Alien Tango

stronger, faster, more resilient. Smarter. Much better looking. More honest and normally more decent. Other than Michael here,” he added with a grin. Michael cuffed Brian’s head gently.
    “But Brian likes them, Brian and Kitty both.”
    “Sure. I’ve never had an A-C treat me with anything but respect and affection. They’re professionals and fun to be with. I spend more time with the A-C women, but I don’t have anything against the men—they don’t normally make me feel inadequate, at least not intentionally.” He shot a look at Martini but then looked back at Gower. “But even if I didn’t like them, they don’t deserve to be herded into a group and slaughtered.”
    Gower looked at me. “Slaughter? They will kill them?”
    “Yes. They tried to kill us already, twice before we . . . met you.”
    “How can ACE help?” Gower’s body was shaking.
    “I need to speak to Paul, ACE, okay? Let him filter to you now.”
    Gower nodded and then he twitched again. “So much for losing the palsy.”
    “Paul, I don’t think ACE can kill someone, right?”
    “Oh, it can. But I think you mean is it willing to? And the answer is no. At least, I’m not willing to have ACE go insane on me. I think requiring it to kill anyone would cause a major malfunction.”
    “Yeah, that’s what I meant. But can ACE put some kind of shield around the hostages?”
    Gower had the expression I was coming to know as him having a chat with ACE in his head. “Yes,” he said finally. “But ACE isn’t sure how well it will work, since this will be the first time we’re trying this together.”
    “We’ll have to chance it.” I looked at Martini. “Really, I mean it. Can you, Michael, and Christopher go wrangle up some alligators?”
    “Why not a couple of grizzlies while we’re at it?” he snapped.
    “If there were any here, I’d ask for them by name, but we have to work with what we’ve got.”
    “You’re insane,” Christopher said. “I know I say that a lot, but it’s true.”
    “Boys, the longer you wait to get my requested prehistoric attack dogs, the more chance we have of people we care about getting hurt, more hurt, or killed. Oh, and don’t hurt the alligators—they’re a protected species.”
    “Unlike the three of us,” Martini grumbled. He shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to put this latest plan of yours into action.” He heaved a sigh. “But I am. Michael, you’ll have to lead us out, and we’re going to have to get through the lockdown somehow.”
    “Piece of cake, we’ll just break out a wall.” Michael seemed serious. I decided not to question.
    “Be careful.”
    “Now she suggests that, after we’re committed to ’gator capture. Unreal.” Christopher glared at me and then at Gower. “You get to stay. Why?”
    “I’ve got ACE. That’s a big responsibility.” He was grinning. “Besides, someone needs to ride herd on Kitty while you’re off having fun.”
    “Fun. Right.” Martini gave me a long-suffering look.
    I grabbed his shirt, pulled him to me, and kissed him. “I really do mean it, Jeff . . . be careful.”
    He nuzzled my ear. “Always. I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to make you pay for this later for anything.” He pulled away from me, stroked my cheek, and then the three of them headed off. One second there, the next, gone.
    Gower sighed. “What are we going to do while we wait for them to round up some alligators?”
    “Figure out what we’re going to do if our Club 51 friends start up with the mayhem before the others get back.”
    “Oh, good. Back to routine.”

CHAPTER 43
    “SO, WHILE WE’RE WAITING AND PRAYING, what is Club 51, exactly?” Brian asked.
    “Remember Chuckie?”
    “Oh, yeah, Conspiracy Chuck. Vividly. I never understood why you got along so well with him.”
    “Because he was smart and funny, and we both liked comics.”
    “Right, my girlfriend, the comics geek. I remember.”
    “Funny. Anyway, Chuckie was really into all the UFO stuff, and that didn’t wane when we got to college. He knew every theory, rumor, or supposition, basically.” And, as my life proved every day, he’d been right, too. “He told me about these guys, and he didn’t like them. They’re anti-alien, militant about it, too.”
    “Like skinheads?”
    “Worse.”
    “Wonderful.” Brian looked away from the window and at me. “You have a spare gun?”
    “Yeah.” I dug the extra Glock out of my purse and handed it to him.