by Gini Koch
“I got the word on empathic children from one of Jeff’s sisters.”
White shrugged. “My wife dealt with Jeffrey very well. And Christopher. Imageers are not always the easiest babies, either, at least those whose talents manifest early.” He chuckled. “Imageers are much harder to deal with as children and teenagers than empaths, in some key ways.”
“You don’t seem worried.”
He laughed again. “In the five-plus months I’ve known you, you’ve proved to be many things, but a quitter isn’t one of them. Nor are you a coward. I feel confident that if Jeffrey ever does declare for you, and you accept, that you will manage to successfully deal with his many quirks.”
I didn’t really think of Martini as quirky. “That would be my plan, yes.”
“Good.” He sighed. “Well, another mission over, and completed quickly.”
“I suppose.” I stopped walking. “Richard, do you really think it’s over?”
“In the grand scheme of things, no. But it appears you’ve crippled a huge anti-alien conspiracy as well as saved our personnel at Kennedy. While creating freedom for our young people at the same time.”
“Right. Do we really have to go to Caliente Base?”
“Yes, but no worries. Your belongings have already been moved there, and while it’s smaller than Dulce, there should be sufficient space. And I don’t expect it to remain separate from the rest of us all that long. As soon as I can gracefully acquiesce to your demands, we’ll return to normal, with a few differences. And, of course, we hope that Alpha Team will continue to straddle the lines between old and new. So come by any time,” he added with a grin.
I didn’t argue with him, but I was still worried. We filed some reports, White took each member of Alpha Team aside to tell them what he’d told me, and then we gated to Caliente Base. I insisted on taking my car, and Martini stayed with me while the others went ahead.
“Jeff, do you think it’s over?” I asked while we waited to get flagged through the vehicle gate.
He was quiet. “Why would you ask me that?” His voice was strained.
I looked at him; the color had drained from his face. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” I put one hand to his forehead and grabbed his wrist to check his pulse.
“You’re asking me if we’re over.” He sounded ill.
“Oh! No, Jeff, I wasn’t. I meant the thing with Leventhal Reid.” I stroked his face. “Why would you think I was asking if we were over?” My stomach tightened.
“I don’t know.” He sounded tired.
“Baby, are you sick?” I checked his heartbeats. Like his pulse, a little fast, but not out of the ordinary for him being upset. His skin felt a bit clammy.
“I’m fine. As for Reid, I don’t know.” He looked at me and gave me a weak smile. “You don’t think it’s over, do you?”
“No, I don’t.” Time to drive through. I looked at Martini. He still looked as though he wasn’t feeling well. I shifted into first, then held his hand. It seemed to help him. Got through the gate, drove to the motor pool area.
Caliente Base was the smallest base I’d ever been in. Meaning that it only went ten stories into the ground and didn’t house a huge scientific research facility or well over ten thousand people. It was housing several thousand, though. Caliente Base was busier than I’d ever seen it before.
I saw a variety of people, including Doreen. She was hanging on the arm of a guy who looked as though he’d won every Science Fair from kindergarten through graduate school. He had a dazed, “how did I get this lucky?” expression every time he looked at her. I predicted a happy marriage.
Due to space limitations, couples were pretty much required to share quarters. Other than soundproofing issues, this presented no challenges since we didn’t have anyone with refugee status younger than twenty, which was considered the A-C age of consent.
Martini and I found our room. As Commanders, we got bigger digs than most. All of Alpha and Airborne were on the same floor. In addition to this pointing out how much power our refugee status was going to have within the A-C community, I really prayed for soundproofing. I didn’t want to deal with the jokes from Tim and Reader if they heard me yowling.
I said as much jokingly to Martini and had to spend an hour calming him down. I went from somewhat concerned to really worried. He picked it up, and we almost got into another fight, but thankfully our sex drives solved the problem.
The sex was great, but when we were done, he was out again, head cuddled on my breasts. This wasn’t totally unusual for us, but normally he’d hold me. I tried to tell myself nothing was wrong, he’d just gotten used to it on the jaunt to Florida.
I stroked his hair and knew I was a liar.
CHAPTER 63
THE NEXT TWO WEEKS WERE remarkably uneventful, to the point of dullness. Oh, sure, we had the random superbeing manifestations, but none of them required Alpha or Airborne.
Club 51 seemed silent, and Leventhal Reid had backed down on his demands to turn Centaurion into a military unit. Some of this was assumed to be because of ACE, though only a handful of high-ranking humans knew about what had happened. We’d have preferred that no one else know, but Kevin had to brief my mom, Mom had to brief the President, and the President pretty much could and did tell whoever he thought needed to know, so we weren’t in a position to keep anything hushed up. Most of the team, Martini included, moved to the opinion the operation was over.
Some of the time was spent determining which human households were getting gates installed. After this, no one wanted anyone involved with Centaurion driving or flying if they didn’t need to.
I personally spent some time being evasive with Chuckie and texting with Caroline. I was well-practiced with Chuckie, so that went as well as could be expected, meaning I lied, he got frustrated, and I spent a lot of time feeling guilty. This set even less well with Martini than it usually did, and we spent a lot of time snapping at each other.
It was even harder with Caroline. I didn’t want to talk to her because I didn’t know how much she might know, and I didn’t want to have to play verbal gymnastics, but I wanted to see if she had any info on Reid and related issues. So I had to really word my texts well, and that took some work.
All I got for my efforts was that the situation in Paraguay had quieted down and the government was taking a wait-and-see attitude. She was able to confirm that her senator didn’t like Reid, but she was slim on the whys and where-fores. She promised to let me know if she heard anything new about Paraguay or Reid, and that was pretty much all I could hope for from my lone Washington “insider.”
Most of the time was spent discussing Caliente Base’s status. My parents ostensibly came to help, though they spent most of their time just hanging out. My mother had assigned Kevin to Caliente Base, so he was around a lot.
I was thankful he was, because he was the only person besides me who was still on edge. Even my parents felt it was over, at least for a good while.
Kevin and I were having coffee in the commissary. Caliente’s commissary wasn’t as good as Dulce’s, but it was still better than most five-star restaurants. “I don’t like it,” he said for the fifth time in fifteen minutes.
“I don’t either. And everyone else thinks we’re crazy.”
“Yeah. Even Angela thinks we’re spooked or overreacting.” He sighed. “Maybe we are.”
“We’re not. I know it in my gut, and so do you.” I took a deep breath and tried to articulate what was bothering me. “Something’s missing. Like in Star Wars, when the Millennium Falcon gets away from the Death Star, and Princess Leia says the bad guys let them go, because their escape was too easy?”
“And she’s right, yeah.” He cocked his head at me. “I don’t know that I’d call our escape easy.”
“You sound like you’re auditioning to be Han Solo.” I had to admit Kevin could do it, but Martini would carry the role off better. “It’s the jet.”
“What about it? No bomb was attac
hed. It was scanned before we left and once we were back, too.”
“It was also sitting at Kennedy, unguarded, for two days.”
“But there’s nothing wrong with it.”
I closed my eyes. It was there, the answer, just tickling me at the back of my brain. I wondered if ACE had left that little bit of Terry inside me if I’d know what it was, be able to see what was wrong. Maybe, since I couldn’t get it.
I felt a hand on the back of my neck and jumped. “Hey, why are you so nervous?” Martini asked.
“You startled me. I was trying to think.” I tried to arch into his hand, but he took it away.
“Sorry, I’ll let you two be alone.” He stalked off.
Kevin raised his eyebrow. “Something going on with you and Jeff?”
“I don’t know. He’s been . . . different since we got back from Florida.”
Kevin’s eyes narrowed. “Different how?”
“Moody, suspicious, overtired. He’s taking anything I say to mean I don’t want to be with him.” My stomach was in knots.
“Maybe you two should get away for a few days.”
“We go to my ten-year high school reunion tonight.” I wasn’t packed, but that was because I was stalling.
“That should be fun.”
“I’m dreading it. But Jeff really wants to go.” I looked around. He wasn’t in the commissary anywhere.
“Go after him. I’ll handle the worrying about what we’re missing for both of us for a while.” He grinned and his smile made me feel a little better.
As I headed to our room, I realized that part of why Kevin’s smile was comforting was because I hadn’t seen Martini’s too often since we’d been back. Riding in an elevator without him tended to make me horny. Today it made me want to cry. My real fear about our relationship—that I was attractive to him because I was forbidden fruit—stampeded up and waved at me. He’d started acting differently as soon as we’d gotten back and White had confirmed that sanctified and approved interspecies marriages were on the horizon.
By the time I reached our room, I was almost in tears. Martini was in there, sitting on the couch, looking upset. “So, you and Kevin having a thing?”
I closed the door and forced myself not to cry. If he was going to do this to me, I wasn’t going to let him know how much it hurt. “Jeff, what’s wrong? Are you sick or just out of it?”
“You seemed into it with him.”
“He’s happily married!”
“He never goes home!”
I pressed my lips together, counted to ten. Went to twenty. Could talk at thirty. “He goes home at night. We go to bed, he goes home. If you’d care to recall, we installed a gate in his house, just like at my parents’, since he’s now the official P.T.C.U. Liaison to Centaurion Division.”
“And I see that means he’s assigned to spend every waking moment with you.” Martini glared at me. Still wasn’t up to Christopher’s standards, but he was working at it.
I forced myself to go sit on the couch next to him. He shifted away from me. I folded my hands and looked at them. Maybe I could keep it together if I didn’t think about what was slipping away. “Why are you doing this?” I kept my voice low.
“Doing what? Catching you cheating on me?”
“Jeff, I’m not cheating on you. Not with Kevin, not with Christopher, not with anyone.” I took a deep breath. “Why don’t you just tell me the truth?”
“What would that be?”
“That you want to break up with me.”
The sentence hung on the air. My eyes filled with tears, but I refused to let them fall. I batted my lashes until I got the tears to go back. He still hadn’t said anything. I thought about all the times he’d said he loved me—apparently he was a great liar, I just hadn’t wanted to see it. I was clenching my hands together so tightly my knuckles were white.
He still hadn’t spoken. I didn’t look at him, I just got up and went into the bedroom. My rolling suitcase was there, and I packed for the reunion. The temptation to not wear the dresses he’d wanted me to was high, but he had great taste, and I might as well look good since I was now going stag.
I finished packing, but he hadn’t come into the room. Went back to the little living room, and he was still on the couch. I risked a look at him in case he was passed out or something, but, no, he was still breathing and still glaring. At nothing, as far as I could see.
“I’m going to go to the resort.”
“Why?” Oh, so he was still able to speak.
“Because you registered us for my reunion and I’m going to go.”
“Thought you didn’t want to go.”
“I didn’t. I still don’t. But clearly I can’t sleep here any more, and I just don’t want to explain this to my parents . . . since I don’t understand it.”
He looked at me, and his eyes were cold. Even when he’d been furious with me for my time in the elevator with Christopher—and he’d looked cold and angry then—it was nothing compared to now. I backed away. “You understand exactly what you’ve done.” He was snarling at me.
“No, Jeff, I don’t. I don’t know what’s happened since we got back from Florida. But I do have a guess.”
“What’s that?”
“You’ve had a lot of fun being with a human, a good time complaining about the system, but that was because you didn’t believe Richard would ever condone interspecies marriage. Now that it looks like it’s coming, you feel trapped, and you don’t love me, so you’re being a total asshole to drive me away.”
I turned around and went to the door. “It’s worked. I’ll get the rest of my things sometime after the reunion weekend’s over. I’ll make sure you’re not here.”
“Kitty.” I froze, hoping for a miracle. “The reservation’s under both our names. The hotel’s already paid for. Consider it a . . . paid vacation.”
“Thanks so much.”
I got out of the room and into the hall. I couldn’t see, my vision was blurred with tears. I didn’t want anyone I didn’t know well to see me, I couldn’t handle trying to explain what I didn’t want to believe. I went down the hall and bumped into someone.
“Kitty, are you okay?” Christopher grabbed my upper arms to keep me from falling down. I was still trying not to cry, so that meant I couldn’t talk. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?” I shook my head. “Let’s get you back to your room.”
“No.” One word, but the floodgates opened. I started sobbing, and Christopher pulled me into his arms.
“Kitty, what happened? Where’s Jeff?”
“We broke up.”
“What?” He moved me to look at my face. “Did I hear that right? You and Jeff broke up?” I nodded, tears still running down my face. “Why?”
“He doesn’t love me. He just wanted to play around, and he’s angry and accusing me of having an affair with Kevin.”
“With Kevin?” Christopher looked confused. “I know you think he’s hot, but hell, you think the entire A-C population’s hot, too.” He looked more closely at me. “You sure it’s not me?”
“Positive. Your name didn’t come up. Oh, but, you know, if he sees us together, I’m sure he’ll decide I’m cheating with you, too. Probably James and Paul and Tim, as well. Probably your dad. I mean, why not?”
Christopher looked down. “Where are you going?”
“We were supposed to go to my reunion tonight. I’m going. It’ll give me three days to figure out how to explain this to my parents. And I can’t be around him. He doesn’t love me—I don’t think he ever did.”
“Kitty, that’s not true. He loves you so much.”
“Oh. yeah? Well, you go talk to him about it and see how much he loves me.” I took a deep breath and forced myself to stop crying. “I’m not sure if I can stay with Centaurion.”
“We need you.” Christopher sounded panicked. “I don’t know what’s wrong with Jeff, but we’ll fix it.”
“Good luck. Figure if I do come back I’m going to
base anywhere Jeff isn’t, okay?”
“Don’t make any decisions until the weekend’s over, okay? Promise me that. Something’s wrong, let me try to fix it first.”
“I should have stayed with you.” I’d been thinking it, but I hadn’t meant to say it out loud.
Christopher stroked my face and then pulled me into his arms again. “I told you if he ever hurt you I’d kill him. I meant it. But before I kill him, I want to find out why he’s lost his mind. Okay?”
“Okay. You don’t have to kill him. Just don’t let him know that I care, okay?”
He let me go and nodded. “I’ll call you, if only to check on how you’re doing.”
“Thanks.”
He let me go, and I ran for the elevator. Made it to the motor pool area without anyone noticing how awful I looked. Flung my luggage in the trunk, myself into the driver’s seat, and got the hell out of Caliente Base.
CHAPTER 64
THE PRINCESS WAS A BEAUTIFUL resort. I managed to remind myself of that as I drove up to the valet. Plastered a happy look on my face, and managed to keep it all the way through the registration process. When asked where the other party was, I just said he was running late and would check in when he arrived.
The room was beautiful, a huge suite. There were a dozen red roses in a crystal vase. At first I thought they were standard, but I spotted a card in them. I pulled it out.
“Kitty, you’re more beautiful than any rose could ever be, all my love, Jeff”
I managed to make it to the bed before I collapsed in tears. I couldn’t believe someone who could think of something like this ahead of time would be so cold when it was time to say good-bye over nothing. Now that I wasn’t near him, I found it hard to believe it had happened. From the moment we’d met, Martini had been charming, protective, loving. The man I’d fallen in love with was nothing like the man I’d spent the last two weeks with.
I wanted that part of Terry back more than ever. I knew she’d know what had happened, what I’d done to bring this out in him, how to fix it.
My phone rang. My purse had come to the bed with me, so I managed to answer on the fourth ring. “Girlfriend, what the hell’s going on?”