by Gini Koch
“Okey dokey. Well, why we went down is because it’s hard as hell to fly a Big Ugly Flying Fugly in the same way you handle a super-maneuverable jet. However, while there was damage, the BUFF wasn’t totally destroyed—there was plenty of it left, along with all of its contents, until our ‘friend’ here blew it up. And we left most of the weapons there because Jeff said the person creating the dust storm wasn’t after the plane or its contents and we were in a hurry.”
“Kitty did a masterful job of keeping us all alive and landing safely,” Dad said, oozing parental pride and support. Considered the benefits of always having Dad along for the ride. Figured they couldn’t outweigh the risks of him being in danger, let alone what Mom would do if he got hurt while along for said rides. Chose to bask in the glow of someone thinking I’d done a good job for as long as it lasted.
“Kitty’s crash landing took a lot out of us,” Christopher added.
Basking glow lasted all of two seconds. Potentially a new world record.
“You were a Commander for over a decade,” Chuckie pointed out. “I’d kind of expected you to be, I don’t know, helping Kitty in some way.”
“Everyone’s a critic. You want to harangue someone? I give you Sand Chick.”
Chuckie looked at our prisoner. “Good point. Who are you and what’s your role in all that’s going on?”
“We’d like your full name,” I added. “And then we’d like to know if you ever knew your father.”
“Or mother,” Chuckie added.
“Right, or mother.”
“You’re all going to die.” She had an accent. It was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“What part of the Middle East are you from?” Chuckie asked. Unsurprisingly, he could place it. Realized it sounded familiar because I hung out with the Bahraini and Israeli Diplomatic Missions quite a lot these days.
She didn’t answer.
Gave her a little shake. “Your name or your country of origin. Pick one, or better both, and share the information we want. Now.”
She remained silent, with a look of pride. Clearly she’d been told that her holding out on us was of paramount importance for The Cause.
Buchanan selected a gun from our recently dissed but still darned well good enough for government work arsenal, cocked it, and casually aimed for her head. “She’s the nice one. I’m the hired, trained, amoral killer, and I’m hired by someone who will be just fine if I say I chose to kill you because you represented a threat. Keep that in mind for the rest of your time with us, however brief a time that might be.”
“Mahin Sherazi,” she replied quickly, as I noted Adriana giving Buchanan a look of impressed admiration. Olga would undoubtedly be getting a fun earful when we all got home.
“That’s a beautiful name,” Dad said, falling naturally into the Good Cop role. “It means related to the moon, right?” She nodded. “And your last name means your family comes from city of Sheraz, located in southwest Iran, correct?” She nodded again. “So, are you Iranian?”
“Yes.” She said this like she was admitting something as opposed to confirming what Dad and Chuckie had already figured out.
“Great, we get it, death to America and all that jazz. Here’s the thing . . . despite the burka you don’t look Middle Eastern. You sound it, but you don’t look it. At all. And yes, sure, I’ve seen the picture of the beautiful Afghan girl on the cover of National Geographic and all that. You’re not her. So I’m just going to go out on a limb and say that your mother wasn’t actually Iranian.”
“I don’t care about death to America. I care about death to my father’s killers.”
It so figured. “Your father, the one who impregnated your mother, was Ronald Yates?” She nodded. We’d all assumed as much, but it was nice to be sure.
“Kitty’s right, her mother was an American reporter for one of the many divisions of YatesCorp.” Chuckie was looking at his phone. “She covered some stories in the Middle East, met an Iranian man, fell in love, got married, had a child. Only one. At least, only one that was acknowledged. There could be more, of course.”
“How’d you find all that?”
“They may have taken us down, but they didn’t affect the cellular network and Google lives on.”
“Ah, good to know. So, Mahin, when did your mother tell you who your father really was? Or did you discover it when your half brother showed up to recruit you into the great cause or whatever?” She’d identified using the name of the man who’d undoubtedly raised her, so that could mean she was new to the whole Al Dejahl Cause.
“I have always known.”
“Your mother told you that the man whose name you have wasn’t your real father?” Chuckie didn’t sound like he bought this one. I didn’t, either.
Buchanan smiled. It was quite a nasty smile. I wasn’t used to seeing him pull this one out, but good to know he had it handy. “Missus Chief, you and the other Reappointed Commander step away. Don’t want to get you two all blood-splattered.”
“Fine,” Mahin snapped. “I’ve always known I was different. Other children played in the dirt. I made the dirt play with me.”
Missed ACE a lot right now. ACE had never mentioned other hybrid children, but that probably only meant that the information fell under the “too much interference” heading. Wished it had occurred to me to ask about them before right now.
“Did you ever hear a voice in your head, telling you how to control your power?”
“Yes. My father watched over me.”
“That wasn’t your father.” The words slipped out before I could stop them. There was nothing wrong with this particular sentence, other than the fact that Gower couldn’t pull ACE up to share the truth.
Mahin gave me yet another dirty look. She had a variety of them. The Yates Gene certainly had its privileges. Glaring was Christopher’s Olympic Event; dirty looks were clearly what Mahin had focused on in her training. “As if you would know.”
Chose to let discretion be the better part of keeping my mouth shut and hoped no one else would decide we needed to bring Mahin up on the ACE situation. “Whatever. Are your mother and father good with your being with the Al Dejahl terrorist organization? I mean the man who raised you, not your sperm donor.”
“My parents are dead,” Mahin said, voice tight. “However, they always encouraged me to do what I felt was right.”
“And you took that to mean buddying up to terrorists was the way to go? Interesting choice. So, when did you join up with Ronaldo Al Dejahl? Before or after your parents died?”
She didn’t reply.
Chuckie sighed. “We can force you to tell us, you know. Why make it difficult on yourself?”
“I will not betray my family.”
“Your parents are dead, so you can’t actually betray them, other than to be someone they wouldn’t be proud of. Don’t know what their views were, so I have no idea if you’re winning Daughter of the Year or not. And, as Chuckie said, we don’t see a record of any siblings.”
“I am an only child,” she admitted. “My parents didn’t have other children and not acknowledge them.”
“Good to know. But here’s the thing.” Pointed to White. “He’s your family, too. As close to you as Ronaldo is. So are they.” Pointed to Christopher, Jeff, and Gower. “They’re all related to each other and to Yates. More of your relatives are in the Science Center.”
Mahin’s eyes flicked away from me, then back. It was over in a flash, but I’d spent the last three-plus years with people who really couldn’t lie well. Everyone had tells, and I was fairly sure I’d just seen one of hers.
“Chuckie, Malcolm, Adriana, are you all thinking what I’m thinking?” Figured it was a safe bet they’d seen the same as I had. They were all trained or being trained to look for tells from those in their custody or similar, after all.
“Absolutely,” Adriana said.
“Yep,” Buchanan concurred.
“Yes,” Chuckie said, making it a fu
ll hand. “I’d like a good way to make the determination, though. Because it could be a fake.”
“Something’s fake, I’ll give you that.”
“Determine what?” Gower asked. “What’s fake?”
“This situation is fake, Paul. And what we need to do is determine where everybody we’re trying to rescue actually is.”
CHAPTER 27
I TENDED TO THINK BEST when I was running my mouth. Continued to so run while watching Mahin carefully. “Here’s what I think has happened. Our people were indeed taken and herded into the Science Center. But I don’t think they’re there any more.”
“Why not?” Tito asked. “Why try to keep us away if they’re not there?”
“The usual bad guy reasons, distraction most likely.”
“Or they were anticipating our response,” White pointed out. “They were able to do so before.”
“The Science Center didn’t fire on us,” Christopher said.
“And there was only the one tank,” Adriana added.
“Good points.” The first time the Al Dejahl terrorist group had taken over the Science Center they’d absolutely shot at me and Christopher. One tank, while a good start, wasn’t likely to take out A-Cs, simply because they were so fast. And the baddies had certainly anticipated most of our reactions during most of Operation Confusion, after all, and that was when Ronaldo Al Dejahl first came onto our collective radars.
“I agree with the logic, but I’m not convinced,” Chuckie said.
“Fine. Home Base is deserted. I’m not sure what Ronaldo’s mind control range is, but he didn’t execute this plan all on his lonesome. He has his newly recruited terrorist grunts with him, I’m sure. Why not leave a couple of them at Home Base to shoot or capture us?”
“Because the Science Center is easier to lock down,” Jeff replied.
“Yes, it is. And it’s locked down nice and tight. But I know from personal experience that anyone inside during lockdown can get out easily. And Ronaldo knows we can do that, even if he didn’t have Gladys under his control, because we did it when Jamie was born.”
Jeff’s eyes narrowed. “Are they after her again?”
“I’m sure they are. There had to be a reason all the Embassy animals were with the kids.”
“We need to get back.” Jeff looked ready to run all the way to D.C. Couldn’t blame him, really, but that wasn’t going to be a wise plan.
“Yes, but I don’t think they’re making their move against the Embassy just yet.”
“Why not?” Christopher asked, sounding almost as worried as Jeff. “They got all of us out and here.”
“Not all of us. But I think they left Mahin here to keep us extremely busy while they continue on with the rest of whatever their plan is. Regardless, we need to verify if anyone’s still in the Science Center or not.”
“We need to go back to the Embassy,” Jeff said urgently. Only, he didn’t look all that urgent.
Remembered that he’d been able to feel Mahin’s emotions. “Well, I think we should go to Gaultier Research.”
“Why?” Chuckie asked.
“Just a feeling. Or, maybe Titan Enterprises.”
“Where’s the relevance, Missus Chief?” Buchanan was obviously speaking for most of our group.
“Could be very relevant. Or, there’s always good ol’ YatesCorp.”
“Maybe we should search Home Base again,” Jeff said. By now we were getting the “you so crazy” looks from just about everyone.
“How about Caliente Base?”
“Or the Dome,” Jeff suggested.
Saw the realization of what we were doing dawn on Chuckie. “Oh, I think we need to check C.I.A. headquarters. Or the F.B.I. Maybe Homeland Security, too.”
Jeff didn’t look like he’d gotten what he was emotionally searching for yet. Decided to branch out. After all, Al Dejahl was in charge, and that meant I needed to think about the times we’d tangled with him. “Paris.”
“Or Paraguay,” Chuckie added.
Another idea nudged. “Tunnel system.” As I said this Jeff nodded. “They’re really in the tunnels?”
“Yes.” Jeff smiled at Mahin. “Thanks for your help.”
“I didn’t help you at all,” she snapped.
“You mind telling us what the hell you’re going on about?” Christopher asked.
Chuckie shook his head. “You’ve been out of fieldwork too long.”
Buchanan looked like he’d caught on. “Want me to take our prisoner away, Missus Chief?” I was still holding her arm and could feel Mahin tense up. Good.
“Yes, please and thank you, Malcolm. Just far enough so she can’t hear us.”
He nodded and took her from me and Christopher. “Understand that if you try anything, anything at all, I’ll kill you. And no one will be near enough to us to tell me to stop. Nod if you understand.”
She nodded. “You’re all murderers.”
“Nope, not all,” Buchanan said cheerfully. “But I am for sure, so don’t test the depths of my human kindness, because I don’t have any.” He led her off, being rather rough, a good hundred or so feet away.
“Should I go with him, just in case?” Adriana asked me.
“Yeah, good call. We’ll fill you both in once we know what we’re doing.” She trotted over to Buchanan and Mahin.
“They should be far enough away,” Jeff said in a low voice. “And I don’t know whether to be insulted or not that none of you could figure out what Kitty and I were doing.”
“I presume you were using your empathic talents to determine what Mahin knew and identify where our enemies are or are headed, Jeffrey.”
“Then why did you look so confused, Mister White?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to ensure our prisoner felt you two were acting like idiots versus emotionally interrogating her.”
“Is everyone else going to jump on that bandwagon?”
The rest of the team shook their heads. “I just thought the two of you had lost it,” Tito said, clearly speaking for everyone else. Presumed he was speaking for Buchanan and Adriana, too, though I decided we could live without the confirmation.
“And this is why I say again that Richard is really the best Field agent we have.”
“I’m touched. However, the tunnel system is intricate and worldwide. Were you able to determine anything else, Jeffrey?”
“Before you answer that, are you sure she wasn’t fooling you in some way?” Chuckie asked Jeff.
“And are you sure Buchanan’s not going to shoot her in the head?” Christopher asked me. “Or Adriana? She’s got a gun out, too, now.”
“If she tries anything, he’ll kill her without a thought,” Jeff replied. “However, all that ‘amoral killer’ crap was just that, crap. He’ll kill her because she represents a threat to Kitty, but he won’t enjoy it. Same with Adriana, she’ll shoot if Mahin becomes a threat, but otherwise, she’s just there to give Buchanan company and support. And, seriously, I’m an empath. If someone’s not wearing an emotional blocker, and both of them aren’t, then I can read them.”
“Sorry,” Christopher said. “I mentioned that the crash landing took a lot out of us, right?”
“Out of you, at least.” Hey, I was getting tired of the complaints about my skills.
Jeff rolled his eyes and went on. “As for Mahin, I’m pretty sure about her reactions. She’s absolutely not wearing an emotional blocker. If she’s using an emotional overlay it’s impressive, because I could feel more than just a few emotions. She wasn’t as easy to read as Kitty is, but she’s pretty close.”
“Is she human?” Everyone other than Tito stared at me. “Really? I think the android question is one we should always ask, particularly since they have all the human emotions and can fool Jeff.”
Tito opened his medical bag and pulled out an OVS. “I agree, and I’ve taken to carrying this with me any time I’m leaving the Embassy. I can wand her whenever you want, Kitty.”
“And this i
s why bringing Tito onto the team is still probably my proudest recruiting achievement.” This earned me a grin from Tito and a nice version of Patented Glare #1 from Christopher.
“Presuming she’s not an android,” Jeff went on, clearly choosing to ignore the opportunity to praise my recruiting skills, “she’s not used to hiding her emotions from anyone. She might not even have been told that she should try. I don’t get the impression she’s known any of the people she’s now associated with for very long.”
“What’s her dominant emotion?” Chuckie asked.
“Not what you’d expect, especially under the circumstances.”
“And that is?” I asked for all of us.
“Loneliness.”
“Interesting,” Chuckie said. “That’s probably how Al Dejahl got her hooked in. It works for most cultists. But does that mean we can turn her? Because if we can, she’d be an asset. But if we can’t, she’s another dangerous liability.”
“I’m more concerned with where everyone is and what’s going on,” Christopher said.
“Has anyone tested to see if we can get into the Science Center?” Rahmi asked. “I realize you say it’s locked down, but an attempt should be made.”
Jeff shrugged. “Not yet. You two,” he pointed to the princesses, “and Christopher, come with me.” He took Christopher’s hand, confirming that, for now at least, Christopher was out of hyper-juice.
They all zipped off. They were back almost immediately. “No way in,” Jeff said. “In addition to everything else, the shields are up.”
“We bounced off the walls and doors,” Rhee added.
“So, what are our options?” Chuckie asked. “We don’t have enough firepower to blast our way in.”
Nostalgic memory waved. “Christopher and I know a way in that doesn’t require blowing things up.”
Christopher shook his head. “You and your mother both had security measures put up on the old drainage pipe. Gladys knows about that; she’s the one who ensured it was handled.”
Considered this. “We should try it anyway.”