Alien Proliferation

others?”
    “He’s waiting for me.” I walked into the room, but not too far in, close enough to leap back out through the doorway if I had to.
    Gaultier laughed. “I knew you’d come. Yes, I am waiting for you. Come here, or I kill Amy and the others.”
    I shrugged. “Go ahead. Al Dejahl might recover from the beating Jeff gave him, but I wouldn’t count on it. Cooper’s dead, Chuckie took care of him. Mister White and I took out all the Diplomatic Corps and all your C.I.A. buddies. That pretty much only leaves you.”
    “And you’re here to take care of me?” Gaultier sneered. “You might be enhanced, but I have the upper hand.”
    “Dude, seriously, upper hand? Who says that crap any more? You’re reading too many old megalomaniac how-to books. The modern megalomaniacs prefer something more effective than holding a bunch of little kids behind an elec-tronet.”
    “The old ways are still effective.”
    “Yeah?” I studied my fingernails. “Take a gander.” The net was empty. My Poofs had done their job.
    Gaultier didn’t look pleased. “No idea of how you did that, but you apparently can’t whisk Amy away as easily, can you?”
    “Nope. Besides, I’m figuring you and the rest of the Psycho Squad rigged the Embassy for bombs and such. Otherwise you wouldn’t be so confident standing there alone with a whole lot of younger, stronger, and seriously more pissed people in front of you. So, uh, guys? Do the bomb squad thing, will you?”
    “Move and I set them off,” Gaultier said quickly.
    “Blah, blah, blah. You can’t set them off because you’re in the freaking building, and we’re all really clear that you want to live forever. That’s what you think the drug will do, ultimately, right? Extend life—unlimited strength, regeneration, power.”
    Gaultier shook his head. “You wasted your mind. You actually can think, can’t you? But you’ve wasted yourself with these people and their quixotic need to save the world.”
    “Only world we’ve got.” I looked at Reader. “Seriously. Bomb check, unscramble the signals, and so on. Chop, chop, time’s wasting.”
    He grinned at me. “Sorry, just love watching you work.” Reader barked some orders and the team left, other than Christopher, Chuckie, and the four women.
    “Chuckie, get the girls to safety, would you? Science Center’s clean, finally. I’d suggest going through the gate in the basement, but if you want to see what they did to your apartment first, I have no objection; just keep the ladies with you.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Positive. Get Abby and Mimi out of here, and get Melanie and Emily back to their daughters, who have made them proud but could use their kickass mothers right now, trust me.”
    Naomi grabbed his hand, and the five of them zoomed off at hyperspeed.
    I figured White had to be holding Jeff back by this time, but I tried to send an emotional signal that Jeff would be more useful defusing bombs and such. Wasn’t sure if he got it or would listen to it, but a girl could only try.
    “So, just the four of us. Cozy.” I yawned. “Damn, I’m tired.” I really hoped I wasn’t going to have to do anything, because that exhaustion Gower had told me was likely seemed to be coming on fast. “Really, you’re going to off your own daughter?”
    “She’s weak. I’ll have stronger children, children who won’t question me.”
    “I liked you better when I thought this was all about money. Seriously, you suck at the megalomania. Believe me, I’ve seen some pros, and you’re like amateurville. Ames, try not to be too embarrassed by him. I’ll tell you about Jeff and Christopher’s grandfather some other time—talk about a guy who turned megalomania into an art form.”
    “Do you ever shut up?” Gaultier asked.
    “No,” Christopher said with a laugh. “She never does.”
    “Part of my charm.” I hoped the team had the brains to figure out to tell White, not me, when all the bombs were found. Also hoped they’d find them soon—my breasts had been near my baby, and they wanted to do their job in a big way. “So, while we stand here in what I like to think of as the Psycho Standoff, how’d you make Christopher forget he shot up the first time?”
    Gaultier snorted. “He was willing. Every time it came up, he was fighting with Reynolds about it.”
    “C.I.A. have Chuckie bugged, huh? I’d have thought he’d sweep for that regularly.”
    “He does, but your boy here carried the bug in