Alien vs. Alien

including in the tunnel system, just waiting to activate.”
    “Are they in the tunnels somewhere?” Franklin asked hopefully.
    “No. However, I then considered the supersoldiers. Chuck told us a very little bit about them, but I’m clear they were close to twelve feet tall, meaning no dead zone we’ve mapped so far could hold them. They’re also too big to go through the tunnels. At least, the tunnels in the U.S.”
    “You’re saying the tunnels and dead zones in France and Paraguay are bigger?”
    Ravi shot me a hurt look. “Way to steal a man’s big moment, Kitty.”
    “Just part of my charm.”
    “So you’ve always said. Anyway, yes. The android signatures were erratic, in part, I believe, because they’re so well done that they appear almost a hundred percent human. But we also have a signal for the supersoldiers to work with, because Chuck brought one back here for me to play with.”
    “What the hell?” Stryker said. “I didn’t know about that.”
    Ravi shrugged and looked smug. “You thought he was joking, so he knew you wouldn’t take it seriously. Besides, you can’t reverse engineer.” Jennifer looked as if she’d made her future life choice and was already picking out curtains and china patterns. I checked—Jeremy looked as though he wished they were both back at the Mall. Brothers were like that, at least so far as I’d been told.
    “Can too,” Stryker muttered.
    “So, what’s the bottom line, Ravi?”
    “The supersoldiers aren’t trying to pass as human, so their signals are far more basic. With the information gleaned from the android we were able to identify commonalities between the android and supersoldier signals and isolate them from the general electronic chatter that runs twenty-four-seven.”
    “We?”
    “I’m working remotely with the team in Dulce. Which is why we’ve moved so quickly. Anyway, we’ve identified where the signals came on-radar, if you will, cross-referenced against known formations and attacks, particularly the one at the Presidents Ball, which was the clearest data we have. Most of this data is from Centaurion Division, which Dulce shared with me, and I’ve cross-referenced. Then I cross-mapped it with dead zone parameters of enough presumed size to be able to house them, focused on Paris and the Chaco, and radiated out from there.”
    “And?” Franklin sounded impatient. I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t care how Ravi and his A-C team did it, if his answer was going to help.
    “I’ve sent the coordinates to Commanders Reader and Crawford. Teams are converging.”
    “Um, the last I heard, Commanders Reader and Crawford were trying to bring down superbeings and supersoldiers alive while also trying not to die.”
    “Oh.” Ravi looked s　Purprised. “Sorry. I sent the kill switch information to them while you were all discussing everything else. Supersoldiers are down and under control.”
    We all turned and looked at the screen that had been running our Paris feed. Sure enough, there were no more explosions, and the supersoldiers were in a nice formation. I could see the Eiffel tower in the far distance. Happily, it appeared to be standing and in one piece. I put this into the win column, because said column was pretty empty.
    “That covers France, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Awesome. So, what’s going on in Paraguay? Are Tim and his team dead or still fighting? The kill switch can’t work on a superbeing.”
    Ravi shrugged. “It can when they’re not real.”

    Yi

CHAPTER 86

    I LET THAT ONE SIT ON THE AIR for a bit while I considered how to phrase the next thing I was going to say. Went with the classics. “What the hell?”
    Ravi sighed again. “They look like superbeings, but they aren’t. They’re supersoldiers designed to look like superbeings.”
    “How in the world is that possible?”
    “The same way the supersoldiers are made, only these are covered with a clear metal, which is why they appear to be superbeings. The point is, though, that they have a kill switch, just as the others do.”
    “Wow, the Evil Genius Club really likes to give you options in your personal choice of destruction method, don’t they?”
    “How long have you had this information?” Christopher asked, voice tight.
    “I’ve had the remnants of the supersoldier for about a week,” Ravi said. “Because what happened at the President’s Ball wasn’t hidden from those in power, Chuck couldn’t bring it to me until the release was