Universal Alien (45 page)

A
LFRED'S SUIT
took a licking and kept on ticking, even though these bullets felt more like rocks hitting me than pebbles.

I reached LaRue in a second, wrenched the gun away from her, tossed it, and tackled her all in another second. “You shape-shifted into something to survive that explosion.”

“In a way.” She sounded funny and she was glowing from the inside. “I shifted into something that was able to absorb the explosion.” She grabbed me and held on. “It's going to destroy me. But I'm going to take you with me.”

Better me than everyone else. We rolled and I was able to see that while the speeders were still there, no one else was. Hopefully this meant that Alfred had had them link up and he was getting them the hell away.

“So, you were always a traitor?”

“I was always willing to see the Z'Porrah's side in the evolutionary argument.” LaRue wasn't fighting me, she was just holding me so tightly that all I could do was roll.

“They tried here with the dinosaurs and then, when that failed, the Ancients tried a more successful experiment with apes.”

“The Ancients sent a bomb to destroy the Z'Porrah's experiments, as you call them, because they felt the Z'Porrah were raising an army.”

I'd met the dino-birds, I could believe it. “Were they?”

“Yes, and why shouldn't they use this planet as they needed?”

“Nice to know we're the entire galaxy's dumping ground and experimental alien ant farm. But we're sentient and we're just not willing to put up with that crap anymore.” Was doing my best to roll us near to the crater. “So you were always a traitor. Did you kill the others on your ship when you landed here?”

“Yes. I expected us to be shot down, but the weapons I was promised weren't here. They'd been stolen.”

Go the Ancients. Presumably that 1950s mission had saved this Earth by removing the power cubes. Hoped they'd made it home okay. “Why aren't you shifting into something else?”

“I can't anymore.” She was glowing more brightly. I had one shot.

Slammed my forehead into her face. She hadn't expected it, and her hold released a little. Did an escape move Tito had taught me and scrambled out of her reach.

She was on her knees and one hand. The other hand reached for me. “I will take you to what you call Hell with me.”

Did a spinning back kick and sent her flying into the chasm. “Not today.” As always, when the skills were exceptional and my execution perfect, there was absolutely no one around to witness. Watched her explode, to be damned sure this world was safe from her, then I ran for the speeders. As I did, a camouflaged plane rose up from a grove of trees in the distance. It was flying low. Jumped on a speeder and headed for it. Didn't activate the shield, though. Was glad I'd taken it off autopilot before, because it was my only hope.

Chuckie was leaning out the door on the side of the plane and I headed for him at a diagonal. Hoped he was braced, because I was only going to get one shot. As I just missed the wing I leaped up and the acceleration kept me moving forward.

The speeder went under the plane and Chuckie just managed to grab my extended arm. I hung there for a moment, each of us holding on, me looking up while he looked down. He tightened his grip, and I saw him say, “I will never let you go.”

Then someone pulled him back and me up and I flew into him. He fell back and we knocked into Alfred and Buchanan, who had been holding Chuckie and pulling us up. We all went down, but I was inside the plane.

“Go now!” Charlie shouted. “Go! Go!”

The plane rose sharply and I realized Cox had to be the one flying. Figured Reader was in the cockpit with him, but this was a war zone, and that meant Cox would have taken the stick.

Buchanan got to his feet and struggled to close the door. Went to help him and saw the golden explosion take more of this area, including the three speeders, even the one I'd been riding. We got the door shut just in time, as the plane banked to the right and we rolled into Chuckie and Alfred again.

The shockwaves hit, and the turbulence was horrific. Chuckie threw himself on me and Buchanan did the same with Alfred, to keep us from flipping around. Thankfully the kids were buckled in against the right side of the plane, as was Cantu. Cantu was holding Stripes and Stripes was clearly holding onto Cantu. Cantu might need stiches later, but had to hand it to him for not crying like a baby.

For a long few seconds I thought we were going down. But we stayed airborne. Because in any universe, if I had a flyboy, he was the best flyboy there was.

Then the turbulence stopped, and we were just flying. The four of us got up from the floor of the plane and staggered to seats. Chuckie got me buckled in before he took care of himself.

“Meet Alfred,” I said to Chuckie, who was on my left. “In my world, he's my father-in-law. In this world, he's alone.”

Chuckie reached over me and shook Alfred's hand. “In this world, you're not alone any longer, sir. Welcome to our family.”

Alfred grinned and for the first time he looked like the Alfred I knew. “Thank you, son.” Then he patted my knee. “You did well, Double-O-Seven.”

“You as well, Alfred-Q. Moneypenny represented well, too. And isn't it always the way? MI Six has to save the C.I.A.'s butt.”

“But the C.I.A. rescued Bond at the end,” Buchanan said with a laugh. “So we still matter.”

Looked around at everyone. “Yes, yes you do.”

“I wish I knew where Harlie was,” Alfred said, sounding worried and sad.

Remembered the fluffy thing I'd run past when I was leaving the now-destroyed lab. Had a horrible feeling that fluffy thing had been the Poof.

“Ah, I'm sure Harlie's still in Miami,” I lied.

Heard a mew, and the Poof appeared on Alfred's lap. “There you are! Thank goodness!” He picked Harlie up and cuddled the Poof. “Where have you been?”

Harlie looked at me and mewled again. Then it opened its mouth and hacked up a blinking cube.

Realized I should have recognized it when I'd managed to take that short look into the Death Ray. “It's a Z'Porrah power cube.”

“I haven't seen one of those before,” Alfred said.

“I know, that's why I thought they were all gone.” Thought about it. “Maybe LaRue brought it with her. She was a Z'Porrah spy.” And that would explain why, in my world, she'd been able to open the room under the Lincoln Memorial—she'd brought the key with her. And that meant that, in my world, this was the cube the Mastermind had.

“What do we do with it?” Cantu asked.

Considered my options. Decided that precedent had already been set. Handed it back to Harlie. “You keep this safe. You'll know when it's needed, and I know no one will be able to make you give it to them.”

Harlie purred at me, opened its jaws much wider than its size should allow, engulfed the cube, and swallowed. Then burped discreetly.

“Are you kidding?” Chuckie asked. “You let that, is that an animal, take something that powerful?”

“Yes, it is an animal. And yes, I let that animal eat that alien artifact. Be happy. Your world doesn't need it, trust me. At least not yet. Think of it as insurance.” For Alfred and Harlie, as well as everyone else. “Now, where are we heading?”

“I'll check.” Buchanan got up and went to the cockpit.

“How are we going to explain this?” Cantu asked.

“That's your job, Esteban,” Chuckie said. “I can't speak for James or Malcolm, but I'm going to be officially resigning the moment we land.”

Cantu looked stricken. “Why?”

“Why? My family almost died, several times over! It's one thing to be an operative when you're single. It's another to do so when you have family that can be used against you.”

“Enemies are always around. And you've always been married with children as an operative.” I patted his leg. “When Other Me gets back, just tell her the truth, finally. I guarantee she can handle it. Make this decision as a couple, as a family. Don't make this change without asking her.”

“I agree with what your wife says,” Cantu said. “Though I'm confused. Why are you talking about another you?”

Leaned back. The movement of the plane was making me sleepy. Chuckie put his arm around me and I leaned onto his shoulder. “That, Esteban, is a long story.”

I fell asleep before I could tell it.

L
ANDING WOKE ME UP,
and I could swear that I was somehow hearing Gerry Rafferty's “Home and Dry” even though no music was playing. Not that Cox's landing wasn't textbook, but still, it jarred me awake. But not the kids. They were more used to air travel than I was.

The menfolk had decided on our story, and since it was basically the truth, Cantu told it. Cliff was a raging psychopath, an Agency mole, and the new head of the Corporation, and he had a vendetta against all of Angela Katt's family and former team, a vendetta that had led him to try to nuke Florida to show how much he hated everyone. Fallout had been contained, and no innocents or civilians had been harmed. Go team.

Reader had confirmed the “no one harmed” facts before we were off the plane, and Alfred, Cox, Stripes, and I got out of our special suits and stashed the Special Silly Putty and Alfred's Super Smartphone in my purse before we'd taxied to a gate. Which was good, since we had armed escorts who took us to the Pentagon, not Langley.

Alfred, being introduced as my uncle and a helpless hostage, and I, being the mother of three and also obviously a helpless hostage, were allowed to stay with the children, who were clearly helpless hostages and who would also probably need a ton of therapy the government was going to be paying for. None of us were searched. Being a helpless hostage had its benefits.

After a brief hour in quarantine, Stripes was allowed to be with us, too, especially because I said he was Jamie's therapy pet and she, smart thing that she was, started to sob and throw a tantrum until Therapy Cat Stripes was back with our family. Harlie, of course, was somewhere, either in Alfred's pocket or my purse or wherever the Poofs went when they disappeared.

The younger men, however, Cox included, were being questioned. For days.

Our little family group was treated well, and the time in one small room with two beds really bonded the boys with Alfred and Stripes with Jamie. We were questioned, but not a lot, and when we were we gave vague, incoherent, and ditzy replies. The kids were amazing at fooling the adults questioning us. Hoped Chuckie and Other Me were ready for when they hit the preteen and teenaged years.

A few days into our Not Really Incarceration, we were released into the care of the Israeli Ambassador, who was justifiably upset with America's allowing an insane homegrown terrorist to destroy his embassy and try to kill all his personnel and guests.

Aunt Carla came with him, and she was in her element. Realized I'd never seen her work before, but she was damned impressive. She had everyone at the Pentagon terrified, as near as I could tell. Profuse apologies for our Not Really Detainment were given, which Aunt Carla explained were nowhere near to being good enough. When she mentioned that her law firm would be in touch, I saw four-star generals go pale. Apparently Mom wasn't the only strong, intimidating woman in our family. Go Aunt Carla.

The Israelis had been put up in the Watergate, and we had three floors to ourselves. We enjoyed a nice reunion with Dad, Pierre, and Caroline, all of whom were smart enough to act like they knew who the hell Uncle Alfred was, with help from me and Aunt Carla, of course. Dad even wept with joy to see that his “adopted brother” was miraculously still alive.

The rest of those from the embassy were happy to see us, Leah, Oren, and Jakob especially. Israelis weren't afraid to show emotion, and a lot of tears, hugs, shouts, singing, dancing, and drinking ensued. It had been a long time since I'd had alcohol, but under the circumstances, I indulged. The less said about my arak hangover the better.

Had the fun task of bringing everyone in our extended family group up to speed on what had transpired. Because they were prepared, finding out that Alfred was an exiled alien didn't throw them nearly as much as I'd worried that it could. Aunt Carla was definitely giving it her all to show Alfred that he was a welcomed member of the family and he seemed flattered and more than a little interested. Aunt Carla did resemble Lucinda, in a way. Had no idea if they'd work out, but Alfred surely deserved a shot at happiness and, after this ordeal, I had a whole new appreciation for Aunt Carla.

Was the most worried about Cox, but apparently Alfred's hack of the Navy's databases had been extremely effective, and his being a part of Internal Affairs wasn't even questioned. Why the Navy had gotten involved at all was, but Cox just said I'd come to them for help and he'd felt it was the Navy's duty to assist. The Navy agreed—Cox was given a commendation. Proving he was no dummy, Cantu immediately requested Cox for his team on permanent assignment.

Which was quite a coup of an assignment, since Cantu had more than proved his ability to find the bad guys and lead his team to triumph, at least as far as anyone in authority knew. He was being given a new special position reporting directly to the President. I might even have suggested that he name his new team the Presidential Terrorism Control Unit.

Chuckie, Reader, and Buchanan were convinced to join Cantu's new team, at a nice increase in pay and rank. Chuckie held out the longest, meaning he got the best package and highest rank on the team, though he made sure that Reader and Buchanan were well taken care of. Alfred was also annexed as a special consultant. And so was Dad. Both of them seemed flattered and a little excited. For Alfred, this would give him purpose. And for Dad, I hoped it would give him something besides missing Mom to focus on.

During all of this I waited to get zapped back into my own world. But it didn't happen.

Jamie, Stripes, and I were alone, sitting on the king bed in our family's suite. There was a mirror in the room, but she wasn't looking at it. “You're done with mirrors, Jamie-Kat?”

She shook her head. “These aren't right.”

“Ah.” So the mirrors in D.C. had indeed been magic. Did my best to swallow the lump in my throat. Charlie, Max, and this Jamie getting to grow up, and with their father and family alive, was more important, wasn't it? “I'm sorry about those bad people destroying things that you treasured.”

“Daddy says we'll get new things.” She hugged Stripes who purred. He'd put on plenty of weight, all of it in muscle, as near as I could tell. “And you saved our kitty, Mommy, so, like you said, the important things are safe.”

Wanted to suggest that we find other mirrors, but that wasn't fair. I couldn't put myself before Jamie, not even if it was a Jamie I hadn't technically given birth to. She needed to keep on looking at this world, not at all the other worlds.

Cleared my throat. “Daddy says we're going to be able to go home to Australia very soon.”

Jamie looked at me, surprised. “But you said the bad people blew up our house.”

“Well, they did. The house here, in Washington. Just like they did to the nice Israelis' embassy. But our house in Australia is fine—Leah checked. More than once.”

She brightened up. “Oh. Then everything's okay.”

Would have asked her what she meant, but Chuckie came in to tell us that, yes, we were going to be heading to Australia tomorrow. “Just having the plane triple-checked,” he told me as he picked up Jamie and Stripes both. “I don't want to trust that Goodman didn't tamper with it.”

“Sounds good. How are we going to handle Stripes?”

He grinned. “It's amazing how grateful the government is that we contained Goodman and that we aren't suing on behalf of the children . . . yet. Carla's found a loophole—as long as Stripes has his shots here, which the Pentagon already gave him when they first detained us, he's Jamie's assistance animal, and we'll be allowed to quarantine him in our home.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She contacted Doctor Marling and he's sent the medical paperwork necessary. As you said, we're rich. It's about time I used that to ensure that our family can have a pet.” He stroked Stripes' head. “Especially one as brave as our big guy, here.”

Stripes purred. He felt Chuckie was A-okay. Well, not as A-okay as me, Jamie, Charlie, Max, Cox, or Alfred, but right after.

“How is it going to work, you reporting to Esteban's new unit but us living in Australia?”

“Supersonic jets are amazing, and we now have a pilot who might be even better than James, and is certainly licensed to fly said supersonics. Bill's going to be staying with us, at least for a while. Esteban will have others on his team. We're going to handle one side of the world, the D.C. team will handle the other. Video conferencing should manage the rest.”

“Who am I to argue?”

Chuckie put Jamie down. “You and Stripes go pester your brothers for a little bit, okay?”

She smiled up at him. “Okay, Daddy.” She trotted out, lugging Stripes, who winked at me over her shoulder.

Chuckie stared after her. “I never thought we'd ever see this day. When she was . . . normal.”

“It just took her realizing that she needed to help her own family more than everyone else's.”

“Yeah. How are you doing, really?” Chuckie sat on the bed next to me. “I know we both expected you to . . . be home by now.”

“Maybe this is where I'm supposed to be.” I didn't want to believe that, not really. But if Jamie couldn't connect to my universe anymore, there might not be a choice.

He took my hand in his. “I know this is . . . hard. For both of us. I just want you to know that, if you can't go back, we'll figure it out. Even . . . even if it means you end up divorcing me. I've loved you all my life, but in all that life, I've only wanted you to be happy.”

Looked up at him. “You really are the greatest guy, you know that?”

“Yeah. That and three-fifty will buy me a cup of coffee I get to drink alone.”

“You said that to me before, in my world. When I was getting ready to marry Jeff. But this decision involves more than me. It will affect you, the kids, the family, and then some.”

“I know. But . . .” He stood up. “You're not my wife. I know that, you know that. Hell, the entire family, including our new extended members, knows that. Esteban is being willfully dense about what you did, in part because he's smart enough to know that if he tries to say you or Alfred are, ah, exceptional you two will just disappear.”

Thought about living in the tunnel system with Alfred. I never wanted to have to live there and I never wanted him to have to go back to living there, either.

“Look, I'm not saying that I don't want to go home. Jamie just . . . Jamie doesn't think she can get me back. So, if that's true, we need to know what we're going to do.”

“I don't know, Kitty. I just don't know.”

“Right before you pulled me onto the plane said you'd never let me go. Which me were you talking about?”

“Both of you. I won't let anything hurt you, if I can stop it.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “But I miss my wife. So much. More because you're right here, because you're not really her. So close, and yet so very far. You know?”

“I know.” Stood up and hugged him. “Then we'll worry about it in Australia. I've never been. So I guess you're going to have to brief me.”

He hugged me back. “I will. You'll love it. It's your kind of place.”

“Guess I'll find out.”