Turnabout

do, considering that my brain-battery» he hooked a thumb toward Isabel «and I are still sitting in Langley's house.» Suddenly, the office faded, and Valenti found himself crawling on his belly through a narrow, pitch-black space, enclosed by walls barely wider than his shoulders. Now I'm seeing what Michael is seeing, he realized. He's working his way through the air ducts. Then he noticed that he could still see the office and the tinfoil-capped men who were interrogating Max, like a photograph that had been double exposed. On top of that, he realized he could also see Duff, Langley, Liz, himself, and the alley in which their real-world, flesh-and-blood forms were all standing. The triple image was damned distracting. «Now isn't the best time to be conducting unannounced telecommunications experiments, son,' Valenti said. Absurdly, he remembered the time he had caught a much younger Kyle Valenti redhanded in the act of making a prank phone call. Jim could still see Kyle's washed-out image. The lad suddenly looked embarrassed, as though tuned directly into his father's thoughts. «Sorry, Dad. Wasn't trying to mess up your game. Actually, I thought I was going to make contact with Liz first, since she got her powers the same way I did. Figured we'd be on the same wavelength or something. Must have got you instead because I've been worrying so much about you.» That made sense to Valenti. But he also wondered if Kyle had homed in on him rather than Liz because he, Jim Valenti, was finally beginning to metamorphose into something other than entirely human, the way both Liz and Kyle had. After all, each of them had suffered mortal gunshot wounds only to be brought back from the abyss of death by Max's healing touch. Kyle's emerging psychic abilities appeared to be some sort of unintended consequence of that. «Sure,' Jim said, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. He also was beginning to experience some nausea, as the two overlapping sets of sensory information Kyle was feeding him played havoc with his inner ear; he couldn't tell whether he was standing or lying on his belly. «You must have been thinking about me unconsciously.» At least he hoped to hell that's all it was. «Try not to worry, son. And concentrate on your job keeping the phone lines open, so to speak. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to my job. Duff and I still have a castle to storm here.» «Sorry, Dad, I'll just ' Valenti was suddenly standing back in the alley, his weapon clenched in his hands. He wasn't sure if Kyle had dropped him out of the mental link, or if he had somehow done it himself. He hoped it was the former; there was enough on his plate right now without having to worry about dealing with a developing superpower of his own. Besides, that would just give Maria yet another reason to complain about feeling left out. Valenti noticed that one of Duff's gauntleted hands was on his armored shoulder. Liz was looking at him with concern in her eyes. Langley looked as though he wanted to bolt, and seemed to seethe with frustration because he couldn't. «You all right there, Chief?» Duff said. «You sorta went away on us for a minute there.» Valenti nodded, gently fending Duff off. Though his fear of what the Special Unit might do to their prisoners remained as strong as ever, his brief mental contact with Kyle seemed to have greatly enhanced his confidence. Then he heard Kyle's psionic voice again. Dad, it doesn't look like the MiBs are buying what Max is selling. Langley, who obviously had also received Kyle's message, looked queasy. «Great. Your tax dollars at work. Why can't government people ever do anything the easy way?» «Kyle just told me that Max's ultimatum didn't go over very well,' Valenti said to Duff, whose confusion was apparent even through her black mask. «We seem to have run out of nonviolent options. Make sure the 'B' team gets the word, Langley. They have their work cut out for them.» Duff sighed, then cocked her rifle. «And so do we. Let's lock, load, and ride in to the rescue.» And hope like hell we don't get anybody killed, Valenti thought as they moved toward the service entrance that Duff had hacked from the Special Unit's computers. «What do you think, Ava?» Rath said. «Are these guys friends or foes?» Crouching with him behind the Dumpster, Ava said, «They showed up in a black helicopter, they're all wearing black outfits at least one of them is wearing a mask and they're marching right into Dr. Evil's lair as we speak. Seems pretty open-and-shut to me. Put my vote in the 'bad guys' column.» But if they really are the bad guys, Rath thought, then why is it they don't seem to be wearing those goofy tinfoil caps the Special Unit uses to keep Ava from noodling with their minds? Peering around the garbage container again, Rath decided to make his doubts and his rising hopes known. «Bad guys wouldn't have to sneak into the place the same way we did. These guys might be on our side.» «Maybe I should walk up and introduce us?» Rath shook his head. He wasn't about to throw all caution to the winds. «Can you keep us invisible from all four of them so we can follow them in?» Of course, he knew that she couldn't actually make anyone truly invisible; but her mindfreak power could make people think they hadn't seen them. As long as they're not wearing those foil beanies. Ava shrugged. «Shouldn't be too hard. But didn't we see more of 'em get off the chopper?» «Yeah,' Rath agreed, recalling how they'd seen the black helicopter come in low and land not a mile away from here. At first, he'd thought it was the Feds coming after them again. But not only had they not noticed him and Ava watching them from the shadows of a nearby parking lot, they'd beat feet straight toward the compound from which he and Ava had just escaped. Curious, Rath had followed them back over Ava's objections. «And the MiBs picked one of 'em up,' Rath continued. «From right out in front of their HQ. Just like when Luke Skywalker handed his droids over to Jabba the Hutt.» Ava frowned. «What, you're saying these guys are here to rescue Han Solo?» «Or somebody. And don't forget, another one of them peeled off in a different direction right before that.» «Maybe he's planning on sneaking into the building through a different entrance from the one the other four are gonna use,' Ava said. «Maybe they are on our side after all.» «The other four must be here to make noise to cover the guy who's sneaking in,' Rath said, admiring the strategy. He thought it was something he might have tried himself if he'd had enough troops to pull it off. «Guess there's no point in trying to talk you out of risking both our butts to rescue Lonnie,' Ava said. «Nope. And if you try to mindfreak me into leaving her here or into letting you sneak off the last thing that'll go through your mind is my fist.» She spread her hands. «Whoa, big fella. Take it easy. I don't want to leave Lonnie to the Feds' tender mercies any more than you do. I just think we might have better luck if we follow that lone scout into the building instead of hooking up with the main assault team. Those guys are a lot likelier to attract attention and get shot at, if you think about it.» Rath had to admit that she was making sense for once. But the lone sneak had already disappeared minutes ago to wherever it was he'd been headed. Suddenly, Ava was gone. The alley and the Dumpster were gone as well, though the darkness persisted. He was on his belly, crawling forward through an almost claustrophobically narrow space. Then, as quickly as it had come, the dreamlike sensation vanished, a wisp of mnemonic smoke. It felt like the almost telepathic rapport he sometimes shared with Lonnie when they were both asleep. But it was at the same time very different and somehow even more familiar than even Lonnie. Maybe it was an accidental telepathic contact, he thought. Like a psychic wrong number. Whatever it had been, he knew now, with a certainty he'd never felt before in his life, which way they had to go. «Come on,' he said, grabbing Ava's elbow. She gasped at the suddenness of his action, but said nothing as he propelled her through the alley, following his own mental roadmap. He had to move quickly, in case the mental image started to fade like an early morning dream. Hang on, Lonnie, baby, he thought, not bothering to wonder about his newfound certainty. The cavalry is finally coming. 16. With the possible exception of the time Agent Pierce had started slicing his chest open in the White Room back in Roswell, Max couldn't think of a time when he'd been in greater personal danger. Can't afford to think about that at the moment, he told himself, wondering how much of his internal thought processes Kyle and Isabel were able to pick up. «Guts indeed,' Margolin was saying, trying to keep the surprise from his face. «That's quite an ultimatum you just issued, son,' Bartolli said. «But I don't believe you can back it up.» «Are you sure you want to find out the hard way?» Max said, hoping his voice wouldn't crack. His heart felt like a trapped animal trying to escape. «If you don't let my parents and the Parkers go and agree to back off and leave us all alone I can and will go public, and blow your entire operation wide open.» Max let his words hang in the air for several moments, like a lingering pall of smoke. Then the man with the thinning, slick-backed hair who had been deferring to his older, scar-faced leader until now threw his head back and laughed. «I'm not kidding,' Max said. «The media will be all over you. And possibly even something a whole lot worse might happen if you really push me.» His skin crawled as he considered Langleys idea of using Kyle's powers as a channel for brain-blasting all the MiBs in the vicinity, probably fatally. «Do you really think Fox News will give a damn about your little alien-hunter story?» said the older man, an indulgent expression on his deeply lined, scarred face. «Do you actually suppose that MSNBC will even consider telling the world that extraterrestrials walk among us? You're presupposing they'll believe what you're saying. And apart from the National Enquirer and the Weekly World News, I just can't see that happening.» Max swallowed hard. He'd already considered this. But what alternative did he have, other than continuing to flee these men or fight them to the death? Why can't I find another way? «Maybe you're right about the 'aliens-among-us' angle,' he said after a pause. «But I'm betting that a lot of legit news people will jump all over a story about out-of-control federal agents who kidnap and kill people because they believe an alien invasion is underway. Think of it as a story about how the government uses our tax dollars to commit felonies.» Scarface shook his head and chuckled. «Mr. Evans, I watched the news media sit on its hands while five people in black robes stole a presidential election in broad daylight. Believe me, they won't touch your story with a barge pole. No matter what 'evidence' you think you've