Part 10
Liz stared at the wall in front of her in the small room where she was being restrained. She looked and felt like she had been run over by a truck, but her face held not emotion. The meaner guard from before, who she still referred to as Tweedledum, was watching her intently, puzzling at her silence and lack of emotion but not questioning it.
Liz continued to stare unblinkingly at the wall in front of her, not moving from her spot in the chair.
* * *
Max and Michael followed Serena closely as she walked swiftly through the maze of corridors. She apparently knew them quite well.
Max blinked, rubbing at his eyes. He was still getting used to the change Serena had made so that he and Michael could see Antar better.
As they approached a corner, she suddenly put her hand up for them to stop. "Someone's coming. Wait for me in that alcove," she said, indicating a small storage area just down the hall.
Max and Michael got into the alcove just as a little silver person came around the corner and nearly bumped into Serena. It was the guard Liz called "Tweedledee."
"Clem! How lovely to see you!" Serena smiled, too warmly.
"Siri"—his voice lowered—"you shouldn't be here."
"Why not?" She drawled.
"I know what you're up to, and I don't want to have to turn you in, little sister."
In the alcove, Max's eyes widened, and Michael raised an eyebrow.
"I just need a little information." Serena put her arm around his waist. "I know you know."
He slipped her arm off his waist and stepped back. "You should go before anyone else sees you, Siri. I would be forced to turn you in."
"I could expose you just as easily as you could expose me."
"What are you talking about? There's nothing about me to expose."
"Except the fact that you're too scared to join the right side. And there is me, of course. Furtive meetings with a suspicious woman? Who just happens to be your sister and a member of the Gueyere?" She tilted her head towards him. "People would no longer believe that your sister was a reclusive hermit living several light years away. Doesn't look good, Clem."
"What do you want to know?"
"Where's Liz?"
"What?"
"Marua Leese?"
"One of the North Wing rooms. She just had her baby; she's not doing too well."
A look of worry passed over Serena's face before she kissed her brother on the cheek and whispered, "You're welcome to come to the right side whenever you're ready. I love you." Then she rushed off to get Max and Michael.
* * *
While Liz's face held no emotion, a multitude of thoughts were surging and crashing together in her mind—thoughts that all seemed to come back to one idea, one worry. What were they doing with Claudia?
Liz swallowed and tried to calm her thoughts. There had to be something she could do. Contacting Serena hadn't worked well before, but maybe—maybe she could contact Max.
* * *
"She should be in one of these rooms, gesturing from another storage alcove towards several corridors that composed the North Wing.
"There must be a hundred rooms!" Michael exclaimed.
"There aren't that many, Michael." Max started for the closest room, saying, "Let's split up and start looking.
"Be careful," Serena warned them. "Don't rush too much—try not to let anyone see you. If someone does, remember that I've charmed you to look Antaran to the casual observer. But it only works if they're not paying close attention. Just try and keep a low profile, okay?"
"Okay. I'll take this hallway; you take that hallway"—Max gestured to Michael—"and Serena, since you know the rooms better, you take the far one."
Max and Michael started off, but Serena stopped them, saying, "We meet back here in two hours. No matter what."
* * *
"Hasn't Serena contacted you yet?" Maria asked Salle impatiently.
"She tends to get caught up when she's on missions."
"Caught up?! I have been worrying about Liz since before she was kidnapped."
"You're doing it again, Maria."
"Doing what?"
"Overreacting. You need to calm down." He looked at her pointedly. "If not for your own sake, then at least for your baby's."
Maria put her hand over her heart and took a deep breath. "You'll tell me when there's news? Any news?"
"Yes, of course."
* * *
Checking another room, Max sighed, beginning to wonder if Clem had told them the wrong wing. Suddenly, he felt something in the back of his mind, a presence—it was Liz, urging him forward.
Max could feel her joy that she had found him, that he was here, but he also felt her fear and worry. He walked down the passageway, feeling her presence growing stronger and stronger. Suddenly, it was enveloping him, and he turned into a small room, finding Liz guarded by a skinny, determined-looking little silver man. Liz's eyes lit up, for she saw through Max's disguise. After a little scuffle, Max easily knocked Tweedledum unconscious before he knew what had hit him.
Max took her in his arms, and she whispered, "I knew you'd come." Then she pulled back and looked at him with worried eyes. "They have Claudia." She was crying now.
"Claudia? Is she--"
"Our baby. Jarret took our baby, Max." Her voice dropped to become nearly inaudible. "And I don't know what they're going to do to her."
* * *