Alien Taste by Wen Spencer

back so she could sit in the front, away from all the gear Max had in the back. Not for the first time, Ukiah wondered if all the military hardware Max had was totally legal.
    Ukiah leaned forward and noticed that her hair was scented with honeysuckle. Her one long bang swept down to the white curve of her neck. She noticed that he was staring at her and turned to meet his gaze. He expected her to say something, but shemerely looked back at him silently. Her eyes were somber and still, moonstones of gray.
    Max noticed her turn in her seat, then glanced at Ukiah in the rearview mirror. “When Ukiah looks at you, you stay looked at.”
    â€œI’ve noticed.”
    Max glanced again in the rearview mirror and turned onto Janet Haze’s street.
    Â 
    â€œWhat was that all about, kid?”
    â€œWhat was what?” Ukiah checked his .45 and slipped it into his kidney holster. The day was hot and the flak jacket uncomfortable, but he knew Max was too edgy to let him go without.
    â€œThe looking.” Max snapped shut the chamber of his gun and put it into his shoulder holster.
    Ukiah shrugged and slipped on his headcam. “I don’t know. I was just looking at her and she looked back.”
    â€œYou—I understand.” Max shook his head. He flicked on his handheld tracking system and checked the signal. “I’ve got you.” He slipped the tracking system into his pocket. “I’ll leave the deck on the Hummer. I mean, you look at people. That’s what I remember most about the first time I met you—the look.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œKid, you’ve got a look that—like I said—one stays looked at. That first day, I came up the tree-house ladder and was eye to eye with your look. Pow, straight to the core. I almost climbed back down and dropped the case.”
    Ukiah shook his head, giving Max a grin. “Max, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    â€œOf course not. People don’t do it back to you. Check it out sometime, though—you make a lot ofpeople damn nervous by it, especially the guilty ones.”
    â€œShe wasn’t nervous. She just looked back.”
    â€œWhich has me damn nervous.”
    Max slotted a new disk into the Hummer’s deck. “Max VOX test. Testing. Testing.” He tapped the colored signal strength bar on the monitor. “I’m coming through loud and clear. Give me a test.”
    â€œUkiah VOX test. Test 1–2–3–4.”
    â€œThat’s lousy—you’re barely in the yellow.” Max reached up and tugged on Ukiah’s headset. “Try it again.”
    â€œUkiah VOX test.” Ukiah grinned. “Hey diddle diddle, Max jumped over the moon.”
    Max shook his head, laughing slightly. “You’re in the green. Let’s go.”
    Max slammed the Hummer’s door and locked it by his remote. Together they went up the steps to join Agent Zheng by the door. She had unsecured the police barrier tape and pushed open the broken door.
    As she stepped cautiously inside, Max caught Ukiah by the shoulder. “Just because Agent Zheng is with us, that doesn’t make her an automatic good guy, kid. Remember that. Don’t rely on her, don’t expect her to cover your back.”
    Ukiah nodded. “Okay, Max.” A thought occurred to him and he smiled. “Not one of the good guys? Max, haven’t you noticed? Agent Zheng is a girl.”
    Max cuffed him on the shoulder and went on into the house.
    The bodies had been removed. The bloodstains remained. Ukiah crouched in the threshold as he remembered doing the day before. Slowly he scanned the entry. His memory skipped back and forth between his normally laser-etched recall and his slightly fuzzy regained memory. “Lots of peoplebeen in here since the day before yesterday, things are shifted around, not by much, but enough.”
    â€œLike what?” Agent Zheng