Alien vs. Alien

Yates.”
    “Most of those people are dead,” Stryker pointed out.
    “Yeah. ’Cause all those dead people pissed me off, tried to kill people I love, and also tried to take over the world.”
    Hacker International turned as one, Ravi included, hell, Omega Red included, and stared at me. “Kitty, are you saying you killed all of them?” Stryker asked carefully.
    “I killed Yates. Christopher actually killed Gaultier. Adriana killed Cartwright. And Marling killed himself.”
    “Oh. So, you’ve only killed one bad guy?” Henry asked nervously.
    “No, I’ve killed more. Leventhal Reid and Howard Taft, for example. Well, really, Jeff killed Reid.” I considered. “I think I’m losing count.” Hacker International all looked mildly terrified. “So, um, get to work.” They flung themselves back to their tasks at hand.
    “Found Esteban Cantu through GPS in his cell phone,” Omega Red said shortly. “He’s in his home. Same with Colonel Marvin Hamlin. He’s in his residence.”
    “Bet you fifty bucks their phones are home but they aren’t.”
    “We don’t have surveillance in their residences,” Omega Red shared. “So I have no way of knowing.”
    “I can’t ask for an A-C field team to investigate; they’re all deployed.”
    “Search foralternate signatures,” Franklin said. “I’ll send people to both locations.”
    He made the call while I tried not to fret, drum my fingers, or tap my foot. Human speeds really lacked a certain something when time was of the essence.
    “Yuri, track Hamlin from Friday. That’s the day he disappeared.”
    “I saw Esteban this morning,” Armstrong said.
    “Track Cantu from today, then.”
    “Oh, yes, no problem,” Omega Red said under his breath.
    “I heard that, and good.” A thought occurred. I sent a text to Lorraine. She replied quickly in the affirmatived. I went to Omega Red. “Yuri, put the addresses up on screen.” He did as requested. I sent them to Lorraine. “Colonel, tell your people to expect some Alpha Centaurion agents to be joining them. They’ll probably be at the locations, searching, by the time your teams arrive.”
    “I thought all Field teams were deployed.”
    I shrugged. “They are. But in times of war, we let the gals help out.”
    “Do you mean what I suspect you mean, Missus Martini?”
    “You know it, Mister White. Lorraine and Claudia just promoted some of the younger female A-Cs who want to expand past math, science, and medicine into the exciting world of action, danger, and romance. Welcome to the future.”

    Yi

CHAPTER 78

    “T HEY WON’T HAVE MUCH TRAINING,” White said. He sounded worried.
    “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. Apparently Lorraine and Claudia have been approached by a good number of gals who want to expand their horizons. They’ve been training them.”
    “Do James and Tim know about this?”
    I coughed. Not if I knew my girls. I’d trained them to do whatever and beg forgiveness later. Hey, it’d been working for us so far. “Oh, I’m sure they’ll be great with it. I mean, look at Jennifer here! She’s an active imageer, blazing the trail for her sisters in butt kicking. So to speak.”
    Of course, now we both had to look at her. Jennifer didn’t seem ready for action right now. She was comfortably settled on Ravi’s desk and appeared to be staying there. However, I’d seen her earlier in the day, so I chose to remain optimistic.
    “Ah, yes. I’m completely reassured.” White’s sarcasm knob was firmly at eleven.
    Henry cursed quietly. “Kitty, you’re not going to like this,” he said, saving me from any more uncomfortable explanations.
    “I haven’t liked much this weekend, Henry, so what’s next on my Anti Hit Parade?”
    “I have the news feeds running. Senator Armstrong has been listed as missing by his limo driver. ‘Hasn’t been seen since he entered the American Centaurion Embassy’ is a direct line from this article.”
    “Doesn’t one have to be missing for forty-eight hours before the authorities panic?” Armstrong asked.
    “Regular people, yes,” Henry said. “Public figures who disappear before public meetings in mysterious ways, however, get press.”
    “I was at the One World Festival,” Armstrong said.
    “For too brief a time,” Khalid said. “You spent that time assisting us.”
    “Yes, and I think he was seen,” Henry replied. “However, that’s not necessarily good news, either. There’s another article that’s insinuating