Part 11
"I cannot believe that you of all people is standing here telling me that the man I've been seeing and the woman you've been seeing are both aliens."
Alex threw himself down on the couch in a boneless sprawl, his gaze following her as she paced around his hotel room restlessly. "You forgot her brother, Max," he said helpfully, "he's an alien, too."
Maria leaned over him, her small hands gripping fistfuls of his shirt as she shook him. "You do not believe this, Alex! What is it, huh? A practical joke that you instigated or are you just going along with it?"
He reached up to remove her hands from his shirt. "You said he's been tellin' you he's an alien from day one, so why are you just freakin' out about it now?"
"I'm freaking out because I think he honestly believes it and that means he's unstable. He works in a bar and I've never once seen him take a drink, so I asked him why he doesn't drink – "
"Their bloodstream doesn't process alcohol like ours does – "
"Damn it, Alex! This isn't funny!" Maria shouted, angry that he was still playing along with the charade.
"I'm not tryin' to be funny." Alex sat up and caught her hand before she could pass him again. "Maria, sit down and listen to me. I may have played some pretty crazy pranks on you over the years, but I'm your best friend and I've never lied to you. I know how you feel about the subject of aliens and everything that goes with it, and you know me well enough to know that I wouldn't use it to pull a prank. You're one of the most open-minded people that I have ever known, but when it comes to this subject you've completely closed your mind to the possibilities."
"It's just absurd," she denied.
"He's isolated himself here, he doesn't drink alcohol, he eats hot sauce on everything he can get his hands on…" He trailed off when she started shaking her head.
"Those things can all be explained, Alex; they're classic symptoms of a dissociative disorder." She braced her elbows on her knees and dropped her head in her hands. "He had a difficult childhood; he was left in the desert, orphaned, placed into the care of an abusive alcoholic, and he practically raised himself. I can understand why he chose to create this ridiculous story about being an alien because growing up like that would mess with anybody's head, but if he honestly believes it as an adult then he needs help."
"Maria, you can explain it away a dozen different ways, but all you're gonna do is push him away. You told me you're in love with him, that you don't want things to end when it's time to go back to New York, so why aren't you fightin' for him? Huh? You guys are both fighters and instead of standin' up and fightin' for each other, you're both runnin' in the opposite direction."
"How long have you known?" she asked, trying to turn the conversation away from her.
Alex shrugged. "Long enough, and before you ask, no, I didn't tell you. I knew you'd never believe me, and besides that, it was somethin' that needed to come from him. Let's go back to that part where you said that he's told you he's an alien from way back at the beginning."
"What about it?"
"It didn't stop you from getting involved with him."
"No, but, c'mon, Alex, I just thought it was his hook, y'know? I didn't realize that he actually believed it until earlier." She fell silent as she slumped back on the couch and let her thoughts roam over the past few weeks with Michael. He hadn't done anything to indicate that he was anything other than human; she had seen him angry, hurt, and happy, but there was nothing that pointed to him being an alien.
"They have to hide who they are, Maria," Alex said softly. He knew what a shock it had been when Isabel had told him about herself, and he had always been open to the possibility of the existence of aliens, so he could imagine what was going through his best friend's mind right about now.
She sat up suddenly and her eyes widened. "You're telling me I've been having sex with an alien."
"Yeah, that one was a shock for me, too." He chuckled. "There's only one other person that knows the truth about them and that's her brother's fiancé, Liz. Look, Maria, it's gotta say somethin' that they trust us enough to reveal a secret that they've never shared with anyone; not their parents, previous lovers, friends… no one."
"If this is true…" Maria groaned when her thoughts turned back to what she had said to Michael earlier. His words had been angry, but his eyes had been filled with hurt and betrayal. "Oh, my God, Alex, the things I said to him. You don't understand…"
"Yeah, I do; you basically accused him of bein' crazy, but you've still got time to fix it."
"Where do I start?"
"With a really big apology." Alex chuckled. "It's so seldom that we're right that we really enjoy it when our women have to grovel for our forgiveness."
"That would explain why you've been single most of your adult life."
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Michael stood on the cliff that looked down over the quarry, his mind trying to process his thoughts as fast as they flew through his head. He knew Isabel was right; he had known from the first time he had casually mentioned that he wasn't human that Maria thought he was just using it as a pickup line. The fact that she didn't believe it made it easier to tell her things about himself because she believed he was teasing her. Well, that's what he had thought until this morning when she had insinuated that he had created the alien story as a way to deal with his past. That had been a bit of a blow to his ego.
Could he convince Maria that he was an alien? Yeah, that wouldn't really take much; he had abilities that would easily prove to her that he was what he said he was. She was the first person he had ever wanted to know the truth and he had probably blown any chance of her wanting to be with him because of the way he had handled it.
Was he willing to let her go back to New York thinking he had some sort of mental problem? Thinking, like just about everyone else that he wasn't worth the effort to keep around? No, he wasn't willing to let that happen. So, how was he gonna fix it?
He sighed. He had a really bad feeling that fixing this meant he was gonna have to open himself up, to let her inside, to see the things that he kept carefully hidden from everyone around him. That wasn't something he was comfortable with; just the thought of allowing someone that kind of access to the things that made him who he was scared the hell out of him.
He tossed the rock in his hand up in the air, catching it and repeating the motion several times over before he pulled his arm back and threw it out as far as he could over the water. For a moment he thought maybe he had pulled something because he had the strangest sensation in his chest but after a few moments he discounted that and turned to glance back in the direction of the town he had grown up in.
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Maria looked around as she walked through the club, greeting some of the regulars by name as she made her way to the bar. She was sure her confusion was written clearly on her face when she saw Joe behind the counter with another man she didn't recognize. She leaned on the bar and called for the tall man that worked with Michael every night, motioning for him to join her when he turned and looked at her.
"Where's Michael?" she asked, her voice raised to be heard above the noise in the club.
Joe frowned. "Called in sick." He shrugged. "Probably a good thing too; he sounded like crap. It's the strangest thing because in six years he's never missed a day of work."
Maria's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Not once?"
"Nope. When you see him tell him to get well so he can get his ass back here." He nodded at the other man. "This new kid does not know what he's doin'."
Where would he have gone? Maria wondered as she walked along Main Street after leaving the club. She had gone by the trailer after talking to Alex, but as near as she could tell he hadn't been back since storming out after their disagreement that morning. She wasn't even sure what she was going to say to him when she did find him.
For the next couple of hours she checked everywhere he had taken her in the small town but still couldn't find him. No one she asked had seen him and she eventually gave up and decided to go back to the trailer to wait for him. He had to come home at some point, right? She crossed one of the more heavily travelled streets, planning to cut through the city park to shave some distance off of her walk, but the sound of a horn blaring startled her and she turned to see what was going on.
Her breath froze in her throat when her curious gaze landed on the man who paused just out of the path of the passing car, his dark eyebrows furrowed as he flipped the driver off. She would recognize Aidan Salazar anywhere… his face haunted her dreams; she had watched him ruthlessly murder a man for no apparent reason and then turn around to finish his drink without the slightest sign of remorse on his cold face.
Her heart started to beat again, the rhythm so rapid it felt like it might pound right out of her chest at any moment. She watched as two other men joined him, immediately recognizing them as members of the organization that was headed by Aidan's uncle. She felt sick to her stomach when, after conversing for several minutes, he sent one of the men towards the hotel where she and Alex had been staying. He had only kept the hotel room to keep up the appearance that he was staying there so she had no way to reach him. It was a small town so it wasn't going to take very long for them to verify that she was there, and once they had concrete proof it was only a matter of time before they pinpointed her location. What should she do? As soon as they had the information they were looking for Michael, Alex, and Isabel would all become targets.
She knew Alex had plans to meet Isabel for dinner, so at least he wouldn't be at the hotel for any reason. But she had no idea where they had gone and she didn't know the woman's phone number, which meant that she also had no way to warn them. Thankfully Michael wasn't at work, because it wasn't going to take long for the men to put things together and zero in on the club. The bad thing was that once they narrowed their search down it was going to lead them straight to his trailer, but if she hurried she might make it back there before them and maybe he would be there so she could warn him about the danger.
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Michael parked the motorcycle on the sidewalk in front of the club and ran inside, scanning the crowd for Maria as he pushed his way through the sea of people. "Joe!" He had to yell to be heard and he ignored the surprise on the man's face when he hurried to the end of the bar. "Hey, you seen Maria tonight?"
"She was in here about three hours ago lookin' for you." He shook his head. "Haven't seen her since. Hey, I thought you were – "
"Okay." He turned and ran back out through the front entrance, bumping into a couple of people as he barreled through the doors. He had no intention of stopping until someone grabbed his arm and jerked him around and he knew who the man was before he ever saw his face. One of the advantages of being an alien, he thought as he stared at the man, his expression impassive. "You want somethin'?"
"Watch your step, asshole," Aidan snapped.
"Yeah, I'll do that." Michael jerked his arm free, noting the weapon settled in the shoulder holster the man wore under his jacket. He forced his emotions to remain in check as he continued on to the motorcycle. He had to find Maria before they did; they had already tracked her to the club, so it wouldn't take much longer before they had his address.
The trailer was dark when he got there but he had a feeling she was there. He parked the motorcycle out of sight before unlocking the door and stepping inside. There was no doubt about it, she was there; he could feel the impact of several different emotions rolling off of her all at once.
"Maria?" The feelings got stronger as he walked through the hallway and his own emotions collided when he saw her huddled on the bed, her back against the wall. "Hey, I promised you I wouldn't let anything happen to you, that you'd be safe with me," he whispered as he sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms.
"They found me," she rasped, burrowing into his embrace and holding onto him tightly.
"Yeah, I ran into 'em at the bar. We need to get outta here; it won't take long for them to track us from there."
"We have to warn Alex and Isabel. I would've called, but Alex and I don't have our cell phones and I don't know her number… I couldn't call you because you don't have a cell phone either."
"I don't need a cell phone to know you need me, Maria." He stood up and pulled her to her feet. "C'mon, let's make a quick call and get outta here."
She followed him without question and listened to him as he made the call to Isabel and told her to take Alex and get out of town until he called and told her it was safe. Lights swept across the darkened interior as a vehicle pulled up close to the trailer and a moment later the engine was cut and silence fell over them once more.
Michael brought his hands up to cradle Maria's face, tilting it up so that he could look into her eyes. "Do you trust me?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"Stay close and stay low." He crept back through the hallway and passed his bedroom, reaching for the door to the room that had remained shut since Hank's death. He had never ventured into the man's room, simply shutting the door on the memories before the man had even been buried.
There was another door off of Hank's bedroom that led outside and he was certain they could make it outside before their assailants knew what had happened. They would hear the motorcycle's engine, but he was counting on that; he had to get them out of town and to a location he could control, someplace where he would have the upper hand. They weren't the type of guys who were just going to leave without finishing the job they had come to do.
Maria stayed behind Michael as he shoved the door open and dropped down to the ground below, absently wondering what had happened to the steps. He held his hands up to her and she accepted them, using him for leverage as she jumped down to stand beside him. She stopped breathing when he held a hand up, tipping his head to the left as he listened for sounds from inside. As soon as he heard them rattling the doorknob on the bedroom door he motioned for her to follow him as he crept around the back of the trailer to where he had left the motorcycle.
"Michael, they're gonna hear us if we – "
He turned to look at her as he swung his right leg over the seat. "Either you trust me or you don't."
"These guys are dangerous!" she hissed, trying to get him to understand the situation.
"And I told you I wouldn't let anyone hurt you."
"Michael – "
"We're runnin' outta time," he said, his hushed tone urgent.
Maria nodded and climbed on behind him, her hands on his shoulders as he kick-started the motorcycle. The engine roared to life and he turned it so that they were facing the front door and revved the engine again.
Within seconds the three men appeared, rushing out of the trailer. Aidan quickly reached over to stop Doss when he reached for his gun. "We don't want the attention," he growled.
"No one around here would say a word if we took them out right now," Palmer argued, motioning at the trailer park around them. "Does this really look like an area where people call the cops?"
Aidan stepped forward and motioned towards Maria. "We don't want any trouble; we just came for the woman."
Michael met the cold gaze of the man who was obviously in charge and nodded once. "I'm not real big on sharin'."
"You seem like a fairly reasonable man, Mr. Guerin, so perhaps we can come to an agreement."
"I doubt it." He shrugged. "Since your only interest is killin' her."
Aidan nodded. "If you won't see reason, we'll just kill you too."
"You intend to kill me either way, so if you want 'er, you're gonna have to come an' get 'er."
"Let's go," he snapped when the kid took off. "Just be careful because we're on his turf, and the fact that he waited for us indicates that he wants us to follow him. He's up to somethin' and I don't like it."