Alien vs. Alien

up.”
    “This situation is going from bad to worse,” Franklin said.
    “Undoubtedly the bad guys’ plan. Look, Colonel, let’s get back to the others, and you tell us what’s going on so we can figure out what to do.”
    We rejoined the others. Oliver was looking rather pleased. “Colonel, you’ll be glad to know everyone in the room has been declared a safe security risk.” Oliver’s eyes twinkled. “Including me.”
    “Excuse me?” Franklin said.
    “I took pictures of all of us, myself included,” Oliver explained. “Captain Ward read them.”
    “Captains of industry!” Bellie said.
    I ignored her. “Captain Ward?”
    “Captains of military!”
    “Hush, Bellie. Not now.”
    “I got a promotion,” William said with a grin. “I had Jennifer read them, too, though, because everyone reads differently.”
    I managed not to share that, in all this time, I hadn’t actually bothered to find out what William and Walter’s last name was. I felt remarkably thoughtless, but fortunately William was an imageer, not an empath.
    Speaking of empaths, though, I turned to Jeremy, whose last name I actually had learned right off. Go me. “Jeremy, you need to read everyone, too.”
    “We’re ahead of you, Ambassador. Senator Armstrong already suggested it, and Captain Morgan approved. Each of us asked a question of the others, and I read reactions.”
    “Call me Kitty. And that’s great news. But, what questions did you ask?”
    “All along the lines of ‘which one of you is trying to kill or betray us,’” Oliver said.
    “Did anyone ask about the alien invasion?”
    Everyone sort of stared at me. “Excuse me?” Mona asked finally, clearly voicing most of the room’s views. “What are you talking about?”
    I looked at Jeremy. He wiped the shocked look off his face. “Confusion, annoyance, amusement,” he indicated Buchanan as the one who was finding this funny, “shock, fear, some anger. Feelings of being out of control and in danger. Boredom, stress, the standard stuff.”
    “No one focus on a single emotion?”
    “No. Just the typical panicked attempt to hide that everyone does. Well, most everyone.”
    I took a guess. “Malcolm, Tito, the senator, and Mister Joel Oliver didn’t do that, right?”
    “Right.”
    “Makes sense.” I turned to the Gower girls. “I sincerely hope I didn’t have to tell you that I expected you to be paying attention, too, did I?”
    “Nope,” Abigail said. “Now that Sis has calmed down, we’re able to focus. I got what Jeremy got—no one knows anything about the invasion, other than you, Uncle Richard, our two military men, and Mister Buchanan, but he guessed, and your question confirmed his suspicions. I don’t think anyone here is actually working with our enemies, either.”
    Naomi looked at Armstrong. “Any more.”
    He rolled his eyes. “That’s so five hours ago, young lady.”
    “Senator, you have a sense of humor we’ve been unaware of. How refreshing. William, Jennifer, your thoughts?”
    “All clean, so to speak,” William said. He smiled at the Middle Eastern Contingent. “Your secret will be safe with us, by the way.”
    “Secret?” I looked at the four of them. Khalid was on a couch next to Mona. Jakob was in a chair near him, and Oren was in a chair near Mona. I studied their body language and expressions. Mona looked protective. So did Oren. Jakob and Khalid, however, had poker faces on. And, as I judged the body language, they were leaning toward each other, just a bit. I had a feeling Mom somehow already knew what the secret was. “Ah. Interesting. We’rereally a very open principality. Or country. Or whatever you think we are.”
    Jeremy cleared his throat. “You just raised their anxiety levels, Ambassador.”
    Abigail laughed. “You met my brother, didn’t you? And his husband, Commander Reader. It’s not exactly a secret. Our people don’t have any issue with who someone else loves.”
    I saw the human males catch up, other than Buchanan, who looked as though he’d already known. Mom’s training, most likely. My strong impression—based on him flirting with me and sometimes seeming to live for making me blush—was that Buchanan was straight, at least if Jeff’s jealousy meter was any indication.
    “It’s a tremendous security breach, not to mention culturally frowned upon, so I can understand why the four of you don’t want it shared with the world. But since the secret you’re trying to hide isn’t