Bethany Anne appreciated his honesty. She knew some guys would try and bullshit their way to an answer rather than admit they didn’t know something. “Tell you what. We get special dispensation due to Stephen here in Romania. The amount of people Stephen knows or who respect him and make things happen just for him is pretty spectacular. I don’t want to try it over in Europe proper if we don’t have to. Why don’t you get with Frank when we land and see if he can find someone? Wherever they are in the world, confirm your choice with Dan and Bobcat and we will fly them over here then the both of you take the plane back to Miami? Use the corporate credit card to hang loose and work with those guys until someone comes. Make sure the plane is ready to go, but otherwise, consider it a mini-vacation, alright?”
Well, he could certainly do that. While he still had some reservations about those in upper management from his time in the Air Force, so far he was pretty happy he accepted the red pill from Frank back in Nassau. “That works for me.”
“Great! Give me ten minutes warning and I’ll come up here and land this bad boy with you, ok?”
He forced a smile. Nothing like having the boss watch you work. “Sure, that would be great.”
Bethany Anne got out of the seat and patted Paul on the shoulder as she left.
Bethany Anne got back to her seat. The three of them stopped talking as she left the Captains cabin. She sat back down in her chair and buckled in.
She looked over at Gabrielle, “Hey, there is something I meant to ask.” Gabrielle just raised her eyebrows. “Can you tell me about Michael’s children? Nathan told me some, but he didn’t know someone’s name or something and I’ve never been sure if he knew them all.”
“I would be happy to. Did you want the full story or the condensed version?”
Bethany Anne motioned for Eric to change seats with her. As they moved around each other she answered the question. “Sorry, looking sideways annoys me after a while. The condensed version would work well for me right now. I’m just trying to get an idea of the major players and where they are. I know Anton is in South America, but how did he get there?”
“Ok, The six children are Hugo, Anton, David, Peter, Stephen and Barnabas. We will start with Anton and how he became the main vampire in South America. Anton went over to Brazil at the end of World War II. Rumor has it he held some sway over Oberleutnant Wermuth who was the captain for the German submarine U-530. At the end of the war, that U-boat left their berth and ignored Admiral Dönitz’s surrender command and went all the way over to Argentina before surrendering a couple of months later. Anton was dropped off with one female and his children followed him over the years.”
Eric grunted next to them. “I know that story. That’s the U-boat that caused the rumor Hitler was still alive. That was the same U-boat that met with a Japanese sub to pass over some radar technology and an operator.”
Bethany Anne started at that comment and put a hand out to stop Gabrielle from continuing. “Wait, what was that Eric?”
Eric looked at her again since her voice wasn’t just mildly curious. “Which part?”
“The part about the Japanese boat.”
“Oh, it seems that the Japanese had been using these large cargo submarines to move stuff around in the war. There were three that were constructed during the war. I think their numbers were something like I-52, I-53 or 4, and I-55. I-52 was called the Golden Submarine because it was carrying gold to the Germans to pay for some of their technology. Anyway, U-530 met it about a year before the end of the war to transfer the technology and some people. I-52 was later sunk by a US Task force and one of their new sound seeking torpedoes.”
Bethany Anne looked like she was thinking. “So, about a year before the U-530 ends up in Argentina with Anton, it had a secret meeting with a Japanese U-boat and exchanged stuff.”
“Well, we don’t know about stuff from Japan to the U-530, it was supposed to go and meet the Germans in France, I believe.”
“Yeah, but what if… what if… What if there were some Forsaken in Japan that passed materials to U-530 in 1944 and then Anton carries them with him over to Argentina in 1945?”
Gabrielle interjects, “Like what?”
Bethany Anne realizes that she is the only one read in on this issue. She hadn’t mentioned it to her team yet, so they didn’t know why she was tracking this down, either.
“Well…”
She got interrupted by Paul over the speaker, “Everyone, we are landing in 10 minutes, please put your tray tables back in the closed and locked position and raise your seats to the upright position. Bethany Anne to the front, please.”
Bethany Anne got up, “I’ll tell you along with Stephen a little later. This little moment of insight might help me figure out where Michael might be.” She started moving towards the pilot’s cabin. Gabrielle shouted out behind her.
“He’s still alive?”
She called over her shoulder, “Let’s hope so! We might need him before all of this is over.”
Gabrielle just looked back at the two men who watched as she seemed to sink into the seat just a little.
CHAPTER THREE
Las Vegas, Nevada - USA
Jeffrey Diamantz happened to be at his corner office window at the top of the seven story building Patriarch Research shared with two other businesses in North Las Vegas, when he noticed a dark SUV pull into the parking lot. He had been considering how to broach a sensitive topic with the gentleman coming to meet him this morning. The meeting was set for 10 AM and it was half past 9 at the moment. He figured the top guy would be late, a passive-aggressive way of emphasizing how important the visitor was.
Jeffrey hadn’t had a physical meeting with the owners of the company in the fifteen years he had been the CEO. He had received a few emails over the years for specific answers and he provided quarterly updates and a year-end summary document he delivered to an address in New York City. That the meeting was requested right after the biggest hacking attack the company had ever suffered was more than a little suspect.
He watched as the SUV parked and two men exited the vehicle and carefully watched the cars near them. The two men, one white and one black, each took a side and then scanned their environs. Both seemed very polished in their black suits, white shirts and some sort of dark tie. He couldn’t tell what the color was from his height. The white guy then opened a door and an older gentleman got out of the back. He had short, grey hair. His carriage reminded him of a military bearing as the older man then walked between the two men and they started into his building.
Oh crap! That might be his group. Jeffrey turned back to his desk and hit his intercom button. His secretary, Annette, answered, “Yes sir?”
“Annette, do we have the meeting room ready?”
“Yes, I’m just waiting to start the coffee closer to 10:00 AM.”
“Go ahead and start the coffee, I think the parent company COO just arrived.”
“Yes sir, did you expect him early?”
“No, but I hope it is a good sign.”
“Ok, I’ll get it done.”
“Thanks.” He let go of the phone button. The system was really old. In fact, the phone boards were too costly to replace as they weren’t manufactured anymore. Three years ago, he had to buy a used board that cost a quarter of a new system to keep the phones working. He and his team used IP telephony for most of their communications but the desktop to desktop systems were in place, so they just continued to use them for the occasional call using POTS.
Two minutes later, his phone buzzed so he hit the intercom button, “Yes Annette?”
“Sir, there is a Mr. Reynolds here to see you.”
“Thank you, Annette. Please see Mr. Reynolds to the conference room and I will grab my stuff and be right there.”
“Yes sir.”
She hung up. Jeffrey took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and released the anxiety he felt. He grabbed his laptop and the few charts he had printed up and went to go meet
his boss.
New York City, New York - USA
Gerry was making his way across the city over to the meeting with Nathan and the ‘green’ team that still desired to work with Bethany Anne and were close enough to drive in with only two days notice.
Gerry was exhausted. Since Nathan had left his pack to work with Bethany Anne, he and Nirene had to deal with too many headaches that just didn’t materialize when Nathan was the gatekeeper.
He had been a really spoiled Alpha and had not fully appreciated just how much crap never materialized because those lower than Nathan didn’t want to have to deal with him. Furthermore, after having a long dinner with Nirene, he found out just how many times Nathan had reprimanded those who had given Nirene a hard time.
However, the prodigal son was coming back this morning. While it wouldn’t help Gerry long term, it had caused a significant reduction in those who wanted to meet with Gerry on pack business.
Nirene couldn’t pick up the remaining responsibilities Nathan took care of. He had been responsible for communicating with the vampires and frankly, Gerry had to agree that he was still handling that responsibility.
Now, Nathan and Pete were coming back to talk with the eighteen Were that were interested in possibly working with Bethany Anne. Almost ten of the other werewolves got religion after the meeting with Bethany Anne at Fort Tilden, and thought better of continuing. They had suddenly decided that keeping their mouths shut and living a normal Wechselbalg life was preferable to getting any closer to the vampire.
Gerry guessed that he had at least one, maybe two members of the American Pack Council that were still deliberately agitating some of the younger males. But once those younger males went with Nathan, they would officially be HIS problem. Gerry wasn’t concerned at that point. The younger Weres would either shape up or ship out, possibly in a coffin. If Nathan didn’t put them into one, he felt Bethany Anne would take care of the issue.
His attitude might seem a little uncaring, but he was tired of the young thinking that life should be fair. A few deaths, like Paul Gleason's, made a convincing lesson for those who had been mouthing off. Many had been properly motivated just by her security team, but for those the humans didn’t scare, not one of the guys failed to be wary of Bethany Anne after she talked with each one personally
He pulled into the old warehouse parking lot. The pack had bought the building over thirty years ago for occasional discussions between some of the males who needed to have an officially sanctioned rank fight. It occasionally would end up with a dead pack member who'd refused to submit since the rules stated someone had to submit by yielding or death. It was a little tragic, but the rules stated one could yield or die.
Gerry hadn’t been here for a sanctioned pack fight in over five years. Until Nathan had mentioned using it for the meeting, the warehouse had slipped Gerry’s mind.
Turning off his car, he got out and walked over to the door. He nodded to the four guys already waiting there. He unlocked the door and flipped on the light switch right inside the doorway. Large ventilation fans were on the roof, but it was cold enough and the building too large to consider warming it up for this meeting. The floors were concrete and the building had old metal siding and dusty pink insulation batting between the studs and joists. A long time ago, the pack had paid to put down some epoxy to make the concrete easier to clean after a particularly bloody argument broke out before a fight. The blood had been all over the place so bad they had to clean the area before the official fight could occur. By the time the floor had dried well enough to continue, the two combatants had worked out their argument and the original fight never did happen.
The fluorescent lights started warming up and ever so slowly brought light to the ten-thousand square foot building. The four other guys followed Gerry in the door. Over the next thirty minutes, another ten cars with fourteen people showed up.
Gerry noticed Terry Manestes come in, he was one of the last to join the group. Terry had been gut shot at the last meeting with Bethany Anne’s group and his cousin Jack had been shot in the head. Jack had died from the exchange. That Terry had been shot in the stomach was due to his not trying to incite everyone at that moment to kill Bethany Anne. Gerry wondered if he was here to continue Paul Gleason’s efforts or not. Terry was Nathan’s problem for this meeting, not his.
Gerry talked with everyone. For once, he wasn’t the main attraction and no one wanted to kiss his ass. He could sense a level of unease. Bethany Anne wasn’t expected, and Gerry told the guys this two or three times. While none of them would be happy meeting Nathan, even Nathan was the lesser of two evils when the other option was Bethany Anne.
What Gerry would never have considered was that neither Bethany Anne, Nathan nor Gerry would be the talk of the group after this mornings' meeting was over.
Constanta, Romania
The team had landed at the airport safely and Stephen and Ivan had been waiting for them. Unlike the first time, Gabrielle had chosen to go with Ivan and sit beside him. If truth be told, she sat very, very beside him. Eric smiled at that and was happy for the guy. They ended up discussing the Costa Rican operation. Eric was a little embarrassed when Gabrielle explained how she got shot in the chest and leg. Fortunately, the chest shot was stopped by her armor, but when she landed on the ground she had gotten shot one more time in the leg before Eric had been able to kill the guy.
Ivan sort of freaked out a little at that part of the story. Gabrielle told him she was just fine and grabbed his hand and put it somewhere in the vicinity of her lap to prove to Ivan she was healed. Although Eric couldn’t see where Gabrielle put his hand, he was sitting behind Gabrielle, the look on Ivan’s face suggested it wasn’t where she had been shot.
Lucky Bastard, Eric thought.
Over in Stephen’s car, Bethany Anne sat in back with John up in front with Stephen driving. Stephen had replaced the two Mercedes that he had before with brand new ones for this trip. Even with her wealth, Bethany Anne didn’t understand Stephen’s comment that he was replacing the two previous cars because they had been ‘almost new’. Now, she wished she had asked Gabrielle about it on the flight over. Not knowing Stephen’s meaning behind the phrase was like an itch she couldn’t scratch and it bugged her.
Bethany Anne wanted to get more information about the time Anton left Europe. “Stephen, do you remember much of World War II?”
“Yes, my Queen, I was awake during those years, a truly ugly time. Easy to feed, but all of the senseless death and atrocities that happened to each side was troubling.”
“Gabrielle told me that Anton left Europe on a German U-Boat at the end of the war.” Bethany Anne went ahead and told him the rest of what Gabrielle had told him on the plane. At this point, they pulled the cars in behind Stephen’s house and everyone moved their luggage into the house.
Once everyone was moved to their rooms, Bethany Anne joined Stephen back in the living room and sat in the same chair from which she had watched Stephen recuperate. That experience seemed like a lifetime ago. John and Eric joined her, but Ivan and Gabrielle seemed to have gone missing. She stilled for a second to listen a little better and could hear the cadence of heavy breathing and a bed squeaking. She rolled her eyes and decided to continue the discussion from the car. If those two didn’t make it out here by the time she needed them, she would think of a suitable punishment that, hopefully, would be embarrassing as hell.
“Stephen, tell me more about Anton and World War II if you could?”
“As you wish. While I stayed chiefly in the area between Poland to the north, and Yugoslavia and Turkey to the south, there were a couple of times I traveled to Italy on Michael’s command.”
“He talked to you, then?”
Stephen thought about that question and the night that he had laid open his soul for this woman. He decided to refine his statement. “No, he sent commands at that time. Michael was working with the United States and he had us here in Europe do certain strategic operation
s at times to help acquire information or occasional small assassination strikes.”
Bethany Anne understood the clarification. Michael had never been too close to his children, so he didn’t ‘talk’ to them so much as send them instructions of what to do. “Who was here helping Michael at that time?”
“Well, myself of course and Hugo. Anton was not on his side nor David either.”
“Wait, I thought David wasn’t a Forsaken?”
“No, but he was German and he took Germany’s side in the war.”
“Michael didn’t have a problem with that?”
“Not from an Honor side, no. Michael could understand fighting for one’s country. So long as David didn’t embrace making humans little better than cattle then his children aren’t dishonorable.”
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