His eyes flew open when something heavy struck him in the chest, and he felt himself turn weightless for a moment. He found himself plummeting backward out of the passenger-side door, gravity and the driver's relentless weight bearing him down to a painful impact with the blacktop beside the vehicle's front wheels.

Rath's breath fled his body when he struck the ground, and now the driver had the advantage. The gun skittered away on the pavement, but the driver ignored it, raining blows onto Rath's face, giving him no opportunity to dodge or regain his feet.

Concentrating, Rath released a focused blast of energy through his hand, slamming the driver into the side of the Humvee. The black-suited man slumped to the blacktop, unconscious.

Half-stunned himself, Rath rose to his feet and tried to re-enter the Humvee. Through the half-open door, he could see the driver's keys dangling in the ignition. Though still exhausted, he felt his confidence begin to rebound. Maybe there really is a chance to pull this rescue off.

"Freeze!" shouted someone behind him.

Rath turned slowly and found himself facing a trio or armed MiBs. Don't panic, he told himself, focusing past the pain that was all but perforating his head. Just hang on to this face for a while longer. Maybe I can fool 'em just long enough to take the Humvee.

"Boy am I glad to see you guys," Rath said, trying to look relieved to be rescued. He pointed at the driver, who lay on the ground beside the Humvee. "That guy was trying to impersonate me and steal the prisoners. “

The agents looked at each other, clearly uncertain. Absurdly, Rath remembered an old Star Trek episode he'd seen recently on the stolen cable-TV rig he'd set up down in the sewer-level lair of the Royal Three. You might have to shoot us both, Spock.

Rath decided he didn't like that idea much. He was aware that the more time these guys had to think about it, the less chance he had of being believed. And he also knew the agents had probably already raised the alarm, via their ear-wires. Reinforcements would be here any second, ready to shoot first and ask questions later.

Suddenly, one of the agents pointed at Rath, then said something to his companions. Rath couldn't hear him over the helicopter noise, but he did manage to read the man's lips.

Look at his face! Rath put a hand up to his brow and immediately confirmed what he already suspected. As his overall power-level waned, so did his ability to hold the shape he'd just adopted. The skin on his face was shifting and bubbling, like water boiling in a pot.

Time had finally run out. Rath decided that waiting any longer could only get him killed, along with Lonnie and Ava.

Diving to the ground to make himself a more difficult target, Rath expended another bolt of raw power in the direction of the armed agents. One of the MiBs went down hard, and the two others responded by hitting the dirt while simultaneously training their weapons in his direction. No one else was running toward them, which Rath took as an encouraging sign.

He released another bolt of energy, and another MiB went down, even as the last one got up and ran toward him, brandishing a strange-looking pistol as he approached.

Rath turned back toward the Humvee's still-open passenger-side door and dived for the cockpit, trusting that the agent wouldn't shoot him in the back. The Feds want to capture us first. The killing part comes later.

He landed on the seat, then turned to grab the door.

Before he could pull it closed, something struck him hard in the chest, though it made no noise and delivered surprisingly little pain. Fatigue finally began to overtake him, and time was suddenly flowing in a bizarre, variable-speed slow motion. The impact didn't feel like that of a bullet, and he saw a taut length of fine wire gleaming in the sunlight as it stretched across the gap between his body and the approaching agent's gun.

It was only when the second impact, and another length of wire, struck him that he realized what he was up against. As the electrical current surged mercilessly into his body and through his already overloaded central nervous system, a single word entered his mind.

Taser His body rigid, Rath tumbled into and past the Humvee's still-open door. The parking lot rushed up to greet him. He thought briefly of Lonnie before consciousness fled.

Then he thought and felt nothing at all.

"SOo they think we're terrorists now?" Kyle's voice sounded shrill even in his own ears. "What? How? Geeeeeeesh!" He yanked at the hair on top of his head in frustration and stomped away, his carefully crafted Buddhist equanimity all in tatters.

"Possible terrorist attack is what they said," Liz responded, her tone solemn.

Kyle stopped, forcing his emotions back under control as best he could. He turned to see how the others were taking the latest news.

Max leaned against the now dent-free side of the Microbus. "Whether they think we're terrorists or alien invaders, we still have a big problem. It was bad enough when the Men in Black or other aliens were chasing us. But now we're at risk from the police as well. “

Michael laughed, but it sounded mirthless. "Yeah, with our luck, we'll end up on America 's Most Wanted. “

"Okay, let's just chill out for a minute," Isabel said, raising her hands level with her head, palms out. "That's not the only thing we need to worry about. “

Maria sighed. "You mean the people who were in the accident Kyle caused? “

"Hey, I did not cause that accident," Kyle said, pointing his finger angrily at Maria. He felt bad enough about what had happened without any of his friends rubbing his nose in it. "I was trying to save all our lives. “

Michael stepped in front of Kyle's finger, his face clouded with emotion. "Step back, Valenti," he growled.

Max put his hand on Michael's shoulder. "Hey, you step back too, Michael. Snapping at each other isn't going to get us anywhere." He sighed, then continued. "Liz, what exactly did that report say about the accident? “

"It said the driver of one of the cars involved and a teenage passenger in another car were both in critical condition," Liz said soberly. "Apparently, the cops or government guys who were chasing us weren't badly hurt at all. “

Michael snorted again. "Yeah, that's just our luck. “

It occurred to Kyle that there was a way to salve his mounting guilt. "So, we should go help those people," he said. "Let Max do his alien faith-healing thing. “

"Too risky," Liz said.

Maria blanched and looked at her friend. "You say it's too risky? You always want to help the helpless. “

"Of course I want to help, but we might put ourselves in even more danger," Liz said. "And if it comes down to a choice between saving all of us, or some people who got hurt because the government wouldn't leave us alone, I'm going to pick all of us. “

No one said anything for a moment, and the only sounds nearby were the leaves on an oak tree as they rustled in the gentle afternoon breeze.

Then Kyle decided he didn't accept Liz's us-or-them choice. There had to be a better way.

"Who's going to expect us to sneak into a hospitall “

Topeka, Kansas Special Agent Suzanne Duff moved through the hallway gracefully, despite the large number of dark-suited men and conservatively dressed women who clogged the area. The legislative session was breaking for the day, and the various assistants, pages, and press people milled about the foyer of the capitol.

Touching her earpiece, Duff heard one of her fellow agents confirm that Senator McNeil was leaving the chamber. She made her way to an appropriate spot and waited. A few seconds later the murmur of the mob changed, and McNeil strode forward, flanked by a pair of Secret Service men… or reasonable bodyguard facsimiles thereof… and trailed by a pack of reporters.