Alien vs. Alien

here.”
    “Thanks, we try.”
    “And you succeed. But that reminds me—why has Senator Armstrong been so desperate to have a meeting with you?”
    I didn’t remember Chuckie mentioning Armstrong at all in his debrief. I controlled myself from looking at Chuckie, or White. I had the feeling this was a test question. My mind worked fast—I had a variety of ways to answer this, but Cliff wasn’t my mother, ergo, Cliff wasn’t likely able to tell when I was lying, especially if I told the truth that was still, in that sense, a lie.
    “Oh, he wants us to use our influence for some of his projects. It’s the usual political cr—ah, stuff.”
    Cliff grinned again. “You can say crap in front of me. It’s a nicer word than I’m used to hearing, believe me.” He looked at Jamie. “Whoops.”
    I laughed. “It’s okay, and thanks. Anyway, I think the senator feels I’m the weak link, so he’s trying to get me on his side so I’ll influence my husband.”
    “And probably Chuck, too. Everyone knows you two are tight.”
    “I suppose. It’s hard to say with politicians.”
    Cliff nodded. “True enough.” He smiled at Jamie. “Beautiful baby.”
    She gurgled, then turned her face into my chest. “Aww, she’s gotten shy. But thank you, we think we’ll keep her.”
    He grinned. “Well, I’ll bet there’d be a lot of takers if you wanted to give her up.”
    “Uncle Pierre is first in line,” he said as he scooped Jamie out of my arms. She cooed and snuggled next to him as he did the Uncle Pierre version of the Baby Dance.
    I figured we should get the conversation off of Jamie, in part because I knew Jeff and the others were probably waiting for Chuckie to rejoin them. “What did you do before you became the Head of Special Immigration Services? You seem really young for the job, so I figure it was impressive.”
    “It was,” Chuckie said. “He was the second in command of Andrews Air Force Base.”
    Cliff shrugged. “I joined the Air Force right out of high school, worked hard and worked my way up. It’s not that impressive, really.”
    “Yeah, I hear that line from Chuckie all the time, too, and I’ve never bought it from him, either. Are you still in the Air Force?”
    “Nope. I retired to take the Special Immigration Services position. Neither the President nor the Head of Homeland Security asked me to, by the way, but I didn’t want to appear biased toward any one branch of the military, and I didn’t want the temptation to go back hanging over me.”
    “Why would that be a temptation?”
    Cliff and Chuckie both snorted. “The pressure of our kinds of jobs make going back to the comfortable familiarity of the military appealing, believe me,” Cliff said.
    “Dude, you’re not just whistling Dixie. So they passed over the head man at Andrews and gave the position to you?” Cliff nodded. “Does that mean said head man is thrilled for you or wants your job?”
    “I’m honestly not sure.”
    “The head man doesn’t like you,” Chuckie said. “Or me, for that matter.”
    “I think he doesn’t like you because you’re friends with me,” Cliff replied. “He’s angling for a different promotion, anyway. He’s career military, so Secretary of Defense is his goal.”
    “What’s his name?”
    “Colonel Marvin Hamlin,” Cliff said. “He may not like us, but he’s still a good man.”
    Chuckie shook his head. “You say that about everyone.”
    Cliff shrugged. “I’m the trusting one, you’re the suspicious one. We make a good team.” He looked at his watch and stood up. “I’d better get going.”
    “Tell whatever committees that I take full responsibility for what happened at NASA Base,” Chuckie said, as he stood, too.
    “Why? None of it was
your
fault.”
    Cliff nodded. “Kitty’s right. Don’t be too hard on yourself, Chuck. Things happen, and we can’t foresee or stop everything. I wish we could, but we can’t. You’re doing not only the best you can, but you’re doing a better job than anyone else in the position has or would.”
    Chuckie managed a grin. “Always nice to have a cheering section.”
    “Well, I know you have one in Kitty. And you should know you have one in me.” Cliff smiled at me. “Take care of our man here, and don’t let him beat himself up.”
    “Will do.”
    We all shook hands and walked Cliff to the door. We said our good-byes and he walked off down the block into Sheridan Circle.
    “He doesn’t have a driver?” White