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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Jennifer had just, somewhat at least, introduced herself to the real FSB Colonel. “I am sure we don’t need to threaten each other,” said the Colonel, “do we?” “I am sorry Colonel,” apologized Jennifer, “sometimes the stress when things go wrong, leads to harsh language.” “I understand,” replied the Colonel, “it happens to all of us, especially in dangerous situations.”
“When Sapphire mentioned I was the leader,” explained Jennifer, “she meant of our team here. Our head leader could not come with us this time due to being too sick.” “I see,” said the Colonel, “those 3 young women must be very important to you since you are willing to risk your lives in this way.” “They are friends of some of our team,” said Sapphire, “so that makes them important to us.”
“Your leader called you Sapphire,” said the Colonel, “a beautiful name, but not the name I remember for that young woman who escaped with her father. So I must have been mistaken.” Sapphire realized what the Colonel was saying, that she was not interested in her, since she is obviously not the same woman. “You look to be very young,” continued the Colonel, “but you are very skilled in your position. I would say your leader must be very proud of you.”
Sapphire didn’t quite know how to answer, she just blushed. “Yes, he certainly is,” said Jennifer, “oh, your new prisoners are now secured.” “Thank you so much,” said the Colonel, then asked if she could make a phone call. Jennifer said it would be okay. “She is telling her people not to come back here,” said Sapphire, “she said everything is fine, but she did ask for one woman to come and join her.”
A young woman came in quickly, but she was not dressed in an FSB uniform and she looked about the same age as Sapphire. “This is my niece, Aurora,” said the Colonel, “she lost her family a couple of years ago, so she came to live with us. She always hoped to get away from here since here she lives in constant fear. She can tell you what happened.
She needs to get out of the country, go somewhere, anywhere, so she can be safe, or she will likely end up in that same penal colony you rescued your friends from, it is one of the worst places. So far I have been able to keep her safe, but for how much longer I do not know. I told her she needs to pray for a miracle to get out of our country. Perhaps you are her miracle?
Really, she has done nothing wrong and she would make a wonderful friend, if given a chance.” Jennifer noticed the tears rolling down the Colonel’s face. “If she would like to come with us,” said Jennifer, “then we would be very happy to take her along. And we will look after her like one of our own.” Jennifer and Sapphire hugged the Colonel and Aurora.
The Colonel then drew a map for our team showing the best way to walk through the forest to the border, which is about 20km away. “I’m sorry that I cannot help you at the border,” said the Colonel, “I will be telling them that you got off here to search for the escaped women.” At that point Sky and Angel walked in the door at the end of the passenger car.
“Friends of yours, no doubt,” said the Colonel smiling, then she frowned, “but how did they get on the train? We are going too fast for anyone to just jump on.” “This is Sky and Angel,” said Sapphire, “perhaps we could say they are the miracle that your niece was praying for.” The Colonel then stopped the train so our team could leave safely, and they were soon back in the forest, walking toward the border with Latvia.
“There will be many soldiers at the border fence,” said Aurora, “it will not be easy to get across without being seen.” “The fence is a minor problem,” said Jennifer, “but staying out of sight so the soldiers don’t see us will be harder. But our friends that joined us on the train will make the job a little easier. We will get it done, one way or another.”
She then smiled to reassure Aurora as Jennifer could see she was anxious looking. “I don’t mind saying,” said Aurora, “that I am very nervous about this part. If I get caught, it will mean that penal colony for me most certainly. And my aunt will never know.” “Don’t worry,” said Jennifer comfortingly, “we won’t let that happen to you, and that’s a promise.
Now, instead of worrying, think about your new home and new friends that lie ahead.” “Hey, look, a cat!” exclaimed Aurora. Jennifer called her over and she came bounding through the dried grass and jumped into Jennifer’s waiting arms. “This is Jewel, my special kitty,” said Jennifer. “She even has her own backpack,” said Aurora, quite surprised.
“Yes, she has food, water, toys and a few other necessities in there,” said Jennifer. “That is so cool,” said Aurora, “may I hold her?” Jewel was soon lying down on top of Aurora’s backpack watching the forest around them for enemies. Now that they were safely away from the train, our team changed out of the FSB uniforms and into regular clothes again.
They pushed on at a fairly fast pace since they wanted to make it to the border before it got dark. “People coming,” said Angel. “They are still quite far away,” Jennifer told Aurora, “Angel has excellent hearing. But whenever she says that, please come close to me and hold my hand. You will have to trust me on this for a while, please.” “Yes, I can do that,” she replied, smiling.
Soon 4 soldiers came walking by and Rock, Bear and Oskar jumped them, quickly subduing them. Then they continued on their journey. Unfortunately Celeste and Valeska were tiring very quickly now and they hadn’t quite covered half the distance. So, while Sapphire kept Aurora busy, a lion appeared and they put the saddle on it for the two girls and they were ready to go.
Aurora was mystified by this sudden appearance of a huge lion, but Jennifer said it was a pet of Sky and Angel. She seemed to be satisfied with that explanation. The rest of the day seemed to go by quickly and soon they heard a lot of noise from soldiers walking back and forth, so they knew the border was just ahead.
“Where are the rescued girls?” whispered Aurora. “They are already across the fence and with our friends who are waiting for us,” whispered Jennifer. “Wow, that was fast,” she replied. “You and Sapphire will be next,” said Jennifer, “are you ready for your miracle?” “I have been ready for a long time,” said Aurora, smiling…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Sky did not like the news received from Jennifer about real FSB agents waiting to get on the train, neither did Aari. “This could definitely be big trouble for them,” said Aari, “and there is no way we can help them either.” “Stop the car Aari,” said Sky, “let’s take a look at something. Also, contact Misty and let her know what is happening.”
“Hey Aari,” said Misty, “guess what? Steve is okay now, would you like to talk with him?” Aari said yes, so Misty transferred his call to me. I was getting my massage at the time, but took the call when I found out it was Aari. He filled me in on the good news first, then told me about the possible bad news for the other team. I asked Sky if she could possibly get there with Angel to help out.
I also asked Cristy to find out what village they would likely be stopping at, Sky needs to know in order to get there. Cristy got back to me amazingly fast, since there was only one village along the way. Actually it was a town but most of it was not visible from the train. Sky and Angel were quickly on their way, but even with their fast travel ability the train had already left and was out of sight, so they returned to Aari.
Now, back on the train, with our team slightly worried at this point. Since it was already known that some FSB agents (our team) were on the train, it stopped at the right passenger car to allow the new agents to board the train. There were only 4 other passengers on that car with our team and they were at the opposite end.
As the train was stopping, Sapphire went around to our team members and told them exactly what to do. Fortunately, Sapphire knew from her dad how the FSB operated and so she chose one type of operation that just might work. If not, then they would have to do some fighting to get off the train safely before getting too close to the border.
They really didn’t want to do that, but, sometimes plans need to be changed at the last minute, and sometimes quite drastically. Sapphire is the top officer in our FSB group, dressed as a Colonel, though she does look young, mainly because she is only 21. She is hoping that the officers coming on board will be of lower rank than her, then there will be less problems.
One problem though is the length of Sapphire’s hair, which is longer than is usually allowed. Only another officer would likely notice that however. Fortunately there were only 4 men that came on board, the highest ranking officer being a captain, which was perfect. But then another agent came on, this time a woman, and she would definitely notice Sapphire’s longer hair.
The captain came along and tried talking to our FSB agents, but none returned answer to him, they just sat looking straight ahead. This angered the captain and he yelled out asking who was the officer in charge. He had obviously been looking for a man and didn’t even pay attention to Sapphire even though he was almost at her seat. She stood up slowly.
“What is your problem, CAPTAIN?” she asked, emphasizing his lower rank. “Your agents are…” he began angrily, but he suddenly stopped when he noticed that Sapphire was a Colonel. “You are to salute a higher ranking officer, CAPTAIN!” she exclaimed sternly. He did so immediately and apologized right away for not recognizing her rank. He then tried to excuse his actions by blaming the agents under her care.
Sapphire asked him to sit with her so she could explain. The seat configuration was such that 2 faced one way and two faced the opposite way, so four people could sit together. The captain asked the woman agent with him to join them and Sapphire had Nakedra join them as well. Unfortunately Nakedra knew very little Russian so she faked having a severe sore throat and refrained from speaking for the most part.
Sapphire explained that she was testing some new FSB agents in transporting criminals, though the criminals used were actually other FSB agents. She had been told that they might be used at the border in helping to find the escaped women from the penal colony, if no other agents could be found. Then they talked about normal things for a bit and the other woman remarked on Sapphire’s very long hair and indeed all of the women’s long hair in her group.
Sapphire explained that they had been chosen for a certain undercover operation coming up and the long hair was a requirement for it. However, as per usual rules, she was not able to talk about the secret operation. The captain and the woman were satisfied with this explanation, knowing that Sapphire was correct in what she said.
Then the captain began to ask Sapphire about the testing of her new agents. Sapphire was able to answer every question with ease and also answered questions about where she was from. She was almost tripped up on his last question, so she decided it was time for a diversion. “I have noticed that man at the other end,” she began, “the one wearing the leather jacket. He has been watching us intently ever since we sat down here together.”
The captain looked casually behind him, as did the woman with him. The man in question turned to look out the window when they did. “He looks familiar somehow,” said Sapphire. The woman took a laptop out of her briefcase and began to look through photos. “There, that is him,” she said, and showed the captain and Sapphire.
The Captain then stood up and the men with him and began walking down to the other people. Once there the two men stood up and shot the Captain and his men. The women then got up too and all began to run down toward Sapphire and her team. Sapphire and Nakedra stood up and shot the two women and the one man, but the other man was close and Rock stood up in the aisle, blocking it.
The man ran into Rock but Rock didn’t move at all. He then punched the man who fell flat on his back and was out cold. “The others are alive too,” said Sapphire, “we are using sleeping darts.” “Very good,” said the woman as she stood up and removed her jacket revealing her uniform underneath. She too was a Colonel, but still a higher rank than Sapphire, so Sapphire saluted her.
“No need for that Colonel,” she said, “thank you for helping us capture these men and women. It would look good on your record, if you really were a Colonel, which we both know you are not. I also have 20 agents and soldiers on the car ahead of this one. I have already called them and told them to come here if they do not hear from me after a set time.”
“What now?” asked Sapphire, “My team and I can’t just give up without fighting.” “Yes, I am sure that is the case,” she said, smiling, “so perhaps we can talk instead. Do you have handcuffs to use for these new prisoners? They killed an FSB officer, his wife and 3 young sons. Oh, I also speak English if you would prefer.” “That would be nice for my friends,” said Sapphire.
“A while back a certain Colonel and his daughter left our country,” said the Colonel, “one might think you are the daughter, though I do not see the father.” “It is possible that the Colonel mentioned by you might be dead,” said Sapphire, “because it might be possible that he betrayed his friends.” “I see,” said the Colonel, “I am sure that if such a thing happened it would make the daughter quite sad.”
“Yes, I am sure it would, Colonel,” said Sapphire, “now, um, what will happen to us? A fight will kill some on both sides.” “And you would be the first,” said Jennifer, who was now standing next to them. “This is the actual leader of our team,” said Sapphire.
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 