Alien Collective

by Gini Koch

  Right on cue, we found out. My phone rang.

  Sighed and pulled it out of my purse. Recognized the number. Clearly I should put him into my address book. “Bruce Jenkins, how goes it?”

  All the men with me groaned. Yeah, that was my reaction, too, but I showed off my diplomatic skills by not groaning out loud. But I was groaning in my head, big time.

  “Ambassador, impressive announcements from you and your husband this morning.”

  “Glad you enjoyed them. Why are you calling?”

  “I’d like to do that interview now, more than ever.”

  “Dude, what part of ‘call my people and set it up’ did you just not comprehend? I don’t take meetings with gossip columnists whenever. I take them when they’re scheduled on my calendar. Protocol, it exists for a reason.” Per Mom and Jeff, anyway.

  Was about to hang up on him, but the next thing he said caused me to pause. “Do you know Cameron Maurer?”

  “Not personally, so I’m not in a position to set up an interview for you with him, either.” Waited for him to ask to talk to Mrs. Maurer.

  “There’s something wrong with him.” Well, that was unexpected.

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Ah, because I think I need help.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Help. I think I need it.” He sounded frustrated and a little freaked out. “I don’t know who else to go to who will believe me.”

  “Why do you think coming to me is the right answer for all your help needs?”

  “Because you have a reputation.”

  “Yeah, as to that, I’m not having an affair with anyone, other than my husband. Our affair it quite torrid, but since we’re married, I hear that’s okay these days.”

  “I don’t mean that! Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot.”

  “You think?”

  “But I need help. I’ve discovered something terrifying, and I think it’s the same thing Nancy Maurer discovered and that’s why she’s hiding with your diplomatic mission. Please . . . if I’m crazy or ask you inappropriate questions, kick me out. But I need to talk to someone.”

  Great. I had the reputation for being the go-to girl for anyone with a scary issue. Go me. However, if what Jenkins had discovered was that Maurer was an android, then that was indeed why Mrs. Maurer was hiding with us. If Jenkins was acting as a spy we’d find out fast. And if he was using this as an excuse to ask me interview questions, then we’d kick his butt onto the street.

  “Fine. Understand and accept that you’ll be strip-searched because I just don’t trust you.”

  “That’s fine. I have nothing to hide. Well, I do, but it’s what I’m coming to you about. So I don’t have to hide that.”

  I’d talked to this man before. He wasn’t this scattered normally. Meaning he was either acting or really stressed out.

  “Okay, come to my Embassy. We’ll be waiting for you.”

  “I’ll be there in less than ten minutes. If I’m longer than that, do me a favor and call me back.”

  “Why should I do that?”

  “Because if I’m later than ten minutes, it probably means I’m kidnapped. Or dead.”

  “Gotcha. Will do.”

  “Thank you. I really appreciate this.”

  We hung up. “Time to go,” I shared with the menfolk. “Either Bruce Jenkins is playing me, or he’s discovered that Cameron Maurer isn’t human any more. He’s meeting us at the Embassy in ten minutes. If he’s longer he thinks he might be dead.”

  “Wonderful. You had to ask?” Jeff said to Chuckie.

  Who shrugged. “This could be good for us. Or we have an enemy trying to infiltrate. Kitty already told him he’d be strip-searched, I think we’re okay.”

  Sent a text to Raj, who replied quickly. “Okay, Embassy staff is prepared to receive Jenkins, strip-search him, and scan and search anything he’s bringing with him. We need to get back. And I’m starving, so I hope this guy doesn’t mind if I eat while he shares his tale of woe.” Those brownies had been far too long ago.

  “I’d like to be there, when you sit down with Bruce,” Oliver said.

  “Oh, MJO, as if I’d let you miss this? Yeah, we want you there. Frankly, Bruce is going to have quite an audience.” Sent Pierre a text telling him we’d probably have to have the meeting in the dining room and to get the Elves busy making some food. “You know, should Nancy be a part of the meeting, too?”

  Oliver nodded. “I think so, unless you’ve learned all the reasons why she called you in the first place.”

  “Uh, I haven’t. Guys?” The rest of the men shook their heads.

  “Too much else going on,” Chuckie said ruefully.

  “Then, yeah, we’ll have her participate, too.” Sent Raj another text.

  As Jeff reached for my hand my phone rang again. We all sighed this time. Embassy number this time. “Eddy, what’s up?” Heard a lot of background noise.

  “Chernobog is here,” Stryker said, as if this explained everything.

  “Yes? I know. I sent her there.”

  “Yeah, well did you remember that Olga was with us?”

  “I did indeed.” Realized the sounds were people shouting in a foreign language.

  “Did you also realize they hate, and I do mean hate, each other’s guts?”

  “I knew they were no longer close, yeah.”

  “Well, they’re close right now. And I’m not sure the computer lab is going to survive the meeting.”

  CHAPTER 75

  “ON OUR WAY.” Hung up and grabbed Jeff’s hand. “We need to get home pronto. Apparently there’s a KGB catfight going on.”

  “Where is Christopher?” White asked.

  “Stryker didn’t say. Not sure if he’s elsewhere or what, but Stryker called me, so I have to figure whoever’s around isn’t cutting it in terms of stopping the fight.” Grabbed Chuckie’s hand.

  White took Len and Kyle, and Jeff grabbed Oliver, and we took off for Home Base. About two seconds later we were at the external gate. “Why this one?” I asked Jeff.

  “Because I don’t trust anyone at Home Base right now. We had an android running things, the ultimate hacker was his secretary, and the remote radio tower was turned into a floater gate mechanism for our enemies. I mean, God alone knows what else has been negatively affected.”

  “I agree with our future vice president’s concerns,” Oliver said.

  “Hilarious,” Jeff said as he calibrated the gate.

  “I’m quite serious. I fear for our country if the Cleary-Maurer ticket wins.”

  After my realization this morning that Cleary-Maurer winning would be bad for pretty much everyone I cared about, I was one with Oliver’s concerns. I squeezed Jeff’s hand. “Like with everything, you’ll make a great VP, Jeff,” I said quietly.

  He gave me a very loving smile. “As long as I have you next to me, baby, I can do anything. Okay,” he said in a louder voice, “everyone else through first, then I’ll bring Kitty through last.”

  Happily, no one argued with this. White went first, then the boys and Oliver. Chuckie looked around. “Don’t dawdle. I say that because you two always dawdle and right now, I don’t like the idea of you being here alone.”

  “We’ll hurry, Chuck. I promise. You okay?”

  Chuckie shrugged. “You know, the same.”

  Jeff looked worried, meaning he was picking up emotions from Chuckie that weren’t showing on Chuckie’s face.

  “Let’s dawdle and discuss the elephant in the desert. You keep on trying to tell everyone that you’re okay, but you’re not. Your wife was taken from you in a really awful way before you two had made it past six months of marriage. And you’re nowhere near to over the loss.”

  “It’s been a year.” But the way he said it I knew it felt like yesterday to him. Most days it felt like yesterday to me, too. “But Jeff’s right—my emotional state hasn’t been . . . very good.”

  “Dude, no duh. I’m aware of the huge amoun
t of time the Peregrines as a group are spending with you, not to mention all the unattached Poofs, along with our cats and dogs. We haven’t let you move out of the Embassy for a reason.”

  “You know, we’re here for you. Uncle Richard would be more than willing to talk to you about what you’re going through. And I know you haven’t talked to him because he mentioned it to me the other day. He’s as worried about you as the rest of us are.”

  “I appreciate the concern, I really do. I just . . .” Chuckie looked around and stiffened. He pulled us into the shed that housed the external gate and closed the door, but not all the way; it was open a crack. He looked through said crack. “Jeff,” he said in a low, urgent voice, “tell me if you recognize the people who are coming out of Administration.”

  They sort of switched places and Jeff also looked through the crack. “Now, what the hell are Gideon Cleary and Cameron Maurer doing here?”

  “Nothing good. Can I look?”

  “No,” Jeff said quietly. “You need to get back for your meeting with Jenkins.”

  “Convenient timing, isn’t it?” Chuckie asked. “That Jenkins calls Kitty and wants to meet her on a matter of life and death, and then, when we should be gone, the opposition is doing some kind of tour of the Home Base. Right after we’ve taken the base commander and his secretary into custody.”

  “You think our enemies knew she was Chernobog?” Sent Raj and White a text, telling them what was going on and to be super-suspicious of Jenkins. Or to expect him to be dead.

  “Fifty-fifty shot,” Chuckie said. “What I want to know is how they got here so fast. I know for a fact they were in D.C. this morning.”

  “They used a gate.” Algar’s main concern came back to me. “Or they have access to the last Z’porrah cube. The one I’m pretty sure the Mastermind has in his possession.”

  “So they know the Mastermind, then. They went back into Administration. You two go back to the Embassy, I’m going to investigate.”

  Jeff grabbed the back of Chuckie’s jacket before he could leave the shed. “The hell you are. You’re not going anywhere alone any more than Kitty is. I’d tell you to go to the Embassy, baby, but I know better than to waste the breath. But Chuck, we go together or we don’t go at all.”

  Raj sent a text back. “Jenkins is there. He’s been strip-searched, no emotional blockers or enhancers, no bombs. Jeremy says he’s freaked out beyond belief.”

  “Have them tell him where we are and who we’re seeing here,” Chuckie said. “Just make sure his phone is taken away and there’s no other way for him to send a message.”

  Relayed these instructions to Raj and we waited. Got a text from White in the meantime. He was refereeing the Old Ladies’ War in Hacker Central and felt that I could remain on the job at Home Base.

  Shared this with Jeff and Chuckie, then Raj replied. “Huh. Jenkins is telling Raj to tell us to get the hell home. Jeremy says his overwhelming emotion is terror and from what he can tell, Jenkins isn’t lying, though he’d like you, Jeff, to read Jenkins.”

  Someone shoved against me, from behind. “None of you want to come home, right?” Christopher asked.

  “Didn’t you worry about landing on one of us coming out of the gate?”

  “Figured one of you would cushion the blow. Thanks for that, Kitty. Jeff, James is really unhappy you’re still here.”

  “Too bad.” Jeff told him what was going on. “Think you can take a look at what’s going on, safely, and report back?”

  Chuckie nodded. “We don’t want to create an incident if this is some planned tour, and it could be.”

  “Yeah, give me a second.” With that, Christopher zipped out, closing the shed door behind him.

  He was back quickly, and this time he left the shed door opened a crack again. “It’s not a planned trip at all. I think they came to keep us from getting Colonel Butler—they’re asking for him. No one on the base actually knows what happened because you evacuated them. So no one seems clear that Butler’s gone. But what I also heard indicates that they were outside when Reynolds spotted them to make sure all of us who’d been here were gone, so they obviously knew we’d been here, meaning they probably realize that we have the Butler android and are either trying to continue faking it or create chaos. Or both.”

  “They could be trying to find Chernobog, too, if they know who she is. Which I give at fifty-fifty odds. What do you think, Chuckie?”

  “I agree with you and White both.”

  “Are there any A-Cs there?” Jeff asked. “Because I want our people out.”

  “Hang on.” Sent a text to Reader. Got a really snarky reply back. Reader was not enjoying our being the Team on the Scene. Or rather, he was fine with Chuckie being on the scene, but felt that Jeff, Christopher, and I should be home in the Embassy. “He’s pulling all personnel into the Science Center. Excuse is an emergency drill and inspection.”

  “We need to know when they’re all clear,” Jeff said.

  Someone else shoved against me. “They’re all back,” Reader said, as he moved me to the side so Tim could come through.

  “That was fast. Even for A-Cs.”

  “Girlfriend, despite what all of you seem to think, I’m not an idiot. I brought the majority of our personnel in when you discovered the base commander was an android set to explode. And now that we’re here, you can go back.”

  “Ha ha ha, you’re not A-Cs. Nice try, but unless Lorraine and Claudia are right behind you, we’re staying. Not that we can fit many more bodies in here.”

  “Not my fault you’ve been eating six meals a day, girlfriend. Though, honestly, you look the same as you always have.”

  “He means great, Kitty,” Tim added.

  “I still love my Megalomaniac Lad, the best suck-up on the planet.”

  Jeff grabbed me and Chuckie, Christopher took Reader and Tim. “No,” Jeff said flatly. “We’re not leaving. However, we’re all going to find out what the hell is going on right now. Together. Think of it as a fun campaign team-building activity.”

  We zipped out, closing the shed door behind us, and headed back into the Administration building. There were a lot of human airmen but not any A-Cs I could spot, other than us, so assumed that no one had lied to Reader and stayed behind just in case.

  Things seemed less busy and more chaotic than they had earlier, which was probably to be expected, especially since the head guy was gone and those next in line were undoubtedly searching for him. However, the large gate staging area was no longer empty—there were a number of missiles stacked there on a large flatbed truck. Right next to a missile launcher.

  We could get in and remain unseen using hyperspeed, but that meant we had to run around constantly. Fortunately, Jeff found an empty office that had its blinds down and closed that provided a good view of the majority of the interior, and we hid in there.

  “Could you launch a missile using a gate?” I asked Reader in a low voice, while the others stationed themselves at each side of the two windows this office had. “Because those missiles and that launcher weren’t by the big gate even an hour ago.”

  “Yeah, you could. But why would Cleary want to be a part of that? He’s ahead of Armstrong in the polls, or at least he was until today. Jeff’s acceptance helped the Armstrong ticket a lot. But even so, blowing things up when you’re not in a war isn’t great political strategy.”

  “It is if you can blame your opposition for the explosions,” Chuckie said. “Think about it—if bombs come out of Home Base, then Centaurion Division is immediately suspect. The ricin situation becomes instantly fishy—no longer will the public believe that Centaurion Division blew up the ricin bombs to protect the public; they’ll think that the attempt just failed and you’re all trying again. That means that Jeff will be so beleaguered by accusations, innuendo, and negative public opinion, that he’ll have to withdraw.”

  “They tried blowing us up from Guantanamo and we stopped that. This does strike me as the next inevitable pha
se. And, by the way, I hate these people so much. Okay, look we have to find out just what’s going on.”

  Jeff stiffened. “Stephanie’s here.”

  “Well that freaking cannot be good. Who is she here with?”

  “Appears to be with Cleary,” Tim said. “You know, she could be telling him she’s representing Vander. I don’t think anyone’s shared that she’s a traitor.”

  “And even if they had, that would probably make her more appealing to them, not less.” Pondered our options. They seemed slim. Went to the window near Chuckie and peeped out.

  Gideon Cleary was in profile to me. Florida’s governor was tall with an average build, though he was going a little soft around the middle and it showed, even in a suit. His hair was blonde and thinning, features were okay but he definitely possessed a weak chin and a look I found familiar—Oily Reptile. He wasn’t as bad as Leventhal Reid—after all, who was—but he definitely wasn’t going to win any looker prizes in my book. However, he could turn on the charm when voters were paying attention.

  Maurer, meanwhile, had been a congressman for a while and he had the bearing of someone who’d spent years in positions of power. He was a normal-looking man, under six feet, trim, light brown hair, and pleasant features.

  Stephanie was standing in between the two men, but a little closer to Cleary than Maurer. Might mean nothing, though. They were talking to several airmen, but I didn’t read lips so I had no idea what they were discussing.

  A thought occurred. “You know, Siler put a tracker on her. And he and Malcolm are off doing something. Just like Oliver and his team were.”

  “See if we can spot them,” Reader said. “Because it would just figure.”

  “Look,” Chuckie said. “On the far side, in the shadows.”

  We all stared. “That’s Buchanan,” Jeff said finally. “I think Siler’s with him. Damn, they’re gone now.”

  “No, they’re invisible now. I guess Nightcrawler wasn’t lying—he can’t hold a blend for too long.”

  “We can’t let them know we’re here without blowing their cover,” Tim said. “Buchanan may have his phone off or on mute, but it’s not worth taking the chance.”