“Thanks, Ambassador, I appreciate it,” Cliff said. He made the “this way” gesture, and we headed for the door, Len and Kyle almost shoving the Land Sharks aside, in that bodyguard way where the almost-shoved knows it’s move your feet or end up on your butt.
Naturally, the Land Sharks followed us onto the sidewalk. “We could discuss our situation while we all go over to the Homeland Security building,” Somerall suggested. “It’s not a problem for Cliff to hear what we’re talking about.”
A quick look at the rest of them said they weren’t nearly as sure as Somerall that they wanted Cliff listening in. However, the moment they saw me looking they all nodded enthusiastically.
“Sure,” Cliff said cheerfully. “I’d love to hear what opportunities you’re suggesting to American Centaurion.”
“Driving or walking?” Len asked me.
“We can take you,” Tobin said quickly. “We have a car across the street.”
There was a parking area about a block away, and I could see a Town Car with a driver lounging against it. However, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of getting into an enclosed space with one of these people, let alone all of them, and especially not with Jamie along.
“I don’t think we can all fit in that car,” Abigail said. “In fact, I’m sure we can’t.” She pulled out her phone. “We’ll get our own ride, thanks.”
“Cliff, you can take some in your car, can’t you?” Gardiner asked as Abigail called the Embassy and requested someone come pick us up.
“I walked, sorry,” Cliff replied.
Normally I wasn’t against walking, but it was hot, I hadn’t put sunscreen on me or Jamie, and if we were walking we couldn’t get rid of the Land Sharks any more than if we were in their car with them.
Len put his hand on my back. “We need to move,” he said quietly. “All of us.”
Looked where he was, which was the opposite way from the parking lot we’d all been staring at. Sure enough, there were a lot of people coming toward us, and they were all carrying signs.
“Oh goody. It’s another mob.”
CHAPTER 6
SURE ENOUGH, the mass of people with signs and placards were heading for us. I could hear them chanting something about God hating aliens.
“Those aren’t Club Fifty-One people,” Kyle said. “I think it’s those so-called church people who protest at military funerals.”
“Fantastic. Time to listen to Len and get out of here.”
Interestingly enough, the Land Sharks didn’t look pleased. In fact, they looked panicked. “You have a car coming, right?” Gardiner said as the five of them started backing toward their car.
“Yes, I think—”
“Wonderful,” Somerall said, as he took Gardiner’s elbow and they all started across the street. “We’ll call you!”
They didn’t run, but they walked with really fast purpose, Somerall motioning wildly to his driver, who flung the car doors open then got into the driver’s seat. To his credit, Somerall got Gardiner into the car first, then the four men leaped in, the doors slammed, and they took off. Their car didn’t peel out, but if there had been a cop around, they’d have definitely gotten a ticket for excessive speed.
“Well, one problem gone, and another bigger one’s coming. It’s just our lucky day, isn’t it?” I hugged Jamie.
“It’s okay, Mommy,” Jamie said. “Mous-Mous is here.”
Cliff looked worried. “Chuck’s right—he and Jeff can’t let you out of their sight without a problem starting. We can’t have one of your Poofs, ah, activating.”
“Dude, no kidding and this wasn’t, and isn’t, our fault.”
“Argue later,” Len said. “We need to get out of here.”
Took another look at the mob and decided I’d let the Poof activate well before I’d let them hurt my daughter. Some of the people were waving their signs around, and it was easy to see that these really were the mentally unbalanced folks who thought their God was nicknamed The Hater. I’d read about how these people operated—they weren’t going to be nice because three of us were women and we had a little girl along.
“Back into the restaurant,” Kyle said. He took Naomi and Abigail’s arms and started moving them inside. Len did the same with me and Cliff.
“We could use hyperspeed,” Naomi suggested.
“Not good,” Cliff said. “It’ll get spun badly by the media. Trust me.”
“But we have a car coming,” Abigail protested.
“It can’t get here before the mob does,” Len said.
This was true. They were less than a block away, clearly heading for us, and no gray limo was in evidence on the street.
Once we got back inside, Kyle locked the door behind us while Len went to Rosemarie and told her what was going on. Then the boys took hold of us again and moved us through the Teetotaler.
“There’s a back entrance,” Kyle shared as we hurried past the restrooms. “We’ll go out that way and the car can find us somewhere safer.”
“Never a dull moment with you guys,” Cliff said as we got into the alleyway behind the restaurant. “Where to?”
Abigail had her phone out. “They’ll get us at any location we want.”
“We can use hyperspeed, so let’s go for Providence Park.”
“You know,” Cliff said quickly, “if you’re not with me, I can probably just stay in the Teetotaler until the mob goes away.”
“Don’t want to barf your guts out?” Hyperspeed was hard on humans. Tito had created a nice Hyperspeed Dramamine drug that worked great for combating hyperspeed nausea. Our human agents now took some every day. However, I didn’t wander around with spare pills on me, so I had none to give Cliff.
He grinned. “Not if I can help it, no. Besides, if the mob comes in the restaurant, it’ll help them if I’m there to at least tell the police what happened.”
“Sounds good. Thanks for the save.”
“Any time. When Mimi sends the ‘we’re in trouble’ text, I listen. Call or text if you need me again, and let me know when you get back home safely.” He hugged me, kissed Jamie, hugged the Gower girls, then went back inside.
Naomi grabbed Len, Abigail took Kyle, and we set off for the park, which was close by. It took only a couple seconds to get there and find a good spot to “appear.” Len and Kyle made sure the area was reasonably clear and we all lounged casually under some trees.
“Limo will be here in five to ten minutes,” Abigail said. “Where are we going, once we get out of here?”
Was about to answer when I looked down the street. “Are you kidding me? Is that seriously the same mob we just escaped from?”
Naomi squinted. “Honestly, the signs are different. I think it’s Club Fifty-One.”
“My God, we just rock the lucky today, don’t we?”
“I don’t think they’ve seen us yet,” Abigail said.
“Give them time,” Kyle muttered.
“Let’s move into the foliage a bit more,” Len suggested.
As we did so Naomi’s phone rang. “Yes? Hi, Aunt Gladys.” She stepped a bit away, which was good, because my phone rang.
The main Embassy landline, meaning it was probably Walter. “Yo, Walt, things suck here, how’re you?”
“Ah, Ambassador?” The voice wasn’t Walter’s. And Walter always called me Chief, because I was now the sole Chief of Mission. But the voice was familiar.
“Who is this?”
“It’s William, Ambassador.” Walter’s older brother.
“Why are you calling me from the Embassy?”
“I’m covering for Walter.”
“Really. So, here’s a question—what is one of our top imageers doing handling Embassy Security? Or, to put it another way, where is my Walter?”