She wasn’t sure if he would ever get up. She palmed her Dukes’ special.
Alpha 2 was turning around, hearing the carnage behind him, when his eyes focused on the barrel of the pistol pressed against the center of his forehead. His head slammed back against the door.
“Snake-eyes, asshole,” said a female voice. Alpha 2 could see his team lying on the floor. Alpha 1’s head was bleeding so much that he had to be dead.
Alpha 2 licked his lips. He was willing to take it for the team, but right now he HAD no team. “What do you want?”
“This is how it can go down,” she told him, voice gruff. “I kill you, walk outside and if that van is still there, kill them too. You assholes mean nothing to me. Do you understand my first statement?” He nodded. “Option two, I taser your ass, and taser whoever is outside after you tell me how many are protecting the woman. Lie?” She pressed harder on the pistol. “I don’t worry about you. I’ll sleep just fine. You assholes took it out of legal and into military, so, sucks to be you. You got three seconds to decide your future.”
He licked his lips. “Forty-five to fifty, sixty tops.”
“All like you?” she nodded at his armament.
“Yeah.”
He watched as she pulled a second pistol and placed it under his armpit where the armor wasn’t protecting him. “If you ever agree to go against TQB again? You better pray it’s a Ranger that you fight, we give second chances.”
She pulled the trigger, and Alpha 2 spasmed before dropping to the ground. She turned the doorknob and stepped out.
On the roof, Ted turned towards the front of the building and ran over. He leaned over quickly, then back out of sight. He saw the black van sitting below and wondered what to do. He decided to chance looking over again when the front door opened and Tabitha stepped out. She had the door open to the van in a blink. She shot something that caused a bright white light and then turned, closed the van door and headed back into the apartment building.
Ted turned around to run back to the doorway and then stopped. There was a floating Pod above his building where seconds before it didn’t exist. He walked as calmly as possible towards it.
He felt sure this wasn’t alien. Unless you counted something from Tabitha’s team as alien.
The door to the roof opened, and Tabitha stepped through. She walked over to Ted, grabbing the suitcase. “Thank you, let’s go.”
Heckscher State Park area, NY, USA
“We’ve lost all of Strike Team Alpha, sir!” Mission Specialist McGowan called over to Vic Kingston.
Vic switched the toothpick he was chewing to the other side of his mouth.
“Bring in the reserves. We’ll have attention here soon. Move the package to the lowest level,” Vic said. One man got on the radio to call in the backup which was a mile away.
Another went to handle the movement of the package.
“SIXTY!” Ted yelled in the small Pod, his fascination with the technology lost at the moment. “We have to get past sixty guys to get Monica back?”
“Probably more, now,” Tabitha said.
“And it’s just you and me?” he asked, his voice calming down. He looked out the window. “Well, if I’m going to go out fighting, at least it will be said I wasn’t afraid of overwhelming odds.”
“Yeah, they should bring a few more in,” Tabitha agreed when notes on new troop counts flashed on the Pod’s window. “Annnnddd, they did.”
“They did what?” Ted asked, turning his attention back to the information on the Pod window.
“They brought in more troops,” Tabitha said. “Shit, this is outside my abilities.”
“Why,” Ted asked, having a hard time keeping the sarcasm out of his voice. “Was it the fifty, the sixty or the twice that?”
“The moving your girlfriend to a lower level part. They want to play keep-away. Make me go through all of them to get to her.”
Ted dropped his head, his hands reaching up to rub his face as his voice softened, “She’s going to die, isn’t she?”
Tabitha bit her lip, trying to figure out a way to save the woman and was drawing a blank. She was good, but she wasn’t this good. “If it’s just you and me? Yeah, she’s going to die.”
Ted sat there in silence.
“But, it’s never just me,” Tabitha told him and settled her head back in her seat.
My Queen?
Ah, Yup? Bethany Anne replied.
I’ve got ahh, call it a challenge, and I need some advice.
Shoot!
Okay, here’s what I got…
No, not you Tabitha. I meant to tell that to John, one second.
There was a split second as Bethany Anne broke the connection, and then was back. Okay, the little bastards got sneaky. John took care of it.
Care of what? Tabitha asked, Aren’t you on the Meredith Reynolds?
There was a slight pause. Ahhhhh No?
Where are you?
‘Where’ is a metaphysical question I don’t have time for at the moment. What did you need, Ranger Two?
Tabitha was sure if she had the time, she could figure out what Bethany Anne was up to, and Tabitha was sure her Queen was up to her shoulders doing something she probably shouldn’t.
Then again, so was Barnabas.
I’ve got a hostage situation here in New York to deal with. Someone is trying to capture me, using her for bait.
To accomplish what? Use you as bait to catch me?
Yes, that seems likely.
Bethany Anne disconnected for a moment, it was a little longer before she came back on this time. John and I will be there shortly, but we need a Pod.
We can drop ourselves off and let the Pod get you. It’s only a couple of minutes max round trip if you don’t deal with challenges.
Do it. ADAM will take control of the Pod and send ours in that direction to catch up. Wait, I’m told we have another Pod in the area. So…
There was a second before Bethany Anne continued talking.
We’re in New York now. A Pod will be here in a few seconds. ADAM is giving us an update from Achronyx. Huh, one hundred and fifty plus waiting at the building? Seems like a hell of a reception party. They really want your ass.
Everybody wants a piece of this badonkadonk! They can get in line, Tabitha quipped back.
Bethany Anne sent the feeling of a smirk back through the connection, but inwardly she felt Tabitha’s pain. Tabitha was lonely, hellishly lonely. Tabitha might hide it, but inside? She needed someone she could confide in.
Bethany Anne had no solution for her, either. Tabitha had Michael as a mentor and surrogate father figure. Since young women would often judge potential dates and marriage material by their father, that was going to be a pretty high bar to get over for most guys.
Okay, I’ve got to talk with the building security for a second, You two be safe for a minute or two. Then, the connection with Bethany Anne was gone.
“Where did you go?” Ted asked, worry in his voice.
Tabitha reviewed the information on the Pod glass. “Well, you remember our conversation in the coffee shop?”
“Yeah,” his eyes narrowed. “You said there were the Bitches, friends of yours, that didn’t give a shit about the law.”
“Yeah, them.”
“You called them here?”
Tabitha chuckled. “Well, yes in a way.”
“What way? C’mon Tabitha, if there’s a slight chance we can save Monica, I’m game. If my handsome ass won’t get shot to shit, then I’m going to be super happy as well.”
“It won’t, Ted.” Tabitha turned to look him in the eyes. “I promise not one of their bullets will so much as get within ten feet of you.”
Ted met her gaze and nodded. He hadn’t seen her eyes since the apartment, and it was a little off-putting.
She turned back towards the front as the Pod started descending from the clouds to a wooded area, the Atlantic taking up half of the windshield.
“I called my
Queen, John is just coming along for the ride,” Tabitha said.
Ted, remembering the conversation from the coffee shop, turned to look out the Pod window, the ground coming up quickly. “Oh… shit.”
Now, he was beginning to feel just a little worry for the poor sons-a-bitches down below. He knew that Tabitha had just taken out a small strike team and while he noticed the three marks on her armor, she didn’t seem to have been affected. Now, this woman was telling him that someone way stronger and deadlier than her was coming. That man, one of the Bitches, was able to take out this whole compound by himself.
But, he wasn’t the worst of them.
Her Queen was coming.
13
Ann Bradshaw had been working security for the Empire State Building since 2012, and she was sure she had seen everything.
Until two armored figures appeared out of nowhere on her roof.
One was a female, dressed in deep red armor. The other was a large man, dressed in black armor. Their suits seemed to flex with their bodies.
Not like Iron Man’s suit at all.
Ann wanted to reach for her pistol, but training always suggested that you tried to minimize the show of force and to reduce the chance of a confrontation escalating.
What the training didn’t explain was what the fuck to do when two badass armored people appeared right in fucking front of you?
“Lady?” Ann called out. The woman turned, slightly off balance. She seemed a little weak. Then, the armor appeared to melt from around her face, and her black hair and annoyed look were obvious.
So were the red eyes that were fading in front of Ann’s eyes. There were a lot of people now taking pictures of the two newcomers.
“Oh My God, It’s John Grimes!” a woman shrieked off to Ann’s left.
Ann wanted to spit. Why the HELL was an actor up here?
Ann walked towards them as she watched the woman calmly wait for the armor on her right leg to open up. She slotted a pistol into the armor, and then the armor closed back up.
“We’ll be gone in about thirty-two seconds,” the contralto voice told her. “Sorry for using this place, but I needed a location I knew well, and I’ve been here a few times.”
“Who are you?”
The huge guy smiled as two women hesitated then walked towards him, pens out. The auburn haired woman had a tour guide article she was handing the big man to sign. The second one pulled her coat and shirt aside. “Right above my boob. It’s as close to my heart as you can get!”
The red-armored woman turned to look up at the guy. “Really?” she asked the man. “If Jean hears about this, your ass is grass.”
“Hearts and minds, Bethany Anne,” he murmured. “What goes on during an operation, stays on the operation, right? Plus, we need to be moving, not arguing where I sign.”
“Whatever,” the woman told him before turning back to Ann and giving her a smile. “Our ride is here, sorry to have bugged you.”
“Holy fuck, its TQB’s leader!” This time, it was a guy. There was a flurry of more camera shots.
“Like that shit isn’t getting on the news, John,” she said to the big man when a floating Pod dropped out of the sky. The doors opened, and they got in. They were busy locking themselves in as the Pod flew backward. The doors closed and then it turned and flew away, heading north.
“ADAM?” John asked, locking the last belt.
“Yes?”
“Please block all reports of this event to the Etheric Empire.”
“Okay, a reason for archives?” ADAM inquired.
“No one needs to know the Queen was playing hooky,” he said.
Bethany Anne snorted.
Shit, he had her there.
“You know we’re both going to be busted for this eventually, right?” Bethany Anne asked John.
“C’mon. It was a signature. I didn’t touch her breast, Bitch’s Honor.”
“Like that will matter. Jean will react and before you can say ‘Bitch’s Honor’ your pecker might be gone.”
“You know, that’s not even fair. I did the calendar with a whole bunch of women pushing for it, and now that damned calendar could get my pecker shot off? That’s wrong on so many levels I can’t begin to count.”
“No, that’s emotions for you. You were attracted to a woman with hot emotions, so now you get to deal with them. She isn’t going to suddenly become a calm, well-reasoned woman just because you two got together. She’s possessive as hell, and she isn’t going to share. I’ve already had to warn her I’ll be pretty damned displeased if she ever actually spaces someone.”
“Displeased?” John asked.
“I’ll space her ass, that good enough for you?” Bethany Anne replied.
“Oh, yeah, that should mean Dorene is safe.”
“Yes, she’s safe, but don’t let Dorene know that. I don’t need Dorene’s pinching your ass to become a real problem. Thankfully, we have pictures of what the ladies looked like before they were changed, and I’m pretty sure Jean finds it funny, now.”
“Pretty sure?” John asked.
“It’s Jean.”
“Good point.”
Tabitha’s Pod landed, and she was out of her harness before Ted realized he needed to unclick. He was turning in Tabitha’s direction when the inside of the Pod flashed white. Ted slumped over in his harness.
“I promised the bullets wouldn’t come near you, Ted.” She leaned over and kissed his forehead. “This isn’t about you or Monica. You’re just caught up in some shit because you know me.”
The Pod doors opened, and Tabitha stepped out. She grabbed her suitcase and placed it on the ground. Unlocking it, she replaced her tasing gun for her second Dukes’ special and grabbed four inch-and-a-half triangles and slotted them inside her coat. Closing the suitcase, she shoved it back into the Pod.
Her coat flowed behind her she walked towards the house. Once she had put a couple of steps between them, the Pod doors closed on Ted, then floated up into the sky.
Heckscher State Park area, NY, USA
“Movement, half a mile away,” Specialist Siemanowski called. “Sector 112.”
“Speed?” Vic asked.
“Walking, sir.”
The toothpick went back and forth between Vic’s teeth. “Direction?”
“This way, sir,” Siemanowski answered.
Vic turned his head. “Still nothing from Alpha team, McGowan?”
McGowan answered, “Negative sir.”
Well, fuck, Vic thought. Go out or wait?
Atlantic City, NJ, USA
“SCRAMBLE SCRAMBLE SCRAMBLE!” The alarms blared. “We have bogies inside New York City, We have…”
The alarms died, the power died. Around the airport, generators were coming online as emergency lights flickered on and off.
Then those generators were dying.
Those in the Air Force tower were slapping their desks in frustration as computers that had built in redundancy refused to power up.
Major Mark Milton—he rather liked the alliteration—was hastily pushing digits on his cell phone, trying to circumvent the useless phones in the tower when he was tapped on the shoulder. “What?” he snapped, frustrated when his cell connectivity plunged and he couldn’t get a signal.
“Sir,” a voice said behind him. “You better see this.”
Mark bit off his next comment. It wasn’t appropriate. He took a calming breath and turned around. Everyone was looking out the east windows to the runway where the jets took off.
There was a big ass alien spaceship floating fifty feet above the ground.
“What the fuck…” someone whispered.
“Awww, son of a bitch,” Milton said as he walked towards the window. He recognized the female vampire skull on the side of the ship. “Which of our imperious leaders went and pissed off TQB this time?”
Mark looked down and saw two guards down on the runway. One had his pistol out, shooting at the ship.
He grumbled, �
�Somebody tell that spastic, dickless, one-eyed wonder down there to stop bringing a popgun to a space fight for fuck’s sake. It might just piss off the captain of that ship.”
Washington D.C., USA
Four Secret Service agents walked into the President’s office, calmly grabbed him, and ushered him out of the room. The five men moved quickly to the underground bunker.
“What’s going on?” The President asked. “And, is my family safe?”
“Yes to the family and someone has pissed off TQB.”
“Well, who the… Wait, did we do something?” he asked, trying to remember what orders he had given recently.
They walked into the protected room in the underground communications center, another seven individuals already there.
“We have a TQB ship, the G’laxix Sphaea, sitting right on top of the 177th Fighter Wing at Atlantic City International Airport.”
“What are they doing there?” he asked, sitting down at the table.
“Not letting our fighters take off, Mr. President,” Agent Alvin Carter answered.
“Yes, but why?” the President said. “Someone needs to tell me why we’ve been invaded.” He barked out, “And get that self-proclaimed Queen of theirs on the line, or I’ll send their asses back to the Stone Age.”
Heckscher State Park area, NY, USA
“ADAM, give me a schematic of the building,” Bethany Anne said. They reviewed the structure in three dimensions. “Change to wireframe,” she said.
“Two stories, with two ways into the basement,” John pointed out. “How do you want to go in?”
Bethany Anne tapped her finger on her lips. “ADAM, how are the gravity controls for these suits?”
“What do you wish to accomplish, Bethany Anne?”
“I’m thinking to drop out of the sky, right on top and busting through.”
“Sorry, that won’t be possible, the top has a concrete layer.”
“Well,” John cut in, “that was kind of out of the box thinking.”
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 11
