by Gini Koch
Martini glared at me. “This is Mr. My Best Friend? This is who proposed to you tonight?” He sounded furious.
I backed up against Reader. “Um. . . . ”
“Yeah,” Chuckie said. “She said she’d think about it. Means no.”
“Um.... ”
Chuckie looked at me. “Well, it means no if the other guy runs over a hundred miles on foot in time to save you from the vicious sociopath.” He looked over at the dead bodies and then back to me. “And then tosses a moving car, rips it apart with his bare hands, wraps a three-inch diameter lead pipe around said sociopath’s throat, and proceeds to turn said sociopath’s head into pulp. Otherwise, it might have meant maybe.”
“Stay away from her,” Martini snarled.
Chuckie got up into Martini’s face. “You wish. I’ll be at the wedding. I’ll be watching. Screw up again, and I’ll make sure you pay for it.” He turned away, came over to me, took my arm, and led me away from the others. I looked back—Martini was glaring at us.
“Chuckie, this is probably a really bad idea.”
“He’s in control. The drug replicates, as your friend said. However, the counter for the drug is adrenaline.” He gave a short laugh. “Martini injected himself with enough adrenaline to kill a horse. It gave him the super strength you saw, tripled or more his regular stamina, and provided faster and stronger regeneration. It won’t last. After the first few hours’ worth of him acting like the Hulk, the adrenaline will burn out the rest of the drug.”
“How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “You told me to help him. I called in some favors and put some Earth scientists who can actually out-think the A-Cs on this. Most of the work had been done, so it was fast.”
“Did you tell Jeff?”
Chuckie shook his head. “No. He’d already shot in the adrenaline and was after you before we’d figured it out.”
“Then how did he know?”
“I assume he didn’t.” Chuckie stroked my face. “He did what I would have if I’d been able to, what any man would, if he loved you enough. He took a dangerous risk to have the hope of getting to you in time. It worked.” He gave me a bittersweet smile. “You’re alive, and you chose him. I break even.”
“I would have said yes seven months ago.” Or, probably, any time between Vegas and Martini.
“But you didn’t say yes in Vegas.”
“You weren’t joking then?” Horror danced in my mind, laughing at me, but I tried to keep it out of my voice. Wasn’t sure I succeeded.
“No. Getting married by an Elvis impersonator seemed like something right to do at the time.”
“I thought you were kidding.” Horror was joined by its best buddy, Guilt. Both of them pointed out that I was a moron.
“Yeah, I figured you cracking up and suggesting we go visit the white tigers again was sort of a clue.”
It was truly official—I was the densest girl on this or any other planet, including when told something point blank. He’d asked me to marry him and I’d laughed. Why had he even spoken to me after that? “Oh, God, Chuckie, please tell me you know I wasn’t laughing at you—” My voice was heading to the dog-only register.
He put his finger to my lips. “Hush. I know. I knew then, too. You’ve never laughed at me, Kitty, or made fun of me, not once since we met. Just one of the many reasons I’ve always loved you.” He shrugged as he took his hand away. “You weren’t ready to think of me romantically then. I realized it. Patience is one of my virtues, after all.” He gave me another sad smile. “Though, right now, I have to admit I see it as something of a curse.”
“Were you in the C.I.A. then?”
“No, I joined up afterward. Your mother recruited me.”
“My mother?” I wondered if I was the only person I knew whom Mom hadn’t helped land a job. Probably.
Chuckie shrugged. “She wanted someone there she could trust.”
Something registered. “Mom knew you’d proposed in Vegas?”
“Knew, told me she’d hoped you’d say yes, but when you didn’t, decided to, and I quote, let you stay dense and unaware for a while more and put me to useful work.”
“Nice.” Accurate, of course. “But, the C.I.A., not the P.T.C.U.?”
“The C.I.A. wanted me more, for a variety of reasons, my being independently wealthy at a young age and my brainpower being the two biggest ones. Being, as you always put it, the conspiracy king, helped, too. I went for it not only to help my country but because it seemed like a good way to impress girls.”
“They liked that you were into the conspiracy theories?”
He grinned. “They were worried. Because I was always right.”
“Not a surprise, really.”
“Yeah. They figured I had the means, the brains, and the interest to actually blow a lot of things wide open. Easier to recruit me than to kill me, thankfully. I think your mother had a lot to do with it, too. As I said, she wanted someone there she knew she could trust.”
“Figures.” No one told me anything until they absolutely had to, did they?
“I didn’t want to bring you into this world, but once you were in it . . . ” He looked sad, and I ran through all the points in our relationship when, if I’d just noticed, things would have taken at least a slightly different course. There were a lot of them.
“Yeah.” I wondered what, ultimately, would have been different if I’d had the brains to comprehend that my best friend was not only in love with me but that I’d been in love with him, too. A lot, probably. Or maybe nothing. One thing was sure—we were never going to know. “Our timing sucks.”
“Yeah. You still my friend? Or have I lost that?” He didn’t sound suave all of a sudden. He sounded like the guy I’d spotted reading X-Men Unlimited the first day of high school. The one who’d been shocked when I plopped down next to him to discuss the merits of Wolverine over Cyclops. The friend who’d always been there for me when I needed him—just like tonight.
I hugged him. “You’ll always be my friend, Chuckie.”
He held me tightly. “Good. I meant it, I’m coming to your wedding.”
“Good.”
“Your intended doesn’t think so.”
I looked up at him. “It’ll keep him on his toes.”
Chuckie bent and kissed my forehead. He kept his lips against my skin. “If he ever again hurts you, breaks your heart, does anything that makes you feel the way you did earlier today, you come to me.” He kissed me again, then pulled away. “I love you.”
Then he turned around and walked back to the sleek, black helicopter. He got in and it took off. I watched until it was swallowed by the moonless night.
CHAPTER 72
THE MEMORIES WERE CHANGED AND the videos altered. Leventhal Reid’s Wild Ride was heading off to the news media as the top story of the night, made as lurid as requested, since he was shown to be after a bevy of terrified college co-eds. The military took care of cleanup, Kevin and my parents were taking care of anything else, including doing something nice for Gloria and her coworkers, and Centaurion personnel were encouraged to disappear.
My car and my stuff were at the Princess, so I insisted on going there. My car had a note on it from Chuckie saying the C.I.A. had defused and removed the variety of booby traps Reid’s people had put on it, but Christopher had a team give it the once-over anyway. While we were waiting, an A-C operative showed up with a rolling bag he handed to Martini.
“What’s that?”
Martini shrugged. “Hotel’s paid for through the weekend.”
“Let’s get you registered, then. I no longer have a key.” Or shoes, a driver’s license, cell phone, or cash. Thank God I’d left my iPod in the room.
Reader handed me my handbag and shoes. “You might want these, girlfriend.”
“Wow, how’d you get them?”
He grinned. “Uh, I walked over to the stolen Mazda, extracted your stuff, and asked the Marines to be sure to get the car back in one piece
. It was tough, hanging out with all the buff guys in uniform, but you know, anything for you and the cause.”
“You’re a prince, James.”
Martini grunted and took my hand. “Let’s go.”
“We look like crap. Since we can get in after all, let’s just go to the room.”
“Nah. I want a key.” He still looked like Bruce Banner right before or after the Hulk change, and I looked like Elvira after a week-long bender. This wasn’t really a great idea in my book, but he was determined.
We went to the desk, and either the folks at the Princess saw this kind of thing all the time or Martini’s money was extra-special, because he was greeted warmly and with no undue concern. No one mentioned how we looked; no one mentioned that I’d stolen a Porsche in front of them, nothing.
“Did you just do a little mind meld or something?” I asked as the elevator arrived.
“Never pays to upset the help.” We got inside, hit the button for the top floor, and he pulled me into his arms and ravaged my mouth. He had me up against the wall and our bodies grinding together well before we reached our floor.
We got into the room, and he looked wild again. “Jeff? You okay?”
“Yeah.” His voice was low and his breathing heavy. He grabbed my dress and ripped it off me, lifted me up, and slammed my pelvis against his. His mouth covered mine as I moaned, wrapped my legs around him, and got the remains of his shirt off.
We fell onto the bed. It felt so much better lying on it with him on top of me. He pulled away from me for a moment though his lower body still pinned mine. “The reaction’s still going on. Time and exertion work it out.” His eyes were wild, but they weren’t frightening.
I ran my foot along his leg. “We have the time.”
He gave me a slow smile. “Sure you don’t want to take one of your other offers?”
I slid my hand up his chest, around his neck, and into his hair. “Show me what you have that they don’t.” I pulled his head to mine and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around me and everything felt right again.
We made wild love in every part of the room and in the shower twice. I found myself wondering if it was wrong to want to have a little of this drug and adrenaline cocktail around, just for special occasions.
Dawn came, and we were still occupied. But I could tell the effects were wearing off. Not that his performance suffered, but his heartbeats and pulse were slowing back to normal, his breathing was calmer, his eyes looked right again.
Somewhere in the morning we fell asleep, my face buried in his chest, wrapped around each other just like the first time he’d ever held me in the night. And just like then, I wasn’t frightened because he was holding me.
The room phone rang and woke us both up. I managed to look at the clock. Two in the afternoon. Okay, not an unreasonable time to be calling. Martini growled, searched around for the phone, and got it on the sixth ring. “WHAT? Oh, hi. Yeah, fine. Huh? Uh, sure. Give us an hour. Yeah, just woke up. Okay. Can’t wait.” He hung up. “I think I liked him better when he was after you.”
“Who?”
“Brian. He and Serene are here and want to hang at the pool with us.”
“It’s more fun to be at these things with someone you know, believe me.”
“That why you were so happy to see Reynolds last night?” He rolled out of bed. At first I thought we were headed for a fight, but he picked me up and carried me into the bathroom.
“I was kind of heartbroken, you know.”
“I know.” He kissed me tenderly. “I felt it, every emotion you had. My powers were so enhanced it was as though I could see you.” He held me tightly. “I felt each time you thought about me, and how much it hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.” His voice broke.
I wrapped myself around him. “Jeff, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Yeah, it was. I had that explained to me.”
“By whom?”
“ACE. He was very upset because, as he also explained, he realizes he can’t take an active role most of the time. But you were in danger, and I think ACE cares more about your safety than Paul’s.” He turned on the shower.
“Is that why you and Paul got into a fight?”
“Yeah. ACE was letting me have it, and I didn’t like it. So they knocked me out, Christopher put me into isolation, and then ACE chatted with me inside my mind. That is the freakiest thing in the world, let me just mention.” He was still holding me as he stepped into the shower.
“Yeah, he’s done it with me, too.”
“Well, I doubt he told you that your rampant jealousy and unwillingness to forget a minor transgression were not only causing massive heartbreak but were potentially going to result in the destruction of every person you cared about, starting with the one you loved the most.”
“Um, no. Not so much.”
“Yeah. ACE gave me the tip about the adrenaline, too.”
What a relief. “Oh, good. So you knew it would react against the drugs and clear them out of your system?”
“No. He told me the only chance I had to get to you in time was to give myself an overdose of adrenaline that would most likely kill me.”
I reared back and stared at him. “You were willing to kill yourself?”
“To save you? Yes.” His expression was dead serious. I figured ACE had to have known what the real drug reactions would be, so he’d been testing Martini. That wouldn’t go against what ACE felt was the prime directive, after all—Martini still had free will to decide what to do. I sent a thank you thought to ACE; I was pretty sure he’d hear it, though he might not let me know all the time.
“I love you, Jeff.”
Martini smiled. “I love you, too, baby. Now, let’s get cleaned up so I can rub sunscreen all over you.” I laughed and he grinned. “Oh, and, just to settle this now, we’re honeymooning in Cabo.”
“You do know how to close a deal, don’t you?”
He kissed me, then gave me an extra signing bonus.
CHAPTER 73
“NONE OF THESE PEOPLE REALLY remember you,” Martini said in a low voice, as we slow danced to, finally, a song from the nineties, “How do I Live” by LeAnn Rimes. I was thankful they hadn’t played this the night before. “And most of the ones who do just sort of remember you, and Brian, as blurred images. Half of them think I went to school with you, too. Why?”
“We haven’t seen each other for ten years. I remember Sheila, Amy, and Chuckie because I still see them and keep in touch with them. I mean, come on, Christopher had to tell me who Brian was, and Brian was more important to me than any other person currently in this room.”
“I don’t understand it.”
“I know, baby. But this is what it’s like for humans. I didn’t expect anything more. It’s okay, I’m having fun with you and Brian and Serene.”
“Will your college reunion be like this?”
“Maybe better. Keep in mind, Chuckie and I went to A.S.U. together, both majored in Business, and graduated the same year.”
“He’s coming to our wedding. Like seeing him at the reunion would be worse?”
“From what you both said, you two see each other all the time.”
“Yeah, can’t wait for when we have to pull you in, which I’m sure he’ll insist on immediately.”
“Maybe.” Chuckie hadn’t called me in for six months, after all. Which was proof he’d known what was going on and who I was involved with. And this was another reason he really was an awesome guy—he’d given me time to make the choice about Martini without outside pressure. Not that I was going to share a positive thought about Chuckie with Martini right now. We were having a good time, and I wanted to keep it that way. “It won’t matter.”
The song finished, and the next one the deejay chose was “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks. Martini grinned. “Better make sure.” He swung me into a dance that was like the tango, only faster and sexier. Almost like the one Brian and I had done a long time ago, similar to the one
I’d done with Chuckie the night before, but still unique, and far more erotic.
I was in his arms, my chest tight against his, when the dance and the song ended. “What was that?” I was ready to go over the edge, and I knew Martini could tell, by the smile on his face.
“How we tango, alien-style. It’s adaptable to any beat.”
Another song came on. “Angel” by Aerosmith. “Can we do it to this song?”
“Anything you want, I’ll do.” Martini kissed me, then led me again through the alien tango. All night long.
Coming in April 2011
The third novel in the Alien series from
Gini Koch
ALIEN IN THE FAMILY
Read on for a sneak preview
CALIENTE BASE WAS THE SMALLEST of all the U.S. Centaurion strongholds. Located just outside Pueblo Caliente, Arizona, it was originally supposed to merely provide a safe access for Centaurion personnel into Arizona, which had a lot of activity.
Until about six months prior, when I’d sort of led a second generation A-C uprising, declared the younger A-Cs who were of age to be political refugees, and had the U.S. government annex Caliente Base as the home base for our refugees. My way with people is legendary.
This had worked out better than it sounds, since Christopher’s father, Richard White, the A-C Sovereign Pontifex and therefore reigning religious leader of their large and extended clan had, it turned out, been looking for a smooth political way to allow inter-species marriages, based on my firmly held belief it was going to be better for both humans and A-Cs in the short and the long run.
Most of us had lived at the Dulce Science Center prior to this, and Martini and I continued to keep quarters there, in what I called his Human Lair. But we spent at least half the time in Caliente Base as well, since the younger generation were still considered religious refugees by the American government.
We were in the main conference room in Caliente Base, which was on the tenth floor of the complex. A-C complexes went down, not up, so we were deep underground. But A-C technology was quite advanced and the lighting made you think you were seeing the sun. Well, in the day. In the wee hours of the morning we were now in, all the lighting did was make you tired.