Cloud Invasion: R-D 2 (R-D #2)(23)

"Maybe we ought to give them that information," Rafe dropped my hand and stood.

"Perhaps we should," Auggie said, his brow furrowing as he considered the idea.

"It's my guess that all this is connected, which means Phillips was in contact with Baikov. That also means that Phillips may have been controlling the current Russian President, since he's danced to Baikov's tune for two years, now," Rafe added.

"What the f*ck does he want?" Auggie asked, tossing out a hand. "I can't for the life of me figure this out."

"I'm worried that he's in contact with the mother ship," James whispered.

"Honey, you're forgetting that he's a megalomaniac. There's no way he'd call the mother ship and let them take over, when he can do it himself," I said.

"You think he will?" Auggie's dark, worried eyes bored into mine.

"It's possible," I said. "So far, he's managed to get what he wants, except for Rafe and me. He still considers Rafe to be the bigger threat."

"Because I want him dead," Rafe hissed.

"Honey, you have my blessing to make him as dead as you want," I said.

"You'll be assassinating a former President," Auggie said.

"You don't want this?" I stared at Auggie in disbelief.

"I want it," he said. "I just thought I'd state the obvious."

"Look, right now, Hal Prentice is the former President-in everybody else's eyes. If we leave him alive and go after the real former President, who's going to say it was an assassination? Especially since nobody will recognize the real former President. If he's like everybody else who survived the drug, he no longer looks like himself."

"Fuck. He could look like anybody and we'd never know," Auggie exploded.

"Here's my question-did he get the drug through our Program, or through the Russians?"

"You keep making this worse," Auggie turned to James, who'd posed the question. I was glad he'd asked, because I had the same question going through my mind.

"Do you know how we can find that out?" I turned to Rafe.

"My contact in the Russian government was killed outside a D.C. bar," Rafe sighed. "At least his killer was taken down shortly after."

"After Corinne pointed him out," Auggie said.

"Did you do that, cabbage?" Rafe pulled me against him.

"Yeah-I guess I did."

"Thank you." He leaned in to give me a kiss.

"You're welcome." I smiled when he pulled away.

Auggie's phone rang. He answered it after looking at caller ID. Madam President was on the line again.

"We have a Mary Evans sighting reported in Ireland again," she said. "I want Corinne there immediately. Rafe, too. Matt wants Opal to go, so put a team together. I want this sorted out. I want Hal connected to all this. I want to know what information he has from this office."

I could tell the President had thought hard about all the implications after our phone conversation. She was beginning to think perhaps Hal and the former President were pulling strings-just as we'd discussed.

"Get your things together, cabbage," Rafe said. "I know a place we can go, if you'll take us."

"Great-another cloudy country," I said. "Why can't they hole up in a sunny place for once?"

*

Notes-Colonel Hunter

"Do you think Cori has SAD-Seasonal Affective Disorder?" James asked. "She has her sunlamps-plural-turned on most of the time inside her suite."

"I think it may be tied to the changes this time," I said. "Leo thinks the same-what if she belongs on a world where sunlight is prevalent? Wouldn't that make a difference?"

"Yeah, I guess it would," James agreed. "I guess I just worry about her."

"So do I. I'd still be trying to get out of Seattle and back up this mountain if it weren't for her. We'd still be in the dark about Hal Prentice and President Phillips. Look, Rafe will be with her. They're a good team. Besides, you and I have to work with Matt Michaels on the DB problem."

"It'll be like getting a cockroach out of his hiding place beneath a baseboard," James muttered. "He'll come out when he wants to and not before."

*

Corinne

Rafe's destination was Dublin. Actually, it was a hotel on the outskirts that had once been a mansion. It was now renovated and housing wealthy guests.

"I know the owner," Rafe breathed against my hair as we walked up the steps. Opal, Nick and Maye were right behind us.

"But," I began.

"Really. Don't worry," he smiled. He and I walked up to the front desk. "I'd like to speak with Katya," Rafe said.

"Right away, sir," the clerk said and walked through a door behind the desk. Moments later, a lovely young woman appeared. "Take care of that phone call, Daniel," she ordered the clerk. Daniel the clerk nodded and disappeared through the doorway.

I think my breath stopped for a moment as I blinked at the hotel's owner. Don't give her away, Rafe warned.

Yeah. I remembered to breathe again as Ilya's daughter offered both of us a beautiful smile.

Our party was given an entire wing to ourselves. "We can go to the smaller kitchen anytime," Rafe pulled me close. "I told Katya about you when I was here before. She couldn't believe I'd finally found someone."