Queen Bitch (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 2)

by Michael Anderle

  Nathan backtracked quickly, “My mistake, see you in a couple of days.”

  “I’ll bet. Say hi to Ecaterina for me. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  She hung up. Now that she had everything taken care of, she was trying to think of what to do for a couple of days. She knew Nathan must be doing well with Ecaterina to suggest she not come up right away.

  She needed to get to know this team better and she was here, right after a good op it would be stupid to leave right away.

  She considered what she could do to get them together. Maybe a party at a bowling alley? No, too pretentious for these guys.

  She laughed. Here she was all dressed up and she was saying a bowling alley was too pretentious? She needed to get dressed in something a little down and she did need transportation. She considered her options and got her phone out to look at what options were in the area.

  On the other side of the trailer, Jesse Bivoreux was just putting his trash away and grabbed his Coke from the table with Joe’s signage on it. He walked over to John and Darryl. “Hey guys, congrats on getting those two Forsaken last night. That was some scary shit.” Bivoreux was in the command ops van. With the door closed, it was the most scared he had ever been in his life and he had been pretty sure he was a dead man.

  The trailer was getting shaken horribly while they suffered the constant banging by the forsaken trying to bust into the van. The men had drawn their side arms and were looking around in the lights of the computer screens. Everyone’s heartbeats were in overdrive. There had been some additional pistol shots outside the van and he heard one of the forsaken fall off the roof. Then the banging just quit. It became quiet and they heard the keening get softer as the Nosferatu all left the area. Two more quick sets of pistol shots and then nothing.

  Everyone had quickly got the computer screens picked back up and one of the computers had been unplugged. While it was rebooting they were able to see the FLUR camera input and see that six Nosferatu were leaving the area quickly chasing a single figure. According to the computer, they were traveling close to 45 mph.

  The following was totally unexplainable. The first figure stopped and waited for the six Nosferatu to catch up. When they did the first contact just disappeared. The FLUR operator looked a little outside of where the forsaken were, but there was nothing until it came back on screen from the same direction as before.

  The next couple of seconds were almost too much to figure out on replay. But it was obvious that the one that had come back in had just kicked the asses of the Nosferatu and left none of them standing. Then it practically ran so fast back towards the command ops that the FLUR couldn’t track it. Later, he would learn that it had been the new vampire that the team was working with and he was incredibly impressed.

  Both John and Darryl high-fived themselves. “Got two, bieeeetch!” They laughed the laugh of the living. They knew how close it really had been.

  “Say, tell me who is that hot lady is over there?”

  John and Darryl both looked around, “Where?” Puzzlement on their faces.

  He thought they were pulling his leg, “Right there on the ground working on her cell phone, you two ass-wipes. Why isn’t anyone trying to talk her up?”

  Their eyes got really big as they followed his gaze and realized he was talking about Bethany Anne. They both realized that when you didn’t look at her with the knowledge of last night, she had to be one the most beautiful women in the world. Then their self-preservation came back and the desire to pull a quick joke on Jesse never entered their mind.

  John could tell that Darryl had voted him the spokesperson. Ass. “Jesse. That woman over there is our Team Leader.”

  Jesse looked at him. “John, you’re shitting me again. Even I know you’re the lead.”

  John tried again. How could he explain so that Jesse understood without being crass? He respected Bethany Anne too much for that. “Jesse, I’m the team lead for the four of us. I take my lead from her, we got her back, do you understand?” He stared at Jesse leaving him no room to misunderstand.

  Jesse finally got the point, she was the vampire. Blood started draining from his face as he realized what he had said about her earlier. She was the one who had killed the forsaken six to one in just a few seconds. He needed to go back to his room so no one saw him have the shakes.

  “Thanks, congrats again guys. I appreciate the heads up. I’m going to go finish my reports.” He threw his Coke at the trash can and never noticed that it bounced back out as he quickly walked back into the hotel.

  John just shook his head and picked up the Coke bottle and dropped it in the trash. He did notice that no one was talking with a gorgeous woman. He suddenly wondered if she got lonely. Only one way to find out.

  He walked over to her and she looked up from her phone. “How are you doing?” She smiled up at him.

  “I’m doing well, how do you feel? Having any desire for your steaks to be rare?”

  That was like her, he thought. She wasn’t afraid to get to the point. He sat down a few feet away. “No. Trusting you was the best decision I made. Honestly, it has done me a whole lot of good.”

  “How’s that?” Bethany Anne was curious. She knew what might happen, but wasn’t sure.

  “I had a long scar from a bad op a couple of years ago. It’s gone. Tightness in my back right calf? Gone. No scar from last night at all. Can you tell me what happened?” He had wanted to ask her. In fact, half the time he was talking with Darryl he was psyching himself out to come over. Yesterday was all about psyching him and his team out for the op. Doing the crazy shit he did. He had to ask Bethany Anne, “Did I really call you a rectal hole dishrag?”

  She laughed. “No, you dillweed. You called me a ‘little rectal hole dictator.’ You got 10 points for that one!”

  He smiled. He couldn’t remember why he was feeling so uncomfortable with the thought of coming over earlier. He heard Darryl, Scott and Eric coming up behind him. Those fearless followers made sure he wasn’t killed first. What a great backup team he had.

  John’s phone rang. He looked at the caller id, It was Dan Bosse. He answered, “What’s up boss?”

  “John, we have a possible problem over in Miami. They have two SWAT situations and their team is already engaged on op number one that’s too far away. Apparently, it was a ruse and the main hit is on a bank in the Financial District. They are claiming they are terrorists. But we are pretty sure their hiding a financial hit. We’ve been asked to see what we can do. We don’t have to, but it feels almost mundane after all the shit we’ve been through. Do you and your team think they can help in any way?”

  John looked at Bethan Anne and remembered that she could hear anything around her. He raised an eyebrow. She remembered that he now considered her the real team lead. She reached down and took off her high heels. “I’m going to need a change of clothes.”

  “Did I just hear Bethany Anne?”

  “That you did, Dan.”

  “I hadn’t meant to ask her. This isn’t a forsaken takedown. I’m not objecting, just surprised.”

  “Yeah, well imagine what the little shits will do when they find out that Team Queen Bitch is on the way?” He smiled at Bethany Anne who shook her head and then looked at all of them. She smiled and let her eyes go red.

  Darryl whooped loudly, getting everyone’s attention still out eating. “Look out, Miami. Queen Bitch is on the way!”

  The guys all laughed and got up quickly. John stayed on the phone but got everyone’s attention eating outside with a whistle. Waving his hands in a circle he started walking with Eric on his side. Scott had helped Bethany Anne up and then he and Darryl formed up behind her.

  The ones who had seen them get off the helicopter recognized that the team had just got back into op mode. Guys all around starting shoving their food in their mouth and dropping off plates and sodas in the can and all rushed to get back inside and find out about the next op.

  Yup, they were going bac
k into action and they were going to kick some ass. Guaranteed.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Miami, FL USA

  Dan was trying to pull the information together with the van rushing through the traffic. It wasn’t the smoothest of rides and the van had some left over issues from last night. He was getting the best information he could from the Miami PD. TQB, as they had become known in the last hour, was out shopping. They only had a little of what she needed. They had the vest and a shirt she could use, but no pants.

  The guys had stopped by a leather shop and Bethany Anne had actually agreed to wear some black leather pants. He had to shake his head. He never would have imagined the day when he was truly feeling like he was working for a vampire and liking it. But he couldn’t help himself. That woman was a complete bad ass, but she didn’t always take herself too seriously. She was the perfect complement of respect and laughter and the cusswords her and her team came up with were hilarious.

  The rest of the ops center were begging them to wear mics and cameras. While Carl and Bill had helped them a lot, Bethany Anne was absolutely against it. She didn’t mind them audio recording the op. Dan had looked at John to see if he could get some support but he just shook his head in a negative.

  The say never give a command you know will be ignored, so he didn’t even request the team wear the video cameras. Maybe he could get building video recordings later?

  Bethany Anne was with the guys in the SUV they originally used to pick her up. She was in the middle between Scott and Darryl. John and Eric took the front again with Eric driving. She felt good, really. Her team was jelling, and she was truly beginning to think of it as ‘her team’.

  She was finding the team name a little less than thrilling, but what did she want? Team “We kick your ass and slap your father”? She could be bitchy at times. Besides, it beat Team ‘Murder & Mayhem’ which was honestly truth in advertising. It would come out later at any rate and it might as well put the focus on her.

  For those that wanted to see her in an ugly light, the name would just galvanize them around it. For those that wanted to believe she was a good girl, it hopefully caused them to pause a minute. Either way, it sounded like it had already stuck and nothing short of her having a raging bitch attack was going to change it. So, the Queen Bitch was truly going to stick.

  Ah, fuck it. Time to live up to the hype.

  “John, what is the word from Dan?”

  “Not too much and none of it good. They hit the Southeast Financial Center right after lunch. Their early morning hit in Pompona Beach was a valid hit. They got the SWAT stuck in good there before they hit this one. Now, all they have are regular cops and the National Guard that might be able to help, and the FBI. The FBI is probably going to be there as well. This could be a real political dick-beating we will have to deal with, Bethany Anne. It isn’t going to make you any friends if it gets out that you aren’t a team player.”

  “What do you mean, I’ve got you guys with me?”

  “What smooth operator over here is trying to say”, Darryl spoke up beside her, “Is that you will have Human Bias against us if they find out you’re not playing on Team Human.”

  The car got a little quiet at that pronouncement. Bethany Anne considered how she felt being ‘something else’ than Human, considering she got to live a longer life. Probably hundreds or thousands of years longer, and now her ability to help people was off the charts she decided that they would have to get over themselves. But it did bring up that she was going to need protection and a good place to rest.

  “Ah, fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke, right guys?” She winked into the mirror so Eric could see it.

  “Hell Yeah!” Eric hit the steering wheel. “They say make your weakness your strength, right? Why don’t we just make up fang badges with Queen Bitch on the logo and we can act like complete badasses with pretend fangs and red eye contacts?”

  The guys all loved the idea. Bethany Anne just put her face in her hands. Gods, what was she going to do with this team? On one side she hated it. On the other it was fantastic. Shit, she could have a pair of fake fangs and red contacts that actually could be used. “Eric, I hate it, but its genius. Can we get anything like that before we hit the bank?”

  Darryl and Scott both pulled out their smart phones while John called back to Agent Bosse to let him know they were going to have to make another slight detour and short stop on the way to the building.

  Scott found it first; it was only about 8 blocks out of their way. They stopped right in front of the store blocking the road. John just reached under his seat and flicked on a portable cop light and stuck it to the roof of the SUV. Just two minutes later, Scott jumped back in the van and had two brown bags full of vampire teeth and three sets of red contact lenses. “All of us need the teeth, not just Bethany Anne. They only had three sets of the contacts but I figure we can order from Amazon and get it tomorrow wherever we need it.”

  Bethany Anne was having a hard time with her emotions. Until these guys had taken to her, she hadn’t realized how alone she had felt. Stephen was the first step in the direction of being accepted, but these guys were human and they didn’t shrink away and fear her.

  She had heard the Agent Bivoreux talk earlier in the day. She resented the course discussion of her looks a little, but she also couldn’t fault him too much. She knew that she was still changing and she suspected that TOM was doing something. Her bra size had gone up a cup already. So, either she was too good looking or all of the guys knew about her being a vampire and it was completely sucking the life out of being accepted.

  She knew that she wouldn’t be part of society when she took the job. She just hadn’t realized what a change it could make just existing. Hell, even the animals back when she was on the mountain in Romania got freaked out by her.

  These guys were keepers.

  —

  The team pulled into the corded off area and John showed his badge. They got in the protected area and everyone got out and walked over to the command ops van and John knocked on the door. A second later Agent Bosse opened it and came out. There was no way the five of them were going to make it inside.

  Dan smiled. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he knew it would be good. “This is what I have. There are probably three different groups in the building. One group has the hostages. One is hacking in the server room and one is in the basement doing god only knows what. We figure to save the hostages first and then go after the other two.”

  Bethany Anne chimed in, “Do you know who the main hack is against?”

  “Not at this time, there are three of the biggest fifty financial companies in this building. It could be any of them, or all of them.”

  “Wait one second.” She got out her phone and hit Nathan up again. “Nathan, Bethany Anne. Hey, are you protecting any of these three companies?” She told him the list. “Yeah, we are on an op and it looks like the hit might be against one or all of them. There is a group in the server room right now. Yes, Ok. Thanks.” She hung up.

  “I have a friend who works with financial firms; he is in the electronic and digital security profession. He says that all three of the names are clients and all of them have been targeted by some pretty effective penetration tactics in the last two months. He wouldn’t be surprised if they are hitting them internally because the digital method of attack isn’t working.

  “Also seems like they are pressed for time.” John said.

  Eric didn’t follow that, “Pressed for time?”

  Bethany Anne completed the thought. “Yeah, if there hackers have been at it for 8 weeks, and these two ops would take a couple of weeks at least to plan…”

  Dan interrupted. “I’d say four if you include the necessary casing of the buildings for two locations. So, they worked one month on electronic means and then took four weeks to get ready for this. They could have tried half a year or more on the digital side before getting lucky. I see your point, John.”
/>   He just nodded.

  “Alright, we think that the hostage situation is a legitimate ploy. They will be giving up two per hour for the next few hours and then they will either disappear or blow the building and get away. I’m concerned that group in the basement is locating the main structural members that hold up the building. Break them and the whole thing collapses or enough of it to matter. How they get out is a question. I’ve requested underground details to see if they expect to maybe leave in an old shaft or something.”

  Bethany Anne looked at him, Dan raised his hands, “Just making sure, maybe I’ve seen too many Hollywood movies.”

  She asked him, “Hey, whatever happened to the blood from last night?”

  “Should be around still. Why, are you going to need some?”