Alien in the House (12 page)

“Santiago, did something in the meal disagree with you?”

“Maybe. Not sure. Maybe I'm coming down with the flu, which would be the worst timing in the world.” He shook his head. “I'm sorry, Kitty, I don't want to wreck your party.”

“That's okay, I just don't want you to feel bad or get sick. Are you allergic to anything you might have eaten?” I smelled garlic on his breath and tried to remember which of the courses had had a lot of garlic in it.

“No, no allergies to anything.” He swallowed hard. “I really think it's either the flu or the combination of the fruit drink and the dessert, that's all.”

“I'd say botulism,” Camilla said. “But we had nothing that would have been suspect and, as far as I saw, no one else seemed to be in distress.”

We reached the second floor and got Reyes into the stall closest to the stairs, which didn't have the gate in it. We were the only ones racing someone to the bathroom, so Camilla's impression that food poisoning wasn't to blame seemed potentially correct.

The individual stalls were unisex and each one was large and nicely appointed. In addition to the usual amenities, Pierre had installed small couches in each one, in case someone wanted to lie down. He insisted these were necessary. I'd let him win that one, because I was much more excited about the fact that we had stacks of real hand towels, not paper ones, in the bathrooms. Hey, it's the little things you treasure.

The stalls were also really soundproof, which everyone considered a good feature.

All this was great for Reyes, but made getting to talk to Camilla alone in the bathroom awkward. “Do we talk out here or do we share a stall?”

She rolled her eyes. “I don't actually need to go. If you can hold it, we can sit on a couch.” She looked around. “Or we can just stand here. The kitchen staff isn't near enough to hear anything.”

“Okay, so, what's going on?”

She dropped her voice. “We think one of the ‘captains' from the invasion has infiltrated and is nearby. Not sure who or what his target is, but we figure it's either the Pontifex, the hybrid children, or you.”

T
HERE WERE A LOT
of responses I wanted to give to this statement. All of them related to Colonel Hamlin who was, if all was well, being guarded by Buchanan in the basement of the Embassy.

Or course, my experience said things rarely went well. “Um, can you hold down the fort here for a couple minutes?”

Camilla was a rarity among the A-Cs—she could lie believably and well. She'd told me the few A-C liars that existed were found early and trained in the various arts of spying and such. We were all still alive because Jeff's father, Alfred, had put Camilla in place when Jamie was born, and Camilla had done her triple agent duty perfectly, helping us thwart Operation Confusion.

Chuckie had put her on assignment to sniff out which A-Cs were traitors, or, in their minds, which A-Cs were Purity of the Race Patriots still supporting either their former leader, Ronald Yates, or the former Diplomatic Corps. So I hadn't seen Camilla for a good long while.

However, the reality was that the flip side of Camilla being a world class liar was that she was also world class at spotting liars. Her eyes narrowed. “What are you up to that no one else knows about?”

“Oh, um, some others know about it. Look, we're on the same side.” I truly hoped. “Give me about five minutes, or less, and then we can bring each other up to speed.”

She nodded. “Fine. One of us has to stay here until Representative Reyes feels better anyway.”

“Right.” I took off, using hyperspeed. I wasn't enraged, but I was really, really stressed, and that seemed to be working for me in the same way rage did—I was in control of my A-C talents.

Zipped from the Zoo, over the walkway, through the Embassy, and down into the basement, without hitting into anything. Which was good, because no one was there.

Resisted the impulse to curse. Buchanan had moved Hamlin before; maybe he'd moved him now. Where to was the question. Dug out my phone and hit Buchanan's speed dial button.

It rang and went to voicemail. Hung up and called again. Same thing. Tried this three more times. Either Buchanan was somewhere where he couldn't hear or see his phone, or something bad had happened. Or both.

Had a lot of options, but decided freaking out really couldn't be one of them. Instead, I called Christopher. Thankfully he answered.

“Hi, Kitty, why are you calling me right now?”

“Too much to explain. First, a question—is anyone at the party acting sick?”

“Uh . . . no, not that I can see.”

“Great. Next, can you find Malcolm Buchanan?”

“Right now?”

“It's important right now.”

“Excuse me, have to take this.” I could hear Christopher get up and leave his table. “Okay, now that I've rudely taken a call and left in the middle of a senator's discussion of alien rights, let me search for your lost love.”

“Geez, does Jeff routinely ask you to handle the jealousy for him if he's busy elsewhere?”

“No. That's . . . weird.”

“I'm gonna hate this, aren't I?”

“Yeah, I can't find him. Should I search the cosmos?” This wasn't Christopher being snarky. Well, it was, but he could make good on the offer. Since his Surcenthumain boost, Christopher could “see” all the way to the farthest planet in the Alpha Centauri system.

“No, I have a horrible feeling he's somewhere in the tunnel system.”

When we'd first discovered the deep and, it turned out, ancient tunnel system, it had been cloaked at least as well as the Crash Site Dome, and had been impenetrable via A-C talents. At the end of Operation Destruction we'd been able to see and map all the deep underground tunnel system—everyone had thought this was thanks to the Poofs finding and taking the Evil Flying Dino-Birds' myriad hidden power cubes.

Everyone had also assumed we'd be able to see and fully function within the tunnels and their connected rooms from then on. But within two weeks the tunnels had gone back to being cloaked, we couldn't get in and out of the rooms without a power cube, and tunnels and rooms both were once again impenetrable to the talented A-Cs, Jeff and Christopher included.

After the horrible discovery Chuckie had confirmed with me this morning, I now wondered if we'd been able to “see” the tunnel system because ACE knew we'd need to map it and also knew he wouldn't be around to help ensure we could continue to “see” the system whenever we might want.

Christopher pulled me back to the present situation. “Okay. So what's our next move?”

“I need you to see if Representative Reyes is sick or okay.”

“Okay.” There was a pause. “Oh my God!” Christopher hung up.

Decided that meant Reyes was really sick. Tabled the issue of where Buchanan and Hamlin were and ran like hell for the Zoo.

Christopher had beaten me and was slamming against the bathroom door.

“What's going on?” I asked as I joined him. Camilla was nowhere in sight.

“Reyes isn't sick. He's dying. I sent Camilla for Tito, Lorraine, and Claudia. Why the hell are these doors so damn tough to break down?”

“Pierre had them reinforced for the soundproofing. And they've got a lot of metal in them.” I slammed into the door with Christopher.

Did the trick and the door flew open. Reyes was on the floor, vomit and other horrible bodily fluids all around him. He was convulsing and if I'd thought he'd looked bad before, it was nothing compared to now.

There were footsteps behind us and Tito and the three women ran up. Camilla was holding Tito's hand. He gagged when they stopped, the usual human reaction to hyperspeed. Reyes started to vomit up blood.

“You didn't take your special Hyperspeed Dramamine?”

“I did, I take it every day now. But this is horrible. I'm a doctor but I wasn't prepared for this.” Tito motioned to me to step out. “Christopher, can you help me with diagnosis?”

Christopher grabbed Tito's hand and touched Reyes. Because of Christopher's expanded talent, he could see inside someone. This particular aspect of his expanded talents had helped save a lot of us over the past year.

“Where's Nurse Carter?” I asked Camilla.

“Left her upstairs in case someone else was affected.”

Tito shook his head. “I don't know what's going on with him. It's as if all his internal organs are trying to shut down.” He looked over his shoulder at me and Camilla. “You two were the closest to him. What happened and when?”

We described Reyes' symptoms. “I thought it might be botulism,” Camilla said.

“It's not, and it's not the flu, though the initial symptoms sound similar for both. Think. Give me everything, even if it seems stupid or unrelated.”

My memory nudged. “Oh. Well, I smelled garlic on Santiago's breath. I don't remember us having garlic in any of the food, though.”

“Oh my God. Arsenic poisoning.” Tito started barking orders to Lorraine and Claudia, who were both working at hyperspeed.

Christopher and I looked at each other. “There's no way that's an accident,” he said.

“We have to lock down the upstairs, and this floor. Everyone's food and dishes have to be searched. And no one can be allowed to leave.” I'd seen enough cop shows to know the basics.

Christopher pulled out his phone and made a call. I couldn't focus on what he was saying—I was too focused on Reyes. Christopher hung up. “James is on it.”

As A-C agents poured out of the bathroom stall on this floor that contained the gate and spread out, presumably through the Zoo and potentially the Embassy, a thought occurred. “Why isn't Jeff down here? There's no way he's missing this level of anxiety.”

“He knows. I told him to stay and keep things calm upstairs. Kitty, what the hell are we going to do?”

“We need to get him to Dulce, STAT,” Tito snapped.

“We can't,” Camilla replied before I could say anything. “He's too high profile. This has to go through proper channels. Proper human channels.”

“Then call nine-one-one,” Tito said. “Because this needs more medical than we have here.”

“Already handled,” Camilla said. “But we're going to need police, too, I think. Because arsenic means a murder attempt.”

“I know who to call.” Pulled out my phone. Looked at the burner phone in my purse for a moment. Poison wasn't the Dingo's style. And he'd said no one they were after would matter to me. He wasn't stupid; he'd have to know Reyes would matter to me. So either the Dingo was lying to me—always a possibility—or he wasn't the assassin in charge of this.

The police wouldn't want anyone to leave. Only I didn't know where Hamlin and Buchanan were. Meaning at least two people technically with access weren't here now. Decided to worry about these issues later. Like as soon as I could tell Jeff later. Which wasn't now, however.

Scrolled through until I found the number. I didn't keep these guys on speed dial. Happily, phone was answered on the first ring. “Officer Melville.”

“Hey, Herman, it's Kitty Katt-Martini.” I'd stopped calling him Officer Moe, Ishmael, or Ishmoe. At his specific request. It was tough to do, but anything for our men in uniform.

“I know. I have caller ID. What can I do for you, Ambassador?”

“I need you and the rest of the K-9 squad down to the American Centaurion Zoo facility five minutes ago. I think someone just poisoned one of our party guests, using arsenic, I must add, and we are officially out of our element. It's time for you to repay the favors we did for you during Operation Assassination.”

“You're sure?”

“As sure as I can be, based on what our staff doctor is saying. We've called nine-one-one, not that any ambulance with hunky, life-saving paramedics is here yet, but I'd like to see a friendly face right now, so please bring Prince along.”

I heard someone talking in the background. “The information just came over the police and fire bands.”

“American Centaurion is specifically requesting you and your K-9 squad. We're not asking for the rest of the police force.” I could technically get away with this request, because we were on American Centaurion soil, so to speak.

“I understand. We're on our way.”

We hung up and I fretted. Tito and the girls were working feverishly, but Reyes looked no better.

Christopher took my hand. “He'll pull through. Tito's the best doctor there is.”

I wanted to be comforted. I wasn't. I knew ACE frequently gave Tito a little assist here and there. This didn't detract from Tito's medical awesomeness, but in cases like this—where the patient was close to death—it was a huge comfort. But ACE wasn't around, and I couldn't bet on him being able to help.

“Someone has to handle the door, whenever the paramedics get here.”

“I will,” Camilla said. “Lorraine and Claudia are better with medicine than I am. I've called for more medical support. I'll handle cops and paramedics. Only the K-9s in, right?”

“Right, at least for now.”

She zipped downstairs as a slew of Dazzlers, including Melanie and Emily, Lorraine and Claudia's mothers, arrived.

Christopher and I backed out of everyone's way. Some of the Dazzlers were cleaning up around Reyes, but it was still awful to watch and hear. Reyes was in agony, and I wanted to do something, anything.

Steeled myself, let go of Christopher, and shoved into the room. Knelt down in a clean space and took Reyes' hand.

“Kitty, get out of here, you can't help,” Tito said. Reyes clutched my hand.

“No. I'll move when you need me to, or do whatever you need, but I'm not leaving Santiago alone.”

Tito looked at me, then at Reyes, and nodded. “Fine.”

I ignored what the medical staff were doing and focused on Reyes. “Hang on, Santiago. We'll get you taken care of.”

“The . . . crouton . . . was easier,” he gasped out.

I managed a laugh. “Yeah.” I squeezed his hand. “Tito's the best. You'll be fine and we'll be laughing about this in a couple of days.”

Reyes convulsed again and I stopped talking, though I didn't let go of his hand. The Dazzlers got him completely out of his clothes, because his clothes were covered with blood, vomit, and other less savory fluids. Three of them lifted him onto a gurney while the others ensured he was cleaned off. Sheet pulled up to cover his lower body.

I wasn't looking at any of this much; I was focused on holding his hand, on keeping him connected to someone during what had to be the most terrifying moments of his life. I was terrified, and I wasn't the one going through this.

Tito, Lorraine, and Claudia had been working on him nonstop through all of this. I had no idea what they were doing. I was just aware that it didn't seem to be helping.

Paramedics arrived; Tito briefed them on the medical procedures so far enacted for presumed arsenic poisoning. Took a quick look and saw Melville standing with Christopher, his dog, Prince, sitting at attention. Prince sniffed toward us and whined. I figured that didn't bode well for Reyes.