Mistress of Siren Cove

Chapter 19. Planning the Rescue

Elysia and her mother dressed quickly, not bothering to clean themselves of the signs of the Goddess they still wore. Exhausted and hungry as they were, they went to the office of the Mistress and pulled up maps on the large screen of a computer. Both remembered well the place from which the energy emanated, in the mountains of Peru. Recalling their visions, they both agreed on the place. They still carried the remnants of the enhanced power received from the Mother, and as they focused on that spot, it seemed to glow in their minds with the evil feel of the cultists. Their power was no longer strong enough to feel Connor's energy, but even when their power was at its greatest the night before, his energy was weak.

The Mistress made a call to a contact within the United States government, who was authorized to provide the Palace with real-time high resolution satellite imagery on a priority basis. Access was authorized by a high official who was married to one of the island women. They did not abuse this access, not wanting to bring suspicion down on the official who was under the siren's control. They called for priority access only when in great need. Otherwise, they waited in a queue like everyone else.

It took a bit of time to reposition the satellite, but eventually, it was done. They saw what seemed to be a large building on the side of a mountain. It was grey concrete, stained and difficult to distinguish from the mountainside on which it sat. The satellite feed was powerful, and they could make out armed men at the entrance.

Both women focused all their power on what they saw and confirmed that the cultist energy came from this place. They watched as a truck traveled toward the edifice and a great door opened to let it in. They could see no courtyard, so guessed that the vehicle was headed into a garage at the base of the building. They strained for any sign of Connor's energy, but there was nothing.

The Mistress made a call and a few minutes later a woman was admitted into the office. She was an average-looking woman named Mallory, who had come from off-island. Mallory was a retired colonel with the U.S. Marines and had been recruited to run their off-island operations.

"Good morning, Mal," said the Mistress. "We have a job to do. Important. Whatever you are doing, drop it now, and you may also have to pull some of our people out of the field for this one."

Mallory saw the serious look on the face of the Mistress, and the look on the face of her daughter. She knew there was trouble. She also saw that the faces of the two women were marked with the signs of the Mother Goddess and appeared to be exhausted almost to the point of collapse.

"Yes, Mistress."

"Mal, we believe a group of cultists is preparing to attack us. What you see on the screen here is what we believe to be their headquarters, in the Peruvian mountains. This is a real-time satellite feed of the building. We also believe that they have captured Connor Bechner, who has the rare trait of being immune to the siren power. The Goddess Mother has come to me and my daughter and told us that the cultists will try to become like him, meaning, we believe, that they will try to use him to become immune. With this immunity, they will try to attack this island and destroy it."

"The Mother has told us to use our own scientific knowledge to figure out exactly what they are going to do so that we can defeat them. Assemble a team and make plans to get to this stronghold of theirs and neutralize them. Start now. Elysia and I must now eat and rest, and we will review your plans this afternoon."

"Before we go, mother," said Elysia, "can I suggest to Mallory to ask our scientific people to investigate the possibility of the cultists studying Connor's blood to find a genetic mutation that gives Connor this immunity? The cultists might be able to use this information to develop some kind of gene therapy to provide immunity to their men. I think that something like this is what the Goddess Mother was referring to when she said we should use science. What do you think?"