by Gini Koch
Moira sobbed. “Don’t hurt her!”
“You didn’t care about James. You wanted to hurt him. You were happy to hurt him, happy that it was breaking my heart. Why should I care about your feelings?” She didn’t have an answer, and I hadn’t expected one. “Now, tell me—where was Kyrellis while you were following us?”
“If I tell you, will you promise not to hurt her?” Moira was begging.
“Yes.”
She nodded. “She was setting the bombs.” Oh, good, we were officially at DEFCON Worse. I almost felt kindly toward the spies—they’d only planted bugs.
“What bombs and where?”
“Bombs to destroy you all.” She said it calmly.
“WHERE?” The Poofs all snarled.
Moira looked at me as if it were obvious. “At the palace.”
“Palace? What palace?”
“Where you all live.”
We lived here and Caliente Base. No one would call either a palace. A horrible feeling came over me. “You think where we were when you attacked James is the palace, don’t you?”
“Of course.” She smiled. “Even if you have Kyrellis, the bombs will go off soon.”
“How soon?”
“When your sun is high. Fitting time to see a kingdom die.” She looked happy again.
I couldn’t help it. I leaned close to her and spoke softly. “Moira?” She nodded. “You know how I said I wouldn’t hurt Kyrellis?”
“Yes.” She sounded uncertain. Maybe she was looking at my expression.
“I lied.”
CHAPTER 34
I RAN OUT OF THE ROOM, Poofs behind me. “Drug that crazy bitch. Renata, forget it, we have bigger issues!”
“What the hell is going on?” Martini asked. “Your stress levels are off the charts.”
My phone rang before I could reply. Why now? I dug through and answered it, while I ran for the elevator, the others behind me. “Hello?”
“Kitten? Where are you?”
“Dad? Now’s a terrible time. I’m at the Science Center.”
“Why aren’t you in Vegas?”
We were in and I hit the button for the launch area. “Heading back there at warp speed, Dad.” I thought about it. “Why?”
He sighed. “Your mother’s waiting for you, and from what I can tell, things are a little tense with Jeff’s mother.”
I went cold. “What do you mean, Mom’s in Vegas?”
“Well, Kevin told her about how some of Jeff’s people were going to be there, and we figured it might be a good way to get to know them. She’s not alone. Your Aunt Karen and Aunt Ruth are with her, and Nana Sadie and Nona Maria are there, too.”
“Daddy?” I never called him Daddy any more unless I was freaked beyond belief.
He knew that, and I heard his voice shift. “What, Kitty? What’s wrong?”
“Call Mom. Get them out. All of them, out. Evacuate the entire complex. Tell her to do it fast.” I looked around wildly. “What time is it?”
“About eleven in the morning, why?” Christopher was giving me the look that said I was scary and strange.
“Dad, get them OUT! Do not go there yourself, you understand me? You stay away from Vegas and get them out of there!”
“Okay, I’ll call you back.” He hung up, and I hit the stop elevator button, then hit the one for the holding area.
“How bad is it?” Martini asked me quietly. “Your terror is so high I can’t read you correctly.”
“Worse than you can imagine.” The doors opened and I bolted out. “Chuckie!”
He ran to us. “What’s wrong?”
“We have spies,” Christopher offered. He didn’t sound like he thought this was worth panicking about.
“We have a lot worse than that.” I reached Chuckie and grabbed his arm as my phone rang again. “Dad, did you reach them?”
“No. Your mother didn’t answer. I tried several times. Either she left her phone in the room or they’re in the casino and can’t hear it. Should I call the hotel management?”
“No. I’ll take care of it. Keep calling, keep me posted.” I dumped my phone into my purse. “Everyone’s there. Jeff’s parent’s, Paul’s, Michael, my mother, my female relatives, the rest of Airborne. The Amazons weren’t the ones bugging your room. They were the ones setting bombs up to go off in the palace at the height of the sun.” I was shaking and shaking Chuckie. It didn’t seem to help.
“What palace?” Chuckie asked me, looking as confused as everyone else.
Martini grabbed my hand. “GLADYS!” The man was the king of bellowing
I heard the com activate. “Yes, Commander.”
“I want this live to all A-C personnel, all A-C bases worldwide, now!”
“Live, Commander, go ahead.”
“This is Commander Martini. All active Field and Imageering agents to Las Vegas immediately, unless dealing with a superbeing. If so, kill it, leave it, and get to Vegas. Bombs spread throughout, at least, the Mandalay Bay complex. We have no more than an hour to save tens of thousands, including our own people. Anyone who doesn’t pull weight answers to me when it’s over. Bombs are alien in nature, likely to look like something imitating nature. Move out, NOW.”
Gower and Tito appeared. “Ready,” Gower said.
Christopher grabbed Chuckie, and we all took off at hyperspeed for the launch area. Ran the stairs instead of the elevator—it was faster. Realized I should have mentioned it on the 15th floor. Decided to worry about the bigger issues.
“The entire city of Las Vegas imitates something,” Christopher said as we waited for an open gate and the humans all dealt with the aftereffects of the hyperspeed. Apparently all the gates had been calibrated for Vegas by the time we got up here, but there was a huge stream of A-Cs pouring through them, and we were at the back of the line. “The bombs are going to be impossible to find.”
“I can help,” Queen Renata said. “I will know them.”
“We need more than one person.”
“Chuckie, how many of those alien-detector things do you have?”
“On me? One. At my office in Headquarters? Plenty.”
“On it,” Christopher said. He grabbed Chuckie, and they disappeared.
“Where’re they going?”
“Operations,” Martini answered. Meaning where the Head of Security hung out. Meaning, I assumed, Gladys had a personal gate. Martini didn’t seem concerned, so I decided to focus on the bigger problem.
“What if the alien-detector things don’t work on the bombs? If only Renata can recognize them, we’re in trouble.”
“The others could assist as well,” Queen Renata said.
Alexander shook his head. “Not Lenore or Uma. Lenore has no idea, and Uma’s more on the side of Kyrellis than us.”
“What about the lizards, dogs, and cats?”
“They could, yes.” He looked uncertain. “Gregory could, too. We’ve seen the bombs.”
Martini grabbed two random A-Cs. “Get the prisoners in the holding cell. Everyone but the two women who look humanoid. The rest I want here before I go through. That’s fifteen seconds, tops.” They disappeared. “Describe the bombs.”
“They can look like more than one thing,” Queen Renata said. “But they will normally resemble a large, spiky fruit. I believe you call them pineapples here, or at least, your world’s equivalent.”
Martini and I looked at each other. “What, are pineapples the universal fruit of badness or something? I think they’re tasty.”
He shrugged. “Easier to find.”
“Not at the Mandalay Bay.”
“Good point.”
The A-C agents were back with the rest of Animal Planet. “Long story short—Kyrellis is about to blow up what she thinks is Jeff’s palace. It’s not, but we have a lot of innocent people in it as well as people we care about personally. Alex and Renata seem to think we can trust you, even Gregory, to help us find and defuse the bombs.”
Willem nodded. “How man
y?”
“No freaking idea. Figure a ton.”
He looked to his Major Doggie companions. They nodded. “Wahoa, Wrolph, and I will help. We should be able to hear and smell them.”
“Loud and smelly in a casino, guys.”
“I am a girl,” Wahoa said.
“Sorry, didn’t count the teats, okay?”
She looked at Queen Renata. “This is the ruling class of this planet?”
Martini and I exchanged another look. “Not so much, no.”
Neeraj spoke. “They are the protectors, not the rulers. It is why he,” he indicated Martini, “is so upset by the insinuations he is king.” He looked at me. “The Iguanodons will assist.”
“You have a sense of humor in there after all?”
“The one you call Chuckie explained yours to me. Where is he?”
“Bringing stuff to help out,” Christopher said. He and Chuckie were dragging bags of devices.
“Good choice on the Reptilians, Canus Majorians, and Feliniads,” Chuckie said quietly to Martini. He pointedly looked at Gregory.
“I have the science team making more,” Christopher told Martini before he could respond to Chuckie. “We’ll have enough for every agent within fifteen minutes.”
Felicia came closer to me. She walked just the way I expected a cat on its hind legs to walk, only a little smoother. “Arup and I will help. We understand how the assassin thinks.”
“Because you think like her?”
She gave me a fangy smile. “Because we have dissidents on our world, too. Arup and I are the Chief Inquisitors. And I chose that word purposely.”
“Nice. So, you and Torquemada going to hurt my people along the way?”
“Not if we can help it.”
We were at the gates. I grabbed Gregory. “What’s your plan?” Chuckie dropped his bag and started to walk rapidly toward us.
Gregory didn’t answer. Alexander spoke. “Their families are in what the assassin thinks is a palace. You’ve been given a chance to regain some honor, Brother. Answer the question. What do you plan?”
Gregory pulled away from me as Martini shouted, “Stop him!”
Chuckie lunged, but it was too late. Gregory was through the gate.
CHAPTER 35
MARTINI CURSED. “YOU SAID to bring him along why?” he snarled at Alexander.
“I tried to warn you,” Chuckie said.
“Nice if you’d been clearer about it,” Martini snapped. “Or faster.”
“No time for the alpha male fight right now, guys, please. We need to focus.” I grabbed Martini’s hand and pulled him through the gate. It sucked, but I was too frightened to care. We landed in a bathroom, but not at McCarran. I could tell—it was too nice. The hell with subterfuge. I walked out behind the rest of the A-Cs.
Of course, women and men coming out of a bathroom might not cause a lot of stir, but walking dogs, cats, and lizards would. Martini had the same thought as me. “How can they help us if they get arrested for being aliens?” he asked as Willem exited the stall.
“On it, Martini,” Chuckie said, as he came out. He tossed Willem a ring; Willem put it on, suddenly looked human.
He nodded to us. “I will contact you if I find any I cannot defuse.”
“How?”
He grinned like a wolf. “We have ways.” Then he disappeared.
Chuckie handed the rings to the other two Major Doggies, the bracelets to the Cat People, and the necklaces to the Giant Lizards. They all said they’d contact us and all disappeared. The Giant Lizards stayed together, the Cats and Dogs did not. Queen Renata shapeshifted and raced off as well, several A-Cs with her.
“Okay,” Martini said. “I want everyone fanned out. We need to find the bombs, but we also need to evacuate in case we can’t. Reynolds, you need to get to the head of the place and tell them to get the people out.”
“Jeff, this is Vegas—they won’t believe him until it’s too late. Besides, I have an easier way. Fire alarms.”
“What?”
Chuckie nodded. “She’s right. It won’t clear out everyone, but it’ll clear out a lot of them.”
“Fine.” Martini grabbed the next several A-Cs who were coming through and told them to find every fire alarm and make it go off. The sounds started immediately.
“We need to go through the hotel, especially THEhotel, where we’re all staying. It’s a good bet some of our team are still up there, and they might not leave.”
“Who?” Christopher asked Martini.
I wanted to say me, but I was the one who’d talked to Moira. “Alexander, can you take Chuckie and do that?”
“Yes.”
Chuckie nodded. “That’s fine. Has to be me, Martini, or White, or they won’t listen anyway.” He gave me a long look. “Hope they’re listening to me now, by the way.”
“They will. Chuckie . . . my mom’s here, and both my grandmothers, and . . .” I couldn’t talk.
He took my hand. “And Martini’s parents, and Gower’s. I know. We’ll get them out, Kitty. I promise.” He nodded to Alexander, let go of my hand, and they disappeared.
“Tito, take Paul to the mall. Check it, all of it, but especially around the store I was in, the one where the alarms were going off. They’ll have put at least one bomb there.”
“Yeah. I have some ideas where they might have stashed others, too,” Tito said.
“How so?”
“There was this guy . . . he was odd and nasty. Sort of threatened me when I got near him, then said I wasn’t important enough to worry about. I’m thinking it might have been the other shapeshifter. And I know where he, or she, went, ’cause I watched.”
Gower managed a chuckle. “Kitty, good job on the hiring.” He grabbed Tito and they were gone.
“What are we doing?” Christopher asked.
“We’re looking for Kyrellis and Gregory.”
“What?” Martini and Christopher were in unison again.
“We have at least a thousand agents here, plus Chuckie and Tito, plus all our new Animal Planet friends. Kyrellis is a lunatic of the highest order, but I promise you this—she wants to watch this place go up in smoke, see all the people die, feel the pride in a job well done.”
“What about Gregory?” Christopher asked.
“He’s either running away or trying to find her.” Something rubbed against my neck. “Oh, are my Poofies okay?”
“Is now really the time?” Martini asked through clenched teeth.
“Yes. Poofies, you have to be very careful. Harlie? Do you remember the man who gave you to Jeff?” Harlie mewled at me. I took it for a yes. “Good Poof! I want you and the other Poofies to find him, find Gregory. If he’s being bad, you stop him. If he’s being good, some of you watch him and some find me or Jeff or Christopher. Okay?”
Much Poof purring came back at me. Then they were gone, just like everyone else.
“They have hyperspeed?” Martini asked as we started out of the bathroom finally.
“No idea. Maybe they turn invisible. Don’t care. They’re smart, and I think they’ll find him.”
“Why’d you give him the benefit of the doubt?” Christopher asked as I scanned the casino. No sign of anyone I knew, no sign of an Amazonian assassin.
“Because Jeff said he was hiding something. Could be bad, possible that it’s good.”
“What are the odds?” Christopher asked dryly.
“Don’t know. I just know he’s your blood, so I’m hoping there’s more of you in him than not.” I closed my eyes. “Have to think. If I were a psycho Amazonian assassin, where would I go to watch the show?”
“We could search everywhere in the time this is taking,” Martini said urgently.
“Jeff, stop. Psychos and megalomaniacs are my forté, remember? They all wanna hang with me.” It would have to be close. She wouldn’t want to miss the show. “Make sure they search the entire complex—Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur.”
Martini and Christopher were on
their phones, barking orders.
The Excalibur, New York New York, MGM Grand, and Tropicana were the four casinos on this corner. But they’d all be too close, especially if she’d set up the entire Mandalay complex to go. “Have them check all the casinos on the corners, too.” Martini and Christopher barked more orders.
Where would she go to watch? Where in this town would someone like Kyrellis feel comfortable? Or at least feel she could control herself from killing all the men in order to watch her fireworks display? I had to think. Figuring out what the psychos did for kicks was my job, really.
Too stressed. Think about what I did know. Moira and Kyrellis were insane. Fanatics. Amazonian lesbians who really loathed men deep in the bone. Military trained. Why had Moira hurt Reader? Because he was, according to her, pawing me. But she’d pawed me and hadn’t seemed to think that was an issue.
I was trying too hard. I had plenty of lesbian girlfriends. Like most of my friends, I wasn’t in constant contact, but I certainly could remember what they’d talked about. They talked a lot like my guy friends talked, liked many of the same things. Of course, none of my gay girlfriends were loathing man-haters; they just preferred boobs and such. Oh. DUH. I opened my eyes.
“Boys? You like chicken wings?”
CHAPTER 36
“NOT REALLY,” MARTINI SAID. “Also, think we should, you know, save the innocents and all before we stop to have a snack.”
“And that’s why I’m the one the psychos all wanna hang with. Can I lead if we’re running at hyperspeed?”
“Sure.”
I grabbed his hand and we took off. Too revved up to get sick from the hyperspeed, so that was a bonus. Raced out and down the Strip, made a right on Tropicana and raced to the goal—Mecca for most straight guys and lesbians—the Hooters Hotel and Casino.
“Are you kidding me?” Christopher shouted. “Why are we here?”
“Because Kyrellis is here. Waiting and watching and enjoying the view before she really enjoys the view.”