Alien Diplomacy

by Gini Koch

  “What talents did they display?”

  Christopher shrugged. “Hard to say. They’re more like Jamie than the rest of us, but I don’t think they’re as powerful.”

  “Or if they are, it’s muted,” Jeff said.

  “You know, you need to figure out how to pass along the techniques.” I ignored Christopher’s Glare #1. “Seriously, guys. Serene, Abigail, and Naomi need to know how to do this.” I didn’t add “just in case,” but I could tell Jeff knew I was thinking it.

  He sighed. “You’re right. But not right now. Mostly,” he said as my mouth started to open, “because we haven’t had enough time to determine if we actually can pass along the abilities or not.”

  “Oh, fine.” We still hadn’t found the glowing cube Terry, Christopher’s late mother, had used to pass the knowledge of putting in blocks, as well as a wide variety of other things, to Jeff and Christopher when they were young. Without it, if Jeff and Christopher indeed weren’t able to pass along how to install blocks, it meant that if we lost one of them, we lost the ability. Forever.

  I was distracted from this cheerful line of thought by my new phone ringing.

  It wasn’t a number I knew. Based on past experience, this was never good. I prepared myself for a death threat, and answered.

  CHAPTER 28

  “HELLO?”

  “Miss Katt?” It was a woman’s voice, but I didn’t recognize it any more than I had the phone number. I waited for her to start screaming at me. “Hello? Miss Katt?” Huh. No screaming. Scored it one for the win column.

  “Possibly. Who’s this?”

  “This is Nurse Carter from the Georgetown University Medical Center. Is this Miss Katt?” She had a slight accent that sounded Hispanic of some kind to me.

  “Ah, yes. I’m fine, thanks for the follow up.” Why was everyone calling me Miss Katt all of a sudden? I didn’t think Jeff had filed divorce papers, even though I’d probably given him good reason to over the last few months. And even if he had, surely Chuckie, at least, would have mentioned it.

  “I beg your pardon? I’m calling about your relative, Peter Kasperoff.”

  “Who?”

  “The man brought in from the crash yesterday, the one where the car went into the river?”

  “Oh! Yes. Peter.” My would-be assassin had me listed as a relative? “I’m sorry, but why are you calling?”

  “You’re listed as his next of kin.” Next of kin. Wow. I was moving up in the world of the weirdo assassins.

  “Um, okay. What’s going on with him?”

  “I’m sorry to tell you that he’s expired.”

  “Expired? He’s out of code?”

  “He’s passed away.”

  “You mean he’s dead?” He’d been hurt, but he hadn’t been the one with a bullet in him, and he’d been well enough to pass me a secret disk before being admitted.

  “Yes.”

  “How did he die?”

  “Heart arrest, based on hypothermia.”

  “Huh. I really thought he’d pull through.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss. We’d like you to come to the hospital to make arrangements and collect his personal items.”

  I got the rest of the information, assured Nurse Carter I’d be right over, and hung up. “We need to table the blocks and babies discussion. I think we have bigger issues.”

  Jeff cocked his head at me. “What’s going on?”

  “Remember Peter from the river?” Jeff nodded. “Well, he’s a deader, and I’m apparently his next of kin. And somehow, he has personal items I need to collect from the hospital.”

  Jeff stared at me. “You’re kidding.”

  “No, unless this is the medical center’s idea of a great practical joke. We need to get back to the Embassy fast.” I considered my options and dialed. “Dad, are you done with your apartment thing?”

  “Yes, I just finished about five minutes ago.”

  “Great. Can you please come back to the Embassy and take over the Jamie babysitting gig a little sooner than you might have planned?”

  “Sure, kitten. It’ll give me a chance to brief Walter on how to take care of the pets.”

  Lucky Walter. “Great. We’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

  “You’re still in the infirmary?”

  “Oh. No, we’re not.” I brought Dad up to speed on the new births.

  “Tell the girls mazel tov for me, kitten. I’ll come by to see them when things aren’t so tense for you.”

  “Thanks, Dad, I will.” I hung up, trotted into the still packed delivery room, shared Dad’s congratulations, told Tito what we were doing, and left.

  Serene and the Gower girls opted to stick around in case Claudia or Lorraine needed help. Reader and Tim were still on duty, so they were also staying at Dulce. Reminding myself that our game was afoot in D.C., I grabbed Jeff and headed to the elevator banks, Christopher and White accompanying us.

  White went to ensure the infirmary was out of lockdown. We left Christopher in the great room while we fed Jamie. I figured we could be gone a while, so I pumped out another dairy’s worth of extra milk, just in case.

  My father was waiting for us when we got done. Jamie squealed with joy to see her Papa Sol again so soon. “Where should I watch her?” Dad asked.

  “You need me for this?” Christopher asked.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Then come over to our half of the floor, Sol. I think Amy’s been needing some time with you or Angela.” This was Christopher’s code for when Amy was having issues dealing with what had happened three months ago.

  Dad nodded. “Certainly. It’ll be fun for all of us.”

  “I have no idea where her diaper bag is.” I sucked as a mother sometimes, and this was obviously one of those times.

  “Not to worry, kitten. We’ll handle it.”

  Dad, Jamie, and Christopher left. I went to my jewelry box and heaved a sigh of relief—the memory card was still in it.

  “I don’t think the Operations Team is where our problems lie,” Jeff said.

  “You really never know.” I examined the card. “I’m hoping it didn’t get water damage. It looks like a standard memory card for a camera.”

  Jeff zipped off and was back immediately with a video recorder. He took the memory card and inserted it and hit replay. Nothing.

  I sighed. “Oh, well, it was worth a shot.”

  “I think we want this over to Imageering. This camera isn’t high-tech enough, but I’m sure we have equipment that can handle it.” Jeff pulled his phone out. “Serene, hi. Yeah, long time no see. I need something extracted from a small camera memory card. It could be nothing, could be dangerous, could have vital information. Great, yes, good. Thanks.”

  He hung up. “Team will be here immediately.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than there was a knock at the door.

  “Glad we can use the gates for most things. If we were waiting for a car, it could be hours.”

  “You’ll get used to the traffic around here, I’m sure.”

  “I’m not.”

  We opened the door to find Walter’s older brother, William, there, accompanied by Kevin and a couple of the big A-Cs who worked Security. They were standing back like bodyguards.

  William was an imageer, and before Operation Confusion had been teamed with their middle brother, Wayne, who’d been an empath. Wayne had been one of our casualties during the end game of Operation Confusion, and I didn’t think William or Walter were over his loss yet. I wasn’t, and he wasn’t my brother. William had been reassigned to act as Imageering’s liaison between Serene and the Embassy, mostly because, as yesterday had amply shown, none of us were shining examples of success in our new roles and William was one of the best imageers we had.

  “Hey, Kevin, I thought you were with Mom and Chuckie.”

  “I was, but your mother sent me back to Dulce this morning to try to help Alpha Team get a handle on the situation.”

  “You
mean the one that’s totally out of control?”

  Kevin grinned. He had a great smile and amazing teeth. I managed not to drool, but it was always difficult—he had bags of charisma. “Yeah, that situation. The births were a nice break, since we’re essentially nowhere. But it sounds like you might have something for us to go on.”

  I brought them up to speed on how I’d gotten this memory card and that the giver had apparently died from being cold. “Needless to say, I think something fishy’s going on.”

  Kevin nodded. “Under the circumstances, I need to go back with William. We don’t want this at any more risk than it’s already been. Could be nothing, could tell us who the assassination target is. But I don’t like the idea of you two going to the medical center by yourselves.”

  Jeff grunted. “We can handle ourselves.”

  William cleared his throat. “Yes, Commanders, you can.”

  Jeff sighed. “We’re not Commanders anymore.”

  William looked at us. I could tell he was trying not to smile.

  “And that’s William’s well-made point, Jeff.” And the one Reader had made to me only a short while earlier. “Alpha Team, the Commanders of the Field, Airborne, they can go handle whatever, and it gets cleaned up fairly easily. The American Centaurion Chief of Mission, on the other hand, can’t go off kicking butt at the drop of a shoe.” Oh, sure, we’d done that yesterday, but one swim in the Potomac was enough for me for a while.

  Jeff ran his hand through his hair. “Good point. Fine, you two head back, be extra cautious, and we’ll get some backup.” They left, and Jeff shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but…call Reynolds, and, if he can, have him meet us and the jocks there.”

  “Will do. And I’m so awed by the personal growth. A freezing swim and a couple of new babies seem to have done you a world of good.”

  “Don’t push it, baby.”

  “But it’s so fun.” I called Chuckie. “Dude, you able to tear yourself away from the interrogation of the Goon Squad?”

  “Yeah, I am.” Chuckie sounded seriously pissed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Angela got called into a meeting with the President. No sooner was she gone than another agency took the prisoners.”

  “You allowed that?”

  “I had no choice. They had the right authorization, and they had a lot more backup than I did.”

  “Well, I guess that works out.” I caught him up on the latest. “So, do you need a nap, or can you meet us over at the medical center?”

  “No, I’m fine. Angela and I traded off rest time, and I’ve done more on less sleep. But I’m coming to the Embassy. We’ll go over together. At the rate things are going, I don’t want the two of you out of my control.”

  “I think I’ll phrase that differently to Jeff.”

  “Whatever. I’m in my office, I’ll be there momentarily.” Chuckie had gates in his office and his apartment. They’d saved his life more than once. I’d asked for him to have a gate in his car, but that had been ignored by him and everyone else.

  “Great, we’ll meet you in the basement, just wait there for us.” I hung up, we grabbed our coats, and I looked around. “Where is my purse?”

  Jeff shook his head. “The jocks were supposed to bring it up from the car. Last night.” He pulled out his phone. “Kid, you and the other jock ready for action? Good. Meet us in the basement level, with Kitty’s purse. What? Where? Huh. Thanks.”

  He hung up and looked through our living quarters. “The kid said they brought your purse up here.”

  I joined him in the hunt. “I don’t see it anywhere.” I tried not to panic and failed utterly. My purse had my life in it, and its contents had saved my life more than once. I was naked without my purse. It was one thing to not have it with me when I was wandering the Embassy or in a hurry to get to the girls. It was another for it to be completely gone.

  Jeff stroked the back of my neck. “We’ll find it, baby, don’t worry.”

  “Too late. If it’s gone, it was taken by someone inside the Embassy. Or the Elves.”

  “Who here, Operations Team included, would want your purse? Who besides you could find anything in it anyway?”

  A suspicion niggled. “Where’s Mister Joel Oliver?”

  “You think he took it?”

  “I think he’d have an interest in it, yes.”

  Jeff grunted. “Let’s go find him. I’ll enjoy beating the crap out of him if he’s done anything with your stuff.”

  “Let’s try being nice first. Just for a change of pace.” I hit the com’s on button. Sometimes I preferred it to shouting. “Walter, where is Mister Joel Oliver?”

  “He’s with Pierre, Chief. They’re in the smaller salon on the second floor. They’ve been there all morning.”

  “Great, thanks.”

  Jeff grabbed my hand and we hypersped there. To find both men kneeling on the floor, the contents of my purse spread out between them. They seemed both intent and rather cheerful; at least they were chatting in a friendly manner while they pawed through all my stuff. The remains of their lunch were on a nearby table. Clearly they’d been settled in here for a while.

  “What, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, the hell is going on?” Jeff asked, managing not to snarl or roar.

  Pierre looked up at me. “Kitty, Jeff, good of you to join us. I think we’ve found all the many bugs and tracking devices, but Mister Joel and I can’t be sure.”

  CHAPTER 29

  I HEARD A STEP BEHIND US. “What’s going on?” Chuckie asked.

  “I thought you were meeting us in the basement.”

  “I was, but standing there like an idiot seemed stupid. So I asked Walter where you were.” He walked farther into the room. “Why are the contents of Kitty’s purse being rifled by you two?”

  “How does he know it’s your purse?” Jeff asked me.

  “He’s seen it for a lot of years. Chuckie, we just got here. No clue.”

  Pierre sighed and rolled his eyes. “Mister Joel and I discussed it while we were waiting for Jeff to gallantly rescue our fair Kitty—the nasty men with guns were finding you all far too easily.”

  Oliver nodded. “We searched all of my clothing and equipment last night. I had several tracking devices hidden on me.” He pointed to an end table that had a variety of small things that looked like they could be forms of electronic surveillance sitting on it. “The next logical step was your purse and the stroller.”

  “Which I had the impressive Operations Team retrieve for us,” Pierre added. “As well as our little princess’ diaper bag.”

  “You’ve seen the Elves?”

  “Oh, yes. Lovely people. Very dedicated.” Pierre clearly approved of the Elves’ work ethic.

  “Can we focus?” Chuckie asked. Jeff grunted his agreement.

  “Is there anything on Jamie’s stroller? Or her diaper bag?” I tried not to feel freaked out and failed, based on Jeff rubbing the back of my neck again.

  “Christopher searched both for us earlier this morning,” Pierre replied. “He said they were clean. He didn’t feel up to the challenge your purse presented, though, Kitty.”

  “Wimp. Why didn’t he mention that to us?” I asked Jeff.

  He shrugged. “We were all a little busy. Maybe he would have if Tito hadn’t been running interesting tests and the girls hadn’t delivered.”

  “What’s this?” Pierre asked, echoed by Oliver.

  We brought everyone up to speed on the happy arrivals as well as their names, reminded Oliver that he wasn’t getting to take pictures or report on this, and told Chuckie we’d fill him in on what Tito was working on when we were all alone, as in, Oliver wasn’t around. Chuckie and Oliver both took this in stride, though I could tell Chuckie was getting seriously impatient with the delays.

  I took a deep breath. “Okay, so, my purse. What have you found?”

  Chuckie went to the end table and examined its contents. He whistled. “
You had all of this on you, Oliver?”

  “Mister Joel Oliver, I must remind you. And, yes. Most of it was in my camera equipment, but some were in my overcoat.”

  Jeff pulled out his phone. “Gladys, we need a full Security scan team over at the Embassy. Check the Pontifex’s residence and Reynolds’ place, too. We’ve identified a wide variety of surveillance equipment that isn’t ours. Thanks, yes. Yes, faster than that.”

  Jeff’s eyes narrowed. “No, I haven’t asked him. Are you seriously going to tell me to call James and ask his permission?” Jeff’s voice was starting to head to the “rabid dog” growl. “Time’s of the essence. No, I’m not going to call Tim or Serene either. Do it, or I’ll be happy to remind everyone that I’ve been sidelined into this crap job for only three months.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I realize it’s a vital role. Look, if I want a lecture, I can call my mother.” He heaved a sigh. “Fine. Thank you so much.” Jeff hung up and ran his hand through his hair. “I really hate my life sometimes.”

  Chuckie shrugged. “It’s a living. So, is a scan actually going to be run?”

  “Yeah. Teams should be here momentarily.” No sooner said than several sets of A-Cs arrived, carrying a variety of equipment I didn’t want to identify. “Go over the things in this room first,” Jeff told them. “Then do the rest of the Embassy. Top to bottom, every room, no matter how small or innocuous.”

  “Every person should be scanned, too, and all wardrobes,” Oliver added.

  “What the paparazzo said. Do it all at hyperspeed, make sure the others at the other locations are doing the same.” The agents nodded, some pulled out phones, the rest just went to work. Jeff looked at me. “Do we take care of this or the hospital?”

  “I think we need to get over there. Nurse Carter called a while ago now.”

  Chuckie nodded. “If the others were pulled away from my control, I figure there’s a good chance whatever your ‘relative’ left for you is gone now, but the faster we get there, the better chance we have of getting our hands on it, whatever it is.”