Alien Diplomacy

purse?”
    Jeff shook his head. “The jocks were supposed to bring it up from the car. Last night.” He pulled out his phone. “Kid, you and the other jock ready for action? Good. Meet us in the basement level, with Kitty’s purse. What? Where? Huh. Thanks.”
    He hung up and looked through our living quarters. “The kid said they brought your purse up here.”
    I joined him in the hunt. “I don’t see it anywhere.” I tried not to panic and failed utterly. My purse had my life in it, and its contents had saved my life more than once. I was naked without my purse. It was one thing to not have it with me when I was wandering the Embassy or in a hurry to get to the girls. It was another for it to be completely gone.
    Jeff stroked the back of my neck. “We’ll find it, baby, don’t worry.”
    “Too late. If it’s gone, it was taken by someone inside the Embassy. Or the Elves.”
    “Who here, Operations Team included, would want your purse? Who besides you could find anything in it anyway?”
    A suspicion niggled. “Where’s Mister Joel Oliver?”
    “You think he took it?”
    “I think he’d have an interest in it, yes.”
    Jeff grunted. “Let’s go find him. I’ll enjoy beating the crap out of him if he’s done anything with your stuff.”
    “Let’s try being nice first. Just for a change of pace.” I hit the com’s on button. Sometimes I preferred it to shouting. “Walter, where is Mister Joel Oliver?”
    “He’s with Pierre, Chief. They’re in the smaller salon on the second floor. They’ve been there all morning.”
    “Great, thanks.”
    Jeff grabbed my hand and we hypersped there. To find both men kneeling on the floor, the contents of my purse spread out between them. They seemed both intent and rather cheerful; at least they were chatting in a friendly manner while they pawed through all my stuff. The remains of their lunch were on a nearby table. Clearly they’d been settled in here for a while.
    “What, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, the hell is going on?” Jeff asked, managing not to snarl or roar.
    Pierre looked up at me. “Kitty, Jeff, good of you to join us. I think we’ve found all the many bugs and tracking devices, but Mister Joel and I can’t be sure.”



CHAPTER 29
    I HEARD A STEP BEHIND US. “What’s going on?” Chuckie asked.
    “I thought you were meeting us in the basement.”
    “I was, but standing there like an idiot seemed stupid. So I asked Walter where you were.” He walked farther into the room. “Why are the contents of Kitty’s purse being rifled by you two?”
    “How does he know it’s your purse?” Jeff asked me.
    “He’s seen it for a lot of years. Chuckie, we just got here. No clue.”
    Pierre sighed and rolled his eyes. “Mister Joel and I discussed it while we were waiting for Jeff to gallantly rescue our fair Kitty—the nasty men with guns were finding you all far too easily.”
    Oliver nodded. “We searched all of my clothing and equipment last night. I had several tracking devices hidden on me.” He pointed to an end table that had a variety of small things that looked like they could be forms of electronic surveillance sitting on it. “The next logical step was your purse and the stroller.”
    “Which I had the impressive Operations Team retrieve for us,” Pierre added. “As well as our little princess’ diaper bag.”
    “You’ve seen the Elves?”
    “Oh, yes. Lovely people. Very dedicated.” Pierre clearly approved of the Elves’ work ethic.
    “Can we focus?” Chuckie asked. Jeff grunted his agreement.
    “Is there anything on Jamie’s stroller? Or her diaper bag?” I tried not to feel freaked out and failed, based on Jeff rubbing the back of my neck again.
    “Christopher searched both for us earlier this morning,” Pierrereplied. “He said they were clean. He didn’t feel up to the challenge your purse presented, though, Kitty.”
    “Wimp. Why didn’t he mention that to us?” I asked Jeff.
    He shrugged. “We were all a little busy. Maybe he would have if Tito hadn’t been running interesting tests and the girls hadn’t delivered.”
    “What’s this?” Pierre asked, echoed by Oliver.
    We brought everyone up to speed on the happy arrivals as well as their names, reminded Oliver that he wasn’t getting to take pictures or report on this, and told Chuckie we’d fill him in on what Tito was working on when we were all alone, as in, Oliver wasn’t around. Chuckie and Oliver both took