"Is Jesse still on the line?" Max asked.
Isabel picked up the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello? Jesse?" She turned back toward Max. "No. He's gone. When Liz's vision made her cry out, I guess I dropped the phone right in the middle of things. “
Max approached her and kept his voice low and… he hoped… soothing. "Isabel, call him back and let him know you're all right. “
"Are you sure that's such a good idea, Max?" Kyle asked. "The Feds might trace the call. “
"If they can, then they probably already did," Max said. "There's no point in leaving Jesse hanging." He turned to face Isabel. "He's probably worried, Iz. Tell him you'll find a way to reach him later. And don't mention anything about what Liz said. We've changed the course of events she's seen in her premonitions before. We can do it again. “
Isabel nodded, then reached out and hugged him. He squeezed her in return. The contact renewed his determination to keep her safe.
They disengaged after a moment, and Max turned to crouch beside Liz again. Now she seemed more clearheaded than she had a few moments before. Kyle had placed a hand on her forehead. Max felt a twinge of jealousy, but cleared it out of his mind as quickly as it had come. Kyle and Liz had dated in the past, but Kyle was still her friend. And as a friend, he was entitled to care about her.
"How are you feeling now?" Max asked Liz.
She sighed. "I'm doing all right, Max. The vision just knocked the wind out of me. “
"Well, let's all get back to the van and eat," Max said. "I think food will do us some good. Then we can figure out what to do next." As long as the bad guys don't suddenly show up and make that decision jor us, he thought.
"Good idea," Kyle said. "Let's get you up," he said to Liz, reaching for one of her arms. Max took the other one, and they helped her get to her feet.
Max turned back toward the phone booth and caught Isabel's gaze. She was talking on the phone, so apparently she'd managed to reconnect with Jesse.
He turned back to Liz and Kyle. "Let her finish up. “
A few moments or so later, Isabel hung up the phone and rejoined the group.
"Everything smoothed over?" Max asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Isabel said. She still sounded stunned by Liz's dire forewarning.
"Let's get back to the VW, then," Max said, offering her a smile that he could only hope would reassure her. "Dinner awaits. “
Boston Jesse was glad that Isabel had called him back. He wasn't sure what was worse: not having heard from her at all, hearing the news from her about Cheyenne, or hearing the phone cut off in mid-conversation. At least her callback had told him that she and Liz were all right, even if she hadn't gone into specifics about what actually had happened.
She'd sounded tired, but he hadn't wanted to tell her that. He couldn't deny that she no longer sounded like the confident young woman he had married. Life on the road was apparently wearing them all down more than she had wanted to admit.
After ringing off with Isabel, Jesse decided to get some coffee at the Java Joint a few blocks away, near Harvard Square. He didn't anticipate being able to sleep for a while tonight, so he decided he might as well add some caffeine to his system. Sometimes it actually had the effect of calming his nerves rather than exciting them.
As he waited on the street corner for the walk signal, he felt the phone vibrate again in his pocket. Is Isabel calling a third time? He clicked it on. "Hello? “
"I need to speak to a lawyer," the male voice on the other end of the line said.
Jesse's blood ran cold. "How did you get this number? “
"A friend of mine gave it to me. He said it was the number of a good attorney. “
Jesse stared at his phone in horror. The only person who knew he had this phone was a client who was currently in jail, and therefore not likely to be sending Jesse any referrals. Which meant that the person on the other end of the line must have heard him give the cell phone number to Isabel earlier.
Which meant his home phone was bugged.
"You've got the wrong number, buddy. I'm a pizza delivery guy," Jesse said, then clicked the phone off.
Looking into the street, he saw a delivery truck and several cars heading toward the intersection. Timing it to their speed, he tossed the cell phone into their path.
A second after it clattered to the street, he heard a satisfying crunch as the delivery truck smashed the phone into a pile of wire and broken components. The truck's driver honked at Jesse and flipped him the bird.
Needing coffee now more than ever, Jesse continued down the street.
If they are still tapping me, do they know that was Isabel who called? Am I about to be dragged into the alien nightmare again? Jesse knew he couldn't answer those questions. Nor was there anyone in Boston with whom he could even discuss them.
He was alone. All alone.
Cheyenne, Wyoming "I don't remember anything more," Liz said. "I'm sorry. These precognitive flashes aren't exactly linear. And I can't control when I get them. “
"So the only clue we have is that Isabel is apparently put on a plane first," Kyle said, wiping fried chicken grease off his fingers. "Easy. So we keep her from getting on any planes. “
"That's not so easy to do when the reason she was on the plane appears to be because she was in custody" Maria said. "It sounds like our real goal is to keep her from getting captured in the first place. “
"Brilliant," Michael said, digging into a tub of soggy coleslaw with his plastic spork. "I think that's the general idea for all of us. “
Maria glared at Michael but said nothing.
"Knowing that we're in more and more danger the longer we stay in Cheyenne, we need to decide how we're getting out of here," Isabel said, breaking the momentary silence. She was idly playing with her long braid.
"But we've still got unfinished business here," Kyle said.
"You're right," Michael said. "We left a bunch of stuff at the hotel. Doesn't make sense to ditch what's left of our worldly possessions if we don't have to. “
Kyle shook his head, looking exasperated. "Who cares about that? There are two people who are in the hospital because of us. Are we really going to just abandon the people who got hurt because of us? “
"Are you still suggesting that Max try to sneak into the hospital and heal them?" Michael asked.
Kyle nodded. "Why not? It's not like he hasn't done the same thing before. In fact, it seems like every few months back in Roswell he was sneaking into a hospital to heal somebody. And Maria and Isabel have had experience working as candy stripers more than once. “
Max winced. Early in his relationship with Liz, he had failed to heal her beloved grandmother, who was dying. He didn't think she held it against him, but he still felt guilty about having let her down.
"I agree with Kyle," Isabel said. "Those people wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for us. I think we can help them and not get caught. Like Kyle said, we've done it before. “
"We've also been shot at before, and I don't want to repeat that experience," Michael said, his tone acidic. "I vote no. “
"I vote yes," Maria said, offering a half-apologetic look to Michael.
Max made a decision. "It's not up for a vote. We're going to help them. Then we're going to get our stuff. And then we're getting out of Cheyenne. “
"How do we know that deciding to get out of Cheyenne isn't what gets Isabel captured? “
"Don't go there, E. T.," Maria said, shaking her head. "We're sunk if we start getting so freaked out about Liz's psychic hot line that we can't make any decisions. “