about some of the activities Missy’s A-Team had participated in. One voice asked, “If you didn’t look like soldiers, what about your weapons?”
With his full beard and dark tan, Town had a swarthy appearance; it was easy to picture him dressed as a local Afghan. “Oh, we weren’t carrying any pistols or rifles. We were rounding up anyone we suspected of being a Taliban soldier … if we needed help, our teammates were hiding nearby and had plenty of firepower, but we never had to fire a single shot. The idea was to keep things quiet so we subdued them using other means.”
“Other means?”
Town laughed. “Sometimes, we’d signal our buddies and they’d step forward with weapons aimed and that was enough to get them to surrender. Other times, we’d subdue them …” He noted the interested expressions on all the faces staring back at him. “Ahhh … you all know how Missy can quickly knock someone out using her martial arts skills, right? Of course, there was that one time when she used one of her knives …”
Missy tried to curtail the storytelling and said, “I’m sure we all need to get back to our rooms now. I’ve already explained to most of those here how our activities over there were all classified , so I wasn’t free to share any stories with them.”
Town knew most of those present were not aware Missy was a supernatural. But, he wasn’t giving away any of her secrets, exactly. He laughed and looked at her, saying, “C’mon McCrea! I don’t think you stabbing that one guy in the arm that time falls under the big secret blanket we have for the overall operation.”
Sharon blurted out, “What about when she got wounded? Were you with her when that happened?” She had forgotten she wasn’t supposed to reveal that since not everyone was aware why Missy had received her Purple Heart and her Bronze Star medals.
A serious expression quickly appeared on Town’s face but then cleared. “Actually, yeah … I was with her when she went down. But, before I could do anything, she got right back up again and … well … we were taking a lot of enemy fire. It was pinning us down and there were a couple of our guys out there, badly wounded. Exposed. I’ll never forget watching Missy go out and drag those guys to safety. None of us will forget her doing that.”
Missy again tried to break things up, not wanting to deal with this. “No more bedtime stories, sergeant! We all have a big day ahead of us tomorrow and some of us might not have done all our homework yet. We do have some other courses we’re taking here, you know!”
Everyone did drift away, leaving the major and the sergeant alone in the classroom. Kahn asked, “McCrea was wounded and still went out there? Under fire? To help your teammates?”
“Oh, yes! She had been hit in the abdomen but managed getting out there and saving them. She got hit with two more rounds in the shoulder while doing that. When we finally reached her, she’d been passed out for quite a while. Fortunately, no one bled out. The general told you about her, right? How she’s not exactly normal ?”
Kahn said, “Actually, no … but I’m beginning to understand why this assignment is so important. And, since I can see the girl is obviously back on her feet again, I can only assume some highly classified treatment method was used in healing her wounds. Is this related to whatever those secrets are concerning your Team Twenty-Two?”
Chapter Three
Oct 9, 2019
Back in their room, Missy and Tracy both spent an hour completing their homework. Then Missy stood up and stretched for a few minutes. Finally, she asked, “Hey, Tracy … how much do you know about shifters like me? Other than me, of course. What did your coven teach you we could do?”
“Gosh, besides be a colossal pain in the ass? Oh, wait … my coven didn’t teach me that … I learned about that all by