Alien vs. Alien

the senator was kidnapped along with the Bahraini Ambassadress. And another asking if the senator did the kidnapping of the Ambassadress.”
    “What are the reactions?” Franklin asked.
    “Not good. Sending them to the guest terminal.” Henry pointed to a space that was relatively clean, if you didn’t mind that there were stacks of books and file folders around the terminal and in the guest chair.
    Oliver and the Middle Eastern Contingent went to have a look. Well, Oliver and Mona went to look. The Middle Eastern Muscle spent their time moving things so that Mona, at least, could sit down.
    “There is more talk of war,” Mona said. She sounded on the verge of tears.
    “Ugly talk,” Oliver added. “The kind that can cause buttons to be pushed down.”
    “Well, that’s not good.”
    “Your way with the understatement remains intact, I see, Missus Martini.”
    “Rick, honey, I’m going to have to hurt you.”
    “Kitty!” Ravi shouted, sparing us from more news updates, fretting, and sarcasm. “I’ve communicated with the scientists who are reverse engineering the android. We’ve been able to identify and isolate a homing signal. It was tricky, because the signal was within the self-destruct mechanism, but we’ve got it.”
    “Ravi found it,” Jennifer added proudly. I refrained from humming U2’s “Two Hearts Beat as One” but only because I didn’t want to have to explain myself or give White the opening for another Sarcasm Zinger. I wondered if Jennifer was going to share the news of Hacker International with the rest of the Dazzlers or keep them all for herself.
    “Ravi, you continue to rock above all other reverse engineers who have come before, exist now, or shall come in the future.” Good news, any good news, was such a pleasant shock, I wanted to kiss Ravi. But figured I’d let Jennifer handle that.
    “Thanks, Kitty. Always nice to be appreciated. I’ve sent the information to everyone here, as well as to Dulce. They’re tracking as well.” He cleared his throat. “When this is over, I’d like to visit. If it’s okay.”
    “I’ll show you around,” Jennifer said quickly.
    “Let’s survive to see next week before anyone plans any tours,” Franklin said. “Gentlemen, let’s get to work. Everyone’s depending on you.”
    As Hacker International focused on their new information, William came over to me. “I’ve checked in with Walter. He says they’re all clear at the Embassy. He’s activated the shields, so if we head there, we need to let him know, because the shield can cause an issue with the gate.”
    “Wait, what? Our Embassy has a shield on it? Seriously?”
    William laughed. “It’s not standard. It was discovered while you were in Florida. The assumption is that the former Diplomatic Corps installed it as part of their overall plan to destroy us. It’s been checked out and tested. Perfectly safe, very effective. Which we should be happy about, because also according to Walter someone’s been trying to get in. Moving too fast to see.”
    “Clarence wants into the tunnels.”
    “I’ll call Walter and tell him you’re pretty sure it’s Valentino. What do you want him to do?”
    “Sit tight and not let him in. I don’t know that we can catch him, but the only ones who’ll have a shot are Jeff and Christopher.”
    William nodded and stepped away to make his next call. It occurred to me that if telecommunications went down, not only would we not have anything to work with here in Hacker Central, but I wouldn’t be able to call the person I was fairly sure could point us in the right direction.
    I followed William’s suit, stepped away from the group, and dialed. Got the “all circuits are busy” message. Tried several more times. Same thing. Sent a text. It bounced back. Several times. I felt cut off and more than a little stressed.
    Armstrong joined me. “You look upset.”
    “Senator, I thought they could get calls in and out of the President’s bunker.”
    “Only with special phones.” He gave me a rather fatherly look. “Trying to reach your mother?”
    I nodded. “She’d know what to do. She undoubtedly knows who’s behind this or at least has suspects.”
    “I’m one, I promise you.”
    “Yeah, I know.” I sighed. “But at this point, better the enemy you know. Not that I’m calling you our enemy. At the moment. I mean, you’ve been helpful. And all that.”
    He chuckled and patted my shoulder. “No offense taken. And chin