“Well done. Has anyone seen John?”
Both men shook their heads. “And Siler hasn’t seen him, either,” Buchanan added, sounding just a tiny bit worried. He looked behind me at the Turleens. “You sure we can trust them?”
“Seems that way. As always, events will tell.”
We indicated that the Field agents in attendance should be guarding the other prisoners and had Claudia and Lorraine come over so we could update everyone on what Muddy had told us and ensure that we all got sunburned together, though I presumed Reader would tan perfectly, as would the girls. And everyone else. Maybe Tim would sunburn to show solidarity with me, but I doubted it. I was always the lobster in any group.
“Do you think we can believe them?” Kevin asked when we were done. “They could just be telling us what we want to hear.”
“Like the DUI Dudes? I don’t think you fly from the Sirius system just to spin a bunch of lies.”
“Apparently anyone can travel across the galaxy like it’s nothing,” Reader said. “Other than us.”
“Well, that’s why it’s nice to have friends who can give you a lift. And all that.” Was about to ask if anyone had a theory as to why the DUI Dudes were okay with being around a robot that was set to explode when Tim nudged me.
“Uh, Kitty?” he said, sounding a little freaked. “I think you want to see this.” He was looking behind me.
Turned back to Muddy and his people. But I wasn’t seeing Muddy and his people anymore. I was seeing what looked like hundreds of desert tortoises. Calm, placid, dull desert tortoises, all looking as dull and uninteresting as a tortoise possibly could.
“Um, wow. They can shapeshift, too. After a fashion, at least.” Thought fast because the question was—why had they done so right now? “There are either enemies or reporters nearby. Lorraine, Claudia, we need the teams to fan out.”
Lorraine nodded, barked some commands at hyperspeed, and the girls and the rest of the A-Cs who were with us took off. Thankfully she’d only spoken a few short sentences, because hearing A-Cs speak at their normal speeds tended to make humans sick to their stomachs. Len had pointed out that this was a weapon we’d never actually used. Filed this thought in the front of my brain for review sooner as opposed to later. Hoped my brain would do me a solid and share when this was needed, but placed no bets that this would actually happen.
Len and Kyle moved Cujo, Bud, the working girls, and the two homeless men nearer to us. “What do you think’s going on?” Len asked me.
Was about to answer when Cujo jerked. “Listen. Do you hear that?”
We all listened intently. “Sounds like a sprinkler,” Rhonda said slowly. “Do you guys water out here or something?”
“Ah, no, we don’t water the desert,” Reader replied. “I don’t hear anything yet.”
Garfield jerked. “I do now.” He went pale. “We got incoming!”
I’d heard the flyboys use this term before, and they were always right. Noted that Garfield had a dirty patch on his jacket that indicated he’d done military service. Chose to err on the side of paranoia. “Everyone, link up, and that’s an order.”
Lorraine, Claudia, and the Field agents returned. “Apache helicopters coming,” Claudia shouted. “We need to get inside!”
“Get them all inside,” I told the girls, as I spun and ran over to the Turleens. “You guys need to follow the others and get inside now. We have a likely attack coming.”
One of the tortoises transformed into Muddy. “We know. We can survive it in these forms.”
“Awesomesauce and I don’t care. Get inside where it’s safe.”
“Why would being trapped inside be safe?” he asked me, sounding genuinely confused.
Had a horrible thought that made far too much sense. Gave up on worrying about how I was introducing us to a new alien race and cursed. “They don’t care that they’re caught.”
“What do you mean?” Buchanan asked from behind me. Took a fast look. Thankfully—or not, under the circumstances—everyone else was no longer visible.
“The DUI Dudes. Their job was to do exactly what they did—be rescued by us so they’d show whoever’s got the other side of the trackers I guarantee they’re wearing exactly wherever we went. We just exposed Caliente Base to attack.”
Sure enough, as I said this, the choppers appeared in the distance, probably several miles away, though anywhere near us was far too close. And while I couldn’t tell if the warheads were armed, decided to take the leap and assume they were.
“Malcolm, the hell with me. The majority of the A-C breeding population is in this base. Get inside as fast as you can and get them evacuated, and not outside, or I will tell my mother that you made a pass at me.”
He snorted. “She wouldn’t care.” He looked at Muddy. “Anything happens to her and I’ll destroy your entire race with my bare hands. Got it?”
Muddy nodded. “We will guard the Queen of the World.”
“Bring me the DUI Dudes because I don’t want them rescued so they can give their pals another one of our locations,” I shouted to Buchanan as he took off. He waved a thumbs-up at me and I turned toward the choppers. There were a dozen of them if there was one. “Muddy—are you and your people maneuverable when you’re in the air, can you carry anyone else, and how much weight can you carry?”
“We are far more maneuverable than you would think, and we are far faster than we’ve shown. And I could carry you on my back. Easily.”
Hoped that the Turleens shells weren’t really metal, because they’d been out in the sun for quite a while now. However, being a cat on a hot tin shell was the least of my worries currently.
“Then, let’s make it so and show the most anti-alien humans on the planet that the Alien Nation will not go down without a fight.”
CHAPTER 26
“YOU ARE CERTAIN these are enemies?” Muddy asked.
With perfect timing, as the lead Apache fired. Right at the hill that was essentially the roof of Caliente Base. We were just far enough away that we weren’t hit by spraying dirt, but only just.
Caliente Base wasn’t outside of the Pueblo Caliente metro area, and it wasn’t in a deserted part of town, either. It was in the desert, yes, but near to plenty of homes and businesses. Far too close, since these were war choppers and they were firing real weapons of mass destruction. There could easily be people and their pets out in this area hiking or biking, not to mention the wild animals that lived in this area. And these assholes were potentially going to destroy or kill them in the name of alien hatred.
My good friend Rage arrived and shared that it was time to stop these people sooner as opposed to later.
“Next question?”