Alien Diplomacy

how they’re finding you?” Christopher asked, far more nicely than I figured he felt.
    “There are traffic cameras all over the place, right?”
    Chuckie nodded. “I see where you’re going, and yes, that makes sense. White, you said you stopped and they found you, correct?”
    “Correct.”
    “We were at a corner with a stoplight,” I added.
    “Then traffic cameras would have spotted you, especially if they were monitoring for people to appear out of thin air.” Chuckie looked grim. “It takes real pull to do what’s been done and not show up on my radar or Angela’s.”
    My mom nodded, looking as grim as Chuckie. “I think we’re looking at either a government agency like the C.I.A., Homeland Security, or the F.B.I, or we’re looking at a very high-level politician.”
    “The President?” I asked.
    “I hope not,” Mom said.
    Chuckie shook his head. “It’s out of character.” I saw Mom relax. It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who considered Chuckie’s theories to be sound. “However, we have a couple of other Cabinet members who I wouldn’t put it past.”
    “Any politician with the right pull could manage it,” Kevin said, from behind Mom. “Bribery and blackmail work most of the time, and power’s a strong motivator.”
    “We have two who made the pilgrimage here earlier today, Villanova and Whitmore.”
    “What were the Chief Aide to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Transportation doing here?” Mom asked in her bordering-on-enraged tone.
    As we brought the rest of the room up to speed on our visit from the Cabal of Evil, Tito came in, White with him. He looked fine. A-Cs worked and healed fast. Tim spoke quietly to them, presumably bringing them up to speed on the nowhere we were with things.
    “Think it’s either one of them?” Kevin asked Mom.
    “Could be. But we’ll need a hell of a lot of hard evidence to convince the President.”
    Despite our lack of information, I could feel ideas starting to form in my mind. Scoring a Subway Party Platter was on the list—I hadn’t eaten in what seemed like forever, albeit it was only this morning, however many hours ago that had really been.
    “What’s the possibility of eating while we think?”
    Pierre waved his hand. “Already handled, darling. Sustenance coming in from Dulce, under armed guard. Should be here shortly.”
    “You’re a god, Pierre. So, how far have you guys gotten on everything while Richard and I were running around?”
    “Not far,” Chuckie said. “There were some…issues at the Embassy while we were gone.”
    That’s right, White had said Christopher was handling something. I looked at him. “What happened?” I looked around again. Two people in particular were missing. “Where are Dad and Jamie?”



CHAPTER 41
    “S AFE,” MOM REPLIED. I FELT MY BODY RELAX. “They’re at the Pontifex’s residence.”
    “Why?”
    “In addition to everything else,” Christopher shared, “we had a gas leak scare at the Irish Embassy, right after you left for the hospital. Everyone within a five-block radius was being advised to leave the premises, just in case. We cleared all personnel just to be safe. Once we got the all-clear, it seemed wiser to leave nonessential personnel there for the time being.”
    Kevin nodded. “Denise and our kids are over there, too. Along with some P.T.C.U. operatives, three Centaurion Division agent teams, Naomi and Abigail, and Gladys.”
    “Gladys is helping babysit Jamie, Raymond, and Rachel? What have I missed?” The Lewis kids tended toward the angelic side of the house, and my dad and Denise should have been plenty to take care of Jamie. With Naomi and Abigail along, that should have meant Jamie was the happiest of little campers, not in need of the overall Head of Security to keep her in line.
    I was treated to Glare #2. “I didn’t want to discover the gas leak was a fake to make us lower our guard, particularly the guard on Jamie,” Christopher snapped.
    “Fine, fine, no argument, just curious.” Another thought occurred. “You cleared out Walter?” I wondered how much of a fight he’d put up about leaving his post and figured a lot.
    “Not so much.” Christopher’s expression told me it had indeed been a big, stressful argument. “Walter insisted on staying with the people from the gas company. Gladys agreed.” A fight Christopherhad lost. We all loved losing, so I didn’t have to guess about his opinion on this outcome, though