The continuing story, City of Churches – OWLS Club Chapter 5

You don’t have to have read the original OWLS Club to appreciate this new storyline. But it does include many of the original characters.

This Chapter starts to incorporate two other stories, An Evil Woman and A Stella & Margarita Story and it may seem confusing if you haven’t read those stories. This Chapter begins where Part 6 of a Stella & Margarita Story ended.

It is a mystery, there is murder, some gore and violence and some sex between consenting adults, who happen to be gay or Bi women. You will notice some old familiar names and many new ones.

***WARNING***

The story starts to get a little dark. There is some EXTREME VIOLENCE so if you are sensitive to such things, ‘look away now’.

The Chinese Unit.

Lui Wang AKA Madam Lai (Real name Josephine Clements – Ref: City of Churches Pt 4)

Lui Wang was a 30-year-old Chinese operative, the CCP’s most prized asset in Australia. A promiscuous gay woman, who had more dirty secrets about her own government than any other. This gave her a certain amount of freedom. She had set up a very secret and profitable sideline, dealing with mainly white teenagers from Australia and making them available, at some cost, to certain individuals in places of influence in key regions around the world. It had provided her with some wealth as well as some pleasure along the way.

Grace Kai Soo Lin

Grace Kai Soo Lin was in her mid-40s a trained killer and had worked her way up both on her knees and on her back to answer solely to the General Secretary of the CCP. She was there to keep the Chinese Government informed and Madam Lai, as she was known, in line. Her orders were simple, do not let Lui Wang or their Australian situation fall into their enemy’s hands.

The small group of fifteen specially selected soldiers from the PLA were there to assist, as required and were hand-picked by Lui Wang. She was somewhat disappointed that a mere civilian had easily disposed of 5 of her select team. They had become soft and complacent she wondered to herself. More than once they had shown their lack of professionalism. Only eleven remained of her small group of armed soldiers who landed on a stretch of the South Australian coast known as the Coorong. The journey from the southern ocean took no time at all, but the briefing from her Chinese and Russian masters took much longer. The Russian submarine had laid dormant on the ocean floor to avoid the searching American and Australian sub-chasers and hunters. Because of their proximity to the Australian coastline, the time to disembark was limited to twelve minutes. The Russian crew and the Chinese group were well-trained, it wouldn’t take them any longer than that.

Their mission was straightforward prepare the groundwork for a mole to be instilled into the Advisory Committee. This meant that an existing member had to be eliminated or compromised. The AUKUS Advisory Committee meeting at the Osborne Submarine Construction Yard was due to commence on the last weekend of May and run for four days. The Advisory Committee was the group that actually does all the hard work, there were no politicians seeking to grandstand or military types wanting to make a name for themselves. Just a group of a dozen hardworking public servants. These 12 people were in fact so unseen that they were almost invisible. Four from each nation making up the treaty group. Plus a smaller sub-group for each nation to put forward their planning ideas in the unlikely event that hostile actions break out. All were very low-key and highly professional. They were trained to work together. To put apart any petty differences as each government knew that the war clouds were gathering on the horizon.

Lui Wang or AKA Madam Lai had two plans, but before she could implement either of them, she had to figure out who these invisible people on the committee were. The first of the two plans was to infiltrate a planned social gathering (The British and Americans all the time held a function at these sorts of events) and try to obtain some indiscrete moment that may be used to compromise one of the committee members. Failing that she would have to eliminate, one of them, discretely, of course, said member would have a heart attack at some inconvenient moment.

She knew that the security at the base would be at the highest level and that a confrontation or assault upon the group was out of the question, this wasn’t or couldn’t even look like an act of war, even though technically it was. All nations play these silly games and nothing ever sees the light of day.

Once the group were put ashore, they were told to get to their base in Adelaide and to meet at their ‘safe house’ in Port Adelaide. Be careful and discrete they were told and to avoid any conflict. Grace and Madam Lai travelled together. First to Goolwa, then to Victor Harbor before catching a bus to Adelaide.

They found separate seats and ignored each other, not being overtly rude but so as not to draw any undue attention to themselves. They were the only Asian people on the bus. Grace read a book, a cheap R King erotic novel, while the younger Lui Wang put on her earphones and played music. The 3-hour bus trip went slowly and they continued to stay clear of each other once they arrived at the Franklin Street depot in the heart of the CBD. Neither of them noticed any surveillance teams, because there weren’t any in the intrastate depot, they were though in the interstate depot.

Grace caught a tram down to the entertainment centre, while Lui Wang sat in a coffee shop watching, waiting to see a face she might have seen once before that day. She took her time. She didn’t recognise anyone. She walked until she found what she was looking for, a phone shop, she casually walked in and bought a cheap phone and a twenty-dollar sim card. She paid in cash and found the busy Macdonald’s at the end of Rundle Mall, she sat and assembled the phone then made a call. It was answered immediately. She spoke in Chinese briefly and told the person on the other end of the phone to come and collect her. She was told it would take 20 minutes. She grunted her reply. She left the phone on a seat after deleting the call info, she took the sim card out and then walked to a coffee shop further down the street to escape the noise from the madhouse that was called MacDonald’s, dropping the sim card into a stormwater drain in the gutter.

She ordered her coffee and a glass of water, then sat outside under an awning she was looking at the passing people. Waiting to see a familiar face. Being paranoid comes with the profession. She saw the black van coming towards her, moving slowly, caught in the city traffic, she smiled to herself, all the hard work of keeping a low user account could be undone by one simple silly mistake, like using the same vehicle for everything. She stood up, finished her coffee and started walking towards the van. Moving along the street was easy enough the traffic was hardly moving, she walked up to it, opened the door and got straight in while the van didn’t even need to stop.

The first thing she told the driver while glaring at him, was, “Get rid of the van, today. Get three four-seater vehicles, no get SUVs in different colours. Why do I even have to tell you to do this? Fuck, you are all fucking idiots,” She spoke exclusively in Chinese when with she was with her own people, even though they could all speak English. “She continued, “This van is known to the authorities, fuck even that stupid fucking girl followed you,” She kept shaking her head and banging on the dashboard. “Go to the tram stop at the entertainment centre and pick Grace up,”

The anger was building within her. She had let her group become sloppy and complacent, to such a degree they had made her feel uneasy. Having to closed down her little slave market annoyed her also. She knew she had someone within her group reporting back to Beijing. She would deal with that at a more convenient time.

They arrived at the tram stop at the Entertainment Centre and parked in the Pickup N Go parking spots. Grace appeared out of nowhere and jumped in the front seat next to Lui Wang, she saw in her looks and knew that something was troubling her. She said nothing in front of the driver other than asking a question. “Why are we still using this van?”

The look in her Mistress’s eye’s told her the question had been dealt with.

The trip to the Port Adelaide warehouse, come safe house, come base took them 45 minutes for the 20-minute journey, just to be certain they were not being followed, even discretely, the driver took every precaution, fully aware that the ‘boss’ was back and she was not at all happy.

He sent a message to their base as he turned into Hargrave Street and by the time the van arrived at number 3, the roller door was up and the van drove straight in. Security around the large warehouse was paramount. The building was built in the late 1800s in red brick and was three stories high. The first floor had been stripped away for the priceless red jarrah timber, as were parts of the top floor, this is where Lui Wang had established her ‘home’ and office. In effect, there was only one way up to the third floor by a magnificent wooden staircase. Anyone positioned at the top of the staircase had a clear line of sight down to the front door. The only entrance was through the ground-floor garage, which had been reinforced by the Chinese gang. The group that had been left behind to ‘clean up’ the mess that was the slave trade now had to face Madam Lai who was about to be brought up to date on the current situation.

She issued her orders for the cars to be bought, three different second-hand car yards in three different locations, different makes and colours. All were to be SUVs and not current models. She asked after the two missing personnel.

The Chinese agent who had been left in charge started to tell the story of the botched kidnapping attempt of the girl at the skate park who had been paid to lure street kids to a party house in Hendon. He started with the successful elimination of the kiosk contact and his employee.

“Madam Lai, we did as per our orders go to the contact at Semaphore Kiosk and eliminate him, unfortunately, one of his employees was there and she was also eliminated. The local police reported it as a robbery-murder. No mention of anything unusual,”

“Did you make it look like a robbery?” Madam Lai asked, with a hard stare. The man reporting felt uneasy in replying.

“Madam Lai, we did our best but did not want to remain on site for any longer than necessary,” He hung his head by way of saying they did not.

“You didn’t make it look like a robbery yet it was reported as such, is that so, that in itself is unusual,” She told them.

He continued, “During the meeting with him, he was persuaded to give us the name of another he was using to help him gather the street vermin. His employee knew nothing,”

“Tell me how you left the bodies, in detail,” Madam Lai instructed him.

“Madam Lai, they were left bound with the mark of a ‘triangle’ on them both as instructed. They were executed with a bullet to the head,”

“So the local police found two people bound, tortured and executed and they record it as a robbery-murder. Not very clever of you. I fear our presence may be known, you fool,” She told him.

“What did you do about the other contact he gave you?” Madam Lai asked.

“Madam Lai, this is where we lost our two colleagues. The girl at the skate park was protected by a group of large bikie gang members, we were outnumbered but put up a strong fight, we managed to inflict a lot of damage on them but they had far superior numbers and both of them went down fighting,”

His story did not ring true, she had left two key members of her private group to oversee the assault on anyone, and they were killed by local bikie gang members. Highly unlikely she thought. She looked up at Grace, who looked back at her, her facial expression said the same thing, ‘he is lying’.

“How was it reported by the local authorities?” She asked.

“It wasn’t reported, Madam Lai”

“Is that right?” She stated to no one in particular. She changed the subject suddenly, “Have you heard from our ‘land lords’?” she continued.

The man speaking had broken out in a sweat, his brow glistening as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face.

“Madam Lai, his gang has disappeared, we suspect they have been killed in a large shootout. Their house is riddled with bullet holes. We have not seen them for over two weeks now. They did all the time come around every Friday for their rent,”

She looked at Grace once again. Then speaking to her in English, clearly stated. “Too many coincidences Grace, I fear they are on hi-alert. First, the ship suddenly malfunctions and takes on water, sabotage no doubt. Then the Australians and the Americans turn up literally overnight at our rendezvous with our Russian friends. They must have been forewarned. We still haven’t heard what happened to our cargo, no news, in this case, is not good news. OK if it sunk before the Americans got there, but if it didn’t and that Myers woman somehow kept them alive, then they are one more loose end. Now we have to add into the equation the loss of our two to a so-called bikie gang and our landlords going missing. Just way too many coincidences, and in my mind there are no such things,”

Grace stood there, looking at her and at the remaining crew. “Madam Lai, I think we need to split the group, let us assume this girl at the skate park can be easily found and eliminated, where would the Americans take the cargo, for safekeeping? A warship is no place for 24 civilians,” She concluded.

She continued explaining her thoughts. “You select a few to take care of the AUKUS group, while I take care of the loose ends. If I can do it quickly we can again meet and work together on your plans,” She kept looking at Lui Wang waiting for an answer.

“You make a lot of sense Grace, I won’t need a large crew to help me figure out about their meeting and who ‘they’ are. Mostly electronic work and researching, I will need 4 at most including myself,” She explained. Then turning to the crew she had with her and speaking in Chinese to them, “You three will do the work of 6 people. First the cars today and dump that van. Do not trade it, burn it away from here. Then I need you to figure out what happened to our landlord. No sleeping until you know for certain what happened, no guesswork, just facts. Now go!”

The three men scurried away, thanking their lucky stars they were still alive.

Freddie and his team.

Freddie is a nerd, smart, intelligent, and knows what must be done and how to do it. He is no street agent and not someone you want out of his element. So when the Major asked for ‘eyes’ on number 3 Hargrave Street he knew what to do. He set up several surveillance cameras via drones on buildings in the street, two were fitted across the road from number 3. Within 6 hours of being told what she wanted she had a live feed direct to her phone. The Major could switch from each camera at any time.

His team consisted of 5 other people plus himself. They were known as Freddie and the Dreamers, all youngish nerdy types, who knew how to hack any program, any phone, anywhere and at any time, sometimes it took them several hours or days to get into a really secure site, but most times it took them less than an hour or so. They were specialists, quiet people and very nondescript. Not the type of people you would think could work for one of the most lethal government departments in the land.

That is not to say these people weren’t aware of the dangers they faced, day to day. They were alert and knew how to throw off someone who they thought might be following them, or how to just disappear in a crowded room or on a busy street. They may be more inclined to work inside away from actual danger but they weren’t dumb or cowards, if they had to they could pick up a gun and know how to shoot it. Not that they could hit anything but if you were facing them, would you take that chance?

They were about to get a new member added to their little team and she will become the smartest of them all, combined.

The Major.

The Major walked back and collected her bike from where she left it and told the street thug watching it that he was now in charge of whatever he wanted to do. She told him that what was once a gang in which he was a member, was no more. He was told not to go to the house right now, but to leave it until later that night. He looked confused but said nothing as the Major kicked her bike into life and roared off. He of course didn’t listen to the advice and went straight to the house, he got there after the clean-up crew. He watched as four large rolls of carpets were put in a very plain van. He watched as people came and went with mops and brooms. They kept taking boxes of, something, from the house. He was spotted, and when he saw them looking at him, he too decided to disappear.

All the Major had to do now is watch the screens and wait. Sleep would be near impossible, even though she knew others were watching the same images and would alert her as soon as something or someone appeared. She lay on her bed in the crappy little sleepout, wanting and needing a shower or a bath, oh what she would give to be luxuriating in a bath with Margarita right at that moment. She closed her eyes as her hand wandered down to her jeans, undoing a button and then lowering the zipper, she edged her fingers into the top of her knickers and slowly pushed them down as her hand rested on her mound. She started to rub the flat of her hand over her bushy mound and started to feel the moisture begin to seep from her core, then using her finger she parted her labia, her folds, as her finger found its way into her creases. It felt wonderful. With every stroke, she saw Margarita’s smile as if she was helping her hand move back and forth. She couldn’t stop thinking of her sweet little Mags oh how it turned her on so much. The pace quickened as she found her entrance and inserted two fingers into herself, her backside lifted off the bed. Stella blocked everything else out as she let her fingers take her to paradise. As she orgasmed she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she slept soundly for hours.

She woke feeling relaxed and contented. She smiled to herself. She looked outside the day was ending, and the night was creeping in. She felt her stomach growl, and looked at her two phones, no messages. She threw her legs off over the side of the bed, and stood up, grabbing hold of her jeans, she tidied herself up and then wheeled the bike out. She kicked it into life once more and went off in search of a feed. She knew that this was going to be the worst part of any mission, the waiting.

She found a pub, the Royal serving counter meals. It wasn’t that busy, she sat at an empty table and there were plenty to choose from. Read through the menu then went and ordered a steak and chips, with mushroom sauce, medium to well done. And a pint of Coopers Pale Ale. She paid in cash. Then went and sat back at her table and waited once more. She watched the locals come and go, old bar flies mostly and the barmaid was well past her prime, but pretty in her own way. She smiled at her when their eyes met, but all that Stella had on her mind was Mags, her mission and getting it done. She felt the two guns in her pockets. She made a mental note to clean them when she got home.

Margarita.

Margarita felt a little sadder, she felt responsible for whatever the Matron had said to her. She knew that this meeting that Bianca was meant to attend was something more than just a chat about her work performance. She tried to open a conversation with Bianca but only got one-word answers, which she knew from personal experience was a way of concealing anger. She did it a couple of times with Stella, but at least with Stella, when they got into bed she made her talk. Stella was always adamant that they were never going to sleep angry with each other, so on those times when she was mad at her, Stella made her talk and tell her. She found most times it was she who was at fault but Stella never let her feel bad about it. Now she had to find a way to make Bianca feel like that. If only Stella was here she thought. Then sighed, loudly. Bianca looked at her and asked, “What was that all about?”