Alien vs. Alien (32 page)

CHAPTER 56

O
F COURSE, I’D EXPECTED TO SEE
some Poofs and Peregrines mixing it up with Clarence or even LaRue and Ronaldo. What was there, however, was the Gower girls. They had their backs to us and were facing . . . something.

I mean, I had to assume from their body language—which said “we’ve been at DEFCON Worse for a while now”—that they were facing something other than the trees around the Memorial. But there was nothing I could see.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. As with Mona and her undercover bodyguards, something was going on, based on the fact that the trees and bushes were moving in the way they would if someone or something was being thrown into and against them. Either that or we’d found the Living Apple Orchard from the
Wizard of Oz
. The way things were going, I didn’t rule that possibility out.

The Gower girls were holding hands, which was normal for them when they were really focusing their talents. However, it looked as though Abigail was holding onto Naomi and trying to pull her back, rather than them doing their Wonder Twins thing.

White and I ran to them. I grabbed Abigail around the waist, and he did the same with Naomi.

“Let me go!” Naomi shouted. “They’re going to die if I don’t go!”

Ah, so it was the Bad Guy Go-To Plan for All Occasions. The Evil Overlord types really revered the classics. “Jennifer, you help hold Abigail. Jeremy, you help Richard with Naomi.”

Once Jennifer had a hold of Abigail and was helping her stay upright, I went in front of Naomi. “What in the world do you think you’re doing?” I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her back. She was really trying to get free, not that this surprised me all that much.

“They have Chuck. And Jeff. And they’re going to kill them if we don’t e ago.” Naomi was practically crying. I’d never seen her this out of emotional control before. Then again, I could understand, and relate, to the feelings she was having.

I shook her, hard. “Look at me!” I shouted it, in the same tone of voice I’d used when giving orders as the Head of Airborne.

She blinked and looked at me, really looked at me. “What are you doing? Why are you trying to stop me?”

“Let me rephrase. Shut up and look at me!”

Naomi gaped at me, but I definitely had her attention.

“I don’t know what Chuckie’s taught you in all this time he’s been working with you, but I’d bet all the money in the A-C coffers that it sure as hell wasn’t to trot over and give yourselves up to the bad guys when they have a hostage.”

“He didn’t,” Abigail said. “He told us if and when we were put in this situation to run like hell in the other direction. And to find you, I might add.”

“And here I am. Isn’t that nice? So, why, Mimi, when he needs you to listen to him the
most
, are you ignoring what Chuckie taught you?”

“But . . . they’re going to kill him.”

“Yeah? Like they didn’t manage when we were in Paris? I mean, clearly it’s time for the two of you to get some actual official field training and experience, because right now you, Mimi, are acting like the biggest noob on the planet. And you will
be
the reason they kill Chuckie and Jeff.”

“What?” She sounded shocked. Naomi was far too smart to be falling for any bad guy’s line. But she wasn’t thinking with her head.

“Get it together, and get it together right now.” I was snarling. Quietly, but still, snarling. Sometimes being nice didn’t work. This appeared to be one of those times. “You and your sister, along with your eldest brother and my baby, are what these bastards want. They have Jeff and Chuckie as bargaining chips. As long as we don’t give them what they want, then Jeff and Chuckie’s odds of living stay at least fifty-fifty.”

“Those aren’t good odds.”

“No. But if you go with them and hand yourself over on a freaking platter with a big bow wrapped around you? First they will torture them in front of you, so you do every evil thing they want you to do, which I guarantee will involve kidnapping your sister and brothers, my baby and all the other hybrid babies, and that’s just for starters. Then, after you’ve stupidly done exactly what they wanted and expected you to do, they will kill Jeff and Chuckie in front of you and laugh while they’re doing it. Or have you forgotten everything that happened in Paris?”

I made eye contact with Abigail. “Who’s they? Clarence, someone else, Clarence and someone else?”

“Just Clarence,” Abigail shared. “He’s enough on his own right now.”

“What’s pulling Naomi toward him?”

“Just Naomi,” Abigail said. She sounded disgusted. “You know, because she’s decided that you, Jeff, Christopher, and Chuck are all morons.”

“I don’t think that!” Naomi sounded indignant. “I just—”

“You’re just reacting emotionally instead of with any form of logic or sense. Yeah, I get it.”

“You race off like this all the time,” Naomi said. Only she sounded a little truculent . . . and a lot less frantic.

“Yeah, I do. Here’s the key point, and I’d like you, in particular, to pay close attention to the next things I say. Per the very enemies we are fighting right now and my track record, when
I
do it, I’m right. Per the track record the rest of
you
have when you all run off like idiot
s, you’re almost always wrong. Trust me, you’re worse than wrong right now.”

“But . . . they’ll hurt them.”

“No duh. You think I like this any more than you do? Or that Richard does? Or anyone else? This isn’t the time or place for self-sacrifice. This is the freaking time to prove that all the damn time and effort Chuckie’s put into training and prepping the two of you hasn’t been a complete and utter waste of his time.”

“Charles wouldn’t want you to sacrifice yourself for him,” White said gently. “He’s not that kind of man. And you know it.”

“But what if they do kill him?” Naomi whispered.

“Then he dies so you live. I’ve known him more than half my life. He’s been my best friend since we were thirteen. And I guarantee I still know him better than anyone else does, even you. And I promise you this—you doing the exact opposite of what he’s trained you to do and, I know, told you to do will be the real thing that kills him, physically and emotionally.”

She looked almost convinced, but not quite. Time for the big gun. “Unless, of course, this is all an act and you’re really in league with the bad guys and want to go with Clarence so you can watch him hurt Jeff and Chuckie.”

CHAPTER 57

N
AOMI’S EYES FLASHED.
“You know that’s not what I want.”

“Yeah? Prove it.”

“Sis,” Abigail said quietly, “you need to calm down.”

“This from the person who’s affected by emotions, I might add.”

“Yeah, and Sis? Kitty’s ready to beat the crap out of you if you don’t pull it together. And she can do it. Let’s not fight with the person we’re supposed to go to for guidance and leadership in this state of emergency.” It was clear Abigail was reciting something Chuckie had drilled into them.

Naomi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay.”

“Don’t let her go,” I said to White and Jeremy. “Just in case she’s faking us out and wants them dead.”

Naomi glared at me again. Good. Anger was a better emotion for her than fear and panic right now. I turned my back on her. Let her stay pissed off. And focused on me instead of Clarence’s threats.

Still couldn’t make out anyone visually, though the trees and bushes were really taking a beating. This was a National Park—I was sure Clarence was amassing a host of major fines, but a park ranger arriving, or whatever division patrolled here, wouldn’t help the situation.

“So, Abby, what actually happened?” If I squinted, I could just make out several Peregrines and some Poofs, large and in charge. They were definitely not fighting with each other.

“We were finally done with our version of patrolling the Festival when James told us we could start looking for Jeff and Chuck. Then we all got a big emotional message from you, the guys took off, and we searched.” She was quiet for a moment. “We couldn’t find them. So I think Clarence is lying.”

“No, they have them. And I’m sure they’re still alive.” I was. They had no bargaining power if Jeff and Chuckie were dead. And, as Naomi was demonstrating, hostages were a strong incentive to be stupid.

I hoped ACE was going to keep Jamie safe and prevent her from time warping to Jeff in some way. That they were likely hurting Jeff and Chuckie both was, sadly, a given. I shoved the fear and heartache this knowledge gave me aside and added it to the rest of my anger. Anger I was stoking and saving for later.

“Okay, well, I hope you’re right. Anyway, Sis and I were still searching when Clarence showed up out of nowhere. He said he’d come back to help us.”

I snorted.

Abigail chuckled. “Yeah, neither one of us fell for that one. So he said he knew where Chuck and Jeff were. We followed him at a distance, he led us here. Then told us to come with him so Chuck and Jeff wouldn’t be killed. Sis was ready to go, obviously. But then our Poofs went into attack mode, and they were joined by other Poofs, and then Peregrines. That’s what Clarence is fighting.”

“Thanks for the recap, Abby. So, can I not see any of them because they’re invisible or because they’re going so fast?”

“Speed, mostly. That and I put a protective layer around this area.”

“Wow, even while holding Mimi back? I’m hella impressed.”

“Despite how Sis is acting, we’ve been working with Chuck on a lot of things.”

“Things I’m just betting we’re going to have to put into action sooner as opposed to later.”

“All well and good, Missus Martini,” White said. “But how do we stop Clarence right now?”

“I’m wondering if the Poofs can eat him, or if that would end up being bad for us in some way. Or if it would give the Poofs heartburn.”

“I think if they could eat him, they would have already,” Abigail said. “They weren’t happy, believe me.”

Potentially the smart thing to do would be to take off and let the animals handle it. Only, they might get hurt, and if that happened, they’d need me.

Tried to look at this situation the way Chuckie would. There were pros and cons to capturing Clarence as well as to letting him go. If we caught him, great, we’d have him, and maybe we could break him. And we’d keep him off the streets, so to speak, and unable to lure someone else, like his wife or children, to the Dark Side or Hostage City, depending.

Letting him go had merit if there was a way for us to track him. If we could actually follow him, then we had a good chance of finding the Evil Genius Lair du Jour. If we could track him, in a way that would both work and not be something he could find and destroy.

“Any ideas, Missus Martini?”

“Breadcrumbs are out.”

“Excuse me?” Jennifer said.

“We need to get a tracker into Clarence. I’d love to tag him like a wild boar, but I don’t think we have the right equipment handy.”

“Doesn’t he already have one?” Jeremy asked.

I turned around to look at him. Everyone else was looking at Jeremy too. “Say that again, please.”

“We all have tracking chips in us,” Jeremy said. “If you have a job that puts you into any kind of danger, the chip is installed.”

“The girls don’t have trackers. Clarence was a diplomat’s assistant. That hardly seems like a job that screams ‘dangerous situations.’ ”

Jennifer raised her eyebrow. “You’re a diplomat.”

“Excellent point. Mister White?”

“Naomi, may I let go of you, or will you try to heroically yet stupidly do exactly what our enemies want if I release you so I can call Gladys?”

Naomi looked sheepish. “I’m sorry, Uncle Richard.”

White kissed her forehead. “All is forgiven.” He let go, though Jeremy held onto Naomi’s arm. Abigail still had her hand, but Jennifer let go, though I could tell she was ready to lunge at either sister if needed.

White made the call. “Yes, Gladys, I do apologize, but this is actually of the highest need. Yes, superbeings attacking? Amazing, right where Ambassador Katt-Martini said they would. Yes, she
is
right here. No, not looking smug. She is, however, looking worried and impatient. I share those feelings. Why yes, I’d love to tell you why I called. I need you to verify the current whereabouts of Clarence Valentino. Yes, I am serious. Deadly, if you catch my meaning.”

While White verbally wrangled with his half-sister, I tried to come up with another option if Clarence had no tracker or it was disabled. Really wasn’t coming up with a lot. The other problem, of course, was what to do if Clarence was still tagged and traceable.

“Wonderful. Please continue to monitor, paying special attention to whenever and wherever you lose the signal. Should the signal be lost, continue to monitor, I believe it will come back, at least periodically. No, please don’t advise Sylvia, but do put her and the rest of Alfred’s family under a high and efficient level of protection. Oh? Interesting. Tell them we’ll be there shortly.”

White hung up. “Much is going on. The good news is that Clarence does indeed have a tracker. It’s quite old, from when he first started working for Centaurion Division in an active role. When he transferred to the Diplomatic Corps, the tracker was kept on in case of international incidents, so to speak.”

“Think he remembers he’s got it?”

White shrugged. “I have no idea. However, it’s not just you—most of us don’t think about it on a regular basis. As with your wild boar analogy, once the initial shock of the tagging has passed, why think about it if it’s not bothering you?”

“Okay, we’ll vote for the side of things actually going our way for once. I’m sure we’re due for one lucky break.” It was kind of nice to know it wasn’t just me and that others forgot about the trackers, too.

“So, are we going to run away like Chuck wants, then?” Abigail asked.

“Yes, but we have a problem.”

“Only one?” Naomi asked dryly. She sounded more like her normal self. Good.

“If we just leave, won’t he wonder what’s going on?” Jeremy asked.

“And if he wonders, then he might remember the tracker,” Jennifer added.

“I love you two! Mister White, another note—we not only are keeping the Barones, I want them on staff at the Embassy.”

“Duly noted, Missus Martini. So, do you have a plan for how we extract the animals and make Clarence run away without alerting him to the fact that we actually want him to run off?”

I heaved a sigh. I’d come up with something no one was going to like, me least of all. “A plan? No, not really. I’ve only got the crazy right now, Mister White.”

“Ah. So, routine.”