by Gini Koch
White shook his head. “Son, we’re both feeling chagrined and apologetic. Stop snarling.”
“That wasn’t snarling, Richard. I’ve seen him snarl. Trust me, it’s nastier.”
“I feel so guilty,” Christopher said, in a tone that indicated quite the opposite. “Dad, clench your teeth.”
White did as ordered, and Christopher did some move that, clearly, put White’s dislocated shoulder back in. White shouted, then nodded. “Thank you, son.” He put his good arm around Christopher and hugged him tightly. “We both appreciate being alive.”
Christopher pulled me in for a group hug in a few moments. This was an A-C thing, and I never minded it. I leaned my head against Christopher’s shoulder. Not nearly as comfy as Reader’s but it’d do in a pinch.
“What now?” I asked finally.
“Now we get home. I don’t know if you two are bugged or what, but according to James, the guys after you at the airport are all run off or detained.”
“Meaning the large number of men who almost got us this time are new additions to the fold. Wonderful. I don’t know who could have bugged us, since we were declared clean before we left the Embassy.”
“Reynolds could have,” Christopher offered.
“No way in the world.” This time I was the one snarling. “I’m officially sick and beyond tired of you and Jeff treating Chuckie like crap or like he’s our enemy. I’ll walk home alone, too, if I have to hear any more of it from you. Richard came with James and Tim, by the way. They also on your suspect list?”
Christopher sighed. “Fine. I wasn’t actually accusing him. And I’m certainly not accusing James or Tim, either. I was pointing out that you haven’t been alone since you left the Embassy.”
“Let’s get back to the Embassy,” White said soothingly. “We’ll worry about it then.”
I looked around. My vision was also enhanced, and I could see a lot farther than I’d been able to before, as well as see well in the dark. And what I saw looked a lot like another Goon Squad on the ground and a helicopter in the air. I looked in the other direction. There were three taxis cruising by. Two of them had clearly been in a fender bender.
“Okay, I’m not mad at you anymore, Christopher.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re finding us somehow.” I pointed as the goons got closer and the taxis all pulled illegal U-turns. Unsurprisingly, there were no cops nearby.
Christopher put his father’s arm over his shoulder again, grabbed White’s waist and my hand, and we were off, again at the fastest speeds ever.
This time, we stopped on the steps of the Embassy. I gagged my way to the front door, preferring to toss the cookies inside, where it appeared to be somewhat safer.
We got inside to find Tito waiting for us with a gurney. “I’ve had medical support brought over from Dulce,” he told us.
“Why?” I asked as I helped White get onto the gurney. Unlike every other man I worked with, he didn’t whine about it. Meaning he was either really hurt or more mature about things. I voted for both.
“No one wants our forces divided if at all possible.”
“Well, we had a phalanx of bad guys after us, so we might want to be prepped for a siege.”
Dazzlers appeared on the scene. Sadly, none of them were Dazzlers I knew well, but Tito used these gals frequently. They started fussing around White immediately.
“Pontifex White needs immediate attention,” one of them shared with Tito.
“Former Pontifex,” White reminded gently. The girl blushed and nodded. “I’m sure it’s not as dire as all that.”
Tito eyed him critically. “Christopher? I know you looked at him internally. Diagnosis?”
“Muscle tear that’s already repairing, but he does need stitches. Heavy bruising, but nothing broken. I put his shoulder back in.”
“Now you’ve gotten the former Pontifex all banged up.” Tito shook his head. “Wasn’t Paris enough fun for the two of you?”
“No, we’ve been bored,” White replied. “Truly, I’d prefer my lectures after you patch me up.”
Tito and his Dazzler assistants took White off to the medical portion of the Embassy. It wasn’t as snazzy as what the Science Center had, or even up to what the other bases had, but it was still impressive by human standards.
“You going with your dad?”
Christopher shook his head. “I can monitor him without being in the room.”
“Your new talents never cease to amaze me. Or creep me out.”
He managed a chuckle. “Nice to know. Let’s join the others and see how bad our situation is.”
“It’s us. I figure we’ve been at DEFCON Worse for hours if not days.”
Christopher sighed. “I hate it when I think you’re right. And I definitely think you’re right.”
CHAPTER 40
WE HEADED FOR THE MAIN MEETING ROOM, which was on the second floor. The Embassy had two elevators, on opposite sides of the building. We took the one that didn’t have White and his medical entourage in it.
It was nice to be in an elevator with Christopher and not feel we were being illicit. Enough time had passed and more than enough had happened that we didn’t have to act like opposing magnets.
On the other hand, I could tell the adrenaline high that had kept me going was wearing off. I was about to crash, and potentially crash big time. My emotions felt jumbled beyond belief, and I realized that if one person so much as mildly snapped at me, I was going to lose it in a big, embarrassing way.
The elevator doors opened, and before I could blink, someone had picked me up in his arms. Jeff had moved at the really fast hyperspeed, but if I were in sensory deprivation, I’d still know the feel of him holding me.
I buried my face in his neck, wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders, and heaved a shuddering sigh.
“It’s okay, baby,” he said softly. “I’m here.” I whimpered, and he kissed my head. “No one’s going to yell at you, or even tease you.”
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Christopher said.
“Thanks. And thanks for getting them.”
“They can’t neuter us, no matter how hard they try.”
Jeff laughed softly. “And God knows, sometimes it feels like everyone’s trying. Tell the others what I said when I left still stands.”
“Will do.” I felt a third hand on my back and figured it was Christopher’s. “It’s okay, Kitty. My dad will be fine; everyone else is safe, at least currently. We’ll figure it out and fix it, just like we always do.”
I nodded. He patted my back, then the hand left, and I heard footsteps going away from us.
“If you want to cry, baby, we’re alone and we’ll be left alone.”
I sort of did but sort of didn’t. I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and shook my head. “No. I’d rather not look like a red balloon for the next couple of hours.”
Jeff chuckled. “Even when you’re crying, you’re the sexiest girl in the galaxy.”
I snorted. “Wow, you’re a great liar, all of a sudden.”
“Nope, it’s true.”
I snuggled more tightly against him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, baby. It’ll be okay. I promise. We’ll figure out what the hell’s going on, stop it, and bring a world of hurt to our enemies. Just like always.”
We stood there for a while. I didn’t try to figure out how long. I just let myself relax, let myself remember that nothing could hurt me when he was holding me, let my body shudder, my emotions calm, and my mind center.
After a while, I found I was wondering if we could sneak off and have sex before we went to powwow with everyone else. Meaning I was feeling normal again.
Jeff picked it up, of course. “As much as I love your current idea, I don’t think we can spare the time.”
“I’d suggest a quickie, but I agree with you.” I took another deep breath and pulled my face out of his neck. “So, let’s figure
out what’s going on and kick bad guy butt, so we can get back to doing the really important stuff.” Hey, I considered orgasms to be vitally important to my well-being.
Jeff grinned and kissed me. It was strong and sensuous, and his lips and tongue owned mine, just like always. The world seemed to be shifting back where it belonged.
He ended our kiss slowly, then let my body slide down his until I was standing. Jeff kept his arm around my shoulders and I kept mine around his waist as we walked slowly to the conference room.
Then we walked past it. “Where are we going?”
“We have so many people here, we’re actually meeting in the ballroom.”
“Wow. I say again, if they really want to get rid of us, all they have to do is bomb the Embassy right now, and we’re no longer anyone’s problem.”
I’d said this in the ballroom doorway, and apparently I wasn’t using my Inside Voice, because I was heard.
Chuckie, in particular, had caught this, and he nodded. “I agree. Which begs an interesting question.”
“And that is?”
“If American Centaurion is the actual target, why aren’t we dead in a pile of rubble right now?”
I pondered this while Jeff and I found our seats. I had no idea where we’d gotten them, but there were a lot of long tables set up in a big U formation. Almost everyone who was anyone in Centaurion Division was here, though we were missing the new parents and their nearest and dearest. My mother and Kevin Lewis were also in attendance, as were Nurse Carter and Caroline. It looked just the way our living room had yesterday—really crowded—only everyone had a seat, and we looked a lot more official. Or like we were in a Corporate America Training Session.
“Maybe, despite all the evidence, we’re not the targets,” I offered as I dumped my purse on the floor at my feet.
“If so, I’d like to know who is,” Chuckie said. “Desperately.”
“I’d like to know how they were finding Kitty and my father so easily,” Christopher said. “Since all the bugs on Kitty were removed.”
I thought about it. “Whoever’s in charge has some serious pull with the transportation in this area.”
“So?” Christopher snapped. I saw Jeff flash him a warning look. “I mean, what does that have to do with how they’re finding you?” Christopher asked, far more nicely than I figured he felt.
“There are traffic cameras all over the place, right?”
Chuckie nodded. “I see where you’re going, and yes, that makes sense. White, you said you stopped and they found you, correct?”
“Correct.”
“We were at a corner with a stoplight,” I added.
“Then traffic cameras would have spotted you, especially if they were monitoring for people to appear out of thin air.” Chuckie looked grim. “It takes real pull to do what’s been done and not show up on my radar or Angela’s.”
My mom nodded, looking as grim as Chuckie. “I think we’re looking at either a government agency like the C.I.A., Homeland Security, or the F.B.I, or we’re looking at a very high-level politician.”
“The President?” I asked.
“I hope not,” Mom said.
Chuckie shook his head. “It’s out of character.” I saw Mom relax. It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who considered Chuckie’s theories to be sound. “However, we have a couple of other Cabinet members who I wouldn’t put it past.”
“Any politician with the right pull could manage it,” Kevin said, from behind Mom. “Bribery and blackmail work most of the time, and power’s a strong motivator.”
“We have two who made the pilgrimage here earlier today, Villanova and Whitmore.”
“What were the Chief Aide to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Transportation doing here?” Mom asked in her bordering-on-enraged tone.
As we brought the rest of the room up to speed on our visit from the Cabal of Evil, Tito came in, White with him. He looked fine. A-Cs worked and healed fast. Tim spoke quietly to them, presumably bringing them up to speed on the nowhere we were with things.
“Think it’s either one of them?” Kevin asked Mom.
“Could be. But we’ll need a hell of a lot of hard evidence to convince the President.”
Despite our lack of information, I could feel ideas starting to form in my mind. Scoring a Subway Party Platter was on the list—I hadn’t eaten in what seemed like forever, albeit it was only this morning, however many hours ago that had really been.
“What’s the possibility of eating while we think?”
Pierre waved his hand. “Already handled, darling. Sustenance coming in from Dulce, under armed guard. Should be here shortly.”
“You’re a god, Pierre. So, how far have you guys gotten on everything while Richard and I were running around?”
“Not far,” Chuckie said. “There were some…issues at the Embassy while we were gone.”
That’s right, White had said Christopher was handling something. I looked at him. “What happened?” I looked around again. Two people in particular were missing. “Where are Dad and Jamie?”
CHAPTER 41
“SAFE,” MOM REPLIED. I FELT MY BODY RELAX. “They’re at the Pontifex’s residence.”
“Why?”
“In addition to everything else,” Christopher shared, “we had a gas leak scare at the Irish Embassy, right after you left for the hospital. Everyone within a five-block radius was being advised to leave the premises, just in case. We cleared all personnel just to be safe. Once we got the all-clear, it seemed wiser to leave nonessential personnel there for the time being.”
Kevin nodded. “Denise and our kids are over there, too. Along with some P.T.C.U. operatives, three Centaurion Division agent teams, Naomi and Abigail, and Gladys.”
“Gladys is helping babysit Jamie, Raymond, and Rachel? What have I missed?” The Lewis kids tended toward the angelic side of the house, and my dad and Denise should have been plenty to take care of Jamie. With Naomi and Abigail along, that should have meant Jamie was the happiest of little campers, not in need of the overall Head of Security to keep her in line.
I was treated to Glare #2. “I didn’t want to discover the gas leak was a fake to make us lower our guard, particularly the guard on Jamie,” Christopher snapped.
“Fine, fine, no argument, just curious.” Another thought occurred. “You cleared out Walter?” I wondered how much of a fight he’d put up about leaving his post and figured a lot.
“Not so much.” Christopher’s expression told me it had indeed been a big, stressful argument. “Walter insisted on staying with the people from the gas company. Gladys agreed.” A fight Christopher had lost. We all loved losing, so I didn’t have to guess about his opinion on this outcome, though him switching to Glare #4 was something of a clue.
“Well, he’s dedicated.” Walter, at least, was doing a great job. One whole person in our Embassy had transitioned without major incident. We probably should award Walter a medal.
“I also had to field a lot of questions from most of our Embassy neighbors, the people working on the gas leak, and anyone else who could call or come by.” Christopher clearly hadn’t enjoyed this, if his tone and expression were any indication. Or he’d just eaten a lemon. It was interesting to see this look combined with Glare #5.
“Why? Did everyone really get to see me taking a dip in the Potomac?”
“Both of us, actually,” Jeff said.
Serene nodded. “Yes, I’m sorry, Kitty. We couldn’t hide it, there were too many witnesses.”
“Oh, well. Maybe it’ll make all our Embassy neighbors hate us a little less. Or at least feel sorry enough to forgive us for whatever else we’ll screw up next.” I looked at Nurse Carter. “But enough of that. I’ve spent well over a year and a half watching Paraguay pop up again and again and being told, every time I ask, that it’s on a need to know and I don’t.”
“It is classified, and you’re not cleared for it,” Mom said with a resigned sigh.
Mom leaned her head on her hand. “Go to town, kitten.” I recognized the expression on her face. I decided not to share that, as far as I could tell, my mother was testing me. Again. Oh, well, she liked to ensure the skills were kept up to snuff. And this way, she could legitimately say that neither she, Kevin, nor Chuckie had told me anything.
I looked at Nurse Carter. “You’re supposedly Paraguay Secret Police.” She nodded. “And you’re investigating what’s happening to your poorest citizens.” Another nod. “And yet, your intel runs from extremely sketchy to downright wrong, you’re working as a real nurse, and you didn’t kill me or anyone else when you had the chance.”
She looked uncomfortable. “What are you driving at?”
“You’re no more Secret Police than I am.” Reader coughed. “Okay, scratch that. I’m more Secret Police than you are. What I really think you are is someone who lost a loved one to the supersoldier program I freaking know some lunatic’s running in the middle of the Chaco.”
Her mouth dropped open, but she snapped it shut. “You’re wrong.”
Chuckie was trying not to laugh. Mom had an expression I was really used to on her face—her “you’re so busted, but please, do continue to dig your hole deeper” look. It was one of her classics, honed to perfection throughout the years.
“What you are is someone who has some skills and followed some leads, and you’re in way, way over your head. Your government isn’t going to ask for you back, because your government isn’t aware that you’re here undercover doing the work they aren’t interested in doing. Your government is either trying to handle this on their own or, very possibly, approves of the supersoldier plan and is using Aliens as a blueprint.”
“That was a good movie,” Tim commented. “But the monsters weren’t controllable. What would make anyone think a superbeing could be controlled?”
