SUED FOR PEACE (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 11) (19 page)

Bethany Anne made it to another door that was circular and twisted a wheel, “this is an example of an air-tight door, so the container on the other side of this is one that will leave and go up.”

Yuko looked at the door and tried to imagine how it would separate, “How does it do that?”

“According to those who are more knowledgeable than I, very carefully,” she admitted. “It has to do with timing. There is now a shield of some sort we can place above us. We have moved some rocks around us that allow us to use them as foundation stones for a shield that then traces extra strong metal wires that cover this area.” The two of them continued through three containers. All of them, Yuko noticed, seemed to be some sort of work areas and had machines on the inside. They exited another round hatch and walked down to a juncture, the first one she had seen.

“Ok, that way,” Bethany Anne pointed, “heads to the plants and environmental.” She turned to point the other direction, “That way leads to the break-them and let God sort them out groups.” She continued straight forward, “This direction is operations and now ADAM’s group. You guys and gals are considered, oh, I don’t know, more white-collar than those back there.” She thumbed in the direction of the break-them group.” She nodded to another two guys who passed.

Yuko stepped up closer to Bethany Anne, “Are all of the guys so big, here?” Bethany Anne turned to see who had just moved past them again.

“No, those are some of the Guardians, their mommas tend to make bigger people. I’ll show you their other side, in a little while. Too much to take in right now, maybe.” She took a right and stopped at another circular hatch, “This is the entrance to what we call Frank’s Fortress. Perhaps we will have to modify it with you guys and gals coming, but …” Bethany Anne stopped talking when a little 4-inch monitor to the left of the door at face level turned on, showing Frank’s face.
 

“Ah, is one of ADAM’s Team here so soon?” Frank asked before Yuko heard a buzzer and then Bethany Anne turned the wheel to open the door.

“Yes Frank,” she told him, “we will be right there, so see you in a few seconds.”

“Very good.”
 

Yuko noticed the monitor blank out, then Bethany Anne waved her to go first. She liked knowing she was on ADAM’s team, it felt good.

It felt right.

Inside, the container had more carpet, “Frank tends to like less steel and concrete and more fabric and soft stuff. It is a holdover from working in a cramped underground basement for eight decades.”

Bethany Anne walked ahead and then stepped through an open hatch. Yuko noticed that some of the sides of the containers had closed hatches as well. “Are there more spaces behind some of those hatches?” she asked and pointed to a middle-of-the-container hatch they had passed.

“Yes, I believe that is the one that leads to your war-room as a matter of fact. First, you need to meet Frank, and then I’ll get you over to your living quarters, and you and ADAM can start planning.

Yuko stopped, and it took Bethany Anne a couple of steps before she turned and raised an eyebrow. Yuko smiled and started walking to catch-up, “I apologize, but it was very surreal to understand that I’m going to be working with ADAM directly, well, sort of directly.”
 

“Oh, I understand. Some time you should ask Frank how he took it.”
 

“Is he a big A.I. fan like me?” Yuko asked, a smile on her face.

“No,” a male voice came out of the doorway at which they had just arrived. It was one of the side hatches Yuko had asked about. Standing there was either an older twenty-something or younger thirty-something man. Yuko was absolutely sure Bethany Anne had said he had been working in a basement for eighty years.

She bowed to the man who smiled and bowed back, “Now that,” he said and nodded in her direction, “is how to properly introduce yourself.”

“Sure, just remember that you introduced yourself by sic’ing a spy on me, remember?” Bethany Anne reminded him and Yuko was surprised to see him blush.

“I assure you, Yuko,” he told her smiling, “I only had the best intentions in my heart.”

“Uh huh, you nosy busybody, how are you?” Bethany Anne reached out and hugged him. “Is Jeffrey doing ok?”
 

“Yeah, he wants to be up with Bobcat and the gang, but the wife is a little testy.”

Bethany Anne sighed, “I get it, after Colorado, I really do. Do you think we will lose him?”
 

Frank shook his head, “No, his wife knows this is going to hell. Plus, the future for their children is up there. Well, at least they think so.”

“Good, I don’t want to lose him if we can help it, but I understand if the wife isn’t happy…” she started the saying and Frank finished with a grin, “No one is happy.”
 

Bethany Anne turned slightly, “So, Yuko, let me officially introduce you to Frank Kurns.”

“Hah!” Yuko inhaled, “You wrote the books, didn’t you?” She looked back and forth between the two of them, “The UnknownWorld?”
 

“Told you someone read them,” Bethany Anne said shaking her head at him, “And you thought they would sit in the wasteland of e-books, and no one would recognize you.”

“No,” he looked at Bethany Anne with a stern face, “What I said was I wasn’t going to become as well known until I released my books about you.”

Bethany Anne pointed to Yuko, “Frank, she’s Japanese. How much more well known do you want to be?”

“Ah,” He looked down to Yuko, who smiled at him and then back to Bethany Anne who was giving him a trademark raised eyebrow. He put up two fingers close together, “Maybe just a smidgen?”

“You are incorrigible, Frank.”
 

“I’m telling you, the next one about Tabitha is going to go top thousand for sure.” He grumped.

“The Bitches went top thousand, now they are doing a damned pin-up calendar.”
 

“Oh, they are?” Yuko asked, a stunned expression in her eyes.

“You know them?” Frank asked, amused.

“Well, if we are talking about Gabrielle, John, Eric, Darryl, Scott and now Akio, yes I do.” She smiled, “If there is a pin-up calendar planned, can I buy it?”

Akio, where are you?
Bethany Anne asked.

I’m with the Guardians, working on their control when in wolf form to see if we can create new attacks.

Can you come over to Frank’s door? We have a fan, and I’d like to surprise her.

Of who?
 

Bethany Anne grinned
, I’m pretty sure you.

Yes, my Queen.

“I’m pretty sure if you asked them, they would give you one.” Bethany Anne replied, “In fact, they would probably sign it for you, too.”

“What?” Yuko answered, surprised.

“Sure, they are around all of the time. You will see them come and go. You know they are just other guys, right?” Bethany Anne asked, listening and catching the soft footfalls of Akio in the next compartment.

“Have you SEEN them?” Yuko asked, not thinking about the absurdity of her question, “They are dreamy!”

“Well, yes.” Bethany Anne smiled, “Very recently, as a matter of fact.”

“When?” Yuko’s eyes lit up and noticed that Bethany Anne turned to her left to nod at someone behind her. Yuko turned around to stare up into the most well known Guard Bethany Anne had, at least in Japan anyway.

“I…” She said and then bowed, “I am pleased to meet you, I am Yuko.”
 

While Yuko’s head was down, Akio smiled at Bethany Anne, wondering at his Queen’s ability to inject humor and fun into a normal day.
 

“Please you honor me too much, Yuko, I am pleased to meet your acquaintance. I understand…”

Bethany Anne sent,
She is here to join ADAM’s cyber-team.

“That you will be working with ADAM, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Yuko looked up, “I will be.”

Akio bowed to Yuko, “Then as a fellow warrior, let me welcome you to the team of the Queen Bitch.”

Yuko’s frowned a moment, “And that is?”

Bethany Anne smiled, “Wow, someone who hasn’t heard that term Frank?”

He shrugged, “Don’t look at me, it’s in the books.” He told her.

Yuko looked at the both of them, “But, that is just science fiction, right? I thought that was just story, not a real name?” she asked and turned back to Akio.

Akio smiled and shook his head, “No. Do you know the story
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
?” Yuko nodded. “Then welcome,” he waved a hand back towards where she had come from, “for you have come down the rabbit hole.”

Yuko inhaled sharply as she understood the books weren't just fiction. Unfortunately, she remembered that in the books, Akio didn’t go after the ladies.

Dammit!

South America

Tabitha entered the club and had to adjust her hearing, as the beat of the music was hurting her head slightly. She wished she had figured out how the others changed theirs seemingly automatically.

It wasn’t hard to find Miguel’s table, since he had a couple of guys around standing near him that looked like protection, one girl on his arm and another guy in conversation. She tried to turn her ear to understand the discussion and smirked.

He was trying to find her.

She slowed down to get more of the story. Shit! He was willing to spend more to find them than she had stolen back from his accounts. Hell, it wasn’t like she had stolen it all. She had left his bigger fund alone. What a prick, he couldn’t appreciate the little things! It was only a hundred thousand, for fuck’s sake.

Ryu could hear the man speak about finding them and paying money so that he could give them his regards. He noticed the set of Tabitha’s shoulders when she understood what he was saying. It was appealing and amusing how she strove to figure out how to use her abilities, although he could tell from her shoulder posture that the conversation was pissing her off. He nudged Hirotoshi and rolled his eyes. They were about to get dropped in the pot again.

He smiled at his partner and shrugged. Life with Tabitha had been some of the most fun they had enjoyed in this last century, and it only looked to get more interesting. The two of them quickly scanned the crowd, marking who they felt were the most likely guards and used hand signals old before lighter than air travel was invented to select a strategy, waiting for the fun to begin.

Because their leader was Tabitha, and around her, fun was happening all of the time.

Tabitha walked up to Miguel’s table and tried to ignore the first guard who had looked her up and down in a slow and disgusting fashion. Now, she understood how some guys could make a girl want to bat for the other team.

“If you put your tongue out,” Tabitha glared at him, “I swear I will use it to clean up the floor.” Apparently, she had spoken a little too loud and even in the noise of the club, his partner and Miguel could hear her comment.

He smiled and raised his eyebrows twice quickly and then stuck out his tongue as far as he could while gazing at the stretch of her leather jacket due to the, uh, enhancements she had undergone.
 

Lightning fast, she grabbed the man's tongue, kicked out his feet and twisted to straddle his back. He pushed out his arms so that he didn’t crash into the floor.

She was astride him when he finally stopped moving, a mere two inches from hitting his chin on the floor, which could have caused him to bite his tongue very painfully. Perhaps off.
 

That would have been perfect, then she could have used it like a rag and stuck it in his pocket.
 

She grabbed the back of his head with her right hand and shoved his face to the floor. “You know, you try to warn a person, and they just don’t get it.” She let go of his tongue and wiped her hand off on the back of his jacket. “I’ll say this once. You get up and get pissy with me, and I’ll break your leg before knocking the shit out of you.”

She stepped off of him, and he stood up, looking at her sullenly and wiping his arm across his face. He glanced angrily at the other guard who stopped laughing but kept a smile on his face.
 

Tabitha got pissed, “You know what?” She stepped to the booth, “I ain’t got time for this shit.” She grabbed the guy who had been talking with Miguel before she arrived and yanked his ass out of the booth. It wasn’t lost on anyone that the man, who was six inches taller and fifty pounds heavier than what she looked like, went airborne ten feet before hitting a table that was, fortunately, empty of people.

She slid into his recently vacated seat and looked at the girl across the way, “Are you working, or a floozy?”

The girl looked at Tabitha not understanding her question.

“Are you a call-girl or a slut?” Tabitha tried again.

The woman sat up straighter, “I am not a call-girl!” she said.

“Ok, then slut. Get your ass out of the chair before I toss you out as well.”
 

The girl opened and shut her mouth a few times and then looked to Miguel, who winked at her and nodded to the bar, “Get us both a drink baby, this will be quick.”

The girl pursed her lips together and slid out of the booth.
 

“And you are?” Miguel asked as he turned from watching the girl’s ass disappear into the crowd.

“Pissed,” Tabitha told him and unzipped her jacket. He immediately stared at her chest. She wanted to roll her eyes. Why wasn’t it that women didn’t already run the world if it was this easy to get a man to lose focus? “If you don’t focus your eyes where they need to be, the next method of getting answers will be substantially more painful.”

Miguel’s rapidly deteriorating good mood took a sudden drop, “I don’t know who you are...” He jerked in startlement when he felt something sharp prick him between his legs.

“I’m the Ranger that has a sharp sword tickling the Thompson Twins you got,” she smiled. “And if you want to stay a Miguel instead of becoming Miranda, you had better answer my next three questions truthfully.”

Miguel sat very still and moved only his eyes to his two men, but both were gone. In their places, her two men stood. He looked back to her, “You killed George.”