Nancy giggled a bit every time she heard the name; when she was twelve, she had idolized Peggy Lipton, who'd played Julie Barnes on The Mod Squad on TY and… much to her mother's chagrin… had also nursed a crush on Upton 's costar, Clarence Williams III. Ah, how things change.

The humorous moment faded quickly, replaced by melancholy. Nancy 's only child was on the run from the government and aliens and who knew what else. And except for occasional reports… like the one they had gotten last night… she had no way to protect her little girl.

As she turned, Nancy 's elbow knocked a bottle of Tabasco sauce from the counter, and it shattered on the floor. She grabbed a roll of towels and crouched behind the counter to clean it up.

She heard the sudden squeal of tires outside the cafe. Still squatting, she turned and looked through the glass pastry case and out toward the street to see what it was. A black van and a black sedan had pulled up outside the diner, and Nancy saw several men dressed in dark paramilitary clothing exit the vehicle at a run.

Nancy 's blood turned to ice as she heard someone bark an order at Jeff, who dropped his cleaning supplies and tried to run for the door of the cafe. He yelled her name, but they were on him in an instant, four of them crashing down on top of him.

Even before she heard them say it, Nancy knew the men were coming for her next. She scrabbled across the floor, ignoring the glass shard that stabbed into her leg from the broken Tabasco sauce bottle. She crawled through the swinging door and into the kitchen, and only then did she dare to stand up. Grabbing the cordless phone on the wall, she considered her options.

Do I call Jim or the Evanses? Phillip will know what to do. He's a lawyer. She started to dial, then realized she was half squatting in the middle of the floor, bleeding from the cut on her leg. She shook her head quickly, trying to focus. Okay, they're probably waiting out in the alley. And they'll head upstairs first.

She ran to the downstairs bathroom and locked the door behind her. She knew it wouldn't hold for very long, but maybe it would buy her time.

As her trembling fingers touched the cell phone's buttons, Nancy heard the men running up the stairs toward their home above the diner. The phone on the other end rang once, its small, purring sound nearly drowned out by the frantic beating of her own heart, and the noise from the men outside.

"This door's locked!" a male voice yelled outside the bathroom.

The phone rang again. Next came a click, and then she heard Diane Evans's voice. "Hello? “

"Break it down if you have to," another man outside ordered.

"Diane, it's Nancy. They've just taken Jeff, and they're raiding the house, looking for me. Oh, God, they're going to be here any second. Diane, you've got to… “

And then the door crashed inward, the frame splintering around the hinges and the lock.

Nancy found herself staring into the guns of two masked men dressed all in black.

Cheyenne, Wyoming "So everything's okay then?" Liz asked.

"Yep." Max smiled lightly "You're sure? No problems?" She looked into his eyes, but couldn't see any concern in them.

"No problems. “

They were walking across the parking lot toward the Microbus. Kyle and Michael had been arranging Maria's guitar case and what little other luggage they all had, setting up individual areas for each of them within the cramped vehicle. Soon, they'd be back on the road.

Isabel and Maria were standing outside the van, looking up at the cloudless dawn sky.

"We're all clear, kids. Now let's blow this thing so we can all go home," Max said.

Liz recognized the paraphrasing from Star Wars, and was about to make a joke about Max being a scruffy- looking nerf-herder, when she tripped and fell forward into Isabel… Suddenly she was back in the White Room, with its painfully bright klieg lights and the doctor and the restraining straps that secured her to the operating table. But now she could see that there were others in the room as well, and still more people watching from galleries elevated above the room. Men in dark suits, mostly. One woman was present.

She felt excruciating pain from somewhere in her chest, but she couldn't lift her head to find its cause.

Instead, she looked past the red haze in her eyes, past the pain lancing through her mind, and into the mirrored hoods on the overhead lights.

She wasn't surprised to see that she wasn't Liz anymore. She was Isabel now, though it took Liz a moment to recognize Max's sister. Most of her hair had been shorn away, replaced by a chaotic tangle of electrodes and wires. But that wasn't the worst of it.

She couldn't see everything because of the medical workers who bustled about her lower half, but she could see that her/Isabel's stomach and chest were draped with protective medical material.

The fabric's light blue surface was stained crimson with blood.

And then one of the workers moved aside, and she saw that her/Isabel's chest was open, spread wet and wide, as they continued to disassemble her, organ by organ.

Liz screamed, and the sound reverberated off the white walls. But the technicians paid no heed to the sound.

And then, there were hands on her shoulders, and Liz found herself looking at Max. She could see her reflection in his dark eyes, saw the fear on his face, an expression mirrored by Isabel and Maria, who stood directly behind him.

"Liz! Are you all right?" Max said.

Liz was startled to find herself lying on the blacktop of the parking lot, beside the van. She realized that she must have screamed out loud. She nodded, and Max grasped her hand tightly and helped her to her feet.

Liz caught her breath. "I saw it again, Max. Isabel was… they were doing an alien autopsy, but she wasn't dead! It was horrible! “

Maria tried to put her arm around Isabel's shoulder, but the taller girl pushed her away, her face suddenly drained of all color.

Max gave Maria a quick, apologetic glance, then released Liz's hand so he could approach his sister. "We're going to make sure it doesn't happen, Iz. It won't come true. “

Michael hopped out of the van. "I know it's not a good time, but we've got to go, Maxwell. Liz screamed pretty loud, and somebody's going to come looking any second. “

Kyle and Maria helped Liz up into the back of the Microbus, and seconds later, Max helped Isabel inside.

Liz couldn't help but notice that Isabel was making every effort not to touch Liz as she found a place to sit. Isabel wouldn't, or couldn't, even look at her.

I don't blame her, Liz thought. I'm not sure I'd want to look at anybody who'd just foretold my death.

Michael started the VW and sped out of the parking lot.

Roswell, New Mexico Ever since the military lockdown of the town following the explosion at Rogers Air Force Base, Brody Davis had taken ever greater security precautions at the UFO Center, as well as at his own home. The Center was already well fortified, as had been proven when Sheriff Hanson had tried to storm the place thinking a hostage situation had developed there. And while he already had hidden video cameras monitoring the inside of the place, Brody had also installed a number of external video cameras over the last several months.

If another government lockdown was coming, Brody was going to be ready. It wasn't that he was particularly antigovernment; he just didn't trust them, especially with all the invaluable data that was stored here at his museum.

There had been times… especially when Max Evans had worked there… when Brody had felt he was on the verge of making a breakthrough in his research into the Roswell conspiracy and UFO cover-ups in general. But those months had also been full of what he'd come to think of as "lost time": the period during which he felt he had been abducted by aliens. Once, he had even awoken in New York, with no idea how he had gotten there from Roswell, nor why he had made the journey. Clearly, some other intelligence had been pulling his strings.