Love Lost (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 3) Read online

  Bethany Anne and Dan’s whole talk was geared to get him to see where his allegiance really was. They both felt that it wasn’t the government. They weren’t sure what the answer would be, but they were pleased to learn he served the best interests of the people of the United States against enemies that it would forever be best they never learn about.

  While Bethany Anne highly doubted humanity would never learn of the UnknownWorld, she was fine with it staying in the background for the foreseeable future. At some point, one had to uncover the enemy, so the existence of extraterrestrials would have to come out. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of creating a strong defense facing the stars?

  These kinds of discussions could wait; the big one was that she needed to make sure that Frank was going to stick around awhile. Decades at least. That needed to start tonight.

  TOM, how much should I give him?

  He is a pretty old subject, Bethany Anne. I wouldn’t want the nanocytes to inundate his body at this time. It could make too much of a change in some areas leaving a weak link that fails him during the process. Not to mention, too many nanocytes and he will probably sleep for weeks. Let’s start with about an ounce and go from there.

  She had a couple of doubts.

  Should I be doing this? I’m making life decisions for humans that are playing with the future. God, what am I doing?

  You’re truly asking an alien who was sent to completely change your whole planet’s DNA makeup whether or not you should affect the extension of one humans life? Seriously?

  TOM, you’re getting snarky.

  It’s late, I’m tired.

  You don’t sleep.

  I’m tired of this discussion. Just give him the blood already, what a pussy.

  TOM!

  Geez, stop yelling.

  What the hell has gotten into you?

  Well, the other night when you were talking with John and the team, Pete had on Housewives of Orange County, It was very educational.

  That is not quality TV. Holy crap, I’ve got to start paying attention to what is on the TV when I am awake?

  Well, actually asleep too. It isn’t like I can’t listen in.

  I don’t even know why Pete had on the Housewives. I’ll deal with that later. However; you will not sass me in my own mind or I will figure out how to beat you.

  Fine.

  She turned her attention back to Frank who looked like he had been paying very close attention to her. That wasn’t creepy or anything.

  “Yes?”

  “Fascinating, it’s like you went somewhere. Were you communicating through the Etheric with the Alien?”

  “I’ll explain another time. So, I’ve told you about the nanocytes that are rich in my blood. For me to start the rejuvenation effort, I can’t give you very much at once. Your age precludes me taking the high risk and you would probably sleep for days if not weeks. Unfortunately, I need you tomorrow. So, I’m going to give you about an ounce. This should start the process. We will do this three times a week and see how you are doing in one week. I suspect you will feel more changes than see them for the short term.”

  “How long is it effective?”

  “Well, based on John’s experience and his dosage, I would think the smaller amounts I’m giving you will probably each last two to four days. So, they will certainly overlap. By the time you get the third dosage, the first one should have taken care of any critical issues. Then we will pause a couple of days and get a measure of the benefits.”

  They finished their discussion and Bethany Anne took the knife and sliced her wrist. Previous to this, she had TOM shut down her pain receptors in that arm. Frank didn’t act bothered at all. She handed him the cup and he downed it and handed it back. She gave him water from the fridge and he drank half the bottle before putting it in the cup holder. Getting up, he headed to the plane’s bathroom. “Sorry, small bladder at this age. I won’t miss this problem at all.”

  She just smiled and laid her chair back to catch a couple of hours of sleep.

  They pulled the plane out and left the vehicles in the hanger. Bobcat had them in the air at half past seven.

  They landed at the base at 8:30 AM, a little early. They couldn’t tell the General what was going on, so as far as he was concerned they could very well wait for him.

  Bethany Anne sighed, Sergeant Mccoullagh was walking with her father, no doubt receiving additional commands he wanted passed to the others who ran the base. She might have to deal with Kevin. She felt Franks hand on her shoulder. He had woken up in a really good mood this morning and seemed a little livelier already. “I’ll take care of this.”

  Frank went to the door and stepped out. He stopped for a minute and spoke quietly with John who was guarding the end of the stairs in his city fatigues looking very MIB this morning. John snapped a proper salute and stood at parade ground rest while the General and Kevin walked up to them.

  This is going to be interesting, she thought.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Military Base, Colorado - USA

  General Lance Armstrong was not a happy man. He hated these meetings in D.C., feeling them a waste of time. Usually, the up and comers were happy to be nominated to attend and when you get to his age, you recognized it for what it was. An ass kissing contest for those who wanted to feel important.

  Lance knew that relationships helped build a proper military; it didn’t all run on rules and regulations. Men supported, fought and died for more than the flag. They did this for their friends, their family and their brothers and sisters in arms. In a bad situation, you might decide to give up if you were the only one you were going to let down.

  However; if due to your giving up you knew your brother and sisters would fall, then you gave everything you had and pulled more from wherever it needed to come from. Whether that brother or sister was beside you, behind you, or depending on you.

  Right now, Lance wasn’t on the front lines or frankly even the support lines. He ran this base as he had for years to give some the chance to acquaint themselves to the military and to allow others the chance for a breather away from the front line.

  He had a few no-go zones on the base that had military guards around, but not too many. The biggest excitement his base had seen was when the vault had opened on level five and his dying daughter disappeared. It was hard to keep that quiet, but without any proof, even the scientists finally stopped trying to figure it out. They couldn’t get back into the vault and Lance wouldn’t allow them to drill out the locking mechanism. Everyone saw the insides were empty before he hit the button to close it.

  He and Kevin finished last minute items before he took off. Somehow, there was a private jet on his airstrip for him to fly to D.C. This last minute change of plans was going to cost a minor fortune. He hoped they had some liquor on this flight.

  Lance noticed an older man coming out of the plane and the guard at the bottom salute him and stand at ease next to the ladder. He certainly seemed spry for his age.

  As Lance walked up, the older man stuck out his hand, “General Reynolds, it is my pleasure to meet you finally.”

  Lance had heard this voice before. It was in the back of his mind. The old man turned to Kevin, “Sergeant Kevin Mccoullagh, a pleasure to meet you as well.”

  Lance thought the man was certainly well informed. Oh Crap! Now he remembered where. When he had called yesterday, he sounded a little older on the phone. “Frank, right?”

  The old man just smiled and nodded.

  Well, he wanted to find out about Bethany Anne, so maybe he was going to get to go up, fly around a bit and then land back again. “Fine, let’s get this bird in the air, shall we?” He returned Kevin’s salute who then turned and walked back towards the entrance to the main tunnel.

  Climbing aboard, he could hear Frank come up behind him and that mountain of a guard closing the door as the engines started ramping up.

  They weren’t wasting any time, he thought.

  He looked around
. This was an interesting bunch. There was another three men dressed like the guy closing up, two more men, one definitely military or recently military and the other guy was just trouble. He wasn’t dressed to kill but if Lance was any judge of character, he could.

  Across from him was an incredibly striking woman who had turned around in her chair to see who had arrived and smiled like she knew him.

  Finally, there was a woman in the back with her head facing the other way. This plane wasn’t setup to seat more than 12 at the most giving everyone a lot of comfort. Lance didn’t see Bobcat and Pete up in the captain’s cabin.

  He turned to give Frank a piece of his mind, what the hell had he pulled and who the hell were these people?

  Before he could get a word in, the old man was pushing him towards the back. “All your questions in the back please, these old bones don’t need to be standing up when this young whippersnapper takes off. He likes to fly this like it’s a fighter jet.”

  Lance decided maybe sitting down was a good priority. He had just sat down in the back across from a woman in black who he hadn’t had a chance to look at when the plane started turning hard and the engines went full blast. It was all Lance could do to sit down, shut up and hold on. He really wasn’t fond of flying.

  It was why he chose to be with the ground pounders. The plane took off at an incredibly steep ascent. He found himself looking at the woman in front of him. It took a moment to register with his mind gibbering in torture at the take off.

  “Bethany Anne?”

  “Hello father.” She smiled at her dad. Completely at a loss for words between Bobcat’s flying and seeing his daughter.

  He thought he would never get the chance to see his daughter again.

  —

  It would take a lazy three and a half hours to get back to Washington. Bethany Anne had asked Bobcat to fly a little slower to give them more time in the air. The General had to show up at the event, but he wouldn’t have to stay all five days. If he didn’t show up at all, some would question his mode of transportation a little too well. They agreed that a minimum of two days should be sufficient to throw any curiosity off of them.

  She told him almost the whole story. She withheld TOM being a part of her, the space ship and alien issue and Frank’s rejuvenation. She had the guys come and tell him what they now called ‘the party in the everglades’ and the terrorist attack. Lance had heard and followed the stories about the tower. He was sure it was a black spec-ops group who had taken them out, not FBI or CIA. He was astonished it had been his daughter and what was now her team of guys.

  Son-of-a-bitch. He realized she had done it. She was on the sharp end of the spear where he was always afraid she would go, and she was ripping new assholes like they were tissue paper. He couldn’t be more proud.

  Bethany Anne had vacated her seat to John and Frank had let Eric take his. Scott stood while Darryl took the third seat as they all talked with the General.

  Bethany Anne recognized that there was only so much of his changed daughter he could take at once. She didn’t want to overwhelm him. If her father had been a normal dad, she probably couldn’t have even approached him.

  That fucking Michael and his structures. He knew all of these things were going to happen and he probably knew that she would ignore his structures if he wasn’t around. She was learning the hard and painful way. The same as learning not to play with fire.

  That sanctimonious bastard better still be alive so she could slap his face so hard he could see his ass. She and Frank talked for a little while about things that he could do while they waited in Washington D.C. He didn’t want to shut down his office, but he couldn’t move it, either.

  If he were to place a tap to try and reach his hidden computer from Miami it would leave an opening for someone else to try and attack as well. His whole office security was based on physical entry being required.

  Frank had turned his office into a Faraday cage. Radio waves couldn’t penetrate his walls. They wouldn’t even consider building anything that would use Wi-Fi.

  Bethany Anne, have you considered reaching through the Etheric?

  Hold on TOM. Frank will notice we are talking.

  “Frank, I’m going to rest for a minute or two. Would you let me know if my Dad becomes available?” Frank leaned out of his seat just a smidge into the aisle and tried to listen to the story TQB was telling.

  “Well, they are at the part where everyone is prepping to go to New York City for the Werewolf concave. You have a few minutes.” Bethany Anne leaned her seat back and closed her eyes.

  You know I could have done that for you, as well. I can hear a flea fart at 100 meters.

  What? Where are you learning this language? Don’t tell me that was on the Housewives as well.

  No, I was listening to the guys talking to your Dad, they are very colorful with their descriptions. It makes this language of yours much more interesting than it was before. Not as beautiful as numbers, but it works for me.

  This time, Bethany Anne had no response to that. How can her conversations with TOM get so derailed?

  What were you talking about earlier with reaching through the Etheric?

  You are concerned with still using Frank’

  s computer assets while based in Miami. However; if you leave a back-door into the system someone else can find it and use it against you or others as well, correct?

  Yes. They won’t have to find the entry point at first. They can just find the data communication between anywhere in the world and the end point. All origination IP addresses will always end up, eventually, at his computer. We could create random locations to connect, but in the end any method we use is too dangerous to us and the USA if found out.

  So, we create a connection between a computer Frank has and the one in his office using nanocytes as the interface connections and the Etheric as your wire, so to speak. That is safe even when your world discovers the Etheric’s dimension.

  Really? How do we do that? What do you want me to do, bleed all over his keyboard?

  Wow, you got it in one. My little girl is growing up.

  TOM, you can be an ass.

  I know, I know. Back to the dog house for me.

  No, you misunderstand. If you are delivering results to problems like this you can be an ass all you want. This is fantastic.

  “Bethany Anne?” Franks voice was quiet, like he was testing how soft he could make his voice but still be heard. Information junky my ass, this man is a scientist at heart.

  She opened her eyes and looked at him. He was startled to see she heard him and woke up, at least as far as he knew, so easily.

  “Your dad is unbuckling.” She nodded her head to him and slowly raised her seat back in a sitting position.

  Time to see what daddy thought about his little vampire girl.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Frank nodded to someone behind her and started unbuckling his seatbelt. He stood up and stepped around her dad who slid into the seat. Frank chose to sit in the 4 pod with Nathan and Ecaterina. He was probably going to try and listen in to her conversation. He was such a nosy old man.

  Her father started the conversation as he buckled into the seat. “I talked with your team; you guys did a hell of a job. I wish I had been there in the Everglades. That is how you live. It’s good to see you, even changed as you are. You seem so poised now, but John says that you have your op face as well?”

  “Op face?” Bethany Anne was perplexed for just a second. “Ah, they must mean when I vamp out. That tends to scare the shit out of any humans around me. So yeah, I can imagine they might call it that.”

  “Can you let me see it?”

  What the fuck? Why would her dad want to see her vampire visage? This was not how she wanted to spend the last few minutes of the flight dealing with her dad who had seen how his little girl was truly a vampire now.

  She looked into his eyes and they both evidenced strength and compassion. The strength she knew from the p
ast, the compassion was something a little new to her. She willed her eyes to go red, her teeth to grow long and as she thought of the asshole who was going to strike down the little boy, the attitude on her face was of murder and mayhem.

  Her dad reached out, slowly and put his hand on her face, looking like it did. She almost pulled her head back, but stopped. She needed to hear what he had to say. Her father had a tear in his eye. “I’ll always love you, Bethany Anne. Whether you’re looking like a model, or this destroyer. It doesn’t matter to me what you look like on the outside, you’re my daughter on the inside. I didn’t want to land and something happen that never allowed me to tell you.