laying part of their treads on the roadway. He looked up from the unconscious Harding girl to see the taxicab streak away. A dark- skinned man, who appeared to have been its driver, lay unconscious on the sidewalk.
Noting the cab's plate numbers, Billings grabbed his radio and called for backup, though he doubted anyone could move fast enough now to keep the perps from getting out of the airport.
One down. Just two more to go, he thought, handcuffing his sole prisoner. He knew that this one, Tess Harding, was the one his superiors wanted captured most of all.
As another pair of agents and a large black sedan arrived to help him whisk her away, he wondered why the other aliens had sacrificed one of their own.
'That was really smart, Rath,' Lonnie said sardonically She noticed immediately that her appearance had now returned to normal.
Rath slammed the accelerator down, as though the entire airport, and the roads that led into and out of it, were his own private video arcade.
'Ava was just dead weight,' he said.
She scowled, holding on to the dash as Rath swerved around a hotel shuttle. People dived out of the crosswalk, their luggage scattering in all directions. 'Hello? Ava was the only thing that kept our magic makeovers from disappearing! “
Rath turned into a parking garage, almost going up onto two wheels in the process. 'She was also a bell around our necks. “
'What are you talking about? “
'Ever wonder why the MiBs only seem to come after us when Ava is nearby, using her Obi-Wan whammy? And how come we never had much of an alien-hunter problem until after she came back from wherever it was she disappeared to for all those months after we went to Roswell to drag Zan Lite off to the Antarian Summit? “
Lonnie had never given those matters much thought. But now she had to admit, at least to herself, that what Rath was saying was at least possible. But possible wasn't the same as likely.
'Might be a coincidence,' was all she could think of to say. 'Remember, the cops and the Feds might have captured us because we were having that noisy fight with those alien-possessed freaks. “
'The freaks chased us into the warehouse because they followed Ava there. “
'Still might be a coincidence. “
Rath brought the cab to a stop across a pair of handicapped parking spaces and threw his door open. It crunched into the side of the neighboring car.
'Yeah,' he said. 'And monkeys might fly out of my butt. I think the MiBs know how to track her by her powers. So now they can have her. “
It took Lonnie a moment to wrap her mind around what Rath had just told her. Ava wasn't likely to survive for long on her own in some FBI interrogation/dissection room. First Zan, now Ava. Gone.
Lonnie knew that for all intents and purposes the two of them were all that remained of the Royal Four. At least this version of the Royal Four.
But the approaching whine of a siren reminded her that there was no time to dwell on that. Rath got out of the cab first, and Lonnie followed him over to a nearby BMW Rath knelt behind the rear bumper, altering the plates with a wave of his hand. A moment later, he repeated the procedure on the car's front end.
Their powers got the doors on both sides open in seconds. Lonnie watched from the passenger seat as Rath quickly hot-wired the ignition using a single glowing finger as a stand-in for a strand of copper.
'Yupmobiles,' Rath said as he drove the BMW toward the parking lot's exit. 'Gotta love 'em. “
The whine of the siren… or was it more than one?… grew steadily louder in Lonnies ears. 'What about our disguises? “
'We'll do 'em ourselves. It'll just take a lot of energy. “
Lonnie sighed. She was almost starting to get used to being tired and depleted.
Almost. 'You first,' she said.
Rath nodded. As Lonnie watched, his hair slowly turned gray, then migrated from the top of his head to the back and sides, forming a long ponytail that hung down his back. His leathers morphed into a disgustingly retro velour shirt, which opened almost to the navel and exposed a chest covered with wiry white hair.
'How do I look?' Rath wanted to know.
She shrugged. 'Like Patrick Stewart having a midlife crisis.' Concentrating intensely, Lonnie began to change her own features and clothing, hoping they could get clear of their pursuers before her energies were once again depleted. She chose a familiar face to base her image on, complementing Rath's actorly looks.
Rath drove on in silence, leaving the airport behind and taking an on-ramp for the northbound 405 freeway. Like Ava, the sirens were already becoming a distant memory. Their pursuers no longer knew where to look.
Rath glanced at her, evidently done pouting over her earlier insult. 'Nice look, Counselor Troi. If the cops pull us over, they'll probably ask for our autographs. “
Lonnie snorted. 'So, where to, Captain? Are we going to try to track down Langley? “
He shook his head. 'I know Ava always had a lot of faith in Langley, but she believed in Santa Claus, too.
What's Langley done for us lately? I'm not sure I trust him any more than I trust Ava. “
'Good point,' Lonnie said, thinking, If Langley had done a better job looking after us, we wouldn't have had to grow up in the sewers. 'So where are we going, then? “
'Where else but Langley 's very own backyard? “
Lonnie was confused. 'But you just said you didn't trust Langley. “
'I don't. But can I help it if our no-good, rat-bastard 'protector''… he accentuated this word with Dr. Evil… style finger-quotes… 'happens to live and work in the only place on the entire West Coast where the two of us can fit in without having to shapeshift? “
She gave him a blank look. ' Disneyland? “
' Melrose Avenue! “
The BMW roared northward, drowning out Lonnie's delighted laughter.
Then a chilling thought suddenly descended upon her: If the FBI guys really had found Ava by tracking her powers, then what made Rath so certain that they couldn't also do the same thing with either of them? How do we know they're not doing it right now?
Max had to be more careful this time, since dawn was imminent, and the hospital was much busier than it had been only hours ago. He had watched through a window for ten minutes as a nurse did her rounds, before he finally felt comfortable enough to enter the building again.
He quickly made his way back to room 126, but when he got there, he was startled to find that Shania and her sister were gone. Instead, a bulky female nurse was changing the linens on the bed.
Nervously, he cleared his throat. 'Excuse me. Where have they moved Shania to? “
