Alien vs. Alien

nodded. “It would make more sense if they’d sent them to Senator McMillan.” McMillan was one of Arizona’s senators, and therefore my home state guy. My sorority sister and bestie, Carolyn, worked for him, too, as his Girl Friday. I knew McMillan now, and liked him very much, and I knew he liked me.
    Armstrong nodded slowly. “True. I hadn’t thought about it. I assumed I was sent the pictures because I work closely with you and Reynolds, and I’m involved in a variety of committees and such that affect American Centaurion and Centaurion Division.”
    “So, I ask again, why me? I get that you work with me and Chuckie. But until this weekend, I would have never assumed you’d be on our side, ever.”
    Armstrong had the grace to look a little embarrassed again. “Politics, you know. I don’t dislike you. Or Mister Reynolds, for that matter.”
    I snorted. “Right. Because you do so much for him.”
    He shrugged. “He’s a brilliant young man and quite driven. Men like him can be very dangerous.” I opened my mouth and he put his hand up. “I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, if you will. But brilliant, driven people tend to muck up the works. Or they take over. Or both.”
    It was there. It was right there, tickling my mind. But I couldn’t quite get it. I looked at Oliver. “You said earlier that you wondered if the reactions everyone had were the expectedˀ the exp ones, didn’t you?”
    “Somewhat. I said that I wondered if the reactions your husband and the senator had to the first set of pictures were the reactions the picture takers and/or picture senders
wanted
.”
    “What would they want?” White asked. “Or, rather, what would they expect?”
    “Normally, I’d have expected to see the pictures all over the newspapers or be asked for blackmail money,” Armstrong replied.
    “But neither have happened,” Oliver pointed out.
    “Senator, when did you get the pictures, the first set?”
    “The day after you left D.C. for Florida. The note with them said there were things I needed to be aware of, and that was it.”
    I rolled this around in my mind. But it was me, so in order to have the rolling do any good, I had to run my mouth. Never a problem. “So, before I ask some obvious questions, let me ask one that’s not so obvious. How did you and Esteban Cantu avoid being caught for Operations Confusion and Assassination?”
    “Excuse me?” Armstrong sounded shocked out of his mind.
    Christopher sighed. “There were major infiltration attempts when Kitty gave birth to Jamie, and then during the President’s Ball.”
    “And you call them Operation Confusion and Operation Assassination?” Armstrong still sounded as though he couldn’t believe his ears. No idea why. The names I came up with for things actually made sense.
    “No,” Christopher replied. “That’s what Kitty calls them. They have no official names, because they weren’t sanctioned actions.”
    White cleared his throat. “Well, the first one does have an official name—The Parisian Action.”
    “That sounds like an action movie starring Robert DeNiro and Matt Damon.”
    Len and Kyle laughed. I got Patented Glare #1 from Christopher. White went on as if I hadn’t said anything. “I believe the other is referred to as the Titan Security Fiasco.”
    “Aptly put. My names are better, of course.”
    “Is now really the time?” Christopher sounded strained. Maybe he’d overdone it getting to us.
    “Probably not. So, Senator, how’d you escape the P.T.C.U.’s net? Let alone the C.I.A.’s. And how did Cantu?”
    “I had nothing to do with either one of those things. I have no idea what you’re talking about in terms of Operation Confusion or The Parisian Action. As for what happened at the President’s Ball, I was in as much danger as everyone else. I’d have been shot if an A-C agent hadn’t saved me in time.”
    “Your wife wasn’t along.”
    “She had food poisoning. I was thankful once all the shooting started, believe me. Even though she had to stay overnight at the Andrews hospital.”
    “Why did you have your wife go to the Air Force base?”
    He gave mˀtd">He ge the “duh” look. How nice. “It’s more secure. I’m a public official.”
    Christopher, Len and Kyle were all texting. I decided to forge on while they waited for the answers to the questions I knew they were asking. “So, why didn’t Cantu bring a date?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t ask him about his personal life.