Alien in the Family

“You think they’ll get out?” My stomach clenched.

“I think they’re going to try. I also have C.I.A. around your father and Reader. And the Pontifex. Again, to protect them. I know the A-Cs have been vulnerable before, but nowhere near as much as right now.”

I tried to think the way I knew he did. “You worried this was all an elaborate ruse to get them inside the Science Center?”

“I think it’s possible. There are too many variables, but there’s more going on, you know it, I know it. We had to pull every active agent out of the field and put them here. I don’t even want to consider how much could have been affected by that. However, it’s my job to figure that out. So you’ll have to accept that I’m going to put humans I can trust into these alien strongholds, to ensure they remain strong.”

“Not your enemy. Not saying you’re wrong. Chuckie, you’re really . . . tense.”

“Yeah.” He looked at Martini then back to me. “Can’t imagine why.”

I forced myself to look past jealousy and try to figure out what he was worried about in regard to Martini. “You think Kyrellis was taking it easy on Jeff, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do. Not that I want him dead, but he’s doing pretty well. Better than Reader.”

“James was fooled.”

“Yeah, but not as much as you may think. I’ve had a chat with him. He was lured out by Moira pretending to be Gower, but the moment Gower didn’t talk to him, Reader was on guard. He thought he was fighting an A-C imageer, not an Amazon, but he knew he was fighting someone. She was just more than he could take.”

“He’s human. Jeff’s an A-C. They’re a lot stronger, and they heal amazingly fast.”

“I know.” Chuckie sounded exasperated again. “But Moira almost killed Reader with one blow. One. There was only one hit on him—she smashed his head into a wall, and it almost killed him. Kyrellis is bigger, stronger, and older, meaning she’s far better trained. She’s bigger than Martini, stronger than him, and wants to kill him for a variety of reasons. But he walked out of that fight pretty much under his own steam. It doesn’t add up.”

“I’ll spend a lot of time worrying about it.”

“I’m not trying to make you worry needlessly.”

“No, I think you’re probably right. So it’s not needless.”

“I want guards in your room.”

“Not just no,” Martini said, coming up to us. “But hell no.”

“You explain it to him.” Chuckie sounded ready to actually lose his cool.

“No need. I heard most of what you said, and I’m touched.” Martini’s sarcasm knob was set to high again. “But I think I can handle anything they want to throw at us.”

“Can Kitty? Because, let’s be honest here, she’s what I care about, and you know it. She lucked out with Moira in that dressing room because they wanted her alive. Figure they don’t any more. She’s got no hyperspeed, no extra strength, no double hearts, no fast healing. We’re lucky as hell we aren’t attending Reader’s funeral. Luck, like lightning, rarely strikes the same place twice.”

“You saying I can’t protect her?” Martini was starting to growl.

Chuckie got right up in his face. “I’m saying that six months ago, it was luck that you got to her in time. Yeah, you beat the rest of us. But if you’d been a split second later, she’d be dead. I’m saying that we may be in Vegas, but I’m not willing for you to ever gamble Kitty’s safety on your damned ego again. Kyrellis let you off easy. There’s a reason, and I’m sure when we find out what it is, it won’t be good for any of us. You’re a pawn in some interstellar chess game, and we don’t know if we’ve stopped it or just opened up our king to be taken.”

They looked ready to go at each other. But something Chuckie had said struck me oddly. “Chuckie? Why do you think Jeff’s a pawn?”

“Because he’s not the king, and we all know it.”

“You’re right, he’s a knight. So’s Christopher.”

“And you’re the queen.”

“What are you?”

“Bishop.” Chuckie turned away from Martini. “What are you getting at?”

“Put the players on the board. White moves first, so we’re black.”

“Gower’s our other bishop. Reader was a rook.”

“Richard is our king.”

“What are you two going on about?” Martini sounded confused and a

“Chess. Jeff, you know how to play it. Help us. Who’s our other rook?”

“We replaced Reader with Tito. Call him the rook.” Chuckie started talking faster. “Tim, the flyboys, your girls, they’re the pawns.”

“They’re more powerful than that,” Martini protested.

“A pawn can take the king,” Chuckie snapped. “I’m talking about power on the board. Tito’s new, and he already has more influence than the pawns do.”

“I can get our side, Chuckie. But until we know who the opposition’s king really is, we don’t know who the power players really are.”

“Who has the most to gain?” Chuckie shook his head. “It’s always who has the most to gain—or lose. Find them, you find the key to everything else. And we need to find them fast, because my gut tells me we’re ru

CHAPTER 40

WE WANTED TO TAKE A LIMO BACK TO THE hotel because Chuckie and Martini both wanted to powwow, and we didn’t feel confident about avoiding spies, bugs, or interstellar terrorists any more. Getting one was the issue.

“We’ve got no available agents,” Tim told Martini. “Everyone’s still doing clean-up and prisoner transfer, or fixing what they were in the middle of when we had to call them here.”

Martini looked at Chuckie. “Think you can put a limo on the expense account?”

Chuckie shook his head. “I don’t think we want to do that.” He wasn’t looking at Martini. The rest of us turned to see what, or rather, who Chuckie was looking at. Our personal paparazzo was barreling toward us, crocodile grin on full.

“I thought we got rid of Mister Joel Oliver,” I shared. “James had Security take him away.”

He snapped a picture before any of us could move. “What did I miss?” he asked, as if he were part of the team.

“What did we miss? How is it you’re not in jail or something?”

Oliver chuckled. “Really, so naïve. That’s cute. Babe, if a bribe doesn’t work, then my newspaper simply makes a few calls and I’m out.”

“Blackmail pictures?” Chuckie asked.

“Oh, and more.” Oliver beamed. “So, what’s the real story about what happened here?”

“Weather balloon,” Chuckie said.

Oliver snorted. “Of course. That’s the C.I.A.’s official statement?”

Chuckie’s eyes narrowed. “We aren’t giving you an official statement about anything or for any agency.”

“Why are you insinuating anyone here is with the C.I.A.?” Martini asked.

“Same reason I’m ‘insinuating’ half of you are aliens. Because I know.”

I wished Reader were here. He’d handled Oliver a lot better than we were. What had he done? We’d smiled, posed, and called Security. Well, it was worth a shot.

I put my arms around Martini’s and Chuckie’s waists. “Smiles, everyone, smiles!”

“What’s with the Mister Rourke voice?” Chuckie asked.

“Not exactly Fantasy Island here,” Martini added.

Oliver laughed. “Mister Reader is much more comfortable in front of a camera.” His smile disappeared as he took another shot of all of us. “Much more comfortable than you are, Mister Reynolds. I can hardly find any photos of you at all.” He winked at me. “But you’re in every one of the few there are.”

Martini started the low growl that usually led to a much louder roar. This wasn’t going as I’d hoped.

There was a loud whistle, and we all looked. Tim had gone to the valet area and procured a limo. At least one of us was thinking. “Let’s go,” he called.

Oliver was still blocking our way, and Christopher knocked into him. “Get moving or get run over,” he snarled.