by Gini Koch
Here it came, the part I wasn’t going to enjoy sharing.
“So, Colonel Hamlin suggested you not share any of this with either Charles, Clifford, your mother, or any other number of people you’d normally turn to,” White said without missing a beat.
“Wow, Richard, were you there or did Raj fill you in?”
“No, it just makes sense. If Colonel Hamlin is telling the truth, a Mastermind of that level would have to be brilliant. And we have a great number of brilliant people in our circle.”
“We do. We’re missing two of them, though. We left Malcolm and Hamlin in the basement. Malcolm seemed to have everything under control, but when Santiago was first sick, before I knew how bad it was, Camilla told me why she was on-site, so I went to check on Malcolm and Hamlin. They’re both gone, I couldn’t reach Malcolm on his phone, and Christopher couldn’t find him.”
“I didn’t search the cosmos, but Kitty thinks he’s in the tunnel system somewhere.”
“I think they both are. They have easy access to it from our basement. I’m worried that one or both of them are more than gone, though.”
“You think someone killed them?” Jeff asked.
“Hamlin feels there are assassins after him, and while Malcolm is amazing, he’s not invulnerable.”
“He’s also brilliant and capable enough to be the Mastermind,” Raj mentioned.
“And before we head down that path, I think Eugene said something that could be related. When he said he was told to poison Brewer’s water—I realize everyone thinks he’s trying for the crazy defense, but what if he was manipulated by the Mastermind?”
Jeff ran his hand through his hair. “What would the point be of having Eugene kill either Santiago or Brewer? From a Mastermind’s perspective, I mean.”
“We probably don’t have enough information yet,” Raj said before I could. “But I think we have more urgent concerns.”
“So many I’m losing count.”
“Such as what Camilla told Kitty,” Jeff said. “I wasn’t advised about anything going on.”
“Ah, sorry, missed a bullet point. James’ side of things got wind that one of the ‘captains’ from Operation Destruction was coming here, most likely to hurt Paul, our children, or me. If the ‘captain’ was Hamlin, then that’s correct intel but, as far as we know, incorrect plan, so to speak. But if there’s another captain out there, then he or she could still be gunning for any of us.”
“But if Colonel Hamlin overpowered or hurt Mister Buchanan, that intelligence could be completely correct,” Raj added.
“Wonderful. No chance we can grab everyone, head to Cabo, and forget about all this, is there?” Jeff asked.
“Sadly no. Oh, Santiago asked me to personally clean out his desk. He also had a message for James. And I want to talk to Eugene to see if he’ll tell me if he was given the idea or coerced or something. Did you get anything from him emotionally?”
Jeff shook his head slowly. “Not a thing, actually. And you’d think I would have, even with my blocks up. Eugene’s not a cool, relaxed killer. He’d have to have been nervous, excited, something.”
“Jeff, you haven’t felt anything much tonight, not since the guests started showing up, I can tell. Can you humor me and take your blocks down for a minute?”
He gave me a long look. “I hope you’re wrong.” He closed his eyes. “They’re down.” Eyes opened, looking straight at me. Jeff had an expression in his eyes I wasn’t used to seeing—fear. “I can’t feel you, baby. I can’t feel anyone.”
CHAPTER 25
I REALLY WANTED TO PANIC. However, that didn’t seem like a good plan. Besides, Raj beat me to the reaction punch.
“Ambassador, if I may, could we please search you?” Raj asked politely.
“Why?” Jeff looked freaked and sounded upset. Couldn’t blame him.
“I have a theory. It’s one I don’t want to forward until we’ve searched you, and then the rest of us, honestly, probably starting with Ambassador Katt-Martini’s purse.”
Figured out where Raj was going with this. And I never had a problem forwarding a theory. “You think someone slipped Jeff an electronic mickey?”
“A what?” Christopher asked.
“A who?” Jeff asked.
“Yes,” Raj replied with a smile.
“You actually know what that meant?” Jeff asked him.
Raj chuckled. “We’re much more media and pop culture focused at New Delhi Base.”
“Great,” Christopher grumbled. “Someone else to encourage more Kitty-isms.”
“Raj, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Christopher, I’m ignoring you.”
“Our enemies have certainly used electronic bugging on us before,” White said possibly in an attempt to get us back on topic. “I’d say we all need to be searched.” He began patting himself down.
Raj and Christopher did the same, while Jeff and I did each other. It didn’t take long—I found a small disk in his outer suit pocket. Dumped my purse out—nothing I hadn’t put in it.
“Okay, let’s see what this thing I found on Jeff does when I smash it.”
“Wait!” Raj grabbed my hand. “If it’s what we think it is, it needs to be reverse engineered so we can determine how to guard against it.”
“Good point, and nice save.” Clearly Jeff wasn’t the only one upset and not necessarily thinking straight. I was normally smarter than this. Wondered if I’d missed some Electronic Brain Slower disk in my purse somehow. Decided I was still understandably upset over Reyes dying in front of me while I was holding his hand and cut myself a break.
Jeff stared at Raj for a long moment. “You’re hired. Full time. Have the Operations Team send the rest of your stuff, you’re staying with us.”
“Wow, this emotional blocker thing seems to do wonders for your ability to reason logically.”
“Hilarious. I’d like to know if whatever you’re holding is actually what’s blocking me, though.”
Christopher took the disk from my hand and disappeared.
“Still feel nothing,” Jeff said. He jerked. “Oh. No, everything’s back.” He blinked. “Hang on, I need to put my blocks back up, fast.”
My phone rang. Dug it out. “Jeff feeling things again?”
“Yes. You can come back now, Christopher.”
“Why don’t you come to me?”
“Why? And where are you?”
“Why? Because, unlike you, I don’t want to hang out with four other people in a bathroom any longer. For where, I went to the farthest point from Jeff I could get. I’m in the basement. And yes, I’m alone.”
“Gotcha. Are we sure it’s safe to have the walkway opened up for everyone?”
“I told Walter to put the shield up over the buildings. He said he’d done that as soon as all the guests were inside.”
“He’s so good.”
“Yes, but why are we still talking? Oh, wait, it’s you. You really like it in the bathroom, don’t you?”
“Blah, blah, blah. See you shortly.” Hung up and gave everyone a bright smile. “Christopher’s in the basement. He suggests we join him.”
“I’m fine with that,” Jeff said. “I’ll monitor myself to see when I stop feeling anything. But what about everyone upstairs?”
“Let’s get all my news dealt with first, okay? Because until we do, I don’t know what to do about anybody upstairs.”
Jeff nodded and took my hand. Raj opened the door for us, and we all hypersped out and down the walkway, which was indeed no longer blocked. Reached the basement quickly. Sadly, Christopher was indeed alone.
“I stopped feeling people the moment we got into the Embassy,” Jeff shared.
Christopher nodded. “I monitored your mind when I left. I needed to be a good hundred yards away before I could tell you started to pick up emotions again.”
“That’s a football field. It would have covered everyone at the party and part of the Embassy, too. So why didn’t you notice
?”
Jeff shook his head. “I don’t know. I could pick up some emotions, but they were faint and none of them alerted me to anything going on. But I suppose because I could pick up some emotions, I wasn’t alerted to the fact I wasn’t getting any nearby.”
“So, you might have noticed, only you had your blocks up high.”
“Which anyone who knows Jeffrey would know he’d have to do at an event such as we had tonight.”
White had a point. “Which means whoever slipped this into your pocket was here tonight and knows us well.”
“No,” Raj said. “The person who planted this doesn’t have to know any of you well or even at all. He or she just had to plant a bug. Whoever created this is the person who knows you well enough to know how to block the most powerful empath we have.”
“My money’s on the Cabal of Evil doing the planting, it’s one of their go-to moves. Hell, could have been Eugene, if he was really taking orders from someone.”
“If he was,” White said slowly, “then that person could easily be in the Zoo right now.”
“You think they’re going to do a Jack Ruby on him?”
“What?” Jeff and Christopher asked in unison.
“Jack Ruby assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald before he could stand trial,” Raj replied without missing a beat. “Then Ruby was killed. It’s one of the reasons a conspiracy theory surrounds President Kennedy’s death.”
“Raj, did you also go to human schools?”
“No, we just really like the History Channel at New Delhi Base. Along with all the other channels. But I believe you’re correct to worry.”
“So, what do we do?” Christopher asked.
“We do what Kitty wanted, and think about what’s going on, determine what our options are, and plan accordingly.” Jeff was back to full on Commander Mode. Which was alright with me.
“The way I see it, we have the usual three different plans going on,” Christopher said. “Whatever’s going on with the assassins and why they’re really here, whatever Clarence—if it’s really him Kitty saw—is up to, and the murder tonight and whatever else might be going on around it.”
“Trust me, it was Clarence. I’m sure of it.” Well, I was pretty sure, and my hunches were usually right, so I was sticking with Clarence unfortunately being alive and well. “What about Colonel Hamlin’s warning, and Buchanan and whatever’s happened to them? And we also have this emotional inhibitor that someone planted on Jeff. Even if it’s related to Eugene’s insanity tonight, that indicates a much higher level of tech savvy than I know Eugene’s capable of. And that makes, what, five different plans?”
“I’m sure they’re connected in some way,” White said.
“Well, yeah, Richard, they usually are. But which is related to the other and in what way?”
“Does it matter?” Raj asked. “There are five of us, that means we can each explore one of the situations and see where it leads.”
“Not alone,” Jeff said firmly. “Whatever’s going on, it’s deadly. We just lost a friend less than two hours ago. I don’t want to lose anyone else.”
“We’ve already lost Buchanan and Hamlin,” I pointed out.
“We’ll find them,” Jeff said confidently.
“Potentially not without help.” I wasn’t being Polly Positive right now, but facts had to be faced.
“But we can’t trust anyone else, can we?” Christopher asked. “I mean, based on what Kitty was told. If it was true, that is.”
“Let’s assume it was,” White said mildly. “At least until events prove otherwise.”
“Richard, you sound really calm.”
“It’s part of my charm, but yes, I’m not as panicked as you sound, Missus Martini.”
“Do I sound freaked? I don’t feel freaked.”
“Yes, you do, baby,” Jeff said, as he pulled me to him and hugged me. “You’re handling it really well, but we just went through a hugely upsetting experience, and you had a busy day well before then. Your stress is off the charts—you’re the main reason I had to put my blocks back up. Though, no one else in the entire Embassy or Zoo is feeling a hundred percent normal.”
“You’re sure? About everyone else.” I knew he’d be sure about me. “I’m asking because if someone’s feeling triumphant or too relaxed, it could identify our Mister Big.”
Jeff and Christopher looked at each other. “I could kill two birds with one stone,” Christopher said.
“Take Uncle Richard with you,” Jeff said.
Christopher walked over to the cloaked switch that turned the basement into the Jolly Green Giant’s elevator. We started moving down.
“Is now really the time for Christopher and Richard to search the tunnel system?”
“We’re here and I can do it faster than anyone else,” Christopher snapped.
“That you can, son. But I can’t.”
“Good point,” Jeff said. “I can handle the faster speeds, but that defeats one of the purposes of Christopher going into the tunnels in the first place. And I have to insist that I don’t want any of us doing anything alone right now.”
Considered our options. They seemed slim. If I wanted to focus only on humans or A-Cs. But it was me, and I didn’t.
CHAPTER 26
“HANG ON A MOMENT.” Concentrated. In a few seconds, Bruno appeared, along with Harold, who was the male half of Christopher’s set of Peregrines.
Jeff jumped. “Geez, I hate how they do that. And just where the hell were you when people were being murdered?” he asked Bruno.
Bruno ruffled his feathers and warbled.
“Ah. Um, none of us were in danger, per Bruno.”
“Santiago died,” Jeff said flatly.
Bruno cawed at him, and he sounded pissed.
“Um, Bruno’s job isn’t to protect visiting dignitaries. His job is to protect the Royal Family and their Retainers. And, um, I’m quoting here. Bruno’s also got the Poofs’ backs on this one—it’s not their job, either.”
“What the hell?” Christopher snapped. “Then what good are they if they can’t stop someone from being killed in our home?”
Bruno squawked indignantly and Harold started in, too. I had two seriously pissed Peregrines facing off against two seriously annoyed men. Not good. Especially when Harlie, Poofikins, Christopher’s Poof, Toby, and a variety of other Poofs appeared, and started jumping up and down and mewling in a very angry manner.
I cleared my throat. Loudly. The Poofs and Peregrines quieted down. “Jeff, Christopher, let me explain something for you. The Peregrines and the Poofs are animals. Alpha Four animals, to be sure, but animals. They have very clear reasoning, therefore. They have been bred for thousands of years with one job and one job only. Deviation from that job isn’t in their makeup.”
Bruno squawked and nudged up against me, as Harlie and Poofikins jumped onto my shoulders, rubbed against my neck, and purred.
“What do they say?” Jeff asked tiredly.
“Bruno says that if I’d known to ask for them to watch for someone trying to kill a stranger, they’d have done their best. But that order would have had to have been given, and understood, in order for them to have taken action. And now, both of you need to apologize to the Poofs and Peregrines.”
“What?” Christopher practically shouted. “Why?”
“You’ve insulted them and hurt their feelings. I’d like to mention that insulting the animal that’s willing to take a bullet for you isn’t a good idea. It’s not their fault that we’re expecting them to think like people.” It was, point of fact, probably my fault.
“You’re right, baby. And it’s not your fault, either.”
“I thought the blocker was blocking you.”
“It’s blocking me from reading your emotions, but your expression’s crystal clear. And I’m sorry we got mad at the Poofs and Peregrines. They’re right—their jobs aren’t to protect our party guests. That’s our job.”
“Actually,” Raj said, “it’s the
job of Security and Centaurion Division to provide protection for all of American Centaurion’s Diplomatic Corps and their guests.”
Something about what Raj said struck me, for the first time since we’d moved in here. “Christopher, apologize, right now. I need to ask something.”
He shot Patented Glare #4 at me, but Jeff nudged him, hard. “Fine. I apologize to the Poofs and Peregrines for getting mad at them.”
Toby sniffed and pointedly jumped onto my shoulder, as Harold came and stood on my other side. “Wow, they can totally tell when you’re lying.”
Christopher rolled his eyes. “Why is this relevant?”
“You want to search the tunnels? Then you’re taking Bruno and Harold and Toby with you. If they decide to forgive you, that is.” The elevator stopped, but no one kicked the wall plate to open the door.
White cleared his throat. “Why don’t the three animals in question go to the other side of the room with Christopher and straighten things out that way?” He shot Christopher an extremely parental “do what I say and shut your mouth” look. Christopher sighed and stepped away.
“Go on,” I said gently to Bruno. He, Harold, and Toby went over, unwillingly if I was any judge. “Okay, while they sort all that out, I have to ask—who did Security for the Embassy before we were here? Walter walked into a fully functional mini Command Center, so someone had to be doing the job.”
“Interesting question,” White said. “I honestly don’t know.”
Jeff looked at me. “We need to know, don’t we?”
“I think we do, yeah. Because we’ve already established that some of the human drivers who worked for the former Diplomatic Corps are still loyal to them. What about their Security team? Were they part of the horrible Gaultier’s Zombie Monsters experiments, or were they one with the cause?”