Chapter 1

“Damn!”

Wham sound

“Damn!”

Wham again

Wham still again

Wham

Wham

Wham

Whirrrr-ing

The pulley came in. The little blonde looked at the sheet. “Damn! one right only!”

She put up another target, sent it downrange and began to reload.

“Try all of them like you did on the ten, Hon!”

“I’ll never get it right! I keep trying, I’m not complaining but I don’t know what’s even wrong! No one will help me because I’m a girl!”

“Ummmph! Wait a second!” I went in to my locker, got some things and returned.

“OK squirt, let me see what your shooting!” When she showed me the 1911.45 ACP I knew right away what why she was having a problem. It was a piece of crap. The pistol might have been great at onetime, but that was long ago.

“OK, put that away. Ahhh. un-load it first!”

“It was my fathers’. It, it ... He was killed last month. He ... he was...” Then she broke down crying.

I held her in my arms. She seemed like my sister would be, if she was still alive.

“Let’s go inside, eat and talk some. I want to know why you need to learn how to shoot.”

Our fabulous meal consisted of peanut butter and cheese things, two colas and a year-old cinnamon bun from the machine. Sugar and BHT, it is a wonderful pick-me-up. She was looking alive again. There had been many meals like this where we lived on sugar for days. Yep, it brought back memories. Not all good ones though.

She was 17, her name was Heather, and her father had been mugged and died in hospital. All this just a few months before her 18th birthday. She decided that she would find and kill the people that had murdered her dad. It was like my memory from the past.

“First I need to ask you if you are serious? Then, will you listen and do everything I tell you to do? No complaints, no questions, and no more crying? If the answer is yes to all those things I will teach you how to do what you want to do!”

She looked up at me, her red eyes bore right into her very being, and right into my very soul. “Yes,” she whispered and wrapped her arms around me. I wish I knew then what I was getting myself into.

“Get your gear, follow me and put everything into my locker.”

We went inside and started shopping. “Pete, my partner here needs the full set-up! We ‘be go’in Hun ten’ soon! The good stuff Pete.”

He looked at me like I was crazy, then took us into the back room. He hit a concealed switch and a door opened. We went in. Her eyes told it all. When the lights came on, she stood in awe. Her little mouth was open like a baby bird being feed by it’s mother.

“Hold the box Pete is giving you,” I said. I proceeded to put in an assortment of things we would need. Gloves, glasses, earplugs, a .22 magnum Colt revolver, a 9mm Kurtz cal PP Walther, a .40 cal Sig-Sauer with a lot of accessories for it, a lot. “Pete, we will need a locker for her, and a few thousand rounds of .22 cal long rifle, .22 cal magnums, 9 mm Kurtz cal HP’s, five thousand .40 cal solid point and one thousand Teflon-coated AP rounds for it. All Palma Match please, none of that cheap shit. I assume these three little guys are ‘ready to go’? I want another graphite Sig, Accurized with all the goodies for her, in about four months. Anything else she needs put it on my tab along with this stuff. Got It?”

“Hon, the first thing you need to do is easy. Eat, rest, exercise and start running everyday until your doing seven miles and you feel like doing more. Swim, use weights, start some kind of martial arts and we will start shooting in about two to three months.”

Now, I am used to guys, you can kick the shit out of them, drown ‘em, roll them in mud and abuse them until they drop. Why is it that a girl always starts to cry?

All I heard was...”I ... I can’t. I can’t even pay the rent, everything I have went to ... I’ve been trying to learn how to shoot.”

Pete chimed in. “She’s been in here everyday for a month. I’ve been giving her the ammo at cost.”

“A month! And did it ever occur to your ‘Squid’ pea-brain to mention to her that a beat up .45 ACP is not something to learn how to shoot on. Besides, she needs to learn how to ‘kill’.”

“Yes Sir! he said, then closed the door. He took her back to get a key and locker, next to mine. I made a phone call. It was answered, it seemed like 2-3 minutes, like it used to, before the routing ended, it was just a few seconds now, technology at work.

“XXXXX, YYYYY, ZZZZZ” I gave something to the voice who answered. “Well, I got into another fine mess! I need to get a new partner ready. The whole way, no more than 12 months, and, it’s a she.” There was a laugh on the other end.

“Hey, we’re not that bad, are we?”

In all this time I never knew the voice was a she.

“Can’t live with them, but sure in Hell don’t want to live without them!”

“Hooo-rah”, said the voice.

“Semper Fi.” “I need quick and easy for a while, Ma’am. She is sort of a ‘Special Assignment’ so this is only between us. If she ever calls, her name will be ‘Natasha’, and it will mean you need to help her, I will not be able too. I need a one-time for her.”

“Where will she be?”

“As much as it will be real hard on me, I guess, where I am she will be. At least until this is over. Yes, she is cute, but I think of her like, like...” I really hated when I did this. “Bye “M”, Bond’s the name, James Bond!” I hung up. Damn, she was getting to me now.

I went to find her. She was helping put away the stuff.

“I don’t need all this stuff! I can’t afford all this stuff! I don’t even know what to do with one of them?”

“Ten- Hut, soldier! You don’t need to think, you don’t need to do anything, you will get everything you will need and told what to do. What you do need to do is obey everything I will tell you, do everything I show you and then learn to do it with your eyes closed. Do you understand me, REMF?”

“Yes Sir” as she was now standing at attention.

“And you don’t ever listen to that ‘Squid’, Pete. God, he doesn’t know left from right unless somebody tells him. I think his mama dropped him on his head a few times.”

“Listen “Grunt’ you’re the one she dropped. I keep telling you, you were her big mistake.”

Pete and I had been through Hell and back. Even so, I did not want to think that far back.

“Miss, from now on your name is ‘Natasha’, if, and I say if, you earn it, you will be given a last name. I take it from all your sniffling that you have fallen on hard times. We will make a man out of you someday, God willing?”

“Gee, I hope not!” as she batted those eyes at me. I melted.

“Girl I don’t know what it is, but I am willing to give you a chance!” Nope, I knew what it was, I knew from the minute I heard her story. She was like the sister I had lost. I found who had killed her, raped her, and made our mother kill herself. Yes Sir, I knew exactly what she wanted to do, and I was going to help her do it.

“Now, we need to set the rules. There are no rules! I will make the rules and you will obey, you got it?”

“Yes Sir!” as she stuck her chest high and out. I guess her papa had raised here right.

“Who was your Dad, worm?”

“Sgt. Major Evans Sir! Ft. Bragg.”

“Worm, I am hungry. This ‘Squid’ may get some things I leave, and you, my dear may even get to then clean his plate, if we can teach him how to use one. At that time, you will tell me everything. Do you hear me worm?”

“Yes Sir!” Then she wrapped her arms around me and started crying again. I looked at Pete who was handing her a door key and closed up shop.

We had dinner at the 45th Bomber Squadron in downtown San Diego. ‘Natasha’ decided that she really was hungry, once she stopped crying. Steak, shrimp, salad, two ice teas, two waters and a double desert later we had heard a little more about her.

She was alone, her dad and her had lived on base until he was retired with a disability. They had moved to California, were shocked at the prices here, even with the depressed markets. They rented and when her dad was mugged, the bills, funeral, and having to wait on VA and AFES had used up whatever money she had saved-up.

It was near 20:00 Hours. “Worm! I told you as long as you are ‘in our little unit’ everything you will need will be provided, as long as you OBEY ME!”

“Yes Sir! Master”

Now she had me worried. Why had she called me Master. Was I being too hard on her? Up until now she was fitting right in for her ‘Boot Camp’ training. This was not some harem, at least I thought it wasn’t. Was she really just shy of 18 years old?

Pete dropped me off at my car. I had a nice car, well maybe a really nice car. 550 SLC Mercedes’ were pretty common in California. The car got me a look from her. When we got to the ‘house’, more a hunting lodge, she started to squirm and look around as we drove through a series of gates into the compound area. “This is where you and I will train! The first time you say NO to me, you’re ass is gone. You hear me Worm?”

“Yes Master!”

There she goes again.

She looked over a nice size exercise yard. We got back in and drove up to the house. We went in. Yep, up three levels, until we got to her new suite, all 1,500 sq ft of it. I introduced her to the staff and the maid began to show her around her area. Yoshi, the cook asked what she may want for breakfast the next day and if she wanted a snack, before then, to merely use the call pull and someone would see to it.

My dear sweet Miko then took her to the patio/deck where a pool, hot tub, sauna, and huge shower area joined her bathroom. Some clothes, robes(Silk) and personal items were all in-place. In the distance, you could see where two helicopters were parked.

When Miko bowed and left, I bid Natasha goodnight and told her at 05:30 we start and began to leave. I felt a hand on my arm. She then assumed the position of a ‘slave’, legs spread wide, head and back leaning, her arms behind her. She then said, “Master, collar your Worm, I’m never leaving here!”

I don’t know why, or what spell she used on me but I reached my arms out, picked her up and took her into my arms. As I kissed her head, I heard myself say, “You never have to leave, little one.” I could think of a lot of reasons right then why I would leave this world before she would. I also then wished for those ‘Dog Tags’ we were not allowed to wear. “Damn”

It was not a fun night. Miko came in several times and asked if I needed anything. Yeah, my head examined.

05:00, was by habit my “Three S’ time. Miko came in to tease me in the shower. She said the ‘young girl’ was outside. She stressed the young and girl. I went outside with a bad feeling, or was it a feeling that I would be ‘bad’?

“We warm up, run, then eat Worm!”

“Yes Master!”

Damn, when had I lost control?

Breakfast was served on the terrace. Yoshi had prepared a variety of things. Miso soup, fresh fruit, warm oat cereal, hamburgers, milk shakes, plural (Chocolate, Strawberry, and Vanilla), eggs, potatoes, corned-beef hash, 3 kinds of fresh juice(Orange, Papaya, Grapefruit), milk and coffee. I wondered why ‘The Worm’ had not ordered anything, as I dug in. “Not eating?” I asked.

I got the look, I mean ‘The Look’, the one that all females seem to learn at puberty.

“Who are you? and Why are you doing this?”

I could only give her one answer, the truth. “What” I offered.

Nope it was not going to work.

“Would you believe I do this all the time for fun?”

Another one of ‘The Look’.

It was time for me to assert control. She was, after-all just a girl. “I’ll ask the questions Worm!”

I had a very stern glare on my face, almost a threatening stare. She started to cry and I broke. I put my arms out to her then Miko came in with a package. For you. ‘Master’.

Now she was starting it. This was my home, why were these, these, ... females doing this to me? After-all I was in-charge here, wasn’t I?

She was now Natasha Hennessey. Irish father, Russian mother, both deceased. ID, passport, licenses, mail, bills from her prior address, bank and cheque account, permits, and an large envelope of pictures and receipts. The passport and birth certificate showed little Natasha as 15. I had my ‘voice on the phone’ to thank for that reminder. On a small piece of tissue thin rice paper was a number and code.

“Worm, read these, memorize them then eat it.” There was also several pills and gelatin capsules with lancets. I took those and the two small metal cylinders. “Worm, you need to get checked by a doctor, of sorts” I mumbled.

“OK! Who are you? What is your name? and Why are you doing this?”

“OK, My name is Bond, James Bond, and ‘M’ wants your ‘Lecter’ machine!” There, I was very smug now.

She looked really upset now. “Ughhhh!” she said, “Men.” I handed her the rest of the package.

“We need to go shopping for clothes for you and get your exam over with.” She started to say something. I did a Mr. Spock with my ears and eyebrows. I heard. “Yes Master.”

Well now, she was learning. She swayed back into her room. Miko came and told me ‘Natasha’ had a question. I went into her suite and stopped. She was on the floor, in the ‘slave’ position. “What would Master like ... for me to wear ... or ... DO?”

Now, I was not a saint, there had been more than one woman in my sordid career, but this ‘minx’ was making all that seem to be ‘boy scout’ training. I did the only thing I could do. “I ran out of the area and yelled, “M I K O OOOO”.

Things might have gone smother if I had used the same car. Nope, not me, the sleek, black Porsche RSR was my baby, at least before ‘The Worm’ came along. It had been less than 24 hours and I felt like she was running my life. When she put her arms around me, rested her head on my arm and I whiffed her scent, I really did not care anymore. Score Me 0, Natasha 200. I really did forget about going anywhere.

‘The Worm’ reminded me we needed to go. “Master, we also need a collar, and could you get me a nice long leash? Maybe a surprise for tonight too, Huh?”

Maybe there was a nice long ‘assignment’ far away for me. Far, far, away.

In the words that a famous, someone had once said, “Why me Lord?”

The medical team was already at the airport. They had flown in from La Jolla and were doing my ‘voice’ a favour, by meeting us. I hesitated to have both the implants placed into her. Finally I decided the tracking chip would be enough, there would be no need for the ‘final solution’.