Alien Diplomacy (31 page)

I looked at Chuckie. “So we can be absolutely positive the C.I.A. is involved.”

C
HUCKIE GAVE ME A LONG LOOK.
“Not that I’m arguing, but how do you figure? Right now, it could be any of the Alphabet Agencies.”

“True, but we both know this sounds more like the C.I.A.’s style. Don’t they have that death drug?”

“That’s the movies.”

“
You
were the one who told me about the death drug, when we were in high school, and
you
said it was real.”

“Maybe I was misinformed.”

“Right.” I stared him down. He stared back. I narrowed my eyes. He tried not to laugh. This earned a quiet growl from Jeff. “Time’s wasting,” I said finally.

Chuckie sighed. “True enough. Yes, we have such a drug, and yes, field agents use it on a somewhat frequent basis, and yes, I’m
not
supposed to acknowledge that we have it, let alone to a room full of people. Happy?”

“Relieved. Would have hated to have your perfect conspiracy record blemished.”

“Near perfect,” he correct.

“Right, you were wrong about where Hoffa was buried. Where
is
—”

“
If
you could go on with the situation at hand,” Mom snapped.

“Fine, fine. So, the C.I.A. took the Dingo Dog’s partner and altered the records so it appears that he was never there. He was hurt but not that badly, so I think we can safely assume he’s alive. The question is, did they use the death drug on the Dingo, or did they kill him for real and just remove his body to tidy up?”

“No idea,” Jeff said.

“I did check him, and he seemed legitimately dead,” Nurse Carter said.

Chuckie shook his head. “If they did use the drug, it’s incredibly effective. No insult to your skills as a nurse intended, but it’s unlikely you’d have realized it was a fake unless you knew the exact signs to look for.”

“And I don’t,” Nurse Carter admitted. “So we don’t know if he was really dead or not.”

Len nodded. “We all searched, and Mister Joel Oliver took a lot of pictures, but there was no way to verify if they took a real dead body or a live one.”

“All the other bodies were there,” Kyle added. “Only his was missing.”

“Okay, so we’re at a semi-dead end until we go through what he left for me as next of kin and figure out what the message means. So, time to get some other information. Mom, Chuckie, the supersoldier project—it’s clearly being run out of Paraguay. I know what happened yesterday is a part of it. But is the superbeing formation we had in Paris a scant three months ago part of it, or is it a different set of lunatics trying to create the ultimate killing machines?”

Chuckie looked at Mom. Mom gave him the “oh what the hell” sign. He looked back to me. “Based on information we gained during the infiltration—”

“You mean Operation Confusion, right?”

Everyone I could see
other
than Chuckie winced. He just laughed. “Yes, that one. Anyway, based on what we were able to ferret out, there is a program, but whether or not Paris was merely part of it or is another initiative, we don’t know yet. Someone very high up in the government is in charge.”

“How high?”

“So high we can’t actually get many details. Any time any team goes to Paraguay to investigate, the locations we’ve identified as having the project are wiped clean.”

I looked at Caroline. “That’s what your senator’s doing down there all the time, isn’t it? His committees are trying to catch these people, or at least a trace of them.”

She nodded. “So far, just as Chuck said, nothing.”

I remembered something. “Chuckie, what happened to the picture we took from Nurse Carter?”

“I have it here.” He pulled it out of his inner suit pocket. “Is now the time?”

“Yes, it is.”

Chuckie nodded, turned in his chair so he was looking directly at Caroline, shot Jeff a look that, to me, clearly said “monitor emotions” and put the picture down in front of her. “Who are the people in this photo?” His tone was very friendly.

Caroline looked at it. “Well, that’s most, though not all, of the team on the last few missions to Paraguay.”

“Who are the men behind you?” Chuckie kept his tone friendly. “I recognize most of the others, but we need to identify anyone who might be in danger.”

“The one nearest to me is my friend Pete.” She looked up at me. “He was the one who was supposed to pick me up from the airport. I still don’t know why he hasn’t answered his phone.”

I managed not to say anything I knew Chuckie didn’t want me to. “Who’s the dude next to Pete?”

“His cousin, Vic.”

“As in Victor?” Chuckie asked. She nodded. “What are their last names?”

“Keller.”

“How long have you and Pete been dating?” Chuckie asked.

“Oh, we’re not. Not really.” Caroline sighed. “He’s older than me, by a lot. I know he likes me, but I’m not sure that I want to date someone in his line of work.”

“What is his line of work?” Chuckie asked. I was amazed at how calm and conversational he sounded.

“He and Vic work for Titan.”

“That’s the large security firm that contracts with the government, right, Titan Security?” Chuckie asked, still sounding as though they were catching up on friends from college.

“Yeah. I know it’s supposed to make you feel more secure if your guy’s always packing heat, but it sort of freaks me out. I mean, we need it when we’re down in Paraguay. There’s lots going on, and having Pete and Vic with us keeps everyone safe.”

“Is that how you met him?” I asked. “Because he was assigned to your protection detail?”

“Yeah. Titan has the contract to cover us when we’re in South America. The senator and I have gone down so often that Titan assigned a permanent team to us.”

“Has he been to your apartment?”

Caroline blushed. “Yes, but not for anything illicit. He’s taken me out several times, and he always picks me up at home.”

My memory nudged. “You said he was with an Embassy. How
can he be working for Titan and be attached to an Embassy at the same time?”

“Vic’s wife is part of the diplomatic mission from Paraguay. Pete and Vic are really close, so they both house with the Embassy. They got some special approval to do that, I don’t know from where. But Senator McMillan said it looked legit.”

“So he checked their credentials?” Chuckie asked.

Caroline nodded. “He doesn’t like them, I don’t think. I know he doesn’t like that Pete’s taken me out. Though he does his best to hide it.” She sighed. “Pete’s supposedly my date for the President’s Ball tomorrow. Not that I have any idea if that’s still on, either the date or the Ball.” She laughed half-heartedly. “Or if you’re even going to let me leave your Embassy.”

Chuckie looked at Jeff. “She’s clean,” Jeff said. “Telling the truth as she knows it.” Chuckie nodded like he wasn’t surprised, which, all scary things considered, was a relief.

“Why would I lie to you about anything?” Caroline asked, sounding completely shocked. “Kit-Kat’s one of my best friends, and so is Chuck. You guys saved me from whatever’s going on.” She looked at me. “What
is
going on?”

“Caro, the President’s Ball is still on. You, however, are only going under full guard.”

“Why? Not that I’m complaining, not after this afternoon, but I’m confused.”

“You didn’t ask who took this picture or where we got it from,” Chuckie said.

She shrugged. “I figured you’d gotten it from Esteban. I know you work with him frequently; he’s mentioned it because he knows we’re friends.”

“Esteban Cantu?” Chuckie asked. “As in the head of the C.I.A.’s Antiterrorism unit?”

“Yeah. You
do
know him, right, Chuck?” Caroline sounded worried.

“Oh, I know him all right.” Chuckie looked at me. “Well, now we know.”

“Now we know what?” Christopher asked.

I sighed. “Now we know who’s in charge of Operation Assassination.”

O
N CUE, EVERYONE WINCED,
except Chuckie, who was too busy thinking, and Caroline, who looked as if she were considering making confusion an art form. I couldn’t blame her.

I was thinking, too, of course. So I kept on talking. “So, Caro, didn’t it seem weird to you that Pete has an odd accent?”

“No. He sounds like everyone else from Paraguay.” She jerked. “Wait a minute, how did you know he had an accent?”

“Well, I could say I guessed, but I’ve actually met him. And we didn’t get that picture from Esteban Cantu. We got it from Nurse Carter here.”

Caroline looked at her. “I’ve never seen her before. How did she get our picture?”

“Doctor Rijos had it in his file,” Nurse Carter said. “I put it in my purse. The Dingo did not search us.”

“We don’t have a Doctor Rijos attached to our mission,” Caroline said.

“Nope, you probably don’t.” I looked at Michael. “Be prepared. She’s normally fairly cool under pressure but…”

He nodded. “Happy to help.” I was sure he was. Michael was clearly doing his best to stake his claim on Caroline early.

“What are you expecting me to freak about, Kit-Kat? I think I’ve handled everything pretty damn well.”

“You have.” I took a deep breath. “Caro, here’s the thing. Your sorta boyfriend?” She nodded. “He’s the guy we were talking about before. Peter Kasperoff, aka the Dingo. As in, the dude who tried to off me in several ways yesterday, assisted by his cousin, Surly Vic.
They’re now presumed dead or back under C.I.A. and Titan Security control.”

She stared at me. She stared some more. No one spoke. Caroline stared some more. She finally opened her mouth. “You’re saying that the people who were hired to protect us, and that us includes a number of prominent and influential politicians, are actually assassins?”

“Pretty much.”

“And I was going to go to the President’s Ball with an infamous assassin?”

“You got it.”

She looked around. “And no one in this room seems overly surprised.”

“We’re kind of used to it. Welcome to My Super Secret Life, where people try to kill us on a regular basis, and we thwart bad-guy schemes for breakfast. We’re almost like a reality show, only without the alcohol and hot tubs.”

Her mouth went to a straight line. “I need someone to check on Senator McMillan and his wife, right now!” I was so proud. She was going to save the freak out I knew would be coming for later. That was my Caro Syrup.

“Already on it,” Mom said approvingly. Apparently, Caroline was her favorite daughter. My memory nudged me again, harder.

“Caro, Peter seemed to be under the impression you were my sister.”

“I am.”

“I mean real, as in blood, not as in sorority. Any guess as to why?”

She grimaced. “Not really. I mean, I have our sorority composite picture up and he’s asked about it.” She blinked. “Oh.”

“Oh?”

“He asked me about you. He point-blank asked me if my sister was attached to American Centaurion. I said yes, because you are. I didn’t say you weren’t my real sister. I didn’t say that you
were
, either, but I guess he assumed.”

“Or he was having a joke.”

Chuckie’s head snapped to me. “Explain that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Peter the Dingo Dog seems like a very interesting person. He clearly has a strong attachment to his cousin.” Like Jeff and Christopher had, but I didn’t think they’d appreciate me making that comparison out loud. “To the point that he’ll do
things against his best interests if it’s for someone he perceives as having done either of them a true service.”

“Fine, but the joke?” Chuckie seemed rather intent.

“Why are you haranguing her on this point?” Jeff asked, sounding protective.

Chuckie made the exasperation sound. “She’s making profiling statements. We have a good file on the Dingo, but not good enough. We have three people in this room who have all interacted with him and lived. One of those people has shown an amazing ability to think like the people we’re trying to stop. Now, can Kitty answer my damn question?”

“Fine, fine,” Jeff muttered.

I leaned down. “I’m fine now,” I whispered to him. “You can relax.” I heard his stomach grumble. “And hopefully food will be here soon.”