Alien vs. Alien

out.
    “I think Tito’s looking at the bigger picture, Mister White. Tito, what are you thinking?”
    “I’m wondering why everything that’s happened this weekend, other than Reynolds being kidnapped, has happened at all. It seems like a lot of work for, well, nothing, really. Earth isn’t truly equipped to fight an interstellar invasion. So why bother with all the other stuff? Take Reynolds out, one and done, the fight’s over before it can start, because we can’t get any backup.”
    “It’s a good point,” Buchanan said.
    Armstrong nodded. “Why bother with the naked pictures if none of it matters tomorrow?”
    “Naked pictures?” Stryker asked.
    “Later, Eddy.”
    “Promise?”
    “No, I’m lying. Never. Get back to work.” Armstrong and Tito had exceptionally good points. Time to stop being The Ambassador, run to a phone booth, and change into Megalomaniac Girl. “Per Tito’s question, pretty much every distraction they’ve tossed at us has done at least double duty.”
    “But it’s all pointless,” Abigail said. “If the only goal is to get Chuck out of the way.”
    “So that means getting rid of Chuckie can’t be the only goal.”
    “Makes sense,” Buchanan said. “But, other than chaos and destabilization, what were your enemies achieving by everything that’s happened this weekend?”
    “Why say ‘your’ enemies?” Tito asked. “You’ve been under fire, too.”
    Buchanan shrugged. “Only because I’m assigned to watch over Missus Chief. Otherwise, honestly, I haven’t been in any danger.”
    My brain nudged. “Maybe that’s because the bad guys don’t know you exist, Malcolm.” He’d only been assigned to be my shadow six weeks ago, and he’d spent four of those weeks in Florida.
    “I don’t follow you,” Naomi said.
    “So few ever do, Mimi. I mean that Malcolm’s right. Essentially he’s been ignored, and considering his skill set, that’s kind of stupid. And our enemies are many things, but stupid, sadly, is never one of them.”
    Think, think. Everything we needed was in front of us, just like always. I had to stop worrying about the impending invasion and the lack of Jeff and Chuckie and focus on what we knew for sure. “Okay, every action this weekend was focused on getting everyone else completely distracted and Chuckie out of the way. But each action also did at least double duty, so that if it failed in one of its missions, it didn’t fail in the others.”
    “How so?” Franklin asked.
    “Sandra the Android failed to kidnap or kill me, but she slipped a bug into my purse and ensured I’d be kept out of the high-level security briefings, presumably because I might see a pattern or make a connection the others wouldn’t. Senator Armstrong didn’t take the dirty pictures to the person they’d hoped he would, but he identified that he wasn’t on their team any more by doing so. Him taking the new set to me today got him out of t󀀅he way.”
    “Another set of dirty pictures?” Stryker asked. “When do we see those?”
    “Never, Eddy. Get back to work.”
    “Why was getting me out of the way at the Festival important?” Armstrong asked. “It’s not like I’d have been able to prevent anything that happened.”
    Mona looked pensive. “Actually, Senator, that’s incorrect. My husband was supposed to spend time with you and some others this morning. Because you disappeared, the meeting was rescheduled.”
    “Meaning . . . what?” I asked her.
    “Meaning Khalid and I were free to wander the Festival. If the Ambassador had been at the meeting, we would have been there as well, waiting.”
    “Why?”
    “Political photo op,” Armstrong said. “So they could show how nice they are.”
    “And impress everyone with how awful it was that the evil Israelis broke into their Embassy,” Oren said, with no malice at all in his tone.
    “But it wasn’t Israelis who broke in, was it?” All of the Middle Eastern Contingent shook their heads. “So, who did?”
    “Our surveillance cameras caught nothing out of the ordinary,” Khalid said. “I had Oren and Jakob review them, as well. None of us could find anything.”
    “What was taken in the break-in? I know the papers said nothing, but clearly an alarm was triggered or something.”
    Mona shook her head. “No items of significance were taken, and no alarms were set off.”
    “Share what insignificant things were taken. I mean, how did you even know an unlawful entry had