No fucking way was he freezing his testicles off in the Antarctic.
No way, no how.
The door opened behind him, and a light melodious voice interrupted the speaking man, “I’m sorry for being late, I was caught up in traffic.”
Terry hung his head down, his shoulders dropping. He knew that voice, and he also knew that his choice of whether he was going to go to the Antarctic was now in someone else’s hands.
Specifically, it was in her hands. Melissa had apparently been called in on the very same project.
God, he was going to need some good thermal underwear.
Terry was surprised when she tapped him on the shoulder. “Move aside TH, you can’t be allowed to go on this trip without me, you’ll just get in trouble.” He was trying to come to grips with her even talking to him when he slid to his left, one chair over.
She sat down and bumped him with her butt. “Move a little faster, soldier, I ran the last four blocks to get here.”
Terry slid quickly into the next seat, his emotions completely fubar’d by her actions.
“We shall talk,” she hissed to him, “About how you failed to call me back. You military guys have no idea how to act around women. I cried for a week, you ass!” she practically spit.
“I’m to blame?” Terry’s anger started to get the better of him when a couple of people in front of them turned to look at them, and both he and Melissa mouthed ‘sorry’ and held in their conversation.
It seemed she was right about one thing. He had no idea how to act around her.
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
When Eric and Gabrielle were notified the hit was happening on the Switzers, They drove the eight houses to pull up in front of the Gants’ house. They got out of their car as the Gants came running out of their home.
The teams had placed a couple of monitors and piped in the video of the three locations for Robert who was having trouble believing that his group would kill them.
“Just stay around and park at the small mall,” Eric told him. “We’ll slip into your bed and if this is a false alarm, you can drive back here, jump back in bed, and nothing happened, understand?”
Robert nodded and slid into the car, Gabrielle having already closed her door shutting Mrs. Gant inside. They walked into the house as the Gants drove off.
“Incoming, one minute, thirty-six seconds,” ArchAngel warned them. Gabrielle shut the front door.
“Not bad, but a little messy on their timing,” she qualified as the two of them walked into the master bedroom. Eric was already yanking the power plugs for the monitors and set them on the floor next to the wall.
“Come to bed, baby?” he asked as he slid into the bed and patted the other side. “I promise you a good time.” He twitched his eyebrows at her.
“Wow,” she replied, sliding into the warm sheets. “You know just how to sweet-talk me into the horizontal position, at least…” Her voice cut off when he slid across and kissed her. “Oh…” she paused a moment, regrouping her thoughts. “Good call on the mouthwash.” She ran her hand up his chest, enjoying the feeling of the goose bumps she was causing along his skin.
“Four exiting a dark van in front.”
“Seriously?” Eric turned to look at the door, his eyes starting to glow red.
Gabrielle decided she liked that look on her man. She turned and snuggled back against Eric. “Shall we take care of these annoyances and plan another night together, hmmm?”
Eric smiled. “I suppose it would be rude to use someone else’s bed. Well, I’m sexually frustrated now and pissed as hell, care to take care of the riffraff?”
“Now you are talking like a vampire, Mr. Escabar, and I like it,” she purred, and the two turned as men could be heard coming down the hallway.
“Go ArchAngel,” Eric subvocalized, and the alarms started shrilling, and they darted out of bed in the darkness. Eric tossed a small ball that exploded into light, blinding the four men who had on night vision goggles.
That was when the shouts, yells and dying began. Eric passed by Gabrielle as he streaked out to the street, seeing what kind of fish he had to catch out there.
Moments later, with the driver sedated, Gabrielle came up with one over her shoulder. “He seemed to have a clue so I decided to bring him along. The other three are done.”
Eric closed the van door after shooting the extra guy with a sleeping dart. Gabrielle got into the passenger seat as Eric walked around the other side and got in, driving off into the night.
CHAPTER TEN
Tokyo, Japan
William was in heaven. Well, if heaven was a large warehouse with some of the latest computer controlled CNC mills, lathes and other machines for mass manufacturing. Some of the new machines included contraptions with capabilities he hadn’t even known existed yet.
The Japanese had pulled out all the stops to impress the hell out of Bethany Anne.
William had arrived the previous night and immediately started trying to figure out what his group had, and what they needed to get moving to help the project that would result in a new home for Bethany Anne’s people.
The base they needed once they went through that gate.
Might makes right in Yollin space, and while Bethany Anne had promised the opportunity for the Yollins to allow them safe passage, no one, human or alien, was expecting them to take her up on it.
So far, Bethany Anne and the core team believed that only the Yollins had Earth’s home location and frankly, the Yollins admitted no one was expecting much from them. It wasn’t until the end that those on the G’laxix Sphaea understood just how much opportunity the little backwater solar system represented. By then, it was too late.
They had been trapped and couldn’t get back out of the system.
Now, William was taking a sabbatical from space to get everything he needed to mass produce the tools and technologies the teams required to bore out a nickel-iron asteroid about eighty kilometers in circumference.
Moving the big ass son of a bitch wasn’t his problem, thankfully. Marcus had spent many nights yanking his hair out with TOM and others as they figured on using the enormous numbers of the smaller gravitic plates from the shipping containers to help move it. It wasn’t like this was going to be speedy at all. In fact, it was going to take a few years to move the asteroid to the gate. First, they had to speed it up, then slow it down as it approached. The ships and the asteroid would go through mostly together. The way he understood it, they had thirty minutes for everything to get through once the first passage happened.
So long as the first passage was an approved ship, that is. Good thing they didn’t blow the Yollin ship to kingdom come or their plans would have been screwed.
Three hours later, his eyes drooping a little, his ears caught the first noise that had struck his mind as being misplaced, but he had been too tired to care much about it.
—
Akio was walking down the street. He was coming back from making sure Yuko was protected. He had two men with her and one watching over the warehouse at the moment. He was three blocks from the warehouse when he received a signal that a break in was happening. He started running.
The pistol shots occurred when he was but a block away, and Akio’s eyes went red.
The screaming had started as he saw Eiji attack. Something was wrong, way wrong.
There were too many here.
Not only was this warehouse supposed to be a secret, but there was also no way a hit with this many people involved should be going down. Many of the people weren’t fighters but looked like thugs or landsmen. People used for muscle.
Eiji was doing his best, but the sheer mass of people was allowing some to run past him, even as he cut down many, dodging as others tried to shoot him, often hitting those in their own group in the process.
Akio ratcheted up his fear projection as he slammed into the back of the group, his sword swinging like a scythe through wheat as he sought to maim and not kill.
>
If he saw a weapon, however, that person died.
His fear had the desired effect, as the people trying to push their way into the warehouse stopped and those trying to get in started to turn and push their way backward, often finding Eiji or Akio.
“Let them pass!” Akio yelled to Eiji who nodded his understanding. They certainly had enough people incapable of running to answer questions. Akio was able to grasp enough from the frightened men that they were Yakuza, or hired by the Yakuza to hit this warehouse and grab everything they could carry off that didn’t look like conventional technology.
That’s when Akio heard William yelling from inside the warehouse and two pistol shots.
Akio’s eyes flashed over to completely red, and he pulled a separate knife and started slashing at anyone who dared slow him down as he raced into the warehouse seeking his Queen’s friend.
—
“This stuff has to be worth something, there!” Goro said, pointing at the large black man who was writing on a clipboard. He turned around, looking at the trio first in confusion and then in anger.
“Who the fuck are you?” the big black man yelled. “Get the hell out of here before you lose your fool lives.”
Not only did the black man look annoyed, but he also didn't seem concerned that Goro and his two buddies had pistols out and pointed at him.
“Not us, you,” Goro replied. “Which of these have non-human technology?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” the black guy responded. “These are all CNC mills and lathes and over there,” he pointed with the clipboard, “are microprocessor manufacturing machines.”
“You lie, American!” Goro spat, fear coming over him. His hand jerked twice. “Let’s see how well you answer now as you beg I don’t shoot you again!” Goro practically yelled at the man. The fear was becoming overwhelming like it was growing on them. The other two with him were looking around.
Goro kept his attention on the black man, who was leaning back on a large container, blood running down his shirt. “Oh, now you gone and fucked up,” the black man said weakly. “You can kiss your ass goodbye, you poor excuse for a second-rate villain.” He paused as he watched Goro striding towards him. “For the record,” William coughed, “this shit hurts.” He finished and dropped his clipboard and slid down the container to land on his ass.
“Fucking shit!” he groaned. “If I can’t eat after this because I’m healing, I swear to God I’ll kick your scrawny little Asian ass.”
Goro stepped over to the black man and pointed his pistol. “You will tell me where the technology I need is, or I will put this next bullet between your eyes!”
“Motherfucker,” the black man wheezed a little, “you should turn around and pay more attention to him than my black ass.” he nodded behind Goro.
Goro looked over his shoulder. He watched in alarm as his friend slid off the sword of the person the black man had just warned him about. A man whose eyes were red, glowing, and looking in his direction. His voice, centuries old and full of anger spoke, harsh and clipped. “You have hurt my Queen’s friend, my charge. He is in pain that you will atone for. You will provide the energy necessary to heal him.”
Goro, overcome by fear, couldn’t move as he watched the vampire, his teeth growing, walking towards him. “You have come to the end of your life, and you will scream as it ends, this I promise!”
“Damn,” William, eyes squinting, winced in pain. “I wish I had some popcorn for this shit.”
—
Akio dropped the body to the ground, its mouth frozen in pain, the eyes dead.
He walked over to William and pulled up his sleeve. “I am dishonored, but through healing, I may restore you. Will you accept my blood as part of my restitution to make things right?”
“Of course, Akio,” William said. “But if you can do something to help me when you need to get the two slugs out, that would be a fucking beautiful thing, man.”
Akio nodded and looked William in the eyes. “Well, hey,” William said, “I didn’t mean we needed to go all man-on-man here brother, you know I like you and all…” William’s head slumped as Akio smiled.
Americans, always thinking that every gay guy had to like them.
Akio grew his nails and searched, and found both slugs and pulled them out. He slit his wrists to share the nanocytes. He pursed his lips and then slid his finger lengthwise, jabbing the bleeding digit into each of the wounds to push the nanocytes in as far as he could.
Ripping off Williams’s shirt, he wiped down the bleeding area to see if he was healing. Satisfied, Akio pushed awareness back into William’s mind, and William slowly started to wake up.
William blinked a few times and then grinned weakly. “Did I like it?”
Akio chuckled, “If I didn’t know you, William, I would have to kill you for that disrespect.”
“Akio,” William put his right hand on Akio’s left shoulder. “That was no disrespect. That was me treating you like I would treat any brother of mine. That was me speaking to family. If I offended, I’m sorry. But this is all I have to offer you without being false, just me.” William shrugged. “I can no more change me and my smart mouth than you can change what you feel, so can you accept me as well?”
Akio stared at William and considered his explanation. Then Akio put his right hand on William’s left shoulder. “I needed to protect you as you are my Queen’s dear friend. Now, I will protect you because you are my brother, William.”
William smiled. “Good, now that we got that male bonding bullshit out of the way,” William paused dramatically and looked Akio deep in the eyes. “Did I like it?”
They laughed together. “You, William,” Akio said as he got next to William to help him stand up, “are such an ass.”
“Music to my ears, brother,” William said, grunting. “God,” William pointed to the now very dead Goro, “I would have paid good money to have had some popcorn when you tore him a new asshole.”
The two men had taken a few steps before Akio answered, deadpan. “I left his asshole alone, William. He isn’t my type.”
William busted out laughing and grabbed his midsection, causing them to stop walking. “Oh God, Akio!” William cried out. “You’re killing me again you jackass!” He laughed and wheezed, trying to catch his breath, his insides still painfully tender.
The two were making their way to the front when Eiji came back. “Clear and I hear sirens, do I need…” he looked beyond the two men. “Oh, I need to get rid of some evidence.” Akio nodded, and Eiji stepped around the two men and grabbed Goro’s dead body.
“They were here for our technology,” William said as they walked. “The dead asshat behind us was looking for our Kurtherian tech. We need to figure out who gave them this location and send a proper response.”
Akio nodded sharply. “That I will do, gladly. It is time to remind the cockroaches that there is something to fear in the night.”
“Oh, fuck me.” William said, “I’m going to miss the good stuff, aren’t I?”
“If you mean the killing and the destruction, I’m afraid so, William.” Akio agreed as he helped William sit down in a chair. “I didn’t give you enough blood to heal you all of the way.” He paused in thought, then continued, “I’ve got some of Bethany Anne’s blood back in Yuko’s room that would be better for you, plus you have some of her nanites already, correct?”
The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 05 - The Fans Version: My Ride is a Bitch - Don't Cross This Line - Never Submit Page 11