Alien vs. Alien

his breath sharply. “It worked. The signals are all more clear. They’re listening to me now.”
    “Great. Christopher, can you help Ravi get the androids over to the Mall?”
    “I’ll do my best. You want me to stay if we can only control them from here?”
    “Yes,” Jeff said firmly. “You have combat experience, these guys don’t.”
    “I have the androids’ attention, but nothing I’m telling them appears to be working,” Ravi muttered as he typed furiously. “Dulce’s having the same lack of success.”
    “Kitty, we still can’t find Colonel Hamlin,” Stryker said. “He’s completely off grid. But we’ve identified an older cell phone of Cantu’s that’s active and in use. He’s in D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial.”
    “Can I call ’em or can I call ’em?”
    “You can call them,” Jeff said. “Let’s all get going.”
    “Meet here or at the Mall?” Chuckie asked.
    “Mall. Get your soldiers in place. Coordinate with James and Tim, and don’t forget Serene.”
    “Or she’ll take your head off,” Christopher said.
    “Take Bellie.” Jeff handed the parrot off to his cousin.
    “Why?”
    “We’ll go faster without her right now.”
    “No argument from me. She might share more code words with you, too. I asked her what the good word was.”
    “Evolution,” Bellie squawked.
    Ravi looked at Bellie. “Protocol.” Nothing. “Initiative.” Nada. He looked disappointed.
    “If those were her trigger words, I think she’d have already tossed them out.” I thought about it, what I’d said that had triggered her in the first place, and then her reaction word. “Survival of the fittest.”
    “Protocol two-two-six-three-seven-one-two. Protocol eight-seven-one-four-five. Protocol six-six-six-one-four-nine-two.”
    Ravi typed. “That’s it! They’re obeying!”
    “My work here is done. Someone give this parrot some major bird treats. If you need more, try words or phrases related to evolution.”
    Hacker International all looked at me. To a dude, they looked impressed. “Kitty, I have to say, that was amazing.” Stryker sounded as shocked as he looked. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
    “Eddy? I’ll be really offended later. Right now we have a world to save.”
    Jeff grinned. “And you’re just the girl to save it.”

    Yi

CHAPTER 92

    J EFF PULLED A BUNCH OF BIRD TREATS out of his pocket and handed them to Christopher, who fed Bellie while she looked smug. Decided she had the right. Jeff took my hand, and we left the ballroom.
    He headed us for the elevator. “We’re not taking the stairs?”
    “No.” The doors opened, we got in. He hit the button for our floor.
    “Is everything okay?”
    Jeff hit the Stop Elevator button. “No.” He turned to me. “This isn’t an invasion from the Home World, where we have some allies helping us and we know what we’re up against. This could be the end of Earth, and no matter what I tell you, I know you’ll be right there on the front lines with me. And . . .” He reached out and stroked my face. “If we’re going to die, I want to make love to my wife one last time.”
    “I have no argument. Well, I do, because we need to get into place at the Mall and all that, and I think it’s against the rules in the Heroes’ Handbook to stop for nookie when the end of the world looms.” But Jeff’s eyes were smoldering, he had the “jungle cat about to eat me” look on his face, and, frankly, I wanted to make love to my husband once more before we died, too.
    “Screw the Heroes’ Handbook.”
    “I’d rather you screwed me.”
    Jeff laughed. “Good. We’ll use hyperspeed,” he said with a sexy half-smile. “Normally I’m against any kind of a quickie, but trust me, baby, you’ll like it.” I always liked it, especially in an elevator, so there was no worry about this on my part.
    “I know you just got some adrenaline, but are you sure you’re okay enough to go for the gusto?”
    His jungle cat smile widened. “Let me prove it to you.”
    We didn’t undress fully, though Jeff got my purse, shoes, pants, and panties off in a split second. I got his shirt opened just as fast and ran my hands over his awesome pecs. He had me up against the side of the elevator, my shirt shoved up, bra opened, his pants undone, and himself inside me in another second or so.
    He kissed me deeply, and as his tongue twined with and controlled mine, I wrapped my legs around his waist, stopped worrying about what we should