Settled in while Tito got out of his hazmat suit. Barring the Fishbowl Effect, A-C conference rooms were nice—big oval tables, cushy seats, individual TV monitors set in the table from the days when Imageering would have been showing real and altered footage at the same time. Missed the good old days.
Thankfully we’d gotten a big room because we had fifteen counting the three Caliente Base A-Cs, plus the nine prisoners, and three big German Shepherds. There were only twenty chairs, so the working girls got to sit and the two guys in suits claimed the other chairs.
Two of the remaining prisoners looked fine to stand, but the two ragged-looking ones clearly needed a seat. “Carmine, can we get four more chairs in here?”
Everyone looked at me in surprise. “There’s not really room,” he said. Correctly.
Len and Kyle stood up. “They can have our chairs,” Len said, indicating that the two ragged men should sit. Both of those looked shocked, but they took the chairs as offered. Len and Kyle went over and stood near the two remaining guys.
“Thank you,” one of the ragged men said. He looked around. “Are we part of your meeting?”
“Were you down in the cells with the woman who exploded?” Waited until all nine of them met my eyes and nodded. “Then, yes, you’re part of this meeting. I have no idea why you were down in the holding cells, but you may have seen or heard something that can help us, so, right now, you’re all part of the team.”
“Don’t expect it to last,” Melville said. He pointed to the girls. “Soliciting.”
“I guessed.” Looked at the two ragged men. “Vagrancy?” They both nodded. Took a look at the men in suits. “DUIs.” They looked surprised but nodded as well. “And our two younger dudes?”
“Disturbing the peace,” Melville replied. “Drunk and disorderly. The usual. They’re frat boys on vacation.”
“Awesome. So we have nine people with different viewpoints and different ways of looking at the world. Excellent. We’re just going to confirm our living status with the President and then we’re going to discuss what went on in minute detail.”
“Told you that was Code Name: First Lady,” one of the working girls said smugly to the other two. The other girls looked impressed. So did the rest of the prisoners. Figured the awe was going to be short-lived and didn’t get cocky.
“That movie is not really happening,” I said to the room at large. No one looked convinced. “Is it?” I asked Kevin.
Who grinned. “We can’t really stop Hollywood, Kitty.”
“Ugh. Moving on, let’s call Jeff before he loses it. I’m sure they’ve heard about the explosion by now.”
“They have,” Kyle said. “But I sent Mister Reynolds and Mister Buchanan a text already, letting them know we’re all alive and unharmed and that we’d be calling shortly.”
“Great. Then let’s make the call.”
“Do we want to video conference?” Romeo asked.
It was a good question, which I pondered. “Probably?” Wasn’t sure what the fallout would be with the nine prisoners joining in.
Kevin leaned next to me and I leaned over as well. “The A-Cs can give them a different memory, remember?” he said softly.
“Not if they’re intricately involved,” I whispered back.
“The CIA’s helped make some advancements with that. Trust me, if we need to erase this memory, we can.”
“How Men in Black of us. Again. But fine.” Straightened up and looked at Romeo. “Good call. Video conferencing it is.” While Viola and Carmine were getting that set up, my phone rang. Happily, it was my Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe” ringtone. Dug the phone out of my purse. “Jeff, why are you calling me directly? We’re about to be calling through on the hotline or Bat Phone or whatever.”
“Baby, are you alright?” He didn’t sound freaked out, which was good, presumably because he’d been able to emotionally read me and the others and none of us were panicked anymore.
“Yes, I’m fine. And it wasn’t my fault.”
“It’s never your fault. What happened?”
“I’m planning to tell you all about it on the about-to-happen joint video conference call.”
“That’s fine, but I wanted to talk to my wife, one on one, to verify her well-being privately first. Call me a caveman.”
“Happily, every night in bed. Touched and all that. But the game’s afoot and I’m fine. We’re all fine. No one’s hurt and, despite our worries, per Tito it appears that we don’t have Death Virus Two launching.”
“Good.” He didn’t sound like he felt all was good.
Contemplated what to say. “Miss you.”
“Miss you, too. And you’ve only been gone less than an hour.”
That was it. He was already stressing about me and the kids heading off without him. “It won’t be all action while I’m gone.”
“Any action when I’m not there to help you and protect you, baby, is too much.”
“Right back atcha. You’ll have your own crap to deal with, too. And I’m not leaving yet.”
“Feels like you’ve already left.”
Heaved a sigh. “Look at it this way—Charlie’s going to be teething soon. If it all works out, we’ll be far enough away from you that you won’t be in agony from his pain.”
Jeff chuckled. “Love the spin. Okay, I’m getting glared at by pretty much everyone. I think we have to get off and be official.”
“Yeah. Oh, be aware that we have nine people who were in the holding cells with us, so be sure no one over there spills any beans we don’t want shared.”
“Why do you have criminals with you?”
“We had to rescue them so they weren’t killed, and we didn’t have time to take them anywhere else. Besides, they may have seen something.”
“Only my girl. Fine, but I want to be on record that I’m not giving any of them jobs and you’re not bringing them onto the team.”
“I’m not planning to do so, Jeff.”
“You never plan it, baby. It just happens.”
“Blah, blah, blah. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” He sighed. “This is a terrible time for this kind of action against us.”
“Is there ever a good time?”
Jeff laughed. “Good point. Just be careful, baby. Something’s really off about all of this, and you’re the focus of whatever’s coming.”
CHAPTER 19
WE HUNG UP and I turned back to the center. The table was now one big screen showing us the other room and, presumably, they were seeing us on the many video screens over there. Didn’t ask how the A-Cs did it, because I only cared that they could.
Did the usual pleasantries, then brought the folks in the very crowded Large Situation Room up to speed on what had gone down. When we were finished there was silence.
Chuckie broke it. “Why?”
“Why what?” Melville asked.
“We told you,” Manfred said. “The gate was calibrated for Caliente Base. We didn’t come here intentionally.”
“Why the elaborate ruse is, I think, what Chuckie’s asking about.” He nodded. “And I agree.” I’d had some time to calm down and think. Not a lot of time, to be sure, but some, and things didn’t add up, regardless of who’d sent the Exploding Casey-Bot to us. “Though us being here is another part of the confusion.”