Chapter Seven

"What?" Max asked incredulously. "There is NO WAY Jesse is an FBI agent," he said as he led Isabelle towards his car. "He killed an agent to protect us."

"Max, he is. I should have listened to you and to Michael when you told me to stay away from him," Isabel said, her voice tinged with both anger and pain.

The two climbed inside the nondescript late model sedan Max was driving and Max switched on the ignition. Before he pulled away from the curb, he did a quick reconnoiter of the area, to ensure that they hadn't been followed. Carefully, he eased out into traffic, the silence in the car thickened as neither of the car's occupants said a word. After about 30 minutes, Max pulled the car into a deserted lot.

"Tell me everything," he said.

"God Max, ever the King, aren't you? I haven't seen you in over a year, and all you can say is 'Tell me everything," snapped Isabelle.

"Look Isabelle, we don't have time for social niceties right now." "Now tell me what happened," said Max, struggling to contain the anger that was building up inside him.

"Fine, you win Max, we'll do it your way, we always do, anyhow," snapped Isabel. "After we all split up, Kyle and I came out here. For a long time, we blended in with the college crowd. With so many different colleges in this town, it was easy. We moved around to different towns in the area, but we always kept coming back. I couldn't stay away from Jesse, and Kyle wouldn't leave me. He took your request," she put extra emphasis on the word request to let Max know how angry she still was over what he did, "to watch over me very seriously. We had different jobs, but we never stayed at anything too long. I was working as a temp, when I got assigned to Jesse's law firm. It was a total coincidence, but I took it as a sign that I should let Jesse know I was here. Kyle made me promise not to act rashly, and to make certain everything was safe before I spoke with Jesse."

"Do you really think it was a coincidence that you got hired to work at Jesse's firm Iz?" Max asked, gently.
"I did then, but looking back, I know it wasn't. I was being set up. I'd been there for several nights, when the supervisor in the department I was working in asked me if I could stay late. I didn't think anything of it, in fact, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to slip into Jesse's office," Isabelle confessed.

Max sat quietly refusing to judge Isabelle's motives. He knew she loved Jesse. He didn't know if he would be able to exist if he had to give up Liz. Pulling himself back to the conversation at hand, Max forced himself to focus on Isabelle's soft voice.

"So I waited for an hour and then went up to his office. His door was partially opened, and I could here voices, so I stopped to listen." She paused to wipe the tears out of her eyes.

"Max, he was in there, having sex with that, that SLUT. It was all I could do not to burst in there and kill them both, but I didn't. I snuck into the office next to his, and I waited until they, until they finished," Isabelle struggled to maintain her composure at this part of the story.

"After they left, I snuck into Jesse's office and went through his files. He's pretty stupid for an FBI agent Max. He had a safe in his office with a combination lock. He told me one time, he always codes the lock to the same combination, so he won't forget it. He used his birthday. I didn't even have to use my powers to break into is safe."

"What did you find Isabelle?" Max asked, gently

"He had dossiers on all of us, on our power and everything. The only thing he didn't have was a record of the lawyer Dad brought Zan to."

At this, Max let out a big rush of breath. Above all things, he wanted Zan to be safe.

"Anyhow, I copied everything I could, and put it back. It took me hours, Max. I went back to our apartment, but Kyle wasn't there. I forgot that he was working 3rd shift. I started packing up everything I thought we'd need to get out, when I heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. I panicked, and ran out the back door. I just started running. It was raining, and I was so scared, I didn't know what to do," cried Isabelle.

"Isabelle, relax you did the right thing," said Max, trying to comfort her. "Liz saw it happen, she was approached by an agent, and she got a flash off of him and saw what happened to you. That's why I'm here, I had to make sure you were ok," Max said as he pulled his sister to him in a comforting hug.

"Liz, where is she?" asked Isabelle.

"I don't know," Max said bleakly. "I told her to run. I'm hoping she goes to Michael and Maria, and that's where we're going too."

"Max, we can't leave yet," says Isabelle. "Kyle is missing too. I went back to our apartment, and waited, but he never showed up. I'm afraid they have him."

"Don't worry, we'll think of something, I promise, but we can't stay here," said Max. "Where is your stuff, and the files you pulled from Jesse."

"They're gone Max. I had packed them in one of the panic bags Kyle and I kept, but when I went back to the apartment, both bags were gone."

Max was upset that the files are gone, but he tried to remain positive for Isabelle's sake.

"Kyle probably came home, saw that the place was torn apart, grabbed both bags and ran Isabelle," said Max comfortingly. "Do you two have an emergency place to meet if you get separated?"

"Uh, yeah, the space needle in Seattle," answered Isabelle.

"Great, Liz and I picked Cinderella's Carousel at Disneyland," laughed Max. "It looks like we're going on a road trip."