Beryl thought her brother had reason to be proud. Operation Diabolical had worked exactly as they planned. Maybe even better.
Wyatt, a tad of awe and fear in his tone, said, “I don’t think it. I know for a fact that you just deployed a glitter bomb. The…culprit is on the ground and down for the count.”
Jett said, “Actually, we took that idea and we improved on it.”
“Improved on a glitter bomb?” Wyatt asked. “I have two small children. Trust me, I know about glitter. Glitter is forever.”
Beryl said, “Well, we call our version the Sticky Glitter Bomb, because that stuff is never coming off. It might not even wear off. We didn’t have time to do much testing.”
“Unless we provide the antidote,” Jett said with a laugh.
“Antidote?” Wyatt asked. “Wait. Does that antidote work on regular glitter, too?”
Beryl didn’t have time for glitter appreciation. “Please call an ambulance, Wyatt. It looks like Jake is headed for the hospital again.” She eyed Ian’s body spread out on the floor. “He’s going to need one, too.”
Since she’d been put out for an hour when the alien attacked her at Jake’s house, Beryl figured Ian was in for the same thing.
He must have been made of sterner stuff than her. As if Ian heard Beryl talking about him, he sucked in a deep breath and sat up, putting a hand to his chest. Beryl saw a drop of blood right below his collarbone had stained his shirt.
“Space potatoes! That hurt a lot,” Ian said with a groan, eyes only half open.
Space potatoes? How does he know Alpha swear words?
Wyatt looked surprised. Jett and Beryl exchanged a wide-eyed look.
“Relative of yours?” Wyatt asked.
“He’s not,” Beryl and Jett said at the same time. But they were likely both thinking Wyatt might be on to something.
Beryl took Jake’s hand. It worried her that he had not regained consciousness.
When the being had pulled the wire away from him, Beryl had expected Jake to wake up or at least rouse a little. She would rather see him coming around, even if it caused problems and meant they’d have to use a Defender on him.
Wyatt said, “An ambulance is on the way. And backup should be here in a minute. I made sure it’s not anyone who will have to face a Defender wipe.”
“Good.”
Beryl saw movement outside, and realized the glitter-bombed alien had leapt to his feet. Clutching the light cube like a receiver with a football, it sprinted toward the edge of the forest.
“And there he goes,” Wyatt said. “Thanks for the assistance, you two. This time, the foot race is going to be easy to win.” The sheriff raced after the fugitive.
As Wyatt predicted, it did not take long for him to capture his prey. The glitter-coated being was handcuffed and placed, carefully, in the back of Wyatt’s cruiser as an ambulance arrived with two Alpha EMTs to check over Jake and Ian.
“I’m going to take the prisoner to the brig in Cam Grey’s office at the Big Bang Truck Stop,” Wyatt said. “I don’t expect him to talk easily, but maybe Diesel can put the fear of the Fearless Leader in him. Kudos to you two on your diabolical plan.”
“Thanks,” Beryl said. “I’m going to ride with Jake to the hospital, even if they won’t let me in his room until regular visiting hours.”
“Another ambulance staffed by Alphas is on the way for Ian,” Wyatt said as a Skeeter Bite patrol car pulled into Krab’s Cookie Palace’s parking lot. He sent a deputy Beryl hadn’t met inside to secure the building.
Wyatt glanced through the back window at the glitter-covered being he had arrested. “That glitter is never coming out of the back of my cruiser, is it?”
Beryl looked at Jett and Jett looked at Beryl. Neither one of them wanted to tell Wyatt the actual truth because they hadn’t tested their antidote and the chance it would work was fifty-fifty at best.
Glitter was forever. Sticky glitter was forever plus more.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Luca Radbourne woke up slowly. He was on his back, which seemed strange; he usually slept on his side. He heard strange beeping noises, but it wasn’t his alarm. He inhaled deeply, expecting to smell the scent prevalent throughout his home on Alpha-Prime. His imported aroma machine spewed out the scent of something called fresh-sawn wood.
