Big Pine Mountain, North Carolina 

It was a fortress like compound.  A training ground.  Of sorts.  State-of-the-art.  First class accommodations.  In the spook world of covert operations and espionage it was beyond anything the CIA or the FBI could think of.  The only organization that came remotely close was NORAD in the Cheyenne Mountains in Colorado and maintained by the government of the United States.  Thanks to the tax payers of the good old U.S. of A.  In the interests of security the only access to the facility on Big Pine Mountain was by helicopter or cable car.

The women, also known as the vigilantes, clustered together in the dark, their eyes on the helicopter pad and the platform that housed the cable car that had gone missing an hour ago.  Off in the distance they could hear the whump whump of helicopter blades.  Company was coming and the women knew it wasn’t a social visit. Then they heard the screeching sound of the cable car coming up the mountain.  They jostled one another for a better look in the rain filled, pitch-black darkness.

Isabelle craned her neck.  "A perfect evening for late night visitors of the clandestine kind.  Who do you think they are?"

"Probably the kind of people Charles doesn’t want us to see or meet before he sets things up.  This is just a guess on my part but I think they’re our next employers," Nikki said.

"We could go outside instead of hiding indoors and see for ourselves.  I for one like to know what’s going on especially if it involves me.  Or us as a whole.  Charles is big on need- to- know where we’re concerned.  I think I need-to-know," the ever verbal Kathryn said.

Alexis weighed in, "it would be nice if just once we upped Sir Charles, now wouldn’t it?  By one upping him, I think we could take the visitors down with one eye closed and our hands tied behind our backs.  A preemptive strike so to speak.  Or if you don’t like that, we can strut out stuff to let them see who they’re dealing with.  Whatcha think, girls?"

Yoko looked around.  Two of our posse are missing.  Myra’s in the main house and I haven’t seen Annie since around ten o’clock when she said she was going to bed early.  Don’t we need to confer with them?  Personally, I love the idea."

The women as one shrugged.  Nikki took the high road, lawyer that she was, and said, "They’re going to be really pissed if we act without them.  I say we call them on their cell phones and tell them to meet up with us right here.  But be quick, the helicopter is about to land.  The cable car is almost here."

Kathryn was already speaking on her cell.  She nodded to the others meaning the two older women were on the way.

"What about Charles?" Alexis asked.  "I’m sure he’s going to be doing the meet and greet."

"I say we take him out first.  It’s the last thing he’ll be expecting.  If we’re to believe our own PR, we’re the best of the best.  Let’s prove it," Kathryn said.

The door to the women’s quarters opened silently.  Murphy and Grady, Kathryn and Alexis’ dogs growled softly but didn’t move.

"It’s raining," Annie said. 

"We’re taking Charles out first.  You in or out?" Nikki asked cooly.

"In," Myra said in a shaky voice.

Annie’s whoop of pleasure was her ‘in’ vote.

"Then let’s do it, ladies," Kathryn said. 

The women held a quick whispered conversation and then they moved out into the dark night, the dogs leading the way.  The steady whump whump of the helicopter was so close it was deafening.  It also masked the sound of the cable car sliding into it’s nest on the platform’s well greased tracks. 

The pungent scent of pine and the smell of the warm summer rain was it’s own aphrodisiac as the women spread out and circled their quarry; one Sir Charles Martin.  Murphy streaked forward to meet Charles head on while Grady barreled in from the side as Yoko, the rain beating down on her, kicked Charles from behind with one tiny foot and brought him to his knees. Alexis and Isabelle snapped on a set of flexi cuffs and then yanked their host to his feet and dragged him to the bushes just as the cable car came to a stop. Nikki had pulled off one of her socks and stuffed it in Charles’ mouth.

The wind from the rotors of the Bell Ranger helicopter was so strong it almost knocked over Myra and Annie who were fiercely holding onto each other.  The rain slapping at them from the force of the winds felt like a tidal wave as it lashed at them in a near frontal attack..

Two men and a woman stepped from the helicopter.  The woman foolishly tried to open and umbrella.  It blew away in the wind.  Kathryn yanked a small pen light out of her pocket and flashed it twice.  There was no point in trying to speak or shout.  The pin point of light moved off just as Nikki led two fine looking gentlemen from the cable car dressed in Seville Row suits into the pouring rain. 

Mercifully the helicopter had been shut down and put to bed.  The high pitched whine was silent now.  A bolt of thunder roared overhead as a vicious streak of lightening danced across the sky lighting the mountaintop from one end to the other. 

Their thumbs up in the air in a sign of victory, Yoko and Alexis led Charles toward the newly arrived guests.

As a group they ran toward the main building, Charles and Myra’s lair.  The others called it the Big House.  Inside the brightly lit kitchen the women stared down at the delectable spread of food and drink laid out on the counters and on the table. 

"Well done, girls," Charles beamed when the sock was taken out of his mouth, and the flexi cuffs removed.  "Don’t for one minute think you ‘captured’ me.  I knew what you were going to do before you made the decision to take me on.  In other words, I allowed it.  I wanted your new employers to see you in action.  Ladies, meet your new employers.  Names at this juncture are not important.  I don’t expect they will be important later on either.  I’ll show our guests to a room where they can change into dry clothes.  I suggest you all do the same.  Twenty minutes, ladies, not one minute longer.  Are we clear on this?"

"Crystal," Kathryn said with a bite to her tone.  "My ass you allowed us to take you.  You didn’t know what hit you.  I’m not going anywhere until you admit it, Sir Charles," she hissed.  Charles turned slightly so that he was in profile to his guests.  He winked at Kathryn. 

Nikki nudged Kathryn and whispered.  "We’ll make an issue of it later.  We need to get changed.  You know how pissy he gets when we’re late."

"Ask me if I care?" Kathryn said as she trailed behind the others, Murphy at her side. 

Inside their own quarters as they grappled with whatever they could find in the way of dry clothes the women kept up a running commentary concerning Charles and what happened.  In the end a show of hands agreed that they had indeed caught Sir Charles flat footed.  And that he was trying to save face among his guests with his roguish wink.  But they also agreed they could be wrong.  "A crap shoot," Annie said.

Adorned in yellow slickers with matching Wellington boots, the little group made it back to the Big House in the allotted time.  They peeled off their rain gear before they trooped out to the kitchen where Charles was handing out drinks.

Charles’s guests waited until the women were seated before they took their own seats for what their host referred to as a midnight feast that consisted of lobster and shrimp and a foot long cracked pepper tenderloin.  Emerald green peas from the garden behind the main house were sugar balls of sweetness.  The mountain tomatoes were lush and pulpy in the crisp garden salad.  Tiny potatoes no bigger than a nickle drizzled with butter and fresh herbs finished off the meal.  Everyone ate heartily including Charles. 

The table conversation dealt with the different species of pine trees on the mountain, the impossible access, satellite television and the new iPhones that were just hitting the market.

No one seemed to mind when Charles said he hadn’t had time to prepare a dessert and coffee and brandy would be served in the conference room down the hall. 

Five minutes later, the members of the Sisterhood sat down at the long pine table in their casual clothes and slicked back wet hair and looked at the five strangers sitting across from them. 

Charles stood up and immediately go to the point.  "Our guests this evening have come a very long way to talk with us and this meeting is of the utmost secrecy.  Our guests are a special task force appointed by the World Bank.  Three of our guests are also board members.   They want to hire you to help them out before a current situation gets out of hand with world repercussions.  They came with a check in hand that bears only a signature.  What that means is you can name your own price and fill in the blanks.   This piece of paper is a mere token.  If you accept this mission, the money will be wired into a special offshore account expeditiously.   These monies will not come out of the World Bank funds.  Concerned wealthy individuals have donated funds for this mission, people who care about fighting global poverty.  People who wish to remain anonymous."

"What is it you want us to do?" Myra asked a gray-haired gentleman sitting directly across from her.  "Is it a single person or a group of people who pose a problem for you?"

The woman sitting next to him spoke in a soft, cultured accent.  She looked around at her colleagues who simply gave curt nods to show she should speak.  "The current president of the World Bank appears to have his own agenda where funds are concerned.  We’ve done a discreet audit and a rather large sum of money appears to be missing.  The funds in question that were to go to several poor countries were suspended and then a small amount was supposedly used to set up ragtag offices in other war torn countries without concern for security in those countries.  The funds were a mere drop in the pail so to speak.  We can’t seem to find the balance of the money."

"How much money are you talking about?" Annie asked as she leaned closer to the table, her eyes locked with those of the woman who was speaking.

"Close to a billion dollars."

"Billion with a B?" Kathryn asked.

"I believe billion is spelled with a b.  Yes," the woman said curtly.

"And you can’t find a billion dollars?" Nikki asked, disbelief ringing in her voice.  "Do you mind if I ask who minds the store?"

"Oh, we could find it if we want a world crisis on our hands.  We prefer to let sleeping dogs lie and to exercise other . . . arrangements.  I believe that’s an expression Americans use to leave things as they are, is this not so?"

"If you’re concerned about keeping this under wraps aren’t you concerned that the poor countries earmarked for those funds might go public?" Alexis asked.

"Of course we’re concerned.  That’s why we’re here.  The situation is contained for the moment.  Time, however, is of the essence."

"How much time?" Nikki asked bluntly.

A stoop- shouldered man with a gray beard raised his head and spoke quietly.  "No more than three weeks and that’s extending the time  beyond what we’re comfortable with."

"Where does the current president reside?" Yoko asked.

"He owns and apartment in Watergate.  A very lavish apartment I might add," a rotund little man with jet back hair said.  He had a heavy beard and glassy dark eyes.  "He also has several mistresses.  He’s a divorced man whose ex-wife hates him.  He has two children.  They aren’t particularly fond of him either. He leads a very expensive life."

The woman spoke again with apparent distaste.  "Maxwell Zenowicz held a very high post in your current government’s administration prior to taking on the job of president at the World Bank but he was not qualified for the job.  He is an appointee.  I believe it was a political favor that secured the job for him.  He has surrounded himself with people with the same moral compass he uses.