“Like noticing a missing robot,” Jamie chimed in, tugging her handbag higher up on her shoulder. “He’s a heavy little bugger.”
A cab pulled up as they exited but Drake grabbed Jamie’s arm and walked them up the street. “I thought you wanted a cab,” she said, confused.
“That was just a diversion. I don’t want a cab to take us to the location of my ship. We don’t need any potential witnesses.”
They turned a corner and Drake led her into a parking garage. There were likely cameras everywhere, but he wasn’t too concerned, not planning a trip back to D.C. anytime soon. He found a late model vehicle with electronic locks and a keyless start and stopped behind the truck.
“You stay here and play lookout,” he told her.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“We’re going to borrow this car.”
“Borrow?” She laughed. “I think the word you’re looking for is steal.”
Drake gave her a smile. “We won’t damage it, and they will be able to recover it fairly easily, I promise.”
Peeling back a portion of the suit that had been designed for just such a purpose, Drake exposed a fraction of his real finger. He let out a tiny flash of his bioelectricity directly into the electronic locking mechanism. The lock popped and he opened the door, motioning for Jamie to climb inside.
Sliding into the driver’s seat, he again used his finger to send a charge into the panel beneath the start button. There was a brief flash, and the car started.
“Neato,” Jamie said while strapping on her seatbelt.
Even the small compliment made his chest swell with pride.You’ve got it bad, he told himself.
Drake maneuvered them out of the lot and onto the streets. He headed towards the state line and the open fields of Virginia. Traffic had thinned out after rush hour and it only took them about a half hour to hit rural roads.
Turning down a gravel road off a two-lane highway, Drake scanned his surroundings, looking for the abandoned barn he’d claimed as a parking spot.
“It’s quiet out here,” Jamie said, her voice small. “And dark.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t be here for long,” he replied, pulling down a road that was little more than an overgrown dirt track. A huge, dilapidated barn yawned in the distance. It had once been the home of a large herd of dairy cows, or so the stink had told him, so it was big enough to hold the Zantharian vessel.
He stopped the car several yards away from the barn, behind a stand of high grass so it wouldn’t be seen from the main road. Then he turned the car off, climbed out, and waited for Jamie to join him in front of the vehicle.
“Spooky,” she said, a little shiver running through her.
Her reaction pushed his protective impulse into overdrive. He wrapped a reassuring arm around her, pulling her close to him, then set off towards the barn.
He had to force the door open, which was as planned, as he’d reinforced it before he’d left. Inside, the gloom hid much of the barn’s interior. Jamie pulled out her phone and set it to flashlight mode, shining it on the large tarp-covered shape in the center of the barn.
Drake removed the tarp, exposing the ship. He then folded the tarp up and brought it with him as he punched in the code to open the ship’s hatch.
“I can’t believe you got this thing in here,” Jamie said. “And kept it hidden.”
“It wasn’t easy, but the fact that most of the roof is missing certainly helped. Not to mention that the tarp is coated with a special Zantharian substance that reflects light in a way that makes it nearly invisible.”
“You think of everything,” she said and he gave her a smile, then motioned for her to board the ship.
Inside he pointed Jamie to the bridge. “We’ll get her up and out of here in no time. Then it’s just fifteen minutes to Chicago.”
“Fifteen minutes?” she breathed. “Why don’t they replace planes with these things, then?”
“Because it required a special Zantharian fuel to be able to travel at those speeds within the Earth’s atmosphere. Fuels on Earth are still too cost-prohibitive.”
“Oh,” she said. “We really are backwards humans to you guys, huh?”
“Not backwards,” he replied, regretting his earlier outburst. “Just not quite as advanced.” He bent to give her another kiss, unable to help himself. “But you humans make up for the lack in other ways.”
“I think I know what other ways you’re talking about,” she said with a smile.
Drake wanted to pull her back into his embrace and not let her go. He wanted to explore every inch of her delectable body again and again.
Instead he strapped himself in at the control console and started punching in coordinates. “Find a seat and fasten yourself in. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.”
