Alien in the House

to determine office numbers.”
    “I need Santiago’s office number first.”
    “Thirty-ten.”
    “You rock, Eddy. Text the rest to me and Jeff, okay? Oh and make sure, once you do that, that we get a full listing of what committees each dead rep was on. And make that snappy, I think it’s relevant.”
    “Oh, yes, ma’am.” Stryker’s sarcasm knob was definitely hitting nine.
    “That’s the spirit!”
    “You want the update from Gaultier?”
    “Sure. Have they found anything yet?”
    “Yes, they’ve found Eugene Montgomery’s workspace. Not a lot there, but Henry downloaded everything on Montgomery’s laptop over to us. The laptop’s Gaultier property so we can’t remove it without making a scene.”
    “Okay, did they find papers?”
    “Yeah, about a briefcase’s worth. Raj has them. Henry’s using the laptop to hack into the rest of the Gaultier system, but he’s hitting blocks that the laptop can’t get around. They need to get to the main servers, and that’ll take a little time.”
    “Well, at least they’re moving forward. Keep me updated.”
    “Absolutely, madam.” Stryker had turned the sarcasm up to eleven. “Is there anything else I, your humble servant, can do for you?”
    “Dude, I’m going to remember to hurt you when I get back.”
    “I’ll risk it.”
    “Alfred never talks this way to Batman.”
    “I’m not Alfred and you’re not Batman. I can talk however I want to Wolverine with Boobs.”
    “Oh, you did
not
go there, bub. Never forget, I’m the best there is at what I do.”
    “Now
that’s
true. Just don’t ask me what I think you do best.”
    “Remember that what I do isn’t nice.”
    “Despite wanting to make a joke that would make you blush and me snicker, I’m going to stop now, because I think Chuck has my cell phone tapped and if I say anything else he’ll make my head explode.”
    “Or Jeff’ll crush your skull with his bare hands.”
    “Same difference.”
    Comics jokes only Hacker International, Chuckie, Reader, or a few others would get done with, we hung up. Texts from Stryker started coming in almost immediately.
    “Should we get moving?” Jeff asked. “Or should I go home and crush the squatter’s head with my bare hands?”
    “No, we still need him. We should get going . . . wait. Hey, one of reps who was killed had this office before. Stryker sent the info over based on timeline of death, most recent first. The rep who was in here died a few months ago.”
    “Why haven’t they put anyone else in here?”
    “No idea, maybe their replacement hasn’t been elected yet. But let’s see if there’s anything worth spotting.”
    An A-C using hyperspeed can search an entire house in less than five minutes. So searching one smallish set of rooms didn’t take Jeff long. He even lifted any furniture that wasn’t bolted down.
    While he was busy, sent a text to Stryker, asking him to verify which reps had been replaced and which hadn’t, and also to see if replacement reps were given the same offices as their dead predecessor or not.
    Jeff put a small pile of papers on the desk. “This is it.”
    “Not a lot to go on.” We dug through it. Most of it was trash. Anything with writing or print on it we saved. “Can’t tell if any of this means anything yet.” Jeff put the few pieces of paper we were saving into his coat pocket. “Wait, let’s see if there’s an envelope or something we can put all that in.”
    “There is.” He went to the filing cabinet and pulled out a box of legal envelopes while I checked the desk for a pen. “Should we take these along?” he asked as he transferred the papers in his pocket into an envelope.
    Took the envelope from him and marked it with the office number. “Yeah, grab a dozen, that should be plenty.”
    “I have them, so let’s see what we can find elsewhere.”
    “This floor or Santiago’s office?”
    “How long do we have before we have to go back downstairs?”
    “You’re asking me? I’m not the super-empath. But I can pretend to be sick for hours if necessary. All I have to do is think about when I was pregnant with Jamie. I can pull those memories back easily.”
    “Don’t remind me. And, I’ve checked, everyone’s still dealing with the drama, so I don’t think we’re missed yet. In which case, let’s do this floor and work down.”
    Counting Jeff’s office and with the unfortunate addition of Juvonic, we had twelve offices to check out here in Rayburn House. Per