Alien in the House (44 page)

“I
T SO FIGURES.”

Heard someone talking in the background. “My cousin says that the police are on their way to a potential suicide. Are they headed to wherever you are?”

“Yes, and it wasn't suicide. It was murder.”

“So you said. Murder and assassination are not the same. The end result is the same, but the motivations are normally very different.”

“Yeah, I know. Need the truth again—have you or your cousin been killing off members of the House of Representatives in ways that look natural or like accidents?”

“No. We have been working outside of the United States for the past many months. Because of your good advice.”

“Okay. Good.” Logic said the Dingo could be lying outrageously. But I knew he wasn't. The only reason I could give for why was that ACE always said that I thought right, and my thoughts confirmed that the Dingo wasn't willing to sully himself by lying to me, whether out of honor or pride or a combination of both.

Of course, thinking of this meant I was thinking of ACE. But there was no answering “think” in my mind. I missed ACE. A lot. And not only because if ACE were around I could ask him what was going on and get a clue. “I don't know what to do to stop this.”

The Dingo was quiet for a few moments. “If you look at the facts, and when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

“Sherlock Holmes said that.”

“Yes.”

“You're a fan?”

“Very much so, yes. You don't believe people in my business read for pleasure?” He sounded amused.

“No, I'm just sort of thrilled at the moment. Because I need help. And despite what every single person I know would tell me to do, I need to meet with you and tell you what's going on.”

“Why?”

“Because I think I need Sherlock Holmes. Chuckie's the Conspiracy King. I'm Megalomaniac Girl. We know there's a conspiracy at work, and we know the person behind it is a megalomaniac. I think we even know the why it's all happening, or at least a lot of the why. But the who is escaping us, and we're running out of time.”

Speaking of which, sirens were in the distance and coming closer. I was going to need to get off the phone soon.

“Ah, I hear that you have company coming.”

“You're good. Or you're close by.”

“I am both.”

“Did you see who shoved Edmund Brewer off the rooftop?”

“Perhaps. Meet me in the cemetery, where we met before. Ten o'clock tonight. Don't be late. Come alone.”

“You know no one's going to let me sneak out by myself, especially not now. And, let's be honest, it's sort of a stupid move to meet the two best assassins in the business in a cemetery at any time, let alone late at night.”

“I do not wish to have someone attempt heroics.”

“Noted. I'll ensure that whoever I bring with me is in agreement that we're coming to you for help, not to make an arrest. Deal?”

He was quiet for another few moments. The sirens got a lot louder. “I should not trust you, but I do. I accept your terms. I will see you tonight, Miss Katt.” He hung up and I dropped the burner back into my purse and closed it up.

So, the Dingo and I were in agreement that we shouldn't trust each other but did. Couldn't wait to share that with the people I was going to take to the cemetery with me tonight. They weren't going to be my husband or either of my best guy friends, so I had a hope that they wouldn't yell at me.

White and Raj returned. They beat the police cars by seconds, but by enough that the officers wouldn't realize they'd just come back from an excursion.

“We found them,” Raj said in a low voice, while White went to greet the police and Len and Kyle went to help Jeff and Nathalie up off the ground. “They were all in some big trash cans nearby.” His voice shook. “All dead. Necks broken.”

“It's official—Clarence Valentino is alive and somehow well and he is here.”

“I agree. So does Former Pontifex White.”

“We all prefer first names, Raj.”

“Right now, I prefer titles, Ambassador,” he said as the cops approached us. “Please allow me to do the talking.”

“Why?”

“Because, in this case, I'm going to be better at it.”

R
AJ WAS BETTER
at handling the police because he played the Diplomatic Immunity card within a minute of speaking to the officers.

White had a quick word with the boys, and I did with Jeff, so we were all on the same page. We all gave short statements to the police that left out Jeff running to the top of the building in less than two seconds and the fact that we'd had A-C Field agents here who were now dead.

Nathalie was far too much of an emotional wreck to say much of anything and the police were understanding. When a woman sees her husband fall to his death, apparently her being incoherent is a given.

There was no way in the world that we were going to leave Nathalie alone, though, police around or not. Raj gave the police our Embassy's number and, once they'd gotten our statements and hers, we bundled Nathalie into the limo. Jeff hadn't been able to let her go—the one time he'd tried she'd practically collapsed.

Len drove slowly back to the Embassy, in part because we didn't want to attract any more police attention. I tried calling Caroline, Senator McMillan, and Senator Armstrong. None of them picked up, all had the same locked-door meeting message going. Sent a text to Kelly McMillan.

“They're investigating it as a suicide,” Raj said. “And we're going to let them, at least for now.”

“There's no way that's true,” Jeff said.

“I know. However, Congressman, we need to have you and the ambassador as removed from the situation as possible.” Raj stressed the titles.

Jeff sighed. “Point made.” He looked at Nathalie then back at me. “What are we going to do?”

“We're going to figure out who's behind this and stop them. Permanently.”

Of course, this was a hell of a lot easier said than done. I'd hoped to glean some insights from Caroline or either senator we were close to, but Kelly's text explained why they hadn't been available—they were all in a very high-level meeting regarding Armstrong's presidential run. The presidential election was two years away, but was, like everything else, being affected by the government's moratorium on elections this year.

She said she could reach them if it was vital, but it had to
be
vital for her to do it. Passed along the news of Brewer's death, but chose not to use Kelly's access at this moment. Mostly because I figured I might need it at another time.

We got back and got Nathalie into Tito and Nurse Carter's care. She had to go to the infirmary because Tito had to give her a sedative to calm her down, and, as with Buchanan, he wanted her watched.

The others were already back, so the rest of our team met up with them in the Computer Lab. Thankfully it was big. What it wasn't, though, was full of answers.

“Serene's checked in,” Gower told us. “She hasn't gotten much from the emotional overlay device. Once she had all she could get, she tried to open it.”

“Is she okay?”

“Oh, yes, she used robotic arms within a blast-proof container. Unfortunately, it was a good thing she took the precaution.”

“Blew to bits?” This was an easy guess.

“Yeah, so we have nothing, other than what we'll get from what we took from Gaultier Research.”

“It's going to take us weeks to go through everything from Gaultier,” Amy said. “It's giving me great ammunition for my case to take over the company, but otherwise, it's a morass of data and information, and it's going to require detailed attention and a lot more time before we have a hope of knowing what all's going on.”

“So, we say we got what we needed out of Gaultier, which is Malcolm hopefully back with us soon, and we say they're a dead end for now.”

“What if the Mastermind is at Gaultier?” Amy asked.

“Then we don't find him or her right now. Look, I go back to what I said to James yesterday, I think it was—we need to solve these murders, first. If that leads us to our Professor Moriarty, great. If it only leads us to the Sith Apprentice, then at least we stop that person.”

“If Clarence is back, where's he hiding out?” Jeff asked.

“I'm more interested in who he's working with. Because I'm going to bet money that Clarence is who hit Malcolm with the suspended animation drug. He's about the only one who could.”

“Clarence isn't the brains of the operation,” Christopher said. “There's no way.”

“There's no way he's the Sith Apprentice, either. I'm sure he's being used as really effective and apparently quite loyal muscle.”

White shook his head. “Loyalties shift. I'm sure Clarence is loyal to whoever helped him recover after the invasion. That may not be anyone he's known before.”

“Sith Lord or Sith Apprentice,” Stryker suggested. The rest of Hacker International nodded their agreement.

“Chief,” Walter said over the com, “Mister Beaumont is here.”

“Send him in and up, Walt. Scan him first, if you're able.”

“Yes, Chief.”

“Did you invite him?” Reader asked.

“No. I'm assuming he's heard about Edmund's death.”

Vance arrived. “Now do you people believe me?” he asked by way of saying hello and proving me right. He had an overnight bag with him.

“I've been with you for a while, but yeah, I think we have more converts to the theory. What's with the bag?”

“Lydia's still at our place. I'm hoping to spend the night here again. Potentially for weeks or until she removes herself.”

“Fine with me, we can fit you in I'm sure. And I don't think we want to let Nathalie go home alone so if she insists, you can go with her.”

“I'm agreeable. My husband's consoling one new widow, I'll be happy to console the much better-looking new widow. Have you figured out who's killing everyone?”

“Not yet,” I admitted.

“Have you at least figured out why?”

“Sort of. It's political.”

“In this town, that's like saying water is wet.”

“We have assassins here,” Jeff pointed out. “Why are we assuming they aren't involved?”

“Well, one of them is, for sure. And, I'm going to say something and I want everyone to let me finish before they yell at me or forbid me to do something.”

“Can't wait for this,” Jeff growled under his breath.

“I called the Dingo. He insists he and Surly Vic are not the assassins we're looking for. However, he also confirmed that Raul is a professional name, kind of like Madonna. Raul also uses the alias Dier, though he's never used Reid to the Dingo's knowledge.”

Chuckie cursed quietly and looked at Mom. “This has never popped, not once.”

“No,” Mom agreed. “It hasn't.” She looked seriously pissed.

“So, it's safe to assume that Leventhal Reid still has friends in high as well as low places. However, the various Reps' murders were not carried out by Club Fifty-One—they just don't possess the skills.”

“Could Reid have been the Sith Lord?” Reader asked.

“He was too young when he died to have been involved as far back as the Mastermind theory takes us,” Mom said.

“Not if he was the Apprentice to the first Sith,” Stryker said. “I'm looking at timelines here, and I'd say it would have been very easy. He was a career politician, he went to George Washington University, and did all his internships on the Hill.”

“And Reid was a sick, twisted bastard. And that means he'd have been attractive to whoever was running their Overlord Campaign.”

“It's all pure conjecture,” Mom said. “We have no facts and less proof.”

“That matters for you, Mom, and Chuckie, but it doesn't matter for us. I've spent the past three years working with no facts and less proof, and I always end up being right, because the Force is strong on my Megalomaniac Girl skills. By the way, you all interrupted me before I was done.”

“Oh,
beg
pardon,” Mom said, sarcasm knob firmly at eleven. “Do go on.”

“I will. I made a date with the Dingo.”

A lot of people started talking, loudly. “Quiet down!” It wasn't Jeff bellowing—it was Raj. And he wasn't bellowing, just speaking strongly. But everyone shut the heck up. “Thank you. The ambassador has more to say. Let's allow her to say it.”

“Thanks, Raj, I officially like having a troubadour around. Okay, the Dingo knows more than he wants to tell me. I think I can get it out of him in a face-to-face meeting. However, he won't show if I come with anyone who might have the idea of arresting him, and that includes Mom, Chuckie, Kevin, all of Alpha Team, all of Airborne, and Jeff and Christopher, too.”

“Then you're sure as hell not going,” Jeff said.

“No, I'm going. I told him I wasn't going alone. And I won't.”

“Just who do you plan to take to a meeting with the best assassins in the world?” Mom snapped.

“I plan to take Richard, Raj, and the two best warriors currently on planet Earth.”