Retribution

by Charles Tillman

  Retribution

  Akio Revelations™ Book Three

  Charles Tillman

  Michael Anderle

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2020 LMBPN Publishing

  Cover Art by Jake @ J Caleb Design

  http://jcalebdesign.com / jcalebdesign@gmail.com

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  A Michael Anderle Production

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact support@lmbpn.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, July, 2020

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-64971-067-3

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-068-0

  The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015-2020 by Michael T. Anderle and LMBPN Publishing.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Epilogue

  The Line Unbroken

  Author Notes Charles Tillman

  Author Notes Michael Anderle

  Connect with The Authors

  Books By Charles Tillman

  Books By Michael Anderle

  Dedication

  To my Wife Danette, thank you for being behind me while I did this.

  A huge thank you to Michael Anderle who let me come and play in his world.

  There are also two others who worked hard to help me bring this to you:

  John Ashmore, Alpha reader extraordinaire

  Tracey Byrnes, Alpha reader and first pass editor who kept me and my sentence structure on track. I couldn’t have done it without you.

  And most of all thanks to you the Kurtherian Gambit Fans for reading.

  —Charles

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  to Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  to Live the Life We Are

  Called.

  — Michael

  The Retribution Team

  Thanks to the JIT Readers

  Rachel Beckford

  Diane L. Smith

  Peter Manis

  Misty Roa

  Tim Bischoff

  Jim Caplan

  Kelly O’Donnell

  Dave Hicks

  Angel LaVey

  Deb Mader

  Veronica Stephan-Miller

  Dorothy Lloyd

  Jeff Goode

  Jackey Hankard-Brodie

  If we’ve missed anyone, please let us know!

  Editor

  Skyhunter Editing Team

  Chapter One

  TQB Base, Tokyo, Japan

  After landing in the courtyard, Akio led Kenjii into the office building. They approached an elevator that had opened on its own and entered. Kenjii felt the lift descend a short distance, then the doors opened into a well-lit hallway with no visible openings.

  Akio led him to a wall at the end of the hall and placed his hand on a blank spot at chest height. The area underneath lit up briefly and a section of the wall slid open, revealing another elevator. Kenjii looked askance but remained silent as the older vampire motioned for him to enter.

  The door slid closed once they were inside, and Kenjii started as a voice filled the space. “Welcome, Akio, and congratulations on a successful mission.”

  “Thank you, Abel. This is Kenjii. Please grant him level one access.”

  “Level one access confirmed. Welcome to our home, Kenjii. It is good to meet you finally.”

  The new arrival’s eyes widened as he looked at Akio.

  “This is Abel, the entity intelligence who runs our base. He has been helping me search for you since you came out of the rubble at Acheng,” Akio explained.

  “Oh. It is nice to make your acquaintance, Abel,” Kenjii hesitantly answered.

  The lift descended as Kenjii looked around the chamber. “This is amazing.” Kenjii waved his arm, indicating the featureless box. “Where are the controls?”

  “I handle all access to and from the base areas,” Abel announced over the speakers hidden in the ceiling. “All areas of the building designated as TQB territory are secured and monitored at all times.”

  The doors opened onto a long hallway with doors spaced along each side. Yuko was waiting to greet them.

  “Hello, Kenjii. This is the residence level,” she explained as she took the lead. “The common dining room is through here, and our training area is across from it here.” She pointed.

  “The rest of this floor contains living quarters for us and two of our associates. You’ll meet them later.” She stopped in front of a door that opened without her touching it. “This is my room, and Akio’s is across the hall.”

  “Are the doors on motion sensors?” Kenjii asked as he looked up, searching for a sensor.

  Abel answered, “I have sensors and video throughout the entire base. Nothing moves that I don’t see.”

  Akio chuckled. “Abel likes to show his superiority to us mere mortals from time to time.”

  Kenjii raised an eyebrow questioningly.

  “He’s an EI. Think of him as a supercomputer on steroids.”

  Kenjii nodded. He knew what a supercomputer was but withheld further questions.

  “Would you like to clean up?” Yuko asked. “Each room has a personal bath and shower.”

  Kenjii looked at his tattered and bloodstained clothes. “Would you have something a little more presentable for me to change into? I think these clothes could walk on their own.”

  Akio smiled at his friend. “There’s something in your size waiting.” He walked past two more doors to a third on the same side of the hall as his. “This space is available if you would like it.”

  Kenjii walked into the room and froze. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but the room was as nice
as any five-star hotel he had ever seen before the world went to hell on the WWDE.

  The room had a plush carpet on the floor and a king-size bed that looked sinful after spending the last twenty-odd years sleeping on a military surplus cot in a room carved into a mountain. A large flatscreen monitor on the wall caught his attention.

  “Is that a television?” he asked in wonder.

  “Hai. The base library has a full collection of movies and television shows from the last century up to the WWDE. All you have to do is tell Abel what you are interested in, and he will find it for you. The same goes for any music you would like to hear.”

  “How is this possible? We had a generator and solar in Acheng, but nothing like this.”

  “Japan didn’t suffer as badly as the rest of the world did on the WWDE. Mainly because they wouldn’t use foreign-made computers and also because we protected the country from the bombs that flew,” Akio explained.

  Kenjii nodded at this, adding it to the list of questions that was getting longer each minute. “You said there was a shower?”

  Akio smiled again, looking forward to his reaction to that. “Hai, it's through that door.” He pointed as a door slid into the wall, revealing another area.

  Kenjii walked through the open door and found it was a vanity with a mirror over two sinks on one side and a large walk-in closet on the other with another closed door at the end. When he approached that door, it slid open to a room that took his breath away. A huge glassed-in shower with nozzles lining two walls and a large round one coming out of the ceiling greeted him.

  “Oh. Oh! Oh, my! Are you serious?”

  Akio chuckled. “I take it you like the accommodations?”

  “Please tell me you have hot water. Not that I wouldn’t be okay with cold, but…”

  “I assuredly have that. What kind of establishment do you think I run here?” Abel interrupted with an offended tone.

  “Many apologies, Abel. I don’t wish to offend. It’s just been decades since I had a proper shower,” Kenjii replied.

  “I will leave you in Abel’s care. Take as long as you like since there is no shortage of water. If you need anything, just ask, and Abel will either direct you to it, or a bot can deliver it,” Akio told him.

  Kenjii caught his hand as he turned to leave. “Will you…will you be available when I’m done?”

  “Hai.” He motioned to his bloodstained armor. “I want to wash the Were off before we talk further.”

  “Oh, yes. I understand.”

  “The closet has clothing that should fit you, and I will be here when you’re done. We have a lot of catching up to do,” Akio assured him.

  Chapter Two

  Shanghai, China

  Cui had roared in outrage when he saw his quarry shoot into the sky in a strangely familiar flying craft. He had pursued this Forsaken for weeks and had him in his grasp, only to have him disappear in something that he had not seen in many years.

  “What the hell was that, Cui?” Pan asked when they changed to human form several miles north of Shanghai.

  “That was something I thought I would never see again,” Cui growled.

  The run north had calmed his raging temper enough to answer, barely. “I believe that was one of those strange craft TQB used before they went off in those fucking spaceships.”

  “Oh, shit,” Su lamented. “Does this mean they’re back?”

  “How the hell should I know?” Cui snapped. “You saw as much as I did.”

  “We need to inform Master Kun,” Ren supplied. “He will not be happy that the leech got away.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” Cui shot back. “This just keeps getting better. If that damn self-appointed Queen is back, he will be more than unhappy.”

  Cui pulled the satellite phone from the pack on his back and pressed the button that connected it to the one Peng Kun had. The phone clicked as it went through its connection sequence.

  “Is he dead?” Kun asked when the call went through.

  “No, Master, he has escaped,” Cui answered.

  “Escaped? How in the name of the ancestors did you idiots manage to lose him? Did he sprout wings and fly away?” Kun screamed.

  “No, Master. It looked like one of the craft TQB used.”

  Cui pulled the phone away from his ear as a loud crash followed by a string of screamed curses came through the speaker. The noise went on for a moment, then Peng Kun’s heavy breathing was all they heard.

  “Master?”

  “Get all teams back to the Temple,” Kun coldly ordered. “I don’t care where he is or who he is with. You will find and destroy that Forsaken and any who assisted him, or you’d best die in the process. It’s time everyone learned they can’t trifle with the Clan, including TQB.” He spat the last with disgust.

  “Yes, Master,” Cui answered before he realized Kun had ended the connection.

  “That went better than I expected,” Yi said with a roll of his eyes.

  “You think? Wait ‘til I tell him what saved the leech.”

  “What do you mean? Do you know who was with him?”

  “Not who, but I think I know what.”

  “You’re not making any sense, Cui,” Yi growled.

  Cui shook his head as he looked at his friend. “Did you get a good look at him?”

  “Only enough to tell he was a vampire. The red eyes.”

  “Did you see what he was wearing?”

  “I didn’t pay attention to his clothes.” Yi snorted. “The big-ass gun and sword kind of held my attention.”

  Cui shook his head. “He wore a patch on his shoulder. It was the mark of a Queen’s Bitch.”

  “A Queen’s Bitch?” Yi rolled the name out slowly as he thought. Recognition flashed in his eyes after a few seconds. “The ones who were the personal guard of what-was-her-name?” He paused for a moment, searching his memory. “Bethany something?”

  “Yes,” Cui agreed.

  “You’re right,” Pan offered. “The Master is not going to be pleased. I’m glad it’s you who has to tell him.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Cui shot back.

  “You’re in charge, and with the position comes the risk of dealing with Kun when he has one of his,” Pan waved a hand in the air as he searched for the word, “episodes.”

  “He hasn’t killed a messenger in several years,” Yi added.

  “He hasn’t had news this bad in years,” Ren muttered.

  “As distasteful as the news will be if we don’t get back to Kun soon, it will go much worse,” Yi added.

  “That is true. Let’s move,” Cui ordered as he shifted back to tiger form.

  The others followed suit, and soon four huge orange- and black-striped cats ran across the broken pavement at a speed no one would believe, even if there was any around to see them.

  Peng Kun stormed out of the room he had taken when he arrived in Lu’an.

  “Pack this up now,” he screamed. “Those incompetents have lost the damn leech. We’re going back to the Temple to…” His voice trailed off.

  The radio operator on duty jumped up when Kun came into the room, overturning the stool he sat on in front of the old military radio. “Master?”

  Kun turned to the man, his voice harsh with anger. “Contact the relay stations. Tell them to get the word out to all field teams to report to the temple immediately. I want runners dispatched to all the enclaves to notify them to dispatch a contingent of fighters to the temple. The Clan is going to war.”

  The radio operator stared open-mouthed as he heard this. The events of the past months and Kun’s reactions had not been what he expected. The Clan had never risked revealing themselves in his many years. Within a brief time, Peng Kun had promoted himself to Grand Master, a title never used before, and had ordered Clan members to establish bases in human settlements. Now he was sending the Clan to war over a single vampire.

  “What the hell are you waiting for, Chang? I gave you an order. Make it so, then pack
this equipment to travel. We’re going back to the temple after you complete this one simple task.”

  Chang ducked his head in submission as he put the unit from standby into broadcast mode. Hoping his hesitation did not end with Kun taking his temper out on him, Chang relayed the instructions and sighed with relief when Kun stalked out of the building, shouting orders to those outside. He didn’t know who Kun planned to wage war on, but he wouldn’t make another slip that could bring the Grand Master’s wrath down on him.

  Chapter Three

  Tokyo, Japan, The Palace

  Yuko was waiting in the hall when Akio emerged from the room they had given Kenjii.

  “Is he okay?”

  “Hai. It is a bit overwhelming for him. They altered his memory when he was turned, and he is still coming to terms with all of it.”

  “Will he be able to adjust to this? He’s lived under the influence of Heinz and Isamu for many years.”