I OPTED TO WEAR THE von-Fürstenberg-Burch-bastard-lovechild-of-a-wrap dress to Vair’s club.
The perfectly symmetrical-faced K who’d confiscated and subsequently restored my boxes of office belongings the day before was waiting outside of Jay’s building to collect us at exactly 11 p.m. He was driving a sleek but understated hybrid Lincoln Town Car. We learned that his name was Zyrnase.
Zyrnase seemed easygoing and friendly enough, chatting with us about how he liked living in the city, until Jay made the horrendous faux pas of asking if allergens were a common problem on Krina the way that they were on earth—and followed it up with a joke about how it sounded like he might’ve been named after an antihistamine drug with a moniker like Zyrnase.
I cringed and slunk low in my seat as Zyrnase very stoically informed us that no such ailment existed on Krina, because allergens weren’t the problem, our feeble human immune systems were. We fell silent for an uncomfortable length of time before Zyrnase activated the tinted glass divider and blocked us out entirely.
“Really? An antihistamine?”
“What? It was funny. Good clean K humor. Guy needs to lighten up,” Jay griped under his breath. “Perfect facial structure gets dull fast when a person can’t laugh at himself.”
“I knew it!” I whisper-exclaimed. “You’re into him.”
“Duh. He’s hot. Was hot. Before his personality disorder crashed our limo party. Which, by the way, sucks. There’s no alcohol or even any snacks back here.” Jay proceeded to rummage through all of the compartments he’d already ransacked. “You know, I get why drinking alcohol before getting your vein sucked might be a bad call, but how about offering your human suckees some friggin’ apple slices or mixed nuts? Even the most ghetto blood bank offers crackers and cheap cookies to donors.”
“Oh, God, you’re nervous, aren’t you? You’re totally regretting coming tonight. Do you really think they’re planning on biting us? I’ll understand it if you want to back out and not go in with me when we get there, okay? Zero judgment.”
“What are you talking about? Of course I’m going in with you.”
“You don’t have to. I’m serious, Jay. This is my problem. I insisted on going there the first time. I’m the one who wrote the article that pissed off the Krinar Council.”
“Well, I’m the best friend who insisted on coming with you that first time. And I had the hottest sex of my life that night, thank you very much. I’m also the same friend who negotiated this evening’s reprise, and I’m not missing it.”
“But Jay—”
“But nothing.” He pressed his fingers and thumb together in front of my face in the “zip it” gesture. “You’re blinder than those blinder glasses you’re still wearing for no rational reason if you think I’m letting you hog all the hot alien for yourself. Vair said I could come, and I’m going. End of discussion.”
“Aw, Jay …” Blinking rapidly to stave off the tears stinging the backs of my eyes, I scooted closer and linked my arm through the crook of his. Leaning my head against his shoulder, I told him, “You’re the best—you know that? Thank you.”
The words sounded lame to my own ears. They were grossly inadequate, given all that Jay was risking on my behalf. But I was never good at expressing such things. And I couldn’t afford to get emotional tonight.
I knew Jay had always gotten that about me, because he never pushed emotional topics like some of my other friends did. Sure, he might tease me about having intimacy issues, but he always kept it light and playful. And he backed off whenever he sensed my discomfort. It was one of the qualities that made him such a remarkable friend.
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered dismissively. “So I’ve been told.” He leaned his head on top of mine and gave my arm a squeeze.
We traveled for several blocks in contemplative silence.
“But for real,” he broached as we passed through Greenwich Village, “why are you still wearing those glasses if your vision is worse with them on?”
I sighed and straightened up in my seat, unlinking my arm from his. “Because it doesn’t make sense. I’ve worn glasses since second grade. Vision doesn’t just get better on its own.”
“What if it did?”
“It’s not possible.”
“So you’re still wearing them out of denial?”
“No, of course not. Look, maybe I just like the way they feel?” My statement had meandered into a question by its end.
Jay’s blossoming lopsided grin said he wasn’t buying it.
I couldn’t blame him; I didn’t either.
“What? They go with my dress!” I insisted with a giggle. “I like wearing glasses, okay? Can we drop it?”
He shrugged. “Whatever you say, baby girl.” He gave me a wink. “Totally your business if you want to hide those gorgeous green eyes behind spectacles you can’t see out of.” His amused expression turned to puzzlement and his attention shifted to the window beside me when the car made a right turn. “Why is he turning here? This isn’t the way we came last time.”
I swiveled my head and saw that we’d turned down an alleyway. I didn’t have the world’s best sense of direction, but this definitely didn’t look familiar to me. Granted, I couldn’t see much between the darkness of the dimly lit alley and the blurriness my glasses created. “No,” I agreed. “Doesn’t seem like it.”
My heart began to pound in my throat as all sorts of awful scenarios sprang to mind. I wished I’d been paying better attention to the route Zyrnase was taking us.
“Well, I suppose it makes sense,” Jay said as my panic was setting in. “He must be taking us through the super-secret high-profile celebrity entrance in the rear.”
I forced out a nervous, half-assed chuckle. Jay took my hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze as our car came to a stop alongside the back of a nondescript, old brick building.
“What now?”
I’d barely whispered the question when, to my astonishment, the brick wall next to our car began to dissolve, creating an opening large enough for a car to drive through! And Zyrnase did just that, steering our car into the newly created opening in the exterior brick wall.
Darkness engulfed us as we drove straight down a ramp and into what appeared to be an underground tunnel. We proceeded to journey at slow speed with only the car’s headlights to illuminate our way. I tried to remain calm, but after we’d driven for what felt like three whole blocks, I began to feel like I might hyperventilate.
“Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have compared him to an antihistamine,” Jay mused quietly next to me. I knew he was attempting to inject some humor into the tension-filled moment for my sake, but I heard the apprehension and alarm in his voice beneath his joking words as he asked, “Shall we jump out and make a run for it?”
“Somehow I doubt we’d get very far,” I told him truthfully. “Let’s not panic.”
“Who’s panicking?” he balked. “No one in this car. You and I are not the panicking types.”
I laughed so I wouldn’t piss myself from fear.
My pulse jumped when our tires rolled to a stop once more in the middle of the darkened tunnel.
“On second thought—”
Jay’s words were cut short as a reddish-purple light suddenly flooded the passenger cab. A large hole had opened up in the side of the tunnel where we had stopped. Zyrnase drove us through it, and we found ourselves inside a subterranean parking garage.
About twenty feet later, we rolled to a final stop in a parking space marked with the letter “Z,” and Zyrnase cut the engine.
“Jesus.” Jay exhaled an exasperated sigh of relief as Zyrnase hopped out of the driver seat and made his way around the car to my door. “That was just a little over-the-fucking-top dramatic cloak-and-dagger, don’t you think?”
It was an understatement. But I shushed Jay and quietly reminded him to play nice with the K as Zyrnase opened my door for me.
“Thanks … um … for the ride,” I said as graciously as possible as I stepped out of the car, my legs as unsteady as my pulse after our unnerving journey. I extended my shaky hand to him, and his eyes widened strangely. Then he backed up a step, eyeing my hand like it was a poisonous snake.
“You’re quite welcome,” he said politely. Without taking my outstretched hand.
I dropped my arm and stepped aside.
When Jay climbed out of the car after me and held his hand out, Zyrnase shook it without hesitation.
Wow. Sexist much?
“Hey, thanks for the ride, man. Sorry about the bad joke before,” Jay apologized.
Not for the first time, I marveled at how calm and collected Jay always managed to be—or at least appeared to be—no matter the social situation.
“What joke?” Zyrnase responded, stone-faced. “I don’t recall anything humorous.” He shut the car door and turned his back on us. “Follow me.”
“Um. Right. Hence the bad part—”
“Drop it,” I cut Jay off with a sharp elbow jab to his ribs, and we followed after Zyrnase.
Zyrnase led us through a hole he created in the parking garage wall that took us down a long, gray hallway and then through yet another hole he made in another wall, which led to another long hallway.
“Seriously, are we there yet? This is just overkill now,” Jay grumbled, loudly enough for Zyrnase to hear, prompting me to shush him again even though my stiletto-clad feet were beginning to agree.
I was also freezing, practically shivering in my short, sleeveless wrap dress as we walked the cold, barren hallways.
We were silent as we took a small elevator up two levels, before trailing after Zyrnase down another long, sterile, industrial-looking hallway.
“Hey,” Jay piped up softly, leaning closer to me and slowing his pace. “Can’t believe I forgot to tell you, I heard back from Stephen while you were getting ready. Slipped my mind as we were rushing out the door.”
“Who?” I mouthed back.
“CIA friend,” he mumbled covertly out the side of his lips. “He wants to talk to you. Said your name’s on a list.”
“What?” I mouthed, aghast.
He nodded and then jerked his head in Zyrnase’s direction, murmuring, “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
“My name is on a list? What kind of list?”
Jay’s eyes flashed in warning, but he shook his head and whispered back, “No idea. Said it was classified.”
“Are you serious?”
“Later,” he insisted, pressing his forefinger to his lips.
How could I have gotten onto a classified government list?
We turned a corner at the end of the hallway, and my heart tripped when I spied Vair standing there, not more than twenty feet away—his tall, commanding, bronzed presence a thing of surreal, unnatural beauty that sent a purely feminine thrill through me.
“It’s nice to see you again, little human. Welcome back to my club.”