Bent over gasping, his hands resting on his knees, he hastily told the others what he had seen and overheard. "Morton's probably on his way to the elevator now," he concluded, "although I got a pretty good start on him."Good work, Alex," Max said succinctly. His stony expression belied the volcanic intensity of his eyes. Max was your classic still-waters-run-deep kind of guy, Alex knew, but it was obvious that those waters were pretty stirred up at the moment. Max's fist collided with his open palm and he stared past Alex with a keen, determined gaze. "Now it's my turn," he said. 4.

"What are you talking about?" Michael challenged Max. Water dripped somewhere nearby, each steady drop echoing through the subterranean grotto. "Haven't you heard a word we've said? It's too dangerous, Max!"The dark-haired alien teen was undaunted by his friend's fervent outburst. "I told you all before," Max said. The once and future king of a distant alien world, he had seldom sounded more resolute. "I'm not going to let him get away."Isabel approached her brother, laying a concerned hand upon his shoulder. "But you don't have to follow him now," she pointed out. "You heard what Alex said. We know where he's going to be tonight. At that place, Slaughter Canyon."Slaughter…The name sent a chill through Liz, rattling her already jangled nerves. She knew she ought to have some opinion about Max's reckless plan, but she was still too stressed-out to think straight. Every time she tried to concentrate, she kept flashing back to that day at the Crashdown. Angry voices exploding. A noisy scuffle at the booth. Watch out! He's got a gun! "I don't care," Max said. "What if he gets spooked and doesn't show up at midnight?" He paced restlessly across the floor of the grotto. "I'm not going to take that chance."Okay, okay," Maria conceded, knowing as well as any of them how stubborn Max could be when he felt strongly about something. Like when he tried to get me back, Liz thought, after that whole scene with Tess. "But don't you at least want to know what Morton's up to before you do something stupid?"It felt strange, Liz thought, to actually have a name for the man who had once nearly killed her, and even stranger that she had gone all this time without knowing it. Morton. It was a surprisingly mundane label for such a malignant presence in her life. Is that his first name or his last name, she wondered, and did that really matter? Meanwhile, Maria was still reading the riot act to Max. "Use your super-powered, Czechoslovakian brain, Max!" She threw up her hands in sheer exasperation. "Right now you have no idea what you'd be getting yourself mixed up widi."Her cautionary words must have gotten through to Max, because he paused and mulled them over before replying. "All right," he said, sounding slightly less combative. "I won't do anything rash until we know more. But I am going to follow him and find out where he's going now."Okay," Michael grudgingly agreed. "But I'm going with you, just to make sure you don't get carried away on this whole avenging boyfriend kick."Was that what was driving Max? Liz asked silently. Even in her own distracted state, she was aware that Max was acting more recklessly than usual. Does he feel he has to pay Morton back for hurting me? Or does he blame Morton for making him reveal his powers, putting them all in danger from the Special Unit and the Skins? "Fine," Max told Michael. "Let's go." He marched briskly toward the grotto's exit, then paused right underneath the natural limestone archway. "The rest of you, look after Liz. Make sure she gets out of here okay." He slowed long enough to look back at Liz with concern. "We'll hook up with you again later."A sudden fear that Max was going to get himself hurt, or worse, over some misguided chivalric impulse flashed through Liz's brain. She saw the murderous gunman firing his weapon again, this time at her boyfriend and soulmate. "Please, Max," she urged him. "Be careful!"Yeah," Maria seconded that anguished emotion. "Both of you, play it safe, will you?" Worry radiated from her naked, openly emotional face. "Remember, we know this guy is armed and dangerous."So are we," Max reminded them before disappearing into the tunnel outside the grotto. Liz listened as his and Michael's footsteps swiftly receded into the distance.

"Boy," Alex commented, shaking his head in disbelief. "When did Max turn into such a hard-ass? He was starting to sound like Dirty Harry there."He's just worried about Liz…I think," Maria said doubtfully "The scary part is, we're expecting Michael to be the sensible one?" She gave Liz another encouraging hug, perhaps to reassure herself as much as her shell-shocked best friend. "Well, what do you say, girlfriend? Are you up to blowing this underground popsicle stand? I don't know about you, but I'm ready to see the sun again." She toyed with the silver pendant around her neck. "If cool chicks like us were meant to live underground, then we wouldn't look so great with a tan."Okay, I guess," Liz said. Her legs still felt a little rubbery, but she supposed she could manage to make her way back to the surface again. Maybe III feel less trapped, less frightened, once I get out of these endless caves. A pang of regret stabbed her heart as she wondered whether her upsetting run-in with Morton had ruined the caves for her forever. Only this morning, Carlsbad had represented carefree childhood memories to her; now she just wanted to get as far away from these gloomy caverns as possible.

Her arm around Liz's shoulders, Maria guided Liz out of the grotto, into the press of foot traffic surging through the Big Room. Alex stuck close to Liz as well, so that she was bracketed protectively between her friends as they slowly made their way back toward the rest area. "Isabel?" he called out after a moment or two. "You coming with us?"The glamorous alien teenager shook her head. "Not right away. There's something else I have to do first."Huh?" Alex said, mystified. He lingered upon the trail, blocking traffic somewhat, torn between keeping up with Liz and Maria and finding out what his frequently enigmatic dream girl was planning. "Why? What-?"No questions, Alex," she instructed him decisively. Like her brother, Isabel could seldom be dissuaded once she'd made up her mind. They were royalty, after all, Liz remembered, albeit not from this planet. "Help Maria get Liz to the surface. I'll join you there later."But-?" Alex began, completely disoriented by this baffling turn of events. Liz had to admit that she didn't understand either.

"Just do it, Alex," Isabel insisted, turning her back and heading the other way. Alex strained his neck to keep hei in view, but, within moments, she had disappeared into the milling mob of amateur spelunkers.

"Come on, Alex," Maria said, calling him back to the task at hand; namely, ferrying Liz back to the world above. "I'm sure our friend, the space princess, will find us once she's finished her mysterious alien business." Lowering her voice, she whispered clandestinely into Liz's ear. "What oni earth is that all about?"I have no idea, Liz thought.

Lieutenant David Ramirez, currently assigned to White Sands Missile Range, was wishing he'd never heard of Joe Morton. How the hell did I get mixed up in this mess? he asked himself gloomily, but he already knew the answer. Morton had plenty of dirt on him-the drugs, the gambling, the whole thing-plus connections with enough cash to let Ramirez pay off his debts and start a new life somewhere else if he had to. Blackmail and bribery were a potent combination, one that he had been unable to resist. I should have never opened my mouth about that damn UFO! He leaned against the metal guardrail, staring morosely into the unplumbed depths of the Bottomless Pit, which seemed about as black and abysmal as his current prospects. He had no illusions what would happen to him if his superiors found out about his dealings with Morton. At best, he'd be talking court- martial; at worst, he'd just quietly "disappear" without any fuss, as though he had never existed at all. This was high treason, after all, involving some of the government's most closely-guarded secrets.