Alien vs. Alien

Maybe they’d put this into effect after Operation Drug Addict, because of Serene and the Security team infiltration. But even so, this test wasn’t going to tell anyone anything realistic about aliOpeour crew.
    The others were all sitting in a row in front of me by now, and they were clearly antsy. I couldn’t blame them. I normally didn’t take forever to do a test.
    I flipped to the back, to see if there were any normal questions before I gave up and asked for a room so I could eat and sleep while finishing the test version of
War and Peace
. As I did so, Sandra spoke again.
    “Why don’t we let the others go? Clearly Missus Martini isn’t close to being done yet.”
    “It’s not in the rules,” John said.
    They argued quietly about this, but I stopped paying too much attention, because a set of questions had caught my eye.
    Who is Esteban Cantu and what is his position within the United States Government?
    Well, I knew the answer to this one. Cantu was part of the C.I.A., the head of their Antiterrorism Unit, to be exact, and he’d been involved in some ways in both Operation Confusion and Operation Assassination. He was also, absolutely, not a friend to Centaurion Division or anyone who protected the A-Cs in any way.
    What is Esteban Cantu’s affiliation, to the best of your knowledge?
    Evil, bad, pick a negative adjective, probably affiliated with whoever wrote this test. He’d been in league with John Cooper, when Cooper had run Operation Confusion. And he’d been in league with Madeline Cartwright and Antony Marling, the head of Titan Security, when they’d been putting Operation Assassination into action. He was also chummy with Senator Armstrong and what was left of the politicians and lobbyists I called the Cabal of Evil.
    But I didn’t write any of this down. I read on.
    What are your thoughts on Paraguay? Do you feel the situation there is under control?
    No, I did not think Paraguay was under control. Marling had confirmed there were more supersoldiers than the ones we’d captured at the end of Operation Assassination, and I was sure some were in Paraguay, just as I was sure some were in Paris or the general surrounding area. But like so many other Weapons of Mass and Scary Destruction, whenever our teams descended on the confirmed locations, the WMDs had been moved to a new secret lair.
    Why does Charles Reynolds oppose integration of Alpha Centaurion personnel and the U.S. Military?
    Huh? We had Chuckie questions now? Cantu was always trying for the Wedge of Separation between me and Chuckie, because Chuckie was the person who did the most to block Centaurion from becoming the War Division. And he opposed this integration because the A-Cs were actually pacifistic at their cores, and they were also here for reasons other than running the military-industrial complex.
    Is Charles Reynolds’ biggest weakness: a) his intelligence, b) his willingness to be insubordinate, c) his affection for aliens, d) his inability to see the big picture?
    There was no “none of the above” choice, unfortunately. In reality, and Jeff would be the first to confirm this, Chuckie’s biggest weakness was probably me. He’d been in love with me for half of our lives, though I was pretty sure he was o su, and ver that. But I was also his best friend, and we loved each other as best friends do. I knew he’d die to protect me, or Jamie. And probably Jeff, too, because I loved Jeff and he was my husband, and my safety and happiness mattered to Chuckie, just as his mattered to me.
    I looked at the last question.
    Are you prepared to answer these questions or are you prepared to die?
    Uh-oh.

    Yi

CHAPTER 11

    “E VERYBODY DOWN!”
    I followed my own order and flipped myself out of the desk and onto the floor while grabbing for my purse and wishing I’d brought my Glock and just dealt with a few extra minutes at the security checkpoints. I flung the strap over my neck—no reason to lose my purse, I was sure I was going to need its contents soon enough.
    The rest of the team were all experienced by now, and all of them, even Amy, were on the floor. Kyle was using his body to shield her.
    I looked to the front of the room. John was still sitting at his desk, gaping at me in shock and confusion.
    Sandra, however, was already moving. Straight for me.
    My brain worked at its own version of hyperspeed. Jeff hadn’t picked up anything dangerous from her, and he’d definitely monitored. But she’d done every