Bobcat nodded and turned back to the sheets on the whiteboard. “If these guys can work with us, we could build some shells and use TOM’s ship as the freaking engine until we can build our own space yards.”
William went to the whiteboard and put a finger on the little warship design. “We could have a ship in space in months.”
There was a buzz on their intercom from the first level of security. “Mr. Bobcat?”
Bobcat rolled his eyes. He hated them using his last name, but they wouldn’t drop the ‘Mr.’ for him, so he was stuck with ‘Mr. Bobcat.’ It sounded like a character on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. “Yes?”
“There is a Mr. Frank Kurns and a Mr. Jeffrey Diamantz requesting permission to move forward to the next security gate?”
Bobcat called out, “Permission granted.” The speaker cut off. “Look sharp gentlemen. The research head just arrived.”
15
The Queen Bitch’s Ship Ad Aeternitatem
The meeting room was overflowing with guys exuding huge amounts of testosterone. Between the Guardians, the Marines who went with them and the navy men and women, all of whom were itching for a good fight, the meeting room was damned near packed.
Initially it was Pete who stared at the door, then the rest of the guardians caught the feeling as well. Their compatriots had learned to trust their Wechselbalg teammates and they also turned to see who was coming.
Not that anyone had any doubt.
The Queen had arrived, and the Queen’s Own had just announced her. Pete’s ears could pick up the conversation Bethany Anne was having with a ship’s engineer when a sudden ‘crack’ sounded and Pete could hear Bethany Anne tell one of her guards to “Cut that shit out! You’re scaring everyone, you little prick!” Her tone was light, so Pete could just imagine the smile she had on her face.
Sure enough, the feeling of dread evaporated a moment later. Pete noticed a couple of his team had smiles on their faces. They had heard the conversation out in the hall as well.
While Bethany Anne might refer to her team as her ‘Bitches’ most knew the story or heard the rumors that her team were very much her people.
Her own! They looked out for her and she in turn, held them close.
Pete smiled a little to himself. He would never spar with John in his Pricolici form because of the nearly uncontrollable anger, but he held a certain fantasy about being able to take the guard down at least once for all of the times John had tossed his ass around the mats. Now, he’d lost the chance. Whatever extra stuff had happened to the team, once they had come out of the spaceship, they had been elevated to universal badasses. Fortunately, it hadn’t affected their personalities at all. Well, Scott was a little more outgoing but that could be attributed to anything. Like getting laid while in Germany. At least that was the rumor.
The people at the door had stuck their heads out into the hallway and the ‘she’s here, make a fucking path already!’ comments started as people tried to move aside.
That was when John Grimes came to the door. Pete had seen him since the Pod, but fucking shit, he was a mountain.
John said over his shoulder, “It’s a little crowded, BA.”
Pete smiled. John was poking fun at the vampire again with the ‘BA’ stuff.
“If you don’t get your big ass out of my way, I won’t be able to see! You know what? Just hold still, Gigantor.” Pete saw Bethany Anne’s head pop up above John’s shoulder. John’s lips pursed as she used him for her personal ladder. Pete wasn’t sure if she was smiling because of everyone in the room or because she was embarrassing John.
Probably both.
She called out to the assembled group, “What the hell, folks? Someone here want a chance to kick some terrorist ass?”
Holy crap! Pete almost had to put his fingers into his ears, the answering roar was so loud.
She was looking around and waiting for the cheers to die down, which wasn’t happening any time soon. Her smile caused everyone to continue cheering until she put a hand up motioning everyone to quiet down. She called out, “Stephen, clear off the table in front of you, please.” It took Stephen only a few seconds to push all of the drinks and paperwork to the side. She yelled out with a huge smile on her face, “Incoming!” The next second the people in the room, most of whom had not seen her do this trick, were shocked when she disappeared from John’s back and reappeared standing on the table in front of Stephen.
That performance caused everyone in the room to start cheering again, and Pete saw Bethany Anne starting to blush. She waved everyone to quiet down again and started walking down the table, a runway model speaking to her fans.
“The Bitches and I have had a few excursions recently. You will be happy to know that a certain terrorist moneyman based in America is sadly not with us anymore.” She waited for the cheers to die down. “Further, there are now seven other terrorists who, most unfortunately, are no longer with us either. Let’s have a moment of silence in memory of…” She grinned. “Who the fuck am I kidding? These assholes can kiss my ass and now we have a target to hit!” More cheering. “Anybody free for the next week? Anybody want to dish out a little retribution?” She walked back down the table saying, “This ship is my aircraft carrier. Once we have a plan from Dan, you will be responsible for implementing a timely attack of the Queen’s Guardians.”
She turned back around. “We have a small window, as these training camps pop up and go away quickly. Our intelligence suggests this camp is going away in eight days or less. I want our teams outfitted, ready and on their way in five. We might not have been able to help those in France, but we sure as hell will be sending a message that terrorists need to be looking over their shoulder no matter where they sleep, where they train, or where they live.”
She stood in the middle of the table looking around at all who were assembled, the ships’ captains, Dan and Stephen, and all of the Guardians and Marines. Her voice became a whisper and she let the anger she was feeling towards the terrorists infuse her voice. “They thought Germany would be safe for them. They died in Germany! They thought England would be safe for them. They died in England! They thought a Netherlands ‘no-go’ zone would be safe for them… And, they died in the Netherlands!”
Her voice rose, matching her rage. “Now they think that training zones inside Libya are safe?” Bethany Anne looked over to where Todd and Pete were standing next to each other. “Guardian leaders, get your asses up here!”
Pete told Todd, “You heard her! Let’s get our asses up there!” Todd smiled as he was half helped, half pushed through the crowd and then shoved up onto the table. Bethany Anne held out her hand, finger pointing commandingly at a spot directly in front of her. The two men walked down the table, hoping to God that it didn’t break on them.
“Todd Jenkins and Peter Silvers, I hereby command you to take your people into the country of Libya and deliver a message from the Queen Bitch. Do you accept this command for yourselves and your teams?”
Todd couldn’t help himself, decorum was the last thing on his mind. “Fuck yeah!”
Pete waited for the laughter to die down. He smiled at Bethany Anne and turned to his Guardians. “What say you, Guardians? What is our answer to our Queen?”
Matthew spoke up, “May I?” Pete nodded his agreement. Matthew straightened and spoke directly to Bethany Anne. “Where you point us, we go. What you set before us, we achieve. We will accomplish what you ask or return on our shield, Ad Aeternitatem!” Pete thought the cheering before was the loudest he had ever heard. He was sure his ears were having to heal themselves now.
Bethany Anne’s Guardians now gained a team motto, a direction, and a course.
Bethany Anne said to her two sergeants, “Gentlemen, I point you to Libya, I set before you a terrorist camp.” Her voice dropped, the anger and vehemence obvious in her tone and as her eyes turned red, she commanded, “I demand that there be no survivors!”
Todd’s salute was the crispest he had ever delivered.
&
nbsp; 16
TQB Base, CO, USA
If Kevin had thought he had a passion for this project after his ride with Bethany Anne, he was well and truly obsessed now.
Bethany Anne going all Vamp had made a huge impression on him, but the raw ferocity of looking at Nathan when he changed had rammed it home. Bethany Anne had some of the strongest and smartest people in the world following her.
It was not because she was beautiful, rich, or deadly, although she was truly all of those. They did it because she was walking a path with only one goal.
To save the Earth.
She was doing whatever it took to make that happen and would accept no excuses.
There was a knock on the door and his aide poked his head in. “Robert McCarty here to see you, sir.”
Kevin looked up from the large table that had designs and maps covering the entire surface. “Thanks. Show him in please.”
Robert stepped through the door and whistled. “Holy crap, Kevin. Did someone bomb the place and all the paper ended up on this table?”
Kevin smiled and shook his hand, then ran a hand through his hair and looked around. “No. At least I don’t think so.” He pulled out a map of the base. “Here, this is what I’m going to want you to focus on.”
Robert came around the table to look at the document in Kevin’s hand. “Yeah, the old Hangar 18 area. Shit, we’ve got a ton of stuff going on over there.”
“Don’t I know it,” Kevin replied. “You see the emplacements that we originally had?”
Robert pointed them out. “Yeah! Here, two there and one back up over here. Not sure how we’ll be running cable yet .”
“Don’t.” Robert looked at Kevin as he continued, “Don’t worry about running cable. I’ve been informed we have some pretty damned hush-hush technology.”
Robert elbowed Kevin. “Hey, fess up now. What are we doing?”
Kevin thought about explaining it all to Robert. But despite how long Kevin had known Robert, they weren’t best buds who would go drinking together. Dammit, he thought, he would have to institute some sort of secondary security review for his higher-up people. “Well, some things I can’t go into at the moment. I’ll set up a process to get you read into the whole thing later. For now, I want you to look at this map and tell me how many emplacements with the gun specifications like we talked about earlier you would want if power wasn’t a problem.”
Robert looked down at the topographical map. “What type of attacks?”
“Assume all. Air/land. People trying to sneak in. Stupid photographers to spies to mercenaries. I want to be able to respond to any and all incursions.”
Robert eyed his boss. “Not asking for much, are you? What are you expecting to protect, gold?”
Kevin pursed his lips. “What if the R & D from this facility came up with a wonder drug that could heal anything? Who would want that?”
Robert shrugged. “You name it. Individuals, corporate spies, governments— whoever had the money or was desperate enough to believe they could change their lives if they got it.”
“Ok, here’s another concept. What if there was a terrible war going on and this was the most secure location?”
“Shit! We’d be swamped. It would be rats running to high ground when the water is rising.”
“Good, and now you know my two worst fears. So, what’s your answer?” The phone rang behind Kevin. He turned and stabbed the answer button. “Go ahead.”
A younger male voice came from the speaker. “Sir, this is Barrins at the main gate. I’ve got what looks like a metric fuck-ton of eighteen wheelers all lined up and the first guy is asking where to put his shipping container.”
Kevin was trying to figure out what was supposed to arrive. “I’m lost, Barrins. What project is it allocated to?”
“Wait one, sir! I’ll check the manifest.” Kevin waited for possibly thirty seconds, “Says it’s for ‘space allocation,’ sir.”
Kevin heard Robert behind him. “Space allocation? We’ve got all the fucking space we need. Who the hell would want space?”
Robert’s comment provided the clue Kevin needed. “I’m going to put you on hold, Barrins.” Kevin put that line on hold and hit the extension to call the people he figured were the culprits. The line picked up. “Bobcat here.”
“Bobcat, this is Kevin. I’ve got, and I quote, a ‘metric fuck-ton’ of semis at the front gates with shipping containers. Would your team know anything about that?”
Bobcat’s reply came right back. “Yes, we would. Hold on.” Kevin heard Bobcat yell, “Who the fuck ordered the shipping containers already? Did you, William? No? How about you Marcus? No? Wait! Marcus, you look guilty as hell! Out with it. Uh, huh… Talked with TOM? No, I have no idea why talking with TOM would get us containers this fast. Hell if I know! We are now the proud owners of a ‘metric fuck-ton’ of the sons-of-bitches. No! Don’t ask TOM about it, help me figure out where to stick them so Kevin doesn’t move your personal quarters outside into one of them!”
The rustling of the phone announced Bobcat coming back. “Kevin, sorry. Somehow our conversation went to someone who thought we needed the things right now. Is there someplace we can stick them?”
Kevin answered, “Not a problem, plenty of space at the moment. You don’t need them right now?”
“No! Not for at least a couple of months minimum, I would think. Why, you have a use for them?”
“Maybe. For now I’ll put them someplace where we can get them back. I want a couple as payment for helping you out.”
Bobcat barked a laugh. “Sure, why not? What’s a cargo container or two among friends?”
Kevin replied, “All right, how many are there?”
“I have no idea. We were talking fifty originally, so if it’s close to that number they’re probably ours. Still don’t have a clue who ordered them.”
“I might have a clue, but I’ll have to talk with Lance.” They said their goodbyes and Kevin clicked back over to his other line. “Barrins, I’m going to give you over to Robert here in a second. He will direct you to tell these guys where to put their loads. Be certain you double-check every one of those before you let them through the gate! We are thinking there should be about fifty of them. Let me know tomorrow if we’re short, but if you exceed fifty I want you to contact me immediately.” Robert stepped closer as Kevin handed him the phone. “I want you to put forty-eight wherever you can store them, but leave two and let’s drop them back behind Devil’s Ridge.”
Robert took the offered phone. “Devil’s Ridge? Why the hell, no, scratch that. How the hell are we going to do that?”
“I’ll get the guys who created the problem for the how, and the why is I want to make it look like that is our power generation area. That way, targeting that area will be a requirement for a first strike.”
“If they don’t hit it with a missile, that’s going to be a bitch to get to.”
Kevin smiled. “That, my good man, is exactly what I’m counting on.”
17
Northern Libya, twenty miles from the coast
Aabis Mahmood walked out of the large tent that he was sharing with twelve others to go to the latrine. He looked up into the sky and from the location of the moon he thought it was probably a couple of hours past midnight. If he had grabbed his cell phone he wouldn’t have had to depend on his admittedly shoddy moon reckoning skills to figure out what time it was.
He walked past four other large tents just like his. He had arrived three days ago along with a truck full of other believers ready to fight the infidels.
There were three sentries in and around the camp. One of them had stopped for a smoke and Aabis waved to him as he walked over to the latrine. He was standing there doing his business when he noticed a pair of eyes staring at him from the underbrush thirty feet away. He leaned forward just a bit, attempting to identify the animal in the dark. It looked like it might be one of the golden wolves. That was when the eyes moved up, and up… and up! Tall
er than any wolf he had ever seen. He quickly zipped up his pants, deciding that anything else he needed to do he could finish later. That was his last thought before a knife came around his neck and quickly pulled back, cutting his throat, and Aabis Mahmood’s lifeblood ran down his chest. A hand had cupped his mouth, silencing him.
Aabis Mahmood was unique. He was the first man the Queen’s Guardians had dispatched at her command.
He would soon be joined by dozens more.
Pete Silvers put away his knife and nodded to Tim. Tim had chuffed earlier letting Pete know there was someone coming out of the camp. Pete and Todd Jenkins had discussed the best method to take care of the people in the camp and to ensure there would be no survivors. Todd placed two of his snipers up in Pods, silently hovering two hundred feet up in the air in case someone ran from the fight.
There was another camp just two miles away in the low hills. Pete and Todd hoped they would be able to take care of this camp without an alarm being sent to the other. But if a message got out, the Marines had an answer for that as well. Right now, it was the Guardians who had the lead. There was a total of six tents and happily they had six Guardians. Five of the tents were for the new recruits. The other tent included quarters for the trainers and communications.
Pete and Todd had that one as their target. Todd put his remaining team on the perimeter of the camp to make sure they didn’t allow any of the terrorists to ‘opt out’ of the coming discussion and to be in position to interdict an attack coming from the other camp.
Pete listened closely as the three sentries quietly met their deaths. Matthew, Joseph and Joel each had a guy to take out. Pete didn’t trust Rickie to keep his mouth shut when he killed his sentry.
There was never a truer saying for Rickie than his mouth had a mind of its own.
Pete started stalking towards the largest tent. This was where they might possibly retrieve actionable intelligence. Dan had been very specific that he wanted anything they could grab. If nothing else, he would pass the information to those who cared back in the States. No reason to let good intel go to waste. These shitheads weren’t going to need any of it ever again.
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 141