Two men walked in. One was in his forties. He wore a dark suit. The other man was younger and he wore a uniform.

"Good afternoon, I am Agent Mark Smith and this Air Force Major Ben Cummings. You have already read the information we gave you. Just to sum up, we got a tip from Moroccan intelligence that a ship leaving their waters might be carrying latest generation Russian surface to air missiles. Those missiles were supposedly stolen from a Russian base six months ago. I'll give you three guess where there're heading." He paused for effect. "We have narrowed the list down to one ship, the Riault. She's destined for Columbia, but she has a stop in Mexico. Her route takes her close enough to the United States to unload cargo. She's the only one on the list that fits the profile.

"We need you to get aboard the vessel and destroy the weapons. All force is authorized by the office of the President. US military and Coast Guard will be near, but they can not take an active part in this. The Riault is a French flagged vessel and we'd like to keep things quiet with our allies in the EU. Blueprints of the ship are included in the packet as are the suspected locations of the weapons.

"You are going to use these explosives. They burn very very hot and are quite hard to extinguish. We want that entire ship to be burning when the Coast Guard happens on her. We'll take it from there. All we need you all to do is to set those charges. Questions."

"Yes, sir", Jan spoke up. "What is the plan for insertion and extraction?"

"That's my department", the Major spoke up. "We have a Pave Hawk prepped and ready to go. We're scheduled to leave in two hours. We arrive on target after dark. We can loiter as long as you like. We have assistance from the Coast Guard for fuel."

The team mentally prepared themselves and boarded the massive helicopter. The engines whined and the rotor began to turn. The take off was smooth. Soon they were flying over southern Louisiana heading towards the Gulf of Mexico.

The Riault steamed at about 12 knots 110 miles south of Louisiana. The captain was only waiting for the sun to go down before he turned north and raced as fast as his upgraded supercharged diesels would take him towards the coast. The voyage had been fairly smooth. He had only had one problem since they left Casablanca and that involved his second batch of cargo. His freedom fighters, terrorist fighters or whatever they wanted to be called wanted no part of that other cargo. They thought it shameful and sinful. He had to agree with them on that. They had spoken to the captain about it. The captain had lied and told them that he was in the dark as to the contents of the second cargo. They had believed him, but it had been tense. He would be glad when all of this was over. He was getting too old for this stuff.

Alisha sat on the left side of the chopper trying her best to relax. This was her first helicopter insertion. She had practiced it, but practice and the real thing were very different. She held her MP-10 in her hands. She like the way it felt. It was built for one purpose and it was very good at it.

"Feet wet", the pilot said as the helicopter crossed over water.

Alisha barely took notice. She thought about how a day before she had been joking and riding horses now she was in the back of a military chopper going to do some dirty work for her government. She had to put those thoughts out of her head. She had to be focused.

Alisha didn't notice the door gunner staring at her until he spoke. "You awake back there?"

Alisha turned and looked at him. He was wearing battle dress and he had a helmet on, but underneath all that, he was young, not much older than she.

"I'm awake enough, Corporal."

"Where you goin' with all stuff on?"

Alisha leaned and smiled. "Above your fuckin' pay grade, but we do appreciate the ride."

He laughed. "Best damn, taxi in the world. Guaranteed never to get stuck in traffic."

"Just as long as the pilot keeps this chopper out of the water, I'll be happy."

The corporal laughed again. "Don't worry. This is a Pave Hawk. The Air Force don't sink, we just float. Only Navy choppers sink. Naw, we'll get you in and get you out. Just be where you say when you goddamn say."

Alisha smiled.

"One minute!", the pilot announced.

Jan and Sara got near the door. Alisha was right behind them. She got in position. "Where you from?", Alisha asked the corporal.

"Stockton, CA." Alisha slipped a piece of paper in the corporal's pocket.

"Ten Seconds! Go! Go! Go!"

Jan, Sara and, Alisha dropped their gear first and then followed it into the pitch black Gulf. The Pave Hawk rose out of sight and earshot quickly. They turned on their night vision goggles and grabbed onto their ride. It was half submarine and half wave runner. It could take them at nearly 20 knots, but they didn't need to go that fast. They started out at an angle to intercept the Riault. Soon her lights appeared. They got close before magnetically attaching to the hull. Now they were riding with the ship. They prepared to climb the hull. It wasn't easy using magnetic suction cups, but it worked and it was quiet. They came up near the stern since for some reason people paid less attention to the back of the ship. They crouched down and readied their weapons. It was time for business.

The ship had made the turn north only a few minutes ago and the engine vibration could be felt all over the ship. The Riault was making 22 knots with the help of a nice breeze from the south. The freedom fighters were all in one room talking things over and going over their plans once they reached the shore. They had already talked to the man with the trucks using e-mail. He was already in position. It would take about an hour to remove the crates and get them on the trucks. After that the captain and Riault could go to hell. He had a terrible cargo in the hold next to the missiles. The men had been trying to avoid the hold and the men in the hold, but now they could no longer avoid it. The leader of the freedom fighters, Ibrahim, ordered three of his men to go down to the hold to ready the missile crates for transportation. Things would get chaotic quickly for everyone involved.

Alisha had the point. She crouched down and moved quietly and quickly towards the hatch that lead directly down to the lower decks. Their movements were second nature now, but it was amazing to Alisha that a rich girl from Cali could become a hardened soldier so quickly. She didn't know yet what hardened was.

Everything went well. The team kept their weapons ready and their senses were tuned. Any movement caught their eye. They were careful to make no noise. They stayed close to each other, within arms reach. Jan was in the rear. She like it there because anyone behind you was an enemy. They continued and made it undetected down the poorly lit corridors all the way to the hold. The hatch was open. They only had to move it slightly to enter. The hold of the Riault was vast. Mostly empty as it was it felt like the inside of a huge steel cave. They were above the bottom of the hold and had to go down the stairs to reach the floor. They quickly went down and hid behind crates and boxes as they made their way towards the center of the huge space. They slowed when they heard talking. The talking became yells as grown men got into an argument. The team knew right away that it was going to end badly. At first they had started out speaking the same language, but now the men shouted at each other in their native tongues. No one could understand. They weren't sure who had pulled their weapon first, but a man was shot in the chest just before the man who shot him was shot in the head.

Ali was born in a small fishing village in Syria. He had spent most of his life on the sea. He loved the water. He had been the only member of his unit not to get seasick. He had made fun of them. Even Ibrahim the leader had looked a little green for a day or two. Now though, Ali was going to the hold to check on the missile crates. He had prayed not to be chosen, but he knew he would have to. He was the only member of the unit who knew anything about knots or rigging. If he had gone down there and seen some of the mercenaries guarding their own cargo, that would have been fine. If the children had been kept out of sight, it would have been fine, but instead, one of them lay on the deck bleeding while another was bent over a box getting raped by one of the mercenaries. Ali could not take it. The young North African girl couldn't have been more than 11. Ali had an 11 year old sister. He lost his temper. The man had called him an ape while they yelled at each other. The man had told him that he was worse than dog shit. This from a man who had raped a child. Ali couldn't remember reaching into his waist band and pulling out his pistol, but he had seen the gun rise and he did fire the shot. He felt a blow to the side of his head a moment later harder than anything he had been hit with before. He could feel his body fall and his life slipping away. He tried to smile. Allah would be pleased. The gun fight lasted only a few seconds before the men ran for cover.

The children screamed and ran back into their shipping container for safety. The missile crates were on the other side of the opening where the battle was taking place. A merc shot one of the other terrorist and only one remained. He had the angle. The merc reached out with a thick arm and snatched up a child, a young boy. The boy curled up, but the man held him out in front of him. The terrorist was going to shoot, but he hesitated. Hesitation was death. The merc shot him between the eyes.

The merc tossed the boy to the side and laughed. The boy's head slammed against the steel deck with a thud. He didn't move. Jan grit her teeth and squeezed her MP-10 tightly as she tried to take all of this in. Another merc came out from behind a crate and laughed at the killing of the three men. He looked down at the young boy and said something to his partner before kicking the boy with his steel toe boot.

Jan's eyes went wide in her head. She broke out of the shadows. She had trained for this. She raised her weapon to her shoulder and took aim through both sights like second nature. She aimed for the head. She squeezed the trigger ever so gently. Three bullets turned the back of the merc's head into nothing. She turned to her right and as quick as a wink downed the second guy. The sound from a MP-10 was so soft. It didn't even sound like a gun. Jan went down to a knee as she squared on the third guy, but blood sprayed from multiple wounds in his chest before she squeezed off a shot. Jan looked back and saw smoke rising from Alisha and Sara's barrels. Their faces were blank as they lowered their weapons. Jan rushed over to the boy who had started to move.

"Are you, ok?", Jan asked in French hoping the boy could speak it.

He nodded and hurried back into the shipping container to the waiting arms of a girl who looked to be a relative.

"What the fuck are we going to do?", Alisha asked as she looked around.

"Set the charges. As many as you can." Alisha hurried to the crates and started working. "Sara, help her."

Jan looked at the two dozen or so little faces that stared back at her. "We're going to help you. Stay in this container and stay close to the floor. I'm going to close this door for your protection." Not all the children could speak French, but enough of them did to get the message. Jan closed the door. She moved to help set charges. She knew more men were going to come. They were probably on their way. She had to figure out what to do and quickly.

Ibrahim knew there was something wrong when his three men had not come back after ten minutes. He was tempted to send a couple more men to check it out, but that was how an army was defeated, a few men at a time. No, they all would go. The twelve men remaining slung AK-74's over their shoulders and went down the halls towards the hold together. The mercs were waiting. They opened fire as the hall narrowed. The terrorist fired back and took cover as best they could.

The captain was still in the bridge and didn't know anything was wrong. He drank a cup of coffee and watched to make sure the ship was maintaining speed.

Luckily most of the missile crates were in the shadows. The girls had set nearly twenty charges before the gunfire started again. The mercs were falling back.

"We can't leave those kids in here when we light these things off", Sara told Jan in a whisper.

"Don't you think I know that! Ok, we have to get them off somehow."

"How?"

"I'm working on that." Jan was very still and quiet for a few moments. Then she looked up. "The plan had changed. We don't light all those charges here. Take a few of them, and lets go."

By now the entire ship knew that there was a gun battle raging. Jan and her team went out another exit of the hold. They went to the top deck They set some of the charges of the deck near the hatches before hurrying over the gun fight towards the superstructure at the rear of the ship.

The crew were all seasoned fighters themselves. They had armed themselves with AK's or other rifles. The Captain had placed some men to guard the ladders leading to the bridge, but they were not going to be enough. Alisha opened the hatch and had a moment to spare a crewman with his rifle started to turn. It all happened slowly in Alisha's mind. She pulled her trigger. She saw the shots impact. The man dropped. He crawled on the floor, but blood poured from his mouth. He wasn't going to make it. The team went by him and headed up the stairs.

Jan had the left side as they came to the top. She was crouched, but saw a man guarding the door to the main bridge area. She raised up and took the shot. Before the man's body had hit the ground Alisha and Sara burst in the door.

The captain started for his pistol, but thought better of it. He threw his hands up and looked amazed. The two people holding guns on him were not the terrorist he would have expected. These two were young girls. Through the face paint and uniforms he could see their pretty young faces. He didn't want to take them seriously, but he could see one of his men lying dead in the doorway, and he saw the black US flag on their arms.

"What do you want?", he asked.

"I want several things", Jan said as she walked in stepping over a body. She motioned for Sara to keep a watch out for people approaching. She went closer to the door, but it was her mind that did the searching. She had to concentrate, but with the adrenaline and excitement it was hard.

The captain could tell that this one too was young, but she looked so formidable that he took her seriously at once.

"I can only do so much", the captain protested.

Jan casually walked up him and thrust her forearm under the man's chin. She forced him back to the wall hard. "Do you know what is in your hold?"

"I knew that men brought some weapons aboard. I mean the U.S. no harm. I will surrender to you to be arrested."

Jan smacked the man with her other hand. "You know what I'm talking about. You're trafficking children! Babies! So they can be raped!" Jan pulled away from the captain and threw her MP-10 down to the deck. Everyone in the bridge jumped at the sound.

When Jan turned back around, her eyes burned like angry blue flames. "I want you to stop this ship and send out a distress call."

"Wha--- What do you want me to tell them?"

"Tell them your ship is burning."

"But-- but"

Jan motioned to Alisha who pushed the button on her detonator. The charges they had placed on the top deck exploded. The ship barely rocked, but the fire spread quickly on the deck. In seconds it was raging over a third of the deck.

"Now, make the call. And it better be convincing. If not..." Jan pulled her Springfield pistol from her holster and pointed at his head. He did as he was told. Jan smacked him on the back of the head anyway. He went to the ground. They tied him up and stuffed him under the console.

"We should have gotten him to drop the anchors", Alisha said after they had stuffed the captain away.

Jan scanned the controls and saw one that said l'ancre. She pushed the big button. The emergency release sent the two massive anchors plunging into the water. The ship started slowing more quickly.

"Time to go below again."

They worked their way down the corridors and down the ladders towards the hold. The terrorist had fought their way into the hold itself. Bullets flew in all directions. The hired crew worked their way around and had the mercs pinned close to the center of the hold, but the terrorist were firing on the ship's crew too. Jan and her team stayed low and worked their way around. They were more than content to let these guys kill one another. They couldn't get to the children though. Jan hoped the children were still staying low. She thought she had the situation under control, but she was wrong.

The mercs were starting to loose it. They had no loyalties, and they pointed their guns at one another while they were behind cover. One got the idea to use the children as cover. They pulled up the latch and tried to pull the door open, but the children held it closed with all the strength they had. The man trying to pull was shot in the back of the leg. He brought up his rifle and fired into the crate. The rifle bullets pierced the thin metal skin. The children screamed and backed up. The man pulled the door open.

Jan and the team raised their weapons and started shooting, but they didn't have the angle. The man pulled a little girl out of the container. She struggled and tried to pull away, but he had her by the throat. Another merc reached in and pulled out a young boy. The boy bit the man's hand and pulled out a chunk of meat. The man yelled and threw the boy to the deck hard. He leveled his rifle on the boy and pulled the trigger.

Sara had the angle. She depressed the trigger and held it until the bullets hit the man in the back. The man still had pulled the trigger. Bullets hit the boy in the arm sending blood and flesh to the deck.

"NO!", Jan yelled. She ran out into the open holding down the trigger. The MP-10 clicked after empty. Jan was in the open. Bullets and fragments flew all around her. A man ran at her. She dropped her submachine gun and pulled out her pistol. She pulled the trigger twice. The .45 slugs slammed into the man's chest. Jan went to a knee turned and fired two more shots. It was just like practice. After 4 more shots, she dropped the magazine and smoothy slid another in. She dropped the slide and kept firing.

The men were now being attacked from all sides. They fired in all directions. One man fired wildly into the container holding the children. Jan pulled the trigger. She missed and the slide locked back. Empty! Jan dropped her pistol and ran at the man. In that moment Jan realized that her whole life she had been holding back. There was a part of herself that she had built a wall around, not to protect herself, but to protect others. In the past her temper had only been the outlet, a pop off valve. Jan tore down that wall. She let loose that part of herself that she kept buried. Jan didn't need a weapon.

She rushed past the other men, jumped on a box and launched herself at the man firing into the crate. She was on his chest. Jan looked down at him wild with anger. She reached down with both hands and twisted. The man's head twisted all the way around with a sickening crack. Jan jumped up. The world had slowed down. She could see everyone. She could almost see the bullets leave the barrels. Jan saw another target. The man was turning to fire at her. Jan slid next to him with a move she had learned from Mel. She pulled the gun from his hand and lifted him from the ground with one hand. He grabbed at her hand, but she squeezed. Her forearm hardened. His neck and jaw were no resistance. She crushed them both flat. Blood poured from his open mouth and ran down her hand. What was left of his head flopped to the side. Jan sought another target. She moved so quickly.

As quick as Jan was, Sara was quicker. Her power was as fast as thought. She saw a man jumping from behind Jan to strike her with the butt of his rifle. It would have been futile, but Sara caught the man in mid air. He looked around as her invisible power held him still. Sara never felt the way she felt at this moment. Unlike Jan, there was no rage. There was a coldness, almost the absence of emotion as she searched out with her mind and found the man's heart. The heart is perhaps he strongest muscle in the body, but it was no match for Sara. With a thought she crushed his heart in his chest. The man's arms clutched at his chest. Sara dropped him, dead before he hit the ground. She let her arms fall to her side. She realized that she didn't need to shoot anymore. She had only to will a man dead and he died. She saw another man firing a rifle. She pushed against him with her mind. The man flew into the bulkhead. Blood splattered against the wall like he was a tomato. Sara sought another target.

Jan ran behind a man as he fired. She grabbed the smoking hot barrel and snatched the gun from his hand. The man turned around. Jan swung the rifle hard, as hard as she could. The steel and wood rifle hit the man's chest so hard it caved it in and sent pieces of bone flying from his back. He died in a pool of his own still hot blood. Jan could feel the lust for blood getting stronger within her. The men remaining ran away. They ran from the gun fire, but mostly from the certain death. Jan chased two men behind a bunch of crates. They waited for her to come to the only opening between them. They were ready to riddle her with bullets. Instead she ran up to the crate and pushed her fingers under it. Jan's anger fueled muscles exploded with power swelling larger. Her back and shoulders swelled as the three ton crate tilted back against her. Her uniform barley contained her powerful muscles. She had the balance now. She grit her teeth and lifted. Veins rose and snaked across her skin. Muscles pushed against each other for room as they expanded. Her shoulders were mountainous caps of muscle. Her whole body was super hard. The box rose higher and higher. The two men were too shocked to move. Finally they saw her under the crate. Up and up it went. Jan's delts fired so fast. More and more blood made the muscles even bigger, harder stronger. They flexed harder than ever before. Jan barely felt the weight. Her want, her need for blood fueled her. Her normally beautiful face was in an animal snarl. She kept lifting. Her triceps filled out her sleeves as the box rose above her head. It didn't shake and it didn't move. She looked down at the two men with rage on her face. They screamed as she took a deep breath and raised the crate even higher. Jan threw the box down on the two men. It broke apart she threw it so hard, but the men had no chance. She went to look for more targets. Her lust was not satisfied.

While her two friends killed people in ways others could not imagine possible, Alisha went to the children. They had stayed down, only two of them had been grazed by all the gun fire. Alisha kept her self between them and the carnage, but some saw anyway. Alisha held the most wounded little boy in one arm and her gun in the other. She lead all the children up and outside to the main deck. The first rays of sunlight were starting to show on the horizon. She wanted to go back down and make sure her friends were ok, but she couldn't leave the children alone again. Sure enough two men escaped the hold and the carnage down there. They saw Alisha and started to raise their rifles. They didn't get a chance. Alisha picked them both off.

A man fired in Sara's direction. Jan ran quickly to him picking him up. With her super human strength, she threw him against the bulkhead. He hit back first. His head cracked open against the steel and his spine broke in nine places. His internal organs ruptured. He died quickly. Sara was content to crush the life from any man who she laid eyes on.

Jan saw another man firing blindly. He saw Jan and wanted to run, but she was too fast. She caught him from behind. He was one of the mercenaries. He had raped one of the children. Jan caught him under the arms just below his shoulders. She lifted him off the ground. He tried to get away, but not for long. Jan's face twisted in concentration. She gripped his arms so tightly blood ran from his skin. She started pulling her arms apart. Her back flexed with insane power, and her shoulders were beyond belief. She was so strong, so much more than anyone could handle. She was a weapon no one had ever seen before. Her arms moved quickly. His body was no match for her power. After disgusting pops and cracks and screams the man's body tore in two. Blood splashed against her face. Jan closed her eyes and licked it off her upper lip.

Then it was just Jan and Sara. "Any more!?!", Jan yelled almost wishing the answer was yes.

Sara searched the hold. "No", she said after a moment. Both girls looked at what they had wrought. There were bodies all over the place. Some had died from gunshot wounds. Those had been the lucky ones. Some of the others had gruesome inhuman injuries, but neither girl felt a bit of pity for what they had done. They looked around and saw the children Alisha gone. Jan called on the comm. Then they headed for the deck. They had to wade through two inches to blood to get to the stairs. Once on top, the children hugged at their blood and gore covered legs thanking them. Jan gave Alisha the order to blow the charges on the missiles. The ship rocked. A gaping hole was blown out above the waterline. The girls could see the two Coast Guard cutters approaching. They sent the children to the starboard side of the ship so the Coasties would see them. When the children turned, the three girls were gone. By the time the ship was boarded, the girls were nearly a mile away. The Pave Hawk came and picked them up. The three girls headed back to Louisiana in silence. The men in the chopper knew better than to ask any questions. The looks on their faces said everything that needed to be said.

The team debriefed in Louisiana not too far from their supposed destination of New Orleans, but they never got to see it. They flew back to Mississippi and they were back at Clover Bottom in time for dinner. Alisha and Sara ate more than Jan who had hardly spoken a word since getting back. She went to bed early, but she didn't sleep.

Early in the morning Sara was in Jan's room.

"How're you feeling?", Sara asked.

"I don't know", Jan admitted. "I know I didn't sleep last night. I've always tried to keep a bit of me back you know. Somewhere deep down I knew how dangerous I could be, but I didn't want to face it. I had never killed before, and now... I was like an animal." Jan stared at a wall without looking at her friend.

"You know I understand", Sara told her friend. Sara seemed to be more at peace with what had happened than Jan and that was surprising. "We didn't ask those men to do what they did. We were given these gifts to do good with them. What we did wasn't easy, but we may have saved thousands of lives yesterday. Not to mention the children. I think what we did was terrible and good at the same time. I prayed about it all the way home and all last night."

"Yeah me too", Alisha said as she entered the room eating a bowl of cereal.

"You pray?"

Alisha looked hurt. "I pray every fucking day."

"You never told me", Sara said turning to face her.

Alisha sat down in a chair near the door. "Where I come from people change religion like they change bracelets. I don't talk about it much, but yeah me and God have talks." Alisha answered the question like only she could.

Jan was still lost. She packed up and felt a little better the next day saying good-bye to all the people she had met and to her friends. The others wondered why they were somber, but guess that it was because they were leaving. Jan boarded the plane and it landed late, but her parents were their waiting with open arms. Jan wanted to smile, but she couldn't. She wanted to tell them what she had done, but she couldn't do that either.

Three days after getting back home, Jan had spent most of the days in her room. She hadn't even showered. Finally she went to the bathroom to shower. Jan had not washed her dirty clothes from the trip either. Her bags weren't even unpacked. They sat in a corner of the room. Carol shook her head and opened one to get out the dirty clothes. After pulling off one layer, she saw Jan's Custom Springfield 1911 pistol. She pulled it out and hurriedly went to get her husband.

Jan came back from the shower in her robe toweling her hair. She turned the corner to her room and stopped in her tracks.

"Be careful, Mom, its loaded", Jan exclaimed and entered the room. She saw her father there too. They both looked at her with a mix of worry and wonder.

"Its not the first time I've handled a gun, Jan", Carol began. "The main question is what are you doing with it. The way you've been acting the last several days I would have thought that you were going to use it on yourself, if I didn't know better."

Jan hurried past her parents and fell down on her bed. She wanted to cry, she wanted to talk, but she couldn't make herself do either. "It wouldn't do anything to me even if I put in my mouth and pulled the trigger except hurt. You know that. Its not for me."

"What is it for? Jan you've been acting strange ever since you got back from Mississippi. What is the matter?"

Jan wanted to tell. The story was on her lips. "I can't tell. I can't."

Jack Caufield took the gun from his wife's hands and sat down on the bed next to his daughter. "You can tell us anything."

Jan wasn't going to say anything, but her eyes saw the looks on her parents' faces. It hurt so much she had to talk. "I work for the US Treasury Department. I've been an agent since last September. They found out about my ability about a month later. They trained me and a bunch of other girls. They've been doing it since the 30's. I've done 17 missions since January. Most were easy. Recon or breaking and entering."

"What are you talking about?", Carol demanded.

"There is a secret training base under Livingston. Its been there since the school was founded. They founded the school to get rich, troubled girls to work for the government. I found one of the secret entrances after they took one of my friends. I found the door and they offered me a chance to join the program.

"You said that you saw a change in me. Well, this has been great for me, or was. It gave me a chance to use my abilities to help."

"Jan, this is crazy!", her mother exclaimed. "You are 18 years old!"

"Look in the suitcase near the bottom."

Her mother did and pulled out the tan wallet. She opened it and saw the ID and badge. She showed it to Jack. Jan leaned past him and pulled a larger leather case from the night stand drawer. She opened it. It was a commendation for she and the team for the mission where they had recovered the memory stick.

"I'm telling the truth."

"What happened in Mississippi?", her father asked.

Jan looked down at her bed. She absently played with a string on her robe. She might as well tell them. "It was in the Gulf of Mexico. A ship was transporting missiles. They wanted them destroyed. I went in with 2 other agents, Alisha and Sara. Everything was smooth, but they were transporting children on that ship. Those kids, little kids, were going to be sex slaves or something." The anger returned to Jan's voice as she spoke.

"We couldn't let that happen. We opened fire on them."

"You shot people with that gun?", Carol asked, shocked.

"A few, but that was nothing. After a while, the shooting was too slow. Both guns were empty. I had more mags, but it was too slow. I ran at them." She paused and wiped a tear from her eye. "I killed them with my bare hands. I tore into them like some sort of beast." Jan shook her head. "I knew what I was doing, but I did it. I killed people in horrible ways. I tore a man in half" Her breath caught at the thought.

"You did what you had to do", her father said. "Killing those men was not..."

"I don't feel sorry for them", Jan cut him off. "At first I thought that was it, but I don't feel bad about them. It's me. What am I that I could do those things?" Jan stared at her bed unable to look up.

"You're a lot of things", Jack began. "You are loving, sweet, caring, with a kind heart. You always want to do the right thing."

"I killed people, Dad", Jan muttered barely above a whisper. "With my bare hands" She looked down at her hands.

"You can also be a weapon. That's part of who you are. Guns, knives, those are just tools. The weapon is you." Jan heard, but had nothing to say. Jack took a deep breath and shifted the gun in his own big hands. His tone changed. "Did you complete your mission?"

"Yes", Jan answered without looking up.

"Did you save those children?"

"Yes"

"Did you loose anyone?"

"Never", Jan answered with more force. She raised her head and looked at her father in the eyes. The color and intensity were the same. Jack looked at his daughter for a long time. She looked back. She saw his jaw muscles tighten.

"You know where your rage is now. You know that there is something inside of you that when it is released is deadly and uncontrollable, but you control when to let it out. You remember the exact moment when you let out your monster. You felt it. You saw the world like you had never seen it before. Every sound was clearer, every sight was sharper, every thought was simple and correct. You may not understand now, but you will."

He gave a little nod and held out Jan's pistol. She took it from his hand and he turned and walked out. Carol followed after a while. Jan sat in her robe with the gun on her lap for a long time. Finally she got dressed and went downstairs.

Her father sat in the middle of their extra long couch like he always did. Carol was stretched out to his left with her head resting against Jack's muscular chest. His arm was over her shoulders.

"What you watchin?", Jan asked timidly after walking down the stairs slowly.

"Italian Job", Jack answered.

Jan walked over to the couch and sat down close to her father on his right side. He put his arm around his daughter without taking his eyes off the screen.

"You guys aren't mad at me?", Jan asked finally.

Jack smiled and looked down. He kissed his daughter on the top of the head. "We're proud of you."

"Very proud", her mother said. "You're a secret agent... a super secret agent."

Jan chuckled. It was the first light hearted moment she had had in days. She smiled and pulled closer to her father. He kissed her again.

"Just make sure you always remember who you are."

"I will"

Jan reached across to her mother who took her hand and held it close. Jan felt like she was going to cry, but she didn't. She didn't have to. She knew her life was never going to be the exact same. There was no going back, but things could be better than before. Jan fell asleep in her parents' arms. She hadn't really slept in days. After the movie, Jack lifted her up easily and carried her up the stairs like he had done hundreds of times when she was little. She wasn't so little now, but when he looked at her sleeping face he only saw the face of his little girl. He laid her on her bed. Carol pulled the covers over her and kissed her on the forehead. They shut the door and walked out.

In their own bed, Carol looked over at her husband. "Do you think she's going to be ok?'

He put down his notebook. "She already is ok. She's a good girl. She knows what she's capable of. That will give her even more control. She knows where her rage is stored. She can keep it contained. She can find it whenever she wants now."

"Doesn't that make her more dangerous?", Carol asked.

Jack looked over at his wife and nodded. "Oh, yes. I already feel sorry for her enemies."

In Mississippi Sara laid in her bed about to check again. Every night since the mission she had reached out to Jan. She only felt pain and confusion. Sara was starting to get worried. Jan's feelings joined Sara's own and it was weighing on her, but she wouldn't give up on her friend. She closed her eyes and let her mind go. Sara smiled broadly. Jan was asleep and having good dreams. Sara exhaled. She was so relieved. As strong as Jan was, she had her weaknesses, but Sara didn't have to worry about that now. She left Jan and decided to play a trick on her brother down the hall. Charles wasn't quite asleep. Sara concentrated. Her powers were getting stronger as she worked on them. Without having to see him, she lifted her brother off his bed and gently laid him on the floor. She broke out into hysterical laugher. Charles jumped up and ran down the hall. He opened the door only to see his sister in her bed laughing so hard she was clutching her stomach. He ran over and jumped on her bed.

He knew she was ticklish and he started at her ribs. "Think you're funny! I'll make you laugh!"

Sara couldn't even say his name she was laughing so hard. They both fell to the floor after a while laughing hysterically. They stopped after a few minutes. They looked over at each other. Sara's smile fell away. "I love you, Charles", she said suddenly.

Her little brother looked over at her. "I love you too. Glad to have you back." He kissed her on the cheek and stood up.

She smiled again. "Now go to sleep! Don't you have things to do in the morning!" She started laughing again.

Charles laughed too. "I'll try to go back to sleep. If you leave me alone. Try that again, and I'll have something waiting on you."

"Oh you will, huh!"

to be continued...

There is much more coming very soon!  Jan, Alisha, and Sara will learn more about themselves and about just how dangerous the world really is.