SUED FOR PEACE

by Michael Anderle

  Bethany Anne sighed, “I get it, after Colorado, I really do. Do you think we will lose him?”

  Frank shook his head, “No, his wife knows this is going to hell. Plus, the future for their children is up there. Well, at least they think so.”

  “Good, I don’t want to lose him if we can help it, but I understand if the wife isn’t happy…” she started the saying and Frank finished with a grin, “No one is happy.”

  Bethany Anne turned slightly, “So, Yuko, let me officially introduce you to Frank Kurns.”

  “Hah!” Yuko inhaled, “You wrote the books, didn’t you?” She looked back and forth between the two of them, “The UnknownWorld?”

  “Told you someone read them,” Bethany Anne said shaking her head at him, “And you thought they would sit in the wasteland of e-books, and no one would recognize you.”

  “No,” he looked at Bethany Anne with a stern face, “What I said was I wasn’t going to become as well known until I released my books about you.”

  Bethany Anne pointed to Yuko, “Frank, she’s Japanese. How much more well known do you want to be?”

  “Ah,” He looked down to Yuko, who smiled at him and then back to Bethany Anne who was giving him a trademark raised eyebrow. He put up two fingers close together, “Maybe just a smidgen?”

  “You are incorrigible, Frank.”

  “I’m telling you, the next one about Tabitha is going to go top thousand for sure.” He grumped.

  “The Bitches went top thousand, now they are doing a damned pin-up calendar.”

  “Oh, they are?” Yuko asked, a stunned expression in her eyes.

  “You know them?” Frank asked, amused.

  “Well, if we are talking about Gabrielle, John, Eric, Darryl, Scott and now Akio, yes I do.” She smiled, “If there is a pin-up calendar planned, can I buy it?”

  Akio, where are you? Bethany Anne asked.

  I’m with the Guardians, working on their control when in wolf form to see if we can create new attacks.

  Can you come over to Frank’s door? We have a fan, and I’d like to surprise her.

  Of who?

  Bethany Anne grinned, I’m pretty sure you.

  Yes, my Queen.

  “I’m pretty sure if you asked them, they would give you one.” Bethany Anne replied, “In fact, they would probably sign it for you, too.”

  “What?” Yuko answered, surprised.

  “Sure, they are around all of the time. You will see them come and go. You know they are just other guys, right?” Bethany Anne asked, listening and catching the soft footfalls of Akio in the next compartment.

  “Have you SEEN them?” Yuko asked, not thinking about the absurdity of her question, “They are dreamy!”

  “Well, yes.” Bethany Anne smiled, “Very recently, as a matter of fact.”

  “When?” Yuko’s eyes lit up and noticed that Bethany Anne turned to her left to nod at someone behind her. Yuko turned around to stare up into the most well known Guard Bethany Anne had, at least in Japan anyway.

  “I…” She said and then bowed, “I am pleased to meet you, I am Yuko.”

  While Yuko’s head was down, Akio smiled at Bethany Anne, wondering at his Queen’s ability to inject humor and fun into a normal day.

  “Please you honor me too much, Yuko, I am pleased to meet your acquaintance. I understand…”

  Bethany Anne sent, She is here to join ADAM’s cyber-team.

  “That you will be working with ADAM, is that correct?”

  “Yes,” Yuko looked up, “I will be.”

  Akio bowed to Yuko, “Then as a fellow warrior, let me welcome you to the team of the Queen Bitch.”

  Yuko’s frowned a moment, “And that is?”

  Bethany Anne smiled, “Wow, someone who hasn’t heard that term Frank?”

  He shrugged, “Don’t look at me, it’s in the books.” He told her.

  Yuko looked at the both of them, “But, that is just science fiction, right? I thought that was just story, not a real name?” she asked and turned back to Akio.

  Akio smiled and shook his head, “No. Do you know the story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?” Yuko nodded. “Then welcome,” he waved a hand back towards where she had come from, “for you have come down the rabbit hole.”

  Yuko inhaled sharply as she understood the books weren't just fiction. Unfortunately, she remembered that in the books, Akio didn’t go after the ladies.

  Dammit!

  South America

  Tabitha entered the club and had to adjust her hearing, as the beat of the music was hurting her head slightly. She wished she had figured out how the others changed theirs seemingly automatically.

  It wasn’t hard to find Miguel’s table, since he had a couple of guys around standing near him that looked like protection, one girl on his arm and another guy in conversation. She tried to turn her ear to understand the discussion and smirked.

  He was trying to find her.

  She slowed down to get more of the story. Shit! He was willing to spend more to find them than she had stolen back from his accounts. Hell, it wasn’t like she had stolen it all. She had left his bigger fund alone. What a prick, he couldn’t appreciate the little things! It was only a hundred thousand, for fuck’s sake.

  Ryu could hear the man speak about finding them and paying money so that he could give them his regards. He noticed the set of Tabitha’s shoulders when she understood what he was saying. It was appealing and amusing how she strove to figure out how to use her abilities, although he could tell from her shoulder posture that the conversation was pissing her off. He nudged Hirotoshi and rolled his eyes. They were about to get dropped in the pot again.

  He smiled at his partner and shrugged. Life with Tabitha had been some of the most fun they had enjoyed in this last century, and it only looked to get more interesting. The two of them quickly scanned the crowd, marking who they felt were the most likely guards and used hand signals old before lighter than air travel was invented to select a strategy, waiting for the fun to begin.

  Because their leader was Tabitha, and around her, fun was happening all of the time.

  Tabitha walked up to Miguel’s table and tried to ignore the first guard who had looked her up and down in a slow and disgusting fashion. Now, she understood how some guys could make a girl want to bat for the other team.

  “If you put your tongue out,” Tabitha glared at him, “I swear I will use it to clean up the floor.” Apparently, she had spoken a little too loud and even in the noise of the club, his partner and Miguel could hear her comment.

  He smiled and raised his eyebrows twice quickly and then stuck out his tongue as far as he could while gazing at the stretch of her leather jacket due to the, uh, enhancements she had undergone.

  Lightning fast, she grabbed the man's tongue, kicked out his feet and twisted to straddle his back. He pushed out his arms so that he didn’t crash into the floor.

  She was astride him when he finally stopped moving, a mere two inches from hitting his chin on the floor, which could have caused him to bite his tongue very painfully. Perhaps off.

  That would have been perfect, then she could have used it like a rag and stuck it in his pocket.

  She grabbed the back of his head with her right hand and shoved his face to the floor. “You know, you try to warn a person, and they just don’t get it.” She let go of his tongue and wiped her hand off on the back of his jacket. “I’ll say this once. You get up and get pissy with me, and I’ll break your leg before knocking the shit out of you.”

  She stepped off of him, and he stood up, looking at her sullenly and wiping his arm across his face. He glanced angrily at the other guard who stopped laughing but kept a smile on his face.

  Tabitha got pissed, “You know what?” She stepped to the booth, “I ain’t got time for this shit.” She grabbed the guy who had been talking with Miguel before she arrived and yanked his ass out of the booth. It wasn’t lost on anyone that the man, who was six inches taller an
d fifty pounds heavier than what she looked like, went airborne ten feet before hitting a table that was, fortunately, empty of people.

  She slid into his recently vacated seat and looked at the girl across the way, “Are you working, or a floozy?”

  The girl looked at Tabitha not understanding her question.

  “Are you a call-girl or a slut?” Tabitha tried again.

  The woman sat up straighter, “I am not a call-girl!” she said.

  “Ok, then slut. Get your ass out of the chair before I toss you out as well.”

  The girl opened and shut her mouth a few times and then looked to Miguel, who winked at her and nodded to the bar, “Get us both a drink baby, this will be quick.”

  The girl pursed her lips together and slid out of the booth.

  “And you are?” Miguel asked as he turned from watching the girl’s ass disappear into the crowd.

  “Pissed,” Tabitha told him and unzipped her jacket. He immediately stared at her chest. She wanted to roll her eyes. Why wasn’t it that women didn’t already run the world if it was this easy to get a man to lose focus? “If you don’t focus your eyes where they need to be, the next method of getting answers will be substantially more painful.”

  Miguel’s rapidly deteriorating good mood took a sudden drop, “I don’t know who you are...” He jerked in startlement when he felt something sharp prick him between his legs.

  “I’m the Ranger that has a sharp sword tickling the Thompson Twins you got,” she smiled. “And if you want to stay a Miguel instead of becoming Miranda, you had better answer my next three questions truthfully.”

  Miguel sat very still and moved only his eyes to his two men, but both were gone. In their places, her two men stood. He looked back to her, “You killed George.”

  “You mean the ass that shot me in the back?” she asked him, and he nodded, “Yes. You don’t get to shoot a Ranger in the back and live to tell about it.” She looked like she thought for a second, “You know, that is a new rule. Remember that Ryu.” Miguel noticed one of the men nod sharply.

  He wanted to scream when the knife, sword, whatever the hell it was tickled him painfully in the crotch again. “I not only killed George, but I also took the money the Chinese paid you to hurt a bunch of companies.”

  Miguel pressed his lips together.

  She noticed, “What, I left you over five hundred thirty thousand in your second account, so stop being so pissy.” Now, Miguel was sweating a little more. If she knew how much he had, that meant she might have been able to take it.

  He had to ask, “Why didn’t you take it all?”

  She replied, “I don’t give a shit what you did to get the other money, that isn’t my job.”

  “What are you, a cop?”

  She looked exasperated, “Do cops often come into your club to tickle your testicles after withdrawing a hundred-thou out of your accounts?” Miguel shook his head no, “I didn’t think so. I’m a Ranger for the Queen Bitch. These Chinese motherfuckers have taken me off a personal vendetta to find a few assholes that really need my attention. You are just a pain in my ass, call it a boil, that needs to be popped. I can either pop it right now,” Miguel could feel the sharp pricks as she barely pushed a couple of times on her sword to make her point, “or I can pay you a hundred-thou to stop doing it.”

  “That was my hundred-thousand,” he grated out.

  “It’s mine now and might I add you are a hard-headed ass. I’m beginning to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to just make a pincushion out of you and let your second in command take over in your place.”

  “I don’t have a second,” he admitted.

  “Well, I’ll have bimbolina of the double-d’s deal with it,” she told him, “I’m sure she just wants to suck you out of your money, anyway.”

  Actually, he couldn’t argue that point. “Or?”

  “Or, you agree to tell me what you know of the ones who hired you, I go have this talk with them and pay you another twenty-five thousand once I take their money.”

  “What’s to stop them from coming back to me?” he asked, relieved that the pressure on his cock was reduced.

  “Me.” Miguel was surprised when the sword was taken off all of the way. He noticed it as she placed it back inside her coat. “Miguel, I’m a Queen’s Ranger, and I’ve been given a task. I stomp on ant-hills, I see who scurries out. Those that don’t hide quickly enough have bad nights. Like you. Those that try to get pissy with me?” She looked at him hard, her eyes becoming daggers, “like say try to pull a pistol out of their holster and shoot me?” She started to slide out of the booth, “I’ll just kill them.” She got to the end of the booth and asked, “So, what’s it going to be? We going to do business, or do I open the position at the top and continue looking elsewhere?”

  “Twenty-five G's and my other hundred?” Miguel asked.

  “It’s my hundred, I stole it fair and square so ownership is one-hundred percent of my law. Yes, the deal is a name, a location and one-hundred back in your account before I leave this table. I’ll send you another twenty-five as soon as I acquire it from my next visit.”

  “No one knows about this?” he asked, “This agreement?”

  “Only if you tell them. I’m not here to fix every damned wrong in society, and frankly, I’m about to have a discussion with people I really don’t care about. I’ve been nice to you. They have already pissed off my boss, so they are screwed whether I do it, or God protect us if she gets ahold of them. I can only kill them.”

  “What can she…”

  “Don’t. Ask.” she smiled grimly, “Table tennis with your testicles is child’s play. You might not like me, but I doubt you would accept someone putting three bullets in your back, so George had it coming. I’m telling you that the hundred thousand will be back. As long as you don’t make up some bullshit that is less than respectful to me, I’ll let you make up a story. However,” she paused before continuing, “if I find out your story is disrespectful? Then you had better never go to sleep because I will come back and cut off your Johnson and put a popsicle stick in its place.”

  Miguel considered the options and decided going after the .44 wasn’t the best choice. Furthermore, he could spin this fairly well and keep his place. His money would be back, Boz would let others know that an additional twenty-five was inserted into the account as well.

  Win-win.

  He had to make sure the story didn’t get changed in the retelling so that it became disrespectful to her. That would be easier than shooting someone who might be able to take a couple of .44's to the back and come back to kill him.

  “Here,” he pulled out a pen from his jacket and grabbed a napkin, “is the name and address where I met them. I don’t know much more than that and the list of businesses. Give me a contact email address and I’ll forward the business email they sent me to you.”

  He noticed she pulled a phone out of her jacket and did something on it before putting it away. “I’ve sent you an email, use that email address and I’ve moved a hundred thousand into your account.”

  She slid all the way out of the booth, took the proffered napkin and stood up, “Here’s a final piece of advice.”

  He waited to hear what she had to say.

  “Don’t use that bank, their security is some of the worst I’ve ever seen.”