“She bleeds?” Finn asked.
Eden looked at him and spoke slowly. “Yes, and apparently it makes her angry.”
“I think I would be fuck-all angry if someone shot me in the back. Especially if they were supposed to be protecting me.”
“Not this kind of angry,” Eden told him.
“Okay, surprise me. What kind of angry?”
“The brilliant red eyes kind that creates glowing red balls of energy she throws into two of the terrorists. Energy balls that somehow burn the shit out of them. Killing them and burning their eyes completely white.”
“Okay, I’m surprised,” Finn thought about it. “What kind of technology does she have that she can create red balls of energy, and where did the energy come from?” he wondered. “So they took the body of the guy she killed, right?” Finn asked, “I mean, we didn’t get lucky and she left us that guy?”
“Uh, well… the guy is gone,” Eden equivocated. “But no, they didn’t take the body with them. Eyewitnesses inside say she did something and the body just disappeared.”
Finn looked up into the night, this project was getting more and more frustrating. Finally, he looked back at Eden. “Video?”
“Well, that’s where we got lucky,” Eden answered.
—
Paula hid in the shadows, just a mile from the ambush that had gone so terribly wrong.
What the hell was that woman?
Her feed from the hotel video had allowed her to see the beautiful opening salvo in the operation. The freedom fighters had done an amazing job of surprising the gate guards. No hesitation to kill, just focused on getting inside and it looked like the quantity of extra fighters Abdullah had brought to this little party in TQB’s honor was going to be a wise move.
It was supposed to be Bethany Anne’s final going away present from Majestic 12. Apparently, all of Paula’s attempts to learn about Bethany Anne’s security had missed a few very important things.
Like being fucking bulletproof and throwing around balls of burning energy like some sort of comic book hero.
Paula successfully resisted the desire to throw her phone.
She was in the basement of an old empty hotel. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, deciding what she needed to do next when she got a call on her private line.
One from the home office, so to speak.
She picked up the phone and put it to her ear. “Yes?” She listened to Patrick’s monotone recitation of events in outer space. Her shoulders drooped, her eyes closed and she replied, “I got it. We lost Antony and Tyler. No, the mission here was a bust. I’m sending you an InfoBurst in a few minutes. Then I’ve got to get out of here. I don’t want to be caught in a dragnet. What? No. No, let me find my own way back to base. I need some time to process everything.”
Paula grabbed the little wireless mouse she was using for her computer and started flipping it end over end as she listened to Patrick talk.
“No, I don’t know what happened to any of the men here. Yes, I implanted the dead man’s signal in Abdullah per our operations and tactics rules. Me, you, I don’t care. Here, hold on.”
Paula stopped flipping her mouse over and set it back on the little pad. Clicking on a text box, she typed in a code and clicked ‘send.’”
She went back to her call. “Okay, Abdullah, if he was alive, is now brain dead. So, he’s the last complication from the operation here.”
“Yeah, I’ll miss them too. Yeah, we will fuck them up, that’s for damn sure.” She listened for another few moments. “Okay, I’ll be back within seventy-two hours. Bye.”
Paula hung up the phone and put it down. Reaching for the little mouse and then, as the first tear dropped down her face she turned and threw it against the far wall. “FUUUUCK!”
She put her head down on the little table that held her laptop, her shoulders heaving as the tears soaked the floor beneath her.
She wasn’t sure how long she had been crying when her early warning alarms started beeping. She jerked up, seeing the movement alarms in the alley on the south side of the building. “Dammit!”
—
The wolf, a female, was following the scent she picked up that had been with a group of the men from earlier. Whenever one tried to figure out the truth, her love had told her that if something didn’t belong, that was usually the string to pull to get an answer.
Since Stephen was so old, Jennifer gave him the benefit of the doubt as to whether it was true or not.
Age was supposed to bring wisdom. He certainly had the age, Jennifer just hoped it equaled wisdom.
Behind her, five men in tactical gear glided through the night. The scent went into a building. She waited for the men to come and open the door for her.
Door opened, she looked around for traps and sniffed to see if she could detect any explosives.
Clean.
She padded into the foyer of the empty building.
Jennifer followed the trail to a door that led down. Being careful, she and the five men opened the door and checked out the landing before slowly descending. One of the men released multiple three inch drones that checked down the staircase before giving off a beep the five men could hear in their implants.
Two minutes later, the team broke into the bottom basement, only to find no one was inside.
Jennifer changed back to human right next to a wall, disgust evident in her voice. “The bitch went through here somehow.” The team tried to figure out how to open the hidden door. Three minutes later, they got the call to return to the ArchAngel.
Two miles away, Paula came up out of the bolthole, checking over her shoulder, alarm in her eyes as she remembered the size of the wolf the team chasing her had with them.
Who the hell brings a wolf to find someone?
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Etheric
Bethany Anne stood with John beside her holding a body bag, both had their heads down.
“I made a mistake, and for that, David Dennison, I am sorry,” Bethany Anne said to the body lying between them. “Perhaps if I opened my mind I could have figured out something was wrong, but I reacted in pain, in frustration. I allowed my anger to be unleashed…”
“Boss, you can’t,” John started but stopped when Bethany Anne put up a hand.
“I understand, John,” she said. “But David needs to know I don’t blame him. He was a pawn, in between two powerful forces he couldn’t understand. Perhaps... just perhaps, I’ll figure out a way to slow down enough to find a better solution next time.” She stood a moment, saying a final prayer for another person caught up in the politics of power. She wiped away a tear and nodded.
“John, would you help me with the body?” she asked and reached out for the bag he was holding.
Dulce Lake Area, New Mexico, USA
Ztopik was waiting for the two humans, curiosity abating his normal desire to play with their emotions. In the history of his time with these two leaders, they had never requested an unscheduled meeting.
Something must have substantially affected them.
While annoyed—he was in the middle of reviewing the tests in section four with the human-n’thyruuk mutations—this interaction with the humans might bring something new to his existence as he plotted to find the right mutation to compete in the great wars.
Moments later, he received the mental update that the two humans were outside. Ztopik stood up.
He preferred to start all of his discussions from the advantage of height. Humans seemed to defer to those taller than themselves. Perhaps it was similar to the reactions in canines? He wasn’t sure, he would need to isolate the DNA code for that and study it.
The door opened, allowing Patrick Brown and Dr. Eva Hocks into the room.
They stopped and bowed slightly to Ztopik, who paused, then bowed back.
Patrick spoke first. “We appreciate you interrupting your research to hear us, Ambassador Ztopik.”
Even more curious, he thought, rarely was Over
seer Patrick this formal. He nodded so Patrick would continue.
“We have had setbacks and believe there might be an attempt to locate this base, and if successful, to attack it.”
“By who? The U.S. Government?” Ztopik asked.
“No, by TQB,” Eva blurted out.
Ztopik turned towards the human woman. “TQB again? I thought they were a technology challenge, not a warlike group.”
“We… ahh… we might have been a little mistaken on that,” Patrick answered, licking his lips.
Ztopik’s unblinking stare returned to Patrick. “Overseer Patrick, was this an intellectual mistake, or perhaps inadequate information shared on your part?”
“Patrick!” Eva hissed. “Now is not the time to play word games.”
Patrick’s mouth pressed together before he spoke. “Ztopik, TQB has superior technology, and our many attempts to acquire their technology have failed.”
“How could a group with Earth’s technology protect themselves from Majestic 12?” Ztopik asked. “I seek clarity here if you are asking me to help.”
Eva shot Patrick a dark look and provided more information. “Ztopik, their people have stopped an ambush that would have killed a normal human. Paula used a large group of armed men to strike and not only did they fail, TQB’s people killed a lot of them in the process.”
Patrick, feeling Eva’s concern, finally broke through his hesitancy. “They’ve found and destroyed XJ-03 in outer space and on multiple occasions tracked our ships, coming closer and closer to locating this base.”
Ztopik’s long, sinewy arm went up held a hand out to Eva, causing her to stop what she was about to say. “Overseer Patrick, TQB is in outer space?” Patrick nodded. “How long have they had this capability?”
Patrick’s eyes closed.
He opened them, realizing that hiding TQB from Ztopik was a mistake. “Years.”
“What was XJ-03 after?” Ztopik asked.
“A battle station. TQB has built a battle station in an asteroid,” he said.
“A battle station? They have built something for war?” Ztopik asked.
“Actually, a lot of somethings!” Eva hissed, more concerned about TQB coming to their base than the fear she felt of Ztopik.
Ztopik ignored the woman’s outburst.
Patrick agreed, “Yes, it’s for war. I have documents which suggest they are heading for a different solar system to fight another alien race.”
“The name.” Ztopik asked.
“Bethany Anne,” Patrick answered.
“That does not sound like an alien’s name,” Ztopik responded.
“Yollins,” Patrick corrected.
“Yollins?” Ztopik thought for a second. “Yes, I know of the Yollins. Powerful, but not very creative in their martial efforts. They seek to expand their systems by subjugating the local intelligent species as slave labor and returning the raw materials necessary for their own species to manage and expand.” He didn’t say anything for a few moments and Patrick and Eve looked at each other.
“I am thinking,” he told them, interrupting their failure at mind communication, “if your TQB is geared up to fight the Yollins, then they must have found and overcome a Yollin research vessel. Otherwise, the Yollins would have left the system and reported that this was a poor choice for subjugation.”
Ztopik looked at both humans spending a moment or two on each. “Unlikely.”
Then, he looked up at the ceiling as if weighing different possibilities. “Or, the Yollins would have been back in force and nothing we have built to date would have been enough against a mass assault.” Ztopik was annoyed.
His enjoyment of the research into the easily mutable human DNA crossed with so many different species had allowed him to become complacent. He didn’t fear anything from this planet, but a concerted effort by a large enough spacegoing competitor would mean that all of his work to date would be in vain. He hadn’t left his world and hidden on this horrible little planet to stay in the background.
The Kurtherians played the great game, and Ztopik wished to prove himself against the masters of DNA manipulation and species on species war.
“The Yollins’ skill would explain how they built in an asteroid and some of their war capabilities. The problem, I believe, is their ignorance. They need more than a battle station to save this planet from subjugation. With Yollins, you either hide your talents so their research vessel leaves...” he paused a second, “that option is not available. Or you create a suitably strong enough military to cause the Yollins to consider you too much difficulty to subjugate.”
There was another pause as Ztopik’s head swayed back and forth on his thin neck. “Then you continue to build your military and try to stay ahead of them.”
Patrick’s tablet beeped. “My apologies, I’m expecting a video from Paula to share,” he pulled out his handheld and looked at the private message. “Well, shit.”
Ztopik held out his long white arm and Patrick handed the tablet to him. He touched a couple of buttons and then both could hear the video’s audio play a second time. He pointed to the tablet. “Who is this female?”
“That,” Patrick said, “Is the CEO of TQB.”
Ztopik viewed the video a third time. He stopped before playing a fourth because the value of seeking new information was offset by a rather unfamiliar emotion for him to feel since he had come to this world.
Heavy concern.
Secret Meeting, UN Building, New York, USA
Ambassadors Zhou, Emeka and Franklin waited for a fourth to join them as they sipped coffee in the private room.
All three had used what technology they had to confirm this room was bug free and all had left their electronics outside.
Ambassador Zhou started, “While we wait for our fourth party, have you read the eyewitness accounts?”
Ambassador Emeka nodded. “If true, then she is a demon and we must do something to protect Earth from her and her kind.”
“Do we believe them, though?” Ambassador Franklin asked. “We have no video to prove any of this.”
“What good would video be?” Zhou countered. “It is too easy to doctor video and you end up having to trust the people providing the information as to the veracity of the information. No, we are trusting those who have been under great duress, and the evidence acquired by the police after the event.”
“What do we know for sure?” Emeka asked Zhou.
“We know that two terrorists were indeed killed by an unknown weapon of devastating power. It burnt their flesh and fried their nervous systems. Either one of these two things would have killed those men. Well, and the kinetic punch that slammed their bodies against the wall behind them. That probably would have killed them from internal bleeding.”
“What weapon does she posses that can accomplish this?” Franklin murmured, more to himself, wondering what TQB could have built.
“Unknown,” Zhou answered the question anyway. “But more intriguing, she was shot and not killed. Multiple gunshots to her back and witnesses suggest they saw at least two wounds in her shoulder.”
“She can’t be killed?” Emeka scoffed.
Zhou shrugged. “We believe she can be killed. But, is that the best solution?” he asked.
“I can’t think of a better solution at this moment, Zhou. Why would we leave such a danger to challenge the world’s will?”
“Who said we would leave that danger walking free?” Zhou replied. “She obviously has physical skills which we can harness to help mankind learn to survive such physical harm.” He looked at the two men. “She professes desire to help mankind? How about she provides the secret to eternal youth and physical health she is withholding from us?”
“That is not something she is going to willingly give us,” Emeka said.
There was a soft knock on the door. Ambassador Zhou got up from his chair and leaned over to Emeka and Franklin and whispered, “Who said we planned on asking for her permission?”
Zhou opened the door and welcomed in a fourth to the meeting in the early hours of the morning. Once he made sure the hallway was empty, Zhou closed the door.
Emeka’s eyes widened in surprise. Franklin looked over at him and both had the same thought.
Why was the Ambassador of the United States joining them?
Outside Chicago, Illinois, USA
The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 05 - The Fans Version: My Ride is a Bitch - Don't Cross This Line - Never Submit Page 48