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SUED FOR PEACE




  CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Legal

  Social Links

  Series List

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Author's Notes

  Because I Can

  DEDICATION

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  To Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  To Live The Life We Are

  Called.

  SUED FOR PEACE

  The Kurtherian Gambit 11 Team

  Beta Editor / Readers

  Bree Buras (Aussie Awesomeness)

  Tom Dickerson (The man)

  Dorene Johnson (DD)

  Dorothy Lloyd (Teach you to ask…Teacher!)

  T S (Scott) Paul (Author)

  Diane Velasquez (DD)

  JIT Beta Readers

  Heath Felps

  Andrew Haynes

  Kelli Orr

  Leo Roars

  Hari Rothsteni

  Björn Schmidt

  Editors

  Stephen Russell

  Kat Lind

  Kurtherian Gambit Special Call-Outs

  Troy Shafer (Thank you for sharing your family (How was U.T.?))

  Joseph Anderle (Stop Slowing Down the Process!)

  Jacob Anderle (Stop making the kitchen smell so good I want to stop writing!)

  Thank you to the following Special Consultants

  for RELEASE THE DOGS OF WAR

  Jeff Morris - Asst Professor Cyber-Warfare, Nuclear Munitions (Thank God!)

  Stephen Russell - Ideas & Suggestions

  Heath Felps - USN

  Dorene Johnson - USN (Retired)

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright (c) 2016 Michael T. Anderle

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

  Cover art by Michael T. Anderle

  Version 1.00

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  The email list will be sporadic with more ‘major’ updates, the Facebook group will be for updates and the ‘behind the curtains’ information on writing the next stories. Basically conversing!

  I hope you enjoy the book!

  Michael Anderle - July 28, 2016.

  Series Titles Include:

  Death Becomes Her

  The Kurtherian Gambit 01

  Queen Bitch

  The Kurtherian Gambit 02

  Love Lost

  The Kurtherian Gambit 03

  Bite This

  The Kurtherian Gambit 04

  Never Forsaken

  The Kurtherian Gambit 05

  Under My Heel

  The Kurtherian Gambit 06

  Kneel Or Die

  The Kurtherian Gambit 07

  We Will Build

  The Kurtherian Gambit 08

  It’s Hell To Choose

  The Kurtherian Gambit 09

  Release The Dogs Of War

  The Kurtherian Gambit 10

  Sued For Peace

  The Kurtherian Gambit 11

  FUTURE

  (21 books planned)

  We Have Contact

  The Kurtherian Gambit 12

  My Rides A Bitch

  The Kurtherian Gambit 13

  Don’t Cross This Line

  The Kurtherian Gambit 14

  **Future Series**

  The Dark Messiah - Michael’s Return

  The Second Dark Ages 01

  Winter 2016

  SHORT STORIES

  Frank Kurns Stories of the Unknownworld 01

  You Don’t Mess with John’s Cousin

  (read before TKG08)

  Frank Kurns Stories of the Unknownworld 02

  Bitch’s Night Out

  (read before TKG10)

  The Boris Chronicles

  With Paul C. Middleton

  Evacuation (Out)

  Retaliation (Aug 2016)

  Revelation TBD

  Restitution TBD

  Future

  The historian Ahrgri-vactix of the Ristorian Sept looked over the latest entry into his history of the Human Military Power, Queen Bethany Anne. She was a favorite of his. Not only was she still alive, but alive long enough that she had made history far into his past, as well as his present.

  He was writing a story and keeping as much of the truth of the story as he could. Part of his challenge was finding source material to recreate what must have happened on her planet, so many solar turns in the past.

  However, he re-read his most recent entry and decided he liked it.

  One of these days, he would have to ask his contact, Adam, how he knew so much of her history.

  He started reading it one more time, and his satisfaction and pride grew as he read.

  PLA General Staff Headquarters - Beijing

  The Chinese general walked into his meeting room on his way through to the door into his private office. He grasped the handle to open his office door when he suddenly stopped. His right hand remained on the knob as he slowly turned his head back towards the meeting table.

  The table was black, polished to a high shine and had the symbol for power inlaid in gleaming brass in the center. The table had room for ten to sit around it, with another eight chairs set up around the walls for support personnel.

  In the middle of this well-protected PLA base, in his own meeting room, was a letter. A letter that hadn’t been there when he had left just two hours before.

  Certainly not with a sharp knife impaling the letter into the wood between the brass lines of the symbol. He let go of the door knob and took the four steps to approach the table. He leaned over to grab the knife.

  It wouldn’t budge.

  The general used his left hand for leverage and pushed and pulled the knife back and forth several times before he could finally wiggle it free. He yanked the knife out and pulled the paper over closer so he could read it.

  His lips compressed as he read the words.

  “There are two ways to stop my vengeance. You can kill me, or you can sue for peace. But you had better decide soon, or there will be nothing left of your military except machines blackened by fire and people praying for the souls of your dead.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  Space Around Earth

  Bethany Anne gazed at the beautiful blue globe beneath her. It was one of the few calming influences that helped her ground her emotions.

  And TOM, of co
urse.

  Bethany Anne, I’m not blocking any emotions. You are handling the residual pain from Michael’s…absence…on your own.

  Thank you, TOM. I recognize the aching void, but I can deal with it.

  Bethany Anne put her foot up on the little step made for her, cupped her chin in her hand, and placed her elbow on her leg.

  I miss him, TOM, she admitted. Not being able to kill those son-of-a-bitches who desperately needed it was a lot tougher than I thought.

  What about Johann?

  TOM, what is the first rule of Johann?

  That we don’t speak about Johann? TOM replied immediately.

  That’s right. We don’t speak about Johann’s particular form of death. To anyone. That was one individual that wasn’t going to be allowed a painless death.

  Is that what Joshua had?

  Well, Barnabas took care of that ass. My emotional hands are clean of that one. I didn’t realize Barnabas could trap a human into his own nightmare before I tossed him into the Etheric. If I had, I would have had Barnabas do it to a lot more of those self-serving cretins.

  Johann?

  No, I would have kept him for myself. I just needed to get cleaned up before anyone saw the blood on me.

  You ruined another set of clothes.

  Worth it.

  Bethany Anne and TOM settled into a comfortable silence together before she spoke again.

  You know, I understand why Michael put in the strictures. At least with those, you knew the penalties in advance. It also explained why no one wanted to be around him.

  TOM provided a type of mental grunt in reply.

  >>Bethany Anne, I have an incoming message from Dan Bosse.<<<br />
  Switch it to the speaker, please.

  “Bethany Anne?” Dan’s voice came over the Pod’s speaker, “Are you sitting down?”

  “I’m in space, Dan. Damned difficult to stand up in a Pod. It’s not like we have a standing version,” She said.

  “Yeah, well, you can in the ones we put in the Space Station. But that isn’t why I called.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “Have you been told?” He asked.

  “No, but you started with whether I was sitting or not. So, who is it, what are they trying to do, and what do you want to do about it?”

  “We don’t know who yet, but we have fourteen companies in five different countries that have been attacked, physically broken into by armed groups. We have four casualties including three security guards and a woman in India.”

  Bethany Anne’s eyes started simmering red, “Is this the black cabal?”

  “No, I doubt it. It’s possible, but I think we have someone bigger.”

  “How the hell do you get bigger than those fucks?” She asked, her voice grating into anger.

  There was a pause, “Bethany Anne, I think we are being attacked by a nation, this time.”

  Bethany Anne switched into vampiric speed, thinking through the many permutations.

  ADAM, find out which companies. Run through their surveillance video, try to track down the attackers’ weapons and their operations for anything, including team member count, tactical weapons and gear, and what time they went in. Get back to me when you have that information. Also, check to see if there is any commonality among all of the companies.

  Dan continued, not realizing Bethany Anne was already issuing orders to ADAM, “Frank walked in a few minutes ago, he wants to add some stuff. Here he is.”

  Bethany Anne could hear Frank clear his throat, “Hey boss, sorry to hear about the attacks. We have a few more items. I’m getting wind that some of the outsourcing companies we are using for materials and manufacturing are getting harassed. I’ve got some threatened in South America, Africa and one in Las Vegas, Nevada.”

  “What are they doing?” she asked him.

  “I don’t have full details, but at the moment it seems like local crime is doing a protection racket scheme. However, this time, they want both money and the prints for anything they are manufacturing.”

  Bethany Anne heard Dan’s voice, “Another vote for the nation-state, BA.” Then she heard a female say that the company's lawyer was on the line for Dan, who said he would take the call.

  Frank continued, “Well, it would make sense. So, probably funding local assets in the country. They pay them to focus their protection on our resources, and give them a spiff for acquiring technical prints.”

  “We need to know who this might be, Frank. Get with Dan and ADAM, I want to know as quickly as we can. Give me the names of those we lost and get with Ecaterina and Cheryl Lynn to provide support to their families.”

  Frank replied, “On it. Dan’s back, here he is.”

  “Ok, just got off the phone with Jakob Yadav. He has a couple of close friends in the U.N., and it seems that some countries are getting pressure from their business groups. Specifically, governments are being pressured to refuse to work with us unless we share the technology ‘with the world, for the world.’”

  “Any idea who is putting them up to this?” she asked before continuing, “and I don’t believe it’s for the world at all. Someone is doing a full court press. Could it be the U.S.?”

  Dan replied, “I doubt it, the countries that are putting up the requests are either unaligned or have seen a significant amount of investment in the last two to five years from China.”

  Bethany Anne paused a second before continuing, “I’m not going to back down. If we are getting attacked by a country, I’ll fight back at the same level. It won’t be my preference, but if I have to go to war to deliver peace, it will be done.”

  Dan replied, “Bethany Anne, I’m with you. From a small tarmac in Florida to distant galaxies, you got my back - I got yours.”

  A small tear escaped Bethany Anne’s eye, “I need the addresses where we lost people, also Ashur, and finally Gabrielle’s Team, Dan.” She paused for a moment to look at the beautiful blue ball hanging before her in silence.

  “I’m coming down.”

  PLA Offices

  “We have successful responses from the raids, save one.” General Sun Zedong turned towards his assistant and raised an eyebrow for him to continue, “There was an unexpected researcher who tripped an alarm before she could be silenced.”

  He nodded his understanding, “Any casualties?”

  “No, sir. None of ours, three guards and the research scientist for them.”

  Zedong nodded, “Do we have the next targets?”

  “Yes, sir,” his assistant agreed, “The first teams are all safely out of the attack zones and are moving to secondary locations to re-group. The hit teams are in position for the two targets in D.C.”

  “Please make sure the council has been updated with this information and pass the acquired information to our R & D review team.” General Sun nodded, pleased with his group's efforts so far.

  General Sun had been called up to deal with the TQB issue. The Committee had provided support and, more importantly for a Chinese general, introduced him to others who would be able to assist him as he went even higher in the PLA. With the Navy’s failure to track and retaliate appropriately after the sub incident, he had been called to a very private meeting with those at the top of the Party CMC in control of the People’s Liberation Army. He had been contacted by three Senior Generals who, he was lead to believe, had been speaking with the Chairmen on this subject.