Part Twenty One
Alex and Isabel arrived at the cave first despite the roundabout route they used to get there in case there was anyone following. The trip was tension filled with worry for their family and fear of getting caught as well. They entered the cave using Isabel's handprint and DNA. Isabel also used her powers to camouflage the car so it wouldn't be seen in the desert unless you were up close.
They had some supplies at the cave already since the four aliens had spent many a practise session here the past summer and even on occasion camped here. Whatever else they might have needed Isabel grabbed from Michael's apartment.
Isabel paced up and down the cave while Alex took inventory while they waited. The cave was lit up using some stones strategically placed, which Isabel and Tess on a previous occasion figured out how to create a long lasting light. It took Michael and Maria another ten minutes to arrive even after speeding.
When they walked into the cave, Isabel and Alex were hiding behind a rock formation inside just in case. The second Isabel saw Michael she ran out and went straight into his arms. Alex did the same with Maria. And then Maria hugged Isabel while Alex and Michael looked on.
"Don't even think about it," Alex said as he glanced at Michael, resorting to humour as usual in any tough situation.
Michael smirked and walked towards Alex his arms wide open. Alex backed away in huge exaggerated steps his hands held out in front of him as if to ward away evil. Very few were aware of it but Alex and Michael shared the same sense of humour, ironically since they were two so very different people. Maria and Isabel both managed tiny smiles at their antics leaving the guys feeling inordinately proud of that small but major achievement.
Alex in particular was extremely relieved to see Michael and Maria. Watching Isabel pace up and down was nerve wrecking notwithstanding his calm temperament. In addition despite Michael and Maria's own feelings on the matter about themselves, the rest of the group often relied on the two of them for strength and as saviours even before Max was dragged out of the FBI by Michael and the sheriff. They were of course still the moments that Max accused Michael of getting into trouble and needing rescuing from his recklessness but Max always knew that ultimately Michael was the person you wanted on your side when you were you were in trouble. What made Michael and Maria so perfect for each other is that Maria was exactly the same. She could always be relied upon for an idea no matter how bizarre. FBI Training didn't hurt much either.
And a plan, a strategy was what they needed right now. The four of them sat down and discussed the entire situation, all they knew. Previous experience had taught them you couldn't just rush into a situation like this. You need to prepare, to plan. To get in. And to get out. They hadn't got far when the sheriff showed up in the desert. He knew the general area of the cave but not the exact location. A quick phone call to Maria's cell phone fixed that and the guys went out to meet him and bring him in.
Isabel hadn't told him exactly what was wrong and needless to say he was upset over his son's disappearance not to mention those he had sworn to protect. Catching him up on all that had happened was enlightening for everyone especially since everyone only knew bits of information and not anything in its entirety.
After the information swap Isabel attempted, for the third time, to dreamwalk Max and Tess, and again was unsuccessful. She had tried once before in the car on the way to the cave and another when Michael and Maria first arrived. Wherever their friends were, they were unreachable and each time Isabel tried, and failed she lost more hope.
After the third ineffectual attempt, Alex more to distract Isabel than anything else suggested looking at the files in the meantime while the sheriff did a little old fashioned detective work i.e. minus alien powers. He was going to tail the congresswoman in the hopes that it would lead him to his son and their friends. Unfortunately because of her status and her being so well known he couldn't trust anyone to do this for him and would have to do it himself. It had been decided that this was the best way to find them since Isabel's dreamwalks were not working. Plus as Alex said, "The congresswoman didn't know that they knew she was bad and wouldn't be so cautious and the missing files hadn't been discovered yet."
And so the sheriff left. Maria, Isabel and Alex determined that the next move should be to deal with the parents and so they three of them phoned to explained their absences. Michael didn't have to answer to anyone and it wasn't necessary to explain Tess's disappearance. Kyle's father already knew.
For Alex it was easy. He told his parents he was staying over at Michael's. They didn't complain. Isabel phoned her mum at work and said that the girls were going over to Tess's for a sleepover. She didn't use Maria or Liz because her parents knew the Parkers and Amy Deluca. Isabel also said to her mum that Max was going to stay with Michael. Diane Evans was so relieved that her son, who had been extremely withdrawn recently, was doing a social event she didn't ask to speak to him and granted permission willingly for both of them. Isabel heaved a sigh of relief when she hung up. The last thing that they needed right now was upset parents.
Maria also had it pretty simple. She and her mother had an open and trusting relationship most of the time and Maria didn't have to convince her of anything especially since she said that the slumber party included Liz, Isabel and Tess. Amy adored Liz for years, was really fond of Isabel and liked and felt slightly sorry for Tess being motherless.
Liz was the last one they had to handle. She was the most difficult and no one knew quite what to do about the Parkers. They decided by almost a unanimous vote except for Maria's to leave it up to Maria since she was the best friend. Ironically after all the disasters that had occurred in the lives of the teens, fate threw them a bone. When Maria dialled the Crashdown, desperately thinking of something to say, some excuse to explain a missing Liz, Mrs Parker's first statement gave her an easy out.
"Maria, honey did Liz forget something for this weekend. I thought she took all her stuff this morning,"
In all the events that had occurred it had totally slipped Maria's mind that Liz was going to spend the weekend at her house bonding and catching up, something that they hadn't done in a long time.
"No, Mrs Parker. I just phoned to say that we will be at Tess's house instead,"
Maria said the first thing that came to her head. That was a good thing because as her undercover coach at the FBI Training had told them on numerous occasions, "If you are lying, keep the lies simple as possible and consistent." Not good advice to give to a teenager but then again these were not normal teenagers. And there were some times when it was just better to keep the parents in the dark. After all, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them.
"Okay honey. You girls have fun. Tell Liz I'll see her on Sunday night."
"Sure thing, Mrs P. Bye."
"Bye, Maria." And this time it was Maria that gave the sigh of relief.
That over, Maria took out the envelope from her jacket pocket and handed it to Alex. Doing that made her notice her clothes. Perfect for infiltrating an FBI training facility but not for sitting in a cave. It was easily fixed though. One wave of Michael's hand changed her clothes to jeans and a top and since he missed the shoes Isabel turned her high heels into Nikes.
Alex went and took out his laptop from one of the backpacks lying in the corner and put the disk in while everyone crowded around so they could see. The disk was encrypted by a simple code according to Alex. It took him a few minutes to break it and within seconds of that what had previously looked like gibberish formed proper characters and zipped files. Unzipping was an easy process and soon a number of text files appeared. There were ten files, all named using the initials of the teenagers as well as the sheriff and Nacedo which was simply called unidentified.
All the files were pretty big except for Tess's, for which less was known about due to her lifestyle and living with Nacedo for all these years. From what the four of them could tell it contained profiles on all of them. The profiles were largely written by Agent Topolsky and were psychological profiles containing what she thought made them tick, what could be used to control them, who they cared about, their backgrounds as far as possible that could be traced and events involving them to the FBI's knowledge.
The files were unbelievably accurate. They revealed things that the teens had hard time admitting to themselves. It was obvious it was written by someone who knew them pretty well or studied them thoroughly. Reading the profiles left them all a bit shaken about the wealth of information available on them. Michael in particular took it hard. It didn't help that the files made particular mention that the one thing that could get Michael to co-operate if ever captured would be Maria. That Maria took badly. She didn't want to be his weakness. The teens reading the files missed the strengths in their own characters and focused on the weaknesses yet had no trouble recognising those same strengths in their friends.
The sheriff's file was similar to the teens and made a few mentions of his ex-wife and Amy Deluca. It also showed the change in the sheriff's attitude towards the aliens and recognised the turning point for this as the death of Everett Huble. In addition it gave a lot of insight into the relationship he had with Kyle. Nacedo's file didn't have much of a profile. It was more of a listing of suspected murders along with gruesome pictures to go with the details. The information the FBI had on him was sketchy to say the least.
The files emphasised the strengths and weaknesses quite strongly. They were meant to be used in the case of capture and contained more than was usually required even for a terrorists psychological profile. The one good thing that came out of this was that this file was not in the hands of those that held Max, Liz, Tess and Kyle. It gave them some hope at least that the data on how to manipulate their friends into revealing information was not written down and freely available for use. There were only two copies of these files, to those that they had eavesdropped on and their knowledge. Nacedo had already destroyed the one, posing as Pierce, the head of the taskforce, and they were in possession of the only other copy available.
After the study of the files, Michael made an attempt to contact Nacedo. Since he saw Nacedo kill that FBI Agent with no remorse and the pictures in his file Michael had lost a lot of his enthusiasm for the alien. While he wanted and recognised the need for his help he was still reluctant to let the alien provide the kind of help he was likely to give. Whether it was a good or bad thing Michael couldn't find Nacedo. If he was honest with himself he wasn't too unhappy about that. Although Nacedo was technically supposed to be their protector, Michael wasn't too keen on the guys attitude to humans and in particular didn't like the way he dismissed Maria and their other human friends as irrelevant despite all their help.
Whatever the feelings he had on the matter it was unimportant for now. All that mattered was that they were on their own. And they needed to find out the location of their friends soon before time ran out. In his head he could hear a clock ticking and that pressured feeling increased. He wasn't the only one feeling it. Maria came to stand next to him and her hand reached out and met his. Across the room Isabel leaned her head on Alex's shoulder as his arm wrapped around her.
It had been an hour since the sheriff had left to follow the Congresswoman. Two hours since they had discovered the kidnapping of their friends. Three hours since Kyle and Tess had been captured and four since Max and Liz's incarceration. A lot could happen in four hours. A lot could be done to someone in four hours. Their only hope was the that the delay of the missing files which must have been discovered by now would have slowed them down and prevented an interrogation. It was all they had.
End Part 21
Alex and Isabel arrived at the cave first despite the roundabout route they used to get there in case there was anyone following. The trip was tension filled with worry for their family and fear of getting caught as well. They entered the cave using Isabel's handprint and DNA. Isabel also used her powers to camouflage the car so it wouldn't be seen in the desert unless you were up close.
They had some supplies at the cave already since the four aliens had spent many a practise session here the past summer and even on occasion camped here. Whatever else they might have needed Isabel grabbed from Michael's apartment.
Isabel paced up and down the cave while Alex took inventory while they waited. The cave was lit up using some stones strategically placed, which Isabel and Tess on a previous occasion figured out how to create a long lasting light. It took Michael and Maria another ten minutes to arrive even after speeding.
When they walked into the cave, Isabel and Alex were hiding behind a rock formation inside just in case. The second Isabel saw Michael she ran out and went straight into his arms. Alex did the same with Maria. And then Maria hugged Isabel while Alex and Michael looked on.
"Don't even think about it," Alex said as he glanced at Michael, resorting to humour as usual in any tough situation.
Michael smirked and walked towards Alex his arms wide open. Alex backed away in huge exaggerated steps his hands held out in front of him as if to ward away evil. Very few were aware of it but Alex and Michael shared the same sense of humour, ironically since they were two so very different people. Maria and Isabel both managed tiny smiles at their antics leaving the guys feeling inordinately proud of that small but major achievement.
Alex in particular was extremely relieved to see Michael and Maria. Watching Isabel pace up and down was nerve wrecking notwithstanding his calm temperament. In addition despite Michael and Maria's own feelings on the matter about themselves, the rest of the group often relied on the two of them for strength and as saviours even before Max was dragged out of the FBI by Michael and the sheriff. They were of course still the moments that Max accused Michael of getting into trouble and needing rescuing from his recklessness but Max always knew that ultimately Michael was the person you wanted on your side when you were you were in trouble. What made Michael and Maria so perfect for each other is that Maria was exactly the same. She could always be relied upon for an idea no matter how bizarre. FBI Training didn't hurt much either.
And a plan, a strategy was what they needed right now. The four of them sat down and discussed the entire situation, all they knew. Previous experience had taught them you couldn't just rush into a situation like this. You need to prepare, to plan. To get in. And to get out. They hadn't got far when the sheriff showed up in the desert. He knew the general area of the cave but not the exact location. A quick phone call to Maria's cell phone fixed that and the guys went out to meet him and bring him in.
Isabel hadn't told him exactly what was wrong and needless to say he was upset over his son's disappearance not to mention those he had sworn to protect. Catching him up on all that had happened was enlightening for everyone especially since everyone only knew bits of information and not anything in its entirety.
After the information swap Isabel attempted, for the third time, to dreamwalk Max and Tess, and again was unsuccessful. She had tried once before in the car on the way to the cave and another when Michael and Maria first arrived. Wherever their friends were, they were unreachable and each time Isabel tried, and failed she lost more hope.
After the third ineffectual attempt, Alex more to distract Isabel than anything else suggested looking at the files in the meantime while the sheriff did a little old fashioned detective work i.e. minus alien powers. He was going to tail the congresswoman in the hopes that it would lead him to his son and their friends. Unfortunately because of her status and her being so well known he couldn't trust anyone to do this for him and would have to do it himself. It had been decided that this was the best way to find them since Isabel's dreamwalks were not working. Plus as Alex said, "The congresswoman didn't know that they knew she was bad and wouldn't be so cautious and the missing files hadn't been discovered yet."
And so the sheriff left. Maria, Isabel and Alex determined that the next move should be to deal with the parents and so they three of them phoned to explained their absences. Michael didn't have to answer to anyone and it wasn't necessary to explain Tess's disappearance. Kyle's father already knew.
For Alex it was easy. He told his parents he was staying over at Michael's. They didn't complain. Isabel phoned her mum at work and said that the girls were going over to Tess's for a sleepover. She didn't use Maria or Liz because her parents knew the Parkers and Amy Deluca. Isabel also said to her mum that Max was going to stay with Michael. Diane Evans was so relieved that her son, who had been extremely withdrawn recently, was doing a social event she didn't ask to speak to him and granted permission willingly for both of them. Isabel heaved a sigh of relief when she hung up. The last thing that they needed right now was upset parents.
Maria also had it pretty simple. She and her mother had an open and trusting relationship most of the time and Maria didn't have to convince her of anything especially since she said that the slumber party included Liz, Isabel and Tess. Amy adored Liz for years, was really fond of Isabel and liked and felt slightly sorry for Tess being motherless.
Liz was the last one they had to handle. She was the most difficult and no one knew quite what to do about the Parkers. They decided by almost a unanimous vote except for Maria's to leave it up to Maria since she was the best friend. Ironically after all the disasters that had occurred in the lives of the teens, fate threw them a bone. When Maria dialled the Crashdown, desperately thinking of something to say, some excuse to explain a missing Liz, Mrs Parker's first statement gave her an easy out.
"Maria, honey did Liz forget something for this weekend. I thought she took all her stuff this morning,"
In all the events that had occurred it had totally slipped Maria's mind that Liz was going to spend the weekend at her house bonding and catching up, something that they hadn't done in a long time.
"No, Mrs Parker. I just phoned to say that we will be at Tess's house instead,"
Maria said the first thing that came to her head. That was a good thing because as her undercover coach at the FBI Training had told them on numerous occasions, "If you are lying, keep the lies simple as possible and consistent." Not good advice to give to a teenager but then again these were not normal teenagers. And there were some times when it was just better to keep the parents in the dark. After all, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them.
"Okay honey. You girls have fun. Tell Liz I'll see her on Sunday night."
"Sure thing, Mrs P. Bye."
"Bye, Maria." And this time it was Maria that gave the sigh of relief.
That over, Maria took out the envelope from her jacket pocket and handed it to Alex. Doing that made her notice her clothes. Perfect for infiltrating an FBI training facility but not for sitting in a cave. It was easily fixed though. One wave of Michael's hand changed her clothes to jeans and a top and since he missed the shoes Isabel turned her high heels into Nikes.
Alex went and took out his laptop from one of the backpacks lying in the corner and put the disk in while everyone crowded around so they could see. The disk was encrypted by a simple code according to Alex. It took him a few minutes to break it and within seconds of that what had previously looked like gibberish formed proper characters and zipped files. Unzipping was an easy process and soon a number of text files appeared. There were ten files, all named using the initials of the teenagers as well as the sheriff and Nacedo which was simply called unidentified.
All the files were pretty big except for Tess's, for which less was known about due to her lifestyle and living with Nacedo for all these years. From what the four of them could tell it contained profiles on all of them. The profiles were largely written by Agent Topolsky and were psychological profiles containing what she thought made them tick, what could be used to control them, who they cared about, their backgrounds as far as possible that could be traced and events involving them to the FBI's knowledge.
The files were unbelievably accurate. They revealed things that the teens had hard time admitting to themselves. It was obvious it was written by someone who knew them pretty well or studied them thoroughly. Reading the profiles left them all a bit shaken about the wealth of information available on them. Michael in particular took it hard. It didn't help that the files made particular mention that the one thing that could get Michael to co-operate if ever captured would be Maria. That Maria took badly. She didn't want to be his weakness. The teens reading the files missed the strengths in their own characters and focused on the weaknesses yet had no trouble recognising those same strengths in their friends.
The sheriff's file was similar to the teens and made a few mentions of his ex-wife and Amy Deluca. It also showed the change in the sheriff's attitude towards the aliens and recognised the turning point for this as the death of Everett Huble. In addition it gave a lot of insight into the relationship he had with Kyle. Nacedo's file didn't have much of a profile. It was more of a listing of suspected murders along with gruesome pictures to go with the details. The information the FBI had on him was sketchy to say the least.
The files emphasised the strengths and weaknesses quite strongly. They were meant to be used in the case of capture and contained more than was usually required even for a terrorists psychological profile. The one good thing that came out of this was that this file was not in the hands of those that held Max, Liz, Tess and Kyle. It gave them some hope at least that the data on how to manipulate their friends into revealing information was not written down and freely available for use. There were only two copies of these files, to those that they had eavesdropped on and their knowledge. Nacedo had already destroyed the one, posing as Pierce, the head of the taskforce, and they were in possession of the only other copy available.
After the study of the files, Michael made an attempt to contact Nacedo. Since he saw Nacedo kill that FBI Agent with no remorse and the pictures in his file Michael had lost a lot of his enthusiasm for the alien. While he wanted and recognised the need for his help he was still reluctant to let the alien provide the kind of help he was likely to give. Whether it was a good or bad thing Michael couldn't find Nacedo. If he was honest with himself he wasn't too unhappy about that. Although Nacedo was technically supposed to be their protector, Michael wasn't too keen on the guys attitude to humans and in particular didn't like the way he dismissed Maria and their other human friends as irrelevant despite all their help.
Whatever the feelings he had on the matter it was unimportant for now. All that mattered was that they were on their own. And they needed to find out the location of their friends soon before time ran out. In his head he could hear a clock ticking and that pressured feeling increased. He wasn't the only one feeling it. Maria came to stand next to him and her hand reached out and met his. Across the room Isabel leaned her head on Alex's shoulder as his arm wrapped around her.
It had been an hour since the sheriff had left to follow the Congresswoman. Two hours since they had discovered the kidnapping of their friends. Three hours since Kyle and Tess had been captured and four since Max and Liz's incarceration. A lot could happen in four hours. A lot could be done to someone in four hours. Their only hope was the that the delay of the missing files which must have been discovered by now would have slowed them down and prevented an interrogation. It was all they had.
End Part 21