Camp Alien (18 page)

O
F COURSE,
fast was a relative term when dealing with children and animals.

Christopher went first, to ensure that the White House was prepared for the onslaught of fur and feathers we were bringing with us and to get Jeff and Chuckie ready to pull everyone into yet another meeting. Sent Mom a text requesting her help with this and why I felt I needed the floor.

Once we got an all clear from Christopher, the A-Cs on Animal Transport Duty headed off. Then it was time for the rest of us. Amy had Becky, King Benny carried Jamie—earning her the total envy of all the rest of the kids—and Dad took Charlie, who'd woken up thankfully without issue and also thankfully without wanting to telekinetically lift anyone or anything for the moment. Technically the boys had me, though Len went before me and Kyle went last, to ensure I went through.

Score one for the Elves—in the time I'd been gone they'd installed the First Kennels by converting what had been the Game Room on the third floor to the Luxury Kennels. Apparently Algar liked the animals as much if not more than he liked me, because they had the nicest digs of anyone so far. Not that I minded. My father totally approved, too, which was definitely one for my personal win column.

The A-Cs on Animal Duty had the bedroom that attached to the kennels, and it was set up nicely so that four could sleep while four were awake. It was quite military in that sense, but they didn't seem to mind. At least, I took them telling me that they'd actually won the right to get to
be on White House duty and were lording it over their comrades to mean they were happy with the setup. Of course, that might have been said for Dad's benefit. Dad thought Animal Patrol was one of the best gigs an A-C could get. Needless to say, all the pets loved him. Wasn't so sure about the A-Cs who worked this gig, and had a feeling most of them thought Dad was just this side of crazy due to his demands that the pets be treated like everyone else and therefore needed to be appeased.

Naturally, after we put the animals into their living quarters and requested they stay there at least until Antoinette went home for the night, we had to show the kids their rooms. All three of them seemed delighted, particularly Charlie who apparently no longer wanted to be in the nursery.

Managed not to have my feelings hurt by this. Well, not too much. Mostly because I had no time to wallow in anything, since we now had the issue of who in the world was going to watch the kids over here when Jeff and I were working. Maybe other First Families had their action stop at six p.m. every day, though I doubted it, but we certainly ran 24/7 far too often.

“I can handle this, kitten,” Dad said, as we all looked over Lizzie's room and Jamie pronounced it okay because it had a Poof Condo, dog beds, and Peregrine hammocks. “I'm happy to spend extra time with my grandchildren, all three of them.” Lizzie looked at Dad suspiciously.

“He's not kidding. My parents consider Amy and my other best friend from high school, Sheila, to be their ‘other' daughters. We adopt quickly in this family.”

Dad put his arm around Lizzie's shoulders. “We're all for as many grandchildren as we can get, including those who arrive a little later.”

Vance chose this moment to join us. “Ah, I see you're ready for the First Family's Nanny to come on duty.”

We all stared at him. “You took mind reading classes?” I asked finally.

He grinned. “Let's just say that I'm well aware of how you roll and that I've spent a lot of time talking to Pierre this afternoon.”

“Who'd you get?” Amy asked. “Because it's going to be hard to beat Denise Lewis at this.”

“Well, Denise isn't being beaten, so to speak,” Vance replied. “She's still who will have the First Children during regular daycare and schooling hours, at least until they're ready for the Sidwell Friends School.”

“The where?” I asked.

“It's one of the best local private schools,” Amy said. “Loaded with children whose parents are hugely influential.”

“
The
best, as far as I'm concerned,” Vance said. “It's one of the few places where First Children tend to go. And where yours will be going.”

“Normally our children school within our community,” Christopher said, shooting Patented Glare #3 at Vance.

Who ignored it. “Do they? How nice for those children who aren't the children of the President of the United States. The children of the President of the United States, however, will be going to the Sidwell Friends School. As will the Lewis children. And as will Lizzie.”

“What?” she asked.

“School,” Vance said. “You'll be at the high school when sessions resume. You're already enrolled as, per Pierre, the ward of the First Lady. Expect to have your cachet increased from what it was at your other school. You're welcome.”

Lizzie's jaw was still hanging open. I shut it gently. “You already know Vance, Lizzie. Think of him as Our Pierre in the White House and just roll with it. What else have you magically handled while I wasn't around? And please tell me it's everything.” Made a mental note to not be around more so that Vance could work.

“Plenty, but you can just lose the idea that I'm going to cover as FLOTUS all the time.”

“Wow, I suddenly hate your mind reading skills.”

“I'm sure you do. However, I've gotten your double in place, which was simple, since Francine already has experience with that from what I've been told. Finding Jeff's is harder, but Raj feels confident we'll be able to find someone out there in the greater A-C community who can fit the bill.”

“Um, what?”

“Doubles,” Amy answered. “All the presidents have them. So the double goes to a gala when the President is
having a tryst or having a top level meeting, things like that.” Clearly Amy was on the Vance Wavelength.

“Oh. Like
Dave
. Gotcha.”

“I suggest you watch that movie, and several others I have listed for you, carefully,” Vance said. “Take notes, even. You'll need the information, though it seems unlikely that Jeff's going to be chasing interns around.”

“Let's be safe and make all the interns old, ugly, and stupid.”

“Nice try. They'll be young and bright, and half of them will be A-Cs, so rest easy. At any rate, I also have your press secretary handled, chosen out of the selection of troubadours Raj suggested. Colette will be briefed by Raj tonight and will be fully on the job tomorrow.”

“Have I ever met Colette?”

“Doubt it. She's been working with Raj and Serene a lot, though.”

“Ah, I'm sure she'll be great.” Based on the Raj and Serene Connection, I was sure that she was in the A-C CIA, and that meant probably really efficient. “So, who's the nanny, then?”

“Nadine, who I know you do know. She's also been working with Raj and Serene, but she loves kids, so I think she's a great choice.”

Nadine had been the A-C troubadour assigned to double Serene during Operation Infiltration. I knew and liked her, and that she was also in Serene's Secret Club seemed obvious. Meaning a really well-trained A-C likely willing to take the smart risks would be watching my children. I was good with this.

“Okay, she's awesome.”

“I'm glad you think so.” Nadine came in with Francine and another woman I didn't know. The third could have been their sister, though—same Dazzler gorgeous, same blonde hair, similar features. As I thought about it, she probably was their sister. After all, I'd never asked Francine and Nadine if they were related. “You're Colette, aren't you?”

She dimpled. “Good guess.”

“Which sister are you, oldest, middle, or baby?”

“Baby.” Colette laughed. “Francine's the middle, so she tries harder. You're good.”

“No, I'm really slow, but sometimes I can catch on.”

Francine grinned. “Oh, don't sell yourself short. We never said we were sisters.”

“Yeah, you only all look a lot alike.” Different enough to double me and Serene, who were not all that similar seeing as she was a typical Dazzler and I was not. Better looking than me by far, but the beauty of doubles was that as long as they were close enough, expectations covered the rest.

“Better late than never,” Nadine said with a smile. “Now, it's time for me to take over as nanny and for you all to get back to the business of running this country.”

Of course, we didn't leave immediately, seeing as I had to kiss and hug the kids goodbye several times, plus go over what they should and shouldn't have, do, and all that jazz. Then they had to hug and kiss King Benny goodbye even more than they had me. Did my best not to be bitter. Happily, Pierre had whipped up a schedule of how we did things and Nadine was a quick study. Plus the kids liked her, which was an added bonus. Oh sure, not as much as they liked King Benny, but I was getting the feeling that no one was going to compare to King Benny in the short or long run.

“I know I'm not needed downstairs,” Dad said. “I'll help Nadine so you can relax fully, kitten.”

Amy was torn between staying with Nadine or coming with us, but Christopher put his foot down about Becky being around a ton of people. So Amy stayed with Dad, Nadine, and the kids, and it was decided that she would be on the phone with Christopher, listening in on anything of importance and adding in as needed.

“I thought Raj was supposed to fill you in before you started,” I said to Colette as the rest of us, King Benny included, headed back downstairs.

“He'll go over it all tonight, but since I'm living here now, I came over early to get settled in.”

“We're all in a room together,” Francine said, before I could ask. “The Operations Team did a great job.”

“Yeah, they always do. Are you two sharing?” I asked Len and Kyle.

Len nodded. “Yep, we're used to it.”

“And there's plenty of sitting rooms and stuff around here when someone has to hang the sock on the door,” Kyle added, then blushed bright red.

Francine and Nadine giggled, but Colette gave Kyle a look I could only think of as interested. Well, both he and Len were smart, and intelligence was
the
Dazzler weakness.

Managed to control the Inner Hyena. “Good to know. Good to know. It'll be a change from the Embassy, though. No Elves here, at least not on a regular basis.”

“Yeah,” Len said quickly, presumably to keep us off the sock topic. “None of the White House staff live on the property anymore, but they used to. But there's staff here around the clock.”

“Meaning that all of you need to remember that you're no longer in a secured facility,” Vance said. “And I don't mean from a guns and bombs standpoint, because I know that shielding was put onto the entire complex. I mean that the walls will have ears and all of you need to restrict yourselves to casual chat about nothing when you're not in closed-door meetings.”

Heaved a sigh. “Well then, I hope we're meeting everyone in a room like that, because I what I need to discuss is definitely not for the general public at large.”

W
E WERE BACK
in the big meeting room from earlier in the day. Had a sense of déjà vu—nothing like what I'd had during Operation Civil War, but still, the total feeling that I'd been here before doing this exact same thing was strong.

Of course, there were actually more people in here than we'd had before. Supposedly everyone had the high security clearances by now, even Abner Schnekedy, who was sitting with Culver, who had wisely kept her maiden name for business. Vance hadn't been kidding—Abner seemed to be almost vibrating from the thrill of being here. Well, better to have someone keen on the job, especially since I certainly wasn't winning the New Job Excitement Challenge.

Happily, the rest of Jeff's cabinet had been selected while I wasn't around and, other than nodding and waving at those now in the Inner Circle, nothing else was required of me in regard to this.

Chuckie was sitting between Jeff and Mom. He passed me a sign—the “keep quiet” sign. Meaning now wasn't a good time for me to share anything I was thinking.

“We have about thirty minutes before dinner,” Mom said. “Kitty, we're discussing the Camp David peace talks.”

Almost opened my mouth, but Chuckie shot me a quick glare and I managed to control myself. “Okay, when are they happening?”

“We feel it's imperative to get those back on track as soon as possible,” Hochberg, who was sitting on Jeff's other side, said. He looked a lot better than he had earlier, which
was good—clearly the promotion to VP had been an ego-booster.

“After we make good on the promise we made to Club Fifty-One,” Raj said. “We did say they'd get a thank-you ceremony.” Club 51 was the most vocal of the anti-alien organizations out there. But Raj had managed a brilliant switch at the end of Operation Epidemic, and he was right—we did need to make good.

“Do we really think any of them will show up?” Hey, it had to be asked.

“I think so,” Chuckie said. “Some of them, anyway.”

“They're spread out all over the country—how will we manage a ceremony that doesn't give them an excuse to complain that we made them spend a fortune to get to the ceremony?” Hadn't realized I was coming into this meeting to be Negative Nelly, but someone had to ask the hard questions.

“There are ways,” Jeff said. “However, I think this is something that can go to committee.” Heads around the table nodded. “Great. Folks, I think I'd like to take a break before dinner and actually take a look at the Oval Office. Fritzy, I've been advised that my things are out of your office, so if you want to take a little time to see if you want a different chair, now's the time.” This earned chuckles from the room. “I'd also like to do a small religious ceremony in the Oval Office, which is restricted to immediate family.”

The nice thing about religion was that most normal people felt that it wasn't their place to tell someone else how to worship. So the room divided up fairly quickly, with Antoinette taking most people into a parlor for predinner drinks while the rest of us went to the Oval Office. I had Colette and Francine stay with the majority of the Planetary Council, but Alexander, being a close enough family member, was coming with us. Which was fine with me.

Mom didn't allow the Secret Service to join us, which of course meant an argument. Jeff said that Len and Kyle could be there as security, and Evalyne and Joseph subsided, mostly because Mom pointed out that we were inside the White House and could probably manage not to be killed in the next thirty minutes.

Once we were in the Oval Office, Jeff jerked his head at
Chuckie, who tossed some scanners to Raj, Lorraine, and Claudia, who all went over the room at hyperspeed. “All clean,” Lorraine said as they finished up.

“Now,” Claudia added. “It wasn't clean earlier.”

“I had the Operations Team check, and the moment our security was in here we had Dulce scan the complex as well,” Reader said.

“Tons of bugs,” Tim said. “Most of them homegrown, but not all.”

Chuckie rubbed the back of his neck. “I had this place swept yesterday.”

“There are a lot of people coming in and out, Vance just gave me the ‘speak softly and only in rooms you know are safe' lecture. But, since we are safe in here, Jeff, is there really a ceremony you want to do?”

“Yeah, baby, there is. It's brief, and then you can tell us what you've been wanting to tell us for at least an hour.”

He looked at Gower, who walked over to Jeff and put his hand over Jeff's hearts. “Lead well and true, always do what you know to be right, protect the weak and helpless, and never capitulate to evil.” Gower took his hand away and stepped back.

“That was it?”

Jeff grinned. “Told you it was short.”

“We don't stand on a lot of ceremony,” Gower added with a laugh.

“Don't try to lie to me, I had a Royal Wedding, remember?”

“Should I hook Amy in now?” Christopher asked.

“As long as your phone isn't tapped, yeah.”

Chuckie put his hand out and Christopher tossed his phone over. Chuckie plugged something into it, grunted, unplugged, and tossed the phone back. “Clean. Kitty's was, too. So we have that going for us.”

Chose not to mention that Chuckie was now the head of one of the agencies most responsible for phone taps. Why spoil the mood? “So, can I finally tell you guys what I've been thinking?”

Christopher put his phone on Jeff's desk. “I'm here,” Amy said. “Not on speaker on my side.”

“Go ahead, baby. You can start by explaining just what you and the jocks were doing earlier today.”

“Give us guilt if and only when someone says that we were spotted. Otherwise, we've discovered at least part of what's going on.”

Gave everyone the Recap Girl Update on what the boys and I had discovered, including that Hacker International was on the case, and that we felt that Strauss had been going for Mastermind status.

“So, you think that Villanova and Evan, Armstrong's former driver, are in charge now?” The way Chuckie asked, he didn't think that.

Which was fine, because I didn't either. “No. I think they're trying to continue a plan that should have been aborted the moment Strauss died. Meaning someone else is likely to think they can take over like Strauss would have. As for who, my money's on Zachary Kramer.”

“Not Cliff?” Jeff asked.

“No. I don't think Cliff's involved with the Fem-Bot craze at all.”

“Timing would indicate that he isn't, and I think Kitty's right,” Chuckie said. “Cliff rolled his last action because the timing was good and necessary, both. Meaning he'd figured out what Strauss had planned and also thought she had an excellent chance of success.”

“Fritzy wasn't wrong—those peace talks need to happen soon,” Mom said. “It would be nice to be able to stop whatever they have planned before we have foreign dignitaries here.”

“Right, totally agree, and I have some thoughts about that, including that Kramer's probably now in bed with Ansom Somerall and at least some of the Dealers of Death who aren't in the White House with us right now. But what I've been wanting to discuss has nothing to do with this. I want to tell you who I think has the invisible helicarrier and all our missing people.”

“Who?” Jeff asked.

“The person who's the opposite side of Lizzie's coin.”