Whist Hannah was displaying all the instincts of her profession in helping her students to be successful self-motivated individuals, the civil war continued around her. Back in the harbor city, three commando snipers were meeting to plan their next black op. assignation. As the oldest sister by a mere three minutes, Major Otrera Doras took the chair. He sister Antiope with her brunette hair down to her waist was impatient to get away on this new mission for the President. On the other hand her sister Penthesileia' s golden blonde hair hid her high intelligence but could not hide a strongly felt apprehension about the risks involved in their latest mission. All three young women were exceptionally fit, sharp eyed, steady of hand and experienced snipers. But political assignations tend be fraught with severe blow-back ramifications. So there was much heated debate between these three siblings.
Otrera tried to get back control of her sisters by bluffing them into the thinking that everything was simple and straightforward. She said in a confident tone of voice,
"Look all we have to do is wait for the two of them to leave the harbor-side official residence. They have to walk out onto the street as no cars are allowed in except the President's own car. When they go to their car two of us take them both out with one shot each. The third sniper will then kill any secret service guard who seems to be ready to return fire. In the proceeding confusion we make out escape via the ferry wharf. I have arranged for a fast bait to meet us there so we can clear any roadblocks or perimeter security clampdown."
Penthesileia could see the flaw in this plan straight away. Not convinced by her sister's bluff she said in a disbelieving tone of voice,
"A good plan except for two small details. The secret service will have a helicopter covering the motorcade. The water police will also have a support police launch. What about those apples in your simple pie Otty?"
Annoyed that her clever sister had called her bluff, Otrera tried the big sister veto approach by saying in an angry tone of voice,
"Don't call me Otty. Dad use to call me that just before he deserted us and Mum. My name is Otrera to celebrate our mother's Greek heritage. How would you like it if I called you Penty? As for the helicopter support I have had some talk with their base commander. Seems that such support can be cancelled at a minute;s notice if there is a reported rebel attack in the city."
Now suspicious of her sister's tactics as some sort of mask for her hidden agenda Penthesileia said in a sarcastic tone of voice
"How you can even remember our father, given that he abandoned us when we were only two years old ,is beyond me. As for calling me Penty I have no objections. It certainly is better than having to spell my first name out to everyone I meet, then do it all over again because no one can remember such an ancient Greek name. Why Mum named us after the daughters amazonian warriors. Okay it was great to be named after an Amazonian Queen who was wise, brave and skillful with weapons. Even better to have been the one to kill Achilles. That is until Zeus brought him back to life to kill that Amazonian Queen. But the spelling of my name is a pain in the backside. Just like this mission will be if that police boat catches us fleeing the scene of a double homicide."
Neither sister was prepared to back down, so Antiope yet again had to come between them to mend their dispute. She said in an amused tone of voice,
"Well I love my name. Especially after Penty, say I like that can I use that all the time, found out that the mythical Antiope had babies with three gods. Then she had a baby with Hercules. When she finally stopped playing the field of Gods and godlings she married the Trojan priest who saw the trick in the Greeks' Trojan Horse. Cool name all around. But as for your concern about that patrolling police boat surely its standard practice for the secret service to keep state police forces in the dark. We can rely on jurisdiction jealousies to keep the police boat guessing until its too late to stop us escaping."
Both Otrera and Penthesileia were stunned by the perspicacity of the sister they both privately saw as the "dumb one". Still both had to admit that her insight into inter jurisdictional cooperation was correct. The secret service would tell the state harbor police as little as possible. Especially after they had failed to protect the Vice-President and her husband. Al the three of them had to do was hide their sniper rifles in their backpacks and pretend to be tourists. The secret service would be too busy with their road block and perimeter check points to spot such a simple escape plan. Procedure and habit would work in their favor of escaping capture by both secret service agents and harbor police officers. Especially as the harbor would be packed for the celebrations for Australia Day.
So Otrera was able to assume the role of "mother" and serve up the tea that awaited the end of their debate. After her sister had calmed down she said in a conspiratorial tone of voice,
"Lets raise our tea cups to the success of our latest Presidential assignment. This is the big one. After this we all get promoted. Then we can proceed to build up our own power bases. Here's to the three Doras sisters!"
The triplets raised their cups in salute both to their golden futures and to their mother's foresight. It was Antiope again who broke the awkward silences that had developed between suspicious sisters. She said in a sad voice
, "I miss our mother so much. She raised us on her own for most of our lives. Sent us to the best school she could afford. Worked three jobs to keep us fed, clothed and educated. Then she insisted we go to military university. We owe her a lot. Pity we can't hug her anymore."
All three sisters had loved their little mother dearly. These hardened trained killers now broke down as they remember edher painful and sudden death from pneumonia. Tears flowed down their cheeks as sadness griped their dark souls.
At the headquarters of the most successful business in the harbor city Madam Jill Chiu was counting her money and her blessings. Actually Madam Chiu no longer knew exactly how much money she had stashed away in various tax havens. No longer just the Queen of city brothels, Madam Chiu was now Empress of the whole sex industry in her city. Of course much of her fame was due to her skillful use of her most valuable asset. Antoine Monaco had been the number one courtesan to all the city's rich and powerful men. After six years at the top it was time for her to retire and run her own operation. This may have upset the old Madam Chiu but not the modern Czarina of sex. She was even prepared to lend Antoine the money to begin her new phase of life for a percentage of the venture of course but at low interest rates.
Now Madam Chiu was having a business meeting with Antoine but not about the future. This was about the stunning revelation made to Antoine by her lover who was very high up in President Dent's administration. Even the hard headed Madam Chiu could not believe the latest ploy of that paranoid President. She asked Antoine to repeat what she had just revealed. In a hushed tone of voice to avoid being overheard by the other girls Antoine said,
"Its true madam. The Deputy Secretary of State was here in my room telling me that a new Vice President would be needed and I quote: 'As soon as Dent gets rid of the current one and that is imminent.' that is what he said word for word!"
Trying to make sense out of this news Madam Chiu said,
"I knew that the President was paranoid but that is insane. The only way that could happen would be if the Vice President was dead."
Antoine was nodding her head as she finished up her story
"Yes that is what he implied and it will be very soon."
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