The Unofficial Biography Of Kimmay

Book 3: The Nature Of Time

by G. L. Hudson

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 

Christmas was finally behind them, and they were able to return to a more controlled routine. Ginger gave her mother a final hug before sending her off to their Cayman Island resort. Ginger's wealth was starting to rival a small nation. Along with her thirty-room Beverley Hills mansion, she had a series of luxury resorts spread around the globe. Cheryl Winch was on her way to Ginger's favorite; the "Blue-Water Resort" on Cayman Brac. It would quickly become Cheryl's favorite also.

Ginger Winch employed 15 people to collect, count, record and deposit the huge amounts of money that rolled in on a daily basis. The money was flushed through several bogus accounts and moved into numbered accounts in the world's most secretive banking enclaves. And it all happened with the help of the same legitimate, American banking institutions that oiled the world's finely tuned capitalist machinery. They were the same banks and institutions that Ginger railed against in her numerous speeches. The money was then doled out to various groups around the world, some clandestine and some as famous as main-line religious organizations. A shadowy network of informal and blind underground cells worked around the clock to further their mission of attacking the secularists and extending the hand of Ginger and her God. If any of these crusaders were given the luxury of peering down on the network, they would think they were all working for the greater glory of their own God. But Ginger was way too clever for any of her followers. They were working for Ginger and her vision.

Ginger had twelve close assistants, a number that was carefully chosen by Ginger, and with a significance lost on no one. She held staff meetings every morning, and at least twice a month brought in bankers, contacts or foreign dignitaries. Ginger's political power was growing every day, her financial power was significant and her worldwide popularity was attractive to politicians from all types of governments. She used her monthly meetings to reaffirm her contacts and commitments to various organizations. It was all a sham, because Ginger owed allegiance to no one. They owed allegiance to her. Her money was difficult to refuse.

No matter how cynical history may act towards Ginger, she did have her beliefs. After the angel saved her life in Tbilisi, her faith in God grew stronger every day. On every day, everything went right for her. Her public popularity grew, her finances piled higher and wider, her relationships with politicians and governments were strengthened, and most important, she spoke with her God. God actively guided her successes and her soul. Ginger Winch knew that she was chosen for greatness in this world and the next. Nothing could shake her faith, and nothing could stand in her way. History may call her delusional, but this she truly believed.

With an angel on her shoulder, every day she marched towards the Unification and Salvation of Humanity. She saw her mission as nothing less than the salvation of every living soul on the face of Earth. God was leading her and only time stood in her way. But eventually she and everyone else would learn the truth; time didn't belong to Ginger Winch. It belonged to someone else.

Ginger finished her Monday morning staff meeting, and dismissed her priests, ministers, rabbis, monks, and mullahs. Ginger moved to her private office and welcomed an old friend from Georgia. "John, welcome to 'The City of Angels'. How have you been?"

An old man, hunched over and walking with a cane, smiled liked a Cheshire cat. "Ginger, it is indeed wonderful to allow these tired, old eyes to be graced once again with your beauty. It has been too long since we last met."

"Sit," Ginger urged. "I have food already ordered. We can sit, eat and talk just like the old days."

Ginger's charms were not lost on her old friend. His heart was light and his smile large. He felt rejuvenated just to be in the presence of God's chosen miracle-worker. "Ginger, I would love to argue with you like the old days. I taught you more than you would ever admit." Ginger gave him a laugh and a pat on his hand. They both loved the hyperbole and irony. Ginger was now the teacher. "But I am short on time. I must ask for your blessings and permission. We hear your words and we understand the great Satan that we face. We see the destruction wrought by capitalism and the infidels. No one with half a brain or half a soul cannot see the evil woven by Krysallis and her partners in their great blasphemy. My people live for your word and prepare to destroy our common enemy."

Ginger nodded her head and gave visible agreement to John and his words. He knew the enemy, and he knew the way. Just her smile and slightest body language told John that she heard him and touched his soul. She touched her fingertips together in the form of a steeple, and leaned back to listen to John's plea.

"It is time to strike at the infidels and rip their hearts from their godless souls. My best Mujahadeen are trained and eager to serve their God. We have trained hard; night and day, week after week. We have taken your money and bought the best weapons and equipment in the world. It is our time to strike at the heart of the great Satan. My chosen guards can walk through the Alps in their sleep. You can rip out their eyes and they will find their way through the villa in Davos Monstein. God Himself could hackle their feet, and still they can destroy the infidels."

"John my friend," Ginger laughed. "No one doubts the skill of your Mujahadeen, nor your passion for serving our God. And no one has your eloquence for oration."

"Ginger! You change the subject again, just like when I call you. Ginger! We serve God and you. We have followed all of your requests. We have done everything that you have asked. Now I ask for your blessing." John raised himself in his chair and exclaimed, "We need your blessing, now!"

Ginger smiled, touched John on the arm and calmed him. "My friend, I must give you the same answer as before. We are still not ready. We still must consolidate our power and reinforce our message. We need the infidels, John. You know this." John rolled his eyes and groaned. Ginger saw his frustration and knew she must make him understand. "John, even the devil can serve a purpose. He can become the center of focus for the weak, and the rallying cry for the faithful. We need a target to parade in front of the atheists and the liberals."

"Ginger, you rally the world while I destroy the enemy. God has spoken. He has told us the Truth and we hear His word. He knows the enemy and He has shown them to us. We cannot stand by and allow our purpose on this Earth to go unfulfilled. Our very souls are at stake. We must act and we must have your blessing, or…"

"John, I love your passion and your honor. But I am still not ready for this action, and I will not give you my blessings … yet. You must do nothing, John. Continue to prepare and strengthen your faith." Ginger paused, just a bit exasperated with John from Georgia. She tried to explain to him, "There are millions of doubters still left in our world. We need to reach them, but most of them are still oblivious to the reality of our world. They need a solid, substantive and definitive image in front of their eyes. They need this for their focus. Without a real person in front of their eyes, these weak people cannot grasp their situation.

"There is nothing better than an enemy to rally the troops. John, can't you see the benefits of using these barbarians for our own purposes? Please work with me, I have a great plan in place now. Allow me to show you the wisdom of my plan."

"I will listen," John conceded.

"Within five days, I intend to have a large public rally around the enemy. John, you know that we cannot touch their leader. President Horn is way too heavily protected with her secret service and FBI and the rest of her misled minions. But her associates are not so well protected. Kimmay and the pervert Todd are within our reach, and they have just given us a great opportunity. They have built a symbol of their greed on our soil, a symbol that we can reach. In Milwaukee they have an office building, a condominium that they use for themselves and their guests, and best of all is the home and family of Kimmay.

"We have been quietly working for several weeks and we are prepared to launch an impromptu demonstration around Kimmay, Todd and the family of Kimmay. My planning team says that we can have ten, maybe fifteen thousand demonstrators materialize out of nowhere, and surround them instantly. The congregation of these people will happen too fast for the police to react … in fact they will never it see it coming.

"The shear weight of humanity should scare the love of God into them. In addition, we will have enough undercover agents to agitate the crowd and provoke them into random acts of violence. The blasphemers will cower in fear of our power. And best of all, I will be two thousand miles away and perfectly immune from suspicion or association. I can take the highroad and persuade my followers to disburse and leave peaceably. But of course we won't do that until we have pressed home our message. Our power will instill fear in not only Kimmay and Todd, but all of our enemies as well."

Ginger folded her hands upon her lap and looked as smug as a queen ready to send the condemned to the gallows. "What do you think of my plan, John of Georgia?"

"I can see the purpose of your plan. You intend to instill fear in the hearts of our enemies. But God still demands their death, especially the pervert and blasphemer Todd. The man who dresses as a woman is an abomination before God. He deserves death by stoning."

"I do not disagree with you," said Ginger. Her hypocrisy bothered her not at all. "But I no longer ask you to hear me John, I command you; do not harm the infidels. I still need them to consolidate my power. Do you hear me my friend?"

John almost spit on the floor. He gritted his teeth and looked away from Ginger as he spoke, "I hear you. I will not harm them."

"Thank you John," she said as she stood to dismiss him. As they said their good-byes, Ginger swelled with confidence. She controlled not only John, but legions like him, and they all responded to her voice. But Ginger was soon to learn the truth; not even a prophet can control the zealotry of a religious fanatic. The fringe of civilization does not always follow the rules. Her control was much more nebulous than she believed.

 

Ginger's demonstration was all that she had hoped for. Electronic messaging began early in the day, and while the NSA in Washington D.C. picked up the increase in traffic, they did not interpret the plan or intentions until it was too late. By mid-morning, the headquarters building on Tulane was surrounded by thousands of demonstrators. Most had shown up as a lark, as something to do on an otherwise boring day. Almost twenty thousand strong they reached. Slowly but purposefully, Ginger's provocateurs gradually whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Property damage began around the Eleven Lights Corporation building and soon began heading towards 'Lissa's Beauty Salon…

 

Kimmay was tossing and turning in her bed. For some reason she just couldn't get back to sleep. Ideas and pictures flew through her mind at the speed of thought. There were a dozen things that she wanted to start as soon as she reached the office. She was already planning her day's activities and she was already getting impatient. She managed to stay in bed until five thirty, but then she could wait no longer. She threw back the blankets and stepped into a brisk morning. Her programmable thermostat expected her to get up at her normal time of six thirty, so the condo was still set at a chilly 62 degrees.

Kimmay hustled to the shower and turned the hot water as high as she could tolerate. She luxuriated under the hot stream of water while she continued to plan her day. But for some reason, her mom kept popping into her mind. She had been at her mom's house only three days ago, but she kept thinking that there was something she was supposed to do there. What in the world could she have forgotten?

Warmed by the water, Kimmay stepped out of the shower into a steamy bathroom. She wrapped her large bath towel around her torso and walked over to the sink. She thought about wanting to see a professor from Rutgers this morning. The man had a novel idea for stripping organic compounds from underground water aquifers. But first, Valerie and Melissa were waiting for her. They were? What was it that Kimmay was forgetting?

Before dressing, Kimmay picked up her phone and called Traci. "Traci, you awake?"

"No," said a groggy voice. "Is something wrong?"

"Yea, I couldn't sleep. Can you be ready to go into the office in twenty minutes?"

"Maybe, but I'd rather have thirty."

"I'll knock on your door in thirty," and Kimmay clicked off.

Kimmay finished her bathroom routine and returned to the bedroom. She stepped into a pair of fresh panties, and then slipped her arms through the straps of her brassiere and fastened it behind her back. She adjusted the bra and snuggled her breasts inside the lightly lined cups, then fished a camisole out of her boudoir. Walking into her large closet, she began looking for a pantsuit to wear. It was cold outside, mid-teens, and she wanted something warm. As she reached for the suit she realized that her mom wouldn't be happy seeing her in pants. Melissa always reprimanded Kim when she wore 'unfeminine' clothes. Instead of the pantsuit, Kim picked out a dark gray suit with a calf-length skirt.

After pouring herself a glass of apple juice, Kim returned to her bedroom. She fluffed out her hair and styled it with her fingers, then sat down to apply her makeup. A few minutes later, Kim was ready to see her mother. She checked a few more items around the apartment, collected some papers and stuffed them into her briefcase and then headed out the door. Traci's condo was only half a dozen steps down the hall. It took Traci a few minutes to answer the door and Kimmay was getting impatient.

With only thirty minutes to get ready, Traci looked very presentable. She fulfilled Kimmay's request to look like a harmless, somewhat ditzy secretary. Traci was wearing a light gray blazer over an ivory blouse with the top button left open. Her pleated skirt ended an inch above her knees. The short skirt, suntan-colored hose and one-inch closed-toe shoes emphasized her attractive legs. As usual, she was wearing a brightly colored lipstick and too much mascara. She carried an attaché in her left hand and had her purse strap flung over her shoulder. When dressed properly, Traci was an attractive young lady.

"Good mornin' Kimmay. Couldn't sleep?"

"Nope, too many things on my mind I guess. You look nice this morning, new blazer?"

"Nope, just more wrinkles than normal."

They walked to the elevator and rode it down to the first underground parking deck. The deck was reserved for Kimmay and her guests, so there were only three cars parked there. Kimmay slipped into the backseat and Traci sat down behind the wheel. Traci started the car, arranged a few knobs and mirrors and slowly drove up the exit ramp. "Traci, let's go to my mom's first."

Traci turned left onto a deserted street and drove two miles to Melissa's. She steered the Mercedes into the parking lot reserved for patrons of Gabrielle's Salon, and brought the car to a halt. She walked around to open Kim's door, "Bring your things with you Traci, we may be here most of the morning." Traci returned to the front seat and collected her attaché and purse. Kim led them to the rear door and pressed her thumb against the ID pad. The pad blinked green and she punched in the code to Melissa's residence. The two of them walked up to the third floor landing and reached the back door. Kim was about to knock on the door when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look at an old-fashioned fire hose neatly hung behind a glass door.

"Do you know how to work one of these?" she asked Traci.

"I'm not sure. I've never used one, but it looks rather simple," she mused.

"Take it out and see if it works."

"What? Spray it here in the hall?"

"No, just see if water gets to it. Make sure the nozzle is closed before you try it."

Traci gave a slight shrug of resignation, and opened the glass door. She made sure the nozzle was closed, and then turned the valve on the side of the water pipe. Nothing happened. She opened the nozzle and still nothing happened. She glanced at Kim and gave an expression of confusion. She fussed with the valve a bit more when the door to Melissa's apartment opened.

"I thought I heard someone out here," Melissa said. "What are you two doing?"

"Hi mom. We're checking to see if your fire hose works. It doesn't. Traci, find a 24 hour plumber and get him over here right now."

"Nonsense," Melissa said. "Come in and have breakfast, you can call a plumber later."

"Call now," Kim said, "then we'll have breakfast." Kim led Traci over to the counter where Melissa kept her phone book. She handed the book to Traci and then walked over to the stove to help her mother.

Wednesday was pancake day and it didn't take long for Melissa to get things underway. "Go get Valerie, would you please?" she asked Kim.

"Gladly," Kim smiled as she left the room. A minute later they heard a scream as Kim snuck up behind Valerie and surprised her. Kim returned to the kitchen brandishing a satisfactory smile. Traci and Kim were half way through their pancakes when Valerie arrived.

She threw a towel at Kim and complained, "Not funny Kim. You'll pay later."

"No I won't she teased."

"So what are you doing here? They kick you out of your office?"

Kim gave Valerie a contorted smile. "I don't know why I'm here. I guess I just thought I would stop by on the way to the office."

"I thought you were probably just looking for a free breakfast."

"That too."

"So how long are you staying?" mom asked.

"Until the plumber comes and fixes the water problem."

"What problem?" Valerie asked.

"Your fire hoses don't work. Traci called a plumber."

"You don't think we can handle it?" Valerie sneered.

"Obviously not, otherwise I wouldn't have needed to come fix it." It was Valerie's turn to give a contorted smile. "Mom, can I use your office while we wait?" Kim asked.

"It's all yours sweetheart."

"Come on Traci, let's go find some friendlier company," Kim said as she smiled at Valerie.

 

Kim and Traci met the early arrivers in the salon and chatted for a while. It wasn't long before the plumber arrived at the front door, and Traci let him in. She explained the problem and then led him upstairs to the faulty valve. Kim retired to Melissa's office and began checking her morning web sites. She spent almost half an hour on the computer, and then a thought crossed her mind. It was a weird thought for Kim. Normally, Kim was a driven personality when it came to business. She put in fifteen-hour days and thought nothing of it. She drove everyone around her into a frenzy as she called people at all times of the day and night and pushed her pet projects. Dr. Stevens received calls from Kim seven days a week, and rarely when he was awake.

So it was quite strange when she called Tiffany and told her to take the morning off. "Good morning Tiffany, how are you today?"

"Fine, what's up?"

"I'm at my mother's, she's having water trouble. I'm going to be here for a while. Why don't you and Jason hang loose this morning, and we'll meet you for lunch at the condos. Order in some Cajun chicken salads for us."

"Well if you're at your mother's, why don't I come over there? I could use a manicure."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

Kimmay thought for a moment, "I'm not sure why. Ok, I guess that's fine. Let Jason know we'll come back for lunch."

"Great! I'll see you in a little while."

 

Tiffany arrived about an hour later. She was thrilled to be back at her favorite female sanctuary. She chatted for a while with Simon and George, and waited for Susan to come in. Susan didn't have any early appointments, so she took Tiffany immediately and began her manicure. A few minutes later, Traci returned to Melissa's office with the plumber. "What did you find?" Kim asked.

"You had a problem with your master valve in the basement. You're tapped into a major water main and the water pressure is very high. Your plumbing can't handle that pressure, so you have a pressure reduction valve coming into the building. For some reason it froze up. I took it apart and you're fine now."

"Why didn't we have problems with the rest of the water in the building?"

"That's because you have two lines coming in; an old out-dated building code required one line for fire lines and another for the household lines."

"Ok, so everything works now? Did you check all of the fire hoses?"

"Yep," he said. Kim looked at Traci and she nodded in agreement.

"What's the bill?" Kim asked. The plumber wrote out the bill and Kim handed her credit card to him. She didn't worry for a moment that the bill should have been handed to her mom. The plumber was paid and he left. The clock on Melissa's desk was approaching ten.

Kim and Traci walked out to the salon area to see how Tiffany was doing. Almost simultaneously, Kim and Traci received calls on their personal phones. There were excited and nervous voices on the other end. A large crowd was gathering outside the Eleven Lights Corporation building. It was a very large crowd and they were chanting and carrying placards. Kim looked at Traci, and she had a worried look on her face also.

"Traci, what are you hearing?"

"There's a large crowd forming around the office. They look rowdy and our people are getting worried."

"Tell them to lock up and call the police. Let's get over there now."

Traci spread her feet and assumed a balanced stance. "No," she announced. Kim looked incredulous. "Not until we know what's going on. It's too dangerous. We stay here, where it's safe."

Kim was taken by surprise but quickly relented. Traci was correct of course, and this was why Traci had been hired. Kim thought Traci sounded a bit like Jennifer, and that made her feel even better. "Let's get Tiffany."

They found Tiffany sitting behind the front counter and talking with a couple of girls. "Tiffany!" Kim shouted. "Come back to the office, quick!" The three of them returned to the office and Kim sat down in front of the computer. "We just got a couple of calls from the office. There is large crowd forming outside the building. The guys are getting worried. I told them to lock all the doors and call the police."

"What?" she stammered. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Not a clue. Traci, check with the police and see what you can find out. Tiffany, call Jason and find out where he is, then check with the office. I'm calling Kristal." They all attended to their calls.

Tiffany finished first with Jason and called into the office. Traci said, "Kim, can I have the computer? I'm going to tap into the office security cameras."

Kim finished her conversation with Kristal and asked Traci what she had learned. "The police say there are several thousand people forming around the office. All of the roads have been blocked and none of their squad cars can get through. They're calling out their armored assault vehicles. What does Kristal know?"

"Nothing. She's calling Jennifer and she'll get back to us. Tiffany, anything from the office?"

Tiffany was still talking with someone in the office, but she broke away and gave them an update, "It's getting very ugly they say. The crowd came out of nowhere. They just appeared and started blocking all of the entrances to the building. It looks like they cover a couple of blocks all the way around the building. There are a couple of guys with bullhorns in the crowd and they seem to be controlling the demonstrators. The crowd has some placards and they're pretty nasty. It looks like Ginger Winch's work."

"Why do you say that?"

"Most of the signs are talking about God. Several nasty signs are about me. I guess I'm a godless, homo, pervert. Some more anti-globalization, anti-capitalism and lot's of 'God Loves You – Repent'. The guys with the bullhorns seem to be inciting the crowd. It's getting scary. Oh, and I guess I'm also an abomination." Tiffany tried to sound flippant, but it was obvious that she was hurt by the cruelty of the signs.

"What can we do?" Kim asked.

"Nothing," Traci said. "Sit tight, check our sources and keep communications open."

"How are you doing?" Kim asked Tracy.

"I'm on our web site, but I don't remember how to get through the firewall, can you dial Simpson in IT for me?" Kim took Traci's cell, placed the call and handed the phone to her. Kim stood behind Traci as Simpson talked her through the system. "Got it," Traci exclaimed. "Oh shit! Look at that!" They were looking through the main camera outside the front entrance. There must have been nine or ten thousand people forming in the street and starting to push towards the office. There were placards and signs and effigies, but the picture was too fuzzy to read any of them.

"Can you pan the camera?" Kim asked. Traci asked Simpson to pan the camera around the crowd. "Aren't there any cops there?"

"No," said Tiffany. "They're telling me that the crowd is getting whipped into a frenzy on the east side. They're in the parking lot and they're smashing windows and trashing cars."

"Traci, do we have a camera on the east side?" Traci relayed the request and Samantha Simpson switched them to the east camera. "Piss!" Kimmay hissed. Tiffany just stared as they watched the crowd growing rowdier. They were moving towards the building. "Tiffany, do they have all of the doors locked?"

"They say they do," she answered.

"Tell them all to get up to the top floor," Traci said. "Lock all of the doors behind them." Traci paused and listened to Samantha. "Give me the lobby camera," she said. "Look at this!"

The lobby camera showed the front doors of the building. The windows were smashed and while they watched, two more bricks flew through the doors. "God damn bitch!" Traci said through clenched teeth. "What the fuck is she trying to prove?"

"That she can intimidate us," Tiffany said calmly. "This is clearly a message from Ginger."

"Traci, get the police back on the line and tell them what is happening. Tell them they have to get there fast! People are going to get hurt. This is getting totally of out control."

"Kim," a voice called into the office. It was George. "Kim, come look at this."

"What is it, George? We're rather busy," she yelled out to George.

"There's a crowd forming outside. They're filling up the street."

The three of them charged out of the office and ran to the front of the building. There was indeed a crowd forming in the street. Most of the people were in the street or on the opposite sidewalk, and more people could be seen coming from the side streets.

"Lock the doors! Everyone upstairs! Now!" yelled Traci. "You too," she told Kim and Tiffany. I'll be right back," and she took off running towards Melissa's office. She ripped off her blazer on the way, exposing her shoulder holster and weapon. Tiffany and Kim remained standing in the salon and watched the crowd grow larger.

Traci returned and found everyone still watching the crowd. "Get the fuck out of here!" she screamed. That caught everyone's attention and they turned as one to look at Traci. She had her gun drawn and she was shoving an ammo clip into the handle. Seeing that gun made an impact on everyone, Simon ran to the door and locked it, as everyone else started hustling towards the rear steps. "Lock the back doors too!" Traci called after them.

Traci stepped behind the reception counter and threw her purse on a chair. She tipped out the contents and grabbed a fat cylinder, which she started screwing into the muzzle of the gun.

"What's that?" Kim asked.

"It's the opposite of a silencer. Jennifer gave it to me. When I shoot, it will get everyone's attention. It's as loud as a cannon. Now what are you still doing here? Get upstairs with everyone else." Kim stalled and Traci pointed with her finger, "Go, this is

serious!"

Just as Traci finished her order, a brick came crashing through the front window. Glass showered the front of the reception counter and cut Traci's face. Blood started flowing immediately and Traci's face looked gruesome. "Traci!" Tiffany called.

"Go!" she screamed again. "I'm fine."

"Come on," Kim called, "I've got an idea." Tiffany followed as the two of them ran towards the back of the salon. Traci grabbed a box of Kleenex and began soaking up the blood oozing from her face. She crouched behind the counter and moved to gain a clear view of the door. She wiped her face, and then examined her gun. She clicked off the safety, re-checked the clip, tightened the reverberator, and took her shooting posture. Another brick or stone came crashing through the front window. Traci was well protected behind the counter, and no glass hit her this time.

As she watched the front of the salon, a huge rock came through the window in the door. A placard was inserted through the broken glass and it was used to knock away the remaining glass shards that were hanging around the edges. Traci raised the gun and aimed. A hand reached through the door and turned the doorknob from the inside. Traci exhaled. The door opened and a man stepped into her sight. Traci squeezed the trigger. A bullet whizzed past the man, missing his ear by no more than two inches. His feet went flying out from under him as he tried to fall over backwards and out of the way of another shot. He hit the ground, his hands catching his fall. He screamed as the broken glass slashed through his palms. In spite of the pain, he scrambled backwards over the glass, trying to get out of Traci's line of fire.

Traci looked towards the street and saw everyone edging back. She heard screaming and yelling from the crowd outside. Traci was sure that she had scared everyone, but she was amazed at the mass pandemonium. Then she saw the shower of water spraying over the crowd. The water was coming from somewhere above. The temperature was in the mid to upper teens outside and the water was already starting to freeze on metal poles and cars. The people continued screaming and scrambling away as fast as they could. The problem was there were too many people in the crowd. Those in the back didn't know what was happening, so they were blocking the way for those closest to the building. The water was soaking them, and they were freezing cold.

A man tried to evade the water by running closer to the building. He ran towards the door and once again Traci took aim. For some reason, Traci's rage surged to the surface. It appeared they had the crowd in retreat and she no longer had to be especially careful with her actions. It was almost as if she had been given the green light to vent her anger. She aimed low and as the man reached the door she shot him through the thigh. He screamed and went sprawling head first against the closed door. He clutched his thigh with both hands and screamed in pain.

Traci closed her eyes. She had heard that scream before. It penetrated to the core of her soul and she squeezed her eyes tighter. A lump formed in her throat and she couldn't breathe. Her eyes opened and she saw the man drop in front of her. He was wearing fatigues and blood spurted from the corner of his mouth as he screamed. She could see the knife in her hand as she leaned towards him.

She heard another scream and she opened her eyes to look at the front door. The man was squirming in pain as he continued to clutch his thigh. The crowd outside was falling over each other as they continued to try and evade the water. They eventually reached the opposite side of the street where the water couldn't reach them. They lined the sidewalk and watched in silence as the man in the doorway continued to scream and cry for help. Traci walked over to the door and stood over the man, her gun still in her hand. She didn't look at the injured man, but instead she looked across the street and in the eyes of the people lined up and watching her. There was hatred in her eyes and they could see it. They had no idea why there was so much hatred, but it was evident even to them.

Traci could see the fear in their eyes. For most of the faces in that crowd, the day had started as a lark, a chance to demonstrate their hatred for the evil-duo, while safely hidden in the anonymity of a crowd. Traci saw that fear, and knew it was aimed at her. She was not proud of herself. She hated herself for being weak in a moment of rage. She had disappointed herself. She had disappointed Kimmay. And even more important, she had disappointed Jennifer. She respected Jennifer more than anyone she had ever met, and this would be seen as a failure … a failure in her character.

Traci walked back inside and found a towel. She returned to the man and wrapped it around his leg and tied it as tight as she could. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I should have been better than this." The tears began dripping from her eyes.

The standoff with the crowd continued for a few more minutes until the sirens could be heard. As the sirens grew closer, the crowd turned and started running away. The men with the bullhorns spent a few hysterical minutes trying to rally the crowd, but the people weren't there for a confrontation. The fun of the moment was over. As far as they were concerned it had ended in tragedy with a man being shot. While the crowd turned away, the agitators melted into the background.

The salon employees noticed the crowd dwindling, and they started returning to the first floor. Kim found Traci leaning over the injured man, trying to stop the bleeding. "Call an ambulance," she shouted to no one in particular. "Traci are you all right?" Kim asked.

"I guess," she answered. "This guy is going to need help, though."

The man looked up at Traci and complained, "You shot me! Why?"

Tiffany jumped in immediately, "It's your fault. What were you doing here in the first place?"

"I didn't hurt anyone," he answered.

"Look around at the damage," Tiffany yelled. "You were deliberately trying to frighten us, and you got what you deserved." Tiffany obviously had no use for the man, and she walked away.

"Whose idea was it to spray the crowd with water?" Traci asked Kim.

"Mine."

"It was a good thing you came here and checked out the fire hoses this morning," Traci said with relief in her voice.

"I guess it was," Kim mused. She looked outside towards the deserted street. The people had scattered and the sirens were getting louder. Kim's mind was wandering, and a question was forming in her mind, 'Why did I come here this morning?'

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 

After the ambulance took the injured man to the hospital, the police began their questioning. They soon determined that Traci was not only the shooter, but the only person to witness the incident. After half an hour or questioning, the police took Traci down to the police station for formal interrogation. Kim made a few calls and made sure that two qualified attorneys were waiting for Traci at the police headquarters building when she arrived. After several hours of interrogations, the police wanted to keep Traci in an overnight cell. Kimmay's attorneys couldn't convince the police to let Traci out on bail and when they reported back Kimmay exploded. In less than twenty minutes the district attorney received a call from the United States Attorney General, and they quickly agreed to release Traci into Kimmay's custody that evening.

 

Kimmay and Tiffany spent a couple of hours at the salon, helping Melissa and Valerie clean up the broken glass and making calls to repair companies to have the windows and door fixed as soon as possible. As soon as Kim felt that Valerie and her mom were in control of the situation, she and Tiffany drove to their office building. Police vehicles surrounded the building and the police were roping off areas, taking pictures and making measurements.

Tiffany and Kimmay managed to work their way through the police cordon and made their way through the parking lot. Half the vehicles in the parking lot had the windows broken out and their outside mirrors were ripped off. Almost all of the vehicles had scratches, dents or spray paint from the demonstrators. They walked around the perimeter of their building and saw that every window on the first floor and a couple on the second floor had been broken. Inside the building, the first floor had been demolished. Computers were smashed and laying on the floor. Desks were overturned and papers were strewn over the floor. People and police were collected in small knots as the police tried to reconstruct the day's events. Kimmay bumped into Jason Drum as he too was trying to assess the damage.

"We're you here during the riot?" Tiffany asked.

"No, I was at the condo waiting for you folks. What happened to you?"

"We were at Kimmay's mom's. The demonstrators turned up there and started trashing the salon." Tiffany gave Jason the Readers Digest version of events.

"What do we do now?" Tiffany asked no one in particular.

"We talk with as many employees as possible and reassure them that we will clean up and continue. Make sure no rumors start that we're going to pack up and leave. Tell people they can take off the rest of the week if they wish, but Monday morning we put everything back together." Kimmay set her jaw and said, "Ginger will not intimidate us. I know this was her doing, and I will make her pay. Walk around and spread the word – nothing changes. Starting next week everything is back to normal. Go."

The three of them split up and began breaking into groups of people and spreading the word. They joked a bit, hugged the frightened and reassured the rest.

 

Ginger was feeling rather proud of her plan and the results. They had managed to shut down most of the city and had made a bold statement to the world. Her enemies were within her reach and physical harm was a possibility. If some of her people had lost control and gone over the boundaries of normal decency, well that was too bad. The means justified the end. God approved of violence as long as it was used in His name.

Ginger had one of her enemies in jail and she was going to do everything she could to keep her there. Over the next couple of days, she sent more demonstrators to city hall to complain about Traci being released to the custody of the godless Kimmay. She leaned on her political contacts, sent word to the local churches to stir up outrage at their Sunday services, and she called her contacts in the media. She left no stone unturned as she turned up the heat on the local establishment and tried to keep Traci in jail. Ginger cared nothing about self-defense; the woman was a trained killer and she had lost control. Traci had obviously gone berserk as she tried to kill an unarmed and harmless bystander. The woman was obviously a danger to society. She was mentally unstable. She was a demon.

Ginger was relentless. She had more attorneys in Milwaukee than one could count. They pleaded their case locally while Ginger went national. Her appearances on television and radio were thinly disguised rants against Traci, Kimmay and the President. All of them were in cahoots and were intent only on destroying America and our way of life. Liberals! Atheists! Socialists! They must go. America must return to God and Ginger.

 

It was an amazing show that Ginger supplied, and it drove Kimmay and Kristal to outbursts of rage. The press repeated anything she said, no matter how outrageous, irresponsible or untrue. The complicity of the press especially upset Kristal. All her life Kristal had been successful in controlling and spinning the press to her desires, but now she was being outmaneuvered and it was like a slap in the face. The newcomer was teaching the old pro a few new tricks and it grated on Kristal. Normally known for her even mood, Kristal was beginning to show a few cracks in her calm façade.

With each push by Ginger to incarcerate Traci, President Horn pushed back with Federal pressure. Kristal was not without influence, and she wielded it with tact and expertise. While she was losing the public battle, she was winning the behind-the-scenes struggle. Favors were collected and promises were made. The very essence of back-room politics distressed Kristal, but when forced into a corner she could play the game. Her greatest asset, along with her office, was Jennifer. In private settings, Jennifer was very good at persuading people to agree with the President's view. Jennifer wore her loyalty on her sleeve, and her passion was abundantly clear. People quickly understood Jennifer's message.

Ginger's lawyers and advisers needed to stretch out Traci's tribulation as long as possible. Kimmay and Kristal had to end it before they lost total control. The unstoppable force met the immovable object in Milwaukee. With great effort, the President of the United States prevailed. When it was over, Kristal was as bitter as she had ever been in her entire life. Something would have to be done about Ginger Winch.

 

It took almost a month to finish up the mess in Milwaukee. A day after Traci's official release she accompanied Kimmay on one of Kimmay's routine trips to Switzerland. Traci needed a vacation. Her eyes had been truly opened as she saw first hand the hatred and animosity that Ginger whipped up in her followers. Traci felt not only relieved, but thankful that the ordeal was over. She needed a trip to put fresh scenery in front of her, and allow her to heal emotionally.

This was one of Kimmay's routine trips to Lucerne. She visited at least twice per month to follow up on progress with company business. She usually coupled the trip together with a trip to their Eleven Lights Foundation to rally the troops and check on their fiscal situation. The Foundation seemed to be spending more money all the time. Kimmay could see a change in top management on the horizon. It seemed like the current managers were intent on building an empire and lining their nests. Kimmay was leaning very heavily towards asking her friend Mr. Henry Dunn from the BBC, to take over the Foundation.

Traci and Kimmay left early in the morning and arrived in mid-afternoon. There was a seven hour time zone change between Milwaukee and Lucerne. As usual, Linda transported them to Switzerland and then almost immediately popped out. It seemed odd to Traci that Linda would allow herself to be used like a taxi service. With Linda's power and importance, it seemed presumptuous and arrogant of Kimmay to treat her so casually.

Linda was an enigma to Traci. After she originally announced her existence to the people of Earth, she had made occasional appearances and granted a few interviews. She gave almost no information when the press asked her questions, but at least she had had a semi-visible profile. But since she and Kimmay had returned, Linda had become a virtual hermit. She was a just a rumor to the press. It was very confusing to Traci.

Kimmay spent the afternoon in meetings with her financial, sales and marketing people. Traci spent the afternoon killing time, but remained close by. For dinner, Dr. Drum introduced Traci to the local cuisine. She especially liked the skillet roästi. The meeting and discussions continued through dinner, and Traci tried to ignore the business discussion while maintaining a part in the casual conversation. It was a tricky business to tune out the business talk, but remain involved in the casual conversation. More and more she respected Jennifer and her many talents.

With dinner finished, Linda took all three of them to Tiffany's estate in Davos Monstein. After the incident in Milawukee Traci wanted to take another tour of the estate, both inside and out. The three of them toured the house and Kimmay insisted that they cover everything. The tour gave them a break from Kimmay's incessant meetings and allowed Jason to relax for a few minutes. Kimmay was driving him hard and although it might not be visible to Kimmay, Traci could see the toll on Dr. Drum. His complexion was extremely white and the lines around his eyes were growing deeper on a daily basis. But it was not Traci's place to say anything – unless she was asked.

The tour was wrapping up when Kimmay led them into the lower level. They walked through Tiffany's old laboratory and found their way into the recreation room that Mr. Dunn's children had used. Kimmay found the 3-D time projector sitting in the middle of the room. Traci remembered the projector from her first visit to the estate, when she had been sent to retrieve Todd. He had demonstrated the projector at that time.

"Can we try out the projector?" Traci asked. "I was infatuated with it the first time Tiffany showed it to me. Kimmay and Jason both smiled. Traci had earned a small favor.

"Let's see if I remember how to work this." Kimmay fumbled with it for a couple of moments as little lights came on around the central sphere. "I think I've got it. Jason, would you dim the lights, please?"

It took Kimmay another minute before a white light bathed the room, then quickly morphed into a field filled with a family of stegosaurs. The matriarch was munching on a mouthful of prairie grass as a set of quarter-sized stegosaurs followed behind her.

"How'd you like to meet one of those in a dark alley?" Jason asked.

"Did you know that you can touch them?" Kimmay demonstrated as she rubbed her hand along the belly of a young dinosaur."

"This really is amazing," Traci marveled. "Can you dial up a T-rex or velociraptor?"

"Probably, but I'm not sure how. I never had that much time with it. Jason, do you know how to fine-tune this thing?"

"Let me try," he said as he stepped up to the controls. For the next hour or better, they whizzed across the prairies and over antideluvian seas as Jason looked for dinosaurs.

"What exactly is this machine?" Traci asked. "I mean I see what it does, but how does it do it?"

"Your guess is a good as mine," Kimmay said. "Linda put it here for educational purposes. I know it's a time machine, and it projects the actual past. You can zoom in and out. You can look at microscopic things and as you have seen, you can touch things also. This is a duplicate of the machine that she gave the Museum d'histoire naturelle de la Ville de Geneve."

"Wow, look over there," Jason exclaimed. A huge brontosaurus was walking towards them. There was a slight flicker in the lights as they all turned to watch the monster amble towards them.

"This is amazing," Traci marveled. "I mean, the house disappears and it looks like you are really there. I think I can even smell them," she laughed. As the brontosaurus waddled towards them it held its tail in the air. At one point it stopped and turned its head abruptly, looking behind it. They could hear it snort as it sniffed the air, seeking an invisible scent. The dinosaur must not have liked something because it slapped its tail on the ground. The room shook as the giant tail slapped the ground three times in a row.

"Think it's a warning?" Jason asked.

"I'd back off," Kimmay joked.

The giant beast must have decided everything was ok, because it once again began trundling towards the humans. Traci stepped off to the side and held her hand high in the air. She was going to stroke the animal's leg as it walked by. But Traci misjudged the size of the leg and it walked into her. The giant leg knocked Traci three feet into the air. Traci crashed to the ground and had the wind knocked out of her.

"Shut it off," Kimmay yelled to Jason as she ran towards Traci. Kimmay passed through a solid wall as she ran into the adjacent laboratory just as the scene blinked out. They were back in the villa, in the laboratory and Traci was lying next to a workbench holding her stomach.

"What happened?" she asked.

Kimmay was stunned and couldn't answer. Jason came running through the open door and yelled, "Traci, are you all right?"

Traci said nothing as she tried to catch her breath. Since Traci didn't answer his question, Jason turned to Kimmay, "What just happened? That was real! Wasn't it?"

"I'm not sure what happened," she murmured. "That couldn't have just happened … but it did. It was real, yea it was." She extended a hand to Traci and helped her sit up.

"Kimmay, that was scary. I thought they couldn't hurt you," Traci complained.

"Me too." Kimmay looked at Jason with wonder and fear in her eyes, "That was impossible." Kimmay was totally perplexed and continued to think about the time projector the rest of the evening. She would have to talk with Linda about the incident.

 

The next morning Traci's alarm went off way too early. This international traveling might have some interesting benefits, but it had its share of drawbacks also. The three of them met for breakfast, and the cooking duties fell to Jason. Traci was stiff and sore from her dinosaur kick. Jason had never been much of a cook, but he managed to feed the three of them without poisoning anyone. It was a small victory.

For some reason, no one wanted to discuss the dinosaur incident. Traci was favoring her side and moving slowly. Kimmay was lost in thought, and said only a few words during the meal. And Jason was busy trying to handle kitchen duties. It was a quiet start to the day.

When they popped into R&D, Dr. Stevens was not surprised. "I thought I would see you today," Stevens smiled as he gave Kimmay a hug. Dr. Stevens was the only employee of Kimmay's that hugged Kimmay – not even Jason exchanged hugs with her. The really odd part was that Dr. Stevens gave you the impression of the serious, no-nonsense German scientist. Traci thought he was an interesting contradiction.

Kimmay returned the hug and answered, "You did, did you? Who told you I was here?" she asked with a mock seriousness.

"My little friends here," he said as he pointed to his work area.

"Interesting," Kimmay smiled. "You've trained them to spy on me have you?"

"Every time you arrive, my chips decide to act up. They run perfectly for weeks at a time; voltage, frequency, everything lined out perfectly. Not a burp or hiccup from a single one. Then just in time for you to arrive, they start acting like spoiled children. It never fails," he said disgustedly.

"What happened?" Kimmay's curiosity was peaked.

"Voltage fluctuations are the most noticeable. Yesterday these chips here had spikes of almost a full order of magnitude. First they all spiked up and a couple seconds later they spiked down." Kimmay nodded her head knowingly. "But the real bad boys are the ones over here." Stevens loved to slide U.S. slang into his conversations.

He led them across the room to some very large test stands. They were looking at the test stands for running the chips up to their maximum energy levels. "These guys spiked by almost three orders of magnitude. But the strange part was last night – look at these charts. They didn't just didn't spike, they bounced all over for almost an hour. This is what has me concerned about pushing our chips to ultra-high energy levels."

"Have you seen this before?"

"At much lower levels," Stevens said. "And sometimes they last for a couple of hours."

"Do you ever see it in the low energy chips?"

"No."

Kimmay was starting to put two and two together. She turned to Traci and asked, "What

time were we looking at the time projector?"

"I'd say about ten or ten thirty."

Kimmay Looked at Stevens' chart. "Bingo! Howard, you are a genius! I want all of your charts for the high-energy chips from the last three months. Got it?"

"Sure, but why?"

"Top secret! Just do it." She pulled Traci aside and gave her her orders, "Go to Geneva. Go to the Natural History Museum and get a schedule of the running times for their time projector. Get the last 3 months. Try and do it without telling them why you want the running schedules, ok?"

"Sure." Traci said.

Traci continued to stand beside Kimmay. "Now!" Kimmay yelled. "I'll see you in Davos Monstein tonight. Ask Jason for a train schedule and the address to the estate. You have my phone number, call me when you get to Davos Monstein. Get yourself a warm coat in Geneva, you might have to walk from the train station to the estate if we're not there yet. Go!"

As Traci walked out Kimmay pulled out her sat phone and hit the button for Tiffany. Kimmay finished her usual round of meetings, and even spent a little time at the Foundation. But her mind was obviously not into the meetings. After the meetings, Kimmay left Jason in Lucerne, while she headed back to the Davos Monstein chateau.

 

Tiffany was already at the house when Kimmay arrived. "What's the big news?" she asked. Kimmay explained her theory and Tiffany started babbling with excitement. "I'll be back in a few minutes and she went and found a white board. "I think we can explain this with the second derivation of the energy leakage equation."

Tiffany led the two of them through the math for over an hour. It was evening before Traci finally arrived at the train station and called Kimmay. Kimmay drove the Mercedes down to the train station, with Tiffany screaming in pure horror as Kimmay almost ran off the road several times. Tiffany insisted on driving back to the house.

The time was pushing eight local time, and everyone was hungry. Fortunately, the pantry was always well stocked and Traci was given the task of cooking dinner. It was only fair, Kimmay used to cook for her. As Traci started searching through the cupboards and freezers, Tiffany and Kimmay moved computers and white boards into the kitchen and set up their work area.

Traci came walking back into the kitchen and saw the equations that had been written on the white board. "The kids been scribbling again?" she asked.

"Now that was funny," Tiffany conceded. "Is my handwriting that bad? Can't you tell this is a summation series over three-dimensional energy spheres?"

"Well now that you point it out it is rather obvious isn't it?"

Kimmay had the computers set up and was starting to compare chip fluctuations with the use of the time projector in Geneva. One by one Kimmay and Tiffany matched up dates and times. "Bingo!" Kimmay said on their first match. "Bingo! Bingo!" as they matched one fluctuation after another. They were almost giddy with excitement.

"Is there any doubt?" Kimmay asked.

"Absolutely none. It's phenomenal." Tiffany agreed. "Now let's look at the order of magnitude."

As Traci began to cook, Kimmay and Tiffany began going through their calendars, matching up trips to Switzerland with voltage spikes from the high-energy chips. "Bingo!" kept ringing out and became a game as they matched up numerous spikes. The girls were giddy by the time Traci set dinner on the table.

"What's this Kimmay asked?"

"Breakfast," answered Traci. "It was all I could think of."

"It'll be fine," Tiffany said. "In a way it's appropriate – breakfast for the dawn of a new era."

Kimmay and Tiffany continued to talk over dinner. "There is no doubt that we can detect dimensional fluctuations and portal openings. We can even tell roughly the distance and whether an opening is for coming or going. But Kimmay, there are quite a few spikes that we haven't matched. What do you think those are for?"

"You don't think the only time Linda pops around is when we are with her, do you? And we don't even know that Linda is the only one from her planet here. We could be seeing the movements of any number of aliens."

"Do you think? If that is true, then we really can monitor them. This is exactly what we've been looking for. How do we deploy the matrix?"

"We have to work with Kristal. We can set it up the same way they set up lightning strike detectors. If our range is great enough, we might even be able to set up parallel to existing lightning detectors. We could multiplex onto existing lines, and using their existing software we should be able to triangulate our spikes the same way they triangulate lightning. We don't even have to write software. This could be the easiest installation and start-up in history."

"Is the lightning strike detection system world-wide?"

"I have no idea," Kimmay confessed. "But we're going to find out," she smiled.

 

Kimmay's frustration routinely boiled to the surface as she tried to micromanage a government project. Tiffany and Kimmay's assumptions had all proven out, and the United States government was secretly adding high-energy storage chips matched with supersensitive voltmeters to the lightning strike matrix. Kimmay could not understand why it took almost two days for each chip to be set up and calibrated. She had delivered the first 400 hundred chips in only two weeks. They were fully charged and tested. The voltmeters had taken a bit longer to obtain, but they had the first lot in only three weeks. So why did it take the government two months to install the first chip? Kimmay was furious.

This project had been made top priority by the President of the United States, and the spooks fell all over themselves screwing things up. Kimmay wanted to fire every one of them and do it herself. It was inexcusable for a black box project of this importance and urgency to drag along with such obvious incompetence.

Kimmay gave Kristal so much grief, that the President eventually sent Jennifer to kick some egos. By midsummer they had 90% of the grid up and running. The National Security Agency was working out methods to expand the grid through the Far East and Europe.

When useful data began coming in, the girls were surprised at how many hits they received. The grid could detect departures, arrivals and match the two to follow a person as he moved around the U.S. (and later around the globe). A few departures had no corresponding arrival and vice versa. They determined that these jumps started or ended off-world. And a few jumps were so close together, that they couldn't determine which arrival corresponded with which departure. On average there appeared to be three to four hundred jumps per day. They later estimated that there were over one hundred off-world visitors on earth; a frightening figure.

Even more frightening was the location of the jumps. Many of them were in and out of major government facilities. The travelers seemed to be able to move in and out of military bases and secured government facilities such as the NSA and CIA. Jumps even moved in and out of the White House!

Kristal was concerned enough to ask for new security measures, including the development of real-time monitoring. But the surprises were just starting.

 

Ginger Winch was becoming more than just a thorn in the side of Kristal's administration. Ginger had broken through religious taboos and precedents and was becoming a religious icon. Not since Joan of Arc, had a woman created such a religious presence and such a large following. She had not only reached across the gender gap, but she was crossing the line between countries and religions. She routinely made trips to Europe, the Far East and the Middle East to give lectures and hold rallies. Even in the Middle East she was expanding her popularity and power. Ginger did not wear a burka or chador when she sat among the mullahs. She sat as an equal and in many situations she was clearly the leader.

She found her old friends in the back alleys and gave her implicit support to terrorism. She had some requirements though; the terrorism had to be aimed at promoting multi-cultural and multi-sect cooperation and could be aimed only against existing institutions in secular governments and capitalist institutions. She would not tolerate reckless collateral damage. This was a war against institutions, not the people. She needed to maintain her image.

Ginger's talents at winning people over to her point of view was working all over the world. She was establishing a dual-level network of worldwide support. The visible part was the public adoration she was collecting. The hidden dragon was the terrorist network that she encouraged and covertly supported.

She was successfully attacking Kristal and her failed economic policies. In the U.S. Ginger had backed off her attacks concerning international relations. It was obvious that Ginger was trying to build international support and cooperation for her cause, and so she stayed away from those issues. Kristal had enough domestic failures to give Ginger plenty of ammunition.

The domestic failures weren't Kristal's fault. The corruption of the previous twenty years had bankrupted the country. Trillion dollar debts had to be re-paid and it just wasn't possible. She was re-negotiating some loan payments and asking countries to forgive other loans. Kristal was appearing with hat in hand and asking for handouts and out right gifts like a third world nation. Without money, there was little Kristal could do. Printing more money had been tried before, and she knew where that had ended.

Ginger had it much easier. All she had to do was criticize. She didn't need to provide valid alternatives. Her alternatives were shrouded with platitudes about God, morality and ethics. For some reason, people bought the empty didactic attacks as a valid political platform. Ginger's message hit people on an emotional, rather than intellectual level. Going back to fundamental principals sounded so easy and so good. Slowing down the pace of modern civilization was very appealing.

Going back to a simpler life sounded great, but no one asked how you would continue to feed billions of people using the 'old methods'. No one wanted to ask the tough questions about infrastructure, water and sewer lines, roads or education. Somehow the Luddites, prohibitionists and moralists missed those questions. Ginger was very good at staying away from those questions also, and hence her political capital was increasing steadily. She had already announced her candidacy for president and her visibility was increasing.

Into this scene came a great event. An omen if ever there was one. It was a miracle marking the arrival of a Savior. Ginger had organized one of the largest rallies of her campaign. Over one hundred thousand people would be crowding into the Rose Bowl to hear Ginger give her speech. The red, white and blue-bunting covered stage stood fifty feet above the crowd, with the podium surrounded by teleprompters and television cameras. Crews from ten different countries were covering the speech. A small orchestra sat to one side of the stage and a chorus of children lined the opposite side of the stage.

The show was expertly choreographed. The opening speeches had been made, the children had sung and the fanfares played. Ginger entered the stage wearing white flowing robes, the hem and sleeves lined with gold. She looked heavenly. The crowd cheered for several minutes before she could quiet them. "God bless you all," she began.

With those words an angel appeared in front of her, floating a few feet above the podium. The angel was resplendent in her white robes, her wings spread to their full length, covering almost five meters in length. Her hands were held together in front of her – as if in prayer. Less than half a second after she appeared, seven gunshots rang across the stadium. Seven bullets hit the angel in her chest and shoulders. Each wound filled with blood and began flowing down her robe. She held her position as the blood flowed down her robe, leaving dark streaks to contrast with the white of the robe. The smile on her face never faded. She slowly rotated in mid air until she was facing Ginger. Her wings slowly folded inwards and engulfed Ginger. Ginger disappeared in the wings of the angel. And then the angel disappeared.

Within hours the entire world knew the truth – Ginger was the Chosen One.

 

Tiffany and Kimmay received the call at the same time. "Have you seen the news?" Kristal asked. Neither of them had heard. "Call Linda immediately and come to the White House."

They popped into Kristal's office five minutes later. Kristal was waiting, "Linda, please stay. Everyone sit," and Kristal motioned them all towards a conference table. There was a large screen at the end of the table. As soon as everyone had a seat, Kristal gave the order for the projector to begin. They all sat and watched the incident at the Rose Bowl. They saw it from 4 different angles.

Kristal looked down the table at Linda, "Linda can you tell us what just happened?"

"I cannot tell you."

"Why not?"

"I do not know the full situation. I can only speculate."

"Please do Linda."

"That was not an angel."

" 'There are no such things as angels. That's what got us into this mess.' That's what you told me when Amanda was killed. I've got a pretty good memory." Tiffany said. "Especially when it's something that cryptic."

"You do indeed have a good memory," Linda complimented her.

Kristal was impatient. "Linda, what else can you tell us?"

"Nothing."

Kristal was getting frustrated. "Please Linda, we need your help."

"I've told you all that I can say."

Kristal tried one more time. "All right Linda, I accept that you cannot tell us more. But please tell me, do you know more? Do you know what happened?"

"No," said Linda.

"Linda …" Kimmay began loudly, but Kristal quickly interrupted her.

"Thanks for your help, Linda. I appreciate you giving us what you could." Kristal meant what she said. Kimmay and everyone else knew Linda was lying, but Kristal was sincere in her thanks.

Linda pushed her chair back and stood. "Kristal, good luck to you." A quiet pop signaled Linda's exit.

Kimmay began to speak and Kristal spun on her heels and pointed a finger at Kimmay, "Do not say a word, Kimmay. This is my office and this is my show. I'm still the President!" Kristal sat down and resumed the meeting. Her voice went back to normal as if nothing had happened, "I think we can safely assume that Linda will be of no help. I received a report from my monitoring chief and there is no doubt that the angel came through the portal the same way Linda does. She and Ginger returned to Ginger's apartment in Los Angeles."

"Then she's a blatant liar. Why did you let her go?" Kimmay demanded.

"You would have stopped her, Kimmay? How?" Kimmay did not speak. "Sometimes your mouth engages way too far ahead of your brain." Kristal smiled as she said this to take some of the edge off the insult. "We still need Linda and especially now. It should be obvious that there are other factions involved in our world, and I think we can safely assume that they are not friendly to either Linda or us."

"And can we agree that our enemy is getting direct support for her agenda from her off-world protector?" Tiffany asked.

"I'm not sure," Kristal said. "She may have simply been doing her job to protect her girl."

"Come on Kristal, of course she is getting direct help, and in public. Linda and Amanda both said that they could not see into the future. Yet that angel showed up just seconds before the bullets were fired. Not only did she time it perfectly, but she showed up exactly in the line of fire. Either she can see the future or it was a set up."

Kristal reluctantly agreed. "Unless Linda and Amanda lied to us consistently and over and over, it had to be pre-arranged. And there is one other thing I think we can agree on – Ginger is one of us."

"The hell she is!" exclaimed Kimmay. "She's one of them."

"Calm down, Kimmay," Kristal said. "She is an apparent woman, she has some very unique and powerful talents and she has a protector. I'll bet that she's a genetic manipulation just as we are."

"We can use that against her, right?" Tiffany said hopefully.

"No Tiffany we can not. If her protector is willing to interfere directly in human politics, there is no doubt that she would retaliate if we tried to use Ginger's true gender against her. She would undoubtedly inform Ginger about our true genders."

"So what can we do?" Tiffany asked.

"I'm not sure, but at least she has played some of her cards and we know the true situation."

Kimmay had finally calmed down, "I'm not sure that we do know the true situation. We now know there is a proxy war in effect, but we don't have any idea why. Linda and Amanda obviously steered us to where we are and Ginger's sponsor has steered her to where she is today. The important question is not what do we do about Ginger, but rather why are extra-terrestrials fighting over us? And why are they doing it through proxies and subterfuge? They've obviously got the technology to do whatever they want, so why don't they just take over?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," Kristal said. "This is much more serious than a presidential campaign. I'm sure that the campaign is just a tip of the iceberg. Let me ask you this, do you think Ginger knows who and what she is?"

Traci started to ask a question and Jennifer nudged her very hard. They were hearing some things for the very first time and of course they didn't understand the full situation, but they were not here to participate. Jennifer had accepted this many years ago and Traci was going to have to do the same. They were hearing things that very few other people could imagine, and the two of them would have to settle for that much knowledge.

"Good question," Tiffany said. "It's not explicit in anything they have done. Do you think it makes a difference?"

"Did it make a difference to you?"

Tiffany considered her thoughts. "I guess it makes a difference in how I react to Linda, and maybe it makes a difference in some of the ways that I think we should solve problems, but it really doesn't change my mind about things in general."

"I agree," Kimmay said. "It's not like we dropped Linda – we still use her to our advantage, and I'll bet Ginger has the same attitude. We were bred and nurtured to believe what we believe, and neither Ginger nor we are going to change our opinions."

"Concerning the war behind the scenes, do you think she knows anymore than we do?" Kristal asked.

"I doubt it."

"Do you think it would do any good to talk with her and share information?"

Kimmay was about to jump up and caught herself at the last moment. She settled back into her seat and calmly said, "No. The fact is, we know almost nothing and I bet neither does she."

"You're wrong Kimmay, we know much more than we did a few hours ago. We know we're pawns in a contest that is beyond our control or comprehension. And while we all may still have our own political agendas, I'll bet that we all want to preserve our civilization and species."

"It may not be totally beyond our control," Kimmay said. "We've made some real progress since we first understood our situation. We've got the monitoring grid in place for the U.S. and parts of Asia and Europe, and we have a start on some powerful weapons. I'm not saying that we can stand against these people yet, but we've made some giant strides. We need to work harder and faster though."

"I don't disagree with you, but I see very little chance that technology is going to save us. We're going to have to figure out what is going on and then try and use diplomacy or subterfuge to save ourselves. But first, it sure would be nice to peak behind the big black curtain."

"I hate to be the Cassandra among us, but I don't think it makes much difference if we do know what's behind that curtain. With their actions, Ginger's guardians have no reservations about telling us they are here," Tiffany said.

"That's not necessarily true, Tiffany. Without our detection grid we would not know for certain what the angel really was. They may have thought that we would believe it really was an angel."

"Fat chance!" Kimmay snarled.

 

If Kimmay had been an unforgiving taskmaster before, she was about to become intolerable. She doubled her efforts on the weapons research and would have begun whipping people if Kristal would have let her. Kimmay was pushing for daily updates from her governmental counterparts. She was just as harsh on Dr. Stevens, pushing for ultra-high energy storage levels, followed by picosecond discharges. Stevens was a good engineer, but some things require a bit of time and serendipity.

Kimmay's trips to Switzerland became more frequent, but on one trip she took a day off. She sent Traci to the estate in Davos Monstein as she boarded a train for Zurich. She had selected a discrete fertility laboratory in Zurich that specialized in cloning. Kimmay donated more than enough cells to begin the process for preparing at least ten eggs.

This particular clinic also specialized in finding alternatives for couples that could not conceive. One of their specialties was providing surrogate mothers to carry fertilized eggs to full term. Once the clones were born, the clinic would also help Kimmay find adopting parents for the infants. Kimmay would then provide money and medical attention for the children as they grew. There would be a tremendous amount of work in handling the long-term logistics, but the clinic was receiving adequate compensation. Kimmay was satisfied with the progress she observed.

 

When Kimmay returned to the chateau that evening, not only Traci but Tiffany also was waiting for her. Tiffany didn't waste anytime on pleasantries, "Follow me," she said. "Just throw your coat over there."

"It's nice to see you too, Tiffany," Kimmay said sarcastically.

"I think you'll be pleased to see me in a couple of minutes." Tiffany led Kimmay to their workroom and pointed at the white board. There was a fresh set of equations on the board. Tiffany pointed to the first equation and said, "You recognize this, right?"

Kimmay smiled and said, "That one's mine, isn't it?"

"Yep, but this one's mine, a straight forward translation around a matrix of n-dimensions. Right?" Kimmay shook her head in agreement. "Fine, now let's make this interesting …" and Tiffany launched into a heated discussion of math that no other person in the world would have understood.

Traci understood nothing and was totally bored. She wandered off to the kitchen to find something to prepare for dinner. There were enough materials to make a decent beef stew and Traci had it ready in an hour. She went to get Tiffany and Kimmay and found them laughing and writing all over the board. "Traci, guess what?" Kimmay asked.

"No idea," she answered.

"Tiffany is pretty smart. You see this equation right here?" It looked like pure squiggles to Traci. She nodded yes. "It sets definite energy limits for moving through multi-dimensional portals; pseudo-quantized in fact."

"Wow!" She had no idea what Kimmay had said.

"Wow is right. It quantizes both photons and imposes wavelength restrictions. You see if you merely insert the right wavelength energy here it will be ½ wavelength out of phase with these other photons."

"That's nice."

"No, that's fantastic. The little bit of energy that we insert cancels the incoming energy wavelength. You can't send energy between multi-dimension realities if you do this. Pretty clever isn't she?"

"I'm still not sure what it does Kimmay. But I am sure that dinner is ready."

"It stops Linda from moving through her portal. She can't pop in or pop out as long as you maintain just a minimum amount of energy at the correct level and quantum state."

Traci smiled, "Now I get it. You can keep her from using her portal. She can't jump some place else."

"Phenomenal!" shouted Tiffany. "We can stop Linda and her people from just popping onto our planet whenever they feel like it. We can control our own borders, as Kristal would say."

"Can we talk about it over dinner?" Kimmay returned to the white board and wrote down another equation and Tiffany started dissecting it. Traci knew she was beat. She returned to the kitchen and ladled the stew into three bowls. She placed the three bowls along with three glasses of milk on a serving tray and took the food to the girls.

"Good thinking," Kimmay complimented her. The three of them ate their stew while Kimmay and Tiffany talked math and Traci tried to look interested. Traci brought second helpings, some crackers and chips, and still the girls talked math. After everyone finished eating, Traci took the dishes to the kitchen, cleaned the dishes, pots and pans and the rest of the kitchen, and then returned to the exact same conversation. The girls looked like they planned on going all night. Traci rummaged around the room until she found some old magazines, and then wrapped herself in an afghan and read magazines in the corner of the room. Still the girls continued.

Around midnight the girls finally agreed on their last equation. To Traci it didn't look any different than the first equation that she had seen. At one time in her previous life, she thought math required numbers, but she had been cured of that fallacy. Tiffany and Kimmay's math didn't look like normal people's math, and Traci had accepted that. Now she just wanted to go to bed.

As the girls were typing some of the equations into their computer, Kimmay asked, "When did you become such a theorist, Tiffany?"

Tiffany rubbed her red eyes and thought for a second. "I guess I started looking at some of your stuff around Christmas. Up to that time I neither understood your theories nor really cared. I wasn't very curious I guess. But then I looked at some of equations one day and I just understood. In fact I understood enough that I came up with a useful first derivative."

"Christmas, eh?" The answer suddenly came into Kimmay's focus. "Of course! It makes perfect sense. You started understanding shortly after you began your transition to Tiffany. When you started taking estrogen, it turned on the key genes. The estrogen worked for you the same way it worked for Kristal and then me. It has to be!"

 

Tiffany and Kimmay finally wandered back to their rooms. Kimmay still wasn't tired, so she decided to take a hot bath. She took off her jewelry and stripped down, ran the hottest bath water she could handle and filled the tub with a fragrant lavender bubble-bath. She soaked for thirty minutes while she ran ideas through her mind. Now that she was confident of the math and theory, she and Tiffany would have to translate their theories into a practical working model. Kimmay was sure that she could do it in one or two iterations, but she still remembered the unexpected set backs that she had encountered during her energy chip development.

The thirty-minute soak eventually worked its magic, soothing away the adrenaline rush Kimmay had been enjoying. When she finally made it to bed, she fell asleep immediately. Since the nightmares had left, sleeping had once again become enjoyable. She dreamed of standing in front of an empty field in the middle of the night, and using a never ending sparkler to write equations in the dark sky.

Traci wasn't as lucky. Her cooking had not set well with her, and she woke around two A.M. with another attack of gastro esophageal reflux – gert. Traci had a chronic case of indigestion and her only solution was another acid-control pill. She had foolishly forgotten to take one before bed. It was a warm night and her windows were open. There was a half moon and she stepped in front of her balcony to enjoy the breeze. She was just about to slide the screen door open and step onto the balcony when she saw movement behind the boundary hedges. She watched intently and then saw a couple of men moving along the hedges. When she caught the telltale sign of a red button of light shining on one of the hedges she knew they were in trouble.

Traci quickly stripped off her nightgown and pulled on jeans and sneakers. She grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it over her head as she knelt next to her dresser. Ever so quietly she reached on top of the dresser and grabbed her weapon and the ammo clips. Jennifer had taught her to always keep them out where she could reach them quickly and quietly. Now that lesson struck home. She slid out of her bedroom on her knees, and crawled down the hall to Kimmay's room.

Traci crawled over to Kimmay's bed and gently shook her. As soon as Kimmay moved, Traci slapped her hand over Kimmay's mouth and said, "It's Traci - we're in trouble. Keep quiet." She reached across Kimmay and helped her slide off the bed onto the floor next to Traci. "There are armed men outside. We have to move to the first floor where we have a chance to run. You need clothes and especially shoes." She helped pull Kimmay's negligee off and pushed a pair of jeans towards her.

"My ring! Shit, I left in the bathroom."

"Forget about it," Traci whispered. "It's not important."

"Yes it is," Kimmay insisted. "I need it to call Linda."

"Fuck! Where did you leave it?"

"On the counter, straight across from the tub!"

"Ok, I'll get it. Get dressed and stay here. Don't stand up!" Traci slid off across the room to the bathroom. She crawled in on her hands and knees and felt along the counter top. There was a piece of jewelry sitting on the counter which she grabbed and put in her pocket. Her hand reached up again and searched for more pieces. There was something else there, and she put it in her pocket.

Kimmay was dressed and had her shoes on when Traci came back. "Ok, I have something here and she poured the contents into Kimmay's hand. "Is it there?"

"Yea, I've got it."

"All right, now stay on your hands and knees and follow me, we have to get Tiffany," she whispered again. Traci led the way to the hallway. She looked both ways and saw a red laser light sweep across the stairwell at the far end of the hall. They couldn't go that way. "Is there another way out of here?" she asked.

"The balcony."

"Nope, they'll be watching that from outside. Anything else?"

"No."

"We have no choice. I'll go first. I'm going to set up to the right of the door. Stay on your knees and crawl to the left towards Tiffany's room. Get her up and dressed and make sure that you stay quiet. I'll cover your back."

"No problem. I'll call Linda then."

"Fine, do that, but make sure that you keep quiet." Traci inched out the door and peaked to the right. She waved Kimmay into action. Traci lay on the floor with her weapon pointing down the hall. Kimmay crawled behind her and moved to Tiffany's room. She reached up and slowly turned the doorknob. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure that Traci could have heard it. She pushed the door open and crawled in.

For whatever reason, the intruders were taking their time moving up the stairwell. Their stalling gave Traci all the time she needed to back down the hall and also sneak into Tiffany's room. "You're finally here," Kimmay said. "I'm already calling Linda."

"That's great," Traci said. "Hurry up. And while you're at it, both of you get in the bathroom." Kimmay crawled on her elbows and knees as she used her hands to rub the ring. Traci covered their back as the three of them slid into the bathroom. "Kimmay, what's taking so long?"

"I don't know. I'm trying!"

Linda usually responded to Kimmay's call in less than two minutes. This time it took three and one half minutes of eternity. There was a pop and Linda was standing before them. Kimmay blurted out, "There are intruders in the house and they have weapons. You have to get us out of here."

"I know, Kimmay. Let's go."

Within seconds, the four of them found themselves on their hands and knees in Kimmay's Milwaukee condo. Tiffany and Kimmay both fell flat on the floor, totally drained of emotion and still trembling with fear. Traci jumped to her feet and faced Linda, "Can you and I go back? I want to get one of them."

"Why?" squeaked Tiffany.

"So that you can identify who they are and their purpose, correct Traci?" Linda said without emotion.

"Yes. Will you take me back?"

"I will. Kimmay, can you give Traci your ring, please."

Kimmay pulled it off her finger and gave it to Traci. "If you need Linda, gently rub the ring. Sometimes it takes a couple of minutes."

"Not this time it won't," Linda said. "Shall we go?"

"They'll have recon people stationed outside. Can you identify their positions?"

Linda took her black pouch from her pocket and held it in front of her. "I'll show you where they are," and a 2-D schematic of the estate grounds appeared in mid-air.

"Sweet," said Traci. "I could have used you in Yemen. Where are they?"

"Here and here," Linda pointed to a group of red dots.

"Is there anyone by himself?"

"Here," she pointed.

"Nope," said Traci. "That's inside the house, too dangerous. This group of three outside watching the back will be our target. Can you put us right here?" Linda said yes. "That will work. I should be able to separate them with a bit of noise and diversion. Do I have to incapacitate one before you can bring us back?"

"Yes, you will have to walk him through the portal."

"All right, can you just follow behind me, about twenty yards? I'll call you when I'm ready."

"Are you going to bring him here?" Tiffany asked.

"Good question," Traci admitted. "Does anyone have their sat phone?"

"I do," Tiffany said as she handed it to Traci.

Traci quickly dialed Jennifer as she continued to watch Linda's schematic. Tiffany and Kimmay listened to one side of the conversation. "Jennifer, this is Traci. We were about to be attacked in Switzerland and Linda rescued us. I want to go back and get one of them for interrogation. If I get one, where I can bring him?" She paused as she listened to Jennifer. "I'd say it will take me anywhere from ten to twenty minutes." Traci smiled and said, "You got it." Traci closed up the phone and returned it to Tiffany.

"What did she say?" Tiffany asked.

"Jennifer is going to go with me." Traci looked at Linda, "Do you know how to get to Jennifer's apartment?" Linda merely nodded.

"Call us when you get back, Traci," Kimmay ordered.

"I will." Traci checked her weapon, made sure her shoes were tied and then turned to Linda, "Let's do it." Linda and Traci popped out.

 

It was almost 40 minutes before Tiffany's phone rang again. She answered the phone and gave Kimmay a relieved look, "She brought back two of them."

"Tiffany can I talk?" Tiffany handed over the sat phone and listened to Kimmay's side of the conversation. "Traci, are you ok? That's great. Great work. Thanks for what you did tonight. I owe you my life. Don't be modest, now can I ask Jennifer a question?"

Kimmay waited a minute until Jennifer had the phone, "Hi Jennifer. Did she do well? I'm glad to hear it. Will you be able to get some useful information from them? Jennifer I totally support you, but just this once I have to be the party pooper. You know what Kristal would tell you if she knew you had them. Please respect her wishes, even in absentia. I think you should let her know that you have them. Yes, before you begin their questioning. Jennifer, I want you to set an example for Traci, these aren't the bad old days, remember? Thanks."

Tiffany looked at Kimmay. "You told Jennifer to back off?"

"I told her to represent the President's ideals. We're better than them, let's prove it."

"What do we do now?"

"I don't want to sleep alone, will you stay here tonight? You can have my guest room."

"Thanks, I'll go next door and change. Give me three minutes and I'll be back."

 

The next morning the girls were eating breakfast and Kimmay was grumbling about giving her ring to Traci. Kimmay was in a hurry to get back to Davos Monstein and pick up their computers. She wanted to sit down with Tiffany and set up a time line for development of their next invention. Kimmay felt that their new device for blocking inter-dimensional portal jumps might be the key to their future defense. When something was this close in front of Kimmay, her patience disappeared. "Tiffany, can I have your sat phone? Mine's back in Switzerland." She dialed up Jennifer and began talking, "Jennifer, were you up early? All night? You did talk with Kristal, right? Good, I know you would rather have handled it your way, but I think this is the proper way to do the interrogations. Is Traci there? Can I talk with her?

"Good morning, Traci. Jennifer filled me in and it sounds like you have everything under control. Jennifer can handle everything from there and she'll keep us up to date on any developments. Can you have Linda bring you back to Milwaukee, we need to return to Davos Monstein and pick up our notes. Tiffany and I have a lot to do. What?" Kimmay listened for several seconds while Traci explained why she, Jennifer and a clean-up team needed to return to the estate first. Kimmay hung up with a look of total frustration on her face.

"What's the problem?" Tiffany asked.

"Traci thinks she should take a team back to the house first, and check for booby-traps. She thinks it will take the better part of the day. I don't think we can get back in before tomorrow morning, Swiss time." Kimmay was totally disappointed. "We might as well go to our local office."

"It's not a problem, Kimmay. We know what we have to do and where to start. We can start writing out the plan while we're here today, and then go to Lucerne tomorrow. We won't lose much time at all."

"You're partly correct Tiffany, but Stevens' practical skill would be very helpful as we write the plan."

"He does have a phone, doesn't he?" Tiffany smiled. "Relax Kimmay, we basically know what we have to do. It won't take any time at all to put together a timeline and build a prototype to block Linda and her people."

 

(continued)

  

  

  

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