Liz glanced at her watch. "About five hours, I'd say."

"Wow," he commented. "What did you buy?"

"A change of clothes for both of us, and some food."

"Good idea."

Max looked at the pile of clothes she placed on the bureau and laughed. "Shopping spree?"

"Sort of," Liz said, and went to the bathroom to change.

****

When she came out, feeling refreshed in her cheap new clothes, Max was curled onto the bed in a position remarkably similar to one from the night before. She took one look at the paper spread out on the top of the dresser and understood why.

"Local teens, family, killed in fires," the headline read. Before she looked away she read the sub headline, which said, "Police suspect arson in 2000 degree blaze."

"Oh God, Max, I'm so sorry," Liz whispered. She sat down on the bed next to him and touched his shoulder.

He turned slightly to look at her. "They can't be gone, Liz. They can't. Isabel, Michael, my mother and father..." He broke into sobs.

She lay down next to him, unsure of how to proceed. This had hit her instantaneously, last night, but it obviously hadn't sunk in on Max's part until now. She had never seen a man, or even a boy, for that matter, cry like this. She reached out and wiped away a tear. Max reached out for her, and she let him wrap her in his arms. She curled up next to him and held him until they both fell asleep.

****

When she woke, Max was stroking her arm lightly. She opened her eyes slowly, wanting to see if he would stop, knowing she was awake. "Hi, Liz," he said.

"Are you okay?" she asked, knowing that he couldn't possibly be.

He looked toward the dingy ceiling. "No. But I know now what I have to do."

She waited to see if he would tell her what, exactly, that happened to be. "Thank you for being here with me. I know I didn't want you to come, but if you weren't here, I probably would have killed myself last night."

Liz was shocked. "You couldn't do that."

"It was all I thought about last night. I kept drifting in and out of sleep, and whenever I woke up I would think, I should just kill myself and get it over with. I'm worthless."

"But--"

He silenced her with a finger to her lips. "But when I woke up, you were there. And I thought, Liz loves me. What would she do if I killed myself?"

Liz sniffled and began to cry. She hadn't stopped holding Max, even when she awakened, but now she hugged him tighter and rolled one leg over his. She felt him jump slightly and smiled to herself. "Max, you are not worthless. And you know it."

"I couldn't save the two people closest to me in the world. The two people who knew exactly where I was coming from."

Liz smiled. "I know where you're coming from. And you saved me."

Max smiled, although Liz couldn't see it, and rolled her underneath him suddenly. She didn't mind it at all; the feeling of being pinned to the bed turned her on in some odd way. He kissed her deeply. "I don't think I can ever thank you for what you've done for me." He kissed her again.

"You just did, Max."

He kissed her again, settling his weight gently on top of her. She ran her hands through his soft, thick mop of hair, smiling when he moaned into her mouth.

"Hello? Hello? Open up!"

They jumped apart with a start. Max ran to the door to open it to the motel clerk, who glared when he saw how disheveled Max was. "Your time is more'n up," the man growled. "You gonna pay, or are you gonna get outta here?"

Max looked back at Liz. She was already throwing their clothes into the brown paper bag she had received at the tourist trap. "We're going," Max assured the man.

"That's good," he said gruffly. "I dunno who the hell you kids are, but there've been more people snoopin' around here in the last five hours than I ever seen before in my life."

Max's mouth opened slowly. "All right. Thank you, sir." And he shut the door in the man's face. "Liz?"

"Almost ready. Good thing we haven't packed much, huh?"

Max winced. "I haven't even taken a shower."

Liz didn't even look up. "You can take one at the next place we stop." She closed the bag and lifted it from the table. "Ready!"

Max opened the door again. The old man was gone, and Max thanked him silently for his warning when he saw a familiar-looking car parked across the lot. Topolsky's car. They crept out of their room as silently as possible. Liz threw the bag in the jeep and climbed into the passenger's seat.

"Keys?" Max hissed.

"Oh, yeah. Here," she said, and tossed them to him.

He caught them in an upraised hand but his attention was focused elsewhere. She saw his head disappear below the edge of the jeep. Then he appeared around her side. He circled the car, pausing at each tire, and then he climbed into the driver's seat.

"Max? What was it?"

"Flats. Two of them. Obvious slashings."

"Topolsky?"

"Maybe. But I don't think that even she would be that dumb." Max started the jeep and sped off toward the main road. As he turned the car toward the highway, he looked in the rearview mirror. "Shit!"

Liz turned to look. Topolsky's car was gaining on them quickly. Liz couldn't quite make out who was in the driver's seat, but it didn't look like the blond FBI agent to her. "Max?"

"What?" he asked, checking the mirror again.