by Gini Koch
They all stared at me. “They’re jerks,” Anthony said finally. “They’re in class with me and Lizzie. We hate them already and it’s only been a couple of hours.”
“And they aren’t necessarily in on their mother’s plans. I got through to them by saying that they were just like her. The moment they heard that, they stopped egging on all the food fighting and instead started helping out.”
Claire and Sidney looked at each other. “We have experience with it,” Sidney said finally.
“He means Stephanie,” Claire explained, presumably because she felt we were all too old to catch on. “And Sidney’s right—we do have the experience to be able to spot if they’re doing what their mother wants or not.”
“Why didn’t you guys turn?” Lizzie asked.
It was a good question, and one we all wanted to hear, so none of the adults interjected.
Claire shrugged. “Stephanie was always our father’s favorite. But, even when we tried to do things he wanted, he didn’t care about us in the same way.”
“Until after the accident,” Anthony said. “Now he loves all of us and doesn’t want us to do things to hurt the rest of our family. He’s a lot better.” His siblings nodded.
“But we were around him and our sister before he was hurt, and we know what they’d do,” Sidney continued. “How they’d pass signs to each other, what Stephanie acted like when she was on a mission or whatever for our father, stuff like that.”
“I’m sure this will be different,” Claire said, “but we should still be able to figure it out.”
“Making friends with them is going to be the hard part,” Anthony muttered.
Lizzie nodded. “Word.”
“Use Wasim.” They all stared at me. Heaved a sigh. “Wasim is a Bahraini prince. Use that, the status that comes from hanging out with royalty. It may not work, but if it does, use it.”
Wasim nodded. “I would be amenable if it was for a good cause, and this is.”
“Great. Then it’s settled.”
Reader’s turn to heave a sigh. “I can only imagine Jeff’s reaction to this plan.”
“Don’t tell him and then we won’t have to worry about it. Okay, kids, unless any of you have more intel, you all need to get cleaned up and ready for the rest of our fun-filled afternoon.”
“Oh, Kitty, I won’t need to see Doctor Hernandez after all,” Wasim said.
“Oh? Was your second gate trip okay?”
“Yes, because I listened to music during the gate transfer from the school. It helped tremendously.”
Stared at him. I’d been with Centaurion for over six years and I listened to music as often as I could, and yet this had literally never occurred to me. “Um, what?”
“Music. I listened to music.” He pulled his phone and earbuds out of his pocket. “Music?”
“Yes, I know what music is. Did you check that it was safe to do before you did that?”
“No. Why would I?”
He was a prince and had spent all his life as a prince. Had no idea how he’d turned out as normally as he had, but that he’d acted in a royal way and just done whatever he’d wanted to wasn’t a surprise, really. That he didn’t do whatever he wanted to all the time was the shocker.
“Um, because it could have been dangerous.”
“If it was, I would assume that I’d have been warned of such.”
“We do tend to tell humans what to do to avoid being killed,” White pointed out. “I’m not clear on why you’re reprimanding Prince Wasim.”
“True enough and I’m not really reprimanding. I just didn’t realize we could use electronics going through the gates.”
This earned me the entire room’s “duh” look. “Ah, Kitty?” Tim said. “We send cars, tanks, jets, and weapons through gates. Almost all of them are turned on and have electrical systems.”
“I have no idea where you got that idea,” Reader added. “I mean that seriously.”
“Me either, but I’m going to choose to blame Christopher for it, because he’s not here. So, um, kids, carry on. And, thanks for the tip, Wasim. Your news is possibly the best news I’ve had all day. If only all the news we got was that good and positive.”
Wasim beamed. “I’m happy I could help.”
“Me, too. Now, go get ready to help some more, all of you.” The teenagers left the room far happier than when they’d entered it. One small one for the win column.
“As for the rest of you . . .” Reader heaved a sigh. “I want to stay angry, but I can’t. Field actually read the situation right and took the correct course of action. Secret Service did their best. I don’t blame the human K-9 officers for what happened.” Received the hairy eyeball look. “Because I know that the person who could have contained all the animals didn’t.”
“Oh my God, seriously? It happened fast, James. You didn’t even see the start but it was calm one moment and chaos the next. The dogs and the birds all settled down the moment I could collect myself, and once settled, they didn’t act up again. Unlike the humans.”
“I hate to say it, because I don’t want you to snarl at me, but I’m with Kitty,” Tim said. “Especially since we have footage showing those people throwing food. Those were strategic tosses, too. Did you notice that almost all of them were aimed at security personnel?”
The room had not so noticed, so we re-ran the footage again, including the footage from Good Day USA!, which we had on hand, though it wasn’t being broadcast.
The Good Day USA! footage was the hardest to see, since the cameraman was being pelted by food and, from all I could tell, still arguing with Adam. However, because of that, their camera was trained on me, and the footage started earlier than anyone else’s. True to what they’d said, the footage began after the bird attack. Bellie and Bruno were both up in the air and the dogs were heading in.
In the video my attention wasn’t on Charmaine any longer, and the moment I turned away, she nodded her head at some of her people. They moved out from their Entourage Huddle and began to toss things around. A couple of them gathered the money, but they also threw the cashboxes again. And everything they were tossing was at the policemen or other identifiable security, and at their backs. Most of those things they tossed hit.
“My God, who took the hits with those cashboxes?” I asked.
“All of us,” Evalyne said. “Though I have to say that some of those cookies hurt worse.”
“All security get cleaned up and then see Doctor Hernandez immediately,” Reader said. “Field agents as well.”
That team shuffled out of the room and we were no longer crowded. We continued to watch the feed. “They’re not stealing the money,” Claudia said. “They’re picking it up, but it’s clear that they’re not pocketing it. Why?”
“They aren’t doing this to steal the bake sale funds,” Serene replied. “And if they’re gathering the money, then it’s a good cover for why they’re milling around and low to the ground.”
“Harder to spot them when they’re low,” Lorraine pointed out. “I didn’t see this on any of the other coverage.”
“Do you think they figured on media coverage?” Tim asked.
“Yes,” Oliver said emphatically. “They’d been advertising the bake sale and that the First Lady was going to be there.”
My brain nudged. “Wait. How far in advance was this thing being promoted?”
“Three weeks,” Jenkins replied.
“When was my presence promised?”
“One week ago,” he said. “The first two weeks it was a stay tuned for our special parental guest, after that, it was come see the First Lady. Though they didn’t use your name or title. The wording was ‘top woman in the country’ which is clearly you.”
“I’m flattered. However, Charmaine told me I had to do this yesterday.”
“And we
had no knowledge of this event at all,” Vance said. “And we should have.”
Mrs. Maurer looked pissed. “We received nothing prior to the phone call you received from this Charmaine person.”
“I thought our people scoured the media for things like this.”
“They do,” Vance said. “Both our team and Jeff’s team and, as far as I know, the CIA and FBI scan as well.”
“This isn’t advertised in the papers,” Oliver said. “It’s a very word of mouth kind of thing. The bake sales are quite popular, since everyone tries to outdo everyone else and the student body is filled with movers and shakers. Hence why busloads of tourists arrived. It’s a regular event.”
“They do two every quarter,” Dion added.
“Can’t wait. So, why did all our teams miss this? Frankly, MJO, why didn’t you warn me?”
He looked surprised. “It was a bake sale at your daughter’s new school. Not only did it seem benign, but I truly thought you’d already been advised and had agreed to help out. Why else would Good Day USA! have been along?”
Why else indeed? I hadn’t had time to fill Oliver in on everything, and I had no idea what he did or didn’t know right now. However, as everyone on Alpha Team loved to tell me, this wasn’t my job.
“Okay, so while everyone else has fun figuring out who knew what when and so on, I and the press are going to get cleaned up and head over to our next stop.”
Everyone stared at me. “Really?” Serene asked finally.
“Really. You guys figure it out, do whatever we have to in order to ensure that we’re all at the Kramer’s fundraiser tonight, and let me know if I need to make a statement other than ‘I want to be left alone.’ I’m heading over to the Intergalactic School where, to my knowledge, the idea of a bake sale has never been forwarded.”
And with that, I headed off for my rooms and the shower, the press corps trailing after me like journalistic ducks in a ragged row.
CHAPTER 49
CLEANED, DRESSED, and pressed, we were all ready to go in less than an hour. I chose wisdom over propriety and was in jeans, my Converse, and an Aerosmith t-shirt. The bake sale might not have erupted into real life Cake Wars if I’d had my boys on my chest.
The press corps was assembled with the teenagers at the Secret Service offices. Per my text update from Vance, White was there, riding herd on the young’uns and the others, the K-9 squad was staying on-site and would escort the Valentino kids to Sidwell and back, along with the rest of the security teams that had been with me at the school, and security at the Intergalactic School had been warned that I’d be there soon.
On my way downstairs I ran into Gadhavi. Chose not to ask why the Grizzly Bear of G-Company was wandering the White House halls freely. Right now, I’d take a grizzly and all of G-Company over the PTA.
“We studied that picture,” he said by way of hello. “We found nothing.”
Pulled my phone out of my purse and looked at the shot I’d taken. As I did, realized that my iPod was plugged into my portable speakers. I never left it that way. Checked my iPod out. It was on a Listen Like Thieves playlist that, before today, I hadn’t had.
So that was how he’d done it. Not via a person, but via my purse. It made sense and was something that would be totally believable if discovered. Moved the iPod and speakers up to the top. Why miss out on any clues Algar might toss my way? Sure the ones at Sidwell hadn’t helped much, but why risk it?
Looked at the picture. As Gadhavi had said earlier, not a lot there other than hate. But I’d seen something. “I need to look at this on a bigger screen.”
He nodded. “The picture is still up in the meeting room.”
We went there together, him expressing sadness for my horrible experience and me trying to play it down with limited success. By the time we were there, he was pledging to replace any and all funds the bake sale had lost or should have made as his donation and I was ready to ask him to roll with me to the Intergalactic School. Refrained, but only just.
We were alone in the LSR, which made me feel very tiny. Didn’t feel alone, though—Gadhavi had a presence that definitely filled a room.
We stared at the blowup of the image that had bothered me. Looked at the groups individually. It was easy to spot who was from what region because people were clumped together.
Had to figure that what my subconscious had spotted was on the periphery, so that’s where I focused. It took a few minutes, but finally worked my way to the upper right corner. And there they were.
Hit speed dial and he answered on the first ring. “I saw the spectacle.”
“I’m sure you did. Are you with Jeff?”
“No. I’m in my offices. Working. As I’m supposed to. No school visits or food fights for me.”
“Blah, blah, blah. Do you remember the guys that were assigned to be my drivers and bodyguards?”
“You mean Len and Kyle? Yes, I remember them. I hired them. They’re with Jeff, though, if you’re worried.”
“I wasn’t because I figured they were doing something helpful somewhere. And I wasn’t hit on the head, Chuckie, so yeah, I remember Len and Kyle. I’m talking about the guys before them, the ones I hated.”
“You hated all of them. That’s why I had Len and Kyle put in place. But no, I don’t really remember them—I didn’t work with them, you did. And that was at a time when your husband was doing his best to keep us far apart.”
“Wow, did I interrupt an afternoon delight thing with you and Nathalie?”
He laughed. “No. I’m just not sure what you’re calling about.”
“The picture of the True Believers rally, the shot that bothered me. I think I know why I was bugged by the picture.”
“I’m breathless with antici . . . pation.”
“I knew I loved you. But I kind of thought you’d make the leap. I think I’m seeing some of them in this shot.”
“You’re sure?” There was no playfulness, boredom, or exasperation in his tone now. “How sure?”
“Not a hundred percent. I didn’t hang with these guys too long and it was years ago. But I think I see them.”
“Call Reader in, immediately. He’ll know them. I’ll be there in a moment.”
Hung up and sent Reader a text. Alpha Team zipped into the room. Explained what I thought I’d seen and they all looked at the picture.
“I think you’re right,” Reader said slowly, as Chuckie joined us. “Those look like the drivers who we were pretty sure helped kill our agents when we all first got to D.C.”
“Aged several years,” Tim added. “Just like the rest of us.”
“Oh, Operation Assassination was just full of fun, wasn’t it?”
Gadhavi chuckled. “Interesting name.”
“Only Kitty calls them that,” Chuckie said. “The rest of us just call them what they were—the latest in a long line of attempts to overthrow world governments and enslave sentient races.”
“He’s even more fun at parties.”
This earned me chuckles from the room, even Chuckie himself. “However, these fall under our Centaurion’s Most Wanted file.”
“You have a wanted file just for American Centaurion?” Truly, I learned something new every day.
“The CIA has a wanted file for everyone,” Gadhavi said.
“He’s not wrong,” Chuckie replied. “I only see two of them here, though.”
“That doesn’t mean there weren’t more. They’re at the edge of the shot, but the room looks like it goes on farther than the camera shows.”
“They worked with aliens, though,” Tim said. “Why hate them now?”
“Because the aliens they liked disappeared.” As in, were the former Diplomatic Corps and were dead. “And we haven’t done anything to find them. All of those men disappeared and went to our enemies. We shouldn’t be surprised that some o
r all of them are here.”
“I’ll bump this list up to higher priority,” Chuckie said. “It helps to know where they were.”
“Are,” Gadhavi said. “This rally has not broken up. It’s being called a seminar, and they’re there for several days.”
Reader grimaced. “That means Alpha Team needs to get over there. Which means we can’t be with Jeff and Kitty. I mean, I’d love to think that we’ll catch these guys and be able to bring them in this afternoon, but I’ve learned things rarely go that smoothly.”
“You’ll need to coordinate with my agency, too,” Chuckie said. “Meaning I’ll need to assign resources. Though I should be able to make the fundraiser tonight.”
“I will go as well,” Gadhavi said.
“Thank you, that would be great.” Hey, he had money and he was already offering to make donations. Had no idea if he had kids, but if he did, perhaps he wanted them to school at Food Fight Central. Stranger things and all that.
“Don’t count on the rest of us,” Serene said. “And we want the Pontifexes, both current and former, staying in the States, too.”
Realized that Gower wasn’t here. I mean, White wasn’t here, either, but he’d been in the OSR. Gower hadn’t. Chose to believe that it had taken me this long to notice Gower’s absence because I was still shaken from the bake sale debacle. That was my story and I was sticking with it. “Where’s Paul?”
“With Jeff,” Serene replied. “Blessing the school.”
“Wish he’d come with me to Sidwell, then.”
“I don’t,” Reader said with a laugh. “But I don’t like the idea of you going to your next stops without me.”
“I will accompany the First Lady,” Gadhavi said calmly. “No harm will befall her.”
Could tell that the others wanted to argue. However, no one did. Yeah, Gadhavi had that effect on everyone.
“Good,” Chuckie said finally. “And thank you.”
Gadhavi gave Chuckie a formal bow of the head. “And I thank you for your hospitality and assistance in helping me to move into our brave new world together.”
No one seemed to have a good comeback to this, so checked Mr. Watch as a way of smoothly moving us on. “Okay, I think we’re late to get to the school, which is pretty much the story of my life. James, just keep us posted, but I agree that this is a job for Alpha Team. Chuckie, let me know if you’re not making the fundraiser tonight, otherwise I’ll see you here so we can all go over together.”