Alien in the House

do. Okay, gang, gather round, because I’m going to update our friends here on what I just learned and I want to avoid having to say it twice.” My team came closer, though Rahmi and Rhee stood a little apart, keeping watch. “Someone’s killing off people in the House of Representatives at the same time as there are a lot of anti-alien clauses that have been shoved into every bill going up for vote, in both the House and the Senate.”
    “The Senate, too?” Gower asked, sounding as worried as I felt.
    “Yes, and Senator McMillan isn’t feeling confident that the pro-alien faction is going to win the day on his side of Congress. He wasn’t as worried about the House, because we used to have a lot of really strong supporters with a lot of influence there. As of today, they’re all dead, other than my husband, and he’s alive only by chance. He was shot in the middle of the street.”
    “We did not try to kill him,” Surly Vic said.
    “Neither did Raul,” the Dingo added. “Word is that the shooter was a woman.”
    “Maybe that’s why Pia was killed,” Raj said to me. “She failed to kill two targets.”
    “I’ve got a better bet, and she’s going by the name of Dier. Maybe she wasn’t really serving the water at our dinner party to help or hinder Brewer’s attempted murder and Santiago’s real one. Maybe she was there so she’d know exactly what Jeff and I looked like.”
    “It’s a common enough technique,” the Dingo allowed. “And Bernice was very fond of getting close to her victims before killing them.”
    “Yeah, believe me, I remember. So Raul’s found another chick with the same can-do, people person attitude.”
    “It is very likely,” the Dingo said. “But I cannot believe this is why you wanted to meet with me.”
    “Nope, still just catching you up on the latest that is My So-Called Normal Life. Okay, so here’s the thing—there are a lot more people dead in the House than just the six really pro-alien ones. We have almost two dozen dead and gone, including some very anti-alien representatives. Oh, and my team, based on my most recent phone call, I think Santiago was always on the kill list.”
    “You’re sure?” Gower asked.
    “We’ll get the details for why later, Paul,” White said. “For now, we’ll assume Missus Martini is right. Please go on.”
    “Thanks. And, with this new information, I don’t know that Jeff or I are really part of what’s going on. I sincerely think Raul is combining business with pleasure.”
    “Again, we know he’s here to kill you,” the Dingo said. “He may have an assignment, but you are not that assignment.”
    “Gotcha, we are taking me and Jeff out of the equation for the moment then and just focusing on everyone who’s actually dead. So, I get why our enemies would kill off the people who are pro-alien. They want some or all of these bills to pass, so legislation is put in place that forces us to become virtual slaves, leave, or declare war. What I don’t understand is why you’d kill off the people who want to pass those bills.”
    The Dingo looked thoughtful. “Is that all?”
    “No. I need to know why someone wanted Edmund Brewer killed so publicly. If, as said, we’re removing me and Jeff from the picture, all the others were done so well they looked like natural deaths or legitimate accidents. And today, they set up Brewer’s death to look like a suicide, complete with a note.”
    “Does he have family?” the Dingo asked.
    “Yes, but we took his wife with us, so the murder-suicide option was removed from the Bad Guy Playbook. And that would have flown because, two days ago, they both publicly admitted that he knew she’d had an affair. So a very believable fight, a dead ‘cheating’ wife, a suicide of remorse.”
    Surly Vic looked kind of impressed. “That would be a good option to remove witnesses and ensure a message is sent.”
    “I think the message is ‘I want a lot of people dead.’ But the first attempt at murdering Edmund Brewer wasn’t like any of these. Eugene Montgomery was trying to poison Brewer, and it seems like happenstance that Santiago Reyes died instead. Only, Raul and his female partner were on the scene. We’ve got a good guess now for why she was there. But why was Raul there? Was it just to get me? I don’t think so, because Raul killed Eugene and we’re pretty sure the shot was meant to take out both of us. He shot about a minute too late, though, after Eugene had