Chapter 5: Mystery Guests, Mystery Host

"You did WHAT?" Gini asked—rather strenuously—after Alex and the others met back in LA the next morning—after having fled San Diego—and briefly described what Alex had done.

"Hey, I think I did pretty well considering it was an unproven premise I'd never attempted before; plus there's no way to tie it back to me."

"No? You don't think one of these gangbangers is going to get caught and decide to turn over evidence against someone else in order to get off? I'm not sure you have a handle on the thinking process of these lowlifes. Jeez," she reflected, running her hand through her short hair, "this is why I should have never agreed to leave you to your own devices. Gail is going to kill me for letting you get away with this!"

"I don't think that's likely," Alex replied, feeling put upon to defend an already tenuous response. "It isn't like these people are likely to open up to the cops, especially with something they're sure the police would never take seriously."

"Still, it's an open-ended link to you, and the police are going to remain curious about it, since it's such an odd case. Two known criminals, both dropping dead from unknown causes at the exact instant they threaten you? All they need is an inkling something isn't right and they're going to be all over you. What's more, if the information ever does leak out, either through the police or via word of mouth, all kinds of people will be searching for you to figure out what you did."

"Again, there's no evidence I did anything. I never lifted a finger, and that's documented on several videos of the encounter. Plus, there were no recordings of what I actually said."

"There doesn't need to be," Gini emphasized. "All they need is the suggestion you did something unusual and they'll find some confirming physical evidence. Do you think anyone is going to question how you did it before they alert the relevant authorities? These people get answers by questioning people! They figure they'll find out what you did by putting you into a little room and badgering you for hours on end. It won't matter how much sense it makes, they'll have a reason to suspect you, and once they do your name is going to be mud!"

The other girls remained silent, and Cate, as much as she wanted to defend her brother, was more than a little disturbed by what he'd so easily done. Frankly, he scared her at the moment. Gini threw her hands in the air, turning away in frustration, but turned back for one last point.

"Have you spoken to Gail? What was her reaction to it?"

"No, I've been ... avoiding it," Alex admitted.

"Hmmph! While I can understand your reluctance, you'd best do inform her right away. I'm sure she'll tear you a new one, but she's also better prepared to know what to do next."

Swallowing nervously, Alex decided to face the music and his second fiercest critic.

'Gail, I have some news you're probably going to dislike, ' he said by way of greeting.

'Ha! Finally. I was wondering how long it would take you to contact me. Just so you know, I've already been alerted. The girls are all talking about it, each one wanting my take. You should know by now you can't keep secrets from people with telepathy.'

'That's it? You're not going to lecture me about how stupid my actions were?'

'What for? You already know how risky it was. I'm sure you had your reasons and that it seemed like your best option. I'm not sure I would have advised it myself, but then again, I've never had that kind of power to be worried about. The point now, though, is what do we do in the future?'

'I was planning on getting out of Dodge, ' Alex admitted. 'We left San Diego sooner than I'd been counting on. I was thinking of heading to San Francisco, and I figure it's an even better idea now.'

'That's not going to buy you much if you reserve a hotel room under either your or Cate's name. Even if you pay for it using Gini or the Angel Foundation, it'll implicate other people.'

'That shouldn't be a problem. I've got people here who can rent it for me. As long as no one identifies me while I'm there, I should be OK.'

'If that's your plan, then you'd better get rid of your devices. That includes Cate's iPhone and iPad, since they're easy enough to track.'

'I'll tell her. She won't be pleased losing her newest toys since she relies on them so heavily, ' Alex replied.

'If she needs them that much—which is another security risk in itself—then you should work out something with one of your people there. Give someone else your phone and let them answer for you. She can convey the message without having to physically call you, and if they decide to burst in to arrest you, you'll be the first to know about it. But you can have them buy a replacement device under her name, or someone else unrelated to her can, and they wouldn't be able to track you with it. But remember to not use the same identities when you authorize it. You'll also have to scratch all the data on it.'

'Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Cate won't like it, but it's better than the alternative. This way I can simply disappear, though I'll still be able to respond if they're looking for me. It won't solve any real problems, but it gives me a little more latitude.'

'Hey, that's what I'm here for, ' Gail told him. 'I'm not your mother, or Cate, so I'm not here to tell you what you should or shouldn't do. I'm here to protect you, and right now, keeping you away from the Police is probably our best option. The last thing we need is for you to accidentally say the wrong thing to someone under pressure. Have you talked to a lawyer yet?'

'Yeah, I already contacted both Molly Bishop and Lisa Woodall so they can get me some local contacts. I should find out who they located.'

'That's probably why the girls already know the full story, ' Gail laughed telepathically, which always produced the oddest sensations inside Alex's head. 'Anyway, let me know what happens. You DON'T want to keep me out of the loop on this kind of stuff, ' she warned before signing off.

"OK, Cate, it's time to lose the iPhone and iPad," Alex informed his sister, turning back from his discussion with Gail. He figured she'd be satisfied they had some solutions. "You'd better transfer all the data you want to save, because we're going to have to erase them. I'll give them to Debra Keer, so she can tell us if the San Diego police want us, and I'll see if Emily can buy us some new devices. We'll have to pay her indirectly, having the Foundation pay someone else who then pays her back, but it'll keep anyone from tracking us using the devices."

"OK, but don't give Debra my iPad if you give her the phone," Cate warned. "There's a lot more information on that, and if they question her, they'll take the phone and search everything on it. I don't want to provide them a list of our contacts. After all, these devices aren't that secure and it's fairly easy to recover any deleted information from them."

"OK, that makes sense," Alex acknowledged with a nod. "These are all stopgap efforts, though. If someone wants to know what we're up to, we're probably up a creek, but I'm hoping they'll never stop to question us until it's too late."

"Uh, Cate?" Chalise said, stepping into the room from the attached bathroom. "I think you'll both want to see this."

Curious, Cate followed her back in, though Alex took his time responding. When he got there, he saw the three girls crouching around the mice cages. Getting another niggling feeling, he moved up to see what they were examining.

"What's up?"

They stood back, revealing the cage's contents.

"It's Shani, one of the 'Alex' mice," Cate said, looking upset. "She passed away while we were gone. The others are still alive, but they aren't looking very good."

"I'm guessing this isn't good news?" Alex guessed, a bit uncleverly.

"Duh! It's more evidence you're in trouble. The average lifespan for a mouse is about two years. Figuring 80 for a human, that means they get 40 years for each of ours. The problem with using them to research what happens to you is there isn't enough comparable time to observe how they respond, but this is too soon. For them to die now is like you dying before you ever reached New Orleans. I'll check, it may be a fluke, but given how the others look, I'm thinking it's not. Either our calculations of how much energy to give them was way off, or we didn't take into account the healing effects of the constant BCM you're experiencing. But, in either case, I wouldn't count on being around for a long time if I were you."

"Shit. That's the last thing I needed to hear," Alex replied, shaking his head. "It's one thing dealing with the fact you don't have forever to live out your life, but it's another knowing it's this close. Even before, I got around it by concentrating on what I needed to do, not thinking about what it meant for me, but I don't think I can avoid it any more. I'm going to die," he announced, throwing his hands into the air, "and it's probably going to be fairly soon."

Kitty and Chalise guided Alex back to the other room, situating him on the bed as they tried to both sooth and distract him, but it was clear his mind was caught up both with this bad news and with trying to figure out what to do over the next few days with the situation he'd gotten himself caught up in. Suddenly everything seemed that much more real, and he realized his remaining time was very precious.

"It's amazing you got all those details worked out so quickly," Kitty marveled on their way to San Francisco, having checked out of their hotel and stopping by the LA Apple store. "I thought it would take much longer than that."

Alex glanced at her, suspecting she was commenting on it simply to distract him. She had a bit too much of a cheerful attitude. It stood in marked contrast to what they'd all just experienced. However, while both Kitty and Chalise were overly attentive, Cate had been standoffish all morning.

"Upset about losing your devices?" he asked softly, trying to get her to say something so he'd understand what was up.

"I don't care about the devices," she answered curtly. "They're tools. They help me work, but they're not that important."

"Then what's bugging you?" he asked, tilting his head in confusion. Both Kitty and Chalise seemed to unintentionally shift away from him, showing they were more aware of what was going on than he was.

"What could possibly be bugging me?" she asked, leaning back and theatrically putting her hand on her chin. "Hmm, let me think. Maybe it's because you put both of us in very real physical danger last night; or maybe it's because while I'd thought I knew my brother pretty well, he suddenly turns around and kills two men without a second thought?"

"Those 'two men' were threatening to kill us," Alex replied calmly, if a bit steely, which didn't help the situation.

"That may be, but you don't seem to be upset by it, and the fact you approached them, knowing exactly what you were planning, means it wasn't purely defensive. You decided you were going to kill them ahead of time."

Alex sighed, closing his eyes briefly before responding. He knew this was going to come up, but he'd been hoping he could avoid it a little longer. "No, I never planned to kill anyone, but I knew I couldn't avoid the situation and I did keep it in mind as an option. But I never decided to do anything until the very last minute."

"Well what about your response?" Cate shot back. "Why aren't you reacting to it?"

"As you well know, I react each time someone I care about is threatened. I try not to second guess protecting someone, so instead I've been trying not to dwell on it. After all, anyone who threatens you really doesn't deserve second thoughts. But then, instead of considering it last night, I instead had to contemplate my impending death," Alex told her, finally showing more emotion than he'd shown since the episode.

"Frankly, we were weirded out by it too," Kitty admitted timidly.

"Yeah, after all this time discussing my father and brother, I find my boyfriend acting just as cold," Chalise said.

"I didn't mean to convey that what I did doesn't bother me," Alex said, pausing as he looked at each of them, "but the fact of the matter is I've gotten fairly good at masking my emotions. All this talk about how little time I have left upsets most people who hear about it. I've found if I get morose then everyone reacts even worse, so I've had to maintain a false front, never revealing just how scared I really am about it. After a while of that, you kind of forget how to open up again."

"But that's just silly," Cate argued. "You should know you can always open up to... ," she halted, unable to finish the sentence.

"I'm always able to tell you everything?" Alex said, guessing what she'd been intending to say. "As you guessed, that sounds better in theory than in practice. Usually every time we're in bed together, there's someone else there as well, and even if there isn't, my girls can pick up any emotional leakage I can't manage to control. Thus it's better to simply not let it out. If I were to cry on your shoulder one night, chances are each of my girls would fall apart the next day. It's a heavy load I'm carrying here, not only the emotional load on myself, but everyone else's as well.

"And frankly, this whole 'mission' thing is just as treacherous. Everyone wants me to tell them how to live, or provide them a moral compass, but I'm resisting that as much as possible. The problem with morality is what starts out as simple, sensible advice ends up as a means of attacking others. Jesus' simple admonition to love one another ended up as a justification to murder and enslave millions of people. Moral principles meant to provide guidance in life end up being used as a sledgehammer to enforce uniformity. I don't want my movement to fall into that trap, so I've been treading carefully, not giving anyone any advice which can be misinterpreted. I've been keeping the whole movement about our survival as a people, not judging what's right or appropriate for anyone else."

"Wow, we never knew you were so worried about all of this," Chalise observed. "We've always known you were plagued by self-doubts, and obsessed with security, but you've managed to hide these obligations so well we never really suspected you were suffering so much."

"Uh, I hate to say it," Cate suggested, "but do you think these frustrations may have played a role in how you handled things last night?"

"No, I don't," Alex stated firmly. "Frankly, despite how it all turned out, I think I made the right decision. I tried to talk them out of it, but I never expected them to let it go, and if I didn't make a strong enough point, they'd either attack us in the future, track down Angelica in New Orleans or cause my other people grief. This way, I've officially served notice that you attack us at your own risk. And while my followers can't do what I did, hopefully I've introduced enough doubt they can capitalize on it and bluff their way out of difficulties in the future."

"You really think about this all the time, don't you?" Kitty asked, amazed Alex was as focused as he'd always been. "You spend all your time deciding how to approach difficult issues, how to deal with different crises and how to help those who depend on you. Don't you ever take time for yourself?"

Alex gave her a crooked grin. "You saw how well that works out. My 'Make a Wish' moment turned into a fiasco. I can't afford to do anything for myself. My life no longer belongs to me. Whatever time I have left will be dedicated to helping all those who depend on me. I need to increase our organization, our member base, so if we're ever attacked we stand a chance of surviving. I also need to increase the potential political clout we have, so we can use it to help each other. As much as I'd love to curl up into a ball right now, I really can't afford to. There's too much riding on me."

"But, if you don't, you're likely to burn out that much faster," Kitty responded, placing her hand on Alex's chest and resting her forehead against his shoulder. Chalise also approached his other side, taking his hand in hers and kissing it softly.

"If that's the case, then it really can't be helped," he answered firmly, holding Kitty's head against him as he responded. "It is what it is. I never chose this life, and given the option, I'd never have selected it. But I asked for my own time to finish high school like anyone else, and for that I'm thankful. That time allowed me to discover the two of you, to really find love that wasn't based only on obligation. But having been granted that boon, I'm now obligated to pay for the luxury. And frankly, while the price is steep, I knew it was going into it. So if I don't break down and cry on occasion, I hope you'll understand why. Now, what would you like to do in San Francisco?" Alex asked, hoping to end the discussion.

Cate had joined them while Alex had been talking, stepping behind him and cuddling into him, wrapping her hands around him as Chalise wrapped her hands around him from the front. Chalise was about to respond when Alex held his hand up, cutting her off. But he lowered it a moment later.

"That was, of all people, Robin. Seems she's coming out to meet me with some 'friends', whatever that means. I told her to meet us in San Fran."

"I think you already know what 'friends' mean," Cate told him a little archly, now that she knew just how much each of these encounters cost him.

"Yeah, I've got a pretty good idea, but I like to approach these things with an open mind, not judging anyone before we meet. Still, it may limit what we can do there. We'll have to see what happens when we arrive."

"Hello, we'd like to check in," Gini told the hotel receptionist. She was checking them in since Alex didn't want to use his own name, fearing the San Diego police would track him down and drag him back to San Diego for further questioning, something he wasn't about to put up with. "My name is—"

"Oh, don't worry, we know who you are and we've been waiting for you," the receptionist pleasantly responded, addressing Alex directly, even though he hadn't approached the desk. "Mr. Jenning's room is ready and it's already been taken care of. If you need anything at all, please feel free to ask. We try to make our Premiere Members feel right at home," she added with a brilliant smile.

"Premiere?" Alex asked, stepping forward. "Wait, I think there's been a mistake."

"There's no mistake," she assured him, "three to stay for an indefinite period in our premiere suite. Do you need anyone to assist you with your bags?"

"No, wait, we never made any arrangements. This wasn't even supposed to be in my name. I didn't want it showing up on my credit card."

"Don't worry, nothing will show up on your credit card. The entire suite has been comped. Please enjoy your stay. Samuel, could you help them up to their room?"

A very efficient and professional hotel employee approached and began taking the bags and animal cages from Cate, loading them onto the dolly he'd pulled up. Cate was so surprised she never stopped to question it.

"Enjoy your stay, and if you need anything, please use your room phone and ask for Jean," she replied, smiling sweetly.

Alex glanced at Gini and Cate, hoping for some explanation, but they both looked just as confused as he was. Here he was, trying to fly below the radar so he wouldn't attract the attention of the police, and suddenly he was being given star accommodations at one of the city's better hotels. In fact, they'd only used this hotel because ... Alex froze as the pieces began falling into place.