by Gini Koch
“After we make good on the promise we made to Club Fifty-One,” Raj said. “We did say they’d get a thank-you ceremony.” Club 51 was the most vocal of the anti-alien organizations out there. But Raj had managed a brilliant switch at the end of Operation Epidemic, and he was right—we did need to make good.
“Do we really think any of them will show up?” Hey, it had to be asked.
“I think so,” Chuckie said. “Some of them, anyway.”
“They’re spread out all over the country—how will we manage a ceremony that doesn’t give them an excuse to complain that we made them spend a fortune to get to the ceremony?” Hadn’t realized I was coming into this meeting to be Negative Nelly, but someone had to ask the hard questions.
“There are ways,” Jeff said. “However, I think this is something that can go to committee.” Heads around the table nodded. “Great. Folks, I think I’d like to take a break before dinner and actually take a look at the Oval Office. Fritzy, I’ve been advised that my things are out of your office, so if you want to take a little time to see if you want a different chair, now’s the time.” This earned chuckles from the room. “I’d also like to do a small religious ceremony in the Oval Office, which is restricted to immediate family.”
The nice thing about religion was that most normal people felt that it wasn’t their place to tell someone else how to worship. So the room divided up fairly quickly, with Antoinette taking most people into a parlor for predinner drinks while the rest of us went to the Oval Office. I had Colette and Francine stay with the majority of the Planetary Council, but Alexander, being a close enough family member, was coming with us. Which was fine with me.
Mom didn’t allow the Secret Service to join us, which of course meant an argument. Jeff said that Len and Kyle could be there as security, and Evalyne and Joseph subsided, mostly because Mom pointed out that we were inside the White House and could probably manage not to be killed in the next thirty minutes.
Once we were in the Oval Office, Jeff jerked his head at Chuckie, who tossed some scanners to Raj, Lorraine, and Claudia, who all went over the room at hyperspeed. “All clean,” Lorraine said as they finished up.
“Now,” Claudia added. “It wasn’t clean earlier.”
“I had the Operations Team check, and the moment our security was in here we had Dulce scan the complex as well,” Reader said.
“Tons of bugs,” Tim said. “Most of them homegrown, but not all.”
Chuckie rubbed the back of his neck. “I had this place swept yesterday.”
“There are a lot of people coming in and out, Vance just gave me the ‘speak softly and only in rooms you know are safe’ lecture. But, since we are safe in here, Jeff, is there really a ceremony you want to do?”
“Yeah, baby, there is. It’s brief, and then you can tell us what you’ve been wanting to tell us for at least an hour.”
He looked at Gower, who walked over to Jeff and put his hand over Jeff’s hearts. “Lead well and true, always do what you know to be right, protect the weak and helpless, and never capitulate to evil.” Gower took his hand away and stepped back.
“That was it?”
Jeff grinned. “Told you it was short.”
“We don’t stand on a lot of ceremony,” Gower added with a laugh.
“Don’t try to lie to me, I had a Royal Wedding, remember?”
“Should I hook Amy in now?” Christopher asked.
“As long as your phone isn’t tapped, yeah.”
Chuckie put his hand out and Christopher tossed his phone over. Chuckie plugged something into it, grunted, unplugged, and tossed the phone back. “Clean. Kitty’s was, too. So we have that going for us.”
Chose not to mention that Chuckie was now the head of one of the agencies most responsible for phone taps. Why spoil the mood? “So, can I finally tell you guys what I’ve been thinking?”
Christopher put his phone on Jeff’s desk. “I’m here,” Amy said. “Not on speaker on my side.”
“Go ahead, baby. You can start by explaining just what you and the jocks were doing earlier today.”
“Give us guilt if and only when someone says that we were spotted. Otherwise, we’ve discovered at least part of what’s going on.”
Gave everyone the Recap Girl Update on what the boys and I had discovered, including that Hacker International was on the case, and that we felt that Strauss had been going for Mastermind status.
“So, you think that Villanova and Evan, Armstrong’s former driver, are in charge now?” The way Chuckie asked, he didn’t think that.
Which was fine, because I didn’t either. “No. I think they’re trying to continue a plan that should have been aborted the moment Strauss died. Meaning someone else is likely to think they can take over like Strauss would have. As for who, my money’s on Zachary Kramer.”
“Not Cliff?” Jeff asked.
“No. I don’t think Cliff’s involved with the Fem-Bot craze at all.”
“Timing would indicate that he isn’t, and I think Kitty’s right,” Chuckie said. “Cliff rolled his last action because the timing was good and necessary, both. Meaning he’d figured out what Strauss had planned and also thought she had an excellent chance of success.”
“Fritzy wasn’t wrong—those peace talks need to happen soon,” Mom said. “It would be nice to be able to stop whatever they have planned before we have foreign dignitaries here.”
“Right, totally agree, and I have some thoughts about that, including that Kramer’s probably now in bed with Ansom Somerall and at least some of the Dealers of Death who aren’t in the White House with us right now. But what I’ve been wanting to discuss has nothing to do with this. I want to tell you who I think has the invisible helicarrier and all our missing people.”
“Who?” Jeff asked.
“The person who’s the opposite side of Lizzie’s coin.”
CHAPTER 35
THE ROOM STARED AT ME. “I’m lost,” Jeff said. Most heads nodded.
“Me too, Kitty,” Chuckie said.
“I’m with you,” Amy said via speakerphone. “But only because of what we were discussing right before you suddenly had a burning desire to come back to the White House.”
“I’m not,” Christopher admitted.
“That’s because of your emotional attachments. Okay, look, I was thinking about Lizzie because she’s a great kid, and she shouldn’t be.”
“Why shouldn’t she be?” Jeff asked, sounding almost as protective as he did whenever he perceived even the slightest threat to Jamie or Charlie.
“Okay, follow me. Lizzie’s parents were traitors. They wanted her to join them in their plan to literally kill half the world. She refused because she knew they were evil. At age eleven she was not only willing to defy her parents but she was willing to die in order to try to save the world. Meaning she’s braver than adults several times her age.”
“That’s never been in dispute,” Chuckie said.
“Right. So, she was rescued by an assassin, and yet she’s still fighting on the side of right. And I’d bet that Siler’s a lot more willing to be a good guy because Lizzie sees him as a hero and, in fact, expects him to be a hero. And she’s still a great kid, still brave, still fighting for right. She had to leave her cushy school because she was protecting people weaker than herself.”
“So who’s her opposite?” Jeff asked.
“Seriously? Only Ames has this one? Stephanie. Stephanie is Lizzie’s opposite. And not just because she’s an A-C and Lizzie’s a human. Stephanie only had one parent who was a traitor, not two. And yet . . .”
“She was being influenced by Clarence,” Christopher said. Most of the other A-Cs nodded. Serene and White, however, did not. Had a feeling they’d joined Amy on my side of the thinking.
“Yeah? Let’s look at a different scenario than the one we’ve all be
en buying for years. Stephanie was the one who gave Christopher and all the other men on Alpha Team key chains that had bugs in them, which were used against us for at least a year. We’d always thought that she’d been duped into doing so by her father.”
“Well, of course,” Jeff said. “She was just a teenager.”
“Yeah? Lizzie was eleven. But let’s continue on my little path here. What if we’re wrong? What if the Original Clarence didn’t actually dupe her? What if he brought her over fully way back when?”
“How?” Gower asked.
“Maybe she heard something or saw something she shouldn’t have and confronted her father. Sure, most of you are terribly trusting, but Stephanie doesn’t seem to suffer from that particular failing.” Stephanie was a Dazzler, after all, and even those Dazzlers considered dumb as posts by the others were still MENSA material for humans. Meaning she’d have been able to put two and two together without trouble. “There was more than enough going on that Clarence was privy to, after all, so the chances are high that she caught something.”
“Okay,” Reader said slowly. “Let’s say you’re right. Are you going where I think you’re going?”
“God, I hope so. I’m saying that this means that she’s done all that she’s done against us of her own free will.”
“I have trouble buying that,” Jeff said, sounding angry and dismissive.
“Because you still see her as a little girl and you love her. And she’s been exploiting that for a really long time. Look, I never considered Clarence all that bright for an A-C, and while he was ambitious, he was always willing to go up the ladder by being someone’s muscle or employee. Clarence wasn’t an independent thinker. TCC isn’t really, either, but he hasn’t been tainted, so he’s sweet and caring, but still, very willing to follow. But, what if Stephanie isn’t like her father in that way? What if she is, in fact, quite a strong, independent thinker?”
Could see the wheels turning in Chuckie’s mind. More people in the room looked as if they were considering this. Jeff and Christopher, however, were flat-out rejecting, based on Patented Glare #5 coming from Christopher and a glower from Jeff that was at least going for the Bronze in the Glare Olympics.
Forged on. “Stephanie knew where all of Cliff’s hideouts were. And that means she had access to all of his information. Maybe she’d been spending all her time after disappearing not hiding from him due to fear, but hiding from Cliff so that she could gather all the intelligence she possibly could.”
“Let’s say she has,” Mom said slowly. “Where are you going with this line of thought?”
“Stephanie has all of Cliff’s data, or all that she could get her mitts on, which was probably a lot. He didn’t think she was all that smart—you can tell by how he treated her. He thinks he’s smarter than LaRue, too. Frankly, he thinks he’s smarter than everyone, that’s why he had to try to destroy Chuckie. So it’s likely he didn’t take the precautions around her that he should have.”
“Meaning she had access to the androids,” Tim said. “And she had access to Drax, too. So she could set the Kendrick Android to steal the helicarrier and whoever else was around.”
“Welcome home, Megalomaniac Lad. That is exactly what I mean. I think the reason we can’t find the invisible helicarrier is that the person who had it stolen hasn’t had an opportunity to get it. She was still faking Drax out—why not, after all? Get all the tech from him you can, just like you did with Cliff. And then we raided them and she’s now in the supermax prison without a way to tell the android or androids what to do next.”
“It fits,” Chuckie said. “It fits well, honestly.”
White nodded. “I believe that Missus Martini is, as is so often the case, probably correct.”
“But . . . but she was just a kid,” Jeff protested. “She didn’t know any better.”
Alexander cleared his throat. “I realize that I’m essentially an outsider in this situation, but if you remember, my brother was a traitor. He always coveted the throne, and hindsight shows me that he was a traitor from a young age. I believe that the excuse of ‘not knowing better’ is a weak one, Jeff. And as a strong leader, you know this to be true.”
“Alex is right. Lizzie was eleven and she knew better. Stephanie was probably around fifteen, because I don’t think she was in on this until after I hit the Centaurion scene, and I know that she still loved you and Christopher when I first met the family. So she was definitely old enough to know better, Jeff. You’re going to have to accept that Malcolm’s right—she’s a lost cause and likely our current biggest threat.”
Serene cleared her throat. “I’ve had people researching the extended Martini family, since we have known traitors among them. Kitty’s theory is more than a theory, Jeff. We have proof that Stephanie’s been involved for at least as long as Kitty thinks.”
“What proof and why didn’t you give this to me before?” Jeff snapped.
Serene walked up to him and got as in his face as she could, seeing that he was a good few inches taller. “I am the Head of Imageering and James is the Head of Field. You are not.” Her voice was icy and radiated authority, easily as much as Jeff, Christopher, or Reader ever had. “You are also compromised. Therefore, I had absolutely no need to tell you anything. I’d like you to remember that when you ask me anything again, ever, at any time.”
Jeff blinked. “Ah . . .”
“And Serene shatters the glass ceiling just that quickly. Can I make a guess as to what Serene’s proof is?”
Serene turned to me and smiled. “Of course, Kitty.”
“I think Stephanie was the first test subject for the emotional manipulators. She’s an empath, right?” Jeff and Serene both nodded. “And yet she had no idea that Cliff was two-timing her. I realize he was good at hiding his emotions, but no one is that good, at least not without help. But Stephanie didn’t pick up anything, including, I think, that Jeff and Christopher still loved her.”
“How could she not pick that up?” Jeff asked. “She can manipulate her blocks, we taught all the kids how.”
“She wore the manipulators,” Christopher said, coming over to the Side of Megalomania. “And since she was the test subject, they probably tested an internal overlay on her, too, somewhere in the last couple of years.”
“Yes,” Serene said. “We’ve found a trail on the emotional overlays. It’s taken us time because we lost all our data during the . . . internal attack. However, we’ve been working on this for almost three years now. The overlays came after the emotional blockers, but not as far behind as our experiences would indicate. However, an S.V. was listed as the initial tester in every case that we’ve found. It’s not rocket science to assume those initials stand for Stephanie Valentino.”
“Could be Sylvia, of course,” I said. “But I sincerely doubt it. Because your sisters love you, Jeff. And their kids do, too. All but the ones turned against you by their fathers.”
“You know it’s plural?” Jeff asked, sounding like he was going to need adrenaline.
“Not confirmed yet,” Serene said. “Stephanie is confirmed, but no others.”
“So where does this leave us?” Reader asked.
“It leaves us with a traitor to interrogate. I don’t want Jeff and Christopher in the interrogation, though.”
“Who, then?” Reader shot me a fast grin. “I’d better be involved.”
“Of course. You, me, Serene, Chuckie, Siler, and Malcolm. You know, you get to be Good Cop and the rest of us will cover all the other Bad Cop levels.”
“That’s fine,” Mom said. “Only that has to be tabled for now.” She got the room’s attention and shot us all a look that could only be described as long-suffering.
“What?” Jeff sounded lost. “This is important. Especially if they’re right, and I can feel that everyone here thinks they’re right.”
“It may be important,
but not in the greater scheme of things.” Mom’s tone was brisk and no-nonsense. Wondered how many times she’d had talks like this with presidents. Figured more than she’d ever be allowed to tell me. “This issue is a family issue. A domestic issue at the most. But right now, the country needs strong leadership—not to have their President fretting over his delinquent niece. Those peace talks have to happen, and soon. We must show that this country is back to functioning properly, or we become vulnerable to not only enemy nations but enemy planets. And I’m not saying this as your mother-in-law—I’m saying it as the Head of the P.T.C.U. The terrorist is incarcerated. That’s good enough for the moment.”
“But we have people still missing,” Claudia said quietly.
“I realize that,” Mom said, rather gently. “But five of those people would be the first to tell you that there’s a proper order to things and that ensuring that the country they’ve sworn to protect is secure is job one, and ensuring that the world won’t blow up tomorrow is job two. Stephanie and their rescue would be job three.”
“The princesses would say that honor demands that we handle the peace talks first, too. However, the nice thing is that not everyone has to do the same thing at the same time.”
Mom shot me a look I was familiar with—her “let’s see what you’re going to try to fool me with this time” look. “You’re going to need to be at Camp David, Kitty. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which is a message I received from Mossad earlier today.”
“No argument, Mom. But I can guarantee that I don’t need to help Raj figure out logistics for the Club Fifty-One shindig, nor am I going to be needed to set up the peace talks.”
“You need to be seen,” Mom said, using her long-suffering mother voice. “At more things than you want to be.”
“See, this is why I’m so glad I hired Vance. Because I have a nifty solution to that problem, and precedent appears to have been really set for it, too.”
CHAPTER 36
NO ONE LIKED THE IDEA of Francine covering for me at anything that was considered low FLOTUS involvement, but no one could argue against the logic either.