CHAPTER 69
SHARED THIS NEWS with the others. “Why is he here?” Reader asked, echoing Serene.
Gower jerked. “He’s here to help Kitty. He considers himself her friend, and he knows how often she gets into, ah, difficult diplomatic situations.”
“You mean how often I blow it with the bigwigs, Paul, we all know.”
“I do not,” Raheem said. “You are the most competent and commanding woman I have ever met.”
“Raheem is my favorite. However, Tony doesn’t see me in quite the same light.” Because during our first meeting I’d accidentally flipped him off in Australian, caused hot coffee to be spilled on him and his wife, and fallen and knocked myself into another universe. Tony didn’t know all about the last one, but he sure knew about the first two.
Other Me had saved the day, and she’d thankfully left me a note filled with information so I’d know what I’d supposedly done. And one of those things she’d done was to forge a very strong bond between our family and the Costellos.
“Tony’s coming to help me because he knows I’ve done what I’m good at already. The rest? This is supposed to be a Washington Wife Extravaganza, and I am not the girl for that job.”
Saw the light go on for both Vance and Buchanan. “He’s not wrong,” Vance said. “So how did he get into the palace?”
“He’s with Field agents, right Serene?”
“Yes. They took a gate. He’s waiting for someone to call the king to allow him in.”
“Super. Okay, Raheem, you need to have them let the Prime Minister come here. Insist he bring the A-Cs along, don’t allow him to allow them to leave.” Raheem made the call, this time not even bothering to step away.
“So, we can save one whole world leader?” Abigail asked. “That seems underwhelming at best.”
“And you know that’s not my whole plan.” Looked at her and Mahin. Raheem got off the phone. “Raheem . . . how often does this area get hit with haboobs?”
“I’m impressed you know the word. Often enough. And the Prime Minister and his escorts are on their way.”
“I’m from Pueblo Caliente, Arizona. We get haboobs all the time. Serene, would a haboob affect a gate transfer?”
“I doubt it, but it’s possible. I can ask Walter or William. I believe they’d know.”
“Make it so, Number One.”
She laughed, and I could tell I was on hold. Silent hold, not that some music right now wouldn’t be a great thing for me. Maybe once we had some semblance of an effective plan in place.
“What do I tell Chuck?” Tim asked. “He’s starting to get suspicious based on what I’m asking him.”
“You can’t tell him the truth,” Gower said quickly. “If you do, he’ll try to find and stop Cliff himself.”
“Which will mean that Cliff gets Chuckie and probably Jeff, too.”
“Technically, he has them already,” White pointed out.
A gate shimmered into view and Christopher arrived, carrying a big bag. “Serene says that we’re going to need everything in here. She also said we were at DEFCON Worse. I assume that means it’s the usual end of the world as we know it.”
“Right you are, Christopher. Mister White, the speedy talking again falls to you. Just, please do it in another room with the door closed.”
White nodded and he and Christopher stepped into the nearest room, which happened to be mine. Oh well, hopefully they wouldn’t step on all my clothes.
“Clothes. Those of us doing action duty are going to need to change, women especially. I’m actually packed for it, but how about the rest of you?”
While the Jeans and Sneakers Roll Call was sounding off, Serene came back on my line. “Per William and Walter, a haboob of enough ferocity, size, and speed would mean they would route anyone using a gate to a different location, first.”
“So, like changing planes because your flight doesn’t go nonstop?”
“Somewhat, yes. It’s also similar to us evacuating from any other natural disaster. When there are earthquakes in Southern California, many times we can’t use the gates here to leave because they’re being too affected by the shaking. It’s one of the reasons this base is small and normally runs with a skeleton crew.”
“Gotcha. So, a natural event would mean we can use that as an excuse.”
“Yes. But there isn’t one I see on any weather service maps right now. But, if you can create a haboob, Jeff would understand why you’re late, because you can’t go outside in that, and in order for you to arrive on time anyway, you’d have to take a gate, and William could believably tell him conditions were too bad to bring you in.”
“We’ll do that!”
“Kitty, one thing—William and Walter both said that whether it’s real or made by Mahin, they truly can’t safely transport anyone through it.”
“Not to worry. We’re going to go over, then create the haboob. Jeff just isn’t going to know about it.”
“Sounds good. I’ve told them both what’s going on, and they’ve told Missy to put the Embassy onto high alert lockdown with all shields up. The Romanian Diplomatic Mission is inside our Embassy, and Walter’s advising the Israeli and Bahraini Missions to pull their people in and go into lockdown as well. William is running gates for your team now exclusively, and Walter’s going to Dulce to help him. There’s still plenty of security over at the White House, but all gate transfers and all shield controls for the White House Complex have been given to Missy as well. Trying to keep this with as few in the know as possible.”
“Wise, but the action isn’t happening there so much.”
“If Cliff kills all the leaders of the world, especially right when aliens have arrived, you get anarchy, Kitty, and you get it immediately, because this kind of event will create utter panic. Once you roll, I’m going to be locking down every Base worldwide, and families have already been pulled into the nearest Bases, P.T.C.U. and Secret Service families included. And I’ve ordered that we move the Vice President and any Cabinet members into the Bunker. I had Senator and Missus McMillan moved to the Bunker as well. Secret Service has confirmed that everyone who should be in the Bunker is. Other than you, Jeff, and Chuck, and they’re not happy that you three are at the center of this, but that’s why we have chain of command separated.”
Let the reality of all of this settle for a moment. Serene was right. And if I focused on all of this, I wouldn’t be able to function. So, I wasn’t going to focus on it much longer. “Good call. Am I keeping you on the line?”
“Yes. Though I’m only going to be live to you. Make sure everyone’s wearing a Bluetooth from the supplies Christopher brought over, though—I can track and connect with everyone that way and as needed. Put on the watches, too—they’ll function as a way for the team to communicate with each other and additional tracking should someone lose a Bluetooth. Oh, and yes, you can listen to music. I sent over a special Bluetooth—wear it in your other ear. It’ll let you play music without having to use earbuds that can get caught on something. And you’ll still be able to hear what’s going on around you. It’s synced to your phone and your iPod both.”
“Wow. You think of everything.”
She laughed. “I know what to ask Gustav to create. He’s good with things that aren’t weapons, too.”
“You could weaponize all of this.”
“We could. We might. But not today.”
“Works for me.” Dug through the stuff Christopher had brought and found the device. It was easy, since it was marked “For Kitty.” Put it in my left ear. No music, but I hadn’t turned anything on yet. Wondered if I was going to be put onto the Algar Channel, but knew I couldn’t depend on that.
There was a knock at my door. Siler and Buchanan answered it, guns drawn. To find who we expected outside—a Field team and Tony Costello. The Field team was something of a shock, though.
“Jennifer, Jeremy, what are you guys doing here?” Jennifer Barone-Gaekwad and Jeremy Barone were a brother-sister team of Field agents. Jeremy was the empath, Jennifer was the imageer. They’d come onto our team during Operation Destruction. “I thought you guys were with Jeff.”
“We were,” Jeremy said. “He asked us to help Prime Minister Costello when he found out about the summits.”
Gave them both hugs, then hugged Costello. “Thanks for coming.”
“Well, I figured you could probably use another person for support.” Costello had entered the room with a typical politician’s smile on his face, and he’d kept it on while I was hugging everyone. But, as he looked around the room, the smile faded and his eyes narrowed. “Kitty—what’s going on? And don’t tell me nothing. This isn’t a group prepping you to swan into an important all-world dinner. This is a commando team getting ready to strike.”
“Wow. Tony, you’re good. First off, we’re all thankful you’re a cool guy and were coming to help because, right now, only you and King Raheem are safe.” Tossed on the Recap Girl cape and brought Costello up to speed as fast as possible. “So, we have to save everyone but in a way that Cliff doesn’t realize that we’re doing it.”
“I like the idea of the commando raid while a dust storm of that magnitude is going on,” Costello said. “But I don’t like the idea of you being in that team.”
“Neither does anyone else,” Buchanan said.
“Other than my mother. Who, as of right now, gets the deciding vote.”
Costello chuckled. “True enough. So, what can I do to help?”
“You’re going to be our cover. I want you and King Raheem, along with everyone else who isn’t going on the raid, to stay here. You’re going to be communicating with Jeff. First, I’ll want you to send him a text right now, telling him that you’ve done exactly what you first intended—you decided to surprise me and come help King Raheem escort me, so that I’d have you by my side to tell me who to smile at and who to be imperious with, both for leaders from your region and for those that you know from outside of your region, as well.”
“Got it. Then what?”
“Then, you’re going to be the one to say that I spilled stuff all over myself because I’m nervous, so I’m having to change clothes, and, therefore, jewelry and shoes, and fixing my hair.”
“Will Jeff believe that?”
Half the room snorted. “Oh, he’ll believe it,” Vance said. “It’s a common occurrence.”
“I’ll hurt you later, Vance. Then, you’ll be the one who tells them the truth, and potentially gets them evacuated.”
“You’re sure gates won’t work to get everyone out?” Costello asked.
“I’m sure that if we try one everyone in that restaurant is going to die.”
Costello didn’t look convinced.
“This is her skill,” Siler said. “This is why she and all the others are still alive. It’s why Jeff survived long enough to make it to the White House. She knows how the psycho megalomaniacs think.”
Now Costello looked a little horrified. Yeah, Other Me had represented the classy side. Hadn’t known I had a classy side, but apparently if I was married to Chuckie it came out. Something to ponder at another time, once we were all alive and Cliff was not.
“It’s a gift and a curse. I’m not a psycho, though, so there’s that.”
Costello shook himself. “You know, I want to argue this. And then I remember what happened when this madman tried to kill half the world. I saw you on that motorcycle and I saw Jeff lean out of a helicopter to grab you—you both were far more natural doing that than doing any political thing I’ve seen. I can believe it. And I know you both came out of Centaurion Division, meaning you’re both military trained.”
“Exactly. So, I need to change, and so does anyone else who’s on Team Commando. Camilla and Malcolm: other than Abigail and Mahin, who are musts, you choose the team. Remember that, per Serene, Walter, and William, once we go over and start the haboob, we can’t leave, and no one else can come in, so choose wisely.”
Buchanan looked at Camilla and shrugged. “Don’t put too much effort into it. She’ll just add or subtract whoever she does or doesn’t want anyway.”
Camilla barked a laugh. “Or, as we call it, routine.”