Alien Proliferation

Imports and exports. No illegal drugs, no sex trafficking, nothing unlawful.”
    “Why would Yates be associated with him then?”
    “Always a good idea to have some legitimate businesses to run your illegitimate dealings through. Show off Gaultier International as a friend, show how clean you are.”
    The rest of Alpha and Airborne came back in the room. Richard White was still surrounded by C.I.A. agents, identified because they weren’t in Armani and weren’t drop-dead gorgeous. Chuckie had the agents leave the room but not the premises, which Jeff wasn’t happy with. I mentioned being tired of the posturing, and they didn’t get into it again. Brought the rest of the team up to speed. Then asked the big question. “Richard, who were you meeting and why did you go?”
    He shook his head. “I’m not at liberty to say.”
    “Richard, no choice.” Jeff had his Commander voice on full. “We’re in a Field situation. I want an answer to Kitty’s question.”
    White’s eyes flashed to Chuckie, to me, to Jamie, where his eyes stayed for several seconds, and then back to the ground. It was rare to see the Pontifex act like this, ergo, I was pretty sure it was an act. So, what did he want me to figure out? Thought about it. “This is about the Gower girls, isn’t it?”

 
    CHAPTER 19
     
    “Y ES.” WHITE LOOKED UP AT ME rather expectantly.
    “Geez, who did you give your promise not to talk about this to? The President?”
    “No.”
    I looked at Chuckie. He shook his head. “Wasn’t me. I’m all over hearing what the Pontifex has to say about why he was in Paris and what it has to do with Naomi and Abigail. Who, just to reassure you, are being picked up, along with Michael and their parents, and brought here as well.”
    “You’re so good with the details.”
    “Yeah, whatever. So, Pontifex White? Please answer Kitty’s question. I’m asking as the head of the ETD now, not as your son and nephew’s favorite punching bag.”
    He still didn’t speak. I considered the possibilities of why.
    Naomi and Abigail Gower were Paul Gower’s younger sisters. Unlike their two older brothers—Paul, who had the A-C talents of dream and memory reading, and Michael, who had no A-C talents but was a successful astronaut—the Gower girls had expanded, mutated A-C talents. They were the product of an A-C father and human mother. Serene, the product of an unknown human father and dead A-C mother, also had expanded and mutated talents.
    Christopher had identified the Gower girls’ talents a couple of months before our wedding, which was when Jeff and I had been advised. The C.I.A. had been running tests on the three of them, in conjunction with Centaurion, for months now. The tests on Serene stopped the moment she got pregnant, because Jeff insisted upon it. But Naomi and Abigail had continued on, to the point where they were at C.I.A. headquarters more often than any other A-C personnel.
    However, the biggest mystery was that all three women had been helped to deal with their powers—helped by an unknown source they thought was a man, but couldn’t confirm. A man they’d never met but only heard in their heads. They’d been taught by this person when they were little, so their powers were kept hidden until we’d stumbled upon Serene during one of our more fun and frolicsome adventures, by which I mean most of us almost died a lot of times. In between food cravings and hormonal stress, I’d actually given this conundrum some thought. Thoughts it looked like it was time to confirm or deny.
    “Paul, could I speak to ACE please?”
    Gower sighed. “If you must.” He twitched. “Yes, Kitty, ACE is here.” Gower’s voice was still his voice, just a little different—a bit stilted and unsure—which always signified ACE having control of their now-shared mind.
    “What’s going on?”
    “Many things, Kitty.” ACE sounded as evasive as White had. Great.
    “ACE, first off, let me ask something no one has yet. Were you the one helping Naomi, Abigail, and Serene to handle their mutated powers?”
    Dead silence. Everyone looked at me.
    “ACE? Really, no one would be upset by that. You helped them stay sane and not hurt themselves or others. Just wondering why you did that, when you’d only been paying attention to those in space, from what I’d understood when we first, uh, met.”
    “Their powers were vast, they reached us from the Earth. And they were so young and terrified . . . ACE had to