ithering scowl. He shrugged, shaking his shoulder-length hair behind him. «I'm just saying.» «If it is our last stand, then I'm going to make damn sure it's theirs as well," Max said, meeting Michael's intense yet somehow wistful gaze. Did his old friend really see so little hope in their future? It's up to me to do something about that, Max thought, taking a protracted moment to study each and every one of the silent faces of those who had gathered to fight on his side in the coming war. «You're right, Michael," he said at length. «We are strongest when we're together. And we'll all be working together only not from the same place.» Liz nodded. «There's no point in putting all our eggs in one basket. But if you think I'm going to be anywhere except at your side, Max, then you've got another think com " Holding up his hand, Max interrupted her. «I'm going to need you with me, Liz.» She blinked in surprise. «You will?» «Your precognitive powers and your other abilities might come in handy," he said, feeling queasy about the possibility of putting his wife into harm's way. We're all in harm's way as long as the Special Unit is gunning for us, he reminded himself, and as long as they're holding Mom and Dad and the Parkers. «I hope so," Liz said, looking pained. Maria noticed Liz's discomfiture. «What's wrong?» «I've had a couple of flashes over the past hour," Liz said, shrugging. «But it's all a jumble. All I see is what looks like a pure white room. And I sense a feeling of fear. And anger.» «Nuts," Maria said. «White rooms, fear, and anger are never good together.» «Are you sure you're the one who's in the white room?» Max wanted to know. Liz smiled weakly. «I'm not sure of much of anything at this point. It's all a confusing hodgepodge, like it was filmed by those Blair Witch guys. Looks like these new alien powers have failed me in the clinch.» «Speak for yourself, O Seer," Kyle said, grinning. He was standing beside the table, idly examining the alien, stonelike communicator orbs that Eddie had given them while the group had been en route to Los Angeles. «I'm starting to feel like I can do practically anything. Like I'm ready to take on the entire Brotherhood of Evil Mutants all by myself.» «Calling all geeks," Maria said, rolling her eyes. «We're in the real world here, Kyle. Care to participate?» «What's your specific plan for splitting up our forces?» Valenti asked Max, his craggy face somber as he stepped on Kyle's rejoinder in an obvious effort to get the conversation back on track. «And are you really sure it's wise?» Max knew he wasn't sure. But he also knew that he had to be, or had to seem to be, sure. «Absolutely," he said. «No point throwing everything we have right at their front door," Duff said, nodding in agreement. «Especially when the hack I just did on their computer might have warned them that we're coming.» «Don't forget," Langley said. «I've got access to mercenaries as well as media folk. A small army, if you need it.» Max shook his head. «That's fighting them on their terms. We'll lose that kind of war.» And risk becoming just like them in the process. «So we don't take them on in a straight fight," Langley said, nodding. «That implies doing something sneaky. I'm down with that. I can do sneaky, especially if it keeps the Feds from kicking down my very expensively carved tropical hardwood door.» Michael nodded as well, looking every inch the Antarian general, despite his rock-star haircut. «Asymmetrical warfare. I'm down with that, too.» The Valentis, junior and senior, looked at each other uncomfortably. Max could see that the lopsidedness of the coming battle was uppermost on the deputy's mind, while Kyle a practicing Buddhist was no doubt troubled by the thought of having to take part in serious violence. «This war may not be as 'asymmetrical' as you might think," Duff said, pointing toward the black body armor that encased her torso. «I took the liberty of stashing a few extra Iron Man suits in the back of the chopper. Even if we go down fighting, our strike team is gonna give as good as it gets. We do it right, they won't even see us comin'.» «The question is, who goes on this little raid?» Jim Valenti asked, brushing a piece of lint from the body armor he was still wearing. «Besides me, that is.» «Try and stop me," Duff said, grinning first at Valenti, then at Max. «I'm right beside you, Maxwell," Michael said. «And I'm right beside you, Spaceboy," said Maria. She turned to Duff. «Do those stormtrooper outfits come in any other colors? Accessorizing properly is half the battle, you know.» «Slow down, Maria," Michael said, placing his hands on Maria's shoulders. «You are not coming with us. It's way too dangerous.» She swatted his hands away with both of her own. «Need I remind you that the MiBs might be on their way here even as we speak? It isn't like I'll be a whole lot safer here.» «I'll keep an eye on her while the rest of you are gone," Langley said. «MiBs or no MiBs.» Max shook his head. «No, you won't. You're on the strike team too. I'm going to need your firepower.» «Firepower schmirepower. I'm an alien protector. A behind-the-cameras kind of guy. Watching over people is what I'm supposed to do. Not fight in guerrilla wars.» «One of the people you were supposed to watch over just died in that Special Unit facility," Isabel said, her eyes flashing angrily at Langley. «Crap," the producer said with a resigned sigh, gazing contemplatively into the deep pile carpet. His jaw muscles worked in silence for a moment, as duty, remorse, and fear appeared to wrestle within him. Then he turned to Max. «I don't suppose it would do any good to try to convince you that bringing me along would be a huge mistake?» «No," Max said simply. «Complete waste of time, in fact. So let's just skip it.» «You know, being genetically programmed to follow your orders really bites. I feel like a freakin'Jem'Hadar soldier from Star Trefe.» '«Resistance is futile,'" Michael quoted with a smirk. «Wrong alien race," Kyle said. «You're thinking of those cyborg guys who " «Enough with the geek-off, already!» Maria shouted, interrupting Kyle. She jabbed an accusatory finger toward Max. «This is a clear case of alien chauvinism! You're trying to keep me sidelined because I can't shoot thunderbolts out of my fingertips, or play peepshow with other people's dreams.» Max saw Isabel begin a slow burn at that. «It has nothing to do with that," he said, gesturing toward Jim Valenti and Agent Duff. «Last time I checked, the deputy and I were both plain old garden-variety humans," Duff said. «Knock on wood," Kyle added, sotto voce, looking straight at his father, obviously referring to the alien powers Max's healing ability had already bestowed upon both Kyle and Liz and that might one day also give the senior Valenti metahuman talents of some sort. Maria apparently hadn't heard Kyle, and wasn't buying the argument that Duff and Max were selling. «The only reason those two get a pass on your 'non-aliens need not apply' policy is the cool armor and weapons they're packing.» «That's not fair, Maria," Max said, feeling his patience beginning to fray. «I can wear body armor," she pleaded. «And I can handle a gun too. I still have one of the pistols we took from those federal agents in Cheyenne. I even figured out how to take it apart and put it back together again.» «Kind of amazing we haven't had more 'friendly fire' accidents, then," Michael said, tossing a sideways grin toward Max. She glared daggers at Michael. «If you end up suffering a 'gun accident' while we're in the trenches together, Spaceboy, remember that friendly was your word, not mine.» Suppressing a smirk of his own, Max held up his hand in a gesture of peace. «I need you on my secondary team, Maria.» Her only response was a petulant pout. Max thought Duff might have been able to land her black chopper on Maria's lower lip. Standing between Isabel and Shelby, Jesse finally spoke up. His suit was rumpled from his harrowing day of travel. «The secondary team I assume that's the group Shelby and I will be with, the ones in charge of keeping our media contacts ready to mobilize their armies.» «And the ones in charge of, um, 'outing' the Special Unit to the public," Shelby added. «Our media blitzkrieg, so to speak," Michael said. Now he wasn't smiling. «That's right," Max said. Like Michael, he still wasn't happy with the flip side of the media assault on the Special Unit which amounted to alerting the entire world to the fact that he, Isabel, and Michael were aliens. «I want you to be part of our media team as well," Max added, addressing Kyle. Kyle looked both relieved and disappointed. «You sure you want to keep me on the bench, Max? I mean, everybody knows I'm not very keen on ultraviolence. But I was one of West Roswell High's most athletic specimens and I'm no coward, Buddhism notwithstanding. You might need me up at the line of scrimmage. Especially if we have to…» He trailed off, looking sheepish. «Especially if the Special Unit forces us to fire off our little ad hoc secret weapon," Langley finished for him, referring to a last-ditch tactic the group had bandied about a little earlier. Max gave Kyle an appreciative smile. It was hard now to believe that he'd once thought of Kyle as an overbearing, egotistical lout in a letterman's jacket. «This isn't a football game, Kyle. And it has nothing to do with either Buddhism or courage.» Max looked his former rival straight in the eye. «I'm going to need your psychic party line running from a safe, remote location. That way you can keep everyone on our primary team in touch with one another but from here. And Jesse's team might need you to make direct mental contact with any of the media people who aren't answering their phones.» Isabel shook her head. «I'm not sure that'll work, Max.» Max frowned, realizing that another moment he'd been dreading was fast approaching. «What do you mean, Iz?» «So far, Kyle's third-party telepathy only seems to work when I'm physically with him.» «Exactly," Max said. «Now wait just a damn minute, dear brother," Isabel said, her eyes flaring. «Where do you get off telling me I have to stay behind?» He grinned. «I'm the king, remember?» She clearly wasn't amused. «I don't remember voting for you.» Michael leaned toward Langley, stage-whispering. «I want a sample of your DNA, if it's not too much trouble.» Langley looked at him through narrowed eyes. «What for?» «To see if we can inject copies of your blind-obedience genes into Iz and Maria.» «I heard that!» Isabel and Maria roared in furious unison. At the moment, Max was beginning to think that Michael's joking notion might have some real merit. «Isabel, we can't risk letting the Special Unit capture you. Or have you forgotten Liz's vision?» Isabel lifted her hands in exasperation. «Have you forgotten that Liz saw Lonnie's horoscope, not mine?» «Just because the Special Unit killed Lonnie doesn't mean they can't still do the same thing to you," Liz pointed out, her dark eyes grave. Surprisingly, Maria now seemed to have been won over. «If.Isabel is grounded, too, then 1 guess 1 have to withdraw my 'alien chauvinism' objection.» «'Alien chauvinism,' my eye. It's more like a case of brotherly paranoia," Isabel said, now looking as petulant as Maria had looked just a little earlier. «It's not paranoia when somebody really is trying to get you," Michael pointed out. He turned and faced Max, an eager look on his face. «So let's go over the battle plan for our A-Team, Maxwell.» «We go to the mattresses, Michael," Max said, quoting from The Codjather, which was a mutual favorite. «I have to give you high marks for enthusiasm, Max," Jim Valenti said. «But a sound-bite from the Corleone brothers leaves little to be desired in terms of tactics and strategy. We're planning an armed rescue with media blackmail on top of it. And there's a very real chance we'll have to do some killing, or be killed ourselves.» Looking at Valenti, Max nodded slowly. He had already considered the possibility of having to kill or be killed. In fact, he had agonized over it ever since the group had first discussed it. But in the end, the need to rescue his and Liz's parents had won out. With Kyle's ability to link and amplify Isabel's and Langley's powers, we might even be able to kill or cripple a whole lot of Special Unit agents all at once, he thought, hoping the need to unleash the «secret weapon» wouldn't arise. With a sense of resignation, Max decided he would leave that up to the Special Unit. The MiBs didn't have to choose a fight to the death, after all; Max was ready to offer them a better alternative, one that everyone could live with. It was up to them. Michael shrugged at Valenti, then met Max's gaze squarely. «We go to the mattresses. Works for me.» Max's spirits rose as he saw that Michael was ready to follow him wherever he was going. Michael seemed to be saying that he would do whatever he had to do to rescue the Evanses and the Parkers. And to make certain that the Special Unit could never threaten anyone else ever again. «So are we going to just march right up to the Special Unit's front door?» Duff asked, scowling. «As a matter of fact… yes," Max said. He only hoped that he and his friends had the power and the luck to pull off this crazy plan. 15. City of Industry, California After everything Margolin had seen over the past week up to and including the bizarre alien blood and the apparently normal human organs of the alien girl the medics had taken apart a short time ago he thought he'd lost the capacity to be surprised. But that was before Max Evans turned up on the very doorstep of the Special Unit's West Coast compound, apparently alone and unarmed. Why hasn't he put up any resistance? Margolin thought as he watched Bartolli assist a pair of black-suited agents in frog-marching the wiry teenager into Margolin's small office. All three of Evans's escorts still had their tinfoil caps tightly in place across their skulls. «Max Evans," Margolin said. «Your… visit is certainly a surprise.» Max's dark eyes seemed to hold equal parts anger and fear. And there's something else there too, Margolin thought, without being able to put his finger on exactly what it was. Resolve? The teen shrugged Bartolli's restraining hand off his shoulder, prompting the other two agents to raise their lethal-looking pistols menacingly. «I'd advise you not to do anything you might regret later, Mr. Evans," Margolin said, keeping his voice icy. «Assuming 'later' is an applicable word, in your case.» «Don't worry," said Evans. «Trust me, if I wanted to, I could kill you before your goons could do anything about it.» Margolin nodded. «No doubt. But you'd follow me into eternity only a fraction of a second later, believe me. And where would that leave your poor parents? And Miss Parker's?» Max's eyes flashed, as though he was holding himself back only by the most strenuous expenditure of effort. «Gotta give the kid credit for having guts," said Bartolli. «Trying to mount a daring rescue mission. And all on his own, to boot.» Margolin walked toward the Evans boy, stopping only a few inches away from him. «Is that your plan? Or have you come to surrender?» Evans smiled at that. Another surprise. «Neither. I've come to make you an offer. One that you can't afford to refuse.» I'm really into it up to my neck now, Jim Valenti thought, clenching the rifle in his black-gloved hand as he stood in the dark alley beside the building that the alien compass device had revealed as their target. The coffee was wearing off and fatigue was beginning to catch up to him. At the moment there was nothing he wanted more than a long nap. Keep your mind on the job, Valenti thought, forcing himself with sheer willpower to remain focused and alert. People are depending on you. Duff, Liz Evans, and a jittery-looking Langley were beside him. Valenti worried that the alien entertainment mogul might panic and run off, now that he was outside of Max's immediate reach. But evidently the genetically enforced commands Max had given him were preventing that. So jar, Valenti thought. A lot of things can still go very wrong with this operation very quickly. «Are they in?» Duff whispered to Langley, her black mask giving her voice a muffled, throaty quality. Thanks to the mask, Valenti doubted any of the MiBs inside the compound would recognize her, even if some of them had worked closely with her on previous FBI assignments outside of the Special Unit. Langley closed his eyes and appeared to concentrate intently. «I've got Kyle on the psychic hot line. He says the mindmelds he established with Max and Michael before we left are still holding up.» «'Mindmelds'?» Duff said