CHAPTER 52
I STUMBLED OUT into the White House Residence Entrance Hall. Buchanan was waiting there and he steadied me. “Why so shocked, Missus Executive Chief?”
Siler and my purse and rolling bag came through now, and he grinned at me. “Oh, the expression on your face.” He handed the bag’s handle back to me.
Took it. “What the literal hell, dudes?”
Siler shrugged. “You hate going through those. We’re on a schedule. It was faster to do it this way than be as nice about it as Malcolm tends to be.”
“Wow. Remind me to hurt you later.” Looked around. There were a tonnage of people here, including Mona and her entourage. “We’re gating it from here?”
“Yes, because we’ll need a large floater gate to take everyone as fast as possible,” Buchanan said.
Len, Kyle, and Adriana joined us. “Grandmother is going to stay here. She and Grandfather will be sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom.”
“I’m all for it. Why so, though?”
“To ensure that those who need to know are quite clear that we are on America’s side in all of this.”
“Works for me. Adriana, boys, I want the three of you sticking really close to me.”
Len and Kyle exchanged a look. “What about the Secret Service?”
“We’ll deal with them as we have to.”
Buchanan nudged me. “Someone saw reason.” He nodded toward the crowd. Francine was here, dressed pretty much like me, along with Colette.
“I look at it as whoever insisted on Francine coming along knows me very well.”
“That would be Mister Reynolds,” Len said.
“As I said. And it’s a smart plan even if I was the best-behaved girl in the world. By the way, where are the K-Nine guys and the sorta prisoners?”
“They’re here, in the underground section,” Kyle said. “Due to everything that’s happened, we didn’t want to release them or put them somewhere they could be hurt or taken. They were there for first contact with the Turleens, there are people who would want to get their hands on them.”
“They’re fine,” Buchanan added. “Being treated well, all of them. The dogs are getting spoiled by every White House staffer who’s in their general vicinity.”
“Good to know.” Wouldn’t have minded Prince coming along for this part of the mission, but reality said that he was safer where we had him. Besides, who knew how the various dignitaries we were going to see would react to a huge German Shepherd arriving along with the rest of us. We were literally an invading horde as it was.
“Attention please!” Antoinette shouted. The room quieted. “Thank you. We’re about to travel to Manama, Bahrain. We will be arriving inside the Al-Qudaibiya Palace. It will be early afternoon there. There is a possibility that food and drink will be offered to you. Please accept it graciously and do nothing to insult our hosts. This first stop is vitally important because it will set the tone for the First Lady’s entire tour.”
Some Field agents arrived, carrying cloths.
“All female members of the party, including the First Lady, need to don and wear traditional headgear. We have hijabs for everyone. We also have kufiyahs for any men who would feel comfortable wearing them.”
Took a gander while everyone started taking the headscarves and putting them on. All the women took hijabs, of course, but only Khalid, Oren, Jakob, and, interestingly enough, Siler, took a kufiyah.
Mona put her hijab on then brought mine over. It was iced blue. Even when going to an Arab country I couldn’t escape “my” color.
Mona smiled at me as she helped me put it on correctly. “It will enhance your eyes.”
“Glad I didn’t bother to do much with my hair.” Noted that Francine was wearing the same thing. The positives of being less recognizable in the hijab could only help the cause.
“Any men, alien men who do not look human in particular, who are not dressed in conservative suits will need to wear a thobe with a bisht over it,” Antoinette shared now. “Yes, it will be warm. However, these are the prices you pay to achieve international diplomacy. Alien women who don’t look like humans will need to wear an abaya over their clothes. Otherwise, as long as you dressed appropriately for a workday at Capitol Hill, you should be fine.”
King Benny was the obvious target of the long robe and ornate outer cloak combo, and I couldn’t blame Antoinette for it, either. King Benny wore boots, his fur, and a loincloth-type thing, and that was about it. Sure, he might not cause an uproar, but why push it?
Mossy was the Turleen going with my team, and he was in the robes as well. Jareen, Felicia, and Wahoa all opted to wear abayas, though they didn’t cover their faces. Queen Renata, Rahmi, and Rhee all shifted to look like fully human women in conservative business suits and put on hijabs, though clearly unwillingly.
Trotted over to them. “Just remember that while this is kowtowing to a very male-dominated society, we need these people to pay attention to what we’re saying, not how we look.”
They all nodded. “We will behave appropriately,” Queen Renata said.
“Great. Princesses, don’t look so down. First off, you are princesses, so expect some special treatment once that’s clearly stated. Secondly, I promise there will be more going on. You guys have your battlestaffs with you, right?”
Both princesses brightened right up. “We do indeed,” Rahmi said.
“They never leave our sides,” Rhee added. Couldn’t prove that by me. I literally never saw them carrying their staffs—the staffs were just in their hands when they needed them.
“And we had to do similar just a few weeks ago, after all,” Queen Renata said. “Including wearing clothing that is not . . . natural to us.”
“Speaking of that particular dog and pony show, where are Drax and the rest of the Vata? I thought they’d be coming with me.”
“It was decided last night that they and your five main pilots would be in the Vatusan ships,” Queen Renata replied. “All of them. Just in case things go . . . badly.”
We had four Vatusan ships on the planet. One was what I considered our version of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, which was what I figured the flyboys were in, since it required five at the controls. Four of the Vata had come in two ships, and Drax had come in a ship he flew himself.
The Vata had organic metal plates in their temples that allowed them to communicate with electronics, which was why it took so few to fly large spaceships. The flyboys used helmets linked into the helicarrier in order to do the same thing. Basically, with four Vatusan ships, we had decent backup. Not the same as having the Cleophese or the Alpha Four fleet, but still, a lot more than nothing.
“That was some good thinking. Who came up with it?”
Queen Renata smiled at me. “I have learned much from my time with you. As have my daughters.”
“You three rock.”
“Drax has also alerted Vatusus of what is transpiring on Earth. His world is prepared to come to assist us if he feels that the need is great enough. He also asked me to remind you that he is also royalty and, therefore, stands ready to toss his royal weight around as you and Jeff see fit.”
“Now, that’s backup we can use. I’m really glad all of you handled this while I was sleeping.”
Queen Renata hugged me. “You needed the rest. The rest of us are here to assist. The weight of all our worlds rests on your and Jeff’s shoulders. We all know this. Just as we know that you two will always find a way to save the day.”
“Wow, no pressure.”
Antoinette was getting everyone into formation for our fun walk through the giant floater gate, so we had to separate, as the Amazons weren’t going in next to me. Got moved up next to Mona. Looked around. Jakob, Oren, and Leah, our friends from the Israeli embassy who all happened to be Mossad agents, were scattered throughout our crowd.
Len and Kyle flanked me and Mona with Alpha Team behind us, but we weren’t really at the front—my Secret Service detail, Manfred, and the rest of my permanently assigned Field protection detail, along with Butler and Mona’s bodyguard, Khalid, were going through the gate first. Couldn’t spot Siler, Buchanan, or Wruck, so assumed Siler had hold of the other two and they were all blending. Chose not to ask why—they always had their reasons.
Of course, Wruck could have shifted to look like anyone, so whether he was in the crowd or with the rest of Team Tough Guys, I couldn’t be sure.
A woman stepped up next to me, moving Len over. As she did so, she took my rolling bag, and therefore my purse as well, from me. Turned to see who was shoving in and tell her to get her mitts off my stuff.
“Well,” she said before I could speak, “this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”