Alien in the House

Chapter 31



OF COURSE, it wasn’t that easy. We had to work our way through our party guests who were finally being allowed to leave, albeit slowly.

Security had a system going—the elevators were off and all guests were being filtered down one set of stairs only, with A-Cs posted everywhere along the way. We found Abigail at the stairwell on the second floor, checking guests off a master list, and talking into a Bluetooth.

She halted the flow of people trying to leave to give me a big hug. “Hang in there, Kitty. Sis and Michael are downstairs, verifying that whoever I say has come past me is also going past them, no more, no less.”

“Where’d you score the headset?”

“Came down from upstairs,” she said with a grin. I knew she meant Hacker International. “Chuck’s handling the third floor, by the way, same verification system.” She looked away from me. “Yes. Yes, the Ambassadors are coming upstairs. Good.” She looked back. “Chuck’s holding the rest so that when this group passes, you two can go up without a problem.”

“No,” Jeff said. “Let our guests leave first.” This earned him big smiles from the people who were nearest on the stairs.

Abigail shared the news, and the guests began moving down again.

On the plus side, my looking like a wreck who’d been crying was actually taken as a show of how distraught we were over Reyes’ death and the party being pretty much destroyed. Since we were actually distraught, this was a good thing. Most people were incredibly kind and supportive, and more of them took the time to pause and talk to us than I’d have figured.

We’d had a lot of guests, so this took some time. I used said time to calm down, so by the time the last couple had hugged me, shaken Jeff’s hand, told us they’d loved the party and it wasn’t our fault someone had gone insane during dinner, and then said in a while it would be a great story to tell albeit with a sad ending, I felt in control enough to be able to think and do my mind meld with the psychopaths.

Which was good, because among those guests who were refusing to leave were the Cabal of Evil.

Abigail had warned us that there were several guests who weren’t going to budge until we were back on the third floor, so it wasn’t a total shock to see the remains of the Cabal sitting around. Villanova and Whitmore were with them—I’d wondered if they’d hung around with the rest because of their former android significant others, but clearly they were happy to continue filling in the Cabal’s ranks. Lucky us.

The McMillans and the Israeli ambassador and her husband had also remained, along with the folks I’d expected to see here—my parents, Andrei, the rest of our Embassy staff, Cliff, Reader, and Gower.

Andrei and the Israelis weren’t going anywhere until we got up to the fifth floor. So that meant getting rid of the Cabal. Easier said than done. Especially when Reader and Andrei pulled Jeff into another discussion with Alpha Team, Cliff, Chuckie, and Senators McMillan and Armstrong. Even though I was technically part of Alpha Team, I was pointedly asked to deal with everyone else so the powwow wouldn’t be interrupted. Always the way.

Of course, Lydia was a mess. Someone had advised her that Eugene had been shot and she was alternating between ranting about inefficient police and sobbing on Gadoire’s ready shoulder. Apparently she was also Pepé Le Pew’s type. I wasn’t flattered.

Vance came over to me. “Told you something was going down,” he said in a low voice.

“Did you know what Eugene was up to?”

“No, but I don’t think he and Santiago are the first to die mysteriously and I doubt they’ll be the last.”

Again, it struck me that Vance, for all his odiousness, was a hell of a lot smarter and more intuitive than I, or anyone else, would give him credit for. “Duly noted.”

He sighed. “Look, Kitty, I know we got off to a terrible start way back when. I pretend to Guy that we always got along, but I’m not stupid—I know you hated me in the Washington Wife class, and I can’t blame you. At all. But I really hope my standing by you when those pictures arrived shows that I consider and want you as a friend.”

“Thanks. I think.” The fact that I’d handled the pictures without Vance’s assistance wasn’t really the point. He and Gadoire really had come to support and help out, and, in a town like this, that probably meant more than him being a complete twit when we’d first met.

“I know there’s more going on. Guy thinks I’m crazy, and I’m afraid to talk to too many people about what I’m putting together, for a lot of reasons. I’ve seen what you and your friends and family accomplish. I think I’ve seen a bigger picture than anyone’s paying attention to. I want to help, and I want to stay alive. Near as I can tell, teaming up with you will be the best way to achieve both.”

“Oh, I don’t think we do that much,” I lied.

Vance gave me a look I could only think of as snide. “Right. And your husband’s not the hottest thing on two legs, either, right?” He shook his head. “I’m smarter than I act. You of all people should be able to relate to that.”

“Fine, fine. You win. While I try not to be offended about your most recent insinuation, would you mind hanging out here for a while, even if the others leave?”

“Sure. I think Guy’s going to have to take Lydia home anyway, and I’d rather miss all her hysterics if I can.”

“I hear you on that.” Realized what I’d said. “I mean, I feel awful for her, but there’s a lot going on.”

“I don’t care for her much either,” Vance said with a grin. “She’s nice enough, but there’s something about her that rubs me the wrong way. Anyway, anything I can help you with while I wait?”

“Help me get the rest of your gang to leave.”

“They won’t until they’ve talked to you and ensured you still think they’re your best friends forever.” This was said with an incredible amount of sarcasm, at least nine on the scale of ten. With very little effort, it was clear Vance could turn his sarcasm up to eleven. Maybe, despite all the prior evidence, he was one of us.

Or he was playing me. Only one way to really find out. “Okay, I need to do something upstairs. Can you stall everyone or entertain them or whatever until I’m back?”

“Sure, what excuse do you want? Checking on the baby isn’t going to fly because we all know your kids are off-site.”

Interesting. Wondered how much else everyone knew. Figured I was keeping Vance around partly to find out. “Just say that I had to calm some things down upstairs and check on the Romanian ambassador’s wife, to make sure she’s feeling well.”

“Sounds good.” Vance headed for the rest of the Cabal, and I slipped off to the stairs. No one tried to stop me. Wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Like so many other things, tabled for later.

“Where are you going, kitten?” Mom’s voice was behind me on the stairs. She sounded tired, pissed, and resigned. Okay, so no one had tried to stop me in an obvious way.

Stopped and turned. She was on the landing. “Handling some stuff. You want to come?”

“Do I?” It wasn’t asked sarcastically. Mom was giving me the chance to choose to give her plausible deniability or ask for backup.

“Nah. Just checking on Olga and Mona.”

Mom smiled. “That’s my girl.”

She went back to the others; I used the slow hyperspeed and went up. Time to visit Hacker International and get at least one of the million answers we needed.