“Am I going to miss my date because of this?”
Barb rolled her eyes. “No! Now stop trying to dodge this. The second base was completely flattened. In fact, the reason that these bases were even found this fast is because a few towns east of the camps saw a massive flash of light early in the morning. We even captured the flash on spy satellites looking for missile launches, so we have the position. Not that it mattered, the locals were on it within a couple of hours.”
“Okay, a huge bomb and another target gone. Our country just bombed some of their camps back to the Stone Age so why the interest?”
“Because the second base wasn’t bombed back to the Stone Age, it was bombed down to glass. The heat from the main impact location of the bomb was so intense it fused the sand into glass and absolutely flattened everything for a hundred feet around the center. It was like a small tactical nuke went off.”
Don set his coffee down and put his elbows on his desk. “Small tactical nuke?” She nodded.
“Was this us?”
She shook her head.
“What about a black ops group?”
Again, a negative shake of the head.
“What about the Israelis?”
Another negative.
“Well, which of our allies has this kind of power? What does radar say about it? I doubt someone humped a backpack nuke in there to release it. I sure as hell wouldn’t want a nuke strapped on my back.”
“No one. And there was nothing on the radar. Right now, all of our allies are secretly asking each other ‘did you do that?’ Even the Russians are saying nyet. In fact, quite a few governments are pretty sure we’re responsible.”
“That’s damned disturbing. What about a competing terrorist organization? What if we have some sort of terrorist vs. terrorist thing going on?”
She pointed a finger at him. “That is a scary thought.”
Don agreed, “Yes it is.”
She smiled. “Just remember I didn’t come up with it, you said it yourself.”
Don leaned back and shaded his eyes from the light above. “You thought it, you just didn’t say it.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of your statement.” She kept her face blank, but the humor showed in her eyes.
Don leaned back towards the desk again. “Ok, it most likely isn’t another terrorist agency.”
Barb looked at him. “Why do you say that?”
“Because that is what I officially believe until eight A.M. Monday, that’s why.” He turned to grab his briefcase. “Did you just ‘find’ this in the reports, or is this somehow connected to something else we’re tracking here in the U.S.?”
“Uh, remember Anthony Chillenni?”
Don stopped shoving file folders into his briefcase to look at Barb. “Chicago, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Then people in England, Germany and the Netherlands just disappeared. As in ‘really, really disappeared.’ No bodies, no nothing.”
He put the briefcase on his desk. “I remember how those seemed to have links, but how are you connecting these dots?”
“One of the guys grabbed in the Netherlands was rumored to have more knowledge than the average street terrorist.”
“So, we think someone started a line here in the U.S., went to Europe and cleaned house. Then found new information that led to Libya and took action?”
Barb nodded. “Yes.”
“Have you put any of this into a report?”
“No.”
Don smiled at Barb. “I’ll be able to read such a report Monday at eight A.M., right?”
Barb frowned at Don. “Don, you can be such a dick.”
Don looked at his watch. “Yes, if you bring me potential problems just three and a half hours before my date, I can be a dick.” He looked up and smiled at Barb. “Don’t tell me you don’t already have plans to follow up on this? Instead of you doing it for free over the weekend, I’m making it a request from upper management. That way, I can put this effort in your jacket for work ‘above and beyond.’”
Don grabbed his briefcase and stepped out of his office. She smiled at her boss’ back. Now that, she considered, was why she busted her ass for him.
Pudong Shanghai, China
Chongan was head down, working at his computer when Jianguo stopped by his desk. Chongan looked up. “Yes?”
Jianguo’s face was grave as he whispered, “Sir, I don’t have a way to prove this, but I believe we are being attacked directly.” Jianguo’s face was impassive, but Chongan knew he had to be sweating inside. To bring something like a feeling up to his superior officer was tantamount to admitting his skills were not better than whoever was doing the attacking. That was a problem and Jianguo was going to lose face. The only way he could avoid that was if he was not only right, but no one else was able to find the attacker either.
Chongan knew his men, and he understood that Jianguo was his best. Both his best hacker, and the most stalwart man here. He didn’t boast and he focused on the goal, not the adulation or praise.
Chongan shook his head once, quickly, dismissing Jianguo who went back to his desk.
Now, how was he going to get all of his men on this task without pointing out Jianguo’s admission?
Ah, an age old military practice. The surprise drill.
Washington D.C., USA
It had been a long weekend and Barb was tired.
The dozen donuts she had picked up from Zombie Coffee and Donuts had made her morning, with their Fruity Pebbles laced concoctions. She figured the cereal was breakfast and the coffee a necessary pairing to stop her from sliding into a sugar-fugue.
It had worked reasonably well until three o’clock in the afternoon. It was sliding toward seven p.m. now, and her eyes were dry and scratchy. The only reason she was pushing on was the absolutely unbelievable evidence that she was uncovering.
The evidence was proving that there was a nation-state level player involved. Some organization was able to go into multiple countries at will, and leave completely undetected. They were capable of taking out terrorists and leaving nothing but questions behind.
At first, she could really get behind the idea of more terrorists being removed from the equation and she didn’t lose any sleep over that happening. But it was the way these terrorists were disappearing that was bothering her.
Her mind had finally brought a little memory to the surface. Well to be fair it had taken three cups of coffee and eight donuts to provide the necessary buzz to recall a report she had seen. Eyewitnesses had claimed that a meteor had hit a valley in Turkey a few months back. It had devastated the valley, breaking windows miles away. A couple of people had come out and said they thought the explosion looked like a mushroom cloud. Most of the scientists said that such claims were probably a by-product of the distance, the valley walls throwing the blast up into the air and possibly memory embellishment. No radiation had been found at the site.
Just like the attack in Libya.
Barb was able to backtrack through a few computer systems used by different agencies to locate a military operation in that same valley during the timeframe in question. Something had certainly happened in that valley right before the mysterious meteorite. Barb was convinced that it wasn’t a natural occurrence. She just didn’t have any idea what it actually was.
Too many people had seen the track across the sky. It wasn’t a strike from any known missile, she would have been able to identify that.
She decided to keep some of her findings out of her report. They were just too inconclusive and frankly weren’t inside her area of responsibility. However, she was going to quietly see if she could find out what was going on.
Because as sure as she was about to eat that last damned donut, something really weird was going on.
Barb packed up her stuff and went to drop the report on Don’s desk. It would be waiting for him when he got in. She left a note saying she would be late and to not let anyone call the cops. She just needed to swi
ng by the gym.
She grabbed the last donut and dropped the box into the trash on her way out of the building.
21
En route to Syria
“It feels good going for a girl’s night out,” Gabrielle told Bethany Anne as they flew through the thermosphere. “Nothing like a little time getting to do things together to really seal a good friendship.”
Bethany Anne smiled. “You mean, nothing like traveling thousands of miles to fuck up a terrorist together?”
Gabrielle’s eyes flashed with excitement. “Exactly! You’re the first of my female friends to ever truly understand that.” Gabrielle put her head on Bethany Anne’s shoulder and batted her eyelashes. “See, you really do care.”
Bethany Anne laughed. “I’m still going to razz you about your age.”
Gabrielle pulled her head back up. “Bitch!” Then she thought about the last time she called Bethany Anne a bitch. “…Queen.”
“Mmmhmmm.” Bethany Anne was paying more attention to the stars than Gabrielle’s remark. “From up here you don’t see the ugliness down there, it’s so different.”
Gabrielle looked out. “Yeah, but you don’t see the ugliness of the adult when you hold them as a child either.”
Bethany Anne looked at Gabrielle. “Philosophizing? You are a woman of hidden talents, Gabrielle.”
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “In five hundred years, you get to be around a few people who say thoughtful things. There are times I wonder if I’m having an original Gabrielle thought or if it’s something my subconscious is recalling from years before.”
“So, that’s what I have to look forward to?”
Gabrielle shrugged. “That, and a lot of sex if you ever get off your ass and start looking for men.”
Bethany Anne smiled. “Was that with three, or was it four at a time?”
Gabrielle slapped Bethany Anne’s arm. “Stop trying to increase the count!” Gabrielle was sure Bethany Anne hadn’t heard what she had mumbled to herself back in Miami months ago, had she?
“Just getting you off the subject. My love life is as unimpressive as this view is inspiring. Not exactly a lot of guys available for a nanocyte enhanced super-human bent on saving the world from aliens and other craptastic people. Kind of ruins the ‘what are you doing this weekend’ question when you answer with, ‘flying to Syria to kill a terrorist mastermind who was responsible for helping kill people in France.’”
“I don’t know, there would be a few that could handle that answer.”
Bethany Anne turned back to Gabrielle. “Name me one.”
“Michael.”
Bethany Anne’s jaw dropped. She held up two fingers. “Name me two!”
Gabrielle pursed her lips, “Other than the Bitch’s—”
Bethany Anne interrupted, “Oh, hell no! I can’t sleep with any of those guys, that would ruin the team.”
“How will it ruin the team? Are they going to guard you any less if they share your bed?” Gabrielle noticed the flush creeping up Bethany Anne’s neck. Holy crap! She was blushing. “Besides, John’s got a nice ass.”
Bethany Anne retorted, “So, why haven’t you slapped that yet?”
This time, it was Gabrielle’s turn to stutter. “Wh… Wait a minute! How did this turn on me? I wasn’t the one moaning about a nonexistent love life.”
“No? Seems to me you had plenty of options lined up. Sure you’re not secretly…”
Gabrielle put up a hand. “Stop! I’m sorry for trying to make you squirm. You’re right, they are all off limits—to both of us.”
“Not even a little Wechselbalg…”
Gabrielle turned to Bethany Anne. “Oh. My… Do you have any idea the age difference?”
Bethany Anne smiled. “As a matter of fact, I do. About twenty-five generations. So that would make you as old as his great, great, great…”
“You can stop! I get the idea.”
“Great, great, great, great, great, great… Oh, fuck it. You’re an old teabag! You’re right, he wouldn’t be interested.”
“Wouldn’t be interested? I’ll have you know this is one tight-ass body!”
“One that isn’t getting any horizontal limbo lessons, either.”
Gabrielle turned back to watch the screen, “Says the woman who has yet, in my whole experience with her, been mano-e-womano with anyone.”
Bethany Anne laughed. “That was low. Accurate, but low!” The two women shared a laugh when they suddenly began a rapid descent to earth.
“Well my Queen, any final words before we have our little women’s outing here?”
“Sure, do you want to go to France after this? I feel like dining in Paris as a way to finish this trip.”
“That sounds divine!”
The Pod sped to an area only a couple of blocks from the distinctive minaret of the local mosque. Bethany Anne touched a button to darken the lights then waved her hand over the screen, blanking it out. Both ladies grabbed their swords and made sure their pistols were in their holsters. For this operation, both carried their shorter wakizashi swords. When the Pod was within a foot of the concrete roof, Bethany Anne popped the lock and Gabrielle stepped out first with Bethany Anne right behind her. The Pod disappeared into the night above them, ready to be called down at a moment’s notice.
Gabrielle made sure that no one was in the vicinity and then went back to Bethany Anne who had her back to her. “Everything OK?”
Bethany Anne’s voice was soft. “I’m just thinking about the people killed in France. Those lives this individual was instrumental in ending. The terror they felt when all they wanted to do was go out for a night to eat, or see a concert. For some who survived, they will never be the same. Never have the opportunity to live their lives without looking over their shoulders or without waking up in the middle of the night with the shakes from nightmares. Some wondering why their friend was taken, and not them. How many marriages are going to fail because of this? How many more tragedies are going to come about because one group feels they have the answer?”
Gabrielle remained quiet.
Bethany Anne looked out over the rooftops of the second largest city in Syria. “There are those who believe that they are beholden to words commanding them to create a nation and a ruler, a Caliphate and a Caliph. Now they are commanded by these centuries old words to enlarge this border, to enslave or kill those who are not part of their domain. They use terror to push their demands…”
Bethany Anne turned towards Gabrielle who took an involuntary step back when she saw the ferocious red eyes staring back at her. “The blood of the innocent calls to me, Gabrielle. The blood of the guilty shall pay. Those that offer peace, I’ll answer with peace. Those that want terror?”
Gabrielle watched as Bethany Anne, in full Vamp mode, took in everything around her. “Then I will be the embodiment of Terror!”
Gabrielle shook the need to flee out of her system. This was Bethany Anne, her Queen. This was the lady she gave her allegiance to.
Gabrielle smiled into the dark as her own eyes turned red.
Gabrielle, a Nacht over five hundred years old and head of the Queen’s Guards, asked her Queen, “What is your command?”
Bethany Anne turned to her guard. “We will hunt him down and then kill him! Let all those who see us know demons walk the night!”
Gabrielle answered with a toothy grin, the Queen Bitch was hunting tonight!
Dawid Zadeh had finished his nighttime Isha prayers a few hours earlier. He was at the mosque, having spoken with a few more of those who understood the Holy Scripture as it was intended, not as those who wanted ‘peace’ would make it. He considered staying through Fajr prayers, those offered between the very beginning of dawn and sunrise, but realized he was too tired. He needed to be awake for the traveling he was going to do tomorrow to join another cell planning an attack.
He stepped from the courtyard through the mosque and out the back door into the evening air. He briefly wished he’d brought a j
acket because the night was brisk. It was good his room was close by.
He had made it a block and a half when a feeling of unease settled on his shoulders. His eyes darted around, searching the shadows in the night that could hide those who might wish him ill. Right now, Al Qaeda supporters might even fire on their Muslim brethren. That was only fair he supposed, ISIS had called that group the ‘Jews of Jihad.’ They might have had their feelings hurt a little.
He scanned around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. He stepped away from the walls and walked in the street, gripping the knife under his tunic. He might not have seen any action in a while but he was not defenseless.
“Daaaawiiiiid…” The voice was soft on the wind. He spun around, eyes darting left and right. He turned back, making sure no one was sneaking up on him. He pulled his knife out of his tunic, and hurried towards his apartment.
“Daaawiiiiiddd…” This time, the voice went in his right ear, then circled around his back to where he heard it in his left. Dawid pivoted on his right leg, his left leg behind him leaving his right in front. He was prepared for an attack that didn’t come. He could feel a bead of sweat rolling down his neck in the cool night but he didn’t feel cold at all.
“How many, Dawid?” The voice was angry, strident and accusatory. The voice spoke in French, not a language he was expecting to hear in Syria. “How… many what?” he asked, then quickly turned to see if anyone was coming behind him.
The street was empty. The feeling of death was stronger than before, as if a blanket of terror had been laid over the block. He struggled to push himself towards his apartment. He fought through the feeling of dread that screamed at him to fall to the ground and cower in fear. He would not yield to this… this abject fear. He would not!
He was within twenty paces of the building’s front when two red eyes appeared in front of the entrance. This Jinn spoke in English with a different voice, one both beautiful and venomous. “Welcome to Jahannam, Dawid Zadeh. It is time you answered for your apostate beliefs.”
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 144