the alley's exit. The gunmen now could climb over the truck and die. Instead they ran back down the alley, already knowing that there was only one exit.

"Nice work, Carlton", Steve told Norma as he came from behind cover towards the middle of the street. "Come your way", Steve told Mike and Brett who made their way towards the door that lead to the alley. The gunmen fired a burst of bullets through the door before they threw it open and rushed inside, but Mike and Clay weren't dumb enough to stand in front of the door. They were just a little ways back, waiting for the men to reach a choke point. In that moment the gunmen knew they had a choice to make. They could die bravely like the rest of their comrades or they could live to see another day. Both men liked breathing and formed the same idea at the same time since they dropped their weapons and put up their hands.

Norma rushed into the building but didn't help the others arrest the prisoners. She didn't have to be ordered to look for intel. She knew her job. To anyone looking on, Norma's search would have looked slow, but it was methodical. She took her time leafing through any papers and scrolling through screens on the computers. Norma's muscles were always on display and her strength was always nice to have on a mission, but Norma's biggest asset was her mind. Everything she experienced was stored deep in her brain, so a glance was all she needed. She opened a third laptop and smiled when she saw a spreadsheet still open on this one. They were going to take all of this stuff with them, but Norma had started looking at the info so she and Sebastian could get started on the important stuff when she got back to Poland. The Green Berets put their intel haul and their prisoners in the trunk of the a pilfered Fiat cab and left the scene of their latest successful mission.

No one talked as they traveled down the road keeping an eye out for police or any smugglers coming their way. The car was packed tightly with Norma sitting in the middle of the backseat since she had the shortest legs. She tried her best to stay slightly sideways since her dense muscular shoulders provided no cushion to Mike and Brent who were on either side of her. She occasionally looked at them to see if they were going to complain. They were uncomfortable, but they had bigger things to worry about at the moment. Since she didn't have a window of her own to look out of, Norma did something that she rarely did while on a mission. She started going over the intel that she'd seen at the target location. In the last few months Norma had gotten better at recalling and sorting through the vast amounts of information she had stored in her head.

Nothing on the paper meant anything to her, since the information was in code. There might be a context hiding in there somewhere, but Norma wasn't going to figure it out in the back of that cab. She shifted her mental search to the stuff she'd seen on the computers. She scrutinized everything, trying to find something that might be useful or at least interesting to think about. She recalled with perfect clarity all the numbers that she'd seen on the spreadsheet. The categories were in some type of shorthand. She might have been able to figure some of them out if she thought about it long enough, but she didn't. Just like her eyes had when she'd looked at the screen, Norma's memory showed her the top of the screen. The file name was a number with a letter at the end… 14787w. Then Norma shifted her focus to a map of the city, pressing in smaller and smaller in her memory. She didn't have to strain to struggle to remember street names or addresses, she just had to read them from her mind's eye. She glanced around the map inside her head for a moment before sucking in a breath and leaning towards the front of the car.

"Sir", she said to Steve. "We should turn right at this next street."

"What's up Carlton?", Steve asked quickly.

"Sir, I went over the intel we just gathered and the name of the big spreadsheet was 14787w. Sir, you remember from the brief that w is their code for this city, and that number can only correspond to one address in town, and its right down that way!"

Steve wasn't sure why he was even humoring Carlton when he had his hands full trying to make sure his team got out of this former Soviet Republic undetected, but the thought of leaving town with a stone still unturned nagged at him. "We're seven minutes from the safe house", Clay reported from the driver's seat.

Steve let out a sigh. "Make the turn", he ordered. Clay did as he was ordered, but looked in the mirror, catching Norma's gaze searching to see if she took a moment to gloat at her little victory, but he didn't see any evidence of that. If anything he saw a burden lay itself across her strong shoulders. Steve was in command so the buck stopped with him, but as far as the unit was concerned, if something bad happened from here on out it was going to be Norma's fault. When her eyes met Clay's in the mirror, he knew that she understood.

Everybody in the car also understood that in the briefing Sebastian had explained that the organization they were tracking used something as simple as chess pieces to conceal locations. They picked an address somewhere near their actual location then used the movement of a knight on a chessboard. All the soldiers kept an eye out any trouble as they drove up to the reference address. It was right where Norma said it was going to be. None of them doubted her ability to remember everything. They just doubted her judgment.

After a few minutes it became clear that Norma had been dead wrong. The traveled to each address that could have been a knight's move. The first location was the site of a recently torn down building with the rubble still sitting there. The second one was a building still under construction. Another place was an old factory with no roof, windows, or floors. The other possibilities were just as fruitless. Norma's spirits sank, but to her surprise Steve didn't order Clay to the safehouse. He directed them down another street and it wasn't long before the team saw two van being hastily loaded by men who were being guarded by other men with automatic weapons. "Bingo", Steve said and motioned for Clay to turn off without getting too close.

"You found it, sir!", Norma exclaimed.

Steve looked back to Norma with a little grin. "Knights aren't the only pieces on a chessboard, Carlton. In this case the bad guys used a bishop. Now everybody check your gear, we move out in three minutes."

Norma took the opportunity to stretch after getting out of the car with her carbine. She grabbed her headgear and night vision goggles from the backseat and did a very quick weapon's check. Most of the team stayed put while Brent and Clay went to scout. The report was preliminary, but there was no time to be thorough. Those vans were nearly loaded. Steve didn't want a running gun battle in the streets. They had to hit them before they left.

The team made their way towards the rear of the target location. Norma pressed her back against the wall when they came to a stop. Two tough looking guys with AK-74s patrolled the backdoor using movements typical for soldiers, which meant that there was likely another guard back there that the Green Berets couldn't see.

"Mike, get on the roof of that building", Steve ordered and Norma moved back deeper into the shadows. Clay, Brent, and Steve kept a watch while Norma pulled out the small crowbar that she kept with her kit and pried the steel door away from the steel frame enough for her to work her fingers into the gap. She slipped four fingers of her left hand in and grimaced as the pressure increased when she removed the crowbar, but then she curled her fingers. Norma's forearms didn't even have to flex hard to defeat the thin steel. She bent the door back onto itself just enough to pull the lock away from the catch. In a matter of seconds, Norma had silently opened the door. They checked for traps or alarms and then Mike went inside alone.

Norma went back to where she'd been before, observing the two rear guards, but she was worried about Mike. She knew she shouldn't have been. He'd been doing this a long time, but he was a mentor and her security blanket. He never let her go too far in the wrong direction before pulling her back. She also knew that eventually she'd have to step out on her own. She just didn't want that time to be today. "We've got two more posted up behind the wall next to the loading ramp. I can take one, but the other's too far for a quick shot", Mike informed the team.

"I can get into position to take out the other one", Norma stated before even realizing she was saying it.

"Alright Carlton", Steve said as he stood next to her. "That's your location over there." He pointed to a spot next to a pile of cardboard. "As soon as Mike takes his shot, you take yours."

"Got it, sir." Steve nodded and Norma hurried back the way they'd come. She'd have to run all the way down the block and then come down the alley without either of the lookouts seeing her. She had no idea why she'd volunteered to do this, but it was too late to back out of it now.

"In position", Mike announced over the radio. "Taking the shot."

"Acknowledged", Steve replied and there were a couple of heartbeats before a wet THWAP got one of the AK-74 wielding men to turn to his buddy. That was Norma's cue. Her carbine was already poised with her finger on the trigger. She wondered, as the bullet left the barrel of her gun, when all of this violence had entered her life. She'd had a few scuffles and fewer real fights growing up, but nothing in her past had given her a clue that one day she'd be in a situation like this one, killing a man with a simple movement of her finger. The answer popped into Norma's head after another THWAP signaled the death of another person. "The moment I betrayed my best friend", Norma muttered to herself and came around the corner to join the team. Steve, Brent, and Clay made their way across the alleyway looking like the badass Special Forces operators that they were. Norma fell in behind them as they approached the back door. Mike joined up and the team quietly breached.

A man came around a corner carrying a big box. He opened his mouth to scream but Steve's shot put a neat hole in the center of his forehead. Bits of his skull dropped to the ground with the spray from the back of his head. His body was still twitching as Steve moved in with his combat knife out and sliced open the burden the man had been carrying. He'd never seen Nicaraguan bearer bonds until that very moment, but at least now he knew why these guys were working so frantically. They were moving somebody's money.

"We have to hurry!", some unnamed target yelled in accented Russian. "And we better get every kopek or they'll find our bodies here in those pits."

"Where is Nuri? He was supposed to tell the others to come inside", another target said to the group, and to the soldiers who were stacked up just outside the doorway.

"It doesn't matter. If they don't make it, they'll have to walk home. I won't wait for them", were the last words that man would ever say. Steve was usually methodical, but he led his team inside and attacked with a sudden fury because he didn't want the contents of this warehouse to make it to its intended destination. He was like a shark and that money was blood in the water.

Norma rushed into the big room at the front of the warehouse between Steve and Mike. The smugglers and their hired muscle opened up on the Green Berets, and in the semi darkness it looked like an entire wall was shooting at them. Norma rushed to the end of the line on the far right even as bullets flew towards her, but the short blocking looking soldier could move faster than the armed men would have guessed. Norma took cover behind a stack of crates, but didn't stay there long. She looked over top of the crates and picked out a target. In the past she might have felt overwhelmed, but Norma's mind was more disciplined now. She fired out short bursts just like she'd been taught, all while keeping her breathing under control. A target fell followed quickly by another one as Clay's bullets found a target. The bad guys started to span out, using the cover and their greater numbers to their advantage.

Norma moved further right, making sure she could protect her fellow soldiers. Suddenly a bullet cracked past her face, getting close enough for her to feel the heat. Her heart instantly raced as Norma spun while dropping to a knee. The next bullet sailed over her head. Norma didn't bother to aim as she pulled the trigger, missing the armed man by several inches, but Norma didn't take her finger off of the trigger. Instead she walked the bullets right into the man's torso. She allowed herself to let out a sigh of relief before looking around for more targets As she passed a two story tall bank of shelves, she heard a man grunt as he charged her from the darkness.

Blood leaked from bullet wounds but his eyes burned with fury and determination as he came at her with a combat knife. She tried to get her weapon around, but he was far too close. He screamed at the top of his lungs as he plunged the knife towards Norma's chest. She raised her arm, but it was too late. The knife came down, the tip heading right for her heart when there is a clank. Norma flinched when the blade struck the buckle of her modified web gear. The point deflected to the side, but the blade still sliced through her uniform, drawing a bit of blood as it sliced her flesh. The wounded man turned the knife around for a backwards stab attempt, but he barely made it an inch.

Norma let her rifle hang around her shoulder as she threw up her right hand to grasp his wrist, stopping his swing cold. The man struggled for an instant, trying to get his arm free, but he might as well have been tugging on a steel pole. Norma stepped into him, bumping him with her hip to get him off balance, but for with practiced ease she tossed him over her shoulder onto the floor. Most soldiers might have applied a choke maybe even reached for their own knife or pistol. Norma did neither. She wrapped her free arm around the man's neck and flexed. Her mighty bicep surged upward and outward, putting tiny tears in the special stretchy material. Norma was pissed and her muscles flexed accordingly. Her delts, triceps, and pecs all bulged, but it was her biceps that she was focused on. A split peaked mountain rammed into the side of this man's neck like a train, flattening and tearing his muscle fibers before they burst through the ruptured skin of his neck. Tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels were shoved aside. Norma snarled as the peak of her mighty bicep touched something in this dead man's neck hard enough for her even notice, but the bone wasn't much of a roadblock either. Norma gave her wrist a little twist and her entire biceps expanded outward and upward, instantly shattering three of the man's vertebrae. His head flopped to the side like a broken doll's when Norma let him go and continued towards the enemy.

Norma had dropped two more gunmen before the others even noticed, when they did, they opened up on her with everything they had. Norma dove behind a couple of crates, holding her breath as dozens of bullets a second hit that wood, throwing up sawdust and shards into the air as they tried to punch a hole through to her. Steve took that opportunity to move the group closer. In a matter of seconds the circumstances had changed. The Green Berets were too close for comfort. A couple of gun men tried to leak out towards the warehouse's front doors, but they only got a few steps before Norma rose up from behind the battered crate and cut them down. The smugglers and their hired muscle were shouting back and forth, but Norma could barely hear them over the sounds of gunfire. Not that it would have mattered. She didn't speak Russian.

A moment later the gunmen concentrated fire at Norma again. She retreated a few steps to another line of crates because her former cover was turned to wood chips not long after they opened fire on it again. The smugglers took advantage of Norma's movement to make another break for the door. Brent got one just before he made it outside, but four still managed to get out of the warehouse.

"Carlton!", Steve shouted over the radio. "Don't let those guys get away!"

"Yes sir", Norma replied and sprinted after the smugglers. It only took a couple of strides for the gunmen to notice Norma heading for the door. They opened up on her with everything they had. Norma knew she couldn't hope to dodge a bullet, so she just pressed forward, running as fast as she could. She didn't have to look back to see the rest of the team trying to give her the best cover they could, risking their lives so she could make it out of the door without being shot full of holes. Norma realized as she ran, with her gun clutched to her chest, that not long ago Steve would never have given Norma this task. He would have doubted if she was good enough, but not now. He just told her to do it, knowing that she could. Norma wasn't about to let his faith in her be misplaced. The gunmen realized as Norma ran that despite her broad shoulders and thick chest, she was damned fast, faster than the fasted ungifted sprinters in the world. She wasn't faster than bullets though. Norma gritted her teeth and eked out a little more speed as she approached the door. It had closed in front of her, but she lowered her shoulder and slammed through the steel clad door into the open. She let out a small sigh when the cool air hit her sweaty skin, but she didn't pause for even a second. Two guys ran for the vans parked in the lot in front of the warehouse. Norma ran towards the near van while raising her rifle at the same time. She took the best aim she could and fired a controlled burst at the guy running towards the far van's driver door. The bullets hit his back and he fell to his knees before dropping to the ground.  The guy running next to him stopped and turned towards Norma with rage all over his face. He lifted his arm to put his pistol on target, but Norma's gun was already ready.  Two of her three shots hit the man in the chest and he spun to the gravel.

Norma never even broke stride as she hustled towards the near van. The two smugglers were already inside and the engine was already started by the time she got there. Norma let go of her carbine, letting it hang on the strap around her neck as she bent door to grip the rear of the loaded van. The shock's and springs squeaked as Norma took up their weight. Norma wasn't tall enough to just straighten her legs and lift the tires from the ground, so she curled her arms. Her already prodigious biceps expanded by full inches, swelling like bread rising in an oven as the tires fully came off of the ground. The weight was more than manageable for a young woman wouldn't been able to tip over cars since she was 16, and that was before she'd learned better training techniques. The only problem was that holding up the van with her back to the warehouse left her extremely exposed. Something was going to have to give, and it always did. The driver pushed the gas, hearing the engine spin up, but they didn't move. He shifted the van from drive to first gear wondering if there was something wrong with the transmission. Still the van didn't move. The driver told the passenger to go see what was going on. Neither of them would have guessed in a million years that a barely five foot tall female Green Beret was holding their van's wheels off the ground.

Norma heard the passenger door open and the man's feet hit the ground. She could make out his steps as the gravel crunched together beneath his steps, try as he might to be quiet. Norma took a quick breath and gripped the bumper tighter with her left hand just before removing her right hand from the bumper. Her left bicep peak practically exploded when it took up the full weight of the van. Norma would have loved to have watched her muscle bloom like that, but she had more pressing concerns. She pulled her pistol from its holster and waited with the 9mm ready. After seeing Jan's 45 in action Norma had thought about buying one, but no matter how big her muscles might get when she flexed them, her hands were too small to use a gun like that, but she was sure her gun would be enough.

The smuggler saw the tires off the ground as he eased his way towards the back of the van. He knew death was waiting for him back there. He'd just seen the soldiers in action. The moment any piece of his body crossed from the side of the van to the back, it would be shot. He was a moment from dropping to knee to see if he could see anything by looking beneath the van, but then the battered warehouse door slammed open and Steve came running out. The man squared up to shoot at Steve, but never got the chance. Norma extended her arm around the corner of the van and put two slugs in the smuggler's chest. He dropped like a stone. "Driver side", she told her commander as Steve ran towards her. Norma had her pistol away and had both hands on the bumper again by the time Steve broke out the driver side glass and yelled, "Get out of the van", in Russian.

The smuggler opened the door slowly and slipped out of the van holding his left hand up much higher than his right, pretending to surrender. As soon as he was clear of the door, he spun around quickly, trying to get off a shot from the pistol he'd pulled from his waistband. The gun wasn't even clear of the smuggler's pants before Steve killed him. Norma put the back of the van down when Steven turned off the engine. "Keep these vehicles secure", he told her and tossed her the keys. Then he rushed back into the warehouse. She was forced to stand there and listen to the sounds of battle knowing that her guys were in there fighting with everything they had while she guarded vans.

Norma wanted to go join her team so badly, but she'd been given an order. Instead she opened the rear van doors to check if the load could be safely moved. Norma's eyes opened wide when she saw two pallets of plastic wrapped cash sitting on the bare metal floor. A few boxes of bonds had been stuffed to either side of the pallets just add more zeros to however much money was in this vehicle. The other van held most of the bonds, Norma found out when she inspected it. She knew this vehicle probably had the more valuable cargo, but it didn't have the mental impact of seeing all that cash. Norma was about to close the doors when her team came running out of the warehouse with Steve in front. A moment later, Norma's heart nearly stopped. Brent and Clay were carrying a wounded Mike.

"Get behind the wheel of that one!", Steve shouted. "Brent with me." Steve helped Clay shove Mike into the back of the van. Clay climbed in, walking atop the piles of bonds as Steve closed the doors. "Go!", Steve shouted as more men ran from inside the warehouse firing their rifles. Norma slammed the van into drive and pushed the pedal all the way to the floor, throwing dirt and stones at the gunmen while they shot bullets back at her. Steve jumped through the driver side door of the other van and was lying across Brent's lap as it started speeding down the road too.

They hadn't gotten more than a block before the incendiary charges the Green Berets had set in the warehouse detonated and a column of flame shot a hundred feet into the air. The rest of the gunmen ran to some other vehicles they had parked across the street, but didn't chase the Americans. With the police coming they chose to make their escape, leaving their dead and dying strewn all around the burning warehouse.

"How bad is it?", Norma asked as they approached the parked taxi, checking the mirrors often to make sure nobody was following them. She almost dreaded the answer, but then she heard Mike's laugh.

"I'm fine Carlton", Mike said through gritted teeth and heard Norma's relieved exhale. "I didn't want to distract you while you were trying to get us the hell out of Dodge."

"I thought you were back there bleeding out or something", she said and chuckled with lingering nervousness.

Mike laughed again. "Nah. I think my damn leg's broken though."

Now it was Clay who laughed. "This crazy bastard thought climbing to the top of those shelves was a good idea."

"It was a good idea!", Mike countered. "I got the high ground on those bastards."

"Jumping from the top wasn't."

"You jumped!?!", Norma exclaimed. "Those shelves were more than twenty feet tall."

"I've jumped from higher before", Mike said and shrugged. "Bones don't get harder with age I guess." Norma laughed and came to a stop behind the other van as they pulled up next to the taxi.

She grabbed her carbine and jumped out of the still running van, standing next to Steve as he opened the Fiat's trunk. She was ready to put holes in those guys if they made a false move, but the prisoners were in no mood to resist. They were pulled out of the Fiat along with the intel and tossed into one of the vans. When the taxi was empty, the soldiers put the captured smugglers in a van and then rigged the taxi to explode. With that done, they drove off again.

Norma expected for Steve to take them to the safehouse before proceeding with the normal extraction plan, but he directed them towards the back up extraction location instead. It probably hit Norma last that the primary extraction used a Blackhawk helicopter coming from Afghanistan, but the backup location was further away so the Army was sending a massive Chinook helicopter to pick them up, which was exactly what Steve wanted.

The team of Green Berets were far in the countryside, with a perimeter set up when the stalks of tall grass around them started bending right on time as the duel bladed Chinook started hovering overhead. The crew of the aircraft wasn't pleased about having to lash two fully loaded vans into the belly of their green beast, but after several minutes of rigging, the vans were secured. The Green Berets and their prisoners found some place to sit and the big bird took off. At least Mike had some room to stretch out his injured leg, which was nice.

Liv tried her best to hide her fatigue from her master as they exited the airport. She wouldn't have offered a single word of complaint if the master had chosen to go straight to their island, but they went to a hotel near the airport instead, giving both of them a break. Liv needed a rest without having to worry about an upcoming operation, and Damteni needed to meet with some people in the morning. It worked out best for both of them. After a restful night of sleep, Liv was up early like usual. She got some breakfast and used the rest of the time to study for a while.

Liv was up early like usual. She got some breakfast then took the opportunity to study for a while before Damteni told her to get ready to go with him. She'd hoped he planned to take her with him so she wouldn't have to beg. Liv hated begging, but she wasn't above it either.

The meeting was at a nice café in the Makati, a few miles from Manila proper. Damteni and Liv sat sipping on coffee when four people joined them. Damteni stood up when the guests arrived and Liv quickly followed. "Nice of you to join us on short notice", Damteni said as handshakes were exchanged. Liv shook hands, giving her a moment to assess each person individually.

The guy in charge was in his late 30s or early 40s with a bit of an Italian accent. His assistant was certainly Spanish, tall and handsome too, probably quite smart, but soft. If anything happened, the assistant was the last person Liv would have to worry about. The stocky guy was just muscle for the group. His accent sounded Slovak, and he was doing the same thing Liv was doing, looking around and assessing threats. His brain was occupied doing that so he wasn't going to be part of any business discussions. The last one was a woman, a little older than Liv, taller than the Swede in this normal form, with rich olive complexioned skin, shimmering dark hair, a pretty face with dimples in her jaws. Her gaze was hard as stone though. She had dark, nearly dead eyes set back in her sockets, peering out at the world as if from the shadows. She was the only one who didn't speak when she and Liv shook hands, so there was no accent to assess. It didn't matter where she was from though. Her gaze held enough interest for Liv. They stared at each other for a moment, and Liv knew that this woman saw the danger in Liv's own gaze, the power and the constrained madness hiding within the simple looking girl. The silent woman must have respected what she saw from Liv because as they shook, she gave Liv's hand an extra pump. The meeting itself went smoothly enough though. The Italian ordered coffee for three of his group. The silent woman didn't eat or drink anything.

"Everything went to hell after Scarlforo was captured", the Italian said. "I used up every favor I could muster and every euro I could scrape together to send those mercenaries to America to break him out of prison. I thought I owed him that much. It was hard enough watching him go through the humiliation of the trial, but… What are the chances that a fucking assassin would show up on the same day as the planned rescue! Those mercenaries tore that prison to pieces trying to find him, but that bitch must have killed him before we even arrived."

Damteni nodded. "Sometimes luck works against us."

The Italian just snorted. "The men I hired might have had a chance if that fucking Broker hadn't sicked Caeda on Romano. She cut such a bloody swath through the mercenaries that to this day they won't take my calls for work. But enough about the past."

The Italian went on about something else, but Liv's mind was caught up on this assassin, this Caeda. She'd never heard of her before, but she already liked her. The Italian probably didn't realize it, but he'd dropped his voice when he'd spoken that assassin's name, as if she might hear him and kill him. That's the kind of respect Liv wanted to command one day… when the very mention of her name made people piss their pants.

"So you think you and your organization are ready to go back to work?", Damteni asked.

The Italian sighed. "I know the head of the American arm of the Syndicate, a man named Benny has attached himself to a full member named Gregg White. Since this has happened, I know I must do the same. I have to attach myself to a full member if there is any chance for us to thrive. I just hope you find us worthy."

Just then Liv caught a flicker of emotion go across the silent woman's face. Liv couldn't guess what the emotion was, but something had triggered it. She'd file that memory away in case it could be of use later.

"I don't operate the same way Mr. White does", Damteni said. "However, I think there might be an opportunity for us to work together in the near future."

The Italian smiled. "That's more than good enough for me." The meeting ended shortly afterward and everybody shook hands again before going their separate ways. Damteni didn't discuss the meeting with Liv as they went to the wharf and retrieved the old trawler they'd used to come to Manila months earlier. Damteni took the controls although Liv was willing to. He obviously needed to stay busy to keep his mind off of something. Liv wished she had the experience to help him with whatever was bothering him, but he'd talk to Ansari. Ansari was easily the second wisest person she'd ever met. Between he and Damteni they could usually solve any problem.

Liv couldn't suppress her little smile after helping tie off the trawler. This island was so different from her birthplace in Vasterbotten, but it felt like home as she walked into the old Japanese fortification where the group met her to help with the luggage.

"Let me get that one back", Liv said. "I've got gifts for you guys. You too", she told Francis when he walked into the hallway. "I know we've barely met, but I was told you like video games." Liv reached into the bag and pulled out some fighting game for the Playstation2. She hoped he liked it. It seemed like he did. Liv passed out the gifts to Shu, Wen, and to Miyu. It was always hard to tell when Miyu was pleased, but Liv was sure she'd find out eventually if Miyu liked her dress or not. The group of them went to the dining area for lunch and for a change Wen and Shu actually sat with the rest of the students. They were older and had been training with Damteni longer than the others, but that separation was starting to mean less and less as time went on.

Liv was obviously worthy in Damteni's eyes so that was more than good enough for Shu and Wen. As they sat down to eat Francis and Chris wondered if Liv would share some stories of her weeks with the master, but Shu, Wen, and Miyu knew better. Liv was a woman of few words. Rico and Lars would have stories to tell for days when they finally got back, and neither of them would have to be prompted to start telling them, but if someone asked Liv about her time with the master she'd have given a one sentence answer at best. Shu had a plan though. She'd drag the stories out of the tight lipped Swede.

"So how many times did the Master have to knock you out while you were with him?", a grinning Shu asked Liv who looked up with a cocked eyebrow.

"He didn't have to", she said simply, but then looked down at her plate. "He probably thought about it a couple of times though."

Shu laughed. "What did you do?"

"I went too far", Liv admitted in a quiet tone. "Like usual. But in my defense it's not like the Master shares his desires with me. I have no problem following clear instructions."

"The problems arise when you're allowed to freelance", a smiling Miyu added.

"No, it's not a problem if you want something utterly annihilated", Wen joked and Liv blushed.

"I do have nuance!", Liv exclaimed with her smiling face approaching crimson. Finally Liv laughed along with them.

"So Liv, tell us how you showed all of that nuance of yours while out with the Master."

Liv pointed her fork at Wen and nodded a couple of times. "Okay, there was this time when the Master wanted me to help him with a very subtle, very timed plan. He didn't ask me if I could do it, he just told me to make sure his plan was executed. I planned the details myself although the timing was set by the master. The day of the operation I had to wait for this guy to finish drinking at a pub...", Liv said as she began her story.

A small grin curled Liv's thin lips as she looked at the bridge master with his head resting on a curled arm. She'd given him just the right amount of sedative with added to her satisfaction, as she hurried down the steps towards the roadway. Her entire body tingled with anticipation, but Liv had to stay disciplined. She waited in the shadows as a car crossed the bridge before climbing over the railing and working her way beneath the bridge itself. She had to bend over because there was barely three feet between the top of the pier and the bottoms of the I beams. She stopped near the center of the pier and held onto a beam as she looked down at the inky black water thirty feet below her. She felt the bridge vibrate and looked up through the roadway grates to see a car passing right over her. It wasn't the right car though. Liv would have to wait, although she didn't mind. The bridge shook again as a big truck rolled over the bridge, and then she heard her master's voice in the earpiece. Once again her lips pulled back into a grin. She looked through the grates as a fire red Mercedes approached the bridge.

Liv pressed her back against the cold girder and placed the palms of her hands on the girders to either side of her before sucking in a great breath. She made sure her feet were planted firmly on the pier before pressing upward. She looked down at her already massive thighs and watched her quads flex and flex and flex, the muscle fibers bulging like they wanted to explode. She felt her calves and glutes swelling as she attempted to straightened her body despite the tons of dead weight above her.

The thick girders groaned, but didn't move. Liv pressed the balls of her feet into the pier and redoubled her efforts, watching her legs swell still larger, but still nothing happened. Liv's body began to vibrate as she pushed herself, digging deeper and deeper, demanding the strength from her muscles. Her heart thundered in her chest like a herd of wild bison running across the plains. More and more blood raced her muscles, thickening them bigger and stronger by the moment. Her hungry sinews drank in every bit of oxygen they got. Liv's quads and calves looked like pure shredded beef with each muscle fibers bulging and straining against its neighbor.

Spit flew from Liv's quivering mouth and dribbled down her chin as she pushed still harder. After mere seconds of effort, Liv's body was covered in sweat. It ran down the channels and canyons between her inhuman muscles, until it dropped into the cold river below. Liv's body steamed in the cool air, but still nothing happened. The car was fully onto the bridge now, the sounds of the tires changing as they went from pavement to steel.

A bump started to form above Liv, like a blister on the bridge surface as she started bending the thick girders against their form. The steel around her groaned as Liv, poured ungodly amounts of strength into the bridge. Her vision was reduced to a single faraway dot as she pushed her body towards its limits, but Liv's mind was still working. Even as the Mercedes got closer, she knew what she had to do, and then she felt it happen.

Deep within the bridge embankment behind her, a gargantuan counterweight tipped as Liv's muscles changed the balance. Without the hydraulics motors and pumps, Liv had managed to move the counterweight with just the strength of her truly huge muscles. She couldn't help, but grin as her shaking legs straightened and her shoulders pressed higher. One half of the draw bridge was opening. A warning light blinked on the bridge master's control, but he snored right along. There were no warning lights on the bridge though, no barriers or warnings.

The driver of the Mercedes saw too late at the bridge was up in front of him. He slammed on his brakes in a panic. Liv's grin turned into a smile despite the pain of what she'd just done. The car swerved as the driver tried to maneuver his car, but there was nowhere safe to go. He drover right off the now open middle of the bridge, smashing through a bit of the bridge's siderail while he was at it. Liv watched the car splash into the water, and heard its engine choke out on the water. The headlights still shined though. She followed them with her eyes for a moment, before she jumped back to action.

Liv moved to the back of the pier and shoved her feet beneath attachments where steel met concrete all while extending her arms as high above her head as they would go. She managed to grab the bottom lips of two of the girders as the bridge continued to rise. The counterweight would have swung the drawbridge all the way up, but Damteni didn't want that, so Liv was going to prevent it. Knots and ropes of thick muscle squirmed and bulged beneath Liv's skin as she tightened her fingers against the steel, denting the thick construction grade material, but she didn't get a bit of satisfaction out of it. Instead she sucked in a breath, closed her eyes, and waited on the pain. It came quickly.

None of the machinery that ran the bridge was designed to stop the counterweight once it had started moving either up or down. It would have taken way more power than their diesel engines could have produced. All the motors had to do was nudge the weight up or down, but Liv was about to do what those engines couldn't. The weight had gained momentum as gravity pulled it down, forcing the road deck up higher, but suddenly something began to slow the massive weight.

Liv flexed every single muscle in her body as hard as she possibly could, as hard as she'd flexed her mighty muscles when she'd pushed the bridge up, but it wasn't enough. She felt the power of the counterweight, pulling and stretching her body. She sank her fingers deeper into the steel as her ligaments, tendons, bones, and muscles stretched with all the slack they had. Suddenly her body could stretch no more and half the bridge shook with a chest rumbling THUMP.

A cry escaped Liv's lips as her body absorbed pressure that would have ripped an elephant in half. Pain like she'd never felt in all her days threatened to make her pass out, but she pushed through it, maintaining her flex as the counterweight finally came to a stop. Half of the bridge was still in the air as Liv's body created a new equilibrium for the counterweight. She took in some short breaths, fighting against the pain before pulling her body downward.

The six cobbles of her abdominal wall shot out of her midsection like fists. Her obliques and intercostals were ripped beyond words. Her lats easily doubled the width of her body. Liv's triceps had been massively huge when she'd been pushing the bridge up, but now her biceps took the center stage as she pulled her arms down. It wasn't quite as hard as moving the counterweight from its top position, but Liv still strained to pull the bridge back down. Once she felt the counterweight moving upward, she let go of the slightly bent, slightly misshapen girder and looked down to the river. The car was fully submerged now, but the lights were still shining so she could see it through the murky water. Liv took a couple of breaths and shook out her shoulders a bit before jumping down to the water.

Damteni stood on the river bank watching with complete satisfaction as Liv's head appeared on the surface of the water, quickly followed by the driver who was too weak, intoxicated, and scared to struggle much, not that he would have anyway once he saw Damteni waiting for him. Liv strolled onto the bank like a goddess, her every muscle pumped to perfection. Her face was neutral though as she dumped the driver onto the ground at Damteni's feet.

"You just died in a tragic single car accident Louis", Damteni said in a low tone.

The man nodded and coughed some water from his lungs, smiling even then. "Thank you! Thank you! I knew you wouldn't forget me!"

"There is a car parked down that way", Damteni said and motioned towards it. "There are new papers inside, fully backstopped and vetted."

Louis laughed and cried from joy. "I promise I'll never get in trouble like this again. Never!"

Damteni's face hardened. "You should see that you don't. I'm giving you a third chance at life. You won't get a fourth." Damteni turned and walked away towards the road with Liv following close behind.

"So yeah", Liv said, "the master told me that the driver, Louis, used to work for him and he was loyal but reckless. He helped give him a new life after his real name was leaked to the Russians during the war in Afghanistan back in the 80s. Anyway, Louis screwed up and some jilted investors put a price on his head. The master saved him and then he saved him again. Oh and by the way… the cops ruled it an accident. The coroner reported that the body was swept down the river, and no one knows I was ever there. The bridge master didn't even get in trouble because no one but him knew that he'd fallen asleep. See you guys… nuance!" Liv looked around the table. Her fellow students were thoroughly impressed… except for Francis who looked more confused than ever.

He knew that people could be stronger than they looked, but this skinny girl in front of him was the least physically impressive person of the lot. She looked weaker than him. He could have wrapped his entire hand around her upper arm. Francis had a decent imagination, but it had limits. Liv, or anyone else at the table, could have simply told Francis that Liv could change form into a muscled beast, but they didn't. They enjoyed his confusion as much as Liv did.

After the tale about the bridge, Liv told some stories about her time in Iran, Azerbaijan, and she spent plenty of time going about her time in Afghanistan. Wen shared a satisfied look with her sister. It was always difficult to get Liv talking, but now it seemed that the usually reserved Swede didn't mind being the center of attention. She was even carrying on a running joke because not once had she mentioned her ability to transform into a six and a half foot tall mountain of muscle.

"Wait!", Chris exclaimed after Liv started a tale about her time in Pakistan. "They were going to kidnap YOU!" He chuckled. "I guess you showed them that was a bad idea."

"Yeah, they weren't so tough though. They ran away before I'd even gotten started. One guy shot at me I think, but he didn't even hit anything. They ran to the back of a cave to hide. I probably could have gone after them, but I decided to collapse the cave on the rest of them instead", Liv said with a shrug.

"Collapse the cave?", the confused Francis spoke up for the first time.

"Collapsing is when the potential energy is released in some sort of construct, in this case a natural construct, and it is turned to kinetic energy", Liv replied with a jokingly condescending tone.

Francis bit down hard to keep from yelling. "I know what a collapse is! But how did you do it?"

"Easy", Liv said with another shrug. "I lifted the top off of the side of a hill and then dropped it on them." Liv's grin was approaching its sinister levels as she watched the blood drain from Francis' face. She ran her tongue across her perfect set of teeth thinking back how it had felt when she'd lifted all of that weight over her head. Her muscles had been as pumped and as big as ever before, but they'd get bigger. She actually felt a little tingle between her legs realizing that she'd managed to get more out of her body, more strength and more muscle.

"Don't scare him away", Miyu said and gave Francis' arm a reassuring squeeze. "If you do the Master might get upset with you all over again."

"I'm not scared!", Francis nearly shouted even though he knew none of them believed him. "I'm just curious. You don't look strong enough to lift the top off of a hill. That's all I'm saying."

"Yes she does", Shu said flatly.

Now Francis frowned. "I mean, not to be insulting Liv, but Shu you have more muscle in your arm than Liv has on her whole body."

Wen shook her head and laughed. "You've got so much to learn. Liv has more muscle in her arm than the rest of us at this table have in our entire bodies. I'm proud of my body for sure", Wen said then tensed her abs beneath her blouse and punched her shredded stomach muscles hard enough to make the solid thunks fill the area. "None of us have anything on her. But that doesn't mean I still can't kick your ass Liv", Wen added with a wink. Liv grinned and went back to eating while Francis' confusion seemed to be boiling over.

"The students seem to be enjoying themselves", Damteni said to Ansari as they walked along the second floor overlooking the dining area.

"Camaraderie is always good, as you know, but you don't seem to be enjoying yourself", Ansari observed in his mellow baritone.

"This operation", Damteni began as they took a seat in what had been a storage room decades ago, "it's too complicated. There're too many moving parts. Bruce Wallach, assures me that everything is coming together well, but the doubts just won't leave me. From smugglers looking in the container to a group of NATO intelligence people snooping around from the fringes. I'm sure they have no idea what they're dealing with, but they could muck up this operation by accident."

Ansari let out a sigh as he looked over at Damteni. "It has to be complicated. We talked about that before it was ever put into motion. I know want to go and grab that boy and bring him back here today, but that would be a disaster."

"We both know that. The boy has to be weak and vulnerable."

"No!", Ansari suddenly exclaimed. "You have to replace his mother's embrace. You have to replace his father's approving nod and his grandmother's love! You have to become everything to this boy… the reason he opens his eyes in the morning. That's the only way to get what you want out of him.

Damteni grinned. "You have always been able to unclutter my mind. To give me straight council."

"Somebody has to", Ansari said. "Everybody else grovels in your presence." Damteni laughed.

to be continued...

Recent Chapters

There are plenty of others where this story came from.  Please check out the bookshelf for all the past chapters of Power and Fury and my other series.

comments and criticisms welcome: dem2@hotmail.com