Never Forsaken (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 5) Read online

  Back in January of 2015, scientists discovered a couple of potential earth like planets around a red dwarf. They were named Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b. They sit at about 1,100 light years away. So, we would have to assume that the alien civilization on either of these two planets were sending out radio waves at least 1100 years ago. Or, in 1100 years they will be able to receive our radio waves.”

  While Frank usually considered himself pretty good with numbers, the size of the numbers Marcus was throwing around was a little overwhelming.

  “So, either the alien civilizations have been sending us messages for centuries, or actually probably more like tens of thousands of years, or they have somehow visited us and left behind clues. Have you ever read the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov?” Marcus sat back down.

  Frank shook his head, “No I haven’t, why?”

  Marcus sighed, “It just makes this next concept a little easier to understand. For someone of your age, they might have issues trying to figure this part out.”

  Frank smiled, he wondered what Marcus would think if he knew Frank’s real age?

  “In the Foundation Series, there was a concept where a protagonist put information the farthest distance away from each other. Conceptually, most people were looking at two different edges of space. Think of it this way, if you stretched out your arms, you would say the largest distance is between the tips of your fingers, correct?” Frank agreed that that sounded correct. “Most of the people in the book thought the same thing; however, the reality was he wasn’t talking about distance, as in miles, but rather a different type of distance. He had placed the information at the core of civilization and then at the far edge of civilization. Does this make sense?”

  Frank thought about the statement for a few seconds, “So in this case, he wasn’t talking distance as in miles like you say. But rather the farthest distance between two types of belief?”

  “Essentially yes. So, the equivalent when looking for proof of aliens would be to look at the farthest distance away, considering 60 billion stars and the distance and time it takes for radio waves to travel, or look right here on earth. Since I can get to most places on earth much easier, I think I would start here.”

  Frank couldn’t help it, he was naturally an inquisitive person, and he loved to acquire new knowledge. This conversation with Marcus was causing his mental juices to start flowing. It took him a couple of minutes to realize he was so caught up in Marcus’ story and logic, he failed to remember the obvious. He didn’t need to look across the earth for proof of an alien’s existence; he had the damn spaceship in one of Bethany Anne’s super yachts.

  Frank looked at the scientist, “I know from reviewing your information online, I have access to some of the governments databases, that you have no other family. What we are doing is considered beyond top-secret. What would it take for you to be willing to go away and research alien life without compromising a top-secret mission? In our case, you would never be able to publish any of your information; actually, all things considered you probably will be able to but it will be decades in the future.

  “You mean after I’m dead?”

  “Not necessarily, however, that decision is going to be moved at least ten to twenty years in the future and we have unbelievable medical coverage so I feel comfortable suggesting you will probably still be with us.”

  “Young man, maybe from your perspective death seems to be in the future somewhere; however, at my age the damn thing seems to be right around the corner waiting for me.”

  Frank considered how to get Marcus to willingly come with him without divulging too much information. The worst that would happen is Marcus would go public with something Frank told him. Considering he was already talked about as a crack head, that probably wouldn’t hurt Bethany Anne’s team right now. However, it could potentially be used in the future once more of the truth came out.

  Frank dramatically sighed out loud, “Marcus, I need a rocket scientist. I need a rocket scientist in the worst way. Your personal beliefs and aliens and UFOs will not affect your professional relationship with any of our team. I would like to offer you the chance to come work on a super yacht that is presently off the coast of Central America near Costa Rica. We have need of your engineering skills, as well as other capabilities you bring to bear. There will be a nondisclosure agreement, you probably guessed this already. That is normal in your line of work, correct?”

  “Of course, nondisclosure agreements are standard in the industry. Although, I have to say that I’m not fond of them from a scientist’s perspective. However, since I am never going to be published again in any peer-reviewed journal I don’t think I’m giving up much.”

  “Okay, this project is going to be at least two to three months minimum. I will authorize one and a half times your previous salary plus all expenses there and back and a small Per diem if you are off ship. Unfortunately, if you have any pets they will not be able to go. Do you have any pets?”

  “No, of course not. I get lost in my studies too often to take care of other animals. Without a wife, sometimes I can’t figure out what I need to do for myself. By the way, what will we do for food on the ship? Do I have to cook for myself?”

  Frank smiled, “No, of course not. There are a group of support staff in charge of cooking and cleaning.”

  Marcus stood up, “Someone will cook for me again? Why didn’t you tell me that in the beginning? I’d be willing to go for free just for someone to cook, I can’t cook worth a damn and I hate my own food. However, since you’ve already told me what the pay is going to be you can’t go back on that!” Marcus seemed to be a young child waiting for Christmas morning, now.

  Frank laughed, “I wouldn’t dream of it. What will it take to get your house ready for you to leave for a while?”

  Marcus looked around, “Honestly? Not a lot. I’m sure I can get Martha to come by once a week just to make sure everything still looks good, the mail is dropped off, and the lawn is done. I have the lawn service on automatic payment so it will continue to look good and the HOA won’t get after me.”

  Frank considered that now would be a good time to have Patricia on the payroll. He could just hand off this whole situation to her and it would magically get done. He could completely understand why Lance was so interested in her coming on board. “When do you think you can be ready to go?”

  “How fast you do you want to leave?” Marcus asked.

  Frank answered truthfully, “Yesterday would be a good time.” He stood up.

  Marcus put up a finger and walked away around the corner, down the hallway and disappeared in the door at the back. He was gone five minutes, before he came back with a backpack and a laptop bag. “I got nothing better to do tonight, let’s go!” Frank shrugged his shoulders, turned around and started walking for the door.

  No time like the present to continue saving the world, he thought.

  Anton’s residence, Buenos Aires Argentina

  Anton considered the information he received from his CIA contact in Costa Rica. It didn’t make any sense for the helicopter to be based on land, at least as far as he could tell. That put the helicopter on a rather large ship. After discussing the potential possibilities with his subverted contacts in the local military, they came to the conclusion that it would have to either be another military vessel or a well-financed individual. Anton didn’t believe it was military; no one from Michael’s family would use military in this situation. He knew about the agents, of course, but even they didn’t use military vessels for this. That left it being a personal vessel. There weren’t that many personal vessels that could house, or hold, a Black Hawk helicopter. He sent out requests to information gatherers in South America to be on the lookout for a large yacht that had a Black Hawk helicopter on it. He felt confident he would have his answer within a few days at most.

  From there, he considered, he would pull together a strike team to take over the yacht. Preferably, after he had pulled Bethany Anne off the
yacht, it would decimate their ability to protect themselves from his team. He would add a couple of vampires for good measure. He wanted to keep this boat intact. Maybe he could do the same thing and create his own floating base. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of that before as it made perfect sense. He hated admitting an adversary had a better idea than he had come up with on his own.

  No matter, once he took the yacht all would be right with the world again. He started pulling together the contacts to acquire a couple of cigarette speed boats. He picked up one of his throwaway phones to make a phone call.

  —

  Nathan looked down at his phone but didn’t recognize the Texas number that was calling him. He considered ignoring the phone call; however, it wasn’t like he was too busy. He clicked the answer button, “Hello?”

  “Mr. Lowell? This is Ben, one of the, ah, workers you helped get a job? From the Miami group?”

  Nathan placed Ben. He was the male hacker which Bethany Anne had saved from the ‘terrorists’ and had his name changed to work for Nathan’s company in Texas. “Yes Ben, what can I do for you?”

  “Um, Mr. Kurns, the man you had me talk to a few weeks ago said I should follow up with you on a request I made to him when we talked.”

  Nathan could hear Ben’s hesitation with continuing this line of conversation. He wondered how long it took Ben to get the courage up to call him. “Certainly, Ben. What is it you would like to know?”

  “Actually, I had asked Mr. Kurns if I could meet the lady that saved me from the building back in Miami?”

  Nathan was a little shocked. Of all the questions that he expected Ben to ask him, meeting Bethany Anne wasn’t at the top of the list, the middle of the list, it wasn’t even on the list. “I’m sorry, Ben. I am a little confused. Why is it that you want to meet Bethany Anne?”

  There was a pause on the other end of the line, “I keep asking myself the same thing. While I agree she is very attractive, she is also scary as hell. I don’t think a date is the reason I’m trying to reach out to her. It almost feels like a need to close a loop. Does this make any sense? Somehow, I feel like I can be of more assistance to her than what I am doing here. I need to make amends in some form or fashion and until I get to ask her, and she tells me she doesn’t need my help…” Ben didn’t finish his thought.

  Ben was considered the best at his former company, now owned by Bethany Anne. There was a back channel for conversations between Nathan and the head of the company. Lance had overall responsibility for the company, but approved of Nathan handling their questions. Therefore, the main project leads still routed the questions to Nathan. Nathan had asked about Ben, and Tabitha, usually about once every two weeks or so. Both of them received glowing reviews, and Ben had been accomplishing even more than anyone had been expecting. Now that Ben was reaching out to him, he didn’t feel like he would be poaching if he took Ben away from the company.

  “Ben, tell me what you know about the hacking activity from China, please.”

  For the next hour and a half, Nathan and Ben discussed the particulars related to the China hacking situation. It was obvious to Nathan, a world-class hacker himself, that Ben had skills he could use effectively. While Nathan was talking to Ben, Nathan opened a back channel chat message program to discuss how quick Ben could be moved to Miami. His Texas manager didn’t want to let Ben go, but Nathan pulled the ‘do I have to get the CEO to call you for this?’ card and his manager agreed that the absolute earliest was at the end of the following week, but he would really appreciate at least three weeks.

  Nathan told Ben to go ahead and finish out his next week; however, he should expect to get a call and airline tickets to come to Miami within three weeks on the outside.

  Ben wasn’t old in nerd years. Computers and computer code plus a little bit of caffeine from time to time was his existence. It wouldn’t be hard to move him to Miami.

  Hanging up with Ben, Nathan called Ecaterina. He had been trying to stay busy, keeping Ecaterina and her situation out of his thoughts. His last conversation on the Polarus with his girl hadn’t gone too well and Nathan got the full brunt of a Romanian woman’s anger. Unfortunately, Nathan knew enough of her language to understand most every word she said.

  He was happy to not be stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean at the moment with her. He didn’t care how large the boat was, it wouldn’t have been large enough. While he understood her desire to get involved, his personal desire to keep her safe made him say a couple of stupid things. He knew they were stupid before he said them; unfortunately, he couldn’t stop his mouth in time.

  When she suddenly stopped talking to him and made a face that he hoped never to see on her again, he realized his need to keep her safe had created a sudden need to keep himself safe from her. When your woman could, very literally, gut him or shoot him from a distance, being in Miami and allowing her to cool down seemed to be an intelligent move on his part.

  Now, work called and he had a need to talk with her. He sure hoped he didn’t get an unreceptive response.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Constanta, Romania

  Stephen went into the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator, reaching in he grabbed a packet of blood and pulled it out. He opened the packet, poured the contents into a mug and placed the mug in the microwave. A couple of minutes later, he was drinking the blood down without making a face.

  The bell rang for the door. This wasn’t just any normal front door bell, but rather an old-fashioned bell made of iron which Stephen had installed over a hundred years before. Anyone coming to the front door would reach up and grab an old rope handle and pull; pulleys would then guide a rope to ring the bell deep in the house. Stephen rather liked the sound; it reminded him of times in the past. He walked back out of the kitchen and up to the front door sensing that there were vampires on the other side.

  He could hear their murmurs, and their concerns. With one of the voices being female and the other two being male he was pretty sure who he would find on the other side of the door.

  He opened the door and smiled to the three individuals on his front stoop. All three anxious and not sure what to do while he stood there looking at them expectantly. Finally, the young lady spoke for the three of them, “Excuse me, is this the house of Stephen?”

  “Yes, certainly it is. How can I help you this evening?”

  “Would you let Stephen know that Claudia and her brother Juan and Scott have arrived? We will be happy to stay out here until he admits us into his home.”

  The three of them had been arguing whether or not they should act as if they had an invitation to Stephen’s home, or act subservient as would be expected of a Forsaken relationship. Stephen opened his front door wide and stepped back, “Please, make your way to the front room and be seated.”

  The three of them walked through the front door and noticed the sitting area to the left, walking into the room Claudia and Juan took a couch, and Scott took the chair that was sitting across from them. Stephen closed the door and followed them “Would any of you care for a drink? Do any of you need blood?”

  Claudia looked a little relieved, “Yes, we would all appreciate at least a little blood. We have been concerned on whether or not it was permitted to drink in Stephen’s lands.”

  “I understand; however, please understand that the blood I will be giving you will be reheated from packets.” Stephen noticed Scott had a small look of distaste flash across his face.

  “I’m sure that that would be more than adequate and thank you very much.” Claudia stared at Scott giving him an evil look for a moment. Stephen tried to hide a smile as he went back to the kitchen and made three more mugs of blood and brought them back to his guests. After they finished their drinks, he collected the mugs and took him to the kitchen and rinsed them all out including the one he had drank with right before their arrival.

  He walked back into the sitting room and took another one of the chairs, all three of them looking at him exp
ectantly.

  “Now that you have had refreshments, what is it that I can do for you?” Juan was the first one to understand they were speaking to Stephen himself.

  It took only seconds for the other two to catch up; Claudia’s face became red with embarrassment. “Forgive me Stephen! I did not understand you were the one answering the door. We would never have presumed to request you service us as you have!”

  Stephen just laughed, “Please, understand that I don’t operate the same here in Europe, as you are used to with the Forsaken in South America.”

  All three of the vampires sat back in the seats, a little more at ease. Claudia continued the conversation, “When I spoke with Ecaterina, from Bethany Anne’s retinue, she mentioned you might be able to provide safety for us here in Europe within your house’s protection?” Stephen noted Scott had a visceral reaction to Bethany Anne’s name. Stephen was trying to be polite; however, Scott was starting to get on his nerves. He realized that Bethany Anne wouldn’t have a problem with Scott’s reaction, especially if Scott was close to Clarita. However, Stephen was from another age and he could be counted on to have reactions to facial responses if they continued for too long.