by Gini Koch
“For what?” Christopher was shaking. I stroked his back.
“For not seeing what you were doing, for not realizing you needed me. Can you forgive me?” White opened his arms.
Christopher was crying again, but it was probably healthy. His father grabbed him and held him, kissed his head, stroked his hair. Christopher was going to need isolation just to calm down.
“How did you know?” White asked me.
I shrugged. “It’s a common theme in the comics. And real life, sadly.”
“Mister Reynolds is running a check to ensure that none of his people were assisting Christopher in obtaining the drug.”
“Good. Because if we have a dealer, we have a bigger problem than Christopher’s overinflated fear of losing his family.”
“I hate how you’re always so damned blunt.” Christopher sounded almost like himself.
“I’m also always right.”
“Yeah, whatever.” He looked up at his father. “I’m so sorry.”
White shook his head. “I just want what Jeffrey and Kitty want. For you to get better and never do this to yourself again. Do you think you can do that? With our help, of course?”
Christopher nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Then we’ll be fine.” White hugged him again. “The medical team is ready and impatiently waiting. The drug replicates, if you recall. I have some very concerned doctors out there waiting for their patient.”
Christopher came over to me, and I kissed his cheek. “Be a good boy and go into isolation so we get your old, snarky self back, okay?”
He nodded and hugged me. “Thank you.”
“This is what family’s for, Christopher. And you’re my family, now and forever.”
CHAPTER 21
CHRISTOPHER HUGGED ME AGAIN, then Jeff and White helped him up and to the door. “I’m going to take him down,” Jeff said to me as Mom and Reader came in with Jamie.
“Sounds fine. I’ll be here.”
He smiled. “Good.”
Got my baby back. She opened her eyes, gurgled, and gave a little sigh. “I think she missed you,” Mom said. “She was a little fussy, though she’s sure happy with James.”
Reader grinned. “Uncle James dances better than Grandma.”
I laughed. “Good to know.”
Mom sighed and sat on one side of the bed while Reader took the other. “How did you know, about Christopher?”
“Mom, I went to college. Really, ’nuff said.” I shifted my back, and Reader started to massage it. “I love you, James. But what we really need to figure out is what’s going on with Amy and the Al Dejahl stuff.”
“Charles is very suspicious of Amy right now.” Mom sounded concerned.
“You think he’s wrong?”
“I don’t want him to be right would be the better way of putting it.”
“Well, only worry if she’s his only theory. As long as he has more than one, we should be okay.” I hoped.
“Do you suspect her?”
“No idea, Mom. Serene says Amy is Amy. She’s acting like Amy, only freaked out, which is understandable.” I thought about it. “Chuckie!”
He popped his head in. “You shouted?”
“Gotta run a theory by you.”
He came inside and shut the door. “Nice catch on White, by the way. Was he trying to kill himself or just break his father’s heart?”
“Oh, stop. People make mistakes. You’re just self-righteous’cause you and I never did drugs.”
“Ever. Because they’re stupid.”
“Yes, thank you, Mister DARE Leader. He was trying to be better, stronger, faster, the six-million dollar alien sort of thing.”
“A-C steroids. Great. They’re illegal in sports, they’re illegal religiously for the A-Cs, and they’re damaging. Should I go on?”
“Geez, dude, no. Jamie’s not quite at the point where she needs the ‘Just Say No’ lecture, okay? I think her Uncle Christopher’s going to be able to give her that all by himself, too, but nice to know you’re ready with the lecture at the drop of a hat. What are you so upset about?”
“Oh, nothing. I just have the heads of Airborne, Field, and Imageering out while your mother and I are apparently marked for death, after we’ve discovered a potential supersoldier project we know nothing about. Can’t imagine why I’m tense. Alpha Team’s out of commission, and as near as I can tell, no outside influence caused it.”
“As you so nicely put it to Jeff earlier, I’m capable of taking a call while I’m a new mother.”
“Yeah. You’re not capable of doing anything active. White’s out for God knows how long, and even when he’s back, Martini’s going to have to watch him like a hawk, which means they’ll both be focused internally, not externally. The less said about Airborne’s overall status the better.”
“Okay, thanks for the Doom Update. Back to why I called you in here. We need to break down the theories for what’s going on, Al Dejahl-wise.”
“Amy’s involved, get used to the idea.”
“We know she’s involved. We don’t know that she’s a bad guy or willingly involved or anything but a pawn.”
“Give me a theory that says pawn, because right now I see mole, and I don’t like moles. At all.”
I knew what Chuckie’s people did to moles. Couldn’t blame them. Just didn’t want Amy to be one.
“Okay, I’m thinking back to Operation Drug Addict, partially because of Christopher, I’m sure. When we were in Florida, Serene’s lunacy seemed unrelated to anything else going on, but it was a direct result of the many plans Leventhal Reid and Howard Taft had going.”
Chuckie nodded. “Right.”
“So follow me here. Whoever Ronaldo Al Dejahl is, figure he’s got connections. They knew who I was the first time they tried to take Mom out. I’ve been a pretty active, obvious girl over the last couple of years, at least in certain circles. I may be hard to find now, but my past is an open book. Brian has one of those books, and he looks at it, because Serene knew Amy the moment she looked at her. How hard would it be to figure out who my friends were, the ones I still talk to?”
Mom pulled out her phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Figured out where you’re going. Getting security on Sheila and her family and Caroline and the senator and his wife. I’m just glad the rest of your close friends are in the Science Center or another solar system.”
“Yeah, that’s me, friendless.” Sheila was my other best girlfriend from high school, and Caroline had been my sorority roommate. Sheila was a housewife; Caroline worked for Arizona’s senior senator. Neither one of them really knew what I did, but I was in sporadic communication with them. Other than for my wedding, I’d become sort of invisible to most of my other sorority sisters, friends, and acquaintances since joining up with the A-Cs. For the first time, I was glad. I hoped that meant they weren’t marked for death.
Chuckie nodded. “So you think they targeted Amy because she’s one of your oldest friends, not because she’s the bright thing they needed?”
“I think they saw it as a double win. But twenty guys after her? I know why you find that fishy. She should have been dead before Jeff and Christopher could get to her. Of course, I’ve beaten those odds, and I’m sure you have, too, so maybe our high school just trained well. Anyway, we need to identify the man who gave her the emergency covert ops number. If we believe her, she had no idea who she was calling.”
“Why did she ask for you?”
“Jeff and I gave her some lame Homeland Security lie about what we did. She could call strangers or ask for her friend who she knew worked in some sort of antiterrorism thing. Gee, which would I do?”
“Can’t imagine. Okay, we find out who the mystery agent is.”
“According to Amy, he’s dead. They slit his throat in front of her. Whether that’s true or not may depend upon who he is and whether they had great special effects.”
Chuckie took a deep breath. “You want
to be with me when I question her?”
“Yes, because I know she’s pissing you off.”
“I wasn’t that awful in high school, at least not like she’s acting.”
“Not to me, no.”
Chuckie gave me a wistful smile. “Yeah, I know.”
Reader coughed “Jeff’s going to hate the way this conversation’s starting to head.”
Jamie opened her eyes again, yawned, and went back to sleep. “You know, what day is it? I have no idea what day she was born on.”
“Christmas,” Chuckie answered. “I wasn’t doing anything, conveniently.”
“Oh, man, that’s really crappy timing.”
“For you to have the baby? No. For them to start their plan rolling, whatever it is and whoever they are? Great timing.”
“Where are your parents?”
He sighed. “Hanging out on the transient floor with the rest of the families. Your grandparents got moved in, too. Be prepared—we’ve kept them out claiming a lot of important reasons, but they’re going to descend on you soon.”
“Is Dad here yet?”
Mom was still on the phone, but she nodded. “You’re sure the family’s okay?” I didn’t like how that sounded. Chuckie, Reader, and I all focused on Mom’s call. “Good work. Get them here. Scan them first, just in case. Oh? Well done. I’m sure. Yes, good, see you soon. Thanks, Kevin.” She hung up.
“What was Kevin doing going after Sheila?”
Mom rolled her eyes. “He’s my best operative. His family’s safe. He’s back to work, so to speak. He went with a team of A-Cs, thank God.” She shook her head. “Got to Sheila’s family just in time. They were being kidnapped.”
“Merry Christmas, hope we make it to the New Year.”
“Pretty much.” Mom’s phone rang. “Yes. Are they safe? Oh, really? You’re certain? Fine, well, keep the team with them. Right. If he has an issue, he can call me directly.” She hung up, eyes narrowed.
“What was that about? Is Caroline okay?”
Mom nodded slowly. “Yes. She and the senator and his wife are in Paraguay, as part of a fact-finding mission. They’re not the only politicians there. There is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happening, and the senator refused to allow any of them to be taken into protective custody.”
“And you allowed that?”
She shrugged. “My team sees nothing amiss. And there’s a tremendous amount of security already in place. There are three A-C teams from Sao Paulo Base with them, one each assigned to Caroline, the senator, and his wife. I don’t think there’s anything we can or should do. It’s politically unhealthy to force an entire Congressional fact-finding team to go into isolation unless you can give them a pertinent reason why.”
I considered this. Paraguay kept on coming up, and no one ever told me why it mattered. My meeting from the day before, and who it was with, combined with the suspicious superbeing event, suggested a potentially large conspiracy. Or maybe more than one. I resolved to find out, but that had to go onto the back burner, since, clearly, the action wasn’t happening in South America. “So they’re all safe, and nothing’s going on other than Christmas without snow?”
“As far as our teams there can tell, yes.” Mom sounded tired and pissed off. Couldn’t blame her.
“That’s sort of weird, isn’t it? I mean, if they’re targeting my oldest friends.”
Chuckie looked thoughtful. “It depends.”
“On what?”
“On who’s doing the targeting.”
CHAPTER 22
“YOU HAVE A GUESS YET?” I didn’t, not really, but then again, I wasn’t the Conspiracy King.
Chuckie shook his head. “Not yet.” I knew him better than anyone, and, human or not, I knew he was lying. But I also could tell he hadn’t solidified on one theory, so I decided to let his wheels turn while we waited for the next disaster to strike. That I was sure something more was coming wasn’t indicative of psychic skills—experience was a great teacher.
Mom sighed. “Okay, I’m going to go count noses. I know your father’s here, but I want to be sure we haven’t missed someone they’ll think to grab as a hostage. Alfred and Lucinda already moved a huge number of our family and theirs into their compound, so we should be all right.” She kissed me and Jamie, then went out.
Left me, Reader, and Chuckie in the room. Chuckie sat down in a chair. “There are times when I think we should just move everyone we know into a Centaurion base and keep them hidden. It might be easier.”
“Ain’t it the truth.”
Reader’s phone rang. “Yeah. Yeah, be right there.” He sighed. “Paul’s family’s here, and Michael’s hitting on Amy with intent to score.”
“Routine.”
“Yeah. Paul needs some help, though.” He looked at Chuckie and then back to me. “You okay if I leave you?”
“I’ve known him since I was thirteen. Yeah, it’s fine.”
Reader didn’t look as though he agreed, but he kissed my cheek, nodded to Chuckie and then left the room. He left the door open.
Chuckie shook his head, got up, and shut the door. He sat back down in the chair. “I guess it’s flattering they think you’re going to fling yourself at me the moment we’re alone.”
“Why were you alone on Christmas day?”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s not exactly relevant to anything that’s going on.”
“It’s relevant to me. You weren’t with your parents, but you didn’t say they were in Aruba or something.”
“They were home. I was home.”
Chuckie lived half the year in Australia and half in D.C. In light of our meeting from the other day, it was a safe bet he’d been in D.C., so I spared myself the potential “duh” look and didn’t bother to confirm it. Besides, the where was less worrisome than the why. “Why were you home alone? On Christmas day?”
“Why are you still asking me that?”
“I may have said no and married Jeff, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I just don’t love you like I love him. But, I still love you. I just had to do the whole drug addict expose on another guy I happen to love but not love as much as Jeff. If something happens to James, we’ll be batting a thousand. You sitting home alone on Christmas scares the crap out of me, Chuckie.”
He shrugged. “It’s just a day.”
“Right. Stop lying to me, it’s insulting.”
“She’s a beautiful baby.”
“Yeah, I think so, too. You drinking a lot?”
He laughed. “No, I’m not a closet alcoholic.”
“Then, why all alone? I’ll just keep on asking until you give, you know.”
“I just have very few people I care about enough to spend a holiday with. I didn’t want to spend Christmas with my parents and have to pretend I don’t care you’re married to someone else, okay?”
“I see we need to find you a girl, too.”
Chuckie closed his eyes. “Look, the last thing I want is you trying to fix me up with someone. Truly, the last thing. I don’t want you to find a girl for me.”
“Jeff thinks you’re waiting for him to screw up.”
He opened his eyes. “I am. I’m not looking forward to it, but, yeah, I’m waiting.”
“Why? And don’t say it’s because you love me. I know that part. I’m curious why you think Jeff’s going to screw up. Was it just that you showed up to propose during the highlight of Operation Drug Addict?”
“No.”
“Then why? Badgering again, in case you weren’t sure.”
He sighed. “It keeps him on his toes.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“The married-for-life mind-set’s great. It’s also hard. And I’m not a trusting person. I love you, I care about you, and I want to be sure he doesn’t get complacent. I’m watching him, he knows it, and I’ll be watching him. I could be married with twenty kids—I’d still be watching him.”
“Something to look forward to. You two real
ly like pissing each other off. I guess I’m lucky you’re both straight, or you’d be married to each other.”
Chuckie laughed. “Maybe, couldn’t tell you.” He sighed. “Any chance I can hold the baby before he gets back and accuses me of trying to steal both of you?”
“Sure.”
He got up, and I handed Jamie to him. He held her well. “She really looks like you. Beautiful baby.”
“I still don’t see it, but I’ll take the compliment for both of us.”
He held her for a few minutes, walked around the room with her. He finally handed her back to me. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
Chuckie kissed the top of my head. “For letting me pretend.”
CHAPTER 23
CHUCKIE HAD JUST STEPPED AWAY from the bed when Jeff came in the door. “Out. Now. I’m not kidding.”
Chuckie chuckled. “Oh, yes, sir.” He looked at me. “See you in a while, Kitty.” Then he sauntered out.
“What was he doing?”
“Oh, God, Jeff, not now. How’s Christopher?”
He closed the door, heaved a sigh, and came to the bed. “He’s a mess. I think he’ll be okay. I don’t know if he’ll be the same or not, though. He’s been shooting that poison into his system for weeks.”
“Yeah, I could tell from the needle marks. Was he shooting in adrenaline, too?”
Jeff nodded. “Not too much, enough to just counter the drug. So he wasn’t going to the superlevel I got to.”
“He was on the Serene method, not the Incredible Hulk method, yeah.” Jamie started fussing, and we fed her again. Jeff held her and rocked her when she was done. She gurgled at him. I snuggled next to him and got a kiss. “Jeff, I’m going to say something, and I really don’t want you freaking out, okay?”
“Ronaldo Al Dejahl is Ronald Yates’ son that no one knew about. And he’s after you for killing his father.” Jeff sounded matter-of-fact. I managed not to faint.
“Wow, yeah. You’re so calm.”
He sighed. “No, but I don’t want to upset you or Jamie.”
“I thought you said you didn’t think she could pick up emotions with the blocks you put in.”