Alien Diplomacy

jerked and slammed against the other car next to us. The gunmen inside had recovered themselves and were now aiming lower. “Len, they’re trying to hit our tires,” I shared as I flipped my phone open.
    “Great, that is your car on the news. Girlfriend, I can’t let you out of my sight.”
    “James, a little help would be appreciated.”
    “Serene’s team is altering footage, and we just dispatched agents to help.”
    “Could they help with the bullets flying?”
    “What?” He sounded shocked and horrified.
    “I thought you said we were on the news.”
    “Major traffic incident, that’s all they’re showing. No mention of gunfire.”
    “Well, there’s a lot of it. We’re surrounded by gray limos, by the way, so be sure the agents don’t just randomly go help gray cars, because the chances are good they’ll be helping the bad guys or get shot. No worries about police interference, though, so there’s that going for us. I guess.” A few cops shooting back at the bad guys wouldn’t have gone unappreciated by me at this point.
    Len broke us through and floored it. We weren’t by our street. I had no idea where we were by now, though I thought we were close to Georgetown. Len either knew or didn’t care. We careened down street after street, weaving in and out of traffic as “Destination Unknown” by Missing Persons fittingly came on the sound system. I cringed, waiting for us to run over some random tourist. “James, where is that help that’s supposedly coming?”
    “They’re with our other car.” His voice sounded funny.
    My stomach clenched. “They didn’t activate their laser shield in time?”
    “No, they didn’t.”
    We were too far away for me to have a hope of spotting them, but I turned around anyway. There were several gray limos followingus. They all had guns. “We’re doing okay, I think.” I considered our options. “We’d have a better chance of getting away if we were on foot, I think. Using hyperspeed.” A-Cs could drag anyone along with them if they were touching. I figured I could do it, too, since I had the powers if not the full control. Besides, slamming into a building had to be better than being shot, right?
    “I can’t authorize that.”
    “Um, why the hell not?”
    “Serene says there’s an unreal number of cameras trained on you right now. If you bolt, someone will catch it, and she’s concerned Imageering will miss something.”
    “Great. Just great. Where are Jeff and Christopher?”
    “At the Embassy.”
    “Where are you?”
    “At the Pontifex’s Residence.” The Pontifex had digs in D.C., close by but not within or attached to the Embassy. Before we’d become the Head Diplomats, I’d never known it existed—Richard White had never used it. Since we’d changed jobs, Reader and Gower were there a lot. The implications of this were crystal clear—we were screwing up. A lot. However, right now what I cared about was getting some help.
    “Okay, I’ll call you back.”
    “What? Stay on the phone with me.”
    “Um, no. Gotta make a call.” I hung up and dialed as Rihanna’s “SOS” came on. “Jeff, where are you?”
    “Tracking you.”
    “I thought you might be. James doesn’t want us to run, and I don’t want you or Christopher to get shot.”
    “Wow, I don’t want my wife or child to get hurt. Guess what? I plan to win this argument. We’ll be there in a couple of seconds.”
    I hung up. “Guys? Be prepared. Kyle? Unlock the doors, please. Now.”
    “What?” He sounded freaked. I didn’t care.
    “Unlock the damn doors!” He did. Jamie cooed and looked expectant. “I know, Jamie-Kat, Daddy and Uncle Christopher are here.” Blocks or not, Jamie always knew when Jeff was nearby. About a second later, the doors on either side opened and shut. If I hadn’t been prepared for it, I’d have missed it, enhanced vision or not.
    No one else was prepared for it, of course. Pierre yelped, Oliver jumped, Kyle shouted, and Len spun the wheel to the right.
    “We want them in,” I shared as Len got the car under control. Irealized he hadn’t actually lost his cool. We’d gotten onto a dead-end street and had to get out of it. “Hi, guys. Missed you.”
    Jeff shook his head. “Only my girl. You okay, baby?”
    “Yeah, we are. Per James, the other car wasn’t as lucky.”
    “Luck had nothing to do with it,” Christopher said. He was glaring, Patented Glare #3, but I had the feeling he was glaring at the situation in