Alien vs. Alien

you,” Tito said. “And the fastest way to get you out of hiding is to threaten Jeff, or Reynolds, for that matter.”
    “Any of you,” Buchanan corrected as we reached the Mall area. “She’s not good at hiding out when people she knows are in danger.”
    “It’s a weakness they’re exploiting,” Armstrong said.
    “They get to win this battle, then.” But not the war. I’d never let them win that.

    Yi

CHAPTER 51

    T HE NATIONAL MALL wasn’t a big shopping center. It was a huge park with a lot of national landmarks and awesome museums bordering it. The Lincoln Memorial was at one end, and the Capitol Building was at the other, with the Washington Monument sort of in the middle. Aerosmith had played here, as well as a lot of other bands, and the International One World Festival was just the latest in a long line of events that had been held here.
    Being Tourist Mecca for the D.C. area meant, in the weird way I was getting used to with the East Coast, that the Mall didn’t have great parking as a general rule. On an average day it was hard to find parking. Today it was insane. “Malcolm, what are we going to do with the limo? Are you dropping us off and going back to the Embassy?”
    “No. Just hang on.” We were near the Smithsonian Metro station when he found what he was looking for—the entrance to an underground parking garage. It had a big sign stating that it was for Employees Only and that there was no event or Mall parking ever allowed. It also required a keycard for entry. Buchanan pulled a card out of his wallet, put it in, and the gate raised. We drove in.
    “You don’t work here for real, do you?” Maybe this was the P.T.C.U.’s hidden headquarters.
    “No. The P.T.C.U. and the C.I.A. have all the cool toys.”
    “Works for me.” Maybe I’d still check it out later, when things were quiet, to see if this was where Mom and her Gang of Cool Kick Butt Cats hung out during the nonengagement hours.
    We parked. It was Sunday, so the parking lot wasn’t packed, but Buchanan still chose a section that was pretty isolated. We unloaded, parrot and all, and Buchanan hit the Invisibility Shield. The limo disappeared.
    “Nifty. How will we find it again to ensure we can leave, let alone ensure it’s not hit by someone else trying to park?”
    Buchanan pointed to the sign above where he’d parked us—Reserved for Government Vehicles.
    “Hope no one tries to come in to catch up on their work while everyone else is having fun.”
    Buchanan shrugged. “I have the laser shield activated, too. They’ll bounce off. We can worry about the car or we can do what we came for.”
    “Good point. Again.” We headed off for the real action while I worked on not allowing my stress level to affect my ability to look at the big picture. Wasn’t impressed with my results.
    Felt a nudge. Looked down to see Bruno walking alongside, like the best trained dog in the world. It was oddly reassuring to have him here, though. He looked up at me and gave me the “we’ll handle it” look. He then craned his neck up so I could easily and surreptitiously pat his head.
    “Shall we move at hyperspeed?” White asked me, with a smile for Bruno.
    “Not sure the parrot can handle it, to be honest.”
    “We’re not far from the main activity area,” Buchanan said. I could tell he and Tito had noted Bruno’s arrival, but Armstrong seemed blissfully unaware and I decided it was smarter to keep him that way. “Well, I mean where the main stage is set up. Frankly, the entire Mall is going to be packed.”
    He wasn’t kidding. We’d parked in a building near to the Smithsonian’s Castle, so that was the part of the Mall’s middle section we headed for. As we reached our destination I took a good look around. The Festival wasn’t overstating it about either being International or One World. It was like the biggest street fair ever, multiplied by a factor of at least ten. If you couldn’t spot at least a dozen people from somewhere other than the U.S. in under a minute, it was likely you couldn’t see. And if you couldn’t spot at least two dozen people from the States in that same timeframe, you were blind and probably deaf as well.
    Speaking of deaf, if I’d thought the background noise from the Dome was loud, the noise level here was intense. People were, for the most part, having a really fun time. There were booths aplenty, as well as what looked like roving street performers, in addition to several