Alien in the House

Chapter 5



“WHY THE HECK NOT? Is there something wrong you haven’t told me?”

Chuckie snorted. “No, if we ignore that we have world governments involved in my wedding plans, nothing’s wrong. But . . . I have exactly two friends, Kitty. You and Cliff. And that’s it.”

“That’s not true, not any more at any rate.”

“I suppose.”

“King Alexander’s your friend. I’d count Councilor Leonidas, too. And I can promise the other dudes we know from the Alpha Centauri system like you, too.”

“Fine, but without ACE we can’t contact them, so I can’t mention them, or what we actually want kept secret will quickly be all over the news and give our enemies free rein to try whatever they want.”

“Surely you have more options than this. I mean, what about Brian?”

“Really? Your ex who’s now married to Serene? The guy who hated me all through high school? Why don’t we see if we can bring Antony Marling back from the dead and have him in the wedding party, too?”

“Airborne always stands ready. The flyboys live to be in wedding parties, and I’m sure Tim, as the Head of Airborne, would love to be involved.”

“I don’t know that I’d go with the term ‘love’ for any of this,” Chuckie said dryly. “But I suppose they’re options. But none of them are best man material.”

“Seriously, I’m in the room,” Jeff said, now adding annoyed onto the hurt in his tone. “I think, after all we’ve been through together, I count in the friend department.”

Chuckie put his poker face on, but I knew him well, and I could tell he was shocked by this. I couldn’t blame him. “Dude, I realize the Martini-Reynolds Bromance only officially started during Operation Destruction, but Jeff’s right. You have more friends than you realize.”

“You want Goodman as your best man, don’t you?” Jeff asked, and I could hear disappointment, hidden, but there.

Chuckie shook his head. “Based on the political reactions to everything we want to do, I’m worried that if I ask Cliff to be involved in any way that I’ll then be forced to have other politicians involved. Standing up with Cliff is one thing. Having some of my worst enemies in my wedding party is another.”

“What does Cliff think about that?”

“He’s disappointed, but he’s clear on all the myriad political ramifications.”

Jeff cocked his head. “Then it’s decided. You’ll have American Centaurion and Centaurion Division personnel with you. You know, the ones you can trust, even when they don’t like you right away. Right, Kitty?”

“Um . . .” I had no idea why Jeff was tossing this one to me.

“I mean, it would make sense for someone high up in Centaurion to be the best man. And since we can’t ask Alexander to come over from Alpha Four, one of us here will have to do.” Jeff had what I’d come to think of as his Happy Diplomat smile going strong.

“Um . . .”

“And, since the world is watching, perhaps one of the highest ranking A-Cs would be the right choice, right, baby?” Jeff was clearly trying to lead the witness, but I was clueless as to where he was going with this.

Chuckie started to laugh. “Wow. I never thought I’d live to see the day. But, yeah, Jeff, if you’d be willing and it’s not against some A-C custom, it’d be great if you’d be my best man.”

“Now see?” Jeff asked, clearly pleased beyond belief. “Was that so hard?”

It was rare when I was rendered speechless, but, as with the Ballroom being turned into Planet Pink, this had managed it. Speechless twice in one day. Had to be a record.

“Kitty, you okay with that?” Chuckie asked me.

Managed to recover. “I’m still in shock and wondering when the calm, pod-people parasites landed on the two of you, but I’m happy with the outcome. So, yes, absolutely, great choice.”

“Good. Of course, tomorrow, this could all change,” Chuckie reminded us as we left the room, heading back toward the front door.

“No worries. We’ll just call it Musical Wedding Chairs until the actual minute the ceremony starts.”

“Oh,” Reader said as he and the others came up from the basement level. “You’re talking about the wedding party situation. Yeah, it’s a nightmare. Paul won’t even discuss it with me, he’s so frustrated.”

Chuckie shrugged. “It is what it is.”

“It’s keeping people calm and focused on positives,” Cliff said. “So, all the pain will be worth it.”

“If, you know, anyone ever lets Chuckie and Naomi actually tie the knot and consummate the marriage. Jeff, you and Chuckie get to join everyone else on the rest of the tour. I’m going to get Jamie taken care of.”

Jeff looked like he was going to argue. Pierre cleared his throat. “We are looking to ensure all’s in readiness for the event tonight.”

Jeff sighed and nodded. “Good point. If I’m not upstairs by then, call me when it’s time for her to leave for the sitter, baby.”

I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “You got it.”

The men headed off into the kitchen. I was about to head upstairs when there was a knock at the front door. Pierre was busy and I was right here, so saw no need to keep whoever waiting. Besides, it might be the UPS man—he’d been delivering a lot of packages, most of them for Jamie, and we were all on a first name basis with him by now. And because the doorbell was the loudest on Embassy Row, out of kindness to us and their own eardrums, our delivery folks tended to knock first and only ring the bell if the door didn’t get answered right away.

Sure enough, a familiar man in the brown UPS uniform was standing there when I opened the door. “Hi Ted, what do you have for us today?”

He smiled. “You mean, what do I have for you again. Found a package I missed earlier today.” He held out a small box. “Sorry about that. Been happening a lot today. I’ve pretty much done my route twice.”

“Oh, bummer for you, but cool for us, so thanks!” Took the box and was about to look at it when something caught my eye. From where our front door was, I could easily see our street and a good part of Sheridan Circle. Sure it was the part with a lot of foliage, but it was quite visible.

My enhancement had improved my vision, so I was able to spot what I probably wouldn’t have before Jamie was born—there was a man standing among the trees.

Being someone now very used to having enemies attack at all times, I didn’t dismiss this. I took a better look, though I made sure I wasn’t staring straight at the guy in the trees. From the corner of my eye, the lurker looked familiar.

In point of fact, he looked like someone I was pretty sure was dead.

My eyes could easily be deceiving me, but if they weren’t, Clarence Valentino, A-C Traitor at Large and presumed deader, was hanging out in the bushes across the street.