WE HAVE CONTACT (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 12)

by Michael Anderle

  A tear attempted to form on the edge of Bethany Anne’s eye, but she grimaced, stopping it. “Understood, but if the COO gets hurt, I’m not protecting him from his wife.”

  “Ha! Got that covered already. Permission already granted.”

  Bethany Anne’s mouth stayed open. “Seriously?”

  “Do you need me to get her in on the call?” Lance asked.

  “No, it’s just…” Bethany Anne was at a loss for words.

  “Hey, she knows what she married. She no more wants to change that than I want to change her. Plus, I figure she thinks Akio and the Guardians are with me, so what the hell am I going to do?” Bethany Anne heard a group of cat-calls and hell-yeah! in the background.

  >>Bethany Anne, the President is calling.<<

  Gott Verdammt, when it rained it poured.

  “Got to go, Dad, President’s on the other line.”

  “Lance out.”

  “This is Bethany Anne.”

  “I’m sorry to bug you, Bethany Anne, but I have an embarrassing favor to ask.”

  “Shoot, but you have forty-five seconds before I have to clear the line.”

  “Ok, I’m told I have twenty-three people in a fire-fight in Syria, and we can’t get anyone there to help quickly enough. Could I possibly request support?”

  “Yes, we will handle it, I’ll let you know what happened in an hour.” Bethany Anne could see the mountains they were heading for, “Anything else?”

  “Uh, how fast can they be there?” the President asked.

  “Fast. Ten minutes or less.” She told him, “Sorry, have to go.”

  The President heard the line click off.

  Dammit, he didn’t get to inquire if the strange meteorites rushing across Asia was something she was doing or not.

  He picked up the phone from his desk, “Yes, they are sending someone. ETA? Ten minutes or less. Good luck.”

  He set the phone in its cradle. God, he wished he had her capabilities.

  —

  ADAM, tell my Dad they have officially been asked to help by the President of the United States. See if you can route a message to Dan’s contact if he hasn’t divulged his connection to us yet and make sure the box isn’t used unless needed.

  Space Station One - L2

  Coach grabbed a quarterstaff. He wasn’t any good with bladed weapons and the idea of using something like a long bat appealed to his sense of mayhem at the moment. The team already thought about and disregarded the idea of the riot weapons they had on station. The bean bag guns, most doubted, would be of any use. If the attackers could get hurt using them, well then they would grab them.

  He turned and made his way through another group of Wechselbalg who were busy moving in and out of the room. Coach had just entered the hallway when life went upside down.

  “We have boarders in sections 12-4, 12-5, 30-2 and 30-3,” Coach could hear Penn over the loudspeakers. He heard the suction of vacuum pulling air out of the hole for a second, alarms blasting up and down the hallway when the hole was sealed.

  Coach put on his helmet and locked it in, moving forward. He hit the button to allow his voice to be heard outside of his suit. He noticed Adarsh had also put on his hat and maybe a third of the Wechselbalg had gone back behind them to get into suits. They would probably come forward and allow those risking asphyxiation right now a chance to get a suit.

  If they had time.

  The nose of the craft that had rammed them dropped, clanging in the container and then one of the aliens dropped in.

  “Move out of my Gott Verdammt way!” Coach yelled, his speakers enhancing his voice louder, He jogged the fifteen feet to reach the alien yelling as he swung, “Batter up!”

  —

  Penn was talking to the E.I., “Give me ArchAngel direct!

  “This is Gabrielle, I received the update from SS1, and we are moving to break orbit. ETA ten minutes, Penn.”

  “Gabrielle, we have been holed in four places. Aliens have sealed the holes at this time. Forty-five percent of our personnel have reached protected containers, and we should hit eighty-percent in…one minute fifteen. We have eyes on 10 enemies so far. Pictures will follow as well as all video will be streamed live.”

  “Penn, you guys better hold for 10 Gott Verdammt minutes, or I will kick all of your asses.”

  Penn barked a laugh, “I understand Bethany Anne is on another mission, so are you trying on your Bethany Anne speech?”

  “Hell no! This is my Gabrielle speech. You know shit goes downhill, so if you guys go down when I am in command, Bethany Anne is going to kick my ass, and I’ll be there to kick yours.”

  “Understood, Gabrielle. However, since I might not have a chance to say this in ten minutes, you aren’t mean enough to pull off Bethany Anne.” Penn looked to the side, “Got to go, ArchAngel, we have two attackers trying to get in our external airlocks.”

  “Kick ass Space Station One, that is an order from the Queen Bitch herself,” Gabrielle told him.

  Penn looked back to the video camera, “Understood ArchAngel, I’ll relay that personally.”

  Penn cut the connection.

  Syria

  Terry opened his eyes when he heard the crunch of gravel. He was wide awake when Robert came around the boulder where he was hiding out, listening in the night. “Terry, the government wag says they will be here in an hour.”

  “Well, he is finally accepting the fact that we have visitors?”

  “Yes, and as you might imagine, he is not too happy with the fact that we have no backup.”

  “Do you want me to tell him I told you so? You know I already have a bad reputation for running at the mouth.” Terry stood up and dusted his pants off.

  “No, let’s try to make this a new and improved Terry, shall we?”

  Terry followed Robert as they walked toward the government wags tent, “is this where I make a joke about ‘how I chose a bad time to give up liquor, cussing, and mouthing off’?” The two men chuckled a moment before stepping into the tent.

  Two minutes later, Robert and Terry left the tent heading toward the rest of the team. Robert went to his group to get them helping everybody get up and moving them into the pits. Terry went towards Melissa, looking forward to seeing her while she still might have some respect for him.

  It was possibly stupid, Terry thought, but at the moment he was proudest that he remembered to buy her Chips Ahoy before they went on this operation.

  Melissa woke up to the gentle pushing on her arm, “What is it and why can’t I go get the ice cream?” she mumbled.

  “Probably because the nearest freezer is hundreds of kilometers in God only knows what direction. And I doubt you would like the flavor anyway.” Terry told her.

  Melissa’s eyes opened up, she wasn’t expecting a man’s voice in her dream. She focused on Terry looking down at her and caught the concern in his eyes. “What is it?”

  “Remember all of my concerns about the government leaving us out here high and dry?” She nodded, quickly understanding his thought process. “Well, I need you to make sure you have everything you need and get down into the pit. Don’t forget water, anything that you can grab, definitely any lights and communication devices. Should you need to drop the opening, someone might be able to dig you out.”

  Melissa scrambled out of her sleeping bag, not worrying that she was in what amounted to a bikini. She started getting her clothes on. “Aren’t you going to be with us?”

  “No, I need to be upstairs with the guys trying to stop them from getting to you. If we can do that, then you won’t have to worry about suffocating.”

  She looked over at him as she buttoned her shorts. “You really don’t have a good bedside manner. You know that, right?”

  Terry smiled, “I can always blow smoke up your ass if you would prefer, Melissa. But just remember that I did bring you Chips Ahoy, that should be worth something.”

  Melissa turned around, “Shit, where is it.” She dropped to her knees a
nd reached under her sleeping bag to pull out half a bag of Chips Ahoy. “Damn, if I had known I might have to deal with this crap this morning, I might have decided to eat them all. Now at least I will be able to console myself with chocolate.” She turned around and handed him the Chips Ahoy. “Hold this please and if you want to keep your privates, don’t you eat one of them.” She stood up and grabbed her pistol, slotting it into a holster. She grabbed a bag full of clothes and other items, then her laptop tossing it into the bag and zipping it up. She reached for the bag of cookies, which Terry handed her, and walked out of her tent. He followed her into the night.

  She turned around, “TH?”

  “Yes?” he replied, stopping before he continued walking in the other direction.

  “Be safe, okay?”

  Terry put two fingers to his forehead and saluted her with a smile. He then walked off toward Robert’s area. Melissa, watching him go, wondered if she would ever see him alive again. She turned and headed toward the excavation area. She knew what she was good at, and knew what she was not.

  She wasn’t stupid enough to try to be on the front lines. However, if any assholes were dumb enough to stick their heads within thirty feet of her, she damn well would do her best to give them a splitting headache. She pulled one bullet out of the clip and slipped it into her pocket.

  No one was taking her alive.

  TQB Base - Australia

  Lance chewed on his cigar and thought about the three operations now in play. He couldn’t help the ArchAngel as he couldn’t catch up if he wanted to, plus ADAM’s computer team didn’t need to be placed in harm's way.

  It wasn’t appropriate.

  He stabbed his intercom, “Patricia?”

  “Yes, dear?” Her voice came back immediately.

  “I have a favor to ask.” A handful of years ago, this would never occur to him. However, now his future was tied. He couldn’t take risks on a whim, or an urge.

  “Yes?” Her voice was clear, crisp and efficient.

  “I want to go with Akio and the ten Wechselbalg,” he told her.

  “Understood, I’ll take care of the base with ADAM and the team. Go kick some ass, sweetheart.”

  Lance looked down at the speakerphone, not sure what to say.

  “Go,” she said. “I can imagine you looking at the phone, not believing your ears. If you think for two seconds I didn’t know I married a military man through and through, you aren’t crediting me with enough common sense. I married all of you, even this part. I got your back, Lance.”

  He pressed the button, this time gently, “And I’ve got yours, Patricia. Take care of ADAM’s group, ok?”

  “Hell yes, I will. I’ve got ADAM talking with me, we got this. You take care of Dan’s contact. Gabrielle has the Space Station, and Bethany Anne will be ok. Hell, when is she not?” Lance heard a little pride in Patricia’s voice as she laughed, “Go kick some ass for me, promise?”

  “Baby, I’ll kick it all the way to hell and back out the other side, just tell me when, alright?”

  “I’ll remember that Lance Reynolds. I’ll have a long time to cash in that marker. Go.”

  “Gone.” Lance released the button for the last time and started unbuttoning his shirt, aw damn, he just ripped it down the front and stripped it off as he stood and left his office double-timing it down the hall.

  His eyes grew darker and those that witnessed their base commander as he talked into his comm unit, telling people what to do as he made his way to the arms area stood clear. Most had heard of his legendary anger and played it off as overblown.

  They had never witnessed Lance Reynolds truly pissed.

  Now, he seemed beyond pissed. He seemed deadly and a few now understood where their infamous Queen inherited her don’t fuck with me face.

  Like father, like daughter.

  Someone was getting fucked up, they thought, as Lance passed them in the halls.

  Five minutes later, Lance Reynolds jumped on the transport as it started to lift, with Akio and ten Wechselbalg. The Japanese Vampire nodded to the base commander as he grabbed his arm and pulled him in. Two Wechselbalg closed the doors.

  The teams had modified some of the gravitic cargo containers. With Jeffrey’s assistance, they changed the engines and placed one extra on the front to adjust the airstream around them. There were fifteen seats along both sides of the containers with five-point belt harnesses. Lance sat on one end, Akio sat next to him. Both locked in.

  Hold on Terry, Lance thought, Death is coming for a visit.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Syria

  Terry felt a buzzing in his pocket. He pulled out the phone and looked at it, surprised. He had received a text.

  HELP INCOMING - SIX MINUTES - PRESIDENT OF U.S. HAS REQUESTED ASSISTANCE. LEAVE CONTAINER CLOSED IF POSSIBLE.

  Terry slipped the phone back in his pocket, his smile turning satisfied, his worries abating.

  “News?” Robert asked. Terry was a little off to one side by himself and he noticed Robert’s men, the six near them, were looking at him.

  “Yeah,” Terry said, looking up into the morning’s darkness, “We are going to have visitors, the good kind. From what I know about them, for fuck’s sake don’t have a friendly fire incident. They won’t appreciate that shit at all. We have to hold for,” he looked down at his watch, “five more minutes and then we probably need to pull back into the pit ourselves.”

  “What the hell is coming, an AC-130 Spectre?”

  “No, probably better… well, let’s call it more unique.” Terry said, “The President has called in a favor for us.” He grimaced, “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have let that slip, guys.” Terry glanced to those near him, “Can you guys do me a solid and not mention that part about the President? I don’t know if this is for public consumption. If anyone has questions, point at me until we get the word you can say that, ok? I’ve got the reputation.”

  He got seven nods. When he looked to Robert, he surreptitiously winked to him. Terry smiled and looked away. It felt good to be a part of the team again. He had missed it over the years. Now that his assholious was diminishing, his ability to think clearly was getting better.

  Robert spoke out, “Five?”

  Terry nodded, “Yeah, count on it.”

  Robert nodded and then issued orders. Everyone pulled in and put up as much rock around their areas as they could, being careful to try and minimize ricochet concerns.

  Then, the seconds started counting down.

  —

  Hamza bent over, moving to the top of the small outcropping, tapping Yasin on his shoulder. Yasin looked over and then looked back when he realized it was his friend.

  Hamza spoke in a soft voice, “The dogs were notified, their camp is too empty.”

  Yasin looked up to the sky, “That is acceptable. As long as they do not have the drones, then the ending is just drawn out. They have no air support. They can’t hide from our bullets too long. Besides, you wanted a chance to stay here tonight.

  “Yes I did,” Hamza agreed, “I see tents and other soft materials down there. I imagine I can grab something that will make the trip back not hurt so much.