Alien Diplomacy

smiled wider. “Mister Joel Oliver, please. As Missus Martini is well aware, a man in my position needs to ensure whatever shreds of respect he can garner. How are you, my dear?”
    “I’m good. Why are we having this conversation?”
    Kyle shoved past Oliver, gently, as Len took my arm and kept me and the stroller moving along.
    Oliver wasn’t fazed, of course. He trotted along with us. “I have more information,” he said quietly.
    “This is you barking. This is me being the wrong tree.”
    “I can’t risk going to your oldest friend right now,” Oliver said as he tried to get a couple of snaps of Jamie, which Kyle quite effectively blocked. Football players as paparazzi protection was rather brilliant. Not a surprise Chuckie had come up with it.
    “And why is that?”
    “I’m being followed.” He said it calmly.
    “Turn about being fair play and all that?” Hey, I had a sarcasm knob, too.
    Oliver sighed. “I’m not your enemy. But I believe the people following me are.”
    We turned a corner and kept on walking. We weren’t rushing; infact, we were going quite slowly. I was used to having big guys around, but Len and Kyle were clearly adjusting to their new protection detail, and having Oliver along was causing some issues on the sidewalk. I considered if we should just run for it. It was a safe bet that Len and Kyle would have no problem beating Oliver over a short distance, and circumstances constantly ensured that my sprinting skills remained topnotch.
    Jamie started to cry, loudly. We all stopped while I did a fast diaper check. Oliver poked his head around as I was doing this. “Oh, what a beautiful baby!” He sounded sincere, and the camera wasn’t snapping.
    Jamie looked right at him, gurgled, and smiled. He bent closer; she reached up and tugged on his beard. Oliver laughed and tickled her tummy, earning giggles. I cleared my throat and Oliver backed off. Jamie looked back at me. I decided to take the hint.
    “Fine. Why don’t you come along with us and share the latest?”
    Len and Kyle gave me looks that said I was crazy. I was used to looks like that. Since meeting the boys from A-C, I got those looks on a very regular basis. “Jamie likes him.” Which, because she had both empathic and imageering blocks implanted, courtesy of Jeff and Christopher, likely meant that ACE was giving me a hint.
    Since ACE tended to leave us alone so it didn’t interfere with our free will, I’d learned to pay close attention to whatever hints Jamie seemed to be giving me. I was all over getting an assist from the superconsciousness whenever possible. I liked being alive and keeping my nearest and dearest alive, too.
    Len shook his head. “You’re the boss.”
    We started off again, Len on one side of the stroller, Kyle on the other, Mr. Joel Oliver walking next to me while I pushed. If we went at a leisurely pace, this wasn’t too bad. The limo appeared to be several blocks away, but even though it was cold, it was a pretty day, so I decided to enjoy our impromptu constitutional. “So, MJO, how did you find out about the assassination attempt?”
    “MJO?”
    “I like to save the breath when I can.”
    He gave me a look that said he didn’t believe me. I glared at him. He sighed. “I have a network of informants. All of them agree that something big is going down, and the President’s Ball came up as the likely location more often than not.”
    “That’s it? Something big?” We had our entire network panicked over this? I began to wonder if Chuckie needed a vacation or something.
    He sighed again. “Missus Martini, there’s more to it than that. I have informants all over the world. When, worldwide, the same things start popping, you have to pay attention.”
    This I knew to be true. “So, why are we assuming assassination?”
    “Every major political player will be there, foreign dignitaries, high ranking military…”
    “Got it. It’s essentially like shooting fish in a barrel, right?”
    “So it seems. Thank you for listening to me,” Oliver said quietly. “I appreciate you and Mister Reynolds occasionally treating me as more than an idiot annoyance.”
    I broke down and shot him a smile. However, I neither confirmed nor denied. No reason to let Oliver feel like he was a trusted member of our team, though he certainly seemed to want to be. “You said you had more news.”
    “I do. I haven’t shared it yet because I still feel I’m being followed.”
    I faked a trip,