to do whatever was necessary to anyone who tried to bar his path. «Follow me.» He felt a sudden sharp pain in his neck, right at the base of his jaw. He reached up with his right hand and felt the fletching on the carbon fiber shaft that protruded from his skin. Michael's bones and muscles began turning to rubber before he could determine from which direction the trank dart had come. He raised a hand in an effort to fend off the black-garbed shapes that swiftly overran him, the Evanses, and the Parkers. The corridor quickly filled with echoing, surreal shouts and screams, overlaid by the weird shrilling of the alarm Klaxon. Hard, muscular arms grabbed him and began carrying him away, dragging him backward. His vision began to dim, like a film fading to black. As he was dragged away, he blinked at the sight of a trio of shapes peering around a corner. Three people, he realized, who seemed to be trying their best to keep out of sight. One of them looked exactly like Tess Harding, except for her straight, silvery-blue hair. The second one's face was identical to Michael's own. Our New York dupes? he thought hazily. He realized that he was losing consciousness and maybe his mind as well when he thought he recognized the third person, whose form was as elusive as a shadow. It looked a lot like Alex Whitman, the group's old friend whom Tess had slain more than a year earlier. Ava winced from the volume of the alarm Klaxons as she watched the group of armed MiBs march four frightenedlooking adults away, while two of the agents half-dragged, half- carried Rath's twin from Roswell. She turned toward Rath. «So are we gonna rescue him, or what?» she asked. Rath grunted. «It's not like I owe him anything.» Ava didn't disagree with that. She knew their best chance of survival lay in freeing Lonnie, then quickly getting as far away from this place as possible. «So what's next? We have to assume they've moved Lonnie to make it harder for anybody to rescue her.» «We follow him,' Rath said, pointing with his jaw toward the apparently unconscious Michael, whose escorts were dragging him around a corner. «But we do it discreetly, without sending these guys engraved announcements that we're back in the building. My guess is that my knockoff from Nowhere, New Mexico, will lead us right to Lonnie. Then we're outta here, all three of us.» Ava thought that sounded reasonable, if risky. «Maybe we ought to find some cover, just in case we get caught in here.» Rath blinked in fatigue. «I've been zapping way too many of these MiBs to even think about doing a shapeshift.» «Me too. I have a different idea in mind.» Ava quickly backtracked around the corner they had just turned. On the floor lay a black-suited federal agent whom Rath had just rendered unconscious. Rath followed her, watching her in silence as she knelt beside the agent and removed the tinfoil cap from his skull. Ava grinned up at Rath. «Let's wake him up, wind him up, and watch him go.» How'd I get here? Special Agent Anselmo felt a wave of dizziness, which passed almost as quickly as it had come. The two teenage prisoners walking ahead of him had turned. They were eyeing him curiously, their shackles jingling. Were they thinking he was giving them another chance to try to escape? «Keep moving, you two. Eyes front.» He brandished his Glock nine-millimeter pistol for good measure. The spiky-haired male looked like he was thinking of going for the weapon, then evidently thought better of it. The girl with the silvery-blue 'do simply looked frightened, in over her head. She was clearly no threat. At least, Anselmo thought, not so long as my cap is where it's supposed to be. He realized with a start that he couldn't feel the cap on his head. Without it, one or both of these aliens might be able to reach into his mind, and could conceivably manipulate him into doing or believing just about anything. He reached up with his free hand and sighed with relief after his fingertips brushed the familiar rough metallic texture of the protective skullcap. He was safe. When the corridor came to a «T,' the girl stopped, turned, and looked beseechingly at him. «Which way?» Which way. Which way? For a fleeting moment, he wasn't at all sure. «Probably to the same place they dragged Lonnie,' the boy growled. «You know, your other female prisoner from earlier.» Right. The medical chamber. That's right. Yes. That's exactly right. He pointed authoritatively down the left side of the «T.» «That way, punk. Move!» The bullets hovered in the air, one of them stopping less than an inch from Max's forehead. He'd managed to erect a force field in time to stop the volley of slugs, but he'd also felt their impact with a force that almost cost him his concentration. That was way too close, he thought as he struggled to keep the shimmering energy barrier up between himself and the group of angry federal agents he'd blundered into in the hallway adjacent to the surgery room. From farther down the corridor, a familiar voice rose above the wail of the Klaxons. «Drop your weapons!» Keeping his force field carefully in place, Max turned toward the sound. Jim Valenti and the still-masked Agent Duff had just rounded a corner, their rifles aimed straight at the MiBs who had been gunning for Max. Behind Valenti and Duff were Langley and Liz, also clad in body armor. The Men in Black immediately turned their attention to the newcomers, opening fire on them without hesitation. This time, Max knew he couldn't extend his force field quickly enough to protect his wife and friends. «Liz!» he shouted. His own force field collapsed as he struggled to reposition it. A split-second after the MiBs, Duff, and Valenti had exchanged a deafening volley of fire, the bullets from both sides hung uselessly in the air, like bugs trapped in amber. «Nice going,' Valenti snapped at Langley. «Hey, if I stop theirs, I kinda have to stop ours, too. Impenetrable energy barriers are funny that way.» One of the MiBs turned back toward Max, apparently having noticed that Max's energy screen had fallen. Max barely managed to raise it again in time to stop the agent's slug from ventilating him. So it's a standoff, he thought. He felt profoundly tired, and wondered how long he could keep the MiBs at bay. Fortunately, he knew that Langley was more powerful, and no doubt better rested, than he was. But not even the former alien protector could keep the entire Special Unit at arm's length forever. Max knew that brain-blasting the agents killing or crippling them would soon be the only option left. Suddenly, the sound of the alarm Klaxon stopped, evidently having served its purpose. Though Max's ears were still ringing, he heard a commotion coming from the corridor, in the direction opposite of Langley's force field. A moment later, a squad of armed and armored agents, all of them outfitted with the foil caps, hove into view. Leading them was the Special Unit leader's feral-looking lieutenant, still wearing his government-issue black suit and narrow tie. Then Max noticed the people in the center of the armed group. Carried by two agents was Michael; he was unconscious, or worse. And in the very center of the mass of armed men stood his parents, and Liz's. They looked both tired and terrified. Max tasted fear, and it was bitter. But it was almost overwhelmed by a rush of livid, bilious anger. Is this what it feels like to be Michael? he wondered. «Don't worry,' Max shouted to his parents, and to the Parkers. «I'm going to get you out of this. I'm going to get us all out of this.» He only wished he knew how he could do it without soaking his arms to the elbows in blood. The feral man gave his subordinates a terse command, and each of his five prisoners immediately had as many gun barrels trained on their heads. From across the corridor, the feral man turned his hard eyes directly upon Max. «If I see one of your energy zaps come anywhere near me or my men, you'll be an orphan in less time it takes to say it. And this world will be lighter by exactly one alien juvenile delinquent. Now, why don't you lower your shields, Max?» Then Max heard more boots clattering on the floor. This time the armed men were coming from the other side of Langley's force field, forcing him to erect a second one to protect himself, Liz, Duff, and Valenti from a rear-guard action. «Max?» said another voice, this one more smooth and less adversarial than that of the feral man. Max turned quickly toward it. It was Scarface, the Special Unit's leader, walking past his lieutenant and his prisoners as calmly as a Little League coach strolling out to the mound to have a little chat with his team's pitcher. «Max,' Scarface repeated. «Max, Max, Max. You don't want your little stunt here today to get anyone else hurt, do you? Least of all your loving parents. Or Liz Parker's.» «Max, don't listen to him!» shouted Phillip Evans. His face expressionless, the feral man slammed the butt of his pistol into the side of the lawyer's head, knocking him senseless. Diane Evans and Nancy Parker screamed as Jeff Parker caught Phillip, who was toppling over like a rag doll.
«You bastardsl» Diane shouted, tears streaming down her face. The feral man holstered his weapon and, very calmly and casually, lit a cigarette. «If she speaks again,' he said to his men, «kill her. Same goes for the rest of them.» Scarface shook his head and tsked in mock sympathy. His eyes never left Max's. «Drop the barrier, Max, and tell your friend over there to do the same. You've lost. It's over.» As powerful as Langley had said his «secret weapon» was, Max knew that it would take a few precious seconds time they no longer had for its power to build up properly. He had never felt so helpless before. Abruptly he found himself standing at the brink, teetering at the edge of a bottomless well of despair. Tears stung his eyes. I've failed again. Just like I failed everyone back on Antar. Like a gauge of his own strength, the barrier in front of him fritzed and popped like a bug zapper, then vanished. The suspended bullet clattered to the floor. «Let it down, Langley,' Max said, then spoke to the others. «They've won. It's finished.» «Are you crazy, Max?» Langley said, his eyes huge. «Probably. You're supposed to do what I tell you, Langley. Don't argue. Just do it.» Duff, Valenti, and Liz all protested, but Max felt he was beyond hearing, almost beyond caring. He simply couldn't allow these thugs to murder his parents and the Parkers in cold blood. Langley sighed, shook his head, and dropped the barriers that covered his group, front and rear. More bullets rained to the floor. Max felt his emotional center of gravity shift subtly. The abyss of despair drew steadily nearer, I don't care. I just don't want anyone else to have to suffer because of me. I just want this nightmare to be over. One way or another. He shut his eyes. «Max, it's not over,' came a voice from the darkness. Opening his eyes, Max found that he was no longer in the Special Unit compound.
