Alien in the Family

actually lose his cool.
    “No need. I heard most of what you said, and I’m touched.” Martini’s sarcasm knob was set to high again. “But I think I can handle anything they want to throw at us.”
    “Can Kitty? Because, let’s be honest here, she’s what I care about, and you know it. She lucked out with Moira in that dressing room because they wanted her alive. Figure they don’t any more. She’s got no hyperspeed, no extra strength, no double hearts, no fast healing. We’re lucky as hell we aren’t attending Reader’s funeral. Luck, like lightning, rarely strikes the same place twice.”
    “You saying I can’t protect her?” Martini was starting to growl.
    Chuckie got right up in his face. “I’m saying that six months ago, it was luck that you got to her in time. Yeah, you beat the rest of us. But if you’d been a split second later, she’d be dead. I’m saying that we may be in Vegas, but I’m not willing for you to ever gamble Kitty’s safety on your damned ego again. Kyrellis let you off easy. There’s a reason, and I’m sure when we find out what it is, it won’t be good for any of us. You’re a pawn in some interstellar chess game, and we don’t know if we’ve stopped it or just opened up our king to be taken.”
    They looked ready to go at each other. But something Chuckie had said struck me oddly. “Chuckie? Why do you think Jeff’s a pawn?”
    “Because he’s not the king, and we all know it.”
    “You’re right, he’s a knight. So’s Christopher.”
    “And you’re the queen.”
    “What are you?”
    “Bishop.” Chuckie turned away from Martini. “What are you getting at?”
    “Put the players on the board. White moves first, so we’re black.”
    “Gower’s our other bishop. Reader was a rook.”
    “Richard is our king.”
    “What are you two going on about?” Martini sounded confused and annoyed.
    “Chess. Jeff, you know how to play it. Help us. Who’s our other rook?”
    “We replaced Reader with Tito. Call him the rook.” Chuckie started talking faster. “Tim, the flyboys, your girls, they’re the pawns.”
    “They’re more powerful than that,” Martini protested.
    “A pawn can take the king,” Chuckie snapped. “I’m talking about power on the board. Tito’s new, and he already has more influence than the pawns do.”
    “I can get our side, Chuckie. But until we know who the opposition’s king really is, we don’t know who the power players really are.”
    “Who has the most to gain?” Chuckie shook his head. “It’s always who has the most to gain—or lose. Find them, you find the key to everything else. And we need to find them fast, because my gut tells me we’re running out of time.”

CHAPTER 40

    WE WANTED TO TAKE A LIMO BACK TO THE hotel because Chuckie and Martini both wanted to powwow, and we didn’t feel confident about avoiding spies, bugs, or interstellar terrorists any more. Getting one was the issue.
    “We’ve got no available agents,” Tim told Martini. “Everyone’s still doing clean-up and prisoner transfer, or fixing what they were in the middle of when we had to call them here.”
    Martini looked at Chuckie. “Think you can put a limo on the expense account?”
    Chuckie shook his head. “I don’t think we want to do that.” He wasn’t looking at Martini. The rest of us turned to see what, or rather, who Chuckie was looking at. Our personal paparazzo was barreling toward us, crocodile grin on full.
    “I thought we got rid of Mister Joel Oliver,” I shared. “James had Security take him away.”
    He snapped a picture before any of us could move. “What did I miss?” he asked, as if he were part of the team.
    “What did we miss? How is it you’re not in jail or something?”
    Oliver chuckled. “Really, so naïve. That’s cute. Babe, if a bribe doesn’t work, then my newspaper simply makes a few calls and I’m out.”
    “Blackmail pictures?” Chuckie asked.
    “Oh, and more.” Oliver beamed. “So, what’s the real story about what happened here?”
    “Weather balloon,” Chuckie said.
    Oliver snorted. “Of course. That’s the C.I.A.’s official statement?”
    Chuckie’s eyes narrowed. “We aren’t giving you an official statement about anything or for any agency.”
    “Why are you insinuating anyone here is with the C.I.A.?” Martini asked.
    “Same reason I’m ‘insinuating’ half of you are aliens. Because I know.”
    I wished Reader were here. He’d handled Oliver a lot