Don't Cross This Line

by Michael Anderle

  “Wait three seconds then deploy first group, deploy second and third Nightshades as soon as possible.”

  “Understood, Captain Jameson.”

  —

  Anna, struggling against the fear was holding onto the ex-President’s arm like a lifeline. He had put the gun to the side, doing his best to just stay with Anna, holding on to her and fighting to not run away. He had to yell at more than one person who might have stumbled across Anna already. He had no idea how Bethany Anne’s blood had helped the woman heal, but he saw it done.

  He was still in shock with David. His security guy had cold bloodedly shot Bethany Anne in the back, right in front of him. He hadn’t reacted. Oh, he would have liked to have thought it was because he didn’t see it.

  No, he saw it happened, but he had been locked in shock even when Anna had jumped David, stopping him from shooting Bethany Anne again. It was when Bethany Anne reached into David’s chest and crushed his heart that he started moving, again.

  Then, Bethany Anne crumpled when Anna had looked dead…Hell, was probably dead.

  The first few shots in their direction got him to pick up David’s pistol, find the extra magazine he had on him and start firing back. All the times he had chatted with the secret service, and them giving him rudimentary instruction had helped.

  A few seconds ago, he would have been sure that they were all going to die. Now, he wasn’t sure any terrorists were going to survive the night.

  What had they unleashed?

  —

  Bethany Anne grabbed the man who was desperately trying to crawl back over the window and pulled him back, screaming. Her punch caved in the side of his head. She jumped up to the window sill and then off the sill to land ten feet below on the grass.

  She bent down and picked up a Kalashnikov and started cracking off shots at those running from her. Walking forward, she ran out of bullets. She bent down and grabbed a fresh magazine and continued firing at those she could see. She heard John laughing from behind her and to her right. She dropped the rifle and went running that way.

  —

  Ayaan was kneeling down, trying to open the latest box when the attack occurred. The four others up on the roof of the building were celebrating when the whistling started. Ayaan looked up seeking what the noise was when Ahmed beside him exploded into red mist.

  Now, the men started calling out to the holy one, but their cries couldn’t be heard.

  The three others exploded one by one, the whistling loud enough to hurt Ayaan’s ears as he laid flat on the roof, praying to the Prophet for his life.

  The noise left as quickly as it arrived and Ayaan looked around at the gore and body parts strewn about the roof top. He crawled to the side of the building and leaned his head over the side and threw up.

  —

  John could feel Bethany Anne’s presence as she came up from his left. He had precious few targets. Well, live targets.

  There were some who were wounded, and perhaps they might be saved. But, all John cared was they were out of commission and not a danger.

  It was up to others whether they lived or not.

  —

  The five Black Eagles, the missiles after them spent, arrived too late to get involved in the attack. Black Eagle One landed in the courtyard, trying to find a place without too many body parts.

  He jumped out of the Black Eagle and palmed it closed. It rose up a hundred feet in the air. The easiest way to keep nosy people from trying to get into it, yet make it almost immediately available for use.

  He walked over to the door, meeting John coming from the other direction.

  John holstered his left pistol and switched his pistol to shake hands with the pilot, “Rishaan, good to see you. What happened?”

  “SAM’s John,” he told the Queen’s Bitch, “I don’t know where they got the technology, but they were able to at least track us for a little while. We stayed closed enough to them so they didn’t return.”

  “I was wondering why you didn’t just out run them,” John admitted.

  “ArchAngel wasn’t sure if they had logic to come back and hit you here, so we stayed out there as bait until their engines spent their fuel.”

  “Away from land?”

  Rishaan nodded, “Yeah, if they hit a boat, well we tried our best to minimize the casualties.”

  John looked around the courtyard, “I’m sure we would get the blame for the deaths, instead of these poor, misunderstood bastards.”

  Rishaan looked around at the carnage, “Shaytan’s dogs, all of them.”

  John turned into the hotel to check on Bethany Anne and Anna.

  This night could only get worse, not better.

  “Rishaan,” he called out.

  “Yes?”

  “Get back in your ship and stay close. I might need to call down a few attitude adjustments.” John told him as he walked into the hotel. He was covered in blood and guts and needed a shower, bad.

  “My luck, someone got this shit on video,” he said as his foot crunched something he didn’t want to think about under his shoe.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  QBBS Merideth Reynolds

  Reynolds, The Merideth Reynolds Defensive E.I.’s male voice came over the speakers, “General we have unexpected incoming.”

  Lance looked up from his working area in the main defense operations room. To date, it had been a very sophisticated office for Lance, Dan, Kevin and a few others to use. They expected to be busy once they went across the line through the Annex Gate, but not here in their own Solar System. He looked over to Dan who shrugged and got up from his desk to join Lance.

  “What do we have, Reynolds?” Lance asked.

  “Sporadic and faint positive hits one hundred twelve kilometers off area 312, outside the Docks, sir.” A hologram appeared, showing the QBBS Merideth Reynolds with the Docks area highlighted in orange, and a faint blue light flickering off to the side.

  “Velocity?” Dan asked.

  “Matching with us, at the moment,” Reynolds answered, “However, it was slowly approaching until three minutes ago.”

  “Is that why the ten and five thousand kilometer warnings didn’t go off?” Dan asked.

  “Yes, at that point, the speed and radar signature attributed a minimal threat assessment.” the E.I. replied.

  “Huh, something for the after-action report,” Lance commented. “Reynolds, backtrack likely origination point.”

  “Five days ago, Earth orbit.”

  “And there is another item for the AAR,” Dan agreed. He looked over to Lance, “Country or our unfriendly UFO group?”

  “I’m going with unfriendly UFO Group for $500,” Lance answered as he rubbed his chin, “But, is this a kamikaze, an attack, or spying?”

  “At the rate we are heading towards the gate, everyone on Earth must know we are going to meet up at the Annex Gate and probably leave within the month, right?” Dan spoke aloud, but didn’t expect to get an answer.

  ADAM, however, did come over the speakers, “Dan, the generally held consensus is that the Etheric Empire will stay at the Annex Gate for an unspecified amount of time.”

  “You know, ADAM, you are better than the morning paper,” Lance told him.

  “Thank you, General.”

  “So, why is he staying out there?” Dan asked. “You think we should send out a greeting party?”

  “Well,” Lance started before ADAM Interrupted.

  “ATTACK! Bethany Anne is UNDER ATTACK at the event in Belgium.”

  “Well, shit!” Lance spat out, “There’s our answer.”

  “Reynolds!”

  “Sir?”

  “Put up the gravitic shield, set it to four kilometers focused around the docks area.”

  “Merideth!”

  “General?” the feminine voice replied.

  “Issue the emergency warnings. Shut down the mag-trains and lower the blast doors between docks and In-World.”

  “Yes sir,” she replied
and cut her connection.

  “Well, their ship just lit up,” Dan said as he pointed to the hologram, “Here it comes.”

  “Reynolds, calculate the lag between when the attack on Bethany Anne happened and when that ship reacted,” Lance told the E.I.

  “Could be on a pre-planned time schedule.” Dan advised.

  Lance agreed, “Yeah, but I’d still like to know.” the two men watched as the dot rapidly approached. “I wonder what the hell they think they are going to accomplish?”

  MJ-12 Ship XJ 03

  Antony Rikert, main pilot on this trip for Majestic 12, spoke over the internal comm system, “Hey, hope our packages are ready down there. We are less than forty-five seconds from ejection.”

  Tyler came back, “We are good here, one to go. How we looking up there?”

  Antony looked over his dash, “So far, nothing seems to be coming after us, so that’s a good thing.”

  “That fucker is huge, Tony,” Tyler shot back, “They might think we are going to smash on the side or something.”

  “Possibly. But, check this out. For some insane reason, they have a large glass viewing area where a bunch of docks are. I’m thinking we shoot our packages over there. They can sacrifice a couple of guys taking out the glass instead of trying against the massive metal doors and once the air has escaped, go in that way with the additional sacrificial warriors.”

  “I’ll tell them the plan down here,” Tyler replied.

  “Works for me, Antony out,”

  —

  John Abdullah Khizen nodded his head to the man locking his helmet on. He turned with care due to his spacesuit, shuffled across the deck and with help, laid down in the ejection module. They looked like metal caskets to him.

  Perhaps that was appropriate.

  Inside, he could see the explosive packages. The Majestic people had delivered a demonstration a day ago and everyone within his group agreed.

  The destruction was very impressive and superior to anything they could have brought along. Further, the men explained, the bombs would not activate until the ejection modules were over 6 kilometers away from the ship. They wanted no chance a blast wave would affect them.

  Which meant they would be ejected eight kilometers away from their target and immediately upon ejection, the modules would fire jets to slow down.

  “What happens should the jets fail to fire?” John Abdullah had asked the man helping them get into the modules.

  “You explode when the modules hit the space station,” Tyler had replied. “It will be a very big boom, we assure you.”

  John Abdullah just nodded. So long as he wasn’t floating out in the middle of nowhere until he died from starvation, stuck in a small, dark, claustrophobic space he would be fine.

  Dying wasn’t something he was scared to do. Dying slowly in the dark was a different matter. John Abdullah wouldn’t have signed up to do that type of operation.

  Still if one was going to die for one’s belief, being one of the first to die attacking infidels in outer space was something he would be able to say he had done with his life. Or actually, maybe others would.

  Tyler made sure John Abdullah was tucked in correctly, with nothing to stop a proper seal. He closed the top of the module and locked it down. Knocking twice on the top to let the person inside know it was done.

  They were on a one-way ticket to meet their God. Perhaps they wouldn’t see light again, perhaps they would. Tyler was assured, however, that he didn’t expect anyone to live outside of the next four hours. If they failed to kill themselves, then the poison they were breathing along with their oxygen would finish the job.

  No one was going to stick around for any inconvenient conversations with TQB if Majestic 12 had anything to say about it.

  QBBS Merideth Reynolds

  An alarm went off in the Docks area, and Merideth’s voice reverberated throughout the hallways and rooms. “This is not a drill! This is not a drill! Reynolds is tracking enemy incoming. Repeat, Reynolds is tracking enemy incoming. Please move to designated safety areas. Mag-Tram is shut down and In-World is no longer accessible.”

  Bobcat looked out the viewing glass from his place at the hi-top table. He, William and Marcus were by themselves having a little celebratory dinner and drinks together, when Merideth’s ‘all-areas’ warning reverberated throughout the Docks.

  Marcus turned around in his seat, to look out the large viewing window. “I will bet you each a quarter ounce of gold they try to come in through here.”

  William got up from his chair and walked over to the large area and then turned to Marcus who was still seated, “Here?” he asked, pointing at the glass.

  Marcus nodded yes.

  William shrugged and turned back to looking at outer space, “Ok I’m in for a quarter-ounce.”

  Bobcat slid off his bar-stool chair and knocked on their table, “I’m in.” He walked over and joined William at the glass.

  Marcus’s shoulders slumped. He lifted the napkin from his lap and cleaned his mouth before folding it and putting it beside his plate on the table. He slid out of his chair and turned to walk over and stood next to Bobcat.

  Bobcat turned to look at him, “Why are you thinking they will attack here?”

  William snorted from the other side, “Has to be most likely location. All the other entrances are closed up with metal.”

  “If it was so obvious,” Bobcat turned toward William, “Why did you bet?”

  “I’m supporting Marcus’s slide into the terrible vice of gambling. He doesn’t do it enough.”

  “So, what? You’re thinking if he wins he might do it more often?” Bobcat asked. William nodded. Bobcat thought about his answer and turned to look out the window, “I completely support the financial sacrifice on your part, William. Do you mind me taking his side?”

  “Sorry, bets are already closed.” William told him.

  “Damn, just my luck,” Bobcat then looked to Marcus, “Was that your reason for betting?”

  Marcus chuckled, “No. My reason was I’m here, so obviously, with my luck they are going to try and attack where I am.” He paused, then added, “If I’m right and die, I don’t have to pay off anyway. It’s kind of a ‘win but can’t really lose situation’ was my thought process.”

  “You Marcus,” William chuckled, “are sneaky. I’m impressed.”

  Marcus leaned back to look around Bobcat to William, “Enough to go for a full ounce?”

  William barked a laugh, “Hell no! You’ve already explained your logic. That wasn’t smart, young padawan gambler.”

  “Oh,” Marcus turned back to the window, “yeah, that wasn’t smart of me. I’ll do better next time, Master William.”

  “It is not whether you bet or not bet,” William spoke, his voice old and high pitched, “but how often win you, that matters.”

  Bobcat called out, “Merideth?”

  “Yes, Bobcat?”

  “Reynold’s has the All Guns Blazing defensive measures on, right?”

  “Yes, Bobcat.”

  “Good,” Bobcat agreed and returned to looking out of the window, “This is going to be a good view, guys.” He looked around, “I want a fresh beer, wonder if we have time?”

  “You have a minimum of fifty-two seconds, Bobcat,” Merideth informed him.

  Bobcat’s face lit up, “Shit! I’m going for it!” He took off to the closest stairs and the two guys heard his stomps as he raced down and his voice calling out, “Hold my spot open!”

  The two men turned to each other after watching Bobcat’s headlong race out of the viewing deck.

  “I’ll go double or nothing that he doesn’t make it back up here in time,” William said.

  “No bet,” Marcus chuckled.

  “Damn.”

  —