Josie and Three Russ paused a few blocks away from where they had encountered the

  guards. They needed a place that could be turned into a barracks, but nothing stood

  out this close to the Exchange.

  Josie checked her watch. As soon as it was full power, she planned to send out a bird

  to do the job for her.

  “These Montrose,” said Three. “Have you been hunting them long?”

  “I ran into them when I first arrived in Hawk Ridge,” said Josie. “Jack and I have

  been weeding them out ever since. The thing with the Shemmarians was a new

  wrinkle brought on by a quest for the Society.”

  “What do you think they will do about the dead guards?,” asked Three. “Frenda

  hasn’t learned how to fight as far as I know.”

  “I doubt they will do anything,” said Josie. “If I were you, I would ask for a teacher

  from the local adventurers, or teach her yourself.”

  “I will think about it,” said Three.

  “It’s up to you,” said Josie. She looked around, feeling lost in the middle of the streets

  they had walked from where they were attacked.

  “What are you looking for?,” asked Three.

  “A better place to operate from other than that small apartment building you live in,”

  said Josie. “Do you have any opinion on it?”

  “Not really,” said Three. “The last place I lived before I wound up here was basically

  a closet.”

  “Let me throw out a divination, and see where it takes us,” said Josie. “Ideally we

  want a house here in the city.”

  “I can just walk away,” said Three. “I don’t owe you anything.”

  “You can,” said Josie. “I can’t stop you. Your sister will say something about it. You

  will be on the run if any of the survivors gets taken and they turn you in, and the

  Montrose finds out. I doubt they will let you live if they can help it.”

  “No one knows who I am,” said Three.

  “Frenda does, and they know her,” said Josie. “And we know you aren’t going to

  walk away from her since you have been hunting her kidnappers for however long

  you have been doing it. I know I am extorting you. No, I am not going to care about

  that. The needs of the many are outweighing the wants of the one.”

  “I hope you catch a wasting disease,” said Three.

  “One day, I am going to die taking care of things for the Society,” said Josie. “If I

  fail with the wrong one, the world is going to be extinct. You might have a few

  seconds to be happy about that. Until then, I am hiring you as my agent to help the

  helpless and defend the defenseless. Hopefully you will be keeping the city safe

  against the minor things I can’t touch from Hawk Ridge. Eventually, I might move

  up here so Jack can have his own spot in the sun with his beloved.”

  “Move up here?,” said Three. “I don’t want that.”

  “You should do a good job, so I pick another city to settle in and make my own if

  I do think about moving,” said Josie. She smiled at her companion.

  “That is a piece of extortion too far,” said Three.

  Josie smiled again as she moved down the street, frowning when she reached a small

  open court. A statue stood there. It looked like Mister Warner when he was younger.

  It held a fist in the air.

  She sat down at the base of the statue. She gestured for Three to take a seat too. She

  closed her eyes for a second. She wanted the place that would be best for this version

  of Jane’s Amazons.

  “What are we doing?,” said Three.

  “I am going to find you a house that we can convert into a headquarters for you and

  anyone you pick up,” said Josie. “If you free anyone from the Montrose, it will be a

  place for the victims to get back on their feet and decide if they can go home, or not.”

  “Are you comfortable with my hiring people to help me?,” asked Three.

  “You’re going to be the boss,” said Josie. “If you need help, I will come up here from

  the south to help you. Matter of fact, I will leave you a message in a bottle to send to

  me if you need me.”

  “All right,” said Three.

  Josie called on Zatanna. She thought about what she wanted and threw a bird in the

  air. It dripped fire as it flew away. She let the persona go as she waited.

  “What are we doing?,” asked Three.

  “Waiting,” said Josie. “The bird is looking for a place we can use. When it lands, it

  will let us know so we can look around.”

  “How long will that take?,” asked Three.

  “As long as it takes,” said Josie. “How big is the city?”

  “I don’t have any idea,” said Three.

  They popped from beneath the statue and looked around in a dusty room. They started

  coughing. Josie stood, brushing off her pants as she looked around.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Where are we?,” said Three. “It looks like no one has lived here in a while.”

  “That’s why it’s going to be exactly what we need,” said Josie. “Let’s find a door so

  we can look at the outside.”

  They walked through the gloomy interior until Josie spotted a cracked and broken

  door. She pushed it out of the way. She stepped out on a porch that had seen better

  days. She walked out and turned to look at the beaten house that sagged in front of

  her.

  Three joined her, looking at the neighborhood. She frowned at the cracked houses and

  kids in the street running wild.

  “Are you sure this is exactly what we need?,” asked Three.

  “You know I can fix this place up?,” said Josie.

  “I would love to see it,” said Three.

  “All it needs is a touch of Mary Poppins,” said Josie. She smiled at her new associate.

  “Mary Poppins?,” said Three.

  “She was practically perfect in every way,” said Josie. She pulled on Zatanna.

  She threw out a few hundred firebirds to fix the house up and clean it up.

  She made sure that a regular bathroom was put in as one of the most important

  changes.

  Time rewound as the birds did their jobs, fixing the house, cleaning it, replacing holes

  and running out stray animals and monsters. When each task was done, the bird

  vanished back to where it had come from.

  “So Mary Poppins had a flock of birds as her minions?,” said Three.

  “Maybe,” said Josie. “Let’s look at it now.”

  They stepped inside the house and walked around. Three frowned at the gleaming

  wood, and repainted walls. A picture of her and her sisters hung on the wall in one

  of the rooms. Josie decided to use the bathroom while she could.

  “What do you think?,” asked Josie.

  “I have never seen a house that looked this good,” said Three. “It has a picture of the

  seven of us on the wall in one of those rooms.”

  “Probably your office, or bedroom,” said Josie. “I think there are some things that

  need to be done, but you can do that while Seven and I finish the rest of our

  business.”

  “I have no idea where we are in the city,” said Three.

  “Neither do I,” said Josie. “We should ask someone for directions.”

  “And who would that be?,” asked Three.

  “Enterprise?,” said Josie, triggering her com band. “Can you see us?”

  “Affirmative,” said the machine.

  “Can you see the other Boim Russ?,” she asked.

  “Affirmative,” said the machine.

  “Can you give us a direction to go?,” said Josie.

  “She is ten miles east,” said the machine.

  “Thank you,” said Josie. She cut the call. “Let’s get your group of new friends

  and assistants together and move them in.”

  “I have to get my camping gear,” said Three. “We left it in the woods when we went

  after Frenda.”

  “I’ll send a bird to get it,” said Josie. “Don’t worry about that.”

  “Really?,” said Three.

  “Yep,” said Josie. “Let me do that right now, and then I’ll carry us back to your place.

  Then Seven and I will have to check on Two, and her church.”

  “What is wrong with her church?,” asked Three.

  “Don’t know,” said Josie. She became Zatanna again long enough to send out birds

  for the gear and the horses they had left on the road. She left the wagons. She made

  one more addition to the house before she let the persona go. “We can go and get

  everyone else. Then Seven and I have to move on.”

  “Did you have to put up a sign?,” asked Three. She pointed at the plaque beside the

  door.

  “How else will anyone know you are there to help?,” asked Josie. “Have you ever

  flown before?”

  “No,” said Three. “What kind of question is that?”

  “You are in for treat,” said Josie. She checked her watch. She had enough time to fly

  across the city. She turned into Northwind and headed for the destination pointed out

  by the Enterprise. Three flew behind her, trying not to scream at sailing through the

  air in a whirlwind.

  They set down on top of Three’s apartment building. She tried not to throw up on the

  roof. Josie let the persona go, smiling a little.

  “That wasn’t so bad, was it?,” asked Josie.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” said Three. She stomped her feet a little. “I thought I was

  going to die.”

  “Let’s talk to the others,” said Josie. “They’ll want to know they will have to get

  supplies and clothes to go with their new home.”

  “All right,” said Three. “Frenda will probably love something like that house and

  making friends with people in a new neighborhood.”

  “I’m not asking you to give up your adventuring,” said Josie. “I’m just asking you to

  focus it a little. The more the Montrose is shut down, the safer women and girls will

  be. I think helping their victims where we can goes toward stopping them just a

  little.”

  “I will do what I can,” said Three. “I initially started tracking Frenda through some

  log books I found.”

  “Let’s go downstairs,” said Josie. “Ten miles is a long way to walk for the women we

  freed. I’ll have to carry everything back.”

  “Please no flying,” said Three. She held up her hands in a warding gesture.

  “All right,” said Josie. “I’ll use the birds to move everything. It should be a snap.”

  “That’s better,” said Three. She started down the ladder to the floors below, sliding

  through a window near her apartment door. She knocked before she pushed the door

  open. Josie followed.

  Seven and Frenda had packed everything in two bags. Those sat by the door. One

  woman had a jar of tin pennies in her hand. The women looked ready for anything.

  “Tell them your extortion,” said Three. She waved at the women.

  “I have prevailed upon Mistress Russ to be your guardian as long as you live at her

  new quarters,” said Josie. “I opened an account with the Money Exchange so you

  have money to buy food, clothes, some luxuries. I have asked Mistress Russ to help

  the people in the neighborhood around your base, and any that are saved from the

  Montrose, the tattooed men. If you don’t want to be sheltered, I have the means to

  send you wherever you want to go from here.”

  “The place is going to need furniture and some amenities,” said Three. “We’ll have

  to get settled in and think about getting them the rest of the day, or tomorrow. Same

  with the food.”

  “I would recommend learning how to use a sword, or bow,” said Josie. “That will

  allow you to defend yourselves a bit better.”

  “Let’s see this new place,” said Frenda. “It will be good not to have to deal with

  Master Arlen’s hands.”

  “All right,” said Josie. “As soon as we do this, Seven and I have to go. The rest will

  be up to you.”

  Josie pulled on Zatanna and sent out a flock of birds, chaining them to the women and

  their bags. She waited patiently as Three vanished first, then Frenda, then the rest one

  by one. Then Seven went, and she went last.

  She smiled at the talk she heard when she arrived. They seemed to be amazed at the

  house and what they would have to do to make it theirs. She summoned a bottle with

  a small spark in it, and the deed to the house in case the authorities wanted to know

  what was going on. She made two sets of casebooks last.

  “Three,” said Josie. She held out the things for the sister to take. “The bottle is to be

  broken if you need help. Put it somewhere safe but easy to get to when you need it.

  The deed is to show you own the house now. One set of books is the official quests

  we have done. The other set is what we have found out about the Montrose in the

  south. I want you to have them so you know what we have dealt with so far. I will

  check on you when I have time to help out if you need it. Don’t forget the defense

  classes. Even if you never need it, it will be a tool in case you do.”

  “Thank you for finding Frenda for me,” said Three. “It would have taken forever for

  me to do it on my own. She might have been killed by the time I caught up with them.

  I don’t know if I like this other thing, but I will talk with Frenda about it and see what

  we can do with it.”

  “Do your best,” said Josie. “That’s all anyone can do.”