Touched by an Alien

would have used a baseball bat?”
    “It’s not like I spent my life hitting people with a Louisville Slugger.”
    “No, but trust me when I say I’ve seen you in action now, and using Beverly’s head for batting practice is definitely your style.” We got to my room and went in.
    “Superfast beings shouldn’t piss off the comics geek-girl.”
    “Glad all the money we spent on those things has paid off.” Mom put her hands on my shoulders. “You don’t feel remorse now, but you might later. Just remember—it’s one thing to kill an innocent. That’s hard, sometimes impossible, to get over. But many times evil needs to be killed in order to be stopped. And Beverly was evil.”
    “I know.” I hugged her. “Thanks for backing me up, Mom.”
    She kissed my head as she hugged me back. “Thanks for letting me.” She sighed. “I’m going to start identifying which A-Cs might have been involved in this with Beverly. It’s possible she was acting alone, but unlikely.”
    “Emily and Melanie feel the same, but they have no idea who could be involved. Me, I suggest you start with the rest of Beverly’s encryption team.”
    Mom gave me a “duh” look. “Thank God you’re here.” Her sarcasm knob was turned up to eleven.
    “Hey, I’ve gotten used to dealing with people who trust everyone. What should I do?”
    “Take a shower. You need one, and it’ll help. You won’t have Jeff to keep you occupied for at least a day, based on how he looked.”
    “Will do. Oh, and Mom? There’s an abandoned drainage pipe on the fifteenth floor. It’s how we got in, and I think we should put some security on it.”
    She smiled. “That’s my girl. I’ll take care of it.”
    She left, and I got undressed. My Aerosmith shirt was the worse for wear but still salvageable. Same with my jeans and even my Converse. I was about to step into the shower when there was a knock at the door.
    I looked frantically for a bathrobe and found one hanging inside the bathroom door. This was definitely a five-star hotel. I wrapped it around me and answered the door.
    Jerry was standing there. “Hey, I see you’re about to shower, but I’m clear that Commander Martini has the prior claim. The guys and I just wanted to give you something.”
    “It couldn’t wait?” I let him in.
    “Nope. We have to head back for debriefing.”
    “Even the boys with Claudia and Lorraine?” My poor girls.
    “Yes. However, Commander White’s requested we be moved to Centaurion Division as soon as possible. Our superiors estimate the five of us’ll be here within a month.”
    “I’m really glad.”
    “Me too. Especially since we’re assigned to your team.”
    “Come again?”
    He grinned. “You might want to talk to Commander White about it, but apparently you’re in charge of a new active division, and he figured you’d want your regular team with you.”
    Christopher wasn’t dumb at all. But this was sort of life-changing news. If you join with us, you won’t be going back there anyway. Well, White had warned me.
    “I’m proud to have you guys reporting to me.”
    “Yeah, our first orders are to teach you how to fly.” Jerry grinned. “I volunteered.”
    “No one I’d rather learn from.”
    The smile left his face, and he reached into his shirt pocket. “We wanted to give you something. So you’d remember all of us, just in case something happens between now and then.” He handed me a photo. There were six young men in uniform in it. I recognized five of them. One I didn’t. He was about Jerry’s age, slender, with strawberry blond hair and a great smile.
    I turned the picture over—they’d labeled who each of them were. The one I didn’t know was Lt. Wm. Cox.
    “He would have been proud to serve under you, too,” Jerry said quietly. “We all loved him like a brother. Believe me when I say this, Kitty—we’ll follow you to hell and back for how you reacted when he died. Not a lot of people would charge a monster, after all, and not too many more would worry about the family of someone they’d never met.”
    I nodded. I couldn’t speak. He kissed the top of my head. “I’ll let myself out. And see you in about a month, Commander Katt.”
    The door closed, but I didn’t get up. I just stared at the picture. I finally forced myself to put it somewhere safe—into an inner pocket inside my purse. Then I went into the shower.
    I stood under the warm water and finally let myself cry. I cried for what seemed