Katherine Katt: Universal Alien Part 10

Didn't have time to find out how many entry doors this place had-I needed to ensure that the a.s.sa.s.sins weren't able to set up or surround us. Zipped out the front door so fast I was pretty darned sure no one could have spotted it. No one started shooting, so I took that to mean I was going so fast I couldn't be seen by anyone other than an A-C, and apparently they were in extremely short supply here.

Of course, if there were no A-Cs, and therefore no A-C technology, and my Glock was different, that meant that other things were potentially different as well. However, as with most of the events of the past few years, I was going to have to find out what was going on and adapt on the go.

So, you know, routine.

CHAPTER 18.

"AIR . . . KITTY . . . NEED AIR," Mom said.

I released my hold a little but didn't stop hugging her. "Sorry, Mom. I just . . ." Couldn't stop crying. Decided to blame hitting my head and changing universes or whatever. Saw Martini out of the corner of my eye-he looked freaked out and upset.

Mom hugged me back. "What's going on, kitten?" she asked me softly. "Whatever you did with the Prime Minister can be fixed, I promise."

Crawford cleared his throat. "Ah, Angela? It's all a long story, but the fastest explanation is this-this isn't 'your' Kitty. She's from an alternate universe and has, as far as we can guess, changed places with the Kitty we know and love. Not that we won't learn to love this one, I'm sure," he added quickly.

Mom grabbed my upper arms and moved me back so she could examine me. Just the way she'd acted any time I didn't want to tell her about something bad that had happened when I was younger.

She nodded. "Looks like Kitty, but with a much better dye job than you usually manage for yourself."

"It's highlights, Mom. And I didn't start doing this until . . ." My throat closed up and wouldn't let me say the next words.

Her expression softened. "Ah. I'm dead in your world, aren't I?"

Felt the entire room stiffen. Looked at Martini again-he'd already known, I could tell. His whole empath thing must have clued him in the moment I saw Mom. Felt bad for him-if what he'd said was true, then my emotions were undoubtedly affecting him and, from how he looked, they were affecting him negatively.

I nodded. "For the past two and a half years." Forced myself to pull it together. "So, I have no idea what's going on here, but from the number of people in suits in this room, it's a lot."

"Yes, it is." Mom removed herself from my grasp, spun around, and went to the door. "Secret Service are to remain on duty outside. That's an order." Then she shut the door and came back to me.

"Uh, why are you giving the Secret Service orders, Mom? In fact, why are they even here?"

"I'm the head of the Presidential Terrorism Control Unit, or the P.T.C.U. It's clandestine, and all forms of covert and clandestine ops report into us, some directly, some dotted line. And I take it by your expression that you had no idea I did this kind of work until right now."

"Right. Uh, do you think you did it in my world?"

"Am I married to your father, Solomon Katt?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then I did. I was in Mossad when we met."

"But you're neither Jewish nor Israeli."

"No. I'm just special, kitten. Like you are."

"You're also married to the Vice President, remember?" Crawford asked. "Hence the Secret Service outside."

"Oh. Right. You know, someone was trying to run me and my children off the road in, uh, my universe." The panic about the kids that I'd managed to ignore for a few minutes resurfaced.

Martini winced. "Baby, please, stop . . ."

Was about to tell him to stop calling me baby when the full ramifications of what was going on hit me. "Oh. c.r.a.p. I have to pretend to be your wife, don't I?"

"Please and thank you," Crawford said. "Angela, I know why you kept the Secret Service details outside, but we may have to take them into our confidence."

"Absolutely not." Mom looked around the room. "Good, we only have Centaurion Division personnel here. I want no one other than those in this room to know that anything has happened beyond Kitty hitting her head, hard, and getting a concussion. Memory loss and confusion are a natural outcome of that. We can brief her on everything else."

"Raj needs to know," Serene said. "And Pierre will guess. Mister Joel Oliver might, too."

Mom shrugged. "Raj, I agree. If Pierre or Oliver guess, then we can choose if we tell them or not. But otherwise, no one else. Too many know what's going on right now."

"I don't know what's going on. And, more to the point, I have no idea what's going on with my children."

"Your kids are safe," James said with conviction.

"How would you know?"

"If Tim is right, and it's the only explanation that actually makes sense, then you and our Kitty switched right when you were being attacked, right?"

I nodded.

"Then she was put into your place in order to do exactly what I and everyone else here knows she did-she handled it and she and your kids are all safe."

"You have no way of guaranteeing that. Why would she be more likely to be able to keep from being run off the road than I would?"

Christopher walked over to me and picked me up. With one hand. Easily. "We're aliens. From another planet. Compared to humans, we're stronger, faster, and have accelerated healing. Due to a drug that some of us were . . . given . . . a few of us have mutated." He put me down. "Jeff is one of those people-he's the strongest empath in the universe, most likely. He's also stronger and faster than the average A-C. I am, too. Jamie's birth affected our Kitty and gave her most of our powers."

"So she's faster and stronger than you are," James said. "And she's been trained to handle these kinds of situations for the past five years."

"And I've worked with her on her powers for the past three years," Christopher added. "She can handle whatever is being thrown at her in your world."

"Especially if there are actually no aliens in your world," Charles added. "Because if there aren't, then she's probably the most powerful person on Earth right now."

"I shudder to contemplate that," Christopher muttered.

The Silver Fox came over and gave me a warm smile. "I'm Richard White, Christopher's father. I'm also Jeffrey's uncle, and Paul Gower's." He indicated the big, black, bald guy. Who happened to be standing close to James. Got the distinct impression they were a couple. "Paul is our current Supreme Pontifex, meaning our religious leader. I used to be, however, I retired when Jamie was born. Katherine and I also partner up when it comes to b.u.t.t-kicking, as you like to put it. She is more than capable of protecting your children as she would her own."

Took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay. So, why did we switch places? As in, why not have her just show up, save the day, and come home?"

"We have no idea," Richard said. "This is, to our knowledge, the first 'switch' that's happened."

"Lucky me."

"Truly. Could you tell us what your life is like where you come from?"

"Uh, sure, I'll aim for high-level. Charles and I have been married for eight years, we're wealthy-he made his money in convenience stores and then more of it in the stock market."

Martini nodded at Charles. "That's the same, then."

"We live half the year in Australia and half the year in D.C. We're normally not in the States right now, but Charles' third career is being part of a think tank, and they needed him back." Everyone I could see looked like they didn't believe this. Decided to forge on. "I homeschool our children. James is the top male model in the world, and Charles manages his career. My father is a history professor, though he's been on sabbatical since . . . Mom died."

"What are the odds?" Martini asked Charles.

Who looked at Mom. "High. Angela, would you have recruited me into the C.I.A. if Kitty and I had gotten married when we went to Vegas together that time?"

"Yes, and for the same reasons-you were too intelligent and looking into too many things the government needed to keep hidden. I'd have recruited you faster, because you were absolutely on a watch list until you came inside."

"How did you and Reynolds meet me?" James asked.

"We went on a worldwide honeymoon. We met you in Paris. You were horrified that we hadn't had a real church wedding, so you arranged one for us. You were our best man. You're our best friend. Why are you calling him Reynolds? You call him Chuck, you're one of the only ones who's allowed to."

"We didn't meet in that way in this world," James said gently. "So I'd have known you almost as long as you've been married. Angela?"

She nodded. "I'd have recruited you, too, I'm sure. Your being a fas.h.i.+on model would be a great cover and allow you to go everywhere. Charles being your manager screams 'cover story' to me, too."

"Are all of our friends in Australia in the C.I.A., too? Or are they all just in ASIS?"

"Not sure," Mom said. "They could be in Australia's Secret Intelligence Service. What do they do?"

"Well, the freaking Prime Minister and his wife run the d.a.m.n country, but the rest of our friends there are doctors and lawyers and government workers and such." The entire room drew in their breath. Ignored them. "We've known most of our circle since we hit Australia. We discovered I was pregnant with Charlie when we were in Australia and everyone was so great to us, and they loved that Charles was brilliant, so we just sort of . . . stayed."

"So," Richard said carefully, "you're intimate friends with Australia's Prime Minister?"

"Yes, as I said. We met through their eldest daughter and they sort of took us under their wings. Are you going to tell me that he's a s.p.a.ce alien or a spy?"

"No, not at all. However, I believe that you may be here to save our day as well." Richard looked around. "We're all thinking the same thing, yes?" All heads nodded.

"Kitty," Charles said, "our Kitty, just insulted the Prime Minister in a really huge way. International incident kind of way."

"What in the world could she have done? Tony's like the coolest guy in the world." Well, that depended on which party you belonged to and which socioeconomic level you lived in. Dad, Charles, and I all felt that Tony was a true politician, with all the negatives that came along with that career choice, but the Costellos had been wonderful friends to us, and ultimately, that mattered more.

"She did this." Charles made the V for Victory sign, only he had his palm turned in.

"Oh my G.o.d. She did not!"

"Half of us have no idea why you and Raj freaked out about that, by the way," James said.

"James, seriously, are you high? She flipped him off in Australian!" I turned to Richard. "What did Tony do?"

"Before or after Jeffrey accidentally spilled coffee all over him and his wife? Or before or after you threw your entire cup of coffee at and on him?"

"Both happened because Kitty was falling," Martini said quickly. "But, yeah."

"So, let me get this straight. The wife of the Vice President, in other words, me, flipped off the Australian Prime Minister and tossed her coffee at him, then her husband, the Vice President, threw coffee onto the Prime Couple?" Everyone nodded. "G.o.d, I hope their kids weren't around, too."

"No, they were spared." Richard seemed to find this funny.

"So not amused. So I insulted my friends? Fantastic."

"No," Charles said. "Our Kitty, who has never met these people prior to these past couple of days, insulted them. You, however, can hopefully help us figure out how to fix this situation, which has basically made one of our closest political allies incredibly angry."

"Well, most of the Australian people probably think this is fab, since they, like the people here, live to pick on their leaders."

"This happened at a cricket match," Charles added.

"Who won? Was it our team playing?"

Everyone looked at each other. "More than anything else she's said," Martini said, "this convinces me that Tim's theory is correct."

"He's not a popular politician," Mom said, sort of hopefully.

"Name one who is," Charles countered.

Martini shrugged. "To Chuck's point, I'm not popular, and neither is Vince. And we had an amazing come-from-behind victory, which would make you think we were popular, only you'd be wrong. Vincent Armstrong, our current President," he said to me.

"Whatever you say. So, really, back to the cricket match. Who was playing? Who won?"

"That needs to stop," Crawford said. "Look we need to brief her on what she does and doesn't like. And we need to do it fast."

"And then we need to get things fixed with Australia," a new voice said. Spun around to see an incredibly handsome guy who was probably from India via the aliens in some way. "Because the Prime Minister is mad enough that he's making noises about sending all their A-Cs back to the U.S., and that's not good for anyone."

CHAPTER 19.

"RAJNISH SINGH," Richard said. "He prefers to be called Raj."

"Why are you introducing me to Kitty?" Singh asked.

"Bizarro World," Crawford said.

Singh's eyes narrowed, he c.o.c.ked his head a bit to the right, stared at me, then nodded. "Okay, how did it happen?"

"Wow, does everyone here read the comics?"