Alien Proliferation

about Christopher?”
    “Mom, I went to college. Really, ’nuff said.” I shifted my back, and Reader started to massage it. “I love you, James. But what we really need to figure out is what’s going on with Amy and the Al Dejahl stuff.”
    “Charles is very suspicious of Amy right now.” Mom sounded concerned.
    “You think he’s wrong?”
    “I don’t want him to be right would be the better way of putting it.”
    “Well, only worry if she’s his only theory. As long as he has more than one, we should be okay.” I hoped.
    “Do you suspect her?”
    “No idea, Mom. Serene says Amy is Amy. She’s acting like Amy, only freaked out, which is understandable.” I thought about it. “Chuckie!”
    He popped his head in. “You shouted?”
    “Gotta run a theory by you.”
    He came inside and shut the door. “Nice catch on White, by the way. Was he trying to kill himself or just break his father’s heart?”
    “Oh, stop. People make mistakes. You’re just self-righteous’cause you and I never did drugs.”
    “Ever. Because they’re stupid.”
    “Yes, thank you, Mister DARE Leader. He was trying to be better, stronger, faster, the six-million dollar alien sort of thing.”
    “A-C steroids. Great. They’re illegal in sports, they’re illegal religiously for the A-Cs, and they’re damaging. Should I go on?”
    “Geez, dude, no. Jamie’s not quite at the point where she needs the ‘Just Say No’ lecture, okay? I think her Uncle Christopher’s going to be able to give her that all by himself, too, but nice to know you’re ready with the lecture at the drop of a hat. What are you so upset about?”
    “Oh, nothing. I just have the heads of Airborne, Field, and Imageering out while your mother and I are apparently marked for death, after we’ve discovered a potential supersoldier project we know nothing about. Can’t imagine why I’m tense. Alpha Team’s out of commission, and as near as I can tell, no outside influence caused it.”
    “As you so nicely put it to Jeff earlier, I’m capable of taking a call while I’m a new mother.”
    “Yeah. You’re not capable of doing anything active. White’s out for God knows how long, and even when he’s back, Martini’s going to have to watch him like a hawk, which means they’ll both be focused internally, not externally. The less said about Airborne’s overall status the better.”
    “Okay, thanks for the Doom Update. Back to why I called you in here. We need to break down the theories for what’s going on, Al Dejahl-wise.”
    “Amy’s involved, get used to the idea.”
    “We know she’s involved. We don’t know that she’s a bad guy or willingly involved or anything but a pawn.”
    “Give me a theory that says pawn, because right now I see mole, and I don’t like moles. At all.”
    I knew what Chuckie’s people did to moles. Couldn’t blame them. Just didn’t want Amy to be one.
    “Okay, I’m thinking back to Operation Drug Addict, partially because of Christopher, I’m sure. When we were in Florida, Serene’s lunacy seemed unrelated to anything else going on, but it was a direct result of the many plans Leventhal Reid and Howard Taft had going.”
    Chuckie nodded. “Right.”
    “So follow me here. Whoever Ronaldo Al Dejahl is, figure he’s got connections. They knew who I was the first time they tried to take Mom out. I’ve been a pretty active, obvious girl over the last couple of years, at least in certain circles. I may be hard to find now, but my past is an open book. Brian has one of those books, and he looks at it, because Serene knew Amy the moment she looked at her. How hard would it be to figure out who my friends were, the ones I still talk to?”
    Mom pulled out her phone.
    “Who are you calling?”
    “Figured out where you’re going. Getting security on Sheila and her family and Caroline and the senator and his wife. I’m just glad the rest of your close friends are in the Science Center or another solar system.”
    “Yeah, that’s me, friendless.” Sheila was my other best girlfriend from high school, and Caroline had been my sorority roommate. Sheila was a housewife; Caroline worked for Arizona’s senior senator. Neither one of them really knew what I did, but I was in sporadic communication with them. Other than for my wedding, I’d become sort of invisible to most of my other sorority sisters, friends, and acquaintances since joining up with the A-Cs. For the first time, I was glad. I hoped