Your Planet or Mine? by Susan Grant Page B

keys!” she screamed back at him.
    He thrust out his left arm. Around his wrist was a very expensive-looking piece of tech, fitted to his arm like a gauntlet. Riddled with tiny lights, it was labeled with letters in a language she didn’t recognize. He aimed the thing at the ignition and the car started.
    Holy crap, she thought. How did he do that?
    He fell into the passenger seat and pulled the gold visor over his face. “Drive.”
    “This is stealing.”
    “Drive!”
    Another burst of light arced terrifyingly close. She jammed her foot on the accelerator and they were off. With a squeal of tires, they roared out of the Safeway parking lot.
    “Who’s shooting at us?” she demanded.
    “A REEF. He’s a bioengineered, computer-enhanced soldier developed to be an assassin from birth. Part man, part robot.”
    Like the Terminator. Jana’s mind whirled in disbelief. She was behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle, fleeing a robotic killer with an alien. This was not the way to keep a low profile.
    She kept one hand on the steering wheel and moved her other to the door handle as she calculated the speed and weighed it against how much it would hurt if she jumped out now. She’d run back to her car, head home. A few bandages and a good night’s sleep later and she’d be ready for her breakfast with the first lady and the Brownie troop.
    “Both hands on the wheel! We’re in line of sight and he’s got a plasma rifle. One mistake and we’re powdered DNA!”
    Jana grimaced. “You don’t have to yell!”
    He softened his tone a little. “My name is Cavin, by the way. Cavin of Far Star. I never told you that.”
    “Apparently there are a lot of things you never told me.” He looked too human to be believable as an alien, but here they were in the midst of a firefight with a robot-assassin who could slice cars in half, and not only was Peter’s—uh, Cavin’s—clothing nothing she’d ever seen outside one of her nephew’s video games, with a flick of his wrist, he was able to start and steal whatever vehicle he wanted.
    “Ah!” Jana flinched at the screech of brakes and a blaring horn. She’d run a red light. She, who’d gotten only one ticket her entire life—and that was for going two minutes overtime at a parking meter.
    “This way.” Cavin jerked the wheel to the right and pointed her down a side street lined with neat rows of upscale homes. They were less than three blocks from Evie’s house. She could walk there. She could borrow Evie’s Honda and still make it home before midnight. She let up on the accelerator.
    “Faster.” He turned the rearview mirror to better see it. “He’s got us in his sights.”
    A man walking his dog stared at them as they flew by. “We’re going to hit someone!” She took her foot off the accelerator.
    Cavin slid his leg over as if to cram his heavy boot on the gas. His foot hovered menacingly. “Either you do it, or I do it.”
    Jana shoved his leg away. “I’ll do it.” At least she’d be able to maintain some sense of control. But the SUV sputtered and slowed. A chime dragged her attention to the dash. The low fuel light was on. Hooray! It was the best luck she’d had all day. “It’s out of gas.”
    “Out,” Cavin said.
    “Yes. Completely out.” She laughed maniacally. God bless busy parents who pushed filling up to the last minute.
    “No, out .” He leaned over her lap and shoved open the door. “He’s coming. We’ve got to get out now and run.”
    “Where?” She turned around. The street was dark and empty. “I don’t see him.”
    Cavin thrust the wrist gauntlet at her. A tiny map showed a red X. It slid with menace toward a white square. “Tell me we’re not the square,” she said.
    “I wish I could.” He pushed her, and she stumbled into the street. She grabbed for her purse and the bag of groceries. The smell of bananas was strong, telling her that they’d gotten crushed. But she didn’t dare leave the groceries behind and turn