To Hell And Back: A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Trials And Tribulations Book 3) Read online

  TO HELL AND BACK

  TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS BOOK 3

  NATALIE GREY

  MICHAEL ANDERLE

  To Hell And Back (this book) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2018 Natalie Grey and Michael Anderle

  Cover by Andrew Dobell http://www.creativeedgestudios.co.uk - Painting and Typography by Jeff Brown www.jeffbrowngraphics.com

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, July 2018

  The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015-2018 by Michael T. Anderle.

  CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Author Notes - Natalie Grey

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  Books by Natalie Grey

  Books by Michael Anderle

  Connect with the authors

  THE TO HELL AND BACK TEAM

  JIT Beta Readers - From both of us, our deepest gratitude!

  James Caplan

  Mary Morris

  Peter Manis

  Daniel Weigert

  Tim Bischoff

  John Ashmore

  Thomas Ogden

  Micky Cocker

  If I missed anyone, please let us know!

  Editor

  Lynne Stiegler

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  to Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  to Live the Life We Are

  Called.

  PROLOGUE

  Gordes, France

  Emeric Carre strode along the corridor to the administrator’s office.

  The view out the windows showed nothing but greenery. The facility near Gordes was hidden in the trees, practically invisible until you were right on top of it.

  That was what his scouts reported, anyway. He’d sent them to determine the distance to the nearest town and find out anything they could—with strict instructions that they were not to harm any of the townspeople.

  Yet.

  Someday soon, many people would find out that ignorance was not a valid excuse for letting thousands be enslaved and tortured. They were going to find out how powerful revenge could be.

  He opened the door to the office and glanced around the room as he entered. There was at least one of his Wechselbalg at every computer terminal, some murmuring to one another as they worked their way through the computer systems.

  They hadn’t found the other facilities yet, but they knew those facilities existed.

  And when they found them, Emeric would have his army.

  He did not know what had happened to Hugo Marcari, and he did not much care. He assumed it had been a power struggle of some sort. The man who had come to their facility—his security pass said Gerard Cordova—must have been trying to take control.

  They had killed Gerard for his part in it. Emeric smiled. The look of fear in the man’s eyes was something he remembered fondly. Gerard, like all the scientists here, had known exactly what he was doing. He had deserved to die.

  As did the rest of them—the people who had sold these buildings to Hugo Marcari, the government officials who had taken bribes and turned a blind eye, the villagers who had heard gunfire and screams and done nothing.

  The world would learn the cost. It had allowed Hugo Marcari to build an army, and now that Hugo was gone, that army had a mind of its own.

  Emeric growled softly. He was itching to transform and run into the village. He wanted to begin taking his revenge now.

  He had to wait, though. He had to be patient.

  He had to find those other facilities and free his brethren.

  “I think I have the list!” someone called.

  Emeric smiled. At last. At last.

  1

  QBS ArchAngel

  Stephen laughed as he and Bethany Anne made their way through the corridors of the ArchAngel, “You’re really going to go deal with a couple of mobsters?”

  After the past few days, it felt good to laugh—especially since he was on tenterhooks waiting for his team to be released for combat again so they could clear out the remaining facilities. Bethany Anne was providing a much-needed distraction.

  He had been informed yesterday that she was planning to go deal with a new underworld that was emerging in the vacuum he had evidently created when he took out some of their leaders a few years back.

  It had been part of his atonement; cleaning up the messes that had flourished when he had withdrawn from the world in defeat. Until now, he thought he had been successful. They all had.

  But apparently, the low-level scum who’d taken over were taking jobs from humans, assassinating outsiders, and exposing the Unknown World to public scrutiny when that was absolutely the last thing Bethany Anne needed.

  Still. A couple of chumps too low level to have gotten taken out last time? Bethany Anne’s talents really were wasted on that.

  “I am going out of my mind in here.” Bethany Anne shook her head. “After the clusterfuck, you went through with Hugo, I am in no mood to take shit. If they want to test me? I’m gonna show them what happens.”

  “Well, you can always come with us to take Gerard down.” Stephen smiled at her. “Don’t tell me you haven’t dreamed of getting a few shots in on him.”

  “Oh, I have,” Bethany Anne assured him. “But I’d never dream of taking Hsu and Jennifer’s revenge away from them.” She grinned. “Any luck figuring out where he is?”

  “ADAM’s working on it,” Stephen explained. “He hasn’t shown up yet at any of the facilities on our list, which I can only assume means that he knows ‘Hugo’ sent a message condemning him.”

  One of Stephen’s last acts at Hugo’s hideout—before, of course, erasing any trace of Wechselbalg activity that human detectives might stumble across—had been to send a message to all research facilities, saying that Gerard was a criminal and should not be trusted.

  He’d also told them to begin shutting down research, and that his deputies would be there shortly to evacuate the scientists and transport the Wechselbalg.

  Those scientists were in for a surprise. They weren’t going to be searching for any new jobs after this. They were going to be judged by the Queen’s represen
tative.

  Stephen didn’t think much for their chances.

  “What are you going to do first?” Bethany Anne asked him. She pushed open the door to her temporary rooms on the ArchAngel and smiled as Ashur looked up from his dog bed with a giant yawn.

  “Hello again, Ashur,” Stephen said politely.

  Bethany Anne laughed. “Why are you so stuffy?”

  “Ashur and I are both gentlemen. I think he appreciates that I treat him as such.”

  Ashur chuffed and pushed himself up to nose at Stephen’s hand.

  “See?” Stephen asked Bethany Anne.

  “Yes, yes.” She took a seat and grinned at him, running her hands through Ashur’s fur while the dog wagged happily. “So, what are your plans?”

  “Well, the plan was to track Gerard, but since he hasn’t turned up anywhere, I’m going to go get the facilities resolved.”

  Stephen dropped into a chair and tried not to tip his head back with a groan. Manners dictated that he sit straight, but he was exhausted. He’d bought himself a few hours of rest with his directive to shut the experiments down, but he didn’t want to leave the rescue any longer than that.

  All he could think of was Jennifer shut up in those facilities. And she’d been a scientist. What if she’d been a captive?

  He winced involuntarily.

  Bethany Anne asked quietly. “Are you all right?”

  Stephen nodded jerkily. “Yes. I just want to finish this…now. I want to get them out of there.”

  “At least rest for a few minutes,” Bethany Anne advised him. “You may not get tired the way you used to, but there’s only so long you can fixate on one thing before your mind gets worn out.”

  “I know. I know. I just keep thinking of the Wechselbalg still in their cages and—”

  “I know,” she told him gently. “But you came back here, and the first thing you did was make a plan to make sure Gerard couldn’t hurt anybody else. You’re ready to kill him as soon as he pops up. You’ve already picked a strike team for each facility. It’s only been ten hours, Stephen, and the experiments have stopped—ADAM has confirmed that. You’re doing everything you can.” She smiled and patted his knee. “Tell you what—go find Jennifer. Have a romantic dinner.”

  “We just had a romantic dinner. Also, it’s…six in the morning.”

  “Do something to take your mind off this. It’s only going to be a few more hours until Sergio, Hsu, and the rest are fully healed. ADAM is forging security passes. This will all go smoother and have less chance of failure if you take the time you need to prepare.”

  “Why do you always have to be sensible?” Stephen asked with a grin. “Thanks for the reminder. And good luck with the mobsters, by the way.”

  “You make it sound like they’re from the twenties.”

  “I liked the twenties. They had style.” Stephen smiled at her. “When are you leaving?”

  “In a few minutes. You’re sure you don’t need Pete?”

  “Nah. A lot of the people from the Velingrad facility are going to help.” Stephen tipped an imaginary hat to her. “Good hunting, my Queen.”

  “Good hunting, Stephen.”

  “There you are.” Arisha hurried across the wide recreational deck and joined Jennifer at a window.

  She immediately wished she hadn’t. Earth was mesmerizing, glowing white and blue and green below them, but it was also very, very far down.

  And space was about six inches away from her.

  Even after being on the Meredith Reynolds, she still wasn’t used to this. Arisha gave a little whimper at the void outside and looked away.

  “Don’t like space?” Jennifer said sympathetically.

  "I would think you of all people would understand!” Arisha shuddered. “Didn’t you say you missed Earth?”

  Jennifer laughed. “Sure. And I do! But this view…there’s nothing like it.”

  “Agreed. Humans were never meant to see such things.”

  Jennifer laughed again. “Oh, come on. Look. I promise you’re perfectly safe.”

  Arisha opened one eye and gave a look out into the black before squeaking in terror and squeezing both eyes shut.

  “Now, now,” Jennifer said. “Come on, you can do this.”

  “All right.” Arisha hunched her shoulders and looked. “I’m looking.”

  “Look how beautiful it is,” Jennifer said quietly. “That’s our home. That’s where our parents were born, where almost everyone we love lives.”

  Arisha felt herself relax slightly, “I guess that’s true.”

  “Yeah,” Jennifer said encouragingly. “You can see the mountains like little ripples on the surface. You can see the clouds and their shadows. Isn’t that amazing? Seeing the whole world like this, it makes you realize what’s really important.”

  Arisha looked at her wordlessly.

  Jennifer hesitated. “When I was in the facility in Spain,” she explained quietly. “I realized that the only thing that mattered was whether I could live with myself. If, when I went to bed each night, I believed that I’d done everything in my power to make the world the best place it could be for the people I love. And I understand now that if I leave TQB and go home…I will always know that I didn’t do my best. I didn’t do everything I could. If I leave, I’ll always know that I left the people I loved to fight without me. I can’t do that and live with myself.”

  Arisha found herself smiling. Jennifer looked more content now than she had before, more at ease in her own skin. “So, you think...”

  “I think I’m going to tell them that it doesn’t matter about the five years. I’m here for good.” Jennifer smiled at her.

  She truly was happier now that she had made this decision. She could not remember being so content in the past few years. Her love for Stephen had seemed like one more thing pulling her away from her home—something she could not give up, and yet also something that she could not help but fear, in a way. It would change her life in ways she couldn’t know yet.

  Now, she understood it as a part of her. She loved this planet, and she would protect it.

  She crossed her arms, leaned against the window, and laughed when Arisha yelped.

  “I’m perfectly safe. What about you, huh? You think you’ll stick around?” She poked Arisha in the arm. “I hear Stoyan is trying to decide, too.”

  Arisha blushed bright red. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she spluttered.

  “You think you two could settle down on an asteroid?” Jennifer asked wickedly. “Raise kids, have a happy little home?”

  Arisha covered her face with her hands. “Stop it! I haven’t thought about any of that yet! I just...”

  “Light up every time you think about him?” Jennifer said mischievously. She saw Stephen appear across the room and smiled at him.

  “You do it, too,” Arisha pointed out. She nodded at Stephen.

  “Oh, I know.” Jennifer smiled. She waited as Stephen crossed the room. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing. Just waiting to start the last part of this mission.” Stephen shook his head. “I’m not feeling very patient.”

  “Well, don’t tell Sergio that,” Arisha advised. “He’s not quite healed, but he’s already talking about running off and saving people. If you encourage him, he will re-injure himself.”

  Stephen nodded. “I know. How is he doing?”

  “Physically, he should be back to normal in a few hours,” Jennifer explained. “Most of what was done to him was superficial enough to heal quickly even without our intervention. However, it will take him some time to come to terms with what happened.”

  “Well, you know what they say about that,” Stephen said. “Nothing heals better than bringing justice to the people who hurt you.”

  “You have weird sayings in Romania,” Jennifer informed him with a grin. She looped her arm through his and kissed him on the cheek. “But very handsome men.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Not as handsome as B
ulgarian men, I hear.” Stephen gave Arisha a teasing grin. “How is Stoyan doing, by the way?”

  “I hate you both,” Arisha announced. She marched away with her nose in the air.

  “Give him our regards,” Stephen called.

  ECCENTRIC BILLIONAIRE FOUND DEAD, the headlines screamed.

  ADAM perused the article, lingering on colloquialisms in the text. The more he learned about humans, the more intriguing he found language and translation. It still baffled him that there was no universally accepted way to describe phenomena.

  Humans were so strange.

  Hugo Marcari, the sole heir to the once-prominent Marcari family, was found dead early this morning in his family castle along with the entirety of his staff, after a gruesome accident. Speaking about the grisly scene, Police Commissioner Gomez-Alvarez said, “It appears that Mr. Marcari had grown paranoid, and installed many security systems and booby traps to protect himself from intruders. Unfortunately, it seems that these devices were triggered accidentally and killed Mr. Marcari and his staff.

  “In light of this tragedy, we would like to remind the community that these devices are very dangerous and can impede rescue efforts if you should ever find yourself in this type of dangerous situation.”