Alien in the House

Chapter 63



“GOOD QUESTION.” It was. “We left Malcolm alone with the good colonel and now Malcolm isn’t waking up.”

Raj shook his head. “We don’t know that Colonel Hamlin is the one who injured Mister Buchanan. Based on the information we have, it was Mister Buchanan who moved the colonel out of the Embassy.”

“Right, so, what?” Jeff asked. “You think Buchanan is a traitor?”

“No. I think we haven’t asked a very important question—why did Mister Buchanan feel it was safer to have Colonel Hamlin in the tunnels than in the Embassy? Or, to put it another way, who was Mister Buchanan trying to protect? The colonel, himself, or you, Ambassador?”

“Why me?”

“Because your safety is his sole and entire job,” Chuckie answered. “Your mother put her best and most highly trained operative onto you, Kitty. She gave me the full details once he was exposed to us as P.T.C.U. He’s worked all over the world. He’s more skilled than I am. So, while anyone can lose concentration and anyone can slip up, Buchanan’s about the last one out of all of us to do either.”

“You make him sound like he walks on water,” Jeff said.

Chuckie shot Jeff a look I could only think of as a combination of long-suffering and fed up. “Feel free to check your jealousy at the door on this one. We’re talking about someone who is expected to be the last man standing, and he’s expected to be standing in front of your wife and child. He’s down, without a mark on him, and Raj is right. We’ve been so distracted by everything else, we’re not asking what the hell happened to the person he was last with.”

“We’ve reviewed all the feeds from the tunnels,” Omega Red said. “No signs of anyone in them, at any time. And before anyone makes a comment, I have ways of seeing things, I just see them differently than any of you.”

“No one’s trying to pick on the blind guy, Yuri, cool your jets. So, we have no visuals of Malcolm or Colonel Hamlin in the tunnels at all?”

“None,” Big George said. “We didn’t expect to catch any of Christopher, because he was moving at hyperspeed. However, we should have seen Mister Buchanan, even though he was hidden from the camera feeds where Christopher found him. But to get him there, someone would have had to pass one of the cameras.”

“Someone disabled all the camera feeds?”

“No. They’re all working.”

“Have you checked for tampering?” Chuckie asked. “Because that seems impossible. Even if we say that Clarence showed up and overpowered Buchanan and Hamlin, which we know he could, they should have been on the feeds when they left the Embassy’s basement elevator.”

“Unless . . . I told Hamlin to tell Malcolm everything. Let’s say he did. Immediately after that, Malcolm now wants to get Hamlin out of the Embassy. Why? Either Hamlin’s a threat to us, or there’s a threat to Hamlin here, and Malcolm believes Hamlin needs to be protected.”

“Okay, all that makes sense,” Chuckie said. “He told Walter they were going into the tunnels.”

“Right. Why? Why tell Walter that? He didn’t ask Walter to let me know they were going into the tunnels. In fact, he made Walter think that I already knew.”

“To have Walter undo the shielding?” Raj suggested.

“Maybe. If it was on at the time.”

“It was.”

“Okay, but we have nothing that shows that anyone left the elevator. The cameras aren’t focused on the elevator; they’re focused on the tunnels. Because we know who’s coming out of the elevator and that’s someone with access to our Embassy.”

“Where are you going with this?” Jeff asked.

“I’m trying to think like Malcolm.” Stryker snorted. “Eddy, I’m just saying, I’m going to kick you so hard, when you least expect it. Anyway, Malcolm has Doctor Strange powers. If he doesn’t want you to see him, you don’t see him. He comes and goes like the wind. And yet, he told Walter where he was going.”

“Why are you so shocked by that?” Reader asked.

“Dude, think. We’ve been all over the Embassy and the Zoo. Have we checked in with Walter? Has even one of us told Walter where we were? No. We assume that Walter is monitoring and will alert us if necessary and unless we need him, we leave him alone to do his job.”

“You think Walter’s the traitor?” Jeff asked, sounding like he was hoping I was going to say no.

“No. I think that Walter is very dedicated and that he was focused pretty much a hundred percent on the party. And I’m sure Malcolm knew he would be. However, Walter could stop worrying about the basement if Malcolm’s told him that he’s leaving it and going out the tunnels. Walter can turn all his attention to the Zoo, which is where everyone other than Malcolm and Hamlin are.”

Raj looked at me. “You don’t think they ever went into the tunnels, do you?”

“No, I don’t. I think Malcolm told Walter they were going into the tunnels so that Walter’s attention would go back onto everyone else. Then I think they walked out of the basement. The question is, did they walk out the front door, or did they go over to the Zoo?”

“Why would they do either?” Jeff asked.

“Front door would be to get Hamlin away from us or to a safe house. Zoo would be to have Hamlin identify someone Malcolm felt was at the party. Richard, does the shielding keep us in or just others out?”

“Others out. Our shields are set up to allow anyone inside to exit, so the shields can’t be used to trap. And they’ve always been that way, but Gladys had a very focused team improve them after Operation Confusion.”

“I love you, Richard, I just have to say.”

“Again,” Jeff said. “Why does it make you so happy that he uses those names?”

“Because I’m the only one,” White replied. He winked at me. “I like to support my partner.”

“Why would Buchanan risk it?” Tim asked, presumably to get us back on track. “Especially with Clarence and the assassins around?”

It had to be said. I didn’t want to, but I had to. “I never told Malcolm about the Dingo, and he didn’t believe that Clarence was back from the dead. As far as Malcolm knew, our only issue of the day was the appearance of Colonel Hamlin.”

“So the question is, where did Mister Buchanan actually go?” Raj asked. “I agree with the ambassador—it seems unlikely he went into the tunnels.”

“Well, Christopher found him in the tunnels under the Gaultier Research facility,” Amy said. “I’d say it’s a good bet he went there.”

“How?” Christopher asked. “It’s miles away.”

“We have these newfangled things called cars, and Malcolm has one. He got into his car and drove. So, the question is—did he drive Hamlin somewhere first, or did he take Hamlin with him?”

“Why does that matter?” Christopher asked.

“It matters because if he took Hamlin somewhere first, then we have a chance of finding Hamlin alive and well. And if he took Hamlin with him, we have a good chance of never finding Colonel Marvin Hamlin alive again.”