Alien Proliferation

argue there.” I cuddled the baby and tried to think of something that wasn’t mommy related. “Amy said she thought he was a businessman.”
    “Covert ops field agents aren’t supposed to be wearing signs that say ‘Hi, my name is Bill, and I’m with the C.I.A.,’ you know.” Chuckie’s sarcasm knob was up to full.
    “No, really? Wow, I learn something new every day.” I had a sarcasm knob, too.
    Jeff sighed. “As enjoyable, and rare, as it is to watch the two of you bicker, could we maybe focus on the matter at hand?”
    “I suppose. We have the other matter at hand, too.” They both looked at me. “Ronaldo Al Dejahl? We are agreed this is a son of Yates’ that we didn’t know about?”
    Chuckie nodded. “Your mother agrees. Yates was under surveillance for years, but he could have impregnated any number of women.”
    “Aren’t we all so lucky? So, there could be more of them?”
    “No idea. I’d have said that was Centaurion’s business, but I can’t really blame you all for not following the human side of things.”
    I looked at Jamie. She gurgled and grabbed at my hair. “But any child of his wouldn’t be a human. It would be a hybrid or a full A-C.”

 
    CHAPTER 26
     
    I LOOKED AT JEFF. He looked ill. Chuckie, same thing. “On record, that thought only just occurred to me.”
    “Hybrid males have no unusual talents.” Jeff sounded like he was grasping for a good spin.
    “But they can still have talents. Paul does.”
    “And you and White aren’t exactly short in the talent department,” Chuckie added.
    “Yeah.” Jeff heaved a sigh and pulled out his phone. “I want tracking for unknown hybrids. No idea of how. Take a sampling. What do you mean from whom? From the Gowers and Serene for starters. Then branch out—what? Really? Huh. Okay. What?” He looked over at me and Jamie and I recognized his expression—protective and possessive. “No.” Whoever he was talking to was arguing, I could tell by the way Jeff looked. “Fine, we’ll discuss it after you tell me what you have with the five adults we know about. Call me right away.” He hung up and looked worried and thoughtful.
    “Jeff? What’s wrong? Aside from them wanting to test Jamie? Which, if it’s a safe test, I can’t understand why you said no.”
    “She’s less than a week old,” he muttered.
    “What else is wrong?” I started to get worried, and it was clear it showed in my voice because Jamie began fussing.
    Jeff closed his eyes. “None of the other hybrids are still alive.”
    That hung on the air for a bit. “Um, why not?”
    He opened his eyes. “No idea. Praying to God it’s not a shorter lifespan.”
    “You never checked this before you married Kitty and allowed every A-C under thirty to marry a human?” Chuckie sounded just this side of enraged.
    “Before you both start, stop it.” I took a deep breath. “Jeff, just call whoever does the statistical analysis and get them going on it.”
    He did as requested. Chuckie still looked ready to lose it. “Chuckie, stop. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it, okay? If it’s scary bad, then we’ll both need your help, not your rage, okay? Please? As my oldest friend?”
    Chuckie nodded, and I saw him pull himself back under control. “Yeah. Sorry. It didn’t occur to me, either, and since I would have loved a reason to tell you not to marry him, I can’t really complain that none of us thought of it.”
    “None of the older A-Cs mentioned it as a danger sign, and I think they would have. Jeff’s mother would have, for sure, at least when I first met her.”
    Jeff got off the phone. “Well . . . it’s interesting. Reynolds, we need to somehow have Michael Gower under protection when he’s back at NASA.”
    “Why?” Chuckie sounded confused. “Thought you cleared out the security issues there over a year ago.”
    “We did, but the statistics on hybrids are really interesting.” Jeff let out his breath slowly. “None of them died from disease. None of them have made it into old age, either.”
    “Oh, I love this game, let me see if I can guess what comes next! They all had mysterious accidents, right?”
    “I married the smartest girl in the galaxy.”
    “Nope, I’ve just been trained by the Conspiracy King.”
    Chuckie managed a weak grin. “Thanks. So, every one of them?”
    “All but the Gowers and Serene,” Jeff confirmed. “Every other hybrid is dead and buried.”
    “You said they were all men, right?”
    Jeff