"Some men came and debriefed us. They were with that high-level intelligence group. No one I recognized. No one I really wanted to see again. “
They were in a canyon then, in the desert. Someplace he had seen before in the Southwest, though he couldn't quite place it. A large spire of rock jutted off at an angle up the hill on a cliff. The girl stood on a nearby rock, her head framed by the night sky, a constellation of five stars serving as a crown. "Show me those men," she said.
He wasn't sure what she meant, but then the men appeared against the rock spire, their images projected a hundred feet tall, as if from some colossal movie projector. Though their lips moved, they were silent.
The girl studied each of them, as if memorizing their faces. When the images faded, she turned back toward Frank. "Was that all of them?" she asked.
"Yes. How did you… “
"Did they say anything about anyone else other than the six of us?" She stared at him again, her cool brown eyes now darkened almost to black.
"Not that I can remember. “
"Did they mention anything about Boston, or Roswell? “
At the last word, Frank remembered where he had seen the desert before. His family had driven through New Mexico when he was ten. Although they hadn't taken any photos, the inspiring terrain had stuck in his mind.
"No, they didn't mention either one of those places," he said. "But I've been to Roswell before. “
Her eyes flashed. "When? “
"When I was ten. We were going to California. Daddy got a flat tire in Roswell. We got to get ice cream while it was getting fixed." He smiled at the memory.
The girl nodded. "Okay. Let's get back to today. You're a federal agent. You're trained to notice unusual things. Was there anything else these men said to you that made you suspicious? “
He thought for a moment, and then another memory flashed. "They were very clear that they wanted all the surveillance tapes of what happened from the mall. I don't expect they were happy that some of them got leaked out to the news. But I don't know why. If you're so dangerous, shouldn't they be alerting everyone? “
"That's a good question, Agent Kaneko. Maybe we're not the ones who are dangerous. Maybe it's the men who are hunting us." She leaned in closer to him, and her eyes were fully black now, and wider. He could see an infinitude of tiny stars reflected on them… no, seemingly existing in them… with five stars shining infinitely brighter than all the others.
He blinked slowly, and, as he opened his eyes, he saw that the woman was gone. He was looking up at the ceiling, lying in his bed at home, the comforter thrown onto the floor. He could hear his wife breathing softly beside him as she slept.
The words of the dream girl came back to him. You tried to harm us today. We defended ourselves. Wouldn't you have done the same for your family? Something else gnawed at him. There was an important connection somewhere in his dream. He just had to make it.
Although he wouldn't say it out loud, even Michael had to admit that everything had gone smoothly at the hotel. As far as they could tell, there were no guards at the perimeter, no one surveilling their rooms, and no one had rifled through their belongings. They quickly packed and left the rooms as easily as they had arrived, leaving their keys behind on the bedside tables.
They were almost back to the Microbus when Max motioned Michael over. Liz apparently took the hint, and moved forward to walk with Kyle and Maria.
"What's up?" Michael asked.
"There's one more thing we need to do before we leave town," Max said. "And I need your help to pull it off. “
Michael was about to sigh heavily, but held back. He'd give Max the benefit of the doubt first. "What do you need? “
"I need you to pump up the rest of our money," Max said. "Turn the twenties into fifties. I'm taking as much as we can spare back to the hospital. “
Now Michael did sigh heavily "What for, Maxwell? You've already healed those people. What, now we need to make a donation to your favorite charity as well? “
Max gave him one of his patented I'm disappointed in you, Michael looks before replying. "We haven't done right by those people who got hurt because of us. Shania Cameron's family is facing medical bills they can't pay and… “
Michael stopped in his tracks, and half a step later Max did as well. "Maxwell, let's take stock here. We got attacked today. Somehow they tracked us down, and they very nearly captured all of us. They had your wife in cuffs, and they tasered my… Maria and your sister. We're on the run, we're tired, and we're hungry. We're counterfeiting money and living in a van and hotels, and none of us have lives to speak of anymore. Don't you think it's time to start thinking about what we need to be safe? Or are you still as blind to trouble as you apparently were on Antar?" Max's eyes flashed angrily for a moment, but Michael also saw in them a sense of sadness that seemed to overwhelm the momentary rage. "Michael, you're right. I just want to do this one thing. And then we can get out of town and maybe find a safe haven somewhere. “
"Or maybe we take the fight back to them," Michael suggested.
"Yeah, that worked so well for Tess," Max said, his expression deadpan, but his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm just saying that maybe there isn't a peaceful way out of this for us. “
Max put his hand on Michael's shoulder and looked into his eyes. "Let's do this one thing, and then we'll get out of here. “
Michael took a deep breath through his nose, then let it out slowly through his mouth. Then another breath, in and out again. It was a calming technique that Maria had tried to teach him. Sometimes, it even worked. Finally he nodded his assent, and Max smiled. But inwardly, Michael was not as calm as his exterior suggested. What future is Max leading us to? And will any of us survive to see it? Topeka, Kansas Suzanne Duff awoke with a start, her eyes focusing on the blinking LED lights on the alarm clock on the hotel night-stand. Even in the relative darkness of the room, she could see the ringing cell phone behind the clock, and she picked it up. "Hello? “
The voice on the other end of the line was familiar, but' her mind wasn't quite awake enough to immediately iec-ognize it. "Agent Duff? “
"Yes, this is Agent Duff," she said. "Who's this? “
"It's Frank Kaneko, Suzanne. “
No wonder his voice had sounded familiar. She and Kaneko had gone through Quantico together, and had even dated, twice. But she hadn't seen him for at least a year. They had run into each other at an event in Washington, D.C., and spent several hours at a juice bar, reminiscing about their school days and discussing the various cases they had worked since.
"What can I do for you, Frank? It's 4:17 in the morning, you know. “
"I know," he said in hushed tones. "I'm sorry to wake you, but something weird happened today, and for some reason, you came to mind. “
"Go on," she said, stifling a yawn.
"I'm working out of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, office right now, and we got a very strange alert today. “
Duff's mind almost immediately switched to a fully alert mode. "XMA-94? “
Kaneko sounded surprised. "You know about it? “
"Yeah, I saw a file on it." Duff's mind raced, and she carefully considered her question. "Why are you calling me? What connection do you think I have to it? “
"This is going to sound very strange," Kaneko said, his tone almost apologetic, "but it has something to do with a dream I had. I had contact with three of the suspects in the alert today, and tonight, I dreamed about one of them. A girl. There were elements in my dream that didn't connect, but one of them did somehow. Roswell. “