Becca XXX - Spring Tide Ch. 09

Authors note: - This is a follow on to the previous episode of Becca XXX. Spring Tide. Please read it before reading this or you will not understand the plot or characters.

Becca XXX. Spring Tide. Ch 09.

We left Valentin's burning house raging behind us and drove back towards Sennen Cove. The flames and smoke could be seen from miles away and it was only a matter of minutes before we saw the first fire engine scream past us on the main road. It had its siren on and blue lights flashing, but it didn't give us a second glance as we drove steadily away.

We watched The Crow turn back towards Penzance to set the gloryhole toilet block on fire, but we headed for The Surfiety at Sennen Cove.

The sun was rising and it was starting to get light as Natalie comforted the girls we'd rescued. They were all still pretty much out of it, but Nat used the time to uncuff the girls and make them as comfortable as she could. She also used the time to stow our weapons back into their hiding places, ready for our arrival back at Reef's place.

I wanted nothing more than to watch the video of the kidnapped girl on Valentin's laptop and snoop through his files to gather more clues, but with me driving and Natalie doing her thing, it would have to wait.

The smell of almonds was still in my nostrils mixing with the smell of sweaty young women in need of a good clean up and plenty of loving attention. Somewhere in the back of my brain I knew what the marzipan smell was, but I couldn't pinpoint it. I hoped that Katya and Reef weren't going to be too upset when they found out who we really were and why we were using them as part of our cover story. The fact that we'd rescued five girls from rape and abuse would surely win their favour.

I was thankful that the night had been as successful as it was even if it hadn't gone according to plan. Valentin and some of his men were dead, but we had no idea what effect, if any, that would have on Victor and his crew. Valentin had unwittingly told us that the attack was only a week away, but we still had no idea where or what it was.

As we entered Sennen, we pulled into a housing estate and did a series of right-hand turns, stopping for five minutes outside a bungalow to make sure we weren't being followed. We were about to bring five of Valentin's girls to The Surfiety and the last thing we wanted to do was bring a group of angry Russians to their doorstep.

"I think it's clear," said Nat, looking out of the rear window. "They'd be on us by now if they were following."

"Agreed," I said. "Let's go and face the music. I hope Reef and Katya are as understanding as they appear."

"I'm sure they'll forgive us for deceiving them once they understand what's at stake. Valentin was willing to die for his cause rather than tell us anything. This may be bigger than we thought."

"He told us enough," I said. "Let's get back and check his laptop. We've got a lot to get through."

We rejoined the main road and drove directly to our camp. It was only six a.m. and it felt weird to be driving through the sleepy tourist town after what we'd done only an hour before. The holiday maker's lives were nothing like mine and they would have no idea what was going on just a few miles up the road. Most of the population would be glued to their phones and wouldn't have a clue what was happening ten metres in front of them, never mind a few miles away.

Sandy Corner Lane was deserted as we drove through The Surfiety's gates, but not everyone was asleep. These guys were early risers, usually for the surf or for farm work and today was no exception. Reef, Waxer and Katya were walking from the shower block to the barn as we pulled in and they stopped to give us a wave. The vans were parked up on the hard standing and our space was still vacant, but we headed for the barn.

Reef looked bemused that I was the only one in the front seat and he looked even more confused when I parked up next to him and got out. I wanted to explain things before they got a look at the girls, but in my haste, I forgot what a mess I must have looked. I was still wearing the same clothes which were covered in mud and grime from crawling through the undergrowth. My face was grubby with dirt and sweat and my hair was a greasy mess.

"Jesus, that must have been some party you went to in Bristol," he gasped. "Are you ok?"

"It's been a hell of a couple of days," I smiled. "But I'm fine."

"Where's Natalie?" asked Katya with concern in her voice.

As she said that, Nat opened the front passenger door, having climbed through from the rear. She didn't want to open the sliding door as this would have alerted everyone that we had five naked drug addicts in the back.

"I'm here," said Natalie, looking as dishevelled as I did. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

Natalie's hair was a mess and she had blood spatter on her left cheek. It must have come from one of the guys we'd shot and in all the commotion she hadn't even noticed it.

"Are you bleeding?" asked Waxer, moving in to take a closer look. "And why do you smell of bonfires?"

"We have a confession to make," I interrupted. "We may not have been entirely truthful about why we are in Sennen Cove or about who we are."

"That's not what we're about, Becca," said Reef, holding his hands up to us. "We don't need to know any of that. We accept you for who you are. We don't need to know what you do for a living, that's why I've never asked. You are just two like minded souls who have found sanctuary and peace through the love of the waves. We're all equal here."

"We are, but we need your help with something," I replied. "You said this place was like a rehabilitation centre for rape victims, right?"

"Among other things, dah," Katya nodded. "Has something happened to you? We can go inside and discuss it if you wish, yes?"

"Nothing has happened to us... well not exactly, but something has happened to these girls," I slid the side door of the van open to reveal the five girls we'd rescued.

They were sitting on the floor and on the rock and roll bed which was folded up to form a seat. They squinted their eyes at the bright sunlight that was now spilling into the van. Maybe they'd been kept in the dark for so long that they'd forgotten what sunlight even looked like.

"Holy fuck," exclaimed Reef. "Where did you find them? Who are they?"

Katya, Reef and Waxer moved in for a closer look as the girls stared back at them with wide frightened eyes.

"Remember that guy you told us about, Katya? Valentin from Penzance? We rescued them from him," said Natalie. "We didn't know where else to take them after you told us that even the police are in his pocket, we had no choice but to bring them here."

Reef looked past the van towards the entrance to his camp. I knew what he was thinking so I put his mind at rest.

"You're safe," I said. "No one followed us and Valentin won't be bothering anyone again."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Waxer.

I gave him a look and a tiny shrug, raising my eyebrows at him and pursing my lips to one side.

"You killed him?" he gasped. "What the fuck? Who the fuck are you two?"

I was about to tell him when Reef cut in.

"It doesn't matter who they are," he said calmly. "They have done an amazing thing. We need to get them all cleaned up and into some dry clothes. Katya, can you help them into the shower block and then get them some hot food and drink? It looks like we have a lot of work to do here."

"Of course," she replied, climbing into the back of the van and talking to the girls. As soon as they heard her Russian accent, they cowered away from her and I could understand why. Russians meant trouble as far as they were concerned, but Natalie told them it was going to be ok and they slowly got out of the van one by one.

"You two look like you could do with a hot shower and some breakfast too," said Reef. "I need to make some calls to the drug rehab centre; we can't cope with this many at once."

"I'm so sorry," I said to him. "I didn't know where else to take them. I saw the amazing work you do here and hoped that you would take them in."

"We will, but they need to be drug free before we can start to rebuild their lives. Honestly Becca, its fine, you did the right thing. Are you sure you two are ok? Did Valentin do anything to you?"

"Let's get them cleaned up and then I'll tell you everything," I said, ignoring his question.

"Of course," he replied. "I'll wake the rest of the guys and get some hot food and drink on the go."

I helped to walk the girls to the shower block with Natalie and Katya as Reef headed into the barn with Waxer. The blonde and the brunette were a lot more with it than the others and reassured their friends that they were safe.

Reef was right to make himself scarce. The girls would have formed an impression about men after what they'd been through, and the sight of more strangers would probably freak them out.

Katya, the blonde and the brunette helped to wash the other three in the showers as Nat and I scrubbed up separately. The water beneath me was brown with a tint of red as I let it wash my sins away. I was exhausted through stress and lack of sleep, but I still had a lot to do. Sleep was the last thing on my mind.

Once we were showered and dried, Nat and I got dressed into something that looked more civilian and then helped Katya to find some clothes for the girls. Shorts and T-shirts were all she could find, but it was better than them being naked. It may have been a while since they'd felt the security of wearing clothes after being cuffed naked to the bed and used by God knows how many men.

With them washed and clothed, we walked them to the barn for some food and drink. None of them spoke and they looked bewildered and withdrawn. The MDMA would be wearing off from the two girls in the lounge, but the others still looked spaced out on heroine. It was difficult to see them in that state and I knew they had a hell of a lot to do before they were anything like normal again.

The smell of bacon and sausages filled my lungs as I walked into the barn and it only made me hungrier. There was a murmur of low voices which stopped when they saw us enter and I knew they'd been talking about us. What else would they be discussing when two surfer chicks turned up on their doorstep, claiming to have killed the biggest mafia boss the area had ever known, with five of his victims in tow?

The table was laid out with cutlery, mugs and a pot of coffee in the centre.

"Take a seat. You're safe now," Katya reassured them in a tone that counsellors use. "We'll get you some food and get you where you need to be."

Three spaced out zombies sat down with the blonde and the brunette. Reef and his boys started to plate up the food and serve it, but the girls seemed disinterested. The heroine would have suppressed their appetite, but eating was exactly what they needed.

Although they looked a lot better after a shower and clean clothes, they looked like what they were - crack whores. Innocent young women had been turned into a husk of their former selves thanks to Valentin and his regime. It only made me wish I'd killed more of them.

The seating area near the fire had the TV on with the volume low. I looked over to see the breaking news headlines for the national news. It always amazed me how quickly the parasitic media got a hold of the story.

'Arson attacks in Penzance' scrolled across the bottom of the screen and I moved in for a closer look. Natalie sat at the table, but Reef came to join me.

The screen was filled with the news reporter standing at a distance from Valentin's burning house. The firefighters were hosing it down, but there wasn't much left of the place. The roof and windows were gone and all that remained were the gable ends and the brickwork smouldering away.

Eleven body bags were lined up away from the ruins and the police were all over it.

'A gangland style killing appears to have taken place here in the sleepy outskirts of Penzance,' the male reporter said, using his best dramatic voice. 'The wanted crime lord Valentin Stalin is thought to have occupied these premises, but it is currently unclear what has caused the fire. The police and fire chief are adamant that the fire was started deliberately and the assumption has been made that this was a hit from a rival gang.'

The camera cut to other shots of blood splattered walls near the gatehouse and a blood-soaked floor in the garden. It then cut completely to a shot of the burning toilet block on the sea front.

'Foster-Bolitho Gardens has also been targeted with the toilet block being burnt to the ground,' he continued. 'It's thought that the two incidents are linked, but police are not speculating as to why at this time.'

"Was this you?" Reef asked. "Did you really do this?"

"Yes," was all I could come up with. "These girls were held captive at the house."

"Holy shit."

Grom and West Coast arrived to see the report as it switched back to Valentin's house.

"Fucking hell," gasped Grom. "It looks like a war zone. The guys told me what happened. What the fuck?"

"Are you and Natalie alright?" asked West Coast in his American accent.

"We're fine," I said. "I guess we've got some explaining to do."

"Who are you guys?" gasped Grom. "This is like something from a spy film."

"You don't need to answer that, Becca," Reef scowled at him. "We're all anonymous here if we want to be."

"No, it's fine," I smiled a tired smile. "We owe you guys an explanation."

"I don't think we need one," laughed West Coast. "You opened a can of whoop-ass on those sick bastards and literally burnt them to the ground."

"That wasn't our intention. Valentin was a means to an end. He's not the reason we're down here."

Natalie walked over with a coffee and a bacon sandwich for me, while Katya and the others made the girls comfortable.

I took the coffee and food and sat down, gesturing for the others to join me. They all sat with Natalie kneeling next to me.

"Why are you down here... if you don't mind me asking?" asked Grom.

I looked at Natalie and took a deep breath before turning back to them.

"We're part of a secret organisation that works in the shadows to prevent bad things from happening," I explained. "We have reason to believe that there is an imminent attack on our country from Russian mercenaries."

I let it sink in and watched their faces drop in shock.

"That group of Russia mercenaries are looking to attack something in Sennen Cove or the surrounding area," I continued. "Valentin had been hiding them until they make their move and that's why we went after him."

"Is he a terrorist?" asked Reef.

"No, just a local low life probably paid off to keep the Russian team hidden and supplied until they can make their move," added Nat.

"You're fucking joking, right?" quizzed West Coast. "There's fuck all down here. What are they doing?"

"We're not sure, but we know it's something big. Valentin decided to die rather than tell us anything."

"You tortured him?" Reef gasped.

"Something like that," I replied. "I'll spare you the details. The only thing we have to go on now is a video of a kidnapped girl on his laptop. We're hoping it will lead us to him and his team so we can take them out before it's too late."

"Fuuuuuuccckkkkk," groaned Grom. "I hear about this stuff, but I didn't know it actually went on. What are you? Black Ops?"

"Sort of. Our agency is so secret it doesn't have a name. It's all off the books. Classified above top secret," said Nat. "What we're telling you can go no further. We've already told you too much."

"You can trust us, everything here is confidential," said Reef. "Do you know what the target is?"

"We think there're three targets and three separate teams. Do the initials GH, AC or FA mean anything to you?" I asked.

They all looked bemused as they racked their brains for an answer.

"We think it has something to do with the war in Ukraine," added Natalie. "We know the Russians are stalled on the border. They're waiting for something and we think it's this Russian team. Whatever they're about to hit, it must be significant."

As she said that, the news report switched to Ukraine. The war correspondent was near the border with Russia, wearing his blue press body armour and helmet. He looked completely out of place with the bedraggled Ukrainian soldiers as he gave his report.

'The third day of fighting in this area has been sporadic and patchy as though it's a half-hearted attempt from Russia to push through this region,' he said, keeping his head down in a blown-out building. 'The Russian troops are only a few hundred metres away from our position, but are reluctant to push forwards. The reason for that is the recent influx of drone support from the US and the UN in this area. Trained Ukrainian troops are flying these drones from remote positions, miles from the front line and we believe that is why the Russians have stalled."

"I can't say as I blame them," laughed West Coast. "Some of my buddies state side fly those drones and I know how lethal they can be. The Reaper drones can wipe out entire platoons, including heavy armour at the push of a button."

"That's why we think one of the targets might be GCHQ," I said.

"What? In Bude?" said Reef. "I thought that was just a listening station."

"They're heavily involved in intelligence gathering and command of the troops on the ground," I said. "It's a legitimate target and it almost fits with the initials GH."

"What troops on the ground?" he quizzed. "I thought we were supporting them with weapons and equipment only."

"Yes, that's exactly right," I smirked. "Weapons and equipment only."

It took a moment for the message to get through, but his eyes widened when he realised what I was saying.

"Of course you've got troops on the ground," laughed West Coast. "You Limeys are fucking crazier than us yanks when it comes to secret warfare. I know the Seals and Delta are out there. I'm sure your SAS boys were there before we even thought about it. Our governments knew this was going to happen months before it started."

"So, you think the Russian team are here to take out GCHQ to sever the communications with our own troops?" asked Grom.

"It's highly probable," I said. "I'm sure the UK are also talking to the Ukrainian drone pilots too. They'll need all the help they can get with them. I still find it hard to believe that they can fly them so easily after such a short space of time."

"Me too," said West Coast. "Those drones are worth millions and you can't just pick up a game controller and become an expert overnight."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Grom. "If they're not flying them, who is?"

"It's more likely to be RAF pilots back here in the UK," he replied. "That way they can be involved in the war without even stepping foot out of England."

"Do you know where the drone pilots would be stationed?" I asked, feeling a lightbulb switch on in my head.

"I've no idea, but I suppose it could be GCHQ in Bude. They have all those radar domes and communication dishes. Maybe they have a designated building for drone pilots. Anything's possible."

"He might be on to something there," added Nat. "They could be flying them from three separate locations. Maybe that's what the three sets of initials signify. They could be air bases."

"We'll get our intel teams to check it out," I nodded. "Thanks for your input, guys. It always pays to have fresh eyes on the job."

I finished stuffing my face and already felt more energised. I downed my coffee and looked at the loose gathering of men around me.

"Well, I guess that's everything for now. Unless you know where a group of Russian terrorists are hiding or what the three sets of letters mean, we need to keep digging," I shrugged.