He had been contacted out of the blue and asked if he would like to possibly consider a protection detail that was ‘Pro U.S., Pro-World and possibly pro-dangerous?’ It had been enough to tweak his curiosity and the free trip to Jamaica had been enough to get him to pack his two measly bags and leave the one bedroom efficiency that didn’t even have furniture yet. If he never went back to the apartment, it would be too soon for him.
The last couple of days had been rather eye opening. First from working with Todd, who had handed him his ass on the first test. And while he had done better in the second round, he still lost. Later he was floored by the brief related to the vampires and the aliens. He was seriously enjoying himself again. At the moment, he was even happy his ex had decided to play with the milkman because otherwise he would have stayed back in a failed relationship and missed this opportunity.
The doors above had opened to the sky as soon as they heard the helicopter take off. They didn’t have many lights on up top or inside, there was no need to take any chances. The doors clanged into their fully open position. He could feel the air being displaced around him, but he could not see anything. His vision was a little cloudy, almost like he had a little tear or something as he tried to see out the opening. Then, it was obvious something was coming into the compartment, but you couldn’t say what it was because you could still see the other side of the room, but it was just a little out of focus when you really paid attention.
A female's voice reverberated through the compartment, “Gentlemen, be so kind as to close the roof, I don’t want any accidental pictures from a spy in the sky.” Startled, Chet looked around. What the hell?
The engineer started the doors closing again. When the doors shut the internal lights came on and then suddenly a fucking UFO was right in front of him. Chet’s mouth dropped open and he didn’t even bother to close it for a minute.
It wasn’t exactly circular, but rather seemed a little like a circle with a point in one direction. It had three legs resting on the ground. The ship was lowering on its legs, allowing the body of the ship to almost touch the floor. Beside him, Todd had a big shit-eating grin on his face and he started walking towards what he guessed was the door to this craft.
They waited in front of the craft for three minutes before the door opened and holy mother-of-god the first guy off was a fucking mountain. Chet recognized the patch and looked beneath the skull, yup the word ‘Aeternitatem’ was beneath the skull.
Todd held out his hand. “John, great to see you again, you fucking ox!” Chet then saw the most beautiful woman in the world walk out behind John. Chet thought he had met her before, but the meeting was a little fuzzy in his memory. Maybe he saw a picture?
She spoke to Todd. “What, no hello for your teammate?”
Todd held his arms open and Bethany Anne stepped in and gave him a hug. She stood back and looked Todd up and down, “You’ve been eating your Wheaties, Mr. Jenkins!”
“Mr. Jenkins? You wound me!”
Bethany Anne laughed. “Well, show me you can be more of a help on my team next time, and I’ll call you by ‘Todd,’ how about that?”
“Deal!” The three of them laughed together.
Bethany Anne turned back around and did something to the side of the ship and the door closed. She then introduced herself to everyone in the hold. When it was his turn he wasn’t sure whether to salute her, shake her hand or ask her on a date. He chose to shake her hand. “Chet Nichols, ma’am.”
Bethany Anne smiled at him. “Good to meet you Mr. Nichols. I’m sorry to hear about your ex-wife, but I’m happy to know you’re on my team. Are you ready to save the world?”
Damn, this lady was charismatic. “Hell yes, point me in the right direction, ma’am!”
Chet smiled as Bethany Anne pointed up, “That way Marine!”
Chet barked out, “I need a rocket, ma’am. I can jump but this damn gravity keeps pulling me down!” By now, most of the guys were laughing at their discussion.
“Well, shit. I was told I just had to point which way to a Marine and they took care of business.” She turned in mock anger to Todd Jenkins, “Did you sell me a pig in a poke, Todd?”
Todd grunted and answered, “Ma’am, no ma’am! Marines go anywhere, eat anything and accomplish the task.” Then Todd smiled, “But we rely on the Navy to get us close to the target, ma’am. We’re all rifleman.”
Bethany Anne laughed. “Well, if we can figure out how to use the technology you guys are charged with protecting, then maybe we have an opportunity to provide the Navy a way to get your asses into space.” She turned back to Chet, “That work for you, Mr. Nichols?”
Chet smiled, “I’d be delighted, ma’am.”
Bethany Anne reached up and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m not that old yet. Bethany Anne will work just fine. You guys can let whoever the Captain says come in here and look, but not touch. We have special cargo inside that vehicle so for most of this next week only me and my Guard go inside, clear?” She raised an eyebrow and looked back over to Todd.
He nodded. “Understood, Bethany Anne.”
The door to the hold opened and Captain Wagner came in with his second, Natalia Jakowski. They stopped and just looked at the craft for a second before slowly coming over, their eyes never leaving the ship.
“Looking good, Max?” Bethany Anne turned to face them, but looked over her shoulder back at the craft they were appreciating.
“You know, Bethany Anne, we talked about it and made plans but it becomes real when you can see it and touch it.”
The woman beside Max cleared her throat. Max stopped looking at the craft and blushed, “Sorry, where are my manners? Natalia Jakowski, please be introduced to Bethany Anne.”
Natalia stuck her hand out to shake Bethany Anne’s. “I feel like I’ve met you, but I can’t remember the details?”
Bethany Anne shook Natalia’s hand. “Yes, we’ve met. It was an interview and you probably don’t remember it too well. I’m happy to see you’re still with us.”
“Wouldn’t miss this opportunity.”
“Good to have you aboard, Natalia.” She turned to the Captain, “Max?”
Max turned his head back from the spacecraft. “Hmm?”
“Do you mind getting closer to the Polarus? I’m going to hitch a ride back over there and if you’re close, it will help me should an emergency happen.”
“Sure, I’ll touch base with Captain Thomas. Why does the UFO have so much resin on it?”
“It was under a bunch of trees on a mountain for a thousand years, and not all of the stuff fell off on our flight over here. Some of that shit is as bad as tar on your car.”
“Ok, I’ll get with Captain Thomas. What direction do you want to head?”
Bethany Anne pursed her lips, “Basically back to Nassau. I’ll jump on a plane to get to Miami, or the General and Nathan can come to us. Actually, that would be best. I don’t want to leave this ship until I get Gabrielle back.”
Max turned to Natalia. “Natalia, would you request Bobcat bring the bird back in? He can take Bethany Anne to the Polarus and Chris can bring it back.”
“But sir, the Black Hawk is on their landing pad. They aren’t going to take the Cessa over?”
Bethany Anne looked at them both, “The Cessa?”
Max turned to her, “Yes, the Ad Aeternitatem has room to store a fifty foot yacht on top for when you want to move around in something… smaller. We’ve put the boat in the water for when we need to ferry people across for the time being.”
“Ah, ok. No, I’d rather ride in the new Sikorsky. I haven’t ridden in it yet. I’m not worried about landing, we’ll get down ok.” She turned to the huge man beside her, “Right John?”
His face looked like he wanted to forget something. “Yes, nothing like leaving a perfectly fine helicopter a hundred feet above a building without rappelling gear.”
Bethany Anne scrunched her face up. “I don’t remember it being a hundred feet up,
I think you're adding to the story.” She turned back to Max and Natalia. Behind her and above her head, John was stretching his hands apart as if something was growing and mouthing, ‘It was a hundred feet!’
The two of them tried hard to keep a straight face, but Chet snorted and gave it away. Bethany Anne turned around so fast you couldn’t see her move. Suddenly she had John’s hands in her own and he was trapped. She was smiling. “I’m sorry, Mr. Grimes. Did you have anything to add to the story behind my back?”
The huge man was straining to move his arms, but the lady wasn’t budging. Finally, he stopped and just laughed, “Ok, ok, you win. It wasn’t a hundred feet, it was less… Ooof.” John was bent over rubbing his stomach and Bethany Anne was faced towards Max again.
“Sorry about that, but sometimes you have to chastise the kids.” John started to stretch his hand out while still bent over trying to breathe. Bethany Anne spoke without looking back at John. “If you put those fingers out, I will break one, Mr. Grimes.” John pulled his hand back in to cover his stomach.
He was catching his breath and was able to get out a ‘good to know’ in a faint voice. Bethany Anne smiled.
Bethany Anne looked at Natalia as if to say, ‘Why are you still here?’ She came to attention, then smiled. “Right, call in the helicopter.” She turned around and quickly left the room.
“Ok, how do we get upstairs from down here?”
Max smiled. “Come this way.”
The three of them left while Todd Jenkins detailed a twenty-four hour surveillance schedule with his team.
Ten minutes later, the Sikorsky hovered over the Polarus and Bethany Anne looked down to find an open spot next to Shelly. She looked carefully but no one was walking around the deck. She reached up and patted Bobcat on the shoulder. “See you later, Bobcat! Nice to meet you, Chris.” Bobcat gave her a thumbs up and Chris turned in his seat to see her and the huge guard, John Grimes, disappear.
Chris’ mouth hung open. Bobcat called into his headset, “They gone?” Chris nodded. “Good, I’m taking her back over to the Aeternitatem. I want to see how you're handling this bird. Hey, Chris, snap out of it! You're going to see weirder shit than that, so just accept it and let’s do our job.”
With a little effort, Chris turned back around and they got busy flying back to the other ship.
The Queen Bitch's Ship Polarus, En Route to Nassau
Bethany Anne was coming out of the shower wrapped in a towel. Ecaterina was in her personal suite and John had stayed up in the front area where there would normally be two guards.
When Bethany Anne saw that her suite doors were closed, she dropped the towel into the hamper and walked into her closet.
Ecaterina spoke up from the desk where she had her laptop open. “You know boss, if you could figure out a way to provide the support you enjoy with those breasts for us normal girls, I would love you forever!” Ecaterina often remarked that she was jealous that Bethany Anne’s figure needed no support, anywhere.
Bethany Anne came out of the closet having slipped on a pair of black jeans and a dark blue long sleeved shirt. “Do you want the icky blood drinking as a part of it?”
Ecaterina scrunched her face up. “Ah, yuck. I’ll shop Victoria’s Secret for a while longer. Maybe in another ten years I might be willing.”
Bethany Anne smiled. Everyone wanted the benefits but nobody signed up for the blood drinking part of the deal. “Ok, what is the status of my dad and Nathan?”
“Paul Jameson will be over in Miami in the morning. We have a new copilot. Ex-Air Force and was stationed out of Germany. He was tooling around Europe before deciding what he wanted to do after getting out of the Air Force. We’re keeping him out of the loop on most everything until you get a chance to interview him.”
“Frank vouched for him?”
Ecaterina just looked at Bethany Anne.
“Right, of course he did. You’re a little on edge tonight, what’s wrong? Too long without your boyfriend?” Ecaterina stuck her tongue out at Bethany Anne. “Ok, I get it. Speaking of Nathan, what’s the status with the Wechselbalg in New York?”
“I’ve spoken with Gerry twice in the last three days. We have eight coming to us. What we don’t have is a place to start the… what did John call it? In-boarding?”
“Onboarding.”
“Like on a ship?”
“No, well maybe. Actually, I don’t have a clue. You might think it came from coming on board a ship but I’ve never heard that story before. Basically it means to get a new employee up to speed with what they need to know about the organization and their jobs. I thought we might have room on the Ad Aeternitatem, but only if we use some of the cargo space. So, I’d rather not. We need to do something with them pretty soon, at least give them a date they expect to come down here. I want them flown down on the corporate jet.” Bethany Anne sat down on her bed, and by ‘down’ it meant a slight hop up for her to get on the mattress. She crossed her feet, put her elbow on her leg and her chin in her hand. “We need a true indoctrination. Can you call Dan and John to come for a meeting?”
Ecaterina reached over to the ship’s phone on the desk beside her. She spoke for a moment and hung it up. “He said he’ll be here in five minutes.”
“Good. Ok, Nathan and my dad arrive tomorrow, I’ll need to sleep, but I’ll do that over in TOM’s craft tonight. That will give Eric time to rest as well. What is the status of Clarita’s kids?”
“They have left Panama and are en route to Romania. I’ve confirmed a location for them with appropriately safe sleeping arrangements with the local Were pack near Stephen’s home. They will stay around until Stephen gets back from Frankfurt.”
“Ok, that works. I’ll let Stephen handle them for a while. If he gives me a good report, we’ll see if we can use them ourselves.”
Ecaterina made notes on her computer. Probably sending an email or text messages to Ivan and Stephen.
There was a knock on the door. Bethany Anne had already heard the two guys talking when Dan arrived a minute ago. She hopped off of the bed. Ecaterina grabbed her laptop and walked around the desk as Bethany Anne opened the door and walked out of her personal suite into the living/meeting room outside.
Bethany Anne walked to the small refrigerator and grabbed a Coke. “Anyone want anything?” She grabbed Ecaterina a water and Dan wanted an apple juice. John didn’t want anything. She handed the water over and tossed Dan his juice. They sat around a small conference table that could easily seat six, and ten if everyone was pretty close.
“Dan, I wanted to ask you about creating some sort of indoctrination class for our new recruits. Something that will both scare the shit out of them and make them understand they are becoming a lean, kick-ass fighting machine.”
“So, expand on the mini-documentary I’ve shown the Navy people lately?”
“That would do it, I suppose. But I want them to understand the dark side of these Nosferatu. We need something that snaps them out of their belief they’re natural fighters and better than everyone else.” She looked over at John. “What if we insert your team’s idea of them sparring against you guys into the middle of the schedule?”
Dan considered her request. “So, you want us to show them enough to feel confident the humans are the poor substitute, then let the Guards bloody their nose, and finally show them the reality?”
“Something like that. I’m not sure I have the right order. What do you guys think?”
John joined in, “If we show them the agents who were killed and maimed before Beat Down 101, then come back and show them even more footage they would have to figure that in time, they might be as good as the agents who have died.”
Dan thought about it. He hated doing anything that would disrespect the honor of his fallen agents, but he had to agree that their deaths being a warning for this generation of Nosferatu fighters would be a way to continue their fight even from the grave.
“I think we can work on that. Have you considered
where you want to do this?”
“Yes, only to realize we can’t do it on the Ad Aeternitatem. Not enough space for them and the scientists I expect we will have to place on board. I hate to bring them here because I don’t want them sitting in the lap of luxury when I’m trying to get their heads screwed on straight.”
John looked at her. “Do you think Pete’s head is screwed on straight?”
“Yeah, sure, he’s really solid right now. Why do you ask?”
“Remember, he lived in a ten million dollar home in Key Biscayne. We can double bunk them to make their rooms a little less palatial, but we run them hard as hell. They won’t have enough energy to enjoy the surroundings. Plus, it wears off in time. I would prefer we weren’t too far from you, anyway. I’m sure you weren’t thinking of ditching us if we were too busy with the new recruits, right?”
That was exactly what Bethany Anne thought she might be able to get away with. “No, not at all.” Her answer fooled none of the team at the table.
“Ok, if you guys are ok with it and Captain Thomas has a place to stick them, just run it by Nathan and my dad for a sanity check and give Ecaterina a time frame to get them down here. Give Gerry a heads up on what you’re thinking. Make sure they bring nothing with them. If they have anything, it gets tossed overboard. Well, maybe that’s a figure of speech, I don’t want to pollute. But I want it tossed. Make sure we have the same outfits for all of them.” She thought about that for a minute. “Dan, would you talk with Captain Thomas? We need crew uniforms for here and for Max’s crew, and patches for the overall Navy.”
Dan was writing on his legal pad. “Anything in mind for the uniforms?”
Bethany Anne got a big smile. “Yes!” Dan and John looked up. They hadn’t heard Bethany Anne sound so carefree in a while. “Ecaterina. Find out the top three designers, TQB Enterprises ships are going to have the best looking uniforms of any ships out at sea. We’ll have them all done up very nicely. Wait, scratch the three designers. Please find out if Nassau has anyone we might want to use and maybe rope in anyone on either crew that has any comments on the utilitarian aspects of working versus presentation uniforms. I want something that will make other crews jealous with envy and make our people pop and sizzle.”
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 72