“So, they chased you into the alley?”
“Yes.”
“Why were you annoyed?” he asked.
“Because two other friendly pain-in-the-asses have taken it upon themselves to teach my Tontos shit I would really rather they didn’t know.”
Ted put his hands to his face and wiped them down, “I feel like I’ve fallen into the Twilight Zone here. Back to the Bitches. Why are results a problem?”
Tabitha changed her voice from her command persona, to soft and caring, “Ted, listen to me.” He nodded, “I could walk into any of your precinct houses, and kill everyone there. I’d be hurt, that’s true. I might not possibly live through it, but I could do it.” She put up her hand, “I’m not telling you this to brag, I’m telling you this so that you understand. I’m a cop, in my own way. I’m law, I’m justice. I’m better with guns and shit than you guys, sure. But I can’t touch a Bitch. We,” she pointed back and forth between the two of them, “are law officers. The Bitches? They are warriors. Bad-ass mother-fuckers that are dropped on problems. If Bethany Anne were to point to a country and tell one of those five to subjugate it, then that country is so fucked they wouldn’t have a clue. John could go through a whole military base with Jean’s weapons.”
“You are describing a Superman, Tabitha. I’m not sure I’m buying it.”
Tabitha picked up her tablet and started typing super-fast on it. Ted’s eyes opened slightly as he realized she was typing too fast for a human. Even a teenage girl, human.
She turned the table after she hit a button and Ted noticed the noise cancellation dropped as she handed him the tablet. He was surprised she did that and then noticed her looking behind him. He looked over his shoulder as their waitress came up to the table, “More coffee?”
“Yes, thank you,” Tabitha told the waitress and Ted lifted his mostly filled cup.
Ted took a few sips of his coffee and looked at the news clippings she had called up. He read through them, scanning mainly, and his mouth dropped open before looking up to Tabitha, “You are saying the Bitches, those guys, did this?”
“That’s from years ago,” Tabitha held out her hand, and he gave her tablet back. She hit a button, and the noise protection dropped into place, once more. “That was the guys blowing off some steam. Hell, they were just Bitches one point zero at that time.”
“What are they now?” Ted asked, thinking back to the attacks the report had spoken about and her comment about the guys just blowing off steam.
“Probably about two point five or version three.”
“What do you call these guys besides Bitches?” Ted asked.
“Me?” Tabitha asked, and Ted nodded, “I call them friends.”
“What are you people?” Ted asked, not really expecting an answer.
“We are the Earth’s best chance at staying free,” she told him, “we are Bethany Anne’s people, come hell or high water. We are her law and her justice, all wrapped up in a no-nonsense group of humans who will walk through hell and clean it the fuck up. Satan best hope Bethany Anne never points us that way.”
“Is that what you were doing here, in New York?”
“In a way, yes. I’ve been chasing some assholes for a while, and I’m back.”
“Those guys tonight just got in your way?”
“More like they accosted Justice, and Justice kicked their asses. If they had truly been in my way, I would have taken them out. If not me? Then Barnabas, a Bitch or Bethany Anne. And actually, God help them if I ever call her.”
“Why?”
“Because it means Vengeance is coming, and she doesn’t drop flowers behind her,” Tabitha told him, “She is a great leader, don’t get me wrong. However, she has a zero bullshit policy and that’s what I deal with … bullshit. There is a lot of bullshit in our lives, and I’m pretty good at rolling with it. Bethany Anne?”
“Yeah?”
“You probably wouldn’t have found those dicks.”
“She would have killed them?” Ted asked, his eyes drawing together, “For being rude?”
“Ummm ... accosting a woman is not simply rude, it is a horrible experience. This time, the little woman fought back. But no, Bethany Anne can do things far worse than killing them and ... before you ask, I won’t tell you. Hell, I don’t know them all.”
“Then why do you follow her?” Ted asked.
Tabitha took a sip of her coffee before answer, “Because she saved my life, and then she saved my soul. I get the chance to pay it forward, and I’m going to do it. The man I call my father might be back one day, and I’m going to be there, right beside Bethany Anne, to welcome him back.”
“Your father?”
“You wouldn’t know him. His name is Michael. Once we have our present task completed. I know we will be searching and we will find his ass, I guarantee it.”
“He’s dead, gone, lost or what?” Ted asked.
“He’s definitely lost. Bethany Anne says he isn’t dead, but I don’t know why she says that. They have a connection, that’s all I know, and I trust her completely. If she says he’s alive? Then he’s alive. She tells me to clean up New York City, I come here and start cleaning up New York City.”
Tabitha cocked an ear and touched her tablet to drop the sound field. “There is a mugging going on, leave it alone or fix it?”
“Ah, fuck,” Ted said, and Tabitha smiled, she was up and jogging out of the diner before he stood up.
There was a twenty-dollar bill on the table, and Ted had never seen her put it there.
Who the hell was this woman, really? Or should he be wondering what?
He started jogging to catch up.
He heard a whistle to his left as he exited the diner and started running that way. He came up to another alley and could hear Tabitha’s voice.
“Look, shithead, I don’t care if you need the money to put your momma through college, stealing it from this woman isn’t the right answer. Getting a job, perhaps after taking a bath would be a good start.”
Ted reached for his badge, hesitated, then slid it back in his pocket.
This was what he had been researching, wasn’t it? Now he wasn’t so sure he should have made up the lie about having a girlfriend.
He walked, as quietly as possible in the shadows to see Tabitha in between a woman, crying on the ground, and two toughs.
The larger, taller white guy spoke to her. “Look bitch, we takin’ this money, and whatever fucking money you have as well,” He pulled out a ten-inch knife, the glint off the blade in the poor light flicking up and down the alley.
“That’s not a knife!” Tabitha replied, in an Australian accent. She reached inside her jacket, and the guy jumped towards her screaming “AAiii!”
The man shot across the alley, a loud CRACK then a crunch as his body hit the wall, slumping down. Simultaneously, Tabitha’s foot came back down from kicking him.
“Well, that was fucking rude,” Tabitha huffed and spoke to the second guy, “You giving me back her purse and money, or are you going to take a dirt nap like your friend over there?”
“He…he dead?” The second tough asked looking at the other guy crumpled on the ground.
Tabitha spared a glance at him, “No, not yet. His lung is bleeding from where my kick broke his ribs and punctured it. I can hear the blood causing problems already.” She turned back to him, “I suggest next time not stabbing first and asking questions later.”
The guy handed the purse to Tabitha who helped the lady to stand up, “Find out if anything is missing.”
“Will you help Jim?” the second thug asked, “He might not be much, but he’s the only friend I got.”
Tabitha looked back to the tough, “You got a name?” He nodded, “So, tell it to me already.”
“Thomas.”
“Ok, Thomas. I’ll help your friend but if he ever pulls this shit again? I’ll let him die, understand?” He nodded to her, “Just so you know, that guy behind me is a cop, so don’t be
getting ideas.”
Ted walked up behind them and watched as Tabitha pulled something out of her jacket. It was a syringe and a vial. She pulled some of the liquid into the syringe then kneeled down by the tough and ripped his shirt. “If you want to help Ted, call him a paramedic. This will save his life, but he is still going to be sore as shit and need some bandages and help. I’m not making him feel all better, and sure as hell, I’m not kissing his boo-boo’s,” she told him as she stuck the needle in between a couple of ribs and administered the shot.
Ted pulled out his phone and started typing on it, “What are you giving him? Is it a medicine that is going to get you in trouble?”
“Not likely, nothing will show up in his toxicology reports.”
“More secret stuff?” Ted asked.
Tabitha stood up and turned around, putting the syringe, with cap back on and vial back inside her jacket. “Ted, I’ve been shot, stabbed and fallen from three story buildings…Well … actually, I jumped, but that’s neither here nor there. I need this product to help me survive in my job. That I helped this loser is a weakness of mine, not a strength. What he got was what coming to him. I helped Thomas who just wanted a friend in life, and I’ve been there when I was younger. Maybe together, the two of them will find the help they need.”
Tabitha started walking away, “Wait!” Ted called out. His eyes switching between Tabitha and the two toughs. He was trying to decide what he could do, if anything, to keep Tabitha with him.
“Got to go, Ted, enjoy the view while you can.” She patted her ass, “Sirens are coming this way, you will have friends soon.” She turned around, and walked backward looking at him, “Don’t bother with the hotel, we are already checked out.” She blew him a kiss and then turned back around and walked around the corner, disappearing in the dimness.
“Shit,” he sighed, his shoulders slumping.
QBBS Merideth Reynolds
“Bethany Anne?” Merideth spoke from the speaker, “Barnabas is calling for you.”
Bethany Anne looked at her tablet and the list of e-documents she needed to review. Even with pushing a lot of work off to ADAM who could give her the necessary facts for a decision, it was still a lot of work.
She highlighted a third of the documents quickly and pushed them off to her dad. He had too much time on his hands, she was sure.
“Ok, I’m good, put him on.” She looked up to see Barnabas’s face hovering in the air in front of her. “What’s going on?” She noticed the room he was in, “You in Schwabenland?” He nodded.
“Yes, home of the free, but frozen,” he replied.
She nodded, “Oh, tracking someone down?”
“Yes, I’ve got a lead on the group that keeps attacking us. They might have sent someone here to speak with Maria as part of the American Legation.”
“Oh? Do you think the U.S. is involved in this, then?”
“No, I don’t believe so. No one in the team knew this person, and I couldn’t read him,” he admitted.
“Sorry,” she interrupted, “but did you say you couldn’t read him?”
“Yes, I did.”
“How often does that occur?” she asked.
“Rarely. It’s happened before, but the percentages are fairly remote it would happen without this person having help,” he replied.
“Ok, tell me the rest of the plan, Barnabas.”
“I’ll jump in my Pod in about thirty minutes and follow them. They have left, and ADAM is tracking the plane for me, if they seem to deviate from the flight plan they provided the military, I’ll know.”
“Ok, let me know if you need anything, and I appreciate the update…”
This time, Barnabas interrupted, “My Queen, I have something else.” He gazed into the camera and straight into her eyes.
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow, “Uh oh, for you to be so formal this must be good.”
“Maria Orsitsch has requested permission for the Thule group here in Schwabenland to emigrate to the Etheric Empire.”
Bethany Anne shrugged, “Ok, that was the expected decision out of all of their options. Why is there a speed-bump?”
“She is asking to be permitted to provide some technology transfer to the Germans before they come with us.”
Bethany Anne thought about it a moment, “What technology? We haven’t told them before they couldn’t share technology, so how come she asking about it now, and why is she worried enough to ask you about it?”
“She wants to provide the core concepts of their version of gravitic drives. Those versions are extremely power hungry and can’t send ships out like ours. However, it is an advancement that could cause problems in the world.”
Bethany Anne tapped her finger on her lips, “Yes, ADAM did some analysis with Frank and Jeffrey on this. I’ll have Frank call Maria and explain the potential ramifications if she does this. Let’s see what she decides to do after that.” He started to interrupt, but Bethany Anne put up a hand, “I’m not saying their ability to emigrate is denied if they choose to deliver the technology. I’m stating that they need to know and the absence of a ‘yes’ should at least cause her to think long and hard about it.”
He nodded his understanding.
“Ok, follow up with me on your tracking. Those assholes have been a major thorn a bunch of times, and if we can find out more about them, I’m game.”
“And if we find out they are deep in the USA?”
“Barnabas, what do you do to cancer if it is in your best friend?”
“Cut it out,” he replied.
“Yes, we will cut it out with or without permission,” she told him.
Barnabas’s eyebrow went up, and Bethany Anne chuckled, “The answer before you ask, is it’s easier to ask for forgiveness. Maybe ... depends on what they are doing. According to Mason Jaydon, his group was working on the technologies that could handle those flying saucers, but he never found out where the technology originated. According to Maria, the advancements we have seen were not part of her technology and according to TOM, some of the spacecraft’s abilities we have seen are well known to half a dozen alien groups and so could be provided by another alien group. So, I’m not a huge believer in allowing cancer like that to exist while we are off fighting in a different solar system.”
“Understood, Bethany Anne.”
They said their good-byes and Bethany Anne looked back down at her tablet after he disappeared. She still had over sixty-two documents to discuss with ADAM and decide which direction to take.
“Fuck me,” she muttered as she called up the first document.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Now, that’s a mansion,” Tabitha told her Tontos. “No wonder Michael wasn’t that impressed with the house down in South America.”
The six men and one woman were in the shadows on Gramercy Park South, staring at the house Michael had used before changing Bethany Anne.
Bethany Anne had been offered seven million dollars for the forty-two room mansion through an intermediary when those responsible for coming in and cleaning it had shared that no one had been in the building for years.
Bethany Anne quickly fired the cleaning crew for talking and then allowed small groups of her people to visit from time to time. Always staying in the front few rooms with everything else off limits. She had never personally been to the house, preferring to not see anything that reminded her of his absence.
Tabitha whispered, “Ok guys, pretend you’re ninjas and let’s go stay at the boss’s home, shall we?”
Six male figures disappeared into the night while Tabitha waited in the darkness, before moving from shadow to shadow herself until she slid a key into a side door, shut off the alarm system and entered the house.
Chicago, Illinois - USA
The svelte blonde woman, wearing a long red dress and matching red lipstick with her hair pulled back into a bun, slid into the seat next to David Dennison. He was enjoying his drink and the beginning of his long weekend off.
; David had decided to stay with the outgoing President who had protection for life.
“Bartender?” She called out, only to be ignored at first.
David called out louder, “Hey Barry!”
Barry jerked his head around and noticed David’s hand in the air, pointing down to the lady in the red dress beside him. Barry put up one finger.
David turned to the attractive woman, “I’m sorry, but Barry is hard of hearing out of his right ear, don’t ding him for that.”
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