Alien Tango

reached another house, larger than the first. Didn’t stop there either. Another couple of minutes and we arrived at the White House. Well, it wasn’t, but it looked that big to me.
    I nudged Martini. “Jeff, are we at your parents’ house?” It was that or the Alpha Centaurion Embassy. I was kind of hoping for Embassy.
    “Mmmm?” He nuzzled into my breasts. “Nice here.” He went back to sleep.
    It was a circular drive, and Tim brought the car to a stop in front of what I assumed was the front door. My class intimidation meter was set to high. I couldn’t imagine telling my father about this place—the lecture on how money needed to be spread to the less privileged would last for weeks.
    I shook Martini. “Jeff, I think we’re at your house.”
    He blinked and yawned. “Good. Let’s go back to sleep.” He wrapped both arms around me, snuggled right back into his personal pillows, and started snoring.
    I looked over the seat. Lorraine was waking up. “Lorraine, what did you give Jeff? I can’t get him to really wake up.”
    “Good. He needs the sleep.”
    “But I can’t exactly carry him out of the car.”
    She looked over. “I’ll have someone bring out a gurney.”
    “Uh, I don’t think he needs a gurney.” I hoped.
    “He needs sleep more than anything else right now.”
    “I guess we can stay in the car.”
    Doors were opening, and the team was climbing out. I realized all our things were at the hotel still. Oh, well, nothing we could do about it now. Reader woke up and shook Gower awake. Gower seemed fuzzy, but at least he was able to sit up.
    The back hatch opened, and several male A-Cs I’d never seen before were there. They helped Gower out, though Reader waved them away. “You need help with Jeff, girlfriend?”
    “Lorraine gave him something—I can’t get him to wake up for more than a second.”
    Reader looked out. “Need a gurney.”
    “He doesn’t need a gurney!”
    “Yeah, he does.” Reader grimaced. “He should go into isolation, too.”
    “You’re telling me they have the entire acreage of Rhode Island in this compound and no isolation chamber?”
    “No, I’m telling you he should go into the isolation chamber they have for him here.” He said it a bit louder.
    “I don’t want to,” Martini said, sounding annoyed. “I just want to sleep, if any of you would let me.”
    “Jeff, we’re at your parents’ humongous estate. Do you want to walk in on your own steam or take the gurney ride?”
    He growled and grumbled, but he moved into a sitting position. “I’ll walk.” The A-C assistants tried to help him, but he waved them away. They continued to try. “I’m getting seriously pissed. Back off, I can walk.”
    He climbed out, slowly but on his own steam. Reached in, put his hands on my waist and lifted me out, easily as far as I could tell. I wrapped my arm around his waist, and he put his around my shoulders. Martini heaved a sigh. “I really hope this visit goes better than the one we had a few hours ago.”

CHAPTER 61
    THE HOUSE WAS EVEN MORE massive seen from the outside than I’d felt it was when we’d been inside before. Earlier it had seemed huge. Now I felt as though I were about to enter Tara and wondered if Rhett and Scarlet were going to greet us. They had steps leading up to the front door as well as a winding ramp. I assumed they’d seen the wisdom of rolling gurneys as opposed to carrying them.
    I steered Martini to the ramp, assuming it was easier to walk than stairs. He didn’t argue. The A-Cs I didn’t know were following us, rather closely. I got the impression they were ready to catch Martini if he collapsed. This was both comforting and unsettling at the same time.
    “Our stuff’s still at the hotel.” I said this to avoid asking if Martini’s parents were actually drug dealers. They were living palatially enough.
    “Someone’ll get it.”
    “Sir, we already retrieved all the team’s belongings,” one of the assistant A-Cs said. His tone was extremely respectful. “They’re in the room assignments Commander Katt gave to Mr. Martini.”
    I had? Oh, well, what seemed like weeks but was only hours ago I had. But we had an additional member along. “We need to have a guard around Serene.”
    “Yes, ma’am, Commander.” One of the other A-Cs zoomed off.
    I looked up at Martini. “What’s going on?”
    “Routine.” He grinned. “I’ll explain it when we’re alone.”
    “If you can stay awake long enough, you