"It's the time zone changes. It's hard on the body, no matter how much you do it. We should probably shower again, just in case."

"Is that your way of saying I didn't use enough deodorant earlier?"

He grinned. "You smell like roses, baby."

"Wow, you can lie a little, can't you?"

As before, I showered first. Made it a point to ensure that my hair was dry, in a ponytail, and back up in a banana clip before I left the bathroom. Wanted to avoid seeing Martini in nothing but a towel again. Well, that wasn't true-I desperately wanted to see him naked. I was just smart enough to know that doing so wasn't going to be good for anyone, me especially.

As I came out of the bathroom with my robe wrapped around me I noted that there were three rolling bags at the foot of the bed. Two were clearly a His and Hers set, in black. The third was a cute h.e.l.lo Kitty bag that basically screamed that it was Jamie's. "This seems like a small amount to make it through a full trip to the other side of the world."

"Like Abigail said, we'll be stopping at Sydney Base first, and that's where we'll be sleeping as well. While it's nice to hope that we'll fix everything in an hour, there's no guarantee, and if we're lucky and the Prime Minister forgives us and goes so far as to ask us to stick around a bit, we'll want to have our personal things close by. The Operations Team will take care of anything we need when we're at the Base, but it just helps to have essentials with us, just in case."

"Works for me."

I got dressed with Gershom a.s.sisting me. Put on both layers-just in case, and besides, I really liked the way the sweater dress looked.

Fortunately for me, as soon as I was dressed and had my purse hooked onto my rolling bag, there was another knock at the door. Fortunately, because Martini was once again coming out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist.

And once again, all I could think about was what he'd look like if he dropped the towel.

CHAPTER 67.

SCURRIED OFF like the Hounds of h.e.l.l, or at least the Hounds of Inappropriate l.u.s.t, were at my heels, to find Abigail and Jamie at the door. They were accompanied by five guys in Armani. Four of them had one dog each, and one had the Feline Winnebago. Inappropriate l.u.s.t was shoved aside for Jamie and the Pet Parade.

"Mommy, can the pets all come with us?" Jamie asked as Abigail handed her to me and they all came inside and headed for the living room.

Abigail shook her head violently, as did the five agents, where Jamie couldn't see. "Ah, I don't think that's a good idea, Jamie-Kat."

"Poofs and Peregrines are okay," Abigail said quickly.

"Yes, but the dogs and cats aren't allowed into Australia without waiting a very long time in cages, all alone. They'll be much happier and safer staying here."

"Okay, Mommy," Jamie said with a sigh, as she squirmed out of my arms.

She gave each dog a hug and kiss, opened the Winnebago, took out each cat, and gave them a hug and a kiss, too. The animals seemed appreciative. Gave the dogs and cats pets, to ensure that I didn't seem off to anyone.

Some of the Poofs got out of the Winnebago. Those that didn't got hugs and kisses from Jamie, too, and pets from me. Then Abigail nodded to the agents, and they took the dogs and cats down the hall and into what Martini had said were guest bedrooms.

"Why not just let them sleep in our rooms like they always do?" I asked Abigail.

"And leave the pets all alone?" Jamie gasped. "Mommy, they'd be too lonely and they'd cry and cry."

"Or, as we call it, howl and caterwaul," Abigail said dryly. "All day and all night. Trust me, taking care of your animals is an a.s.signed duty. Happily, we've found a couple of sets of agents who have become dog and cat lovers."

The remaining Poofs, who were ama.s.sed on the living room furniture, all looked at me expectantly. "Ah . . . do they all come with us?"

"If they're invited, Mommy, yes they do."

"Okay, then any Poofs," felt a feathery nudge against my leg, "and Peregrines who want to experience the adventure of travel, come on down." There were now no Poofs in evidence, but my purse felt slightly heavier and I looked inside. There was a lot of condensed fluff in there now. Decided not to care. Felt something soft rub against my neck, then Gershom mewled at me and jumped into the purse as well. "Have Poofs, will travel."

"Auntie Abigail, are you coming with us?" Jamie asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm staying here with Doreen and keeping the Emba.s.sy running." She winked at me. "Someone has to do their jobs while the rest of you are off gallivanting."

My memory did me a solid and shared that she meant Doreen Weisman, who was the only truly trained diplomat on staff. I hadn't met her, and I couldn't remember if she knew I wasn't the Kitty they all expected or not. Decided that if she wasn't coming along it didn't matter.

"Just heard from James," Martini said as he came out of the bedroom, fully dressed and carrying all three bags. "We're leaving from the Zoo."

"Oh, enjoy that," Abigail said. "You're going to miss Boggy, though. She's across the street, visiting Olga."

"Boggy? Olga?"

"We told you about them-Boggy is Chern.o.bog the Ultimate. The best hacker in the world, basically. She's on our side now. And Olga's the wife of the Romanian Amba.s.sador and your good friend."

"Impressive. And I don't remember this at all."

"Long stories," Martini said quickly. "And ones you don't want right now, trust me. Just know that you're the one who brought Chern.o.bog over onto our side and that Olga's never wrong, if you can figure out what she's telling you. Which you usually can."

"Go my Cosmic Alternate."

"Right." Abigail hugged me. "And go you, too. You'll do great. Call us if you need anything, we'll have someone up and ready twenty-four seven until you guys are all back." She left the apartment with us, but took the stairs.

"You don't mean we're leaving from where the animals are and where Jamie supposedly wants to go, do you?" I asked Martini as I picked Jamie up and we headed for the elevator. If the Peregrines were along, they were in their Invisible Mode, but I had a feeling more than just Bruno were coming with.

"No. We bought the other building on this block, and have a raised, covered walkway that connects them. It's where Hacker International, as your Cosmic Alternate calls them, live and work. And, ah, you need to be prepared."

"For what?"

"For Stryker Dane."

"Stryker's here? That's great!"

"Ah, yeah. Great. Per Chuck, and based on your descriptions of the Stryker in your world, you're not going to be able to handle how he looks in this world."

"Oh my G.o.d. Did he have an accident or something?"

"Ah. No. Just . . . try to control whatever reaction you have, okay? And we have not told them what's going on, so you literally have to act normal, normal for my Kitty, around them."

"What is that normal?"

"Sarcasm and one-upmanship."

"Oh. So how it was with Eddy when I first met him. Gotcha."

"Probably exactly like that," Martini muttered.

We got out of the elevator on the second floor and the others joined us, rolling suitcases in hand, Secret Service agents included. Meaning we had a lot of people. Wanted to ask if we always rolled with this much of an entourage, then realized that no one seemed fazed, so of course they did.

Christopher and Amy were there, too, presumably to see us off. Len and Kyle took the luggage from Martini as we headed down the hallway. Had no idea what to say to the agents. "I'm so sorry about what happened," was all I could come up with.

"Those are the risks," Evalyne said briskly. "We would really appreciate you two not trying to escape from us in the future, however." She sounded unhappy with us, not that this was a surprise.

"They weren't after them," Kyle said. "Think about it. They're after the people protecting them, but not them. At least, not this time."

"Seems like it," Phoebe said. "However, our jobs are to protect the three of you. And Mister Reynolds as well."

"Where are they, by the way?"

"Waiting for us in the Zoo," Crawford said. "Reynolds is giving the hackers some directions and Richard and Buchanan are there to ensure that the recording artists you've added to the team don't get into trouble or break something."

The walkway was impressive. When I looked outside I saw protestors. Managed not to ask what was going on, only because I could see some of the signs. They were protesting that aliens were on the planet and that Martini was in public office.

"People like that," Evalyne said softly to me, "are part of what we're supposed to protect you from."

"Who protects the protectors, though? It's a two-way street. If we can protect you, we should."

She sighed. "We appreciate that sentiment, Kitty. But if you hadn't left in the middle of the night-"

"Eight of your peers might be alive. I know."

"Kyle's right," Len said. "Why were they sent to eight different gates? That screams setup to me. And I know it screams setup to all of you, too, Kitty especially."

People around me stiffened, Evalyne and Phoebe in particular. "Mister Goodman sent them to their locations," Phoebe said. "To cover all the bases . . ."

This wasn't good. These people weren't stupid, and they were all about to figure out what some of us knew already. But that just meant Goodman was going to catch on and put whatever his Doomsday Plan was into action.

Evalyne looked at me, and then looked at Martini. "Cut the chatter," she said, using her In Charge voice. "We'll discuss this when we're all at Sydney Base."

We were across the walkway and in a large room that had what appeared to be a bank of bathroom stalls against one wall, a gigantic, industrial kitchen at the far end, an elevator, two stairwells, and nothing else in it.

"No," Martini said. "We'll discuss it now." He jerked his head at Singh. "Search them."

Singh nodded, pulled out his bug finder, and ran it over every one of the Secret Service agents. "They're all clean. No bugs, no trackers, no emotional blockers or overlays."

"Great." Martini took a deep breath. "You all know we feel that we have a Mastermind who's running all the actions against us." Everyone nodded. "Well, we've determined who that is."

"Cliff Goodman," Evalyne said, voice like ice.

Martini nodded. "We think your coworkers were murdered in an attempt to frame Malcolm Buchanan and get him out of the way. It didn't work, but only because we figured out what was going on in time."

"How could he have done that?" one of the male agents whose name I hadn't been told or hadn't caught asked. "And why?"

"Why?" Singh asked. "Why does anyone betray their country and the people who trust them? Money, power, influence."

"And more," Martini said. "Since we've arrived on this planet, people have tried to control us to use us for their own ends, not for the reasons we came here-to protect and help our adopted world."

Everyone looked at me. No, not at me-at Jamie. I held her a little more tightly. "They want Jamie." We shouldn't be talking about this in front of her, but I had no idea how to stop this conversation.

Jamie hugged me. "It's okay, Mommy."

"It's not if one of you is working for Goodman, instead of working for the good of your country," Singh said.

"No." Everyone looked at me again. "I don't want people working for the good of their country. I want people around us who are working for what's right and decent. People who don't want a crazed madman to take a little girl and use her in ways I honestly don't even want to imagine. I want those kinds of people around us. You can do a lot of evil under the guise of doing good for your country. We want people around us who won't use those excuses to betray us, kill us, or use us."

"Kitty's right," Serene said. "If you're not with us, you're against us. Plain and simple."

"In other words," I said, "choose your side."

"And," Martini added, "choose it now."

CHAPTER 68.

EVALYNE AND PHOEBE exchanged a look. "With you," Evalyne said, as they both stepped across the invisible line Singh had created when he'd searched the agents. "For all the reasons you named and one more-the agents who were murdered were our friends, and I'll be d.a.m.ned if I'm going to help the man who intentionally sent them to their deaths."

The other agents stepped across, one by one. The first one, the one who'd asked why Goodman would have done what he did, was the last man standing on the other side. "I want proof, not speculation, before I make the decision to betray my official orders."

"This is the Vice President of the United States," Phoebe said. "He overrules someone at Homeland Security."

"It's a legitimate request," Martini said. "But, we have no proof. Only the connection of events taken to their logical conclusion. I know you're new to the team, Sam, but we want to get the proof you want. Will you help us?"

The agent relaxed. In fact, he'd relaxed when Martini had said that we had no proof. "Sure."

It was one thing to trust. But if your entire demand in order to give that trust was proof, relaxing when the confirmation of no proof was given was a contrary reaction. Malcolm wasn't here. I wasn't sure if anyone else would listen to me. But had to give it a shot. "Stop him, he's working for Goodman."

Everyone gaped at me. Everyone other than Christopher. He moved faster than I could blink, grabbed Sam's arms, and pulled them behind his back. Sam struggled, but he wasn't going anywhere. "What the h.e.l.l? Is this how you killed everyone else?"

"Note that he thinks we killed those agents. Or else he's spouting the party line. But he's not on our side."

"He didn't show as having any bugs or overlays," Singh said, sounding uncertain.

"And I didn't feel anything wrong from him beyond suspicion and some fear," Martini added.