….lead in……… “I have had a few ‘accidents lately, as well.” He said that there was nothing provable, but with more close calls in this one month in the last five years he was getting suspicious. He sighed and looked up with a pleading expression and asked Miss Ess if she would help him figure all this crap out. “You’re my only hope,” he said.
Now although Miss Ess had literally a worldwide reputation and had helped hundreds of criminals get their ‘just desserts’, she didn’t have a face that was well known. In most cases she and Humphry as well as a few close associates worked under-cover behind the scenes and used lawyers and a small group of privately working experts to get the day to day things handled. Miss Ess was the head of a group of experts that while not helping they were doing research and training in each of their fields of expertise.
Some of them were the computer kids, an intricate part of the team, twins that had no match anywhere worldwide. They were constantly building and designing new computer games and technologies. Their names were Peanuts and Pixie.
In a spot decision Miss Ess decided to help David. She would get into a few other details and people that would help them later on. His face was a study in relief!
She discussed some details with him and told him that he now had a new assistant that he would take with him everywhere. Beneath her mild exterior Miss Ess knew her to be an expert in hand to hand combat and her name was Tarrah. She would be the go-between for Miss Ess and David since they should not be seen together. Tarrah would be the front person with her eyes and ears open, at all times!
Miss Ess would take a much more minor position in the world of Sealift. Possibly more positions than just one. On the surface anyway. She did love a good challenge. There were scoundrels out there who couldn’t be allowed to get away with it!
After David left with Tarrah, Miss Ess sent a message that would text each of the other members of her little group simultaneously. They would head down to a special, particular, secret spot, in one of her underground compounds to meet and plan. None of the compounds were on record anywhere so could not be traced. Power could buy many things. She gave a list to Humphry of the members of the group that she decided she would need immediately. The others could be apprised of things as necessary. She had such a wide variety of specialists at her fingertips that it was staggering! Those dastardly villains had no idea just who they were up against! Some of these specialists could just continue with their day to day ‘normal’ life until she needed them to begin their ‘side’ work, at the drop of a hat.
Some of these other members were: Tannah the tiny tank. She was a mechanic of the bunch. She could build just about any kind of operating vehicle from spare junk lying around. It has been said that the first vehicle she built was when she was just ten. She was so petite she could climb mostly inside any vehicle and just sit there to do it. She hasn’t grown much since then! She had hidden under the good more than once and gone totally undetected on a stakeout with a car search! There were also the Kids troup, a group of assorted aged children who were totally loyal to Miss Ess. They were all brilliant youngsters with IQ scores off the charts. They lived at a special school with some family members to train and utilize their skills. They all had freedom to live as normal lives as possible. Miss Ess had started the school a few years back and it had had immediate success. The kids themselves were only used as harmless diversions or behind the scenes work for the moment. Until they became adults. Their keen knowledge of the cities and public buildings, and even some of the upper crust homes had proved invaluable many times over. Why, young Cloe had nearly single-handedly solved two cases, using her brain. Some more members are the Canadian Kids. Miss Ess had used them, and they had proven their strong diversionary skills and speed, time and again.
She now had to plan her own roles. She was pondering for a little bit when Humphry coughed and mentioned a role similar to his. Not meaning what he really did to help her in particular, but the role others saw. A maid or some such type of helper would be a good plan. She knew that very few people pay attention to maids, and for the office possible a cleaning lady, or some other type of worker. She knew she needed to be aware of the happenings at once in a number of places… so she naturally got one of her look-alike operatives named Margaret, and she was able to easily land both positions. (She would need her to be her invaluable eyes and ears when necessary.) Those larger places were always looking for help. With some of the other spots needed she could pay for holidays or what have you for the current workers to vacate at least temporarily. With that and the large turn-over of staff at the Sealifts things were set up pretty quickly. Drivers, groundskeepers, janitors, clerks, machine operators and many more.
She got her own cleaning uniform ready, and her ‘new hair’ and some large glasses, and then set off. She knew there was no way that she could place a hidden microphone legally in any of the areas she needed to watch without permission so having more workers helping all the better! Although Miss Ess could bend rules on occasion for the greater good, she didn’t want to outright break laws if it was possible not to. Well at least this early in the investigation.