Kill him?

As carefully as he could, Max stood up. He moved to each glass wall, trying to find Liz again.

Liz. She had been there. Max had never felt more relieved than to see her again. Granted, he hadn’t really seen her. But he felt her presence. And that gave him more encouragement more than anything.

What exactly had happened to her that day? How was she tied to James? Had he known where she was the entire time? Had he never been an investigator of any sort, and simply had kidnapped her himself? Had he done anything to her? To hurt her?

Max’s mind swarmed with questions, when the shriek of a child in pain shattered his ears.

*****

Audra sat against the wall, her head leaning slightly to side, propped against the hard steel beneath her head. Max had been removed from the next room. She hadn’t been able to see him. To FEEL him.

Now she was REALLY all alone.

Audra was becoming increasingly nervous. Were the people watching her right now, as she sat forlornly in her cell? She couldn’t remember much, but she knew she had been knocked out by some drug at least once. Had they done it before? What had they done to her when she was unconscious?

Were they the reason she didn’t remember her life past a few years before?

Had they created her entire life for her? What could possess them to do that? What had she ever done to them?

Audra sighed. She was really hungry. And she didn’t know if it was day or night. It wasn’t like it mattered. It really didn’t. If she could only find a way out…

Audra’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a faint cry.

*****

“Daddy!”

Max heard the cries from a nearby room. Every tear shed pierced his heart, killing him slowly.

They were making Anna cry. They were making his precious, beautiful, sweet daughter, cry.

“Daddy!” she called through her wails.

Max had never felt so hopeless in his life. There was NOTHING he could do. They had taken care to see that he couldn’t do anything. He felt so powerless and weak. What kind of father was he, to let his only daughter be tortured?

“Daddy!”

Max winced. He wanted to cry. Listening to her plea to him was becoming increasingly unbearable.

“Stop it,” he said in a low voice. “Please. Stop hurting her. She’s just a child. She didn’t do anything wrong. Do whatever you want to me. Just don’t hurt her. Please, just leave her alone.” Max hated to beg. But if that was what he had to do to save Anna Lisa, then he would do it.

“Do you realize, Mr. Evans,” a voice sniveled from above. “That your child is the ONLY one of her kind in this entire planet? Did you know that? She’s *special,* ” the voice spat out, sarcastically emphasizing the word “special.” Who was this man? And where were these people? WHY were they doing this to him, to his family?

“What could you possibly get from a baby girl?” Max cut in.

“Don’t interrupt me again, Mr. Evans. If you have any value at all for your child’s life, you’ll shut up and listen to me.”

Max sealed his mouth tight.

“Thank you. As I was saying, we’re not doing anything, really. We’re just *borrowing* her services. Do you have any questions?”

“Why do you need her? And why are you doing this now?”

The voice grew angry. “Mr. Evans, you don’t seem to be understanding. She’s an alien-human breed. Now, you might think that most of these kind of babies should be retarded in their alien powers. But, from our own lab tests, we have deduced that a small percentage of possible alien-human births result in a super-intelligence. These few are even more intelligent and more powerful than the alien parent. Anna Lisa just happens to be one of those. And why we waited so long -- we had technical difficulties. My most heartfelt apologies,” the man ended sarcastically.

Max wanted to kick himself. His poor innocent baby girl was in the hands of these malicious people. And not only couldn’t Max help her, he didn’t even know who they were, why they were here, or anything that could help him get everyone out.

Amidst the fury he felt about Anna Lisa’s abandonment, Max kept in mind Isabel. If they had taken Anna, Isabel was sure to follow.

“Is Isabel here too?” Max asked warily.

No answer.

“What are you going to do with us?”

Silence. The crying had ceased.

Max buried his face in his hands. All he wanted to do now was to find Anna Lisa and protect her, give Isabel a comforting hug, and tell Liz how much he loved her. But, he couldn’t do any of those things.