Alien in the House

Chapter 40



JEFF SHOVED ME TO WHITE, motioned for all of us to get back, then ran over using hyperspeed. He stopped dead. He didn’t look scared, he looked shocked. “What are you two doing here?”

The rest of us chose to take that as meaning it was safe and joined him. To see Amy and Caroline, trussed up like Siamese Twin Turkeys, effective gags included. They were sitting back-to-back, arms at their sides, torsos expertly tied together. Their legs were straight out, also well tied. It would be close to impossible to move, unless they were both world-class gymnasts, which they weren’t.

“These knots are unreal,” Jeff said as he checked their bonds. “Hang on, it’s going to take a few minutes.”

Vance sighed, dug into his pants pocket, and produced a rather impressive Swiss Army knife. “This should help.”

“See?” I said to Lorraine and Claudia. “That’s why he’s along.” They still didn’t look convinced, but not as unconvinced as they had earlier. So that was something.

Jeff sawed the girls free in quick order, while Vance actually assisted with the gags. White picked up the burner phone and handed it to me. “This appears to be a phone. It seems your ‘family’ no longer wants you able to reach them.”

“I suppose.” Took the phone from him. Had a thought and checked. Sure enough, there was another number programmed in. “No. I think they wanted us to find Amy and Caroline.”

“They did,” Amy croaked. “Bastards.”

“They could have killed you. They didn’t. Call them Efficient Friends.”

Caroline nodded. She didn’t seem able to speak. White stepped away and made a call. I stepped away and tried to open the door to the roof.

I was enhanced, so I should have been able to rip it off its hinges if necessary. But I couldn’t even get the knob to turn. “So, I guess the building’s shield is really on.”

“Yes, handling, Missus Martini,” White said as an aside, still on his call. “The shield prevents you from entering, not touching, but it also repels intrusion. If you shove against the shielding you’ll bounce off.”

“I’ll take your word on that, thanks. Vance, you want to give it a go?”

“Like every other thing we’ve done since we walked outside, no.”

A thought occurred while White continued his quiet conversation I couldn’t hear even though I was trying to. “Mister White, could the building’s shield affect the scans? As in, we couldn’t tell Amy was here because she’s sitting on the shield?”

“It’s very possible. I’m handling something else right now, but I’ll check with Gladys once we have breathing room.”

“Sounds good.” Tried to let him continue uninterrupted. Failed. “If that’s the case, we’ll want a workaround.”

“I agree.” White hung up. “Ah, I believe we have our answer. Gladys just sent a text sharing the fact that she can see Amy near to me.”

“How does that prove anything one way or the other?”

White smiled. “Because Gladys saw her the moment the shield was turned off.”

The door opened and Jeremy Barone stepped out, followed by Len and Kyle. Jeremy looked surprised to see us all up here. Len and Kyle did not. Len and Kyle had worked with me a lot longer. Jeremy had two bottles of water, Len had two women’s coats, Kyle had my Converse.

“I love you, Mister White,” I said as I took my heels off and put my comfortable shoes on. The hell with fashion—if asked, I was bringing the tennis shoes and skirts look back.

While the girls were helped into their coats and drank their water, I decided it was time to figure out where My Favorite Uncles were. They clearly hadn’t left the roof via the Embassy’s interior.

Dialed the number on the new burner phone. This time the phone I was calling was answered. But no one said anything. “Hello?” I said finally.

“Ah, Miss Katt. I felt it would be you, but wanted to be sure.”

“Yeah, it’s me. What’s going on? Why was the phone I was supposed to be calling if I was in trouble left on the top of the Embassy?”

“I knew you’d find it.”

“Wow, you have a lot of faith in me.”

“I do. As do your friends.”

“Yeah, about that . . .”

“They are, as you’re surely determining, unharmed. Cold and uncomfortable, but unharmed.”

“What if we hadn’t figured out where they were?”

“If you had not called me within another hour, I would have called in an anonymous tip.”

“Okay.” I had no argument for this, since we’d found them and, per Jeff’s giving me the thumbs-up sign, clearly both girls were indeed okay. Lorraine and Claudia were doing some medical-type things with Amy and Caroline, but no one seemed worried. “Raul almost killed me. At least I’m pretty sure it was him.”

“Yes.” The Dingo sounded pissed. Which was kind of nice. “Your friends distracted us at a very poor time. That has been explained to them. In detail.”

“Great. I’d imagine they’ll never make that mistake again. Who wants to sit on the roof tied up for half the night?”

“It’s better than being murdered.”

“Yes, I’m in total agreement with you. So, where are you?”

“We’re somewhere very safe.”

“Good to know. Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea where Raul is?”

“No. He missed you tonight and the area became quite . . . crowded. He left well before we did.”

“Yeah, there were a lot of police all over the area.”

“There were a lot of your agents as well.”

Interesting. I hadn’t known that. Because Alpha Team didn’t tell us what we didn’t need to know.

“Well, great. So we don’t have to worry about Raul right now, then?”

“You should always be vigilant.” He paused for a moment. “Are you still on the roof?”

Saw no reason to lie. “Yes.”

“Why are you still on the roof?”

“We just found the girls and don’t know where you are.”

“We aren’t on your roof.” The Dingo had a point.

“True, but we also couldn’t get inside until just now.”

“Excuse me?”

“We climbed up from the outside.”

“I see. How many is ‘we’?”

“Seven of us. Well, now, really twelve of us.”

“You must make quite an interesting picture, a dozen people standing on the highest building in your area.”

“You just said we didn’t have to worry about Raul right now.”

“No, I said you needed to be vigilant. Standing outside on top of a high building is better than standing outside under a tall building, but not nearly as safe as being inside your very secure building.”

“We couldn’t get in. Before. But you’ll be glad to know we can now. And all that.” Vance tried to get inside. Jeremy prevented this.

“Someone’s opened the door?”

“Got it in one!”

“Good. Get inside.”

“Tell me where you are.”

He sighed. “I don’t want you bringing an army. It won’t help. I’ve given your friends some instructions. They’ll share them with you. Stay vigilant and keep your head down. We’ll be in touch. And please get inside—it’s going to rain soon.”

And with that, the Dingo hung up on me.