by J. Judkins
“She sold you guns, knives, and cell phones, among other things.”
The man looked her up and down. “If you already know that much, what do you need me for?”
“I wanted to know, was she only selling? Or did she buy anything?”
His eyes grew distant. He smiled a faint little smile while his fingers drummed the counter before him. “She bought something.”
Kim waited, but he spoke no further. “What did she buy?” she pressed.
“Not saying,” the man said with a grin.
“Jewelry? Electronics? Tools? Weapons?”
“Something expensive, I’ll tell you that much. She picked it up earlier this afternoon. Didn’t want to take it with her yesterday. Something about her girlfriend following her around town.” He eyed her suspiciously. “You the girlfriend?”
Now it was Kim’s turn to glower. The man’s smile widened in amusement. “I’m not getting involved in whatever it is you two have going,” he continued with a laugh. “Take it up with her, if you want.”
“Could you at least give me a hint?”
“Take it up with her, I said.”
Kim once again lamented her real-world inability to save the game and restart the conversation over from the beginning, hoping for a better outcome. “Thank you for your time,” she said, and left.
Kim returned to her car, irritated.
That left Angel’s not-so-secret lair. The two of them had walked the last time, taking a direct path. This couldn’t be done in a car. Kim solved this problem by driving to the movie theater and backtracking from there. It didn’t occur to her to use the street name she’d memorized and her GPS until much later. By then, she’d already found it.
Darkness had settled by the time she arrived. Kim killed the lights and stared at the building in question.
This is it. No more excuses.
Five minutes went by, then ten. Kim didn’t move. She continued to watch in silence.
There was no reason for her to delay. It all came to this moment. She had all the tools she needed to find all the answers. One collapsible ladder to reach the broken windows? Done. A hammer, in case she needed to make her own broken window? Done. She’d taken one from her garage that morning and didn’t even have to buy an extra.
A rope to climb out from the other side, after jumping in from the ladder through the window? Again, ridiculously easy. The store where she’d picked up the ladder had a display of different types of rope, clearly visible from the registers up front. The type she’d picked up, durable manila with a rope clamp, was even on sale.
As for the building itself, Kim didn’t anticipate any problems. There were no guards to be seen. Probably no alarms. Even the heavily chained door didn’t seem Angel’s style. Kim was guessing it had been passed down, courtesy of the previous renter or owner.
In fact, everything had fallen into place without effort. Nothing was stopping her. All she needed to do was take that first step and she’d have all the answers.
The windows weren’t even the only way in. She’d picked up bolt cutters to cut the chains at the main door, purchased thirty minutes before the ladder idea occurred to her. Angel would know someone had broken in, but no more than that. Kim didn’t even need to go inside if she didn’t feel like it. All she needed to do was climb up and shine a light through the window and she’d know everything there was to know.
Her checklist complete for the third or fourth time, she remained in her car. The air was getting stuffy, so she cracked a window. A pleasant breeze wafted in.
More time passed by. Kim listened to the ticking of her cooling engine.
Do something!
Kim took off her seatbelt. Progress, she snorted in disdain.
She hated this, absolutely hated the thought of investigating Angel. This was what she’d been worried about at work. She’d been right all along. At the moment of truth, her determination had abandoned her.
Easy to say she wanted answers at work or at home where the only thing she could do was plan and scheme about doing everything sometime in the distant future, but now that she was here with all the answers within reach, she flat out didn’t want to do it.
Wasn’t it at least possible Angel wasn’t part of a plan to conquer and enslave all of humanity? What if her tourist job were real? Couldn’t she have told the truth when she said she was here to see the sights and take in the local culture?
Even if Kim broke in and found something substantial, what then? Alien technology was just that, alien. Its workings would be beyond her. Besides, how could an unknowable alien device prove intent of something sinister? She’d be no closer to proving Angel’s guilt than before.
In addition, even if she recovered such a device, what could she do with it? No one would believe her story. And what if they did? What could some nameless government official do, other than confiscate the device and stash it next to the Ark of the Covenant and take Angel away? Kim couldn’t be a party to that. They’d probably want to dissect her or interrogate or torture her for the location of her spaceship or something.
Kim rested her forehead against the steering wheel. This was pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Some investigator she was. She had known or at least suspected Angel was up to something for over a week, and the second she made some progress and started uncovering the truth, she wanted to back off.
Had she become compromised? In the distant past of one week ago, Kim once wondered if Angel risked losing sight of her goals by throwing by herself into a relationship with her. If Angel fell for her, love might compel her to give up her mission.
Unfortunately, the same risk also applied to Kim.
She felt she wasn’t in love with Angel, but there had to be some reason to explain her blatant unwillingness to reach out and take the answers lying just within reach.
Did she want Angel to be innocent so badly? Wasn’t uncovering her plans the reason why she invited her home in the first place? Angel told her she believed Kim took her home because she’d been lonely. While she couldn’t deny she liked having Angel around and kind of enjoyed the kissing part, Kim knew Angel had to be wrong about that.
Somewhere along the line, she’d become compromised. Nothing else could explain it. Her emotions were getting in the way. She liked Angel too much. That must be it. That had to be it. It was one thing to wonder if she had the strength to turn Angel in, believing she was guilty, but Kim didn’t even want to risk knowing.
The implications were a bit unnerving, so she buried them. There had to be another reason. A logical reason.
Kim opened her car door, but did nothing beyond it. The open door was nothing more than an empty gesture, she realized, and she closed it again with a sigh.
Even if she had physical proof in hand, something that looked like a weapon, that didn’t necessarily imply Angel intended to fulfill her original goals. She could change her mind at any point. Couldn’t she?
What if Angel did fall for her?
But why would she? The idea of it seemed ridiculous. Kim knew there was nothing special about her. The only amazing and extraordinary part of her life was Angel.
But could it be possible? What if--
This was the one theory she hadn't dared to contemplate.
Don’t avoid thinking about it. Don’t think of it as a daydream. Consider it. Really, consider it, for once. Assume for a moment it’s true.
Kim allowed her imagination to take over. Angel lied at the beginning. She lied, fully intending to establish a relationship with her and then back out of it at a later date. Angel cared nothing for her at the start. She started doing evil alien things to fulfill her evil alien agenda the way a proper evil alien scout should.
But that didn’t last. Things had changed for Angel, and nothing had gone according to plan. Angel elected to play the role, but even a master schemer like Angel couldn’t fully anticipate the reality of powerful emotions she’d never encountered before. Kim turned out to be far too sexy and attractive for t
he innocent and naïve young scout to resist. It took time, but in the end, the relationship corrupted her.
Angel fell madly in love, and Kim became more important to her than the mission she’d been sent here to accomplish. Angel realized Kim wouldn’t like it if her entire planet were conquered and enslaved. Angel could be standing on the precipice, torn with indecision and on the verge of a change of heart.
If any of that were true, Kim didn’t dare interfere. If she went to her at this critical juncture with harsh allegations and waving supposed proof of wrongdoing in her face, Angel would see it as nothing less than a betrayal of trust.
In an instant, all of Angel’s hopes would be crushed. Kim would have betrayed her. Angel would tearfully tell her how she’d been ready to confess, to change sides and throw it all away in the name of love and passion and had been willing to devote the rest of her life to her, but Kim ruined it with her suspicions and hurtful accusations.
Her faith in love shattered, she’d go back to her old mission, choking back tears as she mourned what could have been, desperately hoping to forget in the flames of conquest and rampant destruction.
Kim thought about this.
Okay, none of that was likely.
First of all, Kim knew she wasn’t an undiscovered sex goddess of any sort. There was nothing extraordinary about her or her life. Nobody ever made any effort to get to know her beyond learning her first name. Real life bored her. She was introverted and self-centered, and spent her life on a never-ending search for ways to pass the time. Only in Japanese manga and anime would aliens be attracted to her for no apparent reason.
Surely Angel couldn't be that guilty. After all, she’d shown Kim her secret lair. If she were up to no good, she would have denied it even existed. That was something, wasn’t it? Angel had even hinted at a surprise in the near future. Surprises were meant to be pleasant experiences. Kim doubted Angel intended to surprise her by announcing her intentions to enslave her planet and follow her master plan to its logical conclusion.
Surely inviting her along wasn’t a clever ploy to alleviate Kim’s suspicions? Villains didn’t show off their secret bases in clever ploys to show the good guys they had nothing sinister in mind.
In other words, waiting was preferable. All would be revealed in time. It didn’t have to be something that would doom the Earth and all its inhabitants to slavery and death.
Kim started her car. She wasn’t going to get her answers today. Her heart wasn’t in it. She’d give Angel a chance and see what happened.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Kim couldn't help but smile as she drove home. A new plan was forming in her mind. She realized her failure hadn't been a total failure. Any feelings she may or may not have for Angel were irrelevant. She hadn’t failed because of a lack of willpower. Instead, it had been realization, knowing that any alien technology she found couldn’t be used as evidence of wrongdoing.
She’d been going about things the wrong way. Instead of playing detective, she needed to play up to her own strengths if she wanted to survive. Hers should be a long-term strategy. She’d learn by careful observation, not by finding evidence.
But to do that, she needed to build tolerance. That had been her personal challenge to Angel, all those nights ago. Kim needed to match her own, lifelong, hard-won skills against Angel’s raw talent.
With this in mind, Kim devised a new strategy.
Angel sought to seduce her by exploiting Kim’s weakness, namely her inability to maintain control in the face of passion. To counter this, Kim had devised a program of building resistance. Tonight she planned to expand upon this defense.
What she now envisioned was a technique to combine the intensity of kissing without the risk of losing herself after prolonged exposure to it.
But she had to be sure it would work. Unlike Angel, Kim couldn’t design complex schemes without preparation. She had to think them through and plan for every possible outcome.
Kim locked herself in the computer room as soon as she got home. Other than the bathroom, this was the last place left to her that ensured privacy. In this refuge, Kim’s dark plan borne of desperation and optimism began to take shape. She looked at every possible outcome. She examined every detail, mapped out every possibility and accounted for all possible contingencies.
Her hard work and persistence paid off. Two hours later, there it was. The perfect plan. Kim wanted to weep, it was so beautiful. She would have laughed out loud, but couldn’t risk Angel hearing and divining her purpose, anticipating her plan and dreaming up her own contingencies to counter hers.
How could it go wrong? It wouldn’t. It couldn’t! Everything about it was flawless.
A goodnight kiss with an artificial but immutable time limit.
It. Could. Not. Fail!
The goodnight kiss was unavoidable at this stage of their relationship. Tonight, Kim intended to twist that experience to her advantage. In a normal situation, the intensity of a prolonged kiss was risky and best avoided. But in a controlled environment, Kim risked nothing.
Kim discovered the means to her salvation only a few days ago. She’d realized that of all the possible encounters, only the inevitable goodbye kiss contained no risk whatsoever because of its inherent time limit. Even if she lost all control, the kissing had to end at some point or she risked being late for work. A time limit, even an artificial one, allowed her to reap the benefits of the experience without risk to self or virtue. Kim couldn’t get carried away and lose herself to passion.
The maximum amount of experience. None of the risk.
It was, for want of a better word, perfect.
Kim gathered the clothes she intended to wear to bed and took her shower. It had become customary to take a shower before Angel, and tonight would be no different.
After dressing, Kim picked up her book and sat on her bed to wait. She positioned herself to better see the hallway which lead to the bathroom just beyond her sight. There was no other path for Angel to take.
Angel isn’t the only one to take advantage of her opponent’s schedule.
The trap was set.
Kim only had one chance, or else it would be for nothing. If she acted before Angel intended to take her shower, it wouldn’t be close enough to bedtime to be qualified as a goodnight kiss. Angel could want another kiss after the first, and be justified in expecting one. Kim would benefit from the first encounter, but risked losing everything to the second.
If Kim delayed the kiss or relaxed her vigil and missed her opportunity, Angel would take her shower on schedule. Doing so would remove the implied time limit, the safety net of insisting Angel take her shower before bed. In addition, if she missed her chance, Angel would emerge in little more than a towel. Kim’s plans couldn’t survive under such conditions.
And now the time had come. Kim heard Angel’s approach. She smiled and set her book aside, resisting the urge to giggle. If she started, she may never stop.
Angel never reached the bathroom. She found Kim standing in her way.
Step two, thought Kim.
With great pride, she used her masterwork phrase. “I’m assuming you wanted a goodnight kiss before your shower, and you didn’t want to wait.”
The phrase could not be misinterpreted or resisted. Kim couldn’t resist a smirk. After Angel agreed to this deceptively simple, innocuous request, it would focus the blame entirely on Angel where it belonged. Kim would be absolved of any hint that she had anything to do with it.
In addition, kissing Angel at that moment freed Kim from her obligation to kiss her later that night. It also implied, without being obvious, that Angel would take her shower immediately afterwards. This was the mechanism to enforce the protective time-limit, the safeguard needed to protect Kim from any loss of control.
Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen, Kim thought, then laughed a slow, raspy laugh to herself.
It was a masterpiece of inescapable conclusions! It was absolutely, 100% perfection! It was
foolproof! It was--
“I can wait,” said Angel.
DAMN IT!
Kim turned away, seething with the injustice of it all. Her fists clenched and unclenched in impotent rage and frustration. She hadn't planned on that. Why didn’t she cover that in the flowchart? Angel wanted to wait? Intolerable. Waiting was Bad with a capital B!
Kim couldn’t wait. She couldn’t risk Angel all but naked after her shower combined with the threat of a goodnight kiss looming over her head.
The combination was a recipe for disaster!
How? How did Angel know? Even Kim hadn’t spotted the weakness, yet Angel found it at once. Her mind churned with frustration, resentment, envy, and admiration all rolled into one. Somehow Angel guessed the meaning behind her strategy. She knew a delay would be to her advantage.
Angel spoke again, interrupting Kim’s thoughts. Her voice was somewhat softer as if she’d just concluded something. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I wanted to do this now.”
What? No!
Kim squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to scream in frustration.
Angel was already twisting her words. By saying she wanted it, by agreeing, Angel implied Kim had only been using the phrase as a thinly disguised excuse to kiss Angel because she wanted to do it now.
All true, but why couldn’t Angel be the one blundering into the traps for a change?
Kim started to feel the first tremors of fear. She had been outmaneuvered. This wasn’t working. Somewhere, she had made a mistake. Her tactics were flawed. All those diagrams and pages and pages of notes turned out to be worthless!
“I’m curious,” Angel continued, cruelly, unmercifully, somehow knowing Kim’s thoughts were scattered to the four winds and she hadn’t yet reclaimed them. “How can you claim it’s a goodnight kiss when we’re not going to bed immediately afterwards?”
That wasn’t in the script, either. On previous nights, Angel had kissed her goodnight without the two of them going to bed afterwards. Angel was supposed to follow established patterns, not invent new ones.