“This is the place.” Michael cut off the engine to the Jeep and examined the row of warehouses carefully. There was no outward indication that anyone was in any of the buildings. They looked abandoned, exactly as it should for buildings that hadn’t been occupied in over ten years.
“Those buildings are huge.” Tess eyed the warehouses, trying to decide if any of them looked remotely occupied. “It’ll take us forever to go through them all.”
“We start with the first one then,” Michael decided. He glanced at the sky, gauging how much time they had left before the sun set and they were cast into darkness. Not much time, but hopefully enough if luck was on their side.
“What do you think? Back door or window?” Isabel leaned forward in her seat, trying to find an easy entrance. She tried to reach for Max’s presence to see if she could feel him, but she was still too weak from her earlier dreamwalk with Liz and the previous twenty attempts. She simply wasn’t used to exerting herself that way.
“I’d say window if we can find one.” Tess eyed Alex and the bag in his lap carefully. She’d been trying to stay as far away from it as she could, but the backseat was only so big. “Less of a chance to be caught since they can’t guard all the windows.”
“I agree.” Michael jammed the car keys into his pocket and climbed out of the drivers’ seat noiselessly. The others followed just as quietly and they gathered in a small group behind an outcropping of trees.
“Guys, I hate to be the doubting member of this group, but do we even have a plan?” Alex didn’t like the looks of this place. It was too quiet. He shifted the canvas bag on his shoulder and resisted the urge to look over his shoulder to see if he was being watched.
“Yeah. We break in and bust Max and Liz out. C’mon.”
Alex sighed as Michael ducked low and headed off in the direction of the nearest warehouse. Isabel turned and looked at him, silently asking if he was still with them and he gave her a nod as he hefted the bag again. Tess was following Michael and Alex fell into line behind her, letting Isabel take the rear.
As Isabel left the cover of the trees, she couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder, wondering why she felt as if she were being watched.
*~*~
Max awoke to an odd tingling sensation on his face. He had tried to ignore it and sink back into the inky depths of his mind, but it tugged at him. He forced his eyes open slowly, unable to remember when he’d fallen asleep. The last time he’d woken up, he had been tied to a chair and questioned. Braced for anything, his eyes focused in the dark room and he found Liz watching him silently. She was lying on her side and the length of her body was pressed against him. Her free hand had been caressing the side of his face, but she froze when she saw him wake.
Without thinking, Max reached out and captured her hand. Her eyes widened with shock and her body tensed against him. For a horrible second, he thought she was going to pull away from him again, avert her eyes and avoid the intimacy of the moment. But instead, she offered him a smile and the coil of nerves in his stomach unknotted a bit.
The memories came quickly, and he remembered the hesitant touch of her lips against his. Something had shifted between them in the long hours since he’d last been in Liz’s bedroom. There were still shadows in her eyes, but a passion had begun to dawn in their depths. He could only hope whatever internal struggle she was going through could be worked out. There was no way he was letting her leave him now, not once they escaped from this prison and they figured out a way to fix whatever was wrong with him. Together they could do it. He could believe in that now.
Returning her smile, Max brought her hand to his lips for a kiss. He wished he could say something to erase the worry from her brow, but even if he could speak, the right words didn’t exist. She was worried about him again and would be until everything was back to normal. He sat up a bit to check her other wrist and caught her wince as he rotated her hand.
Putting everything he had into the action, Max concentrated on the metal cuff around her arm. Could he get her out now that he had rested some? Molecules were broken down, pulling him into the familiar vacuum as he attempted to melt one side of the cuffs. He could feel them shifting beneath his touch, but he lacked the energy to force them to align the right way. Liz rested her hand on his arm and he pulled away. She shook her head sadly at him then gestured towards the door.
It hurt to move, but Max knew he had to see if there was a way to escape. Maybe he could find a key or something to free Liz with. Slowly, Max forced his legs to hold his weight and he stood for a moment, testing to see if he could do it. His chest was burning from where Nicholas had punished him for not answering his questions. The air had an odd smell to it and he was afraid it was the smell of his own burnt flesh. Still, he coerced his muscles into moving toward the door.
Standing in front of the large window, Max pulled the blinds aside and peeked out. He could see two Skins standing outside of the door. Again, they didn’t have any weapons, but he assumed they didn’t need them. They were on the ground level at least, so there wouldn’t be any stairs to maneuver. He supposed he could be thankful for that at least. Beyond the door was an empty warehouse and he could make out several other men walking around. There was no sign of Nicholas and he wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. Small windows lined the walls, but they were too high to reach. Searching for another exit, Max made a note of the main entrance. It would be heavily guarded, so he looked for another door. He hadn’t seen one when they’d dragged him in the room earlier, but his mind hadn’t been clear.
Not that his mind was clear now, but he could at least think around the pain. It looked as though the sun was setting and he noticed that some of the men were wearing coats. Was it cold? He was sweating from the intense heat in the room. He turned and glanced at Liz. She couldn’t see him in the darkness, but he could see her clearly. It was just another piece to the puzzle he supposed. She was still lying on the concrete floor, but even as he watched, she shivered. Max’s mind raced. He had to figure out a way to get them out of there. Liz wasn’t going to get sick on top of everything else. She’d done nothing but take excellent care of him. It was his turn to take care of her.
He searched the small room, checking every nook and cranny for anything useful. He wasn’t even sure where they were, and it would play a large factor in their escape. What if they were in the middle of the desert somewhere? It was something he needed to figure out before they made a run for it.
In the end, his search was fruitless and Max was forced to give it up when he became lightheaded. He managed to stumble his way back over to Liz and drop down beside her. He could feel the sweat beading on his forehead and he knew he’d overexerted himself. He couldn’t afford to pass out again. He needed to take care of Liz. He’d be damned if he left her alone in here again.
Settling his head in her lap, he tried to calm his breathing. He would just rest for a minute before starting again. Liz’s hand automatically reached for his forehead to judge his temperature. He didn’t need to look up to know that a deep line of worry had creased her forehead. He knew he was sick. He just didn’t have time for it at the moment. Later, after Liz was safe and Nicholas had been destroyed once and for all, then he could worry about the changes in his body. He wrapped an arm around her leg, pulling her closer. He settled his head more securely against her thigh and ignored his body’s automatic response to stay away from her heat. Liz was his first priority.
*~*~
“Kyle, you have to go faster.”
“Maria, if I go any faster, there won’t be any point in being covert. Michael will [I]see[/I] us and we’ll both end up locked in the trunk so we don’t get in the way.” Kyle checked his speedometer again and risked slowing his car down by another few miles. A glance at Maria told him she hadn’t noticed. He had no intention of finding Michael. The aliens had headed into battle and he wasn’t stupid enough to think there was anything either he or Maria could do to help. Though he didn’t think sitting around was a better plan either. If anything, it made them more of a target.
When Maria had insisted on following Michael, he’d agreed, hoping to keep her marginally safe and out of the way. He wouldn’t put it past Michael to lock them in the trunk if he found out they were following them. He understood Maria’s impatience. In fact, he had a healthy dose of it himself. He and Tess were in the process of trying to figure out what was between them and he wasn’t ready to lose her yet. And he couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of trouble Max and Liz were in.
Max hadn’t been able to keep his own head up the last twenty-four hours and Liz had looked as if she had been on the verge of a breakdown before this had happened. He had to trust though that the rest of the aliens could handle finding them.
“Kyle! Wait!” Maria grabbed hold of Kyle’s arm, causing the car to swerve.
“Maria, could you not try to kill us? The odds are already stacked against us without you helping.”
“Kyle, shut up. Do you see that car to your left? The blue one? I know that car.”
Kyle tried to follow her line of vision and managed to catch sight of the bumper of a blue Toyota ahead of them. “Yeah. It’s a popular car.”
“No.” She made a face at him. “I know that car. It’s the one that followed us to Santa Fe.”
“Are you sure?” Kyle knew that face. It was filled with what he’d dubbed Deluca determination. And he knew they were in trouble.
“Of course I’m sure. It followed us for days. Speed up a little bit. They had a streak of dark red paint on one of the doors like they’d hit something. I know it’s them though.”
“Hold on.” Knowing he could find no reason not to at least check it out, Kyle maneuvered the car until he was even with the Toyota, but he was careful to keep a lane of traffic between them so they wouldn’t be spotted. A chill ran up his spine when he saw the line of maroon paint on the passenger side door. “Damn.”
“We have to follow them. Kyle, they could lead us right to Max and Liz.”
“Maria, I’m not so sure this is the best idea. I mean, we already know where Max and Liz are being held.”
“We’re guessing. What if we’re wrong? This could be our only chance to find out for sure.”
Maria’s hand was back on his arm and he sighed. She was panicked and he didn’t know what to do. The smart thing was to keep her far away from Nicholas and the Skins. He’d only heard stories but they’d been enough for him. But on the other hand, Maria might be right and this could be the only chance they had to find their friends. How did Max make these kinds of decisions? “Okay. Call Tess’s cell phone. Let’s see where they are first.” Kyle pulled to a stop at a red light, careful to keep an eye on the Toyota.
Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, Maria punched in the numbers Kyle rattled off to her and she tried not to twitch in impatience. She slid her eyes in the direction of the car and glared at the two men casually talking. She was glad that she didn’t have any sort of alien powers, because she wasn’t sure she could manage not to laser beam them to death on the spot. “She’s not answering.”
“We are having a serious discussion about cell phones when this thing is over.” Kyle rubbed a hand over his face as he eased back out into traffic. “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do.” Knowing it was stupid and suicidal, Kyle started looking for an opening in traffic to casually get behind the Toyota. “We’re going to follow them for a little bit and see where they go. And whatever you do, keep that cell phone on. We’re going to need it.”
*~*~
Liz tried to calm her jangled nerves, knowing that if she couldn’t there was no way she was going to be able to keep Max calm. He’d been lying in her lap for close to an hour now and if she hadn’t known better, she’d have sworn he was sleeping. But ever since she had opened the connection between them earlier that afternoon, she had been able to feel the low hum of his emotions just beneath her skin.
They were connected on a whole new level now. In a way, it was frightening to be able to feel every emotion rolling through him. When he’d fallen asleep, the connection had pulled her in with him and she had felt the effects of his nightmares. After only a few minutes, she’d been ready to climb the walls to get out and she wondered how he ever slept at all. Max had been through too much, seen things that no being should ever see.
Max had dreamt of his capture in the White Room. She’d felt his terror at Pierces’ hands. Max had dreamt of the FBI showing up to take his family and friends. She’d felt his guilt, knowing that who he was could destroy others. And Max had dreamt of finding her tangled in bed with Kyle, naked limbs intertwined. She’d felt his revulsion and his betrayal, then had added her own to it for good measure. She hadn’t known it was possible to hurt as much as she had hurt Max. How could she make that up to him? Was it even possible?
Even as frightening it was to feel Max’s emotions, it was also comforting and familiar in a way she couldn’t describe. She could tell by now when he was thinking of her. His feelings were usually a jumbled mass of confusion, a mix of colors swirled together into a dark gray. She didn’t know if it was the changes in his body or how he usually dealt with things by pushing them to the corner of his mind. But when he thought of her, the colors split apart sharply and everything became more vivid and bright. When he had woken a short while ago, his thoughts had been muddied but had quickly turned brilliant shades of blue and red. And when he was thinking of her and worrying like he was doing now, those bright colors were a bit duller, but still visible.
Smoothing his hair back from his forehead, she told herself it was useless to worry at the moment. Max was running a fever, probably close to a hundred and three. He was sweating again but wouldn’t move away from her lap despite the heat. Lying on his back, his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallower than it had been a few minutes ago.
He was getting worse.
There was nothing to bring down his temperature in the small room and even though the chill from the floor had seeped into her bones, Max’s body couldn’t handle it. Eyeing the buttons on his shirt, Liz decided that now wasn’t the best time to be shy. He needed cool air at least and his shirt looked stifling hot.
Moving slowly, she rested her free hand on the top button of his shirt. Immediately, Max’s eyes fluttered open and looked up at her in question. She tried to offer him a reassuring smile as she unbuttoned the top button. His body tensed, but he made no move away from her. Her hand moved to the second button and pulled it through the loop. Max closed his eyes again, trusting her as his muscles uncoiled one bunch at a time.
Liz licked her lips as she unfastened the third button. It was enough to part the fabric of his shirt and discover that he was wearing a t-shirt underneath. It was soaked in sweat and dark spots of what she was afraid was blood. She slid lower down his chest and finished the buttons. Max rolled to allow her to pull the shirt off, leaving him only in the t-shirt.
Even in the darkness of the room, Liz could see some of Max’s injuries. She bit back the sob that lodged in her throat at the thought of what he’d endured already today. How could he continue to suffer through these horrific kidnappings and still remain the same tender soul? It seemed impossible. She laid her hand on his chest above his heart and when he winced in pain, she immediately jerked it back.
Max’s eyes opened again and he reached out for her hand. She could see the naked emotion in his eyes even as she felt it course through her system. He wanted her touch, had only been surprised by it before. Gently, he laid her palm against the sticky fabric of his shirt and let her feel the soft beat of his heart.
She could see the faintest outline of a silver handprint peeking from under the cloth of his shirt and she wondered if Nicholas had targeted Max’s heart. Had he thought he could stop the beat that was so strong beneath her palm? It only showed that Nicholas didn’t know his foe as well as he thought he did.
Idly, Liz wondered why she couldn’t have inherited healing powers from Max. She didn’t even want the ability to free herself, just to erase some of the pain Max had suffered through. If she could, she would start with the mark Nicholas had left behind on his chest, expunging the blackness. Max’s skin was warm beneath her fingertips and she wondered if she had inadvertently reopened a wound. Her fingers tingled and when she saw the faintest of lights emanate from her hand, her eyes widened in shock.
Max’s eyes opened as well, narrowing when he saw the flash of light. He covered her hand with his, and the tingling increased. She could almost feel Max’s energy flowing through her and it reminded her of when Isabel had tried to feed her energy to warn Max about the Dupes in New York. Was Max feeding her his energy? She’d thought he hadn’t had any to spare, but there wasn’t much flowing into her body. Was it possible that his energy was somehow reacting to her? She didn’t think Max had been trying to use her to heal himself and she certainly didn’t know how to begin the process.
“Max,” she whispered. She had a thousand questions she wanted to ask him. What did it feel like to heal someone? Was she really doing it right? It was an amazing feeling, but also draining even though she’d only done something small.
Max opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something to her, but the door opened in front of them and Nicholas strutted into the room. Max sat up straight, shielding Liz with his body, and Liz had no choice but to let him as the handcuffs restrained her.
“Hello, Liz. I hear you’ve been giving some of my men trouble.”
Liz wanted to strangle the smug bastard. He was standing in front of them with his hands tucked inside the pockets of his khaki pants. He was impeccably groomed and was even smiling at her. “Well, to be fair, your men gave us trouble first.”
“Ah, yes. I know. Rick told me all about the events that led to you joining us here. I must say I’m surprised. Originally I had ordered them to kill human that got in their way. But you…you’re special. Aren’t you, Liz?”
Liz shook her head, not knowing what the answer was. She felt as if she were missing something. She’d heard the punch line, but some part of the joke was missing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Had he seen her healing Max’s injuries?
Nicholas snapped his fingers and one of the men stepped out of the shadows. A long line of scratches down the side of his face and neck marked him and Liz knew it was the person that had grabbed her in her bedroom. She had fought hard, and was pleased to know she had managed to cause some damage to her attacker. The man turned toward Nicholas and she caught a flash of silver on his left cheek. Eyes widening, Liz was beginning to understand why the Skins had backed off earlier when they’d come for Max.
The handprint on the man’s face was petite and she was afraid it had come from her own hand. The skin around the edges of the silver mark was black and peeling. She had done that, though she didn’t understand how. The only times she had been able to do anything remotely alien had been when she was in the contact with another alien, borrowing his powers. Had she somehow been able to steal some of her attacker’s energy? She had dreamwalked Max using Isabel’s powers, healed Max using his, and now had burned an enemy using his own powers of destruction. She needed time to figure it all out, but Nicholas was looking at her with a wide grin.
“Nice work. I’m impressed.” With a snap of his fingers, two of the Skins stepped forward and each took one of Max’s arms to drag him away.
Max tried to fight them, but his strength wasn’t anywhere near strong enough. Liz pulled at the cuffs on her arm, fighting to stop them from taking Max.
“There’s no reason to worry. He’s not going far.” Satisfied that Max was restrained by the two men against the far wall, Nicholas crouched beside Liz on the floor. “How did you do it?”
Liz saw the slight advantage she had in the situation. Nicholas wasn’t questioning Max and hurting him for not answering. He was genuinely curious about how a human seemed to have alien powers. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an answer she could give him. She could feel Max’s anger and fear warring under her skin, but she didn’t dare risk looking over at him. She met Nicholas’s gaze head on. “Why should I tell you anything? You’ll just kill us when you have what you want.”
“True,” Nicholas agreed. “But this way you get to live a couple of minutes longer.” He leaned closer to her and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She tried to shy away from him, but he caught her chin and held her firm. Behind him, Max struggled to break away but remained pinned against the wall.
“You’ll tell me what I want to know or it’s going to be painful.”
“I don’t know where the Granolith is.” Liz jerked her head from his grip and glared at him, refusing to shrink back against the wall. That would only put her further away from Max. She clung to Tess’s words, reminding herself that Nicholas couldn’t invade her mind the way he had been trying with Max. Tess had explained it as a compatibility issue. Nicholas couldn’t extract the information from her mind and Max’s was blocked. As long as she could keep quiet, they had a chance.
Nicholas laughed. “The Granolith isn’t any good anymore. It’s a useless waste of metal for another hundred human years. Why do you think Khivar called an emergency Summit meeting?” When he saw Liz shake her head in confusion, he rose to his feet again and faced the burning hatred on Max’s face. “The Granolith runs on a timer of sorts. It has to do with the precise alignment of the planets.”
“And when the planets align, the Granolith is activated?” It was a guess, but it was the only thing that made sense. She and Max hadn’t been talking at the time, but the meeting had seemed to come out of nowhere. She could only guess that the alignment had come as a surprise to Khivar. She thought about Nicholas’s words. “The window of opportunity has already passed.”
Nicholas watched Max, cocking his head to the side in thought. “You’re being awfully quiet. You usually spout off more idle threats than this.”
Liz panicked when she saw the way Nicholas was looking at Max. “If the Granolith isn’t any good for another hundred years, why did you come after Max?”
Nicholas ignored her question and laid a hand atop Max’s forehead. He closed his eyes in concentration, oblivious to Max’s struggles beneath him.
“Leave him alone!” Liz pulled at her handcuffs, kicking at the metal bookshelf, wanting to get to Max to help.
After a minute, Nicholas pulled away violently from Max and his face twisted in frustration. He turned towards Liz, crossing the distance between them. He sunk to one knee and gathered the front of her shirt in his fist, jerking her towards him as far as she could move. “Why can’t I see into his mind?”
“Go to hell.”
Pulling Liz closer to his face, he narrowed his eyes. “Let me put it another way. You wanted to know why I came after Max if the Granolith is useless for a hundred years? A member of the ruling family must activate the Granolith during the time of alignment. But it doesn’t matter which member. I don’t need Max as long as Isabel is around is produce offspring. Plus, imagine the possibilities if the offspring is a hybrid with my race. So, either you give me a reason not to kill him, or I’m going to take great pleasure in carrying out the original purpose of this visit to Roswell.”
“You’ll never find out where the Granolith is if you kill Max.” She hoped she could keep the fear out of her voice. She could see the gleam in Nicholas’s eye that told her he meant the threat. He really would kill Max without a second thought.
“A good bluff. But I think that excruciating pain is a good enough reason to give me what I want.” With his free hand, he traced a line down the side of Liz’s face, causing another scuffle behind him. “Now, I think I’ve discovered a good enough reason not to kill you right away. You’re a puzzle that could come in handy later.” He braced a hand against the wall behind her and moved closer until his nose was buried in her hair and he could whisper in her ear. “I think you’re hiding something about the noble king, and I want to know what it is. Don’t make me kill him, Liz.”
Liz fought against the revulsion rising in her stomach. Nicholas’s breath was warm against her ear and the seductive tone of his voice nearly made her skin crawl. Max was using the last of his strength to fight against the two men that held him captive and she found her eyes seeking out his. His emotions rolled through her, filling her with crazed desperation. He would cheerfully snap their necks if that was what it took to get to her and Liz knew it was up to her to get them out of this mess. Her eyes met Max’s, pleading silently for him to forgive her next action.
Biting down hard on her lip, Liz tasted the metallic tang of her own blood. Tears stung her eyes, but she held her head up. Sensing her surrender, Nicholas pulled away from her and took great pains to straighten out her clothing when he released her.
“Tell me.”
“There’s a…device.”
Nicholas’s eyes lit up. “What kind of device?”
“I don’t know…an alien one.” She hoped that her admissions wouldn’t cost anyone their lives, but she didn’t see any other way to prevent Nicholas from killing Max right then and there. “It altered Max’s brain.”
“In what way?”
“Forget it. You wanted to know why you couldn’t get into Max’s head, and now you do.”
Nicholas took in the stubborn set of her jaw and decided he had received as much information as he needed for the moment. He leaned down one last time and pressed his hand against Liz’s forehead. His hand glowed briefly before she slumped to the floor.
Max tried to leap from the arms of his captors, but they continued to hold him steady as Nicholas left Liz lying on the ground. Turning to the men, he nodded toward Max. “Take him back to the main room. And make sure he doesn’t go anywhere. Things just got more interesting.”
