Alien Diplomacy

want someone smart enough to recognize danger before it blows up in your faces.”
    “Makes sense.”
    “Thanks,” Jeff said dryly. “Because we need to use humans here in D.C. as much as possible, Reynolds, James, and I discussed it, and two makes more sense because while they can’t do all we can, they can double the protection if needed. These two know who we are, what we do, and why we’re here. You’ve hated every Centaurion agent we’ve given you, and Reynolds insisted these were the two who would make you happy.”
    “Aw, you got that out without growling. I’m so proud. And, yeah, Chuckie, you’re right, great choices! So which C.I.A. division are they part of?”
    “They work for me. Directly, I might add. I wanted someone I felt I could trust near you. Under the circumstances, Reader and your husband agreed.”
    “Awesome. Home, please.”
    Len winked at me, then he and Kyle turned around, and we drove off. While I basked in the glow of finally having people who were more likely to actually want to discuss sports and music while driving, I ran this event over in my mind. Something didn’t add up. What circumstances was Chuckie referring to, and why was Jeff suddenly so concerned for my safety, when he’d told me only this morning to go to class and stop whining like a baby?
    I looked up at Jeff. “What’s coming that has you two so worried that you’re working together like actual adults?”
    Bingo. His eyes started shifting. “Nothing.”
    “Nothing my ass.” I looked at Chuckie. He had a poker face on, but I still knew him too well. “Spill it.”
    Chuckie sighed. “I told you she’d figure something was off.”
    “She doesn’t need to worry,” Jeff growled.
    “Worried now. I did mention that I liked you acting like adults, though, right?”
    “Right.” Chuckie looked at Jeff, who heaved a sigh and nodded. Chuckie looked back to me. “My sources have determined there’s going to be an assassination attempt, quite soon, most likely at the President’s Ball.”



CHAPTER 5
    W E DROVE ON WHILE I let that one sit on the air for a bit. Many questions were banging around in my head. I went with the obvious first. “The President?”
    “Possibly, but he doesn’t sound like the actual target. Your mother has her team on full alert, of course, and they’ll be working with the Secret Service.”
    “So my mom will be at the party Saturday night, too?”
    “And your father,” Jeff said. “We have a team assigned to him, since he’ll be more in the background.”
    “A-C team or human team?”
    “Combination,” Chuckie replied. “C.I.A. and Centaurion.”
    “Which C.I.A.? Your team that wants to keep us alive, or the other C.I.A. that wants to turn us into the War Division?”
    “Both.” Chuckie didn’t sound happy about it. “I can’t keep Agency personnel out, not with this threat level. Especially since we have no clear idea who the target is. Or targets.”
    “Who do you think?” Chuckie’s nickname in high school had been Conspiracy Chuck and, insulting though it was, it was also accurate. He was the smartest guy in any and every room, and pretty much if he had a solid theory, he was right. Of course, if he didn’t know, we were flying blind.
    He shook his head. “I have no idea.”
    “We’re so screwed.”
    Jeff sighed. “I see you’re really getting a lot out of that Washington Wife class.”
    “Can I drop it?”
    “No.” Chuckie and Jeff said this in unison. I hated the unison thing. I never won against it.
    I pondered other options. “Does it have anything to do with the various conspiracies we discovered during Operation Confusion?”
    Chuckie shrugged. “It might. But we’re still tracking people down.” He grimaced. “As you know, I had most of my team working on following those leads. However, I’ve had to pull them in because of this threat. How much this will delay us, I have no guess, but I’m not happy about it. Then again, averting an assassination is probably in everyone’s best interests.”
    We’d discovered that the former Diplomatic Corps had been working with several divisions of the C.I.A. on a variety of nasty plans, all of them aimed at turning Centaurion Division into the War Division in some way, shape, or form. Chuckie was having to work slowly and carefully, because his investigation was pitting him against the people who wanted to destroy us and kill him. He also hadn’t been able to confirm who higher up in the