by Gini Koch
“Let’s see what Tito and Rohini have found. After all, Dier’s blood could be the cure.” Called Caroline. She answered right away and got Tito. “You’re on speaker. How are things?”
“Okay, speaker here, too, we’re alone. Your adrenaline idea was a good one. The problem is, it doesn’t last, but it’s definitely keeping the most sick alive.”
“Yeah, we learned that firsthand.”
“Lorraine’s checked in,” Caroline said. “They have Whitmore and the adrenaline’s working on him. So are she and Claudia. They have him ready and willing to make a public confession, because he’s clear that Cliff’s set him up to die, too.”
“He feels that there is a vaccine,” Tito added. “But he doesn’t have it. He expected to be given the vaccine before Cliff launched this offensive, and has been waiting for said vaccine every day. Cliff isn’t returning his calls. Ergo . . .”
“He’s finally flipped allegiance. At least somewhat. Not sure if what he has is enough, but it’ll be better than nothing. How are people at the White House?”
Tito heaved a sigh. “Adrenaline helped Gabe, but only for a little while. As soon as it wore off, he expired. He had an existing health condition, by the way, so that probably contributed.”
“Fabulous. Everyone else?”
“Still alive and still dealing with Cliff from what we can gather,” Caroline said. “Do you want me to go to the White House and run interference?”
“No, Caro. Running interference for Tito and the Shantanu is far more important.”
“We need to get back there, though,” Tim said. “I have a really bad feeling about our leaving the Mastermind in the White House.”
“Oh, he’s not in the White House anymore,” Reader said, looking at his phone. “He’s left to, and I quote, ‘calm the populace since the new President is infected and can’t leave the White House complex.’ Meaning Tim’s right—we need to get back.”
“Interesting,” Tito said. “He was supposed to be coming here to give me a blood sample. Jeff has had everyone in the White House gate back and forth to do that, by the way, starting the moment Gabe died. They’ve come over one at a time. Cliff insisted on going last, but supposedly he was coming to us. We paused this process to take your call, but last I heard Cliff was waiting to come here.”
“What about Annette Dier’s blood that we sent to you? What have you found?”
Tito sighed. “Nothing, Kitty, I’m sorry. She may have thought she’d been given a vaccine but there was nothing in her blood to indicate it. Her blood is healthy, but it also doesn’t contain anything that would indicate that she’d had a vaccine for this illness. And before you ask, the Shantanu have verified this in ways we aren’t able to. Dier’s blood is a dead end.”
Heard some noises. “Listen, do you guys hear something? Tito, is that by you?”
“I don’t think so, Kitty.”
“No,” White said slowly. “I believe it’s coming from that way.” He pointed toward the Amtrak station and the hospital complex. “And it sounds like rioting.”
“Ah, are you guys near a hospital?” Tito asked.
“We are.”
“Don’t go any nearer to it,” Caroline said quickly.
“Um, why not?”
“Apparently FEMA sent vaccines—which I already know we assume are actually the infection—to a lot of major hospitals,” Tito replied. “If you’re in Orlando, they sent a big shipment to the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. However, it’s being attacked by Club Fifty-One people, claiming that the vaccine is, in fact, an alien flu.”
“Serene really has what it takes, doesn’t she? Good to know.”
“This is happening all over, though, Kitty,” Tito said. “Club Fifty-One, and of course our favorite religious sect, are causing havoc. Though that started before the time I think we can say Cliff left the White House, since he was confirmed as in line to come over about fifteen minutes ago.”
“How the hell did he get out?” Tim asked. “He was in a quarantine he approved himself. And if he was using a gate to get to NASA Base he should have exited exactly where everyone else did.”
“No idea,” Tito said. “Walked out the front door? Took a gate calibrated to somewhere else? Him not being there or on his way here is news to me just like it is to you.”
Pondered for a moment, then remembered the other reason why we’d called. “Tito, we were told that the virus has an alien component, and that it’s not from either our or the A-C system.”
“That aligns with what your father told me.”
“Dad’s checked in?”
“Yeah, sorry, he has, but I didn’t lead with that because while what he gave us was helpful, we’re still stuck.”
“How so?”
“He and Lizzie feel confident they’ve deciphered her father’s notes—she’d been taught the code, so it wasn’t as hard as it could have been. They gave us the formula, and what you just said—that there’s an alien component—seems clear from that formula. But we can’t figure out what his symbol for that component is, other than that he used L as its designation.”
“Cliff’s calling it an alien flu. So that’s accurate?”
“Sadly, yeah. This is definitely a form of influenza, but it’s more than that. It’s a super virus mixing in malaria, measles, and tuberculosis as well. But there’s something extra in it, that L-factor, and that’s what’s causing the real problems. We could combat this by creating a super vaccine that fought all four diseases, but without that one component, it’s unlikely to work.”
“Wow, they left out hepatitis and all the poxes? Slackers.”
“Yeah. There’s something odd about one of the cells we’ve isolated. It keeps on shifting without actually altering or splitting. Bettini says it’s similar to blood samples we took from Queen Renata, but not a close match. Rohini feels that it’s our L-factor, and what’s making this disease kill so quickly, but without knowing what it is, we can’t determine what will combat it. Adrenaline makes that cell normalize and stop shifting, by the way, but it doesn’t last too long.”
“When did you take Renata’s blood?” Reader asked.
“We had the Planetary Council come back here to give us blood samples just like everyone else at the White House. We’ve taken samples from those at NASA Base, too, including Rohini and Bettini. We have human, A-C, and A-C hybrid blood samples already.”
“I donated to the cause,” Caroline said.
“That’s my girl.” Considered telling her about the Dingo, but decided that would be better done in person. Also felt like I should make a connection here, but my brain didn’t want to cooperate. My phone showed a text alert—Brian asking what our status was. “Tito, Caro, let me call you back.”
“Okay, only call if you have something new for us,” Tito said. “Otherwise, don’t worry about it.”
“Check.” Hung up. “James, I think we want to bring Brian and TCC here.”
“I’ll set it up.” He sent some texts while I did the same, telling Brian to get ready for them to travel. Less than a minute later there was a shimmering by us, then Brian and TCC stepped through.
“Are you guys okay?” Brian asked, sounding worried. “I haven’t heard word one from Abigail or Mahin and there’s rioting everywhere it seems like. And you kind of look like you’ve been in one.”
“We were in a fight but we’re okay. Clarence, it’s good to see you. I’d hug you, but we’re all infected.”
TCC looked disappointed, but he nodded. “I understand. Are you feeling sick, Kitty?”
“Kind of.” I was. My internal adrenaline had worn off and I felt limp. Saw TCC looking at Wruck and Siler. “Oh, sorry. Clarence, this is Benjamin Siler, he’s a friend of ours. And this is Rudolph Wruck, whose close friends get to call him John, but only in private like we are now.”
�
��Nice to meet you both. Where are you from?”
Siler blinked. “Ah, Earth.”
TCC looked expectantly at Wruck. Who shifted uncomfortably but didn’t offer the lie of being from Germany.
“John’s from far, far away, Clarence.”
“Oh! Do you know LaRue?” he asked Wruck happily.
“Excuse me?” Wruck sounded freaked out.
“Sorry,” TCC said apologetically. “She always said she was from far, far away. No offense meant.”
“None taken,” Wruck lied, while I congratulated myself on bringing TCC here and finally figuring out the connection.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” TCC said, sounding very sorry and worried.
“Don’t be upset, Clarence. John is frightened because he’s an Ancient.”
Wruck drew his breath in. Brian looked shocked, Siler looked like he’d figured this out when Wruck had shifted to open the locked door.
“Oh, sorry, John. My husband was reading me the entire time we were talking in the Helicopter of Silence. Most everyone here knew before this conversation. And none of us will tell people we can’t trust about you, even those who just found out. However, I think you’re going to be telling a few more people about yourself shortly.”
“What do you mean?” Wruck asked suspiciously.
“I know what the L-factor is. LaRue’s blood is in the alien flu. Meaning your blood might be the cure.”
CHAPTER 86
EVERYONE STARED AT ME, but Reader nodded. “It makes sense.”
“Especially because LaRue’s been the brains behind every Mastermind, and has affected the other Brains Behind people since she landed here.”
“So, we’re all going to NASA Base then?” Tim asked, as the Field agents came to tell Reader the bodies were ready to be dumped into a vat.
“No. First we’re attending a funeral.”
We all went back inside. All the Cubans and their weapons had been dumped into one of the big vats on the lower level. Reader nodded and they dumped Dear Sam and Dier into the same vat. Watched them be engulfed and burn up. It happened pretty quickly. Wished Gower and Abigail and their parents could have watched with us or at least see it somehow, but videotaping this event wasn’t a wise move.
I insisted that the Dingo and Surly Vic be interred in a different vat and no one argued with me. Played Elton John’s “Funeral for a Friend” as their bodies were lowered together into their Final Resting Place.
“Ashes to ashes,” White said. He held one of my hands and Reader held the other. “Dust to dust. Go with our love. We consign you to your god.”
“Nice sermon, Mister White.”
“It’s what we do under standard circumstances, Missus Martini.”
The bodies were fully consumed by the time “Love Lies Bleeding” came on. Let Sir Elton’s voice soothe me as much as it could. Didn’t cry. Didn’t think the Dingo and Surly Vic would want me to cry in public. I’d cry in private, hopefully sooner as opposed to later.
But as soon as that song ended, “Freedom Fighter” by Aerosmith came on and I knew that Algar was telling me that it was time to go.
We left the building and I sent a text to Abigail. She replied back quickly. “Stephanie’s gone to ground. The girls have had no luck finding her. As far as Abby knows, the other team is on Drax’s trail, but Huntress isn’t with him as far as they can tell, which is why they split up.”
“I’d offer to try to flush her out,” Siler said, “but I honestly don’t think I’m in any condition to do so.” As he said this, “Fight the Frequency” by American Hi-Fi came on. Nice to know that Algar and I were in sync.
“Yeah. But that gives me an idea. But first, let’s get you and John to NASA Base.”
“Are you sure?” Wruck sounded very much less than sure.
“John, you helped us, and I know you researched us. What do you think we’re going to do to you?”
“Take all my blood?”
I laughed. “I’m sure that Tito’s going to take some. But we have really good medical and science facilities, right there, as a matter of fact. They’ll replicate your blood for the cure, if your blood even is the cure. The idea is just me spitballing, but it would be great if we can smoke it over the plate at a hundred.”
“I don’t understand you,” Wruck said.
Heaved a sigh. “So few ever do. We don’t want you dead, or locked up for medical experiments. We want you alive and working alongside us. You know, just like the Martian Manhunter is part of the Justice League.”
“You’re Wonder Woman?” he asked. Nice to know he knew his comics.
“Not in this universe. In this universe I’m Wolverine With Boobs.”
Wruck stared at me for a moment, then he started to laugh. “Okay. Count me in. I’m blown with those I know on the Mastermind’s side anyway, at least as myself. But, I can always infiltrate in another form.”
“If we need you to. Right now, let’s just save as much of the world as we can.”
“Who’s taking them in?” Reader asked.
“You and Tim. And take some of the Field teams for backup.” Just in case. “Richard, Adriana, and I will meet the others at the rendezvous point. You guys can join us there or meet up with us wherever we happen to be when you’re ready. But get going.” Hugged all of them, including Wruck. “I’m getting grief for telling people I love them, but I do love all of you, so get Nightcrawler to our doctor and John to our Shantanu Medicine Men.”
Wruck brightened up. “Oh, the Shantanu are here? That’s good, and a relief. Their medicine is far more advanced than yours.”
“We feel the love, John.”
He smiled. “Let’s hope, Kitty.”
“What are we going to be doing, Missus Martini?” White asked, as the team going to NASA Base stepped through their floater gate and “The Masterplan” by Oasis came on. Algar wanted me to focus and I planned to. Sent Abigail, Mahin, Serene, and William a group text.
“We’re going to be escorting Brian and Clarence around to every riot location that has television camera crews and ensuring we get on camera.”
“We are?” Adriana asked, sounding less than thrilled with this plan.
“I echo Miss Dalca’s unspoken concerns.”
“Everyone’s a critic. And, well, when I say ‘we,’ I mean Clarence. We’re going to make sure that Clarence absolutely gets his fifteen minutes of fame.”
CHAPTER 87
“ARE YOU SURE this is a good idea?” Brian shouted to me. He had to shout. We were in the middle of a riot and that made it hard to hear.
“Yes! Just do what I told you to!”
My plan was to flush Stephanie out. Going to ground was one thing, but there was no way she was without access to a television. There was too much going on, much of which she’d been intimately involved with, for me to believe that she wasn’t somewhere watching the world burn. Whether she wanted it to burn or not might be the question, but until we could find her, we wouldn’t know the answer.
What channel she was watching, however, and when, were the things I had no guess for. So, in order to cover all the bases, we were covering all the bases.
Media, social and otherwise, were advising the population of what riots were going on where. Serene picked our location, William sent a floater gate, we stepped through, and the team got TCC up in front of as many cameras as we could. Then it was just lather, rinse, repeat.
Mahin and Abigail had joined us in Orlando at the children’s hospital, so we had plenty of muscle, in that sense. The goal wasn’t to get TCC a speaking part—just to have him seen, in the background.
Once we felt he was seen, or it was too dangerous to stay, we used hyperspeed—which Abigail, Mahin, and White still had going—to get out of the crowd and through a floater gate that would take us to our next location.
&nbs
p; I didn’t have music on—I was on the phone with William, so that he could tell me where we were going and where our floater gate was located.
We were on our eleventh stop and, other than getting banged up a lot, the plan was working smoothly, despite all of us wanting to call in Field agents from around the world to stop the riots.
But we didn’t. In part because we didn’t want them to get infected. And in other part because that very possibly was what Cliff wanted.
I’d asked Serene for one thing when she was choosing—to ensure, after Orlando’s hospital, that we hit towns that spelled Stephanie’s name in order. Just in case.
So, we’d hit Savannah, Tacoma, East Pittsburgh, which was a double, Houston, Anaheim, Nashville, Indianapolis, and Escondido. Now we were in Stephenville, Texas, because there were no towns named Stephanie that Serene could find. It wasn’t a gigantic crowd, but it was representing in terms of panic and riots.
We were about to go when a reporter focused on TCC. “Sir,” she said in a Texas drawl, “can you tell us what you’re hoping to do here?”
“I’m just trying to find my eldest daughter,” TCC said. “She’s lost and we’re worried about her.”
The reporter was jostled and lost interest in TCC. Mahin grabbed him and the rest of us linked up and we zipped off out of the area.
“That was picked up,” William said. “And Imageering Main is ensuring that it’s sent out as fast as possible to all news outlets.”
“Awesome, then send us back to D.C. Walter Reed, if it’s got riots.”
“It does,” Serene said. “Everywhere does. Where you just were doesn’t even have vaccines yet, but they have frightened people and Club Fifty-One members and that seems to be enough.”
“It’s probably why Clarence got his interview, so I’m not going to complain.” A floater gate shimmered into view. I could tell I was losing my A-C Extras—I could barely see the shimmering.
“Step through now,” William said.
We linked up and stepped out near Walter Reed. Did our usual hyperspeed push and shove to get near reporters. Only this time, the person who was spotted wasn’t TCC, but was me.