CHAPTER 82
EVERYONE WAS QUIET. Kozlow took a deep breath. “You want to know where Cliff is and what he’s planning to do.”
“I do, I do indeed. I want more than that, though. I want to know all of his hideouts, where he’s got his doomsday stuff ready to go off if he doesn’t check in or whatever, how many G-Company troops he’s controlling, and if he has any other close lackeys beyond the three I can think of, which are Casey Jones, LaRue or whatever that clone is calling herself, and Leventhal Reid.” Managed not to shudder when I mentioned Reid’s name, but it took effort.
“He has Darryl and Nigel, too.”
Coughed. “Um, how to put this? Not anymore.”
Kozlow’s eyes widened. “You guys killed them?”
Stepped closer to him. “No, Russell. I killed them. And all of Darryl’s clones, too. Just like I killed Nerida. Just like I’m going to kill Casey, LaRue, Reid, and Cliff, not necessarily in that order. Like I’ll kill you, if you don’t manage to secure the best prize I’m offering.”
“What is the best prize?” he asked quietly.
“You get to spend quality time with your mother.”
“Are you insane?” Christopher shouted. “He can’t move in!”
“He can and he just might, if he manages to be the level of helpful I’m demanding. Russell, this is a one-time only deal and the offer will not remain on the table for long. You’ll get to live in the American Centaurion Embassy complex. You’ll be restricted to a bedroom-bathroom-living room kind of hotel setup with no windows, and I’d plan on having the living room wall that’s along the hallway be made out of really thick glass, so we can watch you from near and far. Your rooms will be reinforced with steel and whatever else they’re using these days to make them inescapable.” Why not? The Elves could pretty much do anything. “You won’t be able to leave that set of rooms, unless you’re under heavy guard, and even then it will only be to walk down the hall to say hi to your mother.”
“Jeff, you cannot let her do this,” Christopher said urgently.
Ignored him. “You will not be allowed any access to a phone or any electronics you might be able to manipulate. If we think you’re okay with a television, you’ll get that, but what you watch will be severely limited and monitored twenty-four-seven. You’ll be monitored twenty-four-seven as well.”
“How will you manage this? The State Department will want me and the pressure Israel will put on you will make giving me to them worthwhile.”
“Oh, as to that, you’ll be dead. At least as far as the world is concerned. Your mother has some excellent computer skills, in case you weren’t aware.”
“What about the torture?” He asked it as if it was an expected addition, the way you’d ask the hotel desk clerk if there was an iron and ironing board in your room.
“We don’t do that,” Jeff said.
Kozlow snorted. “Right. I realize you haven’t been the top man for too long, but you can’t be that naïve.”
“A-Cs don’t torture. Humans do. I’ll torture you beyond your most terrifying nightmares if any of the intel you give us is wrong, or leads us into a trap. And if you think you’ll just fool me, guess again. You’ll be going with us, with a gun in your back, and with an explosive in your head.”
“Kitty, I’m not allowing this,” Christopher snarled. “Regardless of what you say.” Prince came on my personal airwaves, singing “Let’s Go Crazy.” Nice to get Algar’s approval.
Turned away from Kozlow and got right up into Christopher’s face. “Cliff has Chuckie,” I snarled right back, only I ensured that I sounded far scarier than Christopher. “I saved you first. Consider that before you speak again. And if you’re ever insubordinate to me again in a situation like this I will rip your tongue out in front of everyone and then use it to wipe my ass. Is that clear?”
Christopher’s jaw dropped. “Ah . . .”
“Say you’re sorry, son,” White said calmly. “Right now. You know better than to speak to her that way.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Mean it.” I was still snarling.
“I . . . mean it, Kitty. I apologize. Sincerely.” Christopher was looking at me like he’d never seen me before.
Nodded, then turned back to Kozlow. Shot him a bright smile and ensured my eyes were opened just a little too wide. “So, Russell, what’s your pleasure? Door Number Three or a bullet through your brain right now?”
“They don’t know how crazy you are,” he said, sounding frightened and also impressed. “Or that you’re really the one in charge. They have no idea. They think you’re lucky and stupid, but not crazy and running the show. If you’re serious about the offer, I’ll tell you everything. I know where all the strongholds are, all the different doomsday plans, and where Cliff is right now. Which is where I assume your friend is, too.”
“Russell, this could be the start of a beautiful jailer and prisoner relationship. You’ll be rolling on G-Company, too, but they will also think you’re dead, so no harm there, right?”
“Right . . . boss. No harm there.”
“Good man. Christopher, take a lesson in how to speak to me. And, as of right now, Christopher, continue to stay silent because the sound of your voice is bothering me and if it bothers me any longer you’ll be a dead man. Boys, insert the explosive. Just in case,” I said nicely to Kozlow.
“Yeah, I understand. Cliff didn’t take those out until you guys exposed him.”
Interesting. Ensured my Crazy Killer Poker Face was fully in place. “Make it so,” I snapped at Siler and Buchanan. “Now.”
They both nodded and manhandled Kozlow out of this area.
“God,” Reader said quietly, “I love watching you work.”
“It’s a gift and a skill.” Looked at Christopher. “Your timing was excellent and so were your reactions. Seriously, you were great. We need to remember that for when we need to do it again.”
He gaped at me. “What . . . what are you talking about? You . . . you were acting insane. Are you okay? Did they dose you with something?”
“I’m So Confused” by The Soul Rebels came on. “Oh.” Looked to White. “I thought he’d caught on. I know you did.”
White chuckled. “I’m your partner for a reason. And I know that Malcolm and Benjamin were with you all the way.”
“I never had a doubt.”
“I caught on, too, you know,” Jeff said, sounding slightly jealous.
“Me, too,” Jeremy said quickly.
“Caught on to what?” Christopher asked, sounding like he was more than lost.
Tim shook his head. “You were with her and part of the interrogation at the Pueblo Caliente airport.” Christopher continued to look blank and more than a little freaked out.
Heaved a sigh. “Operation Drug Addict.” Christopher continued to look blank. “I was acting, Christopher. Just like a troubadour.” Wondered where Francine and the others were and hoped they were okay. If they were in the building they weren’t making themselves known.
“That was an act?” Christopher now looked shocked.
“Yeah. I thought you’d figured it out and were playing along.”
“No, I had no idea. Why would you do that, act the way you did? Threaten me the way you did?”
Heaved a sigh. “Because my audience respects crazy leaders with a plan and a willingness to kill their underlings if said underlings step out of line. He’d never have stuck around with Cliff otherwise once his exploding implant was removed, particularly since he shared that G-Company was respecting his skills. Which you heard. Hence why I thought you were playing along.”
“No. I’m not an empath. I really think your idea is insane and shouldn’t be done.”
“My ‘insane’ idea is to get the one person out of all the Crazy Eights who has any reason to want to help us to do so. I have both a big stick and an even bigger carrot. What we need from him is huge, he is the only one we have a prayer of getting this intel from, and it’s not something that we’re going to get via the normal methods, because if the dude was asking that nonchalantly about torture, he’s experienced it a lot and yet no one had a bead on Cliff until yesterday.”
“But we have families living there. Kids.”
“Your kid in particular, I know. However, he’ll be in the Zoo, spending his time trying to beat out Hacker International for his mother’s affections, in the most secure room the Operations Team can devise with help from a lot of humans who are sneakier than any A-C. And, since you weren’t clear and you don’t know, I wasn’t making this up—Cliff has Chuckie and I came to get you and the others first. I am willing to do a lot to find Cliff and stop him from hurting my best friend any more than he already has, and if that means Kozlow gets to live the rest of his days locked up in the Zoo like our private attraction, then I’m willing to do it.”
“Unless you have a better idea for how we find Charles that you can share within the next five minutes, son,” White said. “Then I know we’d all like to hear it.”
Christopher shook his head. “I don’t. But, I do know that, whatever Cliff’s doing to Chuck, it won’t be pleasant.” He heaved a sigh. “And yeah, getting Chuck back is worth the compromise, Kitty. Though I may have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of my life.”
“As if I won’t assign permanent Field teams to guard both Kozlow and the Embassy?” Reader asked. “More than there are already assigned, I mean.”
“What James said, and dude, why are you such a drama llama all of a sudden? This kind of guard duty is what the Secret Service was made for.”
Christopher might have gone on whining but Tim nudged me and pointed up. A small grate in the ceiling was opening. We all watched as Mossy dropped down from the ceiling to land on the desk in a catlike stance. Which was cute and kind of funny, though I knew better than to laugh.
“Good of you to join us. And thanks for guarding everyone.”
“What do you mean?” Christopher asked.
“Mossy was watching over you guys. He was ready to shoot Nerida and Kozlow if he had to, but he was waiting, just in case. He also altered the feeds to any areas where our teams were, so that what they saw was boring nothing or a lot of dust, depending, meaning those two had no reason to kill any of you.”
Mossy looked impressed. “I wasn’t sure if you’d figured it out or not. Well done. Your newest recruit is an . . . interesting addition.”
“You can whine about it with Christopher when we have time. Until then, we need to get prepped to save Chuckie.”
Buchanan came back. “The ‘implant’ is in. Thank God there were staplers here. Nice to see you,” he said to Mossy.
“You stapled him?” Christopher asked.
“No, Siler did. On the back of his head. Under his hair. He knows not to try to take it out because it’ll explode if he does.”
Jeff got a faraway look. “Yeah, he believes it. He’s kind of . . .”
“Gullible. Yeah. I picked that up. Hence my Crazy Kitty Routine. He wants what most people want—to feel needed and important. And he hasn’t for a very long time, I don’t think.”
Jeff nodded. “Yeah. He’s kind of excited about joining your team.” He shook his head. “Only my girl.”
“Only your girl gets the results we need,” Buchanan said. “We have a location for where Cliff is. I think we need to focus on him first and then worry about finding his other strongholds, though the doomsday plans are also something of a must.”
“Well, that means we have to keep Kozlow alive or we lose that intel,” Christopher pointed out. “Please don’t tell me that’s going to be my job.”
“No,” Buchanan answered for me, “that will go to me and Siler. I have coordinates for the gates,” he said to Reader.
“So how are we going in?” Jeff asked. “Sneak attack?”
My music switched to “Hero Of The Day” by Metallica. “No. I think we want to use our newest team member to the fullest and let him be a hero for a few minutes.”