Flora: Priority One, #7

By Jo Carey

While working to stop a roque government agency determined to save us from ourselves, the Priority One Team has faced all manner of obstacles—deadly storms, unnatural disasters, and alien creatures. 

When some members of Priority One head to the Languid Atoll Marine Research Center to do a security audit, they all agree that the greatest risk is from the atoll's newest residents—50 foot shark-like creatures. None of them were worried about the flora.

Change is in the air and Priority One has to keep fighting for all of us.

Flora is the seventh story in this series that is equal parts adventure, romance, and science fiction.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jo Carey
• Release date: Mar 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393834328

Jo Carey

Jo Carey grew up in the Midwest but her curiosity and gypsy-spirit has kept her on the move. She's lived in eight US states and spent three years living in Ireland. She has always loved creature movies, so creatures and bugs often show up in her books. Jo, a former information security compliance guru, writes fast-paced, character-driven stories in a variety of genres from medical thrillers to space operas and cozy mysteries. Her novels are filled with humor, romance, and sometimes creatures or aliens, or maybe even all of the above. She often builds her stories around a strong female lead character surrounded by plenty of hunky male heroes. Jo's been under fire on a golf course and climbed out the roof of an elevator in the Netherlands. Life hasn't been boring. Now residing in Texas, setting often plays a huge role in her stories. Jo was intrigued by the League of Planetary Systems, a world her husband, Frank, created for his science fiction books, and she now writes mysteries and other types of tales sets in that world. Jo was bitten by a cat, a fire ant, and a snake, before succumbing to the bite of the writing bug.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Jean walked over and set a mug of Mexican cocoa in front of his boss. Enjoy.

I know this is the right thing for you, but I don't like it, Jacinta said.

You're a smart, resourceful woman. Not to mention wealthy. I'm sure you'll survive without me to cook for you, he said.

Are you excited for the move? Jamie asked as he walked in to join them.

I am, Jean said, but I'm going to miss Haven and all of you.

This is going to be a good thing for all of us, though my stomach is not yet convinced, Jamie said.

Have you found a replacement? Jean asked.

We've decided to fend for ourselves, Jacinta said. We have a fully qualified chef in the Haven dining room and a housekeeping staff that has managed to keep the rest of you in clean clothes. I'm sure we'll manage.

Will you be replacing me on the team? Jean asked.

Impossible, Logan said as he walked up with his arm around his fiancé Emma. The little pub inside a former missile silo that was now the home of James Pickering III's Priority One Team was getting crowded.

A tall, slender woman with shiny blonde hair walked up to their table. She stuck her hand out toward Jean. I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to know you better, Jean. She gave his muscular body an appreciative look. I think it would have been interesting. Kendra Blaze was recently hired to work with Max on filmmaking and videography.

Max, the team's documentary filmmaker, joined the group. It's good that you think so, he said. Jean will be heading to the Languid Atoll Marine Research Center in a few weeks to conduct a security audit. You're scuba certified, right?

Sure.

Good. You're going along to get some underwater footage of the shark-things. You up for it?

After another glance at Jean, she said, Absolutely.

My girlfriend, Dr. Sylvy Ward, the veterinarian who is studying the not-Smilodons, will be joining us too. It should be a productive visit.

I guess I'll see you soon, Kendra said and walked off.

Jacinta looked around the room and her eyes stopped at the memorial wall where there were now five plaques. She thought back to how she lost each of the five teammates memorialized on that wall. Gillian died in a plane crash, Clint in a direct personal attack, Derrick in a tornado, Hammish in a car crash, and Payson in an alligator attack during a hurricane. All of their deaths were the result of actions by ASTRO, the Advanced Scientific Technical Research Organization, a government organization bent on changing the world into their personal warped vision of a perfect world. She took a final look at the wall before turning her attention back to the celebration.

Jean, I was just thinking, Jacinta said, your cousins have come to the rescue so many times over these past months. Will they still help us out if you are no longer part of the team?

They're only a phone call away, Jean said.

Good to know, she said.

Kendra left early. She was the newest member of Priority One and had only been in Haven a couple of weeks. She seemed to get along with everyone though Jacinta thought her actions were sometimes overly aggressive with the single men on the team.

Emma, how are the wedding plans going? Jacinta asked as she migrated to the table where the women had congregated.

I'm enjoying it, Emma said. I'm pretty sure that means I'm doing something wrong. Everyone laughed. The major stumbling block on the wedding was actually location. If the wedding was held at Haven, the guest list was limited to Haven residents and all the services needed would have to be provided by the Haven staff. If they chose to have the wedding outside of Haven, the security concerns would be extreme.

Jacinta was surprised when Emma admitted she wanted a traditional engagement and wedding. In most aspects, Emma wasn't a fan of anything traditional. Logan proposed, and now that they were engaged. Jacinta got the feeling Emma was in no hurry for the wedding.

I'm going to go say goodbye to Jean, Mari said. I've got to admit, the scenery in the gym won't be nearly as appealing without those muscles.

CHAPTER TWO

Eating dinner without Jean seemed strange even though he rarely did more than set their plates in front of them before returning to the kitchen.

It seems weird doesn't it? Jamie asked after they ate in silence for a while.

It shouldn't. It's not like he ate with us, Jacinta said.

And I was thinking, I wasn't so affected by Alice's departure, and she'd been my housekeeper a lot longer than Jean, Jamie said.

Yes, but Jean never tried to kill us, though I suspect there may have been times when he considered possible methods for my demise. She smiled. The food is fine.

After dinner, they carried their plates to the kitchen and left them for housekeeping to deal with. Jacinta made her Mexican cocoa and a cup of coffee for Jamie. She carried the mugs into the living room and handed the coffee to him.

We hired Zachary Bothis today, she said, tucking her feet beneath her on the sofa.

Who is that?

Mari's hacker friend. He seems like an interesting character. He's the one that helped you guys in Louisiana. She calls him Z. He also did the music for Max's film.

That's great. Do you think he'll be a good fit? Jamie asked.

He was recruited by the NSA after a brief stint in the military. He tried it but didn't like the structure. I don't think he'd have considered the job without Mari's input.

Is he coming because of her?

No. At least I don't think there's anything romantic between them. I didn't get that feeling anyway. I think it's more that he respects her and values her opinion. It's good that he knows Max too now after working on Aftermath. I am concerned though.

Why?

We're adding all these creative types to Priority One. I'm used to managing technical people. I'm not sure how to handle creatives.

I'm sure you'll figure it out as you do everything, My Love. I talked with Wylie today, and I think I might ask Jean to swing by Partikua since he'll be...

The door chimes rang out before announcing, Emma Brown.

Looks like things are getting back to normal, he said as he headed for the door. A moment later he reappeared with Emma.

I've got six storm reports from the Data Mining Team.

All at once? Jamie asked.

In quick succession. It was strange, so I checked with Portia. We wondered if maybe there had been some sort of backlog or delay with their email or ours, but we confirmed these storms all appeared in the last half hour. Portia wanted to make sure they were valid, but I gave her the go ahead to get the warnings out.

The team had been monitoring ASTRO controlled storms for a long time. They had developed procedures to warn the affected areas. Monitoring and warnings were handed off to the Data Mining Team run by their former Priority One teammate, Portia.

Jacinta stood up, slipped her feet back into her shoes, and picked up her totebag. Let's go.

XXX

Six storms, Emma said when they walked into the Media Center. Definitely ASTRO.

I've got comms flowing from the sites to the ASTRO ship which is currently in the northern tip of the Bermuda Triangle, Justin said as his fingers flew across the keyboard at his workstation. Winnie sat beside him.

They're all over the place, Emma said. Canada, South Africa, Uruguay, Spain, Michigan, and Texas.

Are there ASTRO sites nearby? Jamie asked.

No. The towns range in size from just over a 1000 people to almost 100,000, Winnie said.

UFO sightings? Jacinta asked.

Working on it, Mari said. It'll take a while. I wish Z were here to help.

Soon, Jacinta said, putting a supportive hand on Mari's shoulder.

Everyone was doing what they could, but it seemed like they should be doing more. Jacinta looked around and realized the people who had been part of the team for a while still functioned as pairs which was how the team was originally envisioned. Emma and Logan were a couple as were Justin and Winnie, maybe they were working together because they were supporting their life partners, but that wasn't the case with Travis and Mari at this point, but he still sat dutifully by her side ready to provide any assistance needed.

We're going to my office, Jacinta said. Call us if anything changes or if you need anything. She and Jamie took their coffee and walked down the hall to her office. Do we need to do anything about R3 with these storms?

We're just not ready. I met with the team that went to Assard and we discussed a lot of possibilities, but so far we haven't been able to solve the manpower issue.

I wondered how you intended to handle that. I know Travis would be a perfect fit for that kind of work and Logan too, but I would hate to lose them on Priority One.

There are really two different staffing models that seem to work for similar teams—the fire department model where the jobs are full time, but there's a lot of what I call non-productive time waiting for something to happen.

They discussed how you could use that time for conditioning and training. Jacinta posed the idea of hiring people who combined the necessary physical abilities for the work with degrees in meteorology or seismology so that their off times could me spent analyzing data and working on predictive models. Jamie got up and added some notes to one of the blank whiteboards.

You said there were two models, what's the other one? she asked.

Part time staff who are on call which is typical for SaR teams. Of course a lot of them use volunteers too.

Let's get more coffee and check in with the team, she said. Then I have something I want to discuss with you.

CHAPTER THREE

With fresh coffee in hand, Jamie and Jacinta poked their heads into the Media Center. The video screens in the front of the room had been divided into 6 windows—one for each storm location.

Anything new? Jamie asked.

The storms are ramping up and settling in as usual, Emma said. Other than having six at once, I don't see anything different than the singular ASTRO storms we've seen before.

Same with comms. The traffic is consistent with what we've seen before, just more of it hitting the ship because of multiple storms at once.

We'll be in my office, Jacinta said as Jamie followed her out the door.

XXX

Jacinta sat behind her desk and took a sip of coffee. I wonder if this is the start of some ASTRO offensive.

We know they've been working up to something. I'm not sure we can do anything different than we do every day, but we should be on high alert. If this is the start of something, it won't just be the storms.

Jacinta turned to her keyboard and typed out a quick message to Portia to ask that the Data Mining Team be on high alert for any ASTRO activity. Is there anything we should do on the security side?

I'll talk to Cordell and Jean, but we're already taking more precautions. Is that what you wanted to talk about?

No. Although it could impact our security in a positive way, I hope. She explained how Cordell had come up with this idea when they were filling the hours on the plane on their way to wilderness survival training. At one point in the conversation, she stood up and went to a blank whiteboard writing Training Facility at the top and making a list beneath.

Sipping his coffee, Jamie sat back and let her spill the idea until she ran out of steam. She walked back to her chair and reached for her coffee.

We build a Search and Rescue training facility above Haven thus providing us with a much more secure means of entrance and egress. It also allows us to hire people with the best skills for any SaR situation. People who can be part of Priority One or R3 or just be available to those groups as needed. We can train dogs for use by law enforcement and the military as well as SaR.

I know it would be a big undertaking business wise, but you said you enjoy starting new businesses. If you can make it profitable, it could fund the R3 team and a professional SaR team.

Jamie set his coffee on the desk, stood up, and walked around to Jacinta's chair. He pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her. You're brilliant.

Thank you, but it truly was Cordell's idea. Let's call him to join us so he can explain in case I left anything out.

No. I'll talk to him later. How did you two get along?

OK. We had time to get better acquainted. Like we discussed before, he's just not one of those people I click with.

I want to jump on this idea. It helps us with security and R3. It'll keep me busy for a few weeks, but I still want to be involved with what's happening with you and the team.

Go talk to Cordell and work on your business plans. You know where to find me, she said as Jamie headed out the door.

Jacinta made some notes of her own about this new idea, then took her laptop back to the media center to be where she could keep tabs on the storms.

Any sign of an Earthquake or any volcanic activity? she asked as she stood behind Emma and looked at the video screens in the front of the room.

Nothing out of the ordinary, but we're keeping an eye on things. At least now that the Data Mining Team is monitoring most of this for us, it's a little easier, Justin said.

Jacinta moved around to stand behind Winnie. I'm sorry to admit that I've lost touch with where we are on the virus side of things since Quelodene calmed down. I'm not sure what you're monitoring, Winnie, but can you see if there's any general uptick in virus cases reported globally. Any spikes in activity regardless of the specific virus involved?

I was just looking at the latest data. There are no obvious spikes that stand out, but I'm writing some new programs to keep a closer watch on that. What are you thinking, Jacinta?

I'm thinking if this is the launch of ASTRO's attempt to change the world, they'll use all the weapons in their arsenal.

CHAPTER FOUR

I really thought binge watching every year of Shark Week would dull my excitement for this trip, Sylvy said as she laced her fingers with Jean's and wrapped her free arm around his bicep.

Apparently not, he said with a grin. Sylvy's enthusiasm