Turnabout

realized he was crying again. But he knew that grief over Lonnie's death hadn't summoned the tears this time. Instead, it was the knowledge that Isabel was safe. His sister had beaten the horrible fate that Liz had glimpsed. But Lonnie's death will eat at you, a small but resolute voice in his mind told him. And that's just one more thing that the Special Unit will have to answer for. Isabel was feeling much better, but she still had no explanation for what had happened during Kyle's mindlink just before the jet had landed. When she returned to consciousness, she was lying on the floor of the plane, with Jesse and the others hovering over her, concerned. But despite a few lingering phantom pains in her skull, her worst complaint was the bloody nose she'd received when she'd fallen from the seat. The plane had landed without incident. As promised, Brody had arranged a limousine at the private airfield, and it whisked the quartet away the moment they had gotten what little they had with them unloaded from the airplane. She saw that fatigue had finally caught up with Kyle, and he had been asleep from the moment he'd sat down in the limo. Luckily, he didn't snore much, though Isabel did wish that he would close his mouth. Shelby also seemed to be wavering between alertness and semiconsciousness, despite all the coffee she had consumed. Caffeine crash, Isabel thought, glad she'd never gotten herself quite as hooked on the stuff as Shelby apparently was. Jesse had given the limo driver the new address where they were to meet, and was now using the car phone to call Brody Davis. «Yeah, sorry to call you so late,' Jesse said, his voice low and reassuring. «We had to make an unscheduled stop in Chicago. We picked up Kyle and Isabel there.» He paused and listened. «Yes, they're both fine.» He listened for another moment and said, «Yeah, that is good news. I'll let them know. Just don't do anything you'll need a lawyer to get you out of. All the suits are out here.» Jesse paused again, and his expression grew serious. «Listen, Brody, there's been a change of plans here. Max and the others are already in Los Angeles. They've been thinking along the same lines we have, and they're meeting with some powerful media people now. We're still trying to find the best way out of this situation, so we aren't going to go to the people you suggested just yet. We'll meet with Max's, um, media contacts first.» Isabel shifted in her seat and squeezed Jesse's hand as he stopped to listen again. Finally, he said, «Yes, I know. It's going to work out, one way or the other. Valenti and Agent Duff are going to join us too. Yes, we got a message to them. Listen, Brody, I need to ring off here.» He paused. «Good, yes, I'll keep you updated as things progress. And thank you again for all your help.» After Jesse hung up the phone, Isabel asked, «How's he doing?» «Sounds positively giddy over the material Valenti and Duff brought him from the Special Unit safe house. If we do decide that exposing the group is the thing to do, he's got a lot of ammunition there. And probably lots more, once somebody hacks into those hard drives.» Isabel snuggled up against Jesse. She still wasn't certain that «outing» themselves as aliens living on Earth was such a good idea. If the Special Unit forced them to play that card, what chance would she and Jesse have at a normal life afterward? She hoped with all her heart that they could find some workable alternative. She just couldn't imagine what that alternative might be. As she landed the helicopter, Duff was aware that this was the second time in the last twenty-four hours that she had touched down on the property of someone whose financial worth probably exceeded her lifetime earning potential, tripled. This knowledge made the horrendous damage the heavy aircraft was causing to Langley's carefully manicured lawn what little she could see of it resembled the golf course at Pebble Beach much less distressing for her. Of course, it wasn't that she disliked rich people; she just wished that the socioeconomic playing field were a bit more level. It would be nice if these suckers really had to work for their money, she thought as she clambered down from the chopper. Inside the mansion, she finally met Langley, whom Jim Valenti had described to her as the movie-producer-whowas-secretly-an-alien. She was also introduced to Jesse Ramirez, Shelby Tremaine, and some of the others she hadn't officially «met» back in Roswell when she'd been working the Laurie Dupree case. Everyone looked really, really tired, and as she listened to the general discussion of the last two days' adventures, she understood why. Maria DeLuca returned from the other room, where she had been talking to her mother on one of Langley's secure phones. Duff smiled at her, and the two of them surveyed the room and its various conversational groupings. «So, what do you think?» Maria asked. «Of?» «Of our ever-expanding 'I Know an Alien' society,' Maria said, deadpan. «I think it's outgrown the 'Pod Squad' nickname, now that it's over ten people. Pretty soon we'll need to issue membership cards.» Duff smiled. «Truthfully, Tm a little weirded out by it all. I mean, I'm doing this fighting the Special Unit because I think it's right. But if my girlfriend knew what this 'assignment' was really all about, I bet she'd throw me and my cats out on our collective butts.» «Aren't you a little worried that something could happen to you here?» Maria asked. Duff had considered that. She'd pulled some strings and seriously fudged the requisition paperwork in order to get the chopper and come this far; how public would her involvement in this matter become if they really did manage to blow the lid off the Special Unit? It was one reason she had worn a mask during the raid on the safe house. Only the people on my side can really know what kind of shadow world I've gotten myself involved in here, she thought. The safest course jor me is to keep my face out ojit and return the chopper in one piece, and with the gas tank full. She realized that while she had been woolgathering, Maria was still patiently waiting for an answer. «Sorry,' Duff said with an uncertain smile. «I guess you've got me thinking hard about the consequences of all this. But you know, I have to believe that everything's going to turn out well. If I don't believe that, I won't be able to face whatever's ahead.» Maria nodded. «That's what I keep telling myself, too. On the other hand, I don't seem to be all that useful around here. I don't have cool alien powers or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fighting skills, or a boss black chopper, or lots of money, or a media empire. What am I gonna do sing for the troops?» Duff patted her on the back. «Never underestimate the importance of morale. I have a hunch you'll end up playing a bigger role in all this than you might think.» Later, everyone began filing into Langley's large, richly appointed study. Langley sat at one end of the long table, while Max sat at the other. Max felt even less like a leader than he usually did. After all, Duff, Valenti, and Langley each had far more experience and knowledge than he did. But he was determined to rise to their level rather than let his indecision paralyze him or the cause they were all fighting for. Duff was busy working at an experimental high-tech Macintosh that hadn't been released yet to the public; it was plugged into a wall-mounted DSL line. «Even with all my clearance codes, this is as far as I can get without a password,' she said, frowning at the screen. «I don't know if I'm gonna be able to sneak us into that Special Unit base or not.» «Hand me the communicator orb,' Langley said, sounding calm and confident. Michael slid the heavy alien device across the oak tabletop toward Langley, oblivious to several winces and glares as everyone watched to see if it scratched the polished wood. Langley held the orb over Duff's computer screen, and the curlicue symbol on top of the stone immediately began to glow. In the air in front of the screen, lights spelled out a set of letters and numbers. «There's your password,' the former alien protector said. «Cool,' Kyle said. «You mean those rocks can figure out any computer password?» «Yes, and decipher just about any language,' Langley said. «They are called 'communicator orbs' for a reason.» «We just thought they were for contacting Antar or something,' Isabel said. «That was how we received the message from our mother.» «You were in the cave, near the Granilith then, weren't you?» Langley asked. «I guess.» «The message you received just happened to be what the stones channeled from inside the cave,' Langley explained. «In fact, the message was actually in the Granilith. And, unfortunately, unlocking that message is what set off the ken-teej signals all over the world. Because of that, every resident alien on the planet found out that somebody had activated the Granilith. Thankfully, very few of them knew where it was located.» «Got it,' Duff said, interrupting Langley's lecture. «I have the address and some other information about the local Special Unit base.» «Are there floor plans or schematics?» Valenti asked. «Yes, I'm downloading them now. And I've got Damn!» Duff punched at the keys. «Damn! Damn!» Langley and Liz quickly moved behind Duff as she continued furiously punching keys. Suddenly, she turned and yanked the DSL cable out of the wall. «What?» Max said. «They must have some watchdog program guarding the site,' Duff said, frustration evident in her voice. «Looks like I missed it somehow. I'm sorry. I got as much as I could.» «Can they trace you back to here, or do you think your 'pulling the plug' trick worked?» Langley asked, sounding annoyed. «There's no way to tell for sure,' Duff said, clearly not appreciating Langleys tone. «If some guys in black body armor kick your door down tonight, then you'll know.» Langley sighed and looked beseechingly at the ceiling. «Great. Lovely. Perfect.» Max cleared his throat loudly enough to make everyone present pause and look his way. «I'd say it's high time we got down to business. Langleys got people aliens, mercenaries, and even a few alien mercenaries who can help us mount a direct attack on the Special Unit base. «Of course, that's how Langley wants to handle it, and I suspect many of you do as well. But that's a dangerous option, and it may get more of us captured, or worse. We also have no way of knowing if we'll get our parents out alive, or if we'll be able to stop the Special Unit once and for all.» Max continued, seeing that no one was making a move to interrupt him. «Langley has also got media people who will help us if we decide to 'out' the Special Unit which also means letting the world know that Isabel, Michael, and I are aliens. That's the plan my dad was working on, the plan that Shelby and Jesse are ready to implement, the plan that Brody is willing to help with. But that could boomerang back on us too. We would lose our anonymity and still not get our parents back alive. They covXd just 'disappear' while we might face a whole new