Alien in Chief by Gini Koch Read Free Book Online Page B

had had leaders. And, realistically, it still was pretty dangerous.
    However, since the VP and most of his entourage were all A-Cs or, in my case, enhanced, the risks were different. It was actually safer for the President to be with us, since an A-C could, and definitely would, grab him and get him to safety faster than anyone else could have a hope of doing.
    From a PR standpoint, Armstrong was all for making the “the A-Cs are our people now” statements as much as he could, and that included showing that he hadn’t asked Jeff to be his running mate just for show. So we were gaining several advantages by traveling in this way, including potential stumping stops along the route, since winning office meant that whatever politician had won his or her office immediately had to start campaigning to win said office again.
    I was all for the train. Not only did that mean we’d get to actually see some scenery, but the food was always far better than on the airplanes. And the added bonus of no one being able to blow us up while in the air was huge, too. Not that I didn’t think that we weren’t at risk from some lunatics trying to blow up the train tracks, but we would be on the ground, essentially, and that gave us far more of an advantage.
    Calmer Plan B in place, we got off the line and went over what Cleary had to do. We needed him back in his home state to prep things for the imminent arrivals and be there to greet us when we disembarked in Orlando. Sadly, not to go to Disney World, despite my suggesting it again, but to head across to the Kennedy Space Center and NASA Base.
    After reassuring Cleary that we weren’t going to allow him to be assassinated, we sent him home via a gate. We also sent three Field teams with him. He was the easy one. We had a gigantic entourage coming along for the ride and we weren’t taking gates.
    But before we could discuss our team’s logistics, my phone beeped. “Huh. Lillian Culver wants to grab me for a late lunch.”
    â€œWhy?” Jeff asked. Rightly. Culver was the head lobbyist for the top defense contractors, most of whom were our enemies. However, due to a variety of things that had happened, my “uncles’” intervention being one of the biggest, she’d become an ally. However, she wasn’t one to want Girl Time.
    â€œShe says she heard something that may or may not be significant, but if it is, then she wants me forewarned and herself advised. She’s suggesting we go to the Teetotaler so that it looks like we’re really having a fun time together, rather than her coming into the Embassy.”
    The Teetotaler was one of our favorite little restaurants near the Capitol and Rayburn House, where Jeff’s offices had been when he’d been a Representative.
    â€œShe want me there, too?”
    â€œShe hasn’t said, should I ask?”
    â€œNo. If she’s coming to get you, I’ll wait with you and take you to her car. If she wants me along, then it’ll look like she was always getting both of us. If not, fine, I’ll just go back inside.”
    â€œI’ll be tailing you in a car,” Buchanan said. “The boys are required to go with you. She’s aware of that, I know, but has she figured on it?”
    â€œNo idea, but she’ll be here in five minutes so we’re going to find out together.”

CHAPTER 8
    C ULVER DROVE A very nice Bentley, which pulled up in front of our Embassy exactly as promised.
    I wasn’t really Dressed for Bentley Success, seeing as I was in jeans, my red Converse, and one of my newer Aerosmith shirts that had just Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on the front. Normally I preferred to roll with all of my boys in the band on my chest, but I hadn’t been expecting action. Hopefully the only action I’d have is the hard decision about what tea to have at the restaurant.
    I’d had just enough time to run upstairs at hyperspeed and grab my