Alien in the House

to do with you being in trouble. So far, the theory’s never been wrong.” He hugged me. “Thank God you’re okay.”
    “I don’t know why I’m crying.”
    “I do. It’s been a hell of a day. Who was the killer aiming for, you or Eugene?”
    “Matt, Chip, and I think it was me or both of us, based on the bullet being used. I think the shooter was Raul, by the way.”
    “Makes sense. Nice to see your supposed ‘uncle’ was on the job.” Jeff’s sarcasm knob was definitely turned to eleven.
    “Who knows what’s really going on? Not me.” Pulled my face out of his neck and pulled myself together as much as I could as I sat up. Harlie and Poofikins appeared in my lap and started purring. Having the Poofs there helped a lot. Having Jeff hugging me helped more. “I’m a mess, aren’t I?”
    “You’re always the most beautiful girl in the galaxy to me, baby.” Then Jeff kissed me deeply. His kiss always drove everything else from my mind, and I enjoyed it for the kiss itself and the momentary removal of worry about anything else other than getting naked as fast as possible.
    Jeff ended our kiss slowly. “We still have lots to do tonight, baby. With this attack, Richard’s worried even more about our people at the hospital, and I am, too.”
    “You two need to get over there. I got some information from Eugene, but he was killed before he could give me all of it.”
    “Nice to see our luck remains consistent.” Jeff hugged me again. “I don’t want to leave you alone here.”
    Shook my head. “I’m inside the Embassy now. No sniper’s going to shoot in here, and I’ll stay away from windows.” Put the Poofs gently onto the couch, gave George another scritchy-scratch, got up, and washed my face with cold water. It helped a little. Focused on the nice fluffy towels we had as I used one to dry my face. We really didn’t have time for me to go Basket Case on everyone.
    Took a deep breath, let it out slowly. Felt a little more in control, but I still looked like I’d been crying. Fine. I’d looked worse.
    There was a knock on the bathroom door. Jeff looked at me, I nodded, and he opened the door. White came in. “I approve of this as our new office. That way, no one can claim needing to use the facilities to get out of a boring briefing session.”
    I burst into laughter. “Thanks, Richard. What’s up, you heading over to the hospital?”
    “Yes, because there’s now another body going over. The SWAT team has declared the area devoid of snipers, so I’m going over with Airborne and the entire K-9 division, which should provide me with more than enough protection. Jeffrey, you need to stay with my partner and take care of her until I’m back.”
    Jeff grinned. “Yes, sir, Uncle Richard.”
    White came over and hugged me. “Anything I should know before we go? Other than the fact that, apparently, Raul is a sneakier person than the Dingo expects.”
    “Or he has help the Dingo doesn’t.” Heaved a sigh. “Eugene got orders telling him Brewer was a robot. Robot, not android, by the way. If we can find those papers, then we can maybe figure out who put Eugene into
La Femme Nikita
Mode. He said they weren’t at his home to protect Lydia. I asked about other places. He said he kept them at work, but not his real office. He was mid-word when he was . . .”
    “Regardless of what he thought he was doing, he murdered someone, and tried to murder someone else, without doing due diligence,” White said gently. “That he’s dead instead of you is a blessing. What word was he saying?”
    “He said he was free and then bam, George knocked me back and Eugene was dead.”
    “Was he working for free?” Jeff asked. “As in, volunteering somewhere?”
    “No, he didn’t make it sound like that. We’ll figure it out, I’m sure. I’m still shaken up, so my Megalomaniac Girl skills aren’t kicking in.”
    “I’m happier than I can say that your Doctor Doolittle skills were in top form,” Jeff said, as he gave George a pat.
    “Well, as you said, we’ll figure it out,” White said with calm confidence. He hugged me again. “I’m going to ensure that all our personnel are brought safely home, and as soon as possible. I believe we want everyone safely tucked away.”
    “Speaking of which, where’s Christopher, does anyone know?”
    White and Jeff both shook their heads. “I haven’t picked him up at all,” Jeff said. “So I think he’s still in the tunnels. I sent him the