Текст книги "Alien in the Family"

Автор книги: Gini Koch

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Текущая страница: 14 (всего у книги 32 страниц)

CHAPTER 34

IRAN OUT OF THE ROOM, Poofs behind me. “Drug that crazy bitch. Renata, forget it, we have bigger issues!”

“What the hell is going on?” Martini asked. “Your stress levels are off the charts.”

My phone rang before I could reply. Why now? I dug through and answered it, while I ran for the elevator, the others behind me. “Hello?”

“Kitten? Where are you?”

“Dad? Now’s a terrible time. I’m at the Science Center.”

“Why aren’t you in Vegas?”

We were in and I hit the button for the launch area. “Heading back there at warp speed, Dad.” I thought about it. “Why?”

He sighed. “Your mother’s waiting for you, and from what I can tell, things are a little tense with Jeff’s mother.”

I went cold. “What do you mean, Mom’s in Vegas?”

“Well, Kevin told her about how some of Jeff’s people were going to be there, and we figured it might be a good way to get to know them. She’s not alone. Your Aunt Karen and Aunt Ruth are with her, and Nana Sadie and Nona Maria are there, too.”

“Daddy?” I never called him Daddy any more unless I was freaked beyond belief.

He knew that, and I heard his voice shift. “What, Kitty? What’s wrong?”

“Call Mom. Get them out. All of them, out. Evacuate the entire complex. Tell her to do it fast.” I looked around wildly. “What time is it?”

“About eleven in the morning, why?” Christopher was giving me the look that said I was scary and strange.

“Dad, get them OUT! Do not go there yourself, you understand me? You stay away from Vegas and get them out of there!”

“Okay, I’ll call you back.” He hung up, and I hit the stop elevator button, then hit the one for the holding area.

“How bad is it?” Martini asked me quietly. “Your terror is so high I can’t read you correctly.”

“Worse than you can imagine.” The doors opened and I bolted out. “Chuckie!”

He ran to us. “What’s wrong?”

“We have spies,” Christopher offered. He didn’t sound like he thought this was worth panicking about.

“We have a lot worse than that.” I reached Chuckie and grabbed his arm as my phone rang again. “Dad, did you reach them?”

“No. Your mother didn’t answer. I tried several times. Either she left her phone in the room or they’re in the casino and can’t hear it. Should I call the hotel management?”

“No. I’ll take care of it. Keep calling, keep me posted.” I dumped my phone into my purse. “Everyone’s there. Jeff’s parent’s, Paul’s, Michael, my mother, my female relatives, the rest of Airborne. The Amazons weren’t the ones bugging your room. They were the ones setting bombs up to go off in the palace at the height of the sun.” I was shaking and shaking Chuckie. It didn’t seem to help.

“What palace?” Chuckie asked me, looking as confused as everyone else.

Martini grabbed my hand. “GLADYS!” The man was the king of bellowing

I heard the com activate. “Yes, Commander.”

“I want this live to all A-C personnel, all A-C bases worldwide, now!”

“Live, Commander, go ahead.”

“This is Commander Martini. All active Field and Imageering agents to Las Vegas immediately, unless dealing with a superbeing. If so, kill it, leave it, and get to Vegas. Bombs spread throughout, at least, the Mandalay Bay complex. We have no more than an hour to save tens of thousands, including our own people. Anyone who doesn’t pull weight answers to me when it’s over. Bombs are alien in nature, likely to look like something imitating nature. Move out, NOW.”

Gower and Tito appeared. “Ready,” Gower said.

Christopher grabbed Chuckie, and we all took off at hyperspeed for the launch area. Ran the stairs instead of the elevator—it was faster. Realized I should have mentioned it on the 15th floor. Decided to worry about the bigger issues.

“The entire city of Las Vegas imitates something,” Christopher said as we waited for an open gate and the humans all dealt with the aftereffects of the hyperspeed. Apparently all the gates had been calibrated for Vegas by the time we got up here, but there was a huge stream of A-Cs pouring through them, and we were at the back of the line. “The bombs are going to be impossible to find.”

“I can help,” Queen Renata said. “I will know them.”

“We need more than one person.”

“Chuckie, how many of those alien-detector things do you have?”

“On me? One. At my office in Headquarters? Plenty.”

“On it,” Christopher said. He grabbed Chuckie, and they disappeared.

“Where’re they going?”

“Operations,” Martini answered. Meaning where the Head of Security hung out. Meaning, I assumed, Gladys had a personal gate. Martini didn’t seem concerned, so I decided to focus on the bigger problem.

“What if the alien-detector things don’t work on the bombs? If only Renata can recognize them, we’re in trouble.”

“The others could assist as well,” Queen Renata said.

Alexander shook his head. “Not Lenore or Uma. Lenore has no idea, and Uma’s more on the side of Kyrellis than us.”

“What about the lizards, dogs, and cats?”

“They could, yes.” He looked uncertain. “Gregory could, too. We’ve seen the bombs.”

Martini grabbed two random A-Cs. “Get the prisoners in the holding cell. Everyone but the two women who look humanoid. The rest I want here before I go through. That’s fifteen seconds, tops.” They disappeared. “Describe the bombs.”

“They can look like more than one thing,” Queen Renata said. “But they will normally resemble a large, spiky fruit. I believe you call them pineapples here, or at least, your world’s equivalent.”

Martini and I looked at each other. “What, are pineapples the universal fruit of badness or something? I think they’re tasty.”

He shrugged. “Easier to find.”

“Not at the Mandalay Bay.”

“Good point.”

The A-C agents were back with the rest of Animal Planet. “Long story short—Kyrellis is about to blow up what she thinks is Jeff’s palace. It’s not, but we have a lot of innocent people in it as well as people we care about personally. Alex and Renata seem to think we can trust you, even Gregory, to help us find and defuse the bombs.”

Willem nodded. “How many?”

“No freaking idea. Figure a ton.”

He looked to his Major Doggie companions. They nodded. “Wahoa, Wrolph, and I will help. We should be able to hear and smell them.”

“Loud and smelly in a casino, guys.”

“I am a girl,” Wahoa said.

“Sorry, didn’t count the teats, okay?”

She looked at Queen Renata. “This is the ruling class of this planet?”

Martini and I exchanged another look. “Not so much, no.”

Neeraj spoke. “They are the protectors, not the rulers. It is why he,” he indicated Martini, “is so upset by the insinuations he is king.” He looked at me. “The Iguanodons will assist.”

“You have a sense of humor in there after all?”

“The one you call Chuckie explained yours to me. Where is he?”

“Bringing stuff to help out,” Christopher said. He and Chuckie were dragging bags of devices.

“Good choice on the Reptilians, Canus Majorians, and Feliniads,” Chuckie said quietly to Martini. He pointedly looked at Gregory.

“I have the science team making more,” Christopher told Martini before he could respond to Chuckie. “We’ll have enough for every agent within fifteen minutes.”

Felicia came closer to me. She walked just the way I expected a cat on its hind legs to walk, only a little smoother. “Arup and I will help. We understand how the assassin thinks.”

“Because you think like her?”

She gave me a fangy smile. “Because we have dissidents on our world, too. Arup and I are the Chief Inquisitors. And I chose that word purposely.”

“Nice. So, you and Torquemada going to hurt my people along the way?”

“Not if we can help it.”

We were at the gates. I grabbed Gregory. “What’s your plan?” Chuckie dropped his bag and started to walk rapidly toward us.

Gregory didn’t answer. Alexander spoke. “Their families are in what the assassin thinks is a palace. You’ve been given a chance to regain some honor, Brother. Answer the question. What do you plan?”

Gregory pulled away from me as Martini shouted, “Stop him!”

Chuckie lunged, but it was too late. Gregory was through the gate.

CHAPTER 35

MARTINI CURSED. “YOU SAID to bring him along why?” he snarled at Alexander.

“I tried to warn you,” Chuckie said.

“Nice if you’d been clearer about it,” Martini snapped. “Or faster.”

“No time for the alpha male fight right now, guys, please. We need to focus.” I grabbed Martini’s hand and pulled him through the gate. It sucked, but I was too frightened to care. We landed in a bathroom, but not at McCarran. I could tell—it was too nice. The hell with subterfuge. I walked out behind the rest of the A-Cs.

Of course, women and men coming out of a bathroom might not cause a lot of stir, but walking dogs, cats, and lizards would. Martini had the same thought as me. “How can they help us if they get arrested for being aliens?” he asked as Willem exited the stall.

“On it, Martini,” Chuckie said, as he came out. He tossed Willem a ring; Willem put it on, suddenly looked human.

He nodded to us. “I will contact you if I find any I cannot defuse.”

“How?”

He grinned like a wolf. “We have ways.” Then he disappeared.

Chuckie handed the rings to the other two Major Doggies, the bracelets to the Cat People, and the necklaces to the Giant Lizards. They all said they’d contact us and all disappeared. The Giant Lizards stayed together, the Cats and Dogs did not. Queen Renata shapeshifted and raced off as well, several A-Cs with her.

“Okay,” Martini said. “I want everyone fanned out. We need to find the bombs, but we also need to evacuate in case we can’t. Reynolds, you need to get to the head of the place and tell them to get the people out.”

“Jeff, this is Vegas—they won’t believe him until it’s too late. Besides, I have an easier way. Fire alarms.”

“What?”

Chuckie nodded. “She’s right. It won’t clear out everyone, but it’ll clear out a lot of them.”

“Fine.” Martini grabbed the next several A-Cs who were coming through and told them to find every fire alarm and make it go off. The sounds started immediately.

“We need to go through the hotel, especially THEhotel, where we’re all staying. It’s a good bet some of our team are still up there, and they might not leave.”

“Who?” Christopher asked Martini.

I wanted to say me, but I was the one who’d talked to Moira. “Alexander, can you take Chuckie and do that?”

“Yes.”

Chuckie nodded. “That’s fine. Has to be me, Martini, or White, or they won’t listen anyway.” He gave me a long look. “Hope they’re listening to me now, by the way.”

“They will. Chuckie . . . my mom’s here, and both my grandmothers, and . . .” I couldn’t talk.

He took my hand. “And Martini’s parents, and Gower’s. I know. We’ll get them out, Kitty. I promise.” He nodded to Alexander, let go of my hand, and they disappeared.

“Tito, take Paul to the mall. Check it, all of it, but especially around the store I was in, the one where the alarms were going off. They’ll have put at least one bomb there.”

“Yeah. I have some ideas where they might have stashed others, too,” Tito said.

“How so?”

“There was this guy . . . he was odd and nasty. Sort of threatened me when I got near him, then said I wasn’t important enough to worry about. I’m thinking it might have been the other shapeshifter. And I know where he, or she, went, ’cause I watched.”

Gower managed a chuckle. “Kitty, good job on the hiring.” He grabbed Tito and they were gone.

“What are we doing?” Christopher asked.

“We’re looking for Kyrellis and Gregory.”

“What?” Martini and Christopher were in unison again.

“We have at least a thousand agents here, plus Chuckie and Tito, plus all our new Animal Planet friends. Kyrellis is a lunatic of the highest order, but I promise you this—she wants to watch this place go up in smoke, see all the people die, feel the pride in a job well done.”

“What about Gregory?” Christopher asked.

“He’s either running away or trying to find her.” Something rubbed against my neck. “Oh, are my Poofies okay?”

“Is now really the time?” Martini asked through clenched teeth.

“Yes. Poofies, you have to be very careful. Harlie? Do you remember the man who gave you to Jeff?” Harlie mewled at me. I took it for a yes. “Good Poof! I want you and the other Poofies to find him, find Gregory. If he’s being bad, you stop him. If he’s being good, some of you watch him and some find me or Jeff or Christopher. Okay?”

Much Poof purring came back at me. Then they were gone, just like everyone else.

“They have hyperspeed?” Martini asked as we started out of the bathroom finally.

“No idea. Maybe they turn invisible. Don’t care. They’re smart, and I think they’ll find him.”

“Why’d you give him the benefit of the doubt?” Christopher asked as I scanned the casino. No sign of anyone I knew, no sign of an Amazonian assassin.

“Because Jeff said he was hiding something. Could be bad, possible that it’s good.”

“What are the odds?” Christopher asked dryly.

“Don’t know. I just know he’s your blood, so I’m hoping there’s more of you in him than not.” I closed my eyes. “Have to think. If I were a psycho Amazonian assassin, where would I go to watch the show?”

“We could search everywhere in the time this is taking,” Martini said urgently.

“Jeff, stop. Psychos and megalomaniacs are my forté, remember? They all wanna hang with me.” It would have to be close. She wouldn’t want to miss the show. “Make sure they search the entire complex—Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur.”

Martini and Christopher were on their phones, barking orders.

The Excalibur, New York New York, MGM Grand, and Tropicana were the four casinos on this corner. But they’d all be too close, especially if she’d set up the entire Mandalay complex to go. “Have them check all the casinos on the corners, too.” Martini and Christopher barked more orders.

Where would she go to watch? Where in this town would someone like Kyrellis feel comfortable? Or at least feel she could control herself from killing all the men in order to watch her fireworks display? I had to think. Figuring out what the psychos did for kicks was my job, really.

Too stressed. Think about what I did know. Moira and Kyrellis were insane. Fanatics. Amazonian lesbians who really loathed men deep in the bone. Military trained. Why had Moira hurt Reader? Because he was, according to her, pawing me. But she’d pawed me and hadn’t seemed to think that was an issue.

I was trying too hard. I had plenty of lesbian girlfriends. Like most of my friends, I wasn’t in constant contact, but I certainly could remember what they’d talked about. They talked a lot like my guy friends talked, liked many of the same things. Of course, none of my gay girlfriends were loathing man-haters; they just preferred boobs and such. Oh. DUH. I opened my eyes.

“Boys? You like chicken wings?”

CHAPTER 36

“NOT REALLY,” MARTINI SAID. “Also, think we should, you know, save the innocents and all before we stop to have a snack.”

“And that’s why I’m the one the psychos all wanna hang with. Can I lead if we’re running at hyperspeed?”

“Sure.”

I grabbed his hand and we took off. Too revved up to get sick from the hyperspeed, so that was a bonus. Raced out and down the Strip, made a right on Tropicana and raced to the goal—Mecca for most straight guys and lesbians—the Hooters Hotel and Casino.

“Are you kidding me?” Christopher shouted. “Why are we here?”

“Because Kyrellis is here. Waiting and watching and enjoying the view before she really enjoys the view.”

“What are we looking for?” Martini asked. “She’s a shapeshifter. She could look like anyone.”

I thought about it as we raced through the casino. “She’ll look like herself, as much as possible. She thinks she’s in the clear, and she’s had hours here to assure herself of that.”

“She knows we have Moira,” Christopher said.

“No, I don’t think she does. I think she thinks Moira has me. Jeff, you still holding that tracking device?”

He cursed. “Yes. I forgot I had it.”

“That’s great. Put it into my purse.”

“Hell, no!”

“Put it in my damn purse, Jeff! And look for a strong, big woman with spiky blonde hair. Figure she’ll look like she’s in the WNBA.” He muttered but dropped the tracker in as requested.

We looked around. Nothing that seemed to fit. “It’s close to noon,” Christopher said urgently.

My brain waved at me. “The roof. She’ll be on the roof. This is a small place, she has to get up high to see things go down.”

We raced for the stairs. The door to the roof was locked. Martini wrenched it open and we went through, back outside under the close-to-noonday sun. We came around to face the Mandalay Bay, and there she was. Her back was to us, but from what I could tell, she was built like Martini and about the same size. Only, she was a bit larger, and potentially more muscular. I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Kyrellis.”

She turned around. “I know you.” Spiky blonde hair, violet eyes. I got the impression the Free Women had made do without their men via a cloning process. She smiled, and it was a very evil smile. “You brought them to me. What a good little girl you are. Maybe I will not kill you. Maybe I will let you stay with me and my mate.”

Oh, right. She was an assassin. And she wanted to kill Martini and Christopher. “Guys? Please get out of here.”

“No.” In unison again. Not too loud, but with a lot of meaning from both of them.

“I can’t see her do to you what Moira did to James.”

“She won’t,” Martini said. “We aren’t being lured and fooled.”

“She will.” Gregory’s voice came from behind us. I looked over my shoulder. He was behind us. The Poofs were with him, but they weren’t big or growling. They were trembling.

“So, you have them attached to you after all, Greg?”

“No. I just know how to control them.” He had Harlie in his hand, fingers held in an unnatural position. I assumed this meant he was doing something to prevent Harlie’s ability to go large or toothy. He was squeezing it tightly and it was clear he could squeeze tighter. “Threaten the leader, the followers do your bidding.”

“Yeah, that’s the bad guy plan in a nutshell.”

Gregory shrugged. “Just because none of you can see the advantages to ruling the strongest planet in two solar systems doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“Kyrellis, why are you working with a man?”

She shrugged. “He has . . . helped us. My God feels he is worthy in Her sight. Not to touch us, but he will be an ally we need.”

“Boy, are you gullible.”

She smiled her evil smile. “No. I am powerful. As you will soon see.”

She shimmered, and there was another Martini standing there.

“Oh, great,” he muttered. “Don’t use the Glock.”

“I’m sure that’s her plan. Jeff, please, get out of here.”

“I love you. Please remember that.” He ran toward her and the two of them started fighting, all out, with clear intent to kill—but at human speeds. Gregory’s attention was on the fight, and Christopher took advantage of his distraction by body-slamming him. Unfortunately, A-Cs were strong, and they were fighting at hyperspeed instantly.

I realized I’d never seen Martini fight, other than the one time he and Christopher had gone at it, and that had looked a lot more like the fight Christopher and Gregory were currently having—blurry guys rolling around on the ground. I had no idea who was the real Martini—they were both good fighters, scary good.

Body slams, double punches, kicks, lunges—they could have gone into the light heavyweight class in the UFC and taken the division easily. Tito was in the featherweight class, I was pretty sure, but he wasn’t here to pass along any clues as to who to put my money on.

I gathered the frightened Poofs and put them into my purse. “It’s okay, Poofies,” I lied. I pulled the Glock out, just in case.

I saw something small fly through the air. It was Harlie, and it was heading for the edge of the roof. I dropped the Glock and my purse, kicked off my shoes, and ran. I’d been a sprinter, and I was still great over the short distances. Caught the Poof in the air, had to come to a screeching halt. Didn’t achieve it and went over the edge.

Lucked into something to grab onto. One-handed. Small ledge, too far from the roof to get back up there. Far too far away from the ground to want to let go. “Harlie, be a good Poof and get on my shoulder.” Harlie scrambled up as requested, and I managed to get both hands on the edge, just in time. Got toes on not much. Felt like glass.

Okay, this wasn’t good. Tried to use my toes to support, didn’t work. At all. The edge wasn’t all that secure, and I was in trouble. I couldn’t call to Martini or Christopher—not only were they dealing with murderous opponents, but my screaming could cause them to be fatally distracted.

Of course, my plummeting to my death wasn’t going to sit well with them, either. Right before I started to scream, whatever I was leaning my toes against disappeared, and I felt hands on my feet.

“It’s a chick,” a male voice called. “Gimme a hand.”

“Help!”

“Hang on, sweet cheeks, we got you.” I felt someone near me and risked a look. A big guy wearing a USC Trojans T-shirt was inching along the ledge next to me. He put his arm around my waist. “Got her, guys. Let go, babe.”

I did and grabbed him. Built like Martini. Thank God. Several pairs of hands pulled us inside. Inside what turned out to be a big suite. “Wow, thanks. I can’t tell you how great your timing was.”

The guy who’d saved me grinned. “Trojan football at your service, hon. I’m Len.”

Lots of big guys, all athletes. Fairly drunk, but I wasn’t going to complain. “I’m Kitty, and I need your help. I mean, again.”

“You a dealer here?” another one asked me.

“No, why would you think that?”

“Some of the Hooters girls don’t wear the shorts and stuff,” he answered with a grin. “And you have the job requirements filled.”

“Filled well!” another voice called. There were affirmations around the room that my rack was all right by Trojan football.

“Dudes, seriously. I’m a Federal agent and we have a terrorism situation going on.” I looked around and saw the room clock. 11:50 a.m. “We have ten minutes to save thousands of people. Can you please help me?”

Len gave me an up and down. “Federal agent?”

“Undercover. My badge is on the roof. Along with my partners. Who are potentially losing fights to the terrorists. Look, thanks for the save, I have to go.”

“Oh, come on.” One of the others said, getting in front of me. “Why go now?” He was one of the drunker guys. He was also a linebacker if I was any judge.

I picked up the threat. I didn’t have time for it. “Let me go or come with me. The only options.”

“C’mon, Kyle, get out of her way,” Len said.

“You’re only the QB when we’re on the field, Len.” Kyle looked as though he was used to being a problem.

“I don’t have time for the gang rape plan, okay? I’m not kidding, thousands are going to die.”

“Sounds great.” Kyle had a few guys backing him.

Len came up behind me, took my hand, and pulled me away. “Mine, then. Okay? Now, get out of the way.”

“We’re a team. We share.” Kyle finished his beer, tossed the can, and put out his hand. One of his buddies slapped another into his huge ham-hand. He popped it and started drinking again.

“I have to get out of here. There’s no time.”

Len tried to move me out of the room, but the line stopped him. “Who’s gonna know?” Kyle asked.

“I will,” Len said. I looked behind us. Len had some backers. They weren’t as big as Kyle’s backers, and Kyle’s were all clearly more wasted.

Time to improvise and hope Gregory hadn’t caused too much damage. “Harlie? Be a good Poof and help me get back to Jeff.”

The Poof jumped off my shoulder and turned Martini-sized. It didn’t growl, though. It roared.

“Holy shit!” Kyle and his guys fell back. I took the opportunity to run for the door.

Len came with me. “What the hell is that thing?”

“Experimental protection weapon. Top secret. Come if you’re helping, otherwise, thanks again for the save.” I bolted for the stairs.

There were pounding feet behind me. Len and his crew were following me. I could hear the line screaming. Good.

Ran up the stairs, saw the door Martini’d ripped off its hinges. Good, right spot. Reached the roof to see the fighting still going on. Grabbed my Glock and tried to figure out who to shoot.

There were two Martinis fighting. Both were hurt, one more than the other. But I couldn’t guess who would have done more damage between the real Martini and Kyrellis. Christopher and Gregory were rolling on the ground, blurry but there. So they were tiring. I pointed to them. “Guys, get them separated. One’s a bad guy, one’s another Federal agent. The Fed’s in a black Armani suit.”

The football players ran over and surrounded Christopher. I stopped looking. Hopefully that would turn out okay.

“Kyrellis!” They both looked at me. Damn, that didn’t work. “We’ve found all the bombs.” Lie, but maybe it would cause a reaction.

Did. They both went back to hitting each other. Hard. One landed a great uppercut and the other staggered back, toward the edge. I wanted to run and grab him, but what if it wasn’t “my” Martini?

“Hey, Kitty!” I turned at the sound of Len’s voice. They had Christopher and Gregory separated. “Who’s who?”

I ran over, and pulled Christopher out. “He’s the Fed. Keep this other guy under control. Hurt him if you need to.” I looked at Christopher. “You look awful.”

He shrugged. “It’ll pass. How’s Jeff?”

“Um . . . no idea.” We stepped a little closer. “Have you seen him fight like this? Can you tell who’s who?”

Christopher studied them. “She’s imitating his fighting style. No way to tell.” He sounded as worried as I felt.

“Great. Find out if we’re going to have an explosion.”

He pulled out his phone and I inched closer to the fight. The Martini who was more hurt got knocked to his knees. The other one slammed his fist into the side of his head. He went down.

“Jeff?”

The one standing looked at me and nodded. The one on the ground groaned. I went to him and pointed the Glock at the one standing. “Say something.” The Martini standing rolled his eyes. But he didn’t speak. And I didn’t hesitate.