Guardian Alien: a sci-fi alien romance (OtherWorldly Men Book 1) Read online

  “How does one do this?”

  “Just be yourself. Take in the sights. Relax on a bench. Think about what you’re going to say to our world leaders if it comes to that. And do not, I repeat, do not take out that roll of money—or your space gun.”

  Cavin sighed through his nose but nodded. The protector did not like being protected.

  With reluctance, they prepared to part ways on the sidewalk bordering the park. Their goodbyes were never easy. “You have the phone?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “My contact information is in there so you can reach me, and you’ll know when I call.”

  He frowned at the screen. “I don’t read your language. Or any Earth language.”

  “But I thought…”

  “I learned via an aural program. I’m functionally illiterate.”

  Oy. “Okay, it’s fine.” She pointed to a towering redwood. “In three hours, meet me at that tree. Not in the tree, okay? Under it.”

  His mouth gave the barest of amused twitches. “Understood. I will be waiting under the tree.”

  She walked toward the gold-domed California State Capitol, her high heels clicking on the sidewalk. The plan was simple. Work, meet with her staff, attend the caucus luncheon, and prepare for an alien invasion.

  Chapter Eleven

  After an abbreviated, pre-Easter break floor session, Jana waited for the elevator to take her up to the luncheon.

  The elevator doors opened. The car was crammed with legislators. Jana walked in, stuffing last-minute paperwork into her computer bag. All at once, the elevator emptied. She felt like a salmon swimming upstream as staffers and legislators flowed past, jostling her, until the only people left were her and Lucky. A rare moment of blessed peace. She squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled.

  “Hi, sweet pea,” Lucky said. “Your family is having a rough week.”

  “We’ll be all right.” But would Earth? Jana tried her damnedest to form a stiff upper lip. “Three, please.”

  “Three.” Lucky went back to knitting a pale green baby-size sweater as the elevator ascended.

  In the moment before the doors opened, Lucky took Jana’s hand in her strong, roughened one. “When times get tough, you gotta hold your head high. That’s what I tell my girls. Keep up the fight. You know what you have to do.”

  Jana squeezed the woman’s hand. “You’re the best, Lucky.” The doors opened. The people waiting to ride gave her a wide berth as she exited. “Jasper,” she heard them whispering.

  Rolling her eyes, she walked swiftly down the hall. Her chin weighed about a thousand pounds, but she managed to keep it high. Bruce Keene, the party leader, stopped her before she could enter the room where the weekly caucus luncheon took place. “It doesn’t look too good for John,” he said.

  Or for the Jaspers, she read in his eyes. “My father’s ethics are beyond reproach, Bruce.”

  “You’ll be pulled into this before you know it.”

  If only you knew what I’ve been pulled into. “My ethics are beyond reproach as well. You know that. You know me. You know my character and record.” But not that there was an alien waiting for her outside in the park. “Special interest groups have no hold over me.”

  Her words had emboldened her, and she actually felt up to lunch, discussing the situation with the more experienced members of her party, but Bruce shook his head and took her by the arm, leading her a few yards away from the door. From inside came the delicious aroma of a catered lunch and the din of voices. “You’re not invited.”

  The heat of disbelief flamed in her face. “Wait—you’re not allowing me in?”

  “Look, we’ve got the press lined up downstairs. My phone’s been ringing off the hook. I don’t want this kind of attention on the party, not with so many elections hanging in the balance this fall. I’m sorry, Jana. Get things cleaned up on your end, and you can come back.” With an apologetic look, he stepped backward and closed the door. Closing her off from her colleagues.

  She stared at the door. She was officially persona non grata—at the very moment she’d need to be taken seriously. Listened to.

  Believed.

  Believed, when she tried to convince those in positions of power to give her access to a spacecraft everyone denied existed. Believed, as a lowly state legislator whose family was under investigation for lying and fraud. Believed, when the alternative was unthinkable: Earth invaded and its entire population evicted.

  Everyone was worried about reelection campaigns. What if she’d already lost this race, the most important race, before she got out of the starting gate?

  Keep up the fight. You know what you have to do. Lucky’s words broke through her self-doubt. Then her father’s: Never be afraid of going for it, even when someone tells you your chances of succeeding are one in a million.

  “Damn straight,” she muttered. Turning her back on the door, she stormed down the hall back to her office. If Mahoney didn’t call back by the end of the day, she and Cavin needed to start planning a trip to Groom Lake—with or without official approval. What they’d do and say when they got there was anyone’s guess.

  Cavin glanced at the sun. Another day half gone and he was no closer to saving this world. Did things always move so slowly here? And he’d thought the Coalition Parliament was a bureaucratic nightmare.

  He kept moving, patrolling the perimeter of the park to quell his unease over Jana’s absence, keeping an eye on the building into which she’d disappeared. Shouldn’t she have emerged by now? Would he have to launch a rescue mission?

  A male voice called out to him. “You gotta put it down, man.”

  Cavin turned toward the man sitting on a bench. Despite the pleasant temperature, he was swaddled in a thick green jacket—a ragged, soiled jacket—his hair matted and silver. Bags of his belongings sat in bags on the grass. He sported a baseball cap like Jared had worn that morning, but his sported an emblem with crossed rifles.

  The man patted the bench. “Put it down. They’re watching you.”

  Cavin’s pulse kicked into a higher speed as he scanned the park, looking for threats. “Who is?”

  “The capitol cops. There, on the steps.”

  Cavin peered at two men in civilian clothes that looked to be loitering on the steps of Jana’s building near the pack of media people who so vexed her.

  “Plainclothes security,” the older man explained. “Anti-terrorist. They’ve made at least two phone calls about you. Next time past, they might stop you, ask you questions. Maybe pull you in if they don’t like your answers.”

  Cavin sat on the opposite side of the bench. He could ill afford being “taken in” anywhere, by anyone. “They definitely will not like my answers,” he muttered.

  The man coughed out a wheezy laugh. He squeezed the stub of a cigarette pinched between two fingers. A slight palsy made his hand quiver. “Don’t matter how many times you walk the park, you ain’t gonna look like you’re from around here.”

  Cavin glanced at him, startled. “I’m a tourist.”

  The man seemed smug as he threw the cigarette stub to the ground and crushed it with battered boots. He coughed, one that came from deep within his lungs. “I guess you can say I’m a tourist too. I never hang around for long. I’m a rolling stone.” He chuckled then coughed some more. It made his eyes water. “Been that way since the war, you know.” He pointed to his dirty cap. “’Nam.”

  “This ’Nam, it was a war?”

  “You got that right, man. They never admitted it, did they? I fought, I saw buddies killed over there. But, no, they said, it wasn’t a war.” He convulsed in another spasm of coughing and spat on the grass. “You look like a military man yourself.”

  Cavin grunted. Said nothing.

  “If you tell me, you have to kill me, right?” The older man nodded with respect. “I don’t need no help doing that. You ever in combat?”

  “Many times.”

  “Ground pounder or officer?”

  “Starte
d off as an enlisted man. Ended up as an officer.”

  “Then you’re still okay. Still okay.” Another wheezy laugh.

  This tattered man was a stranger, and yet he was familiar. Cavin had known many men like this one, soldiers who’d experienced things in combat that made it nearly impossible to blend back in with society. Without the anchor of family or friends, and often even with that anchor, they were buffeted by nightmares and ultimately lost.

  Cavin had seen what happened to soldiers after the Drakken got hold of them, and it was ugly. The Coalition may not be perfect, and he might disagree with them on certain policies, but they were all that stood between the galaxy and the Drakken Empire.

  “You got a smoke?” The man lifted his brows.

  “A smoke? Ah, no. Sorry.”

  The man dug in his coat pocket for a pack of “smokes.” He lit one and sucked on it, long and hard. Then, in between bouts of coughing, he told Cavin about the Terran conflict, ’Nam, and his role in it.

  For some time afterward, they watched the sun reach its zenith and then track down the other side. Sunshine spilled over the grass. They sat in silence, enjoying the camaraderie veterans had. It transcended culture, race and apparently planets, as well.

  “Where’s home?” the man asked.

  The answer, for Cavin, was an easy one. “Home was always wherever my unit was.”

  “You got a woman?

  His frown eased into a smile. Thoughts of Jana filled him. “I do.”

  “Home is where your woman is, man. Ain’t no home without her. I don’t have mine no more, so, I ain’t got no home.

  Home is where your woman is. Cavin nodded. He knew without a doubt that it was true. With one simple sentence, the old soldier had summed up the entire reason he was here.

  Just then, Jana arrived under the tree that was their meeting place. The man lifted his cigarette, pointed. “That’s her.”

  “You could tell?”

  “It’s all over your face, man.”

  Cavin rose and lifted a hand to catch Jana’s attention. She grinned at him but stared questioningly at his companion. “I have to go. But, first…” To Cavin’s surprise and the soldier’s, he grasped the man’s wrist and pressed his gauntlet to the man’s thin arm in a modified Coalition handshake, and handshake of soldiers, but this one would be so much more.

  The man’s eyes rounded. “You got a weapon under there. I can feel it.”

  “Not a weapon. A…computer.” The man tried to wriggle from his grip. Cavin held on. For a split second, he activated the gauntlet. A split second more, and he’d deposited a burst of nano-meds into the man’s bloodstream.

  The man jerked away. “What’d you do?”

  “Thanked you for your help.”

  “What help? I didn’t do nothing.” The man rubbed his arm.

  “You kept me from arrest. And then you shared your afternoon with me. Consider our handshake my thanks to you.” Cavin backed up and gave the soldier what he knew from his studies of local Terran culture was a salute. Then he strode to Jana’s side.

  “Boy, am I glad to see you,” she said. He smoothed a hand over her hair, but wanted to pull her into a kiss. The struggle worsened when he breathed in her scent.

  “I saw you shaking that man’s hand.”

  “I was patrolling the grounds, waiting for you, and he alerted me to the fact that I had gained the suspicions of the local wardens.”

  “He deserves more than thanks. He deserves a medal.”

  “I gave him something better than a medal. I put nanomeds in his bloodstream. Over time, perhaps in weeks and months, the meds will erase the cancer from his lungs.”

  Sudden moisture glimmered in her eyes. “You’re a hero—to me, to this entire planet. I hope what you get in return is worth it.”

  “I get you. Or, I hope I do.”

  “You hope?” She laughed. “You had me from greetings, Earthing.”

  He couldn’t always make sense of her words, but he tipped her head back and kissed her anyway.

  Lights flashed. Then Jana jerked away. “Fuck it. Photographers. They won’t know who you are, or what our relationship is, but they’ll speculate.” She squared her shoulders. “Let them. I may serve the public, but I have a right to live my life.”

  He pulled her close, wrapping his arm protectively over her shoulders. “No privacy on this planet,” he growled as they hurried across the park.

  “That’s for sure. Security from my apartment called. A neighbor saw someone trying to break in. Do you think it’s the REEF? Maybe he’s connected me to you.”

  “The REEF would not be that careless to be sighted.” Or would he…if he were malfunctioning?

  Jana’s phone buzzed. “It’s Evie.” She set the phone so he could hear. “Hey, are you home yet?”

  “I was. But now I’m at my neighbors. Me and the kids. We’re staying the night. The police told me there was a prowler in my house. The neighbors saw some guy dressed in ghetto chic. With lots of bling. Nothing was taken. But when I came in, Sadie was hiding under the bed, trembling more than usual. I never saw her so distraught. I don’t feel safe at home right now.”

  “No, don’t go home. Stay there—stay safe, Evie.”

  Cold dread lodged in Cavin’s chest. “First your home then your sister’s.”

  “If not the REEF, then that leaves the Men in Black.”

  Cavin frowned. In recent days, Jana had warned him about the Terran agents so frequently that he’d begun to wonder if they would ultimately pose more of a threat to him and his mission than the REEF.

  They climbed into the truck. Jana gripped the wheel. “If we go home to the ranch, we could be bringing danger with us.”

  He could hear the fear in her voice, and it gutted him. “Whatever is out there hunting, it’s hunting for me. The stops at your apartment and your sister’s home were to gather information only. Not to harm. Still, we won’t return tonight. We’ll find someplace to shelter.”

  Protect Cavin, check. Protect her family, check. Save the world, status pending.

  They sped east, talking with family along the way, letting them know they were safe. Jana checked her phone obsessively, even though she didn’t expect a call back from Mahoney until the morning at the earliest. Cavin had done something to the DMV data so that she would no longer come up as the legal owner of the truck.

  After picking up food, spare clothing, and water, they found a motel. Cavin’s cash would now come in handy. They didn’t want to leave any digital traces.

  Loaded down with shopping bags, Jana and Cavin approached the Dewy Doe Inn’s registration desk. The lobby smelled musty. A baseball cap covered her hair and eyes, and she wore a baggy hoodie over jeans, and boots. Not only was it a disguise, it looked like a disguise.

  But the female desk clerk didn’t spare Jana a glance; she was too busy giving Cavin an admiring once-over. More like a twice-over. Jana relaxed a fraction as relief filtered through her. She hadn’t been willing to leave the store until Cavin, dressed in hiking boots and outdoorsy gear, looked no different than any other good-looking, thirtyish, Northern California male. No one would guess his jacket hid a futuristic wrist computer that covered half his forearm or a gun deadly enough to have sent Darth Vader into a fit of envy—and she didn’t plan on anyone finding out.

  We need a room, please. One night.”

  “Name?”

  “Mr. and Mrs. Darling,” Jana said.

  Cavin’s hand brushed over her back. “So we are mates now?”

  She whispered back, “Only for tonight,” and studiously avoided meeting his eyes.

  “One night will not be enough. You will want more.”

  She half laughed, half choked.

  “How would you like to pay for that?” the clerk asked.

  “Pay?” Jana’s vision cleared and she saw the check-in sheet sitting on the counter. Oh, right, pay for the room. Knowing she was about to spend the night alone with Cavin in close quarters apparently
had disengaged her ability to speak. Cavin pulled out a fat, fist-size wad of hundreds and placed it on the counter. Thousands and thousands of dollars. Holy crap.

  The clerk glanced from Cavin to Jana and raised a brow. Jana smiled up at Cavin. “Honey, can we have a little talk?”

  She hooked her arm with his and led him out of earshot of the clerk to a grouping of couches in the center of the small lobby. “Is there not enough money to secure the room?” he asked. “I know where to get more.”

  “It’s enough to secure the best suite at the Waldorf-Astoria. And the only way you’re going to get more is if you rob a bank.”

  The way Cavin seemed to contemplate her suggestion with no moral reservations whatsoever terrified her. “Okay. Let’s forget about where you got it, just don’t flash the entire wad. No one carries that much cash. It looks like drug money.”

  “Drug money?”

  “Money gotten through illegal means, like drug trafficking.” What was she saying? It was money gotten through illegal means. She plucked a single hundred from the roll. “Put the rest away,” she hissed under her breath and returned to the front desk.

  It was clear from the clerk’s expression that she’d watched the entire exchange: Cavin thrusting the entire roll at Jana, and her not wanting to take anything but a hundred bucks. Good thing the clerk didn’t recognize her. A true public servant: Senator Moonlights As Discount Call Girl.

  The clerk slid the paperwork to Cavin to sign, holding on to the key cards until he did. He scrawled something where Jana pointed. Then she took Cavin’s arm, pulling him as fast as she could toward the elevator that would bring them to their room on the third floor.

  Chapter Twelve

  The room door slammed closed and Jana bolted it. Cavin set to work inspecting the closet, under the bed, the bathroom, every nook and cranny until he ended up at the window. He stayed there for some time, peering down at the parking lot with a device that resembled mini binoculars but that probably saw in the dark or even through clothing for all she knew.