“I’m doing my best.”
“Yeah, and it helps a lot to talk to you like this, when it’s just us. But you don’t have the same life experience or worldview. Maybe you will in a few years. But you don’t right now.”
“I know who does. Hang on, I’m going to transfer you. Keep the Bluetooth with you. It’s got a tracker in it so I can find you if necessary, and I can turn it on remotely and silently, too. It’s already paired to your phone.”
“Wow, nice tech.”
“Thank Gustav, it’s his design. Hang in there, Kitty. I’ll talk to you later.”
“I will do. Serene, who are you transferring me to?”
“Hello?” A woman’s voice. One I knew well. Probably the voice I knew best in the world, really.
“Mom.” Felt a huge wave of relief wash over me. And also felt a little dumb. But then, that was why you had a team—because when you were dumb, one of your teammates remembered that your mother had written the book on counterterrorism for you.
“Kitty? Are you alright? That was some performance you put on today. Your father and I are incredibly proud of you.”
“Thanks, Mom. How are things there?”
“Oh, you know, same politicians, terrorists, and crackpots, different day.”
Snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I feel you on that one.” Couldn’t figure out what to actually say or ask. It wasn’t as if my mother didn’t know what I did. She encouraged it half the time. More than half, really.
“Kitten,” Mom asked gently, “what is it? What’s wrong?”
“I’m afraid.” As with what I’d said about the uncles, I hadn’t had this thought in my head before it came out of my mouth. But it was the truth.
“Is that all?”
“All? Wow, you’re not up on the latest pick-me-up sayings, are you?”
Mom chuckled. “Everyone’s afraid, kitten. What is it, exactly, you’re afraid of?”
“Right now? Kind of everything.”
“Since when?”
“Since we have the end of the world staring at us.”
Mom snorted. “We have that all the time. Since the day you met Jeff you’ve been averting the end of the world.”
“You’ve done that, too.”
“Longer than you. Still doing it, too.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just . . . I’m just not sure if anything we’re planning is even close to right. And before you say that none of our ideas go according to plan, you didn’t want Naomi to go with me when we raided Gaultier’s underground cloning lab. And you were right. If she hadn’t gone, she’d still be alive today.”
“But, based on what you’ve told me, the rest of you might not be. And, if you recall, I wanted you to go, and the others. Just not her. And while I might indeed have been right, every plan has to be able to change on the fly due to changing circumstances.”
“Yeah. Mom, I need to tell you what I’m planning to do or, rather, what we were planning to do, which I now don’t know will work, and I also need to hear if you think it’s a good idea or not.”
“Well, you only need to tell me if you aren’t planning to find Cliff Goodman’s hideout and kill that bastard and all of his cronies once and for all.”
Let that sit on the air for a moment. “Um, am I that transparent?”
“To me, yes. To Serene, too, as far as I can tell. To everyone else? Somewhat. I have an edge over the others, though, in that I’m your mother and I know how you think. I’m also the Head of the P.T.C.U. and we’ve been looking for Goodman since he disappeared. Middle East was all we’ve found, though. I assume you’ve got better intel?”
“I do.” Time to flip on my Recap Girl cape and fill Mom in on what had gone down. “But we still don’t know where he is,” I said as I finished up. “And I don’t know how to get out of whatever Heads of State stuff Francine was supposed to be handling.”
“Well, if he’s funded by G-Company . . .”
“What?”
“Hang on for a moment.” I so hung on for more than a moment. “Huh. Talk about hiding in plain sight. You were ready to search the countryside for him, I imagine?”
“Yeah, I mean, Raheem has no clear idea of where Cliff is, he just knows that Ali Baba Gadhavi—and Raheem swears it’s his real name and not assumed for business, so to speak—is funding him, and that Cliff’s definitely in this area. Presumed close to where we are right now, but nothing is confirmed.”
“Oh, it’s his real name and he’s close alright.” Mom sounded pissed. “And, if Adriana did her job right, I’d assume that she, Francine, and Wruck are close by, too.”
“What, are you saying they’re in this palace? Raheem isn’t setting me up, is he?”
“Oh, no, he’s not. And no, they’re not. Based on Cliff’s new benefactor being Gadhavi, though, I’m about ninety-nine percent certain they’re in the Burj Khalifa.”
CHAPTER 68
“YOU’RE KIDDING.”
“No,” Mom said. “Believe me, I wish I was. G-Company owns several floors of that building. Not officially, of course, but they have at least one full residential floor and one full corporate floor, as well as other sections scattered throughout. I’ll send you the intel we have.”
“Why haven’t the others checked in then?”
“I don’t know. The hopeful spin would be that they’re too busy.”
“And the realistic spin is that they’re captured or compromised in some way. So, um, I guess the State Dinner, which is supposed to happen unless it was called off, is the way to go.”
“Maybe. It’s a gigantic place and there’s a lot of ground to cover. Plus, it’s Goodman, so you know that he’s got a backup location somewhere close by, in case he and Gadhavi have a falling out.”
“Yeah, I do know Cliff, and what I expect him to be doing is trying to figure out how to take over G-Company. Which would be our newest definition of ‘bad news’ and therefore what we cannot allow to happen. And he’s probably waiting to kill everyone once the State Dinner starts because we’ll all be in one place. Crap. That’s his plan, isn’t it?”
“Most likely. Go get ’em, kitten.”
“Thanks, Mom. Um, any words of advice? Aside from the fact that the State Department will disavow all knowledge of us if we’re caught?”
“You’re not the Impossible Missions Force. You’re the First Lady and, apparently, the Queen Regent. It’s hard to disavow you, but I’ll curtsey when you’re home.”
“Makes you the Queen Mother, Mom, no curtseying necessary.”
“Good to know. Tell Malcolm to let me know the moment he thinks you need backup.”
“Malcolm wants to do this with only him and Siler.”
“I’m sure he does. He and Kevin are my best agents, but still, neither one of them has your skill set.”
“Yeah, my ability to mind meld with the Crazed Evil Genius Society is consistently stellar.”
“We all serve in the best ways we can. Some ways are conventional, some are not. But as long as the good guys win more than the bad guys, it’s worth the effort and sacrifice.” Her voice softened. “Just be sure you aren’t what’s sacrificed, kitten.”