Alien in the House

hung up and I contemplated who to call. Officer Melville seemed like a logical choice, and yet there was going to be a lot of police bureaucracy to get through. Decided we had a lot of important people in the room, and dialed a different number. She answered on the first ring.
    “Kitten, are you and Jeff okay?”
    “Yeah, Mom, we are. Look, someone blew up Cliff’s car right before he could give us and Chuckie a ride. And it just dawned on me that you and Dad weren’t at Jeff’s swearing-in ceremony and I’m sure that’s because I didn’t tell you about it or ask you to be there, and I’m sorry.”
    Mom sighed. “We were there, kitten. So was the President. So were Alfred and Lucinda, who are back home now. We weren’t visible from the Floor, but we were all there. Nice fix on the whole religious text issue, by the way. But that’s not why you called. You called because, if my television is correct, Cliff’s car blew up, you were all surrounded by paparazzi, and for some reason, the four of you, assisted by your personal reporter, decided to make a run for it.”
    “We’re in Jeff’s office at Rayburn House and the press isn’t. I’m calling that a win. However, James says he can’t get cars to us, and using a floater gate doesn’t seem like a good idea. I had to lose my shoes, we’re all wet and muddy, Cliff’s out his brand-new car, and we’re all exhausted. I want to go home. I don’t care which home that might be, by the way, but I want to go to a place I have, at least at one time in my life, called home.”
    “Despite your strong hint, Tim and Alicia don’t need you barging into our house.”
    “That wasn’t what I was going for, though it’d be an acceptable option. James said the police have the streets blocked off, and the press are at the gates, so to speak. I’d really like someone, anyone, my mother for preference, to come get us out of this.”
    “I’m sure you would, kitten.”
    There was something in Mom’s tone that made me think for a moment. She’d been with the President at the Capitol building, watching Jeff get sworn in. That event hadn’t been all that long ago. Meaning she was with the President right now. Meaning that she couldn’t do much to help her daughter out of a jam. However, these days, I was more than her daughter. And Mom had mentioned the religious fix for a reason, at least, that was my guess.
    However, she was going to need proof that she wasn’t pulling strings merely to get her daughter’s fat out of the fire one more time. Not a problem, I was good with public speaking.
    “Mom, you may want to put me on speaker. I’m putting you on speaker over here.”
    “Do I really?”
    “You do. You really do.”
    “Okay, I hope you’re right.” There was a short pause, then Mom’s voice came back with a really impressive echo behind it. “You’re live with me, the President, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
    Oh. Good. As Reyes would have said, dinner
and
a show.



CHAPTER 70
    T HREE OF THE FOUR men in the room looked at me with various degrees of horror in their expressions. But since we were on speaker, none of them could speak, or at least they all had the good sense to remain silent.
    Oliver turned on his pocket tape recorder with the look of a man who has been shown what Santa has for him in the sack of goodies and is reveling in the proof that, this year, he was a very,
very
good boy indeed.
    Cleared my throat. Time for the official spin. “Mister President, I apologize for interrupting your meeting. However, I’d appreciate some assistance from the P.T.C.U.”
    “Why is that?” The President had a smooth baritone. Now probably wasn’t the time to offer a compliment, though.
    “Because I feel that we have, yet again, been the focus of a terrorist attack.”
    There was a lot of noise in the background. Heard my mother point-blank tell everyone to shut the hell up. Which they all did. My opinion of my mother’s pull, which was pretty damned high already, ratcheted up. Either that or she was about to be fired. Went with the rosier outlook.
    “Why is that, Ambassador?” Mom asked in her All-Business voice.
    “Because the vehicle belonging to Clifford Goodman, the Head of Special Immigration Services for Homeland Security, was blown up right before he, the Head of the C.I.A.’s E-T Division, newly sworn in Representative Martini, and I could enter it. Fortunately for all of us, Mister Goodman chose to show us his brand-new