G.I.Z.M.O. (COMPLETED)

Chapter XXVIII

Current day, 06:15 AM, several miles northwest of Thompsonville, Virginia.

Ben turned the cabin door's handle. The door creaked open and he stepped inside followed by Frannie, Raven, and Hunter.

"C'mon, Buttons, come here, boy!" Kaitlyn called, standing with her back to the doorway. She snickered as she watched the little dog bound across the cabin's front yard with its tongue extending from its mouth. It bounced onto the rough-cut planks of the sagging front porch where Kaitlyn scooped the dog up into her arms. She walked in the cabin with Mr. Buttons and found her mom in an armed standoff with another woman. A dark-haired beauty seated at a table across the room; cigarette hanging from her mouth.

"Who are you?" Frannie asked.

"Agent Delinda Thorton, CIA. You must be Cole's ex?" the pretty woman with dark lipstick replied, exhaling a lungful of smoke. She dotted her cigarette out into an ashtray filled with cigarette butts. It mimicked an ashy white bouquet. "You can put that weapon away, Frannie. I would never hurt you or your kids."

"You first!"

"Very well." Delinda rested her Isreali-made Uzi on the table next to the ashtray and lifted her hands. "See, I'm not your enemy...your turn."

Frannie relaxed and lowered the pistol. "Okay, now tell me what the hell is going on," Frannie commanded, pointing at Ben.

"My real name is Christopher Biltmore. Cole, Delinda, and I worked for a top-secret task force under the CIA's Special Activities Division. We disrupted human traffickers moving women and children in and out of Afghanistan."

"Wow, you're really CIA!" Hunter blurted out. "So, my dad is a spy?"

Delinda stood and offered her chair to Frannie. "Have a seat, Mrs. Hitchens. In fact, you all should sit down."

"Why?" Frannie asked.

Ben inhaled. "Because it appears that Agent Hitchens, erm, Cole is currently M.I.A. He's missing and we can't confirm his status."

Frannie covered her mouth. "What are you saying? Is Cole..." Frannie pulled her youngest daughter to her and covered Raven's ears. "...dead?"

"Is he?" Kaitlyn asked, a tear rolling down her cheek. She hugged Mr. Buttons to her chest in anticipation of the reply.

Delinda shook her head. "No, we're not sure of that. However, we do need to leave here quickly to make our way to our rendezvous point. If he is still alive, that is where he will come to find you guys."

"So, he doesn't know we're here, then?" Frannie asked.

"No, Cole and I decided that this was the way it had to be. The less he knew, the safer you would be," Chris replied. "This was just a backup safe house I arranged in case something happened."

"...and then something happened." Delinda added.

Frannie shook her head. "Why? What is all of this about?"

Chris looked over at Frannie. "When we were in Afghanistan, Mike, our FBI tag-along, had a run-in with a Chinese MSS agent..."

"MSS?" Frannie interrupted.

"Ministry of State Security." Delinda replied. "They're the Chinese version of the CIA."

"Ah,okay. Sorry."

"Don't apologize, Frannie...I know this is a lot to take in." Chris said as he shook his head. "So, anyways, this piece of crap was selling Chinese orphans and weapons to various Afghani tribal leaders in exchange for stolen U.S. military tech and intel. When Mike brought the piece of shit down, he had a smartphone on him that Delinda was able to hack. Oddly, one of the emails on the thing referred to an experimental weapon of mass destruction lab operating near Thompsonville, Virginia. The message was very cryptic, but it indicated that whatever was going on there, it was something big and of huge interest to the Communist regime. Cole immediately ran the info up to Langley. Basically, HQ yawned. Maybe there's something going on there that they're either aware of or approved of. At any rate, Cole then requested to be transferred home. He grew concerned that you guys might not be safe and didn't like the idea of some dark entity operating without regulation in his little slice of Heaven. Regardless, his request didn't go over too well with Langley and they refused, telling him that there were no positions open for him back home."