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  Bethany Anne took a look sideways and noticed Anna had already got her game on and was analyzing the people in the room as they were announced.

  Damn, this woman might make the evening interesting, after all.

  —

  “Wow, she brings a woman with her to this event?” Sophia whispered to her friend Emma. Both ladies, wives of business leaders often met and gossiped in the corner as each new person arrived at these meetings.

  “Yeah, but do you see her security guard?” Emma asked, her eyes going up and down the tall man’s body,” makes you wonder why she is here tonight.”

  “Because she is the woman of the evening, Emma!” Sophia hissed back, only slightly surprised Emma didn’t know what the TQB CEO looked like.

  Emma was in her own little world.

  The operative word, Sophia admitted, was little. She swore to her husband that Emma’s intelligence could fit inside a tennis ball and have room for nine more identical sisters. However, at events like this, she could be depended on to provide the evenings entertainment.

  Like right now.

  Emma kept whispering, “I swear, I would be down on him like a stripper on a pole. No, down like an ice cream at a weight watchers party. Hmm, maybe down like a case of beer at a frat party,” she kept trying new phrases to see which one fit the best.

  Sophia looked at her friend, curious. “When was the last time you were at a frat party?”

  “What?” Emma looked to her friend trying to catch up with her question, “Oh, last fall. Took a wrong turn right into a hell of a night. Let me tell you,” Emma winked to her, “when they yell cougar, it’s a good thing.” Sophia snorted.

  The two women went back to watching the new arrivals.

  —

  “Bethany Anne?” John whispered.

  “Ummhmmm,” she answered, just as quietly.

  “Promise me you won’t pass what those two were saying on to Jean?” He asked, while he searched the room for any problems.

  “Quid pro quo, Mr. Grimes.”

  Dammit, he pressed his lips together, she was going to negotiate this with him. Fortunately, the first two men joined Bethany Anne and the ex-President and drew them into a conversation. For now, John knew, that meant she would stay quiet until they concluded the negotiation.

  Before too long, Anna stepped into the conversation, asking the business leaders questions about their own companies and within two minutes, she had them whimpering, begging to leave the conversation. It took little time before it was obvious these two were puffed up men whose businesses were hopelessly left behind.

  As they left, Anna whispered to Bethany Anne they probably had pulled strings to get in to this event. All of the old hands allowed those two to go first. It was going to set the mood for the rest of the evening.

  Since Anna had asked relevant questions, instead of Bethany Anne just biting their heads off, Anna said she saw more men taking their last sips before heading in their direction.

  —

  John looked at his watch. It had been over an hour of boring conversations and another two hours to go. Anna had been superb and Bethany Anne was actually enjoying herself. When those she was negotiating with left, Anna would give Bethany Anne an update on her thoughts and the two would start betting on who would approach next.

  Occasionally David and John would exchange comments and a few people would come up and speak with the ex-President, but he was really being dragged along in the wake of these two women, tonight.

  The ex-President found he was enjoying his evening, as well.

  A couple of times, he wanted to tell someone to go away, as he was trying to listen to the women speaking to someone.

  Then, the unmistakable staccato firing of weapons could be heard dimly and John, David and Bethany Anne all turned towards the entrance to the large ball room. Ladies started screaming and more than a couple of men started yelling.

  Four men from inside the room all started running towards the door, two stopping and two continuing on past.

  David looked around, “Sir, we need you back in the corner, there are windows in here!”

  Bethany Anne’s lips pressed together and John put an arm around her and Anna, pulling them towards the wall as people freaked all around them.

  “Gott .. Verdammt,” Bethany Anne’s voice came out of John’s chest. He had picked her up and held her close, her face implanted in his jacket.

  John set the two women down and turned around, Bethany Anne and Sophia both arranging their clothes as he turned towards the entrance.

  Someone outside yelled they were loosing the front door.

  “Go John!” Bethany Anne called and pointed towards the doors, “We have Pod’s getting prepped to drop!”

  John pulled a pistol and offered it to her. She ignored it, “I’m armed!” She yelled and then pushed him, “Now fucking go already!”

  He nodded, turned to David, “You got them both?” David told him he got them covered. John ran full tilt, most people not believing what they saw as he headed towards the front of the hotel.

  Bethany Anne looked at the stained glass windows and frowned. She could leave, but where would that leave most of the others?

  “Terrorists,” John’s voice came over her implanted ear receiver.

  Well, that settled it. When was she going to get a chance like this again?

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  John raced into the hallway, the doors slamming open as he rushed through, hoping no one was on the other side.

  Except…Son-of-a-bitch! Fucking terrorists. He clicked his microphone, “Terrorists.” Pulling his other Dukes special, he set the power down to four. He didn’t want to worry about who was on the other side of the person he shot.

  These pistols where slightly different than her earlier version’s. These had larger rods that allowed for mushrooming, like hollow points, when they hit. Causing those he shot to feel the concussive damage at lower velocities.

  Like right now.

  As he came out the doors, bullets were stitching the carpet heading in his direction. He twisted, throwing himself to the left by looking hard over his right shoulder. His arms helped speed up the twist, getting out of the way of the bullets which tracked past him and then into the frame of the doors behind him.

  John kept his eyes on the three men down the hallway as he twisted, aiming both pistols, he fired.

  He hit the far right shooter in his shoulder, splattering the man behind him with blood. Not that he cared, John’s third shot went through that guys nose and took half his cranium out the back of his head. The guy on the far left took two to the chest, thrown backwards as the slug’s momentum carried him along when they slammed into him like a freight train.

  John’s body slammed into the left wall, arresting his movement. He bounced off and landed in a crouch. Firing slowed for a moment, John ran towards the front of the building.

  —

  The beautiful stained glass window on the far left side of the room, away from where they stood shattered as bullets pelted the ceiling inside. Women screamed and men turned towards the new threat.

  David turned towards the new threat, seeing Bethany Anne turn in that direction, the direction of the front door again.

  “Stay here, Anna!” Bethany Anne told her and kicked off her heels. Damn! Where was her preferred boots when she needed them?

  A female’s voice echoed in David’s mind. If it looks like she is going to leave, shoot her…

  “What?” Anna yelled, “Why can’t I go with you?”

  If it looks like she is going to leave, shoot her…

  “Because you aren’t me,” Bethany Anne told her, “I’ve got what it …”

  That’s when excruciating pain slammed into Bethany Anne’s back.

  —

  Five Black Eagles screamed down from the Arch Angel, itself coming down lower into the stratosphere.

  “Black Eagle One, one minute from touchdown…”

  “We got f
ire, we got fire!” Black Eagle two shouted over the intercom.

  “Sum-bitch! They are coming right at us guys. Break, break, break. Somebody has been studying and we got unfriendlies.” Black Eagle called, “Take your course, lose our friends and come back. ArchAngel, seeking a little support here!”

  All five Black Eagles turned and raced in separate directions as twelve surface to air missiles streaked up from the city below.

  Down below, there was hollering as those who had the shoulder mounted rocket launchers laughed and high fived their buddies when the SAM’s took off in separate directions, obviously following the five Pods that had been screaming down.

  —

  John raced to the front. He heard the rush of men coming through the front door and raised the power of his Dukes to six.

  He didn’t think there was anyone behind those coming in his direction he would have to worry about.

  John, his speed ramped up, shot into the main Hotel room and started laying waste to those men heading in his direction.

  Those that would be guards were all on the floor, bodies bleeding out what remained of their lives on the tiled floors that others had walked on for hundreds of years.

  The man closest to John head exploded when John’s first shot hit him between the eyes. Before any of the other terrorists could react, John shot an two others in their chests, spraying those behind in blood and gore.

  John was just getting started. By the time the first gun’s bullets started erupting out of the muzzle, John had already cleared out half, about twelve, of the men that had been in this second wave.

  But, it the damned terrorists were flowing in like flood waters.

  “Son of a bitch,” he swore. Next time they told him he couldn’t have any grenades, he was going to tell them to go fuck themselves.

  John cranked the power up to eight. Bodies started flying backwards as John placed his shots carefully, trying to use the exploding bodies as an beaver would use trees to create a dam to slow the stream.

  Where the fuck where all these assholes coming from, anyway? He wondered. Was there a ten for one special on Terrorists in Belgium this week?

  He took two more shots when Bethany Anne’s scream of pain hit him.

  —

  Anna screamed as David raised his gun to shoot Bethany Anne, who was laying on the ground, another time. Anna jumped him, beating him on the head and ripping at his hair. Too incoherent to make sense, Anna’s tears flowed down her face as she tried to rip into David’s eyes with her nails.

  David, stumbled backward under the weight of the woman as he tried to block her attacks. Finally, he put his pistol up under her left breast and pulled the trigger twice.

  “NOOOO!” Screamed someone behind the bitch as Anna’s struggling stopped, and she collapsed off of David to slam into the floor.

  David looked up into the red, flaming eyes of the woman he had just shot in the back, transfixed on him and promising him pain beyond the imagination.

  The Devil herself had risen up! David aimed his <> right at her face and pulled the trigger.

  CLICK.

  Oh shit! He pulled the trigger repeatedly.

  CLICK CLICK. FUCK! He threw the gun at her. She slapped it out of the air.

  David ran out of time when the red-eyed demon, with talons for fingers stabbed his chest, and squeezed his heart, “I’m done with you useless, limp degenerate whoring sack sniffing forsaken fucks!” David’s body had barely hit the floor when Bethany Anne, her wrist slit was forcing blood into Anna’s mouth, “DRINK GODDAMMIT!” She screamed at the women, whose eyes seemed to be dimming.

  “I’m not losing another fucking friend to this useless pile of self-servings shit bags, DRINK!” Bethany Anne, pulled on the etheric, “LIVE DAMN YOU!” She screamed and jolted Anna with Etheric Energy, Anna’s body spasmed.

  “Look out!” the ex-President screamed and Bethany Anne could hear a pistol go off behind her.

  She bit off a curse and looked to see what was happening. The ex-President was trying to shoot men coming through the window.

  He was a better President, than he was a shooter.

  BETHANY ANNE!

  I got this, John. She sent to him. Stay up front if it is bad.

  It’s a fucking tidal wave of terrorists, he admitted.

  Good, when I finish here, I’ll be fucking them up over there.

  What?

  Anna breathed in heavily and Bethany Anne looked down, a bloody tear dropping from her face when Anna’s eyes cracked open. Bethany Anne turned, “Ok, Mr. President, your job is to protect this woman.”

  He turned to look at Bethany Anne, her eyes glowing red, streaks of pulsating red veins covering her face. Her voice, dark and dangerous as her eyes focused on the men spoke loud enough that all in the large ballroom could hear over the noise of gunfire and shouting.

  “You want me?” She told them, “You Got Me!” She started walking towards the other side of the room, hands outstretched, red balls of energy started materializing in her hands. She ducked a couple of bullets aimed in her direction. “The Queen Bitch is in the house motherfuckers!” She threw the two red balls of energy which slammed into the front two terrorists. Both bodies crashed backwards into the wall, the front of their bodies burnt, their eyes open, pupils gone and nothing but the whites of their eyes visible.

  The terrorists right outside the window started screaming in fear.

  —

  John, relieved Bethany Anne was ok, amped up his speed when he heard the screams of the men behind him.

  John’s smile turned maniacal when he felt the beginning of her fear hit his area. John added his own and now, the terrorists knew real terror.

  John laughed, “You guys let loose the Jinn tonight!” He turned his right handed pistol up to ten, then his left. “Let’s see how well your bodies stop a Dukes on ten, you naked cock balls wanking fuckwits!”

  Bodies started exploding… and John’s hands started hurting.

  Fuck it, they would heal.

  —

  ArchAngel “Captain Jameson, fourteen locations located where the SAM missiles fired.”

  Captain Paul Jameson was standing in for Gabrielle, who was back on the QBBS Merideth Reynolds. “Do we have any Nightshades down yet?”

  “Twelve seconds until deployment for locations one through seven on the screen. Two other Nightshade deployments will be on target within seventeen seconds for the other locations.”

  Paul chewed on his cheek, thinking about whether to hit the first group ASAP. But, that could allow the second groups five seconds to react. If he waiting until all were all target before release, that was five extra seconds to send up additional SAM’s.

  SAM’s that seemed particularly effective. How they were tracking them, they hadn’t figured out quite yet.