Alien Tango

you?”
    “This is our world. They don’t belong here. If they’re going to stay, then they’re going to do what they should.”
    “Be your weapons?”
    “Be our slaves.”
    He meant it. This wasn’t just a bid for power, this was Hitler all over again. I had to hand it to the little goosestepper—he’d tapped into what appeared to be a universal goal of megalomaniacs everywhere: purity of the race and death or enslavement of any not considered good enough.
    “So, Leventhal Reid—he happy with the job you’ve done?”
    “He’s a friend. He supports our cause.” So, Taft was the puppet, which was more of a confirmation than a surprise. “Oh, and you boys who think you’re getting out of the car so quietly? Move and I shoot.”
    Taft was looking at them. I wasn’t going to get a better chance.
    It was as if everything were in slow motion. Moved in the fast but relaxed way Mom had taught me. Aimed for the head due to hostage placement. Saw Martini fling himself away and Serene yank at Taft’s arm. Fired and kept on firing. Saw Taft’s head explode like a pumpkin while bullets from his gun hit the ground. Serene pulled away and staggered back. Kept on firing, into Taft’s body now.
    Someone was behind me, arms around mine. “Stop now, Kitty,” Kevin said soothingly as Taft’s body fell back and hit the ground. “It’s done, he’s dead.” He slid his hands down my arms to my hands. “Don’t want to hit the team with stray bullets.” His hands closed over mine, and then he yanked upward and pulled the gun out of my hand.
    Kevin spun me around and held me as I started to shake. “It’s okay. You did it right. Just like your mother.” He was rocking me. “Jeff’s okay, I can see him getting up. Everyone’s alive, they don’t look hurt.”
    I nodded, kept my face buried in his chest, and kept on shaking. Other hands were on me now and Kevin’s arm released. Martini turned me toward him and picked me up. I wrapped my arms around him, buried my face in his neck.
    “It’s okay, baby,” Martini murmured to me. He moved us off, I wasn’t sure where. But I could hear people running around us, and then it was quiet. “We’re away from the others. Can still see them, but they can’t hear us.” He kissed my head. “It’s okay, you know.”
    “What is?”
    “To not feel remorse for killing him.”
    “Mom says so, too.”
    “So, why are you so upset?”
    I pulled my head out of his neck and looked at him. “I don’t want to become like them, someone who doesn’t care what they do.”
    Martini leaned my head back against his shoulder and rocked me. “You’re not like them, Kitty. You never will be. He was going to shoot me the moment you dropped your gun. And he was going to kill everyone else, too, starting with you. I could feel it. He wanted to kill us. You wanted to protect us. That’s the difference, why you’ll never be like him, or Beverly, or any of the other people we have to fight against.”
    I took a deep breath and tried to get it together. “Okay.”
    He laughed softly. “Not yet, but you will be.” He kissed my head and sighed. “I wish I could be the one to kill these people instead of you.”
    “Why?”
    “So I could protect you from moments like this.”
    I tightened my arms and legs around him. “As long as you’re still with me during moments like this, it’s okay.”
    “Well, that’s good to hear. So, Serene isn’t crazy all on her own?”
    “No. Poor thing.”
    “Might be working out for her in the long run.” He sounded amused.
    “How so?” I pulled my head out again and looked where he was. Serene was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees, crying and rocking herself. No one was paying any attention to her, and I couldn’t figure out how Martini thought this was good for her.
    As I watched, Brian went to her with a blanket. He knelt down, wrapped it around her, and lifted her up. He cradled her in his arms the way Martini did with me and then walked to the Hummer limo they’d arrived in.
    I looked up at Martini. “He just being nice, or has the reality of the situation finally hit him?”
    He grinned. “Well, hearing that Serene isn’t naturally psychotic was probably a big argument in her favor.”
    “Staring xenophobia in the face might have helped, too.”
    “Probably.”
    “Plus a bird in the hand is worth two Kitty’s who want nothing to do with you in the bush.”
    “So to speak.” He looked at me. “So, you