Shortly after that, they parted and agreed to start their training in an hour. Stephen went to text Bethany Anne and he wanted to review Facebook as well.
20
Nassau, Bahamas
Bethany Anne was looking through offensive and defensive ideas the group had put together for her ship. Captain Thomas and Lt. Commander Wagner had just taken Shelly with Pete and Scott to go see the SEA AXE. It was just fifteen minutes away, but her yacht was already getting a lot of attention and frankly it made her uneasy.
Her phone dinged with a text. It was Stephen asking her to call when she had a moment. Considering this was Stephen’s first time reaching out to her, she certainly wanted to encourage his use of technology. She texted him back that she would call in five minutes. She could have called right then, but she didn’t want him to think he would get an immediate response every time.
She called Dan. He answered on the first ring.
“Yes BA?”
She rolled her eyes, “Has John gotten to you as well? I thought we were done with that ‘BA’ crap.”
She heard Dan laughing on the other end of the line. “Well, actually we all caught a portion of the ‘A’ team this morning and one of the new guys mentioned the similarity and John encouraged it. Since BA was bad ass, it kind of got attached with you.”
“‘B.A.’ wasn’t short for ‘bad ass,’ it was ‘bad attitude’. Can’t those clowns get their bad 80s television information correct?”
“Well, it isn’t like that couldn’t fit either.” Dan stayed quiet after dropping that comment.
“You’re lucky you’re not here with me right now.”
“See? You make my point.” Dan’s voice was almost gleeful. A far cry from the stoic agent she first met.
“They should watch what they ask for. They want bad attitude? I can do that, you know.”
It was Dan’s turn to pause. “You know, I think I’ll let them know that to ‘name it is to claim it.’”
“Sounds like something said in the hood, Dan.”
“Actually, it was something a religious aunt and uncle would often say after seeing the latest Cadillac.”
Religious aunt and uncle? “Dan, how did we get off the subject so horribly?”
“Sorry, I didn’t know that you stated a subject before we started.”
“Good point. Here is the subject—what happens if I spend about four or five days back in Romania? Stephen wants to talk and if he needs me over there, can you guys get us moving towards Central America?”
“You going to take the jet over?”
“Yeah, probably. I’ll need at least Paul and my team. I don’t want to wait too long. I’ve talked with Nathan. He and Frank have found seven homes for Clarita. When they zeroed in on the GPS location where Adrian died, it gave them the address of a small fortress. From there they backtracked IP addresses and traffic. Finally, they found the money trail too.”
“You know that others can track you that way as well, right?”
“Like they can’t track a three hundred and fifty foot yacht? Really? Idiots deserve to die if they can’t do that much. I’m trusting you guys to figure out how to protect these behemoths. Unfortunately, I’ll probably do a better job of surviving if we really get attacked hard by missiles. I need you guys to be thinking about protecting your soft asses.”
Dan laughed. This was the woman he met in the swamp. “Duly noted. Considering one of those soft asses is mine, I’ll push for good ideas. Where are you thinking of meeting back up?”
“Probably land at Montego Bay in Jamaica. Personal jet there shouldn’t raise any eyebrows. Shelly picks me up and we set sail for Clarita’s most likely location. That should give you guys enough days to pull in some armament. Bring Nathan and Killian down to meet us in Jamaica or if you need to stick around long enough I guess fly them here. Sorry, you know this stuff, I’ll stop stepping on your foot. If Stephen doesn’t need me, that will still be the timeframe.”
“Got it. I’ll get with Captain Thomas. What about your dad? If you bring Nathan and Killian he has no cover. Also, what are your thoughts on the SEA AXE?”
“Find out if he wants to join us on the op, I suppose. I’m sure he could find a place that is safe enough otherwise. As for the SEA AXE, I’m hoping it has a way to store a helicopter in a hold, or a way to make that happen easily.”
“I don’t think you can hide Shelly down below.”
“I’m not thinking of Shelly. You know my other aircraft in Romania?”
“Yes…”
“Yeah, that one. I figure we fly it out of Romania to just off of Italy’s coast. We’ll go across as much water as possible. Land it on the SEA AXE, hide that bastard as fast as possible and go from there. I’m going to need a team I can completely trust on that boat, Dan. No one can breathe a damn word or we will be the single focus for all the world powers and their guns are way bigger than ours. Work on that concept while I’m gone and you aren’t sleeping. You know, among the whole organizing a new military organization, navy and nascent air power. Get with my dad on those issues. Hey, what am I paying you guys?”
“Nothing right now. Ecaterina dropped 50k into our accounts for anything we need and frankly we’ve all been so busy the money mostly sits there. Work is too much fun to think about other stuff.”
Bethany Anne snorted, “Right. I’m sure. Ok, since I’m paying you nothing you should double your salary. Actually, all joking aside, find the military payment schedule and use that, but add a fifty percent increase since I am not promising a house for everybody. At eight to ten million a pop, those things are going to add up.”
“Well, you are about to overrun Central America, I’m sure there is a country or two that is a bit cheaper.”
“That isn’t even funny. Well, ok it’s slightly funny. The problem is, there’s a kernel of truth to what you’re saying and I don’t want people thinking like that. Next thing I know, I’ll have pitchforks and fire coming after me.”
“When you’re on the water?”
“Hey, they have boats. Got to stay low for a while.”
“On a three hundred and fifty foot yacht? Your concept of hiding needs some work.”
“What do you want? A dark, dank, cold castle in Transylvania? For all I know, Stephen might have one and I’ll send your ass there. Serve you right for bringing that shit up.”
Dan laughed. “Hey, don’t fight the stone, woman. That’s still pretty good protection at times.”
“So is hiding in plain sight. Wait until the tabloids get ahold of us, we will always be in the news.”
“Yeah, I know. The next time we can rest easy will be up there.”
“Pretty much. It’s space or dust.”
“Ok. Let me know if you’re going and I’ll give Jameson the heads up to be prepared. Where do you want to land?”
“Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport, I think it’s only about twenty to thirty miles from Stephen’s house.”
“All right, I’ll get him looking into it. Are you taking Ecaterina?”
Bethany Anne thought about that. She really wanted the owner’s quarters changed, but Ecaterina had been away from family for a while. “Yeah, if she can be away from Nathan that long. I’ll call and ask her. But I need that owner’s cabin changed. It bugs me that it hasn’t been redone yet.”
“We’ll get it done, even poorly is better than nothing.”
“All right, I’m going to call Stephen now. I’ll let you know what’s going on shortly, bye.”
Dan said his goodbye and hung up.
She hit Stephen’s name on the phone. It rang twice before he picked up, “Bethany Anne!” He was always enthusiastic when he spoke to her, it made her smile.
“How is my favorite v-guy?”
“V-guy? Oh, I get it! I am very well. Aren’t I the only v-guy you know?”
“Other than the still absent Michael, yes you are. Even if he were here, he is not a favorite of mine in any way. Well, unless you want m
e to include you on my favorite-person-I-want-to-slap-the-shit-out-of list. Then he beats you.”
“No, no, I’m good.” Stephen couldn’t even fathom the idea of trying to slap Michael. Either Bethany Anne didn’t have the same relationship with Michael he did, or she was a braver or just more reckless person. “So, to quickly bring you up to speed, my daughter Gabrielle came here last night. She is going to join my effort to take care of Europe. I’m afraid that the status of Europe might not be as solid as I had thought when we spoke last. Also, Ivan had an idea that perhaps you might be able to help her?”
“In what way? Is something wrong?”
“Well, you know of my lack of a skin affliction?”
“Yes…”
“Well, she has one. It isn’t as bad as Petre’s was, but Ivan and now I am wondering if there is anything you can do about the affliction?”
Bethany Anne could almost hear Stephen hold his breath. He was such a cute little vampire lothario. He cared for his daughter while shooting little blanks as often as he could. Bethany Anne had been getting updates from Ivan about Stephen’s infatuation with Tinder. “Hold on a second, Stephen.”
“Ok.”
TOM, is it possible to do what he is asking?
He wants to know if her Nanocytes can be corrected so she can walk in the sun as well?
Yes.
I’ll work out the procedure. If we just use your blood it will be mitigated. But to be absolutely sure of success we could use my ship.
Our ship.
Fine, our ship.
If we use my blood, how can we be assured she doesn’t get some of the additional bonuses?
One sec.
Bethany Anne waited patiently for the few seconds TOM used the Kurtherian computer to figure out whatever it was he needed to figure out.
Ah, good point. We should only do a complete effort aboard the ship.
Ok, thanks.
“Ok, Stephen, the short answer is yes. The longer answer is it will take me time to set up. I have to get a ship about five thousand miles and move another craft. Then, I’ll have to take her on a trip for…one sec.”
TOM?
If we fill her with blood to capitalize on the Etheric power, maybe a week? It would help if I had a chance to find out more about her nanocytes before we did this.
So, you’re asking to get a blood sample? How would you check it out? Oh, you want me to inject myself with her blood?
Well, it isn’t as if I have any other equipment here with me.
This shit is just gross, let me tell you. The things I do for friends.
Not to mention saving the world.
Yeah, well at the moment I’m more interested in helping a friend than saving the world. I’m sure those bastards are going to piss me off enough that I have to take the little victories where I can.
I understand that.
As far as Stephen could tell, she was only gone for about half a second.
“Call it about two weeks.”
“You think you can truly do this?”
“Well, provided I can get the ships in place and no one is upset with us, I’m positive we can make this happen. It will take time to adjust her body, but she’ll sleep through most of that.”
“That is positively wonderful! Can you do anything in the meantime? I don’t want to ask too much so…”
“No worries. I want to meet Gabrielle anyway and I need to get a better read on what’s happening there in Europe. I have a plane here in the Bahamas with me. The pilot is finding out when we can take off. I expect to have my team of four plus a pilot there. Maybe Ecaterina as well. I’m sure Frank would love to meet you, but I need him focused on Clarita so he can’t come this time.”
“Clarita?”
“Yeah, you remember that prick Adrian I called you about? Well, it’s his dear old mom who hangs out in Central America. I’m going to go and fire her from her job, very permanently. There are problems on top of problems making the meeting happen, the least of which is we are on her home turf. I have no idea how dug in she is. Fortunately, we’ve been able to track a lot of her resources and residences down through money trails. Unfortunately, she has a lot of contacts in the various governments. She isn’t going to be easy, that’s for sure.”
“You want some extra help?”
Bethany Anne was surprised. As far as she knew, Stephen really didn’t like traveling outside of Europe. “Let me think about that. We need to find out how bad Europe actually is from Gabrielle. I would hate to solve one problem only to have Europe blow up in our faces with you absent. Expect me there at the airport by midnight. Ask Ivan to set up transportation for three. I’ll leave three with the plane. Probably be there at most two maybe three days and then leave again.”
“Ok, we will be ready.”
“Good. I’ll text you the final information when I get it from the pilot.” She said her good-byes and hung up. She contacted Dan and Ecaterina. Dan let her know that Shelly would be back in an hour and Paul would be ready in three hours. Ecaterina would like to go, but felt she had too much right now to make the trip. She video called with Ivan often enough during the week she didn’t feel a need to go see him.
Bethany Anne was relieved that her stateroom would be done by the time she got back. An hour later Shelly was back. Bethany Anne got with Captain Thomas and Lt. Commander Wagner. She took them each aside and with her ability to ascertain the truth confirmed that they were onboard with everything. She asked them both to join her with Dan in the Captain’s ready room while Bobcat saw to getting Shelly fueled back up.
The four of them sat around the table. “Thank you guys for jumping on everything so quickly. Now, I need to throw another challenge your way.” The two navy guys just looked at each other. They were both as happy as little kids with the pace and opportunities that they had right now. What could she possibly throw as a new challenge?
Captain Thomas spoke up, “You’re adding this on top of the offense, defense and hiring binge we have going on? It isn’t a complaint, I just want to know the priorities.”
“Yes, and no. Those three items are still in place, I just need to bring the both of you in on some information that is only explained to those at the top of TQB Enterprises. Information that’s both business and military. It’s the reason I had to ask you guys under oath to know your true feelings.”
Wagner spoke up, “It felt almost like a compulsion to tell the truth. Was there a gas in the room?”
Bethany Anne considered how he had asked the question. With so many stories about the powers of vampires, she never considered just fabricating a story to explain it away. “No, but I’m going to take that idea and run with it. One of the etheric abilities I have is to tweak a human’s brainwaves to require them to tell the truth. It can do more, and less. I don’t like doing it to friends as it can leave behind emotional problems of trust. Every person that has been a part of this information I am about to divulge, including my father, has been tested under the oath.”
Both Thomas and Wagner relaxed a little. That she treated her own father the same way did make a difference to them. That her father had required her to put him through the oath was inconsequential to the conversation.
“The beginning of the vampire race, if you will, was started on an alien spaceship in the mountains of Romania.” Both of the men sat back at that announcement. She could tell Wagner was putting two and two together much quicker. The Germans had a lot of stories going back that his parents probably shared with him. Thomas was focused on the alien comment.
Dan spoke up. “We have several simultaneous operations we need to execute. I need to get this craft some offensive and defensive ability in just three days. At the same time, I need to have the SEA AXE on its way to Italy. Does the SEA AXE have a hangar?”
Captain Thomas spoke up, “Yes. Quite a nice one actually. We might be able to even get Shelly in there if we need to. Not sure we could stuff her into the hold if she is fully loaded but it might ha
ppen.”
“That’s good to know, but we don’t want to put Shelly in there. We want to put a flying saucer in there.”
Wagner spoke up, first. “Really? The original saucer is still available? Can it fly over to the SEA AXE or are we going to have to do something to move it?”
Bethany Anne took this one. “I’m told that it can still fly, but that hasn’t been tested. It might start and crash. It might fly all the way to the ship and crash right next to it.”
Would you stop talking about crashing? That ship is fine for another flight!
Who is going to be flying it?
Well, certainly I am… Oh. I’ll be doing it in your body. If you don’t suck at flying an alien spaceship we will be fine…
None of the men noticed her quick conversation with TOM. “So, long story short we should be able to lift off in the mountains, fly down to the Black Sea and fly near Istanbul over to the Sea of Marmara. From there stay close to the water all the way to the SEA AXE. Land it, put it in the hangar and get the hell out of Dodge.”
Wagner was scratching his face in thought. “The SEA AXE has a Sikorsky S-76 on it right now. We can keep that one and fly it off, land the UFO and put the helicopter back on top. If no one’s watching, then we just mosey back out. Any idea where we’re going to hang out after that?”
“Probably somewhere we can keep people and communications under strict control. I’m thinking we’re going to need to buy our own island somewhere. Probably near the equator that isn’t too far from a major commercial hub. Eventually, we need to build a way to take people up into space. What I haven’t shared so far is…” Then, Bethany Anne explained the Kurtherian and their efforts to change humanity. How the first effort created the vampire race and how it had gone wrong from the beginning. She had to admit she was the first correctly changed human. Her focus was getting the world ready to take on possible alien invasion or attacks.
Captain Thomas considered her words. He had wanted to be a part of something bigger, now he was realizing just how big the challenge was. His earlier concerns about outfitting the Polarus and SEA AXE seemed a little trite.
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set One: Books 1-7, Death Becomes Her, Queen Bitch, Love Lost, Bite This, Never Forsaken, Under My Heel, Kneel or Die (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets) Page 58