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Sergeant! Ch. 02

By: Paniolo Boy



If you haven't done so yet, please read Sergeant Ch. 1. No jerk material in this chapter, just chills and thrills!

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I was on my way to Georgetown University to check out a high security lab that might have been used to conduct research by a certain bright biochemist. Unfortunately, she was kidnapped and was being held hostage by former government, now renegade agents. Their public demands were for money; a huge pile of it. $50 million to be exact. And being that she was the daughter of the prime minister of Canada, they were probably going to get it. However the revelation of her contribution towards the development of agricultural vaccines, one of which turned into a deadly nerve agent under certain conditions, changed the nature of the ballgame completely. 

It was very likely that the goal for the renegade agents wasn't simply the ransom money. Although a tidy sum, just think of what they could get by selling the nerve agent to unfriendly nations or to terrorist groups. The $50 million that they asked for could look like chump change compared to what others might be willing to pay for something like this. Especially if no one has had the time to properly evaluate it and develop counter agents for it.

If this were the case then the effort to find Annalisa Somer should be moved up several notches. But we needed more information as soon as possible. I called David Betno, my control;

"David, this is Tim. Anything new for me?"

"Yeah, the lab at Georgetown's been trashed. Campus Security went in to check it this morning after I called and it's been gone over by someone already. Ask for a George Hatcher at the main entrance security shack. He has instructions to let you into the lab and to cooperate with you fully."

"Understand. What should I be looking for? I have no idea of what's important or what's not as far as biochemistry is concerned."

"Me neither. The head spooks will be sending a team down later this morning so let them take care of the technical stuff. Just nose around and see if anything doesn't look right to you."

"Ok." 

We rang off and I was at the security shack sooner than I thought. Hatcher turned out to be retired Army. Initially he was all formality and stuff. But we got along really well after he saw my military ID and learned of me being a Ranger. He jumped into my vehicle as we left the security shack at the entrance to the campus.

"Ok Tim. The lab is over beyond these admin buildings. You can park in the back of the building." George said as he guided me around the campus. 

We parked and George keyed us into the building. As we entered the lab, I asked;

"Are we in any danger of breathing in any lethal stuff?"

"Don't think so. No air scrubbers on this building so I doubt that anything volatile was worked on here." 

George went through a series of computer lock security doors. 

"George, do you have records of who comes and goes through these doors?"

"Yep. Computer monitors all card activity. We'll have a report generated for you for the last week before you leave."

"What about video?"

"Only on the entrance and exit doors. No one thought that there were any high security needs for the lab. I'll have copies of that made for you too."

George let me into Annalisa's lab and it looked as if someone had gone through it with a vengeance. In contrast to her apartment, furniture was thrown around the room. Papers were strewn everywhere. A computer monitor had been thrown against the wall and a computer lay in pieces. As I picked through it I realized that its hard drive was missing. 

A White Board had been recently wiped clean. A slight odor of the chemical agent used to do so lingered near the board; probably from the eraser that was used. And the erasing had been done recently. Someone didn't want us or someone else to see what was on the board.

CD's and DVD's were strewn all over the lab. Most were unmarked but some had cryptic labels on them. Heck if I knew what they were for. Figured I'd let the techno spooks look into them. 

Ok, I thought to myself, if I wanted to keep something secure, where would I keep it? It could be data, it could be test results, it could be anything! Man this was not my cup of tea, that's for sure! 

As I scanned the room, I saw a column of lockers that employees would normally use to store handbags, backpacks, jackets, and that sort of stuff. A couple of them used to have locks on them, but the doors had been forcibly removed from them. Whoever it was that was here had probably ripped the doors off with something. But one open, unlocked locker on the bottom was not touched.

I swung it wide open out of curiosity and looked in. At first glance it seemed empty. But something in that locker didn't look right. As I stared at the empty space in the locker, it finally dawned on me that the left hand wall of the locker was a little thicker than the right. I checked out the other lockers on top and their left hand walls matched the right. Hmmmm. Interesting.

I got down on my hands and knees and felt the left wall of the bottom locker. It was plastic, painted to look like the locker. Very good resemblance. Don't know what caught me eye but whatever it was, I'm glad it did.

As I felt along the edges of the plastic piece, I must have pushed something because the piece suddenly fell away revealing a mini-DVD. I retrieved it and figured that it had to be important to be hidden away like this. There wasn't anything else in the small hidden space. I stuck the DVD into my jacket pocket for safekeeping for now.

I went to the middle of the room and slowly scanned it, looking for anything that might look strange or out of place. And there it was. A box of cereal. Now, ok, people snack on all sorts of stuff, cereal included. But in a lab? 

As I picked it up I could feel the heaviness of the box. Strange. Cereal boxes are usually full of air. Normally light. I opened it and there was the missing hard drive! Ok! Something important is in here! Annalisa must have realized that someone was after her so had ejected the hard drive and dumped it into the cereal box. Ok cereal box, you're coming with me!

Scanning the room once again my eye was drawn to a hand held recorder that people use to dictate. The record button was still depressed. Annalisa must have left it in record mode when her assailants came in! Normally these things only have a one or two hour capacity. And they tend to be voice activated so it should hopefully give us a hint as to who was in the lab last. I turned it off and slipped it into my pocket also.

Finishing up my room scan, I saw a handbag laying on the floor; its contents dumped on the floor. I took a quick look and found a wallet with Annalisa's ID, some charge cards, and a little cash in it. There were a couple of other items in it including a claim check for some dry cleaning, a membership card to a gym, and a key. The key didn't look like a spare house key or car key. It was too small. It looked as if it might fit a lock or a locker. I took it thinking that it might come in handy later.

Other contents of her handbag included a set of her keys, a container of breath mints, a small note book, and some other personal things. The small note book looked as if Annalisa used it to write notes to herself. I saw reminders to buy stuff, notes to call people, and some other stuff. Didn't know if anything was of significance so I left it.

"George, do you know if Ms. Somer brought other people to the lab?" I asked Hatcher. 

"Nope. Usually just her and her bodyguards. What was she working on that she needed bodyguards anyway?"

"Sorry George, can't tell you." I replied. "But let me know if anyone turns up that doesn't look like they belong, ok?"

"Can do." 

With that, I gave George the phone number for David Betno. "This number is for my contact so just relay the message through him."

I placed the DVD, the hard drive and the voice recorder in plastic bag that I found in the lab, and stored the stuff in the spare wheel well in the back of the SUV. Hopefully they'll survive without too much damage.

Dropped George off back at the security shack on the way out, "Hey George, thanks for the assist. The techy guys will be by later this morning."

"Yeah, your Betno fella told me to expect them also."

As I pulled out of the campus, I got Betno back on the phone; "David, Tim here. Picked up a couple items that we should have someone you trust take a look at."

"What do you have?"

"Got a DVD, a hard drive, and a voice recorder."

"Ok, let me see who I can dig up. You got them in a safe place for now?"

"Yep." At least the spare wheel well was better than being my pocket!

"Good, wouldn't want anything to happen to them until we can take a hard look at them."

"Hey, anything turn up on the Jeff guy?"

"Zippo. The phone number turns out to be one of those prepaid cell phones. I'm having the phone call record pulled on it but I was told that there wasn't much on it. Looks like it may be a dead end."

"Pros huh?"

"Yep."

"Any other updates for me?"

"Yeah, the ransom demand just got pushed up a couple of notches. Now they want the other two scientists."

"Ok, cards are on the table."

"Yeah."

"Any hole cards?"

"Don't know."

"Shit."

"My sentiments exactly."

"Now no one's gonna want to play ball with these guys. Too much at stake."

"Yeah. That's the gist of it. The two techy guys are probably in deep underground by now."

"So what happens next?" I asked.

"Like I told you earlier, the prime minister's a personal friend of the president. We're on the case until she's back safely. National security case or not. Her safe return is our top priority."

"So next step?"

"I'll get back to you regarding where we need to take the DVD, hard drive and voice recorder."

"Ok. I'll try to interview a couple of her friends in the meantime."

"Sounds good. I'll get back to you shortly."

With that we rung off. 

I pulled out the list of acquaintances and thanked my fairy godmother that it was a short list! Figured that the top of the list was as good a place to start as any. So off I went to check on a Betty Kremski. 

From the notes on the list, Betty was a member of the gym that Annalisa frequented. Apparently that's where they met. Betty's address was noted on the list. Not too far away from the campus, it looked as if it might be the address of an apartment or condo. 

I pulled up about a block away from the apartment complex in about 15 minutes. Tried the visitor parking lot however that was full of cars. I walked over to her unit complex and found the call button for her apartment. Wasn't sure if she would be in but figured that I wouldn't know if I didn't try. So I pushed the button and stepped back. No response. So I pressed it again and waited. 

"Yes? What can I do for you?" a soft voice replied to my buzz. 

"Hi. Are you Betty Kremski?" I asked.

"Who's asking?" she replied.

"Uh, my name's Tim and Annalisa told me to see you?"

"Who?"

"Annalisa."

"Annalisa? What's her last name?"

"I don't know. She's in one of my classes and she told me to see you about some books she left at your place?" I replied not knowing how much to say or not to say.

"Sorry, I don't know any Annalisa." She replied, yet I could hear a strain in her voice. She's not telling me the whole truth. 

"Hey, sorry I bothered you." I told her.

Just as I turned around to leave, an older guy walked up with his key and let himself in. Well, why not? Did it once, I'll try it again. So I trailed in after him. He gave me a glance but decided that I didn't look like a mugger so didn't care less.

So I took the elevator up to Betty Kremski's floor and walked quietly to her door. As I stood in the hallway, I could hear voices in her apartment, 'so what did he want?' 

'I don't know' I could hear her reply; her voice was trembling. Her fright very clear to any listener.

'Who was he?'

'I don't know!' she was getting really shaken up by the entire ordeal!

I heard a new voice jump in, 'ok, you're coming with us.'

'No! Please no!' she was crying!

Ok, at least two assailants of unknown status. I figured if I let them open the door and I slammed it open, maybe I could take at least one of them down initially and hold the other one at bay with my handgun. These doors opened into the room and it would be a simple matter to just kick it in once someone started opening it.

And that's exactly what happened. Bad guy number one started opening the door and I kicked it in! My adrenalin must have been pumping cause my kick was forceful enough to send the door crashing back into his face which busted his nose! Ugh! Bloody.

Bad guy number two had Betty by the arm but was so surprised by my entrance that Betty was able to wrench her arm away from him. I launched my foot into the middle of his chest which knocked the air out of him! He was down! Bad guy number two looked very familiar! Yeah! From the night before at Sheila's place! Shit! If I made him, then he probably made me. I need to get to Sheila too! Right away!

"Come on!" I yelled at Betty! She was absolutely bug-eyed and ready to scream when I grabbed her hand and pulled her from her apartment! "Come on before they get up!" I yelled at her again! That seemed to wake her up out of her stupor! 

I opened the door to the stair well and pushed Betty in and pointed to the stairs going up! "Hustle!" as we ran up the stairs to the next floor above.

As soon as we reached the floor above, we left the stair well and ran into the hallway. Running the length of the building, we found another stair well on the other side. I pushed it open and listened for anyone else that might be using the stair well also. Hearing none, I pushed Betty through and held her just behind the door which I kept cracked open just a bit.

Betty's eyes were wide open as she tried to catch her breath! "You ok?" I asked her? 

All she could do was nod her head

"Who were they?" I asked her.

"I don't know." She said with a whimper, "I don't know. They wouldn't say!"

We waited a few minutes in the stair well but no one came up the elevator nor the stair well. But you can be sure that they were probably waiting for us outside the building. Time for the calvary. I pulled out my phone and hoped that it would work considering where we were in the middle of all that concrete and steel. Luckily I was able to get a weak signal. Enough to get through to David.

"David, Tim again. Need your help."

"What's up?" he asked.

"Went to see Betty Kremski and the goons from hell were there trying to take her."

"Shit."

"Yeah, but I was able to persuade them not to."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, one's got a busted nose and the other was sucking air the last I saw."

"Ha! Good for you."

"Yeah, well, they were the same guys that were at Sheila's place."

At the mention of Sheila's name, Betty's eyes got big. Ok, looks like she knows Sheila also.

"Ok, if you recognized them, then they probably recognized you."

"Yeah, my thoughts also. We need a safe place for Betty and Sheila."

"Ok, let me arrange for it and get back to you. You know how to get in touch with Sheila?"

"I think so. I'll take care of her. Any word on what to do with the other stuff?"

"Not yet. Having a hard time finding a facility that's bug proof. Keep the stuff for now."

"No problem." 

"Call you later."

"Wait! Almost forgot. We're still in Betty's building hiding out from the goons. We need a diversion to get out of here. Any ideas?"

"Hmmmm.........How about an ambulance? I can have one over there in ...... let's say 5 minutes. We put Betty in the stretcher and I'll have an EMT jacket and cap for you to wear."

"Hey! That sounds good to me!"

"Yeah! I surprise myself sometimes!"

"Hey don't get too swell headed over this!" I teased David!

"Never do. Been screwed too many times in the past!"

"Know what you mean!"

"Ok, let me put it in motion. What floor should they meet you at?"

I looked at the stair well door and it said "7". "David, let's make it the 8th floor."

"8 it is. Five minutes."

As I hung up Betty was staring at me, probably wondering what she had gotten herself into. 

"You ok?" I asked her.

"What's going on?" She was a lot calmer now that she had a chance to catch her breath.

"What's going on is that we're getting out of here before the bad guys come back." I replied. "We need to go up to the 8th floor." I took her hand and we took the stairs up to the next floor.

As we got to the landing, I eased the door open just a bit, and put my ear to the crack to see if I could hear any movement on the floor. Hearing none, I opened it slowly and peered out. The hallway was empty. We stayed in the stair well landing so we could go either out to the hallway or down the stair well. I could hear the wail of a siren off in the distance, getting louder as it got nearer.

"That's for us." I told Betty. "We're getting out of here via that ambulance that you hear. When it gets here, jump on the stretcher and we're going to wheel you out of here."

She was still unsure of what was happening to her. "What's going on?" she repeated her question.

"You know Annalisa Somer?" 

She nodded her head.

"She's been kidnapped."

Betty's eyes got big. "Oh."

"Yeah. We're trying to get her back safely."

"Oh!" Her eyes were still big.

"You're in danger."

"Oh!"

"Yeah. I'll try to keep you safe."

"Oh!"

"You're not saying much." I teased her.

"I don't know what to say." 

"Know what you mean."

She stared at me and I couldn't figure out if she was going to laugh or break down and cry. I took one of her hands and gave it squeeze. She held onto my hand and wouldn't let me go. Under better circumstances I would have really enjoyed holding hands with Betty, however she was holding my hand so tightly that I thought she would squeeze the life out of my fingers!

"Easy Betty. I'll need my fingers after this."

"Oh, sorry." She said as she quickly released my hands. 

"Hey, everything will be ok."

She looked at me and tried to smile but I could see the stress and worry behind her half hearted smile.

Right at that moment I heard the ding of the elevator as the doors opened and out came two EMT's and a stretcher. They looked right then left before I stepped out into the hallway. Spotting me, one threw me a jacket from the stretcher while the other unwrapped a blanket from the stretcher.

I helped Betty into the stretcher, trying to reassure her that she was going to be ok. I donned the jacket and a cap that the other EMT passed over to me. With the brim of the cap pulled down low, it would be difficult to tell who I was. 

They handed a wig to Betty to place on her head. Then an oxygen mask went over Betty's face and that made it difficult to tell who she was also. Then a blanket over everything and off we went, down the elevator and into the waiting ambulance! Quick and neat! I'm sure that the bad guys would figure it out sooner or later but by then we'd be gone!

Once inside, one of the EMT's let Betty sit up then handed me a phone, "David needs to talk with you" was all he said.

"Yo! David! Slick job!" I complimented him.

"Hey, thank me later!" he replied. "The boys are taking you to a hospital so we can work the cover a bit more. Then we'll transfer you and Betty to a safe house."

"Sounds good David, except I need to get back and retrieve my trusty chariot and go find Betty before the bad guys do." 

"Yeah. Ok. You need to do that. Have the boys drop you where ever it's convenient."

"Will do. Have you found a safe lab yet to check into the stuff I got from the Georgetown lab?"

"I'm having a couple of the boys checking into a possible clean lab for us to use. Haven't found the right one yet."


Sergeant! Ch. 02



"Ok."

"Yeah, hold on to the stuff until I get back to you."

"Gotcha. I'll get to Sheila and bring her in."

"Do that. Give me a call when you're settled in."

"Will do."

The ambulance guys took us over to Georgetown University Hospital. It was maybe a 15 minute ride through traffic. But we made it without incident. They rewrapped Betty into the stretcher and told me to wait in the ambulance while they took care of Betty.

I told Betty that I'd be seeing her shortly. "Ok Betty, these guys are going to be hustling you through the ER to a safe house."

"Ok."

"You're going to need to lie low for a couple of days until this blows over."

"Ok."

"You're not much for words are you?" 

"Well, it's been kind of overwhelming! Know what I mean?"

I chuckled, "yeah, it has been hasn't it? ....... Don't worry, you'll be ok."

"Ok, ......... I hope." and she smiled at me.

They took Betty into the ER and were back in the ambulance after about 15 minutes. While they were gone I gave Sheila a call on my cell phone. 

"Hey Sheila, this is Tim."

"Hey Timmy" she replied. I could hear the happiness in her voice! Made me feel ten feet tall. But back to the business at hand.

"Hey, thanks for putting up with me last night. Hope I didn't overstay the welcome mat."

"No problem! In fact, I'm hoping that my welcome mat gets used a lot more by you..." I could hear the smile in her voice as she said that! Man, she made me hard just thinking of our love making last night! God she was hot! 

"You can count on that babe! But I gotta shift gears quickly and talk with you about the reason that I'm calling."

"Yeah, so what's up?"

"Look, I went to see Betty Kremski this morning and had to put her into a safe house."

"What?! What do you mean? Is she ok?" I could hear the fear and fright in her voice.

"Betty's ok but I interrupted a couple of bad guys who were trying to persuade Betty to go with them."

I heard nothing but silence on the other end. "You ok Sheila?"

"Yeah, but this is frightening me."

"Ok, that means that you're normal. So hang in there babe."

"Ok, so what's going to happen next?" she asked.

"Well the reason why I'm calling is that we think you need to go away for a couple of days also and I'm just the sort of guy to take you away from all of this for a couple of days."

"Oh, just like that?"

"Look Sheila, one of them was at your apartment complex. I made him so he probably made me. You're not safe."

"Oh no!" 

"Yeah. My sentiments exactly. Where are you right now?"

"At work. I clerk for the Superior Court on Indiana Avenue."

"Ok, you're safe for now. Can you take off for a couple of days? Say it was a family emergency?"

"I think so." 

"See if you can and call me back." I gave Sheila my direct cell number.

"I'll let you know." And we broke the connection.

By that time the EMT's were back in the ambulance getting ready to leave the hospital.

"Ok, Tim, where do we drop you?"

"Betty get delivered ok?"

"We got her to a second team who's going with her to the safe house. She should be there in about an hour."

"Where is it?" I asked.

"Don't know. You need to talk to David. We try to compartmentalize things so no one knows too much."

It made a lot of sense to me. That way if there was a security breach somewhere, someone would need to infiltrate the organization at several different places in order to get useful information.

"My ride is parked about a block away from the apartment complex. You probably don't want to have this ambulance seen too close to the building so why don't you drop me off at one of the Metro stations?"

"Sounds good." 

And they did. The underground subway system works like a charm in DC. Convenient and gets people to where they need to go. So I hopped a ride and surfaced from my underground ride about three blocks away from Betty's apartment complex. 

I had shed the EMT jacket back in the ambulance however kept the cap, and now pulled it low over my eyes as I walked back to my SUV. I scanned the area as I neared my car and spotted at least two suspicious looking vehicles as I got closer. Hmmm. No sense risking it so I kept on walking, leaving the apartment complex and my vehicle behind.

After another three blocks I came across a small park with a couple of benches and sat down on one; facing the street as I did. I pulled out my cell phone and gave David a call.

"David, it's Tim."

"Hey what's up?"

"Listen, I'm on foot and will probably be this way until tonight. You're going to have to have someone else pull in the others on Annalisa's list of friends." 

"Ok. Think we should pull everyone in?"

"Yeah, they were trying to grab Betty. I think they probably wanted her to serve as leverage with Annalisa. Maybe they were planning to threaten bodily harm to Betty if Annalisa didn't cooperate with them."

"Yeah. Possible motive. In fact, very good possible motive."

"I touched basis with Sheila and she's in a safe place for the day. I'll extract her later today. Where should I take her?"

"We have a safe house nearby that Betty was taken to. You can take Sheila there as well. Let me know before you get there. I need to let them know when to expect you." David then gave me the address for the safe house which put it in a neighborhood of small homes in the neighborhood of 34th and P Street. Close to Georgetown University and not too far away from the capitol. 

In the meantime, Sheila had called back and left a voice message for me, 'I got the okay to take off for a couple of days. Call me back.' So I called her back.

"Sheila, it's Tim. Got your message. It'll be better if I pick you up later this afternoon. You ok till then?" 

"Ok. You know where my office is?"

"I think I can find it. If not, I'll give you a call."

"When should I expect you?"

"Let's make it around 4:00. That sounds like a good time. Wait for me in your office until I call." I figured that traffic should be building by then that would make it easier for me to get to my SUV and take off without attracting too much attention to myself. And she'd be safer waiting for me in her office than out on the street.

"Ok, see you then."

After I hung up I went to find something to eat as it was past two in the afternoon and I hadn't eaten since the night before. I found a deli around the corner from the park and order a hoagie with a bowl of soup. As I waited for my order, I glanced over a rack of tourist type literature displayed next to the cash register. 

There's a ton of these racks all over the place. They hold all sorts of display cards for city tours, horse drawn carriage rides through the capitol, resorts and hotels. I figured that I'd probably deserve a nice vacation after this assignment was over. That is, if they didn't send me back over to la-la land. Oh well, I can only hope.

So I picked up a few tourist display cards to read while I had my lunch. If nothing else, they at least kept my mind occupied while I ate. One was for Miami Beach, another for a resort in Virginia, one for a hotel up in Niagra, and even a nudist resort in Alexandria (although they called it 'clothing optional'). Oh well! I can dream!

After cleaning up after lunch, it was after 3 pm so I figured that it was time to retrieve my SUV from its parking space. I walked the seven blocks back to my vehicle, keeping my eyes pealed all the way back. Luckily, both foot and automobile traffic had picked up considerably so I blended in with everyone else. I made it to my vehicle, hopped in and took off. 

I tried to keep part of my attention on my rear view mirror to see if any other vehicle was trying to keep up with me but that didn't appear to be the case. After traveling a couple of blocks and a couple of turns here and there later, I felt comfortable that no one was following me. 

I drove over to the Superior Court and parked in one of the visitor parking stalls. Glancing around, I failed to see anything that looked suspicious. But then again, if the bad guys were good then I probably wouldn't have been able to see them anyway. So what, Tim. Just deal with it. So I gave Sheila a call and she picked up on the first ring.

"Hi."

"Hi, its me."

"Yeah. Where are you?"

"In the visitor parking lot."

"Ok, I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Wait. I'll come get you."

"Ok. 3rd floor, room 317."

With that, I left my vehicle and made it up to Sheila's office. Her office was still full of people, which was good. I didn't think the bad guys were going to do anything if there were any witnesses around. Sheila gathered up her things and we were out the door. 

I kept scanning the area as we walked over to my car. So far so good. Nothing apparent. I helped Sheila up into the SUV then locked and shut her door. Still nothing. One last scan before I climbed in myself. Still nothing. But I couldn't help have the feeling that we were being watched. My intuition was tingling that something wasn't right.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, I kept visually scanning the area. Still nothing. But as I took the first turn onto the Indiana Avenue, I saw a light blue, late model sedan back out of a parking stall fairly rapidly. Hmmmm. Sure enough. They took the corner and headed off in our direction. Looked as if they intended to follow us and see where we were headed. Don't know if they had previously made my car. If they did then they probably had a GPS unit on it as well. If they hadn't then they needed to stay on my tail. Only one way to find out short of having my vehicle electronically swept; that was to make them work to stay on my tail.

"Sheila, make sure you're buckled in tight and hold on!" I yelled at her.

Then I took a hard right on the next cross street coming up. As I pulled away from the intersection, I floored the gas pedal and rapidly left our friends behind. It didn't dawn on them that they had been discovered until they made the intersection also. Then they floored it as well in an attempt to get me back into a range that made surveillance easier. 

I was a good four or five blocks in front of them when I made another hard left turn against traffic onto another side street. Then it was a quick left turn again headed back towards the way we came, except on a parallel street. Then a quick right to head off on a tangent. I slowed back down to a normal speed and found a WalMart. Ducking into the parking lot, we were just another SUV in a sea of vehicles! 

"Ok Sheila, we're going to do a little walking so get your things together." I instructed her. Her eyes were wide open, nostrils flared and mouth wide open as she gulped copious amounts of air and hyperventilated! 

"DAMN TIM!" was all she could say! 

"Yeah sorry about that. We had a tail and I needed to shake him." 

"Ok, so now what?" she asked.

"Now I make a phone call." And pulled out my phone to call David.

"Hey bossman. How's it swinging?" I asked at Betno answered his phone.

"They're swinging but I don't know if that's good or bad!" David laughed. "So what's up?"

"Picked up a tail when I went to pick up Sheila. They were probably watching her office."

"Yeah. Makes sense. So now they know your car, too."

"Yeah. I'll need another chariot."

"Can do. Let me arrange for one and get back to you. In the meantime, what are you going to do?"

"Sheila and I are going to loose ourselves for awhile. Been thinking of taking a vacation anyway. At least for a day or two."

"Sounds good to me, but no more than a day or two. Ok?"

"Thanks boss. Say any word on the lab search?"

"Yeah. Found a place that you can take the stuff to but it's in Alexandria. Think you can handle a delivery?"

"Yeah, I think so." So David gave me the name and address of the lab.

I figured that since my vehicle was made that it was probably not a good idea to use it any further. So I pulled my gym bag from the back seat and began to fill it with my other stuff in the car. I always carry a spare change of clothes as I never knew when I'd need it. Got my spare rounds from under the driver's seat, the charge cards and the pile of cash still wrapped in a plain white wrapper, and the stuff that I took from Annalisa's lab.

While I was doing that, Sheila untangled herself from her seatbelt and straightened herself out. 

"So what's the plan?" she asked in a quite voice.

"We need to stay low for a day or so, then I get you to the safe house.....you ok?"

"Just a little unnerved by all of this....." she replied in a soft, scared voice.

"We need to leave this vehicle behind so get your stuff together and split."

"You said that we need to get away for a day or two?"

"Yeah."

"If we're going to do that, I need to pick up some things and a change of clothes."

"No sweat. WalMart's right there so we can get anything you need." I pulled out a few bucks from my stash and gave it to her to cover whatever she needed to buy.

"Hey thanks......hey! This is way too much!" I had given Sheila $500. 

"No sweat honey. Just get whatever you need."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, it's not my money."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, just think of it as per diem."

While she was shopping, Betno called back and told me that he had a car waiting for me at the lab in Alexandria. I just needed to get over there to pick it up. He also updated me on the effort to find Annalisa. Seems that the bad guys were beginning to get desperate and have moved up the deadline to turn over the cash and the other two scientists. We had two days left otherwise she was going turn up somewhere very much un-alive. 

"David, sounds like we need to change our strategy. We don't have time to play footsies with these guys."

"Yeah, agree. What do you suggest?"

"Well, since they're trying to tail me, why don't I jump back into the SUV and allow them to tail me somewhere then you guys jump them and we play questions and answers?"

"Hey, not bad for a rookie!"

"So?"

"Yeah, the more I think about it the more I like it......ok, ditch the other car idea. Get back into your SUV and lead them down to Alexandria to the lab. We'll have a reception committee join the parade before you get there and give them a proper greeting."

"Sounds good. Plus I'm beginning to like this car."

"Ha! Don't get too attached to it! Government property you know!"

"Shit! Too bad!"

"Ha! See you. And take care."

"You too."

By then Sheila had picked up her stuff. I advised her of the change in plans and we returned to my SUV. We pulled out of the parking lot and began to drive around the neighborhood to see if I could pick up our tail again. And sure enough, by the time I had gone four blocks I say a white sedan with two guys in the front street pull out several cars behind me. I took a turn several blocks down and they followed. Ok, the game was on!



Sergeant! Ch. 03



We were no closer to finding Annalisa however her kidnappers had moved up their timetable. We previously had another 8 days to find her but they must have been feeling the pressure and reacted by shortening the amount of time they gave us to meet their demands. So we were down to only two days. This called for us to alter our plans significantly! 

When we started out, I was tasked to interview her friends to see if we could find out anything that might produce a lead. The only thing it did was produce her possible abductor's name and a phone number that led us nowhere. The name was probably bogus. And the phone was one of those prepaid cell phones. The phone's record of calls didn't reveal anything. Dead ends. But I met Sheila and Betty in the process and spent a wonderful evening with Sheila (see chapter 1!!!) so all was not lost!

However, one thing that we learned in the process was that the bad guys were out looking for Annalisa's friends. Possibly to kidnap them also and use their lives as leverage against Annalisa to make her tell them about her contribution towards the development of an agricultural vaccine that turned into a deadly nerve agent under certain conditions. I managed to intervene in two instances and it looked as if they may have been spooked by that. Perhaps thinking that we were on to them. 

Anyway, the reduction in the amount of time we had to meet their demands forced us to change our tactics. Instead of trying to hide Sheila and Betty from them, our plan was to now use me and Sheila as bait to draw our tails into a trap. Once detained, we could then use some "gentle" persuasion to get more intell. So Sheila and I were in my car, headed to Alexandria, with our tails not too far behind. My control, David Betno, was supposed to merge with our little parade enroute with reinforcements.

-------------------------------

"David." I spoke into my cell phone as David Betno answered his.

"Yeah, we're in place."

"We're on the George Washington Parkway. Just passed the turn off for Reagan National."

"Ok. We're less than a minute in front of you."

"Right."

We continued to cruise down the highway, glancing periodically in my rear view mirror to check on our playmates who trailed us by four or five cars. We were in the middle of a three lane highway and our tails were in the same lane but keeping their distance and trying to look inconspicuous.

"Our friends are in a white 4 door sedan about four or five cars back from us. Two playmates in the front seat."

"You just passed us. We'll join up and check on your friends."

I saw a couple of cars shoot out of an onramp as we passed it. They merged with traffic and slowly caught up to the white sedan. Looked like three cars. One in the middle lane, one in the left lane and one in the right lane. Looked slick. But speed and execution were needed to pull it off.

"Hey Tim."

"Yeah?"

"We need a lid for our box. You game?"

"Shoot! Say when."

"Ok start easing back on the speed and we'll keep our friends moving along."

So I started to gradually decelerate. As I did that, the cars behind me moved into one of other two lanes to pass me. All of a sudden the white sedan was right behind me.

"Ok Tim, the lid is on."

"What's next?"

"Keep on trucking while we immobilize their vehicle. When you hear a loud bang, accelerate and get out of there. We're going for their tires."

I told Sheila to hunker down a bit and keep watch on the car behind us, and to let me know as soon as she either hears or sees something fishy happening. Just as I was finishing up saying that, a loud explosion was heard and the white sedan started to fishtail back and forth as the driver fought to maintain control over his car! Not wanting to get rear ended, I floored my gas pedal and sprinted forward!

Sheila had spun around in her seat and now had a death grip on my right arm as she kept watch on the action happening behind us! 

"Timmy, did you see that?" She practically screamed in my ear!

"Can you see what happened?" I asked her? I had heard the bang also but was too busy trying to keep my eyes on the road in front of us.

"The other cars are forcing him off to the shoulder! Looks like a couple of guys have jumped out of one car and are pointing guns at the white car!"

By that time I had pulled over to the shoulder myself. Just curious to see how things were going myself. Then my phone rang again.

"Got em. You're clear to proceed to the lab. But just to make sure, keep a look out to see if you have any more tails."

"Right."

So we got back on the road and headed over to the lab.

"What happens next?" Sheila asked?

"Well, we need to go visit a certain facility in Alexandria and drop off some stuff that I found. We probably need to stay there for a little while. Plus we're probably going to exchange this vehicle for another so keep your things together." 

"Ok. Think there's going to be time for dinner?"

"Yeah, we should have time to do that. Any particular things to stay away from?"

"Not really. I like pretty much anything so long as it's edible."

"Me too. Let's see what we can dig up in the neighborhood when we get there." So we continued on to the lab. 

When we got there, we found the building to be just some sort of warehouse in an industrial area. At first I didn't think we found the right place however I finally remembered that I had to call David to let him know so he could alert whoever was at the lab, and he confirmed that the lab was there. After I hung up, I gathered up the items that I had retrieved from Annalisa's lab and we left to enter the lab.

I knocked on a door set off to the side of the building and was greeted by an armed Army officer, "Sergeant Culver?" he asked? 

"Sir!" I snapped to attention and saluted. He smiled and acknowledged the courtesy and waved us in. I could see that there were a couple of other armed uniforms stationed at strategic points throughout the building, some with strategic viewing ports looking at the outside world.

"Betno said to give you these keys. It's for a dark blue number sitting in the back parking lot. Same set up as your SUV as far as equipment is concerned. Let me have the other car keys." Which I did.

"Thank you sir. Here's the stuff that needs to be looked over."

"Take them in with you over to the lab and brief the guys there."

So Sheila and I went into the building and were met by a couple of guys sitting around a bunch of metal folding tables. Looked like they set up a portable lab of some sort. I turned the stuff over to them, explaining where I found them and under what circumstances. I asked if they could do a quick look see and let me know what they thought. In the meantime, that Sheila and I would go out and grab a quick bite and be back in about two hours. I let the security officer know that also.

Before we could leave the building, Betno called back.

"Hey, good work back there. We got your two playmates on ice and they just happened to have been recently retired from 'the company'. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah, any info yet?"

"Nothing yet, but then we expected that. We need a little more time to have a frank discussion with them so I'll let you know. How'd the visit to the lab go?"

"We're here now and the lab guys are just starting to take a look at the stuff. We're going out to grab a bite to eat and plan to be back here in about two hours."

"Bunking arrangements?"

"Haven't thought about that."

"No sweat. I happen to know that there's a nice Radisson nearby."

"Thanks. I'll be in touch."

With that, Sheila and I left the lab to get something to eat. We found the dark blue car in the parking lot to the rear and it was a beauty! It was a later model Audi SUV with tinted windows. As I opened the passenger side door to help Sheila into the car, I noted the heaviness of the door. Ok, armor plated also. Probably bullet resistant glass also. Heavy but nice! Even Sheila thought so!

"Hey, classy wheels! I didn't think that the feds went in for stuff like this?"

"Hey, what can I say? But who said this was a fed deal?"

"Come on Timmy, I heard him call you sergeant, and saw you salute the guy in the uniform. Your military also. This has got to be a military operation. Right?"

"Close but not dead on. You're very observant." 

"Close enough, right?"

"Well, close but it really doesn't matter."

"You're not going to tell me anything more, are you?" Sheila asked.

"No. The less you know the better off you are. Really."

"Ok. Well, let's eat then! If you're going to keep me in suspense, you can at least feed me. I'm starving!"

So we left to find a restaurant. After driving around for about 30-minutes, we saw a line at the door of a restaurant called Laporta's. From the looks of things, probably a surf and turf place. The line at the door told us that it must be at least popular with some folks. So we parked and joined the line. Luckily the line moved frequently and we found ourselves seated in about 10-minutes.

The food was good. Sheila had a salmon alfredo and I had a rack of lamb. She really enjoyed the alfredo sauce and my rack was done just right! Very tasty. I told Sheila that she could order something to drink if she wanted to, but there wouldn't be any booze for me. She had a couple of glasses of a chardonnay. I needed to stay alert. I had water!

After dinner was through, we headed back to the lab. I kept looking for the odd set of headlights that seemed to follow us however I couldn't spot anything that looked out of place. Perhaps we were one step ahead of the others. Or maybe they just lacked the manpower. But they surely must know by now that something wrong must have happened to their team that we picked up. 

As we were enroute to the lab, David called to give me an update.

"Hey Tim."

"Yo David, anything new?"

"Yeah, we got one of your playmates to open up."

"So tell me the good news?"

"The good news is that we got some info that needs to be checked out. We may have the location that they're keeping her at. We will have a team on site in an hour."

"And the bad news?"

"You had to ask, didn't you?"

"Well........"

"Ok, the bad news is that from the looks of the place, that it will be difficult to get a team in place without them noticing something."

"So....?"

"You had to ask didn't you?"

"Well, I can smell a question coming from a mile away."

"Well, what are you doing tomorrow afternoon?"

"Well........let me check my social calendar and see if I can fit you in...."

"Ha! Ha! Yeah, right!"

"Hey, no sweat. Only for a good friend! I think I can fit you in between 3 and 4pm. What did you have in mind?"

"Ok, bright boy. We're going to throw you to the wolves."

"So what else is new?"

"Ok, chuckles. Get your ass and Sheila's over to the safe house tomorrow before noon and we'll brief you then. Until then, get all the rest you can get cause that'll probably be the last you'll get for a couple of days."

"You are so full of good news today!"

"Love you too!"

"Yeah, right! See you then."

Sure sounded like David got some good intell from the guys that were tailing us. Sheila overhead much of my side of the conversation and took my right hand in hers. 

"So, was it good news?"

"Yeah, I think they located where the bad guys are keeping Annalisa."

"So what happens next?"

"I need to meet with David tomorrow and we'll figure it out then. Until then, I need to put my head down and get some rest. How are you doing?"

She took my hand and intertwined her fingers with mine. "I'm ok. I'm just worried." The concern on her face was very plain to see. 

"Hey honey, no need to be worried."

"Well I am. I'm worried for Annalisa's safety. I'm worried about mine. My world is not the same any more. I never thought that I'd ever find myself in this kind of situation! This is for real and there are real people who might get hurt. People that I know. And....... you will probably think that I'm some desperate, loony chick....... but I'm also worried for you....." she said that last piece with her head down, eyes closed, and tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. 

I tightened my hand around her's, "Hey, I'll be ok. Don't worry about me. And we'll get Annalisa back."

"I know I'm probably being silly."

"Hey, you're not, ok? You're right about one thing. People can get hurt with this sort of stuff. And sometimes people die. But that's not going to happen to me. And I'm going to do my best to make sure that it doesn't happen to Annalisa. Ok?"

"Ok. Just don't play Hero out there. You've kinda grown on me, you know? I can talk with you about anything. I feel safe with you. Last night was different for me. I ....... ah ....... you did something to me that no one else has done to me ever. It wasn't just about sex. You made love to me. And I made love to you. You made me feel very special. It was as if you did everything you could to enable me to enjoy our time together. I think that was the first time in my life that my partner put my feelings first. You made me feel like the most important thing in the world to you last night. And you're making me feel like that again today. I don't want that to end. I want you back in one piece." Sheila said, her voice breaking up, looking me squarely in the eyes; her eyes watering. "....I want you back in one piece...." she whispered before crying again.

"Hey...... I'll be ok. No dumb stuff. I promise. And I felt it too last night. I haven't had a significant other in my life in a long time. But I think we connected last night. You're special. Very special to me. I don't want to say the 'L' word yet cause I think it's too early for that and I'm sure you'd think that I was nuts. But there is definitely something between you and me, and I want to give it a chance to grow into something a lot more. " Sheila grabbed my hand and held it tightly in hers as she tried to smile. 

We made it back to the lab. Sheila got a hold of her emotions by the time we arrived and had given her face a quick wipe. But with her puffy eyes, it was plain to see that she had been crying. I parked in the back lot and went around to her side of the car to help her out. As I opened her door, she stepped out slowly and into my arms. "Remember your promise to me. No dumb stuff." she said as she hugged me tightly. "I need you back in one piece." And she kissed me. Her concerns, her feelings towards me, her desires, all poured out into me with her kiss. And I kissed her back with all my desires and feelings for her too. As we parted, I whispered to her, ".....thank you...... I promise that I'll be back for you....... in one piece........ for you." Then she kissed me again.

We returned to the here and now when we made it into the lab and met with the Army officer. "Ok Culver, here's the scoop on the stuff you brought in." With that he rattled off the intell that was on the hard drive, the DVD, and the voice recorder. 

The hard drive turned out to be a critical item. All of Annalisa's work was on it. Files of theoretical formulas, results of experiments, data on plant pathology trials, correspondence, everything. Also, there was evidence of a lot of work to develop an antidote to counteract the nerve agent. In fact it looked as if a good amount of the data was focused in that effort. Good thing we ended up with it. If that vaccine ever got loose, we were going to need its antidote.

The dvd had a lot of the same and more historical data going back several years. But the recorder yielded the mother lode. The recordings were of the time that Annalisa was kidnapped. Several voices were captured loud and clear including the mentioning of names of several individuals who the Army officer found out to be still with "the company." Looks like they found their moles. 

The piece de resistance was the voice capture on a section of tape where someone had answered their cell phone and had actually revealed the name of the guy behind all of this. From what the Army officer said, it was some high level political type guy back in Canada who was thought to be one of the anti-this and anti-that types through and through. Well, what do you know! They were going to document and bundle all of this stuff up, and forward copies of it north. Looks like one of Canada's pain in the asses was in for a rude awakening and a lengthy stay in a concrete palace with barred windows. 

As they wrapped their assessment up, we took our leave and I led Sheila back to our dark blue Audi. 

"Tired?" I asked her.

"Yes. Very. I need a hot bath to help me relax." 

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go find us a room."

With that, we made it over to the Radisson that Betno told me about earlier. I signed us in as Mr. and Mrs. which raised Sheila's eyebrows just a bit. But at least I got us a room that had a Jacuzzi in it and two queen size beds. As we made ready to leave registration, Sheila latched onto my left arm, "Come on hubby, I need a hot bath and you need to scrub my back" she said with a mischievous smile.

The room we got was an upgrade from their standard back of the house variety. It cost a little more, but then hey, we were worth it! At least I thought so! 

While we waited for the elevator, Sheila turned to me and put her arms around my neck, "So hubby dear, you gonna wash my back?" she asked playfully? 

"Well honey dear," I drawled, "that depends on whether y'all will wash mine!" She laughed! It was good to hear her laugh after the tenseness of our day. 

The elevator's arrival was signaled by its soft chime. As we stepped in and I pressed the button for our floor, Sheila moved into my embrace once more, "Tim, I need a hug really badly right now." I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her body into mine. She felt so good. She looked deeply into my eyes as I did the same to her. And we kissed! Her soft lips on mine. Her tongue searching and finding mine! We arrived at our floor too soon. 

As I closed the door to our room, I put the do not disturb sign on the door knob to make sure we weren't disturbed too early. As I turned around I found Sheila in my face. 

"Hi hubby," she smiled. "Now where were we?" she asked as she placed her arms around my neck and kissed me. I slid my arms around her waist and drew her into my embrace. She pressed her breasts into me which instantly aroused me. She felt me immediately and pressed her pelvis against my erection. "Hmmm, maybe I need more than my back washed," she whispered before she kissed me again.

I led her into the bathroom and slowly disrobed her. Garment by garment fell away until she was left in only her bra and panties. She looked gorgeous! About 5' 4", on the slim side but no 'Twiggy', perhaps a 32b, brunette with shoulder length hair. But her best feature was her smile. When she smiled, she lit up the room. God she was beautiful!

She took my clothes off next, and kissed my body as she exposed more skin with each item she unbuttoned or unzipped. Having left my briefs for last, she slowly slid them down, exposing my member in the process which was now fully erect. She took me into her hands and slowly kissed the head of my tool, then slowly mouthed the crown of my penis, rolling her tongue over it as she did. She was making me extremely excited as I felt my erection become extremely hard!

I finally had to pull her off otherwise I'd end up cumming in her mouth. As I helped her up, I slid my arms around her and unhooked her bra. As I peeled them off of her body, her soft yet firm breasts were exposed to me! I dropped her bra to the floor and softly kissed her breasts. As my lips made contact with her soft skin, Sheila drew in a quick breath and voiced her need with a heady, ".....oh ....... Yes!........ please......" as I kissed her breasts and then finally latched onto her areolas; sucking and licking them until her knees almost buckled! 




Sergeant! Ch. 03



Sensing that she was almost at the edge, I placed my thumbs inside the waist band of her panties and slowly lowered them to reveal her clean and shaved pussy. Her panties were wet in the crotch and her femme de' odor was very apparent as I moved to kiss and tongue her in her most private place. I lifted one of her legs and placed it over my shoulder as she steadied herself with her hands on my head and shoulder.

"Oh Tim," she whispered as I tongued her slit, then opened her nether lips with my fingers, slowly licking her inner lips from bottom to top! She shivered as her excitement built! She braced herself with an arm against the bathroom wall as I slowly drew my tongue up and down her slit, then traced alphabets against the hood of her clit! She came when I placed my lips against her clit, sucked it in between my lips , and lathed it with my tongue, "OH! OH! YEESSSSSS! AAAHHHHHHHHHH... OOOOHHHHMMMMYYYYGGGOOOOODDDDDDD!" she screamed before collapsing on me. 

I slid her leg off of my shoulder and stood to embrace her as she descended from her orgasm. Her eyes were glazed over as she smiled at me, then kissed me with all of her passion; her tongue seeking mine as we sparred orally! 

"mmmmmmm ....... you can do that to me anytime you want ...... I can't believe you made me cum just by doing that ......" she whispered before she kissed me again. 

We separated after a few minutes and I filled the tub with hot water. I noticed several bath oils on the vanity and asked Sheila whether she wanted to try one of them. She looked them over and handed one over to me to use. It was supposed to be the essence of peach. The directions didn't say how much to use so I just added about a teaspoon, more or less, to the bath water.

When the tub finished filing, I stepped in and held my hand out to Sheila to help her get in. As she stepped in, I sat down in one end of the tub and invited Sheila to sit down in front of me. She slowly immersed herself in the hot water and lay back against me between my legs, savoring the feeling of the hot waters, the fragrant smell of peaches and my arms wrapped around her.

As she laid her head against my shoulder, she turned her head, searching for my lips. I held her gaze for a second before we kissed. And as we did, I cupped one hand around a breast and slowly massaged it. She moaned her approval.

"Relax Sheila. This is for you. Close your eyes and relax...." I told her as she surrendered her body to me. I could feel the stiffness leave her as the effects of the hot water bath and the comfort of my embrace took effect. 

We stayed in the bath for about half an hour before we started to shrivel up like prunes. So I grabbed a wash cloth, lathered it up and started to wash her shoulders and back. Sheila pulled the plug on the tub to let the water drain out. We stood as I turned the shower on and let its warm spray play over our bodies.

I washed her all over; arms, legs, back, shoulders, and stomach, paying particular attention to her breasts. I discarded the wash cloth before I washed her pussy; preferring to use my fingers and hand instead. 

As I tenderly ran my soap covered fingers through the lips of her pussy, Sheila shivered and moaned as she became more and more aroused by my caresses in her most intimate of places. Her hips undulated as she mimicked fucking my fingers. 

I ran my finger tips beyond her pussy lips to her rosebud, slowly rimming it before pushing my finger tip in to its first joint. As I did that, Sheila tensed up and grabbed my arm! I placed my thumb on the hood of her clit and slowly rubbed it in a circular manner. That added more fuel to her fire! As I continued to slowly move my finger tip in and out of her anus, Sheila came explosively; "SSSSSHHHHHIIIIIITTTTTT! OOOHHHHHHHGGGOOOOODDD!" she screamed before her legs started to fail her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to me as I stood and pulled her lips to mine! 

"Oh my god! Tim what did you just do to me!"

"I see you like that," I smiled as she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her body tightly against mine! 

"Like it? I loved it! You can do that to me anytime you want! But right now I want something else." 

With that, Sheila turned her back to me, leaned forward and braced herself against the wall of the shower and spread her legs slightly. I could take the hint and took my erection in hand and slowly parted the lips of her pussy with it. Sheila moaned her approval as I slid forward into her steamy depths! God she felt good! The walls of her pussy seemed to mold themselves around my cock as I penetrated deeper and deeper into her vagina! 

I bottomed out and held myself deeply inside Sheila as she moaned and pressed her ass into my crotch. I reached for her tits and slowly massaged them, then rolled her nipples between my finger tips. 

"God Tim you feel so good in me! Please ....... fuck me Tim!"

With that as my cue, I took Sheila's hips in each hand and fucked her using long, deep strokes at first. As my arousal began to heighten, our fucking became more frenzied! Sheila began frigging her clit as I drilled her pussy harder and harder! Sheila started to cum with an amazing shudder! Her vagina tensed up and grabbed onto my cock, locking me deeply in her! The feelings were more than I could handle and caused me to lose it also! I came so hard and so much that my balls felt as if they had shriveled up and fell off! 

My semen filled her pussy and started to drip out from around our coupling! I wrapped my arms around Sheila and held onto her as legs began to fail her again! She felt as if she had fainted! As I struggled to keep her from falling she regained her composure and stood shakily on her own. As she stood, my deflating cock slipped from her, opening the flood gates of our combined cum juices!

She turned in my arms and we kissed with such intensity that I thought that my lips would be burned by the heat we generated! She moaned in my mouth as we hugged each others as tightly as we could. 

We finished bathing and managed to dry each other before adjoining to the bedroom. Sheila opened the covers to one of the queen beds and slid in. As she did, she kept the covers open for me. I stood there for just a moment admiring the view of her naked body waiting for me to join her. She smiled as I slid in next to her and wrapped her in my arms.

"Mmmmmmm, I could really get used to this ......." she moaned. 

In five minutes Sheila had maneuvered me on top of her with my erection inside of her again! No foreplay was needed as we were both still very aroused from our love making in the shower! But this time we made love. We made slow, caring, mind blowing love to each other! We must have been at it for more than a half hour; Sheila flowing from one orgasm to the next, and me ascending to a major cum which put us both over the top at the same time! 

And before she could say anything I whispered the words that she had been hoping to hear, "........ I think I love you......."

Sheila looked into my eyes and teared just a bit before she kissed me ever so tenderly, "thank you" she whispered, "....... I know I love you ........." she whispered, " ......... I love you Tim ........"

I made to slide off of her but she stopped me, "please, stay on top of me. I love the feel of your body on me and inside of me. Please stay on me for awhile longer..." as she wrapped her legs around me. What could I say? I was still semi-erect and the thought of staying inside of Sheila had caused my cock to harden and lengthen just a bit! She must have felt that as she hugged me tighter, "....... oh Tim ......." as we made love again.

I must have dozed off at some point and had slid off of Sheila. I awoke sometime in the early morning hours to find myself on my back with Sheila's head cradled on my shoulder. One of her legs over my groin; her pussy on my hip. I thought that I could really get used to this as I fell back into an easy, comfortable sleep with my lover in my arms.

I awoke to the faint glow in the sky coming through our hotel room windows. Sheila had pulled the covers of the bed over us sometime during the night but she remained cuddled next to me with one arm over my mid section. I thought back to our love making last night and felt such an upwelling of feelings and emotions towards Sheila that I couldn't help tearing up a bit. She must have sensed something as she woke up at about that time also and must have seen my watery eyes.

"Is something wrong Timmy?"

"No, something is so very right" I replied. "I love you" and I kissed her, "and you love me" and I kissed her again. She smiled and hugged me tightly as she whispered, "yes I do......" as her eyes watered also.

I gently pushed her over onto her back and moved myself onto her, between her open and welcoming legs. As I entered her intimate center, she closed her eyes to savor the moment. We kissed as I bottomed out and held myself deeply within her. We made love again, slowly, intimately, endlessly falling into each other as first she shuddered and hugged me tightly to her as she moaned deeply, with me following seconds later not being able to hold off my orgasm as her pussy tightened its grip on my hard cock!  

After the intensity of our lovemaking came down a bit, we showered and dressed and headed out for breakfast. The coffee shop in the hotel was convenient and offered us a quiet booth to talk as well.

"Honey, David and I will be meeting at the safe house later this morning. I want you to stay there with Betty."

"Ok. What are you going to be doing?"

"David and I are going to see about getting Annalisa back."

"Anything I can do?"

"Yeah, keep Betty company and try not to worry. Ok?"

"I'll try."

"And don't you worry about me. I'll be back for you!"

"I love you." 

"And I love you too."

She kissed my on my cheek and I kissed her on her lips. We left the coffee shop and checked out of the hotel. With our bags back in the Audi, we made it to the safe house without any further fanfare. As we entered the neighborhood, I noted that everything looked serene and peaceful. I guess like it should. I called David on my cell phone to let him know that we were nearby. He confirmed the safe house's location and told us to come on in. 

I parked in the driveway and helped Sheila out of the car. As we entered the home, she and Betty screamed their welcomes to each other and hugged. As they took their welcoming to the living room, David pulled me into the dining room where they had several maps and photos laid out.

The house that they were keeping Annalisa in was located about five or six miles away. I guess they felt that a safe strategy might be to stay right under our noses instead of hiding out somewhere distant, miles away. I suppose that it didn't make much difference where they were. But the home itself was on a large parcel with no hidden approaches. No tree lines or bushes to sneak through. Interestingly enough, no fences either. The home was wide open to view from the street. The grounds were grassed in with the lawn broken up by just the driveway and a utility shed in the back yard. David suspected motion detectors and other devices that would provide an early warning to anyone in the house.

From David's surveillance activities over the past day or so, he figured that there must be at least three bad guys involved in keeping her in their custody. At least they didn't see any more than that coming and going from the house. Infrared scans of the house at night put Annalisa in one of the back bedrooms. It looked as if she may have been drugged as she barely moved from the bed that she was in. 

House plans and an infrared scan confirmed that it was a three bedroom affair with the living room and dining room in the front of the house. Bedrooms and kitchen to the rear. Annalisa's bedroom being next to the kitchen which had a back door to it. 

"Well Tim, what do you think?"

"Don't know David. If I was back at Recon, we'd prefer the clandestine approach but since that's pretty much out of the question here, then maybe we should do something dumb and try to get away with it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well what happens during the day from time to time that people kind of take for granted?"

"Hmmm.... good question. I don't know?"

"Well, I would expect deliveries for one and salesmen for another. Even the postman might be someone anyone would expect to see from time to time."

"Go on. Sounds interesting."

"Know where we could borrow a post office van and uniform?" I asked.

"Well I just might be able to get my hands on that. What size do you wear?"

With that, my idea to masquerade as a postal deliveryman was put into effect. The idea was to deliver the mail for the neighborhood and then turn into their driveway and go up to the house, pretending that I had a parcel to deliver that required a signature. In the back of my van would be three other guys who be part of the assault team. I would be the diversion while the others would be the rescue team. More back up team players would be waiting about a block away and would hustle on site once they heard the action start up.

Upon my arrival, I would walk up to the front door and attempt to deliver the package. As I was doing so, two of the guys in the van would attempt to go around back without anyone noticing them. Unlikely but we figured that it would be done so quickly that the bad guys might not have the time to react adequately. The third assault team member would provide me with backup once the operation went hard.

The package that I was to deliver would contain a flash-bang grenade. The idea was that it would be triggered once I let go of it. The idea was to give it to one of the guys while I made like I was going to have him sign for it. A two second delay would enable me to duck outside the door quickly before it went off. Hopefully I would catch them off guard.

We didn't have much time to put the plan into action as our deadline to comply with the kidnappers' demands was fast approaching. David commandeered a delivery van and uniform from the closest post office and it was in our hands by 1:30pm. The assault team was assembled and at our location by that time also. After a briefing and a fast weapons check, we were on the road and rolling towards their location by 2:00pm. This was going down quickly with no room for mistakes! 

I drove the van up the drive way to the house that they were holding Annalisa captive in. I could see the curtains in the front window rustle as someone must have peaked out to see what it was that had driven up their driveway. 

I was dressed in the standard issue post office uniform and made believe that I was rummaging around in the van before I took out the box, armed it, and walked up the sidewalk from the drive way to the front door. Just as I was about to knock on the door, it was opened and I was greeted by a guy with dark glasses on.

I was met by a gruff, "What do you want?" 

"Package for delivery" I announced and handed the guy the box before he could say anything. I ducked behind the wall before he could say anything. He turned back into the room to put it down when it went off in his face! The explosion was deafening and the flash would temporarily blind anyone looking anywhere in the vicinity of the action!

I could hear my two team mates in the rear toss in another flash bang in the kitchen, which went off just behind mine! They must have had the fuses fixed specially for this occasion! My back up in the van came barreling out and we had two of the assailants on the ground in the living room while a third backed up towards the bedrooms, firing his handgun blindly! He was blinded and deafened by the blasts and was probably firing randomly! 

He kept us hugging the floor in the front room while our team mates in the kitchen crept towards him! The effects of the flash bang grenade were probably starting to wear off so if we were going to do anything, it had to be now!

Catching my backup's attention, I signaled that I was going to takeout the third guy. He waved his understanding and made to toss a handgun in my direction. But I nixed that idea. Before he could say anything, I got up in a crouch and being that I was within 10 feet of the guy, I launched myself at his midsection trying to knock his handgun out of his hand at the same time! If anything, I managed to deflect his next shot as it punched a hole in the ceiling! Luckily for me, we landed hard on his back and knocked his head on the hard floor in the process! It must have dazed him temporarily which enabled our two team mates from the kitchen to pounce on him and immobilize him!

As the smoke cleared and the ringing in my ears toned down to a dull roar, I counted noses and saw that we were all ok but the three bad guys were down with plastic ties around their wrists. My two team mates from the kitchen then began a room by room sweep to make sure that there weren't any other unfriendlies in the house. The search was in progress as I turned to the effort to free Annalisa.

I entered Annalisa's bedroom and discovered that she was still half out of it. Her hands had been handcuffed and her ankles duct taped together. A gag had been placed in her mouth probably in an attempt to keep her quiet.

As I removed the gag, her eyes opened. I must have startled her as I could read the disorientation and panic in her eyes.

"Hey, you're going to be alright. The calvary has arrived." I chuckled as I removed her gag.

"There, that should make you a little more comfortable while I work on the rest of this stuff." I told her as I started to remove the tape around her ankles.

No sooner had I started to work the edge of the tape loose, when I heard a shotgun boom in the front of the house! I grabbed Annalisa and hauled her across the bed and onto the floor! She was screaming in my ear as I heard rounds hitting the walls around us! Gun play erupted as I crawled over Annalisa to shield her body from whatever was flying around us! 

The fight ended as quickly as it started! As the dust began to settle, one of my team mates stuck his head in the bedroom, "everyone ok in here?" he called out.

"Yeah I think so." I replied. "What happened?"

"Bad guy number four." 

I looked at Annalisa. Her eyes were wide open but it looked as if she was holding it together. 

"Everything in working order?" I asked her.

"I think so," she nodded head.

Then I tried to get up and passed out.......

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't ask me what happened cause I don't remember much. I recall voices yelling excitedly then hands lifting me. But then nothing. I felt as if I was drifting in a dark fog endlessly. It seemed as if I was floating in space with no perception of where I was. No light, no sound, no feelings. 

Then gradually waking up in a hospital room, laying on my side, with two IV's stuck in my arm and hand. My body didn't feel right. I tried to move which caused pain to shoot up and down my body. The room was out of focus for awhile but as the fog cleared I saw two people sitting next to my bed. I couldn't make out who they were.

"Shit what happened?" I croaked. One of the shapes got up right away and sprinted out of the door!

"Tim!" The other person came into focus as she moved quickly to the side of my bed to take a hold of my hand. It was Sheila.

"I was so worried! They told me you were shot and I didn't know what to do!" she cried, tears falling from her eyes. "But the doctors say that you're going to be ok." With that she leaned over and kissed me. 

The doctor chose that moment to walk into the room followed by Annalisa. She must have been the other person sitting with Sheila. 

"How are you feeling Sergeant Culver?" the doctor asked as he felt my pulse and checked my vitals.




Sergeant! Ch. 03



"Like someone kicked me in the shoulder."

"Well you took a round in your shoulder and one in your thigh. But from the looks of it, those rounds must have passed through something else first otherwise you'd have sustained more damage. And by the looks of your body, you've had worse."

"Yeah, but every one hurts."

"Ha! Thought you were a tough guy?" he teased.

"Not really. Taking a hit hurts!"

"Whimp!"

"Yep, that's me." then everyone laughed. It was good to be able to laugh. But my shoulder hurt when I did! 

"Well, you're going to be our guest here at Bethesda for a week or so, then we'll let you loose on the world after that."

So the doctor took his leave and Annalisa came over next to Sheila.

"Tim, thank you for helping to rescue me and for protecting me. Dad and Mr. Betno told me what happened and how you were involved."

"Everything back to normal with you?" I asked.

"There's no such thing as normal for me." she sighed. "Being who I am makes it difficult to live a normal life. I wanted to be a biochemist for the longest time. So I worked hard at learning everything I could. That resulted in getting invited to work on all sorts of things. One of which turned out to be the plant vaccine that you know about."

"So how is that turning out?"

"Well, it's still classified. But my work is focused on countering the effects of the active agents."

"I think we figured that out when your hard drive was scanned."

"By the way, thanks for finding the stuff that I hid. Those could have spelled disaster if they were not recovered."

"So what's next for you?" I asked.

"Well, my cover here is blown so I'll be taking my research work to a high security lab elsewhere. And I'll have to put law school and my social life on the back burner for a year or two until this job is done."

"Well, good luck to you." 

"Thank you. And thank you for protecting me." With that Annalisa kissed me on my lips. 

She turned to Sheila and said, "I'll probably not see you again as I'm expected to move my lab out tomorrow. You've been a good friend even though we've known each other for only a short time."

"I know. I'll miss you." Sheila replied, then hugged Annalisa.

I regained my strength quickly although that first day was spent sleeping more often than not. But by the end of the third day, I was allowed out of bed and encouraged to sit up in a wheel chair although my right leg remained tightly swathed in bandages. David Betno visited a couple of times to see how I was doing and to see if I needed anything. He brought me up to date on how things ended up.

Annalisa had moved her lab to a new secure location. The hard driven and DVD were returned to her but her voice recorder was sent north to serve as evidence in the trial of the politico who was behind all this. The rogue agents were in federal custody and awaiting trial. But it looked as if it would be years before they were going to see a courtroom let alone daylight. National security issues and all that good stuff. The prime minister and our president were happy with the way things turned out and David had been asked to consider taking on a special ops team assignment. He was pleased as could be.

I was going to be released to return to my unit once the doctor gave me the green light. David asked and received approval to restore me to the rank of Lieutenant. With my recent wounds, he figured that I might just be reassigned to stateside duty as I only had another year left in my enlistment. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I didn't know.

"Well David, I joined the military to get my education. The military option enable me to get a degree in business. I like the military but I can see that it does have its drawbacks," as I ogled my bandaged shoulder and thigh! He laughed. 

"Well Tim, you're one of the good guys so let me know if anything interests you and I'll try to make it happen. I'll be back to see you before you're discharged."

Sheila came in everyday after work and had dinner with me. I was getting better and was now able to hobble around without much assistance. It was the eighth evening when the doctor came in and informed both of us that I was to be discharged from the hospital the next day. He told me that I needed to return for a check up in a week. Then it hit me that I needed to arrange for a place to stay while I recuperated. 

Sheila was happy with that bit of news. She readily volunteered her place! Well, I couldn't be any happier with that offer! 

Betno came back in that night and talked with Sheila and me. He offered me a post with him, handling administrative stuff. No operational stuff. "We'll let the younger guys do the hard stuff. But I need someone like you to run control over some of them. What do you say?"

How could I refuse? Plus it kept me stateside, and I would be headquartered in DC. Close by to Sheila too. Sounded good to me. 

Discharge day dawned bright and early when an orderly came in after breakfast with a dress uniform for me to wear. "Sir, you've been requested to wear your uniform this morning. I've taken care of a few adjustments for you."

As he laid it out, I could see that my sergeant's stripes had been removed and a set of Lieutenant's shoulder bars and insignia had been sewn back on. It felt good to see them back where they belonged. As I was dressing Sheila came into my room. She looked terrific! 

"Hey, you're early! And you're looking very beautiful this morning." I noted.

"Thank you!" she beamed at me. "Are you ready to be discharged and rejoin the world?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would be till after lunch. And I don't know why I gotta wear this monkey suit."

"Well I was told to be here early so it looks as if you're being discharged earlier than you think."

I finished dressing and stood for Sheila's inspection. "You look handsome in that uniform!" she said before giving me a light kiss on my lips. 

"And you look delightfully tempting!" I told her in reply as I hugged her and returned the kiss, albeit a lot longer than our prior kiss.

"Ahem!" it was David. "Looking sharp there Lt. Culver."

"Yes sir. Thank you sir." I replied, saluting him and smiling at the same time. Besides our first meeting, this was the only other time that I had seen him in uniform. Full of braids and bars, he'd seen action himself. He shook my hand. "Good to see you up and about. Come on, everyone's waiting for you."

"Huh?" what did David just say? And Sheila was just smiling at me as she took my arm and settled me into a wheel chair.

As we exited my room and made our way through the hospital corridor, I couldn't help feel that I had been set up for what I didn't know. Sheila looked as if she had eaten a cow and was ready to bust out laughing! And David was no better, striding before us, opening ward doors for us as we made our way to the elevators.

"So what's the big deal?" I asked as we entered the elevator.

"All will be made known to you shortly!" David laughed as the elevator's chime signaled our arrival at the main lobby level. Now where have I heard that line before! 

As the doors opened, I was greeted by Annalisa and her parents. I got out of my wheelchair and she hugged me then Sheila and her parents did likewise. It was good to see them under much better conditions. Standing next to them was you know who. Yeah!  

"Lt. Culver," it was him.

"Sir!" I stood at attention and saluted.

"You're on leave at the moment Tim so there's no need to be so formal." 

"Well, you're always going to be ..."

"Yeah, you told me the last time." He laughed. He introduced himself to Sheila who was taken back at the thought of actually meeting the President in person! We stood there chatting for a few moments. The President, Prime Minister and Mrs. Somer, Annalisa and Sheila, and David and me in our uniforms. And the ever present press corp. What in the world were they doing here?

"Tim, you obviously know that we don't come down here for just anyone."

"I kinda figured that out. So what's the special occasion?"

"You."

"Huh?"

"Yep. Lt. Culver, there is one thing that I need to do with you this morning that is of a formal nature so I'd like to ask you to come to attention."

"Sir!" I snapped to as best I could.

"Colonel, would you assist me please."

"Yes sir." And there in the lobby of Bethesda I received my promotion to Captain and the Army Commendation Medal. And then Prime Minister Somer presented me with Canada's Cross of Valour;

"Tim, this award has never been presented outside of Canada before this. You are the first. And I can't think of a more deserving individual than you."

And Sheila stood there by my side, beaming and smiling throughout the entire affair. 

Later that evening we sat in Sheila's apartment catching our collective breath from the day's events. The President and Prime Minister and Mrs. Somer along with Annalisa invited Sheila, David and myself to lunch at the White House. It was a treat! We've all been there before but only in the areas open to the public. Mrs. Bush was waiting for us and we had quite a celebration. 

Sheila and I then returned to Bethesda to retrieve my stuff which wasn't much. David had previously retrieved my duffle bag from my SUV and had given it to Sheila so there wasn't much to pick up. When we returned to Sheila's apartment, we were greeted by Betty who had heard of the award presentation on CNN that afternoon at work. Betty had cooked dinner for us and we enjoyed a nice evening with her as she pried the story out of us.

But now it was just us, slowly unwinding on Sheila's couch. 

"Thanks for letting me stay for awhile with you."

"No need to thank me. If you'd like, you can stay for more than just awhile."

"You know, that sounds like its got potential!" I smiled. Sheila smiled back before taking my head in her hands and bringing our lips together in a long, soft kiss. 

"Well, it better cause I got plans for us..." she whispered. 

We ended up in her bed, skin against skin, lips against lips, and nothing between us. She had me on my back with her breasts pressed against my chest and her pussy leaving a growing pool of her arousal on my thigh. She moved to straddle my groin with my cock facing up, nestled between the lips of her womanhood. 

"I've been waiting all day for this soldier! Let me take control tonight since you're still recuperating!" she smiled as she massaged the underside of my cock by rubbing her pussy up and down its length. She must have been rubbing her clit against me at the same time as she started to quiver and moan! I reached up to palm her tits and gently roll her nipples. She captured my hands and held them tightly against her breasts! 

"Oh Tim!" she moaned as my touches continued to send her skyward! 

She slowly lifted herself, placed me at her opening, then slowly slid down, capturing my hard fuck tool in the process! Oh she felt so good! I almost came as she bottomed out and ground her pelvis against mine! 

Sheila started to slowly rub her clit against the base of my cock; sliding back and forth across my groin area. As she became increasingly aroused, she started to lift and drop herself on my hard cock and picked up the pace as her orgasm built! All I could do was to hold myself in place and hang on for the ride! 

Sheila's frenzied pace built to a stupendous crescendo that exploded in her pussy as she experienced a massive cum! Her juices flowed around my cock and her vagina turned to molten lava as she slammed her hot pussy down on my cock for one last time before she quivered and collapsed! My level of excitement had kept pace with her's and I came with her just about the time that she crested! My balls scrunched up as they fired several large streams of cum deep into her pussy! I felt it hurtle through my cock like a runaway freight train! I screamed her name as I came; holding on to her as tightly as I could! Not wanting to ever let go of my lover!

We must have both passed out from the height of our love making. I woke around two in the morning to find Sheila laying on my chest, with my semi-erect cock partially embedded in her pussy. I caressed her face softly with my fingers, moving loose strands of hair to her hairline. She grabbed my fingers and kissed them softly before whispering to me, "...I love you..."

How my life had changed. In just a few short weeks, I had gone from a sand eating Recon sergeant to a Captain with an interesting assignment waiting for him, and a gorgeous, sexy women who loved him.