Alien Diplomacy

out. One of your bodyguards, as a matter of fact.”
    “But they didn’t recognize you?”
    “I did a fast fade.”
    “Ah. Is Jordan really your son?”
    “No. It’s amazing how easy it is to borrow a kid from day care, if you fake the right paperwork. His parents have no idea he’s gone to Mommy and Me with me. And by the time they figure it out, you’ll be long dead and I’ll be long gone.”
    “The people who hired you are dead.”
    She shrugged. “Some of them, yeah. The ones who want your little girl there? They’re very much alive.”
    I thought about things. “You were the one who planted the eighth bug on me, weren’t you?”
    “Eighth bug? Didn’t realize you were that popular, but yeah. It was simple to do, too. You’re far too trusting. But then, you were easy to read. Lonely, feeling out of sync with everyone around you. I only had to get a little bit of information on you to see how easy it would be to earn your trust. Dress like you, talk like you, act like you, presto, you’re desperate to have me as your friend.”
    She was right on the money. My people-reading meter had been off a lot recently. Probably because I’d been focused on what I didn’t like about being here as opposed to what I did.
    “You aren’t the one who rigged my limo, are you?”
    “Nope.”
    “But you’re the one who shot at me when I was out around Sheridan Circle the other day.”
    “Nope. That was Raul. That cab showed up at a very inconvenient time.” Pity the K-9 squad’s cabs had been destroyed. No save was coming in that form.
    “So, who’s paying you?” Whoever it was had certainly gotten their money’s worth. No one knew where I was, and Bernie had done such a good job with me that I’d left every single form of protection at home. And Jeff was in isolation, so unable to pick up how very, very frightened I was. I’d been an idiot, and my baby girl was going to pay the price for my stupidity.
    Bernie shook her head. “Assassins code—we don’t kill and tell. Now give me the baby so she doesn’t have to see you die.” She pointed the gun right at the center of my chest. She was so close she couldn’t miss, but just far enough away that I wouldn’t have a prayer of knocking the gun out of her hand.
    I heard the “thwap thwap” sound a gun with a really good silencer makes. Bernie stared at me as I swung my purse at her gun and knocked it away. She had two holes in her head, but I didn’t want to chance that she’d involuntarily pull the trigger.
    A man ran up, holding a gun with a silencer on it. I realized it was my taxi driver. “Guess it’s a good thing I tip well.”
    He kicked the gun away from Bernie’s hand, squatted down, and checked her pulse. “Dead. Good.” He stood up and took my arm. “Let’s get out of here.”
    “We’re leaving the gun?”
    “Yes. Let the police find it. We’ll give them an anonymous tip in a few minutes.”
    I looked up at him. He wasn’t wearing a disguise but I realized I hadn’t recognized him before. “Malcolm Buchanan? What are you doing here? Aside from saving my life, I mean.”
    “My job.” He took the diaper bag, put his arm around me the way Jeff did, and hustled us to the cab.
    “What took you so long? To kill her, I mean.”
    “I waited to see if you could get the information on who her client was out of her.”
    “Ah. Um, what’s going on? Who the heck do you work for?”
    “Someone who knows you really well.” He tucked me and Jamie into the back, then got in and drove off.
    He didn’t take us directly back to the Embassy. I considered everything as we drove around. “Why did I notice you the other days? But not today when you picked me up?”
    “I wasn’t hiding from you the other days. I didn’t want you to notice me today, so you didn’t.”
    “Huh. I’d say that sounds conceited, but clearly, you’re good at what you do.” We went to a shopping center miles away from Embassy Row. “So you were following Bernie? When I saw you outside Mommy and Me?”
    “In a sense. I’ve had you under surveillance. So when I spotted people who were following you, it became my job to find out who and what they were.” He pulled up near a pay phone. “Stay in the cab. That’s an order.”
    “Calling in the tip to the police?”
    “Yes.” He made the call; it was brief. Then we headed off again.
    “You broke cover when Raul or whoever he really is was shooting at me.”
    “My job is to keep you alive. In case