Alien in the Family

know. We’ll get them out, Kitty. I promise.” He nodded to Alexander, let go of my hand, and they disappeared.
    “Tito, take Paul to the mall. Check it, all of it, but especially around the store I was in, the one where the alarms were going off. They’ll have put at least one bomb there.”
    “Yeah. I have some ideas where they might have stashed others, too,” Tito said.
    “How so?”
    “There was this guy . . . he was odd and nasty. Sort of threatened me when I got near him, then said I wasn’t important enough to worry about. I’m thinking it might have been the other shapeshifter. And I know where he, or she, went, ’cause I watched.”
    Gower managed a chuckle. “Kitty, good job on the hiring.” He grabbed Tito and they were gone.
    “What are we doing?” Christopher asked.
    “We’re looking for Kyrellis and Gregory.”
    “What?” Martini and Christopher were in unison again.
    “We have at least a thousand agents here, plus Chuckie and Tito, plus all our new Animal Planet friends. Kyrellis is a lunatic of the highest order, but I promise you this—she wants to watch this place go up in smoke, see all the people die, feel the pride in a job well done.”
    “What about Gregory?” Christopher asked.
    “He’s either running away or trying to find her.” Something rubbed against my neck. “Oh, are my Poofies okay?”
    “Is now really the time?” Martini asked through clenched teeth.
    “Yes. Poofies, you have to be very careful. Harlie? Do you remember the man who gave you to Jeff?” Harlie mewled at me. I took it for a yes. “Good Poof! I want you and the other Poofies to find him, find Gregory. If he’s being bad, you stop him. If he’s being good, some of you watch him and some find me or Jeff or Christopher. Okay?”
    Much Poof purring came back at me. Then they were gone, just like everyone else.
    “They have hyperspeed?” Martini asked as we started out of the bathroom finally.
    “No idea. Maybe they turn invisible. Don’t care. They’re smart, and I think they’ll find him.”
    “Why’d you give him the benefit of the doubt?” Christopher asked as I scanned the casino. No sign of anyone I knew, no sign of an Amazonian assassin.
    “Because Jeff said he was hiding something. Could be bad, possible that it’s good.”
    “What are the odds?” Christopher asked dryly.
    “Don’t know. I just know he’s your blood, so I’m hoping there’s more of you in him than not.” I closed my eyes. “Have to think. If I were a psycho Amazonian assassin, where would I go to watch the show?”
    “We could search everywhere in the time this is taking,” Martini said urgently.
    “Jeff, stop. Psychos and megalomaniacs are my forté, remember? They all wanna hang with me.” It would have to be close. She wouldn’t want to miss the show. “Make sure they search the entire complex—Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur.”
    Martini and Christopher were on their phones, barking orders.
    The Excalibur, New York New York, MGM Grand, and Tropicana were the four casinos on this corner. But they’d all be too close, especially if she’d set up the entire Mandalay complex to go. “Have them check all the casinos on the corners, too.” Martini and Christopher barked more orders.
    Where would she go to watch? Where in this town would someone like Kyrellis feel comfortable? Or at least feel she could control herself from killing all the men in order to watch her fireworks display? I had to think. Figuring out what the psychos did for kicks was my job, really.
    Too stressed. Think about what I did know. Moira and Kyrellis were insane. Fanatics. Amazonian lesbians who really loathed men deep in the bone. Military trained. Why had Moira hurt Reader? Because he was, according to her, pawing me. But she’d pawed me and hadn’t seemed to think that was an issue.
    I was trying too hard. I had plenty of lesbian girlfriends. Like most of my friends, I wasn’t in constant contact, but I certainly could remember what they’d talked about. They talked a lot like my guy friends talked, liked many of the same things. Of course, none of my gay girlfriends were loathing man-haters; they just preferred boobs and such. Oh. DUH. I opened my eyes.
    “Boys? You like chicken wings?”

CHAPTER 36

    “NOT REALLY,” MARTINI SAID. “Also, think we should, you know, save the innocents and all before we stop to have a snack.”
    “And that’s why I’m the one the psychos all wanna hang with. Can I