ROSWELL on PLANET-SF

Chapter Six

Stealthy. Max was trying to be stealthy. He had been sitting and waiting in the jeep a few houses down from the Guerin/DeLuca residence for almost two hours. What he waiting for, he didn't know. Michael had come and gone and was back home again. Maria hadn't been home since the afternoon. He knew Leia was at Amy and Jim's after driving by there and seeing Jim and Leia on the front porch. A curt wave out the window was all Max had to offer. He was on a mission.

Taking a deep breath, he stretched his arms and legs. When a face appeared in the window next to him he nearly screamed. Not expected anyone, he saw Maria.

"What are you doing?" he asked harshly.

"Watching you, nimrod." She rolled her eyes. "I know Michael's going to try to switch your goodies tonight and then you pull up and sit here like a stalker. What's going on?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I was waiting for Michael to do something so I could follow him."

"That was my plan!" She smiled. "I've been sitting in my car down the street for hours and then you showed up and just sat here, too. This is stupid."

"Michael won't tell you anything?"

She shook her head. "No, he said he had to do it alone. And as we all know, alone is not necessarily a good thing."

"This is my fault," he looked sincerely at her. "I should be the one trying to fix it."

"That doesn't matter. Michael's scaring the crap out of me with this. I just want to make sure he's going to be okay. I think his big plan is to break in and switch the samples. All in all, it doesn't sound like a major." She looked towards her house. "But if he gets caught doing anything with your genes, then your DNA will so stand out like the Jolly Green Giant at a midget convention. Then there goes you, your sister and daughter. Probably Liz, too, you never know. Not to mention, Michael will lose his job and probably worse."

"You don't think I've thought about all these things already?" Max asked, somewhat irritated. "Me, my person, is the last thing on my mind. I was a fucking idiot to let this happen. It's everyone else's safety that I care about, not my own. Unfortunately, it doesn't end with me and Michael is putting himself on the line for everyone. Alone."

"I know!" Maria started loud but lowered her voice. "Do you have a plan?"

"No. You?"

"Hardly. This was it." She looked towards her house again and then darted in front of the jeep. She let herself in the passenger side and shut the door.

"Hi."

"Hi. What do you think you're doing?"

"Whatever you're doing. You go, I go."

"Forget it, I don't wa-"

"I don't care." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked straight ahead. "This is my life at stake too, Maxie. You didn't forget that, did you? Did you ever think that maybe we can help by working together?"

Max opened his mouth to speak then closed it, nodding. "Okay DeLuca, you're on. We'll work together on this on one condition." She raised her eyebrows in anticipation. "You don't ever call me Maxie again."

Maria smiled and crossed her heart with her index finger. She grabbed Max's arm and pointed. "He's leaving." They watched as Michael walked from the small frame house to the Tempo in the driveway. He looked around before getting in. Max waited until Michael was out of the driveway and almost half a block away from starting the jeep. They stayed a good distance behind him, trying to be inconspicuous. Both Max and Maria were so involved in not losing Michael neither of them noticed the headlights that had pulled out behind them.

* * *

Liz felt faint. Hearing her daughter talking to someone who wasn't there was fine. What she had said made her skin crawl. Could her sweet daughter Sloane actually be having a conversation with Max's other child? Liz shook her head in denial. No way, there was no conceivable way that could happen. She thought about shrugging it off, but then thought better of it. If Liz Evans had learned nothing else in the last seven plus years, it was that nothing should be ignored. Ignorance was not bliss.

She took a deep breath and walked back to her daughter's room. Sloane was still sitting up looking towards the window but she was silent now. Liz ventured into the room and said her daughter's name softly. Sloane turned to her and smiled. "Hi mommy."

"Hi sweetheart." Liz sat down next to her. "I was walking by your room a few minutes ago and I thought I heard you talking to someone."

"I was." She picked up a stuffed giraffe, absently petting its long neck.

"Who were you talking to?" Liz felt the knot in her stomach forming. Sloane shrugged and lay down. "Sweetheart, who were you talking to?"

"I don't know his name," she whispered.

"How were you talking to him?"

"His voice was in my head."

"Do you talk to him a lot?" Liz asked and Sloane shrugged again. "I heard you say something about Daddy. Does he know Daddy?"

Sloane shoook her head intensely. "No!"

"Does he want to hurt Daddy?"

"He said he would someday."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Sloane looked up into her mother's eyes. "He said he's my brother. I don't have a brother, do I?""

Liz mulled 5the quesion over for a full minute before answering. Everything that Max and she had decided to tell Sloane and when was barrelling through her cerebral cortex. Five was too young to understand; they had originally thought thirteen, not five. "No, sweetie. You don't have a brother." Liz took a deep breath. "I don't think you should talk to him anymore."

"I don't want to, but he talks in my head." Sloane closed her eyes.

"Can you turn it off?" Liz asked and rolled her eyes, not believing that this conversation was actually happening. Sloane shrugged and clutched her giraffe tighter to her chest.

"I don't like him." Sloane rolled on her side, ending the conversation. Liz kissed the top of her daughter's head and left the room.

Sitting down on the couch Liz wondered if she had just made a mistake by telling Sloane she didn't have a brother. Technically, Liz tried to convince herself, there really might not be a brother. She shook her head knowing that wasn't the truth. In less than thirteen short years that brother was going to try to kill her baby girl.

Telling Max seemed like the best idea. Although her first instinct was to talk to Michael, she remembered that Michael had his own life to worry about and that she couldn't run to him with all her problems. There was always Maria, but she didn't know the story of the second coming of a futuristic Max and it would be hard to explain at this point. Max should know if his daughter is talking to his son, even if he doesn't know the ramifications of the future. How were they talking? Liz didn't have a damn clue. Hearing his voice in her head was scary. He would be about three years older than Sloane and apparently already filled with hate like his mother Tess. She cringed while thinking about her name. She had banished almost all images of her over the years. The tattoo covering the brand was the grand finale. Liz closed her eyes and actually tried to picture Tess's face. A distorted image of blonde curls and blue eyes was as far as she could get, as far as she wanted to get right now. The Tess saga was for another day.

She glanced at the clock: after ten. Wondering how she had wasted the last hour thinking about her own personal devil; her thoughts turned back to Max and his whereabouts. She grabbed the broken cordless and dialed Maria's, listening as the machine turned on. Next she paged Michael again. After waiting for ten minutes with no return call, she decided it was futile to keep trying. Something was going down and she wasn't part of it. Neither was Isabel, she was still on her date with Rick. A last minute dinner invite had arrived shortly after Max left and after much deliberation, Isabel had left to meet him.

Walking around the soundless condo Liz began to worry. The worst scenarios played out in front of her like a movie. Damn it, she thought, whatever they're doing they'd better be careful about it.

* * *

Michael Guerin drove through the city he was sworn to protect ready to break the law, several probably. The master plan he had been trying to think of all night was non-existent. Part of him wished now that he had consulted with Max and Isabel. Well, at least with Isabel.

He parked the Tempo in the back of the hospital and waited. Ten o'clock on a Monday night wasn't the most happening of times. Clearly his presence would be noticed if not questioned if he roamed the halls. Asking someone where they kept the DNA samples before they were sent to Santa Fe probably wouldn't work either. Taking a deep breath, he shoved the bag of Kyle's genetics inside his jacket pocket and got out of the car. If there hadn't have been so much on his mind he would have noticed the two cars with people inside of them watching him.

"He's just going to walk in," Max said as he and Maria watched from about fifteen yards away. "Is that his big plan?"

"Maybe," Maria sighed. "Damn it! He's going to get caught, Max. You can't just walk in there and switch shit like this. We have to do sometihng."

"Like what? Go traipsing in there looking for him to tell him to stop?" Max rested his head on the steering wheel. "I wish he wasn't alone."

Maria concurred silently as she glanced in the side mirror. "Max, don't turn around for any reason, just listen to me."

"What?" He fought the urge to raise his head and turn around with all of his will power. Now was not the time to be stupid. "What, Maria?"

"A few cars in back of us, there's a little round car, it's light coloured, maybe white."

"Round?"

"Round," she repeated. "You know, rounded edges, like a bubble. Anyway, there's someone inside and they're looking in the same direction as we are. A woman, I think. She's watching Michael."

"Shit." Max raised his head. "Do you know who it is?"

"I think it might actually be that new Deputy, Jo Davie." Maria narrowed her eyes. "I really think it's her. Oh God, what's she doing here?"

"This can't be good." He shook his head and looked at his partner. "We have to get rid of her. She's here to bust Michael. Damn, I knew she shouldn't have been there this morning. She was there with Michael, probably setting him up to get busted."

"Why?"

"I don't know Maria. Maybe she doesn't like him, maybe she likes him too much, maybe she wants his job, maybe she's a secret alien hunter and we haven't been hiding as well as we thought we had." Max shrugged. "She's gotta go before Michael comes back out."

Maria had her hand on the door. "I'll go."

"Where?" Max grabbed her arm.

"I'll go see what she's doing," Maria shrugged. "You have any better ideas?"

Max fought his overloaded brain, trying to find something and came back empty. He shook his head but didn't release her arm. "I don't want you to go."

"You don't have a choice," she sniped at him.

"Yeah, I do. If I let something happen to you Michael would kill me. You're not going anywhere. I'll deal with her."

"What are you going to do? Blow her up? Melt her?" Maria smiled, but the smile disappeared as soon as she saw Max's serious expression. "Oh, no. You've got to be kidding me."

"I'll do what I have to do."

"Forget it." She yanked her arm free from his grip.

"No!" He grabbed her arm again and held it tighter this time.

Maria rolled her eyes and glanced at the side mirror. "Shit! She's leaving!"

Max turned around to see headlights making a U-turn in back of them. He started the jeep up and sped after the car carrying Deputy Jo Davie.

"What the hell are you doing?" Maria yelled, putting on her seatbelt.

Max didn't answer her. He focused on the car in front of him. A spotlight was shining through the haze of leftover rain ahead of them. Brake lights from Jo Davie's car basked Max and Maria in red.

Maria jumped out as soon as the jeep quit moving. Max swore after her and slammed the gearshift into neutral and stomped on the emergency brake.

Maria was already at the drivers' side window banging on the glass. A startled Jo rolled the window halfway down and stared at Maria. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded.

"Why are you following Michael?"

Jo looked closer at Maria. "You're his girlfriend, right?"

"Tell me why the fuck you're watching him!"

"I saw him." Jo didn't elaborate as confusion spread across her face.

Max stood behind Maria, putting his arms around her waist, pulling her back from the car. "Stop it Max!"

"Maria," he said softly into her ear. "Let's go."

"Like hell!" Maria tried to break away from him, but his grip was too tight. "Let go of me, Max."

Max looked at the scared face of Jo Davie and felt sorry for her. A few minutes earlier, he would have killed her, now he just wanted her to go away. "Maria, stop fighting me."

"As soon as you let me go," she said with clenched teeth. "You asshole!"

"I'm not letting you go," he whispered in her ear. "If I let you go you're going to do something stupid."

"That's rich coming from you." Maria stared down Jo Davie. "Tell me why you're here!" she demanded.

Jo looked from Max to Maria and felt the blood drain from her face. "I wanted -"

"Wanted what?" Maria interrupted.

Jo turned away from them and floored the gas pedal, skidding out into the cross street. Within seconds her red taillights were gone. Maria waited a beat before trying to turn and face her captor.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Maria asked as tears slid down her cheeks. Max still held onto her, although looser now. "Why?" She gave up and buried her face on his shoulder. "Why?"

He rubbed her back as they stood in the middle of the street. "I had to, Maria. For Michael. I had to."

Maria cried as he led her back to the jeep. He helped her in, holding onto her hand until the last second. He walked around and got in and started the engine. Max pulled back towards the hospital and parked in the same spot. The Tempo was still there. Maria sat facing Max and eventually ended up nearly sharing his seat with him. She rested her head against him while he rubbed her back.

* * *

Michael walked down the hall like he was supposed to be there. No one stopped him. Well, of the one maintenance man he had seen, no one had stopped him.

His breath was shallow and more audible than he would have liked as he wound his way through the identical hallways, trying to locate the office of the doctor who had taken the specimens from Max.

Two doors down from a dead end Michael found the doctor's name on a door. He couldn't pronounce it, but he knew it when he saw it. Trying the door he wasn't surprised to find it locked. Looking down the hallway once more, he held his hand over the door, unlocked it, entered the room and quickly closed it behind him.

After turning on a small lamp on the desk he made his way to the filing cabinet. He unlocked it with a wave of his hand. Flipping through he found "Evans, Max" typewritten on a folder. Pulling it out and scanning he learned that everything was being held in his other office, one he shared with two others. Locked up tight, waiting to be taken by courier in the morning. Michael noted the room number and put everything back where it belonged.

Stepping back out of the office he got a sick feeling deep in his gut. Everything he had worked for to make his family happy was being put on the line. He was walking the thin line of morality. His job told him to uphold the law, his heart told him to break it. He went with his heart. No way to back out now. He was the only one who could keep them safe.

The next office was bigger, with locked cabinets and freezers lining the walls. He gambled and opened three before he found what he was looking for. A neat clear plastic box held the true identity of Max Evans. The lid popped off easily and he grabbed the contents, shoving them in his pocket. From his other pocket he got out the replacements and set them inside. Snapping the lid back on, he returned the box to its temporary home.

He turned off a small light he wasn't sure if he had turned on or not and walked back into the hallway. As he turned to walk back down the hall towards the back entrance, he heard footsteps behind him. Without looking back he quickened his pace until it was a slight jog. The footsteps, two pairs, it sounded like to him, were getting closer.

"Stop!" a husky voice called from behind him.

Michael ran at full speed through swinging doors, pausing only momentarily to slam a bar lock across them. He saw in the glass-encased chicken wire windows two security guards in pursuit. He kept his head down and ran. He heard the guards slam into the door and swear.

The sting of the cool night air punctured Michael's lungs as he ran from the building to the Tempo. He got into the car and sped off without turning his lights on.

"Hey," the guard with the husky voice panted. "Didn't you think that guy looked like Sheriff Guerin?" The other nodded in agreement.

"There he is and he's hauling it to the car," Max pointed. They watched as he got in and drove away. They waited a beat but no one followed him out of the hospital. "I guess he did it."

"I don't know," Maria shook her head. "Maybe he failed."

"I don't think so." Max started the jeep. "C'mon, I'll take you home and see. We have to tell him about Jo Davie."

"I don't even want to tell him we were here tonight." Maria slid back over into her own seat.

"We have to, Maria." He squeezed her hand. "Secrets are a bad thing. Remember?" She smiled at him and nodded. Secrets were bad.

to be continued / back to the top

STORY OF LINES:
BOOK 7 - TREADING LIGHTLY

CHAPTER SIX

Written by BECKY W

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