Alien Collective by Gini Koch Read Free Book Online Page B

live to learn and all that. What am I forgetting or not aware of? Other than the fact that both presidential candidates are going to be from Florida, I mean. Which is weird, when you think about it.”
    “I’ve got some news you’re going to find weirder,” Vance said. “Like who’s being discussed, seriously discussed, as Vincent’s running mate.”
    Took a deep breath. “Lay it on me.”
    Heard some steps behind me and turned to see everyone we’d been told were at Langley enter the room, my husband amongst them. As relief washed over me, I examined everyone to make sure Buchanan was right and no one was hurt. Oh, sure, I looked at Jeff the most, but he was my husband, so that was only right.
    Jeff was tall, broad, and built, with dark brown wavy hair and light brown eyes. He was, point of fact, the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen, which was the biggest reason I was looking at him the most. So I was a normal girl.
    His expression matched the rest of those entering the room—stress, combined with worry, relief, and anger. So pretty much how everyone already in the room probably looked, too. However, Jeff was also looking a little uncomfortable.
    Vance came up next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Meet the most likely vice presidential candidate on the Armstrong ticket, Kitty. You might know him as your husband.”



CHAPTER 8
     
    I LET VANCE’S STATEMENT sit on the air for a bit. Because it wasn’t computing. At all. While I stood there in shocked silence I got to observe.
    I observed that I had nothing I could say that wouldn’t sound extremely undiplomatic. I also observed that everyone was passing little signals to others in the room—Mom and Kevin to Buchanan; Chuckie to Len and Kyle; Mom again to Jakob, Oren and Leah, and then again to Khalid; Chuckie to Amy and Caroline; Kevin to Raj and White; Cliff and Horn to Culver and Nathalie; Reader to Lorraine, Claudia and Serene, and then to Nathalie; Kevin to Len and Kyle; Chuckie to Olga, Adriana, and Oliver; Gower to Doreen, Abigail, White, and Raj. It was a regular Secret Sign Fest in here.
    The only ones not joining in on the fun were Jeff—who was cringing and trying not to show it, meaning that, regardless of whether or not my face was hiding my inner thoughts, my emotions were incredibly clear—and Christopher.
    Christopher was the only person of our new arrivals acting normally. Well, normally for him. He was glaring. Patented Glare #1, to be exact. It was such a relief that I wanted to hug him. However, that would mean I’d have to move and speak, and right now, I didn’t trust myself to do either.
    “Nice way to tell her,” he snapped at Vance.
    “When were you planning on it?” Vance asked, sarcasm knob heading toward ten. “At the national convention?”
    Managed to find my voice. “April Fools?” Hey, a girl could dream.
    “It’s the end of July,” Christopher said. “So, no. Nice try.”
    “Why are Christopher and Vance the only ones talking?”
    Mom sighed. “Everyone’s waiting for your expected reaction.” She shook her head. “So, let’s get it out of the way so we can get down to business.”
    “Can you get out of it?” This I directed to Jeff.
    He grimaced. “Not really. It’s . . . political.”
    Managed not to offer a snide reply. Jeff couldn’t be any more thrilled about this than I was. Went for the only thing I could think of—what I’d been thinking since Vance had shared the exciting news. “Has anyone considered the, ah, ramifications of the kind of . . . scrutiny a presidential or vice presidential candidate goes through? I mean
really
considered?”
    Reader nodded. “It’s why we were all at Langley today. Discussing. Everyone feels that things can be . . . contained.”
    Considered whose sanity to appeal to. Decided the guy who’d spent a lot of years sniffing around was the best choice. “MJO, can you perhaps share your extremely educated perspective on why this is likely to