

#### Who Painted Lord Percy?

####

#### by David J. Wighton

#### 

#### Book #24 in the Wilizy Series

###

### Smashwords Edition

### Copyright 2020, David J. Wighton

###

### This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy.

### Although this e-book might be sold at no cost to the reader at times, I retain ownership of the copyright and may elect to charge a small amount for its purchase at times.

### Thank you for respecting my copyright.

# Acknowledgements

This book is dedicated to my wife, Dale, and to my other family members whose support made it possible.

Cover design by Rita Toews at E-Book Covers, East St. Paul, Manitoba.

Image from Maciej326 @ Pixabay

# Wilizy Family Members as of March 2092

• Doc and Granny, about 80 years old.

• Hank (about 50) and Yolanda (about 46).

• Wolf (26), Mac (26), Jock Jr. (7), Emily (6), Jock Sr. (56).

• William (26), Melissa (26), Will & Izzy (7), MayaLou (5).

• Yollie (25), TG (26), Liset (12), Yo-Yo (8), Hank (6), Ivanika (5).

• Wizard (24), Dreamer (22), Wanda (62).

• Lucas (21), Lylah and Lohla (20).

• Theo (20), Nary (21), Marie (about 82).

• Mathias (19), Kashmira (19).

• Reese (17), Winnie (15).

• Maddy (11)

• Stu McKenzie (51), Momaka (47), Petro (5).

• Cassie (the ghost).

• Cowboy (27), Bean (25).

**Main Afterlife Characters**

• Arthur, Lillian, Joe-Joe, Keely, Meghan, Arthur, and Paula

• Lord Percy, Adolf Hitler, Charles Ponzi, and Gold Pinkies.

• Harry the Dolphin

**Billings Characters**

• Coach Lee, Audrey, and Meifeng.

This page is to help you if you get confused about who is who in the story. If that happens, click your way back to the Table of Contents and scroll back one page.

# Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Books in the Wilizy Series

About the Author: David J. Wighton

# Chapter 1

Sunday, May 24, 2092. Maddy was helping her mom clean up the kitchen, the living room, and the rec room. All the cousins had been over to help Emily celebrate her 6th birthday, albeit a little delayed because of the KwaZulu operation. With eight partygoers (Emily, Will, Izzy, MayaLou, Jock, Hank, Yo-Yo, Ivanika, and Petro), the carnage had covered several rooms. Maddy, at almost 12, was too old to party with the kiddies. That meant that she was in adult mode, namely cleaning up voluntarily. They were almost done and Mac was wiping down the counters while Maddy swept the floor. The house was deathly quiet, at least compared to what it had been like an hour earlier.

"Mom, I've been thinking."

"A-huh." Mac had a splitting headache. She was getting too old for these parties but with Emily at 6 years old, there'd still be many more to come.

"Do you think I could be a Valkyrie now?"

"Why?"

"Well, I'm the only girl in the cadets now with Honto gone."

"You were always the only girl in the cadets. What's changed?"

"Well, nothing I guess. But the Valkyries looked so smart in their uniforms."

"That's not a reason to join them."

"And they're doing some important things in KwaZulu."

"Every one of them is at least ten years older than you. Plus, they've all graduated from high school and some of them have college experience. You're going into grade 6 in the fall."

"I know, Mom, but...."

"It's not going to happen, Maddy." [ _Splitting headache, remember?_ ]

### # # # # # # # #

Granny walked into her living room to find Doc dressed in his fishing gear. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I have my sling and I'll be living in it. Hank is bringing all the gear and supplies that we might need. I might as well be fishing; sleeping in my chair isn't doing me any good. "

"Cabin fever?"

"Exactly."

"Where are you going?"

"I haven't decided yet."

The hug they shared wasn't the type of hug you'd expect for a couple who would see each other in a day or two. Granny wasn't easily fooled and she knew why he was going fishing. She headed to her bedroom, intending to stay there for a week.

### # # # # # # # #

"Ten no trump," Betsy said. _[Betsy was Harry the Dolphin's wife. Harry was the Cops of Cosmos mediator that you met in the last book.]_

"Eleven hearts," Lillian replied.

"Sorry Betsy, I have to pass," Joe-Joe muttered. "One hundred and four cards and I have a total of three face cards in my hand."

_[Bridge with two decks of cards is mentally challenging to angels and dolphins alike. However, holding twenty-six cards in your hands is impossible, especially for dolphin flippers. They were using a multi-specie ap that allowed them to see their cards mentally. There'd be no worries about some eight-eyed creature peeking at your hand.]_

"Harry, it's eleven hearts to you."

Harry was absorbed in something else. They waited.

"I have to leave," Harry finally said. "Hell is raising hell."

Lillian was immediately curious. "What are they doing?"

Joe-Joe and Betsy both rolled their eyes at how quickly their vow to not talk shop during the cruise had been broken so easily. Yes, dolphins can roll their eyes. They can even bat their eyelids when they are courting but that's not well known outside the dolphin world.

"Lord Percy made the peace bond today and Spock transported him to the location in Hell that he asked for. He arrived and immediately disappeared. He must have realized that Satan had a surprise happy death-day party arranged for him. They're trying to blame the Cops of the Cosmos for the disappearance. I have to return to the Enterprise.3."

That put an end to the bridge game.

### # # # # # # # #

"This is as good a place as any," Doc said and landed on a deserted beach south of Port McNeil, which is on the east coast of Vancouver Island. It had a beautiful view of Bonanza Peak. _[Narrator: This peak was mentioned in Hoist the Jolly Lucas, Book #4.]_ "When I left Haida Gwai, my grandfather and I paddled down the Johnstone Strait and he wanted to stop here overnight. He was very weak. I knew he couldn't go much further south. I suppose you know why we're here."

Hank nodded. "I'm honoured that you asked me to accompany you. Tell me what you want."

"My grandfather had me make camp on this very beach. He admired the mountain peak and the scenery while I lashed four logs together into a small raft. He came prepared with the lashings. We fished at the little lake just behind us, and then we bedded down. As I figured out later, he went down to the raft in the middle of the night, pushed it into the water, and lay down on it. When I got up the next morning, the currents had done their job. He was gone and so was the raft. It was his time and he knew it. This is my time now. I didn't want people to make a fuss," Doc sort of apologized for skipping out on his funeral.

"The Johnstone Strait is known for its strong currents and gusty weather. I don't know if my grandfather's raft made it out of the straight and into the Pacific Ocean or not. I suspect that when he made up his mind to die, he did it quite efficiently. I had no way of checking. Here are the lashings. I'll be at the lake fishing. Join me when you're finished."

"Do you want a rod?"

"That wouldn't be fair to the fish."

### # # # # # # # #

"It's like kissing a dead fish," Winnie complained. _[She didn't explain what dead fish she had practiced on or why.]_

"I'm trying, Winnie. I can barely talk in my mortal body, let alone kiss." _[You can guess who this is.]_

"Let's try again. Pucker up. I'll do the rest."

...

"You can't even pucker?"

"I'm lucky I can chew without eating my lips. We can try kissing in angelic bodies."

"Angel bodies aren't made for kissing. All those scratchy feathers get in the way. What did the scientists say?"

"I have to learn how mortal bodies move as though I'm a new born baby. I can think in the body; I just can't do anything with it."

"What are you thinking now?"

"I'm thinking about you, Winnie."

"Good answer. I thought you'd say something about food."

"That was my second choice."

"Are you sure that Lillian didn't put the scientists up to this?"

"I don't know why she would do that."

"Yeah, I don't know why either."

### # # # # # # # #

Doc woke up and looked around. He wasn't on the raft. That part didn't surprise him. The view did.

He was in a long queue. He was sure that he was dead. That's because some metallic voice was beaming that message into his brain, if in fact he had a brain.

"Welcome to the line-up to the Afterlife Sorting Station," a metallic voice said. "If you are not sure how you got here, that's because you are dead. Don't be disturbed if you have no memory of that. Few souls do."

Doc picked up on the use of the word _soul_ and looked down. He saw no feet, no legs, and no hands. No clothes even. All he could see was a shimmering silvery light around himself. He also saw a conveyor belt carrying him somewhere. The belt started, stopped, and then repeated.

"Welcome to the line-up to the Afterlife Sorting Station. Please be patient. Our staff is working hard to process all souls as quickly as we can. Please stay in line. We estimate that you will enter the Afterlife Sorting Station's main terminal building in thirty five minutes."

...

Thirty-five minutes later, Doc was standing in front of a plywood counter that stretched the entire length of the terminal building. The angel behind the counter looked up and asked, "Are you William Bedard?"

"Yes."

"For security reasons, may I have your date of birth and your mother's maiden name?"

_[Heaven had upgraded their security system after a certain person had been mistakenly grabbed off Earth and deposited into the afterlife when she shouldn't have been.]_

Doc provided what she wanted.

"You were born in Haida Gwai?"

"Yes."

"Please follow me. An angel wants to talk to you."

### # # # # # # # #

"Try and relax, Lillian. You're on leave. Forget about what could be happening back home."

"I cleared my desk as much as I could and passed on files to other angels. I couldn't do anything more."

"I'm sure Prudence will be fine. She has lots of experience in handling undercover work."

"She's like a loose cannon. I know she's done something that I'll regret. I can feel it."

"I wonder where Lord Percy got to."

"Nice try to distract me. I had nothing but green on my boards. Whatever he's doing, it won't affect us. I knew leaving her in charge was a risk, but she's actually been pleasant to me."

"Prudence understands that you had to bring her home. She's past that. She told me so."

"She's done something. Ten minutes ago, she did something."

### # # # # # # # #

Hank awoke to find Doc gone, as he expected to. Doc's backpack was next to the blanket where he had bedded down. It contained his sling. Curious to see how far the raft had travelled, Hank went for a fly. Eventually, he found the raft half submerged and bucking in some rough waters near the outlet to the Pacific Ocean. No Doc in sight.

Back at camp, Hank was slinging into camp when he noticed a figure standing at the lakeside where they had fished last night. Curiosity won.

"You're finally up," Doc said when Hank landed.

"I thought that you..."

"I guess it wasn't my time. We won't mention this to anybody, will we?"

"I won't, if you won't."

"Two trout are on the rocks. You get to cook them. Then, we'll go home."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 2

Two days after he had been beamed into Hell, Lord Percy was still missing. Satan had closed all the borders crossings to Earth as a matter of routine when a senior devil had to be relieved of his duties. Those closures were now disrupting Hell's business activities. Satan had already elevated the senior most devil in the SSS to the position of SSS Commander after he had heard the agreements that Lord Percy had signed. The _Happy Deathday Cake_ was getting stale. Adolf was standing in front of Satan trying to explain why Lord Percy hadn't been caught yet.

Yes Adolf, the SSS Commander, was the Adolf you're thinking about. He had customized scales just as Lord Percy had had. Only Adolf had gone for the military look rather than the British aristocrat look. He even had the mustache. It had worked well for him on Earth, so he had decided to stick with it. Right now, neither the mustache nor the uniform was making any impression on an angry Satan.

Adolf tried to defend himself. "I have wanted posters in all of the PUS stations showing a picture of Lord Percy's mortal face. I also installed an anonymous tip line for devils to call. So far, nobody has called."

"Did you think that devils would gladly turn in a traitor out of the **goodness** of their hearts?" Satan really leaned on the word that was banned in all of Hell. "What were you thinking?"

"Well...."

_[Put Adolf in charge of an army and he'd probably feel quite comfortable, so long as the army didn't have to invade a cold place with snow. Here in Hell, that wasn't a concern. But peacetime policy enforcement? This was not Adolf's strength.]_

"Offer a reward of a double promotion plus a free body adjustment for devils or demons who call in tips that lead to Lord Percy's capture."

"Jawohl, mein Führer," Adolf said and snapped off the accompanying salute. This would be the salute where people lifted their right hand as high as they possibly could, palm facing outwards.

Here's where it got a little tricky for poor old Adolf. He was accustomed to being the Führer. That meant when there was a salute, people would be saluting him. Thus, it seemed quite natural when he popped off the Sieg Heil salute to Satan, that his palm would be facing himself.

That didn't go over too well with Satan who outranked him by a considerable amount. It became very frosty in the office. Adolf didn't like frost. Didn't like it all.

"You have until Beezleday in two weeks to catch Lord Percy and, if you don't, it'll be D-Day for you."

Gadzooks. It was the World War II all over again and Adolf didn't have many fond memories of D-Day.

_[In the second world way, the Allies invaded France on D-Day. That was the beginning of the end for Adolf, the mortal. ]_

### # # # # # # # #

Reports about the posters in all of the PUS stations had already wound their way up to Lillian's office, which at the time was occupied by Prudence. She duly reported it to Lillian on her return from her cruise. Both Lillian and Joe-Joe had expected that Lord Percy would be removed from his post. They didn't expect him to go on a runner, or in this case a cloven hoof hot trot.

When the reward offer reached Lillian, she was surprised that Lord Percy was still at large. She was in a meeting with Prudence at the time, so she asked her if this reward was unusual.

"Lord Percy has been in Hell for a long time," Prudence started. "He would know a lot of hiding places. In the first days of his flight, he probably camped away from the populated areas. When he had to go into cities, he would have worn shoplifting clothes. Nobody would recognize him. A reward of this size is unusual and should be effective. Devils will start looking closely at any devil whose body and face are hidden. If Lord Percy is still in Hell, he'll be caught."

"How long before he's caught?"

"He won't be. He's probably on Earth now. He's smart. He would have snuck by the border patrol agents into Earth before the reward was offered. He'll be hard to catch now. All they have on Earth are hornographic cameras, which work only in the dark. If I were him, I'd be in my mortal disguise during the day and hidden away at night."

[ _Satan should have hired Prudence to catch Lord Percy_.]

"Will his delayed resignation affect us?"

"I don't see how."

...

"About your meeting with Winnie's grandfather," Lillian had been sitting on this irritant for a while now.

"She calls him Doc."

"You know that how?"

"I researched her. I like to know the angels that I work with."

"What makes you think you'll be working with Winnie?"

Prudence ignored the question. "When Winnie returns home on the weekend, she spends time with her grandfather trying to heal him. She watches him from Heaven and tracks how often he sleeps. The future did not look good for him. I put a note on his file that I was to be called if he appeared at the Sorting Station. Do you object to what I did?"

"I guess not. He's your responsibility though."

"If I'm going to have responsibilities in Heaven, I want a more modern name. _Prudence_ is so medieval."

"I'm not sure...."

"You gave yourself _Lillian_ to go with your _Brunhilda_ name."

"I did. Brunhilda was a very harsh name back then. It meant _armed for battle_. I still use it but I prefer _Lillian_."

"I'm not a _Prudence_."

"Prudence means good judgment."

"We both know that isn't me."

"Do you have another name in mind?"

"Keely."

"Irish?"

"Yes. It means _Brave Warrior_."

"It suits you."

"I'll be Prudence if we have to be formal here in Heaven. When I'm on assignment, I'll be Keely."

"Do you have any idea what assignment you want?"

"Not yet."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 3

Winnie was in Montana asking Granny about Doc.

"He's actually walking now? Like real walking?"

"Yes. He claimed that all he needed was fresh air and some fish to eat. Hank confirmed that he caught two fish on his trip and was more energetic afterwards. Now Doc is spending time in camp walking on the flat. He's also eating more and sleeping less. He's a different man now."

"That's really good news, Granny."

"I thought he was dying."

"So did I."

"He's planning to take more fishing trips to stock up on the fish. Would you be interested in going with him?"

"Me? Fishing? Getting slimy hands? Bathing in cold water? Wearing the same grungy clothes for days and days?"

"Yeah. I didn't figure you'd be interested. He won't let me come. Says that I boss him around too much."

"Well, if the ..."

"Don't say it, slimy fish hater."

### # # # # # # # #

"Are you sad that Honto is gone?"

Winnie and Reese were catching up. That catching up was being conducted on a mountainside in the Andes.

"I kinda liked her at first, but she was very bossy. Probably a little crazy too, what with all the talk about Zulu gods."

"Probably not a good fit then."

"Were you match-making?"

"Definitely not. I have enough trouble match-making for myself."

"You're dating?"

"I'm taking a break from dating. The last guy did not win me over."

"Because..."

"He tried to put his hands on me. I broke his wrist."

"Serves him right. How'd you learn how to do that?"

"I took some martial arts training from the security company I'm working for. It stopped me from being bored."

"I'm kinda bored. I don't have anything to do. We aren't at war, and I've gone as far as I can on my colours now that I have Honto's work."

"Will you finish your high school courses?"

"I'm not interested in them. I don't know when I'd ever use them."

"I thought you were going to do something in law."

"A stupid kid's dream."

"Theo is in university; Mathias just finished university. You're as smart as they are."

"Am I scrawny?"

"What?"

"Am I scrawny? Honto said that I was too scrawny to help her."

"Well, you have a slim build. That's because you don't work out."

"I bet you could throw me around now that you have your training."

"Momaka could teach you."

"Nah. I'm not an aggressive kind of guy."

"What are you good at? What do you like doing?"

"Nothing."

"Mac was telling me that Maddy is having trouble sticking to her running training now that Honto has gone. She might like your help."

"She'd be way better than me."

"She's 12, you're 17."

"Maddy hates to lose. She'd chew me up and spit me out."

"What can I do to help you, Reese?"

"Nothing."

"Don't you find it cold sitting on this mountain?"

"Great view."

"Do you sleep here too?"

"I have a camping spot out of the weather. Warm and dry."

"Do you go fishing for your food?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"Doc is back to fishing. He's getting healthier."

"I eat the ration foods I ate when I was flying the jumbo. Why?"

"I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine, Mom."

"That hurt."

"Do you want to see my camp? You'd like it."

"I doubt it. I'm not into camping in the rough and eating burnt fish."

"It has a great view."

"That, I'm into."

### # # # # # # # #

"I don't know how it got hollowed out. Some geological process, I guess."

"Does the cavern go back very far into the mountain?"

"No. Basically, what you see in front of you is it."

"It's small enough to keep the heat in from your campfire. Did you chop that wood yourself?'"

"I lasered it. I use the laser to start the fire too."

"You are so outdoorsy. That campfire won't work too well if you have a cold wind blowing in here. What are you? A mile high here?"

"Something like that. I'll find somewhere else to camp when that time comes."

"You're turning into a hermit, Reese."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Do you like being alone?"

"Very much so."

"Don't you get bored just sitting on a mountainside?"

"The world is a very scary place, Winnie. I don't think you realize that. I do because I can read colours."

"Where's this view that you've been talking about?"

"Wait ten minutes. The sun will shine directly into the cavern."

....

"You're right about it being beautiful. It's kind of eerie. All the colours shining and dancing around. Minerals in the rocks, perhaps?"

"I don't think so. The little breeze coming into the cavern blows up some dust and that makes the colours dance and shimmer."

"How long does the show last?"

"A couple of hours."

"I had a place that I could go to when when I was hurting. It had caves too. Beautiful colours. I'd just sit and watch them. It was mesmerizing."

"Do you think that I'm hurting?"

"Pulease. My troubles were from my break up with Arthur? Yours?"

"Nice try."

"Becoming a hermit isn't the answer, Reese."

"Nature good; people bad."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 4

Winnie was exasperated. There was no other way to describe her feelings. _Exasperated_ said it all in one word.

Arthur's body continued to disappoint. Actually, it was his face that disappointed. And, if you wanted to get specific, it was his mouth. Arthur's mouth continued to fail at the _pucker u_ p stage. Experienced kissers will understand that this stage is essential for satisfactory kissing. Otherwise, you knock teeth together. There are few things more off-putting when you're about to kiss than banging teeth together.

They had been practicing. They had been practicing a lot. He had actually made some progress. Arthur had graduated from being a dead fish to being a wet sponge. I'll pause for a second so that you can erase the mental and tactile impressions that just formed in your mind and your mouth about kissing wet sponges.

...

Winnie had been so disgusted with the wet sponge that she had privately decided to discontinue her schedule of puckering training. She was now virtually certain that Lillian was behind the _failure to pucker_ status that Arthur was stuck in. It was time to put a stop to her interference. But first, she wanted to get advice from Granny.

### # # # # # # # #

Doc saw Winnie approaching and scooted quickly into his recliner. He fastened a blanket securely around his body so that Winnie wouldn't be able to check on his heart. This activity caused him to fell immediately into a deep sleep, a condition that he was in when Granny came to the door to let Winnie in. That deep sleep wasn't as deep as Winnie might think. He was actually listening in on Winnie's conversation with Granny. Not that Doc was an overly curious person as far as his grandchildren were concerned. He was just reinforcing his poor health to the one person in the camp who could discover his secret.

"Reese was depressed, Granny. I have never seen him like that."

"Where is he now?"

"Camping out in the Andes. He's just sitting there in a cavern looking at dancing lights."

"We have to find something for him to do. And, we have to make sure he gets success from it."

"I've run out of ideas. I thought I'd ask you for advice."

"A girl friend would help. Anything there?"

"No. He's not doing anything where he'll meet anybody."

"He would at university."

"Not interested."

"That is certainly a dilemma."

"How's Doc?"

"Improving."

"I thought I'd check his heart."

"That would wake him up. Let's not do that. Yolanda might have some ideas. We should visit."

"Don't let her get on me about boyfriends."

"I'm supposed to be prying for her."

"Tell her I'm thinking about becoming gay."

"That won't stop her."

"I'm going to become a contract killer and my busy schedule won't allow me to have relationships with normal people."

"That'll do it."

### # # # # # # # #

Winnie's future as a contract killer was actually being discussed in Heaven that Saturday.

"We need help in the Angel of Death squad," Joe-Joe told Lillian what she already knew. "The new agreement with Hell will free us up to pursue some devils who have been flagrantly flaunting the agreement. Winnie showed that she was willing to kill if it meant justice."

"She can't sing a lick. She was lucky to be able to stay on beat with her tambourine when we were playing in Tofino."

"She could learn."

"Even if she could learn, which I doubt, we'd be losing a top strategist. She can't do both. The training is too intense for both positions. You'll have to find somebody else."

"I have a lead I can pursue. On another matter, I noticed that Winnie uses a very nice fragrant soap."

"Oh? I hadn't noticed."

"I found it interesting that when Arthur is all by himself, he's getting much better in controlling his new body. But, if I wave a concealed bar of Winnie's soap under his nose, he begins to slobber. I wonder why that would be. Any ideas?"

"We should look at that closely. Perhaps another visit to the hospital?"

"Or, I could tell Winnie to change her soap."

"I expect Arthur would probably develop some other allergy. Best that you leave things alone, Joe-Joe." _[In male-female conversations, this is known as a polite warning to butt out.]_

"Do you have any news on Lord Percy?" _[Joe-Joe could recognize polite warnings when he heard them. It was time to change the subject.]_

"Nothing that we can use. Meghan is collecting information from her spies daily. If Hell finds him, we'll know within twenty-four hours."

### # # # # # # # #

Back on Earth, Winnie had visited with her mom and had successfully blunted all her efforts to find out more about Arthur. Like Joe-Joe, Yolanda could recognize a polite warning too. Winnie's warning went like this. "Enough already with the prying. I'm going to visit William." That's where she was now.

"I was wondering if some enemy might develop new camera surveillance technology that we wouldn't be able to see. Something like our invisible drones, but we wouldn't know that we were being watched. Is that possible, do you think?"

"I suppose, Winnie. I just threw these drones together from my filaments. There could be an entirely different technology that could be used to mask a camera."

_[Winnie already had advanced technology in her angelic body that could identify security risks, but that wasn't good enough to find the cameras that she felt sure Lillian had installed on the ship in Heaven. If anybody could come up with a brand new spy camera, it would be William.]_

"If there were a new surveillance technology, could you come up with a way to detect it? Then we'd be able to find and destroy the camera. This might be useful to us."

"You want me to invent a new surveillance camera and then invent a way to beat it. Is somebody spying on you, Winnie?"

"I think so. In my office back where I work. I'm not in danger, William."

"Kind of creepy, though."

"Could be a practical joke."

"I don't know about inventing a new surveillance technology, but I can certainly invent something that would discover a hidden camera. Come back next Sunday."

### # # # # # # # #

Meanwhile, as soon as Winnie and Granny had left the house, Doc had used his recliner as a launching pad to go fishing at a certain fishing lake with a great view of Bonanza Peak. He left a note explaining his absence. He didn't want Granny becoming inquisitive and using his GPS location to find him and help him fish.

"Doc to Keely."

"Hiya, Doc. How's the new body working out for you."

"I feel great! I have to stop myself from running around and leaping into the air. How much did you have to change?"

"We decided to change everything. Lots of things were wearing out. I don't expect you want to hear a list. You're pretending to recover slowly, right?"

"Around camp, yes. But, I don't see any reason why I have to fake being old when I'm on my own. I'm ready to begin."

"Begin?"

"You said that you were changing my body so that I could help Heaven with a ticklish difficulty. I'm ready."

_[Keely had youthenized Doc's body because Winnie had sort of prayed for him to be healthy. Winnie had helped Heaven out on numerous occasions. It would seem ungrateful if Heaven didn't reciprocate. Keely had absolutely no job to offer to Doc.]_ "It will take some time for that opportunity to come open."

"What should I do until then?"

"Enjoy your new body."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 5

Maddy had returned from her training run, had a shower, and was now watching Mac as she was doing her own exercises.

"Mom, I was looking at my body in the shower."

"Do that now. You won't want to do that when you're my age."

"You know how you're not my birth mom."

"I give thanks daily."

"Mom, be serious."

"OK, I'll be serious." Mac stopped her exercises, took a healthy swig out of a water bottle, and looked at Maddy.

"If you were my birth mother, I'd know what I would look like when I got older. Right?"

"Probably."

"But you're not my birth mother. Other girls my age can look at their moms, I can't."

"Rest easy. You won't have this body."

"Mom!"

"I'm just saying that you'll be taller than me. I'm quite short."

"That's not the part of my body that I'm worried about."

"Oh. I get it now."

"Did you ever see my mom?"

"No. I don't think any of us saw her alive."

"I saw a picture of her when we were on the tour of the Royal Palace when we were in Scandinavia. She was blonde like me, but she had so many gowns on that I couldn't see her body at all." _[Trial by Nick, #11]_

"Would you like to see her alive? We can TiTr her."

"Can we do that?"

"Sure. You should have the right to see your birth mom."

"When?"

"Give me time to shower and we'll go."

### # # # # # # # #

Mac and Maddy were in Queen Freya's bedroom as Queen Freya went through her morning routine.

"Your mother was stunningly beautiful, Maddy."

"Are we being perverts watching her when she's naked like this?"

"She doesn't seem to be shy about her body. She's using those four mirrors to see everything." _[Bite Me! #9]_

"She looks kind of vain. Like she's so perfect and nobody else can compare."

"She wasn't a nice person, Maddy. That's what happens when you are raised to be rich and royal with servants to do everything for you. I heard that she became a good mother to you. She didn't have a chance to be a better mom or a person because of Prince Wilhelm. He murdered your grandparents and he indirectly murdered your mom."

"I remember most of that operation. We gave him justice, right?"

"That we did. What do you think of your mom's body? She's somewhat small on top."

"That's a relief actually. I was getting worried."

"You were worried that you were becoming too big on top? Really?"

"Mom, Momaka said that big boobs could get in the way when I'm fighting. I'm not worried any more."

"I'm glad that you don't want to be big. Not very many moms would have this experience. I should count myself lucky."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 6

It's the next weekend and Winnie was back in William's lab looking at his new device to discover hidden cameras.

"I didn't have time to disguise this."

"That's fine. When I use it, I'll be alone. It looks like a large flashlight."

"It is on the outside. Push the button like you would with a flashlight and shine it at the place where you think there's a camera. I've hidden an active drone in the lab for you to find."

"Like this?"

"Move the light around slowly so that it's not shining steadily in one spot."

"Like this?"

"Yes. "

"The flashing light is the got'cha signal, right?"

"Yes. Now push the button a second time and the beam will become very narrow. To find the precise location of the camera, move towards the spot. If you move off line, the light will stop flashing. If you go back on line, the light will keep flashing."

...

"It's on the bottom shelf."

"That's right. Any camera, even an invisible one, will be a physical object. Keep the narrow beam focused on the spot, walk up to it, and feel around."

"Got it."

"Push the button a third time, and the flashlight goes off. The beauty of this tool is that it acts like a flashlight. Nobody will know that you have a hidden camera detector inside of it."

"How does it work?"

"All cameras have lenses. When the beam of light hits the lens of a hidden camera, the light will bounce back, but at a different angle than it would if it didn't have a lens to refract it. The battery is solar powered. Keep it in the sunlight to charge."

"That won't be a problem where I work."

"Where do you work, Winnie?"

"Some place sunny. Thanks, William."

"Top secret?"

"A secret, but only that I had asked you to develop it. I don't want Mom worrying about some guy spying on me. If the Wilizy need a tool like this, feel free to invent it."

"It could come in handy if we can't use TG to check out security for us. He actually might find this easier to use."

...

"If some guy is bothering you, Winnie, I can weaponize this."

"Would the weapon in the flashlight be better than the weapons in our slings?"

...

"Yes, it would be better in some respects. It would be an entirely different type of weapon. You've given me a good idea, Winnie. I could also miniaturize it so you could hide it inside your hand."

"Tell me more."

### # # # # # # # #

Let's shift continents now. Granny had agreed with Doc that a visit to Australia was in order, seeing as how nobody was living in Granny and Doc's house there except Cassie. Perhaps it was time to sell it? But then, where would Cassie haunt? Doc had wanted to go just to see how Cassie was doing now that she had graduated from her online law program. Ghosts can study 24 hours a day, so she had whipped through the degree and had impressed her professors considerably in the process.

The absence of a body was a hurdle that Cassie was struggling with right now.

"I want to practice law in a courtroom, but it's impossible for me to appear in public. I might be able to work for a law firm doing research from the house, but I'd need a good excuse why I couldn't come to meetings. I could teach online, I suppose, but that's not what I want to do. If I had a body, I could create my own law firm and operate it out of the house."

"I won't sell the house, then. You could use it as a home base for your research."

"Did anybody or anything ever accuse you of murdering a bunch of perverts?" Doc asked.

"No. I do wonder why I'm still here."

"It's good to have goals," Doc continued. "Pretend that you have a body. You are a real live lawyer that people can see. What would you be doing right now if you could?"

"I'd be prosecuting perverts who prey on young girls."

"You'd be good at that."

"I'd be able to arrange for their deaths legally."

"Amen to that," Doc said.

"Amen?" Granny asked. "I've never heard you say that before."

"I don't know where that came from," Doc lied. "Weird."

### # # # # # # # #

Back in North America, a heavily disguised Winnie walked into the WC&D store in Calgary, approached the pharmacist counter, pointed, and flashed ten fingers.

"You want ten boxes of these?" the pharmacist asked in some surprise. "That's a lot!"

Winnie nodded and turned away so that he couldn't look her at while he wrapped up her purchase. She dropped some Klabooies onto the counter and then walked out of the store as quickly as she could. _I will never wear this mortal body again_ , she reminded herself and then flew off to Heaven to do a little decorating.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 7

It's Monday, the day after Winnie went to the pharmacist: Lillian was at her boards, checking the status of some ongoing operations. One light was flashing red. It shouldn't have been flashing anything. She quickly checked on Arthur's location, but he was in London with Paula as he should have been. That left Winnie who was on the ship after returning from her weekend leave. Lillian checked the interior of the ship, swore none too delicately, and disappeared. _[Yes, Lillian swore when provoked.]_

The first thing that Lillian saw when she landed on the Wilizy/America deck was a big cardboard sign with a red arrow pointing up at the main mast. The words, _This way to Lillian's camera_ were printed in caps on the sign. Another sign was attached to the mast. A sign with the words, _This is Lillian's camera,_ was attached right next to where she had hidden her top secret, nobody must know about this, camera.

The news didn't get any better inside the ship.

Again, cardboard signs pointed to the camera she had hidden in the galley. And, all around the galley and the living room, balloons tied with red ribbon were floating in the air. Except they weren't balloons. Well, they could be used as balloons, but their primary purpose was to prevent women from swelling up like balloons, if you get my drift.

Winnie was sitting in an armchair in her mortal body, looking none too pleased. "I found two of your cameras," she declared, in case Lillian hadn't figured that out yet.

"So, that's where I put them," Lillian said. "I was wondering where they went. I'll collect them and take them back to the office."

"Why don't you retrieve them after you tell me why you've been so mean to me and Arthur."

"Has Arthur seen the condoms?"

"Not yet."

"Are you planning on taking one of them for a trial run?"

"I could do that. I have plenty stashed away. Tell me why I shouldn't."

"Arthur's body is not ready for that. You'll be disappointed."

"I put some of my own drones in the ship so that I could observe Arthur as he got used to his new body. I gave him some exercises to do."

"Kissing practice."

"No. That clearly was beyond him. I gave him some yoga exercises so that he could stretch his new muscles. Funniest thing. He was doing great in his new body except when I was in the ship. Whenever I got near him, he turned into a drooling sponge. I figure you had something to do with that."

...

"I didn't want to have sex with him, Lillian. I'm too young for that. I did want to kiss him. Why did you stop us? What's wrong with us kissing? Full truth this time."

"You will have to know sooner or later. It might as well be now."

### # # # # # # # #

"You aren't kidding me? There actually is a United Federation of Planets? I made that up."

"The real organization isn't named the _United Federation of Planets_. But, there is an organization of planets that follow an agreed upon set of rules on how planets should interact with other planets. The organization is called the _Cosmos._ The Cosmos ensures that rogue planets do not threaten our complex and orderly universe. One way to do that is to ensure that no planet can join the Cosmos if that planet was likely to bring disorder and danger to all. Right now, a Cosmos space ship is orbiting Earth and monitoring human behaviour. If Earth ever becomes civilized, it will be allowed to join."

"That's exactly what I imagined with Truth who took the form of a bright light!" _[Trial by Nick, book # 11]_

"Yes. This kind of planetary supervision is absolutely necessary. The name of the supervising organization translates to _the Cops of the Cosmos._ "

"What's their space ship called?"

"Enterprise."

"You gotta be kidding me. Enterprise, as in Captain Jane T. Kirk's ship? Star Trek was real?"

"No. Not at all. Star Trek was a very entertaining and fully fictional TV show. Many angels tuned in every week to watch it. All of the crew of the Cops of the Cosmos watched it. There were elements where fiction and fact came very close to each other. The real Cops of the Cosmos loved it so much that they renamed their ship _Enterprise_. The current ship is Enterprise.3."

"No Kirk? No Spock?"

"No. The current captain is Harry and he's a dolphin. Their equivalent to a science officer is a sea otter. Enterprise.3 has been designed to have a marine mammal environment."

"And they are there to determine if Earth is ready to be accepted into the Cosmos?"

"Yes, partly. And partly to mediate when Heaven and Hell are unable to agree on how to solve conflicts. There is a very detailed treaty that we agree to abide by. When one party breaks the agreement, we can call in the Cops of the Cosmos to mediate. That's what I was doing while you were taking care of the Duke of Earl. I was negotiating a new treaty under which Heaven would have more resources to fund our Guardian Angel program. Lord Percy agreed to this. Afterwards he had to flee to Earth to escape Satan's wrath."

"Lord Percy is on Earth? Do you know where?"

"I know where he's not."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I know what I'm doing and you don't know what I'm doing. If everything comes together, Lord Percy's attempt to take over Hell will give me more negotiating power over Hell. I can get them to agree to something that they won't want to agree to. But I can't manage my operation with confidence if you are going to go off on your own and make decisions to change your assignment at the last minute. Did you do that when you ran operations for the Wilizy?"

"No."

"You could have ruined my operation. Yes, your idea was great. But, what I was negotiating would change the whole balance of power between Heaven and Hell forever. I can't have you operating solo like that. So, I've been stopping you from getting what you want, namely kisses with Arthur. And I'm grounding you here in Heaven so that you can't foul up a ticklish operation by going solo. No operations for you."

"How long am I grounded?"

"That depends on you. I can't have you and Arthur in a sexual relationship. The Cops of the Cosmos already know about the mortal you. They must not learn that you are living in Heaven and operating in Hell. Humans are not supposed to know about Heaven and Hell, and you certainly are not supposed to be jumping into bed with Arthur."

"Medical reasons!"

"True to an extent. But you were at the start of a slippery slope. That's why I put the cameras in here."

"I didn't find any in the bedroom."

"I respect your right to a certain degree of privacy. Beside, if you ever fall into the trap of going further than kissing, the signs will be evident here in the ship. Arthur will give you away. He won't know what hit him."

"Is this the way it will always be? The two of us wanting to be a couple, but not being able to?"

...

"I have a relationship, of sorts, with Joe-Joe."

"We noticed that on the beach. But the two of you are angels. I'm mortal and Arthur is an angel."

"Joe-Joe was a mortal when he started to work for Heaven."

? ! ? ! ?

"You said one time that there had been only one successful mortal-angel team in the history of Heaven."

"Joe-Joe and I were that team."

"So, is it possible for Arthur and me to be together romantically?"

"It's remotely possible."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 8

The day after Winnie had been grounded in Heaven, Doc was visiting Kashmira in her new home in Montana. Kashmira had been sitting on the floor in an empty living room, staring at the walls when Doc knocked. Their conversation to this point had taken half an hour during which Doc had managed to ask only a few questions. It's been a while since my readers have seen Kashmira in action. _[Wheelchair Moccasins, Book #10]_ I'll just remind you that she had strong emotions and let it go at that that. Remember though that she and Doc had a very special relationship. She had been very close to him.

"I thought that recording songs would give you something to do," Doc introduced a new topic.

"I like to sing, but I want to sing for a reason, not to have it recorded for some anonymous person to listen to. I like giving concerts because I know that people are enjoying them."

"But you said that they're dangerous for you."

"I'm able to sleep now, but I have nothing to do during the day."

"We aren't at war, so you can't help out there."

"Mathias wants to get married, but I don't know. I don't feel like marriage anymore. Or children. I don't think that I'm a mom-type person. Yolanda is so nice. I couldn't be like her."

"Why'd you change your mind? I thought marriage would be automatic as soon as you turned 18."

"Mathias and I went to Maasin City to talk to Materfamilias about having the marriage service in the church, but she was dead. Somebody had killed her in the church in front of everybody. A new crime boss had taken over the city and he wanted the land that I had given to the church. Materfamilias was in the way. Everything else that I had given to the city was stolen after that. When I found out, I wanted to kill everybody in the crime family as well as the new mayor who had turned his back on the murder. Mathias talked me out of it. According to the laws that the new police in Maasin City were following, I would be guilty of murder. The Wilizy family wouldn't be able to help us because what the crime men did wasn't against any of the city's new laws."

"And since then?"

"I can't go into a church any more without seeing Materfamilias' body. I can't get married outside of a church. Mathias knows how I feel and says that I'll get over it. He says he can wait."

"But you won't get over it because..."

"I can't do anything about Materfamilias."

"What if I had something that would help you feel better?"

"Would Materfamilias get justice?"

"Perhaps. I can't say yet. There'd be some time travel. You'd enjoy that."

### # # # # # # # #

_Permission to approach the camp, Reese?_

_Doc? What are you doing here?_

_Looking for a fishing partner. May I come into your cavern?_

_I guess._

...

"How'd you find me?"

"The GPS on your sling. I haven't seen you around camp. I thought I'd see if you wanted to go fishing with me."

"Did Winnie ask you to check up on me?"

"Winnie? No. She hasn't talked with me at all. Why would she want me to check up on you?"

"There'd be no reason, but you know Winnie. She's becoming more and more like Mom. Worrying about me."

"Personally, I like to be left alone a lot. Granny worries about me all the time. I wish that she wouldn't do that. Sometimes, I have to get away. I say that it's for fishing, but actually, I like to be alone."

"There's nothing wrong with a little solitude."

"You're a man after my own heart, Reese. So, why'd you decide to camp in the cavern?"

"Wait for the sun to get a little lower."

### # # # # # # # #

"These are amazing colours, Reese. I see why you would like it here. How long will they last?"

"Another hour roughly. I expect it depends on the season and how high the sun gets. I haven't been here long enough to figure that out."

"Can a wood fire keep the cavern warm enough at this altitude?"

"For now it does. I'll go somewhere else when it becomes colder."

"You'll still help with Wilizy operations though, right? You can tell when people are lying now, right?"

"Yes, to both questions. I need a day between hearing something and then determining if it were a lie or not. Colour locations in the aura may change and I know how to interpret them now."

"So, you can't be an immediate lie detector."

"Winnie can do that. The Wilizy don't need me for anything other than looking for evil people."

"That means that you don't have a lot to do when we're not in a war."

"I don't have a lot to do when we are in a war, Doc. You know that."

"Weren't you planning to become a court justice?"

"Silly dream."

"What if it weren't a silly dream? Would you be interested in being a justice in a top secret operation?"

"How top secret?"

"Small team. Nobody else in the Wilizy would know."

"You think you can get away with that with all the nosy women in camp?"

"I do believe I can. None of the women like to fish, so when I go fishing, there's nobody to report back to Gossip Central."

"Who would I be judging?"

"Evil people."

"Evil people are easier to deal with than good people."

"You lost me on that one, Reese."

"Good people can be bad if you get in their way."

"Still not understanding."

"I'll join your secret op, Doc."

"That, I understand."

"Will I have to leave this cavern?"

"Perhaps. But, I want you to do something for yourself."

"What?"

"Engage your mind in something. You can't sit around day dreaming your every waking minute."

"I bet there are some law courses, I could take. If I'm going to be a justice now, I should know what I'm doing."

"I think I know somebody who can help you with that. I'll be back."

"You won't be fishing here?"

"I have a favorite lake. I'll fish there."

### # # # # # # # #

"Doc to Keely"

"Hiya, Doc."

"Do you know how to fish, Keely?"

"I love fishing. But, no killing or eating."

"What? Why not?"

"Fish Heaven gets upset when angels do that."

"There's a Fish Heaven?"

"I'm yanking your chain, Doc. Small wood fire, iron spit turning the fish over the coals. That's my fish heaven."

"Come on down. We can talk and fish."

"But not at the same time. There are rules."

"Will you want a rod, Keely?"

"That wouldn't be fair to the fish now, would it?"

### # # # # # # # #

Lillian and Keely were in conversation about Doc's idea that he had pitched to her that afternoon.

"What was the ghost's mortal name?" Lillian asked

"Cassie Jaitmatang. She was born February 19, 2037 and was murdered May 3, 2052. She was a victim of child perversion. She spent the first part of her afterlife haunting the house where she was murdered. She managed to kill most of the men who had been responsible. I got the sense that the Wilizy helped her on that, although Doc was evasive when I raised the subject. She has spent the last few years taking on-line lawyer courses. Doc wants us to give her a body so that she can make use of her law degree."

"And help him out on this plan of his," Lillian observed

"Yes. Do we have a record of her?" Keely asked.

...

"I see the birth," Lillian noted. "Nothing after that. She would be 55 if she had lived, so there are no red flags of her living way beyond her age. I think the system lost her. That happens with spirits."

"How so?"

"Some spirits hang on so hard to their mortal surroundings that the normal process of converting the mortal into a soul and sending it on its way to the sorting station can't happen. When they get tired of haunting, the normal process takes over. At least, that's the current thinking. We don't understand spirits all that much. Nobody in Heaven is managing the spirit-to-soul conversion process at all. Hell is swamped so it doesn't care."

"Would she pass the HEE?"

"I'm hesitant to check. That would create an entry in the database and I'm not sure that she would pass given her murders."

"Justified murders."

"I wouldn't want to test that. If she's allowed to gain some HEE points, that would neutralize those killings whether they were just or not. I did the same thing with Paula."

"Can I give her a mortal body then? Like Paula?"

"Yes, put her in a semi-mortal guardian angel body with functioning digestive organs, but she'll still have the ability of a spirit to travel instantaneously. Let her pick what her mortal body will look like."

"What about Doc's plan?"

"It has some gaping holes in it."

"They'll find those holes when they work their first operation. Doc is smart and he'll take care of the other three. He wants to contribute before he dies for real. I think we should approve the plan."

"OK, but keep an eye on Reese. The Cops of the Cosmos know about him and I assured them that he is no longer a threat to mortals discovering that Heaven and Hell exist. How was your fishing trip?"

"Bleaah. Slimy fish bodies, smoke in my eyes for hours, half cooked and half burnt flesh. I don't see how men can enjoy this so much. I'm going to put in for danger pay."

"Denied. That's what you get for lying that you loved fishing."

Back to the Table of Contents

#  Chapter 9

Adolf was running out of time to track down Lord Percy. In spite of the offer of a two promotion jump, no leads had surfaced that panned out. In spite of hundreds of devils analyzing hornocratic camera feeds from Earth, Lord Percy remained uncaught. Satan gave Adolf a deadline. Capture him by this coming Beezleday, May 25.

That deadline had reached Heaven and it prompted Lillian to remove Winnie from her bad books. To get reinstalled in Lillian's good books, she gave Winnie a simple one line goal for her operation: Goad Hitler into making a mistake that would give Heaven some leverage in future negotiations of the Heaven/Hell peace treaty.

Winnie was reinstalled as the strategist for the Winnie-Paula-Arthur team. Lillian chose London as the place where Lord Percy would be found hiding. She chose London because Heaven had a protected institution there. Being intended strictly for sick children, the London Children's Hospital was considered a no-entry zone for any devils or demons. Safeguards were in place in case any devil overstepped. On Beezleday, those safeguards would be led by Sir Galahad who had been included in the planning meetings.

Central London was a high volume devil zone because London was still a financial center for that part of the world. A financial center meant banks, and lots of them. Banks meant devils and lots of them. London's main financial centre was at Canary Wharf, which used to be on the Isle of Dogs, which was mostly surrounded by the Thames River. When the Thames River was diverted away from London in the 2030s, all of the city of London with its famous buildings was preserved from the rising water and that included Canary Wharf. The tallest building in Canary Wharf was still _One Canada Square_. It also had the deepest basement. By deep, I mean extremely deep. Hell's largest PUS station in this part of the world was in that deep basement. The Children's Hospital was two blocks east.

Being England, and therefore being the home to somewhat batty people, the financiers of London wore distinctive uniforms that had been worn for decades and decades, albeit with some stylistic changes. Black shoes, three piece or two-piece suits, a white shirt, a tie, a bowler hat, and an umbrella were standard fare for men. Women had the same choice but could replace the pants with a skirt. You'll notice the dominance of the black and red colours, which further reveals the prevalence of devils in the finance industry. Arthur gave himself a mortal body wearing a two-piece black suit, white shirt, red tie, black bowler hat, and black umbrella. He also gave himself a face that was very sought after right now.

On Wednesday, Arthur strolled through Jubilee Park and passed right in front of a devil sitting on a bench ogling a woman who also wore similar uniforms as the men but she had bare legs showing. Winnie was sitting on that devil's shoulder. _That looked like Lord Percy_ , she sent. The devil's head snapped around but Winnie's message had been too late, as intended. By the time the devil reacted, Lord Percy had disappeared inside the park somewhere. The devil sent his sighting to the tip line where it disappeared into a morass of tips from devils looking for a two position promotion. Wednesday night, Meghan reported that no action has been taken.

On Thursday, Winnie was sitting on a devil's shoulder in the Churchill Mall Shopping Center when Arthur strolled by. This time, she warned the devil earlier but not on time. The devil was getting up to follow Lord Percy when he disappeared into the crowd. Again, the devil reported his finding. Thursday night, Meghan reported that an SSS devil would be viewing Hell's hornographic cameras in the Canary Wharf district live on Friday.

Unfortunately, their cameras were next to useless outside in the daylight. No sightings were made on Friday. Probably because Lord Percy wasn't there and coincidentally, neither was Arthur.

On Saturday, the camera in the foyer of the One Canada Square building caught an image of a devil that looked remarkably like Lord Percy. He was sitting in an easy chair with a gift-wrapped package on his lap. He arrived at 11:55 and spent the hour scanning the crowd. At 1 pm promptly, he rose and disappeared out of camera view.

### # # # # # # # #

Beezleday, 11:30 am. One Canada Place, Canary Wharf, London. Last possible day for Hitler to capture Lord Percy.

Paula: _Hitler has arrived in London's PUS station and is waiting on the platform. He has four goons with him._

Winnie: _Arthur, are you sitting in the foyer?_

Arthur: _Yes._

Winnie: _Sir Galahad?_

Sir Galahad: _Ready, but in hiding._

Winnie: _Rest easy. They won't move until at least noon._

...

At 12:05, Hitler and his four goons stood on the up escalator to the exit.

Paula: _They're coming up._

Winnie: _Quiet on the set. Lights, cameras, and action._

Sir Galahad: _Cameras are on at the hospital._

Winnie: _Paula, you can get into position now_.

...

Hitler sent Goon #1 to peer into the foyer. Lord Percy was there with the gift-wrapped parcel on his knees. Goon #1 motioned to Hitler and the others, but unfortunately, that movement attracted Lord Percy's attention. Eyes met eyes. Lord Percy rose and fled the building still carrying the gift-wrapped parcel. For a moment, Percy was out of sight, as planned.

As Hitler and the three goons entered the foyer, Winnie perched on goon #1's shoulder and began sending messages: _He's escaping, hurry, hurry, hurry. Satan will have your horns if you lose him._

The race was on with Goon #1 frantically trying to catch up to the receding black suited backside scurrying away. Seconds later, Arthur was back in the building and added his own frantic messages to Goon #2 who was now outside the building. Hitler trailed the field where maniacal dictators are wont to position themselves.

_He's escaping. Hurry, hurry, hurry!_

_Satan will have your horns if you lose him._

Goons #1 and #2 were closing the gap. Lord Percy turned the corner, sprinted through the open doors of a large building, and shoved the doors closed on his way by. That slowed the goons down, but not enough for them to lose sight of him. Lord Percy turned right down a hallway. Goons #1 and #2 heard a door slam shut. There was only one closed door in that hallway. Goon #1 tried to turn the knob. Locked.

_Break the door down. Quick. He could be getting out a window._

_Break the door down. Satan will have your horns if you lose him._

Hitler and his two other goons arrived as #1 and #2 were slamming themselves into a door that was remarkably resilient.

"He's escaping through a window," one of them explained. "Check the outside."

One of them turned to do that but he ran into a white brick wall. Well, the wall wasn't made of brick, but it was certainly white.

Four big burly men were blocking their way out of the small hallway. They were wearing white shoes, a white suit, and a white shirt. The tie was blue, as was the badge on the suit that said _Children's Hospital Security_. The Tasers that they produced from inside their suit were black. _[Winnie wanted them to be in blue but they didn't come in that colour.]_

"Freeze," an authoritarian voice said. At the same time, Winnie and Arthur messaged _Oh, Oh_ to the goons.

"Who is in charge here?" Sir Galahad demanded to know.

Hitler stepped forward. He and Sir Galahad exchanged sniffs. Good thing they weren't dogs. It could have been embarrassing.

"You have broken into the London Hospital for Children which is a devil-free zone. To make things worse you are attempting to break down the door to a holy place."

Everybody looked at the sign on the door. _Hospital Chapel._

"This hallway is monitored 24/7. You are on camera now. Explain yourself."

Hitler tried to persuade Sir Galahad that they were pursuing a fugitive from Hell, and they would gladly leave the premises once that chapel door was opened and the traitor Lord Percy was in their custody. They didn't intend to invade a devil-free zone, but they really did need to return the traitor to Hell. He didn't say _pretty, please_ , but he came close.

Poor old Sir Galahad appeared to be in a quandary. It seemed like a reasonable request. Traitors are bad for both afterlives. No damage had actually been done. "Step aside," Sir Galahad ordered the devils and knocked on the door. "Hospital Security," he said in a loud voice. "I'm coming in alone."

His key worked way better than crashing bodies did.

A few minutes later.

"Are you sure that a Lord Percy is in this room and that he's a traitor wanted in Hell?"

"We're sure," Hitler assured.

"I will open the door for one of you to look in. Everybody else has to step back."

...

Sir Galahad and Hitler stood together at the entrance to the chapel. "I'm opening the door now," Galahad shouted through the door. "Stand where you can be seen."

Hitler was reassured by what he saw. Black shoes, two piece black suit, red tie, and black bowler. The face looked somewhat similar to what had been plastered throughout PUS. A little thinner perhaps.

"Please take off your bowler hat," Galahad requested.

Lord Percy did and revealed a mass of tight red curls on his head, like what a woman would have.

"Please remove your suit jacket."

Yup, definitely a woman.

"I will be reporting to Heaven that five devils tried to kidnap a mortal woman this day from a chapel inside a devil free zone," Galahad's tone indicated that somehow this was a bad thing.

"How do we know that she's a mortal? She could be an angel in disguise."

"Ma'am, would you come to the doorway please. This man will not touch you, but he wishes to smell what perfume you might be wearing."

"I'm not wearing any perfume," Paula said.

Hitler agreed. Paula did not smell of cinnamon. He didn't know that spirits didn't smell of anything. "What's in the box?" he asked in desperation.

Paula walked back into the room and returned carrying the gift-wrapped box. _[Definitely a woman; no man could walk like that.]_

"A man in my building has been making improper advances. He sent me this box of chocolates. I am trying to return them to him during lunch hour. So far, I haven't seen him." Paula opened the gift box. Definitely chocolates. From the WC&D store in Saskatoon if you need to know.

_Cut and print. Well done, everybody._

Later that evening, Lillian lodged a formal complaint complete with video evidence that five devils tried to kidnap a mortal woman from a children's hospital chapel in London. Hitler didn't have much to say in his defense. Not having a living face attached to his dead body probably was the reason for that.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 10

"MOM, I WENT TO QUIT THE CADETS!"

It was afternoon and Maddy had dropped that bombshell as she entered the house after school was out. Since Mac was in her bedroom at the back of the house at the time that Maddy expressed her wishes at the front of the house, Maddy seemed to be quite firm on leaving. Mac dug out the carton of hot chocolate that could only be used in emergencies and waited for Maddy to change clothes. Then she entered Maddy's bedroom. Maddy was lying half upright on her bed; her face was frozen in determination. Mac sat at the end of the bed.

"Tell me what happened."

"I hate being with boys."

"Go on."

"They're always looking at me. If I bend over, some guy will try to see up my skirt. If I lean over, some guy will try to see down my blouse. I'm wearing sweat top and sweat pants during PT now."

"Has any of them touched you?"

"Not with their hands. But they touch me with their eyes. Some guy is always watching me. Why do they have to do that?"

"They're going through puberty. We talked about that. Some of them can't control themselves. Some of them can, but think that you won't notice them looking."

"How can they be so dumb! Of course, I know. It's like my butt and my boobs have targets pasted on them. Mom, I want out of the cadets!"

"Then that's what we'll do, Sweetie."

"When?"

"You're out now. We'll talk tonight about where you'll get your education."

### # # # # # # # #

"Your dad and I don't want you getting your education from online courses. You should be with people. That means that you'll have to leave the cadet camp for your schooling. Are you prepared to do that?"

This was a kitchen table conference, which meant it was serious. All the kiddies were in bed. Wolf and Mac were both there.

"Yes," Maddy said. "I don't want to do online."

"You can't live my yourself," Wolf stipulated. "It's not that we don't trust you, but allowing our 12 year old daughter to live by herself in a strange place would disqualify us from the Parent of Year awards."

Mac had told Wolf that when Maddy was close to crying, her eyes would stop moving. Maddy's eyes had frozen solid when she sat down at the table. He was trying to keep things light.

"I know. I don't want to live on my own."

"We have a number of options," Mac started. "Theo is still in university in Toronto and he and Nary are living in the Wilizy/Asia. They have agreed to you living in the ship with them. Nary doesn't cook much and Theo is too busy. They can buy you a pass to the university's cafeteria. You could pick the middle school that you want to attend in Toronto. There are a lot of schools. Toronto is a big city. You may feel anxious about that."

"Or," Wolf optioned. "Bean has graduated from her first responder course in Toronto and she and Cowboy are moving back to Montana. Cowboy has started a new job as the Police Captain at Billings, Montana. Bean is interviewing for a job in the health clinic that they have there. Billings is the largest city in Montana and they have two middle schools. The sheriff gets a free house and they have an extra bedroom. They are willing to take you as a _ward_."

"What's that?"

"It means that they are designated as your parents when you are living with them. They have the authority to make decisions that your dad and I would make, like schooling and emergency health. Both of them are good people. We'd make the same arrangement with Theo and Nary."

"When do I have to decide?"

"It's almost the end of May. Once you've decided, we will enroll you in an elementary school in either Toronto or Billings for the last weeks of the school year. They will see how much you have learned in your school here and, if you pass some tests, they will graduate you to a middle school in September. You'll have a couple of weeks to get to know some of the children who will be in your classes in the middle school. Lylah says that you won't have any trouble passing the tests. Don't rush your decision, but do give us a little bit of time to get you into a Toronto or a Billings school. Do you want to talk about this some more?"

"No."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 11

It was near the end of May when Doc received a surprise visitor at his lakeside fish dispensary. One minute he was alone, the next minute a good-looking young woman was standing next to him. All of her skin was very black. He knew all of her skin was very black because he could see all of it. If it hadn't been for his new heart, Doc could have died and gone to Heaven right then.

"Hi Doc," she greeted.

Doc hyperventilated for a bit.

"Don't you recognize me?"

"No. I would have remembered meeting you."

"How gallant." Then she disappeared.

"Over here," she called from the middle of the lake.

Doc looked and returned her wave.

"Over here," she called from his camp. The lake water had beaded up very bead-like on her skin.

"Cassie?"

"I have a body!"

"I noticed that. Did it come with a set of clothes?" _[Doc was a little old fashioned.]_

"I can have any clothes that I want. Right now, I want to feel the air and water on my skin. I'm going swimming. Are you going to join me? No bathing suits are allowed."

Turns out that Doc wasn't as old fashioned as we might have expected.

### # # # # # # # #

"I thought it was a dream at first," Cassie explained over the campfire dinner. Since Cassie hadn't tasted food for decades, she didn't have the same reaction to campfire cooked fish that other women of a more dainty persuasion might have expressed previously. Oh, and yes, she was now clothed. Something about sparks from the fire might have had a hand in that decision.

"I could hear voices talking to me, but I couldn't see anything, and I couldn't move."

"Talking about what?"

"Talking about my body. How somebody had been watching me when I was a ghost and they were impressed with how I had taken so many courses. They were giving me a mortal body as a reward. I got to choose what my body looked like. I asked them to make me look like myself but grown up now. They said they'd make me look 21."

"Was that it?"

"No, way more. My body was 'fully functional' which I took to mean that it has a heart, stomach, and digestive stuff. But, the brains in the body are entirely mine. I have all my memories and all of what I learned in my courses. I also remember all of the places that I visited as a ghost and I can go anywhere I had visited as a ghost instantly. I thought of you and here I am."

"Now what?"

"I don't know exactly. They didn't say what I was supposed to do. Essentially, I'm still dead but I have a fake body. Somebody will be watching me to see if I deserve to go to Heaven. I know that they knew about my revenge murders because they asked me about them. I told them why I had suffocated those men. I think they expect me to use my legal knowledge now."

"You could use Granny's house to start up a practice."

"Well, it's kind of remote, and it's very lonely there. I think I'd like to be near more people."

"I know of something that you could do with me. It's a project to keep me busy."

"I'd like that. Could you tell me about it after we have more fish? I sort of forgot to chew the last one."

"Sure, we have plenty."

"Do you think you could cook them more evenly this time?"

_[Atta girl, Cassie. Welcome to the female gender.]_

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 12

Meghan was meeting with Joe-Joe, Lillian, and Keely in Joe-Joe's lab. Also present were Arthur, Paula, and Winnie. It was a few days after Hitler had been de-faced. Meghan was reporting what her spies had found in various wastebaskets.

"Satan has assigned a devil named Charles Ponzi to find Lord Percy and destroy him, outside of Hell if possible. I'm not familiar with this devil."

"Have your spies heard anything about demons or devils being withdrawn from Earth? Our new agreement with Hell requires them to have one shoulder demon to every five mortals. They will find that hard to do."

"No, Lillian. No news of that."

"Who is Ponzi?" Winnie asked.

Keely had the answer. "As a mortal, he invented the Ponzi scheme in which investors were duped into buying investment that didn't exist. As more and more investors were duped into giving him more money to invest, Ponzi gave some of the money to the early investors, thereby proving that his fake investments were working. That 'proof' enabled him to entrap more investors. A single Ponzi scheme can entrap hundreds of investors who lose everything. For it to work, the swindler has to leave suddenly taking all of the money with him."

"Did he get away with it?" Arthur asked.

"No. Criminals who prey on investors fall prey themselves to always trying to get richer and richer. Ponzi was caught, died, and went to Hell. When he arrived, Satan promoted him directly into the hornocracy. No torture pits for Charles Ponzi. He started work in the Direct Crimes sindustry, specifically in the Financial Institutions Directorate. That directorate is tasked with creating mayhem by causing stock markets to fail and encouraging all sorts of criminal behaviour that made investment bankers enormously wealthy. He had worked his way to the head of that department when I had to leave."

Lillian added some insight. "In case you don't know this, Satan was originally a banker. So was Lord Percy. Hitler failed to find Lord Percy because he was in the SSS and the secret service does not have the mind set to catch financial crooks. Ponzi will know how Lord Percy thinks better than the military minds. Was he put in charge of the SSS, Meghan?"

"No. I believe his sole focus is to catch Lord Percy."

Lillian ended the meeting with these assignments. "Paula, I want you in Hell from now on. Find where Ponzi is working and listen in to all of his planning meetings. Report back as necessary. Meghan, I need to know what Hell plans do with their demons and devils in the field. Forget about Ponzi, Paula has that covered. Talk to your spies. Arthur and Winnie, you're on leave. Stay in Heaven."

### # # # # # # # #

_Arthur and Winnie, you're on leave. Stay in Heaven._

This was a private code between Lillian and Winnie that was part of the agreement under which Lillian removed her secret cameras from the ship permanently. She also removed the conditioning that gave Arthur's body a drool-fest whenever Winnie was in the vicinity. If she gave the two of them leave with instructions to stay in heaven, romantic interludes of a limited nature on the ship were allowed. Such interludes were not allowed anywhere else in Heaven, Hell, or Earth. If Winnie was not on a special Heaven-based leave, she had to be completely focused on her job with no romantic thoughts clouding her judgment.

In return, Winnie would take on more responsibilities in Heaven. She still could visit her family, but Arthur would not accompany her. Lillian wanted zero chance that anybody might see Winnie and Arthur together on Earth. Today was the first time that Lillian had given them the special leave code, a code that Winnie had already shared with Arthur. Thus, you may appreciate that Arthur and Winnie left Joe-Joe's workroom with some alacrity, a word that is often associated with speed, eagerness, and enthusiasm.

Always a planner, Winnie had set up a double hammock hanging between the two ship's masts in preparation for whenever Lillian gave the signal. Once again, Arthur proved that he was a champion kisser and Winnie responded with her A#1 reply. We'll give them some privacy.

### # # # # # # # #

Privacy was the reason that Doc had brought Cassie and Kashmira to Reese's cavern. Kashmira and Reese knew about Cassie, of course, but they didn't know about her new body, which she was happy to display in all of its entirety. Reese closed his eyes and Kashmira sniffed and said, "You shouldn't be doing that," which got the first meeting of the conspiracy off to a resounding thud.

Doc moved on to the reason for the privacy of the cavern, which wasn't for Cassie to show off her new body.

"You all know that I haven't been healthy, but I found that fresh air and a diet with fish has been good for my old body."

"You should see that body," Cassie blurted. "Doc has the body of a young man."

_Oops!_ Doc thought _._

"How would you know that," Kashmira sniffed again.

"We went skinny dipping together," Cassie bragged.

"That's part of the reason why I've asked all of you to meet," Doc hastened to change the subject. "As I was getting healthier, I realized that I wasn't ready to die. I had things that I wanted to do. Like skinny dip, which I had never done before. More importantly, I realized that I wanted to be more involved in operations that brought criminals to justice. I want to go after criminals that we haven't been able to touch in the past. I thought that the three of you might be interested in helping me."

"What criminals can't we touch?" Reese asked.

"We've always had trouble finding a way to bring justice to people who live in places where their laws allow them to be evil. We also have trouble proving that some criminals are guilty even though we know for sure that they are. We can get time-travel evidence but it can't be used to convict them."

"You plan to use time travel evidence?" Reese asked.

"It won't be a problem if the trial isn't public."

"You plan to have a trial?" Again, Reese responded. Not because he didn't like what Doc was saying. Exactly the opposite.

"We can't administer justice, if we don't have a trial. It has to be an honest trial with a prosecutor and a judge. The criminal has to admit that he broke the laws. If so, the criminal can face justice. Kashmira, for example, had a friend murdered, but she can't do anything about that because he didn't break local laws."

"That's right. I wanted to kill the man responsible, but Mathias said that I'd be committing a crime."

"Cassie hates men who prey on young girls, and she wants to do something about that, but can't. She's a ghost. A ghost with a body, but a ghost just the same."

"I went to law school, but even with a law degree, I don't know how I could stop men like the men who raped me and took away my baby."

"Reese believes in justice, but doesn't believe he can do anything about the terrible things that happen in our world."

"Doc's right. What's the point in trying?"

"I myself hate the idea of all the young girls in the world could be victims of sexual predators. We've caught a few, but hardly enough to make a difference."

"What are you suggesting, Doc?" Kashmira asked.

"Here's a rough plan. First, we identify a pervert. Kashmira and I would research his past via time travel and find incontrovertible evidence that he has been guilty of perverted acts. We would bring that evidence to Cassie who is our prosecutor. She knows the law. We convene a court with Reese as the judge. Reese can tell if the man is a pervert from his colours. If he's not, we don't try him. If he does have the necessary colours, then Cassie asks him questions. Reese listens to the answers. He gives the man a chance to defend himself. On the second day of the trial, Reese will know if the man lied or not. If he lied to a questions like, _Did you rape this woman?_ then Reese finds him guilty. Then, we can apply justice."

"Would we record the time-travel evidence and produce it in a court?" Kashmira asked.

Doc had anticipated that. "No court would ever approve of that. So, we use the time travel evidence to confirm in our own minds that he's guilty and give details of our evidence to Cassie. We rely on her to ask the right questions to bring out the lies in the trial."

"Can Reese be a lie detector?" Kashmira asked.

"Yes, but I need twenty-four hours to see if somebody has lied. The colours will have changed. I know how to read those changes."

"How do we find people that need to trial?" Cassie asked.

"I can do that," Reese said. "There are people with very dark colours. I can identify them enough for Doc and Kashmira to time travel research them. What kind of sentence can I apply, Doc? I can't put them in jail because we don't have jails. Do we kill them? Who does that?"

"I'm working on that part of the plan. I don't have an answer yet."

"Nobody in the Wilizy would agree to this, Doc."

"I know, Reese. That doesn't mean that what we'd be doing is wrong. It's just not conventional because nobody knows about time travel. If we stick entirely to the correct legal necessities, we'd be fine. Reese brings up a good point, people. This has to be ultra secret. Nobody, not even spouses, can know what we're doing."

"I can time travel without Mathias knowing. Doc and I would just return shortly after we left."

"I agree. That's how I would keep it secret from Granny."

"We could have the trial here. If anybody checked my GPS, they'd see me in my mountain cave."

"Nobody would care what I was doing. They can't see me and they can't track me." That was Cassie.

"Let's try a test run. Kashmira's friend has been murdered. Let's bring her murderer to justice."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 13

On June 1, a UPS delivery-devil handed a small thin package to the receptionist at the office building where Ponzi was coordinating the efforts to find Lord Percy. It was addressed to Ponzi himself. The receptionist put it in his tray for incoming communications and forgot about it.

At 1:30 pm, Ponzi picked up his incoming business mail, entered his office, and shut the door. At 1:42, he opened the UPS package. Inside were two plaster of Paris molds. These kinds of molds are used to create metal trinkets and medals that many novelty stores on Earth create for their customers. Usually, the final product is cast in a soft, cheap metal. Such molds are also used by national banks to create coins that can be used for a country's currency.

Ponzi examined one of the molds carefully. It was a six-sided mold with an image of Lord Percy posing face on, holding his arms wide. The words _Prosperity for all_ were engraved on the bottom of the coin. The other side of the coin showed Lord Percy spearing an angel in the air with a trident. Another angel was pinned to the ground by Lord Percy's hoof. Three red Adidas stripes were displayed on the side of his hoof.

Ponzi groaned and put his head on his desk. Shortly, head still on the desk, he picked up a communicator and spoke softly into the speaker. "Tell Satan that I have to see him immediately."

Ponzi left his office one minute later. Paula stayed behind. Being in the same room with Satan was not a good afterlife decision for a spy.

### # # # # # # # #

Arthur was at a ticklish part of their work free interlude. Winnie was looking over his right shoulder with her right hand on his shoulder and her left hand on his left side. "Gently, gently," she advised.

"It's not working. What do I do?"

"Don't force it. Be patient and try again."

_Your leave has been cancelled. Report to Joe-Joe's workshop as soon as you can._

Winnie stepped around Arthur and shut off the stove element.

"That's a good omelet ruined," Arthur complained.

"Flipping them can be tricky. You'll get it next time."

### # # # # # # # #

Paula had just finished her report on what she had seen in Ponzi's office. The usual participants were with her in Joe-Joe's workshop.

Lillian responded first. "Keely, you better explain the implications of this so that we're all up to speed."

"This package of coin molds that Ponzi received is a big threat to Satan. First, it reveals that Lord Percy has eyes inside Hell. He knew about Ponzi's promotion and where he was working. Second, Lord Percy is challenging Satan directly with these coin molds. Essentially he is saying, _This is the currency I'll be using after I defeat you._ Third, he's been thinking on this for some time. Molds like this are difficult to make especially in a six-sided coin format. We now know some of what Lord Percy has been doing while he's been on Earth. Fourth, if this coin is cast, and if some of his coins appear in Hell, devils will know that Lord Percy is promising them prosperity if they join him. That will resonate with devils who are not part of Hell's 1%. Fifth, Lord Percy has been negotiating with one of Earth's shoe companies. Satan will wonder who else he's been negotiating with."

"What will Satan do?" Arthur asked.

"That's impossible to know right now," Keely replied.

"Meghan, any observations?" Lillian asked.

"I agree with Keely. Everything she said sounds right to me. I was never part of Hell proper, so I don't know about the 1%. But a revolt inside of Hell would be Satan's worst nightmare. One thing I could say. Creating a new currency coin could be a bluff. It would be tremendously expensive for Lord Percy. If he's actually offering prosperity to all, he won't have much to offer if he replaces Satan's gold tormentt with his own gold tormentt."

"What are we going to do, Lillian?" Winnie asked.

"Right now, nothing. We'll wait to see how Satan reacts. Paula, we'll count on you. Stay with Ponzi."

"And if he does react, will we react too?" Again, Winnie.

"Oh yeah! It'll be like Christmas."

_[Interesting fact: unlike Hell, the word 'Christmas' was not banned in Heaven. You probably had that figured out already.]_

"Keely, will you stay behind? The rest of you, stick around Heaven. We'll want to respond quickly."

"Meghan, you can stay with us," Winnie offered. "Arthur is learning to cook."

"Anything is better than green bean soup."

"Well, maybe yes, maybe no."

### # # # # # # # #

"What do we do about the enhanced angelic teams?"

That was Lillian asking Keely. The enhanced angelic teams were the angel teams that Lillian and Joe-Joe had created with the hopes of giving them extra powers like they had given to Arthur and Winnie. The field test had gone badly. Keely had been assigned to work with the best pair to evaluate the program.

"Bluntly? It's hopeless. Angels, by nature, are too passive. They take no risks, as you would expect when they've learned their craft in a stifling halocracy. When Joe-Joe tried tinkering with the hormones, they either over-reacted and created risk of discovery, or they bickered among themselves. You'd need a full time supervisor working with each pair to get any kind of success."

"Joe-Joe, your thoughts?"

"I agree. I thought that Arthur and Winnie's success was due to their bodies. It wasn't. The extra powers helped, but the chemistry between the two of them is what made them successful."

"Can we expect other angel pairs to have the same skill sets and personalities?"

"No," Keely replied. "Not if they've been in the halocratic environment for long. Arthur kept getting booted out of the guardian angels, so technically, he's a novice angel. Winnie isn't an angel at all. That's why they can be creative."

"Can we change the halocratic environment?" Lillian asked.

"I would be very surprised if the four of them didn't have some ideas that would be productive," Keely remarked. "They know all about Heaven and why it's frustrating."

"I agree," Joe-Joe agreed. "We may get a real opportunity with Satan and Percy fighting each other. Forget about following the halocratic rules on who should be involved in decision-making. They need to be brought in fully now."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 14

Meghan didn't have to cope with Arthur's cooking for long. Early the next morning, Lillian called a meeting for 9 am in Joe-Joe's workshop and took charge when everybody else had arrived. That everybody was Joe-Joe, Keely, Arthur, Winnie, Meghan and Paula.

"I need all of us to be linked physically together in some fashion. Perhaps a loose circle?"

"Why did my stomach bounce up and down?"

"Think of yourself as being in a bubble in space. I'll open the viewing port."

"Earth," Meghan said what everybody was thinking.

"I like this view. It's very serene. Beautiful green Earth, blue waters. Take a look at this view now."

"What do the white lights represent?" Paula asked.

"Each light pinpoints the location of a shoulder angel. The identity of the angel can be brought up on screen, if I ask for it."

"The red lights are shoulder demons?" Winnie jumped on that first.

"Yes. This is a computer-simulated view. We don't know where their demons are. We only have a rough idea of their total numbers because Hell lies all the time."

"You can hardly see the white dots. Red dots are everywhere," Meghan observed.

"Yes. That is precisely the point I want you to grasp. Let's take a trip around the Earth."

....

"That is very depressing," Winnie said.

"What's the ratio?" Meghan asked.

"About ten to one as best as we can determine. If you'll follow me now, we'll go where we can talk without fear of any living or afterliving creature listening in."

...

They were in a boardroom with one large circular table and ten comfortable looking seats positioned around it. The sideboard held pitchers of fluids of some kind in different colours. Several small urns held darker liquids. Various cups and glasses were also present. One pitcher looked like it held ice cubes. "Help yourself if you need anything and have a seat. We'll be here for a while."

...

"Let me start with some history. This will be new to some of you."

### # # # # # # # #

_[We'll skip the part where Lillian tells them about the Cosmos and the Cops of the Cosmos. This was new information for Paula, Meghan and Arthur.]_

"The Cosmos installed a listening post when they discovered Earth. This is a standard operating procedure. It wasn't until the middle ages that they created a Heaven and Hell. All uncivilized planets have legends and beliefs about good and bad. There are always two forces pulling the inhabitants one way or the other. The names vary, and the creatures that inhabit the entities also vary. But there's always a good and a bad. For Earth, it was Heaven and Hell, angels and devils/demons. How a planet reacts to their form of Heaven and Hell determines if they will be accepted into the Cosmos. If Hell wins the battle for souls, the planet is destroyed. If Heaven wins, the planet is accepted into the Cosmos. The Cops of the Cosmos serve as referees and mediators. They also have the authority to declare a winner or a loser. The guardians will be the ones to destroy Earth if that's what it comes down to."

"In the first centuries of Heaven and Hell's existence, the ratio of angels to devils/demons remained roughly equal. Joe-Joe and I were part of that. It has been shifting in the wrong direction for the last two centuries. Humans are intensely warlike. They are also intensely greedy for wealth, fame, and power. Hell has had easy pickings. Operating funds for both Heaven and Hell are based on the number of souls that they attract to their afterlife. Heaven has been underfunded for a long time, and unless we stop the trend towards more evil on Earth, Hell will win the battle and planet will be destroyed."

"Joe-Joe and I had a plan to reverse the trend. Heaven's scientists created an angel body that had more powers than our shoulder angels, or even our guardian angels. Our rationale was that we might not have the same number of agents in the field, but we'd have more powerful agents. That, in theory, would reverse the trend towards evil dominating on Earth. Arthur and Winnie were the first to receive that new body. We infiltrated them into Hell, along with Paula, to sell a fantastical opportunity to Hell. Hell would have the ability to torment mortals with thoughts from afar. We sold that fiction with the help of five undercover devils. It worked. Hell started to buy the fantasy. They began to withdraw demons from Earth."

"Our whole point in creating the fantasy was to give us the opportunity to bring angels back to Heaven to receive their new bodies and be trained in them. We couldn't take them out of the field unless Hell removed their demons too. We knew that this fantasy would be discovered eventually, but by then, we'd have more powerful angels in the field."

"And then, everything fell apart. The new body had glitches that ultimately meant that Arthur could collapse at any time because of a weakness in the barrier between mortal memories and angelic memories. We had to build a different body. We have recently tested that new body in the field with experienced guardian angels. Sadly, our experiment has failed. The body works, but the angels can't take advantage of it. We have had to abort that part of our plan."

"Then, the Duke of Earl didn't remove the demons from Earth as he was supposed to; he decided to create an army. The Duke of Earl's war gave us an opportunity to try a different approach towards reversing the path of evil. Our intention still is to find a way to bring guardian angels and shoulder angels back to Heaven for retraining. Not new bodies, but retraining to be more effective."

"While the four of you were removing the Duke of Earl as a threat to us and to Hell, I was re-negotiating our treaty agreement with Hell under the mediation of a Cop of the Cosmos. Hell's negotiator was Lord Percy. It was clear to some of us that Lord Percy was the brain behind the duke's plot. In order to hide his involvement, Lord Percy had to agree to a radical restructuring of the treaty's provision for field agents. Our new treaty requires Hell and Heaven to have a 5 to 1 ratio of agents in the field. This agreement is binding. Satan had no choice but to accept."

"We still want to bring our agents home for retraining. Our guardian angel program is horribly inefficient. The halocracy under which angels operate may have been useful in the middle ages, but it is hindering anything that we try to do now. The rigid structure of the halocracy is hurting us badly. We may have an opportunity soon to do something about Heaven's weaknesses. Paula, please summarize the latest directive Hell sent to its agents on Earth."

"Effectively immediately, all shoulder demons are to discontinue operations against their mortals and use their time instead to search their surrounding area for Lord Percy. They now have a picture of his mortal disguise and they are ordered to look at every mortal face they encounter. Devils in the field are to use their business operations to search for Lord Percy as well. They are to focus specifically on what business he might have engaged in to produce a new1,000 tormentt coin. They also are to seek information on what negotiations he might have had with mortal businesses that market their products to Hell. All products arriving in Hell will be physically searched at the border before they are released."

"Wow," Winnie said.

"Wow indeed. This gives us a window of opportunity to bring angels home for retraining."

"Do you know how long we might have," Meghan asked.

"Until Lord Percy is caught or Satan is defeated."

"Do you know where Lord Percy is?" Arthur asked.

"No."

"Are we to influence the hunt in any way?" Winnie asked.

"No. Under no circumstances are we to be involved in any way with Hell's internal struggle. That is a question that the Cops of the Cosmos will ask me and I will have to tell the truth."

"So, why did you call the meeting if we're not going to be involved?" Winnie asked.

"We'll take a break now and when we reconvene, I want you to tell us what you think is wrong with Heaven and how it can be fixed."

### # # # # # # # #

We'll skip the discussions. They took up most of the afternoon. What follows now are the duties that Lillian assigned to each of them to make Heaven more efficient.

Arthur's job was to recommend the elimination of the Heavenly protocols that unnecessarily impeded the execution of angelic tasks. Or he could recommend that some protocols should be embedded in instructional manuals that angels used to learn their occupation. In public, Arthur would appear as Gawain, a 7-halo angel that would give him the authority to make such decisions and to speak with the occupational groups in Heaven.

Winnie was put in charge of developing a mobile, hand-held device that would allow shoulder angels and guardian angels to electronically order any heavenly service they might need in the execution of their duties. For example, to request and receive travel passes to Earth and permission to send dream messages. Winnie would work with the computer scientists in designing the device and field-testing it. Ease of use was paramount. To ensure that the device was secure, the facial recognition software that Winnie had helped develop would be installed on each angel's device. This would guarantee that only that angel could use the device. Winnie would also provide training when the device was ready. Her angelic body was given seven halos and a different appearance. She'd appear in public as Guinevere.

Meghan was put in charge of automating all of Heaven's financial entries and reports following the model of earthly business software. In terms of guardian angels, anything that had to be reported on a year-end form would already be recorded electronically via that hand held device. When it came time for guardian angels to fill out an annual report, it could be printed out within minutes. The same automation could be extended to any financial aspect of Heaven's operations.

Since Meghan was technically a devil with a fake mortal body, adding an angelic body to that mix might prove dangerous. She would not appear in public. Instead, Meghan would purchase the necessary computers and software on Earth and install them in the hold of the Wilizy/America. She would design the new computer system from there. Those computers would be linked to Heaven's computers that would do all the processing. Any debugging that Meghan needed to do could be done from the ship.

Paula was given no tasks to manage since she'd be in Hell full time. She did suggest however, that somebody should look into the idea of using more ghosts/spirits as undercover agents. Having only one ghost that could enter Hell was risky. More of them would allow wider coverage. Keely said that she'd look into the idea.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 15

Climate change had not been kind to Billings, Montana. Before Earth went past the tipping point where the atmosphere could not be cleaned, Billings had been a thriving city. It had the largest growth of any city in Montana and a strong economy. Billings was the trade and distribution center for much of Montana east of the Continental Divide, Northern Wyoming and western portions of North Dakota and South Dakota. Billings was also the largest retail destination for much of that area which meant it had lots of people coming into the city to spend their money.

Before climate change, the city's economy had also been driven by a dying shale oilfield and tourist traffic. It had several high-rise buildings, most notable being a 22-floor brick hotel called the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Also, the First Interstate Center was a complex consisting of four office towers, each with twenty floors in the downtown core.

The view from those high rises had been a notable feature bringing tourists into the city. Seven snow-capped mountain ranges could be viewed. Billings started hurting when the snow on those mountains disappeared. That snow fed into a river system that led into the Yellowstone River and from there to the upper Missouri which provided water for cities and ranches from Montana, to Wyoming, and to the Dakotas. As the Montana government started limiting the flow of water into the Yellowstone River passing Billings, this severely affected ranchers and cities downstream in those states. This frustration boiled over in 2043 when an army of unhappy ranchers decided to destroy all the dams that the Montana government had erected. This led to a surge of water that inundated Billings. The army of ranchers took further vengeance by destroying many Billings businesses and homes when they left.

Five years later, Billings was hit by another form of destruction. The earthquakes of 2048. Mountainous areas like Billing should not have badly affected. However, around 80 million years ago, Billings and the surrounding area were on the shore of what is known as the Western Interior Seaway, a large inland sea. The sea deposited sediment and sand around the shoreline. As the sea retreated, it left a deep layer of sand. Over millions of years, this sand was compressed into stone known as Eagle Sandstone. Sandstone is not particular resilient when earthquakes strike.

The four-tower complex became rubble. The 22-floor Crowne Plaza hotel fared somewhat better in that it continued to stand, perhaps because it was built of brick. But authorities ruled that it was unsafe and boarded up the entrances. Buildings that were four to six storeys high remained usable. Homes were usable.

In the 2090s, Billings was starting to grow again. It still served as a communication, transport, and retail hub for a wide area. The population was considerably less than in its heyday, but it still offered a diverse downtown with restaurants, office buildings, financial services and retail outlets. In the surrounding lands, small ranches abounded. There was a sugar beet industry and a beer industry fed from local farmers.

Billings had one school district that offered one high school, two middle schools, and six elementary schools. The Billings City Police department served Billings and the surrounding area. It had one police captain, two deputy captains, one detective, twelve constables, and six support staff. The police captain was new to the area.

### # # # # # # # #

Doc was meeting with Kashmira, Reese and Cassie in Reese's cavern in the first week of June.

"Doc and I didn't get very far in our time-travel research on Materfamilias' killer," Kashmira reported. "He was already dead. Another crime boss killed him and took over the city."

"That's sort of justice, I guess," Reese concluded. "I tried some research of my own. I wandered around Edinburgh and saw lots of dark colours. Depending on what we decide to go after, I could probably find our next target. There's one child pervert there for sure."

"I have some research results too," Cassie continued. "We need to be able to charge our target with breaking a law. A real law. I found some possibilities when I learned about the United Nations. Does everybody know about them?"

Only Doc knew. "It was an international organization founded in 1945. Every country in the world was a member. The UN was empowered to take action on issues confronting humanity including peace and security, climate change, human rights, health emergencies, and the like. They weren't able to agree on much because some countries had veto power and used that power to stop anything that they felt would hurt them. The UN disappeared in the aftermath of climate change. It didn't solve too many problems, but their meetings did serve as a forum for dialog between countries."

Cassie continued. "I searched for something that would allow us to go after child perverts. We have a possibility. In 1989, the entire UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 34 of that Convention said member states would protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. This included (a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; (b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; and (c) The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials. Member countries agreed that they would respond appropriately to protect children from these crimes. That's the law that we can use."

"But the UN is dead," Reese observed.

"But the laws are still there," Cassie retorted. "Nobody dissolved the UN. It just stopped meeting. There's no reason that it can't start meeting again."

Reese still had objections. Remember that he was reading up on the law as much as Cassie was. "Say that we go after the pervert in Edinburgh. He lives in Scotland, which would have been a part of the UN. But, the four of us do not live in Scotland. Wouldn't it be up to Scottish lawmakers to go after that pervert? We have no jurisdiction in Scotland."

"Ah, but we do. I quote: According to the UN, the concept of _Universal Jurisdiction_ allows international organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where the alleged crime was committed, and regardless of the accused's nationality or country of residence. Crimes prosecuted under universal jurisdiction are considered crimes against humanity. Obligations to prosecute these international laws are binding on all member states."

"That's interesting," Doc said. "Cassie, where were you born?"

"South Africa."

"Kashmira?"

"The Philippines."

"Reese?"

"The Aboriginal Nation."

"And I was born in Haida Gwai. That makes us an international organization. How'd you guys like to represent your countries in the new United Nations that I'm going to reconvene?"

"Is this legal?" Kashmira asked.

"I believe it is," Justice Reese ruled.

"Edinburgh, here we come," Cassie enthused.

### # # # # # # # #

Later that day.

_Doc to Keely._

_Hiya Doc, how's the fishing?_

_No time for fishing. We're going after a child pervert in Edinburgh and I wanted to check with you. Cassie and Reese think that we can use the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child as legal justification for putting him on trial. Cassie said that the concept of Universal Jurisdiction allows us to hunt for him outside of our own jurisdiction. Is that legal?_

_So long as you establish yourself as an international organization, perhaps reconstituted as a newer version of the UN._

_We're representing four countries in our attempt to restart the UN._

_It's doubtful that your jurisdiction will be contested. As far as Heaven is concerned, we wouldn't consider what you're doing as sins. No revenge, though. Stick to justice._

_Thanks._

_Doc, a question before you go. In your interactions with Cassie when she was a ghost, did she ever mention bumping into other ghosts?_

_No, I don't recall that. I know that she was frustrated by not having a set of rules or guidebook. Perhaps she sensed some other beings, but if she made contact with one, I certainly would have been told. Why?_

_Just curious._

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 16

The elementary school that served the students in the area where Cowboy and Bean lived was Sandstone Elementary on Nutter Boulevard. The middle school that she would attend in September was Castle Rock. The two schools were built on the same plot of land with Sandstone to the east of Castle Rock. Both schools were within easy walking distance of Cowboy and Bean's home on Calico Avenue.

Bean accompanied Maddy to her testing session at Sandstone, produced the necessary legal documents for her to be registered as their ward and left. Maddy was taken to a small testing room just off the school's counseling center and completed the four tests that the school required (Reading, Mathematic, Science, and Writing) by the deadline of 1 pm. She ate the lunch she had packed and wandered around the school until 1:30 when she returned to the counseling center.

There she met with the grade 5 girls' counselor who informed her immediately that she had passed easily. Maddy knew that already, so didn't say anything. If anything, the material was easier than what Lylah had been teaching her. The counselor walked her through the forms that Maddy needed to complete in order to register in Castle Rock. In her grade 6 year, she would have one elective in the first semester and one elective in the second semester. She would take all the same basic courses as other students in her home room, such as English, Social Studies, and so on. She had a choice of art, music, or cooking for the fall and Maddy chose cooking thinking that this would be a good skill to have as an adult. In the spring, she had a choice of drama, music or Spanish. Maddy chose Spanish thinking that a Valkyrie that could speak Spanish might get some good operations. The PE classes offered two streams: indoor sports and outdoor sports. Indoor sports were basketball, volleyball, and track. The outdoor sports included cliff climbing, overnight trips into the mountains, and cross country running. She didn't have to think very long to make that decision.

The counselor also listed all of the team sports and clubs that Castle Rock offered as after school activities. Maddy hadn't learned any team sports (fighting bad guys as a team wasn't offered), so she didn't sign up for any. The counselor assured her that she could sign up later. That session took until 3 pm and by that time, the school was emptying.

Maddy headed home across the grass fields of the school thinking positive thoughts about her upcoming school year. She reached the grounds of Castle Rock Middle School and saw that the students there were leaving too. Thinking that nobody would object to her looking around inside the school, she walked to the closest side door that would let her in. Just to the side of that door was what appeared to be an abandoned garden. The ground was all scruffy and nothing was growing. But, she could see the remains of some rows of something that hadn't grown much. The ground was hard dirt. She heard some talking and decided to see if somebody was starting up the garden again. The garden was mostly hidden from anybody walking out of the school. The voices came from two boys arguing about something.

About a dozen boys were in the garden area, all of them wearing the same black and purple jacket that had the words Castle Rock Football on the left chest. A big guy was shoving a smaller guy around. The small guy wasn't wearing a jacket but Maddy noticed a black and purple jacket on the ground behind him. He wasn't shoving back. He was more into dodging which wasn't possible because he was inside a circle of purple and black jacketed spectators. Nobody had noticed Maddy yet at that point.

The big guy became more abusive as the little guy kept refusing to do something that the big guy wanted him to do. Then the big guy got violent and started swinging. The little guy covered up and took the punches, but didn't do much else.

In a lesson on bullying, Lylah had once told her students that bullies were cowards. You should stand up to them. Maddy hated bullies.

Maddy slipped through the loose circle and stepped between the bully and the guy covering up. She knew that she was average height for a grade 6 girl. She also knew that everybody there was bigger than her. She also knew that these were teenage boys who had jackets saying they belonged to a football team, whatever that was.

The bully found Maddy standing resolutely between him and his prey. "Get out of my way,"

"No. You're a bully. Leave him alone."

"This is private. Get out of my way."

All the time he was talking, Bully Guy was trying to get around Maddy but couldn't. Maddy may have been small compared to him, but she was quicker.

Frustrated by the interfering little blonde girl, Bully Guy decided that he'd simply push her aside. He tried that. She stepped back and that took the force away. He tried it again. Again, she stepped back. Meanwhile, Small Guy was dodging with her.

"Enough," he yelled, and went to grab Maddy by her closest appendage with the intent of grabbing her arm and using a side arm motion to wing her into left field. (Big Guy was the school's best pitcher too.) Unfortunately, Maddy's nearest appendage wasn't her arm.

"You grabbed my boob!" Maddy accused. "A woman has the right to defend herself," Maddy declared. Three seconds later, she had Bully Guy in a wrist lock, and he was bent over at the waist and exclaiming that this hold was a mite painful. His exact words were something like, "OW! OW! OW! OW!"

"You sexually assaulted me," she accused.

Bully Guy continued to describe how he was feeling. "OW! OW! OW! OW!"

"I can break this wrist into three pieces. Tell me why I shouldn't do that." Maddy found Small Guy and head motioned him to get out of Dodge City fast, or out of any other western city of his choice. He 'Virginia Citied' out, leaving his jacket behind which might prove to be a 'bonanza' to the person who found it. _[You'll understand the pun if you like old western TV shows.]_

"He's our quarterback!" one purple and black jacket exclaimed as though this was somehow important. That didn't mean anything to Maddy.

The words from behind her - "Stop this immediately" did make sense. She released the wrist lock and accompanied some teacher guy into the middle school's administration office along with the purple and black jacketed boys.

### # # # # # # # #

Testimony from the two combatants had been heard. Witnesses had been interviewed. Judgment was about to be delivered by the Vice Principal. Maddy was delivering a message to herself too. _Stay cool._

"I understand that you will be entering this school in September, Miss Wiltz. After hearing both sides of the altercation, and hearing witness statements, I am warning you that you must not assault students of this school again. If you do, I will suspend you and your parents will have to come to the school and promise that you will behave before you will be allowed to return to this school."

"I did nothing wrong," Maddy uncooled herself. "I was defending a guy that was being bullied."

"That was a private matter. You have no right to step in and decide that you are going to defend somebody who didn't need defending."

"He was getting beat up."

"That's not what the witnesses said. It was an internal football team matter. The captain of the team was hazing a newer member. The captain is allowed to do that with younger members of the team. It makes for deeper team bonding."

"He sexually assaulted me."

"That's not what the witnesses said."

"They were all member of that team."

"Yes, which meant that they know that as a football team member, they must always behave in accordance with this school's basic principles. They would not lie."

"I have a bruise."

"Which you could have given yourself. You had plenty of time. Miss Wiltz, I must warn you that I will not allow girls like you to make false claims of sexual assault that will sully the reputation of this school and its championship football team. I am making a note of this incident in your file. I better not see you in front of me again."

"And the bully guy? Was he warned?"

"No. He did nothing wrong."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 17

_Narrator interlude._

_A bunch of hamburgers will serve to reveal Lord Percy's real threat to Satan's rule in Hell. Those hamburgers will show up soon. First, I need to explain how commercial operations were conducted in Hell._

_You all know that neither Hell nor Heaven had the ability to manufacture the goods that they needed for a comfortable afterlife. Heaven made do with shopping angels who trolled through garage sales looking for bargains. When larger amounts of currency were needed to buy something that couldn't be found in a garage sale, they relied on their panhandlers. Yes, that's right. Heaven had to beg for money on Earth._

_Guardian angels would frequently need to watch a demonic building and take note of the devils coming and going. This might mean staying in an observation post for half a day or more. In order to avoid attracting attention, they would pose as beggars, sitting up against a wall with an upturned cap on the sidewalk in front of them. To avoid discovery by smell, they would souse their clothes with cheap wine. The money that appeared inside those caps made its way to Heaven's finance department where it could be used for miscellaneous purchases. Given the huge amount of homelessness that plagued Earth's cities in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, Heaven had built up quite the nest egg. That's how Meghan was able to buy her computers and software._

_Hell had a different process for acquiring goods from Earth. Being situated in Earth's interior meant having access to some very valuable minerals. They were interested in mining only one such mineral. Gold. Their mined gold was transported from the mines to SinSin-atti where a courier would load it up on a secure transport and accompany it to the surface._

_You have already met that courier in Book #22 'Are Black Cats Lucky or Unlucky?' In that book, Arthur saw a devil pushing a large container of some kind in the darkness of the sewers. She had golden horns, hands, and hooves. At the time, Heaven had speculated that she was a courier that was taking currency of some kind to Earth to pay mortal companies who were unknowingly completing manufacturing work for Hell. Satan would have made her untouchable in some fashion; otherwise, she'd never make it out of Hell with her container intact._

_All of that speculation was true. Several times a week, Gold Pinkies transported the pure gold to one of four repositories on Earth. These repositories served as changing houses. Devils inside the repositories exchanged the gold for gold certificates on the mortal gold markets in London, Singapore, Cape Town and Lima. Gold certificates served as legitimate currency just about everywhere in the world. The devils in the repositories would use the gold certificate to pay the bills submitted by mortal companies for work and products sold to Hell's commercial and manufacturing fronts. In this regard, they acted as Hell's mortal banks._

_No mortal knew what went on behind the walls of the heavily protected repositories. Very few devils knew either. In addition, Ms. Gold Pinkies was protected in her public trips through Hell and on PUS cars by a fully charged set of lithium ion batteries that had been surgically inserted under her devilian scales. These batteries could create a deadly shock of electricity if she managed to put horns, hands or feet on a thief. Obviously, these could not be solar rechargeable batteries. She recharged her batteries by sleeping in the dark and inserting a body plug into a dark light socket. The only such socket in Hell just happened to be available in Satan's bedroom. At this point, readers may say 'Interesting' or whatever word you may want to use to express surprise. Saying 'Way to go, Satan' would not be appropriate._

_You may be wondering where Hell got its gold miners. Obviously, they would be tortured souls, but were they special tortured souls? Since they had to do physical labour in tight, sweltering conditions for eternity, they must have deserved this kind of torture. Indeed, they did._

_When these miners lived on Earth, they were known as the 1%. The ultra wealthy. The powerful. The ones who would do absolutely anything to get even wealthier and more powerful. It is true that Satan provided a special couriered trip to Hell that allowed the wealthy to take their riches with them when they died. He didn't tell them that they would be donating those riches. Satan dropped all their jewelry, gold and currency into his personal account in the Bank of Hell and handed them a pick. Now you may say, 'Way to go, Satan!'_

### # # # # # # # #

A bill for a bunch of burgers appeared on the desk of a bookkeeper in Hell's business accounts division. It was from the Jack-in-the-Box Company that unwittingly was supplying Hell with hamburgers, French fries and the like. I should emphasize that no mortal business that sold products in Hell knew what was going on. They dealt with one of many numbered companies that Hell hid behind. The sponsorship of Nike and Adidas? The same. They didn't know how their logo was being used. They simply sold the rights for a numbered company to display their advertising. They, like the Jack in the Box, expected payment when they sent their invoices to the earthly address that Hell had been using.

Except, this Jack-in-the-Box account was unpaid. The bookkeeper checked the records and noted that the invoice had been received, and payment had been authorized. She had no authority to do anything else, other then get coffee for the devils. She notified the head accountant who checked the records and saw that authorization for payment had been sent via company mail to the Lima gold repository. That was way back in early May. Lima must have missed making the payment on time. He tried to reach Lima but did not get a response. He had no authority to do anything else, so he sent the issue to the Director of Accounts.

The Director of Accounts examined the paperwork. All was in order. He sent out what later was determined as a coded message to somebody and then sat on the file for two days. On the third day, he sent the file to Ponzi with the recommendation that somebody should check on the Lima Repository. He then left Hell on the next PUS car, but nobody knew that yet.

Ponzi delegated the task of pursuing an unpaid bill for hamburgers to a lowly apprentice with traveling privileges. The apprentice went and returned. He had pictures. Ponzi took the pictures to Satan.

Satan sent an armed squad of SSS devils to Lima. He also ordered Ponzi to go with them and see for himself what had happened. While Ponzi was enroute, Satan tried to contact the repositories in London, Singapore, and Cape Town. Nobody there responded.

Ponzi returned with a grim report: "The vault inside the repository has been gutted. We found no gold. We found no gold certificates. Entry was made through the roof of the building where the damage to the roof would not be seen. Essentially, somebody tore a gapping hole in the roof. The vault was completely destroyed, as was most of the building's interior. That building is a write off. The employees of the repository were bound, gagged, and confined immobile in the darkness of the staff lunchroom. On my questioning, they confirmed that the devil that bound them looked very much like Lord Percy. He had walked through the walls into their vault on Monday, May 12. He was a senior devil; they were accountant geeks. He subdued them quickly and then physically tore most of the building apart. The week before that, the gold courier had deposited eight containers of gold in their vaults. When asked why she was doing that, she has said, _Confidential orders straight from Satan._ Nobody would question that."

Ponzi continued: "I went immediately to South Africa where I found the same break in, the same confinement of the staff, and the same reported delivery of eight containers of gold but with no sign of the eight containers The only difference was the date that the attack had taken place. Tuesday, May 13."

Ponzi tried to continue but Satan held up a hand. "Same thing in London and Singapore? Same eight containers. A different day?"

"Yes."

"The courier is missing from the Black House. She hasn't been seen for two days. All of her possessions are gone. I didn't know."

"I can check how she got through the border controls."

"Don't bother. Nobody would have stopped her. Find out if she made a courier run before we shut down the borders in order to keep Percy in Hell after he had returned from the mediation meeting."

...

"She did."

"Lord Percy escaped with her help. Find out if we have any gold reserves still in our own storage vault."

...

"That vault is empty. That gold is what she used to fill her thirty two containers."

"Analysis, Ponzi. Be blunt."

"We have no gold in the earth-based repositories or in our own storage vault to pay our bills. All of our suppliers will be sending us over due bills very soon. We can work double and triple shifts in the mines to start generating gold supplies again, but the repositories are unusable. It would take months to get at least one repository back up and functioning. That's assuming that we could pay the mortal construction companies, which we can't. Food supplies inside Hell will run low over time..."

Satan held up his hand. "Give me a solution."

"Find where the gold is hidden. There's too much of it for Lord Percy to cash it into certificates. He's trying to starve us. That gold is hidden somewhere. He and/or the courier will be guarding it. Get every available demon searching for her. Include the assistant devils too. Give them pictures of her. She can't convert into a human body. Nor can she remove the gold plate from her hands, hooves, or horns. Keep redistributing Percy's picture. Move the demons into areas that they haven't searched yet. A fresh set of eyes might work."

"What about the invoices?"

"Quadruple the crews working in the mines. Delay all purchases from Earth indefinitely. Respond politely to overdue notices and advise the suppliers that payment will be forthcoming. Triple the amount that devils must spend on Beezleday and freeze their bank of Hell accounts so that no tormentts can be withdrawn for personal use. Once we have enough gold in the storage vault, we can find a way to purchase gold certificates. Advise all devils that Heaven is conspiring with Lord Percy and the gold courier to starve us into submission. Tell them that all of us must be prepared to make sacrifices as we beat back this Heavily menace."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 18

"Bean, I saw an announcement that twelve year old girls can try out for a Billings baseball team that will travel around Montana during the summer. Can I try out? I turned twelve this month."

"Have you played baseball before?"

"No."

"Do you know anything about it?"

"I know that first base is kissing, but I also know that that's not real baseball. It's free."

"Do you think you should learn something about the game first?"

"I'll do some reading. Can you or Cowboy play baseball?"

"Cowboy was pretty good sliding into second base." _[Second Base, #13]_

"Huh?"

"No, we don't know how to play baseball."

"How hard can it be?"

"Did you get into any more trouble from whatever you did with the football guy?"

"It wasn't much trouble. I stopped a bully, that's all."

"Why do you want to play baseball?"

"I've never played a team sport before. I think trying out for a team would be a good educational experience."

"Fine by me. Do you want one of us to come to the tryouts and cheer you on?"

"I don't expect to make the team. I have no idea how big a baseball actually is."

"Watch some U-tube videos."

"Thanks, Bean."

### # # # # # # # #

June: Doc had a couple of things to settle before the new UN could launch its operation in Edinburgh. He was working on the first task in Montana that morning.

"Doc?" William looked up in surprise to the knock on his lab door.

"Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all."

"I don't think I've ever been in your lab. So, this is where the magic takes place."

"Hardly magic. Just good old scientific study."

"I had my taste of that in med school. I can't say that I enjoyed it much. I wanted to get out into the field and start doctoring."

"You're looking good."

"I'm feeling good. I've been out in the wilderness of Vancouver Island and that's helping me to feel young again. I had a surprise though last week that got me thinking. Thought I'd check in with you and see what you think."

"Sure. What was the surprise?"

"A big old momma grizzly and her cub. Somehow the two of them became separated and I was stuck in the middle."

"Dangerous."

"I've run across grizzlies before, so I knew what to do. And of course I had my sling, so I elevated out of there. But, it got me thinking about our self-defense one-on-one weaponry. In the old days, if you went into the woods, you'd take a bear horn with you. If a grizzly came at you, a few blasts would scare it off. What if one of us wanted to avoid conflict and just scare off or disable a threat? We don't have anything like that on our slings, do we?"

"No. It doesn't seem like we'd need it very often."

"We have a lot of youngster to protect. You don't want to give them a lethal weapon on their sling. The cadets have no slings and their man-to-man skills aren't well developed. It just seems to me that having a disabler would be a good back up to have against a surprise attacker."

"I have something in my work room that I could adapt. Disabling an attacker could be quite easy. Come back tomorrow."

### # # # # # # # #

"Doc to Keely."

"Hi Doc. You're not fishing today?"

"You can see me?"

"Sure."

"I thought it was just voice messaging."

"It is for you. I was in my shower. You wouldn't want to see that. Feathers get very droopy and smelly when they're wet."

...

"You're pulling my leg, aren't you."

"Ya got me. Are you ready for Edinburgh?"

"Almost. I'm stuck on what happens after we convict our pedophile. I'm not sure how we should apply justice. Here's my question. We had an operation back in 86 where a priest was raping and assaulting women. _[Wheelchair Moccasins, #10.]_ We'll let the local authorities take care of him. However, some creature took care of that in a church. I examined the body of the man the creature killed and his brain had been turned to mush. The creature had sung the priest to death. To do that, it had taken over the body of one of our teenagers. Was that Heaven, Hell or something else entirely?"

"I don't know anything about that, Doc. Let me check. We're kind of busy here. Call me tomorrow."

"Do I have to always come to the lake? What if I had to reach you from Edinburgh in a hurry?"

"Hang on."

...

"You can call me from anywhere now, Doc. Same words."

### # # # # # # # #

"This is a tool that I was playing with, Doc. It looks like a flashlight and operates as one. Press the left button once."

"It's very bright," Doc noticed.

"It is. Now press the left button again."

"Narrow beam now. Why?"

"That narrow beam can be used to find any surveillance camera that is in the area. The light will flash and that will allow you to walk up to it and disable it. I thought that TG might want to have something like this and he's taken a bunch. Press the left button again and the light will turn off."

"Done. Now what."

"I've added another button on the bottom of the device. Can you find it?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to leave the lab now. When I'm out, press the bottom button and hold it in. Release the button to turn it off. I'll come back in then."

...

"That will stop any grizzly bear, William. What exactly happened?"

"The flashlight has three disabling weapons in one. The flashing bright light will blind the attacker if you're in a dark place. In daylight, the flashing light will distract. The air horn noise is exactly that. An air horn that is very loud. The person on the receiving end will automatically raise their hands to cover their ears. The third weapon provides a disabling electric shock if the target is within ten feet. Just one of these weapons will stop any person from attacking. All three of these together will put the person down for the count if you hold the button in until he collapses. Were you affected?"

"Yes. My ears are still ringing, but I could hold the flashlight steady. I'll be better prepared next time."

"I'd think a two second zap would be all that you'd need."

"How many can I have?"

"There's a whole box of them on the upper shelf. Take as many as you want."

### # # # # # # # #

"Doc to Keely."

"Hiya, Doc. I don't recognize where you are."

"Peru. I'm meeting with the team in an hour. I'm hoping that you'll give me good news."

"The creature that took over Kashmira's body in that church was from our _Angel of Death_ squad. In olden times, an Angel of Death would collect souls at death. We automated that procedure so that souls would go to the Sorting Station on their own. We kept the Angel of Death squad to warn Hell when one of their devils has crossed the line. In such situations, an angel from the program will sing to a devil. That singing will turn the devil's brain to mush. A mushed brain cannot be restored and that means the devil can't get restored in Hell. That devil is dead, dead, dead. In your case, since Kashmira had a wonderful voice, the angel took over her body and used Kashmira's voice to deliver the message. She was unaware of what happened."

"I knew that she was unaware. Some of her memories were lost. I thought that she had died the night before. Was that the Angel of Death again?"

"Yes. She appeared dead, but she wasn't. It was part of the angel taking over her body. With so many people in the church, the angel couldn't appear in his own body. Usually the song occurs in a deserted area and the angel uses his own body to deliver the song. The devil will know what's happening but is powerless to stop it. The priest was not a devil, but he had been influenced by Hell. Having forced sex in a church could not be condoned. We had to send them a message. You're hoping that you can use an Angel of Death to punish your pedophiles, aren't you."

"Yes."

"We can't help you there. Angels of Death are intended for devils, not mortal pedophiles."

"But, Heaven agrees that these pedophiles deserve death, right?"

"Yes, but as I've said, within a justice environment. How will you do that?"

"My Plan B was to record parts of the trial including a confession and turn him over to citizens of the city where he operated. They'll decide what to do with him."

"That would be justice."

"Thanks, Keely."

### # # # # # # # #

"I have weapons that we can use to disable the pervert and bring him to the trial. I'll show you all how to use them shortly. I have had second thoughts about having the trial here in Reese's sanctuary. It has very distinctive features that could allow people to track us to here."

"Doc, I thought that all of our perverts would end up dead," Kashmira said. "Who would see the cavern?"

"Slight change in plans," Doc said. "I'll explain in the rehearsal. But first, our group needs a name, like the Wilizy which we got from Will and Izzy's names when those were their names."

...

"I can't make anything out C, D, K, R, Doc," Reese admitted.

"Changing the order doesn't work either," Kashmira informed.

"Our name should reflect what we do, which is bring justice. How about _Justice?_ " Cassie with an idea.

"We do more than bring justice. We bring justice to people who would avoid justice otherwise. But I don't have any ideas for a name yet," Doc admitted.

"How about Poetic Justice?" Cassie asked.

"I don't want to be known as a poet," Reese objected.

"Retribution," Kashmira suggested. "It means that punishment is delivered for a criminal act."

"Vengeance is part of that, though. We don't want anything to do with vengeance. What about _Nemesis_ as a name for the group?" Doc suggested.

"Let me look it up," Reese said.

...

"Nemesis was the Greek goddess of divine retribution. It comes from the Greek word _nemein_ meaning to administer justice. A nemesis is an enemy that can't be defeated."

"I like it. We are the enemy of perverts and we can't be beaten," Kashmira agreed. Three other heads nodded.

The four Nemeses were born.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 19

The tryouts for the Billings Baseball Belles (BBBs) were scheduled for Saturday, June 21, 9 am at Clevenger Park that was about three miles east of Maddy's home. Maddy jogged over wearing her cadet PT clothes and got there ten minutes early. She saw twelve girls tossing a relatively small ball around. They all had big leather mittens of some kind on one of their hands.

A man noticed her watching the warm up and walked over.

"Hi. I'm Coach Lee. You can call me _Coach_. I thought I knew every baseball girl in Billings, but I don't know you. Are you here for the tryouts?"

"Yes."

"Where's your glove?"

"The tryout notice didn't say anything about wearing gloves. Why would we need them during summer?"

"Let me get you registered. Name?"

"Maddy Wiltz."

"Birthdate?"

"June 6, 2080."

"Address?"

"999 Calico Avenue."

"Mother's name?"

"Which one?"

"You have more than one?"

"My birth mother was killed, so I was an orphan. Three moms adopted me and raised me but Mac is the one raising me now but she lives way north of here so I have a guardian mom who is taking care of me here."

"Let's get her name."

"Benedicta Jackson."

"Father's name?"

"Uh..."

"Same situation?"

"Yes, except I don't know who my birthfather was."

"Let's try your guardian father here in Billings.

"James Jackson."

"How long have you been playing baseball?"

"I haven't played before."

"You don't even throw the ball around with one of your dads?"

"My guardian dad can slide into second base but I don't if he knows anything else."

"Why are you trying out for this team if you've never played ball before?"

"I wanted to learn what team sports were like."

"Do you do other sports?"

"I once won a cross country race against an older guy. He threw up and couldn't finish."

"How long was the race?"

"About an hour."

"I don't see your parents. Did they drop you off? "

"No. We only live about three miles away so I jogged over."

"I'll get you a glove and some baseball shoes. We have extras for girls who forget to bring their own."

### # # # # # # # #

The first two hours was spent on tests. How far can you throw a baseball? Can you throw a baseball into a moving tire swing? Can you catch or block a bouncing ball? How fast can you run around all four bases? How fast can you run from left field to center field and back to left field?

Maddy was the fastest girl running around the bases and in the field. She didn't know how to do any of the other drills. She couldn't catch the bouncing ball but she definitely could block it. She took one in the chin once and never said a thing.

During a water break, the coaches met in center field. Coach Lee was the head coach and worked with pitchers and catchers; Coach Murphy handled the outfield; Coach Stormant handled the infield; and Coach Alexander gave batting instruction. All of them had daughters on the team.

"We know all of these girls but one. They've been playing together for several years and are going into Riverside's baseball program, which is one of the best I've ever seen. They've all made this team by showing up. This Wiltz girl is interesting. We might be able to take her as bunter when we need to advance a runner. She'd have a good chance to reach first if she can bunt the ball down the line. Or she could sub in as a base runner. I'll work with her in the second diamond. You guys set up some infield work and some outfield work for the others."

### # # # # # # # #

"That's good, Wiltz. Five bunts in a row down the third base line. Now, let's try a bunt down the first base line. Where do you want to put it?"

"Halfway down the line so that the pitcher and first base aren't sure who should get it?"

"I thought that you didn't play ball."

"I watched some U-tube videos."

"Set up in the batters box, and I'll give you some outside pitches."

"When do I get to bunt from the right side of the plate? I could reach first base faster if I didn't have to cross the plate first."

"You can bunt from the right side? I thought you were right handed."

"I am, but it's very easy to tap the ball."

"Show me."

...

"I'm going to pitch faster now. Which side do you want to stand at?"

"I don't care, Coach. Both sides are easy."

...

"This is boring, Coach. Can I try swinging the bat?"

"Do you know what a curve ball is?"

"Haven't got the foggiest."

...

"Aha! I got you."

"Try that again."

"You saw the spin when the ball was coming out of my hand?"

"It's hard to hide, Coach. We learned about spinning objects and what they're going to do when they're coming at your face in my old school. Can I swing for real now?"

"No. Next, you'll show me that you know when to bunt and when to lay off. You know about the strike zone, right?"

"Coach Alexander showed all of us."

....

"Coach, can I swing now?"

"We're going into a mock game next.

### # # # # # # # #

For most of the mock game, Maddy sat in the dugout. She didn't mind because she learned a lot. Most of the girls were really athletic. Some were big and strong, but slow. She noticed how the girl at first base was slow, but she made up for it by being able to stretch out. She watched carefully when girls were told to steal a base, which didn't mean picking it up and walking away with it. _[See! I do know something about baseball after all.]_

"Ingram, take a seat. Wiltz, you're up to bat. Your team has a girl on first base. What are you going to do?"

"Advance her to second, Coach."

"Morgan. If she reaches first off a bad pitch, you are out of the game."

"She ain't going nowhere, Coach."

...

"You're gone, Morgan. Pattison, take the mound. Girls, there is one out. Wiltz, second base is open and so is third. In Montana, we play men's rules, which means you can take a few steps away from the bag and steal as soon as the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. The pitcher can throw to home or to your bag. Don't get caught."

"I was watching the stealing, Coach."

"Pattison, if she reaches second, you are out of the game. Show me what you got, Wiltz."

...

"Robinson, that was a horrible throw to second. Wiltz, when the ball gets through the infield, you can keep running. Pattison, you're still on the mound. Head's up, defense. You know she's stealing. Where's the chatter?"

...

"Pattison, this time you're gone. After you check the runner, you have to get the ball to the plate fast. Catchers, stick with a fastball when the runner is probably stealing. I want Young on the mound. I know you were pitching for Wiltz's team, Young. I want to see if any pitcher on this team can stop her from stealing. Batter, you are free to swing or bunt. Do not strike out."

Young went for the strike out and kept the ball high and inside. High balls are difficult to bunt. With two strikes, the catcher called for a ball down and away. The ump called Strike 3, and the catcher called _Two out, two ou_ t and sent the necessary hand signal to the outfield. She took a few steps to the mound, tossed the ball and turned back to the plate. Maddy slid head first across the plate before the pitcher could get the ball back to the catcher.

"That can be hard on the face, Wiltz."

"I don't know how to slide, Coach."

"Alright girls..."

"Coach. Can I hit now? For real?"

"Why not? Young, stay on the mound. You people on defense, position yourself so that she can't reach first. You guys haven't seen her hit, so you don't know what her weaknesses are."

Young pulled the outfielders in. Wiltz might have speed, but she showed no physical strength. Her first pitch was a fastball down the middle of the plate.

The ball reached the home run wall in two bounces. By the time the left fielder had retrieved it, Maddy was rounding third.

...

"I thought you hadn't played baseball and didn't know how to bat, Wiltz."

"I don't, Coach. I know how to swing a spear. I think the actions are the same."

"A spear?"

"PE class in my last school, Coach."

### # # # # # # # #

"All of you here have made the team," Coach Lee announced. "The coaches will give you our game schedule which will be weekends only. Our practice is always here Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 10 am to noon. Friday is a travel day. We'll have a mock game with the coaches, next Saturday morning, June 28 at 10. Umps and everything. Wear your uniforms."

"The cost for your parents is on the game schedule. We're looking for volunteers from the moms to chaperone. We'll be circulating a list of all the players and coaches with contact information soon."

"Now, as to rules. We expect you to be at all practices and trying hard. If you are ill, advise one of the coaches. We don't want you infecting the team. During practices and games, the team will always show sportsmanship and respect for your teammates. I don't want anybody criticizing a teammate for making a mistake. You all will make mistakes. Wiltz, you have a question?"

"Coach, I've heard how some teams do something called hazing of their team members. What is that and do we do that?"

"Good question, Wiltz. Hazing is an abominable practice in which older teammates belittle teammates that have not been on the team for as long as they have. Some coaches claim that it makes for better teams. I don't know how humiliating a teammate could ever make a team stronger. The practice of hazing young players has been banned in all sports in Montana schools as well as in Montana community programs such as ours."

"Any other questions? ... Good try out, girls. Tell your parents that you made the team!"

...

"Wiltz, you don't have to return the glove and spikes. You can keep them. The club has lots. Just return them when the season is over."

"Coach, I can't be on the team."

"You're good enough, Wiltz, and one of the coaches will show you how to throw better and field better."

"I thought the team was free, Coach. I can't pay the fee."

"Just the tryout was free. Your parents?"

"They expect me to pull my own weight and not expect handouts. I baby sit and do chores to pay my share for living in their home."

"Your guardians?"

"Same thing, Coach. I'll be doing chores for them to pay for laundry and other costs of taking care of me that they shouldn't have to pay."

"Do you want to play for us? Be honest."

"I wanted to find out what a team sport was like. I know that now. This is way better than running by myself on the prairie for hours."

"Can you handle a part time job in baseball season?"

"Yeah, but I'm too young to do that."

"Billings has quite liberal rules about that when school is not in session. I know a man who own a Chinese restaurant and take out. He needs somebody to work in his kitchen and other students who have tried this job quit because the kitchen is too hot. Would you be like that, Wiltz?"

"No, Coach. I've been in Africa and I didn't find it too hot."

"There's only one Chinese restaurant in town, so you'll know where to go. The owner will expect you on Monday at 2 pm. You'll work a seven-hour shift from 2 to 9 pm. He has a daughter that is one year older than you and she's quite nice. She'll tell you what to do."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 20

His name was Randy McLeish. During the day, he worked in Edinburgh in a copter repair shop. During the evenings, he spent his time in the bars.

Perhaps his name destined him to be what he was. _Randy_ is a short form of Randolph. It's also an adjective that describes a person of either gender who likes to have sex a lot. In other words, Randy was randy. If his parents had named him Sterile McLeish, would that have meant that his life would have been different? We'll never know.

Most of the time, Randy found enjoyment with willing partners from the bars. They were usually drunk, but Randy was attractive enough that drunk or not drunk, women did have consensual sex with him. When he had no money to hang out in the bars, that was when Randy became dangerous.

Doc and Kashmira TiTr'd and found numerous occasions to select when Randy imposed himself on underage girls. In some cases, it could be argued that the girl looked old enough and seemed willing enough. They discarded those incidents. They chose the absolutely worst incident to charge him with rape. The girl was 13 years old at best and she was very vocal in her objections. Randy had taken her off a street and into an alley with a bright enough overhead light for them to film the encounter. That evidence went to the prosecutor so that she could prepare her case.

After Cassie announced that she was ready, it was time for Doc and Reese to collect the accused. They followed him home from his favorite bar and waited for the street to be empty before Doc pushed the button on the bottom of his flashlight. Reese had stopped and turned around so that the lights wouldn't affect him. Doc was a little blinded, but other than that, the collection went smoothly. As they didn't know how long Randy would remain unconscious, Doc and Reese duct taped Randy into immobility. Reese held Randy upright in his sling and off the two of them went to the courtroom. Doc followed in case he was needed.

A number of miscalculations became evident. The effects of the flashlight weapon didn't last nearly as long as they had expected or needed. The trip to the courtroom from Edinburgh was long. It would have better if the trip were short and the effects were long. Randy woke up and stayed awake. Reese couldn't stun him again because the Taser part of the flashlight might singe his sling. Plus, Randy was drunk. The inside of the sling became very soggy and chunky. This was not surprising given the ingredients of the sausages that made up what Randy had been eating. Blood puddings are not puddings. They are sausages full of blood that do not digest quickly. Reese was fortunate that Randy was drunk. If he had been aware of what was happening, Randy could have been head butting Reese the entire trip.

Doc had suggested that they have the trial in New York City in the very building that the United Nations had occupied. While terrorist swimmer had blown up other New York buildings, the swimmers had no grudges against the UN, which was not part of the United States. Naturally, the building was empty, but very usable, at least above the bottom two floors which were mildewed and soggy. They had found an actual courtroom complete with a judge's bench, robes, and a gavel that they would use to try McLeish.

Before they could start the trial, Reese went for a swim to clean up and then flew fast enough to dry off. Doc dunked Randy into the water in front of the UN building a number of times, and with Kashmira's help, they manhandled Randy into the courtroom. Duct tape was exchanged for cuffs that they found in the building's security offices.

When Randy was sober, Kashmira explained what was happening to him. She explained the UN Convention on the Rights of Children and how the UN had laws against all forms of sexual abuse. She also described how the members of this court were an international organization that had the authority to act.

Randy did not look impressed, not even with the big blue U.N. sign hanging from the courtroom wall behind Reese.

Cassie introduced herself and read out the charges against him: Rape of a minor on February 12, 2092.

"How do you plead?" Reese asked.

"Not guilty. It never happened."

Cassie showed him the tape of the assault from start to finish. Kashmira had to turn away. Doc found it difficult to watch too. Then, Cassie rewound the tape to the beginning, found the shot with a clear view of Randy's face and started on her prepared questions.

"Is this you?"

"No."

"It looks exactly like you."

"The tape has been doctored."

"Did you have sex with this girl?"

"No. I've never seen her before in my life."

"Did you know that she was 13?"

"How would I know that about somebody I had never seen?"

"Did you hear her screams when you were raping her?"

"I was never there."

"Do you have a twin brother?"

"I guess I do."

Cassie eventually ran out of questions and sat down.

"Do you have anything to say in your defense?" Reese asked.

"I was never there and you can't prove that I was. I don't know that girl, and you can't prove that I do. Somebody who looks like me raped that girl."

"Have you told the truth to all the questions you were asked?" Reese asked.

"Yes, I did."

"Court is recessed until tomorrow."

### # # # # # # # #

All of the Nemeses agreed that the day had gone badly. Of course, McLeish would lie. As Reese had already said, he had lots of dark colours. But tomorrow, Reese would be able to tell that he had lied. The man's defense would be broken.

"Do you wish to change any of your answers in yesterday's testimony?" Reese asked to re-open the trial.

"No. I wasn't there. I don't know that girl. Everything that I said yesterday was the truth. I demand my freedom."

Reese stared long and hard at McLeish's face.

"I have the ability to tell when a person has lied to me. I see changes in the faces that I can read. Looking at you today, I can determine that you lied numerous times yesterday."

"You're a mind reader?"

"No, I can read the truth. Based on what I now know about you, I am able to make my ruling."

"That's crazy. You're going to convict me on the basis of some crazy belief that you can read the truth. Prove it!"

"Prove what?"

"Prove that you can tell if I'm lying."

"Well that...."

McLeish pointed to Doc. "Get that guy in the corner that doesn't say anything to write down five questions and give me a copy and you a copy. I'll write down the truthful answers next to each question and give my copy to him. You can ask me the questions. I'll lie for some and tell the truth for some. You can be the lie spotting judge. If you make a mistake, I go free, and I'll tell everybody what you tried to do."

"Your honour, I'd like a recess please," Cassie interrupted before Reese could respond. Kashmira was too angry to talk. Doc knew that McLeish would never agree to wait twenty-four hours while Reese waited for the face colours to shift location. All three of them got up and left the courtroom. Reese had no choice but to follow.

### # # # # # # # #

"He has beaten us," Cassie said. "I can't get him to confess and I have no physical evidence. I don't have a victim to bring to the trial. I can't connect him to the assault even with a clear picture of his face on the body raping that girl."

"But, we know he's guilty. We saw the tape," Kashmira spat.

"We know he's guilty but we can't prove it in this trial format because we can't prove he's lying. If we convict him on the evidence and statements made in this trial, it would not be justice." Doc with the verdict.

"This sucks," Kashmira said. "A pervert walks free?"

"Can anybody think of questions that I could ask to tie him to the crime?"

Nobody answered Cassie.

"I know he's a liar because his colours tell me that; I can't tell specifically when he's lying. That means that I can't pass the test he's proposing. I'm useless here."

"I'll stay with him," Kashmira said into the depressing silence.

"And do what?" Cassie asked.

"I'll stall while you guys take a walk and brainstorm. He's chained to his chair. He can't hurt me."

Nobody could think of anything else to do.

"We'll be gone for 15 minutes," Doc said.

### # # # # # # # #

Doc, Cassie, and Reese returned in fifteen minutes. Kashmira was nowhere to be found. McLeish hung limply from his chair. The chain was the only thing keeping him from doing a face plant onto the courtroom floor. Doc strode to McLeish's body and put a finger on his neck. "No pulse," he announced. "Reese, help me put him on the floor and take his clothes off."

Doc started with McLeish's hair and ended with his toes.

"There are no signs of physical trauma that would explain his death. His eyes are clear, there are no strangulation marks, death was too quick for a slow poison, and a quick poison would have left evidence. Without cutting him open, I've seen all I can see."

"Have you seen anything like this before, Doc?"

"Once before, Reese. Where's Kashmira?"

Kashmira was on the third floor looking for food. Reese mind messaged her to come back to the courtroom.

"There's no food in the entire building," Kashmira complained as she walked into the courtroom. "Why is there a naked man on the floor?"

"What happened when we were out of the building?" Cassie asked.

"Beats me. You guys were gone and I got hungry. Can we go somewhere and eat!"

_Memorize Kashmira's colours, Reese_

_Doc, do you think that Kashmira ...?_

_I think nothing. I just want to know what her colours are today so that I can evaluate tomorrow how she handled the stress of the meeting._

"We have a dead man on the floor of our courtroom. What are we going to do with him?" Cassie asked.

Doc replied for the group. "We know that he was guilty of raping a child. He had a fair trial. Now he's dead. Justice is served, I think. We need to bury him."

"After that, can we go and get something to eat? Who is this guy anyway?"

"It's McLeish," Cassie answered.

"Oh yeah. He looks different without any clothes on."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 21

On the Monday following the tryouts (June 23), Maddy had her first practice as a member of the BBBs. The coaches handed out uniforms along with an equipment bag for each player. Uniforms were to be worn only at games and players were responsible for washing them afterwards. Players were responsible for ensuring that their uniform, hat, and cleats were always in that bag before each game and afterwards. They should also always have water bottles and sunscreen in their bags. All the other equipment such as bats, catcher equipment, and balls would be the responsibility of one of the coaches to bring to practice and games.

After warm-ups, Coach Lee sat the players down and made some announcements. There were thirteen girls on the team. They would have three pitchers - Pattison, Morgan, and Young. The four infielders were Lee, Stormont, Stinson, and Hopkins. Murphy, Ingram, Robinson, and Hazmati were the outfielders. Abenaki and Wiltz would share the catcher position. Most infielders and outfielders would play two positions. First base would always be the tallest infielder on the field.

Their game schedule provided for one seven-inning game on the Saturday morning and one seven-inning game on the Sunday morning. In both cases, the early games were to avoid the heat of the afternoon. All girls on the team had to sit out at least three innings on a weekend. Pitchers could only pitch seven innings over a weekend. This would not be a concern for the BBBs since they had four good pitchers, if you counted Lee at shortstop.

They would play eight games in their season as follows: July 5/6 in Bozeman; July 12/13 in Great Falls; July 19/20 in Kalispell; and July 26/27 in Billings versus Missoula.

### # # # # # # # #

"Wiltz and Audrey will work with me on the second diamond," Coach Lee finished the instructions on what they would be doing for the next fifteen minutes. He called his daughter by her first name so that there'd be no confusion. Audrey usually played shortstop and set up in that position.

"Wiltz, set up at home plate with your catcher's mitt."

"Yes, Coach."

Coach eyed his new catcher and paused. "Wiltz, I have to touch you to show you how to throw. Is that alright? Audrey is here as a witness."

"Yes, Coach."

Again, Lee looked at his new catcher.

"I got it now. You were in a military school."

"Yes, Coach. How'd you know?"

"You're standing at attention, Wiltz. Relax."

"Yes, Coach."

"Is that you relaxing, Wiltz?"

"Doing the best I can, Coach."

"You don't always have to say _Coach_."

...

Coach Lee guided Maddy in the mechanics of throwing a baseball by touching her right hand, arm, and shoulder as necessary. At first, she lobbed the ball to Audrey, who fired the ball back as hard as she could. At the end of the fifteen minutes, Maddy was getting it.

### # # # # # # # #

"Audrey, help Wiltz gear up."

Gearing up meant putting on the catcher's shin guards, chest protector, and mask.

"From now on, you will always wear your shin guards during the full practice, except when you're batting. This will allow you to move with them naturally. They'll feel awkward at first. Audrey, show her the catcher's position behind the plate and adjust her as necessary."

...

"Audrey is our back up pitcher in case we have injuries. She's going to practice pitching and you're going to practice catching. I'll be back in fifteen."

### # # # # # # # #

Batting practice. They had both diamonds going with half the girls fielding, a coach pitching, and a girl taking twenty swings in each diamond.

"Swing away, Wiltz," Coach Lee instructed. "Go for the fences."

...

"Put the next pitch into left field."

...

"Put the next pitch into right field."

...

"Can you swing leftie?"

...

"No baseball experience, Wiltz? Are you still sticking with that story?"

"My aunt gave me some martial arts training. She taught me about footwork and keeping my hips low and over my feet."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"I didn't call you _Coach_ this time."

"I noticed that."

### # # # # # # # #

"Wiltz, stay behind for a minute."

...

"Did your guardians give you permission to work at the restaurant and take out?"

"Yes, I'm going there at 1:45 today."

"You need more baseball practice time. You pick up skills quickly, but these are new skills and you have to muscle memorize them. Plus, there are catching skills that we haven't covered yet."

"I couldn't see the pop up because the mask was in the way."

"So, now you know that you have to whip your mask off as soon as you hear the clunk of the ball on the bat. Pop ups have a distinctive sound. You have to practice that, and we don't have time in these team practices to do that."

"I can't use this mitt yet either."

"True. Do you have time to work out on your own? If so, when?"

...

"I can do mornings, Coach."

"What time do you get up?"

"What time would you like me to get up?"

"There's a ruined building not far from where you live. It's called the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Its walls are made of brick and nobody will complain if you throw baseballs against the walls. Do you know where it is?"

"I can find it."

"Audrey and I will meet you there at 7:30 tomorrow morning. If you practice on your own until 9, that will give you time to rest, eat something, and be at our practice by 10. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Remember to bring your gear. Grab a dozen balls out of the ball bag and keep them in your kit bag."

### # # # # # # # #

That afternoon, Maddy met Meifeng Li. She introduced her father, who bowed his head a little. "You should bow from your waist a little," she whispered. "He's very old fashioned but it won't hurt if you show respect."

"You can enter the kitchen from behind this counter. There's a back door as well that leads to the alley where we put out the scraps. You'll do that but there won't be much. We try and cook almost everything that we buy."

"If he wants you to do something, he'll do it himself and then expect you to follow. You'll be in the kitchen your whole shift but in slow times, you can come out where it's cooler for breaks. Don't do that when customers are in the restaurant. Take your break at the back door. Most of the afternoon, you'll be cutting vegetables, chicken, and meat. They require different knives. He'll spend most of that time reading. Around 4, he'll start cooking. You should watch him as he will expect that you will take over cooking the simple dishes, like rice and noodles. You may have to chop some more vegetables if we get a rush."

"You'll wear this white apron to protect your clothes. You have short hair so you only need this white cap. You must always wash your hands when you change chores, when you leave or enter the kitchen, and especially after handling meat or chicken. He will show you when and how to wash your tools."

"When you have a chance, you can dish out something that you like and eat it in the corner where my dad reads. Drink a lot of water because the kitchen will get hot. If you like Chinese tea, you can drink that too. That food is part of your salary. No soda, though. It's expensive."

"If you have any questions, ask me. Remember to bow a bit when he shows you something and thank him for teaching you. You can say it in English. He understands a few words."

### # # # # # # # #

Tuesday morning, Maddy was at the Crowne Plaza Hotel ten minutes early. She didn't know which side of the building she should go to, so she stood in the copter parking lot and waited. Coach Lee and Audrey parked in that lot and together they walked to the south side of the hotel.

"This is the back of their big ballroom. It doesn't have any windows, so that makes for a lot of brick wall to aim at. The ground here is flat. Audrey, walk out the distances, I'll put up the targets."

Coach spray-painted three circles. A big one, a medium one inside the big one, and a small one inside the medium one. "Ultimately, you want to have all of your throws hit inside the small circle. For now, you can be happy if you stay inside the big circle."

The sound of banging drew Maddy attention to Audrey who was driving a tent peg into the hard dirt. "That peg marks where you'll stand when you want to practice throwing the ball back to the pitcher's mound. The wall is the pitcher's mound. Try and get the ball inside that small circle. The peg she's driving now marks the distance to second base. You stand at the peg and the wall is now second base. You need to be able to throw out a girl trying to steal. This is a long throw for a catcher. Now, get your ball bag and show me proper form for a throw from home plate to the pitcher's mound. You can take a step to get some force behind it."

...

"Take 15 minutes on this drill. Throw your dozen balls against the wall, pick them up, and throw again. Next week, you'll crouch behind the plate, stand, and then throw. Got it?"

"Yeah."

Coach Lee went on to show Maddy four more drills that she could do on her own, each of them involving the wall. The second drill was intended to give her practice on catching the ball in her mitt, securing the ball and then throwing it. In the third drill, she'd learn how to block a throw from the pitcher that was going into the dirt or a throw from an infielder that was off target.

The fourth drill gave her practice in catching a foul tick, which is what happens if the batter swings and ticks the ball right back into the catcher's mask or chest protector. If the catcher can secure the ball before it touches the ground, the batter is out. The fifth drill gave her practice in removing her mask quickly and chasing down foul balls.

### # # # # # # # #

Wednesday, Bean was mind-messaging with Mac

_We have our schedule sorted out now, Mac. Maddy is practicing early mornings Mondays to Fridays. Cowboy and I will take turns going out to this abandoned old hotel and helping her when she needs it. When she can do the drills on her own, we will do our own exercises. We'll jog there and back. Both of us need to be fit for our jobs, so it won't be like we're supervising her. Cowboy bought a glove and I'll share that with him. Maddy is working at the restaurant until 9 pm, One of us will be there to bring her home. I have my ambulance copter and he has his police copter._

_If you're uncomfortable with her walking home, she could sling._

_Too many nosy people look through windows in Billings._

_How's his job going?_

_Two of his senior men applied for the captain's job and they aren't exactly welcoming him with open arms. He had good references from Helena and Stook sent in a letter. That raised their hackles. In their minds, it was political interference from the Governor of Colorado and that didn't go over well._

_I can see why they'd act that way._

_Cowboy is focusing right now on getting to know the city and letting the city see him. Cowboy receives an allowance for 'establishing a police presence,' which means going out into the community and showing the uniform. We're doing that by eating at different restaurants and chatting up the owners and customers. We'll be sure to visit Maddy's restaurant and see what her work environment is like. Cowboy says that the father and daughter operating it are good people._

_Is there lots of crime in Billings?_

_Less than you might expect for a city of this size. We're just beginning to learn the problems. Cowboy thinks that too many people are picking up stakes and moving out, but that's only an intuition. We don't really know._

_What about Maddy's expenses? Do you need anything from us?_

_No. We have that sorted out. Maddy is too busy to be doing chores for us. We've told her that so long as she continues to make her own breakfasts and lunches, and keeps her room tidy, she's off the hook. She's planning to use her restaurant money to buy her own cleats and glove. We'll for pay her accommodation and food costs when they travel because that's part of her room and board. If she wants to spend any of her personal money on the trips, that's her decision._

_What about baseball games?_

_Cowboy talked with the coach about that. Cowboy and I are first responders on the weekends when our potential for business is highest. We can't go to the away games. We can watch their home game on July 26/27. The coach has offered to copter her to the away games and back because he's going anyway and has space. Maddy and his daughter will bunk together wherever they stay. He wants them to get to know each other because she's one of their pitchers and Maddy's a catcher. Those kinds of pairing always bunk together. Cowboy said that the coach came from a Montana baseball family a long way back. His older daughter is currently playing university ball at Arizona. The school is trying to revive university sports. He's very high on Maddy._

_And you? What's up?_

_I'm not too busy with ambulance work right now. Some broken limbs and a concussion are all that I've attended to so far. The community likes having an ambulance service, so I'm getting lots of waves as I move around town. I'm based in their small hospital and take regular shifts as a triage nurse when I'm not out in the community. I'm enjoying it._

### # # # # # # # #

Saturday, June 28, Mock Game. Here's the thing that Maddy remembered most. Coach Lee was playing for the other team and had hit a single to reach first base. He whistled to get everybody's attention. "Just so you know, I'm stealing second base. Wiltz, you won't know when. Robinson, take two strikes if necessary. I'll probably be on second before then."

...

"Well that was interesting. What happened Wiltz?"

"The ball slipped out of my hand, Coach."

"It did eventually come down near third base though. It stopped me from stealing third. Everybody makes mistakes, Wiltz. Shake it off."

...

After the game.

"Wiltz, hold your hands out. I'm going to put a ball in each hand. Grip them hard and stop me from taking them out of your hand."

...

"That's really embarrassing, Coach."

"Better to find out now that you have no strength in your fingers. From now on, wherever you are, have two balls in a pocket. If you're walking to a store, put a ball in each hand and squeeze it for five seconds, release, and squeeze and so on."

"I can make it more difficult by squeezing longer."

"Yup. And for something even more difficult, you can learn how to juggle three balls. Your hand has to be part of that ball. These drills will improve your throwing too."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 22

It was the beginning of July and the Nemeses had selected their second pervert. They had talked about what went right, and what went wrong with McLeish. From now on, they would transport prisoners in an unmarked Wilizy plane that was equipped with restraints.

Also, before they decided to put anybody on trial, they would approach the victim and determine if she were willing to give evidence in a safe space and without media present. If not, they'd move on to another pervert. There were plenty of them around.

Cassie would interview the victim and ensure that she'd be a good witness, as any good prosecutor would do. During the trial, the rapist would hear the victim's testimony and see the tapes of the assault. They hoped that this would be sufficient for the rapist to confess. But, if the rapist denied being there, or even knowing the victim, Justice Reese would simply rule that he found the witness' testimony to be compelling and find the pervert guilty.

As to what happened after a guilty verdict had been rendered, they would return the rapist to his home country and turn him over to the authorities to deal with. If there were no authorities, they would make a public spectacle of him and let the citizens decide what kind of fate he deserved. _[That route to justice had proven to be successful in 'Trial by Nick,' Book #11. ]_

The only question left unanswered from the McLeish trial was how he died. Cassie didn't care. Dead was dead as far as she was concerned. Knowing the truth beyond a shadow of a doubt was enough to justify his death, however it happened.

Kashmira wasn't concerned about how he had died either. She claimed that she was out of the courtroom when McLeish died. Other than temporary confusion over identifying the naked body, Doc had seen no evidence of memory loss as had happened when the Angel of Death had taken over her body in Maasin City. Reese told Doc privately that her colours hadn't changed very much at all after the trial. She had been angry but that anger didn't translate into anything significant. Doc was reluctant to ask her if she had been responsible for the death. He knew that Heaven would not have sent an Angel of Death to take over her body; so perhaps, McLeish had died of a heart attack. However, he was suspicious enough to write a note to himself to talk to Winnie the next time she was in camp and borrow a drone. He'd also need instructions on how to activate it.

### # # # # # # # #

"You look exhausted, Winnie."

"I am, Mom. I need to sleep for about a week. Sorry I'm not better company."

"We're happy just to see you on Sundays."

...

"Have you noticed that I haven't been asking you why you're so tired?"

"Nice try, Mom. That pry was very subtle."

"I thought so, too. How much longer will you have to work so hard?"

"I don't know. It's been a month now. I'm beginning to see some daylight."

"Perhaps a promotion?"

"I don't care about promotions, Mom."

"Well, wouldn't a bigger salary be nice?"

"Don't care about that either. Are you done prying?"

"I think so. I had something lined up about boyfriends."

"Don't care about those either."

"I'm done."

"Thanks for taking it easy on me. I have to see Doc. He asked me to come over."

"Doc's a different man ever since he discovered the nutritional value of fish. We've introduced them into the mess hall."

"I'll see you there for dinner."

"Reese should be there. He's home for a visit too."

"That's good. I haven't seen Reese in a long time."

### # # # # # # # #

"I think I got it."

"Drones are easy to install, Doc. Just remember to pick them up again after you're finished. I brought three over. Will that be enough?"

"Yes."

"Are you planning to tell me what you're doing?"

"Granny has a secret boyfriend. I'm going to catch them."

"Right. I just came from Mom. I can't help prying."

"S'alright."

"You're working with Reese on this thing with the drones, right?"

"Reese?"

"Mom said he was home. I know that he was here. I can still smell the chocolate in the air."

"I thought you were done prying."

"I didn't say that I was done. I said that I couldn't help it."

"Why don't you come and cuddle up. You look exhausted."

"I am. A comfy pillow of Doc will do wonders."

### # # # # # # # #

Winnie had reason to be exhausted. Actually, so did Arthur and Meghan. Winnie's hand-held device was now in prototype testing. The order for the parts that would be needed to make the device had been sent out and they were waiting for shipment from Earth. Lillian had approved Winnie's request for one hundred guardian angels to be brought home and to be put to work assembling them. The idea was that they would be more comfortable using them when they knew what was inside the magic box. Lillian remarked that it was a good idea. Besides, the guardian angels were operating on Earth with no opposition right now, so they could be spared.

Arthur was cutting through the protocols like a buzz saw meeting a giant cherry pie. If that seems weird to you, that's what he was fantasizing about when he slept. Meghan had given him details about what her software would do and Arthur just whipped through the protocols dealing with financial transactions. _[Whipped cream on his cherry pie was part of his dream too.]_ He was now meeting with employee groups and asking them what they thought should be in the protocols dealing with their business. Those groups hardly paid any attention to the protocols anyway, so this part of Arthur's pruning was going fast.

Meghan was in programming mode now. The architecture for the financial software was complete. Now she was adding the specifics. Winnie and Arthur hardly ever saw her. When she wasn't in the ship's hold programming, she was in her pitch-black bedroom in the hold sleeping.

Winnie had taken the ship as high into Heaven's atmosphere as possible and she and Arthur slept in the double hammock hanging between the two masts. But their work and sleep schedules were not synchronized at all. Sometimes, Winnie would wake to find Arthur cuddled behind her; sometimes she would go to bed, find Arthur already there, and cuddle up behind him. She knew there were times that they would roll over at the same time and re-cuddle. She'd wake up to find herself facing a different direction and vaguely remember the synchronized roll.

Winnie was working off three hours of sleep. She didn't know about Arthur or Meghan. Her mandated Sunday trip to Earth was the only time that she was in her mortal body and eating food. She too could have been dreaming about cherry pies but she was too exhausted to dream.

Meghan was too busy to touch base with her spies, so Paula was drifting in and out of SinSin-atti's buildings and sewers listening to chatter so that she could give Lillian, Joe-Joe and Keely a sense of the morale in Hell. Each week, she gave them a detailed review of what Ponzi was doing, and through that, what Satan was doing.

Satan was now drawing on the gold reserves in the Bank of Hell to maintain the necessities of afterlife in Hell. He melted the gold down into tiny nuggets in the Black House and used them to pay off the most vital bills. Green bean soup was now standard fare for all inhabitants. The media had actually filmed Satan downing a bowl of soup with _gusto_. _[Gusto is a soothing balm that coats the walls of the stomach and stops an eater from spray-puking the contents of his stomach all over the walls of his office.]_ No progress had been made on finding Gold Pinkies or Lord Percy.

Ponzi had had no success in finding the manufacturer who had prepared the mold for Lord Percy's new coin. However, he did have success in finding the former Director of Accounts. He was hiding in London. _(This was the devil who had received the overdue hamburger notice and had sat on it for two days so that Gold Pinkies could escape.)_ Ponzi had a dozen shoulder demons watching every move he made in the hopes that he and Lord Percy would meet. So far, nothing. Torturing him for the information was discussed, but Ponzi actually talked Satan out of it. He argued that it was highly unlikely that the traitor knew where Lord Percy was. It was far more likely that Percy would contact him. Not many devils could talk Satan out of a bad decision made in anger.

Gold from Hell's mines was trickling in and might be able provide some relief of Hell's cash crunch in the next month, but to date, Ponzi had not been able to find a way to convert Hell's gold to gold certificates. The first repository couldn't be restored until they could pay the mortal workers; they couldn't pay the mortal workers until the first repository was restored. Dead end.

### # # # # # # # #

Dinner at the mess hall. Winnie was sitting at a table with Doc, Granny, Hank and Yolanda. They were eating late and, as such, it was easy for Reese to find Winnie when he entered the hall. Winnie saw him at the same time and left the table to greet him. He had a big smile on his face as he approached and Winnie opened her arms. The smile on Reese's face disappeared. He turned and walked out of the mess hall without saying a word. Winnie stood there with her arms open and then returned to her table.

"What was that all about?" Granny asked.

"I don't have a clue. Does anybody know why Reese is mad at me?"

Winnie scanned their faces as everybody denied knowing anything. Nobody lied.

_I don't have the energy to deal with this now. Reese can stay in Peru for all I care._

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 23

With four games under their collective belt, the BBBs were undefeated. In all four games, they had been held back by having to invoke the _mercy_ rule. This meant no stealing and no undue celebrations of hits once you're up by eight runs. Coach Lee used these innings to give Audrey some time on the mound and Robinson, the former catcher that Maddy had replaced, time behind the plate. When Maddy was catching, she made one long throw to second which made it there in time, but bounced once.

Maddy logged some time in the outfield where her speed allowed her to dash into short right field and nab some wobbly fly balls. She also backed up the infielders on that side of the diamond and managed a throw to third that resulted in an out. Coach wasn't absolutely sure that Maddy's position would be as catcher when she got older. He assigned her to the catcher position because she was fearless in blocking the ball. Her speed suggested an outfield position might be better, however her arm was still weak.

In the fourth game, Maddy was given permission to call the pitches, which she did effectively. This was not as hard as you might think. The BBBs pitchers had three possible signals: one finger (fast ball), two fingers (curve), and three fingers (palm ball also known as a change-up), which they were still learning. The 12-6 curve that they were taught spun downwards towards the plate, which meant that the catcher had to be on her knees blocking the ball from getting by the plate. Most of the strategy that the catcher could manage was location. Inside, down the middle, or outside. This was communicated to the pitcher with the catcher's second signal with her index finger pointing where she wanted the ball. Maddy was effective in getting the signals off in time, but she didn't know enough baseball yet to see the weaknesses in the batter's stance or swing that could be exploited. Coach Lee was confident that would come in time. None of the other catchers could do that either.

Maddy was weak on handling bunts. She got to the ball in time to make a throw, but had difficulty throwing the ball to first base because the runner was directly in the way of her throw. In these situations, the first base girl was supposed to give her a target that was out of the runner's line, but this was hard for them to do, as the BBB infielders were mostly still short. Maddy threw her first attempt in game #2 into right field. This would be something that she and the first base players would have to work on.

In the first two games, batting first in the line up, Maddy had an on base percentage of 100% to go with four steals if you didn't count two sacrifice bunts. This had prompted Coach Lee in games 3 and 4 to put her in the clean up position. She didn't have the power to hit triples or home runs, but she always hit the ball safely and advanced the girls on base. However, this position also meant that there were usually girls on base in front of her and she couldn't steal. He decided to put her back into the lead off position for the next round of games.

At work, Maddy was cooking the rice and the noodles, and was learning chop-suey. She had one unusual incident when the kid working in the hardware store next to them came to the kitchen door and whispered, "Maddy, can you take a break?"

Maddy knew the guy from the bullying fight that she had stopped. He was the one being hit. His name was Tony and they would waggle fingers at each other if they happened to see each other during work.

"I wanted to warn you about Andy before we left."

"Who's Andy?"

"He was the bully beating on me. He didn't hurt me that time thanks to you."

"There was a previous time?"

"Yeah. You're attending Castle Rock in September, right?"

"Yah."

"Did you look at going to Riverside?"

"I don't live near that school."

"You could get permission to attend Riverside. The schools allow that."

"I'm kind of settled on Castle Rock. I already made my course selections and the PE program is great."

"Maddy, you really should go to Riverside."

"Why should I, Tony?"

"Andy's a bad guy."

"What grade is he going into?"

"Grade 11."

"I'll be in grade 6. He can bother me. His school is far away."

"He has two sisters and they'll be Castle Rock next year. Brandy and Candy."

"Andy, Brandy, and Candy? Are his parents retarded or something? What are their last names?"

"Dandy."

"You gotta be kidding me."

"They're all big and they're bullies."

"No wonder with names like that."

"Don't let the two girls push you around. They'll try and get back at you for what you did to their brother."

"I'll be OK. Thanks for the warning. You're at Skyview right? Are you looking forward to September?"

"My dad was transferred. We're moving to Arizona tomorrow. I didn't want to leave without warning you."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 24

The Nemeses were ready to go by mid-July. They had rehearsed twice and looked for all the possible ways that this trial might flounder. They all agreed that they were ready.

Their target was not a rapist, per se. He was a Japanese man in his forties who lived in a comfortable home in Kyoto. Japan had survived the rising seas quite well, as most of the country was mountainous. Major cities near the ocean had flooded badly. But, they knew in advance that this would happen and the Japanese people's common sense had prepared them to move inland well before some cities were underwater. Kyoto was not near the ocean at all. The only water they were near was the fresh water Lake Biwa.

Their target's name was Akira Nakamura and he worked out of his house as a commercial photographer. Clients who wanted his skills would come to his house since he had a full-scale photographic studio in his basement.

Unmarried, but anxious to reap the rewards of fatherhood, he had adopted two girls from an orphanage in the wilds of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island. An educated man, he was able to home school his daughters while ensuring that they were diligent in their studies since he was almost always home. When he did go out, for example to shop, he would always take both daughters with him. People would remark how well behaved they were. They also remarked how similar they were in appearance. In case a client came during one of his shopping excursions, Nakamura hung a sign on his doorknob that translated to: _Out shopping. Please come again_.

Reese noticed his very dark colours on one of his shopping excursions. He didn't see any colours indicating that he was a rapist, but the colours that he did have were close. Reese was moved to investigate further when he saw the colours of his daughters. The girls were petrified with fear.

It took weeks to find out why the girls were so frightened.

Nakamura had three daughters, not two. All three were the same size and had the same physical characteristics. All three were in their early teens. When two of them accompanied Nakamura outside, it would be difficult to know which of the three girls they were. They were petrified that the other teen who had been left at home would die of suffocation in the event that anybody got nosy. She had been concealed in the basement inside a locked photographic storage case and could only be released if Nakamura made it home before the air ran out.

The commercial photography business? It was very rewarding, at least for Nakamura. Some clients came to his home so that Nakamura could take picture of them being entertained by one or more of his daughters. If they still wanted to be entertained but not photographed, a private studio was available. Nakamura never distributed the pictures other than to his clients because he figured, correctly, that such pictures might lead do-gooders to his home.

Nakamura never touched the girls himself. But he did qualify for a trial by the new UN organization under the following charges: (a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in unlawful sexual activity; (b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution; (c) The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.

### # # # # # # # #

Doc was chosen as the person on the team who was most likely to be received as a pervert client. He knocked on the door in the rhythmic way they had seen other clients knock. Nakamura opened the door.

"I hear you take pictures," Doc said.

"Gobbly-gook," Nakamura replied.

By this time, Cassie had positioned herself on Nakamura's head. _He wants to know who referred you._

The team was expecting a language barrier.

"Your nemesis," Doc said and hit the button on the bottom of the flashlight he had concealed by his leg. He was in the house before Nakamura stopped bouncing off the floor. Kashmira and Reese entered invisibly behind him and shut the door.

They hadn't been able to establish ahead of time if the girls spoke or understood English. They knew that Nakamura did. Kashmira had come prepared with cards that contained three key phrases: _We are police. You are safe. Nakamura cannot hurt you._ She had obtained the Japanese equivalent of these phrases by going to three different libraries and asking each librarian to translate one of the phrases. If she were asked why she wanted those phrases translated and what she was doing, Kashmira planned to say that she was part of movie company that was making an English speaking detective film and they wanted to put subtitles up on the screen when the detective spoke those words. They were hoping to release the film in Japan. She was never asked. Librarians the world over are always helpful.

While Kashmira was pulling her three cards out of a briefcase, Cassie was searching for the girls.

_They're all in the first bedroom on the left_ she reported. (Cassie had already scouted the full house during their research phase and Doc had prepared a floor plan for their rehearsal.)

Kashmira unlocked the door to the first bedroom on the left and entered. Turns out that the girls spoke enough English to understand what Kashmira was telling them. Nakamura had English-speaking clients and part of their entertaining required English conversations.

### # # # # # # # #

The trial went smoothly at first. Cassie laid the groundwork very carefully. She had taped interviews with each of the three girls talking about their lives with Nakamura starting with their arrival at the house two years previously. She had pictures of the locked bedroom, the private entertainment center and the public entertainment center. She also had pictures of the lockable storage container and accounts of how Nakamura had used it. One of the girls even volunteered to climb in to demonstrate how confining it was. She also had clips of the pictures that Nakamura had taken, but had obscured the girls' faces.

As part of her address to the court after leveling the charges, Cassie indicated clearly what her evidence was and how it would be presented to the court. If necessary, the girls were nearby and had agreed to testify.

Justice Wilizy asked the defendant, "How do you plead?"

Nakamura said, "Guilty."

A guilty admission was unheard of in the modern world. A person could be caught bloody-faced, munching on the throat of a guy who had been coptering too slow in front of him for his taste and he'd say that he was not guilty of cannibalism. He could be caught with his teeth right in the guy's throat and he'd say, "Not guilty, your honour."

And then there'd be appeal after appeal while the media made a lot of money off reports like this:

_Cannibalism is alive and well. Will you be next?_

_Experts say that human flesh is tasty and good for the metabolism._

_If God didn't want us to be cannibals, he shouldn't have given us teeth._

_Should cannibals be punished or sent to nutritional workshops instead for help?_

_Why human flesh is so tasty. It's all in how quickly you chew._

_If a cannibal eats a vegetarian, does that make him a vegetarian too?_

Nakamura then went further. "I will commit hari-kari." This was a form of ritual suicide that Japanese samurai had performed centuries earlier. It was like deciding to perform a kidney transplant on yourself without painkillers and without a map of where the kidneys were located.

Doc asked for a pre-surgical consult outside the operating room.

"This is great," Kashmira beamed. "We don't have to take care of the punishment."

"Would hari-kari be legal?" Reese asked. "Would we be accessories to murder if we didn't stop it?"

Cassie had no opinion, but did ask who had to provide the blade and clean up afterwards.

Doc said, "We haven't had a chance to pull out more information about his business." There were some hints that Nakamura had been _operating_ , so to speak, under full awareness of some official who was getting a cut of the money.

"Why don't you guys go for a stroll and I'll ask him some questions."

Doc found Kashmira's offer tempting. He had installed Winnie's drone in the courtroom. Nobody knew about that. Would she sing or not?

"I like that idea," Doc said. "This way you will get the information informally. We can decide to act or not afterwards."

### # # # # # # # #

Nakamura was still alive when the Doc, Cassie and Reese returned.

Kashmira's report was succinct. "The chief of police knew about Nakamura's photo studio and was keeping his constables away from the house. If we look hard enough, we can find pictures of him being entertained. The girls would probably identify him too."

Another recess became necessary.

"How quickly can we capture this guy," Reese asked. "He's a policeman. We can't pick him up at work."

"I can follow him from work to his home," Cassie offered. "Doc and Reese should be able to nab him on the way to or from work, or they could pick him up in the middle of the night at home."

"Will we need the three girls?"

"Doubtful," Reese answered Kashmira's question. "Nakamura's testimony against him will be sufficient and we still have all the tapes if we need them."

"I'll take the girls wherever they want to go," Kashmira offered. _[They wanted to go home. They weren't orphans after all. Nomura had posed as a manufacturing recruiter offering them well-paid jobs that would pull them out of their homes.]_

That left Reese to assign himself a task. "I'll find two blades. But, they have to do the ritual in public."

### # # # # # # # #

"We should celebrate the end of a great operation," Doc said. "An evening out? My treat."

As would be expected with an international organization, some discussion was necessary to determine a fitting cuisine that would satisfy all tastes. They ended up ordering burgers and fries at a Japanese Jack-in-the Box. Doc got off easy. At least he didn't have to pay for ribs from a Texas take out joint.

### # # # # # # # #

"That was great food," Arthur exclaimed and patted his tummy to reward it for a job well done. It's a good idea to praise your vital organs on a regular basis. "Where'd you get the ribs?"

"Texas take out joint." Lillian disclosed the answer to the un-asked question of whether she could cook or not.

"Is this a real sailing ship, Lillian?" Meghan asked.

"Yes. Very much so. Joe-Joe likes to putter around on it."

Lillian and Joe-Joe had invited Meghan and the others to see their museum. Keely had seen it before but came along for the food. "Angels are allowed to have museums and we can put in artifacts and souvenirs, big and small as we wish. The ocean is simulated. The ship is from the 15th century."

"It's very small," Winnie observed.

"Yes," Joe-Joe agreed. "It's 50 feet long and is known as a caravel. It was originally intended for trade in the Mediterranean."

"It was Columbus' favorite ship," Lillian name-dropped.

That got everybody's attention.

"Which one?" Cassie asked. "The Nina, the Pinta, or the Santa Maria?"

"The Nina," Joe-Joe disclosed. "After he had found the New World, Columbus used it two more times and then it disappeared."

"It was wrecked on a reef. Joe-Joe couldn't stand to see it battered into driftwood, so we collected it and dropped it here. Both of us use the museum as a refuge when the daily grind gets us down. Joe-Joe shines and polishes the bright-work, I sand the deck. Columbus used to sit right where you're sitting, Winnie."

"Right. My bum is impressed. How would you know that, Lillian?"

"We were there. That's why it's in the museum."

Again, an attention getter.

"Why don't you tell them why Columbus almost didn't reach the New World?"

Lillian gave Keely a mini glare.

"I love this story," Keely admitted.

"Joe-Joe will have to help. He did it all."

"Not so. We did it together."

### # # # # # # # #

Joe-Joe started. "By 1492, Lillian and I were working together a lot. We heard about Columbus and of course we knew what he would be discovering if he reached there. Like Lillian said, it was a New World, and life on Earth would never be the same again."

"We knew that Columbus would use the Nina for the final rush into the waters around the West Indies because it was the fastest ship. The Santa Maria was a big barge compared to the Nina. We also knew that Hell would try to prevent him from getting there. So, we planned to set up base on the Nina. We watched as a dozen shoulder demons disguised as rats climbed along the rope tying the Nina to the dock in Palos, Spain. Joe-Joe suggested that I turn into a very pregnant cat and so that's how I came aboard. I hid deep in the hold so that even the demons didn't know I was there. The trip was long. That gave me plenty of time to give birth to a litter, watch the kittens grow, and train them. The kittens caught and ate the rats. Since the kittens were mortal, the demons never realized that two angels were on board."

"Lillian was on board. I basically flew a few miles behind the ship to remain undiscovered. Five of the crewmen were devils and I was waiting for them to go after Columbus or the ship. We didn't know what they would do, but as the trip got longer and longer, we could tell that something was imminent. We didn't want to risk giving ourselves away by listening in. That ship was small!"

"Everybody was asleep when five crewmen snuck up to the deck and were on the way to Columbus' cabin when they found Joe-Joe hovering in the way in full angel kit including chain mail around his vital organs."

"Lillian had helped attach all my little surprises to my body. Everything was all done by blade back then. I could attach the knives to the fronts and backs of my feet on my own, and of course, I had my two rapiers, but I wouldn't have been able to add the knives to my wings without her help."

"They never knew about those until they tried to sneak up on you and received a knife point in the face for their trouble. I never did figure out how you could operate your wings so well independently."

"I didn't know either. I had always been able to. Came in handy in a fight. I wasn't too accurate with the wing knives, because I couldn't aim them. But with five attached per wing, I could deter a backstabber."

"No knife will stop a full grown devil."

"Certainly not those knives, not unless I got lucky with an eye stab. But the toe and heel knifes were effective if they lifted a hoof to stomp me. A devil couldn't fight too well when it could only stand on one foot."

"Or when they were hugging their groin and trying to figure out if their two beasties were still attached to their body."

"Being able to fly was a big asset in that kind of fight. Devils can never corner you, as long as you stay in a space where you can open your wings."

"Remember what you did with the first devil – the one in charge?"

"Yeah. When they saw me hovering there in the gangway, they figured they could take me easy. Five to one. Good odds. They never bothered to grease themselves up."

"Devils are hard to grab at the best of time – their scales don't give you any handhold. What did you get him with?"

"Full nelson. Then we went for a flying lesson."

"Promising student?"

"Wasn't a keener. All the time he was trying to butt me with his horns, I was going after his beasties with my heel knives. That kept him occupied."

"How high did you go?"

"Couple of miles. When I got back, the other four were all greased, but you had hidden my foils from them and had disappeared cat like."

"But first, you did your surprise landing."

"Position the wings, ensure the knives at both bottom nubs are pointing directly down, then drop like a rock. It helped that they were transfixed from watching a screaming devil thump into the ocean. Two of the devils were positioned perfectly. You had something to do with that, I recall."

"I think I said something like _Ooo, what's that?_ into their minds."

"Then, I was fighting the remaining two with my rapiers, and one of them was sneaking behind me and you were telling me when to duck."

"I think I stuck my finger in an eye at one point. Right after one of them had grabbed one of your feet, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. I had finally downed one of them with some work on its left Achilles tendon and I thought he was safe where he was. I was working on disabling the last devil's right sword arm – it was hard to get the point of an old fashioned rapier underneath a scale and into exactly the right place when they were waving the arm around, and I felt somebody grab my feet. The other grabbed my arm at the same time and began chewing on it while he stabbed at me with a dirk."

"Two flying lessons coming up!"

"Could have been dicey. I tried to lift both into the air, but they had weapons. Then, you put a finger into the eye of the one holding my arm and he let go. I had trouble convincing my other passenger to stop trying to unfasten my heel knives so..."

"... Joe-Joe used the old cartwheel across the sky tactic."

"And by the time I returned to the ship, you were in your whites and finishing off a red-eyed devil with one of my rapiers."

"This was before Heaven used women as warriors. Joe-Joe gave me private lessons."

"Lillian patched me up and we sat on a spar and watched the moon rise."

"Joe-Joe sang me to sleep. This was before his singing could be fatal. I don't remember what he sang. Something with no nonny-nonnies, I believe."

"We were sitting on that spar, right there," Joe-Joe pointed.

"I remember it clearly."

"Lillian and Joe-Joe would like to thank you for visiting their museum. You are now on leave until the morning. Everybody stay in Heaven. The exit is this way." Keely pointed with her finger and then shut the door behind her after everybody was out. Arthur and Winnie were the first two out of the museum.

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# Chapter 25

The BBB's first home game was Saturday morning, July 26, against Missoula and it was a nail-biter. The coaches had expected a close game since Missoula was the second largest city in Montana and could draw from more girls than teams like Bozeman could.

Missoula had a very strong right-handed pitcher who played the entire game. She was tall and used her height and long arms to her advantage. She relied heavily on her fastball, which the BBBs struggled with since they had never seen anything that fast before.

Coach Lee sat Maddy for the first three innings and Audrey in the last three innings. He considered these two girls as his key players: Audrey for her work at shortstop and Maddy for her work at catcher. This would allow them to play the full second game. Lee also switched their pitchers in the fourth inning so that they would stay fresh. Both of them would be available in the second game, if needed. The coaches were surprised that Missoula didn't sit their rightie at all. This meant that she would be tired in the late innings. At least that was the theory.

It came down to a pitching battle. Missoula's pitcher was better. But any ball that Missoula hit was wrapped up tight by the BBB's defense. If the BBBs could get a bat on the ball, they had a chance of scoring runs. There were some noticeable defensive weaknesses in Missoula's line-up.

When Maddy came into the line-up in the fourth inning as clean up, she was the first BBB to hit the ball out of the infield with a line drive over the pitcher's head. Maddy died on first when the next two girls struck out.

In these double headers, the home team can choose which game they would play as the home team. Coach Lee chose to be home in the first game. By convention, this meant that their dugout would be on the third base side of the diamond. On Sunday, they would be visitors and their dugout would be on the first base side. The location of the dugouts weren't all that important but being home team was. It meant that they would bat last in the game.

I mention this because Maddy was the first batter for the BBB's7th inning and the game was still scoreless. If the BBBs could score a run, the game would be immediately over. Missoula had continued to hold off the BBBs bats, but they had been making contact for the last two innings. They had two fly balls that were caught. One girl managed a grounder that squirted out of the infield, but fell victim to a double play. The coaches continued to be surprised that the big girl was still in the game. They didn't even have anybody warming up. "Drive the ball to left," Coach Lee instructed Maddy before she came to the plate.

There was a reason for this. In her first at-bats, Maddy hit the ball straight back over the pitcher's head. This meant that Maddy's timing was dead on. And that was when the pitcher was relatively fresh. Now in the 7th inning, Maddy would be able to get ahead of the pitch and that would mean the ball would go to left field. He started to explain this to Maddy, but she already knew.

The first two pitches gave Maddy a chance to gauge the pitcher's speed. One was a strike that she let go. The other was a ball into the dirt - an attempt at a curve ball that sucked. Maddy drove the third pitch into the left field corner and made third base easily. The third base coach held up both palms to stop her. The relay throw coming in was on line.

"Small lead-off, Maddy," the third base coach whispered. "Ingram can hit the ball out of the infield. She's due. If it's a fly ball, tag up and run. If it's a hard grounder, go."

The coaches had good reason to expect Ingram to hit the ball hard. She was batting 5th in the line up which meant she was one of their best batters, and she had flied out long in her previous at bat.

Ingram did hit the ball out of the infield with another long fly ball and Maddy trotted in after it was caught. Final score: BBBs 1, Missoula 0.

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# Chapter 26

Lillian, Joe-Joe and Keely were meeting in Joe-Joe's workshop. Paula was reporting from the edge of Hell.

"Hell is in trouble. Satan is now melting down some 1000-T gold coins to pay the vital bills with little nuggets. He's getting the coins from devils' accounts in the Bank of Hell which remains closed so devils don't know what he's doing with their money."

Paula continued. "The shoulder demons in London watching the former Director of Accounts have nothing to report. The traitor hasn't met with anybody who looked like Lord Percy. Ponzi is thinking of sending a small army of senior devils to Earth to question the former Director of Accounts. Percy and Gold Pinkies had one accomplice. Would they have stopped at one? That was doubtful. Ponzi thinks that senior level devils could ferret information of a second accomplice out of the former director easily. After they knew where he is, they'd be able to find Percy."

"Let me know immediately if that plan goes ahead," Lillian directed. "That's a serious violation of our treaty."

"Ponzi knows that. He's trying to find other solutions."

"Satan is losing control, Lillian."

"I agree, Joe-Joe. Paula, what's the mood in Hell?"

"Tense. I hear some anger is still being expressed against Heaven, but more anger is expressed against Satan that he hasn't caught Lord Percy. The news that Lord Percy is being hunted is now commonly known. The shoulder demons in London have been talkative. For all of his powers, they wonder why Satan can't find a single devil. There's no food in Hell except green bean soup. He can't go on much longer without giving them some good news, and that means catching Lord Percy or Gold Pinkies. Is there a chance that Satan could go to Earth?"

"Satan has the power to find Lord Percy, but he's banned from appearing on Earth. Just as Heaven's CEO is banned from going to Hell," Joe-Joe replied.

"Report daily from now on, Paula." Lillian waited for Paula to disconnect. "On to other matters. Keely, what flexibility do we have in the coming weeks to free up Winnie's team?"

"Arthur can stop work on the protocols whenever you want, Lillian. There's no rush to go through the remaining binders."

"Can he help Meghan or Winnie?"

"Meghan can use some help testing the facial recognition software. That's the last big item she has to solve. The software has been tested and data entry is proceeding slowly and carefully. We're getting good cooperation from almost everybody. Angels are happy about the changes with the exception of the old grumps who won't agree to any change whatsoever."

"We can deal with them later. For now, assign Arthur to the facial recognition team to help Meghan."

"What about Winnie?"

"She has prepared the instructional materials. We're thinking that with proper magnification of her slides, she can instruct up to 500 angels at a time."

"How much time with each group will she need?"

"She hasn't tested yet. Call it two hours per group. We don't have enough hand held devices in Heaven assembled yet. We have the materials but not the labour."

"How many angels do you need?"

"A thousand?"

"Pull them off the front lines in Earth. Bring them home."

"Once those handhelds are assembled, that'll leave you free, right?"

"Yes."

"If instruction is not completed before Ponzi asks for a meeting via the CoC, you'll have to take over the instructional presentations for Winnie. We'll need her elsewhere."

"I've already prepared myself for that and can start at the same time as she starts. We can do two sets of instructions in two different buildings. Do you have any idea on the timing of the Cops of the Cosmos meeting? When will it start?"

"It's way too fluid to predict. When Ponzi asks for a meeting, I will have to drop everything, so I'm taking myself out of operations now. Paula is on top of everything. She'll continue to report to Joe-Joe after I leave. You are in charge of overseeing Winnie's operation to find Lord Percy. She doesn't know anything about that yet, so brief her accordingly. Make sure that she knows about Gold Pinkies and her weaponry. It should be straightforward. If she needs Paula, bring her back from Hell, but I think she and Arthur will be able to do everything."

"How long will the mediation meeting take?"

"No idea. Long is good if it gives me a chance to get a sense of Ponzi. Plus, slow progress will increase the pressure on Hell every day we are meeting."

"Any chance of Hell finding Lord Percy before we do?"

"Doubtful. How are your operations with Doc going?"

"They're not going the way I want them to go yet. They're low priority."

"Check in with me or Joe-Joe daily. Once I'm gone, give vital information to Joe-Joe if necessary. Otherwise handle everything yourself. I'm glad you're here, Keely."

"I'm glad too, Lillian."

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# Chapter 27

Coach Lee noticed something remarkable when he arrived at the park to start warm-ups for the second game of the double header. The stands on the first base line were almost full. Not that the bleacher were very big, but they almost were full. Missoula parents had room to stretch out, lie down, or bowl a few frames on the third base side of the field. Attendance at these U13 games was, shall we say, muted. Each BBB family tried to make sure that one parent was at each game, away or home, but support from anybody else in the community was zero. All of the teams in the league had the same experience.

Coach Lee had never seen some of these parents before. He found Bean and Cowboy sitting in the middle of a crowd composed of brown, white, yellow and black faces. Teenagers, adults, seniors. One of the parents spotted Lee staring and made her way down the rickety stands to meet him.

"My name is Mac," she said.

"I assume that this is Maddy's family, but, so many?"

"Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins...You name it, we have it."

"You're one of Maddy's moms?"

"I am. Her second mom is Yollie and she's sitting..... third row, fourth from the left. Melissa pulled the short straw. She's at home taking care of the kiddies. We didn't think we should inflict them on your ballpark. The Japanese lady to the left is a sort of aunt. She taught Maddy some martial arts."

"That has helped her a lot with baseball. Who is that man, very back row, sitting at attention?"

"That's Jock. He's a general."

"I've seen the man to his right somewhere before."

"That's Charley Stookenhap, Governor of Colorado and his wife is sitting to his right. He's very close to Maddy. All of these people are."

"Your daughter has a very bright future. She has all the tools."

"Thank you. I've heard about you from Bean. We appreciate your style of coaching."

"I gotta go. Just so you know, Maddy will be playing the whole game."

### # # # # # # # #

Missoula's pitcher was a lefty. The BBBs had never seen a lefty before. From the warm-ups, the coaches could see that she had a decent fastball, but not overwhelming like the first pitcher. But she had a treacherous curve. The BBBs were used to a 12-6 curve that dropped straight down from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock, The Missoula pitcher's curve dropped and spun to the pitcher's right. That meant if a batter were standing in the batter's box, the ball would come down the middle of the plate and break towards their ankles. It would be very hard to lay off that pitch because, other than the spin, it looked like a fastball. The BBBs had only one player who could bat from the right side batter's box. That was Maddy. For her, the ball would drop and spin away from her. Maddy knew how to pick up the spin coming out of the pitcher's hand. So did Audrey. The others were learning but not from a lefty pitcher. All of their coaches were righties. Coach Lee put Maddy into the line up as the lead off hitter; he put Audrey in the batting order right behind Maddy. Perhaps this would be a good move.

The BBBs defense held firm until the bottom of the fifth inning. One of the Missoula players hit a hanging curve ball through the hole between first and second. Maddy looked at the girl standing on first and called, "Time-out, Ump." Catchers were allowed to do that so that they could meet with their pitcher. In this case, the pitcher was Morgan and she had pitched a whale of a game so far, but the hanging curve was a bad sign.

"Fastballs only from now on," Maddy whispered.

"I can do that."

"Keep them a little outside so that if they connect, we could get a foul out of it."

"Can do."

"I saw this girl steal in the first game. I'll know when she's planning to steal. We'll do a pitch out."

"What's a pitch out?"

"When I waggle my four fingers, give me a fastball up and away. Don't even try to get it near the plate. As soon as the ball is out of your hand, I'll stand up, take a step to my right, catch it, and throw down to second. As soon as you see me catch the ball, kneel down on the ground. My throw will go right over the mound. In the meantime, keep her close to the bag with some stare downs."

The runner's tell was in how she stood. Maddy had noticed that when she wasn't planning to steal, her stance had been balanced, which meant she could get back to first quickly if necessary. This was what it should have been. When she was going to steal, she put all of her weight on her back foot. This moved her butt towards first. Maddy called for the pitchout on the third pitch and her throw arrived three paces before the runner did.

Coach Lee smiled his smile, called time-out and went out to the mound. Maddy followed him. "Subbing pitchers, Ump."

"Ten warm up pitches only, Coach."

"Thanks, Ump."

Lee knew that he would be subbing Audrey this inning. He just didn't know when. He didn't want her warming up in the bullpen because that would reveal what pitches she had. The ten pitches she took as a warm up? Fastball and curves only.

The coaches had noticed that neither of Missoula's pitchers had a change up. That meant that their teammates had never seen one, just like the BBBs had never seen a leftie. Audrey was their best palm-ball pitcher. It would start like a fastball but it would arrive very slowly. At this point in the game, the Missoula batters had one chance each to learn how to hit it. It would be up to Maddy to mix the pitches so that they wouldn't see it coming. Audrey came into the game with one out.

Audrey sent the next two batters to their bench with two strikeouts. They saw Missoula coaches and players huddling in the dug out. A two-minute lesson on how to know when a change-up is coming. Good luck with that.

Top of the 6th saw the bottom of the BBB's batting order. That meant three up and three down. The leftie wasn't tiring because she had two effective pitches that were still curling across the plate and down.

Bottom of the 6th. Three Missoula players up and three down. At one point Maddy called for three palm balls in a row, on the expectation that they wouldn't be expecting it. In case they were waiting, she changed the location each times.

Audrey Lee was actually the best pitcher that the BBBs had, in terms of potential at least. She certainly was the most accurate. But Coach Lee had to be careful that he not be accused of favoritism. Nothing ruins a girls team faster than them thinking the coach isn't fair. If he used her as pitcher a lot, another good pitcher would sit a lot. Those pitchers couldn't play shortstop. Audrey could do both. That's why she played shortstop through the first six games. But this game called out for a palm ball and she was the team's best at that.

The score was still tied at 0 - 0 when Missoula took to the field at the top of the 7th. Their leftie would see the top of the BBB's batting order with Wiltz, Audrey, Ingram and Stinson. So far, Maddy had reached base on every at bat but her hits had been to the right side of the field. She was swinging as a leftie before the curve ball broke. The Missoula coaches had decided on a defensive shift to stop her from getting on base. They pulled their second base into the gap between first and second. The short stop was at second to stop a line drive through the mound, and third base was playing shortstop Out fielders were playing in. Maddy had hit, but not with power. Coach Lee smiled when he saw the shift and fiddled with his face, fingers, and belt.

Maddy climbed into the box on the right side and made a few vicious strokes of the ball. She'd go for the fences because the outfield was in. On the first pitch, instead of swinging early, she bunted late. The ball skittered down the left side of the field. By the time the pitcher had stopped it, Maddy was on first.

Missoula called a time out and the coach went out to the pitcher's mound. A leftie doesn't have any trouble keeping a runner on first base tight to the bag. She's looking right at her. They hadn't seen Maddy steal a base yet, so they didn't know what to expect from her. But they did know what to expect from Audrey. A bunt. Bad bunts can easily be turned into double plays.

Third base set up on the grass. A bunt there would mean a quick throw to second and another throw to first. Double play. The short stop was similarly on the grass. A double play waiting to happen. A bunt to the pitcher would have the same result. Second base was already one step away from her base knowing the she had to cover the base for a steal. First base would hold her position but break towards the plate on the pitch. If the ball came down the first base line, first base would vacuum it up and throw to second base for the easy out, and second base would throw to the pitcher covering the bag. They had a decent chance of getting a double play. If they didn't, the BBBs batting third and fourth in the line up hadn't hit the ball yet.

Audrey stepped into the batter's box on the right side of the plate and made some picture perfect swings. Audrey looked good swinging as a leftie but couldn't hit a thing yet from this side of the plate. Her appearance on the right side though prompted the Missoula coach to call a second time-out, which was Coach Lee's intent.

"That was your last time-out for the inning, Coach."

"Thanks, Ump."

When the time-out was over, and Missoula was in a new defensive shell, Audrey stepped into the batter's box on the left side.

"Play ball now!" the ump demanded. The pitcher had to respond and couldn't adjust her infield. On the first ball, Audrey laid down a perfect slow bunt between the mound and the right field sideline. Both the pitcher and the first base went for it. The pitcher got to the ball first and looked to second where Maddy was turning the corner. The pitcher stared her down, ignored Audrey stepping on an unguarded first base, and went to her mound.

"Lead runner is a sprinter," a Missoula coach called out, but that's all he could do. No time outs were left.

Second base is a hard base for a leftie pitcher to guard. She's facing the first base line, remember. Maddy was effectively invisible to her. The pitcher would have to turn awkwardly while keeping her right foot in place on the pitcher's rubber. If she tried to pick her off, there was a good chance that she would be called for a _balk._ Simply lifting her right foot off the pitcher's rubber before pitching would constitute a balk. That would mean that both of the base runners would advance a bag. Missoula decided to go with the second base girl standing on the bag and calling out, _she's here, she's here, she's here_ so that the pitcher could concentrate on the next batter.

Meanwhile, with Maddy's status as a sprinter now revealed, there was no reason to hide it. Coach Lee showed the girls how to lock arms in the dugout and chant, _Steal, Steal, Steal._ Foot stomps were added to increase the pressure on the defense. The people in the stands, which were in danger of buckling under the weight of the spectators, leapt into action. Actually, they didn't dare leap. They shifted their butts carefully into action with the same chant but no foot stomps. The spectators on the other side of the field weren't very sportsmanlike. They declined to join in. Party poopers.

This attempt to distract is perfectly legal in baseball. The players had to be seated in their dugouts, but otherwise chanting was fair game.

Ingram stepped into the batter's box. Coach had had a little chat with her. They had two girls on base and no outs.

On the first pitch, a curve ball that Ingram ignored, Maddy stole third. She was already half way there when the pitcher released the ball. Audrey stayed in place on first in case Maddy had to come back.

Maddy on third was difficult for the leftie as well. But she could look over there more easily and keep Maddy close. On the second pitch, Audrey stole second on a fastball down the center of the plate that Ingram ignored. The catcher couldn't try to throw because Maddy would trot in.

Fastballs were now the most likely pitch the BBBs could expect. The pitcher crossed them up with a curve that Ingram popped up to the pitcher. It was now one out, two on base. A single to the outfield would mean two runs. Missoula pulled their outfielders back. With no chance for steals, the chants had stopped and everybody stared at the field.

Stinson, the BBB's second base girl was up. She was batting cleanup because, like Maddy, she usually could connect with the ball. This was her fourth time at bat against the leftie. She hadn't hit anything yet. The coaches thought that she was due. On each pitch, Maddy would feint a mad dash to the plate and then back up. The catcher walked towards her until she retreated but didn't risk a throw. Stinson struck out.

It was now two out, last bats for the BBBs. Coach Lee called a time out and pointed to his two base runners to meet alone.

"They're not biting on the feints. There's no reason for them to," Maddy whispered. "The catcher won't be pulled out of position with a bunt down first base. First base will scoop it up and throw me out if I go. The catcher stays with her foot on the bag, no matter what. She's good."

"Stormont is up. She hasn't come close to hitting the ball," Audrey whispered back.

"Pitch hitter?"

"Nobody on the bench is ready for a leftie."

"Means it's up to us. I have something, I think."

[Whisper, whisper, whisper.]

"What do I do?"

"Scream _she's going_ as loud as you can."

"When?"

"Second pitch. I'll get Coach to signal Stormont to lay off the pitches."

### # # # # # # # #

The weather in Idaho was seasonably warm for this time of the year, which augured well for the kumquat harvest. .... _Oh, you want me to continue with the game? OK. Well, if you insist._

The first pitch to Stormont was inside. Stormont would have swung on that, but she didn't. Ball 1, no strikes.

Leftie was ready. She looked at Maddy, turned her face to the plate and began her wind up.

"SHE'SGOINGSHESGOINGSHESGOING," the pitcher's second base called out. At least she thought it was her second base. The warning came from that area.

Maddy was indeed going. Going crazy. She was dashing down the third base line doing forward flips in the air. Leftie couldn't believe it and turned and looked.

"BALK!" the ref called out. "All runners advance one base."

"Ump, we need to talk," the Missoula coach called out.

"We probably should," the ump agreed.

Coach Lee smiled his smile, passed Maddy on the way to the meeting, and gave her a fist bump. "Sit on home plate like you own it."

### # # # # # # # #

The coaches and umps agreed that the forward flips were intended to create a balk, but creating a balk is legal. The umps had allowed the chanting, they had allowed players to stomp their feet, and they had allowed players to chatter from the dugouts and from the field. Where was the illegality?

Coach Lee pointed out that Maddy had stayed on the base line, and although her hands did touch the ground, that wasn't illegal. Girls were allowed to trip, touch the ground, get up and keep running. The forward flips were nothing other than running in a somewhat strange way. The Missoula ump and the Billings ump consulted the rulebook and ruled that the Missoula pitcher had balked by stopping her pitching motion and there was no unsportsmanlike behaviour. Audrey went to third, and Maddy scored.

On the first pitch after the long discussion, Stormont popped up to the pitcher.

### # # # # # # # #

The score was 1 - 0 for the BBBs. Bottom of the 7th. Last bats for Missoula. They too had the heart of their line up coming to the plate. Audrey was loose and ready.

Maddy called for a fastball outside, a curve ball inside, and then a change up. Their first batter let the two balls go but couldn't hold back on the change up.

It was now two balls, one strike. Maddy called for change up again. The batter drove the ball into the home plate. Foul ball.

It was now two balls and two strikes. Maddy called for a high fastball that the batter thought was a change up. "Tick," said the ball, which tried to escape by bouncing off Maddy's facemask. "Got'cha," Maddy's glove said. "That smarted," the facemask complained.

One down, two to go.

Missoula's second batter swung on the first pitch, a curve ball away, and drove the ball into a low looping arc towards the BBBs dug out.

"Catcher, catcher, catcher," Audrey directed traffic. Maddy was closing ground fast but so was the ball. So were her facemask and her glove. Maddy dived, caught the ball bare handed, rolled over and in the process fell into the bottom of the dug out. The home plate ump saw the whole thing.

"Batter is out," he ruled.

Two down, one to go.

"You're killing us," Leftie muttered to Maddy as she took her position on the right side of the plate.

"Change up," Maddy's fingers said.

"Ooomph," Leftie said.

"Inside fastball," Maddy's fingers said.

"Not this time," Leftie muttered and drove the ball deep, but foul.

Two strikes, no balls.

"Change up," Maddy's fingers said.

"Bunt," Leftie's bat said. This was a desperate move. A third strike bunt is an out if the ball rolls foul.

Maddy wasn't waiting to find out. Mask went flying, glove went flying and a left-handed throw to first meant that Leftie was out.

### # # # # # # # #

Players and parents from both teams were streaming into the copter lot for a trip to Lake Elmo State park for picnics, swimming, and boating. The two teams were walking out together. The coaches for both teams were shaking hands and getting ready to pack up. Coach Lee noticed a man and a woman standing nearby and waiting to be noticed.

"Governor Stookenhap?" Coach Lee asked.

"Stook," Charlie replied. "My wife, Sheila."

Introductions were made; hands was shaken. Stook began a little speech.

"I used to play basketball when I was at the University of Colorado. _[Old Stone Face, #14]_ I also played sports as a youth including baseball. Sports were very important to my growth as a person. We don't play sports in Colorado any more. We're too busy hating to think about mixing with other people with different coloured skin."

Stook continued with his little speech. "I couldn't help but notice that Missoula's two best players had black and brown skin. I couldn't help but notice that Billings had girls with aboriginal, Mexican, Middle East, African, and white Anglo Saxon heritage, all coached by a Chinese man. In Montana, if media had been present, no mention of skin colour would have been made in reports of the game, because it wasn't important. In Colorado, this kind of mixture would have been banned. My wife and I are trying to change that."

And again, Stook continued. "We have an offer for you. Next year, the government of Colorado will provide funds for community sports teams, baseball being one of them. As you have done here, we will hold double-header games in July. In August, we'd like these two teams to come to Colorado for a tournament with our two best teams. There's nothing like some state vs. state competitions to get people excited."

Sheila took over. "We will bring your teams and coaches to Colorado early and offer them some tours of Colorado sights. Colorado players will on those tours. They will bunk with Montana players. This will be the first time that some of our youths will have ever seen a person of colour close up. They will learn that they are normal kids, just like them. We will cover all costs for that visit including your travel costs to and from Montana and the cost of some chaperones as needed. Perhaps the next year the games could be held in Montana."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 28

Coming off their success in Japan, the Nemeses were looking forward to their third operation, which would take place in a new country in Southeast Asia that had surfaced after most of Thailand, and Cambodia had been flooded. It was a small country that would more accurately be called a city-state. The country's name and the capital's name were the same: Nakhon Phanom.

Reese found the country mostly by accident. He was struck by how many citizens had dark face colours. The worst, in terms of sexual crimes, was a man named Ram Chankul, a wiry little man with a short grizzled beard who looked to be in his fifties. He owned and operated a house of prostitution on the seedy part of town bordering on the Mekong River. While small at this point in its journey, the Mekong did flood from time to time, and Chankul's house showed signs of this. It was three storeys high with the bottom floor smelling of mud and mold - an odour that permeated the building. The top two floors contained 15 small bedrooms, each of which was occupied by an underage girl. Those floors smelled of cheap powerful perfume.

Chankul did not live in this house. He lived in a rich part of the city and enjoyed a lavish life style complete with servants. He didn't entertain guests at this home as he was deemed an undesirable man, given his occupation and the age of his _escorts_. In this case, the word 'escorts' meant that the girls would escort their guest from the bedroom door to the bed. Chankul was, however, a frequent guest at social events held by others. It was rumoured that such an invitation would allow the host to make a bulk purchase of temporary entertainment staff. The Nemeses were never able to confirm that.

Prostitution was common in other parts of the city. But in those houses, the staff were of age. As far as Reese could determine, Chankul's house was the only house that had underage girls. The city itself had a reasonable flow of tourists coming through because of its temples. For this reason, many of its citizens spoke multiple languages, English being one of them.

The similarity of this case with the Nakamura trial was such that Cassie didn't have anything new to prepare. The charges were the same. Kashmira did have to make some new message boards, but that didn't take long. Doc and Reese were a little concerned that some of Chankul's staff at his personal residence might be there for security reasons. One man was a big burly man with a wicked looking knife in the House of the Rising Smell. Other men might also be dangerous. Chankul's small size suggested that a strategy to cart him off to New York might work. Reese and Doc entered the house invisibly during the day and hid in what appeared to be an empty bedroom. When everybody was sleeping, Doc hit Chankul with a gravity beam from his sling and Reese wrapped him up for delivery. Meanwhile, Kashmira did the same with the knife-wielding brute. Cassie gave him a tiny dose of suffocation that was enough for him to fall unconscious.

Kashmira's appeal for witnesses to testify against Chankul was enthusiastically received in the first six bedrooms she entered, so Cassie and Kashmira bundled the escorts up complete with blindfolds and met the men at the plane. Three hours later, they were unbundling them in the UN building. Chankul was locked up in the UN security office jail. The six girls were unwrapped in the courtroom where Cassie planned on eliciting statements.

At that point, a certain amount of confusion followed. As soon as the six girls were unwrapped, they looked at the four Nemeses, stripped off their clothes and tried to pull the Nemeses to the closest cushiony part of the room, there being none. Kashmira received two very entertaining invitations, Reese fled as soon as the last bit of clothing fell, Cassie giggled, and Doc became all red. Apparently, blindfolds were items in each girl's bedroom bureaus, which signified a certain amount of hide and seek would be part of the entertainment. That's what they thought they would be doing.

Chankul's escorts may have been young, but they were certainly persistent. Reese reappeared on hearing Doc's cries for help and gravity-slammed the girls to the floor, whereupon Doc and Reese fled the room. Kashmira and Cassie managed to get the escorts dressed and immobilized.

Translation issues again surfaced when Kashmira and Cassie were unable to explain what they wanted the girls to do. All six knew pigeon-English, which was fine for communicating about escort services; it wasn't good for persuading the girls to testify. After several hours of pigeoning, all six of them had made it clear that they would refuse to say anything bad about Chankul. They liked their jobs.

Cassie had visual imagery of what was happening in Chankul's house, and she could establish that he was in charge of the house. She wanted to have a go at him; perhaps he would confess. Chankul thought that Cassie was negotiating a group hide and seek price and kept on bartering. He was down to ridiculous levels when Cassie gave up. The girls looked disappointed and once again tried to display their wares. Doc and Reese fled. Cassie and Kashmira returned the six girls and their pimp to Nakhon Phanom depressed. Cassie said that she would take the girls back to the house; Kashmira would do the same for Chankul. They would meet back at the plane.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 29

The room was a sterile rectangular box. A simple meeting table sat in the middle of the box. A speaker nestled inside a white box sat at the end of the table. On one side of the table, a devil sat in a comfortable chair. The table surface in front of him was bare. Behind him, a locked door ensured that he could not leave. Opposite him was an empty chair with an unlocked entrance/exit door. As he watched, an angel opened the door and sat down on in the chair. She put no materials on the table. Both of them heard the door lock. They looked at each other and said nothing.

"This mediation meeting is now called to order," a metallic voice announced from the white speaker. "It is Monday, August 4, 2092 Earth time. Present in the meeting is the female angel, Brunhilda. Also present is the male devil, Ponzi."

"Brunhilda, I have taken the liberty of briefing Ponzi on how these mediation meetings operate. Truth ray on. Do the two of you understand the rules of these meetings and are you prepared to get right down to business?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"In view of the emergency nature that Ponzi cited to me, I have invoked a must comply condition. Both of the participants in this meeting will have the truth ray on them for the duration of this meeting. You may begin, Ponzi."

"I am here as a courtesy to advise Heaven that Hell will be sending one hundred senior devils onto Earth on a training mission that will not be a danger to Heaven."

"Pulease! You are not here as a courtesy. You are here because our Heaven-Hell treaty very clearly prohibits the entry of any senior devils into Earth. You are allowed to ask for an exclusion. Are you asking for an exclusion?"

"Yes. Hell is asking for an exclusion that will allow us to send one hundred senior devils onto Earth's territory."

"Exclusion denied. Are we done here?"

"May I ask why you have denied us?"

"We haven't had much success with senior devils entering Earth. Hell has broken the treaty numerous times in this regard."

"The angel Brunhilda will elaborate," the white box said.

"On Sunday May 25 of this year, a senior devil and three junior devils broke into the London Hospital for Children which is a treaty approved devil-free zone. They attempted to break into the hospital's chapel, which is designated as a holy place. Only the hospital security forces prevented them from being successful. Subsequently, I lodged a formal complaint with the Cops of the Cosmos and documented this egregious behaviour with images. Did the Cops receive my complaint?"

"Yes, we passed it on to Lord Percy's office."

"I have heard nothing from Lord Percy on this. As a second example: I had occasion to hear of a demon's vicious rape of a female mortal student at the university of Colorado in about 2079. She was impregnated and forced to raise a half devil/half mortal son on her own. Raping mortals is horribly wrong. By the time that I learned of it, I could not do anything to bring the demon to justice. He had been recalled to Hell. His earthly name was Liam A. Goodefellow."

"I will look into these incidents, but I suspect they were rare instances of a devil or demon going rogue."

"That's not good enough. I have learned that Hell permits, and even encourages, senior devils to go to Earth and spawn a devil with a mortal. This privilege is considered a reward for superior torment. It is obviously rape, and it is a severe violation of the Hell-Heaven treaty. I have no doubt that this perk provided to senior devils exists."

"I know nothing of this. I'll need some time to consult."

"Meeting is adjourned for thirty minutes."

### # # # # # # # #

"We are reconvened. The truth ray is back on for both participants. "

"I am authorized to say that the incursion of four devils into the London Hospital for Children was a grievous error on the part of a devil who has been removed from his post. The behaviour of the demon known as Liam A. Goodefellow was accurately described in this court. That demon is back in the torture pits. We regret that these two violations of our treaty occurred. They were a result of rogue behaviour that has been punished."

"Did those punishments occur because of the rapes, or did they occur for other reasons?"

...

"You must answer the question."

"The punishment was levied for other reasons, but we still regret the violations of the treaty."

"And the perks offered to high level devils? Rape and forced pregnancies as legalized through a Hell policy that is clearly against our treaty?"

"I am authorized to say that these perks are so rarely exercised that the effect on our treaty would be negligible."

"But their effect on the mortal women would not be negligible. And you haven't considered that having the policy in place and publicly announced, can have an effect on every devil or demon that hears it. It announces that mortal women can be raped without fear of reprisal if they work hard enough. I will make this as abundantly clear as I can. Heaven will not consider any changes in our treaty if that policy is not removed. Furthermore, we will require Hell to issue a wide ranging statement that mortal woman are off limits. No rapes, no sexual touching."

"I must consult."

"Meeting is adjourned for thirty minutes."

### # # # # # # # #

"We are reconvened. The truth ray is back on for both participants. "

"Hell accepts the conditions that Heaven has requested in this meeting regarding the treatment of mortal women."

"Is that satisfactory to Heaven?"

"We will want to see evidence that the policy change has been documented and sent to the Cops of the Cosmos. Furthermore, we advise Hell and the Cops of the Cosmos that if Heaven finds further instances where mortal women have been raped or sexually touched, our Angel of Death forces will respond to that behaviour."

"Duly noted," the white box responded.

"Can we get back to the reasons for this meeting now? Will Heaven agree to Hell sending one hundred devils to Earth for a training exercise?"

"We will not agree. The request is so vaguely described that we cannot consider it. You are requesting that we give permission for an army of devils to do whatever they want to do while they are there for however long they are there."

"Brunhilda is right to object. You must include specifics, Ponzi. Brunhilda is authorized to ask questions regarding these one hundred devils to which Hell must respond."

"I must consult. May I have another adjournment?"

"No," the white box answered. "Hell has given you the authority to negotiate during this meeting and make decisions on its behalf. You have consulted enough. If you do not know the details of what Hell plans to do, then say so, and I will adjourn this meeting indefinitely. Otherwise, you will answer Brunhilda's questions."

"Ask."

"Why are those one hundred devils being sent to Earth."

"We have been attacked from within. Lord Percy and at least two other devils have conspired to wage economic war on us. Lord Percy escaped from Hell soon after he returned from the last treaty meeting. Satan was prepared to remove him from his job but did not get the opportunity. He and his co-conspirators have stolen all of our gold reserves in Hell and have destroyed and robbed our four repositories through which we paid mortal companies for their products. Through the Bank of Hell, we have managed to keep essential services flowing, but our resources are dwindling. We will have some relief soon, but in the meantime, Lord Percy is free and could strike again. We plan to use those one hundred devils to uncover other conspirators and use them to find Lord Percy."

"For the record. When I say Lord Percy during this statement, I mean Lord Percy and his co-conspirators however many there may be. This is to certify that no angels helped Lord Percy escape. Furthermore, no angels helped Lord Percy steal your gold or destroy your repositories. Furthermore, no angels helped Lord Percy to hide. Furthermore, no angels know where Lord Percy is now. Furthermore, no angels are looking for Lord Percy now."

"Thank you for that. I was going to ask you."

"If I may, what have you done to find him?"

"All shoulder demons at our disposal are actively looking for him. Demons who operate businesses on Earth are inquiring about him. We know where one conspirator is hiding. We have a dozen shoulder demons watching his every move."

"And that hasn't been enough?"

"No, and that is why we need to increase the pressure."

"May I ask why your shoulder demons have not found him? How many mortal bodies does Lord Percy have? Do the demons have pictures?"

"Yes, to the pictures being distributed. Lord Percy has only one mortal body. He never needed another because he had been stationed permanently in Hell for a very long time. We have moved the shoulder demons around so that they are searching different areas of the globe with fresh eyes."

"And still, nothing?"

"Nothing."

"Hornocratic cameras?"

"Thousands of devils in Hell are going through them. No hits, but we do not have good coverage during the day as you know."

"Given all of the resources that you can muster, there may be a simple reason why you have not been able to find Lord Percy. I respectfully suggest that he has changed his appearance after escaping from Hell. You can't find him because he is living on Earth in a second mortal body. Is this possible?"

"I need to consult. I simply do not know the answer to this question. This may take some time."

"Permission granted. Let me know when you are ready to resume."

### # # # # # # # #

"We are reconvened. It is now Tuesday, August 5, 2092 earth time. The truth ray is back on for both participants. Ponzi, please begin."

"Hell has machines that convert demonic bodies to devilian bodies. Those same machines can convert a current devilian body to another devilian body. That option on these machines is often used if a devil had done a particularly good job and deserves an enhancement or a change in his body. One of those machines was sent to Earth for repairs. It has not been returned. We have determined that the machine never arrived at the mortal factory. The time line for this missing machine is consistent with the time line when Lord Percy could have been planning his attack."

"So, he's on Earth and you have no idea what he looks like."

"That is true."

"Could he harm you further in his new body?"

"Definitely. We have some gold reserves that we plan to take to Earth to pay off some debts. We cannot afford to lose that gold."

"Now, I need to consult."

"This meeting is adjourned for thirty minutes."

### # # # # # # # #

"We are reconvened. The truth ray is back on for both participants. "

"Heaven has a serious concern. What happens on Earth in the next couple of weeks could cause a serious rupture to the prime directive under which both organization operate. We suspect that there is a high risk that the personnel that Hell wishes to use on Earth will be revealed as beings from the afterlife. I mean no disrespect, but senior devils do not know how to act subtly on Earth. Furthermore, there is no reason to expect that the devils that you send can do anything to find a devil hiding in a body that you cannot describe. What's the point of sending them, other than sheer desperation? In the interest of maintaining the prime directive, and in the interest of removing the risk that the Cops of the Cosmos would have to destroy Earth if mortals discovered that Hell exists, Heaven will make the following offer."

"Heaven will undertake to find Lord Percy and return his body to Hell. We make no guarantees that we will be successful. We cannot undertake to find any co-conspirators as we have no idea how many that might be. We cannot undertake to return his body to you alive for questioning since he might not give us that option. Before we search for Lord Percy, we will require that Hell return its operatives to their usual locations. We require this so that there is no chance of accidental interference. Heaven makes this offer in the interests of keeping the prime directive intact. We wish nothing in return other than some semblance of peace and stability between our two afterlife organizations."

"Brunhilda, are you aware that during your undertaking, you will be required to remain on this ship as a truth bond so that you cannot take advantage of this difficult situation?"

"Yes, I am."

"Ponzi, are you aware that while Heaven is undertaking its search, you will be required to remain on this ship as a truth bond to ensue that Hell does not interfere in any way."

"What does a truth bond mean again?"

"If Hell interferes in Heaven's search, your body will be sent into the sun. If Brunhilda interferes with Heaven's search, her body will be sent into the sun. Ponzi, you are allowed one communication to determine if Hell will accept Heaven's offer or not."

### # # # # # # # #

Later that day, Brunhilda sent the following monitored communication to Joe-Joe. "Hell has accepted our offer. Proceed with Plan Guinevere, dead or alive. We are not obligated to find any co-conspirators."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 30

Doc was visiting Kashmira in her new home on her request. She was giving him a guided tour.

"The master bedroom is mostly empty of furniture, but I know what I want."

"Hank could help you find used furniture."

"Ick. I still have money from my father the gangster. I want something nice. Mathias says that he doesn't care how I decorate so long as I don't cover the bed with stuffies and pillows."

"I'd feel the same."

"We have three bedrooms for kids. Two are empty now as you can see. I'm using the third as my office for the time being. Mathias has his lab in Stanford where he can work undisturbed."

"You working out of your home?"

"Yes. I think I can do my job and still be a mom. It won't take too much time, at least it hasn't so far."

"Your living room is nice."

"Thanks. That's what I have been working on. Almost done now. It's a good thing that we have the camp's mess hall. I don't like to cook and Mathias has trouble remembering to eat."

"Which is why you have virtually nothing in the kitchen."

"A refrigerator is all the two of us need."

"You're OK having kids now?"

"I'm OK with the marriage. The kids, perhaps. We'll make an announcement soon. One of the reasons I asked you over is to ask if you'd marry us in an aboriginal ceremony. Mathias wants that. I'd like it too."

"I'd be happy to marry you."

"Come and sit down."

Doc did. Kashmira sat next to him, draped Doc's arm over her shoulder, and snuggled in.

"Do you remember how we used to do this when I was sick?"

"I do."

"Do you remember when I being a jerk daughter and you told me that I had to understand things, not just do them because I was told to."

"I remember."

"I've been working on the understanding part. I understand now."

"What do you understand?"

"Why I'm here."

"In this home?"

"No, Silly. Why I'm here in this world."

"That's good."

"You're helping me again. I know that."

"How am I helping you?"

"With Nemesis. I know that you know that I know."

"OK. How do you know that?"

"I love the way you teach me, Doc. Because I see you watching me during the pervert trials. You're wondering if I know. Well, I do know. I didn't know at first. But I did know later."

"Knowing is everything."

"Exactly. Once I knew, I felt much more at peace. I could forgive my father the gangster. I know that you're worried about me, but you shouldn't be. I am fine with doing this job. It won't hurt me. But, I do have a little request."

"OK."

"Doc, I love you to bits, but I'm finding it very difficult to kill these perverts because I have to come up with a lame excuse to be alone with them. And afterwards, I become so hungry. I know the others will catch on soon. Could we skip the farce of trying to justify that these perverts have to die. Can't I just sing them to death? They deserve it."

### # # # # # # # #

Now it was time for Doc to try to understand. You will appreciate from past stories I've told you about Doc, that he was a scientist searching for the truth, just as he was doing now.

"Were you aware what you were doing to Paterfamilias and your father in the church?"

"No. Not at all. I didn't remember anything immediately afterwards. I sort of woke up in the kitchen and I was famished. I don't know why I'm always so hungry after I kill people."

"Your memories came back?"

"Yes, a little bit. Realization more than memories. I'd get a little dream of ... fear, I guess. Not my fear. When I sang to each of them, I held their head in my hands, and I could see my father's fear in his eyes. Same thing with Paterfamilias. I don't know why I was holding their head so close and tight. To focus the song, I suppose."

"What message were you sending them?"

"That they deserved this; that they were wicked."

"Was that a conscious decision?"

"No, but I could hear the message my song was sending and I understood it. I just opened my mouth and out it came."

"And did those memories frighten you?"

"You bet they did. The memories came in the middle of the night for one thing. And I wasn't sleeping with Mathias at that point. But I heard somebody talking to me. Called me by name even. He said that I would improve if I didn't take so long to kill perverts. They should die more quickly, but I had done a very important thing and I shouldn't feel guilty. Both of them deserved it. You probably don't believe this part. A person speaking into my head."

"No, I believe that could happen. Male voice? Female?"

"Male."

"And he called you by name?"

"Yes."

"For how long did you get these dreams?"

"A long time. I needed Mathias there to protect me because I'd wake up from the dream scared. Mathias told the Wilizy scientists that I was frightened of some of my fans and that was why we were sleeping together but not having sex. That was a lie. I'm not frightened of my fans. I have a sling with a laser and I'm not reluctant to use it. I was frightened from the idea that something was in my head. I thought I was going crazy."

"Are you still frightened?"

"No. After I killed McLeish and was searching for some food, the voice said, _Congratulations. You're getting better at this."_

"Same voice?"

"Yeah. And I had gotten better. I had only a few minutes with McLeish and he was scared spitless. And I gave him the message and watched him die. That gave me lots of time to hunt for food."

"You don't feel guilty?"

"I'm doing a job that something really powerful wants me to do. I don't know why I was selected to do this, but I do know why I was given my singing voice now."

"You're looking at me kind of funny, Doc. I'm not a lunatic that hears voices in my head and goes out and kills innocent people. These people are evil."

"We need to keep this secret."

"You think? I don't want to be introduced at family picnics as the aunt who goes around singing people to death."

"Does Mathias know?"

"Yes. Cassie almost knows. Reese.... Reese is very strange right now. I think he knows but he doesn't want to know. He won't look at me. Whenever we're in a meeting, he looks at my feet or at the ceiling."

"Reese is having some problems. I don't know what they are."

"Reese and Cassie won't complain if we have a trial and our time travel research shows conclusively that the guy is guilty. All we need to do is lay the charges, show the pervert the evidence, and then you guys should leave me alone with him. We're the perverts' worst nightmare. We aren't truth detectors."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 31

It took Hell until Friday, August 8 before they had put all of their agents back to where they belonged. During that time, Winnie had to wait.

Winnie's plan to find Lord Percy was straightforward. She figured it would take a day, perhaps two. Capturing him was another matter. She couldn't plan that until she could see where he was holed up.

Her operations team consisted of Arthur and Sir Galahad. Paula might be involved later, but for now, she was monitoring Hell and reporting to Joe-Joe. Sir Galahad would be in charge of leading the Christian Soldiers if that became necessary.

On Friday, Winnie and Arthur spent a day watching the traitor in London, determining his routine. He was living in a bedroom in a dilapidated boarding house in the slums of London. Not all that much different from when he afterlived in Hell, but nicer smelling at least. He slept in late, read in bed, had lunch in the boarding house, wandered around some part of London that he chose by sticking a pin in a map, ate supper in his boarding house, went to one of the many pubs in the area, and then strolled nonchalantly back to his boarding house in the darkness.

Winnie browsed through his bedroom while he was at the evening pub. There were no notes from Lord Percy; there were no world maps with a big arrow pointing to where Percy was hiding. The only thing that she found that was remotely interesting was a stash of gold nuggets that appeared ample enough to keep the traitor in London for another two months at least.

Arthur began the operation on Saturday morning with some mind messages while the traitor was reading in bed. _I wonder how Percy is doing; I should contact him. Nobody would know._

When curiosity didn't work, Arthur moved to worry. _He might be injured. I should do something. I can't sit here day after day if he's injured._

When that didn't work, he progressed through all the emotions that he could think of.

Winnie took over that evening with images. Images of Lord Percy injured. Sick. Running from a horde of devils. Nothing worked.

On Sunday, they took turns with a non-stop parade of emotional messages that he had to get in touch with Lord Percy or ........ something dreadful would happen. The dreadful part of the message was something random that Winnie or Arthur dreamt up for the occasion. Nothing worked. But they could see the traitor becoming increasingly agitated as the day went on.

Winnie decided to try something entirely different. Arthur scoffed and bet that it wouldn't work. Sir Galahad agreed with Arthur and added his own bet. Winnie covered the bet. As the traitor passed by a dark church Sunday evening, she sent: _You should pray for Lord Percy. Nobody will see you in the darkness._

Winnie spent her winnings in the local grocery store and ate an entire cherry pie in front of them. She did slow down at the end but persevered because the boys had to be taught a lesson.

Later that evening, she explained to them why she sent the pray message. "Nothing we did worked even though he was becoming agitated. I wanted to see if one of our messages would actually prompt him to do something unthinkable, but something he could do without any effort. He was inside that church without thinking twice. That means that the traitor has no idea where Percy is; otherwise he would have shown us somehow. If you look at his daily routine, he spends a lot of time wandering around where he can be seen. He's very visible in the day; he's even more visible in the evening. He's here to make Hell think that Percy is nearby."

"Risky for him," Sir Galahad suggested, but he didn't disagree.

"Yes," Winnie agreed. "That means the potential reward must have been enormous. Probably a position high in the hornocracy when Lord Percy wins."

"Which leaves us exactly nowhere." Arthur went on to summarize. "We have no clues and we have no idea what Lord Percy looks like. What are you going to do?"

"Right now, I'm going into the bathroom to barf."

"That's what you get for being greedy."

"Go ahead. Rub it in."

### # # # # # # # #

Monday morning, Winnie told the boys to keep an eye on the traitor in case Percy contacted him somehow. She would be out of town for the day. "Don't worry about me Galahad, I'm not doing anything dangerous."

Later as she flew south, she couldn't help but think. _I'm going to get into SO much trouble over this._

### # # # # # # # #

"Hey,"

"Hey, yourself."

"What are you doing here? You can't tell me that this is an accidental meeting."

"It's not. I GSP'd you. What are you doing in KwaZulu?"

"I dropped by to visit Honto. What do you want?"

"I want to talk about what happened in the mess hall."

Reese got up from the patch of prairie land that he had been sitting on and came close enough to Winnie so that he could stare into her eyes. "Are you in there, Winnie?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean is there a Winnie in there somewhere? Are you capable of independent thought? Do you remember what life was like as Winnie? Do they allow you to talk for yourself?"

"They?"

"Do you remember the show in Star Trek where The Borg assimilated Captain Picard into the Collective."

"Huh?"

"Resistance is futile?"

"Huh?"

"I'm surprised. Your memory should be intact."

"Reese, I think I watched one minute of the stupid Star Trek series and that was fifty-nine seconds too much."

"That explained why you had no warning when The Borg came to get you."

"What's a Borg?"

"The Borg are a mixture of mechanical and biological parts. They defeat other races in the United Federation of Planets by assimilating them into their collective, which is like a giant beehive. Everybody in the collective knows what every other member of the collective is thinking. They are very dangerous. When a person is assimilated, they become zombie like. Mortal memories survive, and it is possible, under the right circumstance for the mortal to remember his past and try and escape. Captain Picard escaped."

"You think I'm a zombie?"

"Winnie. Are you in there? If you are, blink your left eyelid twice."

Winnie did.

"Good, now we have to establish a better way of communicating. This will take too long otherwise."

"How many times did I tell you that Star Trek would rot your mind?"

"Good. Your memories are coming back."

Winnie put her left foot behind Reese's right foot and back heeled him onto the ground. Then, it was a knee to his chest, a hand to his throat, and a stare into his eyes. "I have escaped from the collective. I'm Winnie again."

"Assimilate me if you must. I don't care. I give up. You're not Winnie. Your colours are all wrong." Reese closed his eyes and waited to become a zombie drone in a huge beehive floating through space. Buzz, buzz.

### # # # # # # # #

Winnie and Reese were sitting cross-legged on the prairie and facing each other. Winnie was holding both of Reese's hands in her own two hands. Reese's eyes were down.

"Are you ready to talk about this now? Does this Borg thing have anything to do with why you're hiding out in Peru?"

Reese nodded. "I feel safe there."

"But you don't feel safe anywhere else?"

"I don't like being around people."

"Why?"

"Because I can see their colours and I can see the colours of some people I'm not supposed to know about."

"Explain?"

"Do you remember how I warned you about your old boy friend and how he wasn't what you thought he was?"

"Yuh."

"I told you that he didn't have any colours. Later I told you that I was mistaken. He had light colours that I couldn't see."

"I remember."

"I lied. He definitely doesn't have any colours whatsoever. I've seen others like him who have no colours."

"Why did you lie about that?"

"You won't believe me."

"I think I will."

"That organization of planets that you made up exists. They captured me and examined me to determine if I could read colours. They knew that I had seen others like them. I found out that they were watching you too. I had to tell you that I was mistaken or they might have killed you. They would have killed me for sure. We're not supposed to know about their planetary organization. You think I'm nuts."

"No. I believe you."

"I keep on seeing people with strange colours or colours that don't make any sense. I thought that the people with no colours were the Borg. It made sense because the Borg were made up of millions of people. How would you give that many people a single colour."

"Go on."

"You don't have the same colours as you used to have. I saw that at the mess hall and ran away before I could say something that would get you killed."

"How are my colours different?"

"You used to have pin pricks of light colours - pinks and green and happy colours. Now, your bright colours are all gone. Your spectrum is mostly white, but even the white is disappearing. Soon you won't have any colours at all. Like that boy friend Arthur. That's why I thought you had been assimilated."

Reese still wouldn't look up but he continued to push through his fears. "I don't mind hiding out so that I can't see The Borg, or whatever they call themselves. I just don't want them to atomize you."

...

"I'm not nuts, Winnie."

"I know you're not."

...

"IF ANYBODY IS LISTENING, I'M DOING THIS SO MY BROTHER WON'T GO NUTS. DON'T TAKE AWAY HIS COLOUR READING SKILLS."

"What was that all about?"

"I have to tell you a deep dark secret. That dream you had where you were captured and examined? I did that to you. It was like one of my plays. I did it so that The Borg as you call them wouldn't take away your colour reading skills. They were going to do that if you didn't stop talking about people with no colours."

"I'm not crazy?"

"Everything you saw was accurate. You just didn't interpret it the way it actually is."

"Even Doc's new colours are true?"

"Doc has new colours?"

"Yes. He had them after he went fishing and regained his health. They aren't anything like what he had before. Plus, he's different. He went skinny dipping with a naked girl."

_I heard Doc's heart beating when he cuddled me to sleep. It was completely different._ "But he still has colours."

"Yes. Good strong colours."

"LILLIAN, YOU AND I HAVE TO TALK!"

"Again with the yelling into the air."

"Reese, we live in a world where good and bad fight each other for human souls. The good side are angels; the bad side are devils and demons. Angels live in Heaven; the bad guys live in Hell. These creature and places exist. The security job that I've told the family about is a lie. I've been working for the angels. Angels have no colours. That's why my colours are disappearing. I'm in Heaven almost all the time now. I didn't know that this would affect my colours. Devils have very black colours, like the devil you stopped me from following into the basement of that building in Loveland. These beings that are in charge have one very important rule. Normal people can't find out that Heaven and Hell exist. You've just found out that they do exist. You can't tell anybody."

"You are an angel?"

"No, I'm just working for them. I'm helping them. I'm trying to help them right now. I'm trying to find a very bad devil. Do you believe me?"

"You don't talk this way when you lie."

"You know when I lie?"

"Of course I do. I'm not deaf, dumb and blind."

"You and I are going to make sure that nobody will ever take your colour reading abilities away from you. You won't have anything to fear. You can look at people all you want. If you see somebody with no colours, you can feel happy that an angel just walked by. Angels are here on Earth to protect us."

"How will we make sure I won't lose my colour reading skills?"

"You and I will team up and find this very bad devil. When you help me find him, the beings in charge will be very grateful. They'll ignore the fact that you know that Heaven and Hell exist. The devil's name is Lord Percy. Now, here's what I want you to do."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 32

It took Reese and Winnie three days to find Lord Percy. There were only three possible locations: Singapore, Lima, and Cape Town. Winnie reasoned correctly that Lord Percy would want to be close to the gold markets and would probably be already setting up some means to convert gold quickly to gold certificates. Reese would troll invisibly up and down the corridors and offices of the financial institutions that might be useful to Lord Percy. When Reese saw a man with a very dark aura, he'd tell Winnie and she would follow him to his home. She would enter when he was not there and sniff. Meanwhile, Reese continued to troll for dark coloured men. Reese found Lord Percy in Cape Town interviewing for a position in a new bank that would handle gold certificates.

Winnie brought Arthur, Paula, and Galahad down to Cape Town to establish Lord Percy's habits and to familiarize themselves with the battle zone. The day before her Operation Paint would begin, Galahad brought down a full platoon of Christian Soldiers. Nobody expected Lord Percy to give up without a fight. If he did, the Christian Soldiers would be there, fully equipped to go into battle disguised as South African soldiers.

### # # # # # # # #

It was the early afternoon of Saturday, August 16. Lord Percy was sitting in his favorite outdoor cafe finishing off his lunch and enjoying his coffee in the sunlight. His mortal body didn't mind the sunlight. He didn't notice that all of the other customers in the outdoor patio had disappeared.

That was Arthur at work. The threat of impending stomach distress always gets customers moving quickly. It also causes restaurants to shut down so that they don't infect other customers. Also, some South African soldiers had been diverting pedestrian traffic so that the sidewalks in front of the cafe had become clear. Paula flew high above so that she could give Winnie the signal that all the mortals were out of danger and also so that she could follow Lord Percy when he bolted as they expected him to do. Reese was up there too for the time being. Galahad was flying over the designated kill site. All were invisible of course.

Lord Percy glanced at the restaurant's new customer as she sat down a couple of table away from him. Brown skin, black hair, pretty face. She was an aboriginal as her dress and moccasins revealed. She scanned the menu and put it down.

"Lord Percy, you are surrounded," Winnie said in a conversational voice.

Lord Percy raised his head and sniffed. Winnie was sitting too far away for that to be done effectively.

"Satan sent a devilette? What are you? Another especially constructed courier?"

"I admit that I am constructed differently than you. I'm inviting you to surrender. There's no reason for any mortals to be harmed."

"You can't capture me. You're too scrawny."

"I'm not alone."

"I have placed three bombs in populous areas. If I am not able to turn off the timers, thousands will die."

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

"Care to gamble on that? I betcha half of a cherry pie that you're lying. How long before the timers go off? We'll just sit here and wait."

Lord Percy put his coffee cup down on the table, stood, and scanned the area. By the time he had finished scanning unsuccessfully for her help, the aboriginal devilette was standing. She also had a short frame bow with a notched arrow pulled and ready. The arrow was pointed at his eyes. At this range, she couldn't miss. Lord Percy's mortal body wouldn't stop an arrow.

A second later, a ten-foot tall devil was charging westward down the empty street away from the meaningless threat that a bow and arrow would present. Her arrow would simply bounce of his scales.

Paula, the traffic director flying over the battle zone, did her job. The half of Galahad forces that were in Lord Percy's way prepared their weapons and placed themselves so that they could be easily seen as South African soldiers. They were in position to maneuver Lord Percy into a particular escape route. Lord Percy himself had no weapons other than the physical size of his body.

The second half of Galahad's forces peeled off from their location and followed Lord Percy's direction westward but one street to the north and one street to the south. They were there in case Lord Percy turned unexpectedly. Reese dove from his high location and flew invisibly at street level following Lord Percy's westward escape route.

Lord Percy didn't get very far. Something that he couldn't see tripped him and he went sprawling face down on the street. That something was Arthur.

As Lord Percy sprawled face down, Reese hit him with a gravity beam to keep him immobile as Winnie in her angelic body ripped the scales off his back from waist to neck with her two de-scalers. As those scales hit the pavement, Reese released the gravity beam.

In pain now, Lord Percy rose and continued on his flight westward. Ahead of him, he could see a contingent of mortal soldiers standing and aiming automatic weapons at him. Behind him, his back was suffering from numerous painful hits. _Arrows_ he thought but he had no time, or flexibility, to turn and look. Winnie and Reese were firing non-fatal laser beams into his bare back. _This direction will be fatal_.

Turning left, he saw a clear path in front of him and accelerated. One long block ahead, he could see more mortal soldiers running into position. Then, his back was once again under painful attack. _This direction will be fatal_. As he came to that conclusion, he was passing a construction site to his left. Lord Percy didn't have to look at the big signs announcing the construction of a Swiss Guards Group bank for the city of Cape Town to know what was there. He had passed by it many times.

The bank's cement floor had been poured. Carpenters had framed the walls and added a roof. The bank's vault sat on the cement floor waiting for the walls around it to be added. The vault door was wide open. When closed, that vault would be impregnable. Its interior would be pitch black, which is what Percy desperately needed right now. His back felt like it was raw, which it was. Percy turned left, entered the vault, pulled the door shut and locked it from inside. He didn't think about how he would get away after his back had healed and the scales had grown back, he just reacted to the pain. Devils are not used to feeling pain. They don't know how to handle it.

Half of Sir Galahad's forces went back to the cafe and examined the route Percy had taken. They picked up all the scales that Winnie had peeled off and they removed any blood that had fallen on the street. Then, they returned to Heaven.

The other half of Sir Galahad's forces gathered on the top of the vault. A mini solar power magnification unit was quickly installed. A fibre optical cable was attached to the magnifier while Winnie and Reese hovered above the vault. Galahad ordered all personnel to step away from the vault and Winnie and Reese both aimed their laser beams at the big X on the top of the vault. Those laser created a wide enough hole in the vault exterior to allow Galahad to insert the fibre optical cable into the vault's interior.

"The light bomb is in place, My Queen," Galahad reported.

'You have enough power now?"

"More than sufficient. We're awaiting your order, My Queen."

" **Paint Lord Percy** ," Winnie instructed.

A few rays of the bomb escaped through the hole in vault's top, but the rest of the explosion was contained. Lord Percy's remains would spend the rest of the afterlife as paint on a bank vault's walls, floor, and ceiling. Operation Paint had been successful.

Soldiers collected the bomb equipment and took it back to Heaven. Galahad inserted a composite plug that was designed to expand and stick in the hole. They couldn't do anything about the new paint. Eleanor had assured Winnie that she'd explain it away as a protective paint that would prevent rust from forming. (Other than warning Eleanor of a slight bit of disturbance in the vault, Winnie had said nothing to her about the operation. She just asked for her cooperation and Eleanor gave it willingly.)

All evidence of Winnie's operation had disappeared from Cape Town in less than the five minutes that Winnie had budgeted for. Joe-Joe delivered Lord Percy's scales to the Guardians' ship as proof that Lord Percy had been found and destroyed. Some of those scales were DNA scales as Winnie had planned, so the identification went quickly at Hell's end. Lillian returned to Heaven shortly afterwards. As did Ponzi to Hell.

And then, there was the issue of Reese being fully involved in the planning for and execution of a heavenly operation in which he obviously would become aware that Heaven existed. Winnie would have to face the music on that soon enough. She flew home and waited. If she were going to be banned from Heaven, she might as well be sitting at home already.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 33

Maddy was in her front yard, trying to juggle three baseballs. That wasn't going too well. A copter landed in front of the house and Meifeng Li stepped out and approached her.

"My dad has sold his restaurant and we're moving to Helena to open a restaurant there. He wanted you to know that he thought that you were a very good worker."

Maddy waved at the figure in the copter and the figure waved back.

"I wrote a letter of reference for you. He knew what I was doing, but couldn't check what I said." Meifeng passed a sealed envelope to Maddy.

"Tell him, _thank you_. I learned a lot about cooking."

"You should read that letter, Maddy. Please don't tell anybody where we're going." Then, Meifeng was running down the walk and clambering into the copter.

Curious, Maddy gave up on the juggling, and unsealed the envelope. It didn't contain a letter of reference.

### # # # # # # # #

"OK, we're all yours, Maddy. Bean told me that you had to tell us something." Cowboy was speaking from behind his desk in the Billings Police Department building.

"You know how I told you about the bully guy that was beating on another guy and how I stopped it. I kinda didn't tell you the full truth on that."

"What's the full truth?" Bean asked.

"I did protect the guy from being bullied, but I beat on the bully a lot. I got him in a wrist lock and he didn't like that."

"Why were you so harsh?" Bean again.

"I didn't mention to you that he had grabbed me where he shouldn't grab me and I accused him of sexual assault, which it was. That's when I put a wristlock on him. This gave the guy he was bullying a chance to escape."

"So the two of you had a fight, and you set him straight. I don't see why this should involve the Billings police captain."

"The vice principal told me that I was completely to blame for the fight and let the bully go without even a warning. He told me that he would not allow girls like me to make false claims of sexual assault that would sully the reputation of this school and its championship football team. I'm sure that I remembered exactly what he said because I went home and looked up what _sully_ meant. I didn't notice the clue until today. "

"What clue?" Bean asked.

"The school has had accusations like this before," the police captain in the room deduced.

"A couple of weeks ago, the guy that had been bullied talked to me on a break. His name is Tony and he worked next door in the hardware store. He tried to get me to change schools and attend Riverside. He said the bully was a bad guy, which I already knew. The bully's name is Andy Dandy and he's going into Grade 11 at Skyview. He's the captain of the football team. The vice principal told me that what Andy was doing to Tony was hazing which was a way of team bonding and he was allowed to do that. I asked Coach Lee about hazing and he said that hazing is banned all over Montana. Asking somebody about hazing was one of the reasons I wanted to try out for a team sport. I didn't tell you that."

"You have been busy," Cowboy said.

"What Andy did was wrong. He was hazing Tony. The vice principal would know that, but he tried to scare me. When Tony couldn't convince me to go to Riverside, he warned me about Castle Rock and Andy's two sisters who are bullies too. Their names are Brandy and Candy."

"Easy names to remember. I know you have something else to say. I can see it trying to get out."

"Tony's family has moved to Arizona. His father got a promotion. I didn't think anything of it at the time."

"And now?"

"Meifeng from the restaurant came to the house this morning and said they were moving to Helena and asked me not to tell anybody where she was going. She gave me a letter of reference." Maddy pulled out the envelope from the back pocket of her jeans. "I'll read it to you."

_Tony told me that you didn't want to enroll in Riverside. You really should do that, Maddy. Andy's two sisters are at Castle Rock and they'll do something to get back at you. Andy is very nasty. He's been looking at me for some time now. I'm sure he's the reason we have to leave. You don't want Andy looking at you, Maddy._

"Quite the letter. Do you want one of us to accompany you to Riverside and help you register?"

"What? Why would I do that, Bean? I can't catch the bad guys in Castle Rock if I'm in Riverside."

_[There was a pause in the action. A suspicious person might think that Cowboy and Bean were communicating somehow. Semaphore signals, perhaps?]_

Cowboy ended the silence after rummaging through his top desk drawer and palming whatever it was that he found there. "If you stay in Castle Rock, do you promise to keep up with your homework and go to bed on time?"

"Well, yuh."

"Do you promise to faithfully execute the duties assigned to you by the Billings Chief of Police?"

"Huh?"

"I'll take that as a _Yes_. Congratulations, you are now a secret member of the Billings Police Force with an assignment to operate under cover as a grade 6 student in Castle Rock Middle School. Your job is to find out why Tony, Meifeng, and their families felt it necessary to leave town. Do you accept the position?" Cowboy held out a constable's badge for her to take.

"Bean, can I? Please."

"Yes."

"I accept," she said and took the badge and looked at it.

"Well, kiss my donkey on his nose and call him happy," Cowboy cowboyed.

"What?" Maddy exclaimed. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Welcome to my world, Maddy," Bean said.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 34

Reese returned to KwaZulu several days after the battle in Cape Town. He was in much better emotional shape that he had been in before engaging in a battle side by side with angels and seeing Winnie destroy a real devil. He had actually helped in the battle. Winnie had explained that Heaven didn't have any personal explosive weapons. She needed his ability to read colours, his laser, and his gravity beam for her operation to work. She assured him that Heaven wouldn't take away his colour reading abilities. He wasn't aware that Winnie's deliberate exposure of a mortal to the risk of a heavenly battle was highly frowned on.

Reese spent an amiable afternoon with Honto during which she propositioned him twice. That wasn't the amiable part. That was the awkward part. He walked around KwaZulu with her and everywhere she went, adoring children surrounded her. She hugged them all and took them for rides on her shoulders which were now considerably wider and higher off the ground than they were before.

On their walk, they had this discussion.

"Do you know anything about the mine where the Zulu men worked?"

"I know where it is. Why?"

"I thought that if it still had gold in it, we could mine it. Then, we wouldn't be so dependent on agriculture."

"What do the Valkyries say?"

"They say the mine belongs to Lesotho."

"It does."

"But what if the agreed to sharing it with us."

"That's a long shot."

"What's a long shot?"

"It's unlikely that Lesotho would share it. Why would they share something that they already own?"

"Mining is a very hard job. We have experienced miners. The men of Lesotho might not want to do to that kind of work."

"That's a good point."

"Would you go and look at that mine? Tell me if it's worth developing?"

"I wouldn't know if it still had gold in it or not."

"Doesn't matter. Go see if it can still be mined. The men say that the tunnels need constant attention or they will collapse. There's no point in approaching Leotho if the mine has collapsed."

"I can do that. I'll go tomorrow."

### # # # # # # # #

Winnie was playing Star Wars with MayaLou, Jock, Emily, Hank and Ivanika. Winnie was the evil emperor. Doc was Darth Vader and was getting into the role.

Reese's mind message to Winnie meant that the evil emperor had to immediately confess his evilness and be killed by opposing forces. Darth Vader was promoted to emperor. Winnie said goodbye and scooted off to parts unknown. At least unknown as far as Doc knew. Winnie knew where she was going. _[Duh.]_

Reese was sitting on a boulder waiting for her.

"What's so urgent?"

"We're sitting outside a gold mine in Leotho, Africa. Honto asked me to check if the mine had collapsed yet. She wants the KwaZulu to become miners. I looked inside. Follow me."

"Where'd you get the flashlight?" Winnie asked the question a few feet into the mine. It looked remarkably like the flashlight she had used to find Lillian's hidden cameras.

"William invented it. Watch where you're going now. It gets narrow and low. We have to crawl now. KwaZulu men are much shorter than normal."

...

"We'll stop here." Both of them remained on their hands and knees. "There's a big open cavern ahead. When I searched it this morning, I was ready to go back and tell Honto that the mineshafts and tunnels were still intact, but when I saw the beginning of the cavern, I thought I'd check it out. I stood up, walked further in, and scanned the walls with my flashlight. William had built in a very bright light and I was seeing sparkles in the wall. I don't know anything about mining but I thought sparkles would be a good thing. As I flashed the light on the walls, I thought I saw movement at the far end of the cavern. I waked further in and aimed the light directly into the darkness. That's when a creature like a dinosaur on two legs attacked me. I couldn't see much of it. All I saw was that it was huge. It was reaching for me with what appeared to be golden hands when I remembered William's weapons."

"What weapons?"

"An air horn, a pulsating light, and a built in Taser, all in one."

"Why did you have ..."

"We can talk about that later. I hit the button and the creature gave a skin crawling scream and fell. I thought I had killed it, so I let up on the button. It got up and tried to attack me again. I hit the button again and held it. The creature screamed again and fell. I released the button and stood over it, but I couldn't tell if it were alive or not. It stirred, so I hit the button again. It started crawling towards the back of the cavern but I kept the button on. And then it blew up. Big explosion."

By this time, Winnie had enough information to form two words: _Gold Pinkies_. I'm sure my readers are thinking the same. "Let's go look at it, Reese."

### # # # # # # # #

"This is the remains of a devil, not a dinosaur," Winnie explained. "There's not much left of her head, but you can see the gold horns. Devils do not normally have gold horns or gold anythings. This was a special devil."

" _Her_ head as in the head of a female devil?"

"Yeah. There are male and female devils. These are her hooves, also made of gold. Her hands are over there and there." Winnie pointed left and right.

"Also gold."

"Yeah. There's nothing left of her body. That's what exploded. She had weaponry that would electrify anybody that touched her. The batteries for that weaponry were in her abdomen. Your Taser probably exploded them. Did you look any further in the mine?"

"Yes."

"And did you find anything interesting?"

"Yeah. That's why I called you."

"What did you find?"

"Boxes and boxes and boxes of gold."

"What are you going to do with them?"

"I don't know. Who owns them?"

"You do. You found them in a gold mine. They're yours."

"What should I do, Winnie?"

"I have an idea."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 35

The room was a sterile rectangular box. A simple meeting table sat in the middle of the box. Etcetera.

"This mediation meeting is now called to order," a metallic voice announced from the white speaker. "It is Monday, August 25, 2092 earth time. Present in the meeting is the female angel, Brunhilda. Also present is the male devil, Ponzi. Given Brunhilda's private comments to me about Hell probably wanting to meet quickly, I have classified this as an emergency meeting. Since both of the participants have been mediating on these matters already, and since time is of the essence, I am invoking a must comply condition. Both of the participants in this meeting will have the truth ray on them for the duration of this meeting. You may begin, Brunhilda."

"I have received information recently that I will provide to Hell as a courtesy in this meeting. A Prayer Central angel received a prayer from a mortal in recent days and flagged it for review by her manager who flagged it for review, and so on. The contents of that prayer made its way up the halocracy and reached my office. The prayer angels were uncomfortable dealing with it because the mortal praying for help revealed that he had uncovered a very large deposit of gold and was asking for advice, via prayer, on what he should do with it."

Ponzi suddenly became extremely interested in what Brunhilda was saying.

"I assumed the body of a representative of the _Lower Government Taxes Now!_ movement and visited the mortal. I made no reference to his prayer. I did mention that I had heard rumours that he had made a very valuable discovery. I asked him if this were the case and if he had told others about it. He said that he had made such a discovery and had asked a family member if there would be taxes on it."

"I offered to give him information on how such windfalls are taxed. To do that, he had to give me details of his discoveries. He agreed to do so, but he did mask all the important information that would lead somebody to his or his family's home."

"The man was looking through an old gold mine in Africa for a friend who wanted to know if it was worth developing further. He found the remains of some creature, which he characterized as _like a dinosaur on two feet_. He took pictures that he provided to me. The body was virtually destroyed by an explosion of some kind. I saw enough in the pictures to realize that it was the body of the devil. I am putting pictures of that body on the big screen now."

"That's Satan's courier," Ponzi interjected. "Her electrical batteries must have exploded. Her golden hands and feet must have been thrown clear by the explosion. Also her head. It's definitely the courier. Did the mortal find the gold that she had stolen?"

"On searching deeper into the mine, the mortal found what he characterized as a huge supply of mined gold. The gold was in raw form with no evidence of where it had been originally mined. The mortal argued that since he had been searching for gold, and since no previous ownership had been evident in the gold that had been found in a functioning gold mine, that he was now legally the owner. He wanted to know what taxes he might owe on his windfall."

"I gave him the advice that the government where the gold was found might charge him taxes for operating the mine and taking gold out of their ground. He personally would not pay any additional taxes in that country. I asked him to identify the country, which he did. I determined that this country had no legislation whatsoever on gold mining in their country. I told him, in my opinion, that he was entitled to the full amount of gold that he found in that mine."

"That's our gold. We want it back."

"Legally, that's not Hell's gold. Your courier stole it from Hell. As far as I know, Hell does not have laws against any kind of theft whatsoever. Therefore, your courier had legal ownership of that gold when she died. Since she had no family, that gold now belongs to the mortal."

"It's ours. You know it's ours."

"According to the laws of Hell and the laws of the country where the gold had been hidden, the gold belongs to the mortal. I'd like a ruling from the mediator, please."

"I need time to consult. Both parties are to return to your accommodations on the ship. I will notify you when I have an answer. Brunhilda, I will need the name of the country in Africa."

### # # # # # # # #

"The mediation meeting between Brunhilda and Ponzi is now reconvened. It is Tuesday, August 26, Earth time. After reviewing the laws of the country in Africa, and after noting that Hell had no laws prohibiting theft, the Cops of the Cosmos are ruling that the gold belongs to the mortal."

"Appeal?"

"There is no appeal against rulings brought down by the Cops of the Cosmos," the white box declared. "This decision was reviewed at the appellate court level where all three of our experienced mediators agreed that the mortal owned the gold."

"Brunhilda, will Heaven benefit in any way from the gold that this mortal owns?" Ponzi desperated.

"That's difficult to say. He has enough gold that it may take him decades to spend it all. If he spreads it around to family, it could be spent more quickly. We have no way to determine if Heaven will benefit."

"But Heaven operates numerous charities."

"That is true. We have hundreds of them. We could benefit. We also might not benefit."

"Did the mortal give you any indication how he might spend this gold?"

"It didn't come up in that meeting. I could have an agent ask him if that's what Hell wants."

"We want."

"I'll need a temporary adjournment."

"So ruled."

### # # # # # # # #

"The mediation meeting between Brunhilda and Ponzi is now reconvened. It is Wednesday, August 27. Brunhilda, do you have a sense of what the mortal plans to do with his gold?"

"Yes. Before I tell you, I should explain that many mortals are deeply unhappy with their life on Earth. They are under constant stress. We see this in our prayer data. They want to live without constant threats of annihilation. Given that introduction, it will not surprise you to hear that this mortal plans to spend all of his gold to reduce the threats of the Earth's virtual destruction through such cataclysmic events the mortals have endured with the destruction of the Earth's ozone level, climate change, and the numerous threats of nuclear war. He doesn't want Earth destroyed."

"With those goals, does that mean that Heaven will benefit from that gold?"

"Yes, we will definitely benefit. We have many charities that lobby politicians and other decision makers to step back from the brink of extinction. Sadly, we have not been successful very often. Hell appears determined to physically destroy this planet. I merely need to mention climate change and how Hell blinded the important politicians of that era to that fate to substantiate my comment. With the mortal's gold, we will have the means to establish powerful lobby groups."

"I need to consult."

"The meeting is adjourned until Thursday, August 28."

### # # # # # # # #

"The mediation meeting between Brunhilda and Ponzi is now reconvened. It is Thursday, August 28. The changes that have been negotiated to the Heaven-Hell treaty have been drafted and circulated as per the agreement between Brunhilda and Ponzi. Both of you have said that you have signing authority and both of you agree to these changes. Truth ray on both parties. Is that true?

"Yes."

"Yes."

"The mediator recognizes Brunhilda. You wish to make a comment?"

"Yes. I will repeat my unhappiness. Heaven was heavily influenced by Ponzi's claim that Hell was on the verge of bankruptcy and internal revolt and needed that gold to survive. Hell brought this on themselves and twice now, we have bailed them out. We will expect to see changes in how Hell operates so that the threat of its own internal riots will not spill over into Earth. Given that disclaimer, with the new treaty, Heaven accepts Hell's word that they will never again threaten the sanctity of Earth's atmosphere, land and resources with programs intended to have mortals destroy their own world. We also accept Hell's word that Hell will never again threaten the sanctity of Earth's atmosphere, land, and resources by preventing mortals who wish to save their planet from doing so."

"Ponzi, do you have a closing statement?"

"No. Just tell me where the gold is."

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# Chapter 36

Winnie had nothing to fear about being punished for revealing Heaven's existence to Reese. Seeing as how Reese was already working for Heaven through the Nemeses under Keely's approval, Heaven could hardly complain. Nor could they complain since Kashmira was working for Heaven for the Nemeses and was getting support and counseling from Joe-Joe and his Angels of Death program. For the time being, these two groups would remain ignorant of each other's involvement with Heaven.

Winnie's use of Wilizy firepower to assist Heavenly operations on Earth was officially, but secretly, commended by Sir Galahad whose soldiers would have been hard pressed to duplicate what Reese and Winnie had done with Wilizy firepower.

Lillian liked Winnie's idea for an operation that had Reese claim ownership of Hell's gold in order to put pressure on Hell's most evil programs. Brunhilda had taken that idea and translated it into a clause in the Heaven - Hell treaty. Two different peace treaties that Ponzie had to sign would make sure of that Hell's operations would no longer be threats to the planet's existence.

Winnie had a great name for Reese's operation. This provoked more groans than applause. The name? _Operation Reese's Peaces._

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# Books in the Wilizy series

As of June 2020, the Wilizy series contained twenty-four novels as listed below.

**Book #1: I Got'cha**

If you think being a teenager in today's world is tough, try being one in 2081. In Alberta's It's Only Fair society, your brain-band will zap you just for chewing with your mouth open. One boy pried his brain-band off to see what living with emotions would be like. Being chased by the entire Alberta army was bad enough. It became worse when another 15 year old kid offered to help him escape.

**Book #2: The Get-Even Bird**

Will and Izzy are forced to flee from Zzyk's army. After months away from Alberta, they fly their sailing ship into B.C. thinking that they would be safe there. Bad mistake! Izzy is captured. All Will has to do to save her life is turn himself in for a free brain-band fitting appointment. That's what happens when you wear a Zorro costume to a dance.

**Book #3: Assassination Day**

A DPS technician offers to defect if the Wilizy will rescue his daughter from _The Citadel_ – some super smart military people who are friends with Zzyk. Izzy thinks that their new recruit is an assassin, but Yollie insists that he's a decent man. Can assassins be decent men? It will take a hair-raising experience to find out.

**Book #4: Hoist the Jolly Lucas**

It's bad enough that Zzyk pins the blame for two assassinations on Izzy and launches a full out assault on their home compound. But then, another enemy takes advantage of a security lapse to get revenge for a war that happened 20 years ago. The Wilizy are left reeling with two key members kidnapped and stashed where they can't be found, let alone rescued. For the family to survive, everybody must enter the battle. The story is as much about the past as it is about the present.

**Book #5: Teenage Mutant Ninja Torpedoes** (Yes, this is a Wilizy book.)

Mac disappears and doesn't want to be found. Will and Wolf use time-travel to search for her and discover secrets she wouldn't want them to know. The Alaskans attack when Will is finding out what happens to a submarine's air when it is lying helpless on the ocean floor. Between the Alaskans' impenetrable fortress and their bubblegum weapons, life is going to get a little sticky for the Wilizy.

**Book #6: Bob, the Invisible Dragon**

Raging hormones as well as Raging Gardeners play key roles when young Wilizy warriors are attacked and the Wilizy's scientific marvels offer no protection. The youngsters' future will rely on a different kind of warrior protecting them. Warning: events at the end of the story will move quickly. They certainly won't _drag on_.

**Book #7: Nary, Nary, Quite Contrary**

Theo and Lucas move to Toronto to live on their own. Both meet girls but neither is brave enough to introduce his new friend to the family. They wouldn't have the time anyway, what with villains trying to assassinate them and Voodoo royalty greeting them as though they were Voodoo gods. At the end of the story, Lucas receives a surprise Boxing Day gift that leaves him speechless.

**Book #8: Maddy's a Baddy**

Maddy had escaped from Big Momma only to find herself all alone in the cold and begging for food in Eastern Canada. While she's trying to return to her home in Seattle, the Wilizy have their own problems. Everybody in the family is intent on bringing the judge to justice for what he did to Lucas. It would have been so easy for them to rescue Maddy, but they didn't know anything about her.

**Book #9: Bite Me!**

Spurred on by Marie's desire to eat a meal with her former slave masters, the Wilizy plan to put Safe Haven ranches out of business. In the process, they encounter two foreign assassins intent on abducting Maddy. Theo and Nary become closer but a red-eyed chaperone does not approve. The Wilizy's war with Safe Haven starts with a bang but ends with a whimper.

**Book #10: Wheelchair Moccasins!**

A 13 year old girl pretends to turn to prostitution to gain her freedom from her crime boss father. In Wilizy family news, Winnie agrees not to meddle in Mathias' love life. No, the world isn't ending, so long as you don't have a green vegetable for your name. Best advice ever? If somebody wearing moccasins and sitting in a wheelchair offers to sing you to sleep... run!

**Book #11: Trial by Nick**

After the Scandinavians attack their home base, Winnie develops an idea for defeating Crown Prince Wilhelm that is a dramatic departure from their normal military battles. In their personal lives, the Toronto teenagers have to become schnobs to keep their basketball futures alive, Lucas and Lylah begin dating, and two of EmmaGee's personalities leave her body.

**Book #12. Tickled Pink**

A man uses his unlimited wealth and power to assault women without fear of legal consequences. If they object, he'll humiliate them publicly and ruin their lives. If they don't stand up to him, their lives as they knew them will be over. But how do you fight a man who is above the law? Here's how. The Raging Gardeners help the women while Winnie attacks him where he isn't looking.

**Book #13: Second Base**

Granny and Doc enjoy a spirited life in their new Australian house while Bean has to adjust to her mother joining her in the Wilizy cadet camp. She meets a charming man with country pumpkin witticisms whose entire life is dedicated to becoming a cold blooded killer. Meanwhile, Safe Haven's impenetrable offices aren't as safe as they thought they were.

**Book #14: Old Stone Face**

Bean moves to Toronto with her sheriff who takes a job as a private detective. Before long, he's trying to bring a mad scientist to justice - the same man that Winnie is after. With both the Wilizy and a countrified sheriff after the same man, you'd think he'd be easy to catch. Too bad there are no laws about a mad scientist killing twenty-one babies.

**Book #15: Remember the Halocracy**

Reese finds Annika - his first, and only, girl friend. For reasons that nobody fully understands, he sort of kidnaps her but she willingly accompanies him to the far side of globe. Reese figures out later that she could be trying to seduce him when in fact, she's actually going to try to kill him.

**Book #16: Coffee Can Kill Ya!**

Convincing Paula's brother to give her a proper share of her parents' estate had seemed so easy. Turned out that it wasn't so easy after all. In the Wilizy's defense, murdering extra-terrestrials that tried to kidnap a corpse created unique challenges. To their credit, the Wilizy dealt with those. But, how do you deal with something that you can't see and don't even know exists?

**Book #17: Nice Birthday Party, Governor.**

Plot twists abound as the Wilizy take on the Colorado government and the NORAD military simultaneously. Maddy quits the cadet corp to run a secret operation that ends in a one-on-one battle. Melissa breaks Reese out of jail and Cowboy shows his dramatic talents, which do not include stripping. Winnie directs two dramatic productions but only one of these involves wearing respectable clothes.

**Book #18: The Tale of the Scorpion's Tail**

The Wilizy have to neutralize NORAD's nuclear missiles while defeating their air force without causing any casualties. A special weapon (guided bird poop) will be needed. Meanwhile, Heaven's guardian angels are under attack from within. The key to success? Rescuing a gerbil imprisoned in an escape-proof cage. "Molly Moonblossom" and "Nympho Maniac" play key roles. One of these actors is Winnie.

**Book #19: Brunhilda, the Steamroller.**

Billy Bump resurfaces and plans Maddy's death. Winnie accepts a secret mission but runs afoul of Yolanda, who is sure that she has a boyfriend. Yolanda's vision that Winnie will be attacked comes true. Demonic infiltrators into Heaven escape detection when the steamroller named Brunhilda prosecutes Arthur and finds him guilty. This time, he won't be going back to guardian angel school.

**Book #20: Lock Up Your Corn Starch!**

While Paula, Winnie and Arthur are on a perilous mission for Heaven, the Wilizy family is trying to rescue Charlie and Sheila from prison. Wilizy forces battle demented escaped convicts intent on slaughtering innocent victims to help a brown supremacist politician win an election. If you're intent on going to Hell when you die, be sure to read this book for a preview of what's waiting for you.

**Book #21: The Champion Kisser**

Melissa's Operation Beef Jerky, featuring pragmatic momma cows and flying unbranded calves, goes after a stinky justice. In Hell, Winnie has to deal with a dead pharmacist and an asparagus-shaped devil geek in her operation against the perfume-toting, hog-riding Rat. On her side is a pussy tat named Santa Claws and a junk food eating canary that has a fatal encounter with a loaded frying pan.

**Book #22: Black Cats: Lucky or Unlucky?**

Strange characters abound in this story. You'll meet a woman named Fido, a purple gnome, a mining gal that can make a cowhand vibrate, a safe-cracking masked marauder, a stinker bell, a high wire gymnast afraid of height, three hench-devils, and a devil wearing an Elizabethan ebony doublet, complete with raven black satin breeches and a heart shaped codpiece. Oh yeah. There's also a black cat.

**Book #23: Morgana Foils the Duke's Plans**

In Book #23, you'll meet a zesty Zulu goddess who pulls a spear of gold out of a lake bed. An angel named Prudence has a potty mouth. A dolphin in the Cops of the Cosmos arranges for Heaven to invade Hell. Queen Guinevere meets Sir Galahad, Sir Lance Lott, and Sir Launchalot, one of whom is not gallant. The perfume toting Morgana wields a devilish weapon of mass olfaction.

**Book #24: Who Painted Lord Percy?**

Book #24 asks the question: Who Painted Lord Percy? The suspects include: a dead man who hunts perverts, a condom buying female angel, the devil named Gold Pinkies, a cherry pie barfing angel, a mortal resigned to joining The Borg's beehive, a skinny-dipping ghost, a devil named Adolf Hitler, an angel who can't pucker up to kiss, or the angels who protected Christopher Columbus.

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# About the Author

David J. Wighton is a retired educator who enjoys writing youth novels when he's not on a basketball court coaching middle-school girls. The books in his Wilizy series peek at how people lived after the word's governments collapsed in the chaos that followed the catastrophic rise in ocean levels and the disappearance of the world's last deposits of oil.

Wighton's novels have strong teenage characters driving the plot and facing challenges that, in many respects, are no different from what teenagers face today. His novels are intended to entertain and readers will find adventure, romance, suspense, humour, a strong focus on family, plus a touch of whimsy. Wighton also writes to provoke a little thought about life in today's societies and what the future might bring. Teachers may find the series useful in the classroom and the novels are priced with that intent in mind.

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