“How about under the top level?” she continued.
“The building is made up of a steel girder frame, concrete between floors, approximately six inches thick and simple construction materials for the walls. Thin metal construction on the outside walls.”
“How thin?” Bethany Anne asked.
“Typical corrugated steel walls.”
Bethany Anne pointed to the two staircases that went to the basement. “I say we toss something here between these two locations at an angle. It takes out the middle of the building, and we race to see who gets the girl first.”
“Ooookay,” John said. “Or, could you walk the Etheric and peek around now that you know where it is?”
Bethany Anne rolled her eyes. “Grimes, you take all the fucking fun out of things,” she bitched. “But then, I suppose it will help keep our primary safe.”
“It’s okay,” John replied. “You go in, grab the girl, then we do some damage because no one does this shit and gets away with a slap on the wrist.”
“No, not anymore they don’t,” Bethany Anne agreed.
The Pod stopped at four thousand feet, and John saw his boss disappear out of her seat, then reappear outside the Pod, falling.
“Damn,” he whispered. ADAM kept her on the screen for him, so he had a good view as she disappeared before hitting the ground. “She keeps getting better and better.” He turned and reached into the back of the Pod and pulled out a gravitational bar. “I got to go old school, this fucking sucks.”
The doors to the Pod opened and John’s helmet locked back into place, covering his head. No one was going to hit Ms. Duke’s prized man where it might take him out.
John jumped out of the Pod.
14
Dulce, New Mexico, USA
“And I’m telling you,” Richard scraped the gunk off of his shoe, “that this stuff is disgusting. Why are we going through caves again? It is ruining my Zamberlan Latemars.”
Samuel smirked. “Because the entrance up top was bombed to oblivion, and there are presently a hundred soldiers up there with big ass guns trying really hard to get in.”
“Well,” Richard put his foot back down and straightened his pants leg, “if you put it that way, I suppose I should look out for the bat guano.”
Samuel shook his head and tossed Richard his headgear. “Ready to use the tools this time?”
Deftly catching the hat, Richard searched for and found the power switch. “So I forgot just how dark caves can get, I’ve gotten a little senile in my old age.”
“No, you’ve gotten lazy,” Samuel replied as he turned his light on and started jogging. In moments, Richard caught up.
“That’s not new!” Richard argued. “When have you ever known me not to be lazy?”
“From 1860 through 1892.”
There was a pause. “Oh good lord!” Richard complained. “That was eons ago. When have you not known me not to be lazy recently?”
Samuel shook his head again. “Anytime Gabrielle comes around?”
“Says the man that is still trying his best to skip conversations about reliving the past with said woman.”
“She’s still a bit miffed about the moonseed joke,” Samuel admitted. “Although I ease into the conversation all the time.”
This time, the smell alerted Richard and he jumped over a section of the cave floor. “You better hope that she doesn’t tell Eric.”
“Why?” Samuel had just jogged around the pit and caught back up with his friend.
“Cause I imagine he would kick your arse,” Richard grunted. A moment later, they could see a large cavern open up.
“Why would he want to do that?” Samuel continued the conversation.
“Maybe because he and Gabrielle are an item?” Richard replied, slowing down to consider their next steps.
Richard felt Samuel grab his arm and he turned, squinting at the sudden light in his eyes. “Lord, would you PLEASE point that somewhere else!”
Samuel reached up and moved his light. “That’s not what she said.”
“Gabrielle?” Richard smirked.
“Oh, god no,” Samuel said. “Let’s not make those jokes again.” Samuel made sure Richard was paying attention. “Like, ever.”
“Ever is a long time.”
“Have you seen Eric?”
“Ahh,” Richard thought about it. “Yeah. Queen’s Bitch, Hispanic, eyes like coal…”
Samuel stayed quiet.
“Okay, agreed, never again.” Richard said before turning back to the area ahead. “How do we play this?”
“Well,” Samuel answered, paying attention to faint noises reaching their ears. Voices, from people they couldn’t see, were whooping and hollering. “I suppose we could…”
Heckscher State Park area, NY, USA
“Sir, we have video confirmation this is one of the targets. Female, wearing a helmet with goggles, some sort of armor and a coat.”
Vic tossed the toothpick into the ashtray, and slid a fresh one into his mouth. “Turn on the speakers. Let’s tell our visitor they need to move on, or we’ll destroy them.”
Vic heard someone hiss, ‘Trust me, no way that isn’t a woman!’
“Remember gents,” Vic growled. “We’ve lost a team to this person, so stop thinking with your small brain and realize she can kill you.”
“Give me the channel,” he continued and picked up the microphone. “Attention! You are now surrounded by agents who are ready to reduce you to ash, if necessary. You will submit to apprehension, and without violence, to restraint.”
Vic turned to his left. “Someone bring the goddamn video up better, she seems to be puking.”
The side of the split view on the screen that previously displayed the figure blinked and the image changed. In the new view, the figure was bigger but was partially blocked by a leaf from a tree.
Vic ground his teeth together. The figure wasn’t puking, it looked like she was bent over laughing.
Soon enough, the figure stood back up and then calmly raised her arm giving the universal gesture that told Vic his offer wasn’t accepted.
“All right…” Vic started but stopped when the figure took a couple of steps forward, coming into better view. She, and it was now damned obvious it was a she, pulled her coat back, and grabbed two pistols out of their holsters. She used one of the pistols to offer a “come get me” gesture.
“I don’t think she wishes to submit, sir.”
“Yeah, I got that, Jennings,” Vic agreed. “This is what I want. Have team Bravo…”
He never got out the whole order.
Bethany Anne flew through the air, waiting until the very end to transfer into the Etheric and stopping. One of these times, she would understand the real relevance of moving and mental commands. She was sure there was a way to just wish herself somewhere else, but she hadn’t figured out the solution.
At least, not yet.
Bethany Anne peeked out into the real world and then ducked back into the Etheric. She ran twenty steps and peeked again. Swearing in frustration, she turned and crossed where she had started and ran the other direction.
She hated when she guessed wrong. It took her five more movements, and quick peeks, to confirm she now had the right location.
She stepped out of the Etheric.
John liked this part of the trip. Ever since these bars had been built, an offspring of the technology used to attack the XJ-12 base, the idea of an attack from above had excited him.
Well, he had enjoyed the trip down until someone below had located his black armored ass and started shooting at him.
So much for silent and deadly.
Although the occasional hit by the standard 5.56 X 45 NATO round was an annoyance, he wasn’t too worried.
CLANG... he was violently twisted to his left.
“FUCK!” John swore, and spun around, knocked ass over appetite. “We got .50 caliber down there folks!” He looked around. “ADAM drop me, three times speed.”
/>
A tracer ran through where John would have been before he plummeted down towards the ground as he continued in his conversational tone, “Those .50 cals aren’t fun, I don’t advise allowing them to play ‘kiss the pretty’ with you.” He braced his knees. When he hit the ground, he rolled and then stripped his hands out of the bar and tossed it into the air.
Time to bring the pain.
Tabitha heard John’s call and warning and bolted towards the house. She had Bethany Anne’s position pegged on her schematic and John’s as well. The gun must have been hidden somewhere on the other side of the building for them not to have found it with her deployed spies.
She hadn’t been thinking war, she was thinking cop. She wouldn’t make that mistake again in the future. Now? Now she would take out the motherfuckers who had tried to punch a hole through her friend.
When Tabitha had spoken with Ted in that coffee shop, she was trying to get across the relative difference between a Bitch, her, and Bethany Anne.
When the gloves came off because you attacked her friend, though? Well, a Queen’s Ranger wasn’t someone to fuck around with, either.
Soon, three men manning the large machine gun died, never seeing the figure that threw a triangular object into their hole in the ground.
“One gun dismantled,” Tabitha called over the operations net.
Danny Niadener nodded to the two soldiers outside the door and pulled out his badge. The two men stepped aside, allowing him to slot his key into the lock and open the door to the room where the hostage was laying, still drugged.
He wasn’t sure if she was going to get out of this alive after all. It was supposed to be a straight up bag and tag.
Now, they had kidnapping, deaths, bodies and evidence back in New York City, and a cop who wasn’t accounted for. Originally, the cop was going to die, there wasn’t much Vic could have done about that. The lady here, though, was supposed to be drugged through the operation and wake up in her apartment none the wiser.
It was still possible it could happen that way, but Danny had doubts.
He stuck his head in the room, and it exploded in a shower of gore.
Bethany Anne walked out, slamming one gloved fist into the guard on her left, her right hand holding the Jean Dukes special that blew apart the second guard’s head before he had time to recognize his boss’s head had already disintegrated. It wasn’t his problem anymore, anyway.
Bethany Anne pulled the first body out of the way, closing and locking the door.
Seal it, ADAM. Safest place for her right now.
>> DONE. <<
Bethany Anne jogged down the narrow hallway, her footsteps easily heard, the metal crunching onto the concrete floor.
She passed a fire alarm, stopped and stepped back before driving her fist through the glass and yanking it down.
Washington D.C., USA, DUCC Underground Bunker
“Sir, we believe we have the problem figured out.” Agent Colson turned towards the President.
“Yeah?” he grunted, annoyed.
“There is someone fighting TQB in upper New York near Heckscher State Park. We have reports of heavy gunfire from that area.”
“So? Why don’t we land a ton of whoop-ass on them? Are those our people taking on TQB?” he asked.
“Unknown. We haven’t performed a final review of the blackest of operations at this time, sir.”
“Well,” the President leaned forward, his voice growing softer, “I don’t think that we should allow TQB access to our airspace, dropping one of their damned alien spaceships right on top of our airfield without doing something about it, do you?”
The lights in the DUCC flickered, computers powered off, then back on. Two ladies screamed at the sudden power interruption.
On all of the screens, the same image came up. It was a young looking man, chewing on a cigar, eyes squinting as he seemed to be looking around the room from his location. He was wearing a uniform with a recognizable sigil on his collar.
It was the vampire head.
“My name,” he said, his voice deeper than the President would have guessed, “as you probably know, is General Lance Reynolds. I am the ultimate military authority for the Etheric Empire. If you so much as move a goddamned piece of artillery in any way, shape, or fucking form towards the Queen, I will drop a kinetic projectile that will turn the DUCC into a fucking sinkhole. They won’t even be able to figure out who you are by your DN-fucking-A.”
The cigar moved to the other side of his mouth.
“Right now, there’s a fight to rescue a woman taken by some malcontents in an attempt to capture one of our people and force a conversation or something else with the Queen. Well, she already took the gloves off due to your last stupid act. She’s going to rescue that woman and the New York cop that was used as bait. The lives of those involved in this action are forfeit.”
The General leaned back in his chair, his eyes pinning everyone to their seats.
“You fucktards didn’t realize how much she has been staying her hand. Well, here, let me give you a hint. Right now there are seven operations against our people in different countries around the world. They will all fail, and this time? This time the Etheric Empire isn’t going to give a shit about your casualties because you obviously don’t value our people. People, by the way, who are giving their lives to save this planet from a greater threat.”
“That’s what you say…” The President started.
General Reynolds cut him off. “If I wanted your opinion, I would have shoved my arm up your ass and used you like a puppet, you jackass. Sit there and listen while the adult speaks. Next time I have to deal with you, the Vice-President will be talking with me.”
The President was trying to figure out what to say when the General pulled his cigar out of his mouth and used it to point at the camera. “You can’t get out, you can’t call out, but you will be visited by my daughter soon, and you best pray she’s in a good mood.”
He leaned back in the chair and smiled. “That’s fucking right you righteous windbags, Bethany Anne Reynolds, Bethany Anne Nacht, the Queen of the UnknownWorld, the Queen of the Etheric Empire and the Queen Bitch herself is about to visit you. I hope your life insurance is paid up, you arrogant sons-of-bitches.”
The smile he offered never made it to his eyes. “Shut their precious room down and lock them in, ADAM.”
The screams started when the DUCC went dark.
Dulce, New Mexico, USA
“Get a shot of this!” Jesse called over his shoulder, pointing up at the large flying saucer. “Oh my god, we’ve cracked it, guys!”
Colin let out a loud whoop of excitement. “What happened?” He was looking around with his flashlight. “There are marks like a gun battle happened.” The six-foot-six redhead bent down. “There are all sorts of brass casings all over the ground. Picking one up, he said over his shoulder, “Guys, we’re going to be famous.”
“Damn, the battery is getting eaten up like crazy,” Edward’s voice came back to them. “This Sony sucks batteries like a vampire goes down on O positive.”
“Get a shot over here,” Colin called back to the third person in their group. “And make sure we get some shots of you this time, Eddie. We’re all going to hit it big.”
There was a moment of silence, each guy thinking about the future, when the first voice, floating through the air, arrived at their ears.
“But I wants sssssommme…” it came from everywhere, and nowhere.
A second voice, pitched higher than the first, replied, “We aren’t supposed to eat from the humans. That’s what the master toldsss usss.”
Their lights flicked away from looking at the bottom level of the XJ-12 base—where TQB hadn’t scrubbed all of the proof—out into the cave system.
They moved closer together.
“Did you hear that?” Edward asked, his Sony camera shaking in his hand.
“Yeah,” Colin agreed, looking off to his right.
Jesse tu
rned his flashlight to look under the large UFO. “That shit can’t be real.”
“In case you missed the memo,” Colin hissed back, “we’re standing by two real fucking UFOs. Who said aliens don’t eat humans?”
“They thinks usss aliensss, Sssssaaaammmmmuuuuel. The mastersss never saaid that aliens couldn’t eattss the humanss.”
All three lights turned and pointed to the right.
“Guys…” Edward whispered.
“I’m still saying,” Jesse tried to keep the tremor out of his voice, “that this isn’t real. It’s some government cover-up trying to scare us.”
Edward slapped Jesse’s arm. “Well, they’re doing a fine fucking job, Dr. Don’tTellMeWhatToDo!”
“Shoot the video,” Jesse hissed back. Edward slammed the camera into Jesse’s stomach, knocking his wind out. Jesse was left gasping, trying to hold onto the valuable camera when Edward let it go.
“I’m huuUUUuuunnnngry!” the whisper hissed out from behind them. All three twisted around, shining their lights desperately over the rocks trying to catch sight of what they were hearing.
Colin looked over his shoulder and froze.
Not fifty feet back, in the darkness, two red eyes were staring at him.
“G… G… Gu… Guys!” He stammered, and popped Eddie on the shoulder.
“What!” Edward asked, then saw where Colin was looking. He turned slowly, hoping whatever he was looking at would disappear so he could have a good laugh at Colin’s expense.
A red pair of eyes was staring back at him.
Edward’s scream pierced the darkness.
The red eyes disappeared when Jesse turned around. “What was it?” he asked, pointing the camera out into the darkness.
“Monster,” Colin answered, his voice breaking. “Monster!”
“Yeah, what he said,” Edward agreed.
A rock cracked against a wall behind them, all three guys jumped.
“They are trying to SCARE us!” Jesse argued. “If they wanted to hurt us, they would have… FUCKING OW!” he screeched, dropping the camera as he fell to his knees holding his head, blood matting his hair.
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set Three: Books 15-21, Never Submit, Never Surrender, Forever Defend, Might Makes Right, Ahead Full, Capture Death, Life Goes On (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 12