Alien in the House

precedent had been set in the arena of Making Pacts with the Devil.
    “I’m just going to spitball it here and bet that Culver and Gadoire are being coy about using any influence on this issue, right?”
    He sighed. “Right.”
    Of course right. They weren’t idiots; they were really damned good at their jobs. And that meant that what they wanted was for one of us—me, Jeff, Reader, Gower—to ask them for help.
    “Okay, here’s my third official question. Where is the nearby holding facility that no normal person knows about that’s both underground, very secure, and where the P.T.C.U. and the C.I.A. and lord knows who else store their very special prisoners?”
    “Why?”
    “I need to find someone who’s there, and it has no cell phone reception.” Took the guess because Caroline had been calling Michael and he hadn’t answered. “And I think I need to find them urgently.”
    “Well, your clearance could be high enough. I’d check but it’s Christmas Eve so I’m going to assume it is and if I’m wrong, oh, dear.”
    “Works for me.”
    “The facility is in the Pentagon.”
    So much for the idea that I’d get a hold of Mom, Jeff, or anyone else on that team. I was willing to storm the castle if we had to, but the six of us breaking into the Pentagon’s underground prisoner vault seemed wildly unwise. “Thank you. One more bonus round question, please.”
    “Go ahead.”
    “Do you know who’s influenced the anti-alien wording in all these bills? Is it one person or a group or does everyone just really fear us this much?”
    “There’s no one specific group that’s leading the charge, though of course there are always those who are more vocal. The Secretary of Transportation is very anti and he’s barely hiding it. Because of his relationship with her Chief Aide, the Secretary of State is on the fence, but leaning toward getting the A-Cs under a firmer level of control.”
    “Wonderful. Anyone else?”
    “Well, Senator Kramer isn’t doing any of you any favors, and neither is Senator Montgomery. They aren’t anti, per se, but whenever they’re discussing the A-Cs, somehow you all come off sounding like loose cannons with absolutely no regard for the safety of those around you.”
    “I’m confused. All these people are friends with each other, and friends with the Armstrongs, and were friends with the Brewers. How is it that they can hang when they’re diametrically opposed on a big issue? And don’t give me the old ‘politics makes strange bedfellows’ answer. I got that enough from Armstrong.”
    “Before you were exposed as being here, you were a force to be manipulated, and everyone wanted in on that.”
    “Right. Everyone wants to control the X-Men or the Hulk.”
    “Correct. Now that you’re outed, you’re able to openly tip the balance of power, and that means that you yourselves have great power. Some, like Senator Armstrong and the late Representative Brewer, were excited by the possibilities of what could be achieved. Some, like the Secretary of Transportation, were worried about the power they could lose.”
    Two people appeared out of the shadows. “Okay, thank you, Senator. I have to go now, but I really appreciate you clearing things up for me. And thank you for fighting for us.”
    “I don’t mind the fighting, but I do mind losing. I truly pray we don’t lose this particular battle.”
    “Will do my best to ensure that we don’t.”
    We hung up and I waved to the Dingo and Surly Vic. “Nice to see you. Need your help.”
    The Dingo looked around. “You have come with more than I expected.” He didn’t sound happy.
    “It’s a compliment because I know you two are just that good. Everyone, raise your hands so the Dingo can see you’re not armed.”
    “They’re holding staffs,” Surly Vic pointed at Rahmi and Rhee.
    “They are. You’re both wearing high-powered semiautomatics. You just let me know the day staffs are faster than bullets and then I’ll apologize for all of two of us having weapons. We’re under attack, guys, and we can’t really afford to be pussyfooting around with people we can supposedly trust not to harm us.”
    The Dingo nodded. “Fine. Let’s ensure this meeting is swift.”
    “Absodamnlutely. Look, I have a ton of questions and you probably won’t want to answer all of them, but we’re running out of time and I honestly don’t know what to do.”
    “Yes, you want me to be Sherlock Holmes.”
    “I do, I really