The White Room…..

In the kitchen of the Crashdown, Michael, Liz, Tess and Isabel were talking. They had returned from the Carnival. The loss of Max was hard to take, and they were helpless to retrieve him.

“We should have never split up.” Michael said, running his hands over his face. “I mean I never should have left him alone.”

“What are they doing to him? What if he’s already dead?”

Liz couldn’t accept that. “No, no, Isabel you can’t even talk like that because, you know, Max is too smart to let something like that happen.”

Michael stared at Liz like she was an idiot. Max was too smart to let something like that happen? She didn’t get it. They were completely powerless and outclassed. Her belief in Max was touching, but naïve. It was official. Liz Parker was a moron.

Tess didn’t have the same belief in Max. She was much more realistic, but she knew the enemy. “Pierce won’t kill him. He wants to study him.”

“How the hell do you know?” Michael asked. He never got an answer. They heard the front door of the Crashdown open. Rushing to the front, in case it was Max with Nasedo, they found Maria and Alex returning. Liz ran to her friends.

“Oh my god, Liz.” Maria cried taking her friend in a huge hug. “We were so worried…” Maria looked over Liz’s shoulder at Michael. He looked bleak. Maria slowly released Liz. Something was wrong. She could see it in his eyes.

Liz stood back from Alex and Maria, wiping her face. “You guys, they took Max.”

“Who?” Alex asked sharply. “Who did?”

“Pierce, you know the FBI Special Unit. They took him.”

Alex glanced at Isabel. Seeing her face, he embraced her. Maria and Michael shared a look. The misery and uncertainty of his glance was enough. Maria walked into Michael’s arms holding him tight, her hand coming up to touch his face. Michael closed his eyes sighing in relief at the human comfort, or more specifically Maria comfort. Taken. It was a nightmare that all the alien children had shared.

Liz stared at her friends comforting others. Wiping tears from her face, she confronted Tess. “Where’s Nasedo?”

“I don’t know.”

Michael had to agree with Liz. Nasedo should be there. “He’s supposed to be at our side. Where is he?”

“I told you, I don’t know.” They were making her nervous. “He’s never left me alone like this before.”

“Then it’s up to us.” Isabel told them. “We have to find Max.”

Alex couldn’t believe his girlfriend. He knew she was upset about Max, but it was naïve to assume they could match the FBI Special Unit. “Wha… what makes you think we can go up against alien hunters and win?”

“What the hell choice do we have?” Michael put Maria from him. “Let him be a pincushion for Pierce? Let him die?”

Alex didn’t mean that. They had to know that. “No.”

Liz had to agree with Alex. They were completely outclassed. “We have to go to Valenti.”

Michael scowled. What the hell was with Max and now Liz? They were always wanting to run to Valenti. “What, and tell him everything?”

“Max was willing to do it to save Liz.” Isabel wrung her hands. Valenti was a fear, but the FBI was worse. “Maybe now is the time to trust him.”

“What makes you think that Valenti is better equipped than we are?” Tess asked them. How could they want to trust another human with their secret?

“He’s the law. He’s got resources.” Maria pointed out, seeing the firmness of Michael’s jaw.

“So do we. Stronger ones.” Tess stared at the other two aliens. “Look, I know what I can do. What about the two of you?”

“What do you mean?” Michael asked suspiciously.

“Your powers, Michael. Your gifts. You do have them, don’t you?” Tess asked.

Michael nodded. “We’re not too advanced.”

Isabel bit her lip. Tess obviously knew more than they did. “We can do easy things, like change simple molecular structure, but we don’t use them very often. What about you?”

“Being around Nasedo has taught me quite a few things.”

“Wait,” said Alex, stopping Isabel, “what about that dream thing that you can do?”

“What dream thing?” Tess looked at the others confused.

“Sometimes I can go into people’s heads when they’re sleeping.”

“And you can all do that?”

“No, just Isabel.” Michael admitted.

Tess was impressed. “And you can communicate with him?”

“Subconsciously. I’ve only done it a few times though.”

Liz understood what Tess was suggesting. “Look, if you do it to Max, maybe he can tell you where he is.”

“I’ve never done it to anyone who was awake before. I don’t know if I can get in.”

Alex looked at the others. “We won’t know until you try.” Alex asked Liz, “Can we use your room?” Liz nodded and they all went upstairs. Leaving Alex and Isabel in the bedroom, everyone else went out on the balcony. Alex helped Isabel.

Michael kept glancing back into the bedroom. Maria, who should’ve been standing with Liz, saw his look and she followed him to the edge of the balcony.

“Are you okay?” Maria rubbed the small of his back in comfort.

“I shouldn’t have let us split up, Maria.” Michael glanced over at the others. Turning his back on them, he looked out over the back of the Crashdown. “There were agents there, Maria. That’s the closest I’ve ever been to being caught. They wanted Max, not us. Just Max.”

Maria sat on the edge of the balcony, her hand rested on his waist. Resting her head on his stomach, she closed her eyes when his hand wrapped around the back of her neck holding her close to him. She couldn’t tell him how glad it was Max and not him. It felt like a betrayal of Liz, to care more about Michael than Max. She didn’t really even know Max, but she knew Michael.

“You’ll get him back, Michael. I know you will.”

“You can’t know that.” Michael said dejectedly, his voice hollow. He was more than a little worried. He was afraid. Alex was right. They were teenagers going against the FBI’s elite unit, and despite Tess’s belief that their powers were a better resource, Michael knew how his powers worked…or specifically, how they didn’t.

“You’ll do what you have to do, Michael.”

“What if I…can’t?”

“You will, because you have to.”

Michael was going to comment when Isabel woke up. They all rushed back into the bedroom.

“Max! Max! Oh god! Oh my God!”

“What happened?” Michael grabbed Isabel trying to make sense of her hysteria. “What happened?”

“Michael, he’s so scared. He’s so scared.”

“Ok, Isabel, you’ve got to calm down. All right?” Michael glanced at Maria, almost begging her with his eyes for help. He wasn’t good at being a calming strength. Maria gave him an encouraging nod. “You got to tell me what you saw. We got to help him.”

“Oh, god. That deputy,” Isabel cried, “… the deputy that stopped us last night, he’s Pierce.  He’s Pierce.”

Alex licked his lips nervously. “Are you sure?” Oh hell, if a cop was involved, they couldn’t risk Valenti.

“He told me.” Isabel told Alex. “And he’s drugging him. He’s hurting him.”

Liz wringed her hands, upset and powerless. “Where is he? Where… where is…?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know where he is.”

“Think hard. He must have given you something.” Tess encouraged. “Think.”

Isabel took a calming breath concentrating on the confusing images she saw from Max. “Ok, he did. He did. I think I know where I’ve seen it before.”

At the UFO Convention Center , they stared at a display of pictures from the fifties and around the original crash era.

Maria read the captions. “Eagle Rock Military Base. This is where they were said to have secretly taken the aliens after the crash.”

“This is it.” Isabel told the others. “This is what Max showed me. This is the symbol on the hall floor on the base.”

Maria continued reading the display. “It says that it’s been abandoned for years.”

“That’s where he is.”

Liz nibbled on a nail nervously. “Look; now we have no choice, ok, we have to go to Valenti.”

The others looked at Liz as if she was insane, but only Michael actually voiced his opinion. “What are you crazy? After we just found out about Deputy Fisher? Valenti’s probably in on the whole thing.”

“We can’t go to a place like that on our own.” Liz reasoned.

“No,” Michael agreed, “you can’t, but we can.  Isabel, Tess and I can protect ourselves.”

“With what?” Maria asked, not liking how this was coming down. “Your gifts?”

She knew he would do what he had to. She knew that. “Why not?”

Maria started to point how he hardly knew how to control his powers, that he could get killed, or worse…captured, but she couldn’t. Their eyes met, and she knew that he would never live with himself if he didn’t try.

“God, Michael. Just be careful. You do what you have to…just get him back.” Michael nodded. She didn’t want him to take chances, but he appreciated that she pulled back from voicing her fears. They both knew that there was no other way.

Liz looked at the aliens. “And you guys aren’t going there without me.”

“No. Look, you want the truth? You’re liabilities, all three of you.” Tess pointed out, kindly adding in Alex and Maria, but her message was really for Liz Parker. “We’ve got a better chance of saving Max without you, and that’s what this is all about, right?”

Liz refused to acknowledge Tess, but she had to admit that saving Max was the most important thing, and not her wounded pride. She ignored Tess and concentrated on Michael. “Bring him back to me.”

“I will.” Michael said as Maria’s hand went into his giving it a supportive squeeze.

They didn’t have time. Tess was tired of all the coddling of the humans. Max was in trouble, the longer the delayed, the more likely they would be unable to retrieve Max. “We’d better hurry.”

Maria sighed resting against Michael. He hugged her hard. Maria kissed his lips lightly, her hands framing his face. “You come back. You understand? I do not want to have to come in and get you.”

Michael nodded. He swallowed hard. He had no doubt that she would charge in after him regardless of her own safety. It was an impetus to stay safe. He needed that. He needed a reason to come home.

Michael returned Maria’s gesture, his hands framing her face as he kissed her mouth softly, holding the contact a little longer than normal breathing in her strength. Michael left her, joining the others. The walked out. Michael didn’t look back. He couldn’t.

~~~

The three humans were at the Crashdown trying to not worry. Maria bit her lip. She had too many worries, and there was a trickle of remorse in her soul as she realized that she was concerned most about Michael. It was hard. She hated when he did things on his own. He always got into trouble. Maria frowned, wondering if it made her a bad friend that she was worried about Michael, and not supporting Liz.

Maria glanced at her friend trying to comfort her. “I’m sure they’ve found him by now.”

Alex joined in, sharing a glance with Maria. “They’re probably on their way back.” Alex swallowed his own worry over Isabel moving closer towards a Special Unit that wanted her.

“Yeah, I wish I could believe that one.”

They all sat up straighter as Sheriff Valenti joined them in their booth.

“I’ve been up all night trying to figure out what happened at that carnival. I mean, I know what I saw. Mirrors or no mirrors, there were two Max Evans standing right in front of me.” Jim stared at the trio, putting his cards on the table. He couldn’t get them to trust him, but he had to try. “And now one of them is in the hands of Agent Pierce and the Special Unit, and I’m just hoping that it wasn’t the one that we all care about.” Valenti emphasized that he cared, striking at the weak link in the teenage conspiracy of silence. “Liz, tell me. Let me help,” he said using her feelings to get through.

“We don’t know any more than you do, Sheriff. Sorry.” Liz glanced nervously at Maria who was biting her lip.

“Well, if Pierce has reached the same conclusion that I have, Max is going to need a lot more help than any of you can give him.” Valenti said as a parting shot. He walked out of the Crashdown with the three human teenagers watching him, holding their silence.

“You guys, what if he’s right?” Liz said, injecting a plea for reason in her voice. “I would never forgive myself if something actually happened to them that maybe we could have, like, prevented. I…”

Maria was caught between two friends. Liz wanted Max back, but so did Michael. They didn’t agree on trusting Valenti, and despite that, Maria had to agree with Michael. Valenti had hunted them too long, and with one of his Deputies being Pierce…Maria sighed working for a compromise. “Ok, listen; let’s give them until four o’clock , all right? If they’re not back by then…”

“Right. Ok. Four o’clock .” Liz glanced up at the clock.

Maria tried to calm Liz’s worries. “He’s going to be fine.” Maria wished she believe it herself.

“Yeah,” said Liz, unconvinced.

~~~

While Michael, Isabel and Tess tried to get inside of the Military Complex unseen, their human friends watched the clock’s countdown, becoming more uncertain and nervous as the minutes ticked away. It was already after four. It was eight minutes after, and Maria bit her lip knowing Liz’s patience would be at her limit.

“I’m not waiting any more.” Liz said getting up. “I’m going to do what Max would do for me.”

“Wait a minute.” Maria glanced at Alex pleading for his help to convince Liz. “Are you sure it’s our responsibility to tell Valenti everything?”

“It’s our responsibility to keep them alive.” Liz answered. She couldn’t say when it became the humans’ responsibility, but she felt that way. “You know, Max was ready to trust him, that’s all I need to know.”

Alex was sure if it was the right thing to do, but Isabel was out there too. “What are you going to say?”

“Whatever I have to, to get him to help.”

~~~

Michael, Tess, and Isabel followed a gurney with a covered body to the morgue. They were afraid that it was Max. They waited until the morgue was empty to go inside and check out the body. To their relief, it wasn’t Max. It was the agent that Nasedo had killed to send Pierce a message. They stared at the dead body relieved it wasn’t Max.

Isabel noticed the mark on the agent first. “Oh, my god! Michael, look!”

“What is that?” Tess asked.

Michael stared at the silver handprint much like the one he saw on the picture of the dead Atherton. “Nasedo.”

“That’s how he kills.” Isabel told Tess.

“I swear to you, I’ve never…”

They all startled when an agent entered the morgue.

“Hey. You shouldn’t be here. What are you doing here?” The man said. Michael reacted immediately, using his powers to protect them, he tried to knock the man away. It didn’t work. The agent held up his hand, and Michael went flying backwards as his powers were easily overcome.

“It’s you.” Tess said recognizing the power as the agent morphed into Nasedo in his Ed Harding persona. “Don’t ever leave me alone like that again.”

Nasedo shrugged off her anger. “I have four of you to watch now.”

“I’ve been looking for you for a long time.” Michael told Nasedo.

“Not as long as I’ve been looking for you,” replied Nasedo. “Now you’re about to get yourselves killed.”

Isabel moved away from the alien, uncertain about him. He killed people. “We’re here for Max.”

“This isn’t the local sheriff you’re dealing with,” Nasedo told Isabel coldly. “You should have known better. None of you are equipped to be here. I’ve got to get you out of here.” He shifted into the agent again. “Come with me.” They followed him out of the Morgue, darting into a room when the agent Nasedo was impersonating came into sight.

~~~

Maria was nervous. She and Alex were in the Crashdown waiting for Liz to get back from talking to Valenti.

“You don’t like this do you, Maria?”

“Does it show?”

“Oh, definitely.”

“I can’t help it, Alex. Valenti terrorized me over the whole shooting thing. He hounded us, spied on us, and followed us everywhere. Now, he’s what? A friend?” Maria didn’t know if Michael’s paranoia was rubbing off on her, but she felt nothing but fear. The Deputy was Pierce. Valenti’s father went insane trying to prove that Michael and the others really exist.”

“I see your point, Maria.” Alex breathed in deeply uncertain when there was the fear to trust Valenti was weighted against Isabel out there alone. “I have to worry about Isabel. She’s out there, in danger, and I can only care about her coming back safely.”

“God,” said Maria. “I hate this. I can’t know what the right answer is, but I know Michael wouldn’t be happy.”

“And that matters?”

Maria rolled her eyes. Another person wanting to discount Michael’s instinct to survive. “Yes, actually it does. It means a lot. He is right more often than he’s wrong.”

“Maria…” Alex rubbed his neck. “This thing you have with Michael is hardly different from what Liz has with Max, or even what I have with Isabel. We’re worried too.”

“I know you are.” Maria said biting on a nail. God, where were they?

~~~

Isabel looked nervously at Nasedo. “I don’t think we belong with him,” she told Michael.

“He’s Nasedo, what choice do we have?”

“We could go back up there ourselves.”

“Four is stronger than two.” Michael pointed out to Isabel. “We need them.” She wanted to ignore the first real connection they had to their homeworld. Michael watched Nasedo as well, but his curiosity was piqued.

“He could be working for Pierce. You know, we don’t know anything for sure.” Michael never got to comment as Nasedo joined them.

“The most important part of the plan is timing,” he told them. “Set your watches: 5:47 .” He handed Michael a diagram. “This is your escape route. Scan it.”

Michael stared at the paper unsure of what to do. “Scan it?”

“Into your brain.” Nasedo paused when Michael continued to stare blankly at the paper. “You can’t? All right, you have two minutes to memorize it. I know this place intimately. I’ve already escaped it once. Now, if I’m going to save Max, I need help. We need to get through the security door.”

“I could do that.” Isabel offered. “I’ve gotten through doors before.”

Nasedo shook his head at the naïveté of the teenagers. It was a wonder they survived this far on their own. “That isn’t some deadbolt up there. That door is made up of depleted uranium; a metal composed of heavy atoms, which we can’t manipulate.”

“We can’t?” 

“You have many limitations.”

Michael moved closer, information like a beacon to him. “They know about our limitations?”

“They know more about you than you do.” Michael frowned. Great, someone else with more understanding than he had. At the rate he was going, he would never learn a damn thing stuck with the ‘wait and see’ philosophy of Isabel and Max. “They’ve been studying us for fifty years. The only way to gain entry is to get through the security scanner.”

Isabel hated how interested Michael was in the shapeshifter, but they needed him if they were going to rescue Max. “Well, how do we do that?”

“I can shapeshift into any of these agents: take their form, even their fingerprints. That’s why they added the X-ray scanner. My bone structure is far from human. I can change my appearance, but not what’s on the inside. Your bone structure, on the other hand, is one hundred percent human.”

Michael frowned. “So you’re different from me?” So Nasedo wasn’t his father. Michael wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Nasedo killed people, but Michael had searched for him all his life. This was just another setback in a long list of them. He was never going to find his parents.

“Biology lessons later.” Nasedo told Michael with a slight smile. “Come on. If I’m going to get through that door, I’m going to need one of you with me, and since the only female agent at the Special Unit is now dead, it’s you and me, Michael.”

“I can’t get through the scanner, either. I can’t change my fingerprints.”

“Yes, you can; you just don’t know you can. I’ll teach you. I just hope for Max’s sake that you’re a quick study.” Nasedo turned to the girls. “I’m going to need both of you, too.”  He quickly outlined his plan.  He needed Tess to use her mindwarping capabilities to convince Pierce he was seeing something other than reality. Isabel needed to contact Max, to get him to isolate Pierce from the other agents.

Nasedo took Michael back to the morgue while Tess and Isabel hid. Tess explained her ability to mindwarp…to create a believable illusion while Nasedo taught Michael how to alter his fingerprints. They needed fingerprints from a real agent. They needed the dead body.

“Humans are weak and wasteful,” Nasedo told Michael, “which doesn’t bother me. Their brains are incredible machines they haven’t even begun to use. When you were engineered, you were given the capacity to do everything the human brain is capable of.”

Michael frowned. “You mean beside our powers?”

“Those are your powers, Michael. Everything you can do is human. You were just programmed to be several thousand years ahead of mankind, that’s all. But from what I saw earlier, you’ve barely tapped into what you’re capable of.” Michael made a face at the criticism. Nasedo couldn’t imagine how far off he was from being able to use or control his powers. “You can do it, Michael. The only thing stopping you is yourself.” Michael tried to transfer the fingerprint of the dead agent to his own. Frustrated he stopped, breathing in deeply as his irritation increased. “Try again.”

“Damn it, I can’t do this!”

“Yes, you can. The only one stopping you is you.”

“Will you quit saying that? That is not helping me.” Michael wished that Maria was there. She had a way of making him calm down, concentrate.

“Are you just going to let Max die?”

Michael rolled his eyes. Great, that was really helping. “I am trying my best.”

“That is not your best, Michael; it is not your best.”

“Well, give me a pointer, huh?” Michael told the alien in frustration. “Give me a hint. Give me something.”

“It’s inside you. Your program.”

“Hey, I didn’t get the manual, ok?” Michael shouted in frustration. “All this time I’ve been alone. Where have you been? Where the hell have you been? Huh? Why’d you let this happen to us? To me?”

“Emotions are a weakness, Michael. Focus.” Nasedo heard another agent coming. Glancing down the hall, he registered that it was the agent whose face he was using. Smiling slightly to himself, he decided to change his tactics with Michael. “You’ve got until this guy gets to the door, then I’m using his hand, and you know how I’m going to get it. We’re running out of time here.”

Michael stared at the alien. He was deadly serious. He would kill again if Michael didn’t succeed. Michael concentrated, forcing himself to clear his mind. It took some effort, and he was sweating, but he could feel it the moment his hand changed. “I did it. I did it. I think I did it!”

The agent entered the morgue, and Nasedo appeared behind him.

“Agent...” Nasedo said.

“Who the hell are you?” the agent asked looking at both Nasedo and Michael, “and what are you…?” Michael watched in horror as Nasedo placed his hand on the man’s heart and the man dropped like a stone.

“No! I said I did it.”

“I heard you. I told you you could.”

Michael stared at the dead man. “You killed him. Why’d you do that?”

“I can’t take a chance like what happened in the hallway before. There can’t be two of me.”

“How can you do this? How can you kill all these people?” Michael swallowed hard. He hated this. Nasedo was a killer, and there was no denying it. He finally had the proof. “You don’t care, do you?”

“Michael, if you want to survive, if you want to get back home, you’ve got to be willing to fight for that.” Nasedo said, unhappy with Michael’s reaction. Of all the alien children, Michael was the one he expected to be easiest to control and manipulate. “You understand?”

“You’re not who I thought you’d be.” Michael said, betrayed by the very dream he spent his entire life searching for. He had wanted his people to be better than that.

“Neither are you.” Watching the alien children, Michael had been the more accepting of his alien nature, but something was different. His human side was dominating his alien one. Nasedo didn’t have time to worry about it now. It was Max that was important. They needed to get him back. “It’s showtime.”

Nasedo passed his hand over Michael, changing him into an FBI regulation suit. Holding up a comb, he handed it to Michael, who combed his hair into a nice preppy style while Nasedo shapeshifted into the newly killed agent.

Once at the scanner, Michael allowed his nervousness to eat at him a little, hoping that he did indeed change his fingerprints. Placing his hand on the scanner, he sighed in relief when the door gave him access.

“Matheson.” An agent said to Nasedo.

“Afternoon, Agent.” The man looked at Michael seeing his name tag that was the dead agent’s, altered with Michael’s picture.

“Fields. You’re the new agent, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, good to meet you.” Michael said.

“You picked a hell of a time to show up.” The man said shaking Michael’s hand. “Welcome to the Unit.”

“Thank you.” A group of surgeons exited a door heading down the hallway. Michael moved to follow them.

Nasedo stopped him. “Where are you going?”

“Max is in there. We’ve got to go get him.”

“It won’t help Max if you get yourself killed.” Nasedo told him stopping him from doing something impulsive. “We have to do this the right way. Two minutes.”

Nasedo hoped that Tess had Isabel ready to go. The girls were needed as a distraction with Tess using her ability to hold a mindwarp to convince Pierce he was seeing what they needed him to see. Hopefully, Isabel was able to make contact with Max. They needed him ready to go, and alone with only Pierce.

~~~

Michael and Nasedo watched Max in the white room with Pierce. Pierce was forcing Max to activate the orbs. If Isabel and Tess did their jobs right, Pierce would see the orbs activate, and not see Michael and Nasedo entering the room. They waited until Pierce reacted to the orbs. To him, they were glowing. A green light emanated from them.

On the other side of the observation glass, Nasedo smiled at Michael. “Timing is everything,” he said as he broke the glass. Michael rushed to Max’s side, quickly releasing him from the restraints.

Max stared at the agent Michael was with. “It’s Nasedo, Maxwell, don’t worry.” Michael quickly pocketed the orbs. “Are you all right?”

“I am now,” said Max.

“All right. Let’s go.” Michael helps Max to get off the table, all but carrying him when Max collapsed. “Whoa.”

“Get out of here.” Nasedo told Michael. “You know the escape route.”

Michael helped Max through the broken glass. “What are you doing? Come on.”

“I have something to take care of.”

“No!” Michael said, his anxiety breaking his voice. “You are not leaving me again. Let’s go!”

“There are only seconds left. Go!”

Michael reluctantly took Max leaving Nasedo, just as Pierce came out of his mindwarped trance. “Are you all right, sir?” Nasedo asked Pierce. “You were in here a long time. We thought we’d come check.”

Pierce looked around confused. “Where’s the prisoner?”

Outside in the hallway, Michael ran into two agents that had just found the dead agent in the morgue.

“Fields?! What are you doing?”

“Pierce’s orders. I got to get the prisoner out of here.” Michael gestured to the White room. “They need help inside. Go. Now!” As all the agents rush into the observation room, Michael quickly hauled Max out, hoping he remembered the escape route. Michael could hear shots coming from the room behind him where he left Nasedo.

They made the security gate. Michael quickly placed his hand on the scanner as the door started to open. Suddenly the alarms went off. Michael swore as the door began to close again. Michael and Max made it through the security door. Turning, Michael looked back waiting for Nasedo. He would have to open the door for the Shapeshifter. Nasedo didn’t come, but Pierce came running around the corner with his gun drawn. Michael and Pierce faced each other momentarily as Pierce aimed at Michael through the closing door. Sheriff Valenti suddenly appeared helping Michael with Max.

“Come on, come on. Come on!” Valenti aimed at his Deputy, shooting Pierce in the shoulder to prevent him from making the door before it completely closed. Michael and Sheriff Valenti rushed from the complex as Pierce got up from floor. He tried to open the security gate, but the compound was on lockdown and the glass was unbreakable. Pierce swore as his quarries got away.