Camp Alien (33 page)

G
OT OUT OF SIGHT,
stopped, and looked in my purse. “A pair of jeans and a pair of Converse, please and thank you.” Reached in, was rewarded. “Socks, too. You really and truly are the best.”

Quickly pulled the jeans on, then took my skirt off, just in case we had the most unhelpful paparazzi in the world lurking about. Then I put on the socks and thankfully changed my shoes. My feet might have loved Algar most of all.

What to do with the skirt and pumps was now the issue. Wrapped the skirt around the pumps and put them on the top of my purse. They could come in handy. Weirder things had before, after all.

Checked the BT. Still the yellow-green color. Of course, three of the five flyboys were in the vicinity. However, it had definitely shown green when we were near them. For all I knew, it had done so outside of the building they were in and I just hadn't paid attention. Decided to keep the BT out.

Headed off again, as if 2nd Street went on, which it didn't. There were several buildings that were clearly part of Forest Haven since they were in horrible decay. A couple of them were near what looked like a brand-new facility that was what Lizzie had spotted. But the fencing seemed quite high and even though I was sure those of us with hyperspeed could get in, Lizzie's point about getting out again was key. I didn't want to use the FLOTUS Card here, for a variety of reasons.

The decrepit buildings were bordered by dense forest and what I was now certain was a detention facility. The
high wire fencing that went around what looked like a track or a football field as well as the rest of the place was something of a clue. The BT didn't change color by any of them. So, nothing else to see here.

Headed back to where I'd started, essentially, this time following a street that proclaimed itself Forest Haven Avenue, going what I kind of thought was east. There was the one building to my left that we'd been headed to when Lizzie had thought to have us check the car, and three big ones to my right—the BT remained yellow-green.

Ahead of me the street turned into a path. Followed this and finally came to a really creepy building surrounded by forest. Did a fast run around. No signs of anything or anyone, but that meant nothing. Looked at the BT. It wasn't full green, but it was definitely less yellow-green.

Really wanted to go in here and not just because the BT might be indicating Joe or Randy were here. I also wanted to check it out because I felt in my bones that if Stephanie had chosen one of these buildings as her Supervillain Lite Lair, this was the one. However, I'd promised I wouldn't go into the creepy buildings alone and, frankly, the idea of going into even the chapel by myself was a lot more than I felt able to handle unless it was absolutely necessary.

Ran back and this time went to the south, behind the three big buildings. Hit the street we'd come in on, though I was on a part I hadn't seen before. The biggest building yet was on the other side. It looked like ten large interconnected buildings, really. This also had three of the big metal containers near different doors. The BT remained yellow-green around this section.

There was something about this place, though—any time I was near it, the sun seemed to disappear even though it was right there in the sky. Decided I was getting far too spooked and now wasn't the time to bravely do things I'd promised not to.

Went the rest of the way down this street and was rewarded with the sun not disappearing for no good reason. The street dead-ended at some trees. But it started again on the other side of the trees—and the even higher double fencing topped with barbed wire that was on the other side of the trees, just before the road started again. Lovely neighborhood.

Could see buildings beyond the trees and there were cars and diesel trucks parked there. Decided to check in. “If you guys checked all the buildings to the so-called west, then I think we have eight left to go through.” Waited. Nothing. “Oh. Over.”

“You're new at this, I see,” Adriana said. “But yes, we checked all the buildings, including the one that seems to be a part of the prison but is not. Over.”

“Aha, so you guys saw that, too. We vetoed going there for help. What did you guys think? Over.”

“We think that we are not supposed to be here and that no one is going to believe we are who we say we are until it becomes an incident that will make your enemies very happy and your husband miserable. Over.”

“Nice to be on the same page. I'm by what looks like another prison. Or detention center. Or something else that requires a lot of barbed wire and such. Though the barbed wire could be there to keep that place separated from this one, since it's more along what I think is the property line as opposed to around the facility. Over.”

“Mahin says that we are actually quite near to NSA headquarters and feels that where you are might be related to that. Or it could be benign and merely trying to ensure that whoever comes here doesn't go there. However, as with the prison, going there for help might be inadvisable. Over.”

“Yeah, that was going to be my question, so thanks for anticipating. We need more water. And a rescue. Are you all still with the car? Over.”

“Yes. Over.”

“Great, coming back. Over. Um, sorry, out.” Contemplated if I should change back into my skirt and pumps, but my feet said that there was no way they were going back into the FLOTUS Shoes. Decided I'd come up with some lame story, kicked up the hyperspeed, and rejoined everyone.

Seeing over twenty people sitting in, on, or around the limo really brought two things home—one was that we needed to get help, pronto, and two was that we needed to find our remaining missing people sooner than we needed to get help.

Interestingly, no one mentioned my change of clothes. Figured that either they were all too stressed and such to
notice or that Algar was ensuring that they couldn't notice. Chose to totally not care.

“What's our game plan?” Jerry asked.

“Find the others and get the hell out of here would be my recommendation,” Hughes said dryly. Everyone else nodded.

“We have one car and it won't hold enough people, so until the cavalry arrives . . .” Looked at the A-Cs. “Hey, Dan and Marc, what are you feeling around this place? I mean, can you pick up anything other than those of us here?”

“I can't feel anything,” Daniel said, clearly trying not to wince at his new nickname.

“I can't, either,” Marcus added, while trying less hard to hide the wincing. “I was thinking that our kidnappers must have done something to us.”

“Drax didn't,” Daniel said. “I could still feel everyone when he took us. I didn't stop feeling until we got kidnapped by what Missus Martini is insisting is an android.”

“Oh, my God, it's Kitty, period. Commander if you must have a title for right now. And he's definitely an android, and that would mean that said Kendroid has emotional overlays and blockers inside of him, too, which makes sense. But that means there are more of them here, because the Kendroid wasn't at this location all the time since you guys have been taken.”

“What does that indicate for assistance?” White asked. “Again, I know that look.”

“I've been really enraged a couple of times. And I'm sure some of us were scared. In fact, I'd think everyone we've already rescued and those still missing were and are mad and scared as hell.”

“And?” one of the P.T.C.U. personnel asked.

Abigail jerked. “And why hasn't the strongest empath in at least this part of the galaxy—who was actively looking for his missing people—picked up anything?”

“More to the point,” Mahin said, “why hasn't he picked up where Kitty is?”

“Because he can't, because whatever Stephanie has going on here, she's already set it up so that her uncle can't find her or anyone she takes captive. I'll wager that she has something here that affects imageers, too.”

“We're all still affected from what they hit us with three
years ago,” Joshua said. “But I'm willing to bet that if I tried to read anything, I couldn't.” Lucas nodded his agreement.

“So no one is coming to help us,” White said. “Meaning it's up to us to find the rest of our missing people and that helicarrier.”

Decided to go with my gut. “I think I found the place that's most likely to have the rest of our people. I could be wrong, though. There aren't enough of us to search every building at once, and we don't have enough walkies for more than two teams. Thoughts?”

“Missus Martini, myself, and Adriana as the strike team. Everyone else here.”

Adriana nodded. “I agree with Richard.” She handed her walkie to Lizzie.

“Should one of us try to find a store or something?” Lizzie asked. “Everyone needs water and they're all totes hungry, too. And most of them are at least a little hurt. And maybe we could, you know, phone home or something.”

The “little hurt” observation looked to be a gross understatement. Had no idea what the conditions the Secret Service captives had been in, but they looked flat-out awful. The P.T.C.U. folks looked like the flyboys—they'd seen better days. And it was a tossup as to whether this had actually damaged the A-Cs' healing factors or if they were so badly injured that natural repairs were taking a long time.

“I'm worried about leaving, honestly.”

“Why?” Adriana asked.

“Because I don't want to, say, send Abigail off so that the Kendroid can grab her. Then we're waiting for rescue that won't come or we have to send someone else, who gets captured, and so on.”

“Why do you think I'd get captured?” Abigail asked.

“Because the Kendroid is still at large and I think he's slavishly trying to get Stephanie's takeover bid back on track.”

“Kitty, you're probably right, but everything we'd need is in the helicarrier,” Jerry said. “Food, water, medical—it had it all. And our jets.”

“Super. Anyone know how to get into an invisible thing we can't see?”

“I say we just go back to where it is and start feeling
around,” Abigail said. “What are the chances we'll actually hit something dangerous?”

“High,” the flyboys said in unison.

“I don't think it's where you all think it is,” Daniel said. Joshua nodded. Nice to see they were a synced team.

This earned him the group's attention. “Beg pardon?” I asked for all of us.

“It's bigger than the space you all think it's in. We've been discussing it, so I know where you think it is, and we looked as we came to the car. I know everyone's basing their idea of where the helicarrier is due to crushed trees. But other things could have done that.”

“How do you know how big it is?” White asked.

“When we were captives with Drax we weren't really shackled up,” Joshua replied. “We had free run of the helicarrier. We couldn't touch anything we weren't supposed to—the ship was set up to prevent that and it did, effectively.”

Daniel nodded. “So we,” he indicated Joshua and himself, “ran it. And we timed ourselves. We know how fast we run, and we did tests. It's too big to be where you think it is.”

“Then where is it?” Hughes asked. “It's not hovering in the air or something.”

“Are you sure it's here?” Walker asked. “I mean that seriously. Just because it took us here doesn't mean they left it here.”

“There's only one guy who can fly it right now. Trust me, it's here.” Thought about it. “Dan or Josh, has either one of you seen
The Avengers
?”

They both nodded. “Yeah,” Joshua said, clearly as enamored of his nickname as the others were. “We both saw it. Why?”

“Would you say Drax's helicarrier is around the size of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier?”

“A little smaller, actually,” Daniel said. “But along those lines.”

“Awesome. I know where the helicarrier is, then. And probably where the Kendroid is as well.”

“W
ONDERFUL,”
White said with enthusiasm. “Where are they?”

Everyone looked at me expectantly. “We need to save the others first.” This earned me looks of confusion and frustration, depending.

“Not that I'm arguing,” Abigail said, “but why don't you have the rest of us get the helicarrier while you and Uncle Richard get the others?”

“Because I think it's going to take subterfuge to get it, because I'm pretty sure that's where our missing android is hiding out. It's probably helping him send out the GPS scrambling and cellular dampening, too. I think that if we wander over there and seem to be searching that he'll zap us or grab us or something. And, since we're in a danger situation, I'm going to be brutally honest—out of every person here, the one most likely to get the Kendroid to see our side of reason is me.”

Lizzie nodded. “My dad says that's one of your skills—flipping enemies.”

“Out of the mouths of children and all that. And before you say whatever retort I can see forming, Lizzie, just know that it's an old saying and let it go.”

Lizzie closed her mouth, shot me a glare, then grinned. “Fine, fine. But I think you're right.” She swallowed. “And I think you guys are going to need me on the strike force team.”

“Why is that?” White asked, sounding like Christopher normally did when I suggested White do something dangerous.

“Because I'm the smallest, so I can get into places you guys can't. And because my dad and the uncles trained me.”

“Speaking of which,” Walker said, “when do we get to find out what the hell is going on?”

“Fine, fast update, I'll do a recap when we find the others. Cliff Goodman launched a bioterrorism Doomsday plan that ended up backfiring, but not before it killed a variety of people, including President Armstrong.”

Everyone stared at me. “That means Jeff is the President,” Jerry said finally.

“Yep.”

“Wow,” Hughes said. “That means you're the First Lady.”

“Yep.” Saw the Secret Service and P.T.C.U. folks all get a hell of a lot more alert, feeling awful or not. “And while I can see that many of you are about to try to give me the old wheeze that you now need to stagger up and take the bullets for me, my reply is simply this—hells to the no. This is my turf, in that sense, I'm in charge, and I'm staying in charge. Period.”

“There are other ramifications,” White said.

“Like the fact that the uncles died to save me.” Figured using that term wouldn't freak out the Secret Service and P.T.C.U. folks but would tell the flyboys what was going on, which, based on their expressions, it did.

“But a goodly portion of the leadership of this country was killed,” White added, “along with many other innocents.”

“New people are in the roles now, and while Cliff got away, again, he was unmasked as the Mastermind on national and international TV. Guaranteed the person behind you guys getting taken by the Kendroid is Stephanie. There is another plan going, too, that involves robots, but that you're going to have to wait for until we find the others. Drax isn't actually a bad guy, he's just from a planet far, far away and unclear on how to actually do a good sales pitch. Thomas Kendrick is also not a traitor as far as we've been able to tell. Abby, Mahin, if they must know details, enjoy sharing.”

Lizzie handed her walkie to Abigail and took White's hand. Adriana took her other hand.

“Anything else you want to share?” Abigail asked me.

“Don't get separated. Don't leave this area. But someone
try to hot-wire the car. Team Terror, let's head to where I think the rest of our people are being held.”

“I'll provide the speed?” White asked.

“And I'll steer because, don't faint, I actually know where we're going.”

“I remain impressed.”

“You need to work on your lying skills, Mister White.”

“I'll keep it in mind.”

We zipped off to the building that had given me the distinct feeling that something was going on inside of it. The building was a large rectangle, one story, with forest and scrub growing closely around it. There was also a broken-down, ancient bus at the start of the woods on the side where the entrance was. The entrance faced away from the rest of the vast complex, which might have been why it seemed suspicious to me.

“Well, this place is beyond totes creepy.” Lizzie looked around. “Think there are things in the woods?”

“Define ‘things.' Just kidding, don't. And I'm sure there are. The question is, what's inside of this place?” Checked the BT. Couldn't swear to it, but it looked more green and less yellow. Handed the walkie to Lizzie, then got my Glock in my right hand and the flashlight in my left. “I'll take point, Adriana, you bring up the rear. Lizzie in front of you and behind Richard.”

Everyone nodded and we walked through the doors that, interestingly enough, did not say No Trespassing. The interior was possibly the worst we'd seen yet—there was an accumulation of so much ancient junk that it was hard to identify what most of it was. Old computers, chairs, desks, sports equipment, medical equipment, beds, and more. And, of course, shoes. More and more shoes.

The shoes here weren't in neat piles. They were thrown everywhere and no pairs were together. Actively chose not to focus on this, because I was sure it meant something horrible.

The others linked up, then White and I trotted us through at the slow version of hyperspeed. Fewer windows here than in some of the other buildings, and less breakage of said windows. They were all filthy, so it was darker than many of the others we'd visited.

Mr. Flashlight was still going strong, however, so it was
relatively easy to see. The entire place was the same as the first room we'd come into, and most of the walls were down or so broken that they might as well have been down.

The ceiling didn't look much better and was sagging in places. Trees had managed to grow here, too, and a few had broken through the roof, letting light filter in in ways that managed to make the place even eerier than I'd have thought possible.

But there was one thing missing. This place didn't stink.

Oh, sure, there was the smell of decay and such, but for the amount of ruin here, it should have been as bad as the other buildings, if not worse. But it wasn't.

“You sure this is the place?” Lizzie asked.

“Yes. Look for a way to get underground.”

“Do we have to touch things?”

“Since when did you get so dainty?”

“Since we went into that cafeteria.”

“Good point. Let's hope not.” Wondered if I had any of the evidence gloves Serene's team used with me, or if I could or should ask for some. Decided to cross that bridge when we discovered it burned down.

Midway between the two biggest trees that had broken through was an area that was relatively clear, except for a broken-down wheelchair that looked like it had been used to beat androids dead. It was sitting almost bathed in light.

“It's under that,” I said to White. “I'm positive.”

He nodded. “I don't see any signs of a trapdoor, however.”

Went up to the wheelchair and shoved it out of the way with my foot. Nothing happened. But I noted that the floor moved in a way that floors didn't normally. “I think there's a tarp down here, or something like it, that's camouflaged to look like the rest of this place.”

Adriana also had a flashlight, and she played hers around the area. She shoved the wheelchair back with her hip. “I believe that the wheelchair does not mark the doorway, but rather we should look where it was facing.”

Did as she suggested. The chair had a great view of the biggest tree to break through. “Huh.” Went over, paying attention to how the floor was reacting to my footsteps. The tarp was still under my feet.

Reached the tree, kicked the various pieces of crap that
were here away, and found the edge of the tarp. Used the Glock to flip it back. Sure enough, there was a wooden door here. “Score another one for Adriana.”

“It's a team effort,” she said as the others joined me. “Who goes down first?”

“Me, but Mister White, if you'd be so good as to carefully open the door?”

He nodded, pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, and used that on the handle. “I'm not dainty, but I don't know what might be on this.”

“You think she'd put a toxin on the handle of her own trapdoor?”

“I think she would if she'd already taken the cure. Our recent brush with infectious disease is still quite fresh in my mind.”

“Hang on. Let me see if I have any of the evidence gloves Serene had me using earlier.” Dug through my purse. Sure enough, four pairs were available. And the BT tracker was a brighter green. We put the gloves on while I mentally thanked Algar, ACE, Naomi, Sandy and the Superconsciousness Seven, and any other powerful beings who might be taking note and helping out.

White still used his handkerchief to open the door, but the extra protection of the gloves was appreciated by all. Sure enough, there was a stairway leading down. Sniffed. Didn't smell anything like we'd found in all the other underground rooms here.

“Reminds me of Bizarro World. I'm definitely going first, and Mister White, no worries, I'll be looking for traps like you wouldn't believe.”

So saying, I headed down at a very slow and cautious pace.