Alien Tango

decent, too. Basically, I was the only one who looked like crap.
    Alfred didn’t seem to object to our leaving. “I’ll take the rest to my offices,” he told Martini. He turned to me. “But what do you want to do about Turco?”
    “I suppose killing him is out. Kidding!” I said to the shocked looks. Well, sort of kidding. “Let’s keep him with us. I don’t trust him.” I remembered Karl Smith’s last words—I didn’t trust anyone. Other than Alfred, at the moment, since I had a hard time buying that he’d tried to kill himself along with his son. Unless Martini’s mother was that hard to live with.
    Jerry nodded. “Joe and I’ll run herd on our little friend, Commander, no worries.”
    The others left us, Reader carrying Martini’s invisible case, and the two of us headed back to the jet. “I’ve never been here before. Does everyone get the exploding tour?”
    Martini managed to chuckle. “Only the lucky ones.” He wasn’t touching me, and I wondered why. “I just want to be away from anyone else and then I’ll happily hold you.”
    “How—?”
    “Empath. Try to keep up.”
    “Humph.” We rounded the ramp’s corner, and Martini moved in front of me. “Jeff, I don’t think anyone snuck in there.”
    “I don’t want to find out you’re wrong.”
    He had a point, and we continued in single file until we reached the jet. His back looked amazingly good considering how awful it had looked just a short while before. Whatever Lorraine had done was indeed good—there were no more patches, and as I watched, the last of the stitches dissolved. I could tell it was still tender, though. His butt, on the other hand, looked spectacular, so I could reassure myself that much, if not all, was well with the world.
    Once in the jet, Martini moved to hyperspeed and checked everything out. “All clear, including the cache.” He closed the hatch after me and locked it.
    We went into the bedroom. “Do I need to hook you up to anything?”
    “Not if Lorraine didn’t tell you to. I feel fine.”
    “You really suck at the lying.”
    Martini reached out and pulled me into his arms. I buried my face in his chest, while he stroked my back and kissed my head. I was crashing down from the adrenaline rush and wanted to cry but didn’t want to take the time or upset him. “Go ahead, baby,” he murmured. “It’s okay, I’m here, and it’s just us.”
    “No, I just want to get out of these wet clothes.”
    He helped me out of my clothes. He made some amorous suggestions, but I could tell that while the mind was willing, the body was weak. Martini looked as though he could use a nap of at least twelve hours.
    I changed into clean and, most importantly, dry panties, then got him out of his pants. Controlled the impulses and put him into dry underwear as well. “Let’s lie down and rest for a couple of minutes.”
    Martini managed a weak grin. “Only because I’m sure you’re tired.”
    “Absolutely. It’s all about me, Jeff, not you.”
    He nodded. “I think I need to lie on my stomach.”
    “No problem.” I lay down, head on the pillows. He crawled on top of me, nestled his head between my breasts, heaved a sigh, and was out like a light.
    I stroked his head and hair and tried not to worry. Normally the adrenaline didn’t wear off for hours. But Martini was now snoring softly. I hadn’t seen Lorraine give him anything that would put him out, so he was hurting more than he wanted to admit, which wasn’t a surprise.
    I knew we had to get up, get dressed, and get back into action. But I didn’t want to. No matter how I looked at it—either third time being the charm or three strikes and you were out—we’d been lucky twice, and I didn’t know if we were on a streak or had used up all the luck we were going to get.
    In the middle of action or not, I fell asleep. We probably would have stayed there for hours, or until someone came to get us, but my phone rang. We both jerked awake, and Martini grumbled, sighed, and moved off me. “At least it’s not Mr. My Best Friend.” He picked up my purse and looked for my phone. Then he gave up. “I don’t know how you find anything in here, ever.” He handed the purse to me and sat down on the side of the bed.
    I pulled the phone out. “I’m a girl.” It had stopped ringing, but the number listed on my cell wasn’t one I knew. I dialed it back and they answered on the first ring. “Hello? You tried to reach me, I think?”
    I didn’t