by Gini Koch
“That makes so much sense it makes me sick to think about it,” Jeff said. “But does it work from a timeline perspective?”
Stryker nodded. “Yeah, definitely. Chuck’s had us research all we could on Ronald Yates. He was old, but he was active all the way through until his death.”
“And he’s influenced every plan already, and we know that, too.” Looked at White. “Richard, what do you think?”
“I’m in complete agreement with Jeffrey, including the nausea.”
“How about Reid fitting into that scenario?”
“Works for sure,” Big George said. “He received several campaign donations from different divisions of Yates Enterprises.”
“Did you memorize the file?” Abigail asked. She didn’t sound appalled—she sounded impressed.
“No, but I could have,” Big George said, flexing his mind muscle for the pretty girl. “We’ve been spending a lot of time on Leventhal Reid.”
“Flirt later, we have other questions that need answering. Can we all agree that Reid was the Apprentice to Mephistopheles?” Everyone nodded. “Super. Then let’s get back to the question of who the Apprentice was we got rid of during Operation Destruction.”
“All the options are dead or not Apprentice material,” Christopher said.
“Well, if Clarence and al Dejahl are still alive, what about that heinous bitch?” Amy asked.
“LaRue’s definitely dead, I watched Esteban Cantu shoot her in the head instead of me. Oh. Wow. Chuckie?”
“Yes, it would fit. He was involved in everything and it took catching him trying to kill you while the world was being invaded for us to be able to arrest him.”
“So, does that make him the Master or the Apprentice?”
“It makes him someone we need to question again,” Mom said.
“Do we have time for that?” I still had time before I had to go meet the Dingo, but probably not enough to question Cantu unless he was close and we used hyperspeed.
“Maybe. He’s not that far away.”
“In some hole in the ground type of not far away or in some official prison not far away? I’m asking because if he’s accessible he could be the Mastermind.”
“Yes to both. He’s not accessible. Other than to me and a handful of other people. And if one of them is the Mastermind or the Apprentice we’re all screwed anyway.”
Heaved a sigh. “Thanks for that, Mom. So let’s presume Cantu was the eager Apprentice. And he got caught, and so the New Mastermind is having an open recruitment period. Start by killing off a few congressmen.”
“But why?” Abigail asked. “It makes no sense.”
“Well, we know the why—they have all these bills with anti-alien stuff hidden in them about to go through the House.”
“Bills get shot down all the time,” Vance said. “Why kill people over something like that?”
Jeff straightened up. “I need to see a list of the dead representatives.”
“It’s upstairs,” Raj said. “I’ll get it.” He zipped off and was back quickly. He handed a sheet to Jeff.
“What is it?” I asked, speaking for the whole room based on everyone’s confused expressions.
“When Ed and I were working after brunch, I told him about what we’d found, the anti-alien lines in the bills. He said he was already planning to fight them. And that Wendell had been planning to help him. He meant Wendell Holmes. Who died in the hospital from pneumonia right before our party.”
Chuckie went and looked at the list along with Jeff. “There are only a few staunchly pro-alien supporters on this list. And a few staunch anti-alien supporters, too. Both definitely cross party lines and the pro and anti factions tend to be nonpartisan.”
“Ed said that as long as he was around to sway the undecided voters, none of these would pass,” Jeff said. “And now he’s not around. Wendell Holmes isn’t around. Some others aren’t around. And we have two dozen new reps getting sworn in two days from now and voting on these bills in just over a week from now.”
“I’m still not seeing the point,” Mom said. “And we need to see the point of all these murders in order to stop whatever’s going on.”
“The Mastermind moves in murky ways.” Hey, it was all I had at the moment.
Len cleared his throat. “I think we’re forgetting something. And that’s what Olga wanted us to focus on—Eugene Montgomery. We’re not sure if she wanted us focused on his incompetence in killing the wrong target or something else, by the way.”
“Wait . . . no one say anything for a minute.” It was there, right there. The answer was simple—it was us who were making it complex. “Eugene was supposed to kill Edmund Brewer, right?”
“Can I speak?” Tim said. “Because if I can, the answer is ‘right.’”
“Okay . . . let’s ask ourselves this question: What would have happened if he’d succeeded?”
“Well, Ed’s dead, so does it matter?” Jeff asked with more than a trace of bitterness.
“Yes, it matters. What would we have done?”
Chuckie closed his eyes. “I think the better question is, what would you have done, Kitty? You drove every reaction we had.”
It was easy to extrapolate. “I wouldn’t have gone down to the bathroom with Edmund, Nathalie would have. And while she might have come for help, we would have reacted differently. Slower, maybe.” After all I hadn’t liked them all that much until after Reyes was killed. “And if Nathalie had reacted the same as she did today, which I’m sure she would have, we’d have been taking care of her.”
Shoved aside the wish that I’d listened to Jeff months ago and had let the Brewers in sooner. Now I’d never have the chance to really get to know Brewer, any more than I would Reyes.
“There’s no way anyone could have expected Eugene Montgomery to murder anyone at that party and get away,” Mom said. “Maybe Kitty would have been too busy handling Nathalie Brewer’s reaction to question Eugene. But I locked us down the moment we knew something was very wrong, and the police absolutely would have found what Charles and the dog found. It might have taken them longer, but they’d have found the incriminating evidence.”
“So Eugene was supposed to be caught.”
“Let’s say you’re on the right track with this,” Chuckie said. “Why?”
“Because they wanted Edmund Brewer dead, not Santiago Reyes.”
“Santiago wasn’t hiding that paper for no reason,” Mom reminded me.
“Then let’s rephrase as they wanted Edmund Brewer publicly murdered by Eugene,” Amy said. “And they wanted Eugene caught for it. But why?”
“Good question, Ames. Let’s go back to our very early theory from when Vance first tossed out the whole Serial Killer of Representatives idea. Somewhere along the line, someone was going to wake up and notice that all these people were dead. Because Eugene screwed up, we’re all really aware of it now. But let’s say he hadn’t screwed up. He kills Edmund. He’s caught. He tells the police about robots. They put him in a padded cell. Then they put the whole mistress thing together, in about an hour, tops, and Eugene’s on death row without a problem. No one’s going to believe him because no one will find the paperwork.”
“He had it at his desk at work,” Amy said. “Not exactly hidden.”
“He didn’t have it at his house or real office. And I’d bet he told Pia he’d destroyed it.”
“I still go back to why,” Mom said. “And I also still go back to the fact that Santiago was worried that he was being spied on, and as near as we can tell, it was because he’d found those anti-alien lines in the bills. His last line about there being more going on isn’t enough for us to extrapolate anything.”
“Wait,” Chuckie said, and I could see his Conspiracy Wheels turning. “Hang on one moment. If we take Jeff’s view, that Pia orchestrated Brewer’s murder today, then they were trying again, right?” Everyone nodded. “So they definitely wanted Brewer killed. She was allowed to set up the second attempt, and thi
s time they used Clarence.”
“And I think they may have used Raul.”
“How?” Jeff asked.
“Man who held the elevator for Edmund, did you look at him?”
Jeff cursed. “No. And that makes sense. Have Clarence do it, because you needed someone strong to get Ed up onto that ledge. But have your professional oversee, just in case things go badly this time.”
“Logical and efficient, and a good follow up,” Mom said. “However, still more public than any of the others.”
“The police are investigating as a suicide. I don’t think it’ll hold up, but Nathalie is with us. If Raul was in the building, and I’m now really sure he was, then he’s already broken into their home and planted proof of Edmund’s hidden despair.”
“Wow, Kitty, are you psychic?” Tim asked. “Because Mossad just confirmed police have found a suicide note.”
“Thank God we took Nathalie with us,” Jeff said. “Or it might have been a murder-suicide the police think they’re investigating.”
“Oh, Jeff, like, in that sense, where your head’s at. And Tim, since when did you become best friends forever with the Mossad team at the Israeli Embassy?” Tim, Reader, and Mom all contrived to look innocent. “Oh, great. It’s classified. Well, at least we all like them. Anyway, the Conspiracy King has more for us.”
Chuckie nodded slowly. “I think we need to answer this question. Why is Pia Ryan dead?”
CHAPTER 86
“BECAUSE SHE SCREWED UP,” Michael suggested. “She was in the running, her plan backfired.”
“Maybe.” Chuckie’s eyes were closed. “Santiago Reyes is dead, yes. But Raul was there, and he was there with SWAT, meaning the plan was always expected to be exposed, police were always expected to be called, and Eugene was always expected to be arrested.”
“Meaning Raul was in place to cover as backup, in all cases,” Raj said. “Especially if we believe there are other aspiring Apprentices, at least one of them was likely at the dinner party, too. If it were me, I’d want to be sure I had someone I could trust to clean up if one or more of them blew it. And our intel shows that Raul has the strongest connection to someone we all feel was a Mastermind, so I say he’s following the current Mastermind’s orders.”
Chuckie nodded. “Logical. Everyone going for the ‘job’ would have to be politically connected in some way. And that makes the most sense for his presence in town, too.”
“So Raul was there to kill Eugene before he could blab, and he’s around to take care of whatever else is needed while Apprentice Tryouts are going on. Getting to have the chance to kill me and Jeff is probably just part of his Christmas bonus.”
“Right.” Chuckie closed his eyes again. “We agree that Brewer’s ‘suicide’ is Pia’s M.O. But she was dead before it was carried out. So I ask again, why was she killed? She adapted and got her target. Why kill her before you see if she can get Brewer on the second try?”
“Well, there’s always the possibility that she was in Cliff’s car when he turned it on and just had bad timing,” Jeff said.
“It’s possible, but why would you put the car bomb in so late?” Chuckie shook his head. “I can’t buy that. Cliff had to park and go inside the Capitol building, for a specific event. There was no way to judge how long it would be before he left the event to return to his car. Thirty minutes would be your best guess for the fastest he’d be back, and you always work assuming worst-case scenario. So, you wouldn’t wait to set up the bomb until the last moment. You’d set it and be far, far away, confirming your alibi.”
“And car bombs aren’t the same as supposed suicides,” Christopher said.
White nodded. “Those are more of a terrorist’s or an assassin’s tool. At least in our experience.”
“The Dingo swears that Cliff’s car wasn’t set up by him. But Raul and Bernie used explosives, too, even more than the Dingo and Surly Vic do. So, Raul was told that Pia wasn’t getting the job and he took her out and dumped her in Cliff’s car when he rigged it to blow. Just think of the confusion when both Cliff and Pia were discovered to be together.”
“We’d spend a lot of time trying to figure out the connection,” Reader agreed.
“Well, Chuckie and I would, for sure.”
“And you’re a pit bull,” Vance said.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t mean it as an insult. You’re just someone who gets her teeth on a bone and won’t let go. Metaphorically speaking.”
“Metaphorically speaking, find a better metaphor next time.” I loved my pit bull, Duchess, but didn’t really want to be compared to her if at all possible.
“Vance is right,” Chuckie said. “And that’s it. That’s why Pia was killed. She wasn’t killed for failure. She was killed because her failure got you, and therefore the rest of us, investigating. The only reason you listened to Vance was because Santiago was dead and you’d questioned Eugene and he’d spilled his guts. That’s the failure, and that’s why she’s dead.”
“I agree,” Mom said. “But we still haven’t answered my question, which is why kill all those people?”
“I think the Dingo knows, or suspects. And now I have more to give him in return, or confirm for him in return. He’s a lot like Olga.”
“They trained in the same arena,” Mom said. “So glad she’s keeping you on your toes, because while you think you can trust the Dingo, I’m not nearly as convinced.”
“Mossad wants to know if you want them along when you go on your cemetery sleepover,” Tim said. “I haven’t told them where you’re going, by the way.”
“Tell them thank you but no and do not tell them where the meet is. We need whatever intel we can get out of the Dingo and he’s sure as hell not going to show if Mossad is hanging around. I’m sure they want to take him and Surly Vic out as much as they want to take Raul out, too.”
“Gotcha. I’ll give them another location if they seem like they’re going to try to follow you anyway.”
“Good plan,” Mom said. “I think it’s time for me to get going to question Esteban Cantu and see if he can shed any light on the subject. And I want Jeff and Christopher going with me.”
“Seriously, we’ll behave,” Jeff said.
“Are you going to handcuff us, too?” Christopher snarked.
Mom rolled her eyes. “Really? I want the strongest empath and imageer in the world to help me question the only person we all think can tell us what’s going on and who’s behind it. I can take you there in handcuffs if you’d like, but I’d prefer to not have to explain why I’m bringing prisoners in and then right back out again, if it’s all the same to you two.”
They both had the grace to look embarrassed. “Sorry,” Christopher muttered.
“Ready whenever you want to go, Angela,” Jeff said, giving her his best You’re the Greatest Mother-In-Law in the WORLD smile.
Mom shook her head. “Sometimes I truly understand why Kitty’s so enthusiastic about working with Richard.”
“You want me and Chuck along?” Kevin asked. “Or do you want us here?”
“Will Cantu talk more if they’re along?” Jeff asked. “Or less?”
“He hates Chuckie. I say take Chuckie and Kevin, too, Mom. Keep Jeff and Christopher hidden, have Chuckie in there to bait Cantu. He may give something away while he’s gloating about Chuckie needing his help.”
Mom shot me the “really?” look. “Thank goodness you’re here, because none of that would have ever occurred to me.” Yes, Mom’s sarcasm knob went well above eleven. “Yes, Kevin, to answer your question, I want both you and Charles along. I’d like Michael Gower along as well.”
Michael looked surprised. “I’m flattered. Why?”
“I want another A-C with us. One who I can trust not to try to run off to handle someone else’s part of the operation.”
Michael grinned. “I’m your man.”
“Good. We’ll be leaving within the hour, so all of you need to be ready.” Mom n
odded to Kevin, then went out of the room, presumably to make high-security-level calls to secret underground strongholds.
“Uh oh,” Tim said as soon as Mom was out of range. “I think we have an issue with Mossad. They know you, Kitty, so they assume you’re heading into danger. They also don’t seem to understand why we’re not hiding in the shadows to protect you, regardless of what the Dingo thinks.”
“In other words, if they go wherever you’re telling them, and you’re not there, Mossad’s going to get suspicious, right?”
Tim nodded. “They’re good. They’ll find you.”
“And screw up the meet,” Amy said. “I think Kitty’s crazy, too, but I’m also clear that you don’t tell the nice assassin you’re coming with people who aren’t going to try to take him down, and then show up with people trying to take him down.”
“Maybe Mossad is right,” Abigail said. “They have more information on Raul than we do. They might have more on the Dingo, too.”
“Look, I know I’m right on this one.”
“Paul,” Naomi said. “What does ACE think?”
Every head swiveled toward Gower. And there were three of us who were really wondering what in the world he was going to say.
CHAPTER 87
GOWER GOT THE LOOK on his face that I was familiar with, the one where he was listening to someone in his head.
He looked back at all of us. “ACE says Kitty thinks right.”
“That means ACE is all for my plans, both the one we know about and the one I’m about to tell you,” I said as quickly as possible.
“Okay,” Tim said doubtfully. “That’s all ACE said?”
“Look, time’s going to be of the essence for what we’ll need to do with Mossad. I’m sure ACE, more than any of us, is aware of that.”
Gower nodded. “You need to tell the others what you’re thinking, Kitty.”
“Right. Okay, if Mossad is going to shove in and try to be all protective, let’s give them something to do.”
“Who needs protection?” Jeff asked. “Those of us with Angela? There’s only so many she can take, right, Chuck?”