The Rebel *Sequel* (CC ALL, YTEEN) Ch. 26 - pg. 19 - 12 / 9 / 20

[xilaj]

It's fascinating to get these insights into what the Antarians are thinking and feeling. Hearing the uncertainty and hope in Ash and Violet's conversation is very touching. It's interesting seeing Van through other eyes too: an inspiring leader to Ash and Violet but cold and vengeful and frightening in Dave's eyes.
I wonder how he'll appear as he and Max get to know each other better. How will Max feel when he finds out about Van's execution list? How will he feel about Dave who, however reluctantly, arranges to supply it.
Seeing Dave forced to take an action that he finds immoral because of his fear of what Van can do does give me a more sympathetic view of Dave's manipulation of the teens back in The Offer. A little more sympathetic, that is. It still bothers me.
In fact you're complicationg my view of Dave very nicely. It's very sad to hear him wishing that someone had offered he and Jake a box of surprises with no secret agendas when they were kids. I love the twist this gives to grown-up Dave, who's the specialist in making offers with secret agendas, at least where Max and co. are concerned. I'm looking forward to that conversation between Max and Dave that surely needs to happen when Max can finally look back over his dealings with Dave and see what effect those secret agendas have had on all of their lives.
I love your story Misha. I think it's amazing and I can't wait to read the next part, Alix

[Timelord31]

I believe its time for another chapter

[Misha]

After dragging the muse back, I finally convinced her that it was time we started writing and getting down to business

Thanks to my wonderful beta, Michelle in LA!

xmag, as I see it, the other 10% is their memories. Plus there was a lot of mixing to get our Hybrids ready and running with their human powers, and their cells, especially their blood cells, are testament to that

xilaj, Dave is a complicated character, that's for sure. And he knows he's not a knight in shining armor, either. He's just doing what he thinks it's best, picking the lesser of two evils, I guess.

Now, on to the story!



Chapter 7
Out of Reach

November 2nd – New York City

1 : Dave

There were few places where thinking about one's life was unavoidable: at funerals, of which he had never really attended any that mattered. At near-death experiences, and for someone who had been on the run since he was 12, those were remarkably few and far between. And in prison.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where I am right now. Though truth be told, he had no inclination to review his entire life. Just a few things here and there, and to harbor some unhealthy anxiety about the upcoming 24 hours.

He was still at the cell where McKay had left him 29 minutes and 3 seconds ago, the inhaler still in his left hand, while his right hand slowly drummed on the metal table in front of him. He was absently playing an imaginary piano, the music sounding at the back of his thoughts. It had been a long time since he'd done that. The lack of puzzles—or napkins to turn into puzzles—was a slow torture to his mind.

Van is a smart guy, Dave thought, he must have realized by now that there's a good reason why the Network is down.

He'd been telling himself that an awful lot in the past few hours. He had to believe that. Otherwise, he'd brought down half of his life's work for nothing.

I refuse to believe Van would let McKay put his claws on any of them, he thought grimly, his internal piano playing a sinister composition.

The not knowing was killing him. Funny that, since it was usually knowing too much that got him into trouble.

Objectively, Van was bound to keep Max safe. It had been certified back in 2000 that Max did possess the Royal Seal, for one; and secondly, Van was not going to let go of the idea that his brother Zan was still alive, at least not for some time—enough time to get Max out of McKay’s range, hopefully.

Objectively, too, Dave knew that Van's resources were limited. Yes, the Rebels were gaining terrain, but Khivar was getting bolder, harsher, and too impulsive. In the short term, it meant Van needed to keep his forces in Antar. He couldn't blame him. Khivar was a dictator struggling to keep his power, going from a tight grip to a desperate position. That made him dangerous.

Right before his own capture, Dave had contacted Van. The leader of the Rebellion had been sure something big was going to happen soon, so plans had been hastily made for a meeting between the three parties: Van, Dave, and Max.

That was one meeting Dave was not looking forward to. It was impossible to fathom what Max’s reaction would be in that moment when he was going to be reintroduced to his former life; when all Dave's work would come to an end; when Max would know the real reason behind the deal and Dave's interest, and how many people had conspired to get him to that exact point. Afterwards, Max’s decisions would be his own, but Dave doubted Max would be happy about the entire situation, to say the least.

His piano song turned menacing. There were other darker corners to explore. Especially concerning how had Dave ended up here, in custody to begin with. True, he'd been blinded to the world with his upcoming meeting with Max and then Van, but he hadn't been careless enough to lead McKay straight to him, and by extension, to them. Worse, he was sure McKay had not been bluffing when he said he had gotten Max's location.

Something's rotten in Denmark, he thought, his piano song cutting abruptly at the back of his mind with a dissonant note. Who had access to this real time information?

There was Jake, of course, who lacked the technical skill. He was angry with Dave, so angry, but he would never do anything to jeopardize the kids' safety. If Jake wanted some sort of retribution, he would do it some other way, and one that would impact only Dave. But Jake is out of the question, he thought with a small smile. The last time he had seen his best friend in the world had been over a week ago, and it had not ended well. If that was going to be the last time he saw him…

Tell me you understand, Jake. Tell me you understand why I did it, why I had to do it. If I had told you, Van would have taken Max from my hands, and Luke would have loved to have the tiniest reason to execute us both for treason to the Crown.

The next logical step was Ray. But nothing in Ray's behavior could explain this. Ray was not a greedy man, and Dave paid him well, so there was not a financial motive. But Ray did have vulnerabilities that could be exploited. And Ray does have the technical skill to track all of us down and…

Dave sighed, deep and calming. He didn't have the luxury to second-guess his friends, because they were the most likely to get him out. Whoever had gotten this information, however unlikely, he was good.

So, maybe the aliens, then.

They certainly had the technical skill. Dave had made sure they had a way to use the Network to track the hybrids, because denying Van access to Zan was as good as signing his own death warrant. A traitor in Van's ranks was as unlikely as a traitor in Dave's ranks, but someone had to have given directions to McKay.

The interesting question was why Dave. Why had he been taken prisoner first? With McKay the head of the Unit, his priority would have been Max and the others, and Dave would have been just the cherry on top.

Maybe someone wanted me out of the game first… cause suspicions in Van? Rush everything into a mess? Can Khivar reach this far into the game?

His piano song resumed, his right fingers going faster on a half coherent piece. His list of suspects was not long, and all of them improbable. The thing was, whatever this traitor's intentions were, whoever he was, he had no idea what kind of mess he was getting himself into. Van was not the forgiving type, and even less so when the target was his brother.


2 : Luke

There was something surreal about driving a car on an alien planet with one's reincarnated idol sitting not even ten inches away.

This was the first time Luke had ever been this close to Rath—to any of them, really—and had he been able to sweat, it would be pouring off him right now. Thank God for small favors, he said with an inner chuckle. Jade was the one who loved idioms and euphemisms and all sorts of word play. Luke, on the other hand, didn't like to spend so much time away from Van, and by extension Antar. His place was not here, yet his heart still cherished a boy's idealism, and sitting right here, driving for the General, was something like a dream come true. If having him pissed off at me and being in the middle of this goddamn chaos can be called a dream come true, that is…

Luke's mind was an unusual scattered disarray of thoughts. His only options to rectify that were small talk with Rath, or opening the door and abandoning the car. Neither would work, so he'd gone for silence, and spoken when spoken to. It felt like being back under Khivar's control, where all shifters were required to military duty, and their blind obedience was expected, including when to speak. Shifters never talked first, ever.

Not until Van came along, Luke thought, easing his grip on the wheel. Traffic was murderous for some reason or another. It was not even 5pm, but Luke couldn't remember if that was rush hour in New York or in some other city. For all their talk about Earth being a small planet, it was maddeningly diverse and chaotic enough for Luke to lose track of the details. Khivar might be an absolute tyrant, but he was an organized tyrant. And Antar had been organized long before Khivar's time, too. That was what bothered Luke the most about coming to this planet: the not knowing where he stood.

But freedom is not organized,a younger Van had said once with a smile, one of those rare moments when he lowered his guard and let himself just be free of the burden of being the leader, of being in constant danger. You'll be able to choose, go places, be someone different every day if that's what you desire.

But Van, he'd said with fear, I already am a different someone every day.

"He's moving," Rath said, bringing Luke back to the present.

"Where?" he asked, his eyes on the rear view mirror. They would have to switch cars soon, or at the very least change the plates. The red light two cars in front glared at him. They were not moving anywhere for a while.

"Keep going forward, he's not moving very fast."

"That might be good," Luke said, turning to look at Rath, who almost threw daggers at him. "If he's not running, it could mean they're not under attack," he explained, feeling the weirdness of the situation. Here he was, the second in command to a rebellion's leader, giving tactical points to the second in command of an entire planet's leader.

"He might be hiding," Rath answered in a steely tone. "Max is not right. I'm not sure what exactly is wrong with him, but if he's feeling sick, he might just be waiting. And if something happens to him, I'm holding you responsible."

"If something happens to him, then all is lost," Luke said quietly. He'd always wondered if Rath and Zan would use their real names in private, if they would take off the pretense of their human lives. But that had never been reported back from their Guards. They seldom talked about Antar, and their worries were about their current lives. But that would make sense, Van would say every other week, they have no future here until we give them one.

"I don't get it. Why now? Why the Empire State Building?"

A kaleidoscope of arguments and decisions regarding meeting Zan ran through Luke’s mind from the past forty-eight hours. It seemed surreal that after years of planning, the most important day was going so horribly wrong.

"Khivar is trying to kill Zan... Probably in the next twelve hours," he finally said. “Van wanted to meet Zan to personally warn him… After all, he’s his brother.”

Luke didn’t dare to gaze at Rath. Instead, his eyes fixed ahead. A girl in a pink dress in the front car waved at him with not a care in the world. He envied her.

By the corner of his eye, he saw that Rath had stopped staring uneasily outside at these words. He seemed to have stopped breathing as well. Very slowly, he turned to look at Luke.

"Zan doesn't have any brothers."

"Zan didn't have any brothers," he corrected him, feeling defensive all of a sudden.

"Is that so?" Rath asked in a dangerous low voice.

"When the Queen and the rebellion thought that you four had been lost for good, they decided to create Van. He's Zan's mother biological son. Being half-brothers gives him enough power to lead the Rebellion, and ultimately, a claim to the throne. It’s legitimate enough to overpower Khivar."

"Then he doesn't need Max," Rath said, going back and forth with Zan's names. "Is he here to wipe out the competition?"

The air between them charged, and Luke's heart skipped a beat.

"No! Of course not! Van's been trained—raised to fight for Zan. He's the sole reason Van keeps leading, why we've come so far. Why we shifters are in the middle of this war to begin with." Rath didn’t seem convinced. Luke was ready to bolt. His whole body trembled slightly as he was readying himself to shape into the car's door or melt into the black leather seat.

"If you want me to believe you, you're not shifting anywhere."

Luke froze.

"What happens if Van decides Zan is not who he thought?"

Swallowing, Luke felt invisible fingers lightly closed on his throat. The light ahead turned green, and a second later, the car behind them honked viciously.

"Drive," Rath said with a deadly calm. Luke did.

"Why does Van need Zan?"

"Everyone expects Zan to return. And it's not so much that Van needs Zan, but that Van wants Zan to come back. To lead. You know how it was under Zan. You, of all people, should see why Van wants Zan back."

Rath's rigid stare softened at that. Luke had touched on something important enough that he could breathe a tiny little bit easier. Memories of a past that had been worth fighting for.

"Turn right," Rath said, his eyes looking at the streets in front of him. Luke crossed, finding yet another red light. He was starting to hate those. "What kind of man is Van?" Rath asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

"The kind I would die for," Luke answered without missing a beat. "Van… he's strong, all the way to the core. He's known nothing but civil war all his life, but all you'll ever hear him talking about is the future. He wants peace as much as he wants air to breathe.” He chuckled at his own words. He’d spent too much time around Van not to get carried away. “War is not the right place to raise an idealist, if you know what I mean. I don't think he likes half the things he's done to keep Khivar at bay and give us the upper hand."

Rath opened his mouth to say something and then closed it. He seemed frustrated with something. "Are you sure you can protect Max from Khivar’s plan?” he asked, his hands balled into fists.

Luke nodded. “We are. And once this is all over… maybe Zan will want to come home.”

“You’ll take us back?” There was no eagerness in Rath’s question. Rather weariness. It was somehow disappointing to see how this alien body and this alien planet had staked a claim to such a great Antarian.

Luke took a deep breath, the car advancing at a snail pace.

"Not all of you… We know, General. We know what Vilandra did. Khivar made a very public declaration a few years ago, even attempted to come to Earth for her himself to prove it. He tried to discredit Zan’s memories and actions by proving not even his own sister trusted him."

"She was tricked," Rath dismissed the notion, his eyes searching outside once more. "Max keeps moving. Where would Van take him?"

Didn’t you hear what I just said?

"There's only one logical place: Headquarters. They are at the outskirts of the city."

"They are not moving that fast. Keep going in this direction until I tell you to turn cross again."

The Empire State Building loomed tall at the distance, some ten blocks away.

"And Luke, if you say anything negative about my sister, I'll kill you."

Ten long blocks away.


3 : Max

“You could have showed mercy!” Max argued, barely able to get the words out in a civil manner. All of them? he thought, knowing full well Van had had enough time to make sure every single agent in the Unit had died. How many had there been? Twelve? Twenty?

“I did,” Van said, dark eyes locking with hazel ones. “I spared everyone else currently in this Unit, didn’t I?”

For how long?

Being in the face of someone who would—and already had—killed for him was a sobering experience. Zan knew the necessity of executions, and Max knew that in any other light, an attack of a foreign officer could be viewed as an act of war. Rationally, he wanted to argue that those men were just following orders, that he was perceived as a threat. But if he wanted to be honest, he knew how much Pierce had enjoyed it, and part of him was just plain relieved those men were gone—those men who had sealed their destiny the moment they had decided to hunt him, and who would have killed him, his wife, his friends, without a second thought.

“You can’t… you can’t just kill people on my behalf,” Max said, feeling empty inside. It was unsettling, chillingly so, to know he had to watch his every word, every move, every single glance, because Van could decide someone else had to die.

Another dizzy spell hit him, making the fog around his connection thicker. It passed as fast as it came.

“I executed them in accordance with our laws, Zan. You’re not just some poor devil who got tangled with the wrong people. You’re the king of an entire planet, leader of an interplanetary alliance. You have more titles to your name than those men could even imagine. You do not leave unpunished the crimes committed against your leaders. What happens to you, happens to Antar.”

“You will not kill any more humans. Don’t you see? It becomes us versus them, and when does it end? I am hiding here, I did not come with open arms seeking allies. We cannot expect them not to feel threatened when there has been no trust between us from the start.”

Van regarded him for a tense moment. Finally, he nodded once.

“Unless you're in danger, I will refrain from executing anybody without your knowledge," Van said in a somber tone. Then he sighed. "Forgive me, brother. I’m sorry—all I’ve ever known is war, but it brightens my soul to see you so passionate about this. I want that. I want what you see in things. I want those views for Antar.”

I just want to see my wife, know my friends are safe, and go back to worrying about how to slip Dave's watchful eyes.

Dave. Now there was a topic he very much wanted to hear about.

"How did you—"

Beside Van, a form took shape in the space of two seconds. For one moment, Max almost projected his shield. The fact that the man that had suddenly materialized was himself, gave him pause.

"We are being followed."


4 : Jade

Walking was a bad idea. In fact, standing was bad enough, without adding movement. He stopped walking, and leaned against the first suitable wall. Since he was still holding Liz's hand, she had no option but to stop as well. He might be a drugged shifter right at the moment, but he was not going to lose sight of her. Even if it was a blurry sight of her.

"Jade, what are you doing? Max is in that direction."

"I'm not… I'm not still enough," he answered. She frowned at his chosen words. "Stable?" he tried to correct. Maybe it was sober?

"You—you mean you can't walk?"

"I'd rather not. It wasn't that bad when we were on the train, it is now."

He closed his eyes, easier that way to remain standing—or rather leaning—on the wall. The floor was looking quite inviting otherwise.

"Okay, okay," she said, getting closer to him. "We need to warn Max that the Unit is coming. You can stay here while I—"

"No," he said, opening his eyes. She wasn't happy, that much was evident. "If I let you go, you'll be unprotected. Van would kill me before the sun rises tomorrow."

"I think he would find it in his heart to forgive you if I warn Max on time."

"He already…" knows, he was going to say, but he had no idea if that was true. Van was waiting for Khivar, an Antarian threat. Not humans. The Special Unit had been a non-issue for so long, it was hard to add them to the equation.

"He already what? Jade?"

"What will the Unit do?" he asked. Liz blinked.

"They hunt us down. They almost killed Max."

"We killed them back," he answered with pride, his memory getting slightly clearer, his thought more coherent now that he had stopped moving.

"You what?" she asked, her eyes going round.

"When we first came to Earth. That was our primary objective. Bring justice for crimes committed against Zan. We are soldiers, Liz. And we are very good at what we do."

"You—you're not joking."

"No."

"Michael knew… oh God, Michael told us that he had tracked down the agents and half of them were dead. We thought Dave had something to do with it."

"Rath is good at tracking down threats," he said sincerely. "You're good at keeping Zan grounded," he added as an afterthought.

Liz slightly smiled at that, turning to see the subway exit some 30 feet away. "Max is overly grounded, with or without me," she murmured. "Look, I know this is important to you, but Max—Zan is bigger than the two of us, right?"

He nodded, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"And Zan, he's really going to forgive you if I gave you an order to stay and you followed it."

Jade stopped nodding. He took orders from Van, and up until this point, there had never been an issue of the chain of command. It was either Van giving the orders, or Luke. There was no one else, no conflict of interest, no delays or misunderstandings.

Liz's eyes glazed for a second as if she'd heard something that was beyond his hearing. She got close to him, and tiptoeing, she said very quietly and very clearly. "Jade, either you let me go, or I'll drag you to him."

She wasn't kidding.

A couple of minutes later, they were heading for the exit.


5 : Kyle

I'm gonna miss it! I'm gonna miss it!

Can't believe I'm in the biggest city in the world!

God, I'm so late. He's going to be furious.

I love you. I love you so much.

Of all the powers that he could gain, did it really have to be mind reading? Like, seriously?

No molecular structure changing, dreamwalking, green shields or anything cool—and silent. Granted, most of the time his life was just as normal as the next guy's—minus Dave, Jake and Ray and all that meant—but when he was stressed out like today… It was as if everyone wanted to personally inform him in the loudest way possible what they thought about anything and everything.

He wanted to scream.

We shouldn't have taken the subway. Too many people, too many thoughts.

It had not been too long ago that he'd come clean to Jake about this. He didn't want to lose it, exactly, but he didn't know how to learn to control it either. He had not practiced enough to learn how to hear his own thoughts instead of others, or how to distract his mind from zeroing into everyone else's business.

At least he only got loud snatches of the people around him. When he was around the alien trio, it was unnerving how clear their thoughts were. Not really different from his own, exactly, but if he wanted to focus, he could actually have a conversation with any of them without them having to open their mouths. It was creepy beyond hell, and he'd only done it a couple of times with Max and Isabel. Michael had never said he wasn't willing to take a friendly silent chat with him, but it wasn't something Kyle could envision either. Michael was too private for that.

Now he wished he'd told Jake five years ago.

It seemed that every time his telepathy kicked in, it got a wider range. He was pretty sure the thought about killing for a burger was coming from the other side of the car, where a kid was watching a fat guy devouring his Big Mac.

He was already getting a headache, and people thinking in other languages was making it worse. They still had some good twenty minutes to ride before reaching their second car, and Kyle just didn't know if he was going to be able to handle it.

Screw Jake's plan, I'm getting out of here!

The subway stopped, the doors hissing open. Kyle was out before he could change his mind, Maria yelling at him to stop.

"What are you doing?!" she asked, getting a grip on his elbow.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

We gotta get going, we gotta find Michael.

I'm so hungry.

Man, that girl is hot!

So, if we take a taxi we wouldn't get lost.

"It's too loud!" he all but yelled, resisting the urge to cover his ears with his hands. It wouldn't do any good.

Her eyes went round at that, and she immediately let him go, her hand rising to her mouth. “Kyle, I’m… I’m sorry, but we gotta keep going.”

He looked at her, for a glorious second the world going quiet as he focused all his attention on her and on how to explain her he could not keep going, that their plan had to change no matter what Ray or Jake or anyone for that matter, thought.

And then, one crystal voice broke through his thin defenses: I’m coming for you, Max.

“Liz…” he whispered, turning 180 degrees to his left, the sounds of a thousand people thinking crashing in his mind for a moment and then being forgotten again.

“What?” Maria asked, frowning, following his gaze.

“I heard Liz just now,” he answered, his eyes searching the crowd in the general direction where the thought had come from. And there! He barely caught the sight of Max disappearing through the exit stairs.

But why would I hear Liz and not Max? he absently wondered as he started to run, confident Maria would keep up.

“Where?”

“The exit. I just saw Max.”

“I thought he was at the Empire State Building,” she said, picking up speed, fluidly moving through the crowd, leading the way towards their elusive friends.

“I guess we are close to the Empire State,” Kyle said, barely glancing at the name of the metro station they were trying to exit. Now that he had a short term objective and was moving, the voices in his head receded to barely static. Once he was out of there, he was confident his mind would be his alone.

By the time he saw the sky again, shots were being fired.

[keepsmiling7]

Great part.....
"they came to bring justice for crimes committed against Zan"..........
I want to learn more,
Carolyn

[Timelord31]

wow.. great chapter..

[xmag]

I have to admit, logically, Van is a good candidate for being the betrayer. It doesn't look like he is, from what I have read about him, but logically, yes, he is.

But wouldn't it be more devastating if whoever betrayed everyone was someone close to Dave? Like, what's her name, his secretary? Nothing seems to indicate it, but do we really know everything about her?

I just want to see my wife, know my friends are safe, and go back to worrying about how to slip Dave's watchful eyes.

Max, there'so much more than Dave, honestly! That life about worrying about Dave's plans and trying to leave him behind are over. It's war. A war where those he loves are in mortal danger, so killing could be the only option. I'm not going to go all "MacGyver", here, when there's so much at stake. Not just for our heroes, but for the citizens of two planets, billions of beings.

[xilaj]

After dragging the muse back, I finally convinced her that it was time we started writing and getting down to business

I'm very glad you convinced her! And I'm glad you stay with Luke's viewpoint in the conversation with Michael. It makes it so plain that even after years of observing Max and co, the Antarians don't see them clearly. They see what they expect and want to see - Isabel as a traitor, and Max and Michael as Zan and Rath - and don't understand their complicated feelings about themselves, Antar and their previous lives. It's going to be really interesting when they start to see the real people behind the mythological figures they've created - and find that they're maybe not the people that they were expecting to see.
I love the excitement of following all the different groups of people around the city - and now you're leaving us on a cliffhanger. Who's shooting - and who are they shooting at?
I'm glad you checked in on Dave too. He may be stuck in his prison cell, but his thoughts are travelling widely and they're fascinating. Is the traitor working with Khivar or the special unit? I'd really like to know if Khivar has linked to the special unit somehow so that their enemies are working in tandem.
I hope your muse keeps on cooperating and that you're able to come back soon! I can't wait to read more! Thanks for this great update, Alix

[Timelord31]

time for another chapter

[Misha]

Yup! Just had to wrap some things up

[ken_r]

I hope you know that i will always like your stories. Sometimes in my search for life i find, maybe, things that are not intend. Such was my finishing of "Unknown." I think one of the most important unknown things we search for is "trust."

Once again, please forgive my editing, but you brought forth another gem of faith.

"So you came to this—this place because you were following Van?" she asked, the word planet almost escaping her mouth.

"Following Van's dream," Jade corrected, his eyes lazily closing again. He looked so tired, like Max used to do when he'd been pushing his limits regarding his powers.

"You came here for Zan," Liz said, frowning. At least Van was not trying to kill her husband, for once.

"I came here for Zan,"…"Even if I was not part of his Invisible Guard, but yours."…

"Jade, what exactly do you want?

"I wanted to know," he slowly replied, as if that explained everything. She frowned. Jade sighed. "He trained us personally, you know? Van. Every detail. He trusted us to protect him, until he could come…"

"You didn't know that Max is not Zan?" Liz asked, glancing at the teens who were still listening to music in front of her.

It was Jade’s turn to frown. "There's never been a question about who he is," he said. "And when they assigned me to you, I realized I was in the unique position to learn who you were… who you are." …

What exactly do you know about me?

"Do you know how he looks at you? When you're not looking at him?" he repeated his earlier question….

"Here I was, so angry I'd been robbed of my one opportunity to learn who Zan was, who he was now, in this lifetime… That first time I guarded you, I felt like such an idiot not to have seen what was in front of me."

You didn't want to guard me? What does that have to do with how Max looks at me?"

"I learned who Zan is through you. I thought I had lost my only opportunity, but instead I learned about Antar's future king in a way no one else has. But I have to know if you know…"

"Do you know how he looks at you?

"Jade," she said with the same seriousness, "he's the reason I'm alive right now." Her heart contracted at saying the same words she'd once told to the future version of Max. "If there was anything you learned through me about Max, I hope it's what a great man he is."

"No one who loves like he loves you… can be anything but," he answered earnestly.

You do not best learn about a person by interviewing that person. Better is to interview or interact with those around that person. What was seen in the Max/Liz relationship told more about Max than any in depth interview could ever do.

There is a book about the US presidents as told through the eyes of the security. Not stories about political beliefs or power struggles, but the offer of a glass of iced tea on a hot day to the body guards. It isn't a man's political beliefs, but the actions a man shows to those around him when no one is around to notice.

I was reading about the political situation in Algeria and i thought of your story about Dave's early life and the discussions we had about that area when i was young.

Your reader, your friend and your best fan.

ken r