Making the Galaxy Great

Jason followed Michael down yet another bland, bright hall. But this time, instead of an elevator that traveled on lasers, they came to a set of doors that opened onto the parking garage where Jason and McCauley had ended up after the chase with the Russians. She was waiting for him beside a black SUV.

“Really?” he said to her. “Could this scream ‘government agent’ any louder?’

“Do you ever stop?” she said coolly.

They drove out onto the farm lane and Jason saw that the sun was just about to set. “Man, that Marjan tech must be something else. I figured I’d been out for several hours.”

“It’s Tuesday night,” said McCauley. “It’s been more than 30 hours since you got shot.”

He noted the words got shot. Had he ever imagined they would be applied to him?

“Shit! My job.”

“Relax. You missed one day. Just remember your cover story.”

“This is going to be strange,” he mused out loud. “Just going to work and acting like I don’t know aliens exist. And with my daughter.”

“Not to mention your little friend from work.”

Little friend?

Jason closed his eyes as his head began to hurt. “Look, what is your problem with me — or her, anyway?”

“No problem. If you want to date underage girls, that’s your business. But now you’re working with us — with me. And in this job, it’s better if you don’t have relationships. It’s too easy to slip up and say something.”

Jason wasn’t willing to give up that easily. “You’ve been running her down since way before there was any talk about me working with — whatever this group is really called. And she’s not underage.”

“Sorry,” said McCauley briskly and without a strong note of sincerity.

“And just so you know, you don’t have to worry; there’s no relationship. Apparently it was just a hook up.”

“That must be disappointing.”

They drove in silence for some time and Jason could feel a heavy fog of tension inside the car. Finally, in an effort to relieve it, if only a little, he asked: “So, do you live at Area 69 or what?”

McCauley seemed surprised by the question. “God no. I’d go crazy. I live in town, not far from you, actually. Only a handful of the real techie people, and the Colonel, live on the base.”

“So you have a life — outside of, you know, all the stuff you can’t tell anybody?”

“I don’t have relationships, if that’s what you mean.”

“But you go shopping, watch movies, run in the park . . .”

“Yes, I do lots of things that regular people do.”

“Do you ever, I don’t know, get together for beers with some of your crew from Area 69?”

“My crew?”

Her searing glance told him that McCauley was far from having a crew, and once again they drove in silence for a bit until Jason, whose head was exploding with questions, asked: “What happened to the Haku and the Yrrean in the parking lot?”

“I don’t know,” said McCauley. “The Haku ran toward those old barns. He may have had a shuttle waiting in there.”

Jason held his breath for a moment. “A shuttle? You mean a little spaceship.”

“If you want to call it that.”

“And the other one, the Yrrean?”

McCauley shrugged. L’harra ran off after flattening you. That alien has been here for a few weeks and knows how to get around.”

“But you’ll find her/him/whatever, right?”

“I’m sure L’harra will make contact when it’s safe.”

“So L’harra is an alien name, huh?’

“Yes. They have names, too,” said McCauley.

Jason hoped this was the opening he’d been waiting for. “So, what exactly was on that demerrat thing? Since I can’t read Haku or Yrrean or whatever it was.”

Without looking at him, McCauley replied: “Can’t tell you that.”

“But I’m part of the team now.”

McCauley grunted. “That doesn’t mean you get to know everything. It’s safer if you don’t.”

“How do I help if I—”

“Fleming, you need to stop asking questions. You’ll just get yourself in a deep shit hole.”

Jason turned and looked out the window as familiar streets and buildings came into view. In a couple of minutes, they turned onto Jason’s block and McCauley pointed toward his front door, where Evie was slipping something through the mail slot.

“I think you might want to reconsider that whole ‘just hooking up’ thing.”

Jason got out of the car and walked hesitantly up the sidewalk. When Evie saw him, she jumped down and met him halfway and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Jason! I was dropping off your phone. Jesus, where have you been? Are you okay? We tried calling the police . . . oh shit, what’s she doing here?”

Jason glanced uncomfortably from Evie to McCauley, who had exited the SUV and followed him partway up the walk. What should he say?

“Don’t worry. She was helping me out.”

“Actually, Mr. Fleming was helping us out,” said McCauley. She told Evie the cover story about the opioid ring and the flash drive.

Evie stared hard into Jason’s eyes. He had a feeling she was trying to decide whether she should believe them. Finally, she turned a stern face to McCauley and said: “A drug gang? Is he safe? Does he need witness protection or something?”

McCauley seemed almost amused. “No, I don’t think so. We’ll put those individuals away, thanks to the information our informant slipped into Mr. Fleming’s jacket.”

Evie grabbed Jason’s arm. “But why were you gone for a day and a half?”

Jason gulped. Evie was more than a bit too smart and suspicious. He could see McCauley was at a loss. “I had to give a deposition,” he explained.

McCauley jumped in, almost too eagerly. “It’s an undercover operation and we didn’t want to jeopardize Mr. Fleming’s safety, so we took care of it all right away.”

“Huh.” Evie squinted at them both.

Jason could see she still wasn’t totally convinced, but she dropped the matter. “Well, I’m glad you’re back. But where’s your car?”

“Mr. Fleming’s car is evidence,” said McCauley. “A loaner car will be delivered by tomorrow morning so he can get to work.”

“I can take him,” said Evie.

“Don’t worry. We’ll have the car here,” McCauley said.

“Hey, and speaking of cars,” said Evie, “somebody shattered Ambling’s windshield in the parking lot yesterday after you left.”

Jason quelled the urge to glance at McCauley. The phrase ‘collateral damage’ popped into his head.

“Goodbye Mr. Fleming,” said McCauley. “Thank you for your help. And goodbye . . . coworker.”

“Evie,” said Jason. “Her name is Evie.”

“I really don’t like her,” whispered Evie when McCauley was inside of her black SUV. “I guess it’s good she’s legit. She is legit, right?” She grabbed Jason’s hand and led him to his front door. His private parts began to tingle. Were they going to hook up again?

When they were safely inside the house, he took his phone out of the envelope she’d been slipping through the mail slot. “I found it in your office. There’s a bunch of texts from me. I didn’t even have your cellphone number but I made Nadine give it to me. She’s already figured out we’re a thing.”

There was a thud in Jason’s chest as this piece of information landed.

We’re a thing? When did we become a thing?

And why did it have to happen now? He’d lusted for her since he’d first seen her, and even though she was way too young for him she checked a lot of his boxes. Most of them, in fact, including the fact that she was far more intelligent than he’d dared to hope. But McCauley was probably right; because of the things he knew that he hadn’t known a couple of days ago, he shouldn’t think about starting a relationship.

Rather than look up at Evie, he looked down at his phone, as if it were some strange artifact that his archaeological team had just pulled out of a cave. “Thanks for getting it back for me,” he mumbled.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. “Why don’t we order a pizza?”

At the sound of the word pizza his stomach awakened like a slumbering beast and roared. “Why don’t we got out for pizza?” he answered. “I feel like pounding a couple of beers and I think my fridge is empty.”

“No worries,” said Evie. “I stopped and got some Buster’s Beer on the way over.”

Jason’s mouth watered, and not just at the thought of beer and pizza. He smiled at Evie. “How naughty do you think we could be in the time it takes the pizza to get here?”