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. “
Suddenly more awake, Duff sat up in bed, switching the phone from one ear to the other. 'Go on. “
'Well, 1 remember you talking about a case in Roswell you worked a while back. An abduction or kidnapping case. You didn't tell me very much about it, but for some reason, when I thought about Roswell after I woke up this morning, your name was the only one that came to my mind. “
The feelings of unease that Duff had experienced earlier in the day began to return, fluttering at the edge of her thoughts. Somehow, she was being drawn back into the realm of the Roswell teens with the unusual powers.
'Frank, I want you to tell me everything that happened today. Everything. No matter how weird it was. “
Margolin didn't relish having to listen to Bartolli right now. Or even having to look at him.
'Some battle, eh, Viceroy?' said Bartolli, who stood on the tarmac beside him, near the jetway and the plane. Bar-tolli's I told you so demeanor was insufferable, but hadn't yet crossed the line into outright insubordination.
'What battle?' Margolin said, thinking that the aliens had taken all of five seconds to surprise his men and make off with the armored car. 'Looks more like a rout to me. Let's head this off before things get any worse. “
Bartolli grinned in obvious anticipation of another chase and capture. He's in his element, Margolin thought, rejoicing that he was fighting on the same side as this fearsome people-hunter.
Both men trotted quickly from the jetway to the downed agents that their prisoners had left in their wake. Two of the six agents who lay sprawled on the ground were still conscious, though a bit groggy. The others, including the trio of agents who had been aboard the armored prisoner transport vehicle, appeared to be dead. Bartolli looked disgusted.
As he made a couple of quick emergency cell phone calls, Margolin decided that Bartollis recriminations would have to wait for a better time.
Squinting across the sunbaked tarmac, Margolin saw that the prisoner transport… driven, obviously, by the prisoners themselves… was now barreling at high speed straight toward a nearby terminal building.
'The backup reception team will have all three of them back in custody in no time,' Margolin said, keeping himself calm with a skill born of long practice. Despite Bar-tolli's worries, the special agent code-named 'Viceroy' knew a thing or two about caution. A net composed of some of the finest counterterrorism specialists in the country was already drawing tight around those kids' necks, and they didn't even know it.
And they won't until after it's already too late, Margolin thought. As long as the
