Roswell Fanatics

Highway 6, East of Tonopah Nevada

Max had been quiet but thoughtful as Betty Ann drove the ancient Lincoln the six miles to the airport.

“The Tonopah Army Airport was built in 1940 while war clouds gathered over Europe, and it was used to train P-39 and P-40 pilots during WWII,” Betty Ann said. “The Army gave it up in 1946 and it belonged to the county then. They tried for a number of years to convert it into a light industrial area, provide some jobs less dependent on silver prices than the mines, but without too much success. My husband bought this part of it from the county, about 15 years ago, as investment land. It’s the old military housing area. It never was too big, many of the people here were just housed in tents, and as you can see…there hasn’t been any maintenance on the homes in fifty years and the desert sun is kind of rough on the exterior. They are duplexes…this first one is where Anna lives. I offered to let her stay with me, but she wanted her own nest I think. The other half of it already has water, electric, and propane. It doesn’t look like much, and like Anna’s, it’ll take a lot of cleaning….but if you want it….well, the housing would only cost you the utilities and $50 a month.”

The duplex looked to be identical to a dozen others in the row, mirror images to the ones across the street. The whole area had clearly sat empty since the 40s. But while the desert wind and sun had done a number on the exterior, the interior didn’t look bad….if you overlooked fifty years of dust bunnies and the occasional scorpion. The south side of the duplex was probably less than 700 square feet but Max could imagine with a lot of cleaning and a little paint…or molecular manipulation.. it really wouldn’t be all that bad.

“Why are you doing this…?” Max asked.

The question kind of took Betty Ann by surprise. Why WAS she doing this? She knew of course, but did she really want to share that with Mark…if that was even really his name? She looked at him….assessing him…and remembering the way the two had looked at each other. Somehow she made the decision then….based upon how the two had looked at each other when they’d left the restaurant, that what those two had was the real thing.

“I suppose, Mark,..if that’s really your name, it’s because I was young too once, and even an old lady can remember what it was like. That and…well, I’ve never had any children of my own, so I guess I just like to mother other people’s children…like I do Gracie, my Pomeranian in the back seat there. My employees are kind of my family. I pretty well imagine that you and Beth lied about your ages when you got married….now it’s just the two of you. I figured you might need some help.”

“If we had done that…and I’m not saying we have…helping us would make you an accessory.”

Betty Ann laughed. “Hell son, I’m at that dangerous age. I got enough money to make bail and pay a lawyer to drag the case out long enough for me to die of old age….it’s hard to intimidate someone like that. Besides, I’m a hopeless romantic..and it wouldn’t have mattered to me even back when I was in my thirties. So I take it her parents didn’t approve?”

“Not exactly.”

“Well how long have you and her known each other?”

“Since the third grade.”

“So when did you fall in love with her?”

His large brown eyes twinkled and he shook his head slightly, chuckling to himself . “The third grade…..”

“Damn,” said Betty Ann, laughing. “…and I thought I was a hopeless romantic.

So I take it the plan is to hide out until you both are legal age…so the marriage can’t be annulled?”

“Yeah, something like that..”

“And that would be how long?”

Max looked at her, uncertain exactly what to say, exactly how much of a romantic she was…, “Oh, a little over six months.”

She smiled at him. He wasn’t a very good liar…obviously didn’t have much practice. “And how ‘little” would that amount be, son?” She saw him blush slightly, knowing she didn’t believe him. He assessed her for a few seconds and finally smiled. “About a year over six months, actually.”

“You know, that probably should bother me, Mark…but you and Beth…you are the most comfortable couple of your age I’ve ever seen. It’s almost like you’ve been together all your lives, you just kind of radiate concern and caring for one another. Funny, that doesn’t usually happen with people from bad homes.”

“There’s nothing wrong with our folks….not hers or mine. It just sort of happened. We stayed out too late once….we really did fall asleep….nothing serious happened…..and they were going to separate us…send her off to boarding school…..we just couldn’t let that happen. Then, once we’d run off…once it was just the two of us….well, eventually something would have happened. We both really do love one another. So rather than let that happen…well, it seemed more respectful to her..and to our folks…to go ahead and get married first.. Now we just have to stay married.”

“Do your parents know? They must be frightened to death.”

“We let them know we were alright. We haven’t told them we are married yet. I’m not sure it would make any difference to them…they still wouldn’t approve.”

“Well, maybe yes, maybe no, Mark. But I don’t know many fathers who would be upset to know that the guy their little girl ran off with actually cared enough about her to marry her. I mean, that’s a possibility he’s kind of had to deal with since she was born….the idea of her and some guy just kind of shacking up….well, until it happens, most don’t want to think about it….and even when it does, they aren’t any too pleased.”

“We were going to tell them once we were really settled in somewhere….somewhere we were pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to find us and try to get it annulled.”

“Well this may be the place,” she said. Tonopah has pretty much been ignored by the rest of the world since the forties…. But a year and a half…..what are you going to do about your educations? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being a waitress…or working the desk of a hotel…but you really should get your high school diplomas…and college wouldn’t be a bad idea either.”

“Betty Ann…we really do intend to go back….to put our lives back together, once they can’t separate us. Beth…..well, her name is Liz really, anyway she does love her parents, and I love mine…and my sister. We hope to go back home when we are both eighteen…try to get them to understand why we did this. This isn’t about rebellion or anything…it’s about being together for the rest of our lives.”

“A lot of people homeschool these days, particularly out here. Colleges have tests you can pass, to get credit for High School. And there are courses available at night through the alternative High School, and college courses through UNLV, if you can qualify to take them. What were your grades like, where you came from?”

“Well, Liz was probably going to be valedictorian of the class. I was in the top five or so I guess. Probably we should just take the courses…figure out how to get them in our own name later.”

“You know, Mark…”

“That would be Max, actually…”

“Well you know, Max,….parents have a way of getting over being upset with their kids. It could be that already they are wanting to talk things over with you…work things out. Maybe I could help you with that.”

“I don’t think so. They were upset that we fell asleep and stayed out overnight. Being married...that would really freak them out, I can't believe they'd permit it. It would have been different…even the first day or so after we ran off. If they’d have agreed to just let us keep seeing each other….we’d have been happy with that…willing to wait. It’s past that point now.”

She watched as the deep brown eyes looked at her, the emotion obvious in his voice. “I’m her husband now…I couldn’t ever be anything other than that…not even for eighteen months.”

“Well, I’m not going to push you, but the offer is there…if you want an intermediary, let me know. I’ve done a little negotiating in my time. And if your folks are as good as you two think….well, they’ll come around, eventually.”

“I hope so. We’ll settle for just having each other…that’s the most important thing, but it’d be good to have our families back too.”

“Well, some don’t have it that well. Maybe that’s something you can help me with, Max, you and Liz…or maybe we better leave it Mark and Beth, while you two are hiding out.”

“What’s that?”

"It’s Anna. Her grandmother, rest her soul, was my best friend in high school. Anna’s mother..well she was always sort of a wild child. Debbie tried to get her help, but by her teen years she was pretty uncontrollable. She’s never gotten off the booze and drugs. Anna’s father…if he was her father, left when she was two. She barely remembers him. Anna’s had a tough life, living in a small town like this, when everyone knows your mother…what kind of a train wreck she is. That was hard enough but a few years ago her mother had another in a long series of boyfriends living with her and this one really seemed to take an interest in Anna. Finally it seemed almost like she had a father, and I think she thought of him that way…as the father she never had. Until about a year ago.”

“What happened then?”

“I’m not sure, she really won’t say. I know her mother was drunk, the man was too. I’m pretty sure he assaulted her, probably raped her. She didn’t have great self-esteem before that, and none at all afterwards. She did what her mother had done…lost herself in drugs and alcohol. The last six months or so she has been trying to get dried out, went to work for me two weeks ago. She’s still really shaky, I was scared to death that yesterday was going to push her over the edge until I came back and saw that ‘Beth’ had helped her out.”

“Well what can we do? How can we help?”

“You’ve both already helped. ‘Beth’ by being like a big sister to her…even though I guess their age isn’t all that different. And you? You by doing what you are doing. You love your wife, treat her with respect,…and you seem to be best friends. Anna’s never really seen that. For her entire life her mother has gone from one abusive relationship to another, and when it finally did seem like she’d met a nice guy….well, he was apparently just playing a game…just waiting to get in the pants of her fifteen year old daughter.
She needs to know that men aren’t all animals. She needs to know that they can be good human beings…like you are.

If she doesn’t learn that….well, she’ll never be well. I think it’d help that if you lived out here too, you and your wife. It’s too remote, really, to leave her out here by herself. A couple her own age who have found something special with each other….well, it could give her hope, could give her an example of the way things are really supposed to be.”

Max looked at the little duplex, imagining it with a coat of paint….a real one, actually…at least for the outside. Sure, it still would look like half-century old military housing, but with Liz living in it with him….yea, it could be real beautiful.

“Betty Ann….I think Liz and I would like to try that….at least for awhile. And we’ll write our folks about are marriage, as soon as we can.”

Both occupants of the car were smiling as they left Airway Drive to turn back towards Highway 6. One was dreaming about the past, the other about the future…


0800 Det. 24 Commander’s Office, Area 51, Groom’s Lake Nevada

The Air Force Chief of Staff had told him that he hadn’t been impressed by the soon-to-be-retired Det. 24 commander. Slammer thought the Chief of Staff was awfully diplomatic, ….for a fighter pilot. Slammer WAS impressed by Colonel Jamieson, very impressed. Just not favorably impressed.

He’d looked up Jamieson’s record. As a young Army signal corps lieutenant he’d been part of the offensive biological warfare program at Dugway proving grounds. In 1972, when ratification of that part of the Geneva convention had precluded an offensive program, he had turned down the option to work on defensive programs and somehow wound up with a cross-service transfer to the Air Force. He’d apparently been working at Area 51 ever since.

Jamieson had openly bragged about having a job lined up with the prime contractor, and had as much as said that he expected to be back as a program manager, at multiples of his Air Force salary…plus bonuses. The man looked to be 70 or 80 pounds over his Air Force maximum weight, and wheezed when he went up a flight of stairs, although evidently not enough to stop him from chain-smoking. If he actually owned an Air Force uniform…well, it wasn’t in evidence. Slammer wasn’t actually sure they made them that big.

“A formal change of command ceremony?” Jamieson repeated doubtfully. “Well, I suppose…well yes, tomorrow morning before I leave for Las Vegas, we could do that…..it’s just that in almost thirty years…I’m not sure it’s ever been done. I do have a uniform, of course…I found it when I was doing my packing…but I’m not at all sure that all the military personnel have theirs. And you want the civil service people to attend as well? I honestly don’t know how many would show up…even among the military..but we could certainly announce it and see..”

‘Announce it and see,’ wasn’t quite the nature of the military that Slammer was used to, but Jamieson was going to be commander of this outfit for another 24 hours. Slammer was going to respect the position, if not the person. “Perhaps I can dictate a letter for your signature, Colonel Jamieson. Just to get the word out?”

“Why yes, that would be most kind of you,” said Jamieson, pulling some post-it notes and government pens out of his desk drawer and putting them in to the packing box beside the desk.



1000 Det 24. Area 51 Gymnasium Bulletin Board

• Reply to Det. 24/CC
  To: All civilian and military personnel, Det.24
  
  Subject: Change of Command Ceremony
  
  1. A change of Command Ceremony will be held tomorrow morning at 0800. This is a mandatory formation for all military personnel except duty security and medical personnel. Civil Service personnel are invited and requested to attend.
  2. Uniform of the day is Service Dress for all military personnel except Battle Dress or Service Uniform for security personnel.
  3. There will be an informal social event in dining hall “b” following the change of Command. All personnel whose duties permit are invited to attend to meet the new Commander, Colonel Steve M. Randolph.
  4. Civil Service personnel may respond (regrets only) to the Commander’s secretary at x12210.
  
  William Jamieson, Colonel, BSC

“You got to be kidding me,” said LtCol. Fred Barker as he read the posted notice. “I’m might have a Service Dress uniform…but I think it’s still got Captain bars on it. I’m not sure it’s worth changing all the rank insignia to just show up for a social event. I’m thinking about just skipping this….or maybe just going in my lab coat. I don’t think I’ve worn a uniform in eleven years.”

Capt Jim Hawthorne Looked at his immediate supervisor. It wasn’t really his place to tell the guy his business. He’d spent 20 minutes that morning, shining his own shoes and pressing his own uniform, fearing they’d not even get the 23 hours notice they were given. As a squadron section commander, Hawthorne had given article 15s to people who had missed mandatory formations….although not very many of them. People in Slammer’s squadron seemed to learn real quick….or get court-martialed.

“Well sir,” he said, “..suit yourself. But I think we are about to see some real changes around here."

“You really think so, Jimmie-boy? When you have eleven years here, you’ll understand that nothing ever really changes. It may take the new guy a little time to understand just how things work around here, but in six weeks, it’ll be like nothing changed at all….you just wait. You’ll see. I’ll bet you five bucks.”

‘Jimmie-boy’ didn’t say anything more. To him, this situation had now become something like watching a train wreck in slow motion, and being unable to do anything about it. LTCOL Barker was the fourth individual he’d given advice to in the last 20 minutes.

Not a damn one had paid any attention to him whatsoever.

4:00 PM Chavez County Sheriff’s Office small conference room, Roswell New Mexico

Angela Robertson had been very busy for the last several days. She had read the diaries, interviewed teachers and fellow students, and reviewed all the school records….clear back to the third grade…for both of the runaways. The picture that had built up was a puzzling one.

Profiling was, by its very nature, stereotyping. Trying to predict behavior based upon what similar people had done in the past. Early on in this case she’d fallen into a trap, and it had taken her 36 hours to realize that. She had believed the reverse had been true, just assuming that the two teenagers must be like all the other teenage runaways she had studied…pretty much like their parents seemed to assume they were.

She had been amazed at how wrong she’d been. She’d assumed they were marginal students, both academically, and in adherence to traditional values. They clearly weren’t.

Maybe it was that incident five months ago…the shooting, that had sort of unhinged the two. Except the emails bothered her, they hadn’t seemed the communication of two teenagers who had sort of lost it. They showed way too much insight. Way too much understanding. Way too much…compassion for what the parents were going through. And in their own way…a lot more maturity than Angela had ever seen in teenage runaways.


This would be the first in a series of conferences, regular reports she would make to the parents until her internship was over…or until the kids were recovered. She wondered which would happen first. Jim Valenti was sitting in on this meeting with the parents as well.

During the first ten minutes of the briefing she went over the various records she had reviewed and the types of interviews she had done.. She explained to them that her picture of them was still incomplete, that she was trying to understand them well enough to get inside their heads and predict what they had done, that she thought she was starting to understand that, but she needed to get more information yet to be able to fully predict their actions.

“Well Ms. Robertson,” asked Philip Evans. “Have you any idea why either of them would have done something so stupid as to run off….rather than talk to us more about it?”

“Well, yes, I think I do, Mr. Evans. But there are a few things I need to say about your question first.

First of all, these kids aren’t stupid…they are rather amazingly intelligent. Mr. and Mrs. Parker, I’m sure you know, Liz was odds-on favorite to be valedictorian…but there’s more to it than that. All of her teachers thought that Liz was much more than just academically gifted. They credited her with more common sense than any other girl in the class.

And Max…while Max was somewhat of an enigma to his teachers socially, he just didn’t socialize much, he was always a gifted student. I think his intelligence probably even exceeds hers, he just decided not to show it.”

“What do you mean by that, Ms. Robertson,” asked a suddenly concerned looking Diane Evans.

“Well in his first test…for placement in the third grade, he scored 100% on the standardized test that he took after admission. Because there was some uncertainty over his age, being adopted, there was some consideration to jumping him to the fourth grade.”

“That was just a mistake. They did a second test that showed he should be in third,” said Diane, remembering the strange concern that little Max had, that he didn’t want to be taken out of third grade.

“I don’t think that was a mistake, Mrs. Evans. He got 100% on the first test. The highest it could measure was seventh grade, but it showed him easily capable of doing seventh grade work.

On the second test he got 50th percentile for a third grader. And since that time, he’s been getting EXACTLY 50th percentile on every standardized test he has taken. That means he should be getting about a C+ average. But academically, he takes all the hardest courses and has no trouble with them…always getting just below the highest student in the class…..Liz Parker.

Statistically, that’s just virtually impossible to happen by accident. And for it to happen on purpose…well, he’d have to know every right answer, know how the test is scored, and purposely miss just enough questions to do that. He’d have to be at least college level in his capability to do that.”

“But why would he do that,” asked Jeff Parker. Why wouldn’t he want to skip classes he has already mastered, or to be the best?”

“I would think that’s obvious,” replied Angela. “He didn’t want to get skipped any grades…he wanted to be in the same classes as Liz….even in third grade.”

“You can’t mean that you really believe what my daughter was saying,” said Philip, “…that Max has actually loved Liz since the third grade?”

“I don’t know what was in his heart, Mr. Evans. But academically……well clearly Max has been manipulating the system, driving the outcome…probably to keep the two of them together…and if he was doing that, and I think he was….well to do that he’d have to be extremely intelligent. And that could make them extremely difficult to find if they don’t want to be found, and from the look of the emails…well, they DON’T want to be found.”

Both sets of parents seemed to be looking at one another, fairly soberly at this point.

“Now you asked about them talking to you about this…before running off. I looked at their disciplinary records, I know you are familiar with the ones over the little make-out session, but I looked at all their others as well, all the way back to grade-school…”

“Yes….?” said Nancy Parker, questioningly.

“There aren’t any.”

“Excuse me?” asked Jeff Parker.

“Neither Liz nor Max had ever before been in trouble. They were model students. They were probably the two most strait-laced, goody-two-shoes kids on campus. Every one of their teachers said that. They indicated if there were any two students at West Roswell High that they’d trust to behave themselves, it was Liz and Max. I don't thin Liz and Max had any experience getting in trouble....and probably you didn't have any experience with them getting in trouble. When it did happen...well, Liz and Max over-reacted...probably you four did too. Normally both were very trustworthy, but they were...naive about this, because it had not happened to them before.”

“Well Ms. Robertson, I don’t mean to tell you your business, and I don’t mean to insult the Evans’, but I can’t honestly say I understand how Max could believe that running off with my daughter…was trustworthy behavior. You know what’s happened by this time…and so do we. I talked to him before he took her out for the first time, about what was acceptable and what wasn’t. While I didn’t specifically mention premarital sex…because I didn’t think I’d need to…..I told him I expected him to treat her with respect. There is nothing respectful about premarital sex…”

Both of the Evans looked concerned and watched Nancy Parker start to slowly cry. Finally Philip Evans said, “I have to admit that, if that has happened….well, I’m awfully disappointed in my son too, Jeff. That’s not the kind of values we taught Max.”

“I can’t believe Max would do that,” said Diane. “I barely believe he’s even dating. If it weren’t for the emails, I’d still think they were both just abducted by aliens or something….”

The door opened abruptly, to show Alex Whitman with a printed piece of paper….and a thumbdrive.

“I……uh….I was going to try to hack it back to the source but when I read who it was from….I think I sort of lost it…..for an hour or so…just reading and rereading the part that was for me.

It seemed to the parents that this was a rather short email to occupy Alex for so long…until they got to the signature..

• To: webmaster@thewhits.com
  From: anonymous remailer
  Subject: Messages for the folks.
  
  Alex-
  
  Please be a dear and see that our folks get these for me and Max. Thanks.
  
  Miss you, but all’s well here.
  
  Liz Evans
  
  2 attachments
  Note to Parkers
  Note to Evans’

The stunned parents waited breathlessly as the individual messages were printed out.

• Dear Mom and Dad,
  
  First I want you to know that Max and I are safe and well. We have ceased our travels, at least for now, and have found a small place to live and some jobs that will let us support ourselves while we are here. I’m writing this to you on my break, so it will have to be quick.
  
  In Max’s last note to his parents he told his parents how difficult it was to be at odds with the people you love, and that certainly is just as true between me and the two of you. And perhaps the saddest part of that is that it kept you from being there with us, kept us from sharing our joy with you on the 25th of February when Max and I were married.
  
  I realize that will come as somewhat of a shock to you and that you will not approve, but I pray that someday you will change your mind. “Trust in your heart,’ Grandma Claudia told me, and in my heart and in my soul, I know that Max and I have always been meant to be together.
  
  Once again we didn’t exactly plan this, but once we were forced to leave, once we were actually together all the time, it quickly became clear to both of us that we wanted something even closer. Both of us wanted that, but neither of us wanted it without a real and enduring commitment to each other, a commitment that would enable both of us to hold our heads high when one day we return to Roswell, to look our parents in the eye and let them know that we honor the values that they have taught us, just as we honor each other.
  
  It would have been nice to have friends and family there to share our joy, but even the small ceremony we had was beautiful. I wish so you could have seen it.
  
  I realize you will be shocked by this, you will believe we are too young, and will certainly not approve. That is unfortunate. Max is a good man, a good friend, and a considerate and caring lover. I can think of no way I could have been more fortunate in my choice of a husband.
  
  Because we fear you will again try to keep us apart, to annul our marriage, we can’t come home now though we hope to return and, God willing, reconcile with you and rejoin our friends and families in Roswell in 18 months.
  
  Please do not pursue us to try to force an annulment. Part of our ceremony said ‘what God has joined, let man not separate,’ and I truly believe God led us together and wanted us to be joined. I have shared Max’s name and I have shared his bed and we share our love with each other, and we can envision no other way that we would wish to spend our lives. Please do not try to take that from us.
  
  Please stay safe and take good care of each other. I love you both.
  
  Elizabeth Evans
  
  
  
  Dear Mr. and Mrs. Parker,
  
  I realize this news must make you uncomfortable. As Liz said, we really hadn’t planned for this to happen, but neither of us could bear to be apart and because we were going to be together…..well, neither one of us wanted you or my folks or the whole world to doubt our commitment to each other or the permanence of our love.
  
  Perhaps nothing I tell you can stop you from fearing for your daughter’s welfare. I know you love her and because I love her as well, I know that means she is constantly in your thoughts. I’ve loved your daughter for so very long and I regret that I didn’t let her know of that love sooner, so you might now know me better and perhaps fear for her less.
  
  I know you don’t believe I’m worthy of Liz, and I can’t even disagree. But she apparently believes that I am, and I will do everything I can do to live up to her faith in me.
  
  All I can do is promise both of you that, as long as we live, I will take care of her and cherish her and provide for her.
  
  I hope someday you can come to accept me, but no matter what I will always love and honor you for creating Liz and raising her to be the kind and loving woman that she is.
  
  Max

As the Parker's read their letter, the Evans's read theirs....

• Dear Mom and Dad,
  
  On the 25th of February Liz honored me and honored our family by becoming Mrs. Max Evans. You can only imagine the joy and pride this has given me.
  
  Mom, I know how much you’ve always worried about me, how you worried that I had never really felt that I was home, even after all the years. Well I found out that home isn’t where you come from, home is where you choose it to be, and I have chosen to be with Liz, and I feel that I am home at last.
  
  Dad, I’m quite sure you are already thinking about all the legal implications. Well, we were married with a valid license by someone legally authorized to perform weddings, in a legal ceremony, and are now legally husband and wife. I’m sure you will be tempted to challenge that, believing it to be for our own good. Please do not.
  
  Your daughter-in-law is a kind and trusting and caring person, and I am fortunate beyond words to have her choose to share her life with me. I can never believe that for us to be apart could ever be good for us.
  
  I realize you both are likely upset with me for doing this, and for awhile I think we will need to be apart. But I will never stop loving you, never stop being your son, and I hope the day will come when you can accept the two of us back into your lives and accept Liz with the respect and love she truly deserves.
  
  Your loving son,
  
  Max
  
  
  
  Dear Mr. and Mrs. Evans,
  
  I know this is kind of scary for you and looking at it dispassionately, it probably ought to be scary to me too, but it isn’t. That’s probably because I can’t be dispassionate about Max, I’m not sure I ever was. And now that we are married, I can’t conceal that any longer.
  
  I love your son with my whole heart and I cherish every minute I spend with him. I hope we can live long lives together, sharing our thoughts and needs and love. He is the finest person I have ever known, and more wonderful than even you know. He completes me.
  
  Please don’t be angry at him, or at me. We need this…..just as we need each other. I hope that some day you will accept what we have done and that we can eventually return to be a part of your lives. It would give me great joy if someday I were to hear you introduce me to your friends, saying ‘this is Liz…our other daughter.’
  
  Liz Evans

Had a pin dropped anywhere in the room, it would have seemed like cymbals clanging, so quiet had the room suddenly become. Finally the silence was broken by Jim Valenti.

“Uh…thanks Alex, for bringing the messages. I think maybe it would be a good idea for you to leave now. I think Ms. Robertson and I will both step out as well, give the Parkers and the Evans’s a chance to talk this over among themselves privately, maybe do a little thinking about the messages.”

Alex quickly left. Jim Valenti indicated that he and Angela would be right outside if they were needed, and that they’d be back in about fifteen minutes. Thirty seconds later the four parents found themselves alone at the conference table in the quiet room.

4:20 PM Crashdown Cafe, Roswell New Mexico

"Where have you been, Alex?" asked Isabel. She was starting to really like Alex, but he was supposed to have been there twenty minutes ago. Maria and her had been at the Crashdown waiting for a half-hour. Even Michael had been there for fifteen minutes, remarkably close to being on time....at least for him. And while she was starting to like him, she also valued timeliness. It might have been a small strike against him, in her developing romance....but she forgot it completely with his next comment.

"Sorry, Isabel. I got delayed, delivering a message from your sister-in-law..."

3:20 PM Pacific Time, Tonopah Nevada.

Deputy Sheriff Michael Walker watched as the new waitress warmed up his cup of cofee, noting that she never really made eye contact with him. He hadn’t really expected her to. The same exact thing had happened that morning, and the pattern was clear.

Michael Walker was one of the youngest…and most aggressive of the Nye County Deputies. The word on him at the Sheriff’s Department was that he wanted to be Sheriff when the current Sheriff retired….which was actually correct, and that he had married the daughter of the District Attorney to add to his political clout when the time came to campaign for that job…which was incorrect.

In fact. The DA had been somewhat pissed at the young man when he’d started dating the man’s daughter. She had been a sophomore at the University of Nevada at Reno, and her father really hadn’t wanted her to settle for a young Deputy Sheriff.

But love is like that, sometimes. They had been married a year later. The old man had somewhat forgiven his son-in-law, since his daughter had eventually graduated anyway, taking most of her senior year courses by correspondence, but he had only really warmed to the young man about three months before…after the birth of Alissa Sarah Walker, his first grandchild.

Such things have long been known to win over recalcitrant fathers-in-law, and it had happened once again. One cute grandkid (and to the grandparents, they are all cute), and suddenly you start to think…'hell, he’s not such a bad guy….my daughter could have done a lot worse.'

And Deputy Sheriff Michael Walker had noticed the young woman, avoiding eye contact this morning, noticed her and the young man going somewhere in a jeep for her break, and had again noticed her refusing to make eye contact with him when he’d come back for his afternoon coffee. In Deputy Walker’s experience that spelled only one thing, she was on the run.

Literally thousands of all points bulletins get issued every day, and nobody could keep track of them all. But he seemed to remember one that he’d read about two young runaways and a Jeep. Maybe that was just a coincidence, but her behavior had certainly raised his suspicion.

The Deputy planned on spending a half hour when he got back to the office looking for that APB. It wouldn’t be quick, he knew. He’d check Nevada first, then California, then Arizona. These were the closest and most likely. Unfortunately, California was huge, it alone would take a couple of days. And if that didn’t work, just keep pushing out further and further..Oregon, Idaho, New Mexico…whatever it took.

Because he knew it was in there somewhere, and the fact that she wouldn’t look him straight in the eye convinced him she was concealing something. He was a patient man, he’d find the APB. Actually, if he were still single, he’d probably find it tonight. But being a husband and father…with a three month old, well you needed to have your priorities. Two runaway kids in a Jeep were not unimportant, but neither was a three month old and her mother. It didn’t look like the girl was going anywhere,….she’d wait.

Liz was worried about the way the Deputy had been looking at her, but she did her best to avoid really looking at his face, even when he paid his bill. She was reassured as she saw him drive off….fortunately he didn’t appear to be at all suspicious. And he’d even left a decent tip…..

Ten minutes earlier in the Chavez County Sheriff’s Office small conference room, Roswell New Mexico

Diane had seen it happen before. Under times of total emotional stress, Philip would revert to his role as a lawyer, temporarily avoiding dealing with the emotions of the moment by retreating behind a professional façade of academic analysis of the judicial issues involved. She’d seen that the first time when they were taking their vows. Fortunately, the best man had elbowed him in the ribs. She wished suddenly that she were closer to him, so she could elbow him in the ribs now….or kick him in the shins. Because Jeff Parker wasn’t reacting well to it, and the four of them now…of all times…needed to think clearly and work together.

“There is no way they can be married. They are both underage, and neither had permission,” said Jeff.

“If, as Max said, they got a valid license and were married by someone legally qualified to perform nuptial ceremonies, they are indeed legally married,” replied Philip

“But there’s no way they could get a valid license!” insisted Jeff.

“As long as the clerk issued it in good faith, was not subject to threat or intimidation, and received the appropriate licensing fees, the license was valid.”

“Well what kind of an idiot would issue a license to a couple of sixteen year-old kids? And how could it be valid if they did? The stupid bastard would get sued. The whole state would get sued.”

“The laws of most states simply require that the clerk make a good faith assessment of their documentation. If it appears appropriate and genuine, the license is issued. By law it is valid if those criteria are met. It’s valid by law so the state can’t be sued.”

“Who the hell would make a law like that, letting the state off the hook for total incompetence.”

“The state.”

“What you mean, Phil, is the LAWYERS in the %&&* state legislature.”

“I don’t think it does us any good, Jeff, to fight about what the laws are or who made them,” said Nancy. “The real issue is, where do we go from here.”

By this time Diane had also moved within kicking distance of Philip. When he started to explain to Jeff his long held opinion that lawyers tended to be elected to state legislatures because they were just plain smarter about laws than the average person, the kick caught him in mid-shin, and he was suddenly silent.

Noticing the sudden steely glare from his spouse, Jeff also decided that a slightly different tack might be less hazardous.

“Well, you are probably right about that, Nancy……Phil, what can we do about correcting this….legally, I mean.?”

“I don’t know if the clerk simply made a mistake about their ages, or if they used some sort of fake ID, but either way we can almost certainly get the marriage annulled. If they forged permission slips from us….the clerk will still have them. We can renounce those and the judge will issue an annulment without the children even having to be there. If there is no copy of the paperwork they used…like an altered driver’s license or something, it’s a little more complicated. Max would be right, they would be legally married and we’d have to overcome a rebuttable presumption that they were legally married. That might get difficult for Max, since his birthday is….well, just a guess by somebody in child protective services anyway. He could possibly fight that…maybe for years. But with Liz’s birth certificate, it should be easy.”

“So we find the state where this occurred, find a judge, show him Liz’s birth certificate, and he can annul the whole thing then?”

“Not exactly. Liz and Max would still have to get their day in court. He wouldn’t act without hearing their side.”

“But they are obviously hiding out!”

“I don’t make up these laws, Jeff. They’d have to be there. Liz would, at least.”

“But if we got Liz before the judge, showed him her birth certificate….he could annul the whole thing, right?”

“Yeah. It’d be a cinch ……unless she were pregnant of course, then they could get married at sixteen in many states, even without out consent….”

“Well thanks a hell of a lot for sharing that little bit of sunshine with us, Phil. Nancy REALLY needed to hear THAT….”

“I’m just telling you what the law is, Jeff. Don’t shoot the messenger.”

But in fact, Nancy hadn’t gotten upset by the remark, because she’d scarcely heard it. She and Diane were sitting side by side, reading and re-reading the messages from the kids, the talking of the men having somehow become a background noise that, unless physical violence actually broke out, would not be noticed by either woman. Instead they were reading those letters, over and over, tears in their eyes. And clearly, most of the tears were tears of worry…worry about their missing kids. But some of those tears were tears like mothers always have at weddings, as they visualized the two teenagers saying their vows….tears of hope and shared joy……as they felt emotions they really hadn’t expected to feel today. Scary emotions….for parents in their situation. Almost …subversive emotions.

Suddenly the constant discussion between Philip and Jeff was interrupted by Nancy Parker.

“Excuse me!” she said. “Right now we need to put everything on hold!”

“Why, dear?” asked Jeff.

Nancy looked wide eyed and replied, “I’ve got to go powder my nose.”

In the sudden silence that followed she looked at Diane and said, “You do too, Diane.”

Diane’s head nodded slowly. “Yes I do…….very badly.”

As the two women grabbed the messages and retreated to the ladies room the husbands watched in confusion.

“I’ve never understood that….why they always go in pairs or groups..”

“Me neither…..”


The women’s restroom had a small bench, and within seconds both women were sitting on it. Diane was reading Max’s’s letter for about the fortieth time.

“Your daughter-in-law is a kind and trusting and caring person, and I am fortunate beyond words to have her choose to share her life with me. I can never believe that for us to be apart could ever be good for us….,” read Diane.

“Nancy, I never really got to know Liz that well, I mean they’ve been dating such a short time….but I guess…I guess I never really knew my own son that well either. Never understood how much he’s cared for her…for all these years. She does seem like such a lovely young lady though…my…..uh.....daughter-in-law…..
They have really raised the ante on this game,” said Diane. “It was easy to understand, when this was just teenagers with hormone driven lack of self-control…easy to understand the problem, and the solution. But this….”

Nancy Parker was reading Liz’s letter, the same scary feelings going through her. “I have shared Max’s name and I have shared his bed and we share our love with each other…,” she read from the letter.

“I know, Diane, I don’t know that we can annul those sorts of feelings, even if we annul the marriage. When it was just irresponsible sex, the two of them doing something childish and immature it was one thing…..but marriage?
Liz would have understood it …eventually… if we’d punished her for doing something wrong. She might not have liked it, but she’d have accepted it…and moved on. She might have been mad but when she got over it…I’d still have a daughter. But taking her name away…her husband….. Diane, I know that teen marriages have terrible track records, it probably wouldn’t work no matter if we did anything or not….”

“That’s sort of what I was thinking too, Nancy. Maybe there’s no way this can ever work out…maybe even if we were to accept it…work with them…try to make it work...., probably it would still fall apart. But even if it did, I’d still have Max, you’d still have Liz….but if we fight this….if we get this annulled, what happens then?
Will they ever get back together…and if they do, will they ever forgive us for the time we kept them apart?
Or if they never do….will they always blame us for what they’ve lost?

It’s like double jeopardy …we try to break them up, maybe it doesn’t work…and they hate us forever for trying to separate them. Maybe it does work…and they hate us forever…because we were the ones that separated them.”

“I wish I’d known Max better too, Diane.” She read again from the letter. “ ‘I hope someday you can come to accept me, but no matter what I will always love and honor you for creating Liz and raising her to be the kind and loving woman that she is’.
He seems to be a very caring person…they both do. I don’t know how she could have loved him so much…for all of these years, …and I didn’t even know about it. And he speaks about Liz with such awe….such reverence.”

The tears slowly trickled down as both women read and re-read both letters.

Gradually both started to cry.

“I want them back, Nancy,” Diane said, quietly sobbing. "I want my family all together, Izzy, Max….and …..and my other daughter too…”

“I want them back too, Diane. I want my daughter….and I want the the young man she loves. I need to really get to know the person my daughter has given her heart to.

Diane, I don’t know what the right thing to do is about the annulment. I think we all need time to think about that…all four of us. I think we have to talk to them….make them understand…or understand more ourselves.
She seems to love him so very much….he must be a wonderful young man. But as young as they are...that may not be enough….I just don’t know.
But I do know that without my child in my life…..it just tears my heart apart. God, I wish I’d been there….even if I didn’t approve…just to see the love in her eyes when she said ‘I do…’, just for that moment.”

Both women just sat there, staring at a blank restroom wall…but neither of them saw it. They saw instead an image of two young people, their eyes filled with adoration for one another, under a flower covered trellis, pledging their eternal love.

Of course, it wasn’t really a correct representation, Elvis was nowhere represented in the wedding party. But it was close enough for them, and …already it was generating more subversive thoughts.

Ten minutes later Jeff and Philip were surprised by a united front of the two mothers. The priority was to find the kids. There wasn’t going to be ANY talk about further steps, until the kids were found. With the experience born of twenty years of knowing when their spouse had laid down the law to them, both men caved, almost immediately.

By the time Jim Valenti and Angela Robinson rejoined the group, there was only one question, “How do we find the kids?”

Meanwhile, it was a quiet day back at the Crashdown

“MY WHAT???” shouted Isabel, her eyes growing wide and her body feeling weak as she struggled to control her hyperventilation.
“Alex, that is SO not funny,” said Maria…”I mean…it was a joke, wasn’t it? Alex? Alex? Tell me that was one of your corny jokes…….talk to me, Alex. …Alex??”

Michael….well, Michael wasn’t saying anything. He was just sort of staring at Maria, as if he’d never seen her before in his life. Some guys can just undress a girl with their eyes. Michael discovered that if you looked just right, you could also dress them in a gown…and veil. And she looked pretty good that way too, he decided.

Alex took a deep breathe, then spoke, “In order; …I said your sister-in-law, Isabel…that would be Elizabeth Evans. No Maria, it isn’t funny at all. Nor was it a joke, corny or otherwise. It’s TOTALLY serious. ..Oh, and Michael…did you realize your tongue is hanging out?”

Isabel shook her head in amazement. Not that Michael’s tongue was hanging out, she’d seen that…and worse…in the announcer’s booth up in the grandstand…not even that Liz and Max would someday get married…she’d fought that battle for over seven years, and knew she’d lost it the day after Max had healed Liz right here in the Crashdown….but so soon? Her brother was….married.

For so long Max had been the closest person in the world to Isabel and she wasn’t jealous…Liz had been right, she could never take Max away from his sister…not really….but married? As she quietly put her head on Alex’s shoulder, she was running through all the memories of little Max and little Isabel playing together….even before third grade. Sure, she really wouldn’t lose her brother, but somehow that still just left a loneliness that she had no idea how she would fill….although Alex’s shoulder seemed to be really comforting. Perhaps she and Alex should just go off alone while she contemplated this…perhaps he could find other ways of comforting her as well……

Maria was still in shock and awe. Shock that Liz had actually gotten ….married. She’d had visions, for the longest time, of Liz ending as some old maid university professor, eventually wasting away in some laboratory somewhere. But then there was also the awe…….married. And Max was an alien…..just like Michael. That must mean that…well, the anatomy at least was…….compatible. That was quite interesting…..actually. She knew she ought to be thinking about her best friend, far away….going through important parts of her life without a girlfriend to share them with her…..but somehow Maria’s mind just kept breaking away from those thoughts….drifting off into thoughts of….compatible anatomy.

Michael had long gone by the compatible anatomy thoughts. He was already wondering how many positions they had found that were compatible…not that he really cared He’d always thought that book learning and other didactic instruction was always a chancy way to get valid information. If you found out for yourself….well…then you knew for sure. Then he caught himself. Alex was, of course, correct. He pulled his tongue back in to his mouth.

And maybe Alex’s mind should have been in turmoil. There was a lot of that going on around him. But with Izzy’s head on his shoulder, her needing his support right now…..well….somehow the world just seemed to be a very wonderful place all of a sudden. He decided he’d just go with the flow, and enjoy the moment. Placing his head against hers, he closed his eyes. He had never known such contentment…….

4:30 PM Chavez County Sheriff’s Office small conference room, Roswell New Mexico

‘So the question on the table is now ‘how do we find our kids?' ’ thought Angela.

She looked at Jim Valenti, trying not to smile. Now he was a difficult guy to profile. They’d sat in his office together, reading and rereading those messages. She’d seen relief in his face, certainly, followed by a look of self-reproach. Then he’d smiled and….hell, it had turned out that he was just an old romantic at heart.

He’d suggested a course of action that was …devious, to say the least. And Angela wasn’t sure it was just 100% ethical….but she didn’t care really. She was a bit of a romantic too. And besides, this was a great case….a great case to practice on….to use all the skills she had been taught….a case she would cherish her entire career.

Mostly profiler's cases were tracking serial killers, sex offenders, kidnappers and their victims, hostage situations. The outcomes were often tragic. This case, she had assured the Sheriff, was almost certainly going to be OK. Those kids clearly loved their parents, and most certainly loved each other. If everything went as she expected, the worst that was going to happen was that they’d come back in eighteen months…once they were sure they were going to be together.

Sure, she’d told him. There was some risk…they probably had minimum wage jobs with no medical benefits…if Liz, for example, were seriously hurt…a broken leg or something, Max wouldn’t have the resources to take care of her. Valenti had almost seemed to laugh at that…telling her not to be too sure…that Max was a pretty resourceful young man. Well, ethical or not….time to work on Jeff Parker…and maybe Philip Evans too..

Jim Valenti was as happy as he’d been in five months. He hoped this all worked out, what he’d suggested to Angela. He felt he owed Max and Liz a shot at getting their parents on board with this, after how he’d treated them five months ago. He wasn’t particularly proud of how he’d acted…he didn’t normally abuse his office like he had. But he’d been frightened then. He’d been afraid that Max wasn’t…human.

Jim Valenti worried about people that weren’t human…..it was his job. The first person he’d seen who wasn’t human had been in Albuquerque….Jim had only been a police cadet then, learning his trade. The guy had kidnapped a seven year old...raped her repeatedly over several days…then buried her out in the desert to keep from being discovered. Buried her alive. It had taken three weeks for the dogs to find her. But he had a good lawyer…he’d only gotten 20 years.
That guy wasn’t human…even though his parents were.

But the rapist-murderer wasn’t human, as far as Jim Valenti was concerned….less human even than the fellow inmate who’d offered to spot for the man as he worked out on the weights…the man still bragging about what he’d done to the little girl to his fellow prisoners…..when the fellow inmate had sent the bar suddenly crashing down onto the rapists throat, crushing his larynx. The inmate who’d told him to laugh about that as he slowly suffocated. Even that other prisoner had at least been a little bit human.

It was the nature of the job in law enforcement. You always worried about the guy that…however he looked, really wasn’t human underneath.

Yeah, he knew finally that Max Evans was truly human…raised by human parents with human values and totally in love with a human girl who loved him just as much.

Human wasn’t where you came from…to Jim Valenti. Human was the values you had internalized…and Max Evans was human…even if he could somehow make gunshot wounds disappear and grease fires go out by waving his hand at them….even if his birth parents maybe weren’t exactly from around here.

Max was human and so was Liz, and he’d treated them a little roughly five months ago, all because he hadn't been sure Max was really human. Jim figured he owed them…maybe he could make a little payment on that debt today with how they explained this to Jeff Parker.

“Well, because of the profile of Max, the next step in tracking them down ought to be pretty easy.”

Jeff Parker looked suddenly hopeful. “How do we do that, then,” he asked.

“Well Jeff,” said the Sheriff, “It’s what Max wrote in his note to his parents….about them being legally married with a legal license.”

That wasn’t a part of the discussion that Jeff Parker was really comfortable with just yet, he was trying not to think about that…and what it implied. But nonetheless, he wanted his daughter back, so he said, “What about that, Jim? How does that help us?”

“Well that was very important to Max, apparently,” said Angela, trying to keep a straight face. “He is pretty much a traditionalist. I mean…probably 99% of the teenage boys out there who have just run off with their girlfriend..would just have sex with her…not worried in the least about getting married. But because he respected her so much….because that was important to him…well, there’s certainly going to be a record in some county clerk’s office somewhere, almost certainly in their legal names. It’ll take a week or two for that to get reported up to the state level and put in the records…maybe less if the records are computerized. But then we’ll know where the marriage occurred…we can start tracking them from there.”

“Yeah,” said Jim. “And they’ll be together….that makes them more conspicuous. I mean…if Max didn’t really care for Liz, he’d have probably just used her and dropped her…..that happens a lot to teenage runaways. The girl has her reputation destroyed…her self-confidence and sense of self worth destroyed. Anything can happen to her then.”

“That’s right,” said Angela. “A lot go off into the shady world of porn films, believing themselves to be unworthy of any better life. They end up used and abused…on drugs and booze. Wind up as prostitutes, even. They are real difficult to find. From her letter…well, it’s obvious Liz loves him…wants to make a good life with him…they’ve both got jobs, building a life together...that leaves a paper trail. It’ll make them much easier to track.”

Jeff had grown visibly alarmed when the talk had turned to porn films and prostitutes. “I can’t believe Liz could ever be involved with anything like that…the porn films and prostitution.”

“Well,” said Angela, ..”that kind of thing does happen all the time…but I’d agree with you, it is very unlikely something like that would happen with Liz. Not only does Liz have an awful lot of common-sense, she has a lot of support…..from Max. Look at his emails…he obviously adores her. In both of his emails it’s apparent that family is very important to Max. And on the second email, the first thing he announces is that both he and his family were honored by her deciding to join that family. Now THAT is support. And when he is speaks of being not worthy of her…the message there is that she is truly important to him, that he is humbled by her acceptance. It would be hard for any girl to not feel pretty good about herself, hearing that from someone she loves.”

“She’s only sixteen…..she doesn’t really even know what love is.”

“Of course she does, Jeff.” said Jim Valenti. "Remember her first email…where she said that you and Max were a lot alike? She’d had sixteen years to learn love from her father and mother. She knows what love is. And that’s why it’ll be easy to find them, because two are always easier than one, and they’ll be together.”

“Yeah,” said Angela. “No doubt about that. Her values are traditional too, much like his. See how proud she was when she talked about sharing his name….being part of his family?”

“To tell the truth, I was paying more attention to the other part…sharing his bed.”

“Well Mr. Parker,” said Angela, “since they ARE married…well, that’s what married people do. It sounds like they had a religious service. That’s also traditional…and the meaning of that to them is that…well, God approves of them sharing that bed, the state they got married in approves of them sharing that bed, and the two of them approve of sharing that bed. While they appear to be aware that the four of you don’t…that’s still a lot of external authority that’s telling them that doing that is completely OK. And since it was a religious ceremony, even when you get it annulled it won’t necessarily change how they see it, because generally people don’t believe that what a state says trumps what God says.”

“But of course, the important thing,” said the Sheriff, “is that all these things make it easier to find them…”

Ten minutes later the meeting had broken up. The world had changed completely for Diane and Nancy. As they left the meeting Diane knew in her heart that she had a new daughter and Nancy knew in her heart that she now had a son. It would take a few weeks for the news to percolate up from their hearts into their brains, but the matter was no longer in doubt for either of them. They’d settle for getting their kids back….both of them…any way they could..no questions asked..under any terms they could get.

It was, for Jeff and Philip, also a very different world…..but neither had really given up on the old one yet. Both were relieved that it wasn’t worse than it was, after the examples Angela and Jim had given about what MIGHT have happened to the runaways, but still…they were only sixteen.

If they could track them down, they could still get it annulled, still get their comfortable old world back….and they COULD track them down, Jim had explained it to them.

Because their kids were mature, considerate, deeply in love, took care of one-another, and honored the traditions they’d been taught..it would actually be EASIER to track them down and destroy their happiness. That’s kind of what Jim and Angela had said.

Gee they sure wished those two could have phrased that kind of differently. It almost made it sound like the only kids you could ever catch were ones that would probably do just as well if you left them alone and the only ones you could separate were those that were probably better left together…….

11:00 PM The Silver Nugget Room, Tonopah Nevada

It had been a long day for Liz Evans. Besides the great morning wake-up…..far better than coffee, she decided, and the surprise of finding out that even in a hotel you can eventually run a shower out of hot water…if the two of you are in there long enough, her first full day of work had been pleasant.

She’d even been able to slip away with Max when he’d come back from the airport to send those messages. She wondered if the messages had gotten to their parents yet…and what the response by them would have been. Yesterday she was wishing that they might have some sort of two-way communication….maybe find a bulletin board for them to post to so she and Max could read their messages without giving themselves away. She wasn’t sure if that could really be done anonymously, but if it was a busy enough board it wouldn’t make any difference, they’d be lost in the crowd of readers. Except….all those readers would be reading what their parents had to say to them…and she was pretty much sure what that would be. If her parents had freaked about them simply falling asleep in the desert, she could only imagine what they would think about the wake-up….or the shower scene. They’d probably post something quite explicit about what she was NOT supposed to do…in all caps…and then she’d just feel bad, because they didn’t understand. Max was hers now. Not all the parents, not all the courts, could ever take him away from her.

They’d gone out to the airport after she’d gotten off work. They’d borrowed a vacuum from Anna, gotten up most of fifty years of dust from the place….and three scorpions….eeeewwww. At least two of them had been dead, that was some comfort, but they'd made a not to get the local pest control guy out there tomorrow.

Anna had looked at Max warily, when they’d borrowed the vacuum. When she’d returned it Anna had asked if Max ever hurt her….and she hadn’t really understood at first. Apparently Anna's mother had one abusive relationship after another and Anna was really surprised that she and Max could work together and joke together. 'No Anna,' she'd told her. 'Max is my husband...and my best friend.'

Anna had come back to their half of the duplex to help later…then got caught in the crossfire when they’d gotten in a hose fight while they were washing outside windows. All three of them had almost frozen.

They’d retreated to Anna’s place for hot chocolate, Anna looking with amazement as she’d snuggled up against Max and he’d taken his only partly-wet jacket off to give to her to help her warm up. She’d asked Liz later if he ever….forced her…to do things that made her uncomfortable. She’d told her, ‘No, of course not. He loves me.’ Anna had almost teared up, and just nodded her head. Poor kid.

It had been late when they’d gotten back, but between the cold and the dust they’d both needed showers again. Max had suggested she go first…the two at once thing had been fun…but morning would be here soon, and they really were less….distracted…when they took individual showers.

She watched as Max came out of the bathroom, wearing only his boxers. She’d worn boxers and a t-shirt when she’d gotten out of the shower. He turned out the light and kissed her gently.

“Liz, I know you’ve had a long day…and it’s fine if we just spoon together….just sort of cuddle…”

As she moved over onto his body, slowly straddling him, he felt the softness of her naked skin against his and her hand suddenly tugging gently at his boxers.

“Fine for you maybe, Mr. Evans. Some of us have other ideas…….”

7:25 AM Jan's coffeeshop, Roswell New Mexico

"Hi Diane. This is great, getting together like this. I wasn't up to sitting there eating breakfast by myself, looking at Liz's empty chair again.

"I know what you mean. Did you get any sleep at all last night?"

"Strangely enough, Diane....I slept pretty well. I had been having these nightmares since this happened...Liz hates the cold. I kept picturing her all alone out in the cold someplace, shivering and lonely.....sure wrong about that one, I guess."

"Nancy, I..."

"No Diane. I really...well I did sleep better. She's not lost, they aren't dead in a ditch someplace from a car accident....they're just....playing house. Only they aren't playing, are they?"

"I'm afraid not."

"I feel like such a dope for not really listening to her when all this started. Sure, it would have been hard...hard for both of us. Do you know what I told her, Diane? I told her not to grow up...not to ever have sex...not to ever stop being my baby girl. I mean....she loved Max this much...and I didn't even know about it...and after saying that...I guess I really couldn't expect her to tell me."

"Kids are like that, Nancy. It seems like Max has been keeping something from me all of his life. Heck, he's only kept Liz a secret from me for most of the last ten years. I guess some things are just hard to share with your parents."

"You know, Diane, I believe the boys still think that there's really an opportunity to go back from this...to make things like they were...that an annulment puts us back to square one. Liz ran off with Max so she wouldn't have to be away from her boyfriend. She wasn't willing to let us keep her away from him then....now Jeff somehow thinks she'll let us separate her from her...husband. I'm not sure I can really see that happening."

"I know. It's like Max never really wanted to be a part of this world, just kind of held himself back, like he felt he was different than everybody else....then comes Liz and...total commitment. It's almost like I don't know if I should be sad...or glad."

"I think I'm glad. I must be. I looked out last night and saw the snow flurries and I started to worry and then it just hit me..Liz is OK, she's safe and warm in Max's arms."

"It's not his arms I'm worried about. I hope they are using some sort of...protection."

"Amen to that. I'm sure they are...don't you think? I mean, Liz really is sort of level-headed, like Angela said."

"I sure hope so....although someday....a grandchild would sure be nice."

"Yeah....a little boy maybe...I've never had a little boy to play with."

"I've never had a little boy or a little girl......Max and Isabel were already walking when we got them..."

"Well one of each, maybe. That'd be fun."

"What...twins? Liz is so tiny...I'd be afraid for your daughter if she had twins."

"No, I meant one at a time....but twins...twins would be OK. Liz's tougher than she looks."

"She'd have to be to put up with Max and his silly secret. I wonder if she knows what it is."

"If she doesn't, she will. Liz has been Miss Scientist since we got her that chemistry set in third grade."

"That's funny, we got one for Max then, too."

Both women found themselves smiling suddenly, trying not to laugh. Diane said it first.
"Well, apparently they worked out the chemistry somehow."

"Yeah, and I figure I can probably forget about Liz being cold at night....at least for the indefinite future."

"So what are we going to do about the boys?"

"I'm not sure. I think the Sheriff and Angela were hitting them pretty hard yesterday. They might come around."

"Well, until we find where the kids are, it doesn't much matter. And even Philip can't get them into court right away once we find them. There's always a few days backup."

"Well, we have time then, anyway. Breakfast tomorrow?"

"Sure. Same place?"

"Let's try the bakery. They have great croissants..."

0800 Small Auditorium, Det. 24 Area 51, Nevada

It is well known throughout a military that is full of type A controlling personalities that the most extreme example of that breed is the fighter pilot. As a group, they excel in competitiveness and controlling situations, and in a way, that’s quite ironic. Aviation, by its very nature, does not allow one to always be in control since one has to respond to variables such as wind and weather, maintenance and materiel defects, and other constantly changing circumstances. The military itself is not entirely amenable to control. With hundreds of thousands of personnel, mistakes, errors, malfeasance, accident, and general cluelessness will always be a problem, even in peacetime.

Slammer had achieved his success by being competitive and ambitious, having an obsession with accomplishing tasks quickly, and a strong need to control situations. But some conditions you couldn’t control…at least not immediately. And like most fighter pilots, he solved the problem by compartmentalizing these situations, prioritizing them, and then getting them taken care of as soon as he could. In the meantime, you just had to approach them with humor. Otherwise, they’d drive a type A personality insane.

The Detachment had almost 600 people, exclusive of prime contractor personnel, split evenly between military and civil service. It appeared that perhaps twenty of the civil service personnel had shown up… Slammer had been warned by the Chief of Staff to not expect the civil service people to pay much attention to him. Previous commander’s had been little more than a speed bump for the senior civil service researchers to run over whenever he was in their way. That would clearly have to change.

As for the 300 military members…most not on security or other essential duties appeared to be there…but clearly a fair number hadn’t bothered to show up. The ones who did…Slammer was amazed. He had never seen such a bewildering array of inappropriate and mismatched uniforms. One elderly Lieutenant Colonel appeared to be wearing 1505 khakis….which hadn’t been issued since the early 1970s. But a senior NCO was worse…he was wearing what could only be a classic ‘Jungle Jim’ uniform of pith helmet, cargo shirt and khaki shorts. That thing really belonged in the Air Force Museum, it was actually in better shape than the set hanging on the mannequin there. He shook his head. As he looked through the crowd, he noticed only one uniform that appeared to be both current and in good repair, and even that one was missing one ribbon he noticed, as he saw the officer’s face. Obviously young Captain Hawthorne had never bothered to put the ribbon for the end of tour medal he had awarded him on his service dress….not that he’d have ever worn it in graduate school in Berkeley. It would likely have caused an immediate riot.

So out of almost three hundred people in the crowd in uniform, there was precisely one person who actually had an appropriate uniform…almost. As Slammer accepted the ceremonial unit colors from Colonel Jamieson, Slammer noticed that even he....the outgoing commander... didn’t have an appropriate military uniform. He returned the unit colors to the color guard who returned them to their stand. It was 0807, and Det 24. Had a new commander.

There was scattered polite applause as he stepped to the podium.

“Thank you, and thank Senior Master Sergeant Ormsby for setting up this ceremony on short notice. I hope to get to know all of you better in the very near future. For now, please enjoy the cake and refreshments. Oh…and, Captain Hawthorne….please see me in my office in one hour.”

10:00 AM Tonopah Nevada

It was the second cup of coffee for Deputy Sheriff Michael Walker, and he pulled out a thermos and asked her if he could get it filled. Liz said certainly, most of the truckdrivers and several of the other deputies took the opportunity to refill their thermoses at the restaurant. Nye county was huge, the third largest county in the entire country, larger than the combined total area of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Delaware. Even with over 90% of the county tied up in federal land, much of it in the Nellis Air Force Base range complex, they spent a lot of time on the road, much of it away from any towns. Tanking up in Tonopah was almost a necessity. As she brought the filled thermos back to him, she averted her eyes. Somehow, the man just made her nervous…almost like he was looking at her when she wasn’t looking. At least he wasn’t paying that much attention to her today, she thought. He was concentrating on that big stack of papers he’d brought with him.

As Deputy Walker turned over the top APB in the stack, he looked back at the new waitress. Her tag had said ‘Beth,’ and that hadn’t rung any bells. But she was still going out of her way to keep from looking him in the eye. That was OK, thought Michael. He was a patient guy. He’d gone through the Arizona APBs and was half the way through the ones from California. She was in there somewhere...he’d find it eventually.

As Walker left the restaurant he carried the stack of papers with him. Nevada tended to be pretty generous with their speed limits, and somewhat lax at even enforcing those. But there’d been a number of cars racing at up to 100 mph between Reno and Las Vegas, so he’d be manning a radar trap this afternoon. He’d ignore anybody going under 80….that was the usual cutoff. That ought to give him plenty of time to just sit there…going through those all points bulletins. Sooner or later, he’d find her……