How
the Other Half Lives……..
Michael kept a steady bead on the Dupree estate from where
he and Maria sat watching up in a tree. Glancing at his companion, he made a
face when Maria made another phone call on her cell.
“Hey, we’re here to keep an eye on Laurie. Would you
stop making phone calls?” Michael said crossly as Maria connected.
“It’s official business.” Maria told Michael before
talking into the phone. “Liz! Hey, it’s me again. Listen, um, how do you get
tree sap out of fabric? I think I’ve ruined my top …”
“You’re wasting the battery.” Michael pointed out to
Maria, irritated that she wasn’t putting her full attention on him and the
job.
“No, no. The black turtleneck … The cashmere one … I
borrowed it from my mum, you know?” Maria listened nodding her head
tragically. “I know … I know, right? It’s tragic …” Michael sat up at
attention as the lights went out in the house. “It is … I’m still in the
middle of nowhere with he who shall remain nameless.” Michael reached over and
yanked the phone away disconnecting it as he literally picked Maria up by her
arm. “Hey! Ow!”
“Let’s go!”
Maria followed him, her hand on his back holding on tight
to the waistband of his jeans trying to avoid tripping in the dark. She hated
this. There had been no forewarning that they were going and she was incorrectly
attired, both in her outerwear and footwear. They had sneaked into the estate
hiding by the pool as a security guard passed by.
“You got any cool powers to take care of him?” Maria
whispered to Michael noting the security guard’s gun. Michael picked up a rock
and threw it into the bushes. As the guard went to check out the noise, Michael
and Maria slipped into the house.
Maria and Michael walked quietly around the second floor
searching until they found Laurie’s room. Going inside, they both stood
looking at the room in shock. Laurie had torn her bed apart and was hiding
beneath a cover on the bare mattress with a light.
“Hey. Just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Michael
said gently talking softly to the frightened girl. “We’re gonna help you.”
Laurie looked up at Michael and Maria seeing their
concerned faces. “My aunt and uncle need me to be crazy.”
“What are you talking about?” Michael asked, but before
she could answer Bobby and Meredith walked into the room with a guard.
“Mr. Guerin!” Bobby said his beady eyes wandering over
Michael and then Maria, staying on Maria. “You and your, uh, accomplice with
the, uh, lips … are trespassing.” Michael eyes narrowed as he pulled Maria
closer to him keeping himself between them and Laurie who was huddled in a ball
on the bed.
“That money we gave you was intended as a going-away
present … as in, "take the money and go away!"
Meredith emphasized.
“Got it?” Bobby asked.
“Yeah.” Michael said his voice rough with anger. He got
it.
Meredith turned to the guard. “James, please escort them
to their car, and this time be sure they drive away.” The guard led Michael
and Maria out of the room as both of them looked back at Laurie as they left.
She was curled up into a ball on the bed, looking frightened.
They found a nice hotel not too far away, and Michael sat
back on the bed watching Maria pace as she toweled her hair, wet from the
shower. “I say we go back! Now. Right now. Tonight!” Maria huffed and ranted
while Michael was strangely quiet. “They … they’re monsters treating her
like that. Can’t they see she’s frightened, that she is terrified? If we
…”
“We’re not going back.” Michael shook his head when
Maria looked at him in shock. “Not tonight.”
“We do our best work at night.”
“They’ll be waiting for us, Maria. Maybe that’s a
good thing. Their security is tight, and they’re expecting us back, so if we
can’t get in, then neither can whoever is looking for Laurie.”
Maria sighed heavily getting on the large bed facing him
wearing only his shirt. “I’m … are you okay?”
“No.” Michael admitted. “I promised her. I swore that
I wouldn’t let her down.”
Maria took his hand in hers. “You haven’t. Tomorrow.
Tomorrow is another day.” Maria gave Michael a squeeze of confidence.
“Tomorrow, we stick it to Bobby and Meredith. There is something off with
those two blue-blooded snakes.” Maria picked up the money.
“What are you suggesting?”
“We follow the money.”
Michael smiled when he saw the look on Maria’s face. Now
that was a look he knew, and god help Bobby and Meredith. Hell was coming.
“Hey,” Michael said. “Bring me your sweater.”
Maria scrambled and picked up the ruined cashmere sweater,
just another in a list of offenses that would stand between her and her mother.
Michael took it looking at the sap marring the material and with a sweep of his
hand, it was clean … pristine.
Maria hugged Michael hard kissing him outrageously on the
cheek with big sloppy kisses making loud obnoxious noises. Michael half
heartedly tried to push her off as he enjoyed her enthusiasm. Good. That meant
he would be able to talk her into letting him hold the remote. He wasn’t sure,
but he thought he saw that Braveheart was on.
~~~
While Jim and Agent Duff were investigating Grant Sorenson
and searching his car Sean waited in the dark living room of the DeLuca house
when Amy finally came home.
“Aunt Amy?”
Amy turned on a light to find her nephew sitting there,
waiting for her. “Sean … is Liz?”
“She left with Max a while ago.” Sean frowned at his
aunt. She didn’t appear completely toasted. She was stone sober. “Are you
okay?”
“No.” Amy confessed. “I thought … I thought I had
more time.” Amy took a seat and looked at her nephew. “I know you’re
confused. It’s strange to see me not reacting violently to him, to him coming
in my home and stealing my daughter.”
“Is that what he’s doing?”
Amy laughed. “Eventually. Yeah. She doesn’t realize it,
and I know he doesn’t … not in the aware sense. I think Michael knows more
than Maria does.” Amy didn’t know how to explain. “I look in his eyes, and
all I see is territory. He’s already marked her as his, but there’s
something that holds him back, keeps him from saying it, or even acknowledging
it. I think he is more afraid of hurting her than he is of being alone.”
“Do you … are you drunk?”
Amy laughed. “Oh, I am so far past that. I know you’re
confused. He sleeps with her, in her bed, and I don’t say anything. If he’s
not here, she’s there. I know when I’m gone, she’s with him.”
“You don’t care that they sleep together?” Sean
couldn’t get that. It was too far off spectrum.
“It’s not physical … at least not yet,” Amy told
him, completely positive that whatever Michael and Maria were, they were
platonic.
“How can you know that? Did M tell you?”
“No.” Amy laughed a little clearing her throat. “They
have no expectations. Lovers expect things from each other … almost demand it.
Whatever they give, they give freely without question. It is more like a
sharing.” Amy couldn’t describe it better than that. Lovers expected more,
demanded more, and feelings became easily hurt. Michael and Maria had none of
that since they expected nothing from the other except friendship, and when they
got more, it was a gift.
“So they’re a couple.”
“Worse,” Amy said. “Much worse. They’re best
friends.” Amy shook her head. “The only thing that gives me hope is that
neither of them is ready to be more. The whole togetherness thing, it started
with her helping him, taking care of him, like she used to take care of me. I
don’t know when it stopped being that, and started being about him taking care
of her too.”
Sean remained silent, hoping in the rambling of his aunt,
he would come to understand what made no sense. Michael Guerin made no sense.
“Did you know until he came into our lives over a year
ago, Maria was set on her twenty year plan, the whole not falling in love until
twenty years after her father left … when she turned twenty-seven. She was so
set on that path, so used to raising me, picking me up and keeping me out of
trouble, that I don’t think she even knew what it meant to take a risk. Maybe
mixing purple with a certain shade of rose and green. Suddenly we were at odds,
with her standing firmly on Michael’s side and me worried that she was dating
a bad boy despite her claims of it not being like that.”
Amy plucked at the covering on her chair. “Did you know
that until a year ago, I never felt like the mother in my relationship with
Maria? Since Michael came into our lives, literally crashing in with me finding
him sleeping with my daughter, I never had a moment of worry or doubt with
Maria. I left her alone, safe in the belief that she would be here. Since then
there have been missing days, lies, bullet holes in the Jetta, and Maria
spending the night in jail. I’m her mother. I worry. I fret.” Amy looked at
her nephew with shiny eyes. “I just found out how wonderful it feels to be the
adult in our relationship, and I have Michael Guerin to thank for that.”
Sean laughed at the look on his aunt’s face. She really
meant it. She found a joy in being the mother, something that had escaped her
all those years of struggling.
“I know that it started out with her taking care of him,
but somewhere along the way it changed. She hates being alone. I left her alone
too often, and Michael only knew loneliness. Together they found a way to not
feel that way any longer. When they’re together, they’re never lonely.”
Amy laughed. “By him teaching her how to take risks, to be young, those two
crazy kids taught me how to grow up. God, when I get my hands on them … they
are in so much trouble!”
“I’ve got a six pack.” Sean told his aunt. “Want to
get drunk?”
“That’s a good idea.” Amy laughed following Sean into
the kitchen. “I’m glad you’re here, Sean. Maria … she’s slowly moving
on, and she doesn’t even know it. It’ll be easier for her if she knows I
won’t be alone.”
Sean squeezed his aunt’s hand. “You won’t be
alone.” And … Maria wasn’t gone yet. Sean’s eyes narrowed. Michael
Guerin …
~~~
The next morning Tess, Isabel, Max and Liz were seated
around the table at the Crashdown, discussing Larek's revelations about the
crystals.
“His final words were to get off the planet.” Max told
Tess.
“Which isn’t currently an option,” Isabel pointed
out. It wasn’t like they could just steal a space shuttle, and go … where?
“Which is why we called this meeting, to figure out what
our options are.” Liz told the others. They looked at her like she was insane.
Get off the planet sound like few options to them.
“And just so I’m clear, when Larek said that Earth was
infected, wh-what exactly are we talking here?” Tess asked. “You know, a
couple of acres? Couple of miles?”
Liz bit her lip speaking for the rest of them. “Um, I
think he was speaking a little more globally.”
Brody entered the Crashdown and walked up to them.
“Hey Brody, how you feeling?” Max asked surprised to
see his boss outside of work.
“It’s Larek …” Brody took a seat at their table,
“and although I’ve had a little more time to prepare this body for
communication, I’m still having trouble keeping its heart beating, so I’ll
get right to it.” Larek paused having more than just troubles with the heart.
He was flooded with the host’s memories, thoughts, and feelings. It was a
hodgepodge of information, so different from the usual. The failed attempt made
yesterday had to have changed things in Brody’s body. Larek shook his head and
began, he had no time. “The gandarium are a genetically engineered life form,
designed to bridge the DNA and RNA sequencing during third-stage amino
synthesis.”
Everyone looked to Liz for an interpretation, who shook her
head shrugging at the others. “No, uh, I’m lost too.” She asked Larek to
explain. “Uh, it’s way over our heads. Do you mind explaining it to us in
simpler terms?”
Larek took a breath preparing to explain simple genetic
replication processes, especially those common to simple reverse transcription
and retroviruses. He glanced around the Crashdown as if he was looking for
something, someone, and oddly, he felt disappointed. “Alright. Uh, let’s say
you want to create an alien-human hybrid. First, you get some alien cells, then
you get some human cells. Normally they don’t mix very well. You need
something to help bridge the differences. That’s where the gandarium come in.
In a controlled environment like on your ship, they’re harmless, but released
into an eco-system, the gandarium will perform the only role they know: infect
human cells.”
“But they’re not infecting just any human cells …”
Isabel told the alien.
Tess corrected her. “They seem to be focusing on one
particular girl.”
“Not every human is a candidate for hybridization. The
genetic structure has to have … well, you would call it a flaw.” Larek
explained. “It’s very rare on Earth, fewer than one in 50 million people
have it.”
“That’s why they’re going after Laurie.” Liz
concluded. “She must have the defect.”
“What happens if they succeed in infecting Laurie?” Max
asked.
“Once they’ve infected her, the gandarium will mutate
into a universal virus. She’ll infect anyone she comes into contact with,
human or otherwise. They in turn, will infect everyone they come into contact
with. Eventually, she and every infected person on the planet will die.”
Max couldn’t believe how close they had come to losing
everything. Had Isabel not had the dream … “How do we destroy them?”
“Once they’ve infected the host, it’s all over.”
Tess sat up straighter as the truth dawned on her. “They
didn’t finish. The gandarium didn't finish infecting Laurie.” They
couldn’t have or they wouldn’t be frantically searching for her.
“She was buried right out there with the crystals.”
Isabel reminded them.
“Wait. No, I think that Tess is right.” Liz was
surprisingly agreeing with Tess. “That’s why they’re still coming after
her. To complete the process.” Liz looked at Max. “Michael found the
crystals in the burial site the next day with Maria. They weren’t there when
you, Isabel and Valenti found Laurie.”
Larek nodded. Good. “If that’s true, then you may still
have a chance. The gandarium are hive-like, with workers, drones … even a
Queen. The Queen is the only one that can infect the host. Find her, kill her,
and the rest of the hive will die.”
“So the Queen will be in the hive?” Isabel asked.
“Not necessarily.” Larek stood up. “I’ll have to
return this body to its home or it won’t survive. Good luck … to you all.”
He looked around the Café one more time. Maria. She wasn’t there. Too much of
Brody was coming through, and Larek shook his head. He had to release the body
immediately. He walked out without a look back.
Max waited until Larek was gone to finalize the plans with
the others. “The first thing we have to do is go back to Frazier Woods and
find out how many more of these crystals are out there. Or rather, down there.
And then we have to find a way to destroy them. Collect whatever digging
equipment you can and meet outside in an hour. I’m going to call Kyle and Alex
for more help.”
~~~
Michael was in a bad mood. Max had called and they were
told that regardless what happened in
“This is a stupid idea.”
Maria rolled her eyes. Nope. His idea involving duct taping
Bobby and Meredith to chairs in the attic was stupid. This was smart.
“Think about it, Guerin. What do you think Laurie meant
when she said that her aunt and uncle needed her to be crazy?”
“Who knows?”
“Well, I do. At least I have a hunch.” Maria smiled
when the man returned with records that Maria had requested. “Look, Bobby and
Meredith, they cling to money like the leeches they are. So trying to buy you
off for a mere fifty large from an estate easily worth millions?”
The man passed Maria the record from his cabinet. “Deed
of record for ... 11,
“Thank you.”
The man smiled at Maria handing her the form to sign for
releasing the information. “Sign here please.”
Maria quickly signed the form passing back to the man
smiling charmingly at him. “‘Kay. Here you go.”
“Thank you.” Michael glared at the man crowding Maria
away from the counter as Maria opened the file scanning it quickly. She began to
laugh as she found what she was looking for. Hitting Michael in the stomach she
told him, “Okay. Just start applauding right now.” Michael sarcastically
follows her instructions and clapped. “The Dupree estate is in Laurie’s
name, left to her by her grandfather.”
Michael leaned over to read the document. “So what does
that give us?”
“Hmmm … a little thing called leverage.” Maria
glanced at her partner in crime. “Okay, lets go make Bobby and Meredith jump
through hoops.”
“About time.” Michael followed Maria out of the Hall of
Records. “Um, how exactly are we going to do that?”
Michael and Maria returned to the Dupree estate and rang
the security call button at the gate monitor.
“Hello?”
“Greetings. It’s the team of Guerin and DeLuca
again.” Maria informed the security camera smiling pleasantly.
“Wait right where you are. The police should be by to
scoop you up in approximately ten minutes.”
“Right, of course.” Maria took the paper from her bag.
“Um, are Bobby and Meredith around? If they are, could you just have them come
outside so that they could take a look at this?” Maria held the deed of record
up to the camera.
“One moment.”
“Charmed, I’m sure.” Maria simpered for the security
camera.
“If it was me,” Michael told Maria, “I’d tell us to
get screwed and call the cops anyways.”
“That’s 'cause you don’t have any money, Michael.
People who do tend to get a little nervous when it’s threatened.” The gates
opened for them. Maria gestured to them smiling at Michael with her patented,
‘I told you so’ smile.
Michael took her arm and hustled her to the front door of
the main house. “Uh-huh. I saw that.”
~~~
The group of aliens and their human friends were all out at
Frazier’s woods searching for the subterranean hive of the gandarium. Alex and
Kyle were off together digging away from the other three aliens, and a overly
efficient Liz Parker with a map ordering the unhappy workers around.
Alex leaned on his shovel. “So is this the sixth or
seventh hole we’ve dug today?”
“Hey, hey.” Kyle said wiping the sweat from his face.
“I was kinda wondering what the hell you people were doing sophomore year.”
“Ah, well, a lot of secret meetings, a lot of lying to
authorities. Sometimes narrowly escaping gunfire …” Alex winced when he
noticed Kyle’s worried look. “Although generally that was pretty rare.”
“So what do we lowly human folk get out of all this?”
Kyle wondered. Having his life, his father’s life turned upside down, and they
weren’t any the richer for it, merely on the verge of bankruptcy.
“I’m not sure.” Alex told Kyle honestly. He guessed
Liz got Max or whatever it was that they had or didn’t have. Him? He was
screwed in the Isabel department. Personally, the only person who seemed to
benefit was Maria who found a great friend in surprisingly Michael Guerin of all
people.
“See, I guess what I have a problem with is that suddenly
I’m a member of this club I never wanted to join.”
“Yeah.” Alex had to agree remembering how they took his
blood and lied to him.
“And it turns out this club bears a striking resemblance
to a chain gang.” Kyle complained as he and Alex continued to work for their
alien overseers. Ungrateful bastards.
Alex hit something hard with his shovel. “What the …
Look at this.”
Kyle dropped his shovel happy to stop toiling for a moment.
“What the hell man? It’s some sort of cave.”
Alex raised his arms in triumph as if he won a prize.
“Jackpot, baby!! Whooh!! Yeah!! Alex Whitman, ladies and gentlemen! Uh-huh!
Yeah! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Alex stopped cheering when he noticed
Kyle staring at him like he was a little off. “Okay, well, time to put the
shovel away, and uh, go find the others and tell Max.”
Kyle looked at the hole speculatively, and then turned to
Alex. Tell Max? The alien dick? Uh-huh. “You comin’?” Kyle asked a glint
of dare in his eyes. Break the chains of dependency, Alex he seemed to say.
Alex gave it half a thought and then caved in to Kyle’s
pressure. What the heck. It was their find. “Sure. You first.”
“Okay.” Kyle lowered himself inside with his backpack
and Alex joined him. The cave wasn’t too large of a chamber with the entrance
at the top left corner. Kyle dropped his bag down before lowering himself and
Alex followed after. The walls of the cave were covered in clusters of the
gandarium, the blue crystals illuminating the cave.
Kyle was stunned by the interior of the cave. “Oh my
God!” He shined his torchlight around the blue-coloured cave as Alex entered
coughing slightly. “What do you suppose alien crystals are going for on
eBay?”
Alex looked around at the alien crystals laughing
nervously. Too many. Way too many. “Alright,
“I don’t know why I’m looking around.” Kyle said as
Alex started to pant a little out of breath. “I suppose stuff like this
happens all the time? Right?”
Alex gave Kyle a sour look. “Yeah, sure.” He looked at
the pulsating crystals and moaned. Sure. All the frickin’ time.
~~~
Liz, Max, Tess and Isabel congregated at the place where
Alex and Kyle were digging a short time later as they slowly cleared another
coordinate on the artificial grid system they sat up over all of Frazier Woods.
“Find anything?” Liz asked the tired diggers.
“Just a lot of rock.” Tess said brushing a dirty hand
across her face.
“There’s nothing in grid point 23-27.” Max informed
Liz breathing hard.
Liz checking her clipboard as the others glared at her as
she went into her ultra supervisor mode. “Okay, then uh, you should move on to
…”
Max glanced around looking for Alex and Kyle. “Where are
those guys?” Max spotted the crystals in the ground that covered up the hole
Alex dug up. “The crystals.”
“Oh.” Isabel said looking around for Alex and Kyle.
Liz’s cell phone rang as Max, Tess and Isabel put down
their shovels and attempt to study the crystals a little closer. “Hello?”
“Liz?!” Kyle’s voice said in the phone.
“Yeah.” Liz looked around confused by talking to Kyle.
“It’s me, Kyle!”
“Yeah, Kyle. Where are you?”
“In the freaking nest!!”
Liz mouth opened in confusion as she looked down at the
crystals. “Oh my God!” She pointed at the hole. “You guys, they’re in
there.” She told the others.
“Do you see the crystals?”
Kyle asked.
Liz nodded as the alien trio got down on their knees around
the hole. “Yeah, yeah, we see the crystals.”
“They blocked us in here.”
Liz told the others as they knelt next to the crystals.
“Okay, um, you guys … you guys think that you can make an opening?”
“We can try.” Max offered.
“Tell them to step as far away from the entrance as
possible.” Isabel told Liz.
“Okay,” Liz said in the phone, “uh, try to step as
far away from the hole.”
“Come on, come on. Get a move, get a move.”
Kyle told Liz as he and Alex moved further into the cave away from the entrance.
Max, Isabel and Tess concentrated their powers to try to
create an opening through the crystals, but they held fast.
“Our powers don’t work on these!” Max told Liz
exhausted as he, Tess and Isabel slumped from the effort.
Liz clapped her hand over the cell phone mouthpiece. “Are
you sure?”
“You’re welcome to try!” Tess invited Liz, her body
too exhausted to try again.
“Okay, what now?” Kyle’s voice asked. “What are you doing?”
“Um, they’re just uh, you know … they’re uh,” Liz
was at a lost as to what to say. “They’re taking a break!”
Kyle’s voice came back incredulously. “Break?! You
know there’s not that much air down here.”
“Uh,” Liz tried to concentrate. “Okay, um, we’re
… we’re just gonna have to get back to you.”
“Get back to us?!”
“Breath shallow.” Liz told Kyle.
“Breath shallow?!”
Liz hung up looking at the alien trio. “What now?!”
“Uh, Brody has some weird equipment in the back of the
“Okay, yeah.” Liz nodded. “That could work, that
could work.”
“I’ll get it.” Isabel offered taking herself off in a
hurry to get to the
Max looked around the area. “Maybe we should dig another
hole.”
Tess agreed. “Okay.” Liz dropped her checklist to help
with the digging as Tess moved to a spot a little off the original entrance to
start digging a new hole.
“Parallel to where they’re digging.” Max suggested.
“See if we can tunnel in from the side.”
“Where?” Liz asked. “Where?”
“Here.” Tess said as Max joined her.
“The side.” Max told Liz pointed to a place for her to
stand.
“Let’s go, let’s go.” Tess urged them as they
started to dig furiously.
~~~
Meredith and Maria were having drinks poolside. “Are you
sure one room is enough?” Meredith asked Maria. “We have plenty of space.”
“One is fine. Right next to Laurie.” Maria said,
sipping her drink. “This juice is delightful.”
“So …” Meredith asked Maria trying to feel the
younger girl out. “Shall I have Carmen prepare for your departure tomorrow?”
“You know, I think we’re gonna stick around a little
longer than that.” Maria smiled pleasantly at the older woman. “So um, you
can just tell Carmen not to knock herself out.”
Meredith poured herself some wine. “You do know that we
have power of attorney over Laurie? I love that girl like a daughter.”
“Mm …”
“But, the girl is certifiable. And the doctors agree.”
Meredith smiled at Maria matching her sweetness. “So we could have you and the
beatnik kicked out of here anytime we like.”
“Then why haven’t you?”
“Hmm.”
Maria pulled a big, leather bound checkbook from her bag.
“Maybe it’s … uh, I don’t know, because of the …” Maria flipped the
book to a particular page, “one million dollars you donated to the Pinecrest
Psychiatric Institute to get them to say that Laurie was crazy?” Maria smiled
knowingly at Meredith whose smile bled away then came back lacking any
amusement.
“Where did you get that?”
“Oh, Laurie told me that I could go anywhere in the house
that I pleased. So I looked at your desk.”
“Huh.” Meredith said sipping her wine.
“Huh.” Maria said sipping her fruit juice. “This
juice really is delicious.”
“Would you like some more?” Meredith asked politely.
“That would be lovely.”
~~~
Michael sat in Laurie’s room telling her about what they
did to get back into the house. “So I realized I had to find some kind of
leverage. I went to the courthouse had them look up files on this place and …
bang, there it was. The deed with your name on it. So I threatened to call the
police on Bobby and Meredith and have them arrested for trespassing and …”
Michael paused scratching his brow. “Well … we threatened to call the police
cause Maria kinda helped.”
“That’s really smart.” Laurie told Michael.
“You know, well people with money. They tend to get
nervous when it’s threatened you know?” Michael scratched his eyebrow again.
Laurie smiled suddenly. “You look just like him when you
did that.”
“Who?”
“Grandpa.” Laurie explained smiling. “He used to
scratch his eyebrow just like you did. He even wore a ring on the same finger
you do.”
“What was he like?”
“A lot like you. Hard to read, lived in his own head. But
kind. He’s the only one in the family I ever felt safe with.” Laurie paused
and asked Michael shyly, “Would you like to meet him?” Michael nodded as
Laurie led him down to a bomb shelter underneath the house.
She switched on the lights and entered first. There were
beds on both sides of the walls and wooden boxes filled with Grandpa’s stuff.
Michael flipped through some books lying on top of one of the boxes.
Laurie picked up a sweater smelling it. “You can still
smell him.” She held the sweater close to Michael to sniff. “
Michael flipped to a page with drawings of alien-like
figures, big bald heads with black eyes and pointed ears. “He had an interest
in aliens.”
“Grandpa said they took him.” Michael glanced at her in
enquiry. “He wouldn’t talk about it. He’d just come down here to the bomb
shelter and read for hours.” She looked around a slight smile pulling on her
mouth. “It was his sanctuary.” She became serious again. “The older he
got, the more he wanted to know what really happened to him. So he started
talking. Aunt Meredith and Uncle Bobby used it to put him away.” Laurie
fingered a page filled with words written in a spiral pattern.
“It drove him crazy.” Michael said more to himself.
“That’s what I got from Grandpa … that and some bad
blood.” Laurie informed Michael.
“Bad blood?”
“Uh, a bad chromosome actually. It’s what they call a
recessive genetic defect.”
“That’s why they want you.” Michael said more to
himself.
Laurie had been putting the sweater back in a box, she
glanced at Michael. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Laurie pulled out a worn wedding dress from the same box.
“This is Grandma’s. I never met her.”
“What was her name?”
“Ada-Jane. She’s dead too.” Sighing Michael scratched
his eyebrow again, but became aware of his actions, he paused self-consciously
when he noticed Laurie watching him.
“Can’t fight who we are Michael.” She told Michael.
“You’re Grandpa’s legacy, and …” Her voice dropped. “I’m crazy.”
Michael pulled the girl to face him holding her firmly by
the shoulders. “You are not crazy. What happened to you was real. I mean, you
have a right to live your life. Bobby and Meredith have tried to take that away
from you, but it’s yours. Just like this house is yours.” Michael reminded
her. “Now look, I’m not what you would call an optimist. Life sucks. People
suck. That’s reality. But you’re special. You’re a good person and you
deserve better than to be locked up in an institution because it’s more
convenient for your aunt and uncle. This is your life, and this is your
house.”
Laurie listened to him, and she slightly smiled. He really
was just like her grandfather.
~~~
Isabel went to the
On the highway, Isabel woke to find a struggling Grant
trying to remember things, to piece together his life. He went through a
sequence of events, and Isabel realized that it was Grant that took Laurie and
who shot at them. He was struggling to remember things. He told Isabel she was
the only person he trusted.
“When did this all start happening?” Isabel asked.
“Hard to say. Uh, I uh, have gaps in time. I think it was
… when I started digging out near Pohlman Ranch … some time last summer.
Found these weird crystals …”
“Oh my God.” Isabel said more to herself. “Oh God,
Larek said there was a Queen.”
“What?” Grant glanced at her confused. Confused by what
she was saying, confused as to why he was racing towards
“Oh God … look, Grant. You’re going to be alright.
Your body has been … has been taken over by something.”
“What kind of … thing?” Grant asked her.
“It’s hard to explain, but it must have happened when
you were digging. God, it was the gandarium. They must have been in the water
tab …”
Grant was sweating and desperate. Losing his control he
turned and shouted at Isabel. “I don’t know what that means, okay?! I’m
losing it here!”
“Grant …”
“Why is this happening to me?” Grant asked no one in
particular as he stared straight ahead. “I’m a good person …”
“I know.” Isabel told him.
He glanced at Isabel. “Do you?”
“Yes.”
Grant started to shiver and shake uncontrollably. “I have
to kill you, but I don’t wanna. There’s a cell phone in my coat pocket. Grab
the phone Isabel.” He told her. “Now!”
“Okay, okay.” Isabel said taking the phone as she
looked around the car nervously. Grant pulled over to the side of the road.
Isabel tried to plead with him, but Grant kicked her out of the car. “Grant
…”
“Get out of the car.”
“No.”
“Get out of the car!” He yelled at her.
Unbuckling her seat belt, Isabel was crying and pleading
with Grant. “I can’t help you if you don’t …”
“Please …” Grant begged her in a last moment of
lucidity. “Get out of the car.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Sorry! Isabel told Grant as
he drove off, leaving her in the middle of a dark highway as it began to rain.
Taking out the cell phone Grant made her take, she called Valenti.
“Hello.”
“Oh, Sheriff Valenti, thank God. Thank God.” Isabel
said in her usual dramatic style. “Grant is definitely the
kidnapper, but it’s not his fault. The Queen … and it possessed him
somehow.”
“Possessed by the what?!”
Jim asked in the phone almost as confused by Isabel’s ramblings as Grant had
been.
“The crystals. The … the aliens.” Isabel told him.
“The important thing is he’s after Laurie and he’ll be in
“Alright. Wait a minute, where are you?”
Isabel looked around the dark road. “He left me by the
side off the road somewhere. But don’t worry. I’ll … I’ll find a
ride.”
“What do you mean ‘you’ll get a ride’?” Jim
demanded. “You can’t get into a car with just anybody …”
“Sheriff, I am the last person on Earth who has to worry
about getting into a car with strangers.” Isabel reminded him. “Trust me.
Just get to Laurie before he does. Please!”
“Isabel …”
“Sheriff … Sheriff …”
“Isabel … Hello? Hel …” Heavy static broke up their connections. Jim hung
up the phone as Isabel hitched a ride. He glanced at his watch. He needed to
find Duff and get to
Jim found Agent Duff at the Roswell PD doing paperwork.
Entering, he didn’t bother to mess around, he went straight to the chase.
“We need a plane.”
Duff glanced up at Jim with a shocked expression. “Pardon
me?”
“Sorenson is halfway to
“How do you know this?” Duff asked her suspicions
sparking again by the way the Sheriff just seemed to know things.
“Listen, we work together or we don’t. You gotta trust
me. We have to get to
“I’ll call the Arizona Field Office and tell them we
need back up.” She reached for the phone, but Jim stopped her.
“No. Agent Duff, there’s something you that need to
know.” Jim and Duff’s eyes met and she hung up the phone. “Before this is
over, you may see some things you won’t be able to explain. As a matter of
fact, you won’t want to.” Bending down to her so he could see her eye to
eye, Jim told her, “You told me once, that you appreciated honesty. Well, here
it is. If you tell the Bureau what we’re about to do, you will kill your
career.”
Duff sat back in her chair. “What are you talking
about?”
“You gotta trust me. You’ll follow my lead and be very
selective with what you put in your final report.” Standing up, Jim handed her
the phone as he asserted the authority that always made him the Sheriff. “Now
get us a plane.”
~~~
It was raining in a torrential downpour as Max, Liz and
Tess were furiously digging to free the two trapped in the cave. Inside the cave
Kyle and Alex were singing to entertain themselves as Kyle played with a piece
of crystal and an empty glass bottle. Kyle dropped the crystal into the bottle,
lit a match and dropped it into the bottle screwing the lid tightly.
“Die sucker.” Kyle told the crystal, forgetting his
Buddha training as he put the bottle aside and went back to singing. He stood up
quickly when the crystal in the bottle next to him went into a frenzy. “Man,
look at that!”
Alex stopped singing for a moment to stare. “Whoa! Oh, my
God!”
“What?” Kyle asked confused as they both watched as the
piece of crystal seemed to die.
“Look at that …” Alex said glancing up at Kyle who
nodded. He called the Parker.
Liz was screaming into her phone with a finger in one ear
as she tried to understand and hear Kyle over the thunder. “Wai ... Okay,
wait, wait, let me get this straight. You said uh, that you used a bottle?”
“Yeah.”
“Was the cap on or off?”
“Well, I put it on, then it tried to escape.”
Kyle told her.
Liz paced a little trying to figure out what exactly
happened. “‘Kay, but you were heating it the whole time. And the crystals
died once you put the cap on.”
“Yeah, just after, yeah.”
“‘Kay, well. That’s it. You burned all of the oxygen
in the bottle and suffocated it.” Kyle in the cave raised a fist to Alex as a
sign of hope.
Then …” Tess said as she pushed the wet hair off her
face, “then all we need to do is get the oxygen out of there.”
Max stared at the cave and shook his head. “And then they
die too.” Liz and Tess stare at Max, realizing the futility of their situation
as Liz flopped her arms in frustration.
~~~
Michael and Maria sat beside the pool in lounging chairs
and white fluffy bathrobes watching Laurie as she swam. Maria smiled as Laurie
did another lap obviously enjoying herself.
“I can’t believe she’s actually smiling.” Maria
glanced at Michael. “What did you say to her?”
Michael shrugged. “I just listened to her.” Maria
smiled at him like a proud parent whose child did something incredible. “What
do you think I should call her? Grand-daughter? DNA clone?”
“I’d go with sister.” Maria suggested her eyes still
on Laurie. “The whole grand-daughter thing really creeps me out.”
Michael stared at Laurie swimming happily in the pool. “I
have a sister.” He said in wonder. “That is so weird.” Maria took his hand
and squeezed it, happy for him. He had no family not since the whole destiny
train chugged on the horizon stripping away the belief that he was a brother to
Max and Isabel.
“Oh! By the way, Meredith and Bobby are evil!” Maria
told Michael stressing just how smarmy the aunt and uncle were. “They’re
ee-vil!! They paid Pinecrest to keep Laurie out of their hair.” Maria
shared a look with Michael. “Can you believe they would ruin her life so that
they could live here like rich bastards?”
“Shallow, shallow people,” said Michael as Carmen up to
Michael from with the phone on a silver platter.
“Mm-hmm.” Maria agreed still watching Laurie waving
when Laurie waved at her from the other side of the pool.
“Carmen.” Michael said as he turned just in time to see
her. “I think it’s kind of a Braveheart night, and tell the kitchen we’ll
be ready to dine at about seven.”
“Yes sir. This one is for you sir.” Carmen said placing
the phone before him.
“Thank you.” Michael said pleasantly as he reaching for
the phone. “Hello?”
“Michael, it’s Max.” Max said talking loudly in the phone over the
thunder as Tess and Liz continue digging. “The crystals can’t live
without oxygen.”
“Okay.”
“That’s how we can stop it.”
Max told Michael quickly explaining what Michael needed to know just in case the
fact that the crystals couldn’t live without oxygen made no sense to Michael.
“Well, I got a newsflash for you Maxwell. There are no
crystals around here.”
“So Laurie’s safe?”
“She’s under my constant watch. I’m not even
sleeping.” Michael told Max. “How are things with you?” Michael asked
touching base since they hadn’t talk since last time when he and Maria were
driving around in circles in the desert, and Max called with what Larek told
them. “You find the hive as Larek suggested?”
“Tired. It’s been a long couple of days.”
Max told Michael staring at where Liz and Tess were digging. “Oh yeah, we
found the hive.”
“Yeah, are you going to tell me about it?” Michael
asked as Carmen approached with the DVD player.
“It’s been raining pretty hard here.”
Max shared with Michael.
“Thank you.” Michael said to Carmen as he took the DVD
player and listened to Max.
“Morale’s a little low.” Max
told Michael.
“You want to tell me what is going on? You found the
nest, and …”
“No, there is nothing you can do. Just do your job and
keep Laurie safe.”
“Right.” Michael opened the DVD player. “Okay, then.
Ah … Max, I gotta take another patrol round the perimeter.”
“Talk later.”
“Okay.” Michael hung up the phone, turning around he
spied Carmen. “Oh, Carmen, May I get some iced tea please?” He made a
gesture to both him and Maria. “For the both of us?” Carmen went off as
Michael and Maria turned on the portable DVD and started watching Braveheart.
“So how is everyone?”
Michael shook his head. “Max didn’t say. It’s raining
and they found the hive.”
Maria nodded as she leaned in closer to Michael to watch
the movie. “Braveheart, again?!”
~~~
Michael, Maria and Laurie were seated for dinner, eating a
veritable feast all of them enjoying themselves at Bobby and Meredith’s
expense. Laurie smiled occasionally, comfortable and calm with Michael and
Maria’s presence.
“This fish is delightful.” Maria mumbled to herself,
almost in shock. Looking across the huge table at Michael she called to him.
“Michael, isn’t this food delightful?”
“It’s delightful.” Michael repeated, too busy to care
as he stuffed his mouth full.
Laurie laughed following Michael’s lead stuffing her face
too. “Yeah, this is the first time I've felt at home at this dinner table
since my grandfather died.”
“Chicken’s tasty but it’s kinda puny.” Michael said
tossing a bone.
Meredith and Bobby entered the dining room in formal wear
giving the teens a disgusted look, especially after Laurie belched and Michael
and Maria laughed.
“It’s not chicken.” Meredith informed Michael.
“It's squab stuffed with foie gras and
black truffles with a pinot noir glaze.”
“Oh my God, they’re using the good crystal.” Bobby
said in horror as Maria tossed him drinking down her root beer.
“We have a charity event at the Governor’s Residence
and it’s the staff’s night off.” Meredith informed them. “But I’ve
asked them to prepare a full seven-course extravaganza in hopes it will keep you
two from snooping around in anymore of our personal effects.”
“Aw, thank you, Mer.” Maria smirked waving a squab leg
at her.
“And please keep in mind that you’re having your soda
pop out of nineteenth century Bavarian Crystal.” Bobby suggested hoping it
would keep the unruly teens from smashing them in the fireplace in an act of
unbridled vandalism.
“I'll keep that in mind Bobby.” Michael told the older
couple releasing a loud burp as they were heading for the door.
“Please, God. Let at least one of them choke on a pigeon
bone.” Meredith said under her breath as she and Bobby left.
“I think she’s right. I’m gonna need another root
beer.” Maria said to Michael as she rang a little bell near her plate.
“Carmen! Um, I think the um, the pint noir glaze is getting me a little dry.
Could you haul over another root beer please?” Maria smiled cheerfully at
Michael wolfing down his food. “Haul it over.” Maria repeated for
Michael’s benefit as he nodded still eating with gusto. Pigeon? So now he knew
what he and Maria could live off when they moved to
“I’m eating.” Michael pointed out.
“Please?” Maria begged nodding to Laurie. “Laurie and
I are getting dry.” Laurie nodded her head enthusiastically. Outnumbered by
the girls, Michael reluctantly went to find Carmen and drinks.
“Carmen …” Michael called as headed for the kitchen.
When he entered, the place was darkened and he frowned as he made out Carmen’s
form sitting on a chair facing away from him. “Carmen?” Michael went to the
maid, and his face registered the shock and horror he felt as he found Carmen
dead with her throat slashed. “Oh god, Carmen.”
Straightening, he glanced around the dark room quickly.
Maria. Laurie. Michael rushed back to get the girls.
Maria glanced up when Michael rushed back into the room.
“Hey, I thought you were gonna go get the um …”
“Get up.” Michael said pulling Maria up from the table
by her arm holding her close to his body as he moved towards Laurie.
Maria glance at Michael’s face immediately reading the
seriousness. “What’s going on?”
Michael rushed Maria to Laurie. “Take her some place safe
… right now.”
Laurie only just realizing that something was wrong bolted
off her chair in fright. “Oh, my God. They’re here …”
Michael quickly caught Laurie by the arms before she ran in
a panic. “Whoa, Laurie, Laurie. It’s alright, I’m gonna take care of
it.” He nodded to Maria. “Take her now.”
Maria nodded, her and Laurie holding each other. “Okay,
what are you gonna do?” Maria asked worried about leaving Michael alone.
“Just go!” Michael demanded.
“Michael!” Maria’s voice raised in fear. She never
left him … never. They always went together, and …
“Maria …” Michael said softly their eyes meeting and
she nodded rushing Laurie out of the room.
Michael moved out into the hallway through another
entrance. The house was dark and quiet with all the servants gone. He moved down
the hallway cautiously looking for the intruder. Hearing a sound from behind
him, he turned. The hallway was empty. Michael slowly moved towards the sound.
Looking up the nearby, Michael was suddenly shot from behind. As Michael
crumpled to the ground, Grant emerged from the shadows. He tucked a gun in his
belt and went off with purpose to find the girls.
~~~
Maria and Laurie ran down to the sublevel basement, to the
bomb shelter. Maria rushed them as the feeling of being pursued choked at her
throat. They went into the shelter and tried to close the rusted door to slow
their pursuer.
Maria pushed on the door trying to close it. “Help me
Laurie!” The girls struggled with the door. “It’s stuck!” The two girls
tried to close it frantically as they felt danger coming near.
~~~
Jim and Agent Duff found the house dark and what appeared
deserted. The front gate was open. Circling the house, they entered through the
kitchen. There they discovered Carmen’s body. They both drew their guns and
nodding to each other, they split on either side of the door covering each other
as they made their progress with caution. Jim saw the heap, he bent down to
discover the bloodied Michael lying in the hallway with a shoulder bullet wound.
Michael was barely conscious as he held his shoulder, the bullet having entered
from the back and exited through the front of his shoulder.
Jim crouched beside the injured teen. “Michael …”
Michael talked with some difficulty as the wave of pain
almost made him pass out again. “They’re back there … Back there!”
Michael pushed Jim weakly. “Go!”
Jim and Agent Duff left Michael in the hallway while they
went to look for Grant and the girls.
~~~
Maria and Laurie were still struggling with the door as
Grant made his way down the stairs. Holding up the gun, Grant entered as the
girls back further into the room. Maria pushed Laurie behind her as she tried to
distract Grant.
“Grant! Grant! Hey it’s me, Maria DeLuca. I’m
Isabel’s friend. Really, really good friend.” Maria said holding up her
hands in a non-threatening gesture. Grant lunged for Laurie and Maria got in the
way. “No wait …”
Laurie screamed as Grant pushed Maria aside and caught
Laurie by her hair and held her hostage to the just arriving Jim and Agent Duff.
Maria rushed to Jim getting out of the line of fire.
Jim took aim at Grant. “Sorenson! You don’t wanna do
this …”
“Put the gun down and step away from the girl.” Duff
told Grant.
Laurie was crying hysterically. “Don’t let him put me back in the groun