Alien Tango

talents, too. Why is she working as Alfred’s admin?”
    “She took the position because she said she wanted a break, and Alfred needed the help because his human admin went on maternity leave.”
    “Okay, tell Kevin that the very inaccurately named A-C is our bomb chick, and I’m going to need to get out of the building before dawn.”
    “I don’t want to know, do I, girlfriend?”
    “Probably not. I don’t know how long it’ll take us to get back to you—she tossed a huge fireball bomb at us. It’s really a good thing the place is in lockdown, because she’d have killed someone with that if it weren’t.”
    “I’ll mention it to Alfred and Kevin. Anything else?”
    “Yeah, see if Kevin can trace her phone number.” I gave it to him. “Probably a cell phone, but maybe we can GPS it or something.”
    “Maybe. If she’s got the skills, though, and it looks as if she does, she could make it untraceable.”
    “Figures. Well, try.”
    “Will do. Paul’s okay, right?”
    “And you claim you don’t care. Yes, we’re all fine. Tired, hungry, and nauseated, but that might only be me.”
    “Maybe you’re pregnant.” He snickered.
    “Anything’s possible. But I get the feeling Jeff would know before I did.”
    “Probably. Well, we’ll see you when you get here. Call if you have any more problems I can help with.”
    “Still love you best.”
    “I know, same here. Working on turning straight, I swear.”
    “Promises, promises.”

CHAPTER 41
    READER AND I HUNG UP , and I turned back to Martini. “Okay, so your dad’s admin is loco. Brian, you know anyone named Serene?”
    “Sure. Like you said, she’s Alfred’s admin right now.”
    “You get along with her?”
    He shrugged. “I do my best to get along with everyone. Yeah, I like her, she’s funny and like all the A-C women, she’s brilliant.”
    “She’s also completely unhinged. Because she’s our stalker.”
    “I can’t believe that. She goes to church with me and some of the others here. She’s really religious, I can’t see her doing something like this. Besides, she’s not interested in me that way.”
    “Wait, she goes to Catholic church with you? Every week?”
    “Yeah.” He shrugged. “She’s taking catechism classes.”
    I put my head in my hands. “A-Cs have their own religion, Brian. If she’s taking an interest in yours, what does that tell you?”
    “That she’s open-minded.”
    “That she’s in love with you,” Martini said flatly. “We aren’t really fascinated, as a whole, with Earth religions. Ours is similar enough that there seems to be no need.”
    “Plus we were exiled because of our religion, so we’re all kind of attached to it,” Christopher added.
    “Serene’s younger than us,” Michael added. “And she doesn’t want to marry an A-C. She’s almost militant about it.”
    “You ever go out with her?”
    Michael laughed. “No. She isn’t interested in male A-Cs. She wants a human. She prefers their minds.” Just like all the other A-C females of the generation born on Earth.
    “So, she’s in love with Brian, because he’s smart enough to be an astronaut, as well as a nice, cute guy everybody likes. And he’s looking for a mate, a perfect mate, and she wants to be said perfect mate, to the point where she’s willing to turn her back on her own religion and, clearly, kill off the perceived competition.” I turned to him. “See, Bri? You are desired.”
    “By someone who’s insane,” Christopher added.
    “She’s never said anything,” Brian protested. “None of the other girls have hinted about it, either, and they usually do.”
    “Bri, I haven’t seen you in a decade, but I could pick up that you weren’t comfortable with the idea of dating an alien. I’m sure the others know that. She was probably trying to bring you around gradually. Might have worked if I weren’t part of Alpha Team.” The pity was back. I couldn’t help it. It was too easy to understand why she’d lost it. It didn’t forgive the crimes, but I could think about forgiving the criminal. If we survived unscathed, of course, which wasn’t exactly a given.
    “So, you’re still planning to go to the Lighthouse?” Gower asked. “Because I think it’s a really bad idea, compounded by the fact you’re not going to be dealing with a dangerous human but rather a dangerous A-C.”
    “I’ve taken on crazy A-C psychos before, if anyone would care to recall.” One with a Louisville Slugger,