Alien Proliferation

the three of us thing. Barring Alicia’s parents being involved, Chuckie, deal with the coincidence. We’re probably allowed one in the grand scheme of evil overlord plans.”
    “Whatever. Still not clear on the musical clues.”
    “Okay, Tim’s in contact with his girl. Probably telling her and the ’rents to be careful, terrorist activity about, so they’re on top of things.”
    “I know he called her when we were on the way to deal with the cluster in Paris,” Reader offered.
    “Good. Now . . . I’m going to play pretend for a minute here. I don’t know that Jeff’s an alien, I don’t know what he does for real, but I think he’s part of an elite counterterrorism squad. I’ve been sworn to secrecy, I’m in love with him and like his friends, so I’m a good girl and don’t say a word. Now, Jeff calls me while I’m on a trip to Paris with my parents, says things are scary, stay aware and alert, and all that jazz. I mention this to my parents, who we are also pretending are normal folks. What do the three of us decide?”
    Thudding silence. Was certain I heard crickets. No one in this room had a normal life? Looked around. Nope.
    Tito sighed. “My parents wouldn’t let me out of their sight.”
    “Bingo.” One normal guy left. Wondered how long before we totally corrupted him. Gave it another six months, tops. “So Alicia’s in New York, which was where the plane landed. She got off with her parents and stayed off.”
    “She shows as arriving at Saguaro International, Commander.”
    “Double-check it, Gladys. Make sure it’s not an airline snafu or that it’s her luggage that arrived or something.” My money was on both. “Remember, she was booked all the way through. She could show because by the time they realized she wasn’t getting back on, the plane was ready to leave.”
    “You used to work with the airlines, Commander?” Gladys sounded rather impressed. “Because you’re right. She was booked; seat was empty from JFK to Pueblo Caliente. Her luggage, however, did arrive. It’s still there, waiting to be claimed.”
    “Okay. So, why did Tim go to her apartment? And why did he leave me a warning before he left? He’d been tipped off about something. What was it?”
    “His room’s near Amy’s.” Chuckie was really hoping Amy was the mole.
    “Yeah, his room’s near a lot of people’s right now, he’s on the transient floor. Gladys?”
    “Anticipating you, Commander. Due to protective custody and lockdown, Captain Crawford’s nearest neighbors are Amy Gaultier, Captain Matt Hughes, Abraham and Sadie Katt, Doreen and Irving Weismann, Lieutenant Chip Walker, Michael Gower, Stanley and Ericka Gower, Captain Jerry Tucker, and Sylvia and Clarence Valentino.”
    “Who are those last people?” Names weren’t familiar to me.
    “My oldest sister and her husband.” Jeff sounded as though he was catching Chuckie’s migraine. “What the hell are they doing here? I thought they went back to my parents’ house days ago.”
    “That’s a very interesting question.” My mind whirred. “And they’re near Doreen and Irving . . . how close are those rooms, Gladys?”
    “The Weismanns are across the hall from Captain Crawford, the Valentinos are next to them.”
    Before I could say anything else, there was a knock at the door and Denise Lewis stuck her head in. She was a gorgeous blonde with great teeth and bags of charisma. I liked her a lot.
    “Kitty, I know everyone’s doing some baby shower thing, but I figured you could use this right now. I brought it with us when they said we were going into lockdown.” She grinned. Geez, beyond awesome teeth.
    “Thanks, Denise. What is it?”
    She came into the room and handed me a gift bag. “Open it now.”
    I could feel the rest of the room not wanting me to, but I wasn’t coming up with what was going on with Tim yet, and figured the one minute might not hurt. Pulled out a yellow backpack-like thing. “Uh . . . pretty.”
    Denise laughed. “It’s a baby carrier. Here, let me show you.” She stood me up and hooked it around me, went to Jeff, took Jamie, gave her a kiss, and then slid her into the frontal backpack. Jamie nestled right in between the torpedoes and seemed quite happy there. “It’s great for the mom, or dad, on the go.”
    “Denise, you’re the best.” I had to give her a side hug so as not to crush the baby. “This is great. Thanks for not waiting to give it to us.”
    She laughed again.