Riding on the military helicopter, Theresa was having the time of her life. Mr. Mouser, on the other paw, wasn’t happy at all. Cat wrapped his head in her scarf to see if it would muffle the sound and tucked the feline bundle inside her coat.
They flew west and north, over the Death Valley and Carson City.
“We’re almost there,” Jack shouted on the radio. “That’s Lake Tahoe!”
They saw the giant alpine lake separating California and Nevada, and the snowy peaks crowning around it. The helicopter aimed at a small valley nestled at the foot of the mountains on the Nevada side. They landed inside a fenced-out area around the size of three football fields with a few soldiers clearing the perimeter. She couldn’t see any obvious mine entrance, though. Once the dust settled, they got out of the airship. Another officer came to greet them. Cat looked around and saw a few soldiers with pickaxes digging around the depression while others were setting up a tent camp.
“Captain, ladies, welcome,” the oriental man saluted Jack, then nodded at the two girls.
“Lieutenant,” Jack saluted back. “Do we have any samples?”
“We do, sir. The civilian expert has already analyzed some of them and said the silver is of good purity. We hope we can find more as we dig deeper in the vein.”
Jack nodded. “Remind the man to keep themselves hydrated and warm, lieutenant. They are to respect the breaks and rest when scheduled. That too is part of their job. I don’t want any accidents like what happened yesterday.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed.”
The lieutenant went away and disappeared inside a tent. Jack turned to the other two and said, “One of the guys from Florida took off his clothes while working, and forgot to drink water, boasting he could work all day in this weather. He had a bad case of hypothermia and had to get an airlift.”
“Are they mining silver? With pickaxes?” Theresa asked.
“Yes, we aren’t willing to use even explosives,” Jack explained. “It all needs to be done the ‘good old way’.”
Another man wearing a stylish suit and heavy overcoat left the “command tent”, as Cat named the biggest tent where the lieutenant was.
“Miss Wallenstein! Welcome!” He smiled and made a beeline to greet her. “I’m Roland Sheppard, from the Department of Homeland Security. Thank you for taking your time to come here.”
Cat immediately swiveled her head and glared at Jack. “Did you forget he was here, Jack?”
“It’s not what you are thinking, I swear,” Jack waved a hand to placate her. “Hear what he has to say.”
She hissed, “Don’t you dare gaslight me. You have no idea what I am thinking.” She noticed Roland didn’t stop approaching. “That’s close enough, Mr. Sheppard. I can hear you clearly from this distance. What’s your business here?”
“I have a letter from the President for you, Miss Wallenstein. He--”
From inside her coat, Mr. Mouser stirred and dropped down, rushing along her legs and running toward the DHS man, hissing and with his hackles raised. Roland drew his handgun as Cat desperately shouted for Mr. Mouser to come back.
Catherine screamed inside their head. Worried for her animal companion, Cat’s anxiety spiked and she felt the blood drain from her extremities as she started to faint.
A gunshot echoed in the desert. Everything went black.
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She came to her senses with Theresa slapping her face. “Hey! Talk to me! Catherine!”
“Mr. Mouser! Heel!” She shouted the command and shrieked when the cat jumped on top of her, licking her mouth. She hugged him and started to pat his fur, “Are you wounded, baby?”
“He’s fine,” Theresa said. “You’re fine. Calm down.”
“I thought that guy shot my baby, Terry!” Cat bawled. “My baby!”
Soldiers ran toward them. She must’ve spent just a few seconds unconscious.
“CLEAR!” She heard Jack shout. “Secure the Perimeter. Check Mr. Sheppard’s vitals!”
“Yes, Captain, sir!” A few soldiers shouted. “Medic!”
She sat up and saw Jack with his handgun. “You’re safe, Catherine. Theresa, stay with her. Travis, contact the Pentagon. Code ‘Golden Griffin’.”
Cat learned much later that “Golden Griffin” was the military code for DHS compromised. When they insisted on joining the mission to Nevada, the Pentagon suspected their move.
Things moved quickly, the soldiers under Jack’s command executed their orders with great celerity. The medic reported that Sheppard was dead. Jack had shot him straight in the left eye. Cat and Theresa were taken to the command tent, where the medic helped her take her medication and gave her something to help her get some sleep.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
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She woke up on a gurney with a plastic curtain separating her from the rest of the tent. Mr. Mouser lying over her chest and purring.
“He stayed with you all the time,” Theresa said. She was sitting on a folding chair next to her gurney. “Are you okay, Annie?”
“I’ve not been hit by a smooth criminal, I’m fine.”
Theresa laughed, “No, the criminal’s beyond dead. I can’t believe this, it’s like I’m in a movie. Hikari won’t believe it.”
Jack entered the curtained area, “I heard your voice. How are you, Catherine?”
“I’ve been worse,” She replied while evading his gaze.
“Miss, I don’t recommend telling anyone what happened here. It’s--”
“I got it,” Theresa protested. “A matter of national security.”
“I fear it may affect the whole world,” Jack grimaced.
“Who’s Hikari?” Cat asked.
“My roommate back home. What?” Theresa grinned. “Jelly?”
Cat pushed her away, “Shut up.”
“So, how is it that you can kill a demon, but faints at the sight of a gun?” The tanned model pestered.
“If it is a danger to myself, I’m fine with it. But he was going to shot my cuddly baby!” Cat protectively hugged the feline.
“Fair enough.”
“Now I understand what Alice said!” Jack exclaimed as he figured something out.
Now Cat made eye contact with him, employing a glare. “What? You contacted Alice?”
“No. I don’t know where they are, otherwise, I’d be committing perjury. Before going into hiding, Alice insisted on training him and getting him certified so Mr. Mouser could stay with you at all times,” Jack mused. “I think she taught him more than what he needed to be a service animal. Like detecting people under demonic influence.”
Cat squeezed the cat. “You’re not taking him away from me. Next thing you say that he’s the key to solving this issue and need him as some sort of demon sniffer, which would be a lie.”
He took a step back with both hands raised, palms forward until he bumped against the curtain and almost tore it down. “Catherine, we are on the same team. I’d never let anyone separate you two. Scout’s Honor.”
“Guy’s been honest,” Theresa interceded. “Cut him some slack. He didn’t hesitate to shoot the Homeland guy to save your friend. It was like one of those Wild West movies. We even have tumbleweed stuck in the fence.”
Cat huffed and Mr. Mouser stretched to sniff her breath. She kissed his kitten snout. “Fine, you’re off the hook. I heard your men are mining silver?”
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They met the eclectic team Jack had assembled to secure the mine and check if it would produce silver to defeat Roger Marthan. The lieutenant, a geologist and a middle-aged Native-American woman in traditional winter clothing
“From the seismic doppler scan, we estimate the vein goes at least two miles beneath the surface,” their geologist and prospector said. “The silver purity is good, the samples near the surface are around eighty-six percent or more pure silver already. If the silver deposit goes as deep as the vein, we might see pure silver nuggets after a few hundred yards.”
“All that’s left is to see if this place is powerful enough,” Jack mused while looking at his next advisor.
“The mine is a hundred yards from a holy site of my people,” the Native-American woman said. “This is a place of power, don’t doubt it. I’ve asked the great spirit of the yellow marmot to bless your men. So long they obey the teachings and mine with respect, the silver will be blessed.”
The shaman approached the two girls and one cat. “Hello, young ones. The spirits of the land guided you here as they sang of your arrival. Two blessed by heavens, the one blessed by another world’s magic, and the one loved by a founder.”
She’d stared at Cat as she said “blessed by heavens”. Catherine gasped,
“I know, yes, I do know,” the spiritual leader chucked and approached to pat Cat’s head. “You sisters take good care of each other.”
Mistaking the woman’s words, Theresa grabbed Cat’s arm, “We will, shaman! We will!”
The shaman squinted at the girl and let out a burst of short quick chuckles that shook her whole upper body. Once her bout of mirth ended, she raised a finger to her lips and winked.
They discussed a few more details, like bringing more soldiers to help dig and using Mr. Mouser to screen the newcomers as well as letting the cat loose on the compound to check if anyone else was compromised.
Cat agreed to come on the weekends and tried to get on the shaman’s good graces which were really easy. The Native American woman had that grandmother aura that attracted kids as a black hole sucks in light.
Walking around the fenced compound, she asked about her tribe. “The Washoe people are the ancestral guardians of the lake and mountains. My fathers and mothers and their fathers and mothers lived off this land long before the Caucasians arrived. We still keep it. This place is called Little Valley, and is sacred to our people.”
“But will you let us mine the silver? I fear we might anger the spirits,” Cat said candidly.
“You are a good girl. Or boy. Maybe girl now, after a whole year. The spirits respect courage, bravery. You have it in spades, young lass. Yes, they’ll gift the silver to fight the evil that came uninvited.”
She hesitated before summoning the courage to ask in a whisper, “Can you really hear the other voice inside me?”
“Your sister? I can. You love her so much you snatched her from death. Not an easy feat, not an easy feat. Admirable. Now that you summoned the courage to ask what you already knew, you should ask the question your young heart is screaming.”
Cat wiped a tear. “You know magic, don’t you? Real magic. Shamanism. Communion with the spirits.”
The shaman bellowed her staccato of chuckles and grinned. She hugged the lean girl, “I said you should ask what your heart desires.”
“Would you teach me magic so I can fight against my enemy?”
She kissed the girl’s forehead. “Can I? Definitely. Am I willing to teach you? Yes. Would you learn? Maybe. But would be able to use it? I don’t think so,” she smacked her lips. “And more importantly, would it work against your enemy from the underworld? I’m sorry, it wouldn’t.”
Cat hid her face on the shaman's leather overcoat and cried. She got so close to getting what she wanted only to hear it would be useless. The shaman caressed her hair until she calmed down.
“Why can’t I use it?”
“You’ve seen a spirit when you died, don’t you? He blessed you by giving you everything three people had. Three times the health, three times the life, three times the mind, three times the magic. You have three times the magic of a normal person. However, child, a normal person barely has any magic.”
“And three times zero is still zero,” Cat ruefully admitted.
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head and sniffled, “Don’t be. This blessing has saved us more times than we know. We won’t resent it. But we will be here every weekend. If you would let me bother you, shaman, I am willing to learn the ways of your people. Even if it is of no use to us.”
The shaman laughed in her own peculiar way again, “A child eager to hear the ramblings of an old woman. This is truly a blessed day.”