TKG08 WE WILL BUILD Rel 01 (3 page)

“I have to admit,” Barnabas said, “I didn’t realize the United States government still had people operating against the Forsaken after all of these decades.”

Frank swirled the wine around in his glass and took a sip himself, “Well, they did but they don’t anymore. When Bethany Anne recruited me the position rather disappeared.”

“So, there is no one in the government aware of the UnknownWorld?”

Frank considered that, “I can’t guarantee that. There are plenty of black-ops groups that have helped me over the years.
 
I imagine some members of the groups have long memories and files with hints and suggestions in them.
 
Plus, those that Michael’s group helped over the years, that weren’t memory wiped, are going to remember what happened.”
 
He thought for a moment, “Fat lot of good it will do them, no one will believe the stories except other’s who have been through it themselves.”

“But you fear your government?”

Frank considered his response, “I don’t fear the people, I fear their institutional habits. They tend to grab what they don’t understand and shove it into a dark hole for study.
 
What goes down the hole.”
 
He looked at his glass and then finished the little bit inside before answering. “Doesn’t come back out.”

Barnabas nodded in agreement, “That does seem to be the general reaction when groups of humans get together.
 
It is almost a herd response, I believe.”
 
Barnabas reached over to pull the wine bottle out of the iced bucket. “More?”
 
Frank nodded and held out his glass.
 
Barnabas poured it half full and then did the same to his own glass before putting the wine back in the bucket.
 
“So, what is it you do now that you aren’t trying to track down Forsaken?
 
I understand from Gabrielle that they aren’t a problem in America anymore?”

Frank snorted, “If they are, I’m unaware of it.
 
I still run all of my tracking applications in case something happens. If anything was to happen they are so overpowered now it isn’t even funny.”

Barnabas had lain back in the chaise lounge, enjoying the opportunity to just chat and enjoy the night.
 
“Because of Bethany Anne?”

“No,” Frank answered, “she probably doesn’t even need to deal with any of that any more.
 
She can send either the Guardians,” he looked over to Barnabas, “you do know about her Guardians?”
 

Barnabas nodded, “I understand she has a group of humans and Wechselbalg who comprise her own para-military group?”

Frank resumed looking at the stars that were beginning to really shine above them. “More than that, but close enough.
 
The main Guardian is Pete or Peter Silvers.
 
He can change to their Procilici form.
 
They also have a marine contingent that works with them.
 
Between the two groups they ratchet ‘refined mayhem and pointed lethality’ up a few notches.
 
I understand that they are working to build new teams of Guardians.
 
However, I imagine she could cover any of that by just sending in one or two of her Own.”

“Her own what?”

“The Bitches.”
 
Frank smiled, he loved being vague and Barnabas was just the person to allow him to lead him down this merry chase.

“Oh, you mean her guards?”

Damn, he already knew about them.
 
“Yes.
 
John, Eric, Darryl and Scott.
 
Gabrielle’s the head of the group.”

“Why did you call them her own?”
 
Barnabas asked.

“You need to think about it as a capitalized ‘O’.
 
When you do that, you realize that it is another title. It just happens to be one that is a little more P.C. than ‘Her Bitches’.”

Barnabas mused, “I would have thought they would be more upset with being called bitches.”
 

Frank shook his head, “No. It goes back a couple of years ago when I asked Bethany Anne for help.
 
Well, to be truthful I would have begged for her help.
 
I was losing people left and right due to a lot of Nosferatu hits across America. I had lost all of my Nicht contacts and support.
 
Without Carl, who was Michael’s contact at the time, no one else in his family would lift a finger in support until she came on the scene.
 
She joined an opp in Florida and it’s been nothing but a wild ride since then.
 
She and the four men I told you about connected in a hellacious fight in the Florida Everglades.
 
They bonded and have been inseparable since.
 
They have her back and she has theirs.
 
Then, Gabrielle came aboard and took the lead position due to her skills and experience over the centuries.
 
They took the name as the ‘Queen Bitch’s Guards’ and even made a patch.”
 
Frank turned back to look at the vampire on the other side of the small round table, “Have you seen one yet?”

“Skull with vampire teeth, long hair and red eyes?”
 

Frank nodded, “That’s the one.
 
Trust me, no one who knows what that patch means wants to screw around with any of them.”

“They don’t seem to wear it much.”

“No, only on special occasions.
 
If it’s visible, it’s an operations moment.”

Both men took a sip of their wine and enjoyed the quiet for a moment.
 
“So now you do special projects?” Barnabas asked.

“I mentioned I still keep an ear open for events around the world, but now I also keep tabs on chatter that might mean someone is onto us. That includes any or all of the family for the people on Bethany Anne’s teams.”

Barnabas’s eyebrows furrowed, “She asked you to watch out for her people’s families?”

“No.”
 
Frank answered.

“Then why do you do it?”

“Because if she had to ask, I’m not the right person to be on her team.
 
I know my boss and she cares considerably more than she might let on.
 
You don’t want to cross her, and you sure as hell don’t want to threaten someone she loves.”

“Why is that?”

Frank turned to stare at Barnabas to see if he was completely clueless, or if it was a simple response to continue the conversation.
 
Barnabas turned when he realized Frank had been quiet for a few seconds and had himself turned to stare at Barnabas.

“What?”

“I’m not sure if you haven’t been paying attention, but I doubt that.
 
I’ll assume that you weren’t paying attention and I’ll answer the question, but don’t pretend to not know the answer.
 
Bethany Anne’s sense of right and wrong is pretty strong.
 
But her sense of fairness can be very skewed if she feels that someone is threatening those that are helpless or those that are pawns in a game.
 
She was furious when they were taking her off of a dead-cases team because she felt the dead wouldn’t get justice.
 
If she feels someone is threatening her own, her
people
?”

Frank turned back to look over the night waters, “Then we might witness what happens when justice releases a Fury.”

Barnabas sipped his wine, he was very familiar with the tales of the Furies, he could imagine some of what a mythological Fury could do in today’s society.

He enjoyed another sip of his wine, the waters would turn red with blood as it had in the battles centuries in the past.

TQB Base, Colorado - USA

Jeffrey Diamantz still felt it a little surreal to be working under a mountain.
 
He was walking into was his team called ‘the pit’.
 
It was a room that looked like an auditorium with four levels ending at the bottom with a large table full of monitors built into the table itself.
 
All of them were touch sensitive with large high-definition screens across the wall at the front.
 

Basically this was the most up-to-date version of a space focused command center you might want.
 

There were three sets of work areas on each side of the main aisle as you went down the three levels.
 
The top level was for supplies, drinks and food.
 
Almost like someone expected there to be times when no one left for long.

Right now, the I.T. head Tom Billings hadn’t wired up the eighteen computer positions yet.
 
That was happening this afternoon.

Still the table was good to go and allowed them to view some of the data they were receiving from their satellites and other home-built devices they had between the earth and the moon.

Like moon-droid one.
 

Jeffrey laid his coffee down on the table and opened his folders to review the latest information.

He pulled out the report on moon-droid one and reviewed what it had done in the last twelve hours.
 
The device was actually a twenty-four-volt adult sized dune-buggy with gear added all over it.
 
Shipped up on their first cargo container and using one of the Team BMW power units they had it driving all over the dark side of the moon.
 
Not that it was dark, but it was the side not seen from earth.
 

Fortunately, the team was able to find and over-ride the detection units that the U.S. had on the moon and on that side facing out towards space.

Not too many people knew that some of the earlier rockets with nuclear warheads were designed to go into space.
 
You can’t hit what you don’t know about, so the U.S. put up detection satellites as well.

Kind of makes it hard to build a moon base if you’re under the watchful gaze of Uncle Sam.

The dune-buggy had worked it’s way around a couple of larger craters and had been taking samples.
 
Jeffrey looked over at the top-down pictures their own satellite had taken and then back at the report.
 
He looked down to see that Bobcat had been controlling the dune-buggy for an hour.
 

Well, that explained the donuts Jeffrey could see on the Moon’s surface.

He needed to tell Bobcat to take Shelly up for a few hours to get some of his energy out of his system.

He heard a few more coming down the hallway, and then Williams booming laugh, it seemed that Team BMW was arriving.

Sure enough, a second later the three guys did come in with Marcus speaking, “That isn’t what I said!”

Bobcat retorted, “Bullshit!
 
You said if I could make a donut in the moon’s one-sixth gravity that you would ask Gabrielle out on a date!”

Jeffrey set his reports down.
 
While he was holding some of the best information related to the moon’s surface known to mankind, he just had to hear what the bases own version of a reality-TV show was up to today.

The three men spread around the table, taking their usual spots.
 
William to Jeffrey’s left, Bobcat at the other end of the table and Marcus on his right.

Marcus grumped, “I was talking about a real donut!
 
Not just marks on the Moon’s regolith.
 
You know, with yeast?”

Bobcat’s head shook back and forth, “C’mon doc.
 
You know better than that.
 
If you don’t specify I get to choose my definition and my definition was a donut done by wheels on the dirt!”

“Regolith.”
 
Marcus replied.

“Whatever.
 
So, how hard is it to ask Gabrielle out on a date?
 
C’mon man, grow a pair.
 
It isn’t like she hasn’t turned down a thousand men in her life.
 
All that would mean is… is…”
 
Bobcat turned to William, “Help me out.”

William smiled, “Hell no.
 
I’m not about to admit I might, or might not, be aware that Gabrielle is older or perhaps older than two centuries.
 
If a woman can be peeved if she hits forty, I damn sure am not going to say she is older than four-hundred.
 
So, hell-to-the-no, you’re on your own.”

Bobcat told him, “Fuck you my no-spinal-cord friend and I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

William nodded, “Apology accepted.”

Bobcat turned back to Marcus, “My point is, I’m sure she has learned not to rip apart the shallow and delicate ego men have.
 
So, what’s your problem?”

Marcus looked between his two teammates and squeaked out, “What if she says yes?”

Bobcat slammed his hand down on the table making a loud ‘crack’ sound and then using the same hand to point at Marcus, “Perfect!
 
Then you … you…”
 
He looked back over at William again.
 
“Shit, what would you say to a woman who has literally been around the block hundreds of times?”

William just smiled and acted as if he were zipping his mouth shut.
 

Bobcat gave him a look of disgust and turned back to Marcus, “I imagine she hasn’t been out with a rocket scientist.
 
Hell, you guys have only been around since what, the 1940’s?”

Marcus started to consider what Bobcat was saying when Jeffrey cut in, “Gentleman, as entertaining as this is, we need to move forward with our meeting.”
 
He pulled out his folder for their recent tasks and then spoke to no one in particular, “Just a footnote to end your discussion guys?”

They all looked over from their own papers.

He looked up and smiled, “Remember that she was in Europe and could very well have dated the original rocket scientists from Germany.
 
Imagine if she had an evening with Wernher von Braun?”