“Fantastic. What have we done with Amos Tobin, by the way?”
“He’s where you requested, with Janelle Gardiner.” Mom heaved a sigh. “Based on what I’m hearing from the agents watching them, I don’t think you’ve flipped him, or her, so much as it’s clear to them that they’re both better off aligned with you than with Ansom Somerall.”
“Yeah, I’m not counting on making either one of them our best friends forever.”
“I’ll read them when we have time, but I’m sure you’re right, Angela,” Jeff said. “I’m just glad Kitty’s flipped those she has.”
“Speaking of someone you’re never bringing back to the good side of the Force,” Siler said, “Kitty, I think your hunch about what the Casey Thing was telling us is going to pay off. We sent some Field agents from Euro Base over to investigate, with strict orders not to get too close. There’s definitely something untoward going on in the area of France you were told Cliff’s hideout is.”
“Only, based on what you just said, you don’t think it’s Cliff. You think Cliff sent the Casey Thing to us to give me information on where Stephanie’s hiding, right?”
Siler nodded. “Exactly. That she had Gutermuth ask for her to be ‘arrested’ just means they were playing the Club Fifty-One True Believers card.”
“Which also makes sense,” Chuckie said, as he came out and Buchanan, who’d just finished wolfing down two sandwiches, went in. Chuckie sat and I brought him his food. “Gosh, and Jeff’s not even jealous. How things change.”
Jeff grunted. “Don’t push it. Or yourself. Eat, Chuck. You need the food.”
Chose to actively not worry about whether or not Chuckie was taking care of himself and instead focused back on Stephanie. “Did the agents think we have a chance of catching her?” I asked Siler.
“No idea. We kept them far back. But we don’t want anyone just randomly going after her anyway. Frankly, it’s going to need to be me, Malcolm, and John, and no one else.”
“Why so?” Jeff asked.
“No one else is capable of capturing her at this time,” Wruck said. “She has no compunction about hurting any of you, but you’re all reluctant to hurt her.”
“And we aren’t,” Siler added, presumably for Jeff’s benefit, because I knew that everyone in the room already knew this to be true, Jeff included.
Jeff heaved a sigh. “I know, I know, saving or rehabilitating her is a stretch. But I can’t help hoping that we’ll manage it.”
“Which is why we want you kept far, far away from wherever she is,” Siler said briskly.
Mom nodded. “And that’s a direct order, Mister President.”
Jeff didn’t argue, and neither did White. Instead the conversation turned to whether or not Jeff should go with me on the FLOTUS World Tour. Buchanan finished and Wruck went in for his shower and change of clothes. He was done before we’d finished arguing about this one point. Muddy’s thoughts about world royalty were shared, but Mom didn’t seem convinced. At all.
“Why are you resistant?” Muddy asked her.
“Because the President needs to be here, taking care of his country. No one is going to like your King of the World idea, least of all if Jeff is in their country. Plus, that leaves him far too open to assassination.”
“This job is so great,” Jeff muttered.
Mom ignored him and went on. “Plus we have alien ships arriving. We have no idea where they’re going to land, but if they’re coming to the United States anywhere, just as happened today, the President needs to be around, not presumed to be off on holiday.”
“Where do you think the others will land?” I asked Muddy. “Near where all of you did?”
“It’s possible. Your desert areas are very uncrowded normally, and they make fine landing sites.”
“Marvelous,” Chuckie said under his breath.
“The area we were just in is also popular,” Muddy continued. “Though I believe landings are preferred farther from land.”
Chuckie sat up straight. “You mean in the Bermuda Triangle?”
“If that’s what you call it.”
“We do.” Chuckie was almost vibrating with excitement. “Why there?”
Muddy looked surprised. “Many ships prefer a water landing, and that area is clearly marked for such.”
CHAPTER 40
THE ROOM WENT SILENT. Broke it. “Um, excuse me? What do you mean by the area being marked?”
“For landings,” Muddy said patiently. “There are clear indications for where to land if you know what to look for.”
“How long have those markings been there?”
“To our knowledge, forever.” Muddy shrugged. “I realize by your expressions that for all of you this is shocking. For us, it’s not so much. Your desert area is marked for landing, too.”
“Hang on.” Got up and ran to the family dining room again and went to the fridge. “Odd request. Need a map of the peaks that the Planetary Council landed on right before my wedding, and I also need a map of the Bermuda Triangle. And any other triangular places that you think or, rather, know are marked as freaking alien landing sites.”
Opened the door. There was an atlas sitting on the shelf. Took it out to see that there were bookmarks placed throughout. “Thank you once again for all you do.” Closed the door and ran back to the others. “Found this atlas that I’ve been prepping to show the kids where we’re going.”
Flipped it open before anyone could mention that I’d had zero time to prep anything other than my introductory speech for a Code Name: First Lady marathon. Made a mental note to talk to Raj about that whole Hollywood situation before it blew up in our faces. Again.
The page was the Bermuda Triangle. “I see no markings,” Chuckie said. “And this atlas has pictures taken from space.”
“They don’t photograph well, perhaps,” Muddy said politely. “However, they are there. We Turleens come here enough that we didn’t need to choose an official landing area. Plus, we were coming specifically to meet with the Queen of the World.”
“Seriously, call me Kitty, and also seriously, stop using that title. We get it, your hints are landing hard. We just know humans and we all know how badly everyone in the world is going to take the assumption that Jeff and I are their sovereign lords.”
The next bookmark was for the area I’d asked about—the section of southern New Mexico and Arizona that had Hatchet, Animas, and Chiricahua Peaks, which formed a very shallow triangle. This area was a hotbed of alien activity and always had been.
Apparently, we now knew why.
Because Muddy nodded rather enthusiastically. “Oh yes, that’s the landing area.”
We all looked at Wruck. “So, did the Ancients provide landing strip information on our planet, or was that the Z’porrah?”
He had the grace to look embarrassed. “I believe that was done long ago. We both used to mark the worlds so that our observation teams and, as you’d call them, missionaries would be able to land safely.”