Page 30 of Vapor (BSC #32)

I can relate. “They’re going to be pissed I’m not leaving.

We have addresses and two have kids listed from the US.

They were on a ship for three weeks before hitting the border here.

” His noise is the same. Mase called it chuff.

It sounds like a fur ball in his throat.

We go down a level and into the meeting room.

“I need Jones in the room and Sarah, Julius, VP, Moss and Lerch from SOAR Club up on a board for me,” I tell the tablet on the wall.

“One moment, Commander. Alerts sent, Commander.” I don’t know who is behind the voice but they’re pleasant and very fast.

“Boss,” I turn seeing Jones and Mase.

I nod. “Glad you’re up, Mase. I think your advice is needed here. How are you feeling?”

He lifts his shirt and I step back. “You people and the magic. That’s unbelievable.”

He nods. “It is. I’m healed outside. They’ll keep working on muscles and shit inside but I’m cleared for work.”

“They’re working on inside but you’re cleared?”

He nods and pulls his phone. Alder is here. “LP if you’re not busy, we could use some medical jargon and maybe advice.” The Indian watches my eyes as if he’s waiting for approval.

I smile. “All advice and perspective is good.”

While Jones and Mase talk, I pull the pages from inside my gear. Mase stops mid-sentence. “There are more.” He stands fast. “Justice, Mucimi?”

The board on the side pops on with Justice in an office. “Brother.”

“There are more. The Commander has lists but they were here, on this carrier. I saw the beach with the wild horses.”

“Carova? The other was, what, Maryland?”

“Assateague Island. The bridge and dock.” I look at Mase. “The carrier was confiscated near Virginia or a waterway from Maryland?”

Boards light up with the people I asked for plus three.

“Bosses, Brothers. We have two lists of kids from the US that Shep took from the office we just raided. The rest weren’t in English but he scanned them with his cam for SOAR to translate for me.

Mase is doing magic so he can explain that.

These babies and toddlers were in a grooming pen.

The lists are older kids. I want to stay to get them home.

I’m out of artillery and want the babies on a plane out of here.

I need support and quick solutions.” I point at Mase to say his piece.

Mase looks serious and lethal. “The kids were on this carrier, I saw the island with wild horses.” He looks up at Justice.

He nods and agrees. “Assateague. We took a vacation there. The carrier hit a bridge in a waterway by the island. Mase got it right. There are kids that have been on that ship. One has some ability but I can’t see it, I felt it from Mase.”

I look at Mase but he’s watching Ben Knight and Cort, who I note are in the same room.

Ben nods. “Teller said they were kept in the cells below and Zeke wants to fly what you need to you so he can help on the Op.”

He turns toward Cort but he’s focused on the board to his right.

Ben’s finishing words land like a blow. “The girl is Cherokee.”

The man on the board turns pasty white. “Ahyoka? It’s been more than six months. I need Citiali, he said she’s alive. Everyone dismissed him.”

I’m lost.

“Get to Hemy’s meeting room with a doc,” Ben says to someone on his phone.

Cort talks as soon as Ben stops. “Get to a meeting room, Brother. Hook into Phoenix. Amal, add Citiali in.”

We hear a little, ‘Roger, Boss,’ in the background of the board.

My eyes find Jones. He’s watching me and moves closer. “Leave no one behind is right, Commander. I’m with you on this. We can’t leave kids when we’re right here and able to get them home.”

I breathe easier. “Thank you. I know everyone wanted to get home but the kids on those two lists want to get home too. They’re just kids.”

The SOAR board movement has us both looking up. Julius waves his arm. “Whatever it takes. You tell us what you need and we’ll make it happen.” My Julius the JAG is perfect.

I nod for him and focus on Sarah.

Her smile comes without tears today. “We’ve been working on the code to get you safely to your locations.

Julius has a friend close who has Army Corp of Engineers sending some parts needed for drones.

The President from Flight Guard is coordinating with Asa, the Mohawk Alpha-Bit to get drones and do a supply pickup from manufacturing for all the components in case you need more.

Asa will have his Brothers on the plane with the President flying your way.

He said he’ll work with Mase to get every one of them back. ”

Alder stands up. I never saw him come in. “Boss Copper send Marco to help build. He know missile, GPS, laser to drone. Juan, Maddox have ten drone ready ABSZ pick up two hour.”

Holy shit. They’re doing it. I look up at the boards.

Logan smiles. “We are, Pres. Dakota has drones manufactured in Tennessee fitted with your .60 cal. He likes the drones shooting. They’ll be ready when Zeke gets here at dinner time tonight.

You’ll have missiles for the Blackhawk, drones and some artillery he collects.

He is sending the components for the lasers on the drones you have so they can be switched out. ”

I smile. “Moss?” He’s chomping at the bit to say something.

“Commander, Cloud Blackhawk is flying over with President Zeke. He’ll get the kids home but he’s bringing a Natalia Christiansen. She’s the woman…”

“That did the coding for Tito and all the other virtual lesson people.”

He laughs at me. “Yes, and she’s getting the carrier coded and hooked into the satellite so we and the BSC can connect directly to the carrier. That’s your base for all rescue jobs.”

I shake my head looking at the two Presidents that make this unbelievable happen.

“Thank you. You have no idea how much you inspire and motivate us all.” I don’t wait for an answer.

“Thank you SOAR, all those amazing contacts and everyone working to get the next kids home, they deserve to be brought home.”

Everyone is throwing chin.

I blow out a breath. “Okay, so we have supplies, a way home for the kids here. Moss we have 2 locations, make sure we have the artillery for both and a possible aerial fight back to the carrier. Donovan, I need fuel reserves and or a place to get more. We need this carrier moved so it’s not on anyone’s radar for long and all flights and fuel drops shielded.

With us able to get into the mainframe here, Sarah, can we hit the shield on it?

Get all answers to me on the book sheet.

Moss, make it new sheets in the book for the different locations.

Julius, can you get Aunt Becky on places for these kids to move.

They need the quarantine time so everyone stays healthy but there will be more than we can handle alone.

We either need more people or more places. ”

I look around the table. Alder, Mase and Jones are sitting. “What am I missing?”

“Plan to Ops for two location.” Alder is right.

I nod. “We don’t need everyone for that. I’m trying to get what I need out for them to get my answers. We need a timeline and I need answers to fuel and flight times to even begin that.”

I look up at the Presidents quickly. “Do I need to plan food delivery here?”

Ben smiles. “It’s done. You plan like my dad.

I’ll get Brantley to send you the carrier needs that are taken care of by Princes.

We have a Brother that handles just the carrier.

You’ll get that name for future reference.

Right now, your fuel, water and food needs will all be met for the number of bodies on the carrier and Ops planned. ”

Okay. “Thank you.”

Cort smiles. “Armor and artillery are West. Zeke and Cloud will have you covered and a good start to supplying your next Ops. Raid is setting up a schedule to get that loaded and Ben has a Club that will hold reserves in a tunnel somewhere.”

Ben nods and points to the side. I look around the boards and see the guy who turned alarmingly white, Hemy, looking better and even smiling enough that his long beard doesn’t hide it.

“Feeling better?” Cort asks him.

“Yeah, Citiali says it’s her. There are three Cherokee. I’ll take them all at this Club.”

I look at Jones. He shrugs and looks at the President’s board. “Hemy from the Bible?”

Ben laughs. “Yes. He’s Wall’s son. President of BSC South.”

I nod. “Can you take more. We can send you a book for them on a compound with elders and dogs.”

The Presidents laugh but my eyes are on Hemy. He nods. “If you send the book right away I can have their part done. Does it have the school and Little Brothers in it?”

I look up at Logan and Julius. Logan talks. “It does, Boss. There are Cherokee here that are local but have no family. I was going to ask Co or Citiali about moving them to a reservation but the Cherokee here were mixed like the Cheyenne and Navajo.”

“I’ll take them. We have a lot of Cherokee members that help in Little Brothers. We have Scout and Warrior’s from the group that we do weekend meets.”

Mase nods. “I just told Citiali I’d get virtual to them. He was going to ask Co about permanent homes with the tribe at Delta.” He looks at me. “Two from the last group?”

I nod surprised he already knows. I read it but haven’t been home and don’t know if they’ve been moved.

Ben talks but no one reacts. ‘ Your job isn’t placement, you rescue, let them do their parts. ’

I look around and realize he talked to me…in my head. He’s smiling when I look up there again. I nod. Good advice. I sit and wait for Mase, Hemy and Citiali, who looks much younger than I expected to finish talking.

Alder slides a tablet over. This kid is amazing. “This is everything I asked for?” I spin right around and see my SOAR members with their heads together in front of Julius’ new board. “They’re amazing, you are too. Parts lists for drones we have here?”

He nods. “All list to here. I make outline next page. You close to make timeline. Code to invisible to country, local, Boss Alexia share to Boss Sarah. I wait to Boss Natalia. Cloak same to Indian wrap?”

I smile. Jones answers. “Sarah calls it an invisibility cloak like the Harry Potter movie but that’s not it at all.

The paint, steel and PAVE do the job well but we’re not invisible.

The code she uses is to pick up and clear us from showing on any radar we’re close to.

Now, if we show, it’s usually for minutes and someone veered off our Flight plan. ”

Alder nods. “Same to Boss Alexia, not Indian cloak.”

I have to ask. “What’s an Indian cloak?”

Citiali answers from his board. “Wrapping bad or hurtful memories that will impact lives in a cloak the ancestors help healers create. It allows lives to be saved and futures to happen as they should.”

“Wow. That’s an amazing piece of your heritage to learn. Can we use that to help the kids we just picked up? Not one is over ten. Most are toddlers.”

He looks down then right back at my eyes. “I can shield them and Zeke can cloak but we’ll need time.”

Justice is back from wherever he went. “Mucimi said to shield them and get them to SOAR. We can all cloak them together. It’s not a complete cloak but it will shield the worst.”

Citiali looks lighter. “I don't believe in full cloaks and they rarely work for life. The worst, at this age, should be cloaked and I will be honored to help.”

I like Citiali. I feel like that too. I’m honored to rescue the kids. It’s not a job everyone knows or can do, but I have the best team to make sure I can do my part of our jobs.

“You think they have the hard jobs?”

I smile at Ben. “I do, Boss. Sarah, Moss, Lerch. Look at Alder, he’s got like twenty jobs. They work before, after and during. I do the job and go play with the choppers like I’m quality control.”

Everyone laughs.

“You love the choppers so it isn’t like work.” Jones points out.

I nod. “I really do. If I wasn’t tapped for Officer, I’d have been a mechanic.”

“Zeke is here. I have to bounce, Brothers.” Citiali walks away.

Alder types faster on his imaginary keyboard “Boss Brantley have all supply list.”

“Two days is the earliest window, Commander Vapor.” Moss is smiling.

I shake my head. “Okay. Two days. I need weather…”

“Alder got us in. The boards are up, Commander but I don’t see them from here. Hold on. We can virtual your meets. It’s easier for us.”

Sarah has me laughing. The lights go off and virtual drops from the ceiling above the table.

I think it’s a computer set so we can all see it but it’s cool as hell effects that have Badass impressed. My team really is amazing.

~*~*~

Julius

My girl is sitting on the table watching the board that has the SOAR Club Ops room on it. “Baby.”

She spins holding her chest.

I smile. “Clearly this should be my hand.” I point to her hand.

Her face breaks into a big smile. “Still on the poker theme.”

“It’s all in the cards.” I shake my head. “It’s getting old. How are you, Virginia Ross?” I lean on the desk table in the meeting room at SOAR.

She crosses her legs Indian style facing me. “I’m still amazed at how fast I got information back today. Sarah said you got everyone motivated. Thank you for that. I miss you, Julius my JAG.”

She’s too much. “Mucimi showed and got everyone motivated. I had them watch him motivating me. I didn’t realize how much the team does to keep you moving in a job not one of us can do. I miss you too, baby.” His hand comes toward me and he moves it like he’s trying to caress my arm.

“I miss that caress. I always wonder if any of them get that I mean it when I say I can’t do any of it without every one of them.

I’d still be planning if it weren’t for everyone’s contacts and know-how.

We learn a lot of shit in the 160th but we can’t do anything alone except fly.

Everyone that shows there can fly.” She’s disgusted.

I laugh. “You’re so much more than a pilot. I’m proud of you and everything you do. The Brothers say, honored your mine. Tell me what you need and I’ll find a way.”

“Julius the Jag, I do love that about you.”

I blow a kiss at her getting a snort back. I miss that too. We talk about the Club, the kids and Sarah with no tears today. She thinks the kids are good for Sarah.

An hour in and we’re laying on the table still talking.

Two hours in and she messes with the computer so we have a nighttime sky. My girl falls asleep and I spout everything that I love about her so she hears my voice in her dreams.