Alien Tango

barrier. Follow it up with his ‘I’ve Seen the Saucers.’ I think it’s going to be a two-song landing.”
    “Sir Elton coming right up.”
    “You’re the best.”
    The music started, and I truly relaxed. I ran through a few loops and maneuvers to clear out the aborted landing attempt. It took most of ‘Rocket Man’ for me to feel ready. Then I started down again, from a bit higher than before. The next song came on, perfect for landing, at least as far as I was concerned. I even touched down to the beat.
    “Great job, Kitty!” Jerry was landing now.
    “She does have a great singing voice.” Tim Crawford, my team’s official driver. We’d sort of bonded over music during Operation Fugly. I still didn’t know what he actually listened to, but he controlled my car iPod now and was getting really good at picking out what songs to play in tense situations.
    I finished helping Elton on the high notes. “Thanks, Tim, you’re a prince.” Reader was a sweetie and put “Crocodile Rock” on while I taxied and parked my jet.
    “Kitty? You can get out now.” This was Matt Hughes, one of my flyboys.
    “Laaaaaa ... la la la laaaaaa.” The song wasn’t over. The music stopped, mid-la. “Oh, fine.” Spoilsports.
    “Love your voice, Kitty.” This from Chip Walker, one of my other flyboys. “Just need you out of the jet.”
    “Liar.” I climbed out. Jerry was waiting for me. He, like all our pilots and drivers, was human, so while he was cute, he wasn’t up to A-C standards. Though I’d told him he could grow it out, he still kept his blond hair in a crew cut. All the pilots assigned to me had been at the Top Gun school before joining us during Operation Fugly, and they all maintained their Navy attitudes, even though they were now officially part of Centaurion Division, the American government’s name for what I thought of as the Alien Protection Organization.
    Jerry grinned. “You make it look easy, Commander Katt.” We were back on the ground and so back to formality. In the air, he was in charge. On the ground, I was. More than one person had mentioned that this was truly frightening.
    “It’s a gift, my love. And I have the best teacher around.” Okay, he was back to formality. Me, not so much.
    We headed toward the main headquarters building. As we got nearer, a tall man with broad shoulders, rather wide features over a strong chin, light brown eyes, and dark, wavy hair left the building and came toward us. He was in Armani and, as always, looked beyond drool-worthy. He spotted us and then was next to me before I could blink.
    “Nice to see you, Commander Martini, I’ll just leave you two alone. Enjoy.” Jerry gave Martini a quick salute, shot me a wink where Martini couldn’t see it, and trotted off to the main building.
    Martini grunted at Jerry, then pulled me into his arms and kissed me. This definitely made it all worthwhile. His lips were soft, like down pillows, and his tongue could do things I’d never imagined before I met him. I wrapped my arms around his back and enjoyed how he pulled me even closer against him. But I could feel his hearts, and they were pounding.
    He ended our kiss. “You know, I thought you were going to die. I don’t know if I can run fast enough to pull you out of an exploding jet.”
    I leaned against his chest. “Jeff, I was okay. I have to be able to do this.”
    “Why?” I didn’t answer. He sighed. “I don’t get kidnapped every week, you know.”
    “Once was enough for me.” I could still see him, on his knees, hands bound behind him, being tortured and almost killed.
    “Baby, don’t dwell on that,” he said softly.
    “I don’t.” Well, not all the time. There were whole days I’d gotten through without that memory surfacing and suggesting I might not be so lucky next time. Because there was always a next time.
    “You may be human and able to lie to me, but not about your emotions.”
    “I know, Mr. Empath. I just . . . ” I sighed. “I just want to be able to do everything I can. Not only for you, but for our missions. If I can’t fly, then I’ve got one less weapon in my arsenal.”
    His turn to sigh. “Okay. You did great the second time. I’m really proud of you.”
    “James tell you to say that?”
    Martini grinned. “Yeah. Did I do it right?”
    “You always do it right.”
    “Nice to know.” He put his arm around my shoulders, I put mine around his waist, and we walked to the main building. “So, are we