Had he suspected what she really was when she told him she was an alien?He hadn’t freaked out as much as she’d expected.She probably should have paid more attention to that, but there were the men in black and time freaking out around her.
She was willing to give herself a pass for not noticing.
She gave her companions another look.Their faces didn’t give much away.It was the heavy silence and the sense of words needing to be said and maybe no one knowing how to say them?
They all needed a way forward, if only the elephant—herself—could be managed somehow.
She licked her lips.It didn’t help, but she spoke anyway.
“I wish I had a way to prove I’m not a trap.”
All the gazes shifted openly her way.She had a feeling they’d been doing the covert peeks, too.
Mel exchanged a look with Jack.
“We believe you don’t know if you’re a trap,” Mel said carefully.
Rita sat back.She should have thought of that.It was really the only explanation for the men in black—and perhaps why they’d tried to kill her when she appeared to go rogue.
“Interesting,” she murmured, her thoughts now shifting to how this could be used against them.Yes, she wanted to throw in with Con and his friends.They hadn’t tried to kill her.
“Interesting?”Jack’s brows arched.
“Well, it does explain the men in black—unless I’m missing something else?”She wanted to add “missing something obvious,” but there was no need to look any more clueless.“I wondered why they were there.”
“They weren’t supposed to be there?”Jack persisted, not quite able to hide his skepticism.
“Not there,” Rita said.“They didn’t exist during Roswell incident.”
“I did wonder,” Mel murmured thoughtfully, drawing Jack’s gaze her way.
“You didn’t say anything.”
She grinned.“I’m not—I wasn’t—an expert on the men in black.”
“Is anyone?”Con asked.
Rita almost raised her hand.She couldn’t stop her lips from twitching though.
“You?”Jack must have picked up on it from her.
“Well, we have to be able to tell ours from,” she hesitated, “from not ours?”
“So not all the men in black are your people?”Con sounded surprised.
“No, though I guess I can see why you’d wonder now,” Rita admitted.
“They all look alike to me,” Jack muttered.
Mel chuckled and nodded agreement.
“They work at it,” Rita said.To her disappointment, silence returned.It was kind of a dead end comment.“I know it’s not my place to suggest anything.And I know I’m covered in red flags and warning signs…”
She paused but no one spoke.She took a deep breath and continued.“I think one of those devices might be able to be reprogrammed so you could track me back…there.”
Con straightened.“They tried to kill you.”
She nodded.“I know, but if I went back, they’d probably question me first.”She didn’t like thinking about that.Most likely it would be worse than her intake exam.
