Chapter Thirty-Seven
What initially appeared on the satellite videos was a small explosion and fire at the Russian arsenal in Barsovo.
That quickly spread and numerous fires broke out.
Within one minute, the explosions were catastrophic with huge fires raging throughout a large portion of the monstrous facility.
Yes, it was indeed a “big boom” and those fires continued to spread, out of control.
It would take many hours before the blaze would die down and eventually be put out.
Missy had stayed in the midst of all this, her spirit form able to see, hear and smell everything but, with no physical form to experience any harm, she was unable to feel things.
The explosions and the incredible heat from the fires had no effect on her.
Nor could she taste anything. In her spirit form, she only had the equivalent to three of the five senses which she could experience in her physical forms as either a human or a cat.
She lingered long after being satisfied that no further use of her fire witch ability was needed.
She had helped a few of the fires move along earlier.
The plan which she and her team had devised came together beautifully and Missy wanted to fully appreciate this tremendous conflagration which continued long after all the major explosions had stopped.
Every once in a while, of course, there would be yet more small explosions as the fires reached locations where some additional ammunition or other ordinances had been stored.
It was truly an amazing experience for her!
Finally, she teleported back to where her team had stopped and pulled over.
As they had done when driving towards Barsovo, whenever one of the vehicles needed to stop for fuel, both vehicles would stop a short distance away.
Then, either Mel or Ruby would drive the truck or the SUV into the station and pay cash after filling the gas tank back up.
Having only a lone female being seen during such stops was less likely to draw any attention or to be remembered as anything suspicious later on.
Plus, of course, they never used the same station for both vehicles, only fueling them up one at a time at different stations.
Mel had just returned with the truck after getting that refueled and when Missy signaled her that she had returned, tugging on Mel’s left ear.
Mel collected Missy’s clothing and headed over to where they wouldn’t be seen behind some bushes.
Missy then materialized with a burst of energy and said, “Thanks, Mel!” She quickly got dressed and they both returned back to the two vehicles.
Missy said, “Our mission was a complete success! You guys will love seeing the satellite videos when we finally get back home to our headquarters.” She had already briefed Mike, of course. Her mood was very elated. They were making a difference.
The team all cheered this news and then they once again got into their vehicles and continued on their journey back towards Ukraine.
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General Hingham was very congratulatory towards everyone who had supported this Barsovo Mission.
He had enjoyed watching the satellite feed videos and he now called Major Grimes to personally thank him.
Once the major was on the line, the general said, “That was one hell of a fire! Our Missy has done it again only this time, she and your team were acting on my orders so EUCOM will get the credit rather than CENTCOM.”
Major Grimes chuckled, knowing there was a friendly rivalry between General Hingham and General Blake. He said, “We always aim to please, sir! We do appreciate you thanking us but we’re merely just doing our job. We’ve trained very hard so we can perform missions like this.”
“Well, I know you had some help from a man who doesn’t actually train with your team, exactly.
That Mike Ryan … Missy’s husband … I plan to recommend to the Defense Secretary that he be awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award.
I think you would agree that man is highly deserving of that, right? ”
“Absolutely, sir, yes I do agree,” said Major Grimes. “He, like Missy, doesn’t care about getting any awards but he has been selflessly supporting the Army for more than three years now. They’re an amazing pair, sir. I think recognizing him like that will make Missy very happy.”
“Great! I’ll see if I can make that happen.” The general and the major continued to discuss things for a few minutes longer and then they disconnected.
General Hingham’s next call was to the Defense Secretary.
Their conversation was very upbeat and when the general suggested that Mike receive that award, which was the highest civilian award which could be bestowed by the DoD on their employees, the Defense Secretary wholeheartedly agreed.
Mike did have SOD Group credentials, after all, so this medal was quite appropriate.
Meanwhile, Mike of course was still getting Missy’s messages and reporting on the team’s progress, retracing their way back through all those checkpoints which they had used earlier.
By late afternoon, Missy was back within five hundred miles of Kiev, so he, Lieutenant Colonel Grady and Master Sergeant Town said goodbye to Captain Andrich and returned to the Ukraine Military Intelligence Office back there.
Dmytro Kovalchuk, the highest member of that agency, was thrilled to welcome them back.
He too had been following all the events during the past few days and he had learned about the huge explosions and fire at that arsenal in Barsovo.
He did not know about supernaturals but he had met Missy a year earlier when she had visited his office as a staff sergeant.
Dmytro said, “Congratulations to the U.S. forces for this spectacular job. I understand that Sergeant McCrea has been promoted and is now an officer. She’s the one leading that team, right?”
Lieutenant Colonel Grady said, “Yes, I’ll have her say hello when they all get back. They’ll be going through here on Thursday or Friday, if all goes well.”
“I was very impressed when you brought her and Sergeant Avalon to meet me last November,” explained Dmytro. “It was obvious then that she was someone very special. Her Russian was excellent and I know my agent Wolf Volkov very much enjoyed meeting her as well.”
After Dmytro left them, Mike and the two others settled down inside the same office which they had used earlier. Mike soon was relaying messages and status reports once again.
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Thursday, July 28, 2022
It took them four days to make their way back to where they had camped near the border with Ukraine.
They had been careful and had managed getting there without incident.
They arrived with most team members riding on top of the hay bales in the back of the truck, having abandoned the SUV vehicle earlier a few miles away.
Once they had unloaded all their weapons, ammo and other gear, Missy climbed into the truck and drove it away.
She had changed and was only wearing that stolen overcoat.
After driving the truck about thirty miles away, she pulled into a side road which didn’t get much use.
As with the SUV vehicle, they wanted to abandon these vehicles where they might not be found for several more days.
Missy walked a good distance away from the truck and discarded the overcoat.
Then, in a shimmer of light, she disappeared and teleported back to the camp to rejoin her team after first doing some recon along the route which they were planning to use back to the border.
Mel had placed her clothes in a private spot for her and after she Shifted back in a burst of energy, she got dressed and walked out to where they were all waiting for her.
It was full dark now and she led them through the wooded area on foot, having determined during her recon that the way was clear.
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Friday, July 28, 2022
When Missy and her team emerged from the woods just north of the village of Liptsi, near where they had gone in ten days earlier, the dawn was just breaking. Captain Andrich was there with vehicles having gotten word from Master Sergeant Town that they would need to be picked up.
As these vehicles drove them back to Kharkiv, they were all very happy. Exhausted, of course, having walked all night, but happy, nonetheless. Yes, they had done it. Yet another successful mission with everyone safely returning. They had tremendous pride in what they had accomplished.
After arriving at the Kharkiv airport, they thanked Captain Andrich for all his help and support and then climbed into the helicopter which was there for them. Soon, they lifted off and were flown back to Kiev.
They did spend a couple hours in Kiev, since Lieutenant Colonel Grady and Dmytro Kovalchuk came out to the airfield along with Mike and Master Sergeant Town.
They enjoyed all talking about the mission, with Lieutenant Colonel Grady telling them all about how pleased General Hingham was and briefing them on all the latest news.
The damage to the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate arsenal had been extensive and it would take months for the Russians to perform all the cleanup needed and eventually rebuild.
Huge areas had been scorched and there was immense damage with many destroyed buildings.
The estimates varied between thirty percent and forty percent for how much ordinance and ammunition had been lost. The disruption to Russian artillery supplies was very significant.
Several people had been hurt but there were no lives being reported as lost. The Russians were already blaming safety violations for this horrific event.
Once the C-130 aircraft arrived, Missy and her team, along with Mike and Master Sergeant Town, grabbed all their gear and after saying goodbye to Dmytro and Lieutenant Colonel Grady, they all gratefully boarded that aircraft for their ride back to Izmir Air Base.
Most team members were asleep shortly after the aircraft took off.
Missy snuggled next to Mike over in a corner where they had some privacy. She said, “Thanks for helping us on this mission, Mike. You won’t often get the chance to do that. I loved being able to always experience your entity with you being inside our five hundred mile mate bond limit.”
“I felt the same way, Missy,” agreed Mike. “I’ll be here for another month, thankfully. Also … you’ll be glad to know your friend Tracy reported to Fort Rucker last Monday. John will be joining her there soon. He and Trevor took the New York bar exam on Tuesday and Wednesday.”
“Oh, that’s right, my brother the lawyer. When will they learn the results of that exam?” asked Missy.
Mike answered, “Supposedly, those will be posted on October twentieth. I hear that both John and Trevor have already got jobs in law firms for while they’re waiting to hear.”
Missy nodded and said, “It’s only been a couple of months since we all graduated from West Point. So much has happened since then for all of us that my academy days are already becoming a dim memory.”
“Don’t worry. Your many friendships both at West Point and at Annapolis will continue on long into the future,” predicted Mike with a grin. “While you all go off in different directions, your paths will no doubt cross many times in the years ahead.”
“MmmMmmm … I’m sure you’re right,” said Missy with a yawn. After going almost non-stop for more than ten days, now that she was cuddled up within Mike’s arms, she was finally able to completely relax and she soon fell sound asleep.
Mike sighed, as happy as he’d ever been, and pulled Missy close. When he noticed her begin to purr softly, he sighed once again. Yeah, his wife was a cat and she was also the most wonderful person in all the world.