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  “Yeah, give me an unpretentious B-. No, you ass. Whatever he thinks he can do without will work fine.”

  John nodded to Darryl who left to go find the blood.

  Dan started talking again, “So, how are you going to get into the building without getting noticed? We know that all obvious entrances and a few others have been booby trapped. We can tell that there are a lot of encrypted video transfers happening. We surmise that means they’ve planted video cameras watching us out here as well.”

  Bethany Anne turned one way, and then around another looking at the buildings next to them. The Southeast Financial Center was a very nice 55 story office building with a stepped top and a 15 story parking garage next to it. It was surrounded by multiple buildings that weren’t as tall as it was. Damn, she wanted the roof. “Any chance we can get a helicopter for my team and I. Also, a crew that won’t see or speak about anything that happens?”

  Dan considered that a moment, turned around and opened the door to the van. A second later, a phone was handed to him. “Frank? It’s Dan. Yeah, we made it over here just fine. Bethany Anne has a plan, no, no I don’t know the plan and neither, I suspect, will you. She wants a helicopter with a deaf and mute crew. Yup, completely silent and never knew anything. How long? That long? Hold on, she wants the phone.”

  Bethany Anne took the phone from him. “What’s the problem? Is it the helicopter or can you not promise they won’t talk? Ah, so a senior officer could just order them to talk? Well, I can take care of the not talking part. No. No it wouldn’t be through scaring them. Look, you have your secrets let a woman have hers. Ok; Still that long? Shit! Ok; work your magic and I’ll try to work mine.”

  She handed the phone back to Dan, took out her cell phone and started researching local helicopter aviation companies. She found a likely solution and hit the phone number. She hoped this worked out.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Miami, FL USA

  Captain William ‘Bobcat’ Carlson was tinkering on his love. A retired early 2002 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter. The Army went to the upgraded UH-60M and Bobcat had been able to get one that was going to be retired. Usually, he flew a Hiller UH-12C for most of his commissions but his love was for the Black Hawk. If it wasn’t such an expensive beast to fly, he would love to do it all of the time.

  He was just finishing up, closing up the engine compartment door when his phone rang.

  “Bobcat Aviation, this is Bill speaking. Where can we fly you today?”

  Bill heard a nice voice over the phone ask him about his availability for flying right then. “Yes, I’m open today. Is it just going to be you and another, or just you?” Hey, she sounded good on the phone maybe it would be a long flight. Since getting out of the military a couple of years back he was doing ok, but the business was taking all of his time. His ability to meet women was seriously curtailed. Besides, the Black Hawk already demanded all of his money. There wouldn’t be any left to share with another woman. The Black Hawk was a jealous girlfriend.

  “Your asking about the Black Hawk? Yes, Its available as well but it would be really expensive ma’am. About $5,000 an hour. How much for the rest of the day?” Crap, this was fantastic. Getting to fly the Black Hawk and actually make money instead of sucking gas fumes. Thank god.

  “I can cut you a deal at $35,000, but that isn’t total air time. That just means you have my attention for the rest of the day until Midnight. Any extra fuel over 500 miles will be added to the bill.”

  Bill got concerned, “You need me downtown? I can’t do that. The aviation rules won’t permit me to do that. Yes, if you take care of that I can get out there. Ma’am, if I start now before I get approval you will get a bill for $5,000. That’s a big risk. Ok, I’ll do it.”

  Bill got the credit card infoCaptain William ‘Bobcat’ Carlson was tinkering on his love. A retired early 2002 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter. The Army went to the upgraded UH-60M and Bobcat had been able to get one that was going to be retired. Usually, he flew a Hiller UH-12C for most of his commissions but his love was for the Black Hawk. If it wasn’t such an expensive beast to fly, he would love to do it all of the time.

  He was just finishing up, closing up the engine compartment door when his phone rang.

  “Bobcat Aviation, this is Bill speaking. Where can we fly you today?”

  Bill heard a nice voice over the phone ask him about his availability for flying right then. “Yes, I’m open today. Is it just going to be you and another, or just you?” Hey, she sounded good on the phone maybe it would be a long flight. Since getting out of the military a couple of year’s back he was doing ok, but the business was taking all of his time. His ability to meet women was seriously curtailed. Besides, the Black Hawk already demanded all of his money. There wouldn’t be any left to share with another woman. The Black Hawk was a jealous girlfriend.

  “You’re asking about the Black Hawk? Yes, It’s available as well but it would be really expensive ma’am. About $5,000 an hour. How much for the rest of the day?” Crap, this was fantastic. Getting to fly the Black Hawk and actually make money instead of sucking gas fumes. Thank god.

  “I can cut you a deal at $35,000, but that isn’t merely total air time. That just means you have my attention for the rest of the day until Midnight. Any extra fuel over 500 miles will be added to the bill.”

  Bill got concerned, “You need me downtown? I can’t do that. The aviation rules won’t permit me to do that. Yes, if you take care of that I can get out there. Ma’am, if I start now before I get approval you will get a bill for $5,000. That’s a big risk. Ok, I’ll do it.”

  Bill got the credit card info and went to his computer. She had told him to put a hold on the credit card for $50,000 and damned if it didn’t go through.

  He went whistling over to the little electric 4 wheeler he used to push the helicopter out of the hanger. He was going for a ride whether he got the job or not. $5,000 would be enough for the gas and at least an hour of playing and he would still have enough for the rent this month.

  Ten minutes later, he got a call coming in from Washington D.C. That gave him the information to use and the coordinates of his pickup. Son of a bitch. He was told this was for a police action and that according to his military jacket he had the security clearances to know how to keep his mouth shut. While he couldn’t be ordered, it would be appreciated. The veiled threat was that if he opened his mouth, life could become hard.

  Although it rankled him that someone would try to put the screws to him, he never talked about any of his clients. He certainly wouldn’t talk about a women who has a credit card that didn’t even flinch for a $50k approval.

  He went through the pre-flight, got his clearance and the bird was aloft, heading downtown.

  He landed in a large park in the middle of a soccer field with three large black SUV’s on the side and men around the perimeter making sure no one came close to his landing spot. As he was setting down the second SUV pulled out and started driving on the field. Stopping a few feet outside the main wash of air from his blades, the door opened and 4 guys in black military with full battle rattle got out of the SUV and holy hotdogs in heaven. There was a female in battle rattle, but had black leather pants. If she was the lady on the phone he certainly wasn’t talking to anyone about her. Damn, he wished it was just a flight for one.

  The group opened the door and the lady came in third. The last two got in and closed the door. The lady came up. “Mr. Carlson?”

  Bob picked up a second pair of headphones and handed them back. Bethany Anne put them on and immediately it helped compensate for the loudness of the helicopter. “That’s so much better. So, let’s try this again. Mr. Carlson?”

  “Yes, but call me Bill or Bobcat, it’s my nickname.”

  “From the service?”

  “Yes.”

  “Alright Bobcat. My name is Bethany Anne and behind you is my team leader John, plus Eric, Darryl and Steve. I need you to take us to within 100 feet above the S
outheast Financial Center. Hover there for sixty seconds after I pat you on the shoulder and then leave going the same direction for five miles. After that, I want you to just fly wherever you want to. I have your cell phone so if I need you, I’ll call you back. Make sense?”

  “Yes. Fly over to Southeast Financial Center. Count to sixty after the tap and then fly straight five miles and then pretty much wherever I want. You’ll call if you need me.”

  “Right, just make sure you have enough fuel if I need you, Ok?”

  He grinned, it would mean he went down a couple of extra times, but that was ok. “Sure, no problem. I’ll fly into a nearby airport for fuel in case you call me while I’m on the ground.”

  “Sounds good. Lets go.”

  She handed him back the headphones. Damn, he wasn’t going to be able to get her number. Wait, he had it on his cell phone already. Sweet!

  The Black Hawk helicopter landing in the park was the main subject for the local kids for a week. Finally, a school fight became the new topic when a teacher got punched in the nose trying to break the fight up.

  As they approached the tower, she turned to her team. “Alright, if you aren’t comfortable with trusting me, now’s the time to admit it and pussy out. Anybody in the not trusting category raise your hand.”

  All of them just smiled at her; she smiled back. “Ok, we are about to do something that is team only. I don’t want this getting out because it can and will be used against you and me. I’m going to get each of you down to the top of the building from the helicopter. Darryl, you and Scott are going second. Make sure you have those blood bags. Let me have one now.

  Bethany Anne took a bag and started drinking, a little self conscience doing it around the guys. John just winked at her.

  When the Black Hawk started slowing down they double checked their gear and Bethany Anne moved both Scott and Darryl back and told them ‘on pain of death, you two wank lickers better not move an inch, you understand? They both grabbed a hand hold and promised themselves that nothing could cause them to move from this spot. She nodded to Eric who opened the door. She quickly looked out and down at the top of the building below. She went over to the pilot and patted him on the shoulder, then turned around and ran towards the door grabbed John and Eric in vice-like grips and all of them disappeared.

  Scott and Darryl were shocked. They wanted to run over and look to see if they were splattered over the rooftop or not. The next thing they knew, she was back in the helicopter, closed the door and came over and grabbed both of them. Fifteen seconds later the helicopter started leaving the airspace and headed towards Hollywood, Florida. Bob was the only one in the aircraft.

  Down below, the team shook off their surprise, got their op faces on and started towards the door to go into the building. The team found the main stairway and started going down. Each level was painted on the doors in green. It helped them know how far down they had to go.

  Bethany Anne left them at level 47. By the time she came back, the team had made it to 12 and they were breathing hard. Down is easier than up, but it still isn’t easy.

  She let them know that the group in the basement had been wiring up explosives to take the building down. There was a newly made hole that went to a tunnel. That was where her team was going to exit if possible.

  She let the team rest while she filled them in. The ‘terrorists’ were in contact with each other every three minutes. So, they had three minutes to take care of everything.

  This might suck.

  She asked for any ideas. Eric suggested that the team could split up. She could take a group and two teams of two could go after the other two groups.

  Worked for her. The first priority was the safety of the hostages. Then the charges in the basement. She wanted the last guys to be the ones hitting the computers as she wanted them to answer a few questions. She took the second bag of blood from Darryl and drank the contents. Getting all of them down off of the Black Hawk hadn’t been taxing her energy too much, but she hadn’t topped off either. She didn’t really want to drink this coppery tasting stuff so she only did it when in a situation that warranted extraordinary actions. Two bags left. She told Darryl to give one to Eric so each team would have one if she needed it. Scott gave everyone a set of fake fangs and then everyone played a fast game of paper rock scissors and Eric was the first looser. He didn’t get a pair. The other three got their contact lenses on. Everyone agreed that it didn’t cause too much of a distraction to their eyesight. On an op with a huge chance to blow up into a PR nightmare, they needed to make sure that Bethany Anne’s heritage, as recent as it was, was hidden in broad daylight.

  So to speak.

  They all put their fangs, including Bethany Anne, in a pocket on their vest. No one could talk well with these things. They would use them later after the main hit if they needed to.

  There were smiles all around. These men were hardened vets against the Nosferatu, their reaction times were against Pros that even Spec-Ops teams couldn’t compete against. This team had just taken down two by themselves and had come out the meat grinder on the other side complete. Now, they had the best fucking leader in the world who trusted them to get the job done, they wouldn’t fail her or the hostages downstairs.

  It was time to party.

  They carefully made their way down to the fifth floor where the server rooms were located. Scott and Darryl stepped out of the stairwell carefully, signaled back to the door they were clear and slowly made their way to the area where the guys were hacking the computers.

  Bethany Anne stopped at the main floor and signaled John and Eric to beep her when in place.

  The minute it took them to get ready allowed her to focus her hearing on what was going on outside in the area with the hostages. She heard a few women and one man crying. A couple of times she heard someone get a beating with the stock of a gun and a huge number of threats. Bethany Anne was getting pissed. Her eyes were glowing red and her fangs had involuntarily grown to the longest reach they ever had. No one would be mistaking her fangs for makeup right now.

  She fucking hated it when someone in a position of power took advantage of others. She wondered what these assholes would do if the tables were turned? Would they shout and berate others if they were helpless? She heard one woman scream to her child to come back to her. That tore it, she was going in early. As she opened the door, she heard the click.

  Good timing men. Good timing. She quickly clicked a reply and tore into the first man without even slowing down. He had his rifle poised to strike a young toddler who was crying and just blindly running. She backhanded the man’s head throwing his body, now headless, back into a large decorative tree in the lobby. His body hit the trunk and stopped, then just fell over.

  The next two closest to her had been watching the expected beat down of the child, their faceplates each received two .45 rounds blowing chunks of their helmets out the backs of their heads, peppering the hostages on the floor with brain matter and plastic. Couldn’t be helped.

  The three other men were on the opposite side of the room. There was no way for her to run through the audience. This room had thirty foot high ceilings. She ran to a wall and kicked backwards off of it aiming to jump over the hostages and then used her ability to slip through the etheric and appeared twenty feet in the air right above the middle tango. She started shooting as gravity took over and all three were dead before she dropped ten feet. She landed by the first tango, sprawled on the ground with his blood draining from the holes in the top of his head. She quickly ran over behind a decorative tree and slipped back through the etheric to the safety of the stairwell. She clicked her headset once to let everyone know her task was complete.

  She started racing up the stairs to get back to level five. The group in the basement had three members. She was confident John and Eric could take them out.

  Down below, John and Eric had eased in the room and blocked the stairway door from closing so it didn’t make a ‘clicking’ so
und. They weren’t sure how Bethany Anne had made it in and out and weren’t about to break radio silence to ask.

  John felt alive. Even more alert than last night if that was possible. It seemed everything was crystal clear and he was definitely in the ‘zone’. He pointed to Eric and then pointed to the guy by the exit.

  Their team only had one rule of engagement. The enemy needed to be engaged and put down. That was the rule. The corollaries all had to do with ‘If this type of supernatural, use silver frangibles. If this other type use the proscribed ammunition’. For humans, lead worked real well. Maybe if someone had thought about it, they might have activated different rules but no one seemed to remember to do that. Oh well, tough shit for these guys.

  Eric was quiet as he was preparing to take out the last guy. He gave John the ‘ready in five’ sign and started the countdown. On five he stood up and took out his contact who had been looking into the newly made four foot hole in a back wall. They had pulled out some old computer racks that were on wheels and apparently used them as a protective wall and setoff a demo. The floor was a mess. Now, his tango had two bullet holes in the back of his head and his blood was all over the wall.