Alien vs. Alien (40 page)

CHAPTER 72

I
CONSIDERED OLIVER’S STATEMENT.
It made sense, but lacked something. “But why choose Bahrain? Over any other country? What is it about that country that would make it a target at all?”

Naomi cocked her head. “Their secret.”

“Daddy’s secrets!” Bellie shared.

“Yes, Bellie. Hush.”

“Naomi is right,” Oliver said to the Middle Eastern Contingent. “The four of you share a secret you don’t want exposed. If a spy was hiding out in the Embassy, he would have found evidence of what you’re covering up, wouldn’t he?”

“But Clarence wasn’t really trying to kill them. They were being used as a lure for all of us, so he could grab Naomi and Abigail.”

“Your enemies know you.” Buchanan’s eyes were narrowed. “It’s a safe bet that you wouldn’t leave the four of them at the Mall.”

White nodded. “Missus Martini is our Head of Recruitment for a reason, after all.”

Henry spun in his chair, got up, raced to a different terminal, and typed like a madman. “Kitty, you’re not going to like this. I just checked the news feeds. More than one news outlet is reporting that the Bahraini Ambassadress has disappeared, along with her bodyguard. Foul play is presumed, and since the Israeli Embassy is missing two of their staff, too, it’s presumed said staffers are the culprits.”

“How fast are the tanks being assembled?” Franklin asked. He didn’t sound like he was trying to be funny.

“Talk has moved from nasty threats into real ones,” Henry reported. “And because this happened on U.S. soil, at the International One World Festival no less, the U.S. is also being held responsible and blamed.”

I looked at Oliver. “MJO, what’s the likelihood this means war?”

“High. Escalation will be easy to influence, and it will come out quickly that Oren and Jakob here are Mossad. That’s all it will take.”

“I hate these people. Though I’m hella impressed with how damned well they know exactly what I’ll do.”

“What you’ll all do,” Big George said. “I have all the C.I.A.’s confidential files on all of American Centaurion and Centaurion Division.” He shook his head. “The expectation is that if World War Three truly happens, Centaurion Division will be forced to take an active role.”

“I’ll call my husband,” Mona said. “This must be stopped.”

“Wait,” Franklin said. “If you do that, you let him know where you are.”

“Why would that be a bad thing?” she asked. Several of us, myself included, nodded in agreement.

“What will the immediate reaction be, if you call and say you’re at Andrews Air Force Base?” Franklin asked in return. So he had been given that sage advice and just hadn’t used it earlier. Good to know.

Mona took a deep breath. “I’ll have to explain
why
I’m here.”

“And?” Franklin prodded.

“I would say I was attacked, Mossad came to help us, and they took us to Andrews for protection.”

“Does that sound believable?” Buchanan asked. “I mean, we know it’s essentially the truth, but will your husband, or anyone else, believe it? It sounds fishy to me, and I’m intimately involved in the situation.”

“And, attacked by whom?” Franklin asked. “If my wife disappeared, then called to tell me she’d indeed been attacked and almost kidnapped but
not
by the people I thought, I’d damn well want to know who she’d actually been attacked by and who was trying to kidnap her. So I could send my tanks and missiles toward them.”

“I’d want to know why you were taken to the Air Force Base, not your own Embassy,” White added.

“Oh. Well, then I would explain more fully.” She looked around. “And that would mean an explanation no one will believe.”

“Some will believe it. Oh. Crap.”

Franklin nodded. “Some
will
believe it. And they’ll really believe it when an alien armada arrives.”

“But Clarence is the one who did the attacking,” Abigail said.

“Right. And he’s an A-C. If we say Clarence is a terrorist, the instant assumption will be that you’re all terrorists. It’s not necessarily the logical view, and as individuals not everyone would believe it. But people as a whole will assume the A-Cs are here as enemies, not protectors. And all those fears will be instantly confirmed when we’re attacked from space.”

I could see it—world war, us fighting each other instead of the space invaders. Us fighting each other
and
the space invaders. Earth being taken, easily, because we had high-level influencers along with people in strategic positions within the world governments who wanted it that way and were doing their parts to ensure this happened. And despite everything we’d tried to do to avoid it, we’d still ended up playing right into their hands.

“Can one person really be this important?” Jeremy asked.

“I would be a symbol,” Mona said. “It wouldn’t be about me but about what I stand for.”

“Assassinate Archduke Ferdinand, have yourself a world war. Yeah, one person can be this important. Chuckie, for example. Without him, we apparently have no allies.”

“Like England during World War Two, at least for a while,” Franklin agreed.

“England had Churchill leading them, at least.” I always thought of Councilor Leonidas as Alpha Four’s version of Churchill. Chuckie had agreed with that assessment. I realized I was thinking of him in the past tense. That had to stop. If we gave up now, the bad guys won for sure. “Never give up.”

“Some countries will surrender to the invaders instantly,” Oliver said. “There’s too much historical precedent to assume otherwise.”

“Never give up.” That was Churchill’s famous line, after all. So, if we were England, what did that make Alpha Four and the rest of that system? “The U.S. didn’t get involved in World War Two until they were attacked. We had servicemen and -women going to help the cause, but Pearl Harbor was the official entry point. Something big and unavoidable.”

“Where are you going with this?” Tito asked.

“Not sure yet.” I was almost there, though. A strong suspicion niggled. “Eddy, I need Chuckie’s files on us, and I need them yesterday.”

“Working on it,” he snapped. “And the ten other things you want immediately, too. I’m only human.”

“True enough. Mister White, why were the Peregrines sent to us?”

“Ostensibly because the flock was ready and they’re a traditional gift.”

“Uh-huh. A traditional gift that came with gift cards strongly suggesting Chuckie, Abigail, and Naomi needed to take up residence in the Embassy. A traditional gift that warned us to keep an eye on Chuckie. If we know what’s coming, they know what’s coming. We’re England, they’re the U.S. They have more troops, but they’re waiting for proof that they need to get involved.”

“An entire space armada isn’t proof?” Franklin asked.

“Colonel, how fast does the U.S. commit troops when our allies get pissed off at each other and take their familial disputes out of the private arena and into the public one?”

“We’re slow to commit,” he admitted.

“Right. Because we don’t want to back the wrong side, make the problem bigger than it is, be accused of trying to take over. We want to see if our
allies can figure out what to do on their own. If they can’t, and it looks bad, and they beg us, then we come in.”

“That’s standard for most of the superpowers,” Oliver said.

“Most countries, really,” Franklin added.

“Right. Well, as far as superpowers go, the Alpha Centauri system has way more of them than we do.”

“But what are they waiting for?” Tito asked. “Reynolds and Jeff are gone, we have superbeing clusters all of a sudden, international unrest of the highest order, and a huge war looming.”

“I don’t know what they’re waiting for us to do. But until we do it, they’re staying out of our affairs.”

“Speaking of surrender,” Armstrong said quietly, “you do realize that the moment the head of the C.I.A. and Department of Defense realize Mister Reynolds is missing and presumed dead, they’ll move Esteban into his position. And if your suspicions are correct—and I’m sure they are—he’ll suggest the U.S. broker a surrender to the invaders.”

“Wow, Senator, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m glad you’re with us on this one. Right you are, and the Bad Guy Scheme du Jour falls nicely into place.” We needed help. I needed help. “I need to call James. Or my mom. Or James and my mom.”

“Wait,” Stryker said. “I think you need to see this.”

CHAPTER 73

S
TRYKER WAS BUSY AT HIS KEYBOARD.
I trotted over. “It’s a computer screen with what looks like code on it. Why am I looking at it?”

“Okay, I meant I need to tell you what it says. I’m decoding in my head, because I want to make sure I’m on the right track. Chuck’s not above installing a kill switch.”

“You mean, you guess the decode wrong and it all disappears?”

“Right. So . . . who’s Captain America?”

I took a moment and refrained from a variety of snappy comebacks. “I assume you mean, do I think Captain America is a code name for someone, right?”

“Yes.”

Considered the options. “Got to be James.”

“He’s not a Captain any more,” Naomi said.

“No, but Captain America is like the perfect man, and he’s also the leader of the Avengers.”

“Whoever it is, he’s supposed to take control of these files if he’s not incapacitated,” Stryker shared.

“See? I’m right, it’s James. He lives for the light reading.”

Stryker nodded. “Makes sense. But let me run the others by you. If you can figure them out without too much trouble, I can feel confident I have it all right.”

“I’m flattered.”

“You’re the protocol, Kitty. The first thing I decoded said ‘Run this through a CAT scan.’ It’s not flattery so much as doing what Chuck said to do.”

“You say tomato, I say whatever.”

He sighed. “So, Wolverine, that’s you, right?

“Right.

“Professor X?”

“Mister White.” I’d called White that during Operation Confusion.

“Cyclops?”

I was tempted to say Jeff, but thought about it. “Betting that’s Christopher.” Based on the glaring, which I was sure Chuckie had noted as I had, and Christopher’s ability these days to see far, far away in his mind’s eye.

“Incredible Hulk?”

Nice to be right. “Jeff.”

“Wonder Twins?”

“Naomi and Abigail.” They weren’t actually twins, but I called them that all the time and I knew Chuckie did, too.

“Thor?”

“Paul Gower, our Pontifex.” He wasn’t a blond god from Asgaard, but he was carrying a godlike consciousness inside him.

“Beast?”

“Tito.”

“Huh?” Tito asked. “Why would I be called a beast?”

“You’re the doctor, you take out A-Cs with your fists alone, blah, blah, blah. It’s not an insult. Beast is a cool, kick-butt, genius doctor in the X-Men, Tito.”

“Okay. I guess.”

I decided not to tell him that Beast was also covered in blue fur. Why spoil the moment?

“Wow,” Stryker said. “One that’s not actually a comic book character. Joe Montana?”

“Kevin.” I was good. Then again, I knew my source and he knew me. “Good thing I’m around to figure this out.”

Big George nodded. “Your C.I.A. file indicated you would be. ‘Subject exhibits extreme random tendencies.’”

“What’s that mean?” Jeremy asked.

“Means luck,” Buchanan said. “And they’re not wrong.”

“Your C.I.A. file also indicates a strong likelihood to contact the head of the P.T.C.U. for advice and counsel,” Big George shared. “It also indicates that you listen to and tend to abide by that counsel.”

“Just call me a Mamma’s Girl and proud of it.”

“Weapon X?” Stryker asked, getting us back on track.

“My daughter, Jamie.”

“New Mutants?”

“All the rest of the hybrid babies coming.”

“Gambit?”

“Tim.”

“You’re sure?” White asked.

“If we didn’t have Captain America as the guy who’s in charge of the files, then I’d say Gambit was James. But considering what Tim did during Operation Confusion, I’m really damned positive.”

“Works for me,” Stryker said. “You don’t have to be right for all of them, but you have to
think
you’re right.”

“I’m not even going to ask you to explain that.”

Stryker shrugged and went on. “S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Claudia, Lorraine, and the flyboys. Len and Kyle. Malcolm. All the people who kick butt with us who aren’t the official leaders or extraspecial mutants.”

“X-Factor?”

That one I had to consider. Unless I was wrong about my code name being Wolverine, and I really found that hard to believe, I had no clear idea. The X-factor was the unknown, really. Oh. Duh. “Serene.”

“Ma and Pa Kent.”

“Alfred and Lucinda.”

“Indiana Jones.”

“My dad.”

Stryker snorted. “If you say so.”

“My dad’s cool, and I do say so.”

“Black Widow.”

“Speaking of the head of the P.T.C.U. My mom.”

“Really? Your father’s still alive.”

“Yeah, because of my mom, trust me.” Black Widow had no real superpowers, she was just totally badass and beyond impressively trained. Just like Mom. Who I desperately wanted to call but now refused to, lest Hacker International get to feel even slightly superior.

“Last one’s Nick Fury.”

I laughed. “Chuckie.”

“He kept a file on himself?” Armstrong asked.

“He’s thorough, and he pays attention. And, let’s face it, Nick Fury’s the Supreme Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D., isn’t he?” Of course, I thought of Jeff as Superman, Christopher as the Flash, and Chuckie as Batman, and I was fairly sure Chuckie knew it, because I’d said so in his presence at least once. But this was his code for me to understand, not mine for him.

“Okay, good enough. I’m going to hit the decode. Let’s all hope Kitty’s right.” Stryker hit something on his keyboard. A nearby printer started making a lot of noise.

He got up, raced over, and took a page out of the tray. His whole body relaxed. “That was it. There’s a lot more than the ones we went over, Kitty. He might have done everyone in your Embassy; maybe all of Centaurion Division.”

“Nice to know he has a hobby that keeps him off the streets. Where is the information on the Avenger Initiative?”

“Waiting for it to print out.”

Big George went to another printer. “Who do I give these to?” He had a thick stack of pages in his hand.

“What are they?”

“These are C.I.A’s confidential files on all of you.”

“Why’d you print them instead of give us to them electronically?”

I got the “duh” look. I was really scoring with that one this weekend. Oh, well, it was probably better than the “you so crazy” look. “I’m ensuring the electronic trail ends here.”

Before I could ask about that, I heard a soft mewling and looked into my purse. There was a Poof there. Not Harlie or Poofikins. I was fairly sure it was Jamie’s Poof. “Why are you here? Is Jamie alright?”

The Poof purred, so I belayed panic on that front.

“Did Jamie send you?”

Another mewl. Might mean yes. Might mean no. Might mean the Poof was hungry. I couldn’t tell.

The Poof jumped out of my purse and onto my shoulder. It nuzzled me, which was always nice. Bruno woke up and came over to stand next to me in that “this one’s mine” way all animals seem to have.

“Um, a cuteness break is always appreciated, but we’re kind of at DEFCON Universal Soldier here, so if you’re here to pass on a message, Kitty needs some help.”

The Poof jumped over to White and mewled at him. “I’m no clearer than Missus Martini. Are you requesting reinforcements?”

The Poof heaved a Poofy sigh. It jumped onto the floor in front of Bruno and mewled rather pitifully. A Po
of appealing to a Peregrine for help? Apparently wonders never ceased. Or this Poof had no ego attached to asking for assistance.

Bruno warbled nicely at the Poof, then looked at me. Then back at the Poof. Then at me. The Poof. Me.

“Okay, stop giving yourself whiplash. You’re right, I forgot something.”

“You talk to tjhe giant peacock?” Stryker asked. “And it talks back to you?”

“Later, Eddy.”

“What did you forget?” White asked.

“The Poofs asked me to do something for them when they went to find and help Jeff and Chuckie.”

“You talk to the Poofs, too?” Stryker asked. “For real and not pretend?”

“Later, Eddy. Like when this is all over later.”

“You said you’d try to find the supersoldiers,” Jennifer supplied.

“Supersoldiers?” Stryker asked. “You mean Chuck wasn’t kidding, they’re real?”

“
Later
,
Eddy. Shut up or die, Eddy.”

“Are you supposed to find them to stop them from attacking?” Jeremy asked.

“No. To keep them from being destroyed.”