Alien Collective (30 page)

“And because of that, it’ll never be good again,” Siler said. He looked at Mahin. “You’ve ensured that.”

“E
XCUSE ME?”
Mahin sounded shocked and horrified. “I haven’t had contact with any of them since they murdered . . .” she glanced at Gower guiltily.

“My brother,” Gower said gently. “And we believe you, Mahin. Don’t worry.”

Siler shrugged. “That wasn’t an accusation of evil activity. However, the reason they’ve spent this year finding, prepping, and brainwashing the others is exactly because of you.” He looked at me. “And you, of course.”

“Mind explaining that? ’Cause I don’t see the ‘of course’ in regards to me.”

“Sweetly naïve. Not your best look. But I’ll explain for the apparently slow ones in the room.” Siler grinned at Claudia and Lorraine, who both laughed. Jeff rolled his eyes and Christopher hit us with Patented Glare #2.

“Yeah, explain for all the slow of wit,” Tim said. “Because I’m with Kitty. Why would she be the reason they
don’t
flip?”

“I get it,” Chuckie said. “You’re the one who ensured Serene flipped to our side, Kitty. Not Brian—you.”

Serene nodded. “Ultimately, that’s true, Kitty.”

“And you’re the reason Mahin flipped,” Chuckie went on. “You and White for Mahin.”

“I didn’t do any of it,” Christopher said. “Buchanan and Kitty’s father did more.”

“But you were there,” Chuckie said patiently. “For her and Serene. So was Jeff, but you were the one they were doing a different kind of brainwashing on. And Kitty figured that out, too.”

“Ah, Operation Confusion. Good times . . . good times.”

“Other than our getting Jamie, were they?” Jeff asked.

“Everyone’s a critic. So, you’re saying that because we’d stopped three attempts, they felt it was three strikes and they were out?”

Siler nodded. “Essentially. But I’m saying ‘you’ specifically, not ‘all of you’ generally. The assumption—which, after spending time with you, I think is completely accurate—is that there’s at least a fifty percent chance that any of the Yates progeny who interact with you are going to flip to your side. Especially the women.”

Considered this. “You know, I kind of bonded with your mother. Right before she tried to kill me and Adriana arrived to save the day.”

“Not a surprise. Hell, you’ve flipped the top assassins in the world to your side. And if you could make my mother like you, then you have a lot more persuasive power than you realize.”

“We . . . kind of . . . understood each other.”

“Exactly. So, your enemies made the decision to spend this past year bringing in the rest of the Yates progeny and brainwashing them. They’re good at this kind of persuasion, and these people aren’t going to join you now, because you stand in the way of everything they want.”

“Money, power, ruling everyone else?” Reader asked.

“That, and regaining their family glory, seats on the YatesCorp board, and more. They’ve been promised a lot.” Siler shook his head. “If I’d had all this offered to me when I was young and, more importantly, alone, I’d probably have gone for it, too. They’re very persuasive, and they’re offering something most of these people have never had.”

Looked at Serene and Mahin and it wasn’t hard to guess what was the biggest thing our enemies were offering. “Family.”

Siler nodded. “Yes. You offer it, too, and you all mean it. Which is part of why you’re so dangerous to them.”

“You’re not like them. At all. Neither are Serene and Mahin.”

“I was,” Mahin said quietly.

“I could have been,” Serene added. “If I’d been approached differently, especially since they were drugging me.”

“It was clear that kidnapping wasn’t going to be effective,” Siler said. “It’s why they haven’t tried it since.”

Serene nodded. “Even crazed with the Surcenthumain they’d given me, it wasn’t that hard to tell you were trying to save me.”

“Well, when the drug’s hold ebbed and you were able to hold onto the sanity, yeah. And you’re smart.” A couple of alligators chasing us with intent to snack also had to have helped Serene grasp reality. Wondered if I could find Alliflash and Gigantagator and move them into the Zoo somehow. They’d certainly keep Hacker International on their toes.

“Smart means nothing against good brainwashing techniques,” Siler said.

“Oh, it does,” Chuckie replied. “But I agree—even the strongest can break.”

“Well, we had Serene’s catnip, remember—Brian was on our side.”

She laughed. “True enough. But really, it was all of you who made choosing the right side easy. Not that they ever asked me to join them. As Benjamin said, kidnapped isn’t the same as being recruited.”

“That’s true, however, Serene was also
in
the A-C community,” White said, shooting Serene another fatherly smile. “Not as tightly in as she is now, but still, within it, with family. Perhaps they would have tried brainwashing her if they’d been successful in their kidnapping attempt.”

“Heck, they brainwashed Clarence, and Stephanie, and they certainly weren’t kidnapped. Ever.” Wondered if the tracker Siler had on Stephanie was really going to show us where the Yates Gang was hiding.

“This is true,” White said. “But unless Benjamin is going to tell us that Clarence wasn’t really Stephanie’s father, I don’t believe we have anyone else identified within the community who might be a hidden Yates child.” Felt Jeff tense.

“No, Clarence is really her father,” Siler said. Jeff relaxed. Took and squeezed his hand. “Your community’s views on out-of-wedlock births meant that Yates couldn’t just cruise through every available A-C woman.”

“Because he knew what would have happened on the home world and could see how Serene’s mother was shunned, meaning nothing had changed on this world, and if there were enough women being shunned with no corresponding man to shun at the same time, someone would make the connection.”

“Right. However, Stephanie has Yates blood in her, and from the little she told me when I was helping her get away from all of you, that’s what they’re using to keep her on their side—the proof of her true blood-right.”

“Fantastic,” Jeff muttered. “What are we going to tell Sylvia?”

“We’ll handle it,” White said gently. “Somehow.”

Time to get off Stephanie, at least for the moment, and back to the rest of the matter at hand. Now wasn’t the time to point out that all of Jeff’s sisters and all their very talented children had Yates blood in them, too. Nor to mention that, out of his remaining four brothers-in-law, only one was considered trustworthy at the moment. I’d save that stressful conversation for another time.

“Okay, I get why they didn’t turn Serene. Mahin flipped to our side, though. So why not others?”

“Because the people in charge of their side of Project Kindred Spirit have found all the remaining Yates progeny,” Siler said. “They have an accurate list, no searching required. The original plan was a slow recruitment process, add them in as needed. What went down between you and them last year, though, made them speed things up. They collected all the remaining siblings and they’ve spent this past year brainwashing them.”

“They tried the brainwashing on Mahin,” I pointed out. “And it didn’t take.”

“Not really,” she said. “I mean, it was started, yes. But I was found and activated right before the attack last year. They didn’t spend a great deal of time prepping me. For anything.” She looked down. “If they’d spent the time, things might be very different.”

“No, I refuse to believe that. You and Serene both had the option to go to the Dark Side and you both chose doing the right thing when it mattered. And you have, too,” I said to Siler. “So, based on what you’re saying, either they’re still flippable, or the three of you are nothing like these others at all.”

“Listen, I’m
just
like them. Every scared, scarred, lonely person is, in that sense, just like them. However my uncle saved me from that life and that temptation. And yes, I consider being a top assassin to be a far more worthwhile and decent career than what these people have as their motivation.”

“I’d rather spend time with hired killers than the Mastermind and Apprentice, too. You dudes definitely have more honor.”

“Maybe. However, you need to remember that what all of you care about and what I care about rarely align.”

Siler was really good at saying that he didn’t have the same goals as us. Yet he knew what was going on with us and with his siblings. All of them. Maybe he cared about us because of White, Lucinda, Gladys, Serene, and Mahin. Thought about it—maybe only because of Serene, at least initially. She was younger and would have been in much more danger from Yates than Siler’s three older half-siblings. Same with Mahin, at least once she was found and activated.

And yet Yates hadn’t tried to get Serene, which was really stupid. Maybe Mahin’s mother had managed to keep him off and away somehow, but Serene had been orphaned young. And her A-C family hadn’t really loved her; Brian had confirmed this when he’d gone to meet them after they’d gotten engaged.

Serene got a Daddy Crush on White within days of meeting him, and I was fairly sure she’d had a Daddy Crush on Alfred, too. Serene had longed so much for parents, for a family, to really feel accepted and included, that she’d been primed to become Ronald Yates’ Good Little Girl well before I’d ever met her. And she was amazingly powerful, the perfect Yates Test Subject. And yet he’d never even so much as looked her up, let alone tried to bring her “home.”

“Are all the female Yates progeny more talented than the males? Proportionately, I mean. Jeff’s mom has no talents and neither does Richard, unless you count charm.”

White laughed. “Ah, I’m always reminded of why Jeffrey loves you so much, Missus Martini. However, while Lucinda and I might have no talents of our own, clearly the genetics were passed along. Christopher’s probably came mostly from his mother, but Alfred is also un-talented, and Jeffrey is immensely powerful.”

“True enough,” Siler said, thankfully before anyone who might be thinking about the rest of the Martini Clan’s potential to join the Yates Army shared their thoughts. “But to answer the question, yes. The women are, for the most part, stronger than the men. Not all of the offspring have talents, mind you, but those who do are all powerful. However, if I could choose who would be on my side, I’d take all the women, versus the men.”

“So, while Yates knew what was going on with his kids in a very general way, he’d lost active interest in any of his children once he had his Good Son in Ronaldo.”

Siler nodded. “Pretty much, yeah.”

Which, aside from confirming that Yates was a misogynist—something his rampant womanizing with sweet young things had already more than illuminated—confirmed something else. Time to toss out the theory I’d put forward a year ago and see how accurate it might be.

“It was Leventhal Reid who kept the real black book. And you, of course.”

S
ILER STARED AT ME.
“Yes to both. How’d you figure it out?”

“Are you saying he was in cahoots with Reid?” Jeff asked.

“Cahoots? Really? When did you grab the Old Person’s Urban Dictionary?”

“I’m serious, baby.”

Buchanan nodded. “I’d like to hear, right now, how Siler here has the same information as Reid would have.”

“I want to know how you know that Leventhal Reid was the one who kept the list,” Siler said.

Rolled my eyes. “Dude, seriously. Think about it. I’m sure Yates started the Little Black Book—he’d have had to since Reid was a lot younger, right?” Siler nodded. “But still, based on what you said, he didn’t care much, it was more of a list of conquests, versus a list of potential allies.”

“Yes. Once he had Ronaldo he seemed . . . content, I suppose.”

“It’s the little things you treasure. However, Reid, aka the first Apprentice was—and, sadly, is again—a sick, scary psychopath, but he also had vision and he was great with long-term planning. It doesn’t take much to guess that he’d pay attention to all the women his Mastermind, also known as Yates the Horndog, had screwed and was screwing, for all the reasons that have pretty much defined my life since meeting Jeff.”

“Okay,” Siler said slowly. “That’s accurate. But how did you realize I was . . . keeping track? Separately,” he added with a snide look for the other men around the table who weren’t looking overwhelmingly friendly.

“Oh, stop everyone. It’s been a long day and everyone’s jumpy. And, Nightcrawler, you were paying attention because you knew what your father had done to you and you wanted to at least have the option to step in, or be prepared for who you’d have to go up against. You can go invisible. That’s a hell of a skill, and I’m sure you put it into use for more than contract killing.”

He nodded. “It began as self-preservation. My uncle was concerned that my father would just continue his experiments and I’d have even more enemies.”

“But he didn’t. Because he’d realized there were better ways to achieve his purpose.”

“So how did you guess that Reid was the one keeping the list, as opposed to my father, I mean?”

“The timeline for Project Kindred Spirit. The action against Serene didn’t go into effect until after Yates was dead.”

“Ronaldo was activated even later,” Chuckie added. “Unless he was involved from the beginning and just laid low.”

“No,” Siler said. “He was activated right when you figure he was.”

“Around the time when Jeff and I got married.”

“Yes. And instantly got pregnant. That’s when a variety of plans kicked into high gear.”

“Is there anything you don’t know about all of us?” Reader asked.

“No. Think of him as Malcolm’s counterpart in the Assassination League and it’ll be easier to accept. So, Reid tried to get Serene, and then we killed him. But once Reid was dead his Apprentice, who we now call the current Mastermind, took over and got things really rolling.”

Siler nodded. “Yes. Short period of adjustment, bigger plans immediately after.”

“Each iteration has gotten more . . . vicious,” Gower said. “Yates was bad, Reid was pretty terrible, but the current Mastermind is . . .”

“A psychopath,” Chuckie said.

“They’re all psychos, Chuckie. Sadly, in addition, this one has a serious hard-on for hurting you. Basically, for the current Mastermind, the operating statement is: This Time It’s Personal. Nightcrawler, by any chance, did you ever meet Reid’s Apprentice who’s now our Mastermind?”

“No. I wasn’t his friend or business associate. My uncle kept me as far away from my father and his cronies as possible. Anything I did or learned was from the shadows, in that sense. And it’s not as if there was an announcement in the media that Leventhal Reid had promoted So-and-So to Apprentice.”

“So touchy. How about whoever’s in charge of Project Kindred Spirit? It could be the Mastermind or someone else who’s gotten to run with their own action. Have you met the Head Creep?”

“No. I’m not trusted enough. At all. They think they’re using me, but the people in charge have stayed out of any day-to-day. They’re set up in a typical bureaucratic fashion, so it’s easy to keep lower-level and newer grunts in the dark.”

“Do they realize you can blend?”

“Yes, but they think they’re the ones who taught me to really use the ability. Same with hyperspeed. There’s no record of me in the ‘black book’ because I’m impersonating one of my half-brothers.”

“Is he still alive?” Buchanan asked dryly.

“That’s need-to-know. And you don’t.”

“How is that possible?” Christopher asked while Siler and Buchanan side-eyed each other. “That there’s no record of you, I mean. I’m clear on how easily you could kill someone.”

“I’m not sure, but I’ve seen the record that Reid kept for my father and I’m nowhere.”

“How’d you see it?” Chuckie asked. “Especially if you don’t know who the current Mastermind is?”

Siler stopped side-eying Buchanan and gave Chuckie a full on snide look. “I looked at their book twice—once when my father was alive, and once right after Reid died. Blending gives me certain advantages. You’re supposed to be the brilliant one, you figure it out.”

“Your mother kept you out of it?” I suggested, in part to forestall the fight.

“Maybe. My name wasn’t in their listing. No reference to me was there. There’s a significant gap between me and the others. Ronaldo was over a decade younger than me, and he’s the first born of the rest of the Yates progeny. Perhaps that’s why; I was considered too old to influence.”

“Maybe,” Reader said. “But that’s a significant gap. We know for a fact that Yates was screwing around during that time.”

“But we’re fairly sure Ronaldo was born before Yates combined with the Mephistopheles parasite,” Melanie said.

“In fact,” Emily added, “we’re pretty sure that all but one of the Yates children we’ve found so far are older than the Yates-Mephistopheles pairing.”

“So, first there’s a big gap between Siler and his next kid, and then he starts screwing around with intent to create, but before he even knows the parasites are coming,” Tim said. “That makes no sense.”

“Maybe his plan changed,” Lorraine suggested.

“I’m sure it did,” Tito said. “If our estimates about the timing of Ronaldo’s conception are correct, that would time out to around when Yates was diagnosed with cancer.”

Looked at Siler. “Your life expectancy was increased. Maybe they didn’t know for sure because your uncle took you, but they might have figured that out before you left. And even if they didn’t know, there’s nothing like real biological relatives for all your donor needs.”

“I think that’s the answer, Kitty,” Tito said. “Yates was probably making as many babies as he could to have an organ and cell farm.”

“That would also explain why he didn’t take an active interest in them,” Reader said. “Just keep track and make sure they’re around. Why risk getting emotionally attached to someone whose lungs you’re going to rip out, literally?”

“And once Mephistopheles joined with him, he didn’t stop because he had a new lease on life,” Tim said.

“Why not?” Chuckie agreed. “Get enough of your own genetics out there, available for whatever uses necessary, including experimentation to find a formula that will allow you to live forever.”

“Based on what we saw last year, Reid would certainly have been enthusiastic about that idea,” Buchanan added.

That would also make sense in regard to my dream with Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles would certainly see a “live forever” kind of plan to be small. Mephistopheles wanted to rule the galaxy, not just hang around on one planet making babies and cackling evilly.

“Yates was originally from Alpha Four, too, remember, and that would mean he knew about Beta Twelve.”

“We remember, Kitty,” Christopher said.

Ignored him and went on before anyone else could chime in about my stating the obvious. “Maybe this is where the cloning idea stemmed from, or when he and Reid decided to get it rolling.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Siler said. “At all.”

“The timing would be about right for our science, too,” Chuckie said. “Especially if we assume that those working on the cloning, organ harvesting, and whatever else were all brilliant, in on the schemes, and not sharing with the general public.”

“Sounds like them in a nutshell,” Jeff said.

“Can Surcenthumain actually extend life expectancy?” Claudia asked.

“We don’t have enough samples to be able to tell,” her mother replied. Emily looked at Siler. “However, whatever they gave you sure seems to be doing so.”

He shrugged. “Yes. And I’d assume that whatever Gaultier created from the original serums used on me does something similar to what the first drug did to me. But there are side effects.”

“That you’ve experienced?” Melanie asked.

“There are always side effects,” Tito answered. “Even the most benign drug has a side effect.”

“Yes,” Siler said. “The side effect on me beyond dramatically slowed aging is the extension of my touch—that I can make others blend as I do, that I can calm the effects of hyperspeed on anyone I’m touching. There may be more, but I haven’t spent time trying to find them.”

“Bullshit,” Chuckie said calmly. “You’ve spent your entire life finding out. That you don’t want to tell us isn’t a surprise. But stop the bald-faced lying. It’s tiresome.”

“Before the love in the room gets overwhelming,” Reader said quickly, “and just to confirm, whoever’s in charge of their version of Project Kindred Spirit has completed that project, and there’s nothing we can do about it?”

“Not a thing, and that’s not a lie,” Siler said. “I’m sorry, but it’s literally a waste of your time, and, frankly, will put you in far more danger than any of them would be worth.”

“I believe him,” Buchanan said. He and Chuckie passed some very hard to spot signs between them. I was just so used to people passing signs today that I was looking for it automatically now.

Chuckie nodded. “Fine. We’ll write off trying to find them and if Kitty works her magic on one or more of them, we’ll enjoy saying ‘told you so’ to you, Siler.”

So, this was what all those entities were trying to tell me was a waste of our time and focus. Oh well, I hated the idea of giving up, but at least we knew.

Siler chuckled bitterly. “Oh, don’t worry about finding them. They’re going to find all of you. And soon.”