Part Eleven
His body was bruised and blissfully aching everywhere. Given the events of the previous night, he was more than thankful that they were both physically fit – if they hadn’t been, he wasn’t sure they’d have lived to see daylight.
But they had, the evidence of that morning sun just starting to shine through the slit where the curtains almost met at the center of the window. A small beam of golden light lay across the bed, over his shoulder, across her beautiful face. A smile curved his lips as he watched her sleep, dark eyelashes gently brushing her lightly-flushed cheeks. She’d never been more beautiful to him.
Of course, he’d made love to her before, when they’d been able to find a few moments to be by themselves. However, there had always been the threat of being interrupted – if they were to indulge themselves at Michael’s apartment, there was always the chance that he or Maria would barge in on them; if they were to try to be together at his parents’ house, there were more people to interrupt them – Isabel or either of his parents; and the Parkers’ apartment was simply out of the question – Jeff Parker would have dropped him on his ass so fast he wouldn’t have known what had happened.
But last night…
The evidence of last night lay strewn on the floor – a puff of satin, taffeta and tulle, a dress she would only wear once but had had her heart set on, and a crumpled tuxedo, rented in haste. A bouquet of white roses lay on the nightstand, still fresh due to a little alien influence. With a smile, he remembered carrying her into this large, elegant hotel room, slowly disrobing her while totally ignoring the distractions of Vegas all around them, then making love to her for what seemed to be an eternity.
The first time had been slow and gentle, like he’d been unwrapping a present he’d never seen before. Even though their bodies were familiar to one another, it was as though something had changed now that they were officially bound together. Everything was new. Everything was beautiful. They were life and breath to one another.
The times they made love after that were uninhibited, unleashed, unabashed, unrelenting. Hence the bruises and sore muscles. He wouldn’t trade them for the world.
Just as the sun shifted enough that it was shining in her eyes, he raised his hand toward the window and used his powers to force the drapes together. The light whooshing of the fabric roused her; she blinked once, twice, then smiled sleepily at him, causing his heart to jump inside of his chest.
“Good morning,” he said softly, his eyes creased at the corners with his smile. “Wife.”
Her grin widened as she reached down to take his hand, brought it to her lips and kissed the gold band wrapped around his finger.
“Good morning,” she replied. “Husband.”
Lost in the memories of his wedding night, Max’s eyes settled on the white band of skin around his ring finger. This morning, he had awakened much in the same position as he had in Vegas – on his side, with Liz sleeping peacefully, facing him. He’d had half a mind to let her sleep, but that hadn’t seemed fair to her, to have her wake up alone. With a heavy heart, he’d realized that she was going to be waking up alone for a while and promised that he would never, ever disappear without telling her goodbye.
Their parting had been gut-wrenching, but no more so than when she’d tried to slide his wedding band back onto his finger. The ring was a symbol of his devotion to her, to only her, and he knew that anyone who spied it would know where his weakness lay. It was bad enough that he’d already broken one of Darmon’s rules by telling her where he was going. In order to protect himself – and more importantly, to protect her – he’d refused to take the band, instead sliding it onto her finger to join with her rings. The devastation he’d seen on her face had been practically palpable.
In fact, he could still feel it, many hours later, in the center of his chest. Subconsciously, he put his hand there, where he could feel her pain, then his eyes drifted back to his finger. A white band of skin was as telling as a band of gold; enclosing his fingers into his right hand, he sent a small blast of energy into his palm, and when he separated his hands all evidence that he’d ever worn a ring was gone. Even though it was necessary, he still felt like he’d somehow betrayed her.
In the seat beside Max, Agent Darmon said stoically, his hands placed on his knees like some alien version of the Lincoln Memorial statue. Max eyed him silently, was grateful that they had first class seats on the plane – there was no way it would have been a comfortable ride sitting next to the immense Darmon in coach.
“That was a good idea, sir,” he alien said without ever looking at Max.
Max gulped, wondering how the protector knew that he’d just done, self-consciously tucked his hand into his jacket pocket. His memory betrayed him again and gave him the image of Liz standing on the porch of the cottage as he’d driven away. He’d only seen her look so destroyed once before – when she’d learned of his destiny and had run away from him at the pod chamber.
Now she was probably with Kyle. And he was probably looking at her underwear.
“Will she be safe?” Max asked Darmon, kicking thoughts of the younger Valenti and his peeping-Tom ways from his head.
Darmon turned his head slightly, have a short nod.
Agent Aubrey had not accompanied Liz back to Boston, but Darmon had assured Max that she would still be protected. There were beings everywhere, he’d explained, that the human eye could not see. These creatures would watch out for her, and for Isabel, and would call for help if the situation deteriorated. It was hard for Max, this leap of faith to believe in something he could not see. Perhaps this was the same reason he couldn’t believe in God.
Aubrey, as it turned out, was off to protect Max’s heir, even though Max had still claimed not to have one. She had strict orders to leave the baby and his new family alone – they were not to be alerted to her presence. When Max had given those orders, she’d looked at him like he was an idiot, as though she’d been doing this for years without them knowing.
Max didn’t want to think about that. He wanted to live in a world where Zan wasn’t Zan at all, where he was just a human baby with a caring family. It was a fantasy he prayed for every day, even though he was pretty sure there wasn’t a God to answer him.
Across the aisle from Max and Darmon, a pretty Chinese woman was giving Max the eye, smiling at him in a totally flirtatious kind of way. He smiled back politely and turned to look out of his window at nothing but ocean. At this point, everyone was a suspect, even beautiful Asian women; even making friendly conversation could put him at risk.
A flight attendant stopped in the aisle, offering her guests champagne or some other beverage of their preference. Max declined, but Darmon accepted a soft drink and a packet of peanuts. Max watched in confusion and fascination as the attendant poured the alien his drink, then moved on to the next row. Max eyed the glass and the foil bag of nuts, then his protector.
“You have a question, sir?” Darmon asked.
“I thought you said you didn’t have to eat.”
Darmon gave a small shrug. “That is true. But that doesn’t mean I can’t.” The large man popped a peanut into his mouth, chewed, swallowed. “Besides, I enjoy these crunchy things.”
Max blinked in surprise that Darmon, who had been thus far pretty non-opinionated about anything, would show his first judgment on peanuts, of all things. It was so ludicrous that he almost laughed…until he remembered the pain in his heart.
The flight continued for hours, a journey to the other side of the world. At some point, Max got up to use the cramped bathroom, only to return and find that Darmon had claimed the window seat. The alien started to relinquish the seat, but Max held up a hand to tell him it was okay and took the aisle seat instead. Within a few minutes, he realized that his admirer from across the aisle was smiling at him again. With reluctance, he turned slowly to meet her eyes.
Almost as if on she was spring-loaded, she hurriedly held out her hand in greeting. “Hi, I’m Mae-Ling,” she said in perfect, flawless English.
Max’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as he absently shook her hand. “You’re American,” he observed.
“As are you,” she laughed in response.
Max’s ears reddened. “I mean - I thought - since you look - um…sorry.”
Mae laughed again and slapped him lightly on the arm. “I get it and I’m not offended. My grandparents still live in China, I’m going to visit them. But I was born in the US.” She studied him for a minute, her eyes creased at the corners with amusement. “You haven’t told me your name. Is that on purpose?”
“Huh? Um, no. I’m Max.” No last name. Maybe that much was okay.
Mae gestured toward Darmon with her chin. “And who’s that? Body guard?”
Max blanched. Was Darmon’s role really that transparent? “No. He’s um, a friend from college.”
Mae tilted her head, obviously not buying that story. “Yeah. A college guy in a limited edition Hugo Boss suit.”
Max swallowed hard, not sure what to say.
But it seemed that Mae didn’t really care about the lie. “I’m a clothing buyer for a firm in Chicago,” she explained. “That’s how I can tell about the suit.”
“Oh.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say and now wished he’d taken Darmon up on his offer to reclaim the window seat.
Mae’s eyes drifted down to his hands. “I don’t see a ring on that finger.”
Max looked down at his left hand, all physical reminders of Liz removed from his body. He couldn’t tell this stranger that he had a wife, or a girlfriend, or anything and he had the sinking feeling he knew where the conversation was heading.
“It’s a really long flight,” she said, leaning across the aisle toward him. “I could use some – entertainment.”
Max swallowed again. He’d never really had anyone come onto him, let alone a complete stranger and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.
“You’re very attractive,” Mae continued. “And for some reason I feel like we’ve met before.”
“I’ve – I’ve never been to Chicago,” Max stammered.
Mae smiled. “Maybe not in this lifetime then. Maybe a different life.”
Inside, Max’s heart started to race – was that to mean she’d known him when he’d been Zan? Was she really a Skin? Had she been watching him during this whole flight? Knowing that Darmon was supposed to protect him from threats, Max looked quickly to the alien, who was looking at him blankly. Max pleaded with his eyes, and finally Darmon glanced at their friendly neighbor across the aisle, then back to his majesty. No threat there.
“Oh,” Mae said in realization as she sat back in her seat.
Max looked at her in question.
“He’s that kind of friend from college,” she said with a laugh. “I should have guessed. You were too pretty to be true.”
She picked up a magazine and started rifling through it, obviously giving up the pursuit. Max’s brow furrowed in confusion, he watched her for a few moments, then looked back to Darmon, who had resumed staring straight forward.
In a rush of semi-humiliation, Max realized that Mae thought he was traveling with Darmon as a companion. As in life partner. She thought they were gay. He turned back to straighten up the matter, but she only winked at him.
“It’s okay, buddy,” she said. “I play in that field myself, sometimes.”
With that, she returned to her magazine, leaving Max to stare, stunned, until he finally snorted a laugh. Liz was going to love this story…whenever he got the chance to speak to her again.
He’d made her a promise – he’d go to China, he’d put an end to whatever was going on, and then he’d be done with it. He would come home, he would go back to work at the marine museum, and they would have children together – a whole houseful if that’s what she wanted. With any luck, this mess would be straightened out by the end of the week.
After many hours in the air, the plane landed in Beijing and Max immediately felt exposed – he and Darmon stuck out like sunflowers in a field of daisies. But the protector seemed unconcerned as he waited at the baggage claim, his arms crossed before him, looking every bit the body guard. Max watched the bags rotating on the carousel, saw Mae-Ling stoop to pick up her suitcase; she was a tall woman, taller than he would have guessed seated on the plane. As she walked past him, she gave him a wink and headed for the taxi pickup area.
“You boys have fun now,” she teased over her shoulder.
Max’s ears turned red with embarrassment. Darmon seemed not to notice as he hefted a blue suitcase in Max’s direction, then grabbed a black one for himself. Max had no idea what his baggage even looked like or what it contained – it had all been packed before he’d even been told he was leaving Boston. The alien conspiracy was frighteningly organized.
When they hailed a cab, Max was startled to hear Darmon speak to the driver in Chinese. The man nodded and put the car into drive.
“What did you tell him?” Max asked.
“I told him where to take us.”
“You speak Chinese?”
“I speak many languages.”
Darmon offered no more explanation than that and fell into silence during the next hour and a half. Max watched the sights of a foreign land float past his window and he took it all in with awe. Liz would have loved to be here, experiencing this. Maybe someday they’d come back…
The cab came to a stop and the driver hurried to the trunk to retrieve their bags. Darmon paid him and from the amount of bowing and talking the man did, Max got the impression the tip had been considerable. He knew that Darmon was buying the man’s silence.
As the cab pulled away, Max’s eyes drifted upward as he looked at the old building they’d come to. It was dilapidated, falling apart, ancient. A warehouse of some kind?
“We are late,” Darmon said. “We need to make haste.”
Max fell into step behind the man, hoping that all was going to be okay, hoping that he hadn’t been brought halfway around the world only to be slaughtered.
Those fears came a little sharper as they entered the building and a voice drifted to Max’s ears. It was a voice he hadn’t heard in almost three years, a voice that he’d hoped had been silenced forever.
It belonged to Nicholas.
tbc
I hope to answer fb sometime tonight or tomorrow.
I'll try to get to it soon