Alien Diplomacy

by Gini Koch

  “Can’t yet,” Caroline said, interrupting Christopher’s protests that he was fine. “The President’s taking the stage.”

  “Can Doreen wait?”

  Doreen nodded. “Yes. I want to hear what he says.”

  My father joined us. Kevin and Mom were near the President. The President started speaking, reassuring everyone that the fire, which had broken out in the basement and had consumed much of the lower levels, had been contained. It was the usual “let’s all calm down, the danger’s past” speech. Chuckie, Reader, and Tim joined us while the President was talking. We got the “it’s all good” sign from them and the “yes, I still have the remote” sign from Chuckie. Good. I looked back at the stage.

  “And, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank our good friends from American Centaurion,” the President said, smiling in our direction. “Their fast actions ensured that we all were able to evacuate safely, and their Embassy staff were instrumental in helping contain the fire before it could spread throughout the hotel.”

  True enough in its way. We got some applause. “In particular,” the President went on, “I’d like to thank both Chief Ambassadors, Jeffrey and Katherine Martini, for once again proving that when America needs a friend, American Centaurion is always there.”

  “Like a good neighbor,” Gower whispered to me. I cracked up as we got a spotlight. We all looked awful—our clothes were disasters, and everyone’s hair looked worse. But I didn’t care. Because I knew our hearts and minds, and we belonged here. Besides, clearly, this town needed us.

  The President then went on to thank the brave police force and firefighters who’d come to the call, and he announced that, in light of many things, he was requesting the police force be reinstated to full power, with additional slots being created. This got a lot of applause in the room.

  “Oooh!” Doreen grabbed Irving’s arm. “I think it’s time. Like now.”

  “We’ll get the limos,” Len said. “Can we give you a ride home?” he asked Adriana.

  “Absolutely.” She smiled at me. “Grandmother expects me to be late.”

  “Len, Kyle, take Adriana out for some ice cream or something.”

  “Us too?” Michael asked, arm around Caroline.

  “Sure.”

  “Great, as long as Amy’s not getting married tonight,” Caroline said.

  “No,” Amy said with a laugh. “We’ll wait until everyone’s home.”

  “What about everyone else?” Abigail asked meaningfully.

  “I’ve called for a floater gate,” Reader said quietly. “We just need to get Doreen down to one of the limos.”

  “Works for me. Jeff and I will stall people here. You all get going.”

  “You want me, Matt, or Chip to wait for you?” Jerry asked.

  “Nah,” Jeff said. “We’ll manage. If you want, once Doreen’s safely home, go out, too. Might as well end the night on a high note.”

  “Yeah. We can always call a taxi.”

  This earned some chuckles, and our group wandered off, determining who was going home and who was going out. My dad gave me a kiss. “Tell your mother I’m going to go back with Doreen. Irving’s asked me to provide some Jewish support.”

  I kissed him back. “Will do, Dad. Dad?”

  “Yes, kitten?”

  “Thanks for loving me just the way I am.”

  He smiled. “As far as your mother and I are concerned, kitten, no one could make you more perfect than you are.” Dad trotted off and caught up with Reader and Gower.

  Oliver was still standing there. “MJO, what’s your plan?”

  He smiled. “I’d like to stick with you, Ambassador. You’re good for my career.”

  Jeff sighed as he buttoned up his shirt and tucked it back in. “Let’s go find your mother, baby. Yes, yes,” he said to Oliver, “tag along. But take an unauthorized picture of any of the kids or, worse, print one, and I’ll kill you.”

  “I understand, Ambassador,” Oliver said with a twinkle. “We’ll discuss authorized pictures another time.”

  We headed off toward where we’d last seen Mom, Oliver trailing us. We got stopped by a lot of people who seemed to feel the President’s speech had been a none-too-subtle hint for them to say thank you to us. We shook a lot of paws and said a lot of “our pleasures.” Oliver took a lot of pictures. Some people actually had us pose with them. None of them knew what we’d actually done, but it didn’t matter. We’d clearly gotten the Presidential Seal of Approval stamped on us.

  Right as we reached Mom and Kevin, who were with the President and First Lady as well as a tonnage of other people, Missus Darcy Lockwood rushed up to us. “Oh, Missus Martini, it’s such a thrill to see you here. You’re, as you know, my favorite student of all those in my Washington Wife class.”

  I looked right at her and smiled sweetly. “I’m sorry. I don’t believe we’ve ever met.” Then I turned my back to her and went and hugged my mother.

  Best. Party. Ever.

  CHAPTER 89

  WE GOT HOME LATE, took care of Jamie, looked in on Doreen, Irving, and Ezra, who’d arrived with absolutely no complications whatsoever, then headed to bed.

  Well, I headed to bed. Jeff headed to isolation. Christopher was already there. It was weird having both of them sleeping in the room attached to the nursery, but it was that or send them both to Dulce, and I just couldn’t do it.

  I slept like a log, and Jamie didn’t wake me up in the night. I decided not to worry about it. It was a little harder doing all her routine without Jeff’s help, but it wasn’t impossible. I was still tired and fuzzy from the energy expenditure the night before, so I was moving more slowly than normal, but we had nothing to be on time for, so it didn’t matter.

  Jamie and I had slept in late, so late that I discovered Amy and Caroline had gone shopping with Pierre. I was glad they’d bonded. I really was. But I felt really alone. The Embassy was essentially deserted—everyone was over at Home Base, briefing Senator McMillan on all we’d learned. Why I hadn’t been invited was probably due to my sleeping like the dead, but it still rankled.

  After wandering the Embassy like a pathetic, lonely ghost, I went back up to my apartment. Jeff and Christopher had a couple of hours before they were going to be out. I heaved a sigh as my phone rang.

  I grabbed it. “Hello?”

  “Kitty? It’s Bernie.”

  “Hey! I’m so glad you called!”

  “Wow, talk about a wild party last night, huh?”

  “You and Raul made the President’s Ball after all?”

  “We sure did! I even saw the President congratulate you and your husband. Boy, he’s sure a hunk and a half.”

  “Thanks. Why didn’t you come see me? I didn’t spot you once last night.” Not that I’d actually been looking.

  “Oh, I didn’t see you, either, until the President pointed you out, and I didn’t want to come up and have you maybe think I was only saying hi because you’re kind of a celeb right now.”

  I snorted. “It wouldn’t have bothered me.”

  “Great. Well, I was wondering, you up for a play date today?”

  “When?”

  “How about right now?”

  “Now works. Just need to get our stuff together.”

  “Um…”

  “Um?”

  Bernie sounded embarrassed. “I get why you have bodyguards and all that. But I was hoping to meet up at a park that has a lot of moms and nannies and kids. I just…your dudes kind of stand out. I think they’ll freak the other parents out.”

  The boys had had, like the rest of us, a long night. And I was perfectly capable of going to a play date by myself. Besides, Chuckie, like everyone else, wasn’t here to tell me no or to take the boys. “Sure thing. Name the place, and Jamie and I will be there!”

  “Wicked!” She gave me the name of the park, then, when I shared I had no idea where it was, laughed and gave me the directions to get there, and we hung up. It was fairly close, actually within walking d
istance if I was willing to hike it. Which, after the prior few days, I wasn’t. But I decided to go for it anyway.

  I hurried us into our coats, grabbed the diaper bag and my purse. I contemplated putting my Glock into it, but if it fell out or Bernie saw it, that was worse than having the boys along. I had the same thoughts about the stroller. It would make some things easier, but it was heavy as hell, and I couldn’t really manage it on steps without help, especially now when I felt totally drained and exceptionally human. Besides, the guys who’d been trying to kill me were undoubtedly long gone.

  “Poofies have to stay here,” I said. A lot of disappointed mewling hit my ears. “No, I mean it. Guard Jeff and Christopher.” An animal I couldn’t explain would probably also freak Bernie out. And I really wanted her to continue to think I was a normal gal like her, at least for a little while longer.

  I felt like I was sneaking out of my own home, but it wasn’t as though there was anyone to tell where I was headed. Well, Walter. But he probably needed the rest.

  I got us outside without slamming the door. Sure the Embassy had great soundproofing, but I didn’t want a slamming door to upset the new parents.

  We reached the sidewalk, and I headed off. I looked up at the Romanian Embassy. I was fairly sure Olga was sitting by the window. I waved to her and had Jamie wave, too. We walked on.

  After a couple of blocks, not having the stroller along was shown to be a really stupid plan. Enhanced or not, my purse, the diaper bag, and Jamie all felt really heavy after I’d hiked with them for a couple of minutes. The exhaustion let me know I was really not up to sprinting at human, let alone enhanced, levels, and walking was a poor idea, too. But that’s what taxis, real ones, were for. I gave up and looked for an available one.

  A couple went by with fares, but I lucked out on the third one. It pulled over and we got in. “Mitchell Park, please.”

  The driver grunted and took off. It didn’t take very long; Bernie had been right, it was close. “Thanks,” I handed the driver a $10. “Keep the change.”

  Jamie and I got out and looked around. It was a nice park, lots of foliage, lots of trees. I didn’t see a lot of families around, but maybe they didn’t do Sundays in the park around here too much.

  We followed the sidewalk in. Soon I spotted the landmarks Bernie had given me to find her, and we went onto the grass. Now I was glad I didn’t have the stroller—there was no way I’d have managed it on the wet and bumpy ground.

  “Kitty!” I turned to see Bernie stepping out from the bushes.

  “What were you doing in there?”

  She laughed. “Jordan lost a toy.” She tickled Jamie’s tummy. “There’s the precious girl.”

  I looked around. “Where is Jordan?”

  “Raul wanted to meet you, so the baby’s with him.” Bernie clapped her hands twice in front of Jamie. “Can you come to Bernie?” she asked with a big smile.

  Jamie grabbed hold of my jacket and made fussy baby sounds. “Oh, come on, Jamie-Kat. You remember Bernie. She was in Mommy and Me with us.” I tried to hand her to Bernie, but Jamie held on and screamed.

  I cuddled her. “We were gone for a long time last night. I think she just wants Mommy time.”

  Bernie looked disappointed. I looked around again. “Where the heck are Jordan and Raul?” I didn’t see anyone.

  “Over here.” Bernie headed off around the bushes she’d emerged from. I followed her. She went between a couple of big trees, and I lost sight of her. There were a lot of big trees here as well as really tall bushes, so it was shaded. In the summertime it would have been nice. Right now, it was cool enough that it made me shiver.

  I went where Bernie had to see her standing there. There was no sign of Jordan or a man who might be Raul. There was, however, a gun. In Bernie’s hand. A gun with a very professional looking silencer on it. Pointing at me and Jamie. We were standing very close to Bernie, and I couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t shoot Jamie if I tried to run.

  “What the hell?”

  “I’d like the baby now,” Bernie said calmly. “You can hand her to me and then I can kill you where she doesn’t see it, or I can kill you in front of her and then take her. Your choice.”

  Something Cartwright had said the night before clicked. She’d indicated there were at least three assassins, maybe four. Peter the Dingo Dog and Surly Vic were only two, and they were clearly a team. They hadn’t had someone else tagging along last night.

  “Is there really a Raul?” I tried to rev up, to get enraged, so I could do something. But I was still drained from all the energy expended the night before. Tito hadn’t put me into isolation because I’d hidden how tired I was from him. That now seemed like a really bad life choice. I didn’t have enough adrenaline to trot, let alone sprint.

  “Yes. Unfortunately, he was detained by the police last night. Someone with sharp eyes pointed him out. One of your bodyguards, as a matter of fact.”

  “But they didn’t recognize you?”

  “I did a fast fade.”

  “Ah. Is Jordan really your son?”

  “No. It’s amazing how easy it is to borrow a kid from day care, if you fake the right paperwork. His parents have no idea he’s gone to Mommy and Me with me. And by the time they figure it out, you’ll be long dead and I’ll be long gone.”

  “The people who hired you are dead.”

  She shrugged. “Some of them, yeah. The ones who want your little girl there? They’re very much alive.”

  I thought about things. “You were the one who planted the eighth bug on me, weren’t you?”

  “Eighth bug? Didn’t realize you were that popular, but yeah. It was simple to do, too. You’re far too trusting. But then, you were easy to read. Lonely, feeling out of sync with everyone around you. I only had to get a little bit of information on you to see how easy it would be to earn your trust. Dress like you, talk like you, act like you, presto, you’re desperate to have me as your friend.”

  She was right on the money. My people-reading meter had been off a lot recently. Probably because I’d been focused on what I didn’t like about being here as opposed to what I did.

  “You aren’t the one who rigged my limo, are you?”

  “Nope.”

  “But you’re the one who shot at me when I was out around Sheridan Circle the other day.”

  “Nope. That was Raul. That cab showed up at a very inconvenient time.” Pity the K-9 squad’s cabs had been destroyed. No save was coming in that form.

  “So, who’s paying you?” Whoever it was had certainly gotten their money’s worth. No one knew where I was, and Bernie had done such a good job with me that I’d left every single form of protection at home. And Jeff was in isolation, so unable to pick up how very, very frightened I was. I’d been an idiot, and my baby girl was going to pay the price for my stupidity.

  Bernie shook her head. “Assassins code—we don’t kill and tell. Now give me the baby so she doesn’t have to see you die.” She pointed the gun right at the center of my chest. She was so close she couldn’t miss, but just far enough away that I wouldn’t have a prayer of knocking the gun out of her hand.

  I heard the “thwap thwap” sound a gun with a really good silencer makes. Bernie stared at me as I swung my purse at her gun and knocked it away. She had two holes in her head, but I didn’t want to chance that she’d involuntarily pull the trigger.

  A man ran up, holding a gun with a silencer on it. I realized it was my taxi driver. “Guess it’s a good thing I tip well.”

  He kicked the gun away from Bernie’s hand, squatted down, and checked her pulse. “Dead. Good.” He stood up and took my arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “We’re leaving the gun?”

  “Yes. Let the police find it. We’ll give them an anonymous tip in a few minutes.”

  I looked up at him. He wasn’t wearing a disguise but I realized I hadn’t recognized him before. “Malcolm Buchanan? What are you doing here? Aside from saving my life, I mean.”<
br />
  “My job.” He took the diaper bag, put his arm around me the way Jeff did, and hustled us to the cab.

  “What took you so long? To kill her, I mean.”

  “I waited to see if you could get the information on who her client was out of her.”

  “Ah. Um, what’s going on? Who the heck do you work for?”

  “Someone who knows you really well.” He tucked me and Jamie into the back, then got in and drove off.

  He didn’t take us directly back to the Embassy. I considered everything as we drove around. “Why did I notice you the other days? But not today when you picked me up?”

  “I wasn’t hiding from you the other days. I didn’t want you to notice me today, so you didn’t.”

  “Huh. I’d say that sounds conceited, but clearly, you’re good at what you do.” We went to a shopping center miles away from Embassy Row. “So you were following Bernie? When I saw you outside Mommy and Me?”

  “In a sense. I’ve had you under surveillance. So when I spotted people who were following you, it became my job to find out who and what they were.” He pulled up near a pay phone. “Stay in the cab. That’s an order.”

  “Calling in the tip to the police?”

  “Yes.” He made the call; it was brief. Then we headed off again.

  “You broke cover when Raul or whoever he really is was shooting at me.”

  “My job is to keep you alive. In case you weren’t sure.” Buchanan had a sarcasm knob, too. Nice to know.

  “So, you aren’t a cop. And you’re not from American Centaurion.”

  “Correct.”

  I pondered. Chuckie hadn’t seemed to know him, but Buchanan had said he was hired by someone who knew me well. Very well, since I was alive only because he’d been around. “Can I see your badge?”

  “No. You don’t need to.”

  “Right. Because I’ll bet I know what it looks like.” I dug my phone out and dialed. “Mom?”

  “Yes, kitten? I’m in the middle of a high-profile meeting.”

  “I just wanted to say thank you.”