Alien Tango

Burn this puppy out. Alliflash is no longer on the side of right.”

CHAPTER 58
    WE RACED ALONG. “This is only slightly faster than those luggage carts we had to use against Mephistopheles at JFK,” I shouted to Reader.
    “You know, if you want to get out and run, girlfriend, feel free.”
    We hit a bump, and I started to slide off. Lots of people shouted my name. Lorraine managed to keep me on the hood. Reader had to swerve around a log and I slid toward the driver’s side. Another swerve, another slide. This was so fun.
    The car went over a big bump, and I lost my hold. I managed to grab the windshield wipers. They extended, and I slid forward. Kicked up my feet so they weren’t dragging on the ground. Considered my options. Looked around, to see Alliflash still after us.
    “It’s like freaking Jurassic Park !” I shouted to them. “It’s still coming! James, get some speed out of this. Make the hamsters in the engines do some damn work.”
    Reader cursed. “Okay, hang on.” He spun the car, and hanging on became questionable. The car stopped, and I felt someone pounding on the hood.
    “James, what are you doing?” Martini sounded ready to lose it.
    “Most powerful gear is reverse,” Reader snapped. I heard the gears shift.
    “Pop the hood.” I jumped off, he popped it, I jumped in on top of Serene. “Go, go, go!” Alliflash was really close and gaining.
    We took off again. I couldn’t see what the others were doing, but that was fine. I had a great show watching Alliflash prove it was NASCAR material.
    “What’s going on?” Serene shouted. “Why did you lie to me?” She started to hit me.
    I grabbed her jaw and turned her head, hard. “Look at that, you idiot. Alligator, trying to kill us. You piss me off any more, and I’ll throw you to him so the rest of us escape, got it?”
    This got through to her somehow. Maybe it was because Alliflash was clearly in the headlights. I looked behind it.
    “Is that another one coming, too?” Serene asked.
    “Yes, I think so.” Gigantagator was backing its buddy. “Now, you want to live or be ’gator chow?”
    “Live.” We both leaned back.
    “Hold onto something. It’s been a real bumpy ride so far.” On cue, we went over something.
    “Hold onto what?” she asked frantically. Reader was driving erratically, which considering he was driving backward, wasn’t too much of a shock.
    “Side of car, hood, whatever.” I had hopes the alligators were tiring. There was a burning smell coming from the car.
    She clutched the hood and my arm. Oh, well. “Why did you kiss Brian?”
    “To save your life. You didn’t do what Jeff told you, you didn’t get scared.”
    “I was scared.”
    “You concentrated on Brian.”
    “Yeah. How’d you know?”
    “Serene? There’s a saying I’ve found to be true. I just applied it to you and went with what popped into mind.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Bitches be crazy. You’re one freaked out chick, you know that?”
    “Yeah, I guess so. I wasn’t always like this.”
    “When did the crazy start?” I was expecting something like when she started menstruating, when her mother died, when she first met Brian.
    “In the last year or so. When I started at Kennedy.”
    I was so shocked that I looked at her. She was serious. “You weren’t a psycho before then?”
    “No. I . . . I know I’m not acting right any more. Not all the time, but so much of the time. It’s getting worse and worse.” She started to cry. “Brian’s never going to like me, is he? I’m going to go to jail and be alone with no one to love me.”
    My brain kicked. “You go through some sort of psychoanalysis to work at Kennedy, right?”
    “Yes, everyone gets tested for aptitude, mental stability, things like that.”
    I considered Chuckie again. He’d been the conspiracy king and still was, much as I hated that nickname he’d gotten stuck with. He always said most things that happened were an elaborate ruse to gain either money or power. He felt there were far more active conspiracies at any given time than there were straightforward power bids. He didn’t believe in coincidence—which was a reason I didn’t as well, years of his association—it was all part of the grand scheme of those who wanted more money and/or power. I used to consider this funny, with possibly a kernel of truth thrown in.
    But Chuckie had firmly believed aliens were here, and he’d been right. So what if he was right about the whole