Char approved, as did Cory. She didn’t want to go into combat at all, let alone with her daughter by her side. She knew that her dad wouldn’t let anything happen to Sarah. He would die before he let anything happen to her.
***
They looked at each other. Twenty-four people, Were, enhanced, and the unenhanced. They had six pods and enough weapons to arm a regiment.
But they only had twenty-three, twenty-four when Marcie returned from training with Akio, or twenty-six if they included Akio and Yuko.
They were the defenders of all humanity. Terry had found that larger wasn’t better and that the battles weren’t fought between armies, but individuals from the Unknown World, a place the existence of which humankind didn’t need to know about.
He needed a lean force that could fight the enhanced forces of the enemy. And he needed to leave humanity out of it.
There would be no more battles like the fight he’d taken to General Tsao, a traditional ambush of a conventional force.
They never had a chance.
He needed to do the same thing with those from the Unknown World. He needed to conduct a charm offensive, as much as that thought chapped his ass. He had to find out who were friends and who were enemies.
He had five tac teams to help him.
“We scour the planet looking for infestations of Were and Forsaken. We finish them if they’re assholes. If they are minding their own business, we let them know we’re watching, and then we leave them alone.”
“Ted. Where are you?” Terry asked as Ted stared at a spot on the wall.
“You never came to see what I had to show you in Chicago,” Ted replied slowly, tearing his eyes from the spot on the wall and giving Terry some of his attention.
“I’m sorry that I did not. You will have to tell me what you saw.”
“They’re building a dirigible. It looks like they have some older motors, but I can manufacture gravitic engines for them. They’ll run so much more efficiently and far more quickly.”
Terry didn’t know what to say. Char narrowed her eyes before slowly smiling. “Ted. That is one of the most profound things I’ve ever heard. While we are looking at the little picture, you’re looking at a way to shrink the world.”
Ted smiled uncomfortably.
“Damn skippy!” Terry exclaimed. “Oh, sorry, Skippy. I didn’t mean anything by that. Damn straight, Sir Theodore!”
Ted looked confused. “That’s not my name.”
“Detached duty for you, Ted. We’ve already talked about this once, but now everything is coming together. I think we can get you access to the manufacturing facilities outside Alameda. We have an in with the owners. Gravitic drives and dirigibles. Let’s bring air travel back, set up flight routes, and move people and things. You are the man, Ted!”
Ted looked down at the table, uncomfortable with everyone looking at him.
“Off you go, Ted. I’ll let them know you’re coming. We’ll set a room up for you at the factory.”
Ted rose from his chair, looked everywhere and nowhere without making eye contact, before working his way to the door. Char followed him out to make the call to her grandchildren, the senior citizens who continued to run Alameda, and let them know that Ted would be running a major project that would revolutionize the new world.
And then there was only twenty-two.
“We need to know where they are and how many,” Terry said. “Tac Team Echo. Go to New York and find this Joshua character. If the Pack Council has been revived, from what I hear, he’ll know the numbers. Why didn’t we know any of this before now?”
People shuffled their feet.
Char looked at Butch. “Out with it!”
“We met with him in New York before we left,” she blurted out.
“WHAT?” Terry howled.
“The Council is a good thing! These are good Weres looking out for the best interest of all. And they asked us not to tell anyone,” Skippy offered.
Terry rubbed his temples as he ground his teeth. “I want to beat the crap out of both of you,” he growled.
“Honor,” Skippy suggested weakly.
“Your duty is to us and ours is to all of humanity. By all that’s holy, what fucking team are you two on?”
They didn’t answer.
“You’re on our team. You’re in Char’s pack. You serve the Force de Guerre. Does any of this sound familiar to you?” Terry said sarcastically. The two Werewolves looked away.
“Listen closely. You fuckers are going back to New York and if you go native on me, I will drop you in the middle of the ocean. Can you feel me?” Terry emphasized.
They tried to look away, but he grabbed them both by their chins. “Don’t you ever keep information from me again,” he growled.
Char walked behind them. “I don’t care if you two singlehandedly restored train service in New York, rebuilt lower Manhattan, established civilized society. Unknown World stuff? You don’t keep that to yourselves. The last thing you want is me riding in a two-wheel cart around the city with you two pulling it. And we’ll ride around until I get tired.”
“We get it! We get it! Would you guys back off?” Butch retorted.
“No. ‘Cause you fucked us,” Terry said.
“We left out a little something, that’s all.”
“Loyalty. That’s what you left. You didn’t keep yourselves in shape. You didn’t keep us informed of the return of the Were. It would be nice if we could count on them, have their back, as it may be. Timmons. Don’t let these goofy fuckers out of your sight. Samantha. Try to blend in.”
She looked like a warrior through and through, but she was going to be with four old-school New Yorkers. He hoped that would be enough, but if it wasn’t, she could handle herself.
“You leave in a month. Between now and then, you’re going to learn how to obey orders,” Terry promised with an ugly smile.
“I hear Petersburg is nice this time of year,” Gene interjected in his Russian accent, but it didn’t seem as heavy as it used to be. Bogdan nodded vigorously.
“Too bad you’re going to Germany. Observe and report. Travel the Rhine and see the most heavily-populated areas. Meet the Weres and assess. Kick their asses if they’re dicks. If you’re outnumbered, dig in and call for backup. We’ll bring the cavalry, and then we’ll kick their asses. You got any problem with kicking ass, Evgeniy?” Terry asked, using Gene’s real name.
“No, haha! You make funny. I lick ass with best of them!” Gene grinned.
No one laughed. “Kick. Kick ass,” Terry clarified.
“What? Now?” Gene asked, suddenly confused.
Terry shook his head. “Moving on. Tac Team Charlie. You’re traveling the Yangtze, from Shanghai to Wuhan, if you can make it that far. And Tac Team Delta has the most difficult job. We’re sailing the Caribbean.”
Char smiled and looked at Sarah. “We need to go shopping for swimsuits.”
“What? Why you go Caribbean?” Gene wondered.
“I’m kidding. We’re going to travel the Great Lakes, shake the bushes and see what falls out.” Terry leaned over the table and looked at the group. “Report to me daily. I want to know where you are and number and types of Were. If you’ve made contact, I want to know if they’re good or bad. No secrets. This is a job that only we can do. That’s why the FDG faltered. They couldn’t find the Forsaken or the Were. Char demonstrated that in Portland. Okay, people. Seems like we were just doing this same thing, but these are short, high impact missions. Go in, see what there is to see, and get out. You have your orders. Training starts tomorrow at oh-four-hundred. Meet on the parade deck.”
Char cleared her throat, then held up one hand with five fingers and a second hand with two fingers.
“I don’t care how much you whine and cry! Just like I said, we’re meeting on the parade deck at oh-seven-hundred!”
***
Gene and Bogdan were last, and Fu was with them, carrying a bag half her size. Gene held his hands
up. Terry wondered what the hell Gene was doing.
“Lunch, unless we eat now, then breakfast,” Gene explained.
Terry shook his head. Kurtz snickered. “Is that lunch for everybody?”
“No, no. It’s just for them,” Terry said. “Obstacle course!”
They ran away like a mob. Terry was disciplining himself to be okay with their lack of military bearing. In his mind, they’d lost the first battle in a new war, a block war that would be fought in the big cities. He tried infiltration, but the Were and the Forsaken had stayed away. Once Char’s pack moved out, the others moved in. Terry had not anticipated that. It made sense when he thought about it, but he had taken their absence as a sign that they were gone, not that they were biding their time and waiting for an opening.
Some left, but Terry and Char’s family remained behind.
“What gives, Dad?” Cory asked, concern in her voice.
“Yeah. You’ve been kind of pissy lately. No one knew the Weres had been in hiding. We looked for them and didn’t find a thing. No one could have done more,” Kaeden said.
“Come on, Dad. We have a war to fight and you need your beauty sleep. You can’t show up to the O course looking like that,” Kimber teased.
“What’s wrong with the way I look?”
“Mom!” Cory called. “Would you tell him, please?”
“What? Who’s scruffy lookin’?” he asked, sticking his tongue out.
“It’s the blue jeans and the muscle shirt,” Char said, rolling her eyes.
“I like this look,” Terry said weakly. “My loving family, ganging up on me. The old man is going to bury you pups and kittens. You’ll be eating my dust for the next month.”
“It’s on, old man!” Sarah shouted. The room grew silent as everyone looked at her.
“Gene will lick her ass,” Ramses said softly in his version of a Russian accent.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
San Francisco
The whirlwind of one month of training passed. They were tired, constantly, but no one gave up. Terry held the unenhanced to a lesser standard, having them run a shorter distance or do fewer calisthenics. Even so, it was farther, faster, and more than what any normal human could do.
The four were impressive and continued to excel. Cory stepped in every now and then to repair a knee or an ankle to return them to full duty within hours, instead of days.
Terry was relentless on Butch and Skippy. He wasn’t sure he’d ever earn their loyalty through respect, so he was determined to get their obedience through fear. Char backed him up, the alpha always keeping her eyes on the wayward members of the pack.
Timmons and Sue worked the friendship and team angle. In the end, Butch and Skippy fell in line, especially once they got in better shape and were able to keep up, stand toe to toe with the best fighters, if only for a short while.
Sarah sparred with Terry Henry one time. She lasted four seconds. She lasted five with Char, but was able to spar for periods up to thirty seconds with Shonna or Merrit.
Terry didn’t let her in the ring with Gene or Bogdan. Despite her enhancements, she had a smaller body, maybe weighing one hundred twenty pounds. Gene was five times that.
After a month of hard physical training combined with sessions of social engagement that Felicity ran, the tac teams were ready to be anywhere other than Treasure Island.
Terry personally conducted the final gear check for each of the teams. Fu handed Gene and Bogdan a sack stuffed full. Terry shook his head.
“I like how Felicity taught everyone about being a politician. I hope they remember those lessons when making contact with the Weres,” Char said.
“That was my hope when I talked to her about it. We know how to piss people off. I thought it would be nice if we didn’t, at least if it wasn’t necessary.”
“Look at you, Terry Henry Walton, learning the tools of the trade.” Char wrapped her arms around his neck to look into his eyes. His hands found their way to her back and then lower.
“I’m trying,” he said, looking down. “I hated killing those guys. They were FDG! Sergeants who had been promoted based on special trust and confidence. And Marcie and I killed them. It’s tearing me apart.”
“I know, lover. I know,” Char rested her forehead against his. “They gave you no choice, but you don’t see that. You wonder how they got pushed that far. You question our efforts ever since the fall, all that time we spent in the Fallen Lands, the Wasteland. Before the WWDE, how many Were and Forsaken were out there? That’s right. A shit-ton. There are fewer now. Humanity didn’t know about the Unknown World before and they don’t know about it now. Status quo, with points in our favor, TH. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. Civilization would be different. Imagine another seventy-five years of Forsaken rule over San Francisco? I shudder at the thought.”
Terry continued to look down. “I know you’re right, but all I can see is my fist crushing a man’s skull. He had no chance.”
“He lost his chance when he took up arms against you. Remember that you’re the champion of people being responsible for the consequences of their own decisions. He chose poorly. They all did. We have a job to do, and it looks like we’re ready.”
“What would I do without you?”
“Be miserable, cranky, wrong, and cold at night,” Char rattled off quickly.
“Break’s over,” Terry said, kissing Char before letting go of her butt. “Time to earn our keep.”
He waved his arm over his head in a large circle. “Wagons, ho!” he yelled.
Shonna and Merrit were the only ones to get into the pod because they’d been there, over a century earlier, when the convoy left New Boulder on its way to establish the community of North Chicago.
“He means that it’s time to go,” Shonna told them. The others nodded and boarded the two pods.
“Then why didn’t he say time to go?” Gene wondered aloud. Bogdan shook his head.
Chicago
Tac Team Delta watched the pod fly away. Terry, Char, Shonna, Merrit, and Sarah waited until it was gone before anyone spoke.
“This is a long way from the lake,” Merrit said.
Shonna elbowed her mate. “Joseph and Petricia?” she asked. Merrit winced. He’d forgotten that their friends had walked away in Chicago. They didn’t know if they were still there or not, but they would never know if they didn’t look.
Terry wanted to talk with his friend, make sure he was okay, try to talk him into returning, although he wouldn’t make a hard sell for that. He just wanted to know that he and Petricia were surviving.
Three days of scouring the city left Terry Henry irritable. Char, Shonna, and Merrit had felt the presence of other Were, but the images faded away as Tac Team Delta approached. No one from the Unknown World would let the newcomers get close.
And they never sensed any Forsaken.
“Let’s go find us a boat,” Terry finally said.
“How about an airship?” Shonna asked, pointing. A dirigible floated skyward, a long rope hanging from it. They heard the faint sounds of the engines revving. They watched in fascination as the ship lurched forward, jerking as the engines sputtered, coughed, and belched great clouds of black smoke.
It circled and descended back to where it started.
“The only thing missing from that monster is a good engineer,” Shonna suggested.
Germany
Tac Team Alpha joined Bravo for the excursion down the Rhine. Ramses, Cory, and Tyson Kurtz joined Gene, Bogdan, Kaeden, and Edwin.
“We no do much running. Not much walking either. You like Tac Team Bravo, I think,” Gene said as his way of giving a team brief.
The pod landed outside the thriving city of Rotterdam, where they would find a boat and head down the Waal River until it met the Rhine. According to everything in the computer system, the river was still navigable with boats traveling nearly its entire length.
“You small people go first, be less obvious,” Gene told them.
“In the morning, we will go.”
They settled in to the small woods where the pod had dropped them off. “I’ll take the first watch,” Kurtz told them.
“No need,” Gene said. “Bogdan and I will know if anyone come close. Internal alarm work good.”
Kurtz nodded, but he didn’t like it. Kaeden signaled to the others. They would stand watch regardless of how good Gene’s internal alarm worked. Five of them. An hour and a half each.
No problem.
Shanghai
Tac Team Charlie didn’t watch the pod leave like the other groups had done. They walked down the ramp and kept going. Kimber, Auburn, and Nick would be skylined not only because they looked different, but they felt out of place, too.
They had no experience with China. Fortunately, they were with Aaron and Yanmei.
“Just stay close. Nod and bow politely. We’ll take care of getting us onto a boat,” Aaron said confidently.
They continued into the city, making a beeline for the port.
Aaron and Yanmei slowed until they stopped. The others closed in behind them.
Aaron leaned down and whispered, “Weretigers. Not far.”
They changed direction and walked casually past small shops and homes on the outskirts of the growing city. Aaron and Yanmei approached a larger building, nondescript from the outside. Spirited yells were coming from the inside, followed by a rhythmic pounding. They’d all heard the sounds before.
The sound of a dojo during training.
Aaron and Yanmei smiled and waved the others to follow.
“Felicity has her ways, and I guess Aaron and Yanmei have theirs. Hopefully this isn’t a blood-sport contest. There can be only one!” Kim told Auburn and Nick Rixon, shaking her head.
They followed the Weretigers in, where they removed their shoes and waited patiently at the edge of the training area. Aaron and Yanmei watched the three masters carefully.
The group finished their set of high blocks and were put at rest. The three masters, all Weretigers, approached, studying Aaron and Yanmei with a critical eye. They conversed in Chinese before Aaron and Yanmei stepped onto the mat, signaling for the others to wait.
Nomad Omnibus 03: A Kurtherian Gambit Series (A Terry Henry Walton Chronicles Omnibus) Page 74