CHAPTER 10
THE ROOM WAS once again stunned into silence. Chose to be the one to break it. “Always the way. Well, at least we have the forewarning. Such as it is.”
Jeff grunted. “I officially hate this new plan and don’t want anyone doing this, let alone Kitty and the kids. But I also see that, despite supposedly being the most powerful man in the United States, I’m going to be overruled by my wife, my uncle, and my friend.”
White laughed. “Yes, Jeffrey. Or as we call it, routine.”
“Don’t worry, my mom will probably overrule you, too.”
“Great.” Jeff ran his hand through his hair. “So, before we go back to the meeting and have Walter send what we’re seeing here over so that everyone can share in the stress, and then tell them how fast this is all going down so everyone can share in the panic, do we know of anyone still alive who dealt with our arrival here in any kind of meaningful way? I’m looking for someone to advise us.”
White and Chuckie both chuckled. “Yeah, we do,” Chuckie said. “Many, but you’ll be happy to know that the one I and, I’m sure, Richard are both thinking of will be more than happy to help.”
“You know him as the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” White added.
“Wow, my Uncle Mort really gets around.” Uncle Mort was my father’s older brother and a lifelong Marine. He was also totally badass and I enjoyed the rare times when I got to work with him. It didn’t hurt that he was my favorite uncle and I was his favorite niece.
Uncle Mort was hugely pro-alien, at least pro our Earth A-Cs, and if there was anyone you wanted around when aliens were coming to either defect, beg for asylum, or attack, it was Uncle Mort.
“Well, that’s a relief,” Jeff said. He looked at Walter. “Please reach General Mortimer Katt and let him know we need him to gate it over here. Ask him to meet us in the Large Situation Room.”
Walter nodded. “Anyone else?”
“Let’s get Colonel Franklin, Drax and the other Vata, and the flyboys here, too. You know, so we can make it a real party,” I suggested. “The other Joint Chiefs might be a good idea, too, but only if we can keep them from declaring World War Three or Independence Day Three-D.”
Walter looked at Jeff. Who shook his head. “Franklin, all the Vata, and the flyboys, yes. The other Joint Chiefs, no. I haven’t worked with any of them enough to know how they’ll handle this news.”
“Yes, sir, Mister President,” Walter said, clearly completely done with No Title Time.
Jeff took my hand and led us off. “I can’t believe you’re all okay with Kitty leaving for a world tour right now,” he grumbled as we walked at human speed.
“Well, it’s not like I’m desperate to escape your clutches or anything, but Richard and Chuckie’s plan makes sense.”
“For the job we need done it would be either Kitty or Elaine,” Chuckie said. “And I think you need Elaine here with you right now.”
“I need my wife more.” Jeff heaved a sigh. “Have I mentioned how much I never wanted to get into politics in the first place?”
“Once or twice,” White said, clearly trying not to laugh and showing zero sympathy.
Jeff grunted at him. “You’re the reason all this started, Uncle Richard. I blame you for all of this.”
White grinned. “I know and I’ll take that blame happily because I’m incredibly proud of you, Jeffrey. You’re everything I knew you would be.”
Jeff stopped walking, let go of my hand, and hugged his uncle tightly. “Thanks,” he said as they pulled apart. “It’s nice to know that I’m not failing everyone’s expectations.”
Christopher, Chuckie, and I exchanged the WTH look. “Um, Jeff? Who do you think you’re failing?”
“He’s listened to the media,” Alexander replied before Jeff could. “And if you allow it to, what people who have no idea what you have to do on a day-to-day basis in order to keep things running will say about you can be hurtful.”
Gave Alexander a hug, just ’cause, since I had to figure he was speaking from experience. “Ah. Well, haters gonna hate, Jeff. You’re an awesome president.”
“Yeah?” Jeff said as we started off again. “Let’s see how everyone feels when I share that we know we have space invaders coming and they’ll be here in a week or less.”
“I’d ask how that’s your fault, but apparently it’s my fault, so I’ll brace for the haters to turn on me. Which I expect no matter what, anyway.”
“Fault is the wrong word,” Chuckie said.
“Not if they’re coming to attack,” Christopher muttered.
“Stop it,” White said calmly. Christopher looked sulkily at his father. Who was apparently having none of it. “No one is going to allow anyone to land on this planet without vetting them first. We have allies here who are more than capable of doing that vetting, including Jeffrey and every other empath on the planet. Your sulking about not getting included in Kitty’s entourage is embarrassing.”
“Is that it?” Chuckie asked, as Christopher had the grace to look embarrassed. “We need you here, with Jeff, for a variety of reasons, but the main one being that I just don’t want one of our best secret weapons far away from the President.”
Christopher perked up at this. “Secret weapon?”
Chuckie didn’t roll his eyes but I knew he wanted to. “No one moves faster than you. If there’s an attack on the President or any other official, who is the person most likely able to save them? You. If we need to evacuate, who is the person we all want everyone else linking to? You. Our enemies seem unaware of how fast you can move, and even if they know, there’s not a lot they can do to stop you.”
“Short of tossing out a bucket of glue in his path. Or flypaper.”
“Hilarious, Kitty.” Chuckie turned back to Christopher. “You’ve somehow managed to avoid the same level of scrutiny that Jeff, Kitty, Paul, and several others have, and even if the press knows about you, they can’t see you if you’re moving fast, let alone at your top speed. Why in the world would I want the fastest man on the planet far away from the most likely target we’ve got for attempted assassination? The Secret Service are fine. They’re not A-Cs. And the other A-Cs aren’t you.”
Christopher seemed mollified. “Why am I still assigned to the Embassy, then?”
“What part of ‘secret weapon’ didn’t you catch? If you’re assigned to the Embassy, the assumption is that you will be there. Meaning no one’s prepared for you to be wherever we actually need you to be. And,” Chuckie added, “you’re still needed at the Embassy. That we feel you can manage to do both jobs is a compliment, not an insult.”
“Yeah, okay. And I’m sorry. I’m just worried and not feeling at all trusting about anyone in any of those ships, let alone those in the Z’porrah ship.”
“Caution is wise,” Wruck said. “But caution and hatred are not the same things. If we’re correct and those in the Z’porrah ship are coming to Earth as refugees, then they aren’t our enemies.”
“In fact, there’s a good chance they’re our friends.” We were outside of the LSR now. “And, Christopher, trust me—I’m not going to let anyone get Becky any more than I’ll let them get Jamie or Charlie. Or any of the other kids, talented or not.”
Christopher didn’t look convinced. “I remember how many times they’ve tried to get Jamie. And the other hybrid kids. And Lizzie. They want our children, Kitty.”
“I know. But what they want and what they’ll get are two very different things. Despite our track record, I realize the temptation is to lock everyone in a Centaurion base and just hide. But that doesn’t work anymore.”
“And hasn’t worked for quite a while,” Chuckie said quietly.
Took his hand and squeezed it. No one said anything else, though. Two of the Gower siblings, Michael and Naomi, had both been killed because it had turned out that we hadn’t been safe in our bases. Gladys Gower had died because of that, too. And Chuckie and Naomi had only been married six months when she’d died.
Or, rather, when everyone other than me thought she’d died. Naomi had ingested so much Surcenthumain—what I called the Superpowers Drug, which had been created by our enemies to use against us and everyone else—that she’d literally become a superconsciousness. But the other older and more powerful superconsciousnesses out there—some of which we’d had the “pleasure” of meeting—had decreed that she couldn’t come back to Earth and couldn’t let on that she was still alive in a very different way than she’d been before.
However, Naomi was watching over us, in every universe where we existed. I’d learned this during Operation Bizarro World. Jamie knew Naomi was out there, too, I was pretty darned sure. The Jamie in Bizarro World had certainly known, and she’d said they all knew to call on Auntie Mimi for help.
But Chuckie and the remaining Gowers couldn’t know Naomi was still out there somewhere. Because the Gowers might and Chuckie would spend all their time trying to find her. And that way led to nothing but heartbreak and the wasting of lives. And we’d had enough of that already to last several lifetimes.
“I’m sorry,” Wruck said quietly. He’d been undercover with the Mastermind and his cronies when Operation Infiltration went down. He hadn’t been with LaRue when she’d murdered Michael, nor had he been around when Naomi had taken the Surcenthumain. But that didn’t mean that he, like the rest of us, didn’t wonder what he could have done differently.
Chuckie nodded. “I know. We all are. But that doesn’t change anything.”
“No,” White said gently, “it doesn’t. The dead are at peace. It’s the living we need to protect.”
“And watch,” Christopher added.
“Vigilance will be our watchword, Christopher, I promise.” My phone rang before I could say anything else. And my phone tended to ring at inopportune moments when it was one of our many enemies calling to share the wonder that was their insanity.