Alien Research

CHAPTER 6

SURE ENOUGH, the mass of people with signs and placards were heading for us. I could hear them chanting something about God hating aliens.

“Those aren’t Club Fifty-One people,” Kyle said. “I think it’s those so-called church people who protest at military funerals.”

“Fantastic. Time to listen to Len and get out of here.”

Interestingly enough, the Land Sharks didn’t look pleased. In fact, they looked panicked. “You have a car coming, right?” Gardiner said as the five of them started backing toward their car.

“Yes, I think—”

“Wonderful,” Somerall said, as he took Gardiner’s elbow and they all started across the street. “We’ll call you!”

They didn’t run, but they walked with really fast purpose, Somerall motioning wildly to his driver, who flung the car doors open then got into the driver’s seat. To his credit, Somerall got Gardiner into the car first, then the four men leaped in, the doors slammed, and they took off. Their car didn’t peel out, but if there had been a cop around, they’d have definitely gotten a ticket for excessive speed.

“Well, one problem gone, and another bigger one’s coming. It’s just our lucky day, isn’t it?” I hugged Jamie.

“It’s okay, Mommy,” Jamie said. “Mous-Mous is here.”

Cliff looked worried. “Chuck’s right—he and Jeff can’t let you out of their sight without a problem starting. We can’t have one of your Poofs, ah, activating.”

“Dude, no kidding and this wasn’t, and isn’t, our fault.”

“Argue later,” Len said. “We need to get out of here.”

Took another look at the mob and decided I’d let the Poof activate well before I’d let them hurt my daughter. Some of the people were waving their signs around, and it was easy to see that these really were the mentally unbalanced folks who thought their God was nicknamed The Hater. I’d read about how these people operated—they weren’t going to be nice because three of us were women and we had a little girl along.

“Back into the restaurant,” Kyle said. He took Naomi and Abigail’s arms and started moving them inside. Len did the same with me and Cliff.

“We could use hyperspeed,” Naomi suggested.

“Not good,” Cliff said. “It’ll get spun badly by the media. Trust me.”

“But we have a car coming,” Abigail protested.

“It can’t get here before the mob does,” Len said.

This was true. They were less than a block away, clearly heading for us, and no gray limo was in evidence on the street.

Once we got back inside, Kyle locked the door behind us while Len went to Rosemarie and told her what was going on. Then the boys took hold of us again and moved us through the Teetotaler.

“There’s a back entrance,” Kyle shared as we hurried past the restrooms. “We’ll go out that way and the car can find us somewhere safer.”

“Never a dull moment with you guys,” Cliff said as we got into the alleyway behind the restaurant. “Where to?”

Abigail had her phone out. “They’ll get us at any location we want.”

“We can use hyperspeed, so let’s go for Providence Park.”

“You know,” Cliff said quickly, “if you’re not with me, I can probably just stay in the Teetotaler until the mob goes away.”

“Don’t want to barf your guts out?” Hyperspeed was hard on humans. Tito had created a nice Hyperspeed Dramamine drug that worked great for combating hyperspeed nausea. Our human agents now took some every day. However, I didn’t wander around with spare pills on me, so I had none to give Cliff.

He grinned. “Not if I can help it, no. Besides, if the mob comes in the restaurant, it’ll help them if I’m there to at least tell the police what happened.”

“Sounds good. Thanks for the save.”

“Any time. When Mimi sends the ‘we’re in trouble’ text, I listen. Call or text if you need me again, and let me know when you get back home safely.” He hugged me, kissed Jamie, hugged the Gower girls, then went back inside.

Naomi grabbed Len, Abigail took Kyle, and we set off for the park, which was close by. It took only a couple seconds to get there and find a good spot to “appear.” Len and Kyle made sure the area was reasonably clear and we all lounged casually under some trees.

“Limo will be here in five to ten minutes,” Abigail said. “Where are we going, once we get out of here?”

Was about to answer when I looked down the street. “Are you kidding me? Is that seriously the same mob we just escaped from?”

Naomi squinted. “Honestly, the signs are different. I think it’s Club Fifty-One.”

“My God, we just rock the lucky today, don’t we?”

“I don’t think they’ve seen us yet,” Abigail said.

“Give them time,” Kyle muttered.

“Let’s move into the foliage a bit more,” Len suggested.

As we did so Naomi’s phone rang. “Yes? Hi, Aunt Gladys.” She stepped a bit away, which was good, because my phone rang.

The main Embassy landline, meaning it was probably Walter. “Yo, Walt, things suck here, how’re you?”

“Ah, Ambassador?” The voice wasn’t Walter’s. And Walter always called me Chief, because I was now the sole Chief of Mission. But the voice was familiar.

“Who is this?”

“It’s William, Ambassador.” Walter’s older brother.

“Why are you calling me from the Embassy?”

“I’m covering for Walter.”

“Really. So, here’s a question—what is one of our top imageers doing handling Embassy Security? Or, to put it another way, where is my Walter?”

“Walter’s at a Security training session at Dulce.”

“Since when?”

“Since Gladys called it. We do these periodically. Some are planned, some are impromptu. This one’s both. Planned for most, impromptu for some, like Walter.”

“Okay. So why is he at the Science Center for training?”

“Because there’s a big dust storm around Home Base and the training session needs to be held both indoors and outdoors.”

“Gotcha. And you’re covering his job because . . . ?”

“Because someone needed to cover Embassy Security, and it was decided that I was the most trustworthy option.”

“Cannot argue with that logic. Other than to mention that I wasn’t informed of any training sessions, impromptu or otherwise, or temporary personnel switches.”

William cleared his throat. “Ah, you don’t need to be informed, Ambassador. Gladys handles all of that, and if she says it’s time for training, it’s time for training, and if she says I’m covering during Walter’s training session, then I’m covering.”

“Gotcha.” Couldn’t argue. Gladys was the Head of Security for all A-C operations worldwide. She was considered scary formidable and I concurred on the scary. Three-plus years in and I’d never seen her in person, or seen a picture of her. I was okay with this, mostly because Gladys was one of the few people around who could intimidate me, and she had sarcasm down to an art form.

“Ambassador, are you alright?”

“That remains to be seen. Why aren’t you calling me Kitty?”

William laughed. “Because Walter left me very specific instructions, and it’s vital to the running of this Embassy that whoever’s running Security call you Ambassador or Chief. Per his very detailed page about titles and why they matter here.”

“I love Walter. And you, too.”

“Always good to know. Representative Martini asked me to reach you. He hasn’t had a chance to look at the texts from you or Naomi, excuse me, Cultural Attaché Gower-Reynolds, but needs to have an early luncheon meeting and it’s going to be at the Embassy. He’d like you to attend.”

“Why did he have you call me instead of calling me himself?”

“He’s been in locked-door and no-calls meetings all morning, and so has Mister Reynolds. That’s why he hasn’t looked at your texts. Representative Martini was able to make one phone call, and he chose to call me, so that I could make all other calls for him.”

“How convenient.” Though it did explain why Naomi had called Cliff—she’d gotten the same automated text messages I had from Jeff and Chuckie. “But I don’t buy that as the only reason.”

“He might have mentioned something about your possibly not wanting to attend because there will be other politicians in this meeting. Representative Martini told me to tell you they’re all friends.”

“So he figured I’d complain to you less and do what he asked without too much of an argument? And if I was mad because he hadn’t replied to my texts, you’d get to hear it instead of him?”

“Yes, Ambassador, that’s my take.”

Huh. Jeff was getting exceptionally sneaky in an effective way. He was learning a lot from politics and other politicians, especially in terms of how to avoid listening to his wife whine. Wasn’t sure if I was happy with this improvement or kind of annoyed that he’d anticipated my gut reaction so accurately. Settled for both.

“How much time do I have?”

“The meeting is going to start in about a half an hour, so you should have time to finish breakfast and get home without missing anything.”

“Ah. It’s not even eleven yet.”

“Yes, I have both a watch and a clock here, Ambassador.”

“Great. I mean it seems early to have a lunch meeting.”

“Per all the best books on etiquette, lunch can start as early as eleven, and, in fact, the meeting is set to start at eleven.” William was easily at an eight on the sarcasm scale and rising fast. Clearly Walter hadn’t shared that constant sucking up was a job requirement. Pity. “Are you able to get to the Embassy in a half an hour or so?”

“Well, as to that . . . um, I thought we had a limo coming to get us.”

“I didn’t take that call, Ambassador.”

“Really. Okay, if you don’t get a text or a call from me in the next five minutes, assume we have a problem and call me. If I don’t answer, we have a problem, and we’re going to need help.”

“Do you want me to send Security?”

“You mean you, since Len and Kyle are already with me? No. I want to see if I’m just a Nervous Nellie or not. I’ll contact you shortly, William.”

We hung up and I turned to Abigail. “Who did you talk to when you called for a limo?”

“Walter, why?”

“Huh.” Needed to verify if William had literally gone on duty in the short time span between when Abigail and Jeff would have called. Maybe. “I’m worried that the limo coming for us may not actually be friendly.”

“Well,” Naomi said, as she hung up her phone. “I may have the solution. Aunt Gladys is running a Security training session today and she wants me and Sis to help her with some stuff. She’s about to send a floater gate for us—and she said all of us can go there if we want, she’s calibrating for multiple people to go through at the same time. She could use your help, too, Kitty, and that way Len and Kyle would get the training, too.”

“As great as getting to the safety of Dulce sounds right now, I can’t go. Jeff’s having some impromptu lunch meeting he wants me to attend.”

“The mob’s found us,” Len said. “We need to move somewhere, Kitty.”

“We could take Jamie, let you and the guys use hyperspeed home,” Naomi offered.

“Tempting.” It was. Naomi and Abigail taking Jamie to Dulce meant she’d be safe, and the boys and I could kick butt if we had to. However, there was a drawback. “But if Jeff’s going to be home for lunch, he’s going to want to see Jamie if he can. And I don’t think he’ll be happy about her being at the Science Center instead of in the Embassy, no matter how good the reason, especially because we’re not in actual danger.”

“Yet,” Kyle muttered. “But it’s a matter of time, Kitty, and that time’s short.”

The floater gate appeared. In the olden days, I could spot them because the air around them sort of shimmered. Now that I had the special A-C Upgrade I could see the gate clearly. I hugged the Gower girls. “You two go. Two of us safe for sure is better than none. Jamie’s been in a high speed footrace before, she can handle it again.” Besides, a gray limo was pulling up to the sidewalk.

“I’ll go make sure they’re who we want them to be,” Len said. “You stay with Kitty and Jamie,” he added to Kyle.

The Gower girls gave Jamie kisses, then they went through the gate, doing the slow fade I always found nauseating to watch, but still less nauseating than it was to experience. The gate was still there as Len motioned for us to come on over as he opened the car’s door. It turned off once Kyle and I moved toward the curb.

“Run!” Len shouted.

Looked around to see why he was stressing the urgent, so I saw what Len had—the mob was running toward us, screaming and shouting.