Alien Research

CHAPTER 11

COLONEL MARVIN HAMLIN had been the head of Andrews Air Force Base before Jeff and I had been assigned to the Embassy. He was anti-alien, but all described him as a good man. He’d disappeared right at the start of Operation Destruction, and had been assumed to be one of the “Captains” in charge of a section of the supersoldier projects.

However, at the start of Operation Sherlock, Hamlin had arrived at our Embassy to share that he’d disappeared not when everyone believed, but actually much earlier, right before Jamie was born. He’d run because he’d discovered there was a Mastermind behind the majority of the conspiracies going on, and the Mastermind had sent assassins, and lots of them, after the good Colonel.

Hamlin was, in part, why we believed in the Mastermind theory. Buchanan had been taking him to get proof of the theory and, if proven, to a safe house, when he’d been attacked and drugged by the now finally really and truly late and mostly unlamented Clarence Valentino. Clarence’s corpse was being dissected every which way by a team at the Dulce Science Center, because he’d taken a huge dose of Surcenthumain, which meant he was finally a person of use and worth, at least in the realms of medical research.

“We need to get you here for a debrief.” Not that I wanted Buchanan to share this with Horn, or even the rest of the politicians in attendance.

“I am there, Missus Chief. Waiting for you in Mister Former Chief’s office.”

Didn’t even bother to ask how he’d gotten in or how long he’d been here. Buchanan had those Dr. Strange powers and moved in ways even more mysterious than Chuckie’s. Those ways had saved my life, and Jamie’s, more than once so far.

“Gotcha. We’ll be there in a flash. So to speak.” Hung up and rejoined the others. Shot everyone a bright smile. “I’m so sorry, but can I pull all my menfolk away for a minute or two?”

Got a variety of looks. None of them were enthusiastic, most of them were suspicious. Always the way.

Jeff sighed and nodded. “I think we’ll be brief.” He looked at the other A-C men. “Eat fast.” Turned to Chuckie. “Bring your plate. Everyone else, enjoy the luncheon portion of our meeting.”

Jeff then proceeded to finish his food using hyperspeed. The other A-C men were doing the same. Chose to not risk it and try to finish up eating using hyperspeed—smeared cream cheese on my face wouldn’t be much better than smeared syrup.

However, I was still hungry. Made two more lox, bagel, and cream cheese sandwiches, grabbed another Coke, got a glass of iced tea balanced on my plate, and headed for Jeff’s office. Proving he was indeed the smartest guy in any room, Chuckie had done the same.

We reached the door at the same time Jeff, Christopher, White, Gower, and Raj did. We were a well-oiled machine. At least, that was how I was choosing to look at us at the moment.

Buchanan was lounging at the edge of Jeff’s desk. Put my Coke down, handed him the iced tea, and put my plate down between him and my Coke. “One of those is mine, one is yours.”

He grinned as Jeff muttered quietly. “Missus Chief, I appreciate the thoughtfulness.”

“Want to tell us why you couldn’t walk down the hall for your lunch?” Jeff asked, sarcasm knob heading toward ten.

“Because what I have to tell you is classified and something we don’t want shared with random politicians. Or do you think your wife and I are trying to have a sexual tryst in front of all of you?”

Chuckie snorted a laugh. “He tends to think like that, yeah.”

“Hilarious.” Jeff sighed. “Fine, sorry, it’s already a tense day and it wasn’t supposed to be.”

“Yeah, and you don’t even know what my group went through.”

“I do,” Buchanan said. “And I think I’m about to make the day tenser.” He took a sip of the iced tea. “This is really good. I need to spend more time inside the Embassy.”

“You have something for us?” Christopher snapped. “Spill it or I’m going to join Jeff’s team and assume you just wanted to get Kitty alone.”

“Alone with five other men. Yeah, that sounds like my kind of party.” Buchanan’s sarcasm knob was already at eleven. He shot me a look I was familiar with, in part because I saw it from Chuckie all the time, too—the “are these guys for real?” look. He took a bite of his bagel. “Delicious. Thanks, Missus Chief.”

“You’re welcome. And, not to worry—everyone’s testy, perhaps from eating too fast. Chuckie and I are still consuming, so we’re not as tense. Anyway, Malcolm has information I foolishly thought you’d all want to hear firsthand. If you don’t, go back to the kitchen and Chuckie and I will handle it.”

Jeff rolled his eyes. “Pardon me. What’s going on?”

Buchanan took a bite. “You first, Missus Chief.”

“Fine.” Did a very high-level recap of my morning. “So, there you have it. Fun times had by all.”

Jeff ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to take your texts. Even more so because of this.”

“It happens, and we’re fine.”

“Your turn,” Christopher said to Buchanan.

Buchanan took another bite. Got the impression he was pissed about Jeff and Christopher’s bad attitudes and contemplating when and how much to share.

“We have information that a new drug is about to hit the streets,” Raj said, troubadour tones definitely on Soothe. “Which is what we were discussing when you called. This was after the new head of the F.B.I.’s Alien Affairs Division got everyone riled up by suggesting congressional hearings. He did it to get us upset, as near as we can tell, so let me apologize for all of us if we’re not being as receptive as we should be.”

Buchanan laughed. “The smartest thing Mister Former Chief’s ever done was to keep you on staff here full time.” He looked at Jeff. “I’ve had a long night and a very active morning, so I’m not in the mood for your jealousy crap. I’m never really in the mood for it, but I’m less so today. Keep in mind that the people I’m assigned to protect aren’t actually you. I don’t care if you like having me around or not. My boss, who is your mother-in-law, is ready to rip you a new one if I mention your attitude problems to her again. And yeah, that’s a threat.”

I wasn’t used to seeing Buchanan this openly aggressive toward Jeff, especially over such a small jealousy reaction. Sent Tito a text.

Jeff stared at him for a moment. “Oh. Sorry. You okay?”

“What?” Christopher asked, speaking for all of us.

Buchanan shrugged. “Tell them. Let’s see if you’re right.”

Jeff ran his hand through his hair again. “Ah, in addition to breaking up and arresting various mobs of protestors, he just had to beat down and arrest about a dozen people last night and this morning. They were setting bombs around the Zoo.”

“Bingo,” Buchanan said as he finished eating. “You are as good as Missus Chief always says. Now, do you want my information or do you want to piss me off some more?”

Tito came in with his Wand of Power. “I want to check you first. Per the Ambassador.”

Buchanan shook his head with a laugh. “Sure, why not?” He looked over to me as Tito ran the OVS over him. “Sorry I’m not in the calm, cool, and collected mode you’re used to.”

“Just want to be sure it’s really you.”

“Not a problem.”

Tito nodded. “True enough, there’s not a problem, in that sense. This is really Malcolm.” He cocked his head at Buchanan. “I want you coming up to the infirmary after this meeting, before you go anywhere else.”

“Why?” Seemed to me there was a problem if Tito wanted Buchanan at the infirmary sooner as opposed to later.

Buchanan grimaced. “He thinks this could be a drug reaction.”

“It could be,” Tito confirmed. “I want to run tests. If the latent side effect of what you were hit with is increased irritability or aggression, that’s something we need to know now, in part so we can figure out how to counter it in you.”

One of the many side effects of Surcenthumain was to make the person taking it far more aggressive and more than a little paranoid. Christopher had handled that side effect better than Jeff or Serene had, possibly because he’d shot up willingly.

However, the drug Buchanan had been hit with had come out of the original project that had created Surcenthumain. Buchanan had no superpowers that we knew of, but if the aggression effect came later on, maybe those would as well.

“I’ll be there when we’re done,” Buchanan said. “Unlike some people, I don’t object to medical care.”

Jeff opened his mouth, then shut it. He looked worried, not angry or jealous. Which meant I was now officially worried.

“Malcolm, are you feeling okay?”

He heaved a sigh. “Somewhat. As you well know, Club Fifty-One is active again, and they’ve upped their game. I have teams assigned. I was hoping Reader or Crawford would be here. I need to discuss security issues with them.”

“They’re in Dulce,” Gower said. “There’s a Security training session going on they need to be a part of.”

“And we didn’t want Reader here in case Horn, our new F.B.I. best friend, tried anything,” Chuckie added, confirming my earlier theory. “You want to tell us what you want put in place and we’ll make it happen?”

Buchanan nodded. “You need agents put into every building in this area, embassies in particular. At least three Field teams per building.”

“Why? Club Fifty-One is all over the idea of blowing things up, I get it, and they’re seeming to live for mob protests, but that seems kind of excessive.”

“Missus Chief, I don’t do excessive. I do necessary. And it’s necessary.”

“Why?” Jeff asked. “Not arguing. Asking.”

Buchanan sighed again. “Because Club Fifty-One just got a new set of friends. One of them’s the Secretary of Transportation. And one of them’s the new head of Titan Security. Meaning your most coordinated enemies are being funded and given some really good weapons.”