Author: Red the Mighty
Email: red@ctepc.com
Rating: PG-13 - R
Disclaimer: Nope. I don't own anything related to Roswell. Roswell belongs to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox and UPN. However, Torquil MacNab is totally my fault and I take complete responsibility for him.
Summary: Secret bases, conspiracies, evil aliens, truth, lies, betrayal, and things not being as they seem. All that good stuff.
Spoilers: Could be anything up to To Serve and Protect, I suppose. But there aren't too many spoilers here.
Category: Other (CC)
Author's Notes: I suppose this kind of takes place after my three part story, Wondrous Strange. You don't have to read that to understand this. Just know that Max and Liz are back together and Alex is still around and not off gallivanting around the world.
Feedback: PLEASE!!! Pretty Please!!! With Sugar and Chocolate Sprinkles and Tabasco Sauce on top even!!!

Maria’s never-ending shift from hell did, eventually, end and the aggravating Torquil MacNab disappeared back to the UFO center with Brody. Michael had stayed on after his own shift ended but his presence didn’t do anything to make her afternoon any more pleasant. He simply sat at the table and alternated staring at her while she worked with glaring at Torquil and when Torquil finally left he just sat and stared at her.

By the end of the afternoon Maria was down to her last nerve and wanted nothing more then to go home and ignore the entire world. However, before he and Liz took off for parts unknown Max had ordered everybody to a meeting that night at Michael’s. Michael took the opportunity to suggest, in his oh so subtle way, that she should just go home with him and save herself the trip. Maria saw through that in a heartbeat. The guy was such a mooch, he just wanted a ride back to his place and maybe if he was lucky a little groping. Unfortunately for Michael she was absolutely not in the mood. She agreed to go over to his apartment after work anyway but only because she didn’t think she would actually manage to drag herself out of the house again if she went home.

When Michael realized that Maria wasn’t going to relax and actively participate in his make-out plans he grabbed the remote and started flipping aimlessly through the channels.

"This Old House? College Basketball? Infomercial? Xena?"

"I think we should call Sheriff Valenti."

"Maria, we live in Roswell, New Mexico, alien freak capital of the world."

"Yeah and you have a king and everything."

"That wasn’t funny."

"You should try it from where I’m sitting. I am serious Michael, Torquil is totally weird and I could tell that whatever he said to Max freaked him out too." Maria said, annoyed by his casual dismissal of her concerns.

"Max doesn’t freak out."

"Oh yes he does. And this was a total Max freak out moment. Really, I can tell. He gets really quiet, opens his eyes really wide, and doesn’t move a muscle. Panic, Max fashion."

"Whatever."

"Great, insightful Guerin commentary. Why do I even try?"

"I have no idea." Michael grumbled and slouched back on his couch. It had been a long day and he didn’t need Maria bitching at him at him about that creepy friend of Brody’s. Bad enough that Max had decided to call one of his ‘meetings’ and get everybody together at Michael’s place later. Max didn’t even ask him if that was cool. Nope, his pad just turns into the default war room whenever something happens. Doesn’t matter what he says.

"Michael, are you even listening to me?"

"Probably not. Did you say something worth listening too?"

"All right, buster, listen up. Every time you have one of your psychotic episodes and feel the need to steal the Jetta I’m supposed to be all supportive and not question your mental health, but when I have a bad feeling about some nutcase who says he sees aliens and who is way too interested in me, by the way, I am being hysterical. Is that it? No way. Not this time spaceboy. Something strange is gonna happen, I can feel it and you better be paying attention."

"Are you done?"

"Maybe."

"Can we at least wait until Max shows up before I soldier up?"

"Fine. Whatever." Maria leaned back with a sigh and looked over at Michael, watching as he continued to speed through the channels.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Well then, could you not stare at me?"

"I am not being hysterical."

"I’m sure you aren’t."

"That wasn’t particularly comforting."

Michael rolled his eyes in annoyance and pushed himself further back into the cushions wondering if he had good odds on the couch suddenly coming to life and swallowing him.

They sat together in exasperated silence until, finally, a pounding at the door broke their tense standoff. Michael launched himself off the couch and with a mumbled but fervent "thank god" he sprinted for the door.

He jerked the door open and glared out at Isabel and Alex. "What took you so long?" He growled brusquely at his visitors.

"Well, gee, we’re sorry Michael, but the transporters weren’t working so we had to actually drive over here in cars. That kind of added to our travel time."

"Cute Alex."

"So, can we come in Michael?" Isabel asked with more then just a hint of impatience in her voice.

"Oh. Yeah." He stepped back to let them in. "Where’s everybody else?"

"Tess should be right behind us and I have no clue where Max and Liz are. I’ve stopped asking them." Replied Alex as he brushed past Michael into the small apartment.

"Why?"

"I’m afraid they’ll actually tell me. Turns out there is such a thing as too much information. Hey Maria, how’s things?" He flopped down next to her on the couch.

"Great Alex, just great." She sighed dramatically and grabbing the remote turned off the TV.

"So are we all here?" Max asked as he appeared in the doorway with Liz and Tess.

"Kyle?" Maria asked.

"He’s got a match in Albuquerque tonight." Replied Tess. "Jim took him."

"We’ll just have to talk to them later. Everybody have a seat. Liz and I need to tell you what we learned this afternoon." Max told them.

"If sifting through hundreds of pages of reports consisting solely of unfounded conjecture on the subject of alien conspiracies, human genetic experimentation and secret bases in the Southwest, counts as learning something." Liz sighed and leaned against the wall. Her romantic Saturday afternoon had turned into an excursion into the depths of the truly bizarre. Even having grown up in Roswell, Liz had had absolutely no clue that people were actually that creatively paranoid. If nothing else, it was an eye opening experience.

"True, but some of what Torquil said to me struck a little too close to home."

"You could actually understand what he was saying?" Maria asked in astonishment. Her measure of Max Evans went up a notch.

"Um, well, Brody translated."

"Oh." She said, disappointed.

"Well, what did he say? You interrupted our Saturday night, the least you can do is get to the point, Max." Isabel snapped. She had been getting ready for a date with Grant when she received the call from Alex informing her of the evening’s gathering. He offered to pick her up and she hadn’t the heart to refuse. Unfortunately Grant arrived early and she was forced to break the date in front of Alex. The resulting awkward tension between the two of them made the short trip to Michael’s feel like an eternity and put her in a foul mood.

Max stared at his sister in surprise before blinking once, slowly and speaking again. "I’m sorry, Is, but I think this might be important." He looked over at Liz and nodded for her to take over. She smiled and moved to stand next to him.

"Okay, first thing, sorry Maria but I don’t think Torquil is as completely bizarre as you want him to be. We did some digging in his background and it looks like up until about eighteen months ago he was a Chief Inspector in the Strathclyde Police, assigned to a division in Glasgow. It kind of looks like he was on the fast track to being head of the division and eventually even Chief Constable of Strathclyde. That’s fairly huge. But, we found a report he filed dating back about two years stating that he had seen a strange object over a wooded area just outside of Glasgow and experienced about three hours of missing time. I guess he got into some trouble over the missing time. His superiors thought maybe he was having some sort of mental breakdown and put him on mental health leave. He returned a couple of months later only to resign a few months after that.

"Not long after that he started showing up in European UFO groups as a field investigator and then started going on the lecture circuit talking about his abduction experience and investigation methodology. He’s become quite famous because to some he legitimizes the field of UFOlogy by virtue of his actually being a trained investigator and previously a well-respected police officer. He was a keynote speaker up at the University of Colorado in Boulder last weekend at a conference on aerial phenomenon."

"How does he know Brody?" Alex asked.

"They went to the same university for a while, but I don’t really know how well the knew each other. It doesn’t look to me like Brody and Torquil would run with the same crowd. And it doesn’t seem that Brody knew Torquil was in the UFO business until today."

"If he’s so famous how is it that Brody didn’t know?" Asked Maria, clearly puzzled by the mystery that was Torquil MacNab.

"Torquil is well known in Europe and Asia, it could just be that his reputation hasn’t made it to the states yet. And Brody does tend to be kind of, um, focused." Replied Max with a shrug.

"So what’s the deal with his being here now? I know for a fact that it does not take a week to drive from Boulder to Roswell. 11 hours, tops." Maria continued.

"Oh well, he was on his way down when he heard about humming mountains near Baca Grants, Colorado. He had to go investigate."

"Humming mountains? What? They couldn’t remember the words?" Alex laughed but had to dive off the couch for safety when Maria went for his throat.

"Alex, please." Isabel shot him a withering glare.

"Sorry. Sheesh. God forbid, I should try to inject some humor into the conversation."

"I don’t know what that was Alex, but I am pretty sure none of us would classify that as humor." Maria said.

"Are we done here? Can we let Max get to the point?" Isabel asked sounding very much like an annoyed parent.

Liz looked over at Max as he watched the scene in front of him. She could tell he was getting frustrated with the situation. He had been spooked today and it seemed nobody wanted to take him seriously right now. She slipped an arm around his waist and gave him a comforting squeeze trying to get him to relax a bit. He gave her a small smile and brushed a lock of hair back from her face. She tightened her grip and turned to face the room.

"Guys? Please?" She quietly tried to bring back the group’s attention to Max and the situation at hand.

"Sorry, Lizzy." Alex replied contritely.

"It’s alright, Alex. So anyway, back to the humming mountains. Some people in the region, this is up in the San Luis Valley, by the way, or close to it, think that this is the result of an underground military complex of some sort. When we started looking into that I can’t even tell you how many references to underground bases we came across. By my last count there were at least a dozen in New Mexico alone and Colorado is one big underground base. Of course there is no evidence of any of this, just some rumors and third-hand accounts of people who supposedly dug tunnels for them or worked there as janitors. For some of these people the very lack of evidence is proof enough." The scientist in Liz Parker cringed at people’s willingness to believe, without doubt, in vague fantastic rumors. Of course the part of her that was in love with an extraterrestrial tried to keep an open mind.

Max picked up the thread of the story from her. "When Torquil was down in the valley he met a guy who used to be a field investigator for the Mutual UFO Network. He said he left MUFON because they were actually a government-controlled source of disinformation. But before he left he somehow managed to get his hands on documents and pictures that showed the human test subjects. Children and teenagers mostly, who had all been reported as missing or runaways. But also people he said were political dissidents or even soldiers and scientists that didn’t toe the government line. The thing these documents also showed was that the government was working with an unidentified alien intelligence. In exchange for technology from this alien race they would give them these humans for their experiments and also to use their DNA to mix with the alien’s own to try and create an hybrid race."

"Like us, Maxwell?" Michael was intrigued now.

"Sort of, except these hybrids are supposedly used as a slave race."

"So what are you thinking here? That maybe this is where the DNA that created us came from?"

"I don’t know, Michael. The guy didn’t let Torquil make any copies of these documents but the night after he talked to Torquil there were a bunch of UFO sightings in the valley followed the next morning by the discovery of a slew of cattle mutilations and the humming stopped. When Torquil went back to the guy’s place to ask him some more questions he was gone and his place was trashed. Torquil thinks They got him. And now he is afraid that They may be after him next. He says his hotel room was searched while he was out in the valley one day and that some of his notes were messed with and others were taken."

"I don’t know why this struck me so much but there is something about this that is pulling at me. Like maybe the thought that there are other’s like us here. Not just the skins but our people. But, if they are doing human experimentation and stuff like that. . .I just don’t know. I know there isn't a lot to go on."

"I understand what you are saying, Max. I feel it too. Could this be the skins, though? I mean we know that they infiltrated the government at least on some level as evidenced by Congresswoman Whitaker. Nicholas and Kivar know we are in New Mexico, they know we have the Granolith. I mean that knowledge is kind of recent but they could have suspected about the ’47 crash and set up down here in preparation. And think of the damage they could do with an army of hybrids. They could’ve had over 50 years to get ready." Tess mused quietly.

"We don’t have anything to lose by checking it out. Especially if this kind of strikes a chord with you guys." Liz agreed. "Isabel? Michael? What do you guys think?"

Isabel was aware of her the tension in her brother’s face and sought to reassure him with her support. "Well I don’t think I feel anything about this. I mean, we don’t know this guy. For all we know he could be a paranoid delusional who sees little green men all over the place. But, if you and Tess think there is something to this Max, then I agree with Liz. We don’t have anything to lose for looking."

"Yeah, I don’t know if I feel anything but I agree with Maria that there is something up with that Torquil guy." Said Michael.

Maria’s mouth dropped open as she stared at him. "You agreed with me? In front of witnesses?"

"So what? It could happen." He shrugged uncomfortably. "So what’s the plan Maxwell?" He changed the subject hurriedly.

"We keep our eyes open. Liz and I offered to help Torquil and Brody with any research or anything. And I was thinking we might start taking some weekend trips up to some of these places where they say there are underground bases."

"So, basically, we just start snooping?" Tess smiled.

Max grinned wryly. "Yep."

******

Interlude I –
North West of Aztec, New Mexico
January 22, 2001

"How’s that bore hole coming, Chris?" Jorge Alvarez had to shout to be heard over the earsplitting combination of the rattling mud pump and the whining drill.

"Ah, seems to be going smooth. We’ve been getting some loose gravel and sand up in the cuttings so I think we’re close." Chris shouted back, never taking his eyes from the equipment he was monitoring.

Jorge walked slowly around the set up and surveyed the land around them. Twisted scrub, some scraggly trees, sand, rock and hard, parched earth. Evidence of the last storm had all but vanished in the bright clear afternoon, with only a few small patches of dirty white snow hiding in the north-side shadows. He stopped his mind from wandering and turned back to the rig when the whine of the drill seemed to slow to a growl and then speed up again.

"Watch your pull-down, there. Slow the rotation a bit, Chris."

"We weren’t expecting rock were we?"

"Nope. Might be some cobbles. Give it a few more minutes to see if the drill’ll break through.

"Hey, Al, you watching the water in the suction pit?" He called over to the third member of their work group.

"’Course I am. I have done this before."

"Yeah, yeah. Check the cuttings every 10 feet or so now, okay?"

"Can do."

Al Chee knelt down next to the settling pit and dipped a small glass jar into the sediment at the bottom. When he pulled it back up he looked at the swirling red water curiously. "What the hell is this?" He muttered to himself. Looking back at the pit he noticed clumps of . . .something floating on the top of the water.

"Holy Jesus God." He stumbled back when the smell hit him, tipping over one of the guy wires and falling hard to the ground.

Jorge and Chris rushed to stabilize the rig and then turned to find Al on his knees a few feet away retching violently. Jorge started to step across the settling pit when Chris grabbed his arm and pointed to the muddy water. He leaned down to get a better look and saw what appeared to be gobs of hair and animal fat on the surface of the water. The wind shifted and he heard Chris start to gag behind him. When a hideously putrid odor finally drifted to his nostrils he was already fumbling for the drill and beginning the process of pulling it back up.

"Chris. CHRIS. Help me here." He pulled his t-shirt up over his nose and was trying to breathe through his mouth. That only worked so well and soon an oily scent of rot coated their tongues. They struggled with the drill and when they had pulled it up far enough they cut the motor and shut off the mud pump, which was still bringing up what looked like clots of blood and flesh.

They tried to keep from gagging and lurched back from the drill setup, pulling the still vomiting Al back with them. When they were far enough back. Chris dropped, panting, to his knees next to Al while Jorge ran to their truck to get his cell phone.

Jorge struggled with the phone for a moment. His hands were shaking horribly and his mind was working feverishly to come up with some explanation for what had just happened. Nothing feasible was coming to mind. Eighteen years of drilling had never turned up anything like this before. He finally managed to dial the number and listened impatiently for someone to pick up.

"Rosie? It’s Jorge. You need to get the Sheriff out to the site here. . .I don’t know. I just don’t know. Something came up when we were drilling. . . No I mean something literally came up when we were drilling. Something in the drilling fluid. . . We were a hundred fifty feet down. . . I DON’T KNOW. Just get him out here, Rosie. NOW."

Jorge ended the call and slumped back against the side of the truck. He drew several deep breaths filling his lungs with the sweet dry air. He coughed a bit and tried to spit out the taste of decay that lingered in his mouth, then looked back up to stare out at the empty and now quiet land.

"Lord have mercy." He whispered.

End Interlude

******

January 22, 2001

Dear Bound Together Stack of Paper,

Mondays are . . .well, what can I say about Mondays that hasn’t been said before?

Let me instead describe for you, in glorious Technicolor the details of the hideous train wreak of a day that was today. Liz says I am being overly dramatic. She may be right but she was also the one who said this was a good place to vent. So vent I will.

So my day started off at 7:50 a.m. with an in-class essay on three of the stories from Winesburg, OH. I mean, it was a fine book and all but somehow these stories about the strange, secret lives of small town people just aren’t terribly unique and compelling for somebody who has been abducted, several times, by an extraterrestrial who also happens to be her occasional boyfriend. Kind of redefines the words "strange" and "secret".

Anyway, it is my informed opinion that in-class essays are inhumane and should, for reasons of mental health and in the interest of furthering the cause of human rights, be banned. Especially when given before, I don’t know, let’s say noon.

I wonder if it would hurt my grade if I started referring to Ms. Howe as the Bride of Satan in this journal. Even if I had proof? Who else would assign a journal on a Friday, schedule an in-class essay on the following Monday morning and then before we could escape the room assign more reading? With such evidence as this at hand I am forced to conclude that she is evil.

Finally made it out of there with most of my sanity intact only to be intercepted by Michael while on my way to Spanish. He tried to drag me off to the eraser room and when I wouldn’t go, made a crack about PMS. He is so on my list now. Would it kill him to not be a jerk for two minutes? I would write it off as a Czechoslovakian thing if only Max wasn’t like the most disgustingly romantic guy in the universe.

Spanish was fine, except for Alex, who was being all weird and distant. I have no idea what his deal is. He didn’t want to talk to either Liz or I today. He wasn’t around for lunch and booked it out of the building as soon as the final bell rang. Whatever. I’ll call him later and pry it out of him. Or Liz and I will double-team him tomorrow. It’s for his own good.

Photography was a nightmare. I spent half the class developing a roll only to have it not turn out because, according to Mr. Diaz, oh dear, the film was somehow damaged. Either it was too old or was exposed to extreme temperatures or some other catastrophic something. I was like, okay dude, not my fault. You rolled it for me. You better freaking not give me an F because of your screw up. I just know there was an awesome picture on there. And now it is lost for all time. Oh cruel fates, why do you mock me so?

My locker was stuck shut between fourth and fifth and I had to pry Max and Liz apart so that he could get it open for me. So I was late for history and had to endure the sarcastic remarks of Mr. Campbell. "Yes, sir. I’m so glad I could join you, too. Believe me, I am happy to be here."

Lunch was uninteresting until Max showed up with flowers for Liz. Sweetheart that he is he gave me a tulip, too. Michael was oblivious.

The rest of the day was less then inspiring and I did a little happy dance when the final bell rang.

The capper of the day, though, was when I was working the dinner shift tonight.

******

"Maria, can you give me a hand with these?" Liz Parker asked her friend as she entered the dining room juggling 4 carry out containers.

"Sure, babe. What do you need?"

"Can you take, like, ten minutes and help me carry dinner over to the UFO Center for us?"

"You bet." The café was dead anyway. Only two tables were occupied and they were in another waitress’ section. "Wait, wait. Who is ‘us’?"

"Umm, Torquil, Brody, Max and I." Liz caught the look on Maria’s face and laughed. "Come on, Maria. He is NOT that bad."

"Yeah, well, he’s not fixated on you." Maria mumbled petulantly.

"This is true." Liz replied seriously, quelling the chuckle that lurked mischievously in her throat. "Could you grab the drinks, please?"

"Yeah, yeah. I should get hazard pay for this." Maria groused.

"Well, apparently Brody is going to pay me for helping out at the Center. So, I’ll tell you what, survive the next week with Torquil and we’ll go up to Albuquerque this weekend. My treat."

"Oh, Liz, the restaurant . . .?" Maria’s eyes lit up and thoughts of Torquil vanished at the prospect of lunch at her favorite restaurant.

"Of course. Old Town here we come."

"You rock, chica." Maria grabbed the drinks and followed Liz out the door. "So have you guys found anything yet?"

"No." Replied Liz with an edge of frustration in her voice. "All we find are these rumors and they are so obscure and unspecific it’s hard to pin down any good places to start. We have an incredibly long list of sites but I don’t think any of us wants to scour every corner of the southwest this year."

"Well, I’m all for some road trips but, yeah, that’s a bit much. But, hey, you’ve only been at it a couple of days."

"Right. So we’re just ‘narrowing’ now."

"Ugh. Better you then me."

"Thanks for your support." Liz said sourly as they crossed the street to the museum.

"Hey, I’m breaking-and-entering girl. You need stealth and theft of government documents I’m your woman. Just don’t make me go through the documents."

"Great, I’ll be sure and bring that up at the next meeting. I’m sure Sheriff Valenti will find this new aspect of you really fascinating."

"I blame Michael. My mother is right, he is such a bad influence on me." She sighed dramatically.

"Oh please, Maria." Liz rolled her eyes and waited for Maria to open the door for her.

"What? It’s true. How many times has he just gone off somewhere, stealing my car as he goes?"

"And how many times have you gone with him?"

"Well, I need to make sure he keeps the Jetta in one piece." She muttered.

"Oh, is that what you were doing? And everybody complains about me and Max." Liz said in mock disgust. "You two are so made for each other."

Maria stopped just inside the door. "What the hell does that mean? Liz, I thought you were my friend. How could you wish a man like Michael Guerin on me?"

Liz smiled and shook her head. "Give it up Maria. You’re in love. It’s disgusting the way you guys gush over each other." She left Maria with that thought and walked to the back room.

Maria recovered from her initial shock and ran after Liz. "I don’t gush." She replied in horror. "I never gush. I have a philosophical aversion to gushing."

Liz just grinned at her and pushed through another door. "Dinner, guys." She raised the containers in invitation to the three men who were bent over some of the various computer monitors and equipment that packed the large room. Max Evans scrambled to his feet and hurried over to her, trading a kiss for the carry out. The two other men also stood at the arrival of the young women, their eyes locked on Maria Deluca.

"Maria, hen, ‘tis yersel." Torquil declared brightly.

Maria stopped and her earlier indignation died in a sudden choking cough as if she had swallowed her words the wrong way. She glared at Max and Liz who were off in their own world again, oblivious to her displeasure.

"Yeah, ‘tis myself. How’s it going?" She sighed inwardly, note to self: strangle best friends with bare hands ASAP.

"Rather, slow, I’m sorry to say." Brody stepped forward to take the drinks from Maria’s hand. "Would you like to sit down for a moment?"

Maria smiled at Brody, he really was a sweet guy but the prospect of spending more time with Torquil then was necessary was extremely unappealing. "Well, I should really get back."

"Nae, nae. Ah’ve nae talked wi’ ya sin yestereen. Dae nae be offski sae quick. Sit, lass."

Torquil took her hand and led her to a chair. He pulled out another and sat next to her, grinning broadly. The others sat as well and for a few moments the room was silent while they settled themselves to their dinner. Maria shook her head bemusedly when Torquil offered her one of his French fries. He persisted, however, and she was eventually forced to relent. Liz held back a snort of laughter at the sight of her friend sitting uncomfortably between Brody and Torquil with a soggy fry in her hand. The pained expression on Max’s face told her he was in a similar state of repressed mirth. She nudged him lightly with her foot and turned to the computer monitor behind her.

Max took the hint and cleared his throat. "Um, we have found a couple of things that are kind of interesting. Why don’t you, uh, come take a look at this, Maria." He motioned her over to where he and Liz were sitting.

Maria leaped eagerly to her feet and, with the now forgotten fry still in hand, crossed the room to the safety of her friends.

There was something about Torquil MacNab that totally set her on edge. It could be that he was probably fifteen years older then she was and that his apparent fixation on her was just creepy in itself. It could be the near constant maniacal grin on his face. Or it could be that his incessant chatter about aliens and his constant questioning of her on the subject had excited her nascent paranoia. Whatever it was, it seemed she was the only one he truly disturbed. Most of the group appeared to be amused by him and Max took his comments on government collusion with aliens very seriously. Brody just seemed resigned to weathering the storm that was Torquil. She was still a little unclear on how they had attended school together, as Torquil was a few years older then Brody, but neither of them were particularly forthcoming on the subject.

She jumped when Max put his hand on her arm, and then flushed when she looked down into his curious eyes. Shrugging, embarrassed by her uneasiness, she turned her attention to the screen Liz was working on.

"So, uh, anyway, based on what Torquil was told by his contact we have been able to narrow down our search area for this particular underground base to the northern half of New Mexico, the southern half of Colorado, the northeastern quarter of Arizona, and the southeastern quarter of Utah." Liz pointed to a map she called up on her monitor showing the four corners region.

"Sorry, babe, but that doesn’t seem too narrowed to me."

Liz typed in another command and the map was now peppered with small dots. "Well, it kind of is. In each area there are specific hot spots. Spots where there are more rumors or reports of UFOs and secret government stuff then are usual in other areas. See, like up here near Alamosa," she indicated an area located in south central Colorado where the map was thick with dots, "there are hundreds of reports of UFOs and there have been rumors of a government base in the area for years. In fact, this is one of our main suspect areas."

"Top of the list, huh?" Maria leaned closer to the map and studied it for a moment when something caught her eye. "Hey wasn’t there an UFO crash in Aztec in the 50s or something?"

"Hoax." Brody called out sharply, his voice tinged with disgust.

"Oh, sorry . . ." She began.

"No, I’m sorry." He said softly. "It’s not you. It’s just that those of us who search for the truth are so often ridiculed for incidents like those, where somebody set out to make fools of us all. It gets tiresome after a while." He looked at her for a long moment and then cocked his head to one side with an amused smile. "Are you going to eat that fry or are you saving it for later?"

Maria’s brow creased in confusion until Max plucked the French fry from her grasp with a quiet chuckle and dropped it onto the remains of his meal.

"Oh, yeah." She smiled and gave a self-deprecating little laugh. "Guess I got distracted." She wiped her fingers absently on her dress and looked back at the map again. "So, uh, what exactly do we do when we find the super-ultra-top secret government base run by evil aliens?"

Max coughed lightly and ducked his head as he and Liz exchanged a glance. They both remained silent, however, waiting for either Brody or Torquil to take the lead in this. It would never do to let the two men suspect just how tightly they were tangled in the truth and lies about an alien presence on Earth.

Torquil stood up and walked over to them with yet another smile on his face. "Well, Maria, lass, Ah’m feart Ah cannae tell ya tae much. Jes kin that Ah’ve hander freens that’ll help us expose ra truth. ‘Tis fer yer ain safety, ya understand."

"Oh, yep, sure. My safety. I can totally get behind that cause."

"We’ve ra resources tae tak oot this viper."

"Really? That’s, uh, fairly impressive. But, how do you know what you’d be fighting? I mean they could have an army or something." Maria stopped for a moment and then continued with a thoughtful frown on her face. "Oh, well, seeing as they are the government I guess they do have an army. And an air force and like marines and huge amounts of weapons and bullets and surface-to-air missiles and stuff. My point being, we don’t know what we’re up against, how do we know you have the resources to stop it?"

For the first time since his arrival in Roswell, Torquil MacNab’s face was completely expressionless as he stared at the young woman standing before him.

"Yer nae jes ae sonsie lass. Ye’ve ae good bit o’ rumgumption as well, eh?" He murmured pensively.

Brody moved to break the wary silence that settled on the room. "Yes. Maria has always been very insightful. I’ve often found it extremely beneficial to chat with her for a bit."

"Gee, thanks. Maria appreciation night, huh? Well, yet again, it’s been a lot of fun but I really, really need to get back . . ." She jumped when the door slammed open.

"Maria, what the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be working." Michael stormed into the room, his eyes blazing.

"Jesus Christ, Michael. You scared the hell out of me." She yelled back at him.

"You didn’t answer my question."

"Okay, Guerin, last I checked you weren’t my mommy or my boss. What’s your damn problem?"

"You weren’t where you were supposed to be."

"And you got worried about me?"

"No." Michael replied petulantly. "I just needed to talk to you about something and I wasn’t in the mood to go tracking you down."

"Michael, we were kind of in the middle of something." Max spoke up quietly, trying to stifle his own need to shout at Michael for startling them all.

"Something you’re going to share with the class, Maxwell?" Michael asked sharply.

Max stared, dumbfounded, at his friend, a hurt expression crossing his face. He opened his mouth to tell Michael exactly what he thought of his attitude but was interrupted when Liz pushed him aside. He had stepped between Liz and the door when it had burst open and he hadn’t moved a muscle since.

"What’s the matter, Michael? Is everything okay?" Liz asked.

Michael’s irritation drained from him when he heard the concern in Liz’s voice. "Nothing’s wrong. I just needed to ask Maria a question." He floundered for a moment trying to come up with a viable explanation for his panic induced entrance. "I, uh, needed to borrow the Jetta." He finished weakly.

Maria regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "No."

"No? What do you mean ‘No’?" He felt his strength returning at the prospect of an argument with her.

"Ra lass, means nae, ye bastartin bear." Torquil snarled and put his hand on Maria’s shoulder, moving her behind him a bit. The muscles in his arms and shoulders bunched and flexed menacingly under his sweater.

Michael’s eyes narrowed and he glared at the man confronting him now. "None of your business." He spat.

"Nae true. Maria’s ma freen, an ye’ll treat her wi’ ra respect she deserves or Ah’ll gub ya, ya girny erse." His voice slipped into the cold, authoritative tone of the intimidating police officer he once was.

If Michael couldn’t understand every word Torquil spoke he could understand the meaning behind them clearly enough. His hands balled into fists and he took a step towards the burly Scotsman.

"Okay, this is just a little too Wild Kingdom for me." Maria proclaimed in exasperation as she stepped between the two men. "Torquil, thanks for defending my honor but like I said before I can totally handle Michael." She turned then to Michael and poked an angry finger at his chest. "And you. Talk to me like that again and I will make you regret the day you were hatched. Now, I am going back to work and don’t you dare follow me, Michael." With one last, annoyed punch on his arm she stomped out of the room.

Max crossed to where his friend was standing lost in his thoughts with a blank expression on his face. "Can I talk to you for just a second Michael? In private?" He hissed through clenched teeth.

Michael shook himself and let his voice cool a few degrees when he replied. "I’m a little busy Max. Got some things to do."

"Now, Michael." His voice made unmistakable the fact that this was a command not a request. Max didn’t wait for Michael’s reply this time, however, before grabbing his shoulder and propelling him out the door. "What the hell is wrong with you, Michael?"

"I don’t like that guy." Michael shook Max’s hand off angrily.

"Obviously. But, that’s not what I am talking about. Where do you get off doing that to Maria? You’re my friend, Michael, my brother, but sometimes you are a real jackass." Max sighed wearily and slouched back against the wall. "Michael . . ."

"What? Not done telling me how big a screw-up I am?" Michael snarled.

"You’re not a screw-up. You just need to stop expressing every emotion that you have so, uh, emphatically. Maria cares about you but she needs to know that she means more to you then as someone you can demand things from."

"Sorry we don’t have the perfect little relationship you and Liz do. Not everybody can be that shiny happy, Max."

"I am really not interested in arguing with you right now, Michael and this is not what I wanted to talk to you about. Liz and I have found six or seven sites we think are the best bet for this base. I’d like to come over to your place later tonight and . . ."

"Great, another team-meeting at my place. Couldn’t we just rent a freaking office so that I could have a night to myself for once?"

Max felt his temper rising. Michael was usually fairly difficult but he was seldom actually belligerent. "Just me and Liz, Michael. I think we need to make some plans before we move ahead. You’re my second in command, but if you don’t feel like you can handle it I can talk to Isabel instead." He snapped.

"Fine. Come over. Can I go now?" He turned and walked away before Max could respond.

Max, for his part, stood silently staring at Michael’s rapidly departing form. Being not of this earth just wasn’t enough when he couldn’t read his friend’s mind and it was just too difficult to figure out what was bothering him so much without that ability. He wished Michael would let somebody in. It didn’t even have to be him. He rubbed a hand across his eyes and took a deep breath.

Liz peeked around the door to see if Michael and Max were still talking. When she saw that Max was alone she came around and took his other hand in hers. She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed his knuckles softly. "What’s wrong with him?"

"I don’t know. He won’t say anything. You know how he gets. He just seems really angry for some reason." Max laced his fingers with Liz’s and pulled her into an embrace. "Well, angrier then usual." He allowed.

They stood together in the embrace for a several long minutes before Liz pulled away. "Mm. Pleasant as this is, Max, we should get back to work. We need to gather what we can before we go over to Michael’s tonight." She stood on tiptoe to kiss his neck. "I can’t be out all night and who knows how long it will take for him to actually let us into his apartment." She smiled and pulled him back into the computer room with her.

Max grinned mischievously. "Why can’t you stay out all night? I can make it worth your while."

"Work first, Max. Then play." She winked at him and went to her seat.

He groaned. "You’re a cruel woman. You know that don’t you?"

He took his seat next to Liz and tried to concentrate on the files in front of him but was forced to look up again when he felt eyes on him. He glanced over to Brody who was looking more then a little upset.

"You okay, Brody?"

"Is Maria, all right?" He asked hesitantly.

Liz turned around and smiled her most reassuring smile at Brody. "She’ll be fine. I promise. She and Michael just have a kind of, uh, volatile relationship. I’ll call her later to make sure, though."

"Sorry, Ah went dinger wi’ yer freen there, Max. But ya maun admit he’s ae roch auld ned." Torquil clapped Max on the shoulder with an apologetic smile on his face.

"Uh, yeah. I’m sorry Michael burst in here like that. He’s not usually like that but something’s bugging him."

"Well, uh, we better get back to work." Brody turned back to his computer and thoughts of Maria disappeared as he lost himself in the bizarre world of hybrids, reptilians, and global conspiracies.

They all turned back to what they were doing except for Torquil who observed Max and Liz curiously. He watched as they copied a number of files to a pair of disks, which they then tried to slip covertly into Liz’s bag along with several hardcopies. Once a copper always a copper and there wasn’t much that ever escaped his attention.

******

Torquil MacNab stretched his thick arms over his head and let out a mighty roar, or maybe it was just a yawn, either way it caused Brody Davis to start and drop the thick sheaf of papers he was carrying.

"Brody, ya auld daftie." Torquil chuckled to himself as he climbed to his feet to help his friend collect the papers from the floor.

"Tha’ were an interesting yestereen, wa’n it?"

"Um, in what way?" Brody asked, clearly distracted. He was shifting a stack of computer drives to get at a piece of paper that had slipped under their shelving unit. The shelf swayed precariously as he tried to snake an arm under it. Torquil leaped to his feet and dashed over to where the small man was about to get himself crushed under several stone of computer hardware. Torquil leaned nonchalantly against the shelf, bracing it with his massive bulk.

"Tha’ Maria hen and her bear of a boyfreen. He’s quite a warmer." Torquil growled in disgust as he moved to lift the edge of the shelf at Brody’s frustrated pantomime that he should do so. "Himsel com’n in here like tha’."

Brody dove under the shelf and snatched the errant piece of paper. He sat back on the cold floor, raising it triumphantly in his hand. Torquil grinned and gently lowered the unit.

"Well, I must admit that I haven’t had too much contact with Michael. I really only know what Max and Maria have told me. And while Maria says a lot, not all of it having to do with his personality, and Max says not much at all, what little I’ve actually managed to gather on him says he’s had something of a rough go of it."

"Bahh. Ah’ve known many a roch ned in ma time. Nae call tae gae lettin’ ra halliracket’s dae as they please ‘cause they’ve had it roch. Need ae firm hand, they dae."

"Well, the Sheriff seems to have taken an interest in the boy."

"Good. ‘Cause Ah’ll melt ra bear if he treats ra lass like tha’ again."

Brody smirked at his friend. He knew it would be no good to try to talk to him now that he had decided Maria was his new friend but it would be well worth watching if he thought to take too big a hand in her affairs. Good intentions aside, she was a spirited young woman who wouldn’t take too kindly to Torquil’s interference.

"Now Max is ae interesting lad. Quiet, eh? Nae a daftie, though. He’s got ae good bit o’ smeddum. Doesnae talk aboot his abduction e’er, heh?"

Brody looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "You know, I don’t think I have ever heard him talk about his abduction. I have brought it up once or twice but he gets even quieter then usual, turns rather pale, and says he prefers not to talk about it. I can only suppose that what they did to him was pretty nightmarish."

"Poor lad. Ya suppose he can talk wi’ tha' pretty lassie o’ his? They’re awfy close it seems, fer twae sae young." Torquil tried to hide the questions in the guise of casual conversation, but he was remembering the odd exchange between the pair he had observed the day he met Max and Liz and wanted more information of the couple.

The girl had seemed focused on her studies that afternoon but when the conversation between the three men had turned grim and disturbing she looked up to watch Max closely. She was on the other side of the crowded café from them but somehow had managed to pick up on her young man’s tension. At one point she had even walked over to the booth under the pretense of meeting Torquil. However charming she was, it was apparent that hospitality was not her primary concern. Liz had stood close by Max, rubbing his shoulder and stroking his arm until some of the tension drained from his body. She made her excuses then and went back to her book. But from that moment on Torquil had felt her presence as a distant fourth member of their party. It was as though she listened to the conversation through Max.

"Hmm, yes. Very close." Brody was distracted again, this time by something on his computer monitor.

"Doesnae seem odd tae ya?" He pressed on.

He felt badly about questioning Brody unawares like this but he thought that perhaps he wasn’t seeing the whole picture of Roswell, and it had suddenly become vitally important that he did.

There was an interesting dynamic within a certain sphere in this town and oddly enough, from what he had picked up in his few days here, it seemed to swirl around young Max Evans and Liz Parker. They showed an unnatural interest in this search. Threats of evil aliens and human experimentation seemed only to strengthen their determination to assist Brody and himself. They had even tried to surreptitiously purloin a number of documents related to what was clearly becoming a dangerous and most possibly deadly search.

Word had come early that morning from a colleague in the northern part of the state that a drilling operation and bored into something abominable. Not the first report of its kind he had ever heard but the first he had received from this region. It was a good sign only in that it served an indication that his investigative skills were as sharp as ever. He was close. He could only hope he had enough time.

"No. Why should it? Young love. It happens." Brody laughed and nudged his friend.

"Jes seems ae wee bit more’n young love ‘tis all." He murmured thoughtfully. A second later another thought hit him and his customary exuberance returned. "An ah tell ya, as much as Maria may be soapy, tha’ lad o’ hers is at it. Ah can feel it. A bear tha’ one."

"So you’ve said. Every twenty minutes since last night as a matter of fact."

"Michael an’ Max are close?"

"Yes, I believe so. He referred to Michael as his brother once. I believe he is also quite close to Max’s sister, Isabel. They were all adopted, you know."

"Were they, really? Born in Roswell ur nae?"

"I’m not really sure. I’ve not been here too long myself. And, like I said before, Max isn’t particularly talkative." Brody finally pulled his eyes from his computer and glanced curiously at Torquil. "You’re quite inquisitive today."

Torquil grinned disarmingly. "Ah, ya kin ma, Brody. Hard tae gie up bein’ ae copper. Bunch o’ nebbies we are."

******

"Mmm . . . Max, we’re supposed to be studying."

"I am studying."

"Oh really? What?"

"Anatomy."

Liz bit her lip and tried to stifle a giggle. She shook her head sternly at Max and pushed away one of his hands. It was a half-hearted gesture at best and Max did not hesitate to return to what he was doing. Within moments the suppressed giggle turned into a muffled chuckle, which then turned into a full belly laugh whereupon Liz lost the strength to further resist the wandering hands of Max Evans.

"Why Ms. Parker, I do believe you’re ticklish."

"No, no, no." She was breathless and trying to shift away from him. "I am not ticklish. No, Max, what are you doing? Stop." Max picked her up suddenly, eliciting a squeal from Liz. He walked her over to his bed and unceremoniously tossed her onto it.

"Yes Liz, you are. And as your boyfriend I think that this is something I need to know all about."

She sat up and tried to dive off the bed but Max tackled her, pinning her with his weight. He pulled her arms above her head and wrapped one of his large, strong hands around her delicate wrists, securing her capture. His free hand began to rove across her body. His fingers dancing lightly over her slightly exposed midriff and then drifting slowly up her side. Agonizingly slow. She squirmed on the bed, her laughter turning to frantic gasps for air. He loomed over her and gazed down with a hungry gleam in his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat and her stomach fluttered wildly when he lowered himself closer to her and put his mouth against her ear. "Does this tickle?" His hot breath swirled around her ear as his hand trailed down her side and then slid under her shirt and up again to her ribcage. She shivered and let out a ragged breath.

"Max?" A hesitant knock at the door and the voice of Diane Evans broke the spell holding the two young lovers together. Max rolled off of Liz and onto his back with a groan. Liz elbowed him playfully in the side and scrambled off the bed. Max watched in amusement as she hurriedly tried to straighten her clothes and hair. She turned back to him and raised one dangerous eyebrow at his wicked grin.

"Max?" This time Diane didn’t wait for a reply before opening the door slowly. She wasn’t sure how she felt about letting Max have his girlfriend alone with him in his room. She knew they were both responsible young people but they were also testing the exciting waters of adulthood and she remembered all too well what that was like. Nevertheless, she believed her son was entitled to some privacy in his life and the right to make his own decisions. Hopefully she and her husband had taught their children well and he would make the right choices. That said, she was still a little afraid she would walk in on her son in a compromising situation with his girlfriend. She was fairly certain that was something she could happily live without.

"Yeah, Mom?"

She entered the room and found Max sprawled on his back in the middle of his bed. He smiled at her with an openness that she had seldom ever seen. She couldn’t help but smile back in kind. She then glanced quickly around the room and spotted Liz at the desk with an expression of exasperated humor on her face. A quick check assured her that both of them were fully clothed and if they appeared a little flushed at least they looked more amused than embarrassed. Diane allowed herself to relax a little bit.

"Hey. How’s it going? What are you two up to?"

Max groaned again and covered his eyes with his arm. "We have a history test tomorrow. Honestly though, at this point I don’t think anymore studying is going to help. I either know it or I don’t. Nothing else is going to stick in my brain tonight."

"I just think we should go over these dates one more time, Max," Liz picked up a handful of index cards and waved them in his direction.

Diane smiled at them both, vastly relieved to see that they really did seem to be studying. "Liz, honey, would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Oh, no, I’m sorry Mrs. Evans I can’t stay tonight, I have to work. Thank you, though."

"No problem, I’ll take a rain check. How about tomorrow night?"

"That would be great, Mrs. Evans."

"Please, Liz, call me Diane."

"Sure."

Diane stood for a moment, unsure of what to say next. She realized she had probably better let them get back to their schoolwork but she found herself reluctant to leave for some reason. She sighed inwardly as she discovered that she was having a difficult time letting her little boy grow up. She shook off her misgivings for the moment. "Well, I’ll let you two get back to work. Dinner will be ready in about an hour, Max."

"Okay, thanks, Mom."

"You’re welcome, sweetie."

Max and Liz remained quiet for a long moment after Diane left the room, softly shutting the door behind her.

"I like your mom, Max. She’s really great," Liz said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, she really likes you, too," Max replied softly. His mood seemed to sink as he drifted off into that dark place in his soul. Liz closed her eyes briefly, her heart aching for him. He was so sensitive about his family. She knew he loved his parents dearly but she also knew that the old, overwhelming feeling of not belonging and the fear that his life was somehow a lie would occasionally rise up without warning and he would shut himself behind his walls. Liz was bound and determined to keep these moments to a minimum. She knew what it was like to need time to yourself but she wasn’t going to let him hide himself in that fortress of pain and doubt anymore.

"Did you see the look on her face when she walked in? I think she was terrified she was going to find us in a hot and heavy make-out session. Good thing she knocked." Liz laughed.

Max pushed himself up on his elbows and looked at Liz fondly. He let the smile creep back across his face and then allowed himself to join her laughter. "Good thing. I don’t think the conversation would have gone nearly as well if I was trying to subtly remove my hand from under your shirt."

"That would have been a little awkward," She replied with a snicker.

Max watched her for a little while longer. He loved to just look at her and he reveled in the knowledge that if she caught him looking he no longer had to look away in embarrassment and hide his attraction. He watched as she organized the index cards on his desk and then bent over to dig through her bag for something or other. "I don’t suppose I could convince you do join me over here for a few more minutes," he asked huskily.

She straightened in her chair and smiled at him lovingly. "Sorry, Max, I know I’m no fun tonight. I’ll be all yours on Friday."

He smiled gently, "All mine?"

Liz met his intense gaze and, as always, the passionate regard she saw there was enough to burn every rational thought out of her head. "Yes," she replied weakly.

"Good," he said quietly as he stood up and crossed the room to her. She watched him approach her, finding it increasingly difficult to breathe with every step he took. He dropped to his knees beside her and brushed his fingers across her cheek. His hand slid through her soft hair to cradle the back of her head tenderly while the fingers of his other hand twined with hers. He leaned back and stared at her with something very like awe swelling in his chest. "God, I love you. Promise me I can worship you forever." His voice was harsh with emotion. She parted her lips to speak but Max brought his mouth down on hers before she could utter a syllable. She slid her free hand up his chest and let her fingers linger at his collar before moving on around the back of his neck, pulling him closer.

The phone was on the second ring before they heard it and the fourth ring before they managed to pull apart. Max leaned his forehead against Liz’s and reached blindly for the phone. "This has to be some sort of record," he mumbled irritably.

"Hello? Yeah, she’s here . . . I don’t know . . . uh, yeah, okay, hold on." Max looked more then a little confused when he handed the phone to Liz. "It’s Michael."

Her brow creased in bewilderment as she took the phone from Max. "Uh, hello? Michael? What’s wrong? Yeah, my shift starts in forty-five minutes . . . um, no, I don’t think that will be a problem . . . no, we’re not done here yet . . . studying . . . I don’t care if you believe me or not . . . no . . . I don’t know . . . fine Michael, whatever." She angrily jabbed the phone’s off button. "That has to be the most aggravating person on this or any other planet."

Max pried the phone from her grasp before she could do any damage to it. "What did he want?"

"He wanted to know if I was going to be working the shift tonight and then he started in on me about being on time and how I should get there early enough to get ready. You’d think it was my first night on the job. Oh, and then he made some sort of snide comment about us." She said in disgust.

"That’s weird. Why would he call you?" Max asked, perplexed by Michael’s behavior.

"I have no idea but if he is like this tonight I refuse to be held responsible for my actions and any damage he may sustain during his shift."

Max sat back again and idly caressed her palm with his thumb while he lost himself in thought. He was worried. This was the second time in as many days that Michael had acted almost insanely protective of two of the members of the group. Yesterday he had been furious when Maria wasn’t at the café for a few minutes and now he was checking up on Liz. Normally this wouldn’t upset him so much. Michael was the protector of the group and was beginning to take his role as such very seriously, however, Michael knew Liz was with him and he still called to check on her. That was disturbing.

"Max, love, what are you thinking?" Liz stroked his cheek softly.

"I’m just wondering what’s up with Michael. He has been so irritable lately and now he’s being weirdly possessive about you and Maria. It’s almost like he’s afraid of something."

"Hmm. He did seem really distant yesterday. You don’t suppose that something about this search is scaring him, do you? He seemed really interested in it when we met Torquil on Saturday. Now, it’s like he doesn’t even want to hear anything about it. He practically ignored us when we were over at his place."

Max sighed and leaned into her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. He inhaled the sweet scent of her hair and tried to get his tense muscles to relax. She ran her fingernails gently up and down his spine.

"I don’t know what’s wrong with him. He won’t talk to me," he whispered into her hair. "We’ve only been looking a couple of days and already things are falling apart."

"Nothing’s fallen apart, Max. Michael being a creep does not constitute the end of the world. Trust me on that." She pulled away from him slightly and took his face in both of her hands. She looked deeply into his golden eyes and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I’ll see if I can get something from him tonight. If he won’t give it up willingly Maria and I will kick him in the shins until he does."

Max laughed and kissed her throat. "Think that will work?"

"If it doesn’t, at least I’ll get some sort of therapeutic benefit from it.

"You’re a vicious woman, Parker." He said with a grin.

"It’s a tough world, Evans." She grinned back and kissed him one more time.

"So you and Maria are going up to Albuquerque this weekend, right?"

"Yep. We’ll talk to a couple of those people on Torquil’s contact list for Kirtland Air Force Base while we’re there."

"Maybe I should meet you two up there."

"You don’t think the base is there, do you?"

"No. I think it’s much farther north. Maybe even in Colorado. I just don’t like the idea of you and Maria going off to question these people without a Czechoslovakian around for protection." He grinned wryly at his own use Maria’s euphemism for those of extraterrestrial origin.

"We’ll be shopping and doing girly things, maybe Isabel will be better suited to the trip."

Max was relieved that she accepted his concern so readily, "No, Isabel and Alex are supposed to be going down to Las Cruces to talk to a professor there about the genetics involved in hybridization. No, how about if Michael and I meet you? Weird as he has been acting about you and Maria it probably won’t be hard to get him up there."

"Okay, meet us for lunch in Old Town on Saturday. That’ll give Maria and I the morning to hang out and stuff."

"You’ve got a date. So, uh, girly things, huh? What kind of girly things?"

"Wouldn’t you like to know." She quirked an eyebrow at him and then laughed softly at the look on his face.

He felt suddenly and unaccountably warm. He had to clear his throat before he could speak, "How much longer can you stay?"

"We’re not going to get any more studying done, are we?" She asked softly.

"I really hope not." He replied leaning closer.

******

Liz walked into the back room of the Crashdown twenty minutes later with more then a little spring in her step. She was just headed up the stairs when she saw her mother going through some boxes by the back door. "Hey, mom."

"Hello, honey. Are you ready for your test?"

"Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ve got it all down. What are looking for?"

"Oh nothing. I was just getting ready to get together all our tax stuff and I decided I’d rather procrastinate and go through our storage room." Nancy Parker smiled guiltily at her daughter.

Liz grinned, "Need a hand?"

"No thanks. If I had help I’d probably finish too quickly. You’d better go get ready for your shift, Lizzy."

"Liz!" Michael’s sharp voice rang through the room making both Liz and Nancy jump.

"What?" She yelped, holding her hand to her chest as if that could somehow calm her pounding heart.

Michael stood in the doorway of the kitchen and stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. He peered at her for a long, unnerving moment before he spoke again and when he did his voice was hard and cold. "Where’s Maria?"

"On her way, I suppose. What’s your problem, Michael?" Liz asked angrily. If there was something bothering him he didn’t need to be taking it out on either of them.

His eyes narrowed but he didn’t move or say anything. Finally, he turned abruptly and disappeared back into the kitchen. Liz let out a breath she hadn’t known she had been holding.

"Is he okay?" Nancy asked her daughter nervously. If that boy was going to be trouble she wouldn’t hesitate to let him go.

"I honestly don’t know." Liz shook herself out of her daze and smiled at her mom, "I have to go get ready. Don’t worry about Michael, okay?"

"I don’t know, Lizzy, if . . ."

"It’ll be fine, I promise," and with that she dashed up the stairs.

******

Liz was exhausted. She barely managed to drag herself up the stairs to her apartment and when she got to her room she dropped limply onto her bed. She wasn’t even sure she had enough energy to get undressed.

The dinner shift had been insanely busy and Maria and Michael snapped and snarled at each other through the whole thing. And when Michael wasn’t glaring at Maria he was scowling at her. Every time she looked up his eyes were following her. It was extremely disconcerting. By closing time she couldn’t take anymore and told him that he didn’t need to help with the clean up and that he should just leave. He leveled a penetrating gaze at her but eventually left without protest. She and Maria had both sighed in relief and discussed his puzzling behavior at length. They finally called it an evening when neither of them could offer up any plausible explanation for his newest personality quirk.

Liz mustered up enough energy to roll off of her bed and when she could stand without wobbling she made her way to her bathroom. As she was passing her window she thought she saw a shadow move on her patio. Her body tensed and her senses went on high alert. It wasn’t Max, she could tell that much and nobody else she knew ever climbed onto her patio this late. She backed away from the window without taking her eyes off the shadows. Liz grabbed for the aluminum softball bat she kept near her desk.

The moving shadows converged into a black figure that moved slowly towards her window. As it got closer she could make out his features. "Michael?" she gasped in surprise.

He looked at the bat in her hands and motioned her to open her window. She hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t feeling all that safe around Michael these days. The uncertainty in his eyes made her decision for her, though. She slid open the sash and stepping back let him clamber in.

"I won’t hurt you." He said softly.

Liz sat back on her bed and peered at Michael closely. The frighteningly blank expression that had dominated his face so much recently was gone, replaced by a sort of open fear that cut to her heart. She cared about Michael. Of course she did. He was Max’s brother, part of the group, part of her family. He was just so difficult to understand sometimes and lived so much in his own world. "What’s wrong Michael?" She asked gently, almost afraid that he would shy away and bolt out the window if she spoke too loudly.

"I . . . I need to talk, and you’re," he cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "you’re the only one who will understand. You can’t tell, Liz. Please, swear you won’t tell. Not until I can figure out all this stuff. Please, Liz." He pleaded with her.

"Michael, whatever it is, we can work it out."

"No Liz. You can’t tell. Please. I need to talk to somebody. I can’t go to Maria, or Isabel, or Max. Just you. You know what it’s like to have to protect the group. You understand. I know you do. Swear to me, Liz. I need your help." His words tumbled out of his mouth in a rush and his hands danced anxiously at his sides.

"I swear, Michael."

"Not even, Max," he said hurriedly.

"No, not even Max. If you say it’s important . . ."

"To protect the group."

"To protect the group." She echoed to show that she understood.

"It has to look real, Liz. You can’t tell anybody."

"I understand Michael. Please, tell me. I want to help you."

"The flashes you and Max get. That could tell him. No, this was a bad idea I should go."

"Michael." She grabbed his arm to keep him from climbing back out the window. "I can control the flashes. Max won’t know. He won’t, Michael." She felt her throat tighten at the look of relief that washed over his face. She knew what it was like to have a secret eating you alive and how it felt to finally share it with somebody. How the easing of that burden felt like the greatest gift in the world.

He knelt down on the floor in front of her and took one of her hands in both of his and stared at her fingers. His voice broke as he spoke. "I’m . . . I'm scared. Things are happening, Liz. Bad things."

******

Alex heaved a sigh of relief when the bell finally rang and the hallways emptied. He stuck his head around the corner and looked up and down the hall making sure the coast was clear. When he was certain it was safe he darted out and made a mad dash to his locker. He had managed to avoid the Maria Gestapo, "Vee haf vays," for three days. He knew it was only a matter of time before his luck ran out but he just wasn’t ready for any ‘girl’ talk yet.

He’d just opened his locker when he heard footsteps behind him. Suddenly he felt like a sickly gazelle alone on the savanna. A feeling only Maria Deluca could instill in him. He adored her but when she decided you needed to talk to her she was enough to drive a normal man insane. His heart rate increased and he turned his head slowly in the direction of the approaching person. His body relaxed and he let his forehead rest against the locker frame when he saw that it wasn’t Maria.

"Hey Whitman, how’s it going?" Kyle Valenti slouched back against the row of lockers and ran a quarter along that backs of his fingers.

Alex looked at him curiously for a moment before speaking, "What are you James Dean now?"

"What?" Kyle flipped the coin in the air and snatched it back with a flip of his wrist.

"Never mind." Alex turned back to his locker and dug through the pile of books in search of his psychology text. "So, I know I’m really late for class, but what’s your story, Valenti?"

"Oh, I’ve got this period off."

"And you decided to lurk the hallways of West Roswell High in search of a lowly computer geek to socialize with? Either my social status just skyrocketed or yours just tanked."

"Funny Whitman. So you’re taking your time, huh? It is a dark day for geekdom when Alex Whitman turns from hacker to slacker."

"Oh, you’re rhyming now. Buddha rap?"

"Do you want me to kick your ass?" Kyle asked conversationally.

"Not particularly."

"So you going to class today, or what?"

Alex dropped his books into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. Why do you care?"

Kyle looked casually up and down the hall, "’Cause I’m hoping I can talk you into ditching the rest of the day."

"Why would I do something like that?" He shut his locker and started walking slowly toward his class.

Kyle pushed himself away from the lockers and fell into step next to Alex. "Well, I kind of figured that we both have a sort of unique problem."

"And?" Alex waved his hand impatiently, trying to get Kyle to come to the point.

"And, I kind of need to talk to somebody about this and you’re the one that came to mind." He finished nonchalantly.

Alex stopped and regarded Kyle skeptically, "Me?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, you. Look, if that’s not cool with you, fine whatever, I’ll let you get back to hiding from Maria."

"It’s that obvious?"

"She is pissed, dude. I’d be hiding too."

Alex groaned and turned around, heading for the nearest exit. "You’re driving, Valenti." He shouted over his shoulder.

******

"Where’re we off to?" Alex asked as he tossed his book bag into the back of Kyle’s car.

Kyle climbed in and started his car up, revving the engine a little more then Alex felt was necessary. Who was he trying to impress? "I don’t know. I’m kinda hungry. You up for food?"

"Sure, I could eat."

"Señor Chow’s?" Kyle suggested as he pulled the car out of the school’s lot.

"Yummy."

"Yummy? What kind of guy are you?"

"Are you driving or are you questioning my manhood? You gotta pick one."

"I’m driving. So, uh, haven’t seen you around much recently. You gonna tell me why you’re hiding from Maria?"

"Not if I can possibly avoid it."

"Alien related?"

"Isn’t everything?"

"Yeah. You know, I’m kinda torn on my membership in the I-Know-An-Alien club. I’m pretty sure I didn’t sign anything and yet here I am. Hell, I even have one living in my house. Not that I’d rather be dead or anything but you know what I’m saying."

"It certainly has its moments." Alex agreed. "Is this what you meant by our unique problem?"

"Actually I was thinking more of the, uh, female alien, uh, problem."

"Oh fantastic. My favorite subject," Alex groaned and leaned his forehead against his window. "Oh wait, make that my second favorite subject. If you wanted to talk about Max and Michael then that would be my favorite subject."

"Hey man . . ."

"No, no, it’s cool. Really. I totally understand. In fact, it’s kind of a relief to know I’m not suffering alone." Alex’s mood brightened considerably at that thought and he smiled cheerily.

Kyle glared at him and mumbled unkind things under his breath. Alex pretended not to hear and when they pulled up at the restaurant a short time later he almost felt like whistling. Kyle had a hard time not decking his companion, even going so far as to try some of his meditation chanting. The two young men managed to make it into the restaurant and to a table without incident.

They sat uncomfortably for a few minutes after the waitress took their order, neither knowing just what to say to the other. Kyle munched his way through the basket of sweet and sour tortilla chips while Alex looked around curiously as if he had never been to the restaurant before.

He finally turned back to Kyle and watched with a raised eyebrow as he devoured the chips with a bizarre sort of single mindedness. "So is your dad too busy saving the world to cook?"

"Tess cooks." Kyle said around a full mouth.

Alex was clearly stunned by this bit of information. "Tess? Tess cooks?"

"S’what I said."

"She’s not a good cook?"

"No, she is. She’s a really good cook."

"Are you afraid she’s trying to poison you?"

Kyle stopped chewing long enough to glare at Alex, "What? What the hell are you talking about, Whitman?"

"Huh. Nothing I guess." He sat silently for a moment before sobering slightly, "Hey, I heard what you did for Max and Liz. That was very, uh, noble. Or something."

Kyle waved him away uncomfortably, "Yeah, well you know. I figured it wasn’t a good thing to have an ali-, uh, Czechoslovakian pissed at me. Not that I’m afraid of Evans." He said quickly.

"No, of course not." Alex assured him.

"Yeah, whatever. Look, I still care about Liz, and she and Evans are just," he shrugged his shoulders, "I don’t know, they’re just right for each other, I guess. Besides, Evans isn’t too bad a guy. He makes her happy."

"Better to have him for you then against you, eh? I gotcha. So what, exactly, is it about our female Czechoslovakians you wanted to talk about?"

Kyle stopped eating and stared at the mostly empty basket in front of him for a few seconds before taking a long drink and finally realizing that he didn’t know what he wanted to say, "Um, just, uh, you know. Uh, stuff."

"Well, stuff. Sure. I can talk about stuff all day. Is this Tess specific stuff or Czechoslovakian in general stuff."

"Both I guess."

The waitress arrived with their lunch and Alex leaned back in the booth, getting comfortable. "Okay, my man, I am just going to sit here and let you take the floor. I’ll follow your lead. This is your show. Spotlight’s on you, dude."

"Are you done spewing cliches?"

"Umm, let me check." Alex made a show of mumbling to himself and ticking imaginary items off with his fingers. "Yep, looks like it."

Kyle seemed to fight some sort of internal battle; it ended with the decision that he would be better off if he just ignored the smart-ass side of Alex. He did glare at him one more time for good measure before moving on to the subject at hand.

"So, um, do you suppose that there is something about them that just sort of pulls us to them? Something, uh, Czech?"

"You mean are they tempting and seductive Sirens luring us to our dooms? Hoping that we will dash the ships of our lives against the rocks that lay hidden beneath the calming waves of a relationship with them, spilling out our life’s blood into a sea that we realize too late actually rages and boils around them and then we are forced to watch from our broken and drowning bodies as they finally suck up our souls and put another little check on their score cards? I would have to say yes."

"Um, so things aren’t going well with you and Isabel, huh?"

"No, they don’t seem to be." Alex said calmly.

"Oh."

"Yeah. If you’re asking if it is a Czech thing or a purely female thing, I don’t have an answer for you."

"Yeah, that’s kind of what I was wondering."

"So, you and Tess, huh?"

"Uh, not so you’d notice. I like her, though. I really like her. She makes home . . . home. My dad feels it too. We hang out more and stuff."

"That’s cool."

"Yeah, I . . ." Kyle was interrupted by a loud burst of laughter coming from a table not far from their booth.

He and Alex turned to find the source of the outburst. A large, red-haired, bearded, bear sized man was talking to one of the waitress. "Sofie, hen, can Ah get some more wassabi tae gae wi’ ma tacos?"

The two young men looked back at each other. "That must be Torquil."

"Gee, ya think?" Kyle asked and glanced back over at the Scotsman. He appeared to be alone but was chatting amicably with any of the wait staff who passed his way. He broke off a conversation with a busboy suddenly when his cell phone rang. He waived the boy away and talked quietly and seriously. His ruddy face went pale and he stood up abruptly. After tossing a few bills on the table he left the restaurant quickly.

Kyle, keenly deducing that something was up, stood hurriedly and pulled out his wallet.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked in confusion.

"I want to see what’s up with that guy. Come on." The waitress passed by and he pressed some cash into her hand and pulled Alex out of his seat. "Let’s go."

******

Kyle and Alex followed Torquil for about twenty minutes until he pulled up to a park on the northeastern edge of town. Kyle drove past and turned the car around half a block away, parking on the other side of the street.

"He was trying to shake a tail." Kyle said matter-of-factly. "He didn’t see us, though. My dad taught me how to tail someone."

"So I’ve heard. My dad taught me how to calculate compound interest. Your dad is cooler then my dad. Okay then Columbo, now what?"

"Well he doesn’t know who we are so we could get pretty close I think. He looks like he’s meeting somebody. You get out here and kind of walk around. I’m gonna drive around to the other side of the park and come at him from that side. We’ll meet over by that tree." He pointed to a tree close by where Torquil was leaning against the hood of his car.

"Ooo, covert surveillance. Nifty. Okay. See ya in a few." Alex jumped out of the car and walked slowly towards the park.

Kyle circled the park again; keeping an eye out for anybody else that might seem entirely too interested in the park. He stopped his car and grabbed a football from the back before walking onto the grounds. He tossed it carelessly from hand to and tried to look like any other teenager out for a day. Granted it was January and a little chilly but at least the sky was clear and the sun was out and it was as good a day as any for a little recreation.

Damn, this was hard. He was trying to look a dozen different directions at once and still pretend he was just hanging out. He spotted Alex sitting up against the tree he had pointed out earlier. He seemed engrossed in something on the ground next to him. Probably, looking for bugs, Kyle snorted to himself. He was such a geek. He couldn’t help but smile though. The I-Know-An-Alien club did have its amusements. Free reign to follow people and live that Mission: Impossible dream was definitely a cool benefit. He scanned the park again and saw that Torquil had moved from his car to a bench even closer to the tree. Oh, man. Score. I am good. Kyle grinned and tossed the ball high over his head and approached the bench.

He tossed the ball up one more time and had to run to catch it. When it was back in his hands he pretended to suddenly see Alex. "Hey Alex, what’s up man?"

Alex started guiltily and dropped the stick he was using to dig up bugs. "Oh, uh, hey Kyle. Not much man. Just hanging out, you know."

"Yeah. Hey wanna toss the ball around for a bit?"

"Oh, uh, sure. Sounds like fun." Alex forced a smile onto his face and climbed slowly to his feet.

They played catch for a while with Kyle getting a huge kick out of throwing the ball just over Alex’s head so that the other boy spent the whole time running around the park. Kyle was laughing so hard he almost forgot he was there on a mission and didn’t see the man who approached the bench and Torquil. Alex saw him though and deliberately threw the ball towards the bench making Kyle chase after it. The ball bounced against Torquil’s leg and he picked it up, looking sharply at Kyle as he came trotting up after it.

"I’m sorry sir. Can I get my ball back, please?"

Torquil’s face broke into a grin and he tossed the ball back. "O’ course, lad, o’ course. ‘Tis ae fine day, eh?"

"Yes sir. A very nice day." Kyle smiled and nodded at Torquil. He took notice of his companion for the first time. If two people could be exactly opposite it would be these two. Torquil was six and a half feet tall at least and as thick across as that tree behind them, his skin was fair, his eyes were blue and his hair was a gingery sort of red. His companion however was small, not more then five-foot and he could probably hide behind a light pole, his skin was black as pitch and his eyes were as dark brown as eyes could get without being black, and he was completely bald. Kyle caught himself staring at the pair and nodded again. He apologized one more time to Torquil, threw the ball over to Alex and ran back to his place by the tree.

Alex finally begged, gasping and wheezing, for a break, and he and Kyle collapsed against the tree to watch the unlikely pair. Unfortunately they weren’t able to get too close and could only watch the men from the back. Torquil’s voice was loud enough to pick up most of what he said but the other man spoke more softly. They were able to pick up most of the conversation however and what they heard was enough to set them both on edge.

"We still don’t know where it’s at."

"How can we nae kin after all this time?"

"Have you had any luck?"

"Nae, nae. We’ve places tae look, but tha’s all."

"No evidence. They have global resources, we don’t."

"If we find him before They dae. . ."

"What can he do? What can any of them do?"

"Leverage."

"You’d bargain him away like that?"

"Nae. O’ course nae. But, we’d have one up on Them. Finally."

"What good would that do if . . ."

"We’re close here. Four corners. They are all here somewhere. Everything we need is here. Jess need time, jess time. Ah’m feart we’re almost oot o’ it, though."

"They are close, too. I saw one of Them at the motel."

"Crivvens! Ya cannae gae back there."

"No. I have to leave town. I’ll go back to Bangor. They don’t know who you are yet. I hope."

"Ah hope sae tae. Ah think Ah can play ra game a bit longer."

"Long enough to find him?"

"Aye. Ah have a lead. On him and on the base."

"Would it be too much to hope that they were all together? He is enough but if we had them all . . ."

"Time. We jess need time. Ah’m close. They dae nae kin me yet. Patience, ma freen."

"If we run out . . ."

"Then we run oot. Fussin’ isnae gonna dae us any good. Send twae teams each tae ra coordinates Ah picked oot here. These are our best bets."

"Okay. And I’ll send another team to help you here."

"Nae! Tha’ would draw tae much attention tae me. Ah’ve hander freens here tha’ll help. Ya kin Brody Davis?"

"Yes, I remember him."

"He’s gorra couple o’ young freens o’ his ain tae help. Smart lad and lass. More tae ‘em then it seems."

"Children? Is that wise? To put them . . ."

"’Tis fine. Trust me. Ah’ve ae thought aboot them anyway."

"What kind of thought?"

"Ne’er mind for now. They’ll be ra help Ah need for ra time being. If Ah need more, Ah’ll call in." Torquil stood up suddenly and Kyle and Alex shook themselves out of their daze. Alex pretended to be looking for bugs again and Kyle picked at the laces on his football. He nudged Alex and they started a quiet, innocuous conversation about some of the people at school.

"Ya should gae before they get on tae ya. Dae ya need money?"

"No. I have enough on me. I’ll make my report and have the teams sent out for you within twelve hours." The man stood up and started to move away but stopped after a few steps. He turned back to Torquil and spoke quietly. Alex and Kyle strained to hear what he said. "You’ll find him, won’t you?"

"Aye." Torquil replied just as quietly. "Ah’ll find ra king."

Alex felt his heart stop beating and he scrambled shakily to his feet, pulling at Kyle to get him to stand as well. He grabbed his arm and tugged him around the tree and started jogging out of the park.

"Hey man, my car’s the other way."

"We’ll go around and get it. I don’t want Torquil to see us again."

"You . . . You think he was talking about Max?"

"Don’t you? I mean I guess he could have been talking about Elvis but somehow I don’t think so. We’ve gotta talk to everybody."

Kyle looked back over his shoulder but more trees and bushes now obscured his line-of-sight. It wasn’t the first time he’d thanked god he wasn’t Max Evans but he was pretty sure this time was the most sincere.

******

Interlude II –
Jemez Mountains, New Mexico

Run, run, run.
Oh god, oh god. Faster.
I can hear Them. They are making so much noise. I can’t hear what They are saying.
Oh god, oh god.
Pleasegoddontletmedie.
Pleasegoddontletmedie.
Run, run.
I can’t hear a sound. Oh god, They are so loud I can’t hear anything.
UHNNN.
My hands hurt. There is blood on them
OH GOD THERE IS BLOOD ON MY HANDS.
No, no. Okay. It is my blood. It’s okay. I still have blood. It is on my hands.
A rock. It tripped me. It put the blood on my hands.
But it’s okay. It is my blood. All mine.
QUIET!
I hear Them again. That sound. So loud that I can’t hear it.
Oh god, oh Jesus.
They’ll kill me and They’ll eat me and They’ll wear my skin on Their boots.
NO!
Wipe the blood. Save it on my shirt. I might need it later.
Run, run, run.
Stop wait. Hold still. Can’t let Them see me. Can’t let Them know I am here.
Wait. I am alone.
There was another.
Another one running. With me.
I hear him.
He has to be quiet. Doesn’t he know he has to be quiet?
They’ll hear him in Their noise.
A tree, another tree, I have to find another tree.
Good thing, I am in a forest. All these trees.
The trees like me. The let me hide amongst them.
They whisper sweet songs to me.
A rush of wind, like a river flowing. It washes away Their noise.
I am quiet behind the tree.
I can’t breath or They’ll know. But the tree breathes for me.
It whispers in my ear.
The trees must not like him.
He is still making too much noise.
They like the noise, the noise you can hear, because it makes Their noise so much quieter.
Soundless noise. I cover my ears it is so loud. It hurts.
They got him.
I want to laugh, you’re boots now, buddy.
But I can’t because They’ll hear me and I don’t want to be footwear yet.
I am sorry They have him, but maybe he’ll let me be free.
Maybe the trees will keep me.
Oh the good aria of pine again.
It makes Their quiet go away.
I can move again. They are too busy with him.
Pleaseletmebefree.
Pleaseletmebefree.
Up.
Run, run, run
Let the trees sing a way out.
Quiet. I am so quiet. The trees are hiding me in their song and the soundless noise can’t hear me.
OH MY GOD!
OH MY GOD!
NOOOOOOOOO!
Lights. In front of me.
NOOOOOOOOO!
They found me. How could They find me?
I thought the trees liked me.
No, it’s a road. That was a car.
It wasn’t Them.
It was just a person. Maybe somebody who can’t see or hear Them.
Will They find me if I go to the road?
I have to get out.
Oh please. I have to get out.
I am so tired.
I want to be safe again.
I want to be still again.
I want to not hurt anymore.
I don’t want to die.
If They find me, I will die.
God please let me be free. Please let me be safe.
I can’t run anymore.
My legs don’t work.
My heart is too tired.
My lungs can’t hold the air.
Another rock makes me fall.
The trees may like me but the rocks don’t.
Maybe they work for Them.
I want to laugh again. But I don’t.

******

"Whoa. What was that?" Andrea Lucas turned the wheel hard and slammed on the breaks, coming to a stop on the shoulder of the darkened highway.

Her companion, Mark Rains, peered out into the darkness. "A bear?"

"A bear?" She asked skeptically.

"Well, we are in the mountains."

"Yeah. Okay, city boy. It is January. Any self-respecting bear is hibernating."

"There it is!" He shouted, ignoring her jab.

"Oh my god. That’s a person. Come on." She opened her door but was pulled back by Mark.

"You don’t know who he is. He could be an axe murderer or something."

"Look at him, Mark. Does he look like he could lift an axe? We can’t just leave him here. He looks like he lost a fight with a bear, at any rate. I have a first aid kit under your seat. Hand me the surgical gloves." Mark did as she asked with some trepidation. He handed her the gloves and watched as she got out of the car and started walking slowly towards the man.

Mark climbed out after her, scanning the area around them. Yeah, he was a city boy and out here in the forest it was just too dark for him. He felt a hundred unseen eyes on him. The only light was coming from the headlights of Andrea’s car and it was casting an eerie, narrow, tunnel of light on the area. He followed her over to where she was talking gently to the man who was now sitting and shaking on the guardrail over a small drainage ditch.

"Hey, hey. It’s okay. You’re okay. Why don’t you let us look at you?"

The man shied back from her touch and was mumbling under his breath. Something about the trees and a noise you couldn’t hear. His thin, white shirt was spotted and smeared with blood and his black sweatpants were torn. He wasn’t wearing any shoes. How in the hell did he get out into the middle of nowhere in January wearing practically nothing? It was bitterly cold out. The man should have died of hypothermia a dozen times over to get here as he was from the nearest town. Maybe he was camping and something happened.

A sudden rustling in the trees on the other side of the road had Mark’s heart pounding wildly and with a strangled yell the man tried to dive over the guardrail and up the other side of the embankment into the trees again. Andrea grabbed his arm, though, and tried to pull him back. They both ended up sitting on the pavement breathing heavily.

"Mark, help me with him. Please." Andrea was trying to pick the man up. His eyes were opened wide and he was staring in horror at the forest on the other side of the road.

"You can’t hear Them, They are so loud," He whispered hoarsely, tears streaming down his face. "They are everywhere but you can’t see Them. Everything is blind and deaf to Them."

Mark eyed the man nervously. He was obviously unhinged, but was he dangerous? The fight seemed to go out of the man, but he kept his wide, staring eyes on the trees around him, and continued his incoherent ramblings. The rustling came again and the terrified man flinched, pushing his back against the cold metal rail and with a whimper curled up onto his side. "Pleasegoddontletmedie. Pleasegoddontletmedie. Pleasegoddontletmedie."

Time to go, Mark thought. He had a bad feeling about this place and was damned sure he didn’t want to wait around anymore to find out what had this guy so scared. He helped Andrea lift the man to his feet and they guided him to the back seat of her car. He curled up on the seat and started mumbling about noise again.

Andrea was nervously looking around them now. Seems the man’s fear was infectious. She smiled sheepishly at Mark who just shrugged and hurried around to the passenger side. What was she embarrassed about? He was the guy and he was the one who didn’t even want to stop. He felt like a complete moron. A freaked out moron, but still a moron.

She started up the car again and with a quick glance at the man in the back seat, turned the heater up to full blast. "I think there is a doctor in Jemez Springs. That’s a lot closer then Los Alamos. This guy needs help as quick as we can get him to it."

"Drive, Andy, please just drive." Mark whispered to her. He had been looking past her out the window and saw three dark figures melt out of the black forest. Andrea pulled the car back onto the highway and he turned in his seat to keep an eye on them as they drove away. He could barely make them out in the dark night but he watched as they slowly walked up to the road and crossed to the other side. They stood by the guardrail that the man had been sitting on just minutes before. Mark kept watch on the motionless figures until he couldn’t see them anymore and even then refused to take his eyes from the road behind them until they arrived in the small town of Jemez Springs.

******

January 27, 2001

Coming to you live from the fashionable Ramada Inn Albuquerque!
Liz and I were originally only going to spend Saturday, but it’s a long drive for an afternoon, so we decided on Thursday to stay for the whole weekend. Obviously.
We didn’t count on overnight guests, however.
Both of whom are doing their damnedest to drive me out of my mind.

Before I go into the finer points of this road trip I should probably go back and cover some of the stuff that happened this week that kept me from writing in this stupid journal. It was one of those weird weeks, where it is either really boring so what’s to write about, or unbelievably insane so where do I have time to write about it.

The bizarreness quotient increased dramatically around Wednesday when Alex and Kyle of all people, demanded a meeting. So we all gathered round the Crashdown after closing.

Sometimes it’s kind of funny, I feel like we’re in the mob or something. I half expect Max to start saying "capice?" He and Michael would look fantastic in pin-stripe suits. You know, I think it’s time for our yearly viewing of the Godfather.

So everybody was there, including Sheriff Valenti. Jim. Jimbo. The big guy. He and my mom are grossing me out on a whole new level. Kyle and Tess caught them making out at their house so Kyle started yelling at me about that. I’m like, hey, if they weren’t at your place they’d be at my place, better you then me, dude. Not that I don’t want my mom to be happy or anything, and Sheriff Valenti has been a totally good guy to all of us, and if my mom is happy then she isn’t on my case about Michael all the time. It’s just that I don’t want to have to witness the source of this happiness. Ick, now I’m going to have that going through my head when I try to sleep.

Okay, the meeting.
We all get there and we’re sitting around waiting for somebody to start but everybody keeps quiet. Kyle and Alex keep shooting Max these weird looks and he’s getting all nervous and Liz finally says "Out with it!" or something like that. So Kyle and Alex go into this long story about how they ended up ditching school to spend the afternoon spying on Torquil and following him around town. Jimbo didn’t look too happy at the ditching school part but he let it slide. They kind of glossed over the how they ended up at Señor Chow’s at