The Fresco

by Sheri S. Tepper

  “Including us.”

  “Including us.” He laughed shortly. “The White House has been hoping it can declare a victory in the war on drugs now that the illicit ones can be controlled, but the big money is all on the other side.”

  She smiled grimly. “So we’re being eaten alive by ET predators, we’re going to have thousands of addicts going cold turkey, and it seems a whole bunch of our legislators work for a foreign business. It’s nice it’s all happening at once. I hate things all strung out.”

  He gave her a sickly grin.

  She returned it, saying, “I’m hungry. Since there’s to be no movie, can we have some supper?”

  They did so, with wine, though the wine didn’t assuage her feeling of impending annihilation. “All it does is make me feel I’m floating on doom instead of drowning in it.”

  “Chiddy and Vess are looking for the predators, right?”

  “So they said when they left.”

  “And until they find them?”

  “I don’t know. Let the storm rage, I guess.”

  “Hope it isn’t too long, Benita. If our domestic storm gets to the point of a feeding frenzy, you may get tossed to the sharks as a delaying tactic.”

  She looked up from her dessert plate. “They promised to keep me out of it!”

  “They promised they’d try. You can try to keep a secret, but if some damned congressional committee subpoenas you, you can’t keep it long.”

  “The president wouldn’t tell where I am!”

  “Benita, Benita. If the predators took Bert, they did it because they’d been in touch with McVane. Why else? So, if the predators found you, then McVane knows where you are. This makes me, as a friend, say thoughtfully to myself that if someone has anything to hide, someone had better hide it really well, because sooner or later, people are going to start digging.” He gave her a limpid gaze which succeeded only in making her angry.

  She snarled, “Chad, I am exactly who I have always said I am, and I have no sins on my conscience, sexual, financial, or otherwise. This business has me…I don’t know. This whole thing is maddening!”

  “You feel like a rabbit thrown to the wolves, I’ll bet.”

  “When you say thrown to the wolves…”

  He took a deep breath. “I meant that one or more senators may exercise the privilege of subpoena to get you before a congressional committee. The president would, no doubt, delay this as long as possible, but it couldn’t be delayed forever since McVane knows where you are, and if McVane knows, then Senator Morse knows. So, even if the president tried to delay access, they could come at you by another route. The only thing they possibly don’t know about you is that you are having dinner with me right this minute, and I could be wrong about that.”

  He toyed with his spoon. “Tell me again, how was it the predators found you?”

  “Chiddy said smell. The Pistach have been in my apartment time after time. I suppose it does smell of them, though I can’t smell it.”

  “What do you all do there? Have tea parties?”

  “Popcorn, mostly. They really like popcorn. And ice cream, especially strawberry. They go crazy over our fruits and fruit-flavored things. And sodas, anything but root beer, or anything else with sarsaparilla in it, like cream soda.”

  “They don’t like sarsaparilla?”

  “It puts them to sleep. One night we had root beer floats, and they slept on my couch for nine hours in about thirty different shapes. Which isn’t the subject. Smelling me out is the subject, because that’s what the predators did!”

  “They can track the whole world by smell?”

  “We track the whole world by sight. Chiddy and Vess have machines that circle the world listening for certain sounds. And Chiddy told me the Fluiquosm track by taste. It’s just a matter of having machines that sort through the data to find specific things, and I’m sure any race that has space travel has sorting machines. As a matter of fact, Chiddy asked to leave his translator listening to my TV because his ship is operating at full capacity at the moment. Finding predators is probably what it’s doing.”

  “And presumably they didn’t need to smell out Bert because the cabal knew where he was, right? Well, that relieves a minor worry. I thought there might have been a leak from the bureau. Your apartment was supposedly an FBI ‘safe house’ operation, done by Justice as a favor to State, who said they needed it for visiting dignitaries threatened by terrorists. The contractors are reliable people the FBI uses from time to time, and nobody involved except General Wallace had any idea who would occupy it. He’s the only one who talked to your boss, nobody else said anything except ‘Hi there.’ As for the First Lady and the Secretary of State, nobody has asked them where you are. I’m the only one who’s seen you with them since that dinner with the ETs, and we hoped they’d think you left town after that.”

  “You said you’d protect the kids…”

  “It took hours to get the red tape cut. I haven’t been granted authority over field offices. When we try to do things quietly, it takes time to get cooperation, but your children should each have an agent arm in arm, right now.”

  “We’re still trying to be quiet?” she asked, incredulously.

  “Trying to avoid panic,” he said, frowning.

  He chewed thoughtfully while she blotted chocolate from her lips, fighting down the temptation to scream. “Who told this cabal my name? Originally.”

  “Your namesake congressman. He thinks he’s a liberal, he’s generally on our side, but he’s also ex-military, and he falls for the national security gambit every time someone plays it. Star Wars. Stealth anything. Talk about burning the flag and he gets all choked up. Funny, so many of these guys think the country stands for the flag instead of the other way round. So long as Old Glory’s whipping in the breeze, it’s okay to deal guns to kids and cheat on your taxes.”

  “Congressman Alvarez was annoyed at me,” she admitted. “The cube opened up for General Wallace, but it didn’t show the congressman anything. He turned red and got all defensive. I could see him thinking that a congressman is more important than a retired general.”

  Chad nodded. “I’ve met some of them who think they’re more important than God. So. Now what?”

  “Well, I guess I go on working. And waiting until Chiddy and Vess find the predators. And hoping they haven’t done anything…final to Bert.”

  “Do you really hope so?”

  “Yes. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Which he is.” She reconsidered. “Almost.”

  “Any idea how long it will take the Pistach to find them?”

  “No idea. They’ll manage, sooner or later.”

  “Any idea what the predators are up to?”

  “Sorry, Chad. I don’t have a clue.”

  It was eight in the evening when Benita returned to her apartment, and after a few moments of irresolute wavering she decided to call Angelica. It was only five o’clock Pacific time. Angelica might not be home yet, but she might not have another chance the way things were going. She lay down on the bed, punched in the numbers and counted the rings.

  The moment Angelica came on the line, however, she began talking so hurriedly that it took Benita some time to calm her down to the point she could understand what was being said.

  “What do you mean, Carlos has been kidnapped?”

  “It just happened. Just now!” she cried. “Over at the sports complex…” Angelica poured out the story of the afternoon’s disappearance, about the girl who had been called by Angelica’s name, about the police sergeant saying it looked like an attempt to get two members of the same family.

  Benita gargled, “The whole family…”

  “It’s crazy, isn’t it, Mom? I mean, who’d want to bother us. I thought of Dad, but you know, he…he isn’t…he doesn’t…”

  “He can’t concentrate long enough to do anything like that,” Benita said for her.

  “Right. And it can’t be for ransom, because we don’t have a
ny money.”

  “Was there any blood?” Benita asked with horrid foreboding.

  “Blood? No. The other men weren’t hurt. Nobody found any blood.”

  “Ah.”

  “What do you mean, ah?”

  “I mean…” She thought, what did she mean? “It looks like no one was hurt. Not like…”

  “Like those killings, you mean? The ones in Oregon?”

  “No, certainly not like that. Angel, didn’t the FBI contact you today?”

  “Oh, Mom, yes. What’s that all about? The men came to my place kind of late this afternoon, and I took them with me to find Carlos. He disappeared right after we got there! The man who was supposed to watch him was fit to be tied, and the man who’s supposed to watch me is sitting on a chair outside in the hall right now. What’s going on?”

  Benita beat her forehead with her closed fist. It was the predators. They were doing it, and they were doing it because they’d been put up to it! They’d come to the bookstore looking for Benita, only her place was…what? It would have been easy to get into if they’d really wanted to, though getting in would have made a mess. Broken windows. Splintered doors. So, maybe they didn’t want to…no, maybe they’d been told not to leave evidence they’d done it. Perhaps they needed to make her vanish, without raising a stink. So, they’d tried using Bert as bait. Now they would no doubt use Carlos. And, supposedly, Angelica. Oh, it made a certain deadly sense!

  Benita took a deep breath. “Angelica, I think it would be a really good idea for you to go outside and tell the FBI man he should take you to a motel or hotel, right now. I mean now, not an hour from now. Grab what you can grab in no more than five minutes and go. Get a place that’s air conditioned, and don’t open the windows or the curtains.”

  “You’re scaring me!”

  “I’m scared myself. Please, Angel. Do what I ask. Just so I don’t need to worry about you.”

  “If it’s important.”

  “It’s important. Tell the FBI man to let Chad Riley know where you are.”

  “Who’s Chad Riley? What’s this about, Mom?”

  “Trust me, please. I don’t want to talk about it now. Just do what I ask. Chad Riley works for the FBI in Washington, and I can get in touch with him without letting anyone know where I am. He’ll give me your number, and I’ll call you tomorrow when things settle down a little.”

  When she hung up the phone, she went into the bathroom and said Chiddy’s name, over and over. No answer. No response at all! All she’d ever had to do was speak, but now they were off somewhere, or everywhere, trying to locate the predators.

  “My son’s been abducted,” she said. “Also a girl that was mistaken for my daughter!”

  No sign that he’d heard her. Lord, Lord. Now what? She stepped back into the bedroom and the phone rang. Chad, saying he’d just learned about what happened in California.

  “Chad, for heaven’s sake, I know! Angelica just told me.”

  “This girl they took? Do you know who that was?”

  “They thought it was Angelica!”

  “You know why?”

  “They want them for bait,” she cried. “To lure me out where they can get at me.” She pressed her forehead with her free hand, trying to keep it from exploding. “The predators wouldn’t have targeted the children on their own, so someone put them up to it. Probably Morse because he wants to talk to the intermediary.”

  “That’s what his press release says,” growled Chad.

  She cried, “Well, dammit, better in public than in some cellar somewhere. Morse wants to get at me, so why don’t we let him! Except for my longing for anonymity, I’ve got no reason to hide!”

  “Volunteering to testify could be a good play,” said Chad, thoughtfully. “I’ll see what the powers that be have to say about that.”

  “Listen,” Benita said, struggling to remain calm. “Morse might be doing this because he’s expecting the president to duck or dodge on the subject of my whereabouts. Then Morse himself could haul me in, hoping I’ll say something really damaging. Like…I was put up to this whole thing by the Chinese. Or the pres and I have been having this affair ever since I came to Washington. Or something equally ridiculous. That’s what he really wants, to make political hay out of the situation…”

  “That’s scary.”

  “It’s not the worst. If he’s using the predators, maybe he can even be sure that I’ll say what he wants me to. Either they can make me do it, or they can hold the kids’ lives as hostages until I do it.”

  “But you’d be willing to appear in order to subvert that.”

  “Right. I’ll agree right now to appear before the committee Monday. Let the president announce that fact! He should announce it tonight or tomorrow, so it can get onto the news as soon as possible!”

  “What about your son?”

  “Somebody should get word to McVane, privately, that I expect my family to be released. Or that he’ll be held responsible for the two of them, or something!”

  “But the girl isn’t your family.”

  “She’s somebody’s family,” Benita snapped. “Angelica would be in their clutches right now if they hadn’t made a mistake. I asked her to ask the FBI man who’s guarding her to take her to a hotel for tonight and let you know where she is.”

  “I’ll alert the powers that be,” said Chad. “Including the president.”

  Benita called Simon at home to tell him a family emergency had come up, and she would have to take Monday off. Since she’d worked overtime on several evenings, she actually had the time coming.

  He sighed. “Someday you’ll tell me what’s going on, won’t you, Benita?”

  “Someday, Simon. If I ever figure it out.”

  40

  senator byron morse

  FRIDAY

  The same evening, Senator Morse came home to find a note from Lupé saying that her mother had broken her wrist and that Lupé was driving to Baltimore to spend a day or two with Mama to reassure herself that Mama was all right. All in all, it suited the senator to spend a quiet evening at home. The last few days had been hectic. Predators picking off American citizens was not a precedent he wanted to set, but in this case the end justified the means. Once he got his hands on the intermediary, nobody would press him too much as to how he’d done it, and he had no doubt he could get something out of her—whether or not it led them to the envoys—that would be useful in damaging the administration!

  He badly wanted a progress report, but there was no way to reach the predators until they succeeded, in which event, reaching them wouldn’t be neccessary. Dink had assured him it wouldn’t take them long. Ridiculous, all this running about, unable to find a woman who should stick out like a sore thumb! It suggested ineptitude among people he had always valued for being good at their jobs!

  Meantime, the select committee was still unable to talk to or communicate with or get at the envoys themselves, and the armies of ET hunters that were scouring the world for possible targets had as yet reported killing only a California condor, several wolverines and bear cubs, about fifty dogs, and a number of Ginko trees. The boosting of a surveillance satellite into a one-time moon loop, a little maneuver that cost too many millions, had allowed NASA to verify that predator ships were definitely on the back side of the moon. Morse had been cutting NASA’s budget relentlessly as long as he’d been in the Senate, so there was no way to get at the moon any time soon. It was like being in a wartime situation. You couldn’t attack the administration without seeming disloyal to the country, no matter how elusive or dangerous the president was. Maybe the thing to do was beef up NASA, fast, and see what the Russians had left over from their space program that might be useful. Though, come to think of it, the space station boosters had more or less picked over that trash heap.

  Oh, hell, he told himself, pouring a scotch, let it go. Forget it for tonight. Raid the refrigerator, have a long hot shower, go to bed.

  The food and the shower he managed.
While luxuriating under the hot spray, however, he felt a sting on his shoulder, as though a wasp or bee was in the shower with him. Even as he slapped at the shoulder he felt overwhelmingly dizzy. The tile walls of the shower stall spun around him; he felt himself slipping, though he didn’t feel himself landing on the floor. Everything went gray and silent.

  He was aware that time was passing, that things seemed to have duration. He came halfway to consciousness, finding himself on an examining table, just like…well, like all that stupid X-Files stuff, and there was this…ET thing, not a little gray man, not an envoy, not one of those predators they had shown on that broadcast of theirs, something else. Like a huge wasp, only with a high cranium and a soft voice. This large creature, assisted by two smaller creatures, was very intent on doing something to him, though he felt no particular pain or apprehension. They were holding him and shifting him, quite gently, and then there was a sudden, horrible pain, terrible and piercing as the large creature stuck its…something or other, surely not what it looked like, no, that couldn’t be, he meant no, not that, he meant stuck its daggerlike thing into him, right into his middle, and squirted something through it, something quite large because the daggerlike thing bulged to let it through, and then the pain again, only worse, much worse, he couldn’t bear, couldn’t stand…

  And then only peace and euphoria. Nice. Nice restful feeling, and he woke up momentarily. He was at home, in bed, quite naked.

  Senator Byron Morse never slept naked. He staggered out of bed and found his pajamas hanging where he’d left them this morning, on the back of the bathroom door. It was while he was buttoning the pajama top before the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door that he noticed a strange discoloration on his stomach. Just to the right of the belly button and a little higher. A real doozy of a bruise, with a bloody spot in the middle. He touched it, and something bit him, like being hit with a cattle prod. A second attempt had the same result. He should have been worried about it, but he still felt very happy and contented. Euphoric. That was the word. He hummed it to himself.