Outside Tal Ajaja, Syria
Terry walked away from the group and opened up the phone that had been given to him. He had hoped against hope not to use this ace-in-the-hole. When he had to admit he was on another payroll, it was going to upset others. Still, the group was rich, and they were powerful.
It was the rich part that got his attention originally. Now, it was the powerful part he was betting their lives on. He didn’t need anyone to know of this connection, but here it was. His reputation wasn’t going to be worth spit after this. He sighed, so much for impressing the lady back there.
He punched in the number given him and waited, “It’s Terry, I have a problem…”
—
Robert watched his friend from a decade before walk away from the dig for privacy. While he understood that this help would probably cause Terry future hardships, whatever Terry had in his crate had been Robert’s ace-in-the-hole. Together, he and Terry had multiple operations under their belt. Terry always had some surprise, and Robert had counted on him providing one this time, as well.
It was only a couple of minutes before Robert noticed Terry walking back into the camp. His face was set in a mask of determination. Robert turned around, walking back to his men to get them prepared. While the government wag was continuing to suggest there was nothing to worry about, Robert wasn’t taking his advice. He could feel that itch between his shoulder blades, the action was happening soon.
—
Yasin and Hamza sat on the ground behind the parked truck, thanking God for a little breather from the constant battering their bodies had taken so far. Yasin looked over to his friend, talking around the food in his mouth. “We are supposed to get there at sunrise tomorrow. Hopefully, if we can make a little time we will be able to get in position before the sun rises and we will be able to slaughter the dogs as they get their morning’s coffee.”
“Coffee? You mean the piss poor mud water they call coffee? Killing them is a mercy.” The two men laughed as they ate their dinner on the side of the road, “It will be good to have them in my rifle’s sites. It has been a long time coming and something I have dreamt about many times.”
Yasin swallowed his food, “I understand it is a small group, maybe twenty people. At most, they should have ten guards, and we will have thirty to thirty-five fighters. It should be a simple attack, and we will be finished by noon and then on our way back by tomorrow afternoon.”
Hamza moaned, “Why don’t we try to keep the firefight going until mid afternoon? At least that way we might get to sleep on the hard rocky ground and push our trip back until the next day,” he reached behind him and hit the truck, “on this beast of burden.”
—
Melissa brought her cold meal over to where Terry was sitting, on the dark side of a large boulder looking out into the night. She sat down a few feet away and started to open up her box, “I really, really miss those chocolate chip cookies.” She muttered, “I would kill for a chocolate chip cookie right now.”
Terry snorted and leaned over to reach into his backpack, “Well, I was going to save this until your birthday on Thursday, but it seems like now might be the best time to do this. He pulled out a poorly-wrapped birthday present. The paper was red with a gold bow on top which had already been smooshed from being inside his backpack. “I figured it was a good idea to get this brand as they had the best chance to stay fresh the longest in this weather.”
Melissa, her mouth open, reached over to accept the sadly smooshed gift, “How did you know it was my birthday?” Terry touched his forehead and smiled at her. “No, I don’t believe you happened to run across it on the Internet and remembered it,” she replied.
Melissa ripped open the package to find a blue bag of Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies, “You know, if you weren't dirty, sweaty, and pretty disgusting at the moment, I might kiss you for this." She unwrapped the Chips Ahoy bag and opened the first plastic bag, taking a small handful of cookies out. “Thank God, I don’t have to kill anyone now.” Terry decided not to break the enjoyable moment.
She looked back up at him, “So, how did you know it was my birthday?”
“It was easy enough to find. You are a well-known academic in your circles. You have over fourteen papers, and I have read every one of them, so it didn’t take much research to run across your birthdate.”
“It didn’t tell you the year, did it” when he nodded, she started swearing softly. “Don’t you know there are just some things that a woman doesn’t want to have known?” She had eaten ten cookies before she realized that perhaps she should offer one to the man who had brought them halfway across the world for her, "Want one?”
Terry smiled and reached across to accept the proffered cookie, snagging the second cookie quickly before she could grab the package back, “Thank you, I realize that was pretty rough for you to share since those are the only cookies in a hundred kilometers in any direction.”
Melissa’s eyes opened a little wider as she looked down at her bag of cookies. Pulling them closer to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She squinted at him, “Mine!”
Then, both of them laughed in the darkness.
—
Around midnight, Robert walked over to where Terry was still sitting, leaning back against a rock. Melissa had gone to bed a couple of hours earlier. He had decided not to let her know what was going on at the moment. There would be time for that in the next couple of hours and the few hours of uninterrupted, unconcerned sleep would do her good. He looked up at Robert when he got close.
Robert spoke softly, “Well, it seems like those in the wag department have finally clued in. They have officially told us that, and I quote, might be something, possibly, sorta something or someones, heading in our direction.” Terry snorted, and Robert continued, “However, they aren’t apparently giving any weight to what I saw earlier. They believe we have another seventy-two hours, worst case before they arrive.”
Terry looked up at his old friend, “You got the itch?” Robert nodded, “And I’ve got an ace-in-the-hole.” Terry sighed, “Yep, we’re screwed.”
“How good is your ace-in-the-hole?” Robert joined his friend sitting down on the ground putting his feet out, his arms behind him. “You know, if this is our last night, I don’t want to go down without making it right between us.”
“Yeah, I appreciate that,” Terry started, “I never meant to hurt you,” he admitted. “I was young, I was dumb, and I thought I knew everything. I took the problems outside of the team, and I shouldn’t have done that. When you didn’t back me like you always had before? That hurt, and I took it out on you and everybody else that I could for five years after that. I finally ran into somebody on an operation that showed me sometimes, just sometimes, you need to keep your mouth shut about stuff.”
“Shit, somebody got you to listen?” The two of them chuckled, “Someday I might like to meet this man.” Robert said.
Terry looked up into the sky noticing the beauty of the stars, “Someday, possibly soon, you might.”
Robert saw where Terry was looking and complained, “Hey, don’t give up on us yet. I don’t need to see the Big Guy in the sky quite yet. What, did you get religion or something?” When Terry started laughing Robert realized his guess was way off the mark, “Okay, just making sure you didn’t have a direct line with the Big Guy himself.”
“No,” Terry chuckled, “I do not have a direct line to the Big Guy himself.”
“Well,” Robert admitted, “If you did, I would be really fucking thankful at the moment.” He looked behind him back to the camp, “I’ve got twenty-three people here I need to protect, I figure I can get fifteen down into the excavation to protect from direct fire. That leaves you a choice to stay down there or come up with us.”
“Now, I know I’ve done a few things I regret, but that really hurts, Robert.”
Robert turned to his friend and held out his hand, “Apology accepted, you ass.”
QBS ArchAngel
in Space over Australia
>>Bethany Anne.<<
Yes?
Bethany Anne walked out of the latest meeting with Team BMW. They had finally decided it was time to share their Bar idea with her. She had to smile. All the shit going down and those three wanted to make sure they were going to create the first, the best and the most renowned bar in the Galaxy.
They weren’t afraid of the future, but the future might think about being afraid of them.
>>The hacking team has acquired information related to a PLA operation nicknamed ‘Cats.' When they researched further, they found operational plans for paratroopers to attack an ancient Temple in a mountain chain in Hubei.<<
Wait, your team found Stephanie Lee but the Chinese military want a piece of her ass as well?
>>At the moment, I calculate an 89.7% match to the information we have related to Stephanie Lee. Frank’s gut tells him that it is closer to 100.<<
Sometimes, you gotta go with the gut. When will the Chinese reach the Temple?
>>Unfortunately, they are set to leave in the next four hours and attack at night.<<
Bethany Anne froze, switched to vampiric speed and thinking through the contingencies and different challenges that needed her attention. She refused to miss the opportunity to take down Stephanie Lee herself.
I want John, Eric, Darrell and Scott with me. I’m going to grab Ashur as well. Tell Gabrielle to meet me in my suite and have ArchAngel notify the right people we need our personal ships readied.
—
Gabrielle walked into Bethany Anne’s suite less than 10 seconds after Bethany Anne. Bethany Anne was already in her dressing room stripping and grabbing her black leather pants, Under Armor shirt and then her chest armor. Gabrielle handed Bethany Anne her holsters and gave her the first pistol.
“What do you need me to do?” Gabrielle asked.
“I need you to be available in case Lance needs extra support, more than Aiko can provide. Otherwise, hang loose. If I need you,” she tapped her head, “I’ll call you. So, you know ... don’t go to sleep, right?” She smiled at the older woman.
“I would tell you some metaphysical bullshit about revenge not solving your problems. However, I have lived long enough to realize sometimes, revenge feels wonderful and allows for better sleep going into the future.”
Bethany Anne slid her pistols into the holsters after checking the clips, making sure they were loaded with silver. A knock interrupted them from the outside, “Your sword, my queen?” a male’s voice called out.
“In here, Kenshin,” Bethany and called out. As Kenshin came around the corner he stopped. Bowing, he held it out. Bowing back, Bethany Anne reached out with her right hand and took it from his hands, “Your queen requests and needs the sword to close an open chapter of punishment. When I am finished, I will expect my Elite to protect the sword again.” Kenshin bowed lower, then straightened up and left.
Gabrielle said as she watched the Elite leave the suite, “You know, the fact that they don’t talk is just a little eerie.”
“They talk, however, you have to get to know them. Kenshin,” she nodded in the direction he just left, “is not only named after a well-known samurai, but he was also the renowned samurai. He prefers not to discuss and speak of that timeframe. He passed into a coma due to stomach cancer, and a vampire who held much respect for him took him in the night. Therefore, there are two stories about his death. In one, he was assassinated by a ninja and in the other, the more accurate one, he died of stomach cancer.”
“How do you know this?” Gabriel asked, “I thought they were very particular about their past history.”
“They can be, however when the Queen asks?” Bethany Anne went by Gabrielle as she stepped out of the closet leaving the rest of the sentence unsaid.
Ashur came jogging into the suite, “Did you get fed?” Ashur chuffed, “good, you don’t need to be eating anything you bite tonight.”
Ashur turned around to follow Bethany Anne, “Gabrielle, you have the ship. Any questions you aren’t sure about the answer to, ask Stephen.” Gabrielle was answering she had the ship? when Bethany Anne grabbed Ashur, and the two of them disappeared.
“ArchAngel?” Gabrielle called out.
“Yes, Gabrielle?” Archangel replied from the speakers.
“Bethany Anne has left me in charge, any and all requests to her now should be routed through me until she is back on the ship.” Gabrielle walked out of the suite.
“Yes ma’am, you have responsibility for all items typically routed through Bethany Anne until she arrives back on the ship.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
QBS ArchAngel
Bethany Anne had checked the load out on her Black Eagle, making sure she and her team had plenty of Pucks, including a pair of new ten-pounders.
Ashur had jumped into the back without any help and chuffed to her as she had walked around the plane, “We are leaving, you impatient god of war.” Ashur barked, and she laughed, “Yeah, I should never have told you the meaning of your name.”
She looked around and saw her guys were closing their canopies except for John, who was watching her. She winked at him and jumped up and over her side to land in her seat. She noticed John smiling and shaking his head as his canopy closed.
She jumped on the team’s comm, “This is Black Eagle One to ArchAngel, Permission to leave?”
“This is ArchAngel, Black Eagle One. I have modified the shield, you are permitted to leave.” Jeffrey’s group had finally figured out how to adjust the gravity to allow ships to make their way out through the shield without sucking the atmosphere out of the dock first. The PODs had to leave slowly, no more than five miles an hour right now, but it beat the hell out of how they had to deal with it previously.
She told him that was nice ... now, when could she punch it? Jeffrey smiled, shook his head and walked away talking to his group.
The five ships left the ArchAngel and turned down towards the beautiful blue globe beneath her.
>>China has moved up their time frame.<<
SHIT! How much time do we have?
>>Their ETA is twenty-six minutes.<<
“Boys, punch it! China kicked off their party early. The impatient bastards are trying to take away my retribution.”
“Sure we can’t let them take some hits, first? That shit could be funny as hell.” Scott asked over the comms.
Bethany Anne shook her head, “Not taking the chance, Scott. However, there is no need for us to attack anyone who isn’t in our way. I want Stephanie Lee, and we need to confirm if there are any Kurtherians or Kurtherian artifacts. All we need is China getting hold of the technology.”
“That would suck massive monkey nuts,” Darryl said.
The team entered the atmosphere at the top of Australia, angled north by northwest. Those in northern Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and southern China were all witnesses to five meteorites streaking across the sky. Shortly, there was video footage all over the Internet.
>>Two minutes to arrival. You will have twelve minutes without any interference.<<
Understood, ADAM.
>>Incoming. Gabrielle is passing along information. Space Station One is under attack and ArchAngel has broken orbit and is outbound to support. Their ETA is nine minutes. One of Dan’s contacts is under imminent attack in Syria and has requested support.<<
Bethany Anne grimaced, DAMMIT! So close. She was about to call out the command to head towards Syria when her father came over her speaker. “Bethany Anne, Akio and a group of Guardians and I are heading to Syria, ETA is really, really soon. We got this, stay the course.”
WE HAVE CONTACT (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 12) Page 18
