He nodded. "A bit. But I had my orders. “

She suddenly snapped a riding crop against her leg. It cracked loudly on her leather pants. "I was just following orders. Where has that phrase been heard before? “

Frank looked around at his environment, watching it change. He recognized the fences and the wood and tar-paper barracks and shacks that housed them all, saw hundreds of the Japanese men, women, and children who lived there. His grandparents had lived there, had met there. The internment camps. His grandmother was a Nisei, second-generation Japanese-American. His grandfather was classified as Kibei, a member of the American-born second generation who was schooled in Japan, and thus was more suspect.

After the war, when they had been released back into society, his grandparents had gotten married. They had passed down to all their children and grandchildren the stories and photos of the camps, sharing with them the feeling of helplessness as the government to which they had been loyal branded them as dangerous, confiscated their possessions, and forced them into confinement.

" Colorado River Relocation Center. This is where they met," he told the girl, who was now in a military uniform. "Why are we here? “

"You know the answer to that better than I do," she said. "Something about today reminded you of this place. “

Seeing that he was no longer bound to the table, he rose and approached the girl. "What did you do? Why are they hunting you? “

"I tried to live my life," she said. "Certain people felt I shouldn't be allowed to live my life in freedom, so they began hunting me and my friends. “

"But you had to have done something" he said, though he wasn't at all sure that she had.

"We didn't do anything until they attacked us. And then, we only defended ourselves from harm." Her eyes narrowed. "You tried to harm us today. We defended ourselves. Wouldn't you have done the same for your family? Or would you have let them take you here… or someplace worse?" The walls of the camp barracks all turned white, and the sun grew brighter in the sky.

Something about the girl's statements made sense, and yet, it all seemed vague. "The report we got about you came in from a special branch of intelligence," Kaneko said. "I don't know what section it came from, just that they had high-level clearance. It wasn't very specific about who you were or why you were wanted, but it did tell us not to shoot you. “

She laughed. "Well, I guess there's something positive. So what happened afterward? “

"Some men came and debriefed us. They were with that high-level intelligence group. No one I recognized. No one I really wanted to see again. “

They were in a canyon then, in the desert. Someplace he had seen before in the Southwest, though he couldn't quite place it. A large spire of rock jutted off at an angle up the hill on a cliff. The girl stood on a nearby rock, her head framed by the night sky, a constellation of five stars serving as a crown. "Show me those men," she said.

He wasn't sure what she meant, but then the men appeared against the rock spire, their images projected a hundred feet tall, as if from some colossal movie projector. Though their lips moved, they were silent.

The girl studied each of them, as if memorizing their faces. When the images faded, she turned back toward Frank. "Was that all of them?" she asked.

"Yes. How did you… “

"Did they say anything about anyone else other than the six of us?" She stared at him again, her cool brown eyes now darkened almost to black.

"Not that I can remember. “

"Did they mention anything about Boston, or Roswell? “

At the last word, Frank remembered where he had seen the desert before. His family had driven through New Mexico when he was ten. Although they hadn't taken any photos, the inspiring terrain had stuck in his mind.

"No, they didn't mention either one of those places," he said. "But I've been to Roswell before. “

Her eyes flashed. "When? “

"When I was ten. We were going to California. Daddy got a flat tire in Roswell. We got to get ice cream while it was getting fixed." He smiled at the memory.

The girl nodded. "Okay. Let's get back to today. You're a federal agent. You're trained to notice unusual things. Was there anything else these men said to you that made you suspicious? “

He thought for a moment, and then another memory flashed. "They were very clear that they wanted all the surveillance tapes of what happened from the mall. I don't expect they were happy that some of them got leaked out to the news. But I don't know why. If you're so dangerous, shouldn't they be alerting everyone? “

"That's a good question, Agent Kaneko. Maybe we're not the ones who are dangerous. Maybe it's the men who are hunting us." She leaned in closer to him, and her eyes were fully black now, and wider. He could see an infinitude of tiny stars reflected on them… no, seemingly existing in them… with five stars shining infinitely brighter than all the others.

He blinked slowly, and, as he opened his eyes, he saw that the woman was gone. He was looking up at the ceiling, lying in his bed at home, the comforter thrown onto the floor. He could hear his wife breathing softly beside him as she slept.

The words of the dream girl came back to him. You tried to harm us today. We defended ourselves. Wouldn't you have done the same for your family? Something else gnawed at him. There was an important connection somewhere in his dream. He just had to make it.

Although he wouldn't say it out loud, even Michael had to admit that everything had gone smoothly at the hotel. As far as they could tell, there were no guards at the perimeter, no one surveilling their rooms, and no one had rifled through their belongings. They quickly packed and left the rooms as easily as they had arrived, leaving their keys behind on the bedside tables.

They were almost back to the Microbus when Max motioned Michael over. Liz apparently took the hint, and moved forward to walk with Kyle and Maria.

"What's up?" Michael asked.

"There's one more thing we need to do before we leave town," Max said. "And I need your help to pull it off. “

Michael was about to sigh heavily, but held back. He'd give Max the benefit of the doubt first. "What do you need? “

"I need you to pump up the rest of our money," Max said. "Turn the twenties into fifties. I'm taking as much as we can spare back to the hospital. “

Now Michael did sigh heavily "What for, Maxwell? You've already healed those people. What, now we need to make a donation to your favorite charity as well? “

Max gave him one of his patented I'm disappointed in you, Michael looks before replying. "We haven't done right by those people who got hurt because of us. Shania Cameron's family is facing medical bills they can't pay and… “

Michael stopped in his tracks, and half a step later Max did as well. "Maxwell, let's take stock here. We got attacked today. Somehow they tracked us down, and they very nearly captured all of us. They had your wife in cuffs, and they tasered my… Maria and your sister. We're on the run, we're tired, and we're hungry. We're counterfeiting money and living in a van and hotels, and none of us have lives to speak of anymore. Don't you think it's time to start thinking about what we need to be safe? Or are you still as blind to trouble as you apparently were on Antar?" Max's eyes flashed angrily for a moment, but Michael also saw in them a sense of sadness that seemed to overwhelm the momentary rage. "Michael, you're right. I just want to do this one thing. And then we can get out of town and maybe find a safe haven somewhere. “

"Or maybe we take the fight back to them," Michael suggested.

"Yeah, that worked so well for Tess," Max said, his expression deadpan, but his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm just saying that maybe there isn't a peaceful way out of this for us. “