Alien in the Family

standard black Armani suits with their white Armani shirts and their long black trench coats, they seemed to shove off the cold better, even the human guys.
    Martini opened his coat, pulled me against him, and wrapped it around me. “Better?”
    I snuggled up and leaned my head against his chest. “Mmmm, yeah.” He was warm, and I always found his body heat and double heartbeats soothing.
    “Baby? Wake up.”
    “I was awake.”
    “You don’t snore when you’re awake.”
    “I wasn’t snoring!”
    Reader coughed. “Um, yeah, yeah, you were.”
    Martini’s walkie crackled. “Yeah, we could hear you snoring over here.” I could tell Christopher was snickering.
    “You played my snoring for them?”
    Martini shrugged. “I wanted to make sure they were awake. Not my fault you were sort of loud. You coming down with a cold?”
    “No, I am not. Though if we’re here much longer, I might.”
    “Blame good ol’ Conspiracy Chuck. I’m not the one who suggested a romantic rendezvous out here.”
    “You know I don’t call him that. Only people who weren’t his friends called him that.”
    “Which is why I feel great calling him that.”
    I let it pass. I mean, I didn’t want to head into one of Martini’s favorite complaints, which was that I was far too willing to take Chuckie’s calls. “Besides, this isn’t a date.”
    “I know. I’m really clear that this is not how I planned to end the evening.”
    I pulled my walkie out of my purse. “Jerry, you guys okay?”
    “Yeah, but why is it we got stuck on the coldest ridge?” Jerry Tucker was one of the Navy Top Gun pilots assigned to Centaurion Division in general and to my Airborne team in specific. He was on Chiricahua Peak in Arizona. Christopher’s team was on Big Hatchet in New Mexico. All high, all cold at this time of year, all lacking a C.I.A. operative.
    “The lower-ranking officers get the cruddy locations,” Reader answered into his walkie.
    “Thanks. You know, Matt, Chip, and I all outrank you, James.”
    “Only in the Navy. Around here, experience and longevity count more.” Reader was trying not to laugh.
    “Then how is it Kitty’s in charge of Airborne?” Tim Crawford, also part of my team, was laughing. Like Reader, Tim lived to be a smartass.
    “Oh, shut up.”
    “It’s worse over here,” Christopher snapped. “We’re on the edge of a knife. The rest of you at least have something to stand on.”
    “That’s why it’s two A-Cs to one human over there. Stop whining. Jerry, anything over there? At all?”
    “No, but I’m really glad you guys let Michael come with us.” Michael Gower was Paul’s younger brother and was visiting us while on vacation from NASA. He was also an astronaut, but I doubted this was why Jerry was glad he was there. The idea of not having an A-C with you while on a scary high mountain had dawned on me already. “You know, Cochise’s ghost is supposed to haunt these mountains.”
    “A ghost would at least be something interesting,” Reader offered.
    We waited a few more minutes, then I heard something different. It sounded as though a very muted sprinkler system had just started up. “Chuckie’s here.”
    The sleek, black helicopter set down far enough away from us that we weren’t too windblown. A tall man bundled up in a long overcoat got out and sauntered over to us. I attempted to move out of Martini’s arms, but they were locked around me. I was cold enough I decided not to argue.
    “Took you long enough, Reynolds,” Martini snapped as Chuckie got near enough to hear him.
    Chuckie shook his head. “Always a pleasure, Martini. Kitty, how’re you doing?”
    “Fine. Cold and bored, but fine.”
    Chuckie nodded his head toward Reader. “Good to see you.”
    “Damn, but you lie well,” Reader said with a smile. No one but me seemed to like Chuckie. Oh, well. He didn’t seem to mind.
    “If you two could detach from each other for a moment? It’ll make it easier to show you what’s going on.”
    Martini let me go, slowly. I took his hand and gave it a squeeze. He relaxed a bit. “Chuckie, what is going on?”
    He looked at his watch. “You’ll see in . . . oh . . . about a minute and a half. Might want to let White and your other boys know it’s almost showtime.”
    “Christopher, we’re almost set.”
    “Yeah, the C.I.A. graciously joined us just now.”
    “Jerry, you have federal company yet?”
    “Yes, ma’am, Commander. We are in position.” Jerry and the