Alien Devices: Tesla joins crew to prevent alien zombie apocalypse (The Secret War Book 2) by Raven Bond

indignation. “I
shot her! Twice! The first shot the muzzle was pressed directly against her,
the second she was no farther away than Mr. Rogers is now!” She pointed to
where the First Officer stood near the cabin door.
    “Then you must have been mistaken about the selector switch,”
Rogers said gently. “In the heat of combat, you would not have been the first
to make that mistake. Petrov is a damned hearty one, she could likely take two
shots of 'knock-down'. The Okhranka don't use the faint hearted, as we well
know.”    
    “She is a demon-hearted piece of dung that sleeps with pigs,”
Saira snarled.
    “Probably so,” Will agreed, looking at Saira. “What we haven't
had time to brief you on is that Lawrence and I believe that she not only works
for the Bears, but may also be involved in that little business I was talking
about with you earlier.” Saira hissed and rocked back in her chair. She stared
off into space thinking. After a few moments she nodded.
    “Yes. That makes sense of some things,” Saira said softly.” She
focused her gaze on Will, “I understand why you did not tell me sooner, but I am
glad that you have now. As I said before, we will find and kill them all. I ask
only that I may claim the death of the demon bitch for myself.”
     “Before we start killing people, what does this 'Petrov' have
to do with my father and myself?” Abigail demanded. Will looked up at her from
the sandwich he had started to eat.
    “That is a mighty good question,” Hunting Owl allowed. “I am
thinking that you could maybe answer that better than me, Lady Hadley. We
cannot help you very effectively if we do not know what you and your father are
really doing here. I am afraid that power surveys do not attract killer agents
of the Russians.” He raised his eyebrows at the Scholar.   Saira placed her
chopsticks in her bowl.
    “You must tell all, Abigail,” Saira said meaningfully. Rogers
cleared his throat.
    “Much as I dislike having to agree with Brighton, I must concur,
Milady,” Rogers said. “Whatever you are doing, I promise you that we can aid
you much better if we know the reason Petrov might be interested in you.” Abigail
sipped her tea for a moment, then set it on the table. Placing her hands in her
lap she took a deep breath.
    “My Father was an aide of the original Gibraltar Group during
the War,” she said. “I assume that we all are aware what that was?”
    “Even in China we have heard of the Gibraltar Group, Lady
Hadley,” Guang smiled. 
    Various nods greeted his statement. Everyone in the world had
heard of the twelve great savants and their assistants laboring away in their
secret lair in the Mediterranean mountain fortress of Gibraltar to save the
world from the Invaders. It was only by their fruits that mankind had been
saved. Abigail continued speaking at this.
    “Yes,” she said with a nod. “Well, Lord Hadley was not a
savant, but he made his contribution. He was part of the project that sought to
answer the question of how the Invaders powered their walking war machines.
They were hunting not only for weaknesses, but for the actual process the
Invaders used. It would have made enormous difference in the building of our
own airships for example.”
    “They used some kind of Tesla engine?” Rogers asked from by the
door.
    “No Mr. Rogers, decidedly not,” Abigail shook her head
vehemently. “While that is the means we decided on for our own uses, the earth
potential, or Tellurian energy as we term it, tapped by a Tesla engine, is far
too limited in its power. Even were they made much more efficient than they
currently are, a single walker could not hold all the engines that would be
needed to make the walker work. You see, when the calculations add in not only
the energy that must be expended to power the movement of such a huge vehicle,
but also the power to generate weapons such as the heat ray,” she paused. “Let
me provide an illustration.” She began