Cloud Invasion (26 page)

"You're right-that's fucked up," Matt agreed. "I don't suppose you can see who the stronger one is?"

"Nope-that's part of the fog on his brain," I confirmed. "Like what he truly is has been completely blocked by that fog. I can't see through it."

"Does he have knowledge of the warheads?" Matt asked.

"If he does, it's hiding behind the fog, too. I get the idea he didn't issue those orders; somebody else did."

"Baikov, or his clone," Auggie sat back in his chair with a shake of his head.

"More than possible," I said. "But it could also be our enemy making his presence known."

"How the hell is he going to take a country back, if important parts of said country have been blown to bits by nuclear warheads?" Auggie's voice was a near-shout.

"A play for time, perhaps?" Ilya suggested. "To mollify the insurgents after the failure of the rockets? After all, those warheads are useless without the proper launch codes."

"True," Matt nodded thoughtfully. "Still, they must want something from the insurgents, other than to keep them from bombing the Kremlin whenever they get their undies in a twist."

"It's a cinch the insurgents didn't pay for those rockets, so it can't be because they paid good money for nothing," Opal said. "We've determined that the mastermind behind all this is funding their operation, anyway."

"With stolen crowns, et cetera and so forth," Nick agreed.

"From the
sale
of stolen crowns, et cetera," I clarified. Sadly, an Asian dictator to be named later was in possession of most of it.

"True," Nick acknowledged my clarification. "Do you think it's all a ploy to discredit Madam President?" He directed the question to Auggie.

"Possibly," Auggie replied. "We've thought that all along, though."

"Six warheads," Opal mused. "Who would be the biggest targets, if they wanted to piss everybody off?" She tapped her chin with a finger as she turned her gaze on Matt.

"I thought they already pissed everybody off with the plane bombings," Nick offered.

"But that's been tied to Russia," Maye began. "Oh. You think?"

"They'll point fingers at the insurgents, and my money's on the fact that they'll make that theory stick, somehow," Matt rose from his chair in a rush. "After all, we never saw the ones on the mountain in Colombia, firing those rockets. The one in Argentina was a known enemy of the Russian government, who could have sided with the insurgents. We only know the Russians were supplying the rockets. Don't we?"

"Coupled with the fact that they're setting their planes down in South America and Cuba-and flying on the edge of U.S. airspace," Ilya added.

"It'll only take a photograph or two-conveniently provided by them or a South American government-to point a finger at the insurgents, who'd just love to put those notches on their belts anyway, regardless of whether they were responsible or not," Auggie nodded.

"This is more than confusing," Richard said.

"Twisted mind, twisted plot," Matt said.

"I'm beginning to agree with that assessment," I said. Ilya's arms draped around me as he pulled me back against his chest. He understood, just as I did, that somewhere, somehow, a madman was in charge and killing as many as possible to further his sick agenda.

* * *

"I'm sorry about your honeymoon," Auggie took a seat at the kitchen island, looking droopier than a bloodhound.

"There's no way I could stay on a honeymoon when this sort of crap is happening," I said.

"Corinne, what will you do if those missiles are fired?"

"You know what I'd do," I said, turning away and opening our makeshift liquor cabinet. Ice cubes clinked into a glass as Ilya dropped them in; I poured Scotch for Auggie. Ilya set the glass in front of him, before pouring a glass for himself.

"What if that's what they want-to feel you out?" Auggie asked.

"Auggie, they've seen and heard enough already, I think," I said. "Why would they keep doing dumb stuff after all that?"

"To see if you have a weak spot," Ilya poured Scotch for me and pointed to a barstool.

"So they steal crowns, jewels and artwork, to sell to fund an insurgency," I said. "Then, they attempt to destroy our Program, because they learn we might be able to stop them," I began to tick items off on my fingers.

"When their first several attempts failed, they set the creatures free, assuming we'd be sent to look for them. After we solve that riddle and get rid of all that, they send somebody with a clouded mind against me, because they know I can see through most people. Still, we manage to survive what should have blown us to bits in Alaska. After that, they think they've killed us off and start bombing planes from different countries, possibly intending to point a finger at the insurgents, who'd love to start World War III anyway. When the shipment of rockets they send to the insurgents is rendered harmless by us, they hand over bigger bombs that need floppy drives to work. Is any of this making any sense to anybody?" I asked.

"Is that meeting going to have sufficient security?" Ilya asked.

"The best we can provide."

"They've managed to keep us busy, haven't they?" Richard said. He and Maye walked in and took seats at the island. Ilya held up the bottle of Scotch. Richard nodded and rose to collect two more glasses.

"Fuckers," Auggie huffed, emptying his glass in one swallow and holding it out for a refill.

"We still have to consider where Merle Askins fits into this," Maye said.

"I have an idea he's either dead or a drug survivor," I said. "I can't get a line on him, either way."

"I hope he's dead," Ilya hissed.

"The media says he's in another country with no extradition treaty," Richard said.

"While that could be a probability, we can't say that for certain," Auggie supplied. "We have no evidence as to where he is-last we heard, it looked as if his vehicle was headed north."

"Toward Canada, maybe, where Hal Prentice is holed up?"

"Maybe." Auggie's one-word answer was accompanied by a shrug.

"So we wait until they start lobbing missiles, which Corinne will have to deal with?" Opal and Matt joined us at the island.

"Looks that way," Auggie agreed. "I hate this," he added.

* * *

Video-Drug Subject: Merle Askins

"Too bad about your blood type-we could have created something better if you'd had one of the blood types we've already used," the doctor nodded as Merle Askins held the hand mirror up to examine his face.

"This is beyond fucked up," Merle threw the mirror at the wall with a snarl. It shattered with a crash-its glass and plastic shards spattering across the sterile tile of his hospital room.

"You're stronger, now-much stronger," the doctor pointed out. "Perhaps that will compensate for the scales. Prove yourself to us and we'll enroll you in the replication program."

* * *

Ilya

"My darling, you must stop worrying." I found Corinne sitting up in bed in the middle of the night, arms wrapped around knees, her head lowered. My hand automatically went to the tender skin at the back of her neck; I massaged those muscles gently, as they were knotted with tension.

"I can't turn it off, honey," she murmured. "I can't shut it out like I did in Alaska. My son died because of that."

This was a conversation we hadn't had, and that worried me. "Cabbage, all of us face terrible things. No matter how good we are, we cannot prevent all of them from happening." The sheets rustled as I shoved them back and worked myself into a sitting position beside her.

"Will you answer a question for me, then?" she sighed.

"Always."

"What if," she began and then stopped.

"What if what?" I said when she failed to continue.

"Ilya, I love you more than anything," she said.

"And I you."

"But what if-what if I'm faced with a choice-of saving you from something awful, or letting the enemy get away?"

"Cabbage, listen to me," I said, pulling her face around so our eyes met. "Get that piece of excrement. No matter what. I have been taking care of myself for a very long time. Let me worry about me in that situation. Take the bastard down."

"Then you do the same, Ilya," she said before kissing me fiercely and drawing away to speak again. "No matter what my situation is, kill him if you can."

"I have never had a love such as this," I said. "We understand one another."

"I've waited for you my whole life," she said and kissed me again.

* * *

"Colonel Hunter, I have questions," I said the following morning. I'd left Corinne asleep in bed-she'd finally succumbed after I loved her into exhaustion.

"About?"

"Harriett Majors. What was her relationship with her husband like? Do you know?"

"I-uh, well, see James. He was curious, you understand."

"Of course. Thank you, Colonel Hunter."

"Rafe," Colonel Hunter's tone stopped me from leaving the kitchen.

"What is it?" I turned to ask.

"Matt and I-want to have a discussion with you. Do you think Corinne will sleep another hour or so?"

"I hope so; she was awake much of the night."

"Good. This is important, and we wouldn't approach you like this if we weren't concerned."

"I understand," I said, although I waited for an explanation. Director Michaels arrived in twenty minutes; we spent the following hour discussing many things before I went looking for James. I still wanted to satisfy my curiosity about Harriett Majors' husband.

* * *

"Word has it he was a cold fish-perfect for a trial attorney, not so perfect as a husband or father," James said, copying a file onto a flash drive and handing it to me. "He thought Cori's-well, Harriett's writing was just a quaint little hobby-his words, not mine-until she started making more money than he did. Some of their neighbors were interviewed after the deaths were reported. Even before Darin Sr. was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, they slept in separate bedrooms."

"Why not get a divorce?" I asked.

"He was Catholic-she wasn't. I don't know that she ever asked for a divorce, but he'd have refused it. She brought him clients, too, once people knew who he was married to."

"So he starved her for attention and love, perhaps?"

"It's possible. Dr. Shaw thinks that's exactly how it was-he did this research and gave it to me because it's all public record anyway. Once Darin Sr. got sick and his time was limited, she bent over backward to see he got everything he wanted, including a visit to the Louvre instead of going to Wales that day."

"And she was still determined to avenge his death, because it was so violent and undeserved," I said.

"She could have killed the original Baikov without thinking too hard about it," James pointed out. "She let you have that honor."

"Yes, she did."

"Because she knew how important that was to you."

"I know this."

"Commander Black," Nathan Cross walked into James' office with an armload of files.

"Commander?"

"You've been given titles-all of you," Nathan smiled. "Madam President has to introduce you formally at the meeting, so you have to have a title."

"Interesting," I responded. "What is Corinne's title?"

"Special Attaché to the Department of Defense."

"Classic," James laughed.

* * *

Corinne

"Special Attaché?" I'd wandered into the kitchen to find Auggie, James, Nathan and Ilya there, having coffee. James was grinning as I made coffee for myself. He announced that I had a new title while my coffee dribbled into a waiting cup.

"We can't offer a military title-you could be questioned about your service, of which there is none," Auggie pointed out judiciously. "Rafe probably has all that squirreled away in his head anyway, so it was a cinch for him."

"I am a Lieutenant Colonel, as is Maye," Nick beamed as he walked into the kitchen and headed for the coffee maker.

"Everybody outranks me?" I huffed.

"Christ," Auggie covered his face with a hand.

"Corinne, these titles mean nothing," Leo said as he walked in with Maye and Richard.

"Hey, now," Nick protested.

"Christ," Auggie repeated.

"I don't believe it was meant as a slight, cabbage," Ilya said.

"No? You're a Commander. I'm a glorified secretary or something."

"I'll get it changed," Auggie sighed.

"No, the damage is done." Lifting my coffee cup, I stalked out of the kitchen before transporting myself to Tybee Island.

Chapter 18

Ilya

"She'll come back," Richard attempted to calm everyone. "She always does."

"Why did this upset her so much?" Nathan asked.

"You'd have to know more of Corinne's history to start guessing at that, and most of us are still in the dark about it," Maye responded.

"I think it's when we question her talent or ability that she gets upset," James said. "Remember the Ukraine-Crimea-Baikov thing? Rafe thought she was delusional when she said she'd take care of the bunker and boom-off she went."

"At least she dropped you off in Matt's office first," Opal said. She'd come late to our difficulty, but she'd been updated quickly.

"Exactly. Corinne won't leave us hanging out to dry," Richard said, pointing a finger in Opal's direction.

Cabbage?
I sent mindspeech to her.

Go away
, she replied.
I'm having a snit
.

My love, the last thing anyone here would do is upset you. It wasn't meant that way.

How was it meant, then?

I have no idea who arranged these titles. You understand that your title will ensure that you stay close to Colonel Hunter? Of all of us, he may be the most vulnerable. He is not a drug survivor, my darling.

What about the President?

Maye and Nick will be with her. You are to be with Colonel Hunter, who will watch a live feed of the meeting from a room close by.

I'm being excluded from the meeting?
I could tell she was even more upset by that.

My love, do not look at it that way. There is a reason, I assure you. I will be positioned near President Zoran at the table while the meeting takes place
.
These are precautionary measures, you understand
.

Do you have orders, Ilya? Concerning President Zoran?

In a way. Come home and we will discuss it in private
.

Then meet me in our bedroom. I don't want to see the others right now. I fail to understand what keeping me from the meeting will accomplish, other than placing people in danger.

I understand. I'll be in the bedroom soon
.

* * *

Corinne

"What did they tell you, Ilya?" I demanded the moment he arrived in our bedroom and shut the door. Auggie and Matt had planned this somehow, only I failed to see the reason behind it.

"I am to deliver justice if Zoran makes any attempts or orders his aides to harm anyone," Ilya shrugged.

"Auggie told you to?" With arms crossed tightly over my chest, I refused to move any closer-we had a standoff going while on opposite sides of the bed.

"Colonel Hunter and Director Michaels, yes," he admitted.

"Do you understand how things could go very wrong in all this?" I asked. "What if somebody is waiting to fire warheads if anyone touches a hair on Zoran's head?"

"That has been discussed," he nodded, his eyes half-closed. I fought the urge to drop my shield and read everything in him that I could.

"Who else was in on this discussion? Want to tell me that?"

"Corinne, I think you should allow that to remain secret," he argued. "I'm going against orders to tell you what I have."

"Right. I'm just the secretary. I remember that, now." I turned away, considering where I should go-how far I should transport myself away. After all, it didn't sound as if they wanted me anywhere near the meeting.

"Corinne, they worry about many things. One of those things is you. Surely you understand that."

"Right." He knew I wasn't buying it.

"They're concerned about what might happen if you're injured or killed."

"Because then their asses would be in a sling, is that right?"

"I see I'm only upsetting you further. That is not my intention. I love you. You know this."

"I have a bad feeling about this," I snapped. "Being left out of it makes it worse."

"What's going on in there?" Auggie's voice arrived, followed by pounding on the bedroom door.

"You'd be sorry if we were having sex," I shouted while opening the door with power. It swung open with a screech and hit the doorstop so hard it nearly bounced back in Auggie's face.

"We are merely having a disagreement," Ilya said calmly. I knew he was anything but calm, but then he was a former spy, more than capable of hiding his true feelings.

Colonel August Hunter stood at the threshold of our bedroom, wearing a huge frown. James stood right behind him, and after that came Matt, Opal, Nick, Maye, Richard and Nathan.

"Those people I left alive at the Pilchuck facility?" I said as I shouldered my way past Auggie and the others. "They're dead. They holed up in that train caboose outside Granite Falls and the enemy found them. They were shot to death. There's blood everywhere," I announced as I made my way toward the kitchen.

"Were they questioned? Did they know anything?" Auggie demanded as he followed me.

"They didn't know a damn thing," I yelled. "That's why I left them alive in the first place. They had nothing to give their former boss-except their lives."

"Did you know when it was happening?" Matt asked quietly as I slammed a coffee cup beneath the brewer. Everybody had followed me to the kitchen by that time.

"Director Michaels," I began. "I knew when it was happening. If the enemy is not directly involved with an event like that, I know exactly what is happening. I knew when every one of those planes went down, along with a ton of other things before that. I was overwhelmed for a while in Alaska, so I shut it off for a few hours. My son died during that blackout period. Do you understand how hard it is not to interfere with any of that?"

"Why didn't you interfere?" Auggie was now furious, his voice an angry hiss.

"There are problems with that," I said, "if I'm not directly involved or in physical danger because of it. Destroying those creatures, killing insurgents and disarming those rockets was a stretch at times, but those points can be argued in my favor. Outright interfering can cause ripples in the timeline otherwise and I assure you, that could be a very bad thing. I have to use only the abilities I had last time-I just wasn't aware at the time what all those abilities were. There's a reason-you have to believe me. Going behind my back with Ilya only makes things worse."

"What were you last time?" Richard kept his voice even as he asked.

"You won't recognize it if I told you," I shrugged.

"Tell me anyway. To satisfy my curiosity."

"I was a Karathian Witch last time," I huffed. "A powerful one."

"You can do so much more, this time," Richard pointed out.

"Look-Karathian Witches and Warlocks have to have their power awakened when they're young, or they are limited in what they can do. I was limited last time, because the awakening wasn't performed. I bypassed that little requirement, this time."

"Because?" Leo had arrived and joined the conversation.

"I can't-and won't-tell you that. It's important that I don't."

"What does Karathian even mean? I've never heard that word, before," Nick said.

"Karathia is so far from here you can't even see a glimmer of its sun's light," I said. "Stop asking questions. I'm still pissed."

"We need to deescalate," Matt said. "We're on the same side here, remember?"

Stop acting like you don't know anything, you pretentious schmuck
. I slammed those words into his head and stalked out of the kitchen, keeping my coffee cup from spilling by employing power.

* * *

Opal

"It can't be," Matt paced inside an empty suite at what Corinne had dubbed the ugly building in Arlington.

"What if it is?" I asked.

"You know there's only supposed to be one."

"Yet we're looking at fallout from the drug," I argued. "After all, her talents in the first incarnation," I didn't get to finish, Matt held up a hand.

"Yeah. You're right," he eventually nodded his agreement. "But you think she can see right through?"

"I think that one hundred percent," I said.

"I don't want to send a message to you know who without being absolutely sure," he pointed out.

"You can say her name, nobody's listening," I said.

"I just don't want to call her attention to this-she asked us to take care of as much of the crap that comes along as we possibly can without interrupting her."

"I think it's time somebody knew that the drug landed here," I released a sigh. "Somebody besides us, that is."

"Fine. You tell 'em," Matt threw his hands up. "Tell them we haven't done one damn thing about sorting this out-that we're blind to the enemy's location and are relying on somebody else to take care of it."

"So far, she's building a case to keep her life," I snapped. "That stuff is illegal everywhere else for a reason. You know how others look at drug recipients-no matter what form they're in."

"It's a death sentence in most places," Matt frowned. "Even the race who created it millennia ago will now destroy what they find and kill the recipients, whether those recipients had anything to do with getting the drug or not. We have volunteers here, who really didn't know what they were signing up for. And then there's Corinne, who never agreed to take it, either time."

"And she's the most talented of all of them," I said. "If anybody gets us out of this mountain of shit, it'll be her."

"You know why I told Hunter it wasn't a good idea to have her at the meeting."

"I do, but you see what kind of problem that created, don't you?"

"We don't need a repeat of what happened the last time someone like her died."

"I hear that, all right."

* * *

Ilya

A day and a half passed before Corinne came home after disappearing a second time. From an unemotional standpoint, I understood. I couldn't remain unemotional, however, whenever Corinne was involved.

A part of me wanted to continue the argument. Another part wanted only to hold her close. I chose to remain silent as she walked into the kitchen during dinner, which Nathan and I prepared for the others. I'd learned that Nathan liked to cook and was quite good at it.

Corinne went straight for a protein drink inside the refrigerator, uncapped the bottle, drank some of it and turned to walk out of the kitchen again.

"Wait," Colonel Hunter held up a hand.

"You're about to tell me you can't handle any more of my disappearing trick," she waved a hand. "Got it. I'm going to the media room. Carry on."

We watched as she walked out the door and made a turn for the media room, just as she said. "Fuck," I muttered.

"Finish your meal," Dr. Shaw suggested. "Leave her alone for now. She'd have stayed in the kitchen if she wanted company."

"Screw that," James said and rose from his place at the island. I didn't intend for him to get to Corinne before me, so I beat him to the door.

* * *

Corinne

No matter how much I tried to squash them, panic attacks had threatened to overwhelm me the past two days. Something was wrong, I could feel it, but whatever it was stayed frustratingly outside my search field.

Less than five minutes passed before Ilya and James arrived in the media room, at a near-run. "Cori, please don't leave like that again; I nearly had a heart attack," James rasped.

Ilya, in better shape and breathing more evenly, wore a slight frown as he took a seat beside me on the sofa. I'd settled there, my knees drawn to my chest, while I sipped the protein drink I'd filched from the kitchen.

"Will you talk to me?" Ilya breathed. He hesitated to touch me-worried, no doubt, that I'd disappear again.

"Depends on what you want to talk about," I said, refusing to look at him.

"I know we haven't been completely open with you," he sighed and leaned back on the sofa.

"When were you going to tell me that Auggie will be at the meeting and I'll be the only one watching a live feed from somewhere else?"

"We were working up to that," he admitted.

"I'll uh, just go," James mumbled and walked out of the room, his footsteps muffled by carpet that hadn't been changed in decades.

"I hate the carpet in the hallway," I said.

"We can worry about the carpet later," Ilya said. "You'll be watching a live feed, Corinne. You can rush in if you're needed-you know you can-at the first sign that something is wrong."

"Sure-just magically appear in front of some of the most powerful world leaders? You may as well hang out a neon sign telling all of them that aliens are on the loose."

"Cori, I think you may be fretting over nothing. Maye, Rafe, Opal and I will be there, in case things get out of hand," Nick said as he strode into the room and settled on a nearby chair.

"I disagree." My forehead now bumped against the tops of my knees and I refused to look at him. "Conspiracy theories are everywhere, still, even after all the creatures died. People on those websites and some in the mainstream media still believe they're in danger. They're not wrong, either, they just don't know what they should really be afraid of. If I were still human, I'd be terrified, too."