by Gini Koch
“Is there anything you don’t know?”
Buchanan sighed. “Sadly, yes. I don’t know how to prove that Cliff Goodman is the Mastermind and have the people who need to believe it buy in. And I don’t know how to do all that without getting some or all of us killed.” He gave me a weak grin. “That’s normally Missus Chief’s job.”
“But, you know, no pressure.”
He laughed. “From my experience, there’s no pressure you can’t handle.”
Heard voices and footsteps. “What are the odds they’re looking for us?”
“High. Let’s go. Do your best to hide what you think of Goodman—if he thinks Missus Chief has caught on to him, he’ll accelerate his plans, and I’m not sure we’re ready for that.”
We headed upstairs. Once we were on the first floor I was aware of two things—I could hear music again, “Here Come Cowboys” by the Psych Furs, and, sure enough, Singh and Peter were looking about. “Ah, there you are,” Peter said, sounding relieved and shooting Malcolm a suspicious look.
“We weren’t downstairs making out. Malcolm just wanted to be sure I was really okay.”
Singh nodded. “That makes sense.” Figured he’d realized that Buchanan couldn’t verify my alrightness in front of those not in the know, and applauded myself for a good one. “But we have some ideas, and I have the results of the house search. The answer is a firm no—there’s nothing like what you described anywhere in the PM couple’s homes, nor in their children’s.”
“Awesome. Then I know exactly what to get. If we can find it. Or find someone who can make it.” After all, I’d found this item a good eight years ago now.
“I had a team search for it online,” Singh said. “We’ve found nothing like it anywhere. And by anywhere I mean worldwide.”
Thought about it. “The shop I found it in was small and the owner was older.” Made up my mind. “Can those gate things go anywhere?”
Peter stared at me. “Why are you even asking that question?”
Saw both Malcolm and Singh passing me the “shut up, shut up” sign. “I don’t know.” I rubbed my head. “I’m feeling kind of . . . addled.”
Peter went to solicitous in a heartbeat. “Of course you are, increased healing or not. And that bruise on your forehead is still visible, meaning you were hurt far worse than anyone wants to share with me.” He put his arm around my waist. “However, enough’s enough. You’re getting that nap, and you’re getting it now.”
Malcolm and Singh looked relieved. “That makes sense, Pierre,” Singh said. “I’ll keep the others moving and tell them Kitty needs to rest.”
Peter led me to the elevators as “Sleep” by My Chemical Romance hit the airwaves. Malcolm came with us. Peter shot him a warning look. “I’m sure you don’t need to guard her in her bedroom.”
Malcolm laughed. “Nice to see that Mister Vice President has you around to cover the jealousy crap when he’s busy.” He nodded to me. “I’ll be nearby if you need me.” He wandered off down the hall.
Peter fussed over me the entire way upstairs, but I was used to this. When we got to my rooms I hugged him. “Thank you for always being you.”
He hugged me back. “Always, Kitty, darling. Now, you rest. The world will continue to turn if you take a nap.”
“Let’s hope, right?”
Went into the bedroom—still no animals around, despite the evidence that they were here. Took off the clothes and went to the closet to hang them up. However, there were several sets, shoes included, waiting there. Chose to take the hint and dropped my slightly used clothing into the hamper.
“Thanks, whoever you are. Really appreciate it.”
The music was still playing, albeit not too loudly. So I heard both the song changing to “Lessons in Love” by the Neon Trees and the front door opening at the same time.
Looked around wildly for a robe. One was hanging there. Only, I could swear it hadn’t been there a second prior. “Uh, thanks again.” Chose not to add that I hoped whoever was doing this wasn’t getting a lot of cheap looks. Then again, there was a lot to be said for perfectly cleaned and pressed clothes being there for you at any moment you needed them.
Flung the robe on as Martini came into the bedroom. “Hey, Pierre told me you were lying down after all. He wanted you to take your pills that the doctor gave you before you did.”
“Thanks. Where are they?”
He grinned. “I put them in the kitchen. My Kitty hates taking pills. I figured you might be the same way.”
“Yeah, I kind of am.” I was also really aware that I was naked under this robe, and that I was, therefore, basically nude in a bedroom with a man I wasn’t actually married to.
Martini shook his head with a chuckle. “While Kitty and I take every opportunity, you don’t need to worry.” He took my hand and led me out of the bedroom and to the kitchen. “As I keep on mentioning, I’m not going to force myself on you, and we’re doing nothing untoward.”
“Sorry. Not trying to insinuate you’re a rapist or anything. It’s just . . .”
“Just what?” he asked gently as he helped me onto a barstool at the counter, then sat down on a stool next to me.
“What if she doesn’t remember?” Hadn’t meant to blurt this out, but I was uncomfortable, and that was partly because I honestly found Martini very attractive. There was no way she wasn’t going to find Charles attractive—she was me and I’d always thought he was handsome since senior year in high school. “What if she thinks she’s me, his wife? What if they’re sleeping together and they don’t know?”
Martini sighed as he handed me a ton of pills, some big, some small, and a large glass of water. Clearly he’d prepped this before he got me. “Why are you so worried about this? In our relationship, I’m the jealous one. Kitty is occasionally, but she doesn’t spend a lot of time worrying about me straying.”
“I don’t know,” I said in between downing pills. “I guess . . . I’ve spent so long wondering if Charles was cheating on me when he was gone and I couldn’t reach him. He always had such lame excuses.”
“Because he was off on covert operations and he couldn’t tell you the truth.” Martini ran his hand through his hair. “Look, for what it’s worth, it took him a long time to get over the fact that Kitty married me. He was able to let it go because they’re still close friends. And because he fell in love with my cousin.”
“And then she was killed.” By the man Charles thought was his best friend.
Martini jerked as “Trust” by the Neon Trees came on. “What?”
“Uh, you know she was killed, right?”
“No, that’s not what I’m asking you about. You broadcast your emotions—it’s just something some people do. They tend to be the more honest out there, the ones who don’t hide. Chuck’s emotions are strong when he’s around or thinking about Kitty. But otherwise, he’s not that easy to read.”
“Okay, nice to know. Not clear on what you’re asking me.”
“When you mentioned that Naomi was killed . . . you think you know who did it. And I want to know how you know, and who it is. And I want to know now.”
CHAPTER 37
CRAP. I had no idea what to do. Wished I’d had the foresight to ask Malcolm about this. Because Martini had his In Charge voice on and he also sounded like he was angry and stressed, and I felt very vulnerable all of a sudden.
Martini’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you want Buchanan here to protect you?”
“Ah . . .” I had no answer I could give. I wasn’t used to someone acting like they were reading my mind.
“I can read Kitty’s mind because I’m enhanced and because I’m so close to her. You’re her, I’m reading you. You’re a little harder, but you’re her—some different life experiences in the last decade, but still, her.”
“Great. Uh, do you always threaten her?”
“Okay, maybe you don’t realize that you’re looming over me suddenly, and that your voice is lower, and that you’re glaring. But you are. All of those things. And I’m not wearing any clothes other than this robe.”
Martini blinked and shook his head. “I’m sorry. But if you know who killed Naomi, then you know who the Mastermind is. And that’s vital information.”
“Then why did you tell Malcolm it wasn’t important?”
Martini shrugged and I saw him visibly force himself to relax. “Because the political situation was more vital. Raj told me you felt you had a fix, and you handled everyone else already, so we’re not in panic mode anymore.”
Malcolm definitely thought finding proof so we could officially identify the Mastermind was the most important thing. “Sorry. You’re just throwing me. I don’t know you. Really at all. I can’t differentiate between intensity and anger with you.”
Martini took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. Not angry. Just stressed and worried. This is as hard for me as it is for you. Harder in some ways.”
“Yeah, I have two husbands here, you sort of have half a wife.” Once again, I hadn’t meant to say that, it just came out.
But he laughed. “Yes. Exactly. And, honestly, I wasn’t pretending—I’m jealous. Of pretty much everyone, I guess. Definitely of Buchanan. It’s an ego hit when your mother-in-law assigns someone to protect your wife and daughter, and then he does a better job at it than you do.”
“From what you all told me earlier, you do most of the saving when my Cosmic Alternate needs it.”
He smiled. “She saves me more than I save her, honestly.”
“Then why worry about Malcolm?”
“Why are you worried about my Kitty?”
“Because she’s me, and they both might not notice the difference. Or else he may like her more. She could do everything he does with him. I can’t.”
Martini cocked his head at me. “I can’t swear to it, of course, but I truly doubt that your Chuck is cheating on you.” He leaned nearer and chucked me under my chin. “Once you go Kitty, you never go back. And, trust me, you’re his and he wants you, the real you, back. I promise.”
“Okay. I have no choice but to take your word on it.” Tried to figure out what to tell him as “A Pain That I’m Used To” from Depeche Mode came on. “Look, I don’t think Malcolm wants me telling. We have no proof. Yet.”
“Did he tell you not to tell me?”
“No, not specifically or anything. He doesn’t want the Mastermind to know that I know who he is, because the Mastermind thinks I’m your Kitty and if he knows your Kitty knows, then he’ll activate his doomsday plans or whatever. I think. And I realize that was a completely confusing explanation.”
Martini chuckled. “It was, but I’ve heard worse. Look, unless you think the Mastermind is me for some reason, why couldn’t you tell me? Is it someone close to me?”
“No, I don’t think so.” He was close to Charles, but Malcolm hadn’t indicated that the Mastermind was tight with Martini. One small blessing. Hopefully. “He’s a human, not an alien.” Worried that I’d said too much.
Martini sighed. “Do you really want a nap or were you just getting out of a situation smoothly?”
“I know I should be tired, but the medicines are helping. Eating all of your mother’s brownies helped a lot, too. I had a ton of them. And three glasses of milk.”
“Not a Coke?” He sounded worried.
“Not with brownies that good. Trust me, I drink them. I assume my CA is as addicted to them as I am.”
He grinned. “Yeah, she is. It appears to be the drink of choice for the sexiest girls in their universes. And that wasn’t a come-on.”
I snorted. “Right. But anyway, why were you asking?”
He pulled out his phone. “I’m going to solve this. Go get dressed. When she’s going casual, my Kitty wears jeans, Converse, and a rock T-shirt.”
“Sounds good. Oh, by the way, how do I get the recipe for your mother’s brownies?”
He laughed. “She’ll never give it out until she dies, I don’t think. And my parents are named Lucinda and Alfred. Just in case.”
“Good catch, thanks. Work on her for that brownie recipe, will you?”
As I headed for the bedroom I heard him chuckle. “Only my girl.” Of course, that was the problem, in a nutshell. Well, as Mom always said, it was time to focus on solutions, not problems. As if to confirm this, “Foolish Behavior” from the Neon Trees came on.
Trotted into the closet and found a set of clothes laid out for me. Just as Martini had described, only with an Aerosmith hoodie as an addition. “Mötley Crüe? Okay, if you insist. And thanks again.”
Looked through the T-shirts, all of which were hung with care. Saw a lot I owned, though most were slightly different. No Jack Johnson shirts, though, nor any Amadhia shirts. Oh well, we couldn’t match 100 percent. Hopefully she had their music. Amadhia was my favorite female singer and all of a sudden I really wanted to hear her voice. However, now wasn’t the time to ask for a musical switch.
The Crüe on my chest, my beloveds on my back, and My Chemical Romance singing “Mama,” I trotted back out to Martini, who gave me a big smile. “That’s better. Now you look like you.”
Decided not to argue—we’d had our first fight, and I didn’t really want to have a second any time soon.
He shook his head. “That was a misunderstanding, not a fight. At least, I didn’t think it was a fight. Did it really feel like a fight to you?” He looked worried and sounded more so.
“For me and Charles, that was a fight.”
“Oh. I’m even more sorry, then.” He didn’t look happy anymore. “I didn’t mean to frighten you and then fight with you, ever, let alone in the space of a few minutes.”
I patted his knee. “It’s okay. I’ll make a note that, for you, this was just you being jealous and insecure.”
He laughed. “Pretty much. Buchanan’s on his way up. We’ll discuss it and then determine if we should tell Angela now or wait.”
“Wait, you want to involve my mother?” Panic hit, and I couldn’t stop it. Felt tears coming and held them back.
Martini noticed, of course. He was off the stool and holding me in a moment. “Shh, shh, it’s okay. We won’t let anything happen to her. I promise.” He patted my back. “It’s okay.”
“What is?”
“To cry.”
“I’ve done too much of that today. Has it only been a day?”
“Not even a full day. Despite how it feels, it’s just early evening. But it’s been years’ worth of emotional hits. Crying is a release. So cry if you need to, baby. It doesn’t make you weak, not to me or anyone else who matters.”
Leaned my head against his chest, but him holding me reduced the panic enough that I could calm down. The double heartbeats were unusual but also soothing. “Yeah, it has. I can’t . . . Jeff, I can’t lose her again.”
He kissed my head. “I swear to you, I won’t let anyone hurt your mother. Not that she needs a lot of protection—and you’re definitely her daughter, because you don’t, either. Not that that stops me, or Chuck, or anyone else from protecting the two of you, and everyone else that we can. We’re a family, all of us, and we’re in this together. Forever.” He hugged me tighter. “And no matter when you go back to your own universe, you’ll always be part of our family. No matter who you’re married to.”
A knock at the door caused us to separate. But I felt okay. Looked at the time. “Where is Jamie?”
“Pierre is giving her dinner because he thinks you’re napping and I’m taking care of you. We’ll get her soon, but I don’t want her hearing this discussion.”
“No argumen
t, just wanted to make sure she was okay. I’m sorry I didn’t think of it sooner.”
“It’s okay. She’s safe and in good hands everywhere in the Embassy.” As the music changed to “Not Falling Apart” by Maroon 5, Martini opened the door and let Malcolm in.
Who looked at us. “First fight, huh?”
“Wow, were we really that obvious?”
Malcolm shrugged. “To me, yes.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk about,” Martini said. “Because Kitty tells me you’ve been far more observant than the rest of us. And those observations need to be shared. Now.”
Malcolm shrugged. “You’re not going to like it. And I’m not sure you’re going to be able to hide that you know. Very few A-Cs can lie believably and you’re absolutely not one of them.”
Martini sighed as we all moved to the living room. He sat on the couch and I sat with him. Malcolm took a comfy-looking chair. “Okay,” Martini said. “I can buy that reason, honestly. But at the same time, Kitty insinuated the Mastermind is someone we know well.”
“He is. But that means he knows you well, too,” Malcolm said. “Look, if I thought you’d both believe me and be able to hide the information, I’d have told you about my suspicions three years ago.”
“Three years?” Martini sounded shocked and a little angry. “You’ve known that long and haven’t done anything?”
“I’ve done a lot, including being attacked and put into a coma that took some of my memory away. But knowing and proving aren’t the same thing, and Angela would be the first one to tell you that. And I still have no proof.”
“Does my Kitty know?”
Malcolm shook his head. “But you two need to practice. Hold hands.”
“Why?”