Alien Tango

said it softly, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t want any more of this particular moment ruined than had already been.
    Alfred looked shocked for a moment, then he burst into laughter. “It was pretty huge. Might have been our biggest one out there.”
    “Have been?” Guilt flitted through me. The alligators were protected. Sure, one had tried to chow down on me, but I’d been the one who’d insisted on bringing them inside in the first place.
    “Oh, they’re both fine. Both seriously angry, but fine. Doing a great job of anti-alien menacing.”
    “They’re still in the building?” I resisted the urge to leap onto Martini’s shoulders.
    He stood up and handed my purse to me. “I won’t let them hurt you.” He said it quietly again. I didn’t care that his father was there. I flung myself into Martini’s arms and buried my face in his chest. He stroked my head and back. “It’s okay, baby. I’m here.” He kissed the top of my head. “We have to swing back into action, baby.”
    I heaved a sigh. “Okay.” I looked up at him. “But I don’t want to.”
    “I don’t either. We don’t get the luxury.”
    “I know.” He shifted me to his side. I kept my arm around his waist, and he kept his around my shoulders. “Oh, before I forget, I want my Glock back.” Might as well have it, even if I couldn’t shoot the alligators.
    “No argument. I wish I’d let you keep it.” Martini pulled it out from the back of his pants. I dropped it into my purse.
    “It’s okay. You saved me, so it all worked out.”
    “So, what’ve we got?” Martini asked as we joined Alfred, back to all business.
    “The men locked up were the rest of the Security team, the ones who aren’t anti-alien. We confiscated all cell phones, pagers, and other handheld electronics. Christopher and Paul are going through them right now, to see what we’ve got.”
    “What about Brian and the Security guys he was covering?”
    “Brian’s fine, his charges are with the others.” Alfred chuckled. “I have to admit, I love the way you think. Alligators. They fired at them but missed every time, and you should have seen their expressions. Priceless.”
    “Any hostages hurt?”
    “Not by the alligators, no. ACE did a great job.” Alfred shook his head. “I’m amazed, and I don’t know how you did it, but it may be the single most important thing that’s happened for our race since we got here.”
    I didn’t know what to say to that. “No problem” was far too flippant and also inaccurate. “Happy to” didn’t seem to cover it. “I’m awesome that way” seemed a bit conceited, particularly if I was saying it to Martini’s father. “I’m glad, but I still would have rather spent the time being ravaged by your son” was by far the most accurate, but was definitely a no-no. And, “Will this make your wife like me?” was probably not a great response, either.
    “I’m just here to help.”
    “You did.”
    “She always does.” Martini hugged me. “Dad, I need to get some food into Kitty. She’s close to fainting.” This was true, but I was trying to play it cool.
    “No problem, son. Your mother will have dinner ready for everyone in our group.”

CHAPTER 46
    MARTINI STOPPED DEAD. “What do you mean? I thought the big family dinner would be after we finished up here.”
    “We are finished.” Alfred chuckled. “That federal agent friend of yours, Kevin, he’s efficient. Smart boy.” He looked at me and winked. “You could do worse.”
    “He’s married, happily. And I’m already doing better.” Martini’s body was so tense I wondered if he was going to need adrenaline. I squeezed his waist.
    Alfred shrugged. “Maybe he has a brother. Anyway, Kevin called in his antiterrorism team. They’re taking the conspirators into custody. Paul and Christopher altered human perception of what happened. And Christopher altered the images of what the astronauts did. I think we’re good to go.”
    “I have to be back here at dawn.”
    “Why?”
    “I have a catfight planned.” This was true, after all.
    “The stalker,” Martini said, through clenched teeth. “The one who wants to kill Kitty over Brian.”
    “Now, there’s a nice boy,” Alfred said. “You two used to be an item, too, didn’t you?” My head was near enough to Martini’s chest—his hearts were pounding so loudly I could hear them. He was going to lose it, any moment now.
    “Key phrase is ‘used to be.’ No strong interest on my