Alien in the House (21 page)

C
AMILLA MOVED CALMLY
through the room while I contemplated how similarly she and Chuckie appeared to think. I missed what she did or who she spoke to, though, because my phone rang and I stepped away from the door to take the call.

“What are you doing?” Jeff asked in a low voice.

“Stuff. Why are you calling me?”

“Because you're hiding in the stairwell.”

“Where are you?”

“In our favorite bathroom.”

“Super. Remember to wash your hands after.”

“Hilarious. I know you, and I can tell you're up to something and that it involves that Vance guy.”

“It does. Look, we have a lot of ground to cover. You're stuck being political. I have the hackers working on a variety of things, same with Raj, who has the boys, Olga, and the Middle Eastern Contingent. Amy and Caroline are missing. I'm betting on one of them having spotted my ‘uncle' and them both having gone to investigate.”

Jeff cursed quietly. “I can believe it. They both think they're junior versions of you. I can't find either one of them emotionally, either. But it would explain why the assassin had such a clear, uninterrupted shot at you and Eugene.”

“Right, because my ‘uncle' was being distracted by the girls. So, I want to look for them. Yes, I'm taking Vance with me because he has some theories I need to get and I want to kill two birds with one big rock.”

“I don't want you going anywhere alone. And before you protest, your new friend is not a fighter. He's frightened, but not ready to do much more than run screaming.”

“That's his go-to move, I know from Operation Assassination. Time's of the essence, though.”

“Yeah, well, there's more. And I need to talk to you before you disappear on me, too.”

“I'm never the one who does the disappearing.”

“So you say. Look, baby, I need my wife right now. Something major's come up and we have to discuss it. I need you to meet me on the third floor.”

“No, I'm not going onto the third floor, because once on, it's clear I'm not getting out for hours. Can we do it over the phone?”

Jeff heaved a sigh. “Sure, why not. We're only fifty feet away from each other.”

“Then use the superfast hyperspeed so no one can see you and come to me.”

“You could just come down to the second floor.”

“I could, but you're faster than me.” I blinked and Jeff was there. Hung up my phone. “See? Was that so hard? You washed, right?”

“I wonder if it drives Jamie as crazy when you ask that as it drives me?”

“She always remembers.”

“That's our good little girl.” Jeff ran his hand through his hair, took my hand with his other one, and moved us up the stairs, about halfway between floors. “We've been given an interesting offer. And by interesting I mean something that I'm not happy about.”

“Go on.”

“Your mother contacted the President, so he knows what happened to Santiago, and to Eugene.”

“Fabulous.”

He shrugged. “The President doesn't care about Eugene. The police are on it, and that's not the political problem.”

“Oh, political problems. Yay.”

“Yeah. The district Santiago represented is now left, again, without a representative. Per your mother, a year ago, no one would have cared, they would have just done yet another special election. This year, however, they care, and not just because general elections have been suspended. There are a lot of bills going through the House.”

“A lot of bills that Santiago insinuated deal with immigration and the definition of who's an illegal alien and who isn't.”

“Right. It's a bad time to have a heavily A-C populated district unrepresented.”

“And they know they have A-Cs worldwide who consider that their home district, too.” All A-Cs, even those, like Raj, who were born and raised in another country, were U.S. citizens first. Those outside of the U.S. held dual citizenship where necessary—and they all called Dulce and Area 51 home.

“Right.” Jeff swallowed. “So, the President is concerned because, as we know, they know more than the world is watching what goes on here now. The government can't afford to look like they're ignoring us or don't care about us, or how we interact, or whatever political spin it is they're all going for.”

“They know at least an entire other solar system, plus God alone knows who else is paying attention to us. We can ask Mister Joel Oliver about the rest of the ramifications.”

“Right. Glad he's on your speed dial, because there's more. The President and your mother called New Mexico's governor. Normally, the governor doesn't appoint an interim representative, but the President's point blank told him to make an exception.”

“Okay. God, I hope it's not the guy who ran against Santiago, though it would make sense, since he's interested. But he's hugely anti-alien, and that will make things really uncomfortable for us.”

“Yes, the governor pointed that out. Neither he nor the President want someone representing our district who isn't pro-alien, in no small part because Santiago won, and he ran on a very pro-alien platform, so that means the people who voted for him are pro-alien, and they're the majority. Santiago won by a wide margin.”

“Check. So, what do the President and governor want us to do?”

Jeff cleared his throat. “Well, it's more what they want me to do, but you're going to be involved.”

“Edge of my seat, so to speak.”

Jeff nodded, and spoke in a tone of utter doom and gloom. “They want me to fill in as the new representative for New Mexico's Second Congressional District. Starting now.”

L
ET THAT STATEMENT
sit on the air for a few moments. “Um, what did James and Paul say?”

“That my answer had better be ‘yes.'”

“Oh. Serene?”

“Said that she'd been shoved into a high-level role with less preparation and I could man up and suck it up.”

“Oh. Did you ask your parents?”

“Yes, in desperation. They're thrilled. I think my mother's already called the entire population to tell them about it. My father's proud, I can tell.”

“Oh. What about our politically inclined guests?”

“Senators Armstrong and McMillan and Representative Brewer all agreed this was the right thing to do. Lydia even pulled herself together long enough to say she agreed as well. Your mother and father both are behind this idea a hundred percent, too.”

“Oh.” Contemplated all the things I wanted to say. None of them seemed helpful.

“Yeah.”

We stood there in silence for a little bit. “Wait. How can you take this position when, like an hour ago, I essentially declared us in a state of war against the U.S.? I mean, I didn't do that on purpose, but it was noted and reacted to like it was very real.”

“I asked that same question, baby. Andrei mentioned an obscure clause in the original A-C agreement with Earth, that states if one of our ‘leaders' consents to take a ‘political position of reasonable power' within the U.S. Government, then American Centaurion will shift to become ‘closer to their new country of choice.'”

“Does that mean we become the fifty-first state or something?”

“No, but it alters our situation with the U.S. so that we can get mad, but we have to work it out in the same way Arizona has to work out arguments with New Mexico.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. I have no idea how Andrei found that clause.”

“Oh, I do. Olga. She's probably had that clause handy since we moved in. Maybe longer.”

“Yeah. Good point. So, my taking the position means we just solved any war issues with the U.S., potentially forever. Andrei did say that we have escape clauses in case the government turns on us.”

“Well, that's good. I guess.”

“Yeah.”

Stood there with a little more silence going. “You haven't even been the head ambassador for a full year.”

“Co-head ambassador. Yeah, baby, I don't know what to do. Becoming a full-fledged politician is about the last thing on Earth I want.”

“The President and the governor asked you to do this personally?”

“Yes, we were on the phone. The governor said he'd come out here, tonight, if he has to, in order to convince me.”

“Let's avoid that.”

“So you want me to say yes?”

Contemplated all our options. They seemed amazingly limited. “Well, it's just for now, right? Until they have time to do another election?”

We looked at each other. “Supposedly,” Jeff said finally.

Contemplated some more. There was no way Jeff wasn't going to do an excellent job doing whatever it was representatives did. Civics and Social Studies had been a long time ago so I wasn't going to be a lot of assistance. However, we had a wealth of people who could teach him.

The light dawned. “That's why the Cabal of Evil is hanging around, isn't it? They want first dibs at influencing you.”

“Yeah, I think so. Your mother called the President right after Eugene was arrested, after we took the dog downstairs. I think they knew about this plan before I did.”

“Senator McMillan said to do it?”

“He said, and I'm quoting, that it was my civic duty to help guide and govern my country, protect all the citizens entrusted to my care, and answer when the call came.”

“Yeah, he's a war hero all right. What did Armstrong say?”

“He's really happy about this. I'd be willing to describe him as giddy.”

“Wow. Well, he's one of the few politicians we're legitimately close to. It has to be some sort of political coup to be able to say a presidential appointee is your dinner buddy.”

“I suppose. I wouldn't call him my buddy.”

“Five bucks says he does.”

“I don't take sucker bets, baby.” Jeff heaved a sigh. “I have to do this, don't I?”

I hugged him, tightly. He hugged me back even tighter. “It's not fair. It's never been fair for you, Jeff. But that's the problem when you learn how to be a good leader so young—you're stuck leading for the rest of your life.”

“There's leading and then there's . . . this.”

“Santiago would be proud to have you follow him.”

Jeff was quiet for a few moments. “I suppose. We'll never know.”

“He wanted you to run for office.” I nuzzled against him. Who knew when I'd get to nuzzle again tonight? “So, who's going to be the Chief of Mission then?”

Jeff stopped hugging me and moved me away from him a little. “What do you mean?”

“You're taking a new job. I know for a fact there's no way you can be the Chief of Mission here and also be a congressman. Even if we wanted to go for it, it's against governmental law, rules, and regulations. So, who are we moving into the position?”

Jeff cleared his throat. “You, ah, don't know?”

“No. Do you want me to guess? We're in the middle of a huge lot of something going on that I think we'll need to get back to shortly. Besides, Vance is going to come to find me at any given moment. Do me a big favor and just spell it out for me as if I were Jamie. Or younger.”

Jeff shook his head. “I'm just surprised you're even asking me, baby. It seems pretty obvious to me, and to everyone else, too.”

“Does it? It's not seeming obvious to me, but I'll admit that I've been missing some obvious things tonight. So, again, throw a girl a bone and just tell me who's going to be our new Chief of Mission?”

“The same person who's Chief right now, baby. You.”

“Y
OU'RE ALL HIGH.”

Jeff chuckled. “Hardly. You're already fully versed in the job.”

Put my hand onto his forehead. “No fever. I expected a fever because you're talking crazy talk and you know it. I'm not even through the Briefing Books of Boredom I got when I first started with Centaurion Division, and I'm having a worse time with the Diplomat's NYC Phonebook. You can't seriously think I can just waltz in and take over what you do. Can you?”

Jeff kissed my forehead. “I can and I do.”

“We're doomed.” A happy thought occurred. “There's probably some law or regulation that prevents me from being the ambassador while you're a representative.”

“No, actually, and if there is, it's being waived under the circumstances, just like so many other things.”

“What if people protest?” I asked hopefully.

“They won't.”

“They're protesting about everything right now.”

“So one more protest won't make any difference.”

“What if I need to represent as the wife of the representative?”

“Then you'll do it, as the representative's wife who happens to be the ambassador.”

“I see nothing but headaches on the horizon.”

Jeff grinned. “I see opportunities to try to persuade Madame Ambassador to do things my way.” His voice was a purr, and I was instantly ready to discuss the ramifications of our new positions while trying out some old positions.

But before we could actually do anything, the door opened and Vance stepped onto the stairwell. “Jeff, they're starting to worry that you're sick or dying in the bathroom. Precedent has been set for that tonight.”

Jeff sighed and gave me a nice kiss, albeit a quick one. “Take someone, anyone, with you who can actually handle themselves in a fight. I'll be monitoring you. If you go into the tunnel system, let me know before you go in.”

“I will do, on all of those.” Somehow.

Jeff kissed my forehead, then zipped off. I didn't even see the door open or close.

“It's still amazing to see that,” Vance said.

“See what?”

“Someone disappear in the blink of an eye.”

“Yeah. So, Vance, you have some theories to forward?”

“Yeah, I do. Do you really want to have this meeting here?”

“Actually, no.” I started down the stairs again.

“We're going to the second floor so we can go over to the Embassy to talk?”

I was about to say yes as long as no one else was there when I heard voices that sounded like they were on the first floor. “No.” Went down the stairs faster.

“Hey, wait up!” Vance took the stairs two at a time. “You're really fast.”

And I was also supposed to be a secret weapon. The world knew about the A-Cs, but it didn't know that I'd become sort of half of one. “I was a sprinter and hurdler in school.”

“Ah, that's why you're in terrific shape.” Vance sounded appraising. I tended to forget he and Gadoire were actually bi until moments like this.

However, Vance's sexual orientation was shoved aside by my having heard correctly. We did have people on the first floor. The group who'd gone to the medical center were all back. Sure they looked exhausted, but the game was afoot and I'd been point-blank told to bring some decent backup along.

“Hey, why'd you guys come to the Zoo instead of going to the Embassy?” I asked as we joined them. The whole lot of them. Good. I was going to be able to make Jeff happy and take someone other than just Vance along with me.

“James told us to,” Tim said. “He said there was important news we needed to get briefed on as soon as we were back.”

“Yes, there is. But I need you all working on something else.” This earned me suspicious looks all around. Always the way. “Okay, fine. I'll just take Richard. The rest of you can troop upstairs.”

Got more suspicious looks. Well, from everyone other than White. He looked amused, but he also looked worried. Yeah, his only child was still missing. Couldn't wait to tell him who else was gone.

“What are you up to, Kitty?” Tim asked, clearly speaking for Tito and the flyboys.

Lorraine and Claudia extracted themselves from Joe and Randy. Their dresses looked as bad as mine. I loved my girls.

“You know, our girl's been through a lot tonight,” Lorraine said. “You boys go up and get debriefed. We'll stay with Kitty and help her out.”

“Yeah, we'll keep her out of trouble,” Claudia added.

Their mothers were at the back of the group, along with the rest of the Dazzlers who'd gone to the medical center. Melanie and Emily exchanged a look. “Kitty, do you need us, too?” Melanie asked.

“Hell yeah,” Vance said under his breath. “Bring the dudes, too.”

Had to weigh my options, and not only because I didn't necessarily want to have Vance hitting on everyone with clear intent to score. Of course, the only way to avoid that would be to take no one else with us.

A smaller group would be more manageable. And that way we'd have Melanie and Emily to call for backup. “Nah, I should be good with Lorraine, Claudia, and Richard. But keep your phones handy.”

White gave Nurse Carter a kiss on her cheek. “Stay with the group.”

She nodded. “Be careful.”

All of Airborne were giving me looks that said I was keeping them out of the fun. This was true. Then again, I had no idea what fun we were going to be having, let alone how much Vance was going to be willing to say in front of White and the girls. “I'll let Jeff and James give you the news themselves. Why spoil their big reveal?”

“Because that's your typical move?” Jerry asked.

“And here you used to be my favorite.”

The guys all chuckled and some of the Dazzlers started up the stairs, and the rest of the team clustered around the stairwell to follow suit. As my smaller team gathered together, Tito came over, too. “You taking this civilian along?” he asked without preamble.

“Yes.”

Tito nodded and pulled something out of his medical bag. “Take this,” he said, handing a pill to Vance. “You'll thank me later.”

“What is it?” Vance asked suspiciously. “Someone was poisoned earlier tonight.”

“Not by me. It's a medicine you'll appreciate.” Meaning it was Tito's specialized Hyperspeed Dramamine pill. Chuckie, Reader, Tim, and the flyboys now took this every day, too, because every human who worked with A-Cs appreciated being able to go fast without having to barf their guts out afterward.

“Take it,” I told him. It would be nice to be able go to hyperspeed without worrying about Vance's physical reaction to it.

“Kitty takes one every day,” Tito said reassuringly as I nodded cheerfully.

This was a flat-out lie, but I appreciated it, because Tito had just covered the fact that I wouldn't be bothered by hyperspeeding. He'd also reminded me to ensure I had a hold of one of the A-Cs if we needed to run.

Vance grumbled, but he took the pill as requested.

Good doctorly duty done, Tito followed the others up the stairs.

“So, what's going on?” Lorraine asked.

“Lots. More than lots. We have people dead, people missing, new assignments, political maneuvering, and more. It's been a great day. But first, let me mention to my man, Vance, here, that whatever you wanted to tell me you can tell Richard, Lorraine, and Claudia as well.”

He looked uncertain. Well, he looked like he wanted to suggest a five-some immediately, but right after that he looked uncertain.

“Before we get into whatever the next stage of our fun and frolic is going to be, Missus Martini, could you share with us what the ‘big reveal' is?”

“Oh, yes, yes I can.” Considered how to broach the night's position changes and decided straightforward was the way to go. “Jeff's been appointed to fill the Congressional seat that was just vacated by Eugene's murder of Santiago, and I'm now the sole Chief of Mission.”

Claudia and Lorraine both laughed. Loudly. “No, seriously, Kitty, what's going on?” Claudia asked.

“Sadly, exactly what I said. Along with our usual myriad deadly schemes focused against us.”

“There's a bigger scheme that I don't think anyone's noticed yet, other than me,” Vance said. “But Kitty's not joking. The President made the request, as did the governor of New Mexico. The move is effective tonight.”

Lorraine and Claudia gaped at us. “You cannot be serious,” Lorraine said finally.

“I'd assume they're very serious, young ladies,” White said. “I can't think of a better choice than Jeffrey, to be honest.”

“Richard, would you like to take over as Chief of Mission?”

“Absolutely not. I'm retired from public service. However, your friend here had something to tell us. It's nice to see you again, young man. During our first meeting you ran away.”

“We were being shot at,” Vance said flatly.

“True enough,” White said pleasantly. “You ran away screaming, as I recall. Difficult to say a proper good-bye when that happens.”

“Yeah, yeah, and then the next time I saw you was at the President's Ball where you shared that you and the rest of your mission were sleeping with Kitty. I get it, we're not exactly ‘close.'” Vance looked at me. “Do I have to spend the rest of the night saying I'm sorry or what?”

“No, you're good to go. But we need to do double duty. Amy and Caroline have disappeared. Richard, I think they saw my uncle.”

“Ah. That could be awkward,” he said. I saw the realization of who we were talking about light in the girls' eyes. I loved working with Dazzlers.

“Yes. So we're going to be looking for them while Vance tells us about whatever connections he's made that have him worried.”

“Very worried,” Vance added.

“Where do you want to start looking?” Claudia asked.

“The last place Jeff wants me to go.”

“Tunnels,” both girls said in unison.

“Got it in one. I have to let him know when we go down there.”

White looked at Vance. “I strongly suggest we take an alternate route.”

“I know there are tunnels, deep, ancient ones, running underground,” Vance said. “They were created by aliens, and not you guys. They were visible to Earth equipment for a short while and then they went back to being impenetrable. There's an entrance under your Embassy, as well as by the Lincoln Memorial.”

We all stared at him. “Wow,” I said when I'd recovered enough to speak. “Vance, you know a hell of a lot more than I'd have suspected.”

He grimaced. “Look, it's an act, okay? You show you're too smart around here, you don't make a lot of friends.” I could count Chuckie's friends that weren't from Alpha Four on one hand, so Vance had an excellent point. “I read the
World Weekly News
. I know what goes on. So you don't need to put a bag over my head or blindfold me. Let's just get going, because I really want to tell you what I think's going on.”

“Why so?” White asked.

Vance shrugged. “Because you're probably the only ones who can stop it.”