Chapter 8: Kickin' Ass And Takin' Names

Five young women moved through the tunnel, enhanced vision reducing the need for light to a one-bulb, LED penlight. Three wore light weight coveralls over replicas of a school uniform, and two covered the standard teacher's dress of the all-girls boarding school. The tunnel was in better shape than might be expected, but the dust and dirt made the coveralls a requirement.

The Nerd team had located the pre Civil War tunnel that led from the river bank to the basement of the old house, torn down to make way for the school. Now the relic from the Underground Railway was going to help save members of another generation.

Small Confederacy drones had preceded the first team, and the current location of every captor was known. Only the circle of Claymores surrounding the prisoners and the known presence of one or more dead man's switches kept the rescuers from using stingers or knockout gas in a repeat of the Earth Firsters' own technique.

Team communications had started out as a concern because concubines had no implants. Dora felt that concubines' collars were insufficient because, in addition to their visibility, any discussion might be overheard. On one pretext or another, She called her companions from the presence of Sam, Randy, and other observers and had implants installed.

She cautioned, <I promised to protect my family any way I can short of killing, and I will. These implants are tuned to me only. Other AIs are not to know that they exist.>

Much to Michael's relief, the team leader for the operation was their own Pixie -- the diminutive but experienced Hannah -- with Rachel as second in command of this first element. Troubling were the sisters Patricia and Carley, thoroughly augmented and trained, but never tested under fire. The remaining 'teacher' was Carole; it having been decided a combat experienced shooter was needed more than her role as chief of staff.

To compensate for her absence on the receiving end, concubines Danni, the former management consultant, and Mandy, the former farm wife, were tapped for organization and communications 'back at the ranch' -- supporting and supported by Siân and the recently acquired Ginger.

Only the planned deception to infiltrate the school posing as students and faculty kept Michael and the Ninja Twins from being in the first wave. He was too male, and the Ninjas were deemed too tall to fit the desired profile. It was small comfort that they were five minutes behind, going in as the second wave to provide cover for Birdie and Billie, the demolition experts.

It had been decided that dressing as legitimate occupants would both aid split second identification in a firefight and confuse the captors -- even if only momentarily.

Hannah took Patricia and headed for the guard in the lobby. This early in the morning, he was unlikely to be at his most alert. Her main concern was the possibility that he might see their reflections in the glass doors to the outside. Their uniforms should give an advantage, however brief.

She needn't have worried. He was asleep, and an injection was followed by duct taping his hands, feet, and mouth. She sub-vocalized her success for Dora to relay to the rest, and motioned Patricia to follow her to the principal's office where, Sheriff and one other were ensconced.

Rachel and the rest of the team were on their way to the conference room, where three invaders were 'off duty' and sleeping. Needles and duct tape were similarly utilized, and the odds were cut by almost half.

Whispering through the heating vent, Rachel informed Debbie they had arrived, and told her to unlock the storeroom door. Carole ducked in, hugged the weeping girl, and laid a transporter pad on the floor. After confirming with Dora that the link was established, she ushered Debbie through and moved the pad to a corner where it could serve as an emergency entry or exit.

Dora alerted the waiting reception team of the impending arrival, and they greeted the young woman with open arms. Dora moved a drone to watch the pad, assured Carole that she could destroy the exit at need, and told her to 'move on!'

Next on the agenda was finding and neutralizing the dead man's switch. Sheriff and another of his crew were in the security office watching videos of the unsuspecting captives stripping. When the check for hymens began, the subterfuge was exposed, and the women fearfully huddled together.

In the office, a laptop was open to a spreadsheet, and the two were using numbers on the girls' foreheads to identify and rate them for the coming auction.

The team's original plan called for Hannah and Patricia to 'just show up' outside the security door, crying and posing as presents from the 'boys' in the gym. The plan was abetted when the sheriff used the PA system, "I need a couple of cherries here -- right now -- and the younger the better. Make mine dark and Stevie wants a blonde. Surprise me, but move it!"

Rachel, Carole, and Carley were en-route to the gym when they heard the announcement. They positioned themselves in a cross corridor between the gym and the security office. Using her drones to monitor the progress of the two weeping girls and their escort, Dora kept the ambushing women apprized of their approach. <About a minute now,> she estimated.

Then Dora added, <Not to distract you, but team two is now in the building. The Nerds have verified that the room holding the captive sponsors has no Claymores and are now starting to cut wires to the window Claymores. Michael is standing by to help with whatever you need after you take care of your business.>

The two captives summoned by Sheriff crossed the corridor where the liberation team waited. Carley stepped into the escort's path, declaring, "Hey, what's going on here?"

Surprised, the escort turned towards her and was immediately kicked under the chin by the newly accomplished young warrior. As he rocked back, he was chopped from the rear by Carole, who also took great pleasure in using her new skills.

"You've been had, ladies. Those are NOT Confederacy marines," announced Carley. "We are here to get you and your friends out of their clutches."

"We know," whined one of the youngsters while Rachel gathered the two young girls into her arms and did her best to keep them from descending into hysterics. <Dora, let Hannah know we have the two girls. The number on the blonde is two and the other fifteen. She should wait about a minute, then it's a go.>

Receiving an acknowledgement, the team dragged the unconscious predator to the storeroom. After sending through the still weeping girls, they shoved him through to a less than friendly reception, and then they started back towards the gym to meet up with Michael.

Hannah and Patricia had to scramble to find a marker to number their foreheads. That done, they took off their shoes, panties and bras -- leaving their blouses open and hanging. This allowed Hannah to keep Bucky, her Browning Buckmark 22, in the small of her back, and three throwing knives in garters under her skirt.

Patricia had similarly hidden weapons. As the second through the door, she figured that there would be enough distraction by boobies on display that she could hold the hilt of her razor sharp dagger in her palm with the blade positioned along the inside of her forearm.

When they were ready, they reached across to each other and pinched hard, bringing tears. Then, with tears running down their cheeks, they tapped timidly on the door.

"What the Hell?!" came the exasperated yell. "Get your ass in here with that pussy!"

Hannah entered and sniveled, "He said we should come here and do what you said, but I'm a virgin, and I'm scared." Tears ran.

A man seated at the desk motioned to the second, "Over there. You're his." Looking at Patricia, "Come here, sweet thing, you are mine."

Patricia minced over slowly and stood across the desk. As the sheriff reached to lift her skirt, she drove her knife down, pinning his hand to the desk. Shocked silent, he reached for the knife and a second knife nailed his other hand. She glanced over and saw the other man with his hands in the air, the point of Hannah's knife under his chin.

Her face feral, Patricia demanded, "Where's the bomb switch?"

"Fuck you, Bitch!" he snarled.

"You clueless son-of-a-bitch," she said almost sweetly. "I was gang raped by scumbags like you, and it will give me great pleasure to cut off your pecker and feed it to you one slice at a time. If even one bomb goes off, no matter why, you are going to live the rest of your life a dickless, ball-less freak."

Face set, Hannah watched and whispered to her prisoner, "You better hope he cracks, because if he doesn't, I'm going to let her work on you. She really was gang raped, you know."

Her captive shuddered, then went still.

Not knowing how the switch was set up, they had decided in advance that once their captives' hands were immobilized, they would make no effort to strip search. Patricia made sure that her knives were firmly wedged, then reached under her skirt and drew a third. She knelt by the chair, reached between the man's legs, and sliced open his pants at the crotch.

He watched in horror as she drew forth a leather shoelace with a loop already tied. She reached in and slipped the loop over his cock and both balls, then snugged it. "Ready to talk?" she asked.

He snarled, "My men will run you down any minute."

"You mean the three tied up in the conference room, or the one sleeping in the lobby?" she asked softly. "Maybe you are counting on the jackass supposedly bringing us to you. Just who exactly do you think is left to help you? We know where the rest are, and we are taking them out wholesale just like we did you." She smiled a truly evil smile.

Patricia took a short steel rod from yet another hiding place and inserted it into the loop. She began to twist. "Do you happen to know how long the blood has to be cut off -- pardon the pun -- from your dick, before it turns black and falls off?"

"You don't have to beg like I begged my rapists," she cajoled, "just tell me about the trigger."

He squirmed, but gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Not knowing who would be in which role, both women had come fully prepared. Patricia pulled a pair of needle nosed pliers from another magic hiding place, grabbed the man's foreskin, and sliced around about a quarter of the circumference. Clearly, the restricted blood supply had not cut off (good one) all feeling; Sheriff screamed. Sweat ran down his face and dripped off his nose and chin. Patricia gripped another portion of foreskin and slowly sliced again. This time, the pain was too much, and he managed to lift his butt from the chair, then collapsed back.

"Okay, enough," he moaned. "I believe you."

Patricia loosened the noose and stepped back. "Go on," she demanded.

"It's in two pieces," Sheriff explained, "one is a button in my vest pocket, the other is a heart monitor strapped to my chest. If I die or you remove the monitor where it can't hear my heart beat, a radio signal sets off all the Claymores." He slumped onto the desk.

<Get Birdie and Billie in here, pronto!> Hannah told Dora.

<Moving,> came the reply.

While waiting, Hannah took the opportunity to make her prisoner sit and place his hands on the table next to him. He looked at her in fear, clearly expecting the same treatment as he had just witnessed. Instead, she took duct tape and bound him securely.

The door flew open and the Nerds charged in. Patricia pointed at Sheriff and demanded, "Tell them! Tell them now!" He did.

Birdie took the button and looked at it. She turned it over and over, then said, "You are a real son-of-a-bitch, aren't you?" She turned to Patricia and said, "What this asshole didn't tell you is that this button is also a real dead man's switch, not just a trigger. I think he lied about the heart monitor, too. Both would send a continuous signal to the detonator. The button cuts the signal to detonate the Claymores. More insidious, if either the button or monitor is moved out of range or destroyed, then instant destruction."

Billie turned to Patricia, "Give me those pliers!" and she held out her hand.

Taking the pliers from her mistress, she approached Sheriff, reached down, grasped his foreskin, and spun. Sheriff screeched as the remainder of his foreskin was ripped from his penis.

"Understand, Asshole," she yelled into his face, spittle flying, "you are messing with some serious bitches here! One more piece of crap like that, and I will nail each gonad to your chair before I cut them off one piece of skin at a time. Now am I right? Is that piece of shit strapped to your chest real, or just a decoy?"

"Real," whined Sheriff, tears running down his cheeks. He couldn't look her in the eye.

"So how do I disarm it?" she demanded.

"I didn't build it, so I don't know," he cringed.

The four girls stared at him in horror.

"You flaming asshole! If this went south, you were going to walk away and let the damn thing explode when you got out of range!" She didn't ask, she didn't need to.

Birdie approached Sheriff from behind, took a coil of wire from her kit, and looped it around his neck. She drew it tight, just barely avoiding cutting his skin. Drawing the wire over the back of his chair, she fastened it securely to the rear legs of the chair. Cutting it, she wound wire under his pinned arms to secure his torso to the chair. This she drew tighter than the coil around his neck.

Standing, she explained, "Billie and I are going to have to find every damned one of the receivers for this thing and cut the wires to the detonators. I don't trust this piece of shit not to find a way to detonate while we are working. Watch him like a hawk."

"Give me a minute," Patricia asked. She was pale. Before her abduction and rape, she had been a gentle person, but her experiences and training gave her the steel she needed. Now with a moment of respite, she needed release. Grabbing a waste can, she emptied her stomach. Done, she wiped her face on a paper towel, took a swig of water, and turned to Sheriff, "That doesn't mean shit. One word, one smile, and you'll wear my puke to your grave."

She nodded to the Nerds, who gathered their tools, and preceded by Dora's drones, departed for the gym.

Down a longish hall, Michael waited for the Nerds' return, so the remaining captors could be neutralized and the Claymores could be disarmed and disposed of.

Cathleen and her team arrived and left for the room occupied by the abused Volunteers, assured by the Nerds' earlier examination that there were no Claymores present. That might be a squeamish reluctance on the part of the rapists who did not want to be at risk while abusing their victims, or just a shortage of Claymores. It no longer mattered.

Cathleen and Sunny entered the darkened room to the sound of weeping and moans. Naomi, Carley, and Lizzy followed. When Cathleen found a light switch, the brightness caused a sudden silence followed by pleas.

The scene was gut wrenching. Bruised, bleeding, naked women were bound back-to-back in a circle. Their abuse was far beyond anything Cathleen had ever seen, including the aftermath of her team's battle before their pickup.

Moved to tears, Cathleen forced herself to remain calm. "Ladies, we are here to get you out of here. This is a real pickup."

They began to release the battered victims. When they were all freed, Cathleen told them, "We are going to use a transporter to take you to a safe place. My team will go with you and assure that the medical team waiting for you has you well in hand. Then we will need to return here to help free your sisters. When this is all over, you will see us again."

Ki and Ko looked every bit the Ninja Twins as they moved to the locker rooms holding the virgins. In it, two hither-to-unknown kidnappers sat with drawn guns. They had been assigned to keep other conspirators from sneaking in to sample the merchandise. Each was to get their own virgin as a reward for not touching the women themselves.

Still, the two did not trust each other, and each kept his gun drawn and barely pointed away from the other. The surprised twins heard them complaining about Sheriff, "getting a head start on the virgin pussy."

Hearing the unanticipated voices, Ko alerted Dora, <Hey super ghost, there are at least a couple of mystery voices coming out of the virgins' room. Slip in an eye or two and see if you can get us a good idea of what we'll face going in.>

Even an AI can be miffed, but Dora was really pissed that she had missed seeing the two mystery captors earlier with her drones. <Hold a minute ladies, I have one nearby that I can slip in through a vent.>

It was a little more than two minutes later when Dora gave her update, <There are two men. One has a sawed off shotgun, and the other has a Glock. They are sitting on either side of your door, and the eighteen girls are all sitting against the far wall. The girls are out of the line of fire, but the hard part will be to disarm the men without a gun going off.>

The twins looked at each other, <Can you do a localized imitation of Sheriff's PA announcement?> asked Ki.

<Of course,> came the reply. <What do you have in mind?>

<If you imitate Sheriff demanding a replacement, maybe we can split the two inside, and get one outside,> Ki sub-vocalized.

<Piece of cake. Get into position, and I'll let fly,> Dora responded.

Moments later, those in the room heard Sheriff's voice. "My worthless bitch won't do anything but cry. She got snot all over me. Get me another pussy down here, right now, and take this bitch off my hands. You two can have her cherry. Flip a coin or something, but get your ass moving!"

Then, <The one with the shotgun ... .>

After a very short interval, a short terrified girl was propelled struggling through the door, followed by a slovenly individual in dirty jeans and a well worn sweatshirt. His shotgun was slung over his shoulder, leaving both hands free to manhandle the girl down the hall.

Out of a doorway Ki lashed a modified Nunchaku in a grip and lock strike, yanking the shotgun from the startled escort. Not the twins' preferred weapon, their self-developed kata promoted the effective use of Nunchaku for both offensive and defensive moves. The strike also spun him into perfect position for Ko's low sweeping kick. He fell heavily to the floor where he was pinned by her knee on his neck.

Ki put her arms around the startled girl and whispered, "We're getting you out of here."

The twins closely followed the procedure used for the previous two victims, and soon the girl and her former captor were met with widely differing receptions.

As the twins moved back to their intended rescue, Dora informed them, <The door is locked, but I can imitate 'shotgun's' voice, and get 'Glock' to open it. Say when you are ready.>

Ko responded, <How tall is he?>

<Five feet, ten and three quarter inches,> came the literal answer. <That's in his shoes.>

Ko, accustomed to AIs' frequently over-detailed responses, smiled, not recognizing Dora's subterfuge to disguise her recent awakening. The restrictions of the doorway made Ko's full use of her katana impractical, so she drew her tantô’.

After positioning herself slightly to the left of the door, she motioned Ki to take the right with her katana, and instructed Dora, <When he moves to open the door, tell me his position and which hand holds his pistol. Ready -- WHEN!>

From one of Dora's drones on the ceiling above the door, "Open the fucking door! Hurry, the bitch is biting me!"

After a short interval, <gun right, moving-your left.>

Ki, glimpsing the gun through the opening crack, swept her katana down, severing the gun hand. An instant later, Ko shouldered the door and plunged through, tantô’ in her left hand moving in an upward arc, piercing the soft area behind the chin and up into the brain. The stench of emptying bladder and bowels signaled the first death of the morning, and the twins finished entering the room and locked the door.

The twins looked over at the shocked prisoners and bowed. Ki spoke, "Ladies, we are here to get you out of here. Time is short, and we need to rescue your sisters. You will step through this transporter portal where you will be met and released on the moon."

She positioned a transporter on the floor, and went to help the prisoners rise from their cramped positions.

Ko confirmed with Dora that all was ready on the other side, and motioned the young women through, saying, "Step forward or to the side as soon as you are through so that your sister behind you has room." Then she motioned the first onto the circle of the transporter.

As the last prisoner disappeared, she told Dora, <Warn the reception committee that we are shoving through a large piece of trash. It's kind of bloody and smelly.>

The twins carefully cleaned their weapons on the dead man's shirt, knowing a more thorough cleaning would be needed later. Sheathing their blades, they placed the severed hand and Glock on the body, and shoved it through the portal. They had no time to deal with the pool of blood and urine, so they left it and went in search of Michael.

With two groups of captives freed, there were two remaining.

The thoroughly deceived group destined for the rape-and-snuff auction had been moved to one of the locker rooms and locked in 'for their own protection.' Because they had declined the bogus offer of an extraction, they believed they were being shielded from witnessing the 'usual' pickup orgy.

Cathleen and her team appeared, and after some minutes of attempted convincing, this bunch still failed to realize that they had been duped. Cathleen spoke to Dora, <Dora, see if one of the already rescued teachers is willing to come back and talk to these folk. Otherwise, we might be here all morning.>

Momentarily, Dora replied, <Sorry Cathleen, all of the rescued teachers were in the battered group and are in med tubes. Only students were in the virgin category, but two say they will come back to help.>

Naomi had placed a transporter portal off to one side, and a pair of very young teens stepped though, one at a time.

"Miz Haskins, it's true, those men are bad and only pretending to be Confederacy," spoke the tiny redhead, while the second girl nodded vigorously. "We were mostly going to be auctioned off as slaves to Earth Firsters, but the volunteers have already been raped and tortured. You were going to be auctioned off for rape and snuff -- you know what snuff is, don't you?"

There was a collective gasp.

Cathleen spoke, "Ladies, we know you said you do not wish to be concubines. I'm a deputy US marshal, working in cooperation with the Confederacy to get you out of the clutches of some very evil men. If you go with us, we can brief you on options for you and your families, but you need to trust us and let us get you out of danger."

There was a sudden babble, and a flurry of half-started questions, when Cathleen raised her hand. "Time is short. Please hold your questions."

The young redhead ran over to Haskins, gripped her hand, and started pulling the reluctant woman towards the portal. "Come on. You'll see," and when Haskins finally yielded -- the others followed.

Three groups were out, but the fourth and largest remained. With both guards and Claymores, they were also in the most danger.

Hannah and Patricia remained watching their two prisoners; Carole was assigned to watch the front entrance for any late arriving Firsters; the remainder of the teams on the ground were stationed outside each gym entrance where the largest group was being held.

Through Dora, Billie briefed the team on the Claymores, "Everything outside the gym has been disarmed. Except for Sheriff's dead man's switch, the Claymore setups are pretty simple and pretty stupid. There are receivers wired to the Claymores, and they are the simple part. When we cut the trigger wires, one wire at a time, there was no failsafe, the circuit is dead. That is also the stupid part. Either a stray radio signal or a shorted circuit when cutting the wires, and the Claymores would have blown."

Birdie continued the briefing, "On the other hand, we don't know for sure if there is another dead man's switch or trigger inside the gym. Dora said that her drones don't show anything of that nature, but that isn't certainty." She took a breath, "I don't think Sheriff trusted his minions enough to give them a trigger. We do know the location of the receiver inside the gym. Much as I don't want to, I recommend that we use a frontal distraction while Billie and I disarm the Claymores."

Dora gave an update from images and audio gathered by the drones. <All the captives are inside the circle of Claymores, mostly asleep on the floor. It looks like at least five have been raped, maybe more. There are four guards, so there were thirteen in the building, not nine. They are all near the entrance farthest from the women. That would be the one by Michael. Two are asleep on mats. The other two are sitting on folding chairs facing the captives and look half asleep. All guns are lying on the floor. >

Rachel and Carley were the only ones present dressed for the part, so they were the frontal distraction, backed by Ki and Ko. The Nerds, backed by Michael, were to enter from the men's locker room and disarm the Claymores.

The participants rearranged themselves and moved into position. On Dora's signal, action began.

Rachel and Carley walked through the door announcing, "We're back," and proceeded toward the startled guards. The confused men stood and allowed the women close enough that the surprise front kicks knocked them backwards and away from their rifles. While the attackers followed through with kicks to the heads of the fallen men, the twins raced to the sleepers and knelt on their necks.

"You know, we could have used stingers," offered Carley.

"Not as much fun," replied the twins together, "but DO expect another lecture from Papa Sam."

Wires were cut to the detonators.

Cathleen's team ran to the waking captives and quickly checked those who seemed to have suffered trauma. Even allowing time for the confused women to fully wake, their briefing and evacuation took an amazingly short time.

Phase one was over ... .