"She's not here, Mom", Thomas said as he slowly came down the stairs. Carol just smiled. Thomas went and sat down with his bottom lip poked out a little. He had wanted to see Jan so bad. He had so much to tell her.

"You guys want anything to eat?", Carol asked. "Since they don't feed you on the airplanes anymore."

"Unless you get first class tickets", Jack chimed in.

"Well, you're the one who wanted to take a budget airline."

"And why not? Their airplanes fly on the same principle as the high dollar ones, and you land at the same airport."

"Cheapskate"

Thomas laughed. "Yeah you tell him."

Carol smiled and went towards the kitchen. She couldn't remember a time in her life when she had been so content. In her youth, Carol had never wanted to be content. Contentment lead to complacency. Unlike Jack, Carol's family hadn't been loaded with money. She had to pay her way through college and through the first year of law school. The tab for law school became less of a problem after Carol had married First Lieutenant John Caufield of the United State Army. Jack's family had been wealthy for more than a century and they had only gotten richer after getting into the defense industry in the 50's. But it wasn't money that made Carol so content. It was her family. She and Jack genuinely loved each other and respected each other. They had disagreements, but they usually worked themselves out. Jan was also so much better than she had been as a child. Her power was now hers to command and control. Jan was like a bright light whenever she came around these days, and then there was her new 'son' Thomas. Thomas had been living with the Caufield's for less than a year, but taking him in and adopting him had been one of the best decisions she and Jack had ever made. They all agreed that Thomas would keep his father's last name in honor of his slain parents, but Thomas fit into their family like a piece that had always been missing.

Carol looked over her shoulder at the bushy haired twelve year old and felt that motherly feeling all over again. Jack and Carol had adopted Thomas officially in April, but it was one day in March when he had become her son. He had come up to her while she was in the kitchen, and had tapped her on the shoulder. He looked up at her with those big doe like brown eyes and asked her if it was all right if he called her Mom. Carol couldn't remember exactly what she had said, but she did remember hugging the boy for a long time and wetting her collar with tears. After that moment, Thomas had become her son and she had become his second mother. Jan had a little brother, and Jack had a young boy who he could groom into a man.

"I'm going to put on a movie while we wait", Jack announced from the tv room. Jack had more movies in his library than most rental stores. He picked a DVD and sat down on the extra long couch. The movie started and Jack kicked off his shoes and got comfortable. "Hey, Thomas, don't you want to watch the movie?"

"Sure, what are you watching?"

"X-men"

"Aw."

"Aw what? You don't want to see that? I thought you would get a special kick out of it considering."

Thomas scrunched up his face. "Its so fake. I have a hard time making it through it. Like Magneto."

"What's wrong with Magneto? You can control electricity. Doesn't that mean that you can do magnets too?"

"I can a little bit." Thomas walked into the kitchen and ran his hand over a refrigerator magnet and it fell to the ground totally useless. He bent down and picked it up. "That's the problem. You remember that scene where he stops the bullets?"

"Yeah, that's one of my favorites."

"Its so fake! Most bullets are made of copper jacketed lead. Which one those metals is magnetic?" He paused for a moment. Nobody said anything. "Exactly. If we were getting shot at and you wanted me to stop them, we'd all be in bad shape." Thomas smiled and waved his hand over the magnet again and stuck it back on the fridge.

Jack frowned. "Good point. How about we watch National Treasure instead."

They were well into the movie when Carol got up and called Jan. Carol started to get a little worried when Jan's phone went straight to voice mail. She was about to call for Jack when the phone rang. Carol didn't even bother to check the caller id. She figured it was Jan, but it wasn't. It was Sara Hewitt, and she had been crying. Carol frowned. She remembered Jan saying that Sara hardly ever cried. She was good for a tear about once every 10 months. Carol felt a sink hole form in her soul as Sara started talking. Jack and Thomas both jumped up and ran into the kitchen after they heard a wail from Carol that only a mother's grief could produce.

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The Traveler was one of the last people crossing into the United States this evening. He was an unassuming man perhaps 5'10", which didn't used to be too bad, but it seemed like these days every guy he met was 5'10" or better. He would shrug when he thought about it. At least he wasn't short. He wore earth tone clothing that didn't have any designer labels, but they were also very clean and very neat. He was last in line. There were two middle aged Aztec women entering before him. Once they were processed, the Traveler rifled through his bag and pulled out the first passport his hand touched. He had pulled out a Turkish one. He grinned at the irony.

"Mr. Ahmet Erodgan, how long do you plan to stay in the United States?", the customs guy asked as if he was an automated recording.

"Fifteen days", the Traveler replied in accented English.

The customs guy had some more questions and the Traveler had answers. It wasn't too long before he was welcomed into the United States. He walked outside in time to see the two Mexican women getting into a waiting car. There were no cars waiting for him, but it didn't matter. He was used to walking. It had been a very long time since he had been to the United States. He wondered what had changed since his last visit.

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It was late the next morning when Sara Hewitt and Alisha von Edder met at Dulles International. A government car was waiting to pick them up. It was driven by Special Agent William Davis. He was the FBI agent who had worked with the girls when they had taken down Romano Scarforo's organization back in December. He was a tall serious looking man with salt and pepper hair. His face had the worry lines of a man who had spent many a sleepless night working to solve crimes. He was also one of the few people in the government who knew about the three special teenagers who worked for the Department of Treasury.

It was a long drive to the spot where they had found Jan's car. The three people in the car made the trip in silence. They all had their own thoughts about the situation, and they were all going to have to deal with those thoughts very soon. Alisha looked out the window at the buildings on the winding road. There weren't many businesses still open since the activity on this stretch of shore had dried up. Alisha saw a bait shop high on a hill as they turned the corner towards the coast. Special Agent Davis had to show his badge three times just to get with a half a mile of the crime scene. Once he started down the gravel road to the abandoned shipyard, he had to stop. They would be on foot the rest of the way. The lead investigator didn't want any motor vehicles near. He said it threw him off. He had his work cut out of him since whoever had attacked Jan had attempted clean up the scene after the deed had been done. There were no bodies left to be found and all the weapons had been taken. The cops were having to piece together what was left. They saw Jan's car parked in the place where she had left it. The agents had gone over it several times, but there was no evidence in the car. There was little evidence anywhere. Special Agent Davis had told Sara and Alisha at the lead investigator, Special Agent Harry Cambell was the best in the business. He was going to have to be.

Sara and Alisha found Special Agent Cambell down near a beached freighter hull. He had his sports coat off. Sweat was soaking through his white button down shirt as the sun beamed down on him. He squinted against the sun's glare, but he didn't wear sunglasses. He didn't want to wear rubber gloves, but he had to. He was facing away from the road, but he turned to face Sara and Alisha when they were still a couple hundred yards away. He waited for them.

"You must be Agent Hewitt, and Agent von Edder."

"Yes sir."

Special Agent Cambell nodded. Up close the girls could see that he was in his later 30's or early 40's. He was a tall handsome man with a noble face. He wasn't a large man at all, but the girls could tell that his body was tight and packed with wiry muscle. He hadn't pumped that muscle in a gym. He had earned it on the trails and in the wildernesses of America. Special Agent Davis had said that Harry Cambell was part blood hound. The girls didn't know about him being blood hound, but they could tell that he was full blood Native American. Harry was a member of the Osage Tribe, and he took that very seriously.

"I was told that the missing agent is a very close friend of yours."

"Yes, very close."

Special Agent Cambell inhaled deeply as he looked over the faces of the two 19 year old girls standing in front of him. He had never seen agents so young, but there they were standing with badges around their necks and pistols on their hips. He looked at them again, this time he looked past what everybody could see. He saw that these two girls possessed great power. He nodded as he saw it.

"Let me tell you what I have found out." He lead them down the hill towards the hull. "There was a great battle here. Your friend was being chased by several men with automatic weapons." He bent down and picked up one of the hundreds of shell casings before continuing down the hill. He had to move yellow tape to enter the rusted empty hull. "Your friend killed two men near her car, but this is where the main fighting was done." His voice echoed off the bulkheads. He turned to face them.

"You friend is a great warrior. The men she fought were extra ordinary. They were strong and fast and smart, but your friend Jan bested them in all three categories. She defeated these super soldiers." He pointed to what looked like marks in the silt, but to him it was like reading a story. Every grain of mushy sand and dirt meant something to him. "Your friend did not have an easy time of it however." He reached into the silt and lifted some red stained dirt. "This is Jan Caufield's blood." There was a pool of it.

"How can you tell that's her blood without testing or...", Alisha was stopped with a look.

"This is her blood", Harry Cambell said again. "This blood here belongs to the attackers, but there is more this way." He lead the girls down to the bow of the hull where it was open to the sky. "This ground here, is where the last battle happened." Agent Cambell spoke with awe in his voice. "The first men she defeated had been strong. Stronger than any warriors I have seen, but the one man she fought down at this end of the ship was truly a giant man and stronger by many times than the other warriors your friend fought. He is agile and skilled as well."

Sara and Alisha looked at each other. They knew who he was describing, and they knew how Jan had felt about Mel. "His name is Melvin Johnson", Alisha told Special Agent Cambell.

Harry pulled out his note pad and wrote down all the girls knew about Mel before he continued. "This Mel is a Titan, but your friend fought him to near submission. The battle must have been epic. It ended right here." He pointed at the ground. "She lied here and he lied there, but she never gets back to her feet after she falls here. He carries her back out of the hull." He paused and looked up at the sky and nodded as he understood. "There's a reason this battle happened here on this end of the ship that's open to the sky. This battle was so great that the spirits themselves wanted to watch. This was a fight between two warriors that makes legends of both." He looked over at Sara and Alisha. "I can not say what happened to your friend after Mel carried her out of this hull, but if Jan Caufield's last moments were in this place, and this battle was her last battle, then she bathed herself in such glory that in the life after this one, she will be seated in a place of supreme honor."

Sara and Alisha shared an empty feeling. They didn't want Jan to have an honored place in the afterlife. They wanted her right there with them.

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Carol hadn't slept since she had spoken to Sara on the phone the night before. She couldn't believe that something could have happened to Jan. That was one worry that Carol had never really had to face. Carol didn't worry much when she heard about a car wreck involving teenagers, or even a shooting in the city. Carol had always known that Jan would be home. Of course it was normal for a mother to worry about her child, but most of Jan's problems were situational or emotional, but never physical. Jan had never even had so much as a fever as a child. Jan had never had an ear ache or cold. She didn't have allergies. Now this. Carol closed her eyes and could see Jan in her mind's eye. She could see her daughter leaning against the counter eating an apple and smiling at something Thomas had said. That was the last time she had seen her before she had left to catch her flight to Chicago. Carol had cried a thousand tears, but more fell as she realized that she might not ever see her daughter's smiling face again.

There was a knock on the door. Jack answered it. Sara and Alisha came inside. They were reluctant. They blamed themselves and their own selfishness for what had happened to Jan. They had already spoken to Jack, but neither of the girls wanted to face Mrs. Caufield. The grief on her face was more than either of them could take. Sara knew the empty hole that loosing someone close to you caused, but Alisha could only imagine. She had lost her grandmother, but she had been sick for a long time. This was different. Both girls had to gather all their courage to face Carol. They would be surprised by how she treated them.

They were greeted by a very somber faced Jack Caufield. Jack was holding onto hope, but he knew reality. Jan wasn't going to go down easy, and anybody who went through enough trouble to take her down was serious. He knew too that Jan probably took down a lot of them before she went down. She took after his own heart. When pushed against a wall, Jan wouldn't hold anything back. He wished it had been him instead. The thought of his daughter facing her end alone was enough to chill him to his soul, to make him feel like a failure as a man and as a father.

Sara and Alisha walked down through the house to the living room where they found Mrs. Caufield sitting alone. She turned as they approached. Carol wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. She had been waiting for them to come. She ran her hands down her skirt as they approached. It was something she did in the courtroom, but rarely at home. To her this was like a courtroom. She had a speech to give, and these might be the most important words she had ever spoken.

"Mrs. Caufield, we went to the scene and spoke to the lead investigator. He's the best there is and they are doing all they can. He promised to tell us if there are any developments.", Alisha said slowly and carefully as she stood in front of her friend's mother. She didn't know how to comfort her. She felt so inadequate.

Carol looked up at the girls and nodded. "I'm sure the authorities are doing all they can." She patted the sofa. "Here you two have a seat."

They two girls shared a look before they sat down on opposite sides of Carol. Her face bore terrible grief, but her voice didn't betray any of it. They were hearing the voice of the successful attorney instead of heartbroken mother.

"Like I said, I know the FBI and others are going to try to find my daughter, but they aren't. They can't. They wouldn't even know who or what they are looking for. I know my daughter. I know how dangerous her power is when she lets that rage loose inside her. Anybody who could beat her is above the FBI's ability to defeat. Whoever fought Jan could kill ten regular people without breaking a sweat. You know that, and I know that. I also know that you two girls have great power too. Jan talks all the time about how sometimes she is in awe of both of you. She told me last year that watching you, Alisha, harness and master your power made her want to get better control over her own power. And you Sara, she told me that you go through life with your power as if second nature. You have never let your power become a burden like hers used to.

"You girls are going to have to use your special abilities to get Jan back. The FBI serves a purpose, but they don't know what they are up against. You two girls do." She took their hands in hers. Carol had large hands too, not as large as Jan's, but almost. They felt so much like Jan's hands that Alisha and Sara both got emotional. "I'm counting on you two to get her back. Most of them think that she's dead. I'll never think she's dead. Never! Use your powers and bring her back."

Alisha and Sara both looked at Carol's face. Neither of them cried. The time for tears was over. "Mrs. Caufield", Sara began. "I promise that I'll use everything at my disposal to get Jan back. Whatever it takes."

Alisha nodded. "Me too."

They couldn't see that young Thomas was behind them. He had been crying for hours, but after listening to Carol's words, his tears stopped. He made the same promise as Sara and Alisha. He made the promise in his mind, but it was no less real. Thomas' powers were dangerous, very dangerous. He had killed before, and to save Jan's life, he would kill again.

Then there was a knock at the door. Once again Jack answered. "Mr. Caufield, I am Harry Cambell with the FBI. I want you to know that we are doing everything we can to bring Jan home safe. I came however to speak to Miss von Edder, and Miss Hewitt."

The two young women came to the door. "I dove up here because I had some news that I didn't trust to the phones. I spoke to people near the scene, but all of them said they knew nothing about it. I believed all of them except one. The woman who owns the bait shop, Brenda Carlton, is hiding something. I know it, but I don't have enough to get a warrant." He looked around and lowered his voice. "I don't know what power you girls have, but now would be a time to use it. Talk to that bait shop woman. Do what I cannot. Perhaps you can get some answers."

Alisha and Sara smiled at each other. The bait shop woman was going to have a bad evening.

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A messenger found the Broker in his study reading a well worn copy of Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. His late mother had given him that book on his 13th birthday. The Broker had read it several times all the way through and in bits and pieces too. Every time he opened the cover he thought of his mother's face. He didn't have a chance to get into the book this time before there was a knock on his door. He bid the messenger enter. The Broker's face darkened at the news as he listened to what had taken place on the shores of the Chesapeake. His mood was black as night by the time the messenger finished. He waved the messenger away and stood up to go back to his bedroom. This development was grave enough to merit serious thought.

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The Treasury Department had been nice enough to allow the girls use of a car. They drove that car directly to the bait shop. It was dusk dark when they arrived. There were two old pickup trucks parked out front. They took down the license plate numbers and then walked inside. The place smelled of moist earth and sweat. A bell hanging on the door rang as the two girls came inside. The hard plank floor was uneven, but sturdy. Their shoes made deep thumps as they walked to the five foot high counter.

A pale heavy set woman came from a back room and walked up to the counter. The floor behind the counter was raised so the woman looked like she was 7' tall when she was only about 5'8" or so. "You girls don't look like the fishin' type. Besides, we're closed." She turned to leave.

"Um, excuse me, Miss Carlton", Alisha began. She pulled out her badge. "I'm Agent von Edder and this is Agent Hewitt. We'd like to ask you a few questions."

The woman looked at the badge and then down at Alisha and laughed. "Get the hell out of my store!" She laughed again.

Alisha's face had gone bright red. The woman turned her back, so she never saw Alisha reach out and grab the counter. Alisha's legs were never going to overtake her breasts as eye catchers, but they were close. They were also strong. A single bound sent her over the counter. She took the woman by the shoulders and spun her around. Brenda was startled.

"We tried this the right way. Now its time to do it the wrong way." Alisha put her in a hammer lock and lead her down the stairs. Sara pulled the blinds down and locked the door. Brenda struggled against Alisha, but had no success.

"I ain't sayin shit. You can beat me all you want!"

Sara smiled and looked up at the woman. "Oh, ma'am, we don't have to hit you at all. There're other ways to get information", Sara said with false sweetness. Alisha put her shoe into the back of Brenda's right knee. She went down with a thud and a muffled cry.

Sara looked down at the woman while planning the best way to get the information she wanted. The woman looked back up at her. There was fear there, but there was something else. Something almost like anticipation. Sara hesitated for an instant, but continued. She needed to get the information quickly. She set her jaw and closed her eyes. It was always easier when she closed her eyes. She felt Brenda's mind. She had a strong will. That wasn't going to be much a problem. Sara had a strong will too. She pressed past the woman's active thoughts and to her memories. She was almost there.

Alisha smiled as she watched Sara do her thing and she felt the woman squirm. She knew that it felt like worms in your head when Sara wasn't trying to be discrete. Sara's face was always blank when she went into someone's mind. The silence in the room was broken as Sara cried out in pain. She jerked away from the woman and went down to the floor. Her arms shook and her legs thrashed. Foam formed at the corners of her mouth as her limbs beat against the hard floor. Alisha didn't know what to do.

"What did you do?", Alisha yelled and pulled Brenda's hand up towards the middle of her back.

"Nothing! Yet!", she laughed through the pain and took a deep breath. "Norma!", she yelled as loudly as she could.

Alisha heard the back door of the building slam open and heavy footfalls coming closer. She turned in time to see a fist coming right at her face. She ducked. The blow grazed the top of her head as she rolled away. She reached for her pistol as she rolled. She had it out and pointed in front of her as she came upright. She didn't pull the trigger though. The girl standing in front of her wasn't armed... or at least she didn't have a gun.

Norma was perhaps 5'2" with straight brown hair that came just below her earlobes. She had brown eyes and her young face was covered in freckles. She didn't have big bones. Her hands and feet were pretty small. Nothing else about Norma was small. Norma was a compact mass of pure muscle. Her arms and legs were thick beyond belief. Her chest and shoulders were thick and wide to epic proportions. Her waist was tiny which only exaggerated the size of her legs and chest. She had on a pair of tight cut-off denim shorts that looked more like bikini bottoms than shorts and a cut up blue shirt. The neck of the shirt was cut showing off her neck, traps, and the cleavage between her pectorals, and the bottom had been cut jaggedly showing off her abs.

Alisha wasn't sure how many abdominals there were on Norma's midsection. She stopped counting at eight. And the obliques just made her midsection look even more amazing. Alisha blinked twice before she would believe what she was seeing. Norma's body didn't look like it could be real, but there she was looming over her. The muscles pulsed with power and anger. Norma's eyes stared down at Alisha. Alisha looked at Norma's mother, Brenda, and then back at Norma.

"I see you're kinda stunned by my little girl's body. Most people are. She's a special girl. She started trainin when she was little. Years and years of hard work later, here she is. She's going to tear you to pieces. Isn't that right Norma? Show her what I mean."

Norma never took her eyes off of Alisha as she brought her arms together in a crab flex.

"Oh my God", Alisha gasped as Norma swelled.

Muscles expanded to staggering dimensions. Norma's face was snarled as she arched her back and brought her arms closer together. She wasn't even close to finished yet. Her thighs expanded like they were being filled with air, but no they were pure muscle. Her calves seemed to pulse with power expanding and contracting before finally bursting out to their fully flexed size. Alisha's mouth fell open as Norma's hands finally met in the middle. The peak on Norma's biceps just flexed harder and bigger as the moments passed. The peaks rose to a dizzying size, and her pecs just seemed to grow and grow. Her body shook as she finished her flex. Her expanding pecs had added nearly a foot to the size of her chest. The shirt was just barely hanging on to her. Veins like link sausages snaked over the peaks of her arms and across her chest feeding the muscle madness. Then she relaxed and her muscles went back to their 'normal' size.

"You want me to take care of her now", Norma asked her mother.

She shook her head. "Not yet. Let your brothers have some fun."

No sooner had the words left her mouth when Alisha's Glock 23 was snatched from her hands. She turned and looked up. Norma's brothers had gotten that close to her and she had never noticed. She had been so fixated on Norma.

"These are my sons. Kyle and Kurt. They aren't as big as their sister, but I'm proud of them just the same. Norma, sweety, you might not get any fun if your brothers take care of her first." Norma poked her bottom lip out then laughed.

Alisha looked at the two young men. They were both older than their sister and were average size guys. They looked like hard working guys, but there was nothing special about them. Alisha looked around the room. She saw that Sara was thrashing less, but still thrashing. There was no way to get to the door and no way to get to Sara, and there was no way to get to the door. She was trying to come up with a good illusion for the situation, but she didn't have to. She caught a break.

"You want to shoot her?", Kyle asked his brother.

"Na", Kurt began. Kyle tossed Alisha's gun to the back of the room. "Would you want to shoot such a pretty little thing?" Kurt reached down past Alisha's face. His hand continued down towards the swell of her ample right breast. His fingers wouldn't get that pleasure. Quick as a flash, Alisha's right hand grabbed his hand and fingers. She twisted. Two his fingers broke as she twisted and pulled him down. Kurt was off balance and fell forward. Alisha reached up with her left hand, grabbed his hair and pulled his head down. Her knee was there waiting. She slammed his forehead into the point of her bent knee. He rolled to the floor. Alisha rolled to her left, and swept out her leg. Kyle was reaching for her, but he tripped over her leg and fell. Alisha jumped up. He reached out and grabbed her ankle, big mistake. Alisha pulled her left leg back and soccer kicked Kyle in the side of his head. He grunted and let go.

"Hey NO FAIR!", Norma yelled.

Alisha stood up and looked at Norma and her mother. "What? Am I supposed to let them kick my ass? Are you ready to answer my questions yet?" Alisha was as serious and focused right now as she ever was. A good fight always got the blood flowing. Sara had stopped thrashing about on the floor, but her breathing was very shallow. Alisha wanted nothing more than to get to her friend. She had to get this over. Sara might need to get to a hospital. She had a plan for Norma, who was less than fifteen feet away. Her muscles just pulsed with anticipation waiting to get her hands on Alisha.

"Go get her!", Norma's mother ordered finally.

Norma yelled and charged. Alisha's eyes narrowed and the room went as black as deep space, and as cold as a winter's day. She had used that illusion before. It was an oldie, but goodie. Norma and Brenda stumbled. Alisha smiled as she ran right past them. She hurried to Sara and knelt down beside her friend. Her face looked even worse up close. They were opened up wide, but her blue-gray eyes were unfocused and darting every which way. Sweat covered her forehead and her blond locks were wet from it too. Saliva and sweat mixed on her chin and her cheeks.

"Sara, Sara, can you hear me?", Alisha didn't know what to do. She wiped her friend's face and felt her head. She was burning up. Alisha looked around the room. She stood up and ran to the ice chest. She grabbed two bags and hurried back. Kyle and Kurt were awake, but still floundering in Alisha's illusion. Alisha didn't notice that Norma wasn't stumbling as much as the rest of them. Alisha tore open the bags of ice and spread them over Sara's trembling body. She packed the ice near her neck and under her armpits and down her legs. She was sick with worry. She had to remind herself to maintain the illusion. Alisha ran back again and got a handkerchief for sale and wetted it with the ice. She ran it over Sara's forehead. She didn't really know what to do. She looked down and saw Sara's eyes blink. They only blinked once, but after that they moved in unison. She saw Sara's iris narrow and focus. Then their eyes met. Alisha chuckled in relief. She took Sara's hand and gave it a squeeze. The rest of Sara's face was blank and her muscles were totally slack, but Alisha knew her friend was still with her. Sara's eyes moved away from Alisha's. She looked over Alisha's shoulder. She looked back to Alisha then quickly back over her shoulder. Alisha didn't understand until it was too late.

Two small hands wrapped around her neck. The pressure in her head increased so much that her ears popped. She felt her self slowly being lifted up. Sara's hand fell from hers as she was lifted into the air.

"I don't know how you made the room go dark, but your tricks aren't enough to beat me", Norma hissed into Alisha's ear. Alisha could feel that her illusion was still working. Kyle and Kurt were still walking around like mummies and their mother was on her knees looking around and around. Alisha's illusion finally melted away.

Norma squinted a little as the lights inside the store got as bright as they were supposed to. Her brothers and mother shielded their eyes from the light. They finally got back to their feet and got their bearings.

Alisha couldn't breath. She could tell that if Norma wanted to, she could have popped her head right off her shoulders. She hadn't decided to yet, and Alisha wasn't going to wait until she got a mind to kill. Alisha twisted her body as much as she could. As soon as she felt the torque stored in her body, she spun the other way. She brought up her arm and had just enough room to send the sharp point of her elbow into Norma's temple. Norma yelped in pain and dropped Alisha. Alisha rubbed her neck and turned around to face Norma. She was stumbling backwards towards the counter. Alisha didn't hesitate. She sent a blistering kick to the side of Norma's knee. She cried in pain as her leg bent and she lost balance. The thick muscles protected her knee from damage, but the pain was damage enough. Alisha had been training Muay Thai with Jan for the last two years. Her kicks and leg strikes had gotten pretty good in that time. Norma was seeing the results of Alisha's hard work. Alisha grit her teeth and spun to send another kick that impacted just below Norma's sternum. Her muscles weren't flexed and it allowed the blows to have an effect. Norma stumbled backwards again. Alisha took half a step back and loaded up. Her right leg flashed through the air in a blur. Alisha's long toned muscles didn't bulge as much as they just hardened. Alisha's shin slammed into the side of Norma's head. The crack was loud in the small space of the store. Norma flew backwards and to the right almost as fast as Alisha's kick had flown. She fell against the counter and her dense muscles hit the wood of the counter and the counter lost. Norma fell through it. There was silence in the place after the sound of breaking wood was gone. Alisha took long deep breaths as she turned to look at the rest of the family.

"What did you do to my baby!?!", Brenda demanded. She ran right past Alisha, who made no effort to stop her. "What did you do! Norma! Norma!" Norma's eyes were open, but she had been knocked unconscious. Alisha rolled her eyes. Sure Norma had muscle from the neck down, but her head was just as vulnerable as anybody else's.

Kurt and Kyle looked at each other. Kyle charged Alisha to her right while Kurt came to her left. "You can't do that to our sister!", Kurt yelled. Alisha waited until they got close. Kyle threw a hard looping punch. Alisha ducked under it and slid to his left. She punched him in the kidney once with her left hand and then with her right. His left knee buckled and went down. Kurt had to go around his brother. He ran at Alisha as fast as his legs would carry him. Alisha took a step back and was ready. He lowered his shoulder to hit Alisha in a tackle. She was ready. As soon as he was close, Alisha bent down and grabbed his wrist. He couldn't stop. She used his momentum and added strength of her own. Kurt flew over Alisha's shoulder and through the front door of the store out to the parking lot. Glass and wood shards littered the ground outside.

Kyle rubbed his side and his stood up. He looked at Alisha standing there, but he wasn't going to try attack her again. He turned and looked over his shoulder. Alisha's Glock was laying near the back of the small store. He turned and went for it. Alisha went after him. He dove on the ground. He could hear her right behind him. Alisha wasn't sure why her other illusion didn't work, but she tried it again. Kyle reached out for the gun. It disappeared. He felt around on the ground for the pistol, but he couldn't feel it. Alisha walked next to him and kicked him in the ribs. Kyle grunted as air left his lungs. Alisha knelt down again. She grabbed a handful of Kyle's dark brown hair and pulled his head up. She cocked her arm back and punched him in the side of the head. He just laid there and moaned. Alisha reached down and picked up her gun. Alisha thought that sometimes they were more trouble than they were worth as she slid her Glock into its holster.

She came around the corner to the front of the store. She could see that Sara had moved her arm. She could see her fingers moving too. Alisha smiled, but it fell away when she turned to her right. Norma was sitting up. She shook her head trying to clear. Her mother was talking to her. Finally Norma seemed to come around. She saw Alisha standing there. She roared to her feet. Alisha ran forward and jumped out the broken door. Norma was right behind her. Alisha darted between the trucks as Norma tried to get to her.

Norma finally got tired of the chase. She turned back towards the store and wrapped her hands around the steel and concrete barrier post that prevented cars from running into the front of the store. Her muscles expanded again. Norma grunted and shook the post in her hands. Cracks radiated out from the post. Norma's shoulders and back flexed with power as the concrete surrendered and the post came out of the ground. Norma turned and attacked Alisha. She swung the post like a club, but that club weighed 200 pounds. Alisha ducked and darted.

Norma's core muscles writhed and flexed as she swung one way and then another. Alisha finally made a run for the car from Treasury. Norma held the post in one hand and raised it over her head. She threw it like a javelin. She missed and the post flew through the windshield of the car. Alisha turned around once she was on the opposite side of the car. Norma was on the other side. They chased each other in circles until once again Alisha was standing on the side of the car facing the store.

Sara was moving more, but no one noticed until she coughed and sat up. Her movements were slow and weak. She fell back to the ground and then rolled onto her stomach. She brought her arms in, and it took all her strength to raise herself up. Finally she was on all fours. Her head hung down. She took her first deep breath in several minutes, but no sooner had the air entered her lungs than her stomach cramped. A vicious wave of nausea came over her and she wretched. The vomit came out of her mouth making a puddle on the floor. She continued to heave uncontrollably even after her stomach was empty. She managed to turn her head and look outside. She could see Alisha being chased. Sara wanted to help so bad, but she couldn't. Not yet.

"Look, Norma, this is fucking stupid! Let's be adults about this!", Alisha yelled from the opposite side of the car.

"Sure", Norma began. "I'll be an adult just as soon as I get my hands on you." She started to run to the left. Alisha started to the right. That just made Norma even more mad. She bent down and put her hands under the car. With a mighty tug and a soft grunt of effort the front of the government car started to rise.

Muscles split and jutted out at angles as her body just continued to swell. Her body was like a living cartoon. Alisha had seen plenty of strength displays from Jan and from Lisa Sanchez, but for some reason this was just blowing her mind. Norma's grunt got a little louder as he shifted her hands and really poured on the power. Her thighs got into the action. The thick pillars of muscles bulged like the rest of her body. She had to put her feet wider apart since her quads had gotten so thick that they were pressing against each other. Now the back wheels of the car were off the ground. She was straining to the utmost, but the Chevy Impala was off the ground completely. Alisha backed away, but didn't really run. This display of strength was awesome. Norma stood up straight. She shook under the tremendous weight of the car. With a final grunt, Norma turned the car on its side and slid it out of the way.

Her tremendous chest rose and fell as she breathed. There was a devious smile on her face. There was now nothing between she and Alisha. She ran at Alisha, but Alisha was quicker. Alisha ran to the left side and then back into the building. She was running out of ideas since her power obviously didn't work on Norma. Norma was right behind Alisha and she was even more pissed.

No one noticed that Sara had made it back to her feet. She was wobbly, but standing. She put her hand to her head. It pounded horribly. She opened her eyes as Alisha ran past her. Norma almost knocked her over running past her. Sara's head still hurt, but at least it had stopped spinning.

"Ok everybody! Enough of this!" Sara yelled as she frowned. Her power radiated out away from her like a concussion wave. It caught Kyle, Kurt, Norma, and Brenda. Norma had been a few feet away from Alisha when she had stopped in her tracks. Her eyes darted back and forth. She couldn't understand what was happening. Alisha just sighed in relief. Norma started struggling against the invisible force that held her.

Sara's brow drew even closer as she felt the resistance from Norma. Sara threw Kyle and Kurt against the wall hard enough to knock the wind from their lungs and make them dizzy. She let Brenda go so she could concentrate on Norma.

Norma had flexed before; she had pulled out a concrete post, and she had picked up a car. They thought they had seen her muscles in action, but they were wrong. Norma vibrated in mid air fighting with every muscle fiber in her body against Sara's hold. Muscles popped and burst with power and expanded. Her muscles expanded layer on layer. Her biceps rose and rose to an unimaginable jagged vein covered peak. They were so hot it seemed like her sweat was turning to steam. Her quads were flexed, but Norma was trying to bend her legs. Her hamstrings bulged out like something was growing beneath her skin. Her skin stretched as her calves flexed bigger and bigger. Norma could feel the pressure increase against her body, but she wasn't giving up. She took another breath and her massive chest expanded. The blue shirt was already straining to contain her pecs, but it could not stand the expansion. Her pecs flexed so hard and big. They just grew and grew. Her lats were spreading too. The shirt couldn't take it and it ripped into four pieces, but still the muscles continued to flex. Norma's face was turning red and veins showed on her forehead. Never in her life had she tried so hard to do something. Her bare chest was still flexing harder and bigger. Waves of muscle flexed on her chest and sweat ran down between the two massive blocks of muscle. Norma took another breath and closed her eyes. It was all or nothing now. She yelled and her body erupted in even more muscle. She yelled louder as she continued to flex. Every muscle in her body got larger and even more defined. Her peaks grew again like twin rumbling mountains. They grew higher and higher. Her face was mask of pain as she put everything she had into the effort. Her abs seemed to spit too and multiply. Her thighs swelled with mind blowing power. They vibrated and shook and expanded. Her denim shorts tore as her glutes and thighs got bigger and harder. In the end it wasn't enough.

Sara's face hadn't changed through all that effort. Norma was strong enough for Sara to have to work to hold her, but she wasn't as strong as Jan. Sara had just waited until she tired herself out. When she did, she let her go. Norma fell to the ground on her hands and knees totally spent. Sweat ran down her body onto the floor. She was so tired she couldn't even raise her head. Her entire body hurt from the effort.

Sara turned back towards Brenda. There was fear the woman's eyes now. "Ok, about those questions", Sara said as she stepped closer. Whatever had been in her eyes the first time was gone.

A drop of blood fell from the woman's nose as she backed away from Sara, followed by another and another. "Stay away from me!", she tried to yell, but her voice hardly worked. She was beginning to look confused. Her legs felt weak. She could taste blood in her mouth. She began to panic. She tried to take a step, but her chubby legs collapsed beneath her. She fell to the floor. Alisha looked at Sara who shrugged her shoulders. Soon after the woman fell, she began to shake and thrash like Sara had done.

Sara knew then what was happening. "Oh, no", she breathed as the woman's fit became even more violent. Alisha went to the woman and tried to keep her from hitting against things. Sara reached up to what was left of the counter and pulled down a ruler. She stuck it in the woman's mouth as blood continued to bubble up.

"Momma, Momma!", Norma yelled and scrambled over to her mother on her hands and knees. Sweat still dripped from her naked chest, but she didn't even care about that now. Her brothers too came over.

"What are you doing to her!?!", Norma demanded. "Stop it! My Daddy's already dead! Don't kill her please I'll do anything."

"We're not doing it!", Sara yelled. "What happened Sunday. Who did your mother talk to?"

"We weren't here", Kurt said for he and his brother. They were both trying to hold down their mother's legs.

"Norma, were you here? I have to know what happened. Who did she talk to?"

"A big black guy came to the back door. He was huge! I've never seen a man so big. He told us that he had an operation going on down on the shore and that he wanted to know a good place to see the entire area. We showed him a place back behind here where you can see the entire shore for a half mile in both directions from the cliff. He thanked us and paid my mother $5000 just to close early. They talked for a while and then we left."

The woman's fit was getting worse and more blood was running from her nose. She was trying to talk, but she couldn't. Norma's tears were mixing with her sweat as she held her mother still.

"Was the big black guy alone?"

Norma shook her head. "No there was another guy, a small white guy. He was with him the whole time."

Did he ever speak!", Sara demanded. The situation was getting worse. Their mother's eyes had rolled back in her head, and she was getting weaker. "Tell me, Norma!"

"No! No, he didn't say a word the whole time."

"Good.", Sara said. That eliminated a few possibilities. "Did he ever touch your mother?"

"What? I don't remember!"

"You have to! If you want to save your mother's life! Think hard before its too late. Did he ever touch her."

Norma closed her eyes and tried so hard to remember ever moment of the night before. She had to be sure. They had walked to the cliff and back. They had stood by the back door and talked. It all came back to her in a rush. "No!", she yelled.

Sara didn't ask her again. "Let her go!", she ordered the rest of the people. Sara took the woman by the hands and closed her eyes. People didn't really understand the power of physical touch. Brenda stopped shaking soon after Sara took her hands. Sara's body shook as she tried to save this woman's life. Sara was still weak and tired from saving her own life. It had been at the edge of her skill and ability to save her own life. She didn't know if she had what it took to save this woman, but she was going to try her best.

Everybody backed away. Sara held the woman's hands for several minutes. Sara's face was blank the entire time. Sweat ran down Sara's face, but finally she opened her eyes. Brenda opened her eyes at the same time. Sara smiled and exhaled. It had worked.

"Thank you! Thank you!", Norma yelled as she hugged her mother. The boys did the same.

After a few more minutes, everybody was back on their feet and Norma had tied some of her ruined shirt around her still pumped chest to cover her nipples. "We're sorry for how we treated you", Brenda began. "We just don't like people coming around her getting in our business. Feds or anybody." She was still weak, but recovering.

"I understand", Sara said. "We're just trying to find out what happened to our friend Jan."

"What!?!", the family all said at once.

"Did you say Jan, like Jan Caufield?", Norma asked.

"Yeah"

The look of shock spread around the room. "Momma, was that guy going to attack Jan? Oh no!"

Mrs. Carlton's hands went to her mouth. "Oh, no. Sweet Lord. Jan! I didn't know. He never said! And the FBI guy never said her name. He just kept saying that they lost an agent. He never said her name or showed a picture. I swear I would have..." She cried into her hands.

"You know Jan?"

Brenda nodded her head. "Of course I know her. We've all known Jan since she was ten years old. She used to come out here and sit for hours and hours. Jack and Carol would call the shop here and ask me if she was here and if she was all right. We can see the whole area from behind here. I would go out back and look down the cliffs and see her sitting on beach. Oh my God. I would wait here until she was ready to go so she could call her parents to pick her up. If something happened to her I'll die. I'll die! Norma and Jan used to play together."

Norma couldn't believe it. "We used to wrestle and stuff. The stronger I got, I couldn't wrestle with my brothers anymore. But I could wrestle with Jan. She could take and give it. I love Jan like a sister. That man tricked us."

"Its not your fault. He was here to trick you. Just tell us everything y'all remember about last night. Everything."

It took over an hour for Norma and Brenda to tell what they remembered. Brenda remembered most of the major stuff, but once Norma started thinking back, she could remember everything. She could even remember how many buttons the shirts had on them. She could remember colors and sizes and smells and textures. Once she closed her eyes and really started thinking, she could remember ever single word Mel had said. She also remembered seeing vans in the background while they talked. She hadn't even noticed them the day before, but now she remembered every single detail about the vans and the men who had been driving them. Sara and Alisha shared smiles as Norma continued to talk. They had been in awe of her body, and they still were, but now they were more in awe of her memory. Once she was finished, she opened her eyes. It was like she had been in a trance, but it was a self imposed trance. After a few other questions, Sara and Alisha got up to leave.

"Wait, before you go. What happened to you and to my mother?", Norma asked.

"Its called a mine. Like a land mine. Telepaths use them from time to time to trap another telepath who might be trying to get into their mind without permission. Whoever this telepath was, he's good and very strong. He put a mine in your mother's mind to trap me. He knew that I was going to go into her head for information. When I went inside, I tripped the mine. It was trying to scramble my brain. Its like taking a jigsaw puzzle and throwing the pieces into the air. Its a terrible difficult thing to do and to hide. He put another one in her mind too. The second one tripped when I used my telekinesis on her. That mine was meant to kill your mother to keep her from talking, but here she is. She'll be fine. Just make sure you stay away from evil telepaths."

"What about me? Do I have any mines in my brain?", Norma asked with fear in her voice.

Sara laughed. "Oh no. He couldn't put one in your mind."

"He couldn't. Why?"

"Because you've got a gift, Norma. You can see through Alisha's illusions."

"You mean when the room got kinda darker."

Sara laughed again. "To everybody else the room didn't get darker. It probably went totally black and it got cold." Her mother and brothers nodded. "Alisha here can fool the best cameras and sensors in the world. She can even fool me, but she couldn't fool you. Then there's your memory. You have a very powerful mind to go along with that powerful body. I'm going to give you a number to call if you ever want to develop your skill further."

After that they walked out the door. They didn't have to open it. Norma rushed out behind them. "Wait. I need to turn your car back over."

"Oh I was going to do that, but thanks", Sara informed her.

"No, I turned it over. I'll put it back." Norma pulled the knot of her shirt a little tighter before she reached up and pulled down. Her massive arm flexed as she pulled. She stretched out and pulled on the bumper again. The car started over. She caught it as it came down. Her glutes and thighs finished tearing the sides of her shorts as she bent over and set the car back down gently. Aside from some dents, scrapes, and a hole in the windshield the car was good to go.

Alisha and Sara got inside. Alisha was going to drive and started the engine. "Who said Americans don't make good cars." They waved and pulled out and went down the street. Both were upbeat. They had a notebook full of information from Norma's memory. They were going to take it to Special Agent Cambell themselves. They were quiet as they drove back down towards D.C. until Alisha spoke up.

"Something I wanted to ask. I thought you said that one telepath couldn't undo the work of another."

"I did say that. You can't undo what someone else does because no two people think exactly alike." She paused to think how she could explain it to Alisha. "The thing is that with a mine like he planted, it goes against the natural programing of the brain. Its like a computer virus. The brain is designed to keep us alive and that's what it wants to do. The mine is trying to get it to do something counter to that. All I had to do to save my own life was make my brain go the way the way it naturally wanted to go. I let the mine run its course, but I just made sure my brain remembered what it was supposed to be doing. It took a while, but I did it. Oh and thanks for what you did. I was getting pretty lost inside my head for a while."

"What?", Alisha asked without taking her eyes off the dark road.

"The ice and all that. When you touched me, it brought me back around. You only held my hand for a little while, but that made a huge difference."

Alisha frowned. "What the hell are friends for? Even if you are a sheltered little rich girl from planter nobility." Sara shook her head and laughed.

They dropped the information off with Special Agent Cambell and went with him over the next few days chasing down leads. Every single thing Norma had said was true. They found the vans parked in Gathland Park. There were blood stains and weapons found in them. The FBI and other agencies poured over the data. They found more and more evidence, but it all ended up being dead ends. The vans had been stolen from all over the country and driven to Maryland. The blood inside the van was so mixed up that it would take weeks to separate and test.  The weapons were Eastern European military surplus. There had been a theory that the rest of the people had left on an airplane because there was a small airport on the way, but there were no unexplained flight records at that airport, or at any airport with 200 miles. Monday had ended on a high, but by Friday the malaise was back, and even worse. No one knew what to do. It seemed like every turn lead no where. They didn't want to admit that they had given up hope, but the Caufield house felt more like a mausoleum than a home. No one knew what to do.

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That Saturday the Broker was in his study when he heard somebody approaching him from behind. He knew who it was. There were precious few people who dared enter a room he was in without knocking. His new assistant was one of them, and she had a certain walk. Her athletic strides were so efficient and confident. The Broker smiled and closed his tome. This was the news he was waiting for. Good or bad he was ready to hear it. He smiled as she told him what she had just found out.

"Ok. We travel", he told her. She turned and walked out of the room. Her chocolate skin glistening from the overhead lights.

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Jack Caufield had never felt so bad in all his life, even in the days after his father had been killed. Jack couldn't find a smile no matter how hard he tried. He wasn't able to be the rock of the family. It was like all his strength was gone. He heard the doorbell ring. It rang twice more before Jack could make himself rise to answer it. He wasn't even angry. He was empty. He opened the door as if it were the lid of his own coffin. A smallish graying man in a very expensive suit stood outside his door.

"May I help you?", Jack asked in a tired voice.

The man smiled. "No, Mr. Caufield. It is I who am here to help you." The man's accent was strange. It almost sounded English and at the same time Slavic. "I bring you news. Your daughter is alive."

to be continued...

This is a chapter in the ongoing story "Power and Fury"!  Check out the earlier chapters here.  The chapters in BOLD ITALICS are the beginnings of a story arc (good places to start).  The chapters with asterisks (*) are stand alone chapters (what I like to call good reads without the commitment).  Enjoy!

Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter  8 -- *Chapter 9*

Chapter 25