Andy Mangels, Michael A. Martin

Pursuit

(Roswell"-07)

TV Series Placement: Post-Season 3

Liz, Max, Maria, Michael, and Kyle didn’t expect that when they left Roswell, their lives would suddenly become perfect. They were, after all, on the run from the FBI. But they certainly didn’t think things could get much worse. They’re learning how wrong they were. The FBI has tracked them via their email accounts and is hot on the group’s trail. It can only be a matter of time before they are apprehended.

Meanwhile, in New York City, three alien Dupes are captured by the police. When the Feds are brought on to the case, the Special Unit recognizes the Dupes-and wonders why "Tess," “Michael,” and “Isabel,” are so different. Little do they know they are dealing with a case of mistaken identity. And the real Isabel has more pressing concerns, if Liz’s latest vision is to be believed…

This is the first of a two-part finale for the Roswell saga, wrapping up all the storylines from the television and book series! Read the exciting conclusion in TURNABOUT… coming soon!

From the television series developed by Jason Katims

SIMON PULSE New York London Toronto Sydney Singapore

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for diis "stripped book. “

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First Simon Pulse edition September 2003 ™ and © 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Regency Entertainment (USA) Inc., and Monarchy Enterprises B.V All rights reserved.

SIMON PULSE An imprint of Simon amp; Schuster Children's Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Designed by O'Lanso Gabbidon The text of this book was set in Berkeley Book.

Printed in the United States of America 10 987654321 Library of Congress Control Number 2003100466 ISBN 0-689-85522-2 I dedicate this book to Richard and Christie Finn, who have been both friends and supporters of my professional career for over fifteen years. M.

This book is for my eldest niece, Becky Peabody Estepp. Your sense of humor helps keep me sane. M. A. M.

What Has Gone Before…

1999: September 23. Journal entry one. I'm Liz Parker, and five days ago I died. After that, things got really weird…

Liz Parker was a relatively normal teenage girl, working at her parents' alien-themed diner, the Crashdown Cafe. Then came that fateful fall day when a gunman accidentally shot Liz during an argument with another customer. A boy Liz knew from high school, Max Evans, knelt beside her and put his hand over her bullet wound, healing her completely. But when Max ran away, and Liz saw a glowing silver handprint on her stomach, she knew she had to find out the truth.

Max soon told her the truth, an unbelievable story that would pull Liz and her friends into drama, danger, romance, and an interstellar conflict. Max and his friends were aliens…

July 1947: In the desert outside Roswell, New Mexico, an alien spaceship crashed to the ground. The government soon swooped in to quarantine the site, issuing a press release that the wreckage of a flying disk had been recovered. Hours later, the press release was rescinded, and the government claimed it was actually a weather balloon.

But the government had in its possession… for a short time… material from the crash, including eight gestation pods. Those pods were later liberated from the government by the two aliens who survived the crash. Four of the pods were placed in a desert cave… along with alien technology known as the Granilith… and were watched over by the alien who came to call himself Nasedo, a Mesaliko Indian word meaning "visitor. “

The other four pods were taken to New York by the other alien, who took human form as Kal Langley. But after Langley got involved in the film industry, he attempted to become more human, and left his pod charges to gestate on their own.

Nasedo watched over the pods in Roswell, but spent much of his time hunting down and killing those who investigated the Roswell crash. In 1989, three of the pods broke open, and a trio of seemingly human six-year-old children emerged. Wandering toward the highway, two of them were found and adopted by Phillip and Diane Evans, and who named them Max and Isabel. The third child was adopted into an abusive foster family and was given the name Michael Guerin.

As the children matured, they learned they shared uncanny powers, and the strange memories of theit emergence from the pods led them to question their origins. It wasn't until their teen years that they began to discover the larger truth about themselves. And their revelation to Liz Parker of their identities started them on their path…

1999: Max, Isabel, and Michael discovered that they were part of the "Royal Four" from the warring star system of Antar. There, Max had been King Zan; Isabel had been his sister, Vilandra; Michael had been his second-in-command, Rath; and Ava had been his wife.

Ava was the occupant of the fourth pod, but she had been raised separately from the others by Nasedo. As a teen, she was reintroduced into their lives as Tess Harding. Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess were not fully human, or fully alien. Their genetic makeup mixed elements of both, giving them special powers. Max could heal others, Isabel could "dreamwalk" into human minds, Michael could wield destructive or defensive energy, and Ava could "mindwarp" others into seeing or doing what she wanted. They all could manipulate molecular structure to some extent.

Following Max's healing of Liz, others soon found out about the existence of the alien-human hybrids among them. Liz's friend Maria DeLuca fell for the bad-boy antics of Michael, even though their relationship was rocky. Mutual friend Alex Whitman was attracted to Isabel, though she didn't return his affection. Sheriff Jim Valenti started out as a nemesis to the kids, but soon came to understand that they needed protection more than exposure, especially after Max healed Jims son, Kyle, preventing his death from a gunshot wound.

The Roswell teens would come to learn that they had many enemies. A classified government group known as the Special Unit went to great lengths to capture them especially after Nasedo killed several of its top agents. And other aliens from the Antarian system had come to Earth to kill the Royal Four; chief among them were the "Skins," who could renew their essences using human bodies, which they called "husks. “

Meanwhile, the second set of pods had been opened in New York, and the four alien teens there grew up bitter, angry, and tough. After Rath and Vilandra (calling herself "Lonnie") killed Zan, they brought Ava with them to Roswell in an attempt to broker an interstellar peace using Max as a pawn. Their gambit didn't work, however.

Following the death of Nasedo, Tess moved up her plan to work a deal with Antarian forces on her own. She manipulated Max into sleeping with her, then became pregnant with his alien child. She also mindwarped Alex into helping her, eventually killing him in the process. When she was exposed as a murderess, Tess used the Granilith to return to Antar to give Max's heir to his enemies. The reasons behind her treachery remained a mystery.