SUED FOR PEACE (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 11) (16 page)

“Pear shaped,” Ryu replied as he followed his partner over the top of the roof, running off the building to land lithely. With barely a break in his running stride, he started to close the distance behind their rash leader.

Truth be told, both men had grown to like the spunky woman who sometimes ran ahead of her thinking, and whose mouth always ran ahead of everyone else.

—

Keung walked around the table, watching the smaller woman who kept an eye on him, but also was aware of those all over the room. She seemed neither concerned nor bothered that Keung had been talking down about her leader.

He was not worried about his own performance. While this woman could and would kill, Keung had not been bested in the last three years, even by those who taught others to fight. He could not beat them either, so he suspected at most, it would be a draw, and he would receive the respect she had not been showing so far.

One didn’t throw around martial prowess and expect no one to challenge you unless you were a fool.

Keung took off his jacket and laid it on a chair to the side of the room. She watched as he took off his watch and shirt, leaving on his t-shirt underneath. He noticed that she had on sandals usual for the outer country and took off his own shoes and socks. She dipped her head to him in acknowledgement and took off her sandals.

Keung stepped up and bowed while keeping his head up. She barely provided him a nod. It irritated him. Even the teachers gave Keung more respect than this little female. Perhaps he would spank her for real at the end of this.

Keung moved to the ball of his right foot which was behind him when she started walking towards him. It was a horrible position, and he suddenly extended from his stance with a snap kick to her head.

Which wasn’t there.

One moment, she was walking at him as he attacked, the next she had slid under him, and he felt the burn of fire on his right foot as he landed.

He hopped to turn around and noticed that his right foot had three slashes down the length as if claws had ripped through his skin.

He looked, and her right hand had what looked like fresh blood. Certainly, the blood splatters on the floor led back to her.

Keung pressed his lips and willed the pain to recede. He failed to notice the stares coming from the table were focused on the young woman.

“Her name,” Ting announced to everyone in the room, “is the Leopard Empress.” She nodded to Keung, “And if you know your children’s stories...” She started walking towards Keung again who switched positions to brace his left leg behind him. “You know there is no disrespect of the Leopard Empress allowed.” Keung almost forgot to try and strike when the woman growled like a tiger, and he would have sworn she grew six inches as she walked towards him. Attempting to throw his quickest punches, she slapped them all aside as if he was nothing but a child, barely able to walk. He never saw the clawed hand that took out his throat. His body slammed into the floor, his blood quickly draining out of the massive hole.

Ting allowed her hand with two-inch claws to stay in the tiger shape as she brought it up to her mouth, and licked some of his blood from a claw, “Are there any others who wish to disrespect my Empress?” she asked.

San Jose, Costa Rica

Tabitha entered the manufacturing building through a far back door. The building was made mostly of cinder blocks with the occasional corrugated tin covering. She walked on the balls of her feet, in the boots the guys preferred. She had to admit, they were comfortable and did allow her to feel every little stick beneath her feet.

Or, she thought as she grimaced in pain, the occasional screw someone leaves on the ground. She stopped and lifted an aching foot to pull out the tiny screw that had been sitting on the ground like a caltrop. Just a lesson to reinforce the need to watch where her feet were being placed and what might be waiting for her.

Just like Hirotoshi told her. Frequently.

She kept her sword in the scabbard and held it motionless with her left hand as she listened intently in the darkened building, making her way to the area in the building where the two thugs would be.

She was quick, much quicker than a human, but probably pretty slow compared to her two lackeys.
 

Well, she considered them lackeys only when they weren’t around, and there was no chance in hell they could possibly pick up her thoughts. Because if they did hear her, then life during training was going to suck amazeballs for weeks.

But, she needed to get her kicks from somewhere and this week it was calling the wonder twins her lackeys and getting away with it.

At least so far.

Tabitha was passing an office when she stopped and quickly stepped back two steps to look inside. It was a room full of computers with drawings all over the walls. She had found the engineering room in the building so she stepped inside for a better look.

—

“I’m telling you, José,” George muttered, “This is not a normal lock!” He finally heard the click he needed and turned the knob to open the door. “There, satisfied?”

“No, next time do better,” José whispered as he stepped by George and went inside. George closed the door after flipping off his friend and taking a quick peek to make sure no one saw them before closing the door.

José whispered, “It’s quiet in here.”
 

“What do you want?” George asked, “a welcoming committee? Rats? Dogs for fuck’s sake?”
 

“Yes, dogs. Then I can feed you to them to shut both them and you up.” José said. “My contact said the engineer’s room is down the second hallway on the left. Go four doors down and it will be on the left.”

“Good, let’s do this and go,” George answered.

Occasional lights from computers or clocks provided enough light to see the surroundings as the two men made their way through the office.

“One…two…three…four,” Jose’ said and turned inside, “This is it.”
 

“Shit, it’s dark, we can turn on the light, right?” George asked.

“There aren’t any windows in here, sure.” José whispered.

“Fuck,” whispered a voice.

“Fuck what?” George asked.

“What fuck?” José replied, “I didn’t say fuck.”
 

“The fuck you didn’t say fuck, I heard you say fuck!” George hissed to his friend, “Where the hell is the light switch.”

“Here, let me get it for you.” A voice George didn’t recognize spoke in the dark.

“What the FUCK!” he yelled as the lights came on and a person dressed in black with only their eyes showing was standing by the wall just a couple of steps away, hand near a switch. They were holding a sword scabbard in their …no, her…definitely her… left hand.

“Oh, the fuck you say!” she said, “I’m thinking the two of you are here to fuck up these machines after trying to steal plans. Now, you have a choice…”
 

“Fuck your choice!” José whipped his bar around as he spoke, aiming for her head. The hell he was going for her option one or any other choice.

Jose’s eyes opened wide as pain registered in his arms. The vibrations ran down the pipe as it slammed into her scabbard, blocking his swing and stopping it cold.

“You fucked up my scabbard!” she bitched. George saw her check out her sheath and look his way before jumping over to José who was pulling his pipe around for a second swing. She put the scabbard under her arm, then caught his swinging arm and casually broke it.

José shrieked in pain as the pipe dropped out of his hands to clatter to the floor. “Swinging such a long thing at a girl has probably been a lifelong dream of yours, dickless,” she was telling José when George shot her from behind.

Twice…and a third time when she hit the floor, her body jerking.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here!” George told José as he put the pistol back in his pocket and reached to help his friend stand up.

The two of them turned towards the door and stopped. Two more figures, dressed all in black, stood blocking the exit from the room. George swallowed, noticing that their eyes were red.

A voice, rough and in pain came from behind them, “Cock fucking, back shooting, inbred cretin!” George turned his head to see the woman, blood freely running down her back, stand up and turn toward him. He grabbed for his pistol and had pulled it out when she twisted faster than he could track, standing in shock as the end of his arm became a stump, blood squirting on the floor.
 

He noticed in disbelief that her scabbard was off, her eyes were red, and he had no hand. She stepped closer to him, her voice hissing, You have been judged!” Then, she thrust her sword into him, through his heart, "The sentence is death." George barely understood what had gone so wrong as the lights faded, the room dimmed, and he collapsed into oblivion.

José, unable to grab his pistol with his broken arm, looked down at George in shock and then over at the short girl. “I …I…” he stuttered.

“You,” she said, putting the bloody tip of her sword on his chest, “Will tell your boss, Miguel, that I have him in my sights.” She tapped the point against his chest as she continued, “I’ll be seeing him. TQB partners are off limits.” She pulled her sword back and used José’s body to wipe the blood off as she kept his eyes locked with hers, “Don’t let me see you again.” She scabbarded her sword and stepped over George to walk towards the door. The two men watched José as she walked between them and took a left down the hallway. One of the men stepped back, then the other.

The last shut off the light when he left, leaving José in the dark.

—

“Kimosabe,” Ryu began as the three of them left the building, only to dart forward when Tabitha stumbled and collapsed to the ground. He caught her and turned her around, to lay her gently on a small patch of grass, pulling off her mask.

“As I thought,” Hirotoshi said. He uncorked the first vial of blood, “Watch for me.” Ryu stood up and checked to make sure the other idiot hadn’t tried to follow the three of them out.

“Here, drink this Ranger Tabitha,” Hirotoshi murmured into the dark, “for tonight, your blade tasted blood, and you walked out as a Ranger should.”

Hirotoshi never knew that Tabitha had been awake enough to hear his comment. It would warm her for decades into the future.

Once he finished getting most of the vial of blood in her, Hirotoshi gently picked her up, and the three of them disappeared into the night.

Aboard U.S. RC-135, East China Sea

“Captain, we have incoming bogeys again,” Raven 1 spoke into his mic.
 

This would be the fifth time in the last sixty days their plane had been involved with Chinese scrambling jets to intercept their spy mission. The mission that was completely legal as they flew in international airspace. Their flight was staffed with a total of twenty-two people. The total force dedicated to electronic warfare responsibilities included ten Ravens, all focused on their jobs.

“ETA?”

“Ten minutes, sir. They are hitting it pretty hard to catch up to us.” Raven 1 responded.

“Understood, calling to base.”

Captain Hodges looked over his controls and was about to call in requesting if there should be any changes to their flight plan. He didn’t expect one, but you never knew.

What he received instead, was an unexpected contact.

“Hey Leo, take a look,” Captain Hodges turned right towards Jack, his co-pilot, to see him pointing slightly up. He stretched a little forward to look up to see…

“Attention Air Force RC-135, this is Black Eagle One,” A female's voice came through the speaker.
 

As Captain Hodges reached for the mic button his co-pilot mentioned quietly, “I see three more.”

“Ask those turkeys in the back if they have anything around us!” Captain Hodges told Jack then hit the microphone, “This is Captain Hodges, to whom am I speaking?”

“Captain Hodges, I'm sorry, but since this meeting never happened, and I’m sure when you see why you will understand how come I'm keeping you ignorant. I just want you to know that those Chinese J-10’s heading this way are going to be leaving. So I’m offering you a choice. Do you and your men want to play along or not with their exit?”

“What would we need to do, Black Eagle One?” He asked as his co-pilot pointed to his headphones and put his hand up in a universal zero signal. Damn, those Pods were within a couple of hundred feet, and their detection stuff couldn’t find them at all!

“When those J-10’s get close, I can either send them away, or someone can give me a signal to send them away. Do something like tell them to go away, that they are bugging you, and then sit back and enjoy the show.”

Captain Hodges heard a snort from his co-pilot and grinned himself.

He clicked his headphones mic, “Let me be sure I understand the story, Black Eagle One. The J-10’s will arrive here, and we fully expect them to do something ridiculous. When that happens, I should tell them to ‘shoo off’ so they will leave?”
 

“That is correct. Do you care to be a part of this? The only thing you are responsible for is letting us know when they are too close to your plane to be comfortable, and we will take care of the rest.”

Captain Hodges chuckled, “How much trouble can I get in for telling them to back off?” God only knows, he thought to himself before clicking his mic back on, “Yes, Black Eagle One, I will be happy to tell the Chinese they are too close to my plane. It isn’t like I wouldn’t tell them that anyway.”

“Very well. We are going to back off so we aren’t seen in proximity to you. Safe flying, Captain,” the female’s voice cut off, and then the four Pods were simply gone.

“I’ve GOT to get me one of those!” his co-pilot commented to chuckles around the cabin.

He clicked the mic for the speakers in the back, “This is the Captain,” Leo spoke, “I’ve got news and a new project. Shortly, we are going to be intercepted by what seems to be two Chinese J-10’s coming in hot. I’m sure they want to yell at us for being in international airspace and aiming our sensitive devices in their general direction. Unfortunately for them, they are going to be asked to go fly somewhere else, and I’ve been informed it is going to happen. Now, I am telling you that whatever the hell happens on this flight, consider it top secret. Whatever your readings are, your guesses, what we videotape and what you know, is top secret.”