It's Hell to Choose Read online

  He took one last look at the video feed from outside, watching as the containers held position, waiting for his group to start connecting them again.

  Space-Station One was taking shape.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  TQB Base - Colorado, USA

  Cheryl Lynn nodded to Eric, who was standing by the door warming up. She walked over to where Bethany Anne was going through a kata and took position near her to slowly mimic the same actions.

  “So I have a question,” Cheryl Lynn started, “and it has some far-reaching consequences.” She gently brought her arm around in an arc as she stepped forward on her left foot.

  “I figured as much. It isn’t often you schedule the time to work out with me just because you are looking for a reason to get sweaty.” Bethany Anne pivoted on her left foot a hundred and eighty degrees and both women now faced the opposite wall. “This time give me the negative part first and what you are suggesting we do about it second.”

  Both women took one step forward and rapidly punched the air with their right fist while pulling their left elbow back against them. “We have a large faction of people around the world screaming for us to release the space technology. I am working with seven agencies to contain that issue. I would like to consider other options outside of forbidden technology where we could at least refocus their attention if possible.” Each woman had taken three steps forward and now blocked with her left arm, then kicked with their right.

  Bethany Anne nodded, “Okay, I’ve seen a lot of the news reports and ADAM has provided me a very detailed update. Which technologies are you interested in?”

  Both ladies twisted their heads behind them once again and blocked with their right arm following up with snap kicks, leaving them with their weight balanced on the right foot.

  Cheryl Lynn continued, “Is there any way we can use the medical technologies we have available to us to both support people who have given up part of their physical bodies for their countries, and what we are doing in space at the same time?” Both ladies stopped with their feet together and bowed forward slightly. Then both broke and started stretching out a little, sitting on the mat to talk while they stretched. “I really wish I had warmed up more before joining you on this one kata. I’m going to feel this later,” she complained.

  “I suggest four ibuprofen, it’s the same as taking one of those 800 mg pills, or at least that’s what the pharmacist told me one time.” Bethany Anne commented.

  Cheryl Lynn groaned as she stretched her calves, “I thought TOM took care of that for you?”

  “Oh you do, do you? And which little birdie is telling you this?” Bethany Anne inquired.

  Cheryl Lynn blushed, “Um, a really tall one?”

  Bethany Anne smirked, “TOM doesn’t do that as often as John thinks he does. I have been known to ask TOM to alter my emotions or pain level occasionally. However, if I do it too much I’m concerned that not only would reduced pain levels possibly become habit-forming, but also it lowers my situational awareness.”

  “So, you actually feel a lot of the pain when you go out on operations?” Cheryl Lynn asked for confirmation.

  “Oh yes, I will tell Tom to adjust the pain if I can’t focus on the problem at hand. However, as soon as we are out of danger he will bring it back up, so I feel it. Except for that time when half my chest was blown out. I didn’t want to deal with that shit at all. Occasionally, I still wake up from a nightmare where I’m reliving that moment. If I could bring Petre’ back from the dead, I would do it just so I could kill him all over again.” Cheryl Lynn noticed that Bethany Anne had subconsciously started rubbing her chest.

  Cheryl Lynn was starting to understand just how much Bethany Anne had suffered in the last few years.

  When she first arrived at the base, it seemed to Cheryl Lynn that nothing affected Bethany Anne. The longer she was around the woman, however, it became apparent that each little problem was another tiny rock on her shoulders. Fortunately, it seemed that her relationship with Michael was slowly starting to take rocks away. Perhaps, one day, he would be able to get to the rock that was the situation with Petre’ and lift it off for her.

  “So you are thinking something like military personnel?” Bethany Anne asked, “or are you talking more like first responders?”

  “I’ll admit I was thinking more of military personnel; however, first responders or frankly anyone that had done something amazing would be good. Plus, if they already had citations or other awards for what they had sacrificed, it would allow us to quickly filter who gets into the program.” Cheryl Lynn said.

  “Okay, I’m good with where you are going so far. Now tell me more.” Bethany Anne started reaching toward her right leg, bending all the way to where her head touched the ground.

  Bethany Anne’s hair was blocking her eyes so Cheryl Lynn stuck her tongue out at the woman for her display of athleticism. Cheryl Lynn turned to her left leg and reached over to grab her foot. Pulling herself a little bit closer, the pain in her hamstrings intensified.

  One of these days she would be able to touch the floor with her head. “So, I thought we would look and offer to any individual who had sacrificed a lot for an altruistic reason. While I was thinking military to help their comrades, I see your point. We could filter first on firemen, policemen, or frankly anyone that helped someone else and lost limbs or were substantially physically disabled as a result.”

  Both women switched legs and started stretching again.

  “I thought that the second filter would have to be something related to a willingness to go up into space with us.” Cheryl Lynn grunted when one of her muscles twitched. “Son of a bitch, that hurt!”

  “Pain is just weakness leaving the body.” Bethany Anne mumbled from underneath her hair.

  “Don’t you believe that crap,“ Eric piped in from across the room, “Well, not just that. It is weakness leaving the body, but the pain is a total bitch when she leaves!” He was standing with his feet together and bending down to grasp his ankles and stretching to where his head was just about touching his knees.

  Bethany Anne’s voice erupted from underneath her hair, “Eric, you wrinkled bunghole sniffer! Stop bitching and keep working out. If you interrupt my effort to make Cheryl Lynn all she can be by telling her the truth again, I’ll let Ashur use you for a chew toy!”

  Eric chuckled, but he didn’t say anything.

  “How are you going to deal with the massive amount of people signing up for the program?” Bethany Anne asked.

  Cheryl Lynn sat back with her arms behind her, “I think we have Frank and Barb do research to look for the best recipients. Somehow, they will have to figure out if those recipients are willing to go into space. Personally, I’m not sure how they can do that, but I figure it’s worth a try. Perhaps we could find news clippings or other info regarding their heroism.” She bit her lip for a few seconds before continuing, “but I have to admit that I don’t have a clue what to do about getting overrun. I’ve spoken with Kevin regarding the base, and he agrees the base is pretty secure, but he would prefer not to have five thousand people camped out in front of the gates all of the time.”

  Bethany Anne sat up and looked at Cheryl Lynn, “No, it would be preferable not to have that. I would suggest a ship.”

  Cheryl Lynn looked at her for a moment trying to figure out where she was going, “Don’t we have enough ships?”

  “Actually, I’m thinking something like a medium sized cruise liner. Have it retrofitted as quickly as possible and invite the people who are going to be changed. They would be rotated through the Ad Aeternitatem so that we can inject them with nanite blood. Put them to sleep before the effort, shoot them with the infusion, let them rest a few hours and wake them up in a room full of machinery and then wheel them out.“ She rotated her head about her shoulders, “That way, everyone has a memory of a sophisticated medical room with lots of equipment.”

  “Red herring,” Eric commented. “You think that if the shi
ps go out to sea, not as many people can surround them?” he continued.

  Bethany Anne turned her head toward Eric, “Yes, not too many people can walk on water these days. I’m sure we are going to get enough rich folks who have boats that will try to track them so we need to come up with another solution in case it becomes too busy right around the ships.”

  “What about a method for leaving quickly? Something like a superior propulsion system?” he asked.

  “I think I may have a good idea on that. Is it okay to get with Marcus first?” Cheryl Lynn interrupted.

  Bethany Anne turned back to Cheryl Lynn, “Sure, I don’t mind. If Bobcat and Jeffrey give the idea a thumbs up, go ahead, and implement it. I’m sure whatever they agree to will be satisfactory.”

  Cheryl Lynn smirked. She had just been given a blank check from Bethany Anne.

  London, England

  Stephanie Lee exited the armored Mercedes and stepped inside the opened door. This hotel had a special back entrance built so that the elite could enter and exit without worrying about paparazzi or the multiple cameras that surrounded the city.

  Rank hath its privileges.

  She nodded to the second gentleman who held a door open for her. She pulled off her gloves as she walked down the hallway to the private elevators. She hit the open button, and after a few seconds, stepped inside, turned around and hit the button for the penthouse.

  When she arrived at the top floor, the doors opened, and she nodded to the two men on either side who were standing and verifying everyone who came through.

  The elevator opened into a circular room approximately twelve feet in diameter with a door on the far side which was immediately opened by a third individual. She walked through that door, and it was closed behind her.

  She kept the small look of disgust off of her face. She was not fond of Johann Pecora, but he did represent many incredibly powerful companies.

  “Stephanie,” Johann nodded in her direction.

  “Johann,” She replied and then stepped over to the bar. She picked up water and turned back to the small group. Beside Johann stood Beatrice Silvers, who represented a large contingent of companies from both Ireland and the United Kingdom, and Terrance Burrens, representing companies in France, Spain, and Germany.

  Together, the four of them made up over fifty-eight percent of the number of enterprises and over seventy-two percent of the financial muscle of the ‘Sub-Assembly for the Advancement of the Human Race’. With Anna Elisabeth stepping out of the group, twenty-five percent of the money and twelve percent of the companies had also left.

  She had represented a large portion of the group, but when the current plan proved fruitful, it would strengthen the four of them, and Switzerland would lose a significant amount of reputation.

  “I appreciate the three of you joining me here so quickly. I have had conversations with those I represent back in China. Let me be frank, is there any type of coercion your members will not accept?” She took a swallow of water while waiting for their answers.

  Johan spoke first, “No. However it would be preferable if diplomatic efforts were tried first.”

  Beatrice waved that off, “That has already been tried. We have used forty-two different avenues to implore TQB Enterprises to work with others related to their space technology. None of them have proved fruitful. In fact, their responses are annoyingly succinct. They say “We apologize. However, this technology is not available to the general public at this time. We will keep your information and should this decision be changed, we will get back with you.”

  “Fourteen ourselves,” Terrance added.

  Stephanie Lee looked over to Johann, who made a face of disgust. “One hundred and seventy-two” he admitted.

  She wanted to slap the man! “And why are you asking for diplomatic methods?”

  He shrugged, “We thought perhaps it had something to do with American companies. She seems to have connections all over the world.”

  Beatrice asked for clarification, “But she has a base sitting in the middle of your country! Most of her top personnel seem to be Americans.”

  Johann shrugged, “We are still trying to get a handle on that. It could be that most of her relationships evolved around America, and now she is branching out. However, all of our answers seem to be aligned with your results as well. Short, succinct, annoyingly trite.” He sniffed. “We have made a few runs on her companies that have stock. Not only were they blocked, but her teams, whoever they are, were able to acquire a superior position during the stock manipulation efforts. We have figured out that they have some excellent options people.”

  He took a swallow of his amber drink. “When it looks like we are going to run up the price for a stock drop, they made money on option calls and before we can drop the price, Puts are in place to earn money on the drop. Anytime there is significant activity and volatility, there are butterfly spreads. Our people have looked, and whenever we attack a company without options, we find activity in sympathetic verticals that react to our efforts. We have been able to keep our losses to between sixty-five and seventy-five million at the moment, but we are pretty sure they have acquired the majority interest in four additional companies and have realized a surplus of close to sixty million.”

  “That speaks to some significant smarts,” Terrance considered “and a fund manager that knows the industry incredibly well. They must have an enormous amount of computer power. What is being done on that front?”

  “What isn’t?” Johann admitted, “We have over twenty-five hundred attack vectors focused on their Colorado base to get in.”

  “What are the results so far?” Beatrice asked.

  “About the same as yours, I imagine.” Johann grumped. “Don’t try to tell me none of your companies aren’t also trying desperately to be the first company to crack their security?”

  “Oh, we are.” Terrance continued “and I would agree we have had no success. It has become a challenge more than a project to many of our best and brightest.”

  Terrence turned to Stephanie, “We have noticed a significant drop in attacks on our companies. Would you care to provide any insight?”

  Stephanie smiled, “I can neither confirm nor deny that the Chinese government and corporations have decided that acquiring TQB Enterprises technology is a superior goal at this time.” She took a sip of her water, “However, personally I believe that whoever is able to crack the data first is going to make a killing. Either through sharing the technology or learning what to do and then bringing it to market.”

  Johann said “If we don’t share the technology, and TQB Enterprises has the opportunity, I’m sure they will sue the hell out of anyone who makes themselves a target.”

  Stephanie nodded, “Speaking of targets, we have to discuss the effort for any physical attacks.”

  Terrence smiled, “I was wondering when you would get to that point. It does seem that you guys are a little more impatient than usual.”

  Stephanie wanted to lash out at the man, even if he was correct. It was just rude to mention it in polite company. “We believe that an attack on their ships, the Polaris and Ad Aeternitatem, are our best options. Presently, they are off the coast of France and are eventually going to enter international waters.”

  Johann questioned “Do you need support? Or are you asking us to create diversionary efforts?”

  Stephanie knew that all of them would want to take very limited risk, but would certainly want to be there when they cracked open the treasure chests. “No, the military aspect is not a joint operation. You are welcome to try this on your own.”

  Beatrice looked disgusted, “Not from our group. The Swiss have totally fouled up anyone’s courage in that regard. I don’t know why our people listen to them at all, but it’s like everyone has lost their balls or something.”

  Terrence just raised his drink in Beatrice’s direction.

  The Cabal was simply one more relationship the Chinese used and, to date, they ha
d honored all commitments and kept everything as honest as any of the members. However, the upper government had stepped in and, over the angry voices of many of the top business leaders, the rules had changed.

  “It would be a legal thing for us,” Johann said, “since they are so tied in with us in America, they could make it pretty damned hot for us from both a legal and PR perspective. If they find any Americans in a raid and could provide proof, I shudder at the problems that would bring.”

  Such a shame, Stephanie thought, because mercenary groups with Americans involved were integral to her plans.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Costa Rica

  “What we want, Mr. Simmons,” the female voice said from the speakerphone, “is for your experienced direction and a procured team to work with ours to infiltrate and deliver packages to the base in Colorado.”