Alien in the House

hopefully.
    “They won’t.”
    “They’re protesting about everything right now.”
    “So one more protest won’t make any difference.”
    “What if I need to represent as the wife of the representative?”
    “Then you’ll do it, as the representative’s wife who happens to be the ambassador.”
    “I see nothing but headaches on the horizon.”
    Jeff grinned. “I see opportunities to try to persuade Madame Ambassador to do things my way.” His voice was a purr, and I was instantly ready to discuss the ramifications of our new positions while trying out some old positions.
    But before we could actually do anything, the door opened and Vance stepped onto the stairwell. “Jeff, they’re starting to worry that you’re sick or dying in the bathroom. Precedent has been set for that tonight.”
    Jeff sighed and gave me a nice kiss, albeit a quick one. “Take someone, anyone, with you who can actually handle themselves in a fight. I’ll be monitoring you. If you go into the tunnel system, let me know before you go in.”
    “I will do, on all of those.” Somehow.
    Jeff kissed my forehead, then zipped off. I didn’t even see the door open or close.
    “It’s still amazing to see that,” Vance said.
    “See what?”
    “Someone disappear in the blink of an eye.”
    “Yeah. So, Vance, you have some theories to forward?”
    “Yeah, I do. Do you really want to have this meeting here?”
    “Actually, no.” I started down the stairs again.
    “We’re going to the second floor so we can go over to the Embassy to talk?”
    I was about to say yes as long as no one else was there when I heard voices that sounded like they were on the first floor. “No.” Went down the stairs faster.
    “Hey, wait up!” Vance took the stairs two at a time. “You’re really fast.”
    And I was also supposed to be a secret weapon. The world knew about the A-Cs, but it didn’t know that I’d become sort of half of one. “I was a sprinter and hurdler in school.”
    “Ah, that’s why you’re in terrific shape.” Vance sounded appraising. I tended to forget he and Gadoire were actually bi until moments like this.
    However, Vance’s sexual orientation was shoved aside by my having heard correctly. We did have people on the first floor. The group who’d gone to the medical center were all back. Sure they looked exhausted, but the game was afoot and I’d been point-blank told to bring some decent backup along.
    “Hey, why’d you guys come to the Zoo instead of going to the Embassy?” I asked as we joined them. The whole lot of them. Good. I was going to be able to make Jeff happy and take someone other than just Vance along with me.
    “James told us to,” Tim said. “He said there was important news we needed to get briefed on as soon as we were back.”
    “Yes, there is. But I need you all working on something else.” This earned me suspicious looks all around. Always the way. “Okay, fine. I’ll just take Richard. The rest of you can troop upstairs.”
    Got more suspicious looks. Well, from everyone other than White. He looked amused, but he also looked worried. Yeah, his only child was still missing. Couldn’t wait to tell him who else was gone.
    “What are you up to, Kitty?” Tim asked, clearly speaking for Tito and the flyboys.
    Lorraine and Claudia extracted themselves from Joe and Randy. Their dresses looked as bad as mine. I loved my girls.
    “You know, our girl’s been through a lot tonight,” Lorraine said. “You boys go up and get debriefed. We’ll stay with Kitty and help her out.”
    “Yeah, we’ll keep her out of trouble,” Claudia added.
    Their mothers were at the back of the group, along with the rest of the Dazzlers who’d gone to the medical center. Melanie and Emily exchanged a look. “Kitty, do you need us, too?” Melanie asked.
    “Hell yeah,” Vance said under his breath. “Bring the dudes, too.”
    Had to weigh my options, and not only because I didn’t necessarily want to have Vance hitting on everyone with clear intent to score. Of course, the only way to avoid that would be to take no one else with us.
    A smaller group would be more manageable. And that way we’d have Melanie and Emily to call for backup. “Nah, I should be good with Lorraine, Claudia, and Richard. But keep your phones handy.”
    White gave Nurse Carter a kiss on her cheek. “Stay with the group.”
    She nodded. “Be careful.”
    All of Airborne were giving me looks that said I was keeping them out