It's Hell To Choose (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 9) (3 page)

“Pretty much a one-way connection,” William said from the monitor on the wall.

“I can have you the design in the next half-hour, William.” Adarsh piped in. “I’ve been working on something similar for the last couple of weeks to discuss with you. However, it has a special release from both sides; it isn’t permanent.”

“That would be fantastic!” Bobcat called out, “If we built a small chamber with two of these, we could do some sort of universal connector that helps with ship-to-ship transfer through the atmosphere. Have a ship connect, pipe in the air, a person steps through, suck the air back out and disengage.”

Penn thought about it. “It would be easier than these little screw actions we are doing right now.”

Adarsh had been feverishly working on his tablet, “Ok, William. I sent you what I have so far. As soon as this meeting is over, maybe the two of us can talk it out?”

“Works for me.” William agreed.

After further discussion, the teams broke up to figure out how to best handle another one hundred plus containers.

It would be, Penn mused, the World's Ugliest Space Station. Considering it was only the third in existence, there would be plenty of opportunity for something uglier to come along and knock it off of its podium.

University just outside of Philadelphia, Pa

“I’m telling you, James; this shit is getting real!” Nick looked at his computer screen scrolling through the messages in the chat room. “TxSatan99 is saying that he knows of three verified takedowns in France outside of Paris. One of the guys over there says he was told by one of the police officers he knows that MyNam3isADAM started printing shit out on the cops’ own printers!”

Nick looked over the rim of his laptop screen at his friend who was staring at his laptop display, “God, can you imagine? This guy not only finds the dirt, but he also hacked the cops own network to print the proof.”

Nick shook his head and looked back down, “Woo! Satan says there is a reward for anyone who can figure out who MyNam3isADAM is by those he is after. The reward just got moved up to 30 bitcoin.”

“Shit,” James replied, “That’s only like fifteen thousand dollars right now. There’s no way I’d turn in ADAM for any money. Besides, what kind of name is ‘Satan’ anyway?”

Nick shrugged, “I asked him, and he said Texas is hot as hell in the summer, so it seemed appropriate.” Nick kept reading the messages, “I’m not saying I want him caught. I’m saying that there is a bounty on him.”

Nick looked up from his screen and reached over to snap his fingers in front of his friend's face. James looked up annoyed, “What the hell?”

“Do you think he wants help?” Nick asked.

“Who?” James replied.

“Adam!” He pointed to his screen, “This is bullshit.”

James scrunched up his face, “What the hell are you talking about? Is this another drop-the-shit-on-me and then run around the block thing for you?”

“No. Look, that was back in high-school! You should let it go, I did,” Nick said.

James leaned back in his chair, “That’s because you weren’t left holding the evidence when the cops came charging in. You know how hard it was to explain all of our computer equipment wasn’t hacking stuff?”

Nick grinned, “Yes, you have given me the play-by-play at least forty-two times in the last four years.” He spread his arms, “Besides, you got out of it! I would have been stuttering and busted.”

“You shouldn’t have been trying to co-opt the school's wireless to change your fucking grades,” James told him.

“Whatever. So, answer my question,” Nick said.

James gawked at his friend, “You want to know if one of the preeminent hackers on the planet right now, who has a price on his head, wants you to help him?”

“Well, say it that way and it seems a little far-fetched.” Nick turned back to his screen, “Fuck it.”

“Wait, what ‘fuck it’?” James began to get worried as Nick continued typing and didn’t answer him. He stood up and walked around the little card table in the dorm room they shared to look over his friend’s shoulder.

“Oh, that ‘fuck it’,” he responded.

TQB Base – Colorado, USA

>> Bethany Anne?<<

Yes?

Bethany Anne was grabbing her suit coat and slipping on her Christian Louboutin’s. John was outside the door to her suite, and it was approaching the time she needed to get to the meeting with the lawyers.

>>I’ve run across a situation I wasn’t prepared for.<<

Really? Like what?

>> My hacker persona is getting requests from people asking if they can help me. <<

Bethany Anne stopped slipping her shoes on.
What?

>>I have been receiving more and more requests from people on the dark web to see if they can help me.<<

She finished putting on her shoes and stood up. She moved around and pushed a chair under a table. It had a pair of Michael’s pants neatly folded and hanging across the back. The man was so neat it was like he came from a Neiman Marcus magazine – ‘Perfect Male. Wise in years, Young Body, Cleans Up After Himself.’

He had left over an hour ago to mind read and give her his impression of the teams before she went into her meeting with the sharks.

How many?

>> Sixteen at this time.<<

You have sixteen hackers who are seeking you out to see if you need help?

>>Yes. They want to join in the ADAM Revolution. <<

Wait! What Revolution? You and TOM haven’t started anything have you?

>>No. This was not part of my plan. I can see where they could be useful as I am dealing with more than I counted on with the stock market efforts. But I don’t know your expectations and whether having additional help is a good solution.<<

Did you want me to help ADAM start a Revolution?

Hell-to-the-No, TOM! You two did enough with China. Lord almighty! If it ever came out that an AI and alien-backed dark web-enhanced hacker group was trying to affect society … Oh, I just shudder to think about the PR debacle from that.

Bethany Anne stopped for a moment and added before opening her door,
And the crap Cheryl Lynn would give me for releasing you two to do it!

But, it’s OK for just ADAM to play?

Bethany Anne nodded to John and finished her thought.

I cannot believe I’m saying this, but yes. ADAM – keep me up to date with what is going on with the people, but you can communicate.

—

The lawyers from Mill, Sethy, and Brimer followed Cheryl Lynn down the hall. All of them passed a sharply-dressed man lounging in the hallway. Their guide nodded her head, “Michael.” He nodded his head to her as the men stepped around him. Mr. Mill and Sethy nodded their head politely to him, while Brimer ignored him altogether.

They were a couple of minutes behind the team from Thuresson and Guaran, and they had noticed Jakob Yadav pulling up in his older silver Mercedes Benz E350 behind them.

Like them, Yadav had come himself. Thuresson and Guaran were rumored to have sent a pinch-hit team.

Apparently, Thuresson and Guaran hadn’t done their homework.

This account could easily add tens of millions to the coffers of their practice, and among the three firms, they had over one hundred and twenty years of legal experience. They felt pretty assured that there wasn’t anything this group could throw at them that they wouldn’t be able to handle.

This was it, the final round that had started quickly in the last two weeks.

The three men were shown into the large meeting room, and all of them were surprised at the display of sophistication. The room was more of a small amphitheater with four levels of desks and screens and a large conference table at the bottom.

Thuresson and Guaran had five members already seated down at the first level of desks on the left. Mill, Sethy, and Brimer were shown the chairs to the right on the first level.

Brimer smiled, that meant Yadav would probably get a second-row seat.

When she got back to the entrance, Cheryl Lynn found Jakob Yadav waiting for her. He was dressed in a simple three-piece suit and had a fashionable gold pocket watch and chain. Cheryl Lynn found it cute. The man had already taken his hat off inside the office, and he was bald and had a somewhat large nose. He reminded her of the legendary NY Yankee manager Yogi Berra.

“Hello,” He reached out to shake her hand. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Jakob Yadav. I was asked to attend, but I have to be honest. I wasn’t planning on taking any customers.” He shrugged, pointed to his bare head and smiled, “Brain is good, but some cold mornings it takes more than one cup of coffee to get going!”

“Well,” Cheryl Lynn said, “as far as I know, they want you for your mind, not your body.” The twinkle in his eye assured Cheryl Lynn that Mr. Yadav had not lost any of his sense of humor.

“If you would follow me?” He nodded his agreement and grabbed his yellow pad and a pen and started to follow her down the hall. She nodded to Michael again, but was caught by surprise when Mr. Yadav called out from behind her.

“You are Mr. Michael, are you not?”

Cheryl Lynn turned to see the two men shaking hands and Michael replying, “I am.”

“Good to meet you, my name is Jakob Yadav. Those hooligans getting snapshots of you and Ms. Bethany Anne when you have been on your dates have to be a right pain. If I were younger, I think I might risk getting thrown in the pokey after taking a swing at those bastards.” Mr. Yadav released Michael’s hand and then leaned forward to gently poke him in the chest and leaned back again. “If you happen to punch one, call me. I’ll consider it a public service and I’ll represent you for free.”

Michael smiled at the much younger man whose body was rapidly getting away from him.

“I’ll tell you what,” Michael answered, “Next chance I get I will deck one of them. But it isn’t with the police I’ll need your intercession, but rather my girlfriend.” He winked to Jacob, “She tends to frown at unnecessary violence.”

“Hmph” he replied.
 
“They are rude. They are taking pictures when you are having a private dinner and it is certainly a justification for violence. At least in my day it was.”

Michael smiled and turned towards Cheryl Lynn, a gleam in his eye. “My day as well Jakob; why don’t we go sit down together and hear what the group is going to say?”

Jakob then turned to walk with Michael. The two of them stepped around the stupefied Cheryl Lynn in the hallway.

She turned her head and watched as the two men disappeared through the doors leading into the conference room. Looking back towards where her work waited for her, she shrugged her shoulders and turned to follow the two men.

Michael wasn’t expected to be a part of the meeting. That he invited himself along was an indication that exciting times might lay ahead, and Cheryl Lynn would need to know the details for when Giannini grilled her later!

New York – New York, USA

“Sir, Nathan and Ecaterina are here to see you.” Gerry’s secretary informed him. He punched the speaker button, “Thank you, Ashley. Please send them in.”

Gerry finished the email he was working on and stood up as the door to his office opened and Nathan stepped in, followed by his mate Ecaterina. Both smiled at him, and they met in the middle of his large office. He shook Nathan’s hand and hugged Ecaterina briefly. “Couch or desk?” He asked.

“I am thinking the couch,” she replied pulling on Nathan’s arm and changing Nathan’s direction. “These shoes are beautiful, but they are not comfortable.” She rubbed Nathan’s back in passing and Gerry tried to keep the smirk off of his face.

Whipped.

He sighed inwardly, he was happy for Nathan. He was getting up in age, he shouldn’t be jealous of Nathan’s happiness. Now that the politics had been reduced substantially by Bethany Anne he might have the time to look around one last time for a significant other. Probably a human woman as a Were lady would outlive him.