Alien Collective (35 page)

L
ET THAT SIT ON THE AIR
for a bit. “Excuse me?”

“Take responsibility for the bombings,” the Dingo repeated, presumably because he thought I hadn’t heard him. “At your press conference. Not before. Do not discuss this with anyone. Well, other than the young lady with you. I’m sure she will be able to offer some expert comments.”

“I heard you. I really meant what the hell? Only stronger.” So he knew Serene was with me. Wasn’t even remotely surprised. For all I knew Surly Vic was in the audience and the Dingo was pretending to be White House staff. Nothing these two did surprised me anymore.

“There is a reason.”

“God, I hope so. Care to share what that reason is?”

“Certainly.” He sounded disappointed.

Tried to think fast. “Um, was there something far worse that we ‘blew up’ that will also be discovered in a timely fashion that will show us to be saving the day?”

“Well done.” Now he sounded happy. Good, I was keeping my most dangerous “relatives” in the Proud Zone. Go me. “Yes. You can explain that the reason the bombs injured no one and only did minor damage is that they were set that way, in order to protect those the terrorists wanted to harm. And because there was no time to remove what the terrorists had placed.”

“What were we destroying?”

“Ricin bombs.”

“Um, for real?”

“Yes. Your enemies are terrible people.”

“They used to employ you.”

“No longer. They make most of our clients look like choirboys. Besides, technically, we were hired by the Pentagon for the job we were on when we met.”

“True enough. Madeleine Cartwright probably figured out a way to pay you with taxpayer dollars. How’d you find out what was going on, though?”

“We were alerted to this by the contract on your embassy.”

“Oh, so that’s the poison they were supposed to release to kill us all?” Terrible people didn’t begin to cover this group. And this wasn’t the first time they’d used poisons. The Mastermind clearly liked them. Filed the fact away to discuss with the others later.

“Yes. I believe you have met our mutual friend?”

“Siler? Yeah. We have him ‘captive’ at the moment.”

“Good. Be sure to let him ‘escape’ when he requests it. He is taking the contracts from your enemies, and then Victor and I are countering them. Our bombs burned hotter and went off sooner than the ricin bombs. High heat destroys the toxin.”

“They planted these all over the world.”

“They did.”

“How did two of you manage to find and counter them all?”

“We did not work alone.”

“Wow. The entire Assassination League is working on this?”

“Yes. Mass murder is very bad for business.”

“Good point. Kill off a billion people, lose at least a million potentially high-paying jobs.”

“Exactly.”

Thought about it. “Did you guys happen to have help? As in, A-C help?”

“We might have.”

“Can I trust those A-Cs?”

“You certainly have in the past.”

Camilla was the only likely A-C who could somehow be working with the Assassination League and not let on about it. But one A-C, no matter how good, would have trouble blocking every bomb that had gone off yesterday. Even Christopher would have been hard-pressed to do it.

“More than one A-C?”

“Yes. They are all loyal to you, Miss Katt. Their leader in particular.”

Leader. There was one other group of A-Cs who we’d certainly used for a kind of covert op in plain sight action. And they definitely had a leader. And he definitely needed a raise, too. After he and I had a long heart-to-heart chat about sharing with me and why it was good. However, I had a feeling my leader had his own leader as well.

“Gotcha. Um, for the announcement, should I go for offensive or defensive on this one?”

“The best defense is a good offense.”

“You know, why is it so much easier to work with you than half the people I deal with?”

He chuckled. “Because you think right. We will be in touch. Keep the phone. I will send you a new number shortly. Good luck, Miss Katt.” With that he hung up.

Dropped the phone back into my purse. “Serene, can you keep a secret for,” checked my watch, “about another two minutes?”

“Sure, Kitty.”

“Great. You’re coming up with me when I make my speech. Because my speech has changed dramatically, and the Q and A is going to need your expert touch much more than mine.”

“Why?”

“Lots of reasons. But, I need Scientist Serene onstage, not Airhead Serene.”

Her lips quirked. “What do you mean?” Still sounded completely innocent and naïve.

“I mean I’m on to you. You’re not a Liar, with a capital L, so much as you have some troubadour talent in there that no one’s spotted. When you want us to think of you as Miss Innocence of the Year, we do. When you want to exert your authority, on the other hand, you do that, too. And no one notices that most of the time we think of you as a sweetheart who just manages to be the best bombs expert the world has.”

“Not sure what you’re insinuating, Kitty.” I could feel it, now that I was aware of the talent, feel her using her voice and expression to make me think she had no clue. But this was the downside to the troubadour talent—if you knew it was being used, you could counter it.

“Not insinuating. Flat out saying—you have troubadour talent. So I’m wondering . . . why didn’t you use it when you were young? Think carefully before replying. I
will
know if you’re lying.”

Serene looked at me closely for a long moment. Then shrugged. “It came on normally when I was a teenager. I already knew they didn’t love me—why try to make them? I just wanted people to like me for who I was, not who I could make them believe I was. Besides, I’m not nearly as strong in that talent as Raj and some of the others are.”

“Sure you’re not. I’m wondering . . . how did Raj get assigned to our Embassy Mission?”

“I might have suggested him, in passing.”

“I’ll bet. Great choice, by the way. You know, around here, women are actually allowed to show that they know what the hell is going on.” So were men. Unless they were troubadours.

It was easy to understand why Serene and Raj had kept most of what they were doing quiet—Christopher’s disdain for the talent was indicative of most of the A-C population. In fact, the most action and respect the troubadours had seen was during Operation Infiltration. Wondered now how much of that disdain the troubadours actually encouraged and how much they simply allowed. Figured it was a bit of both.

She grinned. “I know. But this way is . . . more fun.”

“I’ll take your word on that. Why didn’t you talk to me about this? I’m troubadour friendly.”

“You are. Jeff isn’t, Christopher is anti, and it’s hard to do covert work if everyone knows and is telling you not to do it.”

“Good point. So, are you running the Troubadour Underground Network?”

“Sort of. When I became the Head of Imageering I did a little searching and found Raj and the others who’d been trying for Centaurion Division or Embassy posts. I did some evaluation—they were all trustworthy and, as you said yourself, desperate to actually get to do jobs they felt were meaningful. When I realized that Imageering was compromised and we saw no way to fix it, I knew we had to do something. Raj was already in place, and then you had him pull in the rest of those I would have anyway.”

“So you set up, what? The Centaurion C.I.A.?”

“Essentially, yes. Jeff and Christopher have affected James and Tim far too much—they’re both focused on doing as good a job as those they replaced, and they are. But they’re not looking to innovate, in part because they’re human and afraid of being reprimanded or removed from their positions because they changed things.”

“Never worried me.”

Serene laughed. “No, you like to mix it up and keep everyone guessing. And we need to mix it up, to innovate, too, especially since our enemies have no lack of willingness to do so. I’ve seen what Chuck does—I set up our own people accordingly. And I may have asked Olga a couple of questions, off and on.”

“I’ll bet you’re totally her favorite.” Serene even sounded different right now; no one hearing her like this would think she was anything but hugely competent and totally in charge. Thanked God, ACE and Algar that Yates had never looked Serene up—she would make the best Mastermind in history. “Anyway, who’s in charge of Mission: Fool ‘Em to Protect ‘Em, you or Raj?”

“I like to give people autonomy, Kitty. Just like you do.”

“Super. So, is Raj prepared for what I’m going to announce?”

“Possibly. But I don’t know what you’re going to announce, Kitty. You haven’t shared that yet.”

“Oh, as to that, I have a funny story to tell you that I’m just betting you already know all about.”

W
E LEFT THE BATHROOM
just as a stressed-out White House staffer came to collect us. She took us through the Green Room, which was actually green and nowhere near as pretty as the East Room. Didn’t have long to look at it—by now, we were officially late. Oh well, make an entrance, right?

Everyone on Team Press Conference was seated in one long row at the back of the dais, other than Vance. Got a lot of looks indicating everyone was aware Serene and I were late and none of them were happy about it. The President wasn’t here, and neither was Mom. Presumably she was with him somewhere. Good. I wouldn’t have to see my mother’s expression when I dropped my bombshell.

I was graciously hustled onto the dais as a different White House staffer was doing a rambling introduction he immediately sped up and concluded when I arrived. Polite applause as I went to the lectern, Serene trailing me by a step or two. Was incredibly glad we hadn’t had to walk through the scads of reporters in this room.

Since Oliver wasn’t with us, no one had prepped me for the camera flashes. At least, I chose to believe it hadn’t occurred to anyone else to mention them as I was blinded by flashing lights when I foolishly looked out at the audience in an attempt to see where Vance might be sitting. Spent some time blinking and was glad I wasn’t going to have to read from my prepared speech any longer.

Despite being an ambassador and supposed lobbyist, I didn’t have a lot of experience with this kind of situation. Most of my knowledge of how these things ran was based off of movies, or, since we’re being honest, coaches and athletes doing their postgame interviews on ESPN or Fox Sports. Hoped I wouldn’t end up channeling poor Coach Denny Green after the Arizona Cardinals had let him down one time too often way back when.

Cleared my throat. Couldn’t spot Vance. Couldn’t spot anyone familiar. I was about to have stage fright, mostly because I was actually frightened by what I was going to say. But, I could stand here like an idiot or I could talk.

Went with my go-to move—running my yap. “Thank you all for coming today.” Camera flashes went off like crazy. Decided politicians and celebrities had it harder than I’d thought. How they smiled and managed to talk to the press when they were more than half-blinded was beyond me. Should have dug my sunglasses out of my purse before going on and just pretended I was trying to channel Jackie O.

Realized I was still holding my purse. So taking out the sunglasses was a possibility. The reality that I was going to look like the biggest dork in the world in every paper and news channel on the planet by taking my purse to the podium was a far more likely possibility.

Discarded the sunglasses idea and forged on. This was easier than Michael’s funeral, right? Of course right. “I had a statement prepared for you, but certain information has just come to light, making that original statement inaccurate.” More flashes. Was suddenly happy everyone I was here with was behind me. Not that I could have seen their expressions even if they were right in front of me right now.

“I’m sorry, but could you all just cool your jets on the camera flashes? I need my vision for later and all that.” This earned some chuckles, but the flashes slowed down. They didn’t all stop, however. “Yo, all of you in the back. The light’s still bright even though you’re far away. Please stop.”

This earned more chuckles, but the cameras cooled it. Decided the party the reporters would have over this was worth being able to see something other than spots swimming in front of me.

Took a deep breath, let it out slowly. Nothing to fear but fear itself. And every single reaction of every single person here and elsewhere. Well, excitement kept life interesting. “There have been rumors that the many bombings yesterday were done by Centaurion Division, the military arm of American Centaurion.” Heard a lot of cameras flashing, but the flashbulbs were off, so all was good there.

“I’m here to tell you that this is absolutely . . . true.” Gasps from everyone in the room, especially from those behind me, and lots of low talking. I put my hand up and the room quieted.

Went on quickly. “However, we weren’t attacking anyone or anything. Centaurion Division identified a terrorist plot to release ricin gas at strategic locations throughout the world, particularly here in Washington. Due to the timing of when we were able to confirm this intelligence, we had no time to safely remove or deactivate the bombs. Instead, we used quickly available, precise explosions to burn the ricin and destroy it.”

“How is that possible?” someone shouted from the audience. “If you blew it up, you released the gas.”

“Actually, as I believe evidence will show, we did not. For the scientific explanation, however, Serene Dwyer, our Chief Explosives Expert, will reply.” Stepped aside and Serene stepped up.

“Ricin is made inactive by heat above eighty degrees centigrade, one-hundred-and-seventy-six degrees Fahrenheit. Because of our work with the American and other world governments, we have access to a variety of self-contained explosives that burn at double that heat or more.” She sounded both in charge and soothing.

“Ambassador, why did you feel you had the authority to make that decision?” someone else asked.

A staffer ran in a cordless mic and handed it to me. Score one for White House efficiency. “As I said, we didn’t have time to alert the proper authorities. We could have allowed a terrorist attack or we could have stopped it using the means at our disposal. We chose to stop it.”

“Is that why you all disappeared yesterday?” another reporter shouted. “Because you were setting the bombs? Or trying to hide the evidence?”

“No. As I said, we used the bombs to stop the ricin gas from being released. Our embassy was one of the attack points. We weren’t able to stop the gas from being released in our embassy and had to evacuate all personnel. We went to a safe location to be sure no one was contaminated and also to protect ourselves.”

Normally, press conferences were well run. Despite my hopes, this one had devolved into chaos, with reporters shouting questions and accusations freely. Well, at least no one was asking if I was sleeping with someone other than my husband. Under the circumstances, had a hard time putting that in the win column, but did it anyway.

“I’d like to ask you to all calm down,” Serene said sweetly. “The Ambassador can only answer one question at a time.” The room started to quiet. Just as someone shouted.

“Listen!” That was Vance. He stood up, cell phone in the air. I couldn’t hear anything, but the people around him started to get their phones out.

Decided this wasn’t going to help if no one could hear what Vance’s phone was sharing. Got off the dais and trotted over to him. Happily, no one tried to stop me. Handed him the mic, which he put near his phone.

“. . . authorities have confirmed that evidence of ricin gas was found at the scenes of the majority of yesterday’s bomb attacks, as well as evidence of multiple bombs at each site. Experts speculate that the explosions destroyed the ricin gas, preventing its release. Ricin is a deadly toxin . . .”

Took the mic away as a man in a full Air Force uniform entered the room and took Serene’s place at the lectern. “No more questions,” Colonel Franklin said. “We need to have the Ambassador and her staff back to continue briefing the President and his advisors of what transpired yesterday.”

“So you’re saying that you knew about this before this conference?” someone shouted at Franklin.

“Yes,” he replied, not even sounding a little like he was lying. “We’re the authorities who determined there were two bombs at each site—one containing the ricin toxin and one of clearly different manufacture that destroyed the toxin. That’s all.” He nodded to me as another guy in uniform I knew came and took my arm.

“Captain Morgan, it’s great to see you.” I grabbed Vance and dragged him along as Morgan led me out the back and to the corridor.

“Next time, give us a heads-up, will you?” Morgan asked. “We weren’t planning to make a statement until after your press conference.”

We were hustled into the Blue Room, which was, shocker, blue. It was a lot prettier than the Green Room, but again I didn’t have time to examine the décor. I was too busy wondering if my mother was going to kill me or not.

Mom was in there, and she looked quietly angry. I went to her. “Sorry. I only found out about it a couple of minutes before I had to go on and it seemed important . . .”

Mom rolled her eyes. “You can’t lie to me. Why you even try I’ll never know. Which assassin gave you the tip?”

“The Dingo.”

“Unbelievable. Raj, Serene, come here, please. Arthur, if you and Gil would join us?”

Uh oh. We were all busted.