He just wanted to land while it was still dark, if possible. Otherwise, he would have to walk further than he desired.
His target, Andre Batten, was one of fourteen men higher up in the Coca-Cola bottling company based out of Monterrey, Mexico. He wasn’t a member of the original two families who owned a big chunk of the company after the revolution and takeover over a hundred years ago.
Andre was presently spending a long weekend in Pueblo Bonito’s Montecristo Estates on the other side of the hill from Cabo San Lucas’ harbor and tourist zone. It was a secured and private area offering access to Sunset Beach and other resort amenities.
Including a two-story home in the hills with valet, a pool and a view to the merging of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific.
In short, it was beautiful.
This should be a simple data acquisition and leave. Barnabas did a quick fly-by over the land and could see Sunset Beach Resort, Pacifica Resort, the two sections of homes built on the hills that would be Montecristo, the Nova Spania section and some condo buildings a little to the north, mostly incomplete.
He had the Pod drop him down at the end of a street in Montecristo, a cul-de-sac. Down here, the resort company was transferring many of these homes from timeshare and rental to purchase, and all except two were empty.
One of the Montecristo homes were presently being used by Ernesto Coppel, the resort’s owner, as his new estate on the top of a mountain was being built. From the air, it looked like his new house was going to be beautiful.
Barnabas walked right past the house with the SUV and golf cart parked in the front. Five houses further down, he jumped the large gate meant to block non-residents from this part of the street.
Facing west, Barnabas could see the sky beyond Sunset Beach slowly becoming brighter.
There was a small gas engine truck coming up the street, the truck revving to get up the steep grade. Barnabas and smiled.
He stepped into the road and put up his hand to flag the driver down.
—
“Do you think she caught on?” Ecaterina asked her mate in a hushed voice, the two of them walking as nonchalantly as possible towards the Pod bay on the G’laxix Sphaea.
Nathan shrugged. “Chances are, she would have said something if she had caught on, especially since the others are doing something altruistic.”
Ecaterina snorted.
“So. Maybe not altruistic. They’re robbing a company for a soft drink recipe. At least their travel to Earth is with good intentions.” He waited for the door to open before they could walk into the Pod bay.
The G’laxix Sphaea had a few modifications to her design to hold more Pods and even had some locked outside they could transfer inside. Plus, she had another Pod-Carrier off her stern for situations like this when a lot of people arrived, needing transportation to Earth. Nathan finished his thought, “While ours is not.”
G’laxix Sphaea Dining Area Kitchen
Scott was scrounging around in the back of the cooler for any leftover sandwiches when he heard Bethany Anne’s voice and John reply.
He couldn’t make out their words, but it didn’t sound like they were talking about heading back to the QBBS Meredith Reynolds at the moment.
Shit!
He frantically looked around, trying to figure out where he was supposed to duck when he heard them turn in the hallway and start walking away.
He didn’t need to be anywhere around John or Bethany Anne for different reasons right now.
If John found out about Darryl, there would be hell to pay. Not the least of Scott’s problems would be Cheryl Lynn’s annoyance that he had chosen not to share Darryl’s relationship.
What was it with women, anyway? They could make a pinkie swear promise to a friend, maybe tell their spouse or significant other, maybe not, and that was okay. But, if a guy made a promise to his buddy to keep something private, they would be accused of something like the old and tired bros before hoes if he didn’t share.
Scott peeked out of the kitchen and made sure Bethany Anne wasn’t secretly waiting for him to pop up or anything.
Feeling better, he turned back to the refrigerator.
Still, whether it seemed fair or not, the fact he knew about Darryl and Natalia better not get back to Cheryl Lynn before he spilled the beans or his ass was going to get chewed out.
That’s when Scott’s eyes flew open realizing just who Bethany Anne would want to meet with right then.
“Shit, shit, shit!” he muttered and started moving as quickly and silently as he could. Trying to remember what kind of back route he could take to Natalia’s room to fetch Darryl and get the hell off this ship.
—
“I’m telling you,” Bethany Anne hissed at John, “that Scott is back there! So, go this way.” she pointed left, and John walked quickly behind her.
“Not good, they’ll want to go along with us,” John whispered. “That would cut our kill ratio down by half!”
“Speak for yourself,” Bethany Anne told him. “Maybe reduce my kill ratio by twenty-two percent, but that’s twenty-two percent fewer assholes I get to kill before leaving, and I don’t want to share.
“Where are we going?” John asked her, looking around and now totally confused after so many turns.
Looking around a corner before proceeding, Bethany Anne answered, “ADAM is communicating with Sphaea and taking us around potential trouble spots. He says that she’s going to have Natalia meet us secretly with some of our personal weapons and armor from the ships armory.”
“Good, I was wondering what we were going to do for weapons beyond what we had on us.”
“ADAM says she now has a small box of grenades added to her list for you, but we need to hang somewhere and give her a couple of minutes for Sphaea to bring an EI controlled cart for her. I’ve got that load of shit I stuck in the Etheric for a rainy day, but I’d rather leave it there than use it now.”
John knocked on a door before opening it and looking in. “Man, playing hooky with you can be such a pain in the ass,” he grumbled as they slipped into the empty conference room and closed the door behind themselves.
—
“What the hell do you mean, grab grenades?” Natalia subvocalized to Sphaea through her embedded connection. She turned from speed walking towards the transport room to backtracking twenty feet and turning right towards the armory.
“I need to grab what?” she asked again, palming her print before the EI could open the door. Sphaea could override the security protocols, but every time that happened, there would be a review and this way, ADAM would show the records to Bethany Anne who would approve. If it was a major blunder, then it might have to go to Bethany Anne’s father as well. Technically, Bethany Anne could force everyone to be quiet, but Natalia didn’t want to test what everyone would think about Bethany Anne doing that when they got caught.
And Natalia was almost sure Bethany Anne was going to get caught doing whatever it was she wanted to do.
—
There were three quick raps on the door, then two, then another three and Scott’s whisper could barely be heard, “Darryl?”
Darryl grabbed his coat and opened the door. Scott was looking both ways down the corridor. Darryl stuck his head out and looked too.
“Where the hell is everyone?” Scott asked. “This is damned spooky.”
Darryl stepped out of the suite and heard it click and lock behind him. He popped Scott in the chest, and the two started hotfooting it to the Pod bay. “I got a probable answer to that, but we got to boogie.”
—
“Yes,” Natalia answered the gunner’s mate. “I need the Queen’s locker and John’s locker. We don’t mention this, it never happened.”
“But you signed in, Captain,” he gestured at the door.
“Let me clarify. As far as telling anyone who isn’t cleared, it didn’t happen.” Natalie looked around before adding, “And I need a box of grenades.”
—
Ecaterina spoke, “Sphaea, I need you to take us to Purchase, New York.”
The Pod changed directions and headed towards the U.S. Eastern seaboard.
“We’re going to have to figure out how to get down in daylight,” Ecaterina commented.
“Not so much a problem, depending on if you’re willing to skydive,” Nathan said as he reached around behind him to look in the storage area.
“You are out of your pea-sized mind if you think I’m willing to jump out of a good Pod with nothing but a…” Ecaterina stopped talking when Nathan pulled two rods equipped straps and chains out of storage. “What are those?”
“These little beauties,” Nathan said, “are the latest in silent descent support now available in all Pods in the Etheric Empire.” He handed her one.
“Heavy,” she observed.
“Yeah, they have gravitic technology inside.”
Ecaterina held onto the two foot long, three-inch diameter black rod. She slipped her wrists through the straps. “Hard to get your hands out,” she commented as she played with the rod.
“That’s in case you lose consciousness, it won’t slip off, and you can’t fall. Plus, we can use the chain to connect to either a vest harness for those who are completely out of it, or drop off supplies.”
“So, we put our hands through here, open the doors and jump?” she asked, leaning forward to see how far below down the world was.
“Well, we would drop much lower, but yes. Cloud cover is presently eight thousand feet up, so we go into the clouds, open the door, and we slip out. The Pod stays up here, and we drop over the Arthur W Butler Memorial Sanctuary. We can’t drop in on Purchase because the Westchester Country Airport is right next to it. Call a taxi…”
“Why not Uber?” Ecaterina interrupted as she continued to play with her rod.
“They’re banned in New York State. New York City has an exclusion, so they can operate there lawfully.”
“I hate American politics,” she grumped. “Uber works so much better than the Taxi app.”
Nathan looked out the window. “So, we get a taxi off the 685 and ride in. Figure out how to get what we need and boom-dida-bam we jump on a Pod and go back up.” He smiled at her, pleased with his plan.
“No, we don’t.” Ecaterina said emphatically. “I didn’t get Christina a babysitter so we could just steal the Pepsi recipe.”
“No?” Nathan looked at his mate, confused. “What else are we doing?”
“You, sir, are taking me back to the first pizza place we ever ate, one last time.” She winked at him. “Then we’re going back to that reserve and…”
Nathan sure hoped he brought enough cash for everything. Female Weres that planned on that much physical activity could eat a lot of food.
—
ADAM?
>>Yes TOM?<<
Have you figured out the Coke recipe, yet?
>>Of course. <<
Have you confirmed the recipe?
>>Yes.<<
There was a small, but identifiable pause.
How?
>>I confirmed the ingredients, the different instructions for the manufacturing of the product and all of the power requirements, taking into account for the random fluctuations in poorly supported electrical equipment and degraded copper wiring and confirmed, within parameters, the information I acquired for the equipment, and usage and wastage, of what happened in the production plant.<<
You didn’t tell anyone you already have the recipe, right?
>>And miss all of the fun? What do you take me for, an EI?<<
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
Team BMW took two of the Pods down to Germany to meet a sales representative at their office.
Fortunately, Germany wasn’t as aggressive as some countries looking for TQB Pods racing through their airspace, or at least it didn’t seem that way so far.
The trio was looking for the best container and vats they could buy to produce beer and that would last for centuries. While they already had good equipment, you could ALWAYS use backups.
Because Bobcat couldn’t imagine a lifetime as long as his without beer.
The team was also secretly planning on cornering the market in another area and was planning on using some of the supplies and pieces they were ordering for a different, more devious effort.
They were going to corner the market on Coca-Cola production. Thus, the team needed a lot of equipment and some knowledge about the production of soft drinks.
The rest could go and get the recipe, but without being able to produce the product, what good was that going to do?
Finally, they needed about a hundred small setups for production from the microbrewing industry. The team wanted to set up a way to get others into the business and sell beer through All Guns Blazing. If team BMW rented out the production equipment, they could make money on both sides.
Equality? Thy name was capitalism.
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur
Barnabas watched the delivery driver start walking back to the main security gate. He had told the man to walk towards it, and when he was about fifty meters away, to stop and then return to his truck.
Barnabas slid the white jacket on and grabbed the platter with three plates on it, plus the drinks with the plastic wrap over the tops.
Didn’t want the orange juice to spill.
Walking up the path, Barnabas stopped outside the first metal gate and clicked the call button.
He heard the buzzer go off inside the home.
Moments later, the inside door lock clicked, and the residence’s door opened. A rather handsome Hispanic man with black hair and a beard stuck his head out. “Come on in.” he waved to Barnabas.
Barnabas opened the metal gate, which squeaked slightly, walked past the water fountain and smiled at the man who further opened the door, allowing him entry.
Turning to his right, Barnabas headed for the kitchen and dining area. Turning right once more, he set down the large platter and removed the three plates.
If you’re going to do something, do it right, he thought.
Barnabas smirked, he was having way too much fun with this at the moment.
Laying out the three plates, each one with a silver metal cover, he grabbed each and lifted it for a second. “We have fresh fruit.” He grabbed the next and set it to the side. “Pancakes with bananas.” He lifted the third. “And a Pueblo Bonito hamburger, well done.”
“Excellent, she’s ravenous and needs the protein,” Andre said, more to himself than to Barnabas.
Not that Barnabas needed the information, the three deep purple hickeys on Andre’s neck were enough proof for him.
“Thank you,” Barnabas returned the covers and opened the small portfolio with the bill. “I understand you work for Coca-Cola?” The man accepted the portfolio.
“Yes?”
“Secret recipe?” Barnabas asked, his voice changing slightly. The brief question was more than enough to bring the information he desired to the front of this man’s mind. It was so much easier than going mucking around in the man’s brain.
Even if the knowledge that the woman in the other room wasn’t his wife came along with the recipe.
Although tempted to tinker with this situation, Barnabas left it alone. From what little he could tell, the relationship Andre had with his wife was open for amorous encounters with others. His thoughts showed that Andre believed that his wife was currently out with one of her two lovers.
Barnabas raised an eyebrow; the French had nothing on these two.
Barnabas accepted the portfolio back and glanced at it.
The bastard hadn’t tipped. Barnabas frowned and handed the portfolio back to a confused And
re.
Barnabas’s tone changed again. “You will tip twice the cost of this meal, and every time you order room service, you will tip one-half the price of the meal. You are blessed.” Barnabas paused, looking at the man, his lips pressed together. “As my Queen would say, don’t be a dick.”
Barnabas accepted the portfolio from Andre once more and confirmed the tip amount. “Have a good morning. And you will need plenty of energy yourself, so I suggest you eat the fruit,” he remarked as he stepped around Andre.
The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 05 - The Fans Version: My Ride is a Bitch - Don't Cross This Line - Never Submit Page 66