Alien Proliferation

ACE. Hang on.
    I opened my eyes. “They attacked Paul first because of ACE. He’s doing a Houdini, so ACE can only concentrate on him.”
    “Pardon?” White asked, but the others looked just as confused.
    “Sheila, look at the milk bag box. I need the address for that division of Gaultier International.” I looked around. “I have to save Paul. The rest of you have to get to Jeff and the others.”
    “Kitty, you can’t be serious.” Mom sounded as though I’d just suggested I was going to shack up with a drug addicted car thief instead of go to college.
    “Mom, I promised ACE when we first found him that I’d never desert him. If I don’t get to them, then Paul dies, and ACE will die, too. We need ACE.”
    “I have the address, Kitty. It’s in France, I think it’s outside Paris.”
    “Makes sense.” Since I was pretty sure Paul and ACE were on a train or the Metro.
    “I’m going with you,” Naomi said.
    “Me, too.” Abigail stood up.
    “No. You two have to find the others. They’re most likely at the Gaultier location, but I have no idea if they’ve been moved or not. You two have the strongest talents, since Jeff and Christopher aren’t here.”
    “You can’t go alone, Kitty.” Mom sounded like she was going to stop me physically.
    “She won’t. I’ll accompany her.” White sounded very calm. “I would like to request that the three pregnant women stay here as well.”
    “I agree. Look, before the arguments start, if they catch you, your babies are going to be experimental fodder. Let’s avoid that, okay? Mom, you’re staying put. If something happens to me and Jeff, I want Jamie with you and Dad, okay? Living will, witnessed by everyone here.”
    Mom looked as though she was trying not to cry. “We thought we’d lost you earlier this week.”
    “And during Operations Fugly, Drug Addict, and Invasion. Face it, Mom, I’m the best there is at thinking like the loons, and that means I’m in danger. So what? Everyone’s in danger right now. ACE and Paul don’t have a lot of time. I don’t know what time the others have, but we don’t know what that PPB net will do if Paul dies with ACE inside him.”
    White coughed. “Actually, we do.” Everyone stared at him. “The net will collapse and destroy the Earth.” There was dead silence for a few moments.
    “Okeydokey! Richard and I are going to go off and save the world, while the rest of you, you know, save everyone else we happen to love. Chop, chop, time’s a wastin’. Oh, and Sheila, welcome to my world.”
    She shook her head. “In a weird way, it’s kind of nice to know Chuck was right all along as opposed to totally deranged.”
    “Yeah, let’s hope he’s still alive.” I went to my mother and took Jamie. I held her as tightly as I could, which wasn’t as tightly as I wanted to. “You be good for your Nana Angela, okay, Jamie-Kat? Mommy has to go find and save Uncle Paul and your fairy godfather ACE and then, hopefully, everyone else can find Daddy and save him and everybody else we love who’s in danger.”
    I kissed her and looked at her face. I wondered if I’d ever see it again. She blinked her big, blue eyes, and something flashed in them. I saw a train car with a human-sized box in it. I also saw the words on the side. She blinked again, and I saw a Gothic structure I, and any other person who’d ever taken a day of French, knew well.
    I kissed her again. “You are such a good baby. Mommy loves you so much.” I handed her back to Mom. “Serene, please look into Jamie’s eyes if one of us calls and needs help.”
    “Okay, Kitty. Why?”
    “Because Jamie knows where everyone is.”

 
    CHAPTER 50
     
    W E HYPERSPED TO THE launch area. I was able to keep up with everyone without holding onto an A-C. I felt a tiny bit of nausea, but nothing like I was used to. I had a little trouble stopping, but White grabbed me before I barreled into or through a gate.
    “Okay, Gladys, where did Jeff have you send them?”
    “We marked on Captain Crawford.”
    “How?”
    “All personnel have transmitters installed. His went live again just before Commander Martini requested location.”
    “I have a transmitter?” Jeff hadn’t told me about this.
    White sighed. “Yes, Missus Martini. Jeffrey had it put into you after, as you call it, Operation Drug Addict.”
    “When? How?”
    “Kitty, is now the time?” Hughes’ voice was strained. “We all have them, they aren’t dangerous.”
    “Who knew to