It's Hell To Choose (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 9)

by Michael Anderle

  She had been crowing to herself one time about her skills when TOM admitted there were others in the Universe that would be a difficult challenge for her. It had splashed a cold bucket of ice-water on her jubilation to realize her present skills, while elite, just put her up in a group of maybe thirty or forty of the best martial fighters in the nearby galaxy that TOM was aware of back in his time.

  She hoped that her teams never had to fight one of these until they figured out how to compensate. Which, she realized, would mean it was a suitable defense against her as well.

  Fuckity-Fuck!

  Jakob brought the conversation back around, “I asked you here to discuss the issues ADAM has found with spy satellites.”

  “Whose?” She asked.

  “Everyone’s apparently, but I’m most concerned with the USA’s satellites that aren’t supposed to point down on our own country. From what ADAM can see, these are approved repositionings.”

  What are you doing about the satellites?”

  >>I’m sending them pictures with the area modified to still look like they did months ago and slightly out of focus.<<

  Why not just send them older pictures?

  >>Easily deduced and once that is done, they would all be trying to change the defensive hacking algorithms. And, they would know that their spy satellites had been hacked.<<

  ADAM, track those images.

  >>Understood.<<

  “Ok, what do you suggest we do about them?” She inquired.

  “Well, suing them isn’t a viable option. That would cause us too many other issues and then we would be on the radar of some very influential people.”

  “We aren’t already?” She asked.

  “Well, sure. But we haven’t had a request to speak before Congress as an example.” Jakob replied.

  “Exactly how would they make me do this?” She smiled at him, and he rolled his eyes.

  “Just because they can’t exactly figure out who you are, doesn’t mean that your Romanian passport will save you from further review. The longer you stay out of sight, the better.” He leaned back in his chair and chew on his pen for a moment before asking, “I don’t suppose you do ditzy well, do you?”

  Bethany Anne lowered her eyes to stare at her recalcitrant House counsel when she heard Darryl snort. “No.”

  “Hey, I have to ask. I didn’t think you would pull it off too well, but you asked me for my best. A ditzy interview or two and then you have some of the guys looking for the power behind the throne so to speak. Hell, half these people are still going to look for it.”

  “Because I’m too young, too female or too…”

  “Good looking.” Jakob supplied.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes, of course. Men have issues with a woman who is too good looking. We can’t handle it internally, you see. It’s bad enough that all of our chemicals are fighting us when you come around. When you open your mouth and express your intelligence, we immediately have to try to label you a pariah, a bitch, a … Well, never mind. Too much power in your hands at that point. Well, some I suppose would just find you to be that much more of a challenge, but those guys can’t imagine someone better than them anyway.” He shrugged non-committal. “Them’s the breaks, kid.”

  Bethany Anne sat back then turned her head towards the door, “Darryl, what do you think about Jakob’s comments?”

  Darryl didn’t place his head inside the door this time. Rather, he called out, “Which part?”

  Bethany Anne chewed her lip, “The too good looking part. Is this a problem?”

  This time, Darryl put his head inside the door, “With the team? Hell no! We’ve seen the blood. Problem solved.”

  Before he could duck back, she followed it up with, “And others?”

  He stopped to consider her request, “Most guys? Yes, it’s mostly true. Obviously, not the Vampires and certainly not Michael. But for a lot of the general population it could be a challenge. But really, guys have figured out tactics when dealing with women who are intelligent and attractive. For most guys, it won’t be an issue because you will be out of reach, and therefore you will be a fantasy, not a reality. It’s the women you have to worry about.”

  “Yeah, I know about that side. Thanks.” He nodded and turned back into the hallway, “So, speaking of ladies, how are the negotiations with Jennifer Tehgen going?” She had turned back to Jakob.

  “Well, she is going to be my representative in Washington for now. That way, they can’t ask her anything, and if they do try to question her, she has never been here.”

  “I won’t allow someone to grab her.” Bethany Anne started.

  Jakob put up a hand to stop her, “She has backup already. Frank Kurns found three close-support personnel to keep up with her.”

  “Who?” Bethany Anne was trying to think who he might have hired and how he vetted them.

  Jakob leaned forward to grab one of his many yellow pads to flip over three pages. “I see that he has supplied a Rickie Escobar, Matthew Tseng and one of the Guardian Marines, a ‘Scottie’ to the group.”

  Bethany Anne wanted to pick up the phone and ask Frank what the hell was he thinking? He had just shipped out two Werewolves and a human who knew way the hell too much.

  “They won’t be questioned,” Jakob said.

  “What?” Bethany Anne turned to regard the lawyer.

  “Your guards, they won’t get questioned besides the standard questions what’s going on because they have completely clean files. Dossiers from a company that shows they are only with her to keep off the uninvited. There is nothing to show they are part of your group.”

  “That can’t last forever,” She argued, “Eventually…”

  “Eventually, you will be out of range, and it won’t be a question, right?” He interrupted.

  For whatever reason, maybe it was his jovial attitude, but Bethany Anne didn’t mind his always interrupting her. They had shared some of the ‘serum’ with him to help him physically. Enough that his insides were at least fifteen years younger and a couple of years on the outside could be waved away as a excellent diet and exercise program.

  Now, he would get up before her and finish long after she would have thought prudent.

  “Having fun?” She changed the subject.

  “The best!” He pursed his lips, “Although I was a little annoyed that I didn’t get to sue Brimer into oblivion.”

  “You did get to negotiate the agreement with the group. You allowed them to stay in business.”

  “Well, that was enjoyable, but I would have shut them down.”

  Bethany Anne shrugged, “We still have leverage, take it all away, and there isn’t anything to stop them from focusing all on us.”

  “Is that why Brimer stays employed with them?”

  “Yes, his partners will constantly be worried about Brimer, so I see it as a win-win for us.”

  “Why did you want me to interview Jennifer? She turned out to be a hell of a catch, but how did you know?”

  “Michael read her mind.” Bethany Anne quipped.

  “I thought it was going to be something like that.” He mused, “He seemed to make up his mind about me pretty quickly.”

  “You aren’t bothered by that? A lawyer sitting around someone who can read his mind?”

  He pushed his hand out and said, “Nah, I learned decades ago to own everything I did or don’t do it. I’m not hiding anything before…Well, the statute of limitations is now way past on a couple of youthful indiscretions.”

  “Ok, what about the other concerns you mentioned…”

  Bethany Anne left almost forty-five minutes later, and she was glad Jakob had agreed to work for her. He was a widower for the past fifteen years, and it had taken him about three minutes to decide he wanted to move on base. Kevin McCoullagh had supplied him a team to go back and shut down his house. Now, the team had someone selling it for him.

  He would be a very, very busy man for a long, long time.

&nbs
p; QBS Polarus, Sailing towards France.

  “Exactly how,” Bobcat asked, “are we supposed to deal with making sure no one wishes us harm when they get on the ship?” Bobcat was looking at a message which Bethany Anne had sent the group.

  Presently, the team included Jeffrey, Bobcat, William, Markus and Cheryl Lynn, who had grabbed a pod and come over for the meeting. Todd had been working particularly hard trying to learn more about design and engineering of components, so John suggested he come over to speak to William when there was a break.

  So, Todd got to go up in a Pod. He did need to talk with William, and John said that a meeting like this should cement their friendship, if Todd would be respectful. Todd agreed he would be and had tried to act like getting a chance to fly over to the Polarus was no big thing. Cheryl Lynn could see from John’s expression Todd was doing a bad job of hiding his excitement.

  Presently, Todd was over in the cafeteria section eating.

  “I don’t know.” Cheryl Lynn admitted. “I was hoping it was some sort of hat they put on or something like a metal detector they walk through.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Jeffrey started.

  “Which one?” Bobcat asked, “The aluminum foil hat or the doorway of shame?”

  “Why would they be ashamed?” Cheryl Lynn asked.

  “Imagine everything a transportation security officer see’s when your luggage goes through the metal detector at the airport,” Bobcat said.

  “And that’s just what’s in luggage.” William agreed.

  “So, we have to figure out a way to green light or red light them without seeing their inner thoughts?” She asked.

  Jeffrey considered that question, “There could be a place in the brain where we focus our intentions. Michael has to be seeking something when he does his mind voodoo.” Markus smiled at that comment, “We need a way to…”

  Markus interrupted him, “TOM says that the Kurtherians had messed with that for at least seven generations before he left on his ship. So, the relevant information is stored there. ADAM probably has access if he helps TOM. However, we are going to need a translation algorithm.” Markus said, and then started typing furiously. “Ah, he says the bigger doorway idea is just fine, and it would work for intent, but not for specific details, that takes focus.” Markus started typing furiously.

  Jeffrey looked over to Cheryl Lynn, “You’re the PR person, what do you think?”

  Cheryl Lynn stopped and considered. She had finally grown accustomed to the experience that although role dictated your minimum responsibilities - anything could and would be dumped in your lap, especially if you suggested a ‘good idea.'

  “I think I would prefer that we build a door that everyone who enters the ship arrives through. Have them photographed and ID’s flagged somehow at that point. We will need to give everyone an ID anyway. A few people will have support people with them, so ‘everyone’ in the party will be flagged at that point, you never know if someone else is just skilled enough to get by us. Put the troublemakers into one area and see if we can get a vamp to come and check them out at that point.” She stopped and considered, “Yeah, that is a good start.”

  Markus was still typing, but the rest of the men considered her comment, “Good suggestion.” Jeffrey admitted and then continued, “Our new ship is being retrofitted at Alstom Chantiers de l'Atlantique in St. Nazaire-Penhot, France. The previous owners had been retrofitting it but with the economies tanking the last year and a half, were very pleased to get an offer that allowed them to get their money back out of it.”

  Jeffrey handed out a few folders to each person at the table, “Stephen has us turned West and is taking us over to that side of France. Between here and there, we are going to need to …”

  “Holy Shit!” William exclaimed and looked over to Cheryl Lynn, “You really want to do this?” William fist-bumped Bobcat as he whistled.

  “Not only do this to the new ship, but we need to retrofit the Polarus and the Ad Aeternitatem as well.” She admitted.

  William looked over to Jeffrey, “Bethany Anne ok this?”

  Jeffrey glanced to Cheryl Lynn, “It seems, this time, Cheryl Lynn received ‘Cart Blanche’ from Bethany Anne, and I’ve had Stephen confirm this in a roundabout way. It’s valid.”

  “Ooohhhh,” Bobcat smiled, “You have just risen up in my estimation, young PR person.” Bobcat looked back down into the folder, “We are going to have to figure out the stresses this is going to cause.” He looked over to Markus, “Hey, Dr. Miraculous.” Markus kept typing so Bobcat rapped his knuckles on the table that popped him out of his focus, “Hey. Dr. Deaf,” He lifted up the folder, “Do you know what is in this?”

  Markus looked down at the blue folder and picked it up. He opened it and then closed it to turn it over and open it again. Everyone watched as he started reading at the top and then his eyes opened in alarm and pulled the folder down. “Are you shitting me?” Markus asked Jeffrey.

  “No, not at all.” Jeffrey eyed Markus. “From our other conversations, this seems entirely doable. What’s the issue?”

  Markus stopped and looked up, “Except for the part where the stresses are going to go in the completely opposite direction? None.” He shrugged his shoulders

  “Why?” asked William, “Couldn’t we just use opposing gravitic engines to help keep the stress the same?”

  Markus seemed to be nodded his head in agreement.

  “Ok gentleman.” Everyone turned back to Jeffrey, “And lady. We have until we arrive off the coast of France to be prepared to prep the new mid-size ocean liner and these two ships.”

  “This is seriously going to make some geeks wet their pants,” Bobcat said.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “I’m telling you.” Jennifer said, “That this is a bitch no matter how in shape you are!”

  The new recruits, well the Wechselbalg anyway, were running through the mountain areas around the camp each day both morning and night.

  At first, it was just a ‘gripe session’ on feet. That was until the third day when all hell broke loose. They had four groups of twenty-five running different paths in and around the area and even with their superior senses, they never heard, saw or smelled Peter’s group and their attacks. Personally, Jennifer thought the massive stink bombs was going a little too far. The smell wouldn’t come out of her nose for a damned hour.

  Those that weren’t incapacitated with the smell or the damned sound grenades were taken down by whichever Guardian from Peter’s group was assigned to take them.

  At first, it only required sound grenades, stink bombs, and one Guardian to ravage a group of twenty-five newbies. When each of the teams got together to concoct field expedient protective devices, it started to get a little more interesting. The second attack, her team had three able to fight back. They went down, but Joseph Greggs was looking a little beat up by the end.

  They were on high alert for the next run, but nothing happened. It was the third run, right at the end when the base was ‘right over the next ridge’ and they started to relax when they were hit again, hard.

  They were tired, they were pissed, and frankly they lost their mind to aggravation and anger. Eight of the twenty-five went straight to their larger Wolf form while the other seven left with enough focus to attack took out their wooden batons and charged in the direction that the grenades came from.