Alien in the House

working for them for decades, too. So, you think Eugene was trying to be an Apprentice?”
    Michael’s example made things seem so much clearer that I could answer this question. “No, not Eugene. Pia. Pia was in training to be an Apprentice. She has all the aspects you’d want—security clearance, job with the C.I.A., already a double agent.”
    “She’s dead,” Christopher pointed out.
    “Because she failed,” Jeff said. “She had Eugene set up to kill Ed Brewer. But he killed Santiago instead. And he told Kitty about her and the robotics packet she’d given him.”
    “So, either someone at Gaultier killed her for leaking that, or the Master killed her.” Wasn’t sure if I preferred Master versus Mastermind versus Sith Lord. Decided I could worry about this later. “But if we take Michael’s theory to the farthest reaches, I think that begs two important questions.”
    “Who are the others vying to be the next Sith Apprentice?” Reader suggested.
    “That’s one. And the other is this—why is there competition for this slot in the first place? Or, phrased another way, which Apprentice, or Master, did we take out during Operation Destruction?”



CHAPTER 85
    “W ELL, my bitch of a stepmother’s dead,” Amy said. “So was it her?”
    “No, and Ronaldo al Dejahl is out, too, and before you all tell me he’s dead I point to Clarence Valentino and say that there’s a good chance al Dejahl also got better. However, they were out of this part of the galaxy for too long. And I don’t see either one of them as willing to be an Apprentice to anyone other than good ol’ Mephistopheles.”
    Chuckie jerked. “That’s the original Mastermind, Yates, or the Yates-Mephistopheles superbeing combination.”
    “That makes so much sense it makes me sick to think about it,” Jeff said. “But does it work from a timeline perspective?”
    Stryker nodded. “Yeah, definitely. Chuck’s had us research all we could on Ronald Yates. He was old, but he was active all the way through until his death.”
    “And he’s influenced every plan already, and we know that, too.” Looked at White. “Richard, what do you think?”
    “I’m in complete agreement with Jeffrey, including the nausea.”
    “How about Reid fitting into that scenario?”
    “Works for sure,” Big George said. “He received several campaign donations from different divisions of Yates Enterprises.”
    “Did you memorize the file?” Abigail asked. She didn’t sound appalled—she sounded impressed.
    “No, but I could have,” Big George said, flexing his mind muscle for the pretty girl. “We’ve been spending a lot of time on Leventhal Reid.”
    “Flirt later, we have other questions that need answering. Can we all agree that Reid was the Apprentice to Mephistopheles?” Everyone nodded. “Super. Then let’s get back to the question of who the Apprentice was we got rid of during Operation Destruction.”
    “All the options are dead or not Apprentice material,” Christopher said.
    “Well, if Clarence and al Dejahl are still alive, what about that heinous bitch?” Amy asked.
    “LaRue’s definitely dead, I watched Esteban Cantu shoot her in the head instead of me. Oh. Wow. Chuckie?”
    “Yes, it would fit. He was involved in everything and it took catching him trying to kill you while the world was being invaded for us to be able to arrest him.”
    “So, does that make him the Master or the Apprentice?”
    “It makes him someone we need to question again,” Mom said.
    “Do we have time for that?” I still had time before I had to go meet the Dingo, but probably not enough to question Cantu unless he was close and we used hyperspeed.
    “Maybe. He’s not that far away.”
    “In some hole in the ground type of not far away or in some official prison not far away? I’m asking because if he’s accessible he could be the Mastermind.”
    “Yes to both. He’s not accessible. Other than to me and a handful of other people. And if one of them is the Mastermind or the Apprentice we’re all screwed anyway.”
    Heaved a sigh. “Thanks for that, Mom. So let’s presume Cantu was the eager Apprentice. And he got caught, and so the New Mastermind is having an open recruitment period. Start by killing off a few congressmen.”
    “But why?” Abigail asked. “It makes no sense.”
    “Well, we know the why—they have all these bills with anti-alien stuff hidden in them about to go through the House.”
    “Bills get shot