Alien vs. Alien

about?”
    Amy looked at Olga. No—she looked at Jamie. “About security in the Embassy and other Bases. And how well protected the hybrid children are.”

    Yi

CHAPTER 39

    I WANTED TO GET MAD. But I knew I was going to need the rage somewhere down the line, and my bet was always for sooner as opposed to later.
    “So, it’s the old ‘steal my baby’ ploy.” I looked at Armstrong. “What’s your part in that?”
    “I want nothing to do with it.” He looked around and heaved a sigh. “You can all stop giving me your versions of the Evil Eye. Yes, there are people who want to get and control your children, particularly the hybrids. But I want, and therefore have, nothing to do with them.”
    “Any more.”
    “Ever. Look, I’m willing to do many things. But harming innocent children isn’t one of them. I know you don’t like me. I can understand why, in part because I realize none of you, except possibly your current and former Pontifexes, actually understand politics and diplomacy and how it all really works.”
    Amy’s eyes narrowed. “I understand how it all works. I also understand that my father was a genius. And a lunatic. Are you insinuating you don’t know anything about his various experiments?”
    “Or Marling’s? Or, frankly, any supersoldier program currently in existence?”
    Armstrong looked trapped. Something my father had said to me chose to surface at this moment—a trapped animal will do or say anything to escape. You couldn’t trust what someone who was trapped or defensive said most times.
    I took a look at Olga. She was cuddling Jamie. And pointedly not looking at Armstrong.
    I took a deep breath and let it out. “Let’s all stop for a minute. Senator, despite how we all appear right now, we know we need to work with you. And we know you need to work with us. Let’s declare a truce.”
    He looked at me suspiciously. “How do you mean?”
    “I mean we tell you things, you tell us things, and neither side uses them against the other.”
    “Kitty, you’re crazy,” Christopher said. “You know we can’t trust him.”
    I hit my speed dial. He answered on the first ring. That was happening a lot today. Had some guesses as to why, but none of them were concrete enough to share. Yet. “You’re on the high priority line. This had better actually be high priority, Kitty.”
    “Hey, sorry I’m using the Bat Phone, but I needed to be sure you’d answer.”
    “When, in our entire lives, have I not answered a call from you?” Chuckie asked.
    “Never, but you’re in the middle of something with the One World stuff and I wanted to be sure I got you.”
    “You have me. What’s going on? And where did White and Amy go? And,” he sounded angry, “what the hell are they doing here?”
    It didn’t take genius to guess the Gower girls had just arrived. “They’re our new Cultural Attachés. And Christopher and Amy are with me, because we’re at DEFCON Bad and heading to DEFCON Worse at warp speed.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “Not sure I can explain it quickly.”
    “Try.” He didn’t sound like he was asking.
    I gave it my best shot. While I did so, Christopher had the gang writing like fiends to get as much of what they could remember down as quickly as possible.
    “Now that you know the latest bad news, let’s get back to why I called. Do you trust Senator Armstrong? If yes, how much? If no, why not?”
    Chuckie was quiet for a few moments. “I don’t really trust anybody, Kitty, you know that.”
    “You trust me.”
    “You’re different.”
    “You trust other people. I’d name them, but I’m not alone.”
    “I don’t trust most people fully, let’s agree on that.”
    “Fine. Back to the senator.”
    “I haven’t found anything that proves he was involved in any of the various actions against us.”
    “Have you not found this because he’s not involved or because he’s just really good at hiding his tracks?”
    “I’m honestly not sure. I realize you want a better answer than that. I can’t give it to you.”
    “Fine. Esteban Cantu. Same questions.”
    “I guarant>“I guee that if Cantu could slit all our throats and not have it reflect badly on him, we’d all be dead. I can’t say the same of Armstrong.”
    “When Operation Confusion started, Armstrong was one of the four having us do an unnecessary conference call.” I watched Armstrong out of the corner of my eye, hoping he wouldn’t really notice that I was doing