Hi There,

Well, as Renee was quite busy, best I let you read on and find out what Frei is doing…

As, always, please excuse the typos.

Big Smiles,

Jody

Renee & Frei

A New Assignment

Act 3b Scene 4

Frei tightened her jaw as she nodded to Stosur the opposite side of the rooftop to her. They were going to get the staff out, slowly, via a zipline to the middle of the long stretch of lawn which had a separating wall that they would use as cover to then walk them out to the exterior wall where Aunt Bess would be ready to hoist them over.

It wasn’t as easy as dealing with academies, where the kids were happy to be rescued—she smiled to herself—the boy who’d thought she was a ninja with his bear, Ruffles, was now living near St. Jude’s and was a schoolfriend of Zack’s even when they didn’t know the connection between them.

“I’m not sure if the staff will raise the alarm with Pucker,” Stosur said. Something she’d repeated throughout planning the extraction. “You know how some struggle.”

“Yes.” Frei hurried across the rooftop and glanced over the edge. This wasn’t the same as her family’s estate either because the slaves hadn’t met Aeron or Renee and she was sure it was down to them both that slaves like her, slaves like her sisters, slaves like her grandmother and mother, that not even they could manage to bring out the courage in others like Aeron and Renee.

“It will be harder to rescue them if they are unconscious.” Stosur lifted her hand then jumped over the edge.

“Yes.” Frei jumped downward herself and fired her line at the wall as she dropped then swung sideward to avoid a large window then jumped as she zipped toward the large spikes midway down then swung sidewards, using the spikes to hold the line away from the window above and landed, lightly, on the roof to the slave’s makeshift building. “In position.”

“Removing first volunteer,” Stosur said like Frei was taking far too long.

Frei dropped down onto the path next to the slave door and pushed it open.

“—Why is Renee swimming in electrified waters?” Susan said into her earpiece—asking Jessie by the sound of it.

Frei checked the first room but there were no slaves and no guards.

“Because she has to help the kids who are tied up on it,” Jessie said in a pleasant tone as though that was a normal sentence for her to say. “It’s one of the traps they set.”

Frei checked rooms along the corridor but they were empty.

Susan tutted then cheered.

“I know Renee is really cool.” Jessie said with a chuckle.    

Frei eyed the crates the slaves had made into chairs in a communal area. “Black had better be swimming correctly without getting my haircut.”

“Why, your haircut is beautiful?” Susan asked in a quiet voice then cheered again.

“Are you watching the video feed?” Frei muttered and searched several more rooms but they were all empty.

“No, Susan is cheering at the chair,” Jessie said with another chuckle. “I don’t know what its saying to her but she’s happy.”

Frei reached a makeshift toilet and pushed back each door but there wasn’t one slave.

“The chair gave me an idea,” Susan said and then cheered again. “We can use water to provide current… but then how will we generate the current because she blows electrics.”

“Clear.” Frei let out a sigh and peered through the window in the direction of the lake. “This must be where the kids were staying.”

“Um… I don’t think Renee needs you to generate a current,” Jessie said in a gentle tone. “She’s trying not to generate any currents.”

“I would look crazy with Urs’s hair,” Renee said in a low voice. “Really freaking crazy.”

“I agree, Black,” Frei said as she hurried out of the slave building. “Do not make a current.”

“If you even think about making any electricity,” Fleming chimed in a grumpy tone. “I will throttle you on behalf of both myself and Aeron.”

Susan cheered again.

“I have extracted the remaining volunteer,” Stosur said with a strained voice. “However they are asleep.”

Frei darted along the house wall and hurried to Stosur’s position. The volunteer was a large bulky man. “He seems to have better meals than most slaves.”

Stosur nodded. “I intend to place him somewhere safe but then leave him there.” She pointed to a gun on the floor. “I don’t think he will wish to assist others to escape.”

“Let me carry him with you,” Frei said and went to help but her mother stared at her. “It will be quicker.”

“No, she cannot have normal electricity. She blew the scanners in Serenity,” Susan said as though this was new information. “We’ll need to generate electricity another way.”

“I take it she is talking about Aeron?” Stosur asked as she hoisted the man onto her shoulders and waved Frei off. “I want you to set up a zipline over that lake.” She held Frei’s gaze. “I do not want any current or anyone getting new haircuts like yours. It only looks correct on you.”

“Lavelle and Kiwi have several slaves with them, Mom,” Jessie said in sad voice. “A lot of them are kids.”

“No, I can see the electrical charge from here,” Susan said with a guarded tone. “Apart from kinetic charge, there’s her thermal charge too.”

Frei glanced at the house where Lavelle and Kiwi were then at the lake.

“Put up the zipline.” Stosur held her gaze then ran off at speed.

Frei shot a line up at the house and climbed up it. “Renee wears a suit to stop those signals, Susan.”

“I have placed a monitor over the screen and she is giving off an electrical signal,” Susan said in a louder voice. “It is low, but it is detectable.”

“Mom, I am double checking. The signal isn’t strong enough to trigger the traps but there’s definitely a trace from her.” Jessie tapped away as though typing. “Miroslav, can you block it?”

“I will try,” he said and tapped away.

“Thank you,” Renee said with an exasperated voice. “I don’t want Abby or Aeron throttling me.”

“The signal just grew,” Susan said then tapped something herself. “I am recording this data.”

“We’re blocking signals, Renee,” Jessie said in a confident voice.

“I’m glad you are,” Fleming said in a worried tone. “But I’ve just got a report that one of the children you picked up in the industrial unit… they have been found.”

“I hope that means located to provide a witness statement?” Frei asked as she attached the zipline to the house and fired it to the trees beyond the lake.

“No, she was one of the children I’d gone in to help. She was willing to give evidence not to be prosecuted.” Fleming let out a heavy sigh. “Lavelle must have got to her first.”

“Needs pickle juice,” Jessie mumbled with a sniff.

“The charge just fluctuated again,” Susan said with a stern tone. “I think you need to tell Renee to stop doing whatever she is doing.”

“Black, you get that?” Frei asked, ready to zip down the line to her.

“I was thinking about shooting Lavelle but other than that I’m swimming,” Renee muttered then “oooh’d” in a angry tone.

“Signal just got clearer,” Susan said with a concerned tone.

“She’s echoing my viewpoint.” Frei glanced at the house and at the lake.

“Then perhaps it is emotion,” Susan shot back with a doctor’s tone. “Calm her.”

Frei tightened her jaw. “Renee—”  

“—I got it,” Renee lowered her voice and sounded calmer.

“Gould, you are not to go in,” Fleming said in a tone even sterner than Susan’s. “He has to give the children over to Kiwi first.”

“Ma’am, I need to go in,” Gould said in the background as Frei shot a second line toward Renee’s position. “An officer called Grimes got the statement and just sent it through… Girl said that Pucker and Lavelle are playing us.”

“Grimes?” Frei asked and searched the grounds.

“Listen to the guy,” Aunt Bess said then grunted. “Watch your paws, kid, I ain’t got the reflexes I used to.”

“Brief us, quickly,” Fleming said her tone quiet.

“Rachel isn’t a Bite. The girl gave us the location of the family. She’d witnessed what happened to them. Rachel did try to go for power, but she was killed along with her parents,” Gould fired off the information.

“Which means?” Frei stared at the lake, firing an extra line along the floor to the middle of the roof behind her. It was along the surface, which she wasn’t happy about but it was extra strength if she need to haul more than one person out of the water.

“I ran the sample Frei’s medical staff provided. Matched a woman wanted for a long list of crimes… she was linked to a previous suspect… a guy standing trial called Jäger.” Gould clicked something in the background. “She said that Lavelle, Pucker and Gem had agreed to get rid of someone called Locks.”

“Mom, move. An alarm has gone off,” Jessie wheezed into the earpiece.

“We have hostiles,” Aunt Bess muttered. “A lot of them.”

“Kiwi has pulled his gun on the kids,” Gould said. “We have to move.”

“We’re heading in,” Fleming said and cut the line.

“There is a signal coming from the lake,” Miroslav mumbled. “Two signals.”

“Black,” Frei managed, her voice strangled.

“Lights are on,” Renee grunted. “Cut the lines for the kids. They are out of the water.”

“Having problems?”

Frei felt a sharp gust, turned, and glared at Rachel. “Black, get out of that water.”

“Charge is firing up,” Jessie whimpered.

Rachel held up a remote. “I will earn a lot of money, Locks.”

Frei whipped the line along the floor and Rachel spun into the air, the remote spilling, as she crashed to the tiles. “Jessie, find the signal coming from the device near me. It controls the traps.”

“On it,” Jessie and Miroslav chimed.

“Taking on hostiles,” Aunt Bess said with a confident tone.

“Lavelle has run,” Gould fired as though running. “Kiwi has fled too but we have suspects barring our way to the children.”

“Flank them,” Fleming muttered. “Use the darts.”

Gould breathed harder. “Ma’am!”  

“I’m heading to assist Renee,” Stosur said in a calm tone. “Ursula, you need to extract yourself.”

Frei kicked the device away as Rachel scrambled for it. “Jessie, I want Lindsey and Huber to watch Alanna isn’t helping.”

“Grandad says he’s happy to help,” Jessie mumbled. “We’re looking for the signal to block it.”

Frei reached down and grabbed Rachel. “Working for Jäger?”

Rachel sneered at her.

Frei smiled. “Then allow me to show you how I dealt with him.”