Alien in the Family

forget.”
    “Me either. But, it won’t change anything between us, even if we do.”
    “You sure?”
    “I’m positive.” He hugged me. “I saw it. Always together, one way or another.”
    “That’s all right, then.”
    “Yeah, that’s my opinion, too.” He yawned. “Go to sleep, Kitty. Big days coming. We need to be ready.”
    “They’ll differ from our other days how?”
    “The prosecution rests.”

CHAPTER 25

    I FELT SOMEONE LIFT ME UP. “What’s going on?”
    Martini cradled me in his arms. “You were asleep on the bed with James. I’ll discuss how cozy you two looked later. You okay?”
    “Yeah.” My mind felt fuzzy. “We were . . . talking about important stuff.”
    “Well, he’s asleep, which is good, and you obviously need a longer nap.”
    I wanted to remember something. “James is alive.”
    “Yes, he is. Miraculously.”
    There was something about that word I wanted to remember, or comment on, or something. But I couldn’t grasp it.
    “Where’re we going?”
    “Well, Paul’s going to stay with James tonight. Tito’s going to stay with them. Paul will use the time when James is asleep and they’re awake to bring Tito up to speed on what being an agent is like.”
    “He already has a good idea.”
    “Yeah, he’s bright. I think he’s as smart as you and James.”
    “Good. What about everyone else?”
    “Reynolds and Christopher are back in Vegas with the rest of the team. Reachable via phone if we need them, the usual.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “To the Lair. If you can handle being on the same floor as whatshername.”
    “Moira. And, yeah, as long as we have a lot of security and we’re both sleeping with an eye open.”
    “Check and check.” We were in an elevator. I didn’t feel amorous; I just wanted Martini to hold me. He shifted me so I could wrap my arms and legs around him. “Just hold on, baby,” he said softly. “We’ll be in bed soon.”
    “Mmm hmmm.” His arms were around me, one supporting my bottom, the other my neck and upper back. It reminded me of when I was little and my father would carry me to bed. “You’re going to be such a good daddy.”
    “I hope so. And soon.” He hugged me. “As soon as you’re ready.”
    “Not tonight.”
    He laughed. “No. I don’t even think we’re practicing tonight.”
    I thought about that. “Maybe later.” I yawned against his neck. “Sleepy.”
    “I know, baby.”
    We were in the bedroom, or at least I assumed we were, because Martini laid me down on a bed. He didn’t undress either me or himself, just lay down and pulled me next to him. I draped over his body, held onto his shoulder, and went back to sleep.
    I woke up, all senses alert. I could feel Martini was awake, too. He slid his hand over my mouth, and I nodded. It was dark in the room, just a tiny nightlight glow, meaning we were in the middle of the night.
    I listened hard. I could hear Martini’s breathing, shallow, to stay quiet. I was doing the same. But it was there, at the edge of my hearing—breathing that wasn’t ours. I had no clear idea where my purse was, so no way to get to a weapon.
    Martini still had his arm around me, and he tightened his hold. I relaxed as much as possible—it was easier for him to move me that way.
    The advantage we’d have, the only one, was that we lived here and our intruder didn’t. I wasn’t confident this would be enough.
    Something was different—the breathing was closer. Martini rolled me over him and us both off the bed, and he hit the intercom button while he shoved me behind him. This took less time than I needed to blink.
    “Yes, Commander?” Gladys’ voice came through the com.
    We looked around the room. We were alone in it as far as we could see. “Intruder, somewhere on level fifteen,” Martini said.
    “Are you endangered, Commander?”
    “Potentially.” The lights came on like it was midday.
    “Security on the way.”
    I looked around during this exchange. Where would someone be able to go in such a short time? I didn’t doubt someone was in here with us—I might be wrong, Martini might be wrong, but we were rarely wrong at the same time. Plus, there were too many intruder possibilities for me to assume we were just jumpy.
    The closet could work, but the door was open, it wasn’t all that big, and we were on the same side of the bed as it was, so we should have felt the intruder go by. I looked back at the bed. It seemed so obvious . . . but we weren’t