A woman looked up.
“Take over. I’m going on a field trip to talk with the people.”
Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. She had been around Bethany Anne enough to know this was out of character for the last few weeks—but very in-character for the previous decades. “Wait, what?”
Bethany Anne waved to her and disappeared.
“Oh, shit.” Jennifer sighed, then tapped a mic on her lapel. “This is Jennifer. The Queen is going God-knows-where. Who’s got her six?”
A multitude of responses came back. “Where the hell is she?” “What did she say she was going to do?” “Anyone got eyes on Bethany Anne?” and “Someone call Michael!”
She was in her other closet sliding on basic armor and she had just picked up a voluminous black robe when he appeared outside the doorway.
“What?” she asked as she slid an arm through her jacket. “You don’t knock anymore?”
“In my own bedroom?” Michael leaned against the doorframe and smiled. “Where are we going?”
Bethany Anne looked at him. “Who said it was ‘we?’”
“Who else were you going to ask to go with you?” he asked, his eyebrows raising in question. “I’m sure you had plans to call someone.”
She locked the armored jacket and started putting on the robe, sliding a hand into the right sleeve. “You’re lucky you’re so damned handsome.”
“And you are lucky so many care about you. Everyone goes into a snit when you just up and disappear.”
“Feels like I can’t go to the bathroom in private,” she harrumphed, sliding the other hand into the remaining sleeve. “I’m just going to Thon to have a conversation with a citizen in a library. She had a very scary situation happen and I want to ask her some questions.” She turned to Michael, who noted that her normally white skin was slowly changing to a dark black and her hair was turning white as snow. “You know, public research?”
“Uh huh.” Michael stood up and reached out, and his hand came back with a black Stetson hat. He placed it on his head, and a moment later he reached out again and brought back a black duster. It was one of his favorite outfits. He had used for a while back on Earth.
The next time he reached out, he grabbed a gun-belt with two pistols in holsters. “I’ve got Sabine waiting near your normal ship. I’ll assume you were going to call me,” he informed her as he strapped the gun-belt around his waist.
Bethany Anne smiled as she walked out of the closet and patted him on the chest as she passed him. “You do that.”
Ricole had been at the library for an hour, looking through the new laws and the job board. It was suggested that those who would like to look for employment take an online evaluation which would provide basic guidance.
It would take two hours. She had found the area set aside for testing and entered in her contact information and basic physiological info, including her species (of course) and age. She was tempted to lie on the setup; she didn’t want to be tracked.
However, what if they wanted to find her, and she had lied? She needed to decide whether to trust this group, and she chose to do so.
For now.
Ricole was in the middle of the third of four tests when she became aware that someone had entered her cubicle. She turned her head slightly and flicked her eyes over her shoulder; she could barely see the two figures maybe three steps behind her. How they had come into the quiet testing area without her hearing the door open and shut was a concern.
The two were human, and Ricole licked her lips. That was when she remembered she had the pistol in her waistband…
SHIT! She had the pistol in her waistband! She’d brought a weapon into the library.
What to do, what to do? She answered the next question on the test while she thought. They weren’t interrupting her testing, so it couldn’t be a massive mistake. Perhaps they hadn’t known about her pistol?
She answered the next question.
If they had wanted to harm her, she would have already been in pieces. Missing them showing up was a damned embarrassment. She was used to getting the drop on people, and but in this instance she had failed.
She answered the last question on the third test and clicked “Finish test.” She carefully put her hands on the desk and turned far enough to see the two humans staring at her as they patiently waited.
There was a male human with a head covering and a coat. The other human was sexless in their long robe, with a hood covering their head.
Then the person in the robe spoke and Ricole’s blood ran cold.
She had heard that voice before…
Her rasping voice grated and Ricole’s breathing became shallower. “Hello, Ricole.” As she spoke her black hands reached up to lift off her hood…and Ricole stared at the face she had dreamed about since Bracht had been executed.
And here was the person who had pressed the button to kill him.
“I…” Her voice faltered for a moment before her self-esteem kicked her in the ass. “I’m Ricole. What can I do for you, Mistress?”
The male human next to her rolled his eyes as he kept a lookout. He was the muscle, that was for sure.
“First,” she held out a hand, “you can surrender your weapon. They are not allowed in the libraries.”
Ricole’s hand twitched and she reached back for the weapon, but her eyes grew large when she was prevented from pulling it out.
She was staring at the human male’s pistol, which was aimed at her head. “Slowly,” he warned. “Let’s not have any accidents.”
Ricole gently lifted the pistol out from behind her and leaned down to place it on the floor. She used her foot to slide it toward the male.
He twitched his gun at the weapon. “You can pick it up, but if you place a single digit on the trigger your life is forfeit.”
She stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Didn’t he know how fast Noel-ni were? She could shoot them both between the eyes before he could think of what he’d had for breakfast. However, she didn’t want to harm them, so she picked up the pistol with two fingers and held it out to him. He came forward and accepted the pistol with his left hand, then he slipped his own pistol into its holster. He turned the pistol one way, then the other to locate the ammo switch and flipped it to release the cartridge. He confirmed there wasn’t one loaded before handing the pistol back to Ricole.
He took two steps back. “Now I want you to hold the pistol with two fingers again. If you can flip it up and pretend to shoot both of us before I disarm you, I will pay your rent for one…” He turned to Baba Yaga. “What’s a month here?”
Baba Yaga snorted. “Just say ‘month,’ Michael. The translation software will understand and switch it to the appropriate phrase.”
He turned back to Ricole. “Month.”
Ricole shrugged. If he wanted to part with a month’s worth of rent money she was willing to play along. “When do you want…” As she spoke, she flipped the weapon around, grasped the butt, and raised the pistol.
Her world went upside down. The pistol had been knocked aside and who knew how it had been twisted out of her grip. She was on the floor and his pistol was firmly pressed against her skull. “First rule of becoming a proper guard, Ricole: never underestimate those you don’t know.”
Ricole nodded, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. “I get it.” He pulled his pistol back, and grabbed her arm, easily lifting her into the air. Ricole flipped to her right to break his grip and pressed her feet against the wall to shove off it, roll over the floor, and grab her pistol.
No one manhandled her!
She shoved off the wall only to be slammed onto her back on the floor, which stopped her very effectively…and very painfully.
Her groans came out unbidden and she looked at her pistol. “Where’d it go?” she asked, not thinking clearly since her skull was still rattling from the impact with the floor.
A male hand grasped her shirt and lifted her off the floor. The effort didn’
t seem to strain Michael at all. “Are we done trying?” he asked her. “Because I have all afternoon if you still want to do this.”
“If you are going to train her, Michael.” Baba Yaga interrupted, “do it back at the base. She can stay with Sabine, Jacqueline, and Mark.”
Ricole shook her head. “I’m sorry?” She turned to Michael. “And thank you for the reminder. I didn’t think you humans were so fast!”
“Some are, some aren’t.” He shrugged. “And you are welcome. It is rare for young ones to appreciate painful lessons.”
“Not sure I appreciated it,” Ricole admitted, “but it was a timely reminder that the Mistress of the Planet has superior bodyguards.”
Baba Yaga smiled at Michael. “Well, bodyguard, shall we go?”
Michael looked at Ricole. “Baba Yaga is impatient to have her preferred people feed her grapes while others fan her with large leaves.”
“You wait until we spar again. I’ll give you ‘feed me grapes’ when I take those fronds and make you eat them.”
“Go ahead,” Michael retorted. “Please…continue to delude yourself.”
“Was there an offer to come with you somewhere in there?” Ricole asked, confused at the interplay between the two of them. Did Baba Yaga spar with her bodyguard?
Baba Yaga nodded. “Yesss, Ricole. Your first three tests were scored and you rated superior on all three.”
Ricole looked behind her. “What about the fourth one?”
Baba Yaga made a motion with her hand. “We can throw that one away. It’s about ethics and morals. You already aced that with a practical. I’d like to use you on my team in some capacity. What would you like to do?”
Ricole rubbed her arm where it had hit the floor. “I thought I wanted to learn business.” Her eyes flicked to Michael. “However, I think maybe I’d like to learn how to protect someone—if you have a need?”
Baba Yaga eyed the young Noel-ni. “Do you have a problem who you guard?”
“The person to be guarded is decided by those who pay the guards’ salary, so whoever pays me tells me who to protect.”
“Well, you passed the tests…” Her eyes flashed. “Michael, give her the pistol back. There is a situation a few blocks away.”
Ricole had her pistol back in her hands before she registered exactly what had been said. She checked it out; it was fully loaded.
When she looked up, Michael was already at the door. “You’d best hurry if you want to be a part of this,” Baba Yaga told her.
Ricole wasn’t sure what she was getting into, but her heart was beating faster. She grabbed her bag and took off after the male human with the hat.
High Tortuga, Hidden Space Fleet Base, Queen’s Personal Quarters
“Owwwwww!” Bethany Anne grumped as she sat down on the couch in her meeting room. “Can’t you do something about the aches and pains, TOM?”
What are you complaining about? TOM sent her mentally. As your resident alien symbiont, I’d like you to note that it’s becoming a little tighter in here.
Shit, you should have thought of that when you jumped on board while I was in the operating room and somehow completely failed to get my permission.
You were asleep.
No, I was unconscious inside your spaceship’s medical Pod.
I had your best interests at heart. You would not have been nearly as successful these last couple of centuries without me along for the ride.
Well, Bethany Anne grumped. That’s true.
See? That wasn’t so hard to admit.
You haven’t been along for two centuries. I’m not that old yet.
What’s a handful of decades between friends?
Enough for me to send you to the doghouse. There are no justifiable reasons for having the phrases ‘increase my age’ and ‘friends’ in proximity. Murder has been committed for less.
It wasn’t as though TOM wasn’t fully aware that Bethany Anne could be a bit dark with her joking, but given the emotions she was broadcasting he thought he shouldn’t push her too hard.
>> BETHANY ANNE?<<
“UGGH,” she moaned aloud. What is it, ADAM?
>>I’ve implemented the first, second, and third stages of our plans to integrate with the planet’s technical infrastructure, and I’ve hit a snag.<<
Bethany Anne put a hand over her eyes. “ADAM, you are a crazy-smart AI. I’m not in the mood to hear about problems. In fact, I’d like to be so far away from problems that I never hear about them again. So what is your snag?”
>>Well, frankly, it’s a problem.<<
“Someone call Stephen,” she said aloud.
>>Was that to me?<<
Never mind, I got this.
STEPHEN! she mentally shouted.
Yes? His reply came back within three seconds.
Can you come to my suite?
In about three hours. I’m leaving for a meeting with some business people in three minutes. On my way to the ships’ bay now.
Well, shit, she grumped. That reminds me. Have you met Ricole?
The Noel-ni?
Yes.
Yesterday. She was working out with Sabine and Demon. Nice young lady.
Wicked fast.
I couldn’t stay and watch. I was looking for Jennifer.
Where did your mate go?
God only knows where she was at that moment, but I found her later in the suite.
Okay. Hey, wait. ADAM has issues with the banking side. You got any mental bandwidth for a project?
Can you triage it first for me? Then give me the details and we will take it over.
Okay, thanks.
Their connection dissolved.
Okay, ADAM. She sighed. Hit me with it.
>> There are discrepancies in the bank data I have reviewed.<<
Was this a legit review or…
>> I didn’t ask permission, no. <<
Oh.
Bethany Anne pondered for a few moments. When they had arrived, there had been plans to help take over Tortuga. Technically she owned all the banks, holding over fifty percent of the stock. It was through various shareholders, so none of them owned a significant percentage, and if they were caught she doubted they would get off with only a light slap on the wrist.
But they would have to catch ADAM first.
What are the discrepancies?
>> The books are being cooked, as it were. <<
By whom?
>> That’s just it. I can’t tell if any one person is doing something on purpose. <<
So we just have smoke and no fire? she asked, then fluffed a pillow and leaned forward to stick it behind her back.
>> It would appear so.<<
Why do you believe that there is something behind it?
>>Random, by definition, is random. When you find the randomness to be distinctly non-random across the banks, that is enemy effort.<<
How many banks and locations are we discussing?
>> Thirty-two major banks, seventeen minor banks, three local banks. All seven major cities, thirty-two percent of the minor cities, and fourteen percent of the towns. The breakout has to do with the existing banks with problems and how they have spread out into the local markets.<<
Okay, so it is probably a group of individuals focusing on the most relevant banks. Or are they?
>> Are they what?<<
Focusing on the most relevant banks.
>> The calculations suggest that for the most part they are focusing on major banks, with a few minor banks tossed in just for appearance’s sake.<<
So we believe this is one entity, whether it be a person or business?
>> Correct.<<
How do we find out who it is?
>> The software is inside the banks’ firewalls.<<
If you found the code, could you find out if they were going to send the money to another account?
>> That is just it. The mistakes in their books are not benefiting anyone. In fact, you could say that they are hurting all pa
rties.<<
How is that?
>> From what I can discern, it will reduce everybody’s income. The code will eventually just make the digital records disappear.<<
That’s…hard to believe. She stopped and thought about it. The rule was to always follow the money, but what if the money just disappeared?
Bethany Anne had always worked on the assumption that the money took you to the culprit, but what if there was no recipient? Something wasn’t right.
She needed to speak to someone devious.
She called Addix.
Chapter Eight
High Tortuga, Hidden Space Fleet Base, Training Room
Sabine smiled. She and the Noel-ni were sparring against Mark and Jacqueline, one of whom was a vampire-modified human and the other a Were-modified human.
“GO!” Peter, the lead of the Guardians, yelled.
The room they were in was forty feet wide by eighty feet high, and a hundred long. The floors and walls were cushioned a foot thick, for good reason.
“DAMMIT!” Jacqueline screeched, her arm impaled by two darts. Those two had come from Sabine.
Ricole was even faster than Sabine, so Mark was her target.
After taking out her challenge Sabine swung in a circle with her pistols in front of her and fired twice.
Mark hadn’t been in front of her darts when she’d fired, but he was when they struck him. “SONOFABITCH!” he grumped as he hit the mat.
“How did you do,” Ricole asked, sweat glistening on her forehead as she lowered her pistols, “that?”
“It’s Mark,” Sabine holstered her two pistols. “He likes to go high right before he makes his final attack. You haven’t known him as long as I have, so you wouldn’t know that.”
Mark had plucked the two darts from his chest. “I think these belong to you?” He dropped them into Sabine’s hand.
“And these,” Jacqueline added, adding two more to the little pile.
Sabine smiled. “Look, Ricole, the dead bring back your ammo!”
The Kurtherian Endgame Boxed Set Page 7