Mandy leaned against the wall and watched her friend intently.  After a few minutes she finally spoke up.  She asked Katy once again why they were turning the door knobs around.  Katy paused and looked up at her friend from her position on the floor.  Katy nicely asked her if she remembered the plan.  Mandy nodded and repeated what her friend had told her a few days before.

            They were going to lock them in the basement.  Mandy pointed into the basement as if Katy didn’t know where it was.  Katy shook her head and then explained to her that they could not lock them in there with the lock facing the way that it was.  They had to turn them around so that you would need a key to open it from inside the basement.

            Mandy thought for a minute then pointed to the front door which Katy had switched as well.  She expressed concern about being locked.  Katy told her that they would all have keys, but to be careful with them and not to let the guys have access to them.  She tightened the last screws and then climbed up off of the floor.

             “Is there something more productive that you could be doing or at the very least someone else that you could be bothering?” Katy asked.

              “Nope, I finished setting up the computer and the wireless network up here.  Brandi said that she was not ready for me down stairs yet.” Mandy explained.    Katy quizzed her on the security measures that they had discussed earlier in the week, which much to her surprise Mandy passed.

              Katy informed her that tonight at dinner they all needed to discuss the next step in their plans.  She tasked Mandy with the job of telling everyone to come prepared to talk about it, while she ran back into town to fetch some things that they would need.  Mandy nodded and headed off to find the others while Katy headed out the door.  Mandy wondered to herself what Katy was going to go get, she thought they had everything they needed here, but didn’t stop to question her friend further.

            While Katy was gone, the others worked on putting the finishing touches on some things around the house.  They had just finished dinner when Katy returned.  She walked in carrying a box which she placed on the table.

            “Were we supposed to wait for you before we ate?” Kim asked while eating a cookie.  Katy shook her head; she had gotten something while in town.  It had taken longer than she thought it would to get everything together.  Mandy began to peak into the box.

              “Ladies, these are our weapons.” Katy beamed.  She opened the box for Mandy.

            “No way, we said no guns, Katy.  Take this all back.” Mandy protested stepping away from the box.  Katy sighed and reached into the box and pulled out a tranquilizer air pistol.

              “They aren’t guns, I mean not really.  The point isn’t to kill any one after all.” Katy explained.  She handed one to Brandi, who eagerly took it and looked it over.  Katy explained that she had gotten a tranquilizer gun for each of them, and well as two stun batons, two stun guns, four taser guns and four things of pepper spray.  She laid her arsenal out on the table for everyone to see.  She was very proud of the collection.

            Mandy reach in the box and pulled the last item out.  Katy was quick to snatch it from her.  Mandy asked her what it was.  It was wrapped in a cloth.  Katy snapped that it was hers and carefully unwrapped the item.

            “I thought the point was not to hurt anyone?”  Mandy asked as the katana was slowly revealed to her.  Katy held tightly to it as if it was a piece of art.

            “That is still the point; this is just for my collection.  I saw it in the store and I just had to have it.  It’s beautiful.” Katy explained.  She carefully pulled the blade from its case eyeing the shine metal for a minute before sliding it back into place.  “I will keep it upstairs, out of sight and out of reach.” She added.

            She tossed the box over by the trash can and watched as they others carefully sifted though the other items.  The katana was set aside for now and Katy showed the others how you put the gun holster on their belts, she wanted them to keep at least one item with them at all time, for safety reasons.  Kim didn’t like it, it was heavy and cumbersome.

              “So does this mean that we are ready for phase two?” Brandi asked.  Katy shook her head yes.  She grabbed a soda from the refrigerator and took a seat at the table.  They began to talk about the next logical step in their plan.  Katy’s car got the best gas mileage out of the two vehicles that they had, so it only made sense that it would be the one to make the trip to Orlando.  Katy was fine with that but insisted that she go with her car, not really trusting anyone else with her baby, especially in a dangerous situation like this.

            This kind of shocked Mandy, she would have thought Katy would rather do the Los Angeles portion of the mission.  But she didn’t question her out loud.  The girls split into two teams with Mandy and Katy planning to head to Orlando in the morning and Brandi and Kim would wait here until they got word from the others.

            They have to synchronize their attacks, to avoid having the media tip any one off and possibly ruining their plans completely.  After they get one guy, they will only have a limited amount of time to get the others before people realize that they are missing.

              Katy told Brandi she had something that they were going to need in order to get Justin and JC.  Brandi nodded and followed Katy upstairs.  Katy wanted to go over it with her to make sure she didn’t run into any problems. 

           “Do you think those two are up to something?” Mandy asked once they were out of sight.  Kim flash Mandy a look, those two were always up to something so why would this be any different.

            “At least they aren’t together on the kidnappings.  That would be a dangerous combination.” Kim replied.  They both needed some level headed guidance from time to time; otherwise they would continuously get each other into trouble.

              Mandy looked at Kim and turned serious for a minute.  She asked her if she was having any doubts about this.  Kim assured her that she was on board one hundred percent; after all she had nothing to lose.  This was the most excitement she had seen in years.  There wasn’t anything waiting for her at home.

            They sat there waiting.  They could hear sounds coming from upstairs followed by laughter from their friends but neither wanted to investigate the possible mischief the other two were getting in to.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss with them.  Soon Brandi and Katy returned, giggling as they came down the steps.

              “Okay Mandy we’ll leave in the morning and call once we setup our base camp.” Katy explained.  Mandy smiled, she was excited about the thought of a road trip.

            “We’ll head to L.A in two days and see if we can get any leads on where they are planning to be and when.” Brandi added.  “Call us when you are about to make your move and we’ll go at the same time.”  She added looking at Mandy, knowing full well that Katy would likely forget in all the excitement.

            “Once we get them in the car, we’ll head straight here, no stopping.” Katy explained, more for Mandy’s knowledge than anyone else’s.  Mandy nodded in agreement, though driving all day and night didn’t sound like a very fun road trip.

            The girls all agreed and then headed to bed.  They had to pack and it was going to be a long and stressful few days.  Thing were starting to come together and get serious.