16 The Whistlemen #2
“What do you want from us?” Wolff asks.
“You want us to help get her back, right?” Gemma says neutrally.
“Yes. I know we don’t exactly work together,” I say, gesturing between myself and Gemma and Wolff, sitting across the booth from us. “But we have a common enemy. And Eldi is an innocent victim. She’s never hurt anyone.” I don’t mention the goats. We’re all omnivores here.
“What does the agency want with her?” Gemma asks.
To send a message to me, I think, but say instead, “To study her? Find a weakness? Lure the aliens into giving us something in exchange? I don’t know, but it can’t be good. And the timing is too suspicious.”
“Why should we help you?” Wolff says, leaning back and clasping his hands behind his head.
“The why is obvious, Wolff,” snaps Gemma. “She’s a child, and you know what the agency is like. It’s literally what we exist for. Plus, Reggie is our friend.”
Wolff looks chagrined. “I don’t disagree, but what are we supposed to do?”
I swallow my surprise when Wolff doesn’t dispute even the statement that we are friends.
“I know you have people on the inside,” I say, “connections at Agency 51. If anyone can get her out, it’s one of your spies.
Please. Eldi is worth blowing cover for, if it comes down to that.
” My throat feels tight, and I blink back tears.
“Reggie, we can’t. We honestly don’t have that ability right now. It’s the worst time for it. And I can’t risk pulling out one of our agents right now anyway, with imminent first contact. These are major historic events happening as we speak.” Gemma looks like she might cry too.
“We don’t have many inside the agency and need everyone’s cover intact.
We already struggle so much to be taken seriously, and we’re finally poised to legitimize ourselves and be included at the forefront of a new age of cosmic pluralism.
” Though Wolff sounds like he’s regurgitating propaganda, his voice is gentler than usual.
“What would change that? Whatever you want, information, money. If I have it, if I can get it, it’s yours. I have robotic alien vacuums in the Winnebago. I’ll leave one with you. Or I’ll work for you for free. Just help me get Eldi back.”
“I really wish we could help. We’d risk it for Eldi under normal circumstances, but there’re other complicating factors.” Gemma and Wolff exchange a look as she speaks.
“What?” I say, immediately suspicious.
“Neither of us has that kind of authority, to order one of our agents to go on a rescue mission,” Wolff hedges.
“So call in the one with that authority. Call in your boss.”
Gemma and Wolff appear to be having a silent conversation.
“What? Tell me what’s going on. Call in your boss. I know they’re some secretive and mysterious head honcho, but like you said, this whole alien business is historic.”
Wolff and Gemma continue their silent conversation, ignoring me. “Fine,” Wolff finally sighs, “tell her.”
“Our boss, the head of the Whistlemen, is missing,” Gemma says grimly.
“Missing? What do you mean, missing?”
“Completely MIA,” Wolff says. “Since the day before the president announced aliens were real. Look, normally contact can be a little sporadic. We communicate electronically only, via emails, texts, phone calls. Gemma is the only one who’s ever met her in the flesh.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little weird?” Calvin says.
“No,” Gemma says decisively. “She’s in the agency. She’s maintaining cover. Can’t risk showing her face to anyone but me.”
“What?” Calvin says sharply.
“You’re sure?” I ask, though I’m not surprised. Agency 51 agents are the biggest group of backstabbers you’ll ever meet.
“Yes, and before you ask, I’m sure she’s loyal to the Whistlemen,” Gemma says.
“I was skeptical when I found that part out too,” Wolff says.
“Gemma and the boss kept that from me. Gemma only told me a couple of days ago when we lost contact with her. We expected some spotty communication with everything in an uproar. But here’s the thing: The boss doesn’t miss designated prearranged contacts.
Never. Not once. She’s never even been late to contact us.
And this is too important a time for her to go missing.
I think she’d risk her cover before doing that. ”
“How do you know she’s not defected back to the agency?” Calvin asks. “Or that they haven’t found out who she really is working for?”
“Because it doesn’t make sense,” Gemma says. “There’s been complete radio silence. If they’d found her, I’d expect a counterattack. The only thing we’ve heard about the agency lately is from you, with Eldi disappearing. Something fishy is going on at the agency. Something happened.”
I’m trying to make the pieces fit together in my head.
“So we can’t help you even if we wanted to,” Gemma continues, “because we’re operating blind. Scrambling to find our own boss. I have no idea what Agency 51 is planning, but it likely won’t end well for us, Eldi, or the aliens still up there.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I say. “Their grand plans don’t matter. I need to get Eldi back either way. Any information you can give me might help. Anything you can tell me about a weakness I might exploit to get in, things to watch out for, anything.”
I’m begging for scraps with nothing of value to offer. Maybe they have some crucial piece of information I can use. I don’t know why I’m bothering. Wolff hates me, and Gemma has long suspected I’m hiding things.
The silence stretches. Calvin places a comforting hand on my leg and squeezes. I’m about to give up and walk out when Gemma sighs and pulls out her laptop.