Alien vs. Alien Read Free Page B

looked around. “Is there somewhere private we can go to talk?” He pointedly looked at Amy and the boys, and it was clear he didn’t want them along for whatever chat he had planned.
    “Whatever we need to talk about can be discussed with Amy, Len, and Kyle. They’re all part of our diplomatic mission.”
    Armstrong shook his head. “I believe you’d prefer to have this conversation in private, Ambassador. Very sure.”

CHAPTER 3
     
    S OMETHING ABOUT HIS TONE and expression made me want to pull my Glock. However, my purse was in the room Amy and I were sharing, and besides, if I didn’t want the boys to use extreme force, it was worse if I did.
    What I really wanted was backup. I’d called for it. So why wasn’t it here already? Surely they’d had enough time to get to a gate and over here by now.
    The gates were alien technology that resembled airport security metal detectors more than anything else. They allowed you to travel pretty much anywhere in moments. The main gate hub was in the Dome, out in New Mexico, but there were gates all over. The majority of gates were in restroom stalls of every airport in the world, even the tiny ones. For homes, however, if the bathroom wasn’t used, the basements were.
    So Jeff and whoever else he was bringing along should have zipped down to the Embassy’s basement, calibrated, stepped through that gate and out the gate in the basement of Martini Ma Nmilp nt, calibnor. By my count, they should have been here by the time Armstrong got through the door.
    But no, I was still backup-less. There was also no way I was having a three on one meeting with this portion of the Cabal of Evil. “I like to live on the edge, Senator. Why don’t you share your news?”
    Amy cleared her throat. “Why don’t we get out of the hallway?”
    I really wanted to get Armstrong’s info and get him back out the door, but I had to admit I wasn’t being gracious or diplomatic. “Good point, Ames.”
    Amy led us to a nearby study. This was Martini Manor—there was a nearby anything depending on your definition of “nearby.” In this case, it was only halfway down the hall.
    As with every other room in the house, the study was done in what I called Early American Expensive. The older generation of A-Cs were traditionalists to their cores, and they’d happily adopted Earth traditions the moment they arrived.
    It was also decorated in Modern Hunk, since Jeff, Christopher, and Chuckie were sitting in the lovely club chairs this room contained, looking for all the world as though they’d been here for hours.
    Jeff was big and broad, with dark, wavy hair, gorgeous light brown eyes, and a mouth that said “kiss me” even when he wasn’t speaking. He was built like everyone’s male ideal—broad shoulders, perfectly cut, rippling muscles, without being overdone like a bodybuilder. Sure, I couldn’t see all that right now, since he was dressed, but I’d spent the last month fantasizing about him, so I was essentially seeing him in my mind’s eye sitting there naked.
    It was a nice view, but I had to force myself to look away or jump his bones in front of everyone, and I knew without asking this wasn’t in the Good Diplomats Handbook.
    Christopher was a head shorter than his cousin, smaller all the way around, being lean and wiry, though he had the family rock-hard abs. His hair was straight and lighter brown than Jeff’s. Christopher resembled his late mother in almost everything, but he had his father’s nose, mouth, and green eyes flecked with blue. They really made them gorgeous on Alpha Four.
    Chuckie was handsome for a human, which these days was both a compliment and damning with faint praise when compared to an A-C. He was tall like Jeff but had a similar build to Christopher—sinewy and smooth. He usually moved languidly, but had the reflexes to make you think he could be part A-C. Dirty blond hair, with a bit of a wave in it, but only when it was a little longer than he