Alien Collective

by Gini Koch

  It was easy to understand why Serene and Raj had kept most of what they were doing quiet—Christopher’s disdain for the talent was indicative of most of the A-C population. In fact, the most action and respect the troubadours had seen was during Operation Infiltration. Wondered now how much of that disdain the troubadours actually encouraged and how much they simply allowed. Figured it was a bit of both.

  She grinned. “I know. But this way is . . . more fun.”

  “I’ll take your word on that. Why didn’t you talk to me about this? I’m troubadour friendly.”

  “You are. Jeff isn’t, Christopher is anti, and it’s hard to do covert work if everyone knows and is telling you not to do it.”

  “Good point. So, are you running the Troubadour Underground Network?”

  “Sort of. When I became the Head of Imageering I did a little searching and found Raj and the others who’d been trying for Centaurion Division or Embassy posts. I did some evaluation—they were all trustworthy and, as you said yourself, desperate to actually get to do jobs they felt were meaningful. When I realized that Imageering was compromised and we saw no way to fix it, I knew we had to do something. Raj was already in place, and then you had him pull in the rest of those I would have anyway.”

  “So you set up, what? The Centaurion C.I.A.?”

  “Essentially, yes. Jeff and Christopher have affected James and Tim far too much—they’re both focused on doing as good a job as those they replaced, and they are. But they’re not looking to innovate, in part because they’re human and afraid of being reprimanded or removed from their positions because they changed things.”

  “Never worried me.”

  Serene laughed. “No, you like to mix it up and keep everyone guessing. And we need to mix it up, to innovate, too, especially since our enemies have no lack of willingness to do so. I’ve seen what Chuck does—I set up our own people accordingly. And I may have asked Olga a couple of questions, off and on.”

  “I’ll bet you’re totally her favorite.” Serene even sounded different right now; no one hearing her like this would think she was anything but hugely competent and totally in charge. Thanked God, ACE and Algar that Yates had never looked Serene up—she would make the best Mastermind in history. “Anyway, who’s in charge of Mission: Fool ‘Em to Protect ‘Em, you or Raj?”

  “I like to give people autonomy, Kitty. Just like you do.”

  “Super. So, is Raj prepared for what I’m going to announce?”

  “Possibly. But I don’t know what you’re going to announce, Kitty. You haven’t shared that yet.”

  “Oh, as to that, I have a funny story to tell you that I’m just betting you already know all about.”

  CHAPTER 58

  WE LEFT THE BATHROOM just as a stressed-out White House staffer came to collect us. She took us through the Green Room, which was actually green and nowhere near as pretty as the East Room. Didn’t have long to look at it—by now, we were officially late. Oh well, make an entrance, right?

  Everyone on Team Press Conference was seated in one long row at the back of the dais, other than Vance. Got a lot of looks indicating everyone was aware Serene and I were late and none of them were happy about it. The President wasn’t here, and neither was Mom. Presumably she was with him somewhere. Good. I wouldn’t have to see my mother’s expression when I dropped my bombshell.

  I was graciously hustled onto the dais as a different White House staffer was doing a rambling introduction he immediately sped up and concluded when I arrived. Polite applause as I went to the lectern, Serene trailing me by a step or two. Was incredibly glad we hadn’t had to walk through the scads of reporters in this room.

  Since Oliver wasn’t with us, no one had prepped me for the camera flashes. At least, I chose to believe it hadn’t occurred to anyone else to mention them as I was blinded by flashing lights when I foolishly looked out at the audience in an attempt to see where Vance might be sitting. Spent some time blinking and was glad I wasn’t going to have to read from my prepared speech any longer.

  Despite being an ambassador and supposed lobbyist, I didn’t have a lot of experience with this kind of situation. Most of my knowledge of how these things ran was based off of movies, or, since we’re being honest, coaches and athletes doing their postgame interviews on ESPN or Fox Sports. Hoped I wouldn’t end up channeling poor Coach Denny Green after the Arizona Cardinals had let him down one time too often way back when.

  Cleared my throat. Couldn’t spot Vance. Couldn’t spot anyone familiar. I was about to have stage fright, mostly because I was actually frightened by what I was going to say. But, I could stand here like an idiot or I could talk.

  Went with my go-to move—running my yap. “Thank you all for coming today.” Camera flashes went off like crazy. Decided politicians and celebrities had it harder than I’d thought. How they smiled and managed to talk to the press when they were more than half-blinded was beyond me. Should have dug my sunglasses out of my purse before going on and just pretended I was trying to channel Jackie O.

  Realized I was still holding my purse. So taking out the sunglasses was a possibility. The reality that I was going to look like the biggest dork in the world in every paper and news channel on the planet by taking my purse to the podium was a far more likely possibility.

  Discarded the sunglasses idea and forged on. This was easier than Michael’s funeral, right? Of course right. “I had a statement prepared for you, but certain information has just come to light, making that original statement inaccurate.” More flashes. Was suddenly happy everyone I was here with was behind me. Not that I could have seen their expressions even if they were right in front of me right now.

  “I’m sorry, but could you all just cool your jets on the camera flashes? I need my vision for later and all that.” This earned some chuckles, but the flashes slowed down. They didn’t all stop, however. “Yo, all of you in the back. The light’s still bright even though you’re far away. Please stop.”

  This earned more chuckles, but the cameras cooled it. Decided the party the reporters would have over this was worth being able to see something other than spots swimming in front of me.

  Took a deep breath, let it out slowly. Nothing to fear but fear itself. And every single reaction of every single person here and elsewhere. Well, excitement kept life interesting. “There have been rumors that the many bombings yesterday were done by Centaurion Division, the military arm of American Centaurion.” Heard a lot of cameras flashing, but the flashbulbs were off, so all was good there.

  “I’m here to tell you that this is absolutely . . . true.” Gasps from everyone in the room, especially from those behind me, and lots of low talking. I put my hand up and the room quieted.

  Went on quickly. “However, we weren’t attacking anyone or anything. Centaurion Division identified a terrorist plot to release ricin gas at strategic locations throughout the world, particularly here in Washington. Due to the timing of when we were able to confirm this intelligence, we had no time to safely remove or deactivate the bombs. Instead, we used quickly available, precise explosions to burn the ricin and destroy it.”

  “How is that possible?” someone shouted from the audience. “If you blew it up, you released the gas.”

  “Actually, as I believe evidence will show, we did not. For the scientific explanation, however, Serene Dwyer, our Chief Explosives Expert, will reply.” Stepped aside and Serene stepped up.

  “Ricin is made inactive by heat above eighty degrees centigrade, one-hundred-and-seventy-six degrees Fahrenheit. Because of our work with the American and other world governments, we have access to a variety of self-contained explosives that burn at double that heat or more.” She sounded both in charge and soothing.

  “Ambassador, why did you feel you had the authority to make that decision?” someone else asked.

  A staffer ran in a cordless mic and handed it to me. Score one for White House efficiency. “As I said, we didn’t have time to alert the proper au
thorities. We could have allowed a terrorist attack or we could have stopped it using the means at our disposal. We chose to stop it.”

  “Is that why you all disappeared yesterday?” another reporter shouted. “Because you were setting the bombs? Or trying to hide the evidence?”

  “No. As I said, we used the bombs to stop the ricin gas from being released. Our embassy was one of the attack points. We weren’t able to stop the gas from being released in our embassy and had to evacuate all personnel. We went to a safe location to be sure no one was contaminated and also to protect ourselves.”

  Normally, press conferences were well run. Despite my hopes, this one had devolved into chaos, with reporters shouting questions and accusations freely. Well, at least no one was asking if I was sleeping with someone other than my husband. Under the circumstances, had a hard time putting that in the win column, but did it anyway.

  “I’d like to ask you to all calm down,” Serene said sweetly. “The Ambassador can only answer one question at a time.” The room started to quiet. Just as someone shouted.

  “Listen!” That was Vance. He stood up, cell phone in the air. I couldn’t hear anything, but the people around him started to get their phones out.

  Decided this wasn’t going to help if no one could hear what Vance’s phone was sharing. Got off the dais and trotted over to him. Happily, no one tried to stop me. Handed him the mic, which he put near his phone.

  “. . . authorities have confirmed that evidence of ricin gas was found at the scenes of the majority of yesterday’s bomb attacks, as well as evidence of multiple bombs at each site. Experts speculate that the explosions destroyed the ricin gas, preventing its release. Ricin is a deadly toxin . . .”

  Took the mic away as a man in a full Air Force uniform entered the room and took Serene’s place at the lectern. “No more questions,” Colonel Franklin said. “We need to have the Ambassador and her staff back to continue briefing the President and his advisors of what transpired yesterday.”

  “So you’re saying that you knew about this before this conference?” someone shouted at Franklin.

  “Yes,” he replied, not even sounding a little like he was lying. “We’re the authorities who determined there were two bombs at each site—one containing the ricin toxin and one of clearly different manufacture that destroyed the toxin. That’s all.” He nodded to me as another guy in uniform I knew came and took my arm.

  “Captain Morgan, it’s great to see you.” I grabbed Vance and dragged him along as Morgan led me out the back and to the corridor.

  “Next time, give us a heads-up, will you?” Morgan asked. “We weren’t planning to make a statement until after your press conference.”

  We were hustled into the Blue Room, which was, shocker, blue. It was a lot prettier than the Green Room, but again I didn’t have time to examine the décor. I was too busy wondering if my mother was going to kill me or not.

  Mom was in there, and she looked quietly angry. I went to her. “Sorry. I only found out about it a couple of minutes before I had to go on and it seemed important . . .”

  Mom rolled her eyes. “You can’t lie to me. Why you even try I’ll never know. Which assassin gave you the tip?”

  “The Dingo.”

  “Unbelievable. Raj, Serene, come here, please. Arthur, if you and Gil would join us?”

  Uh oh. We were all busted.

  CHAPTER 59

  THE BLUE ROOM WAS AN OVAL, but Mom managed to get us all into what really felt like a corner. “Who’d like to explain themselves first?” Raj opened his mouth. “Not you,” Mom said. “Or you, Serene. Kitty, what the hell were you thinking?”

  “Honestly? I was thinking that the only people who ever seem to tell me the truth without my freaking begging for it or leaping through hoops to get it are assassins. What that says about everyone around me I don’t know, but it’s probably not nice. If you knew what was going on, Mom, why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

  Mom blinked. I rarely spoke to my mother like this, mostly because Mom was pretty much always right and, since I wasn’t a teenager anymore, rarely upset me. But I was stressed out, worried about Jeff, and my feelings were more than a little hurt. I’d done my best. Sure, not the best everyone was expecting, but in my dream Gladys had said that when top assassins spoke I should listen. Had to figure that had meant more than that I should trust Siler.

  Mom sighed. “I’m sorry, kitten. I didn’t know until about five minutes before you went on.”

  “Interesting timing. Who contacted you and how?”

  “Colonel Franklin found me and briefed me and the President. It’s why we weren’t in the room with you.”

  “I received a letter yesterday afternoon, via unconventional means,” Franklin said.

  “Unconventional?”

  “Carrier pigeon. I wish I was joking but I’m not. This was the message.” He handed me a piece of paper.

  From the former to the current, look for signs of ricin gas, this is what A-C bombs destroyed. Home Base infiltrated. Watch your back and everyone else’s.

  “Wow, nice to see the kids these days holding onto the old ways and all that.”

  Bellie had said Hammy was hiding and should stay hiding. Now, how would she know that, and how would Hamlin get access to carrier pigeons without outside assistance? Clearly, Mister Joel Oliver had some serious sources.

  “Obviously Colonel Hamlin is still alive,” Franklin said. “I haven’t tested this for veracity, but I had samples of his handwriting to compare it to and this looks legit. I contacted the F.B.I. and had the investigative team look for ricin, and we kept teams at it around the clock.”

  “Who did you call, Evander Horn?” I asked.

  “Yes, and he can confirm it, I’m sure.”

  So, that’s why Serene and Horn had been targeted to die. Because Horn could back up the tip and it was his team who was doing the main research. Serene had put the team in place that had foiled the toxin attack and she was also in charge of the A-C team that was doing the bomb site work. And Stephanie would have known most or all of this. So our enemies had rolled their plan fast, all things considered, meaning whoever was in charge was a nimble thinker. Meaning the person in charge was probably the Mastermind himself.

  “While the toxin was rendered inert,” Franklin went on, “there were traces at almost every bomb site from yesterday. We received conclusive results about an hour ago now. I knew where your mother was going to be, so alerted the President and grabbed her when I had the opportunity.”

  “I wish you hadn’t used Centaurion personnel to do the tests,” Mom said.

  Gave Serene the hairy eyeball. “Thanks for mentioning that.”

  “Need to know,” she said with her Innocent Face going strong. Chose not to argue. Or ask who else on Alpha Team, other than Serene and Team Troubadour, had known about this, mostly because I was fairly sure the answer would be “no one.” I’d save the airing of dirty laundry for when we weren’t in the White House surrounded by reporters and such.

  “We did because we had to,” Franklin said. “In cases like this it’s standard procedure, because they can do the testing so much faster than humans can. However, we took steps to ensure that no one could tamper with the evidence. It’ll hold in a court of law, if it comes to that.”

  “It’s the court of public opinion that matters right now,” Morgan said.

  “I think the people who saved everyone are going to come off as the good guys,” Franklin replied. Hoped he was right.

  “So why is everyone mad at me? We saved the day, go us.”

  “We’re upset, not mad,” Mom said. “And we’re upset because none of us were prepared for your statement. Politically, you just hung us out to dry.”

  “Actually,” Raj said, “I believe the Ambassador ensured that the U.S. government could choose to either support Centaurion Division’s actions or condemn then. We’re hung out to dry, not anyone else.” Managed not to say that Raj was my favorite, but it took
effort.

  “Go us again. Look, Mom, berate me later. I’m worried about Jeff and Senator Armstrong and everyone else with them. They’re going to be the recipients of any and all backlash and they’re out in the open and . . . I think Jeff’s the main target for all of the whatever that’s going on.”

  Mom shook her head. “I’m not berating you. I’m concerned about the fact that you made this announcement in the White House and you didn’t let the President know you were going to do it. Protocol exists for a reason.” Her expression softened. “Sadly, you and Jeff are targets far too frequently.”

  “So you think he’s the target, too?”

  “I have no idea. I’ve just accepted that you’re probably right when you’re worried.” She looked around. “Where the hell is Malcolm?”

  “You know, I didn’t see him, or Siler, this morning.”

  “Mister Buchanan requested that he and Mister Siler eat separately from everyone else,” Raj said. “For security. He also said that there was enough security here that he didn’t need to come along.”

  Meaning either Siler had somehow knocked Buchanan out and taken off or . . . Siler had convinced Buchanan that the best option was to join forces and fight each other later. Based on yesterday’s events, bet on the latter.

  That meant we had three teams out—Team Announcement, who were probably the sitting ducks, Team Oliver who were doing who knew what, but releasing investigative tips to the media and bringing Colonel Hamlin snacks and pigeons seemed likely, and Team Bitchin’ who were likely quietly kicking butt and eliminating names. Oh, and Team Assassin, too, out there being good and bad at the same time. This wasn’t giving me a confident feeling of a coordinated effort. Could kind of feel Mom’s pain.

  “Malcolm was right, I’m safe here. However, I don’t feel so confident about Jeff’s situation, so can we go protect him now?”

  “Too late,” Morgan said, looking at his phone. “It’s started.”