Alien in the House

we had to. A part of me was really willing to just run out of the Zoo and keep on going. But most of me wanted to know what the hell was going on and get it stopped.
    We hadn’t been gone all that long, so we still had a lot of official people milling around on the second floor. Camilla and Chuckie were not among them. But this proved nothing, one way or the other.
    I resented the fact that even a little part of me was wondering if Chuckie could be the Mastermind. I’d gotten over a lot of my hatred of D.C. but today’s events were threatening to bring it all back, and then some.
    Of course, if I were the Mastermind, I’d want to be sure I focused blame on some easy targets. And there was no target easier or more obvious than Chuckie. Therefore, my job, as his oldest and best friend, was to ensure that I didn’t fall for the scam, and that I figured out who was behind it. No problem, I was Megalomaniac Girl—this was right there in my wheelhouse.
    My internal dilemma solved, I turned back to the matters at hand, the first of which was calming Pierre down, because if I was freaked, he was freaked to the tenth power.
    Time was spent in hugs, reassurances that no one in their right mind could hold him responsible, and confirmation that there was still no one better at being our Majordomo Concierge and he was, of course, not going anywhere other than to bed to relax and then to his offices to craft our clever PR response.
    We’d easily spent as much time comforting Pierre as we had discussing evil plots against us, so by the time we were done, the K-9 squad were all together and had joined us, Prince nudging in between me and Jeff to get a double dose of petting from his two favorite ambassadors. His words, not mine.
    “We’re ready to clear out, Ambassadors,” Melville said. “We have our killer caught and in custody, have everyone’s statements, and Centaurion Division’s agreed to let us take possession of the prisoner and book him.”
    “Is Eugene still on the premises?” I asked.
    “He’s downstairs in a secured car,” Melville said. “Some of your people are there.”
    “I want to talk to him. Before he leaves.”
    Melville shrugged. “Fine with me.”
    “Don’t go alone,” Jeff said.
    “I won’t be alone.” I took Prince’s lead from Melville. “You okay with me snagging your dog again?”
    Melville grinned. “Nope, he loves you two.”
    “I meant take another person.” Jeff looked worried.
    “No.” I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “He may not talk if you’re there. Prince will rip Eugene’s throat out if he tries anything.”
    “Promise?” Jeff asked.
    Prince wuffed. “Yes, we both promise. Wait here until I’m back, though, please and thank you.”
    Prince and I trotted downstairs. There were a lot of Security A-Cs around. Had a feeling they’d been called in from most of the Bases worldwide—the only time I’d seen this many in one place was at the Dome. I knew none of the Dome personnel had been pulled away. But even so, there were a lot of big, hulking, handsome guys hanging around in black Armani suits.
    They all nodded to me and let me through. The police van taking Eugene away was easily spotted—it was surrounded by squad cars and a lot of men in SWAT gear. I chose not to question.
    “I’d like to speak to the prisoner before he’s taken away,” I said to the nearest official looking guy. His name appeared to be Dier. Especially after looking at a bunch of A-Cs, he was pretty ordinary looking, other than the uniform.
    “Authority?”
    I checked. Yep, they were in our circular driveway. “You’re on my country’s land.”
    He cracked a smile. “Go right ahead, Ambassadress.”
    “She’s an ambassador. Get it right or get out of the way.” Tim shook his head as he came to get me. “Amateurs.”
    “What are you doing down here?”
    “Airborne’s escorting the prisoner. Just in case.”
    “All of Airborne?”
    We walked around to the back of the van, and sure enough, the five flyboys were all in attendance. Tim was in the standard Armani suit all agents, human or A-C, wore, and the flyboys were still in their Navy dress whites. Eugene was going to have the best-looking and best-dressed honor guard going.
    “Hey, Kitty,” Jerry Tucker, my favorite flyboy, said. “Been missing our girl. Going to kick this guy in the nuts before he’s taken away?”
    “Contemplating my options. Can Prince and I go inside?”
    Tim nodded to one of the SWAT guys,