“It makes sense, Jeff,” Mom replied. “There’s less panic if we can produce ‘you and Kitty.’”
“Who will be distraught because their children are in the ship, and so will not be doing a lot of press, will be putting things on hold, and all that stalling jazz. During which time, the Secretary of Education will fill in as best she can, assisted by the Head of the Joint Chiefs.”
“I agree with this plan,” Uncle Mort said. “But it can’t hold for too long.”
“True enough, we just need it to hold for long enough.” However long that was going to be. “The King of Bahrain is going to be coming to see you really soon, I’d bet, so you may have to take him into the circle of trust.”
“Wasim is on the ship with you?” Mom asked.
“He is indeed. And, to my knowledge, everyone on board is fine. Potentially a bit banged up, but fine.” At least per Mother, and I was hoping she wasn’t a lying mother.
“We have no clear idea who’s on board and who isn’t,” Jeff pointed out. “And I don’t know that we’ll have time to do a headcount before we lose communications.”
“Kitty . . . where are my children?” Marcia asked, sounding worried. She had two younger boys, Mason and Maverick, and her youngest stepson, Clinton, who all lived with her. Clinton was nineteen and had been chaperoning his younger brothers. And Jamie liked all three Kramer kids a lot.
“Ah . . . Mother?” Really hoped the computer was listening in at this moment.
“Kitten, why are you referring to me formally all of a sudden?”
“Not you, Mom. The ship’s AI is named Mother.”
“Why?” Mom asked flatly.
“I am not laying claim to your child,” Mother said, showing that she was indeed linked in and eavesdropping. “All children and young adults on board are well and unharmed.”
Young adults. That boded. Unless she meant Lizzie and Wasim, only. Held out hope. “How many young adults, Mother?”
“A dozen.”
Hope snickered at my optimism as it was dashed. “Fan-freaking-tastic. Marcia, assume your kids are here with all the other kids who weren’t supposed to be on board. Please don’t panic about that. We’ll take care of them, I promise.”
“I know you will,” Marcia replied. “I just—I wish I’d kept them home now.”
“I feel you on all of that.”
“The President and First Lady have arrived,” Mom shared. “The heads of their Secret Service details are with them.”
“Meaning me, Phoebe, Joseph, and Rob,” Evalyne said. “Please tell me we did the right thing. And if we didn’t, the rest of your details don’t know—just the four of us were in on it, and it was my idea.”
“You did the right thing,” Jeff said, before I could. “And thank you for doing it without waiting for approval. And without telling the others, just in case.”
“I just tried to think of what Kitty would do,” Evalyne said, sounding relieved. “And the others agreed.”
“I’m flattered. You guys rock.”
“They do,” Jeff said. “Craig, Francine, are the two of you up to this?”
“Absolutely,” Craig said, sounding just like Jeff. “This is what we’ve trained for.”
“I agree,” Francine said, sounding just like me. “Fooling Cliff Goodman and the rest of his late and unlamented goon squad during Operation Immigration was just my test run. We’re good here.”
“I’m so proud I could cry.” I was. Francine was awesome at imitating me and Craig sounded more than ready. My prescience in getting all the troubadours working for us instead of shoving them to the side was, once again, proven to be awesome.
“Just give us our lives back once we get home,” Jeff said with a chuckle.
“Oh, we will,” Craig replied in his normal voice, as Francine snorted a laugh. “Pretending to be you is a lot more fun than having to be you twenty-four-seven. But we’ll manage and do you proud.”
“Good to hear. Now, most importantly, this needs to be something that isn’t shared with anyone at all. Walter and the people in the OSR right now are the only ones who can know the truth about where Kitty and I are. The rest of the world has to believe that we’re there, with you, in the White House—YatesCorp and the rest of our enemies, both business and political, in particular. Right now, before we’re out of communications range, I need everyone to confirm that they can do this, will do this, and will protect our country, our people, our planet, our solar system, and those who’ve come to us for protection to the utmost of their abilities.”
Jeff got a resounding chorus of consent. They all sounded far more excited and dedicated in how they agreed to his request than mine, too. Chose not to complain about a man coming along and saying the same thing the woman just had and getting a better response, though a part of me wanted to. In this case, it wasn’t a male-female thing—it was that Jeff was such a natural leader.
“Alpha Team is all on board,” Tim said, when the pledges of loyalty and secrecy were over. “And that means Centaurion Division is without normal leadership. That means William, as the Head of Security at Dulce, will be looking to the President and First Lady for direction, since he’s the former Head of Field and she’s the former Head of Airborne.”
“Walter, tell William that Jeff and I are just too damn distraught to take over. As the head of all Security, that puts William in charge, with you and Missy taking the main support roles.” Melissa Gunnels had been doing security in Sydney Base when I’d first met her, right after Operation Bizarro World, but she’d been moved into the Embassy once Jeff became President and Walter moved to the White House with us. She’d won that job by being the best, right after William and Walter, in terms of her security savvy and skills, so she was the natural choice to be one of the three in charge.
“I agree, but neither of them can know that we’re not there,” Jeff said. “Orders are for you to ensure that Centaurion Division keeps the peace, no matter what. It’s time to use our natural abilities to control the population where needed, because otherwise, the entire solar system could erupt.”
“But carefully,” Tim added. “We can’t afford to be seen as dictators.”
“Agreed, but I don’t know that we can affect memories and minds like we used to,” Walter said worriedly. “It doesn’t work as well now that everyone knows we’re here.”
“We don’t have to,” Jeff said firmly. “We just need to ensure that wars don’t get started, that people aren’t attacked, and that military and political coups don’t happen.”
“Particularly in America,” I added. “Walter, the Head Folks at Caliente Base have been having to function as separate but equal from the rest of Centaurion Division for quite a few years now. Coordinate with Viola, Carmine, and Romeo there if need be.”