Fierce Girls

By Mike Adams

The more things change, the more they stay the same, we’ll at least sometimes!

100 years in the future there are still fanatics terrorists who seek to create chaos and mayhem wherever they can, turmoil in Africa, navy ships patrolling off the coasts of conflict ridden countries, and international peacekeeping efforts that don’t always keep the peace.

In the jungles of Africa, a courageous, tough, highly competent (and beautiful) Marine Force Recon squad leader named Susan ‘Molly’ Bennett can’t sit by and just watch while some of the world’s most wanted terrorists murder their captives right in front of her eyes.

Molly’s actions make her a target that only grows bigger after a fortunate meeting with navy Lieutenant Paul ‘Rick’ O’Brien and his family of extraordinary women and girls including his precocious daughter Ciara. Hunted by teams of assassins O’Brien and Bennett form an unbreakable bond forged under fire that will serve them well as events unfold around them.

They and Ciara spend months moving from one not so ‘safe’ house to another as the hunters close in on them. A lack of better options, or any at all, forces them to make a fateful decision that will separate Rick from his little girl for what may be years and will have far-reaching ramifications for the future.

Their decision: Self-imposed exile under new identities on an alien planet that is home to Earth’s first extra-solar. There, known as Molly Pickford and Rick Cassidy, they become members of the Colonial Rangers, the international force sent to protect the colony from its native wildlife.

They become friends with some of the female Rangers who one day will be the ones whose courage and smarts will determine the survival of the colony in a perilous future that is approaching faster than anyone could know.

“I love being a Marine but there are days...We may have a lot of the same problems in 2122 we did a hundred years ago but back then the Gul brothers weren’t paying lots to see my head on a spike! Not that I was born yet but that’s not the point! So, I’m a pretty good shot and Rick is even better. Did I ask daddy Gul and his boys to go on a rampage? No, I didn’t! But now we have to leave the planet and go to the New Hope Colony where the locals like to eat people!”
-Staff Sergeant Susan ‘Molly’ Bennett, USMC

If you like David Weber’s Honor Harrington series or David Drake’s RCN series you will love Fierce Girls. Click the BUY NOW button and begin your journey now and meet more of the fierce girls before they must go to war.

Book 1 “Fierce Girls” is the prequel to the saga recounting the fight against an alien invasion in the Fierce Girls At War series that r begins with book 2 Threat On The Horizon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Adams
• Release date: Jan 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370171804

Mike Adams

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Staten Island, NY. Mike has a BS in Business Admin from Wagner College and an MBA from SDSU. A retired US Navy Lieutenant Commander, Supply Corps (Logistics), a former small business owner, and part-time substitute teacher. he's visited 6 continents and 36 countries, speak Spanish, some German, a little Italian and a little less French. He currently lives in Chula Vista, CA with his wife Chris.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Kelly Cassidy

March 2122

Yonkers, New York

There were few things Kelly Cassidy enjoyed more than a relaxing day off from work and spending time with her granddaughter Ciara whose father 'Rick' O'Brien was her eldest child and only son. "Rick', whose given name was Paul O'Brien, was a lieutenant in the Navy and currently deployed with his ship the USS Mount St Helens off the coast of West Africa in support of a battalion of US Marines involved in peacekeeping and counter-insurgency ops in central Nigeria. Ciara's mom Melanie McCord had never married Rick, nobody called him Paul, but she was like another daughter to Kelly and an older sister to her three daughters Bridget, Nicole and Chloe. Melanie worked in a medical nano-botics laboratory just twenty minutes down the highway. The McCord residence where Ciara had lived with just her mom ever since Melanie's parents had moved to Oregon when she was three years old was just five minutes and a few blocks away and the little girl spent much of her time over at her grandma's house.

Born in the year 2073, at 49 Kelly looked more like she was in her mid-30s than almost 50 and she'd been mistaken for an older sister to her girls on numerous occasions. Green-eyed and well-tanned, the 5’9", very physically fit Kelly usually wore her shoulder length, silky auburn hair in a ponytail, and she liked to wear shorts and tight-fitting t-shirts whenever it was warm enough which further reinforced her youthful appearance.

The Cassidy/O'Brien residence in Yonkers, New York had been in the Cassidy family for more than 150 years, since the 1970s. It had grown from a small two-bedroom one-story ranch to a sprawling two-story, eight-bedroom, four bath home with an indoor pool and the best civilian-grade virtual-reality equipment available on the market set up in the basement. Long ago the Cassidy family had bought a similar house next door then demolished it so they could expand their home.

Kelly Cassidy was much more than a young-looking mother of four grown children who liked to dote on her only grandchild. Kelly was a recently retired NYPD police Captain who had been chief of weapons training at the Police Academy for more than fifteen years. She'd been hired back as a civilian after retirement and was still the academy's Master Weapons Trainer.

Kelly came from a long line of police officers; Cassidys had served in the New York Police Department for nearly 200 years. Her brother Sean, 48, was also a former policeman. He'd served for 10 years before leaving the force after meeting his wife Helena and moving to Boston where she ran her own company with several clothing boutiques in the Boston area. Sean now ran a small private security firm that frequently worked with the local police whenever major celebrities or important political leaders were in town. Her older sister Janie Cassidy was a hospital administrator and had two kids of her own, twins Ashley and Amanda Sorenson. They lived a few miles up the Hudson River near Bear Mountain.

Kelly had graduated from high school in 2090 and from New York University four years later. She entered the Police Academy the same year and there she met James 'Jimmy' O'Brien another Academy recruit in her class who she married the following year. Jimmy was also from a family with a long history of police and firemen. During training at the Academy Kelly's natural ability as a marksman was noted and Jimmy helped her reach a superior level.

Jimmy O'Brien was more than just an outstanding marksman. He was a phenomenal marksman who had used his civilian grade virtual-reality program to train his brain to slow things down and to increase his reaction time, remain calm under stress, and increase his accuracy to an exceptional level. He'd broken the Level IV record in the VR trainer during his first week at the Academy and whenever his group of recruits was due to practice he was asked to help with their training. By the time they graduated Kelly had the second highest score in the VR trainer, right behind Jimmy.

The big family house had plenty of room with Janie and Sean both moving out and they moved in with Kelly's parents. They began their family a little earlier than they'd planned when Kelly became pregnant just a few months after graduating from the Academy and in 2096 their son Paul was born. Four years later they welcomed young Bridget O'Brien, the first of three daughters. Nicole was born in 2102 and Chloe in 2104.

During her first year as patrolmen, early in her pregnancy with her son, Kelly was involved in her first deadly fire incident. She and her partner had been called to a suspected break-in and they'd been ambushed by three armed men. Her partner and training officer, Sergeant Rafael Picardo, was seriously wounded in the first seconds of the ambush. Kelly reacted instantly and in the ensuing firefight she killed two of the assailants and wounded the third. She wasn't proud of having to kill the two men but she lost no sleep over it either; it was kill or be killed. A year later she was selected for the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team, as a sniper. She was forced to kill two more people during separate incidents over the next four years. She easily passed the exams for Police Lieutenant and was assigned to the SWAT training facility as an instructor and team leader. After giving birth to her fourth child Chloe, she requested assignment as a weapons instructor at the Police Academy and her request was approved. She remained there for the next 15 years eventually becoming the Academy's senior weapons trainer and department head. Kelly was so highly regarded as an instructor that law enforcement officers from other departments including the FBI were sent to train with her. She was immediately hired back as a civilian master weapons trainer when she retired as a Captain in 2119 after 25 years in uniform. She was enjoying this new status immensely - being able to train the young recruits as well as officers returning for proficiency training without having to deal with the politics and bureaucracy involved with being a senior police officer and department head.

Not everything in her life had been peaches and cream though. In 2102 a horrifying viral flu pandemic kicked the world in the gut. It sickened people of all ages and over 300 million people across the globe died in less than six months with China and India suffering the worst. Fourteen million Americans died including both Kelly's mom and Jimmy's father. Her dad Kevin Cassidy remarried ten years later and lived in upstate New York. His mom, Kathleen O'Brien, remarried in 2111 and moved to Maine with her new husband.

Six years later Jimmy was killed during a terrorist attack on the area's largest airport. He had sacrificed his life to save a group of unarmed civilians about to be slaughtered by the fanatics who hoped to spread fear throughout the country. The whole event was captured by the airport's security cameras and Kelly had wept with grief but also with pride when she watched the recording with members of both their families.

Advised that there was an outside chance that the terrorists might seek to harm the family of the hero cop who'd foiled their plan Kelly had installed a top-of-the-line security program that was run by the house's AI, artificial intelligence. Nicknamed Robby, the AI had been installed by her parents when Paul was an infant. Both before and after Jimmy O'Brien's death Kelly Cassidy never had to worry about her kids when she went to work. The Cassidy and O'Brien extended families always made sure that Jimmy's kids were taken care of. Both families were tightknit groups and they'd known each other as long as anyone could remember. Kelly was not the only Cassidy who'd married an O'Brien over the years.

While Kelly was fiercely protective of her family, she knew that she might not be able to protect them by herself if something bad were to happen so she decided to teach her kids how to shoot as they became old enough to handle a weapon. At age 12 she began to teach Paul who quickly became an outstanding marksman both on the live fire range and in VR. He was excellent with a rifle but a phenomenal shooter with all kinds of handguns. As a senior weapons instructor Kelly had access to some of the best training programs available and she was allowed to obtain copies for use in her private VR room in the basement. Each of her girls also took to it with a vengeance and they all reached a level of proficiency beyond that of most professional law enforcement or military personnel although that was kept pretty much a family secret. Not wanting to draw attention to themselves the O'Brien kids never competed in public marksmanship competitions; of course, the level of competition within the family was more than enough to satisfy all five of them.

Rick was handsome, smart, athletic and extremely popular with the girls while he was in high school. A little too popular an exasperated Kelly thought when she learned that one of his several casual girlfriends, Melanie McCord, who was more than a year older and a senior in high school while he was a junior, had become pregnant with his child. Melanie was supposed to enter Rutgers University in just a few months and Paul still had another year of high school to finish. Melanie's parents were aghast and bewildered while both youngsters could see their futures crashing down around them until Kelly took matters in hand and before long Melanie became like another daughter to Kelly. She did take one semester off late in the pregnancy but returned to school the next semester while Rick graduated on time and began his studies at NYU. Graduating from Rutgers with a degree in Nanite Technology, Melanie went to work in a medical nano-bot laboratory not far from home. Rick, who had attended the school on a NROTC scholarship, entered the Navy as a logistics officer, a natural fit with his business and logistics degree. Whenever possible little Ciara stayed with her dad who could always count on help from his sisters, or other family members and even Melanie to stay with them and help care for his precocious and energetic daughter while he was at work during the day.

Things were going very well in the Cassidy/O'Brien residence. Rick was still about four months away from returning home but he made video calls as often as he could and Ciara was looking forward to being reunited with him again. Bridget would be graduating from the University of Virginia at Virginia Beach with a degree in Engineering and she was looking forward to starting graduate school in the fall. Bridget was living in Rick’s two-bedroom house in Virginia Beach while she went to school there. Nicole was a sophomore at the University of Kentucky, still a bit unsure which direction she wanted to take in her life, but her grades were excellent. Both college girls came home for weekends at least once a month. Chloe was about to graduate from high school and had been accepted to Boston College. Kelly was glad that Sean and Helena would be able to keep an eye on her. And Ciara was coming up on her 10th birthday.

Chapter 2

Recon Mission

Nigeria

United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Susan Mollison ‘Molly’ Bennett was not happy. She'd just received the news that her ex-husband David Bennett had cleaned out her bank account and she was making a list in her mind of which of his bones she wanted to break and in what order when she heard her name called.

Staff Sergeant Bennett! Over here! called her platoon leader Lieutenant Kerry Givens.

Molly Bennett put David and his bones out of her mind for the time being, got up and hurried over to Givens to find out what he wanted.

The 25-year-old Bennett was an experienced squad leader in Second Platoon, Alpha Company, 2nd Recon Battalion. Recently promoted to Staff Sergeant, Bennett was being groomed to move up to assistant platoon sergeant, then platoon sergeant once her unit returned home in a couple of months. The five foot nine, green-eyed blonde was far better looking than the average Marine and she was often under-estimated by those who just saw a pretty face until they learned just how quick and deadly she really was. She had earned the respect of her superiors and of the other Marines in her company who had witnessed her ferocity and her ability to lead in difficult situations.

Alpha Company had been tasked with keeping tabs on the movements of potentially hostile forces in the area of a nearby refugee camp. The UN peacekeeping forces in the area included two companies of Marines from the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion as well as units from Canada, Norway and Kenya.

Word had come down shortly after noon that a large unidentified group of armed men had been spotted moving towards the refugee camp through the jungle from the north about two miles of the company's position. With no air support immediately available Alpha Company’s commander decided to send out two platoons of recon scouts, including Bennett’s Second Platoon, to locate the unidentified group and report back what they found. The rest of Alpha Company and a mixed group of Canadian and Kenyan soldiers would follow 1500 yards behind; ready to move in whichever direction they were needed. The two recon platoons spread out, with each assigned to a sector five hundred yards wide. Bennett’s was the lead squad for her platoon and they were moving forward about 100 yards ahead of the others.

Moving quickly but quietly through the lush foliage, Bennett’s squad of seven Marines advanced over a mile through the jungle until they came to a shallow stream. Bennett scanned the trees on the other side of the stream then told her assistant squad leader Corporal Rivera, Riv, I've got this feeling we're getting close. Stay here with the rest of the squad while I take Hanson ahead for a looksee.

You got it, Sarge! Rivera replied.

Bennett and Private Hanson moved stealthily forward, crossed the stream then clawed their way up to the top of a small hillock where they would stay for several minutes as they scrutinized the jungle ahead before calling the rest of the squad up. Bennett was about to call them squad up when the sounds of movement in the jungle ahead caught their attention. They spotted three armed men wearing jungle green, yellow and brown uniforms, moving carefully forward and towards them, checking in all directions except to the rear. They were obviously scouting ahead of the main group. Bennett used her helmet com to call Rivera, Riv, you've got company coming your way. Three scouts with automatic rifles. Hold your position and stay out of sight. Let them pass, third squad can take care of them.

Okay, Sarge! Bennett then reported their position and direction of movement to Givens so they could be dealt with quietly by the Marines coming up behind them.

The three scouts had just crossed the stream headed south when Bennett and Hanson found themselves looking down from their perch ten feet above the jungle floor at a large group of armed men advancing towards the stream almost noiselessly from the jungle, passing less than ten yards to the left of their position. Wearing jungle camouflage Bennett’s group was well concealed from view in the dense foliage at the top of the rise and on the other side of the stream. Even so the armed group was close enough that there was a danger that they would simply stumble into her squad’s position if anyone decided to climb up the little hill they were watching from.

###

New York

Ciara McCord O’Brien was in the kitchen of the house in Yonkers, New York getting a lesson in basic cookie making from her grandmother Kelly Cassidy. Her tenth birthday was less than two weeks away. A shout from the living room caught their attention.

Mom, Ciara! Come here! You’ve got to see this!

Her blue eyes lit up with excitement and the reddish blonde-haired ball of energy took off at a run with a grinning Kelly trailing behind at a more leisurely pace. What is it, Nikki? the excited Ciara asked her aunt, 20-year-old Nicole O’Brien. The dark-haired, hazel-eyed Nikki was home for a long weekend from UK.

Just watch! Robby! Close the blinds and turn off the lights then play back that last segment from the beginning, Nicole instructed the household AI that controlled all the lighting in the house as well as the giant 3-D display panel that formed most of one long wall of the large living room. With the interior lights off and all outside light blocked by the automatic blinds the viewer would feel as if they were looking at the visuals from a point within the picture.

Yes, Mistress Nikki, the British butler-sounding voice of the AI replied.

What’s this, Nikki? Kelly asked her daughter.

Just watch mom! This is amazing! Come on sit down! The news report began with a view that showed a crystal clear. three-dimensional picture of jungle-like foliage and a large group of armed men moving around close by and slightly below. Ciara and her grandmother sat down on the comfortable couch facing the display. Nicole was sitting sideways with her bare feet up on a love seat set at a 90-degree angle to the larger couch.

The narrator began, "This scene was recorded about seven hours ago. The images and audio are from the visor cam of a young sergeant, the leader of a US Marine reconnaissance squad sent out to find a group of armed terrorists heading for a refugee camp about two hundred miles north of the Nigerian capital city of Abuja. This squad leader and one other Marine had taken cover at the top of a small rise in the jungle. Be advised, the images of violence are shocking. Those faint of heart and young children may want to look away."

Nikki? Kelly gave her daughter a glance with a nod toward her granddaughter.

Nicole grinned, It’s okay. Really! And she should see this with us. She’s going to see it anyway before long. Just wait. A wide-eyed Ciara looked at her aunt then back at the display. Continue the playback, Robby.

The playback had stopped automatically at Kelly’s question. It now resumed. They listened intently as the Marine squad leader’s audio cut in.

Scorpion, this is Viper. Do you see this? The voice was a whisper but Robby had automatically enhanced it so they could hear it clearly.

That’s a girl! Ciara said with a look at her aunt who nodded and grinned with a finger to her lips to signal her to be quiet and listen.

Roger that, Viper, a male voice replied. What’s the count?

About seventy so far, but there’s more coming out of the jungle now.

"Hang tight, Viper. It’s going to take a few minutes for everyone to get in position. Figure ten mikes."

Understood, Scorpion. We’ll just lay low where we are and hope nobody wants to climb up here. They’re all around us now.

Keep it frosty, Viper. Out.

The view shifted to the right and the three watched as more of the mixed group of heavily armed Arab and African marauders came out of the jungle. This group was pushing and shoving several prisoners who were roped together neck to neck. The captives had their hands tied behind their backs and their mouths were gagged. Kelly Cassidy let out an involuntary gasp at the sight but said nothing as they watched.

This is real? Ciara asked anxiously seeing the faces of the captives that were covered in blood and dirt. Their uniforms were dirty and torn.

Yes it is, Keer. Just listen! Nicole replied quietly.

Scorpion, they’ve got prisoners. Looks like a bunch of Canadians and Norwegians, the squad leader reported to her superior. "I count nine. Looks like six males and three females

"Wait one, Viper." A few seconds later the voice spoke again. "Looks like they’re the missing personal from that supply convoy that was attacked two days ago up north. Try to give them some cover when the shooting starts."

"Roger that, Scorpion."

Kelly, Nicole and Ciara watched raptly as the prisoners were pushed and dragged directly towards a spot just below the two Marines' hiding place. Their captors never looked up as they pushed the UN soldiers to the ground where they collapsed with a collective groan. The engrossed Ciara was holding her grandmother’s arm tightly.

The view changed as the squad leader shifted around and looked in the opposite direction then down at the stream that ran behind the little hillock. There were at least twenty of the raiders filling canteens or standing guard within thirty feet of them and they were between the two Marines and the rest of their squad. The view shifted as she turned back to where the majority of the raiders were spread out, resting in small groups with a few standing guard. The view shifted again as the squad leader turned to look at the other Marine; he pointed at the hostages. A shake of the head in the negative blurred the view momentarily then settled as several men led by two heavily bearded Arab-looking individuals came toward the captives who were being given water one at a time by a guard who removed their gags just long enough for them to take a few sips before replacing them.

What’s going to happen? Ciara asked worriedly.

Shush! her grandmother told Ciara, mesmerized by the story unfolding in front of her.

They watched as this new group came to a halt and the squad leader’s helmet cam zoomed in on the bearded men. Scorpion, looks like these two are the leaders. Any ID? Viper asked in a whisper.

A few seconds later the reply from Scorpion came, Jackpot, Viper. That’s two of the Gul boys. Umar and Abdul. Capture or kill those two, Viper. They can’t be allowed to get away. That’s your number one priority. Understood?

After a pause, "Understood, Scorpion." Umar and Abdul Gul were two of the six sons of Hassan Gul, the most wanted terrorist in the world. All six of his sons were high on that list as well. They'd been behind scores of incidents of murder and mayhem from Central Asia and southern Russia to the Middle East, in Europe, and all across central Africa as well as several deadly incidents in North America. The multibillionaire terrorist was the leader of an eclectic coalition of fanatics who held several enduring grudges against numerous governments throughout Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and the Middle East. They'd killed thousands of innocent civilians over the last decade.

Gul’s coalition blamed their enemies for marginalizing and impoverishing some previously rich oil producing areas that had run out of oil and coupled with the widespread use of alternate energy sources had shifted economic and political power to other factions and regions. They blamed the West, and the East, for the deadly plague and virus outbreaks that had killed millions throughout Central Asia and the Middle East, disregarding the fact that radical factions in those areas had refused to accept the vaccines that would have saved countless lives until too late. They blamed the industrialized nations for the shortages of water that were making previously prosperous areas uninhabitable. And they blamed everyone else for the rising seas that were submerging hundreds of thousands of square miles of previously inhabited land forcing millions of refugees to seek new homes. Some were religious fanatics of various faiths who could not accept the fact of life on other worlds and wanted to stop the extra-solar colonization program in the Tau Ceti colony of New Hope by any means possible. They were taking advantage of the turmoil in Nigeria, one of the richest countries in Africa, to attack oil fields and sources of resources the Nigerians had recently begun contributing to the colonization program in order to force them to withdraw from it.

Kelly, Nicole and Ciara watched the bearded men who were staring and gesturing at their captives. The audio wasn’t picking up their voices clearly but it was obvious that the two leaders were angry about something. Suddenly the taller of the two brothers pointed at a tall muscular African and motioned him towards the prisoners. He in turn gave an order to one of the guards standing over the hapless group of prisoners. The guard reached down and pulled one of the female captives up by her shoulder length reddish brown hair. The taller African then tapped the machete held in a belt loop on his hip and gave another order to the guard then shouted at the captives in halting English, "You watch now! You next if you no obey orders!"

The guard dragged the captive by her hair over to the two leaders. The terrified woman, a Canadian officer, a captain they could see by the black double bar on the collar of her torn uniform shirt, was trying to scream through her gag as she tried to push with her legs to take the strain off her scalp. The other captives were below the squad leader’s view but they could hear their muffled cries of protest. The taller African then stepped over to the Canadian, drawing his machete as the terrified woman tried to struggle against the grip of the guard who then pulled her to her knees by her hair.

Granma, Auntie Nikki, what’s going on? Ciara asked fearfully.

Kelly Cassidy was holding Ciara’s hand now and looked at her daughter worriedly as the guard pulled the woman’s head forward, baring her neck for the machete wielding terrorist, Nikki?

Nicole gave her a grin, Just watch, it’s amazing!

The women listened intently as the squad leader whispered targets to the other Marines, telling the rest of the squad to cover them from behind. They heard the clicks of confirmation come in from the others.

Chapter 3

Rumble in the Jungle

New York

The tall African was raising the machete for a killing blow when shots rang out. Kelly, Nicole and Ciara could tell from the targeting reticule that appeared in the center of her visor that the squad leader had targeted the taller of the two brothers and fired two quick shots taking him down while the other Marine shot the man with the machete who flew backward. Both Marines had already shifted their aim to the other two men standing over the captives before the first two had hit the ground. The squad leader fired two more quick rounds and the second Gul fell on top of the captive as had his brother. The guard who had been holding the Canadian woman by the hair had fallen in a heap next to her

Whoa! Ciara shouted as she jumped to her feet. They saved her! The display paused automatically again.

Keep watching, Keer. It’s not over yet! Robby resume display.

The AI acknowledged, Yes, Mistress Nikki.

As soon as the Americans began firing, other fighters nearby turned towards the hill and began shooting at the two unprotected Marines. Within seconds others further away joined in. The Cassidy/O’Brien women watched as the Marines quickly cut down the ones close by and they could hear shouting and cursing as bullets tore through the light foliage all around them.

Kelly Cassidy and the girls heard the squad leader say, Cover me! The view shifted quickly as she slid down from the top of the little hill and began firing, running toward the three guards standing closest to the prisoners. She shot one guard before he could react then slammed the stock of her rifle

into the face of a second. The third fired at her and she cursed loudly as she cut him down then turned back to the second guard who was now raising his weapon and shot him in the face. She ran forward and shielded the prone group of hostages with her body as other mercenaries began firing in their direction. She