Alien in the House

charge.”
    Here it came, the part I wasn’t going to enjoy sharing.
    “So, Colonel Hamlin suggested you not share any of this with either Charles, Clifford, your mother, or any other number of people you’d normally turn to,” White said without missing a beat.
    “Wow, Richard, were you there or did Raj fill you in?”
    “No, it just makes sense. If Colonel Hamlin is telling the truth, a Mastermind of that level would have to be brilliant. And we have a great number of brilliant people in our circle.”
    “We do. We’re missing two of them, though. We left Malcolm and Hamlin in the basement. Malcolm seemed to have everything under control, but when Santiago was first sick, before I knew how bad it was, Camilla told me why she was on-site, so I went to check on Malcolm and Hamlin. They’re both gone, I couldn’t reach Malcolm on his phone, and Christopher couldn’t find him.”
    “I didn’t search the cosmos, but Kitty thinks he’s in the tunnel system somewhere.”
    “I think they both are. They have easy access to it from our basement. I’m worried that one or both of them are more than gone, though.”
    “You think someone killed them?” Jeff asked.
    “Hamlin feels there are assassins after him, and while Malcolm is amazing, he’s not invulnerable.”
    “He’s also brilliant and capable enough to be the Mastermind,” Raj mentioned.
    “And before we head down that path, I think Eugene said something that could be related. When he said he was told to poison Brewer’s water—I realize everyone thinks he’s trying for the crazy defense, but what if he was manipulated by the Mastermind?”
    Jeff ran his hand through his hair. “What would the point be of having Eugene kill either Santiago or Brewer? From a Mastermind’s perspective, I mean.”
    “We probably don’t have enough information yet,” Raj said before I could. “But I think we have more urgent concerns.”
    “So many I’m losing count.”
    “Such as what Camilla told Kitty,” Jeff said. “I wasn’t advised about anything going on.”
    “Ah, sorry, missed a bullet point. James’ side of things got wind that one of the ‘captains’ from Operation Destruction was coming here, most likely to hurt Paul, our children, or me. If the ‘captain’ was Hamlin, then that’s correct intel but, as far as we know, incorrect plan, so to speak. But if there’s another captain out there, then he or she could still be gunning for any of us.”
    “But if Colonel Hamlin overpowered or hurt Mister Buchanan, that intelligence could be completely correct,” Raj added.
    “Wonderful. No chance we can grab everyone, head to Cabo, and forget about all this, is there?” Jeff asked.
    “Sadly no. Oh, Santiago asked me to personally clean out his desk. He also had a message for James. And I want to talk to Eugene to see if he’ll tell me if he was given the idea or coerced or something. Did you get anything from him emotionally?”
    Jeff shook his head slowly. “Not a thing, actually. And you’d think I would have, even with my blocks up. Eugene’s not a cool, relaxed killer. He’d have to have been nervous, excited, something.”
    “Jeff, you haven’t felt anything much tonight, not since the guests started showing up, I can tell. Can you humor me and take your blocks down for a minute?”
    He gave me a long look. “I hope you’re wrong.” He closed his eyes. “They’re down.” Eyes opened, looking straight at me. Jeff had an expression in his eyes I wasn’t used to seeing—fear. “I can’t feel you, baby. I can’t feel anyone.”



CHAPTER 25
    I REALLY WANTED TO PANIC. However, that didn’t seem like a good plan. Besides, Raj beat me to the reaction punch.
    “Ambassador, if I may, could we please search you?” Raj asked politely.
    “Why?” Jeff looked freaked and sounded upset. Couldn’t blame him.
    “I have a theory. It’s one I don’t want to forward until we’ve searched you, and then the rest of us, honestly, probably starting with Ambassador Katt-Martini’s purse.”
    Figured out where Raj was going with this. And I never had a problem forwarding a theory. “You think someone slipped Jeff an electronic mickey?”
    “A what?” Christopher asked.
    “A who?” Jeff asked.
    “Yes,” Raj replied with a smile.
    “You actually know what that meant?” Jeff asked him.
    Raj chuckled. “We’re much more media and pop culture focused at New Delhi Base.”
    “Great,” Christopher grumbled. “Someone