It's Hell To Choose (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 9) (25 page)

“Ok, I’m where I can talk. Dammit Michael, I love you too but right now is a bad time for me to admit this. I’m scared for the kids, I’m afraid for my people who are probably dead, and I’m scared you will leave me… probably like my mom left me” Bethany Anne backed up to the wall and slid down it until she was sitting on the floor.

“I need you, Michael. God, I need you.” There, she said it out loud. She meant it, she wouldn’t go back on saying it to him.

Ever.

“You have but to ask, Bethany Anne. Give me half, I won’t fail you.” His voice was as caring as it was unyielding. He was the rock she would invest her love in.

>>There is a Pod heading towards Michael’s house. He can be picked up in sixty seconds.<<

Which place? Her Elite were already on their way here, Michael was needed in Colorado. Fuck, she thought, with some decisions it’s hell to choose.

“Colorado. I need you to get with my dad and handle whatever is going on in Colorado. The Elite and I have to take out a small squad of terrorists. Don’t let anything happen to the children, Michael, please.”

“I hear the Pod outside, Bethany Anne. You can count on me, forever. I’ve got to go, I love you.”

Bethany Anne had a tear tracking down her face as she replied, “I love you, too.” She hung up before he heard her cry.

TOM, shut down my emotions for Michael. I can’t deal with this shit now.

The aching in her heart stopped. She was able to wipe her eyes clear. She allowed some of her anger at the situation to kickstart her mind back into the game. Michael was for later, now was for the children. One set of children she knew nothing about; the other set were the children of her people back in Denver.

With Barrins not reporting, that was enemy action. Otherwise, they would have had a report already.

Her game face on, she stepped back out of the chamber and started her walk back to the Pod hanger.

—

By the time she arrived, the over head doors were opening, and her Elite were arriving. Ashur had come from somewhere, “Ashur!” The big german shepherd turned towards her and started loping over. She called out, “Akio, John, I’m going to change.” She noticed John reach up to his shoulder to communicate her whereabouts to someone.

She hunched down a little as Ashur came up, looking into his eyes. “I’m going to go change, but I might need you. Are you willing to run with me?” The big dog chuffed, “Well, then let John put on a vest we’ve had made for you. I don’t want any shots to your chest killing you.” Ashur chuffed again and turned to make his way back to John. She called out, “Suit Ashur up!”

She stepped through the Etheric to her closet on the Ad Aeternitatem and started stripping off the flight suit. She heard someone enter her bedroom outside, “Who is it?” She called out.

“Um, Barb” the reply came back. “I work with Frank?”

Bethany Anne tried to smile, but her heart wasn’t in it. “Barb I remember who you are just fine. Please go get the two swords on display in the meeting room right outside. I’ll be out in a second as soon as I switch outfits.”

She tossed the suit onto a chair and grabbed her black leather pants. Slipped on her UA shirt and then the personally-fitted ceramic plate vest. She checked the mirror. The plates accentuated her chest, no wonder Michael liked her wearing this vest. Grabbing her holsters from the wall, she slung them on, tied her hair back, and slid on her ‘work boots’, as Eric liked to call them, lacing them up.

Damn, the guys were going to be pissed; John got to play on this one.

“Keep telling yourself jokes, Bethany Anne, maybe it will keep your mind off the children.” She mumbled to herself as she unbolted the door and stepped out. Barb looked surprised to see the CEO of the company come out looking like she was ready to go to a biker bar and either drink or start a fight.

“Thank you!” She grabbed the two swords. “Please have someone straighten the closet and lock the door within the next ten minutes.”

Barb nodded, “I’ll do it myself.”

“Thank you, gotta go.”

Then, Barb was astonished as Bethany Anne seemed to start a step and disappear right in front of her. She walked over to the closet and, “Oh…My…God…”

“What is it?” Barb heard Frank call out from outside of Bethany Anne’s room.

“Nothing you would understand!” Barb replied as she looked at what had to be over a hundred, maybe two-hundred different pairs of beautiful, no exquisite, dress shoes.

She walked over and grabbed the lycra feeling suit and a hanger trying to figure out how to disentangle the fabric. She sat down on the chair and looked around the large space with all of the clothes. “Frank?”

“Yes?” came his voice again.

“Do me a favor and set a timer for nine minutes. Make sure I come out by that time, ok?”

“Sure?” The question in his voice was evident.

“I’ll admit why to you later; please don’t interrupt me as I’m going to meditate.” She bent down to grab the two boots and moved them off to the side where Bethany Anne had additional boots.

She looked around the closet.
 
“I’m going to meditate on how cute these shoes would look with my wardrobe” she whispered.

—

Bethany Anne pushed open the door to her arrival room, and closed and locked it again. “Dammit, we need another place closer to the hanger if this shit keeps up.” She walked down to the Pod Bay. Ashur had on a special bullet-proof vest that covered most of his body yet allowed him freedom to move, even if he had to twist in the air. He was already in her Pod.

Her Black Eagle was modified in case she needed to take Ashur or another person with her. For the other Black Eagles, that area would commonly be used for supplies.

She walked over to the Elites who were also dressed in all black. She nodded her head as Akio held out her sword. She took it and handed one back to him. “This is the blade I used, in addition to the one you just gave me, when we fought the Forsaken in Turkey. I would prefer that it be in service, not sitting on a mantle, if blood is going to be shed.”

Akio nodded his head, “Hai, service is good for a weapon, it ages if it is never used. Some do not take to the aging well.”

Bethany Anne spoke up, “We are hitting a group that intends to get the world's attention by attacking a school full of children, holding them hostage. The last time they did this, it ended with well over a hundred children dead and over three hundred other people killed. We go in, we kill, we leave. If you need blood, don’t leave behind the evidence, understand?” She looked into every face to make sure they got the message.

“Get in your pods, we will be in communication until we land. I will talk with Akio, and he will provide targets to you.”

ADAM, how much time do we have?

>>Their radio chatter has them arriving at the meeting place in forty-eight minutes.<<

“Ok, get in your Pods, let’s get there a few minutes early.”

John was just pulling his arms out of her Pod so she looked over the edge and noticed a small cooler. The kind used to carry extra blood for her in case she needed it.

John smiled, “I’m supposed to be your backup, right?”

She slugged him on the arm and jumped up to her seat, slid her legs in the Black Eagle and dropped down. “You good back there Ashur?” His chuff gave her all the information she needed. She hit the close hatch button. “Let’s go fuck someone up, shall we?”

The hatch above started to open to let the Pods leave.

Are we going to 11 again?
TOM inquired.

Damn right we are,
she replied.

In the darkness, the ten pods could not be seen leaving.

—

TOM, pull me pretty close to AKIO.

Bethany Anne could see a Pod pull out of the pack and drift in her direction. It was about twenty feet away when she reached out to capture his attention. She could feel activity, like a small wet buzzing in that direction and insinuated her thoughts into the electrical ball.

Akio?

Yes? Is this Bethany Anne?

It is. I want to make sure we have mind communication figured out before we land.

I did not know you had this power as strongly as Michael.

I don’t like to use it as much as Michael. Therefore, I am untrained in its use compared to him. However, we don’t want to speak out loud after we land. I will leave you to command the Elite for this operation. I want blood with these deaths. Make sure that we leave a message that something very abnormal happened here. No bodies of ours, if we should have any that fall, will be left behind. No Pods will touch the ground. If there are trees, we shall jump to them and then to the ground. Anything to confuse those that will seek answers.

Do we hide the bodies?

Hell no! Pull them out if they are in trucks or cars. I would prefer no bullets, but if you can’t get to them, then shoot them. No one will be getting away from us tonight.

Understood, my Queen.

Very well, I will let you talk with your team.

—

Khasan was ready. For the past couple of hundred years, his people had too often been ruled by those in Moscow. With the death of Stalin, the Chechens that he had forcibly sent to Siberia were allowed to return home, but that left over ten thousand who would not return. Presently, Russia needed the Chechen land to reach both the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. They also needed the access for oil pipelines that went through Chechen land.

In 2006, the separatist leader Shamil Basayev was killed by the Russian internal security forces and the Chechen separatist effort was still reeling from his death.

Khasan was ready to put his foot down and make Russia realize that Chechen independence was a bitter pill, but better to swallow it than deal with the deaths he and his people would create. Like today.

They would meet as a group and then travel north into Elista. It was the capital of the Kalmykia Republic and had just over a hundred-thousand people. Big enough that their effort would not go unnoticed.

Khasan was being driven in an old Toyota truck through the Caucasus mountains. The groups would meet, agree on the next location and then take off with a little distance between each vehicle. Should anyone get stopped, a quick decision would be made whether to help them or sacrifice them. Everyone understood that the decision was going to be based on whether the support would help or hinder their current operation.

He had forty-seven fighters with him on this operation. It was ten more than he expected initially, but five fewer than the number that had agreed to help. Those five had been pulled by the local leader to support a different operation.

It was about three thirty in the morning when their truck lights highlighted the beaten up old sign pointing to the small road of their rendezvous. The Toyota might have a lot of dents and gashes along the side, but it was a well-made little truck that could be expected to continue working even when the outside looked like it would fall apart at any moment.

When they arrived at the meeting place, there were four other trucks already waiting. Including the van which held the weapons. Khasan opened his passenger door and got out. He closed the door quietly and walked over to greet the other men. Between the five vehicles, they had about half the number so far that were committed to show up. He went over to the van, and one of the men opened the back door for him. He lifted up a submachine gun and reviewed the barrel.

Clean.

He set it down and counted the five RPG and twelve IED devices that they would use both inside the school for maximum death and to fire back at police.

Satisfied that the equipment was what he was led to believe it would be, he grunted his acceptance and turned around. Three more vehicles, one a large van, came up the little road. The road was dark because of all the spruce and fir trees; a lot of the starlight was blocked from above.

He whistled softly in the dark, waiting for the final two vehicles, both vans, to arrive. It took a few minutes, but he finally heard the last two coming up the rocky road. One pulled in behind the last car on the right. The other turned to the left.