Alien vs. Alien

so.
    “Yes. Per what we found out then and you said Madeline Cartwright confirmed before she died, Cooper was in charge of that.”
    “Yeah, but she also said Cantu and Armstrong were involved.” I watched Armstrong. He looked stressed and annoyed, but not overly worried. Had no idea what that meant. Found myself wishing Jeff and Chuckie were both here. “I wish you and Jeff were here, right now.”
    “We can’t leave.”
    “I guessed. The President’s about to kick the thing off, right?”
    “Right. And we have no idea if there’s going to be trouble or not.”
    “Trouble is a given.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “You have Alpha and Airborne involved. Before anything’s happened. Meaning that everyone expects something
to
happen.” Just like for the President’s Ball. “So, someone got the head’s up that something was going down at this thing, and you’re all there trying to stop it.”
    “Right. And I can’t really do my job while I’m on the phone with you.”
    “Oh, I have faith in you. I know you’re not only the Conspiracy King, you’re also the Emperor of the Multitaskers.”
    “Thanks. So, why are you asking me if we can trust Armstrong?”
    “Because . . .” My voice trailed off because my brain was nudging me. “Who did you get the trouble tip from for this? Can you tell me?”
    He sighed. “Not really. I’m sure you can figure it out, though, if you think about it.”
    “I can?”
    “Yes.”
    I looked at Oliver. He shook his head. So he wasn’t the one who’d tipped them about issues with the One World Festival. “I know it wasn’t Mister Joel Oliver.”
    “Correct. Think, Kitty. Think about the name of the event.”
    “It’s the International One World Festival.” I looked at Olga.
    She tossed me a bone. “Not everyone gets along with their neighbors as well as we do.”
    “Everyone’s on high alert because of the break-in at the Bahraini Embassy and the resulting I Know You Are But What Am I between them and the Israeli Embassy, right?”
    “Took you long enough. Yes.We have no idea if something’s going to happen, but if we have some Middle Eastern countries who aren’t happy campers, and we do, then this is a great opportunity to have a worldwide stage to present their displeasure.”
    “Gotcha. I’ll lcha. Iet you get back to it.”
    “Great. Be careful, Kitty.”
    “You too, Secret Agent Man.”
    “And, Kitty?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Make sure Jamie’s safe. Don’t bring her into anything even remotely dangerous, and don’t leave her with anyone we can’t trust a hundred percent, and by we I mean me.”
    “Gotcha, Surrogate Daddy Chuckie.”
    He laughed. “Thank God your husband’s not around to hear that.”

    Yi

CHAPTER 40

    W E HUNG UP, and I calculated the odds that Armstrong was infiltrating us versus really in need of our help. They were fifty-fifty. Looked for some kind of sign from the cosmos about what to do. Because I needed to run the yap and ask some serious questions that would potentially give away a lot of information I didn’t want a real enemy to know.
    Bruno woke up and looked at me. I looked back at him. He looked around the room, stared at Armstrong, looked right at me again, then pointedly tucked his head back under his wing.
    I decided my request of the cosmos had been answered. Prayed White was right about my new “talent.” Looked at Armstrong. “What’s your assessment of the actual threat level at the event the dirty pictures pulled you away from?”
    “I’m not sure. I think there’s reason to be alert and prepared.”
    “Yeah. Only, see, when Operation Assassination was going down, we were supposed to be alerted. So that the people who did the protection could fail that much more dramatically.”
    “Where are you going with this, Kitty?” Christopher asked quietly. “I’m not following you.” But I could tell he was feeling the same unease I was, because he was neither snarking, snarling, nor glaring.
    “Let’s get back to MJO’s question from earlier. I think it’s probably the key point in all of this.”
    “You mean when I asked if either the senator or your husband reacted in the way expected?”
    “Yes. Senator, why did you come to see me instead of, say, calling the
Washington Post
? Oh, and please give us the truthful answer, not the political spin. I think we need to have everyone’s cards truly on the table for this one.”
    Armstrong seemed to be considering the question and his