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Tito was in great shape and having a field day. He’d already been taking care of the flyboys and was trotting around explaining injuries and symptoms.
Animal Planet got gurneys, too. “What are we going to do about the ships?”
Chuckie sauntered over. “Already handled. If you folks would be so good as to cloak them again, the C.I.A. will ensure no one comes by to disturb them.”
“Just to put tracking devices on them?” Neeraj asked.
Chuckie smiled. “Of course not.”
Jareen nodded “Because they’re already on.”
Chuckie shrugged. “It’s a living.”
I heard some bellowing. Martini was being forced onto a gurney. “Excuse me.” I trotted over. “Jeff, stop it.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me!”
“Claudia had to harpoon you. I’m sure Kyrellis at least cracked some of your ribs. If what we’re expecting is coming, wouldn’t it be nice to go into isolation now, so that, you know, you’re awake, alive, and functioning?”
“But I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“I’ll keep James with me, okay? Or the girls. I have to find a dress. Trust me, I’ll be busy.” The panic about the dress hit again.
He caught it, of course. Strangely enough, it calmed him down. “Okay. You’ll be okay?”
“Yes. Does Harlie go into the isolation tank with you?”
“No. Out of the pocket, take care of Kitty.”
Harlie crawled out, rubbed up against Martini’s neck and chin, purring like mad, then jumped to me and hopped into my purse.
Martini pulled me to him and kissed me. “You be good.”
“I’ll do my best, Jeff.”
He stroked my face. “I wanted to go back and take a bath.”
I laughed. “If we’re really getting married in about a day and a half, then you’ll have to wait anyway.”
He kissed me again. I was ready to let him take me here in front of everyone. Truly, the man was the god of kissing.
Martini pulled away slowly and looked quite pleased with himself. “I always want to make you feel like that.”
“I’ll make sure it’s in the wedding vows.”
CHAPTER 58
THE ALIEN SPACESHIPS WERE CLOAKED and being guarded by a lot of buff guys in dark camouflage fatigues. The rest of our equipment was back in Area 51, and the injured were at the Science Center, whose perso
I wasn’t with him for a variety of reasons. Isolation meant isolated, of course, and I needed to rest and regroup and all that good stuff, too. But the real reason was that the isolation chambers creeped me out beyond belief. I’d rather fight Bitch Leader again than have to watch them put Martini into the scientific cross between Frankenstein’s lab and The Mummy’s Tomb, complete with extra special effects including tubes and wires ru
Kevin, Chuckie, and Gower assigned teams to search the Science Center from top to bottom, including the old water pipe. No bombs, bugs, or anything else strange were found.
“Still want to know how the prisoners got away,” Chuckie fretted.
I thought about it. “Oh, duh. Paul, ask ACE if Lilith did it.”
Gower twitched a bit. “Yes, ACE is pretty sure the other superconsciousness removed the prisoners. He apologized for not mentioning it before. Even a superconsciousness can get distracted, apparently.”
“No worries. Solves that problem.” I had a much bigger one. “I need to go shopping.”
“Kitty, when did you sleep last?” Chuckie looked concerned.
“I don’t remember.”
Reader put his arm around my shoulders. “I’ll take care of it.”
“But James—”
“I’m fine. I had a lot of rest. You get some sleep. Then we can take care of everything else. I’ll line up the dress options while you and your many bridesmaids take a breather, okay?”
“You conspired with the families to get us married this weekend.”
The cover-boy grin was in full force. “Of course. You two were heading for a disaster. Eloping to Vegas is a great plan.”
“Eloping with our entire families and almost all our friends?” A thought occurred. “What about my friends most of you don’t know about?” It was one thing not to ask my other sorority sisters to be bridesmaids. It was another to move my wedding up by six weeks and not share that news until after the fact.
Chuckie shrugged. “I know all your friends from college. Already did the list comparison with your mother. Those who received invitations in the mail were advised that things had been moved up. Most of them will make it.”
“How?” I looked at Chuckie and Reader suspiciously. They both contrived to look i
Chuckie gri
“How did the C.I.A. get involved in my wedding day?”
Reader gri
“Good point. I’m almost afraid to ask what else is coming.”
Reader shrugged. “It did spiral a bit out of what I’d originally pla
“I don’t want to know, do I?”
Reader kissed my forehead. “Probably not. Let’s get you into bed.” He nodded to Chuckie and took me to the elevators.
“I thought Jeff was going to stay on Alpha Four.”
“I don’t know why.” We got into the elevator. “Man lives for you.”
“He’d make a good king.”
“Probably. Doesn’t matter. He declined.”
“Because of me.”
Reader hugged me. “Yeah. He made the first selfish choice I’ve ever seen. About time, too.”
“But he’s the leader.”
“Even leaders deserve to be with the person they love.” We got out on the 15th floor and went to the Lair. “You think you’ll be okay down here?”
“Well, you could stay with me, but I think that would cause Jeff and Paul some major issues.”
He laughed. “Yeah.”
I remembered something I’d wanted to ask. “What did you name your Poof?”
He looked embarrassed. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, come on. I’ll find out Christopher’s, too, you know.”
“I’m sure. Gatita.”
I thought about it and did a translation. “That means Kitty in Spanish.”
“Yeah, it does.” He kissed my forehead. “Go to sleep now. I’ll come and get you by midafternoon. If you wake up sooner, just call me.”
“Okay.”
Reader gri
“I’ll trust you.”
He gri
I woke up and could tell I wasn’t alone. It was light in the room, but I had no idea what time of day it was. Tried to figure out if I was in trouble and where the other entity was. There was pressure on my chest. I managed to move my head a bit and look down. To see Harlie and Poofikins asleep between my breasts, curled around each other. Harlie looked at me, purred, curled back up, and went back to sleep. I decided to follow suit.
Woke up again and knew I wasn’t alone, and this time I knew it was someone other than the Poofs. I opened my eyes and looked around. No one I could see. Sat up, got to hear much Poof grumbling as they tumbled from my chest to my lap. Still no one in the room. But the bedroom door was closed, and I’d left it open.