Alien vs. Alien

friendly nations have them too. And by friendly I mean friendly to American Centaurion.”
    Truly I was the last to find out anything. Oh, well, the excitement of regular surprises overruled the “fun” associated with the briefing books. “Super, so Andrews it is. We have a limo nearby, hopefully it’s safe.”
    “We have limos too,” Reader said patiently. “Or did you forget that?”
    “I’ll hurt you later, James.” Now that the adrenaline rush was dying down, I knew I needed to focus and think. The first thought that came to me was the fact that I had AWOL Poofs. I used to thin　mesk the Poofs ran off when they felt outgunned. But experience had shown that they tended to run off when they felt they were more urgently needed elsewhere. So, that begged a question. “Where are the other Poofs?”
    “Do you mean the big fluffy animals with huge teeth?” Mona asked carefully.
    “Yeah. I sense a major debrief coming on, but guys, before we do that, I think it’s an important question.”
    Reader shook his head. “Worry about the Poofs later; they can take care of themselves. We have a known traitor who’s working with known terrorists on the loose. We need to track him down and confine him.”
    “That didn’t work last time.”
    “They used specialized equipment then,” Gower said. “Alpha Four disabled it.”
    “Disabled and unable to be reconnected aren’t the same thing.” The nagging grew stronger. We were missing something.
I
was missing something, and it wasn’t just Jeff and Chuckie. But they were a part of what I was missing, in that sense. And, as so often happened, I knew I had everything I needed to put most, if not all, of the puzzle together.
    “Let’s get everyone to a hospital or some semblance of safety,” Reader said. “And then we can worry about your theories.”
    “No. James, we need to stop and think. Someone went to a hell of a lot of trouble to prevent me from knowing anything and, therefore, to prevent all of you from talking about it with me.”
    “Missus Martini is correct,” White said. “And she’s considered number one on our enemies’ hit list, meaning we need to stop pretending security clearances matter right now.”
    “Oh, they matter. They just don’t matter in terms of all of us at the moment.”
    Armstrong cleared his throat. “If it helps at all, I firmly support Ambassador Martini being briefed on anything necessary. We have proof the HSAC test she was given was falsified, meaning our enemies wanted to keep her out of the loop. Let’s not allow that any longer.”
    Had to hand it to Armstrong. He’d moved himself into our camp with ease, and he’d done it without coming off as a total jerk.
    However, the senator’s ability to be a good politician wasn’t the issue of the moment. It was part of it, of course, but not what mattered right now. Think, think. I needed to think. Took the time while my brain was coming up with nothing to send the picture I’d taken of Clarence to Christopher, with an urgent request for him and Serene both to read it.
    The key was probably ACE and what he’d been trying to get me to figure out. “Paul, is ACE uncomfortable?”
    “No. He feels . . . distracted.”
    “Wonderful.” Had a feeling ACE was being distracted by the real problem, not the fake ones. Got a fast reply from Christopher. “Well, this is interesting, in that ‘oh crap, this sucks’ sort of way. Christopher can’t read the picture of Clarence I took.”
    “How can that be?” Tim asked. “Isn’t it almost impossible to hide anything from him? Pictorially, I mean.”
    “No. Not with a major Surcenthumain boost. Christopher can hide his emotions from Jeff now, so can Serene. And the bad guys knew Christopher would be a threat, so they figured out how to block him.”
    “Kitty, we’re wasting time,” Reader said. “Richard, I want you sequestered somewhere.”
    “Why?” Jennifer asked.
    Everyone stared at her. Other than me and White. We shared the We Got One! look. It was nice to find someone who was on our wavelength.
    “Because they’re always after him,” Jerry replied.
    “No,” White corrected. “They’re always after the Pontifex.” He looked pointedly at Gower. “Paul, I was tossed aside by Clarence.”
    “And it was only because Jennifer and Bruno got you away from him that Clarence didn’t grab you, Paul. How’d you know what to do?” I asked her.
    She shrugged. “The parrot was screaming for help, so I