“Hey, Admiral,” said Sparks. “Over here. Commander Sparks here. I’m in charge now, not him.”
The Admiral acted startled, as if he had just noticed all the other people in the room. Adam watched as Sharon and Susanne stepped a bit back and to the side of the Admiral, the poker faces they were wearing told the Director that they were not missing anything.
“What. A palace coup, and I was not invited? For shame. You are residing in the Conch Republic. These are my marinas, docks and businesses. I allow you all to stay out of the largess of my heart.”
Sparks and several of the Krakens laughed at the supposed outrage of the Admiral.
“Alright, let’s cut the shit,” said Sparks. “A new boss is in town. Neptune’s out, or soon will be with all the other worthless Lords. Lord Wizard from the Space Platform is taking over with us Krakens and Reverend Kray. You play with us, or not at all.”
The man called the Admiral looked all around the room for the apparent first time. “You brought twelve armed personnel, Commander Sparks. Eight here, four outside. And I see you still felt it necessary to beat and abuse Jolene here, one of my daughters. Are you that afraid?”
Sparks flushed a bit, angered.
“All right, you stupid old fart. Your ‘daughter’ Jolene is a Spy for the U.S. Right under your nose. Just ask her.
The Admiral looked at the battered Jolene. “Is that true, my child?”
Jolene nodded yes.
“Well, I forgive you. I am the Admiral. I can grant forgiveness.” With that, the Admiral performed a flourish of hand motions and signs that ended in signing a large cross as if he were in church.
“There, you are forgiven.”
“Well, the Rev hasn’t forgiven her yet, buddy,” Sparks snarled. “And he is the only one around here that can grant forgiveness.”
“Why, my good man Commander Sparks. The Most Reverend Kray and I have had an ecumenical relationship stretching back to the Coming of the Tschaaa. I have a letter… I always carry it… where is it?” The Admiral seemed confused for a moment.
Then “Ah. It is in my hat for safe keeping. I will get it.” The Admiral began to remove his hat as Sparks said with a harsh laugh, “This I’ve got to see…”
“Here it is…” A 22 magnum derringer pistol appeared in the Admiral’s hand as he moved with a quickness of a man half his perceived age. He shot the Kraken directly in front of him through the right eye, then in a blink of an eye shot the large Kraken behind Adam through the throat. Blonde Sharon and brunette Susanne both exploded into action. Their moves seemed blurred they reacted so quickly. Kicks, fist blows, elbow smashes rained down on the stunned Kraken personnel as the two former Olympic-caliber volleyball players became whirling dervishes of destruction.
Heidi kicked both of the now distracted Krakens standing over her in their groins, one foot for each. She screamed out, “Kiai!” as she leapt from the sofa and was in the mix, shoving her injured opponents back. Joseph Fassbinder threw himself on top of one of them, sinking his teeth into the man’s throat.
Adam flopped his chair over as the Kraken shot in the throat fell sideways to the carpet, the guard grasping his throat as his life blood pumped out. Adam grabbed the large caliber automatic the dying Kraken had shoved in his waistband and then rolled to a kneeling position. He shot the only female Kraken in attendance between the eyes as she was attempting to bring her assault weapon to bear in the crowded room. He looked toward Sparks in time to see the Chief tackle him. The older man proceeded to beat the Kraken Commander bloody with the man’s own pistol.
The Admiral had somehow recovered an assault weapon himself, and began to slam the stock into the rear of the skull of any Kraken still standing.
Then it was over, ended as quickly as it had started. Heidi had recovered her butterfly knife and was slitting the throat of any still moving Kraken. No one tried to stop her killing them—except for Sparks, as they needed to talk to him.
The Admiral moved to the stairway with his rifle and easily picked off two dumbfounded Kraken coming up from the front of the building. Adam found his own rifle as he joined the Admiral, waiting for the last to members of Sparks’ detail to appear. They were nowhere in sight.
“I told you this old coot has been fooling us, Susanne. No one could be that weird.”
“Alright, I agree. You were right. But we’re still there for him, right Sharon?”
“Me too,” chimed in Heidi. “He, and you two, saved my bacon.”
Sharon hugged her, ignoring the blood. “What are friends for?”
Adam walked back in and over to where the Chief had Sparks secured.
“Alright, Sparks. Who’s with Kray and Talbot?”
“Fuck you,” the Kraken Commander spit out through split lips.
“Heidi.”
“Yeah, Boss.” Heidi walked over to the chair Sparks was zip tied to, grabbed his head tight with one arm, and went after his left eye with her knife.
“No!” Sparks screamed. “They have a dozen kids besides the three wives.”
“Including our kids, right? I said, right?”
“Yes!”
Adam looked at the others in the room. “I need a vehicle. We need several to get to the Marathon airfield.”
“You can have my Humvee,” said the Admiral. “Though I would be a good extra gun.”
“You’re on. Grab any weapons, drag Sparks along, head downstairs.”
A minute later, the somewhat battered group was downstairs, Joseph Fassbinder supporting the badly beaten Jolene.
“Sharon, Susanne, will you two please quit staring at me,” said the Admiral.
“Why in hell did you not tell us, Admiral?” shot back Susanne.
“Deniability. Something you learn in the worlds of politics and intelligence, ladies. If things went south, you two could claim ignorance and be truthful.”
“And leave you?” asked Sharon. In a heartbeat both of the Admiral’s bodyguards were hugging and kissing him.
“Hey. Quit that.”
“Look it, ‘father’, don’t you ever lie to us again. We’re family.”
“Okay! Now let go.”
The Admiral looked at Jolene. “You did not tell me for deniability also, Jolene.”
“Yes. I also thought you were nuts.” She managed to say through swollen lips.
“I guess my acting was better than I thought.” He bent over and kissed her on the forehead. She began to cry.
“You’re family now, Jolene. No more secrets.”
“Alright,” interjected Adam. “Into the Admiral’s HUMVEE and this Kraken staff car…”
There was a crack, a thump and a strong rush of air that knocked everyone back a step. Hovering a few yards in front and about twelve feet in the air was now what could only be called the traditional flying saucer, one about the size of a small one story house.
“Damn, another Squid trick?” asked Adam as everyone raised their weapons at the craft.
“No. Don’t shoot.” Joseph called out. “I know who this is.”
No sooner had he said that then a hatchway appeared in the seamless body of the saucer. Two human figures seemed to float out until one noticed what looked like an umbilical cord connected at the two figure’s spines.
“It’s the Olson twins, Samuel and Sandy. They worked for me,” Joseph explained. Then he stared. The two young people he had helped mentor, with already light skin of natural redheads, were now so white as to be almost translucent. They looked gaunt, as if they had only been living on liquids for quite some time.
“Sam, Sandy. What are you two doing here? And how…”
“She sent us,” Sandy interjected. “And She brought us also.”
“She? The saucer is a… she?”
Both of the Olson twins smiled. “That’s what was confusing us, Professor. All along we were dealing with a living being, not an intelligent machine.”
Everyone was staring, dumbfounded that yet another alien creature was in their
midst, thanks to the Tschaaa coming to Earth.
“I hate to interrupt, but I need to rescue my family,” said Adam.
“You need to come with us, Director,” Sandy said. “You need to the stop the Wizard. He is about to destroy much of the Earth and its inhabitants. That makes Her very angry.”
“What? Why me?”
“Because She said it’s what has to be done. It is hard to explain, but She…exists, or at least sees, senses in different time streams and universes. If She says something needs to be done, we have learned we had better do it. Or some unresolved problem kicks us in the ass.”
“Or tries to kill us,” added Sam.
Adam looked at the Admiral and the Chief.
“Stranger things have happened, I guess, Boss,” the Chief shrugged. “You go with them. I think the Admiral can rally some troops to help us get Mary, Kat, Sarah and the kids back. After all, we are just dealing with some religious fanatics.
“Very dangerous fanatics,” Adam shot back. “Okay. Heidi, grab a rifle…”
“No guns, Director. She was shot once, hates projectile weapons near, onboard Her, in Her.”
“Crap. Well, I have my old standby made in Pakistan knife and Heidi has her balisong butterfly…”
“Here, Heidi. Picked this up off a dead asshole.” The Admiral handed a short bush machete to the former Coastie. Heidi smiled and twirled it once in her hands, and grinned.
“Yeah, this will definitely do in a pinch. Shall we, Director? I always wanted to say I flew on a flying saucer.”
A ramp morphed from the hatch so the two humans could board. As that happened, a redheaded female figure came from inside the building, holding a bloody knife and an assault rifle.
“Can anyone play?” Inna Popov asked.
“Where’d you come from?” Chief Hamilton asked. “And who did you kill?”
“A couple of Krakens who were sneaking around in the back. They misjudged that a pretty woman is not dangerous.”
The Admiral looked at Inna. “Let me guess. You were spying also, in addition to broadcasting.”
“Yes.” Jolene managed to croak out. “She was helping me. And…Jane Grant was coming over…” Jolene began to cry again.
“She’s dead.” Inna stated.
“Yes, Inna, she is,” replied the Chief.
Inna swore in Russian.
“We’re off,” called out Adam as he mounted the ramp into the ‘ship’ that was alive.
“Head and ass down, Boss.”
“Head and ass down, Chief.” Adam paused for just a moment.
“No matter what happens…”
“No Hollywood speeches, Boss. Just go take care of business. We’ll get the women and children back.”
“Thanks, old friend.”
“De nada.”
With that, Adam and Heidi were inside the saucer. The ramp disappeared into the side of the living vessel and the hatch sealed over, no seam showing. The saucer rose up about another thirty feet, then just winked out of existence. There was a loud crack as air rushed back into fill the area vacated by the saucer.
Susanne whistled. “Damn, that’s cool.”
“Yeah. One hell of a carnival ride,” Sharon opined.
“Okay, saddle up,” the Chief barked. He looked at the Admiral. “You got people who can meet us up there?”
“A cell phone or radio call away, Chief.”
“Good. Start calling. This is about to get even more interesting than it has been. ”
CHAPTER 46
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
Torbin watched the Falcon hover over the fishing trawler as Vikings and Spetsnaz scrambled to grab the anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles they had stored. Torbin wondered why the craft had not just blasted them out of the water. Maybe the pilot had not made a connection between them and the shooting going on nearby. Then, the loud voice explained it all.
“Torbin Bender. This is Andrew. I need you.” It came from the Falcon’s sound system and vibrated over the port area.
“Stand down people!” Torbin shouted. “Believe it or not, it’s a friendly.”
Torbin looked up at the Falcon. “Andrew, what in the hell are you doing here?”
“Trying to save the world. What else?” Andrew broadcast in reply. “I need you, Abigail and Ichiro. We need to make a trip to save some women and children as well as the Director. I cannot be in two places at once.”
Torbin grinned. “Alright. Let me check on my payload down below, make sure it’s secured. Abigail and Ichiro will be back shortly.”
“Please, hurry. Time is of the essence.”
Torbin hit up Ichiro on the radio, told him to beat feet back as soon as possible.
Abigail only acquiesced giving up the search for Red and others when Sergeant Black had looked at her and gave the slight smile he for which he was known.
“I’ll stay behind, keep looking, Ma’am.”
“Just you? How will you get out of here?”
“Ma’am, I lived behind the lines for a long time during the early days, did it again during Bloody Kansas. I’m used to working alone.”
“Come Abigail,” interjected Ichiro. “We need to go. I believe Sergeant Black will find Red if she is still with the living, as well as get her back into the U.S.A.”
Abigail looked at the man known as the Reaper. “Good luck. May God be with you.”
“Thank You, Ma’am. Somebody must’ve been watching over me all these years.”
“Come, Abigail. We must go.”
With a last glance around, Abigail, Ichiro and the rest of the American personnel began to run toward the trawler. As they did, the Reaper disappeared into the lengthening shadows of sunset.
Torbin ran and slid down the stairs to the fish hold. To say he was surprised to see Malcolm Carter standing and staring at the She-Bear Missile was an understatement.
“You always wander off alone?” Torbin asked.
“Sorry. But I needed to take a look at this…weapon.”
“Well, it’s deactivated right now. President’s orders.”
“Yeah, I heard.” The former Mayor of Atlanta turned and faced Torbin with a pistol in his hand.
“This Sig still has almost a full magazine. You need to start up the countdown to launch again. Now.”
Torbin stared at Malcolm. Then, he burst into laughter.
“This is not fucking funny. I’m serious.”
“Or what? You’re going to shoot me? Then what? You think I can launch it after I’m dead?”
“Your wife will be a widow, your children won’t have a father.”
“Yeah? As if I haven’t faced that before? Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die. I’ve lived with that concept for years.” He snorted. “Go ahead and shoot. It will not accomplish a damned thing.”
Malcolm grit his teeth. “What if I shoot the missile?”
“Then you may have a nice big explosion, which will fry all those kids up above in the day room and kitchen.”
“But it will disperse the warhead, the killer shit in it that Porsche told me about.”
“Maybe. But maybe not. Shoot the warhead itself, you might get some dispersal, and again maybe kill some women and children upstairs. That stuff contains a neurotoxin that can be deadly to people, especially children.”
“Sir. Put the gun down.” It was Porsche Jefferson, clambering down the stairs.
“Stay out of this, my sister. This is between me and Mr. White Soldier here.”
“No. We are all on the same side. Please, put the gun down.” She started to walk toward Malcolm.
“No. Stay back. Don’t be a damn fool.” He turned and pointed the pistol at her.
“Oh now isn’t this just great. Now you are going to shoot a survivor of Cattle Country. Are you insane, Malcolm?”
“Shut up!” Malcolm began to shake with rage.
“Where were you when we had to watch our people being slaughtered and eaten? When we had to watch out young girls b
eing groomed to be breeders, to have kids, for fresh veal. Where were you when we were hiding in basements, sewers as they came for us?
“Look it, Carter. Everyone has lost family, friends to the Squids. Hell, they tried to kill me and mine with Eaters. Now we have a chance to end the killing, without making it worse.”
“End the killing? For you, maybe. I don’t want to see it end. I want to see those Squids squirm and scream as their young die before their eyes. See how they like it. Now, reactivate the countdown for missile launch. I won’t tell you again.”
“Shoot away, buddy. I don’t do well with threats.”
Malcolm raised the pistol, aimed it at Torbin’s face.
“No!” Porsche lunged at him, moving fast for such a large woman. Instinct caused Malcolm to turn toward the threat from a different direction. Porsche slammed into him, and the pistol discharged. Everything seemed to freeze for a second. Then, the black Sergeant slid to the deck. Torbin smashed into Malcolm, twisted the pistol from his grasp and threw it across the ship’s hold. Malcolm was young and strong, with fighting skills. But he was facing a foe with years of training and experience in most every type of fighting imaginable, and a foe fueled by rage. In about fifteen seconds, the former Mayor was laying at Torbin’s feet, blood flowing from his mouth.
“Torbin.” It was Abigail, back aboard the ship and responded toward the gun shot. She saw Porsche laying on the deck, vaulted over the stair railing part way down, and was next to the shot Sergeant in seconds.
“Porsche. Stay with me. Sergeant Knudsen, Gunnar! Medic!”
Ichiro was already leaping down the stairs, then kneeling next to Abigail. Cries and shouts were heard from up above as others responded. Sergeant Porsche Jefferson looked up into Abigail’s eyes as the Avenging Angel tried to apply direct pressure to stem the blood flow.
“Sister, I see Momma…” Her eyes glazed over, she let out her last breath, and died.
Abigail leaned back, shaking. “No!” Her scream was one of psychic pain, from deep within her. She leapt up, turned toward Malcolm Carter, the killer look in her eye. Ichiro grabbed and hugged her. She started to drag him across the deck.
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