Alien Diplomacy

do you think he’s trying to scare us away?”
    That was one of the questions Leslie’s call had raised for me, but I didn’t have a good answer. “I don’t know.” I also had the realistic moral quandary that Ryan had apparently been able to get over, namely, if you know something horrible is going to happen, do you warn people or do you shut the hell up?
    Chuckie returned as I was contemplating this. I looked at him. He’d been working in the C.I.A. for a long time. My parents had been working in clandestine and covert ops for a lot longer. And I hadn’t found out about any of it until I’d absolutely had to—when my life was actually in danger, when I was actually involved.
    Reality said that Chuckie had longed to tell me…and hadn’t because his job required that he didn’t. I’d wanted to tell him, too, when I’d joined Centaurion Division. But I hadn’t known he had the clearance for me to share the information at the time, so I’d lied and told him nothing.
    “I think it’ll be okay,” I lied. “You can’t ask Lydia to commit career suicide based on a phone call from a guy we know hates us.”
    Eugene sighed. “Okay, good. She’s so excited about going, I can’t imagine the fight we’d have if I tried to suggest we should be elsewhere.”
    “Yeah, I’m sure. Just relax, have a nice night together, and remember to tell her she looks great a lot tomorrow before you get there.”
    He laughed. “I will. Thanks, Kitty. See you tomorrow night. Hopefully one of us won’t blow the place sky high.”
    “From your mouth to God’s ears, dude.”
    We hung up before I thought to ask if Lydia had mentioned dropping by my Embassy today or ask about her taste in friends and associates. Oh, well. I counted to thirty. My phone rang again. Why not? Apparently everyone in the world wanted to talk to me tonight. “Hello?”
    “Kitty?”
    “Yes. Who’s this?”
    “It’s Bryce.”
    Oh, goody. The tool was calling me now. “What do you want? By the way, how the hell did you get my phone number?”
    “Darcy gave everyone a roster on the first day of class. You got one, too, I’m sure.”
    I probably had. I’d hated class from Day One, and I hadn’t looked at a single thing that woman had handed out. “Oh. Okay. Why are you calling?”
    “Jack called with some whacked out conspiracy theory. Did he call you?”
    “Yeah, and Eugene. Jack said he’d called everyone.”
    Bryce heaved a sigh. “Look, I think he’s delusional. He’s been worried that Pia’s been cheating on him for weeks. I think it’s gotten to him. I know he’s been drinking. Once he called me, and I took a minute to think about it, it was clear he’s just doing this for attention.”
    “What if he’s right?”
    Bryce snorted. It was on the Lockwood Snort Scale of Gentlemanly and Discreet of course, but it was still a snort. “Please. He’s undoubtedly sloshed. I just figured I’d call and let you know that the rest of us aren’t in on this, it’s not some ridiculous high school type prank to get you or Eugene to stay away.”
    “Good thing, because we’re both going. We can’t exactly back out.”
    “Good.” Bryce sounded relieved. “And, you know, sorry about how we acted yesterday. We were just playing with you.”
    “I’m sure.” I knew they were playing with us. Like cats played with mice. I, however, was more cat-qualified than they were, so the hell with their little intimidation plan. “Anyway, yes, we’re going, bummer about Jack, thanks for calling.”
    “You’re welcome. See you tomorrow?”
    “You bet.” We hung up. “But not if I see you first, Bryce.”



CHAPTER 53
    I PUT MY PHONE BACK into my purse, waiting for it to ring again at any moment. Didn’t. Amazing.
    I rejoined everyone. “Chuckie, is the code name for the President’s Ball ‘Planet Hollywood’?”
    He nodded. “Why?”
    I shared my unique series of phone calls, leaving out the normal call with Bernie, since it wasn’t relevant. “I’m trying to figure out if Jack just shared real high-level information or not.”
    “Sounds like he did.” Chuckie seemed less concerned with this than I’d have expected.
    “You’re not worried?”
    He shrugged. “It’s not as if he told you anything specific. It’s pretty standard to assume that something bad will be attempted at an event like this. For all we know, it’s her division being careful. And if they actually know more than we do, which I doubt, he doesn’t