“She’s a prisoner of war.” Figured I’d put it in terms the princesses would understand immediately.
“Yes, I understand that. But, we have determined she is being used.”
“That’s right,” Jeff said. “At least we believe she’s being used. She might see the light and join our side, but she might not, and we don’t want to let her go back to rejoin our other enemies.”
“Do you normally take your prisoners of war with you?”
“Yeah, we do . . . oh. Wow. Good call, Rahmi.”
“You’ve lost me,” Jeff said with a sigh.
“The princess makes a good point,” Chuckie said.
“What point is that?” Christopher asked. “That we don’t kill our enemies immediately or just let them wander off to attack us again?”
“No,” Chuckie replied. “What Rahmi means is that we take our prisoners along all the time, it’s something we do regularly, meaning it’s something that can be anticipated. Kitty tends to grab whoever she comes across and drag them into her wake. Tito’s a great example, but he’s not the only one.”
“The Planetary Council, for another example,” White said. “And since we know Ronaldo and LaRue attended the Martinis’ wedding reception in secret, it would seem a safe bet that he is anticipating our once again attempting to turn an enemy into a friend.”
Tito returned. “She’s human. So are Malcolm and Adriana, in case anyone was feeling paranoid. Mahin has no bugs or implants or anything else dangerous like that on her. She did have a few weapons hidden, but Adriana searched her and found them all.”
“So, what do we do with her, then?” Christopher asked. “And before we suggest that someone takes her off somewhere, I need to point out that we have no idea what the extent of her talents is. She could be a lot more powerful than we’ve seen.”
“And that could mean they’re also expecting us to take her somewhere and then she becomes an infiltrator.” This was really like the poison scene from The Princess Bride. What a pity I hadn’t spent years taking the poison antidote so that the choice didn’t matter. Decided I was still technically the one in charge, so made the Executive Decision. “We take her. No one can read her any more than they can read the rest of us. If she’s going to try something, better with us, where we can stop her, than somewhere else where she might get the drop on whoever’s guarding her and thereby actually infiltrate.”
“So, where are we going?” Gower asked. “Exactly?”
“First to the wreckage of the plane and tank. Then via floater gate to Home Base. Then back to the drainage pipe.”
“Why the bouncing around?” Jeff asked.
“No, that’s wise,” Chuckie countered. “It should at least give us a hope of confusing our enemies if they’re actually in the Science Center and watching us. Gladys may have given them everything and guessed what we’re going to do, but it’s worth a shot.”
“Then let’s get this show on the road. It’s now at least a couple hours after my last meal and I’m starving.”
Jeff heaved a sigh as he took my hand. “Only my girl.”
CHAPTER 29
JEFF HELD MAHIN while I took Buchanan and Adriana aside and shared the plan with them. In addition to Adriana’s weapons search and seizure, they’d spent the time tying Mahin’s hands behind her back using some of the ripped-up parachute.
“We got nothing out of her other than the fact that she thinks we’re all murderous pigs, me most of all,” Buchanan shared when we were done.
“She’s not fond of me, either,” Adriana said with a smile. “I believe Grandmother would be able to get information out of her though.”
“If only we had the time to bring Mahin to Olga. Or knew that it was safe to do so.”
“Which we don’t,” Buchanan said. “However, I think she’ll talk to your father. He did the Good Cop role well and he doesn’t give off the same vibes the rest of us do.”
“Good to know. I don’t want her alone with my dad anytime soon.”
Buchanan gave me a wolfish grin. “I like being Bad Cop, so no worries.”
“I see that. Can’t argue, I prefer the Bad Cop role myself.”
Buchanan and Adriana had no argument with our plan, such as it was, so we all linked hands, Buchanan and Jeff each holding one of Mahin’s arms, and then we took a leisurely hyperspeed run to the remains of the jet.
Since said remains were pretty well covered with sand and such, we didn’t linger long. Mahin, being a hybrid, had no issues with the hyperspeed, which was good in that we didn’t have to watch her throw up. Chuckie texted in the coordinates to Colonel Franklin so the military could do cleanup, then Jeff called for a group floater gate.
We all stepped through together and exited at Home Base. Christopher and the princesses verified there was still no one there but us while I made my stomach settle down. Mahin had no negative reactions to the gate. Decided I might need to hate her.
“Do we keep the mummy look going?” Tito asked as Christopher and the princesses returned and Chuckie put handcuffs onto Mahin while Buchanan removed her parachute bonds.
“No,” Jeff said. “You all look ridiculous, and while the element of surprise is one thing, I don’t think we can reasonably count on all of our enemies falling down laughing when they see all of you. Some of them, yes. But not all.”
We stripped off the impromptu parachute fashion wear. Happily, we were all intact and reasonably unscathed. “Scoff if you like, but I say any fashion choice that allows you to get through a sandstorm without major injuries is a good fashion choice.”
“Last chance to change our minds,” Christopher said, once we were all devoid of parachutes and Mahin was officially in C.I.A. custody, or at least C.I.A. handcuffs.
“Unless you’ve had a genius moment, we’re rolling with what we have.” This earned me Patented Glare #2, but no snide comments, so took that to mean Christopher hadn’t come up with anything better. “I do have one request. Dad, I want you going back to Caliente Base.”
“Absolutely not,” Dad said calmly.
“We don’t know what we’ll be facing, but people shooting at us would be a safe bet.”
Dad shrugged. “I realize you and your mother do this sort of thing all the time, kitten. And I don’t. However, you’re my daughter and I’m here and, therefore, I’m not leaving to let you go off and get shot at without me along to do my best to protect you and the rest of our family and friends.”
“We don’t really have time for this argument,” Jeff said. “Our family, friends, and co-workers are in danger, held hostage or worse, and we have to go. Now. Sol, just stay in the back.”
Wasn’t thrilled, but didn’t argue. Because Christopher argued for me. “Jeff, think for a minute. Where we’re going, ah, echoes. And we have to be single file for a while.” He grabbed me and Jeff and pulled us aside. “I think we’re going to have a problem, more than one, if we try to take our prisoner along.”
“It was hard enough when it was just me, Christopher, and three of the flyboys.”
“I don’t know that we can control a hybrid in there, and she’ll have ample opportunity to shout her head off,” Christopher went on. “Sure, we can gag her, but we still don’t know what she can do. What if it’s a lot more than we’ve seen?”
Jeff ran his hand through his hair. “Fine, I know where you’re both going with this. I’m fine with Sol staying behind with Mahin, but he can’t possibly handle her on his own.”
“But we have someone with us who can.” I motioned for Buchanan and Chuckie to join us and we quickly explained the situation. “I want my dad somewhere safe, and I want Mahin guarded by someone who’s nasty enough to kill her if necessary but smart enough to avoid it if at all possible.”