guilty, because if you weren’t here, things wouldn’t have gone down the way they did.”
“Exactly.”
“You’re right, Daniel. If you weren’t here, things would be different. In fact, they’d be a whole lot worse.”
“No.”
“Daniel, if you hadn’t put that dome over our heads…”
“It didn’t stop them.”
“No. But it sure slowed them down. If you weren’t here, chances are Number 2 would’ve wiped this horse farm off the map the same way he took down New York, Beijing, London, and Moscow. You saved Agent Judge’s life, not to mention all those other FBI agents out there.”
“But what about Mel?”
“She’s a tough girl. She’ll be fine.”
“Wait a second. Are you actually saying something nice about Melody Judge?”
“Whoa. Don’t get carried away….”
“But I think I just heard you actually compliment Mel.”
Dana shrugged. “She’s okay. I mean, for an earthling.”
I actually brightened to hear her say it. “You like her, don’t you?”
“Um, let’s leave ‘like’ out of this, okay? Mel saved my bacon on the bridge. I figure I owe her one. So come on; let’s go rescue her already. I don’t like being in debt.”
I reached out and held Dana’s cheek in my hand so I could gaze into her brilliant blue eyes. “You’re really something, Dana—you know that, right?”
“What?” she said with a laugh. “Are you admiring your own handiwork again?”
“Man, sometimes I so wish you were real.”
“Yeah,” she said sweetly. “Me, too.”
As I cupped her cheek in my hand, I let my thumb trace the white line that was still marring her otherwise perfect skin.
“You like my souvenir?” Dana joked. “I picked it up in Moscow.”
“I’m going to fix that, you know.”
“I know. But first we need to fix the rest of this mess.”
I was holding Dana’s cheek, gazing into her eyes, which were steadily gazing back into mine. We were definitely having a moment.
A moment that was suddenly shattered by the roar of a thousand gunning helicopter engines hovering overhead.
Chapter 49
DANA AND I raced out of the barn.
“What’s going on?” I called to Willy.
“Choppers. Hundreds of them.”
“What about the dome?”
Joe shook his head. “They overrode whatever you cooked up.” He was shouting to be heard over the din of the thumping rotors. “I can’t explain it, but the dome has disappeared. Completely.”
I shielded my eyes and glanced up at the sky. The stars were all gone, blotted out by the horde of hovering helicopters. The aircraft looked more like heavily armored dragonflies than conventional whirlybirds.
One helicopter drifted down from the pack and, swaying slightly, landed right in front of us, kicking up a funnel cloud of dust and straw.
A clamshell-style door opened on the side of the craft to reveal a set of stairs. A giant—maybe fifteen feet tall—descended the steps. He was dressed in princely robes, and his curly hair and beard writhed around his grotesque face as if they were twin nests of coiled snakes. When his leaden, size thirty-six boots touched the ground, the whole Earth shook.
The emissary beat his chest with his fist, then held up an open palm as if he were a Roman tribune.
“Grakkings, oodoo pooflee,” he proclaimed. “Utoo a reschendedante Gogg. Ja reschendente atta ulti magno chimando e devoosheekmo gensei Abbadon.”
The FBI agents and my gang had giant “Huh?” expressions etched on their faces.
Fortunately, my alien brain contains the equivalent of a universal translator. I can understand any creature speaking any language—including the languages they don’t teach in any high school in the known universe.
“He says, ‘Greetings, weak ones,’ ” I translated. “ ‘I am Ambassador Gogg. I represent the almighty, ever-powerful, and all-destroying Lord Abbadon.” Even though he looks like he’s on his way to a supersized toga party, I thought.
While Gogg preened and waited for us to cower in fear before his towering magnificence, I stepped forward.
“Itchay umknock gensei Abbadon solto fracking ‘ulti magno e chimando’ que sempro no reschendente wimmish?”
“Huh?” muttered Joe.
“I said, ‘If your so-called Lord Abbadon is so freaking ‘almighty and powerful,’ why is he afraid to represent himself?’ ”
“Nice, Daniel,” said Dana. “Very diplomatic.”
The giant plodded forward. “Vu diche nomin Daniel?”
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s my name. Don’t wear it out. And, by the way, you’re on Earth now. So speak English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Lithuanian—anything but that dreck that’s dribbling out of your face-hole now.”
“As you wish, weakling,” Gogg said, haughtily raising his long, anteater-esque snout. “Tell me, Daniel: Do you miss your little pony?”
“Xanthos isn’t gone.” I tapped a hand to my heart. “He’s still here.”
Gogg raised a dainty paw to his nose nozzle. “Oh, my. Such