Free Evacuation (The Boris Chronicles Book 1) by Michael Anderle, Paul C. Middleton

“Still, do you acknowledge a debt to me? And are you willing to work it off?”  

    Vassily looked up “I will. But what will make you believe that I’m telling the truth?”

    Bethany Anne snapped to capture his attention, then her eyes glowed red in the dim office light, “I’m the reason he will believe you.” Vassily’s heart started beating sharply, his forehead broke out in sweat and nearly fainted. He hadn’t realized she was a vampire.

    He got his tongue back under control, “Thhhen you kn-kn-know I’m sincere?”

    Bethany Anne reverted to her normal human appearance. “Yes. You have been honest and sincere.” She turned to Boris and said “You can trust him. I’ll send you the modified cell phones before the storm hits.”

    She rose from her chair and left the room.

    —

    Vassily had left yesterday to pump his sources for more information on the NVG. The custom phones had arrived before Vassily had left. TOM and ADAM had assured Boris that they were secure. ADAM also mentioned he was setting up secure communications, and he would send details to each team leader. Janna had explained ADAM to Boris. She was confident ADAM could keep the merely curious and the hackers out. Everyone who stayed would be getting new identities and papers courtesy of ADAM with Frank’s help as well.

    The phones were protected from tampering and were secured by voice recognition when using the Etheric connections.  

    None of Boris’ officers were to take that equipment into operations. ADAM had set up a website secured by himself for other means of communication. Each team would have their own section, each team member their own login. ADAM promised to give Boris and Janna a synopsis each day.

    Boris had spent hours going over the lists of people who had volunteered. First, he’d narrowed it by removing at least one parent from each family with children under sixteen. Then he removed those few with university educations. Then, the eldest were removed, making an occasional exception for those who were exceptionally skilled hunters, trackers, or listeners. That brought the numbers of people that were staying down from more than five thousand to around three thousand, seven hundred and fifty.

    He decided that was enough reduction. After all, they were likely to take some casualties when they finally faced the NVG to dismantle it.  

    He was putting off the next task. Paul wanted to talk to him. He suspected the reason, and it was causing him worry. He’d really hoped Paul would choose to go with the group that was headed into space. Boris had taken him into enough situations over the years that should have killed him, but Paul had come through those successfully. Selfishly, Boris just wanted the man who was probably his closest human friend to be safe.

    Boris had spoken to his friend earlier, and it was only two seconds before Paul had insisted that he was too skilled and experienced to waste in space. Even worse, he was probably right. But Alecta was not happy with being separated from her husband. Although she would be comparatively useless to the group that was staying behind.  

    She was one of the worst shots Boris knew, she still flinched as the trigger was pulled. With a Master’s degree in metallurgy, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in geology and mining and five years of industry experience, she had returned home to settle with Paul and have a family. The boys were twelve and fifteen, so at least one of their parents had to go with them.

    There was a knock on the door. It was Paul, as Boris expected. “Come.”

    Paul entered the room looking a bit sheepish. “Boss, can you talk to Alecta? She’s saying she’ll hand over guardianship of the kids to her aunt to make sure that she’s eligible to stay. I told her it wouldn’t fly, but she’s convinced that it will. She claims that I’d talked to you before to make sure that she would be leaving. I’ve asked her when I could have, but you know