Alien Proliferation

with him.”
    “Really? Wow, how did you get him to do that?” I could tell Christopher was furious and getting more so. Good. He was going to need the anger soon.
    Gaultier laughed. “One of his nieces gave him a keychain he carries with him.”
    “Which niece?”
    “Stephanie.” Christopher’s teeth were gritted. “Sylvia and Clarence’s eldest.”
    “Oh, yeah, we’ve met. She’s the one who told me your father would never let me marry Jeff. Got it on you?”
    Christopher never took his eyes off Gaultier. He reached into his pocket and tossed the keychain to me.
    “Interesting. Most of Alpha and Airborne have this same thing. She gave them to everyone for Arrival Day this year.” A-Cs didn’t celebrate most Earth holidays, but they were big on the official day they’d first landed on Earth. “I didn’t get one.”
    “Jeff’s niece didn’t give you a gift?” Amy sounded shocked. I was impressed—even during this kind of hostage situation she could focus on propriety. Amy would never jog around during a solemn ceremony, and she knew all the forks to use, too.
    “Oh, I got a gift.” I saw someone’s hand wave to me from the opposite doorway. Hoped it was the “get ready” signal, not the “run away” signal. “She gave me some tunes.”

 
    CHAPTER 67
     
    O N CUE, A HOWLING like only Screamin’ Steven Tyler could make blared out, loud and, in this room, echoing, as Aerosmith rolled into “Nine Lives.” Gaultier jerked and Christopher moved.
    I could only see him because I was enhanced. He ripped the gun out of Gaultier’s hand and away from Amy, crushed it, shoved her out of the way, and then started pounding. As everyone said, Jeff was bigger and stronger, but Christopher was nastier.
    I trotted over and grabbed Amy before she hit the ground. Christopher had moved her gently, but an A-C moving fast is hard on a human. I put my arm around her and got us to the wall to watch. I leaned against said wall. I’d only been this tired after being forced into a 10K run when I’d just been recovering from the flu. I wanted to lie down, but it didn’t seem like the right time to nap.
    The music stopped. I assumed White was clear we didn’t need it any more.
    “What if he hurts him?” Amy sounded panicked.
    “I think that’s the idea.”
    “But Christopher almost died. I know you healed him, but we don’t know if he’s really okay.” She sounded close to tears again.
    “Oh, sorry, got the ‘he’s’ and ‘him’s” confused. Trust me, Ames, your dad’s toast. Um, you want him alive? ’Cause if you do, Jeff’s going to have to stop Christopher.” I couldn’t, it would take a lot more strength than I had if ACE wasn’t assisting.
    She shook her head. “That man’s not my father. I don’t know who that man is, or thinks he is, but he’s not my father. My father loved me; he loved you, too. My father would never have done this to any of us, especially not me.”
    I didn’t know if she meant this figuratively or literally, and I decided not to care right now. I was quite clear about how evil people could be, but one of my parents wasn’t the Head Fugly. If Amy needed a little delusion to get through this, I wasn’t going to take it away from her.
    Christopher was beating the crap out of Gaultier. They were rolling around on the ground, but he was winning, not that I’d had any doubt.
    “That man died a long time ago, then.”
    “Yes, I think he did.” Amy took a deep breath. “Is it wrong that I want him to die right now?”
    “No. It wouldn’t be wrong if you wanted him to live, either.” I cleared my throat. “Of course, I sort of fall on the ‘kill ’em all and let God sort it out’ side of the house these days. Seriously, if you want him alive, I have to get Jeff, right now. Because Christopher is definitely going to kill him.”
    Christopher slammed Gaultier’s head against the ground. He was doing a lot of snarling—most of what I could hear in reference to Amy and what Gaultier had done to her.
    “No. I’m . . . I’m glad he’s going to kill . . . that man. If he didn’t, I’d have to.”
    I hugged her. “Then no worries.” At least, no worries right now. Figured we’d deal with emotional fallout later.
    “Why didn’t you marry Chuck?” Odd question, but I considered her mind-set and the situation, so maybe not so odd.
    “He asked at the wrong time. I was already too in love with Jeff to marry someone else.”
    “Chuck’s