Alien Diplomacy

staring at me. “Uppers? Really?” Jeff asked, like he’d believe it.
    “We may need them.” I opened my mouth to ask if they’d gotten any more intel out of Olga while I was engaged in witty banter with Reader, but I saw something out of the corner of my eye and turned back to the window instead. There was someone standing on the sidewalk, waving at me.
    “What is this, Weird Reverse Day?” I looked closely. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it was Vance. I half-waved back. He increased his waving from “hey, pay attention to me” up to “me, me, look at me” with some “my price is right, come on down” added in. I looked over my shoulder, just in case. There was no one else he could be sort of spotting from the street. I pointed to myself as Vance did more over-the-top gestures to indicate that I was the absolute object of his focus.
    “New boyfriend?” Jeff asked, jealousy meter only around a five on the scale.
    “Only if pigs are flying, trust me.” I considered my options. “Why isn’t he just coming to the front door?”
    Olga turned her chair and looked out. “Ah. Because we would not allow him in.”
    “Not that I’m complaining about your good judgment, but why not?”
    “His husband is not friendly to us.”
    “Why not?”
    “I honestly have no idea. Perhaps because we don’t, as I believe the Americans like to say, buy his bullshit.”
    “I really like her,” I said to Jeff. “Look, stay up here. I want to go see what my not-at-all-dear friend Vance wants so much that he’s sullied himself to drop by our Embassies.” My purse was still over my neck. I checked: Poofikins and Harlie were in it. Good, ready for the next level of whatever weird action was going on.
    “I’m going with you,” Jeff said.
    “No. I don’t want Jamie around him, exposed, or in the slightest amount of danger if we can help it. And before you start, accept that I’ll win this particular argument.”
    “Fine. Then take Reynolds.”
    Chuckie shook his head. “Not a good idea. I’m not sure what he knows, and I’d prefer to keep a semblance of my cover intact.” He smiled at Olga. “At least, outside this room.”
    She laughed while White finished his lemonade. “That leavesme, Jeffrey. Other classmates already believe Kathy and I are an item.”
    “Too true, Rick, honey. Let’s go make some magic happen.”
    Jeff groaned. “Not this again. You love to torture me, don’t you?”
    I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Yes, because you punish me so well for it.”



CHAPTER 66
    W HITE AND I TROTTED DOWNSTAIRS. The boys were indeed guarding the stroller, while drinking lemonade and chatting it up with Adriana. I couldn’t blame them—she was a cute girl. She seemed thrilled with the attention. I had to figure she was—if Olga felt confined by the chair, what would Adriana feel like, confined because of her employer?
    Our errand was explained. “You want us to come with you?” Len asked.
    Part of me wanted to say yes. Then I looked at Adriana’s expression. Nothing but her eyes showed how much she wanted the boys to stay, but her eyes were pleading for it. “No, but pick a window and be ready to run out if weird taxis or other dangers appear.”
    The boys nodded, and the look in Adriana’s eyes changed to relief. She led them to a window where they’d have a good view of the street.
    We left the three of them stationed on Lower Level Lookout and went outside. “Plans, Missus Martini?”
    “Gonna wing it, Mister White. You know, like always.”
    “You do work well off the cuff.”
    “I do my best work when I have no idea of what’s going on, you mean.” I glanced up. Yes, Jeff and Chuckie were on Upper Level Lookout. We were good.
    “Any guess as to what your latest non-friend wants?” White asked as we headed for the sidewalk.
    “Not a clue. I guarantee it’ll be weird, though. That seems to be today’s theme.”
    We stopped speaking as Vance raced over to us. “Took you forever to notice me,” he snapped, as he looked over his shoulder.
    “Most people trying to get my attention knock, ring the doorbell, call, or similar, Vance. So sorry I wasn’t watching for you trying to take flight on the sidewalk.”
    He turned back to give me a dirty look. “I couldn’t risk going onto Romanian soil.”
    “Yeah, ’cause they don’t like you.”
    He jerked. “They confirmed that?”
    I was really glad Chuckie had stayed upstairs. Why give him more reasons to want to strangle me?