Alien Diplomacy (42 page)

“I don’t buy it.”

Chuckie sighed. “I was alerted by your dogs barking their heads off.”

“How could you have heard them? I know they were loud as hell, but the soundproofing in the Embassy is amazingly good.”

He mumbled something.

“Come again?”

Chuckie sighed. “Fluffy and some of the other Poofs started acting stressed and were throwing themselves at a window. Since we know they can somehow travel wherever they want in a way no one understands, it was pretty clear they wanted us to see something. Your husband and I went to look and saw your dogs going nuts. Martini monitored your emotions. You weren’t scared; you were annoyed. We checked the surveillance cameras; I didn’t think it was a good idea to have a bunch of A-Cs race up out of nowhere. So, I came, since that’s part of my job. Now, I ask again, what the hell just happened?”

“You tell us.” I brought Chuckie up to speed on the taxi situation. I deftly left out the fact that we’d walked up and down the street, or that we’d run into Marcia and Nathalie, let alone that we’d spotted Buchanan doing the Nonchalant Dude on Observation Duty routine. I’d save that for later. “Ishmael might be some sort of clue, but to me, he’s Moe, and the other two are Larry and Curly.”

“Did you pick up anything?” Chuckie asked White and the boys.

Len nodded. “They were watching for who was going to come out of the Embassy, all three of them, the two who weren’t talking to us in particular.”

“They only watched the Embassy,” Kyle added. “They didn’t look around.”

White looked pensive. He was also looking around carefully.

“What’s up, Mister White?”

“I’m trying to figure out why they came right now.”

“Want to explain that?”

He nodded slowly. “The two times you’ve seen them, you’d just gone through a dangerous situation and were, for all intents and purposes, out in the open. The only other interaction we’ve had with them was when they created the gas leak to plant surveillance in the Embassy.”

“Correctamundo. And I see your point. Why did they drop by now? Nothing’s blown up, at least that I know of, and we’re not being pursued, so why show up when all we’re doing is walking the dogs?”

Chuckie’s eyes narrowed. “We’re not done scanning the neighborhood, but this would indicate that they knew you were out. And that means you’re right—they installed surveillance somewhere we haven’t found and neutralized.” He cursed under his breath. “Every Embassy in this area could be compromised.”

“Maybe. They were insisting they weren’t part of the big plan. They also said they were trying to protect us from the Dingo.”

“No,” Len said. “He said they were trying to protect
you
.”

“I assume he meant the inclusive ‘you.’ ”

“I don’t think he did. He was only talking to you. He didn’t look at any of us, not even Mister White. Only you. And you were the only one of us here who ended up in the Potomac, and he didn’t say anything about how we’d have been spared worrying about you or anything like that.”

“So I have a fan club? Lucky me.”

Len looked at Kyle. “What about the other two?”

Kyle shook his head. “Like I said, they were watching the Embassy, pretty much exclusively.”

“So I have a fan club of one, and his pals tag along. Still not thrilled.”

“No one got anything else?” Chuckie asked, clearly hoping one of us had managed a bit more.

“Ishmael didn’t sound like he had an accent.” Hey, it wasn’t much, but it was something.

“Does that mean you think he’s American or that you think he’s good at disguising his voice?”

“No clue, sorry.”

“Their license plates were caked with mud,” Kyle said, “so I couldn’t get the numbers.”

“Figures.” Chuckie heaved a sigh. “Well, at least they didn’t attack you.”

“No. Though with the dogs they had along, it was a possibility. But I’m pretty sure our dogs could have won.” Though I wasn’t positive. The three German Shepherds had been darned big, and all my dogs tended more toward the lover, not the fighter, side of the house.

“Let’s hope we don’t have to find out,” Chuckie said. “Anything else? At all?”

Len looked a little uncomfortable. He took a deep breath. “We went by several other Embassies on our walk. Specifically, the Paraguayan Embassy. Twice, once from each side of the street.”

Chuckie gave me and White a long look. “Which one of you suggested that?” He didn’t sound happy.

White shrugged. “I did. We found nothing of interest.”

“The curtains were all closed,” I added. “Not that I know personally because I stayed on the street with Jamie, the dogs, and the boys.”

Chuckie raised his eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yes,” White said. “I did a quick check at hyperspeed. All curtains closed, no real sounds coming from inside. However, that means nothing—I’m sure their soundproofing is excellent.”

“See? I’m not an idiot, Chuckie.”

“Yeah? I’ve heard those kinds of protests from you before. They always come right before you do something even more dangerous than you’ve insisted you won’t do.”

“Well, we did get some other information, too.”

Chuckie’s eyebrow rose again. “Really? What? And just when did you plan to share?” He didn’t sound pleased. At all.

“It’s that Jack Ryan supposedly offed himself, and as for when, when we were home.” I gave him what we’d gotten from Marcia and Nathalie. “They didn’t mention that their husbands had dropped by yesterday, either.”

Chuckie shook his head slowly. “I’d assume that visit wasn’t on anyone’s books, and I doubt any of those who came to see us told their significant others about it. Most of what they do ends up being classified. I can’t stand any of them, but the ones with high-level clearances have them for a reason. I’m with you, though, on Ryan’s ‘suicide.’ The timing’s just a little too convenient.”

“You think the C.I.A. took him out because he leaked about the President’s Ball?”

“Possible, but no one believed him.”

“Well, someone did, because I really don’t think Mister Jack ‘I know Tom Clancy had me in mind when he created the character’ Ryan was the suicidal type.”

“There was also someone watching Kitty,” Len added. “A man from her Washington Wife class.”

Chuckie gave me the hairy eyeball. “Really. And when were you going to share
this
tidbit? Never, later on this afternoon, or when we’re all running for our lives?”

I refrained from calling Len a narc, but it took effort. Then again, Chuckie had hired him and Kyle specifically, and, as he’d be the first to remind me, the people protecting you have a right to share when you’ve been a tad free with the risks.

“Geez, dude. Home. I was planning to tell you, Jeff, James, Tim, and whoever else when we got home, which, if the Stooges hadn’t shown up, would have been about ten minutes ago.”

“Right. Does your husband buy it when you toss this B.S. at him?

I shot my best withering glare at him, to which Chuckie responded with his Dead Man’s Stare that was, frankly, a lot more intimidating than I’d ever let him know. “Scoff all you want, Secret Agent Man. I was telling the truth.”

“Sure you were. So, who’s your latest stalker?”

“Malcolm Buchanan. He’s sort of a loner, but, unlike ninety-nine percent of the class, he’s never been nasty to me. However, I’ve never seen him around outside of class before these last couple of days.”

“He following you because he thinks you’re hot?” Chuckie asked, as if this could be the likely reason.

“Could be. Len thought so,” Kyle said, while Len gave him a
dirty look. At least neither one of them was blushing. “I can’t say I’d argue with the theory, either.”

“Oh, please.”

Chuckie shrugged. “You’re the one who tends to be clueless about this sort of thing. I, on the other hand, spent half a lifetime watching men pine for you.”

Since Chuckie had been, as far as I knew, the only one so pining, I didn’t want to continue this conversation. I was enjoying not feeling guilty every day for not realizing he’d been in love with me. It was never a line of thought that made Jeff happy in any way, either. Plus, there was too much weird going on.

“Flattering as it is that all of you seem to think I’m a femme fatale, trust me, I really think he must be involved somehow.”

White cleared his throat. “I think we need to pay attention to other matters.”

I thanked God for the conversation shift as the rest of us looked where he was, at the Romanian Embassy, which was across the street from ours. It was big and blocky, nicely done, but nothing ornate, not one of the “look at me” Embassies. It was, however, sparkling clean, which, since it was bright white all over, was pretty impressive.

However, White wasn’t observing the building’s architecture. There was someone standing at a window on the second floor. Standing there, watching us. And, now that we were all looking, whoever it was waved and made the “come here” sign.

“Interesting. I think someone wants a visit.”

“No,” Chuckie said flatly.

“It’s Romania, not Paraguay. I doubt they’re still harboring a grudge over that party.” The person was waving more insistently now. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. “Is the waver wearing gloves?”

“Yes.” Chuckie sounded impressed with me. I wondered if this meant he’d let the walk to the Paraguayan Embassy and my slowness to share slide. It was unlikely, of course, but a girl could dream. “That’s why we can see the hands well, but not the face. I think he or she is taking care to be hard to see.”

“But Richard saw them.”

“Yes. I remind you that A-Cs have enhanced eyesight. I truly believe whoever’s up there wants to speak with us.”

“So why doesn’t whoever it is come out?” Kyle asked.

“Maybe he can’t,” Len said. “Or…maybe he’s afraid of being spotted.”

I decided I’d had enough standing around wondering. We were across the street from the Embassy, and at least three of the men with me were packing heat. Plus, I had four big dogs and an assortment of Stealth Poofs.

I shoved the stroller toward the front door. A little faster than I’d intended, but fortunately White was able to catch up and grab me before I slammed us into the building.

This meant, of course, that Chuckie and the boys had no choice but to follow us. Which was good, because I didn’t even have to knock. The door opened the moment we reached it.

There was no one there.

“H
ELLO?” I WASN’T CROSSING
the threshold until I knew we weren’t heading into the Romanian House of Horrors.

A young woman’s head peeped around the door. I realized she was behind it. “Please come in, Ambassador.”

It was such a shock to hear someone, anyone, refer to me as an actual ambassador that I gaped for a moment. Recovered quickly. “Thanks. Don’t let the stroller roll over your toes—it’s heavy.”

She smiled. “Not to worry.” She looked at the dogs. “Could you, perhaps, take your pets around to the back?”

“No,” Chuckie said. “Get the dogs back home,” he told Len and Kyle. “Advise the ambassador that we’re visiting neighbors.”

The boys shot worried looks at me, but they nodded and headed to our Embassy. The young woman looked a little disappointed for a moment, then put a welcoming smile back on.

We trooped in. It was nice inside. A big mahogany visitor’s desk dominated the entry room, with a staircase curving up behind it, very Turn of a Couple of Centuries Ago—though I didn’t spend a lot of time looking around. I was fairly sure Chuckie was handling that part of the festivities.

Once the door closed behind us, the girl bobbed her head. “The Ambassadress would like to speak with you. If you’ll wait a moment, I’ll fetch her.”

She trotted upstairs while we all exchanged the standard “what’s going on?” looks.

“You know her?” Chuckie asked.

“No.” I got Jamie out of the stroller. She had her Poof in her hands, and I decided that was probably smart. It looked like a
stuffed animal, after all, and that way, if needed, her Poof could activate without issue. “Harlie, Poofikins, into Kitty’s purse. Other Poofies, guard Richard, Chuckie, and the stroller.” Poofs disappeared into male pockets as I put the diaper bag where Jamie and the Poofs had been and put my purse over my shoulder. “Chuckie, Fluffy’s with you, right?”

“Right,” he mumbled. Jeff always acted like this about the Poofs, too, which cracked me up. I refrained from singing “Macho Man.” Out loud. It was playing in my head, though.

White, unsurprisingly, had no issue with a couple of Poofs. “I don’t recognize the young lady, either. She wasn’t one of the guests at the…party.”

“Amy’s not here. We can call it a fiasco.”

“Then how does she know you?” Chuckie wasn’t going to let this one go. “Oh, and let me mention—you just lost whatever points you’d made by not going into Paraguay’s Embassy. We’re now on Romanian soil, meaning that we’re subject to their laws and there’s not one damn thing I can do about it.”

“Not to worry, Mister Reynolds,” a woman’s voice said from above us. “You are guests of Romania, not prisoners. And not enemies.”

We all looked up. The young woman was helping an older lady. She was older than Mom but not as old as my Nana, at least as I judged it.