She nodded. “I’ve got nanites, too. I can read Xalanite as well as speak it, and I know a few of their coded languages, too. The pattern of texts was in a military code that T’raat must’ve used, and the words there are Xalanite, or at least as close as he can probably spell them using English letters.” She pointed to the screen. “The buzzing was him saying he’s okay, and the messages say he’s with Director Hall in the other restroom. The car was trashed before they got back, so they did the same thing we did.”
“So, wait … No one was kidnapped?”
“I’ll have to check with the director, but from his short messages it sounds like the car was just ransacked. Although …” Timber took out her own cell phone again and dialed. After a brief wait, she said, “Hey, Director. Yeah, your niece is safe. We’re in the ladies’ room. We thought the two of you had gotten kidnapped or something, and I thought it best to get her to safety in case the perps were still around. Mm-hm. Mm-hm. No, you’re right. Something’s definitely up. HQ can’t find half the motorcade. Mm-hm. Yeah, you’ve got a point. We’ll be out in a sec.”
She hung up and helped me to my feet. “C’mon. We’re going to meet up with them and hightail it out of here before the reinforcements arrive.”
“Wait, why?”
“Because we don’t know who to trust. It’s safer to go it alone for now.”
To my horror, as soon as I was up, Timber snatched my phone and tossed it in the toilet, along with her own.
“Hey!”
“They can be tracked,” she said, her tone sharp and matter of fact. “Now, unless the perps have access to Xalanite tech, they won’t find us.”
“How will Xalanite tech help them find us?” I asked as Timber opened the door.
T’raat exploded into the bathroom and scooped me into his arms. His bear hug took the wind out of me for a moment, but I was grateful for his scaly touch. Those brief minutes I’d thought he could’ve been hurt or dead had been tortuous. I’d take a little bit of squeezing over that.
“Our nanites can be tracked, but not by any Earth methods,” T’raat said as he held me. His words were slightly muffled as he was nuzzling my neck the whole time, but I could understand him. “Your aunt was wise to wait. I, too, had feared the worst, but she insisted we hide and wait until the waterline was clear.”
“The coast, T’raat. We were waiting until the coast was clear.” Aunt Ann stepped into the room and gave Timber a curt nod.
“That is what I said,” T’raat complained.
I didn’t care about his mixed-up words. I was just so relieved to hear his voice again.
“Agent, go check the parking lot for a car that we can, um, borrow on behalf of the Department. Just keep out of sight.”
Timber rolled her eyes but nodded and slipped out the door. I guessed she knew how to hotwire a car, though I didn’t quite understand why we weren’t taking the one we already had. I asked Aunt Ann, and she explained it for me.
“Even if we turn off the tracker, that car’s too recognizable. I know for a fact that the agent is perfectly capable of securing another vehicle for us. Give her a few minutes, and then we’ll be on the road again before the AARO can get more agents here.”
I looked at the closed bathroom door, beyond which laid all my Earthly belongings. They had been scattered across the parking lot, but I kinda wanted to recover some of them.
When I asked Aunt Ann, she shook her head and shot me down. “No way. We’re not going back for a single thing. If we leave that mess exactly as it is, it’s likely the AARO reinforcements will draw the same conclusion that you and my agent did. They’ll even think you two were kidnapped as well.It’ll take some time for the news to reach the moles, and once the other side realizes we’re safe, we’ll be long gone. It’s too risky to go back out there, even for a single change of clothes.”
T’raat rubbed my back while we waited for Timber to return. I was sad about losing so much of my stuff, but I had to trust Aunt Ann. She had kept T’raat safe and alive, and for that I’d be forever grateful. She was the most experienced of us all, so I would defer to her until this was all straightened out.
One thing, though … “Aunt Ann?”
She stood at the bathroom door, gun drawn, watching for Timber to get back. “Yeah, sweetie?"
“Can you stop calling Timber ‘agent’? At least for a little while? It’s awkward, and she’s a person, too, y’know. She’s got a family that she’s worried about, same as us, and I doubt hearing herself referred to as ‘agent’ all the time is comforting. She’s about to be a mom, for fuck’s sake.”
Aunt Ann spared me a quick glance before nodding with a grunt. I figured it was the best agreement I’d get out of her in this situation, so I didn’t push it.
Timber showed up a moment later, flushed and out of breath. “Back of the building. I left it running, so we’d better book while the getting’s good.”
“Thank you, A—Thank you, Timber.”
The agent blinked in shock but quickly recovered. “Right. Better to use first names while we’re trying to avoid detection. Smart, Ann.”
I bit back a snicker. I hadn’t intended to get my aunt demoted with my request, but it was a little hilarious that it worked out that way.
T’raat kept a firm grip on my hand as we snuck around the building. Timber had stolen us a beat-up Dodge Ram extended cab. Plenty of room for us, and the bed had a camper top on it.I don’t know how we ended up that lucky, but if push came to shove, we could sleep in the bed in a pinch.
