"Okay," Siler said slowly. "That's accurate. But how did you realize I was . . . keeping track? Separately," he added with a snide look for the other men around the table who weren't looking overwhelmingly friendly.

"Oh, stop everyone. It's been a long day and everyone's jumpy. And, Nightcrawler, you were paying attention because you knew what your father had done to you and you wanted to at least have the option to step in, or be prepared for who you'd have to go up against. You can go invisible. That's a hell of a skill, and I'm sure you put it into use for more than contract killing."

He nodded. "It began as self-preservation. My uncle was concerned that my father would just continue his experiments and I'd have even more enemies."

"But he didn't. Because he'd realized there were better ways to achieve his purpose."

"So how did you guess that Reid was the one keeping the list, as opposed to my father, I mean?"

"The timeline for Project Kindred Spirit. The action against Serene didn't go into effect until after Yates was dead."

"Ronaldo was activated even later," Chuckie added. "Unless he was involved from the beginning and just laid low."

"No," Siler said. "He was activated right when you figure he was."

"Around the time when Jeff and I got married."

"Yes. And instantly got pregnant. That's when a variety of plans kicked into high gear."

"Is there anything you don't know about all of us?" Reader asked.

"No. Think of him as Malcolm's counterpart in the Assassination League and it'll be easier to accept. So, Reid tried to get Serene, and then we killed him. But once Reid was dead his Apprentice, who we now call the current Mastermind, took over and got things really rolling."

Siler nodded. "Yes. Short period of adjustment, bigger plans immediately after."

"Each iteration has gotten more . . . vicious," Gower said. "Yates was bad, Reid was pretty terrible, but the current Mastermind is . . ."

"A psychopath," Chuckie said.

"They're all psychos, Chuckie. Sadly, in addition, this one has a serious hard-on for hurting you. Basically, for the current Mastermind, the operating statement is: This Time It's Personal. Nightcrawler, by any chance, did you ever meet Reid's Apprentice who's now our Mastermind?"

"No. I wasn't his friend or business associate. My uncle kept me as far away from my father and his cronies as possible. Anything I did or learned was from the shadows, in that sense. And it's not as if there was an announcement in the media that Leventhal Reid had promoted So-and-So to Apprentice."

"So touchy. How about whoever's in charge of Project Kindred Spirit? It could be the Mastermind or someone else who's gotten to run with their own action. Have you met the Head Creep?"

"No. I'm not trusted enough. At all. They think they're using me, but the people in charge have stayed out of any day-to-day. They're set up in a typical bureaucratic fashion, so it's easy to keep lower-level and newer grunts in the dark."

"Do they realize you can blend?"

"Yes, but they think they're the ones who taught me to really use the ability. Same with hyperspeed. There's no record of me in the 'black book' because I'm impersonating one of my half-brothers."

"Is he still alive?" Buchanan asked dryly.

"That's need-to-know. And you don't."

"How is that possible?" Christopher asked while Siler and Buchanan side-eyed each other. "That there's no record of you, I mean. I'm clear on how easily you could kill someone."

"I'm not sure, but I've seen the record that Reid kept for my father and I'm nowhere."

"How'd you see it?" Chuckie asked. "Especially if you don't know who the current Mastermind is?"

Siler stopped side-eying Buchanan and gave Chuckie a full on snide look. "I looked at their book twice-once when my father was alive, and once right after Reid died. Blending gives me certain advantages. You're supposed to be the brilliant one, you figure it out."

"Your mother kept you out of it?" I suggested, in part to forestall the fight.

"Maybe. My name wasn't in their listing. No reference to me was there. There's a significant gap between me and the others. Ronaldo was over a decade younger than me, and he's the first born of the rest of the Yates progeny. Perhaps that's why; I was considered too old to influence."

"Maybe," Reader said. "But that's a significant gap. We know for a fact that Yates was screwing around during that time."

"But we're fairly sure Ronaldo was born before Yates combined with the Mephistopheles parasite," Melanie said.

"In fact," Emily added, "we're pretty sure that all but one of the Yates children we've found so far are older than the Yates-Mephistopheles pairing."

"So, first there's a big gap between Siler and his next kid, and then he starts screwing around with intent to create, but before he even knows the parasites are coming," Tim said. "That makes no sense."

"Maybe his plan changed," Lorraine suggested.

"I'm sure it did," Tito said. "If our estimates about the timing of Ronaldo's conception are correct, that would time out to around when Yates was diagnosed with cancer."

Looked at Siler. "Your life expectancy was increased. Maybe they didn't know for sure because your uncle took you, but they might have figured that out before you left. And even if they didn't know, there's nothing like real biological relatives for all your donor needs."

"I think that's the answer, Kitty," Tito said. "Yates was probably making as many babies as he could to have an organ and cell farm."

"That would also explain why he didn't take an active interest in them," Reader said. "Just keep track and make sure they're around. Why risk getting emotionally attached to someone whose lungs you're going to rip out, literally?"

"And once Mephistopheles joined with him, he didn't stop because he had a new lease on life," Tim said.

"Why not?" Chuckie agreed. "Get enough of your own genetics out there, available for whatever uses necessary, including experimentation to find a formula that will allow you to live forever."

"Based on what we saw last year, Reid would certainly have been enthusiastic about that idea," Buchanan added.

That would also make sense in regard to my dream with Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles would certainly see a "live forever" kind of plan to be small. Mephistopheles wanted to rule the galaxy, not just hang around on one planet making babies and cackling evilly.

"Yates was originally from Alpha Four, too, remember, and that would mean he knew about Beta Twelve."

"We remember, Kitty," Christopher said.

Ignored him and went on before anyone else could chime in about my stating the obvious. "Maybe this is where the cloning idea stemmed from, or when he and Reid decided to get it rolling."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Siler said. "At all."

"The timing would be about right for our science, too," Chuckie said. "Especially if we assume that those working on the cloning, organ harvesting, and whatever else were all brilliant, in on the schemes, and not sharing with the general public."

"Sounds like them in a nutshell," Jeff said.

"Can Surcenthumain actually extend life expectancy?" Claudia asked.

"We don't have enough samples to be able to tell," her mother replied. Emily looked at Siler. "However, whatever they gave you sure seems to be doing so."

He shrugged. "Yes. And I'd assume that whatever Gaultier created from the original serums used on me does something similar to what the first drug did to me. But there are side effects."

"That you've experienced?" Melanie asked.

"There are always side effects," Tito answered. "Even the most benign drug has a side effect."

"Yes," Siler said. "The side effect on me beyond dramatically slowed aging is the extension of my touch-that I can make others blend as I do, that I can calm the effects of hyperspeed on anyone I'm touching. There may be more, but I haven't spent time trying to find them."

"Bullshit," Chuckie said calmly. "You've spent your entire life finding out. That you don't want to tell us isn't a surprise. But stop the bald-faced lying. It's tiresome."

"Before the love in the room gets overwhelming," Reader said quickly, "and just to confirm, whoever's in charge of their version of Project Kindred Spirit has completed that project, and there's nothing we can do about it?"

"Not a thing, and that's not a lie," Siler said. "I'm sorry, but it's literally a waste of your time, and, frankly, will put you in far more danger than any of them would be worth."

"I believe him," Buchanan said. He and Chuckie passed some very hard to spot signs between them. I was just so used to people passing signs today that I was looking for it automatically now.

Chuckie nodded. "Fine. We'll write off trying to find them and if Kitty works her magic on one or more of them, we'll enjoy saying 'told you so' to you, Siler."

So, this was what all those entities were trying to tell me was a waste of our time and focus. Oh well, I hated the idea of giving up, but at least we knew.

Siler chuckled bitterly. "Oh, don't worry about finding them. They're going to find all of you. And soon."

CHAPTER 50.

"IF WHAT YOU PUT onto Stephanie actually works, we'll find them first." Buchanan gave Siler another side-eye. "If it really works. And isn't a trap."

"It works. And anything can be a trap if you go into it stupidly, and I know you know that. However, they all know where you are. You're incredibly easy to find. They aren't. And, as I told you earlier, Stephanie's not going to Headquarters. She's part of a cell. Until I can identify all the cell locations, or at least the ones readying to attack you, clearing out one cell only lets the others know you're on to them."

"Don't they kind of know we're on to them?" I asked. "I mean, we just took out three of them and foiled Stephanie's assassination attempt. Plus we didn't die in the bomb or poison gas attempts. Surely someone at Bad Guy Central has noticed all that by now."

"They've noticed. However, your stopping those attempts doesn't indicate that you know that their version of Project Kindred Spirit exists."

"True enough," White said. "So, we'll hope, for the moment at least, that our enemies don't know that we know about them. So, what else don't we know, Benjamin?"

"The Yates group is supported by the Al Dejahl terrorist network, and functions as that network does. Plus, they have Club Fifty-One and those lunatic church people helping them, too, even though most of those probably don't realize it."

"So, all our enemies are combined?" Jeff asked. Siler nodded. "Why now? And don't say my nomination as vice president, which isn't even official yet. No one pulls together four different groups like this in a day."

"They haven't been pulling them together in the past day," Siler said, patience clearly forced. "They've been pulling them together for the past year, at least. Probably longer."

"Definitely longer." Of this I was sure. "The Mastermind runs the long game much more than going for the short win, though he's not against getting an easy one whenever he can."

"True enough. Meanwhile, instead of doing the same, you've all been very stupid about something quite important. Two things, really." Siler was channeling Algar, how nice for us.

We were all quiet. Speaking for myself, I could guess one thing we'd been stupid about-Jeff's family's potential for turning traitor-but I was at a loss for what the second would be. Everyone else looked uncomfortable or confused. Mostly uncomfortable. Had a distinct feeling everyone had come to the same "I know this one" idea I'd had and everyone else was also at a loss for what was going to be behind Door Number Two.

Siler rubbed his forehead. "My God, you can't all be this dim." He looked around the table. "No. You're not dim. You've all figured out at least one of the things I'm going to say, I can see it in most of your expressions. But you don't want to say what you're thinking, because you're worried that you'll hurt someone's feelings, maybe everyone's. But," he shrugged, "I don't care about that. So I guess I'll be the one to say it aloud."

Decided that if this was going to come from anyone, it might be better coming from me. "He means that we're all avoiding mentioning that if Clarence already went and Stephanie's now gone to the Dark Side, who's to say that the rest of Jeff's nephews, nieces, and brothers-in-law haven't done the same thing? At least, I really hope that was one of your big reveals. And yeah, no one wants to say that, because they're pretty much all kids."

Siler nodded. "That was one, yes."

"Kids are the most susceptible to this kind of enticement," Buchanan said.

"I'd like to point out that we only found out about Stephanie today," I said. "So we weren't really being stupid about it."

"Her father was a well-known traitor," Siler said calmly. "You should have suspected every member of his family, instead of acting like he was an anomaly."

"He's right," Buchanan said. In a way that told me he'd already been considering this for far longer than just today.

"We've been watching them," Chuckie said, confirming my latest suspicion.

"The C.I.A.?" Jeff asked, sounding like he was ready to get angry.

"Yes, and the P.T.C.U. Since Jamie was born. Subtle surveillance, nothing intrusive. However, we haven't found anything, and that includes indications that Stephanie was a traitor. Otherwise, I'd have never allowed her to work with Vander."

"Time to up that surveillance to extremely intrusive," Siler said. "Incarceration wouldn't be too severe an option."

"We can't just assume they're all turning traitor," Jeff said. "I don't want my sisters and their families spied on, let alone arrested for no cause."

"I agree," I said quickly, before anyone could counter Jeff's legitimate concerns. "But you, Christopher, and Serene need to do a Superpowers Summit and check every one of the kids, and their parents, too."

"If they're part of the expanded terrorist network they'll already have emotional blockers or enhancers on them," Chuckie pointed out.

"We could take a family photo and Serene and I could try to read it," Christopher suggested.

Serene shook her head. "Whatever they've done, it's getting worse. We're having less and less success with any image, even film that isn't old. We can try it, but I don't know that we'll learn anything."

"And it could tip off any who might be traitors, too." Chuckie shook his head. "I hate to say this, but the best option for finding out who's involved or not from the Martini family is through Stephanie. And Siler's the only one who can access her with a hope of getting the truth."

"Great," Jeff growled. "So before we send you off to pal up to my niece, what's the second thing we're all missing?"

"From knowing you, I realize that my saying that the best thing you could do was to hire me to assassinate the entire Gaultier Board, along with the heads of YatesCorp, Titan Security, and Club Fifty-One will be met with gasps of horror and a complete unwillingness to take the easy way out of this situation."

"That's correct," White said. "We don't murder. Everyone at this table has had to defend themselves and others, many times using deadly force, but we don't do it willingly, or with any form of relish or enjoyment. And we won't."

Gower nodded. "If that's your other suggestion, we're not interested, and we won't be interested."

"As I said. By the way, professional assassins don't get enjoyment from killing. It's a job, it's what we do. We get satisfaction from a job well done, but not joy."

"Annette Dier loves killing, trust me. And, honestly, if I can murder her, I'll do it with a lot of relish." The domino of events during Operation Infiltration were set into motion by Dier, and she'd enjoyed killing Fuzzball and Michael both.

"You say that, but none of you seem to live in the world of revenge, and that's what you're talking about with her," Siler said. "But she's not a professional. She thinks she is, and she's skilled enough. But you're right-she enjoys it. She's just a psychopath who fell into a career that allows her to kill people without ramifications."