"I'm sure you would." I told him where we were and suggested he hurry it up, and we got off the phone.

"It's faster if he and the senator come to us," Len said. "I get that. But why do you want Mister Joel Oliver here right now?"

"I want someone with us who's likely to know what the hell is going on that no one can tell me about so he can let us know when the senator's lying."

"He's not an empath," Kyle pointed out. "So how will he know?"

"Empaths can be fooled, just like anyone else. But MJO has all the news that's fit and unfit to print, so he's got a really good BS meter." At least, so I hoped. "Besides, I think Olga will get a kick out of him."

"True," White said. "She is a fan."

As per her usual, Adriana opened the door and let us in before we could knock. Since White had been by already, she and Olga were briefed, at least somewhat.

The issue of what to do about the Peregrines turned into a moot point. I knew we were all waiting for Adriana to make a comment, but she didn't.

I left the stroller downstairs and took Jamie out of it. She held onto her Poof, and Harlie and Poofikins went into my purse, which I slung onto my shoulder. Lola hopped out of the stroller, leaving the rest of the Poofs with us on stroller guard duty. Adriana didn't see Lola, or if she did, Olga had trained her well enough that she didn't blink when a big bird jumped out of a baby's stroller.

Nor did she blink when four other big birds trotted upstairs right along with the rest of us. Clearly White was right, and Bruno hadn't overstated Peregrine abilities in any way.

Olga was in her study and Jamie squealed with joy to see her. I handed her over for snuggles as Adriana brought in refreshments. In addition to the usual lemonade there was also iced tea. The usual assortment of small cakes and cookies were complemented with some fresh fruit. Adriana clearly spent her downtime in the kitchen.

Once the goodies were up, Adriana went back downstairs to wait for the rest of our visitors. There were plenty of chairs in here again, so the rest of us settled down and made inconsequential small talk.

"Looks like Mister Joel Oliver's here," Kyle said. "At least I'm pretty sure that's him getting out of a taxi."

Considering the senator was likely physically closer and had his own driver, this was more than a little unexpected. I got up and checked the taxi driver out as well as I could from the study's window-no one I recognized. Oliver went to the door, the taxi drove off. Like normal. How refreshing. I went back to my chair, snagging another couple of cookies on the way.

Oliver was escorted upstairs and official introductions made, then Adriana went back down to wait for the senator. Olga was clearly quite pleased to meet Oliver. I wondered if she'd feel the same way about Armstrong, but knew I'd find out shortly.

Oliver didn't mention the Peregrines and I didn't bring them up. We were still waiting for Armstrong, but I wanted to get Oliver and Olga briefed so they'd have an idea of what was going on. However, it was somewhat embarrassing, and I really didn't know where to start. Back to the inconsequential small talk. "So, does anyone else think the foot traffic is a little light for a Sunday?"

Oliver shook his head. "It would be, but there's the huge event at the Mall. I'm sure most people from this part of town are there." Olga nodded.

"What kind of event?" White asked. "We haven't heard anything about it."

Oliver looked surprised. "I'd have thought you'd have been briefed immediately."

So whatever was going on at the Mall likely related to whatever I was now no longer qualified to hear. No worries. Oliver didn't know that. "We've been a little distracted. By the dirty pictures." Well, we'd been distracted by them yesterday, at least until Sandra the Android attacked, and they were the focus of my team's investigation, so it wasn't a total lie.

"You haven't heard about the International One World Festival?" Oliver sounded as shocked as he looked. "It's going on all week, but the President's kicking it off today." He checked his watch. "In about an hour."

"Don't tell me, let me guess. American Centaurion is helping the P.T.C.U. and whoever else with security."

"Yes. Well, Centaurion Division is. Not Embassy personnel, at least not officially. However, after the Titan Security disaster, the Office of the President requested that Centaurion Division assist the Secret Service and P.T.C.U. on this one. No one wants anything to go wrong, and in addition to the usual concerns, the current tensions between Israel and Bahrain have upped the threat levels."

"Meaning my mom's on duty, right?" And probably stuck in some awkward middle position politically, being former Mossad.

Oliver nodded.

It dawned on me that my parents hadn't called me at all this weekend. They'd called every day I was in Florida. I'd been too busy to register it before this moment, but they had to know I was back. And yet they hadn't come by to see me or Jamie. I'd have been hurt, but the reason was clear-Mom didn't want to lie to me and Dad couldn't.

Oh, sure, they'd lied to me for most of my life, but once I'd discovered aliens truly lived on Earth, they'd come across with a lot more information. Mom didn't have a problem telling me that something was above my security clearance normally, but since my HSAC test had ended up as a disaster, would anyone believe she wasn't telling me things? I hated Sandra and her creators and handlers just a little bit more.

"So, are we supposed to be there in an, ah, ambassadorial capacity?" Because if we were, I was going to be glaringly absent.

"Not so much, no. Though every diplomatic mission in the city is expected to provide some form of support and attendance. Most of the Embassies have had personnel over all this past week, setting up."

Olga nodded again. "That's where all of our mission was yesterday. And where they are today, as well. I confess to being surprised that no one has told you about it."

Wow. Our lack of intel had surprised two of the best-informed people around. Wonderful. "We've been a little distracted."

Oliver had stressed that it was Centaurion Division assisting. This meant Alpha, Airborne, Field, and Imageering would be involved, with Field teams out and about, doing their protect the world thing. American Centaurion was the political way of referring to us, and always indicated Embassy personnel and the Pontifex, when he was giving face time versus kicking butt. So Oliver's explanation made sense, but left something lacking. "MJO, what's American Centaurion's role?"

Oliver gave me a long look. "So, the story was true."

CHAPTER 32.

"WHAT STORY?" WHITE ASKED PLEASANTLY.

"The story about the Ambassador no longer having a high-level security clearance."

Olga looked concerned. "I so wish this were not so. You being kept, as you say, out of the loop, is not a good thing."

"I'm not thrilled with it, either, but it lets us look into the dirty pictures business and hopefully get that put to bed. Bad pun totally intended."

"Ah, yes," Olga said. "Your plan."

"You sound as underwhelmed by the idea today as you did yesterday."

She jiggled Jamie, who giggled. "There is nothing wrong with your plan."

"Only you think more is going on. Maybe it is." I looked at White. "Should I catch them up on everything before the senator gets here?" This was a trick question. We were here to catch them up. But it seemed stupid to ask if we should mention our invisible birds or not, which was what I wanted his advice about.

White was nothing if not intelligent. He looked at the birds, which were nestled happily at our feet, then back at me. "Within reason, yes. Or we tell them nothing. But we did request this meeting."

I got his point. Keep the Peregrines our secret weapons right now. If a couple dozen big birds could really be considered either secret or weapon. Then again, Olga and Oliver seemed blissfully unaware of the birds in their midst. I sniffed surreptitiously. Like the Poofs, the Peregrines didn't give off much of an odor. I appreciated this trait in Alpha Four's animals.

"In for a penny, might as well toss over the whole checkbook?"

"So to speak. I believe if we want Madame Ambassadress and Mister Joel Oliver's assistance, we need to give them all the details."

Oliver nodded. "I'll keep everything in the strictest confidence. You have my word on that."

When we'd first met him, I'd have laughed my head off at the idea that a tabloid journalist was trustworthy. But Oliver had been a lot more trustworthy, helpful, and supportive than people who were supposedly our friends and on our side.

"Should Adriana hear this?" I asked Olga.

"I will give her the pertinent details." She smiled. "Securely."

"Never had a doubt about that." I brought Oliver and Olga up to speed quickly on the senator's visit in Florida, the "fun" we'd had at NASA Base and its ultimate HSAC Fail for me, the fact that I was actually now firmly out of the classified loop, and that Armstrong had new pics featuring him as my latest costar.

In addition to not mentioning our Special Delivery from the night before, I also fudged about how NASA Base had gotten damaged-per Chuckie and Reader, I was still supposed to be a secret weapon, and I wasn't sure how much either Olga or Oliver knew or merely suspected.

Finished up and took a deep breath. "Of course, yesterday, Malcolm Buchanan and Olga suggested that all of this was just for distraction purposes."

"It could be," Oliver agreed. "But it sounds like an effective distraction doing double duty." Olga nodded her agreement.

"So, distraction technique or not, Richard and the boys have chosen to remain clueless so we can actually still function as a team. And we have the latest set of dirty pictures coming for our viewing pleasure. If Senator Armstrong ever gets here."

Oliver closed his eyes, clearly in thought. "I'd assume the senator is having to extract himself from the One World festivities, which is why I beat him here."

"I don't get why he'd leave something like that just to bring the latest blackmail pictures by."

Olga snorted, and Oliver opened his eyes. "I'd assume because he's terrified his political career is about to be destroyed."

"He could never recover," Olga agreed. "It would not do you any good, either. Or anyone associated with you."

"Fabulous, not that this comes as a surprise." I didn't want to contemplate the reaction from the A-C community if anyone actually believed I'd been sleeping with both Chuckie and the senator. But a question shoved in and I gladly took my mind off the Scenario From Hell. "Is Armstrong eyeing a run for the Presidency?"

"Yes," Oliver said. "He has been for a while now."

"Okay, fine, I get why someone would want to blackmail a Presidential hopeful with potential to at least get his party's nomination." I might dislike Armstrong, but I was aware and astute enough to know he was a political animal and friends with many of the "right people." "But I don't understand why they'd choose me as his suspected affair. Especially since they already tried with me and Chuckie and got no reaction."

White cocked his head. "Did they, in fact, get no reaction?"

"Well, Jeff hasn't killed Chuckie, and the pictures haven't hit the streets yet. Armstrong came to warn me, at least that's what he said, and right now, I sort of believe him."

"So perhaps they didn't get the reaction they wanted," Oliver said.

Olga beamed at him. Oh, good. Another one racing to the head of the class. I'd have resented it, but at least I kept the smart ones close by. Besides, I was Questions Girl. At least right now.

"Related question. Why was Armstrong in Florida most of the time I was, especially if there was some big political event being planned?"

"Cover, maybe?" Oliver suggested.

"Or he wanted to enlist your aid," White countered.

"But I thought the pictures only showed up a couple of weeks ago, not four."

Oliver shook his head. "I only found out about them a couple of weeks ago. But I assure you, they were in existence before I discovered them."

"So maybe the senator had them for a lot longer than we know about." He'd been trying to see me for a month, after all.

"Limo approaching," Kyle, who was close to the window that faced Sheridan Circle, said before I could ask what kind of aid anyone thought I'd be able to give Armstrong in regard to my new career as an unwitting porno model.

Len looked out the window. "Looks like the same car that he was in yesterday."

"You're sure? Limos tend to look alike."

"I'm sure. We had to take a course."

"Len aced that one like he aced driving," Kyle added. "I did pretty well with it, too. And I agree. It looks like the same car. And it's got that 'drove all night and haven't hit the car wash yet' look. Parking down the street."

I decided to trust them on this assumption. It took about sixteen hours to drive up from Florida to D.C., but Armstrong had had more than enough time to do so. "Yesterday he left a briefcase with a bug in it at my in-laws' home."

"We'll assume he's recording us again, then," White said.

"Good call."

"We have detectors with us," Len said.

"We do as well," Olga added.

"Great, so if we don't like Armstrong's answers, he'll be on Romanian soil, and you can accuse him of spying or treason, or whatever your biggest crime is."

Olga laughed. "I love how you think. We must ensure you are not disgraced. I will be heartbroken if we should lose you as a neighbor."

CHAPTER 33.

LEN AND KYLE WENT DOWNSTAIRS so they could scan the senator before he got past the foyer. Apparently he passed both the Romanian and C.I.A. Bug Tests because the boys brought him upstairs fairly quickly.

"You," Armstrong said by way of hello, pointing at Oliver. "Why are you here?"

"I was invited by Ambassador Katt-Martini."

Armstrong glared at me. "You want this to be trumpeted to the world?" He sounded angry and shocked. This was the first time I'd ever heard him really out of control of his Happy Politician Voice.

"No. I want whoever's done this stopped. And Mister Joel Oliver is far more on my side than you've ever been."

Armstrong opened his mouth. But Olga spoke first. "Don't say something you might regret, Senator. You're not on American soil."

Armstrong's mouth slammed shut. He glared at all of us. "This is ridiculous. Why do you want an audience for this?"

"Oh, I figure it's always wise to be sure they only print pictures of my good side. Like to have everyone vote on which shots we think are best."

"All your sides are good," Len said loyally. Kyle nodded his agreement. I was glad Jeff wasn't here-I was enjoying not having to have the jealousy chat with him.