An anxious half-hour later, the group was together at Tess’s house, waiting for Max and Michael to get there.

ALEX: So this is where you went tonight, Is?

ISABEL: Yeah…don’t be mad; I just thought that it would be good to spend some time with these three.

ALEX: Me, mad? I just don’t understand why you didn’t want to tell me.

Just then, the Sheriff pulled up from outside. Tess went to let him in, and was surprised to see that he had brought Kyle with him.

TESS: Kyle, I had been meaning to talk to you.

KYLE: Whatever…

Kyle gave Tess a quick look and walked right past her.

SHERIFF: So, Liz, what’s the problem?

LIZ: I’m not sure. Max just called to say that something happened. Something that we needed to deal with right now.

SHERIFF: I was getting my first good night’s sleep in a week. This had better be good.

Sheriff Valenti put a quick smile on his face, indicating that he really wasn’t as angry as his words may have seemed. Liz heard the Jeep pull up outside, and went to the door. Max and Michael came in, both visibly shaken. Without so much as a word, they sat down on the couch.

LIZ: What’s going on, Max?

MAX: Well, I came home from work tonight, and I got a letter in the mail. Here…all of you read this. I really don’t want to look at it anymore.

One by one, they passed around the Special Unit’s letter to Max. The room went into dead silence. After Kyle, the last of the nine, had taken a look, no one wanted to say anything. Alex finally broke the silence.

ALEX: So what do we do?

SHERIFF: Well…we have 72 hours to stop them, take away their edge.

KYLE: But they’re the FBI!

SHERIFF: Son, what choice do we have here? We have to find them, stop them, anyway we can.

MAX: That’s the same thing that I was thinking. But where do we start? We just can’t wait to meet them in Frasier Woods on Sunday. By then it will be too late. We have to get to them before that.

KYLE: I can’t believe this. This is what I’ve been missing out on. I wish I just could have remained oblivious. It would have been easier.

TESS: It wouldn’t matter. I think the FBI has made it pretty clear that they will go after all of us, not just me, Max, Isabel, and Michael, whether you know the truth or not.

MICHAEL: They’ll stop at nothing to make sure that we’re eliminated. I wonder how they found out Nasedo.

ISABEL: What if this is all a hoax? What if it’s someone else?

MAX: I thought about that. I guess we don’t really know. Pierce’s ID card was included in the envelope that I showed you, but that could have been faked. We have to assume that the Special Unit is holding Nasedo as collateral for the rest of us. The Sheriff is right. We have to find them now, before Sunday night, somehow stop them.

MARIA: Why don’t you try that cell phone number that Nasedo gave you?

MAX: We already did, a week ago. We haven’t heard anything.

MARIA: You knew he was missing a week ago! Why are we just hearing about this now?

TESS: Maria, Nasedo doesn’t normally just show up when we ask him to. He kind of lives his own way and only does things on his terms.

MICHAEL: So, back to Eagle Rock?

MAX: That would seem like the best place to start. We go tomorrow night. We’re going to need the cover of darkness, the chance that the place might be short-staffed. I would say let’s go now, but we need time to plan what we’re going to do. We just can’t show up.

LIZ: Max, are you sure you want to go back there? Remember what they did to you…

MAX: We don’t have a choice. It will be fine. We’ll get out of this somehow.

MICHAEL: So…how are we going to do it?

LIZ: Well, we’re all coming this time.

Max mulled this over, but decided not to protest. He knew Liz was worried about him, especially after what happened during his last enforced visit to the Eagle Rock Military Base. He didn’t have the strength to argue with her. Besides, all of them were in danger now. That was clearer to him than ever before. He wondered how Tess would take this.

TESS: I don’t know about that. With just the four of us, we were able to break in last time. Nine of us, especially without our gifts, our powers, might be too large of a group.

Max was surprised she hadn’t rejected that idea out of hand, but at least she was trying to use good reason to keep all of them out of danger.

ALEX: We need every last resource we can get. All of us have something to add to this. We need to have the combined power of all of us, Tess. Does anyone else disagree?

Alex looked around the group. No one said anything.

LIZ: Well, then that’s settled.

SHERIFF: So let’s get together tomorrow afternoon and drive up there. We have to think of another way into the compound. The FBI isn’t stupid. They’ll have increased security on hand.

MAX: Is there anyone you can call Sheriff? Anyone that can help us here?

SHERIFF: I was just thinking about that very question. Unfortunately, they’re the FBI. That makes it kind of hard to bring any of my deputies with us to bring additional manpower. Besides, we can’t let anyone else know about this. If I bring anyone, we’d have to let them know why. That’s more dangerous than any Special Unit.

MICHAEL: Yeah…it’s just us, Maxwell. The nine of us versus the whole FBI Special Unit. Doesn’t seem like very good odds, doesn’t it?

ALEX: But it will have to be. We don’t have a choice.

The group continued talking for a little while, and then went their separate ways. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day, and any rest that they could get would be good. Although none of them was going to sleep very well tonight.

SCENE 2 – 60 HOURS LEFT

Isabel had called and left a message on Alex’s machine when she got up in the morning. It had been a fitful night. She didn’t think that she had gotten any sleep. She couldn’t imagine going back to that place again, and she didn’t know how they were going to beat the FBI. The last time, the goal had been just to get Max out. That wasn’t the same thing. It was far different to simply deceive someone for a second, or a minute, but quite another to deceive them forever. They not only had to find Nasedo, but stop the Special Unit from killing all of them. They couldn’t hide anymore; no one would allow them to.

Which was why she called Alex. The two of them had said that when they had to start their mission that they had to do it alone. That meant no more Alex. She had first realized it a week before, when she had heard that voice. She didn’t want to though. Alex and her, she was forced to admit, had its special moments. She hadn’t wanted to let anyone in like that. God knew she had tried to deny him as well. Finally, though, Alex had forced himself into her life, and she didn’t want to lose that, especially now. Their relationship was going to have to change, however. They had no choice. As much as he wanted to be a part of her life, he just couldn’t be, not like she wanted him to be.

She was sitting at a booth in the Crashdown as she waited for him. At least she could do this face to face, she thought. That thought gave her no comfort. She had forgotten though, in all of her planning, that Liz and Maria were there too working.

LIZ: Isabel, what are you doing here?

ISABEL: You know, lunch. One has to eat somewhere.

LIZ: Isabel, you’re yelling.

ISABEL: Sorry…just nervous.

LIZ: Yeah…tonight has me pretty nervous as well. That would be a good word for it.

ISABEL: Well, it’s not just about tonight.

LIZ: What is it?

As Liz said those words, Alex came through the front door. Isabel gestured towards him.

LIZ: Oh. That. Well…I’ll leave you two alone.

ISABEL: Thanks.

Alex walked over and sat down.

ALEX: Hey…Isabel…how’s it going? What’s going on? I got your message.

ISABEL: Hi Alex.

A few moments of nervous silence filled the air. Isabel was having a hard time starting, composing her thoughts. Alex tried to jolt her out of it.

ALEX: Isabel…Earth to Isabel…

ISABEL: Sorry…Alex, I have to tell you something. I’m going to struggle a little bit, so just be quiet and let me finish.

ALEX: OK.

ISABEL: Do you remember last month, at the dance?

ALEX: Yeah…how can I forget?

ISABEL: Well, you knew then that with everything happening, that something like this could happen at any time. I mean, the voices I heard last week, the letter Max got. It might be time to rethink everything. I mean, what I’m trying to say, is, Alex, I mean, I really like you; you know that, right?

ALEX: I think that I know where this is going.

ISABEL: No wait let me finish. But I think that both of us knew that something was going to happen, something that we couldn’t be a part of together. I think that time is here. Believe me, I don’t want it to be. But…I’m not a normal girl; you knew that, didn’t you?

ALEX: That’s precisely the point, Isabel. I know that you’re not a normal girl; you’re an extraordinary girl.

ISABEL: Alex, please, don’t make this harder than it has to be. I don’t know what the next three days are going to bring, but Max, Michael, Tess, and I, we have to do this. You know that.

ALEX: But, Isabel, this is about all of us now. I don’t understand. I’m a part of this too. Liz, Maria, all of us. You saw that letter. All of us are in just as much danger.

ISABEL: I know you want to be, but you can’t be one of us.

ALEX: I know.

Alex stared deep into her eyes for a few seconds, trying to find the right thing to say.

ALEX: Of course, if you want it to be this way, I’ll have to accept that. I mean, I’ll just have to swallow my feelings, and have to accept it. But, Isabel, I think you’re making a mistake. Especially now, I know that we need the people who we are closest with to get us through this. I know that Max, Michael, and Tess are your family. But if the last month has taught me anything, it’s that we are important to each other as well. Don’t turn your back to me, Isabel. Not just because I couldn’t stand it, but because somewhere deep down, we need each other. I know that I need you. I love you, Isabel. I’ve never said that to anyone else before, but I mean it now. It’s something I just know…and someday, I think you’ll realize it too. I just have to wait for you to see it.

Isabel was struggling to hold back the tears, and eventually she had to put her head down on the table to keep the whole café from staring at her. When she composed herself and brought her head back up a minute later, he was gone.

SCENE 3 – 52 HOURS LEFT

JACOB: Bryan, what are we doing here? This hotel is 100 miles away from Roswell. I don’t understand.

BRYAN: I thought we went over this, Jacob, we can’t be seen by anyone there. We can’t fail at this.

KATHERINE: There has to be something closer though. Roswell’s two hours away.

BRYAN: Trust me, Katherine; it will be easier this way.

The True had arrived in Clovis, NM, about two hours east of Roswell, just inside the Texas-New Mexico border. The five of them had been traveling for almost a full week to get here. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the gift of teleportation for themselves, and without much money, they had to drive. Being seemingly normal teenagers had its disadvantages. From the way they bickered back and forth, it almost was unbelievable that they had never met previous to the month before, when each of them had gotten a mysterious signal drawing them to a deserted mountain in western Newfoundland.

All five of them had known that they were different from a very early age. Being able to float, manipulating molecules to and fro, and read people’s minds kind of set them apart. But what they never knew was the why. All five of them had been adopted, with only an odd book in an obscure unknown language, and a strange light in their possession. But what they all had was a mean streak, one that had caused all five of them to be kicked out of foster home after foster home. But that all changed a month ago, when they found out why they had been placed on Earth.

They had been sent to stop a war, to end a struggle. Created for the purpose, as a matter of fact. When they arrived in Newfoundland, they had learned that. They also had learned much about themselves, and about the importance of their quest. And when Javier Ortecho had appeared two weeks ago outside their cave, without any idea how he got there, they learned about their enemy.

All of them were 16 years old, or at least so they thought. Being placed on Earth with no records made it hard to accurately place it. Bryan was the natural leader of the group. He came from Georgia. Tall, lanky, with blond hair and blue eyes, he stood out in a crowd. Jacob was from northern Vermont. Also tall, he was one of those people who looked like someone you knew, but just couldn’t place. Katherine came from Missouri. She was very short, with hair so blonde that it was almost white. Caren was from Boston. She definitely walked, talked, and dressed like a grunge party girl. She had shock dyed red hair, and a few body piercings to match her image. Finally, a very quiet girl named Jaime rounded out the group. She was a brunette from Vancouver, so withdrawn that her foster parents had moved her from one psychiatrist to another trying to figure out why she was so anti-social.

When they all got the signal, they just moved on instinct. After about a week, they all just arrived at the isolated cave, not even knowing why they were there. Once they all arrived, two others showed up. These two, who never showed them their faces, educated them on their mission. On the surface, it would seem strange for five kids who were misfits in society to all bond together like this, and be prepared for a mission to eradicate the earth of four others, and to be able to be so cold and heartless about killing, but they never questioned. They weren’t being controlled by anyone else, or at least they thought, but somewhere deep down they all knew that torturing Javier and traveling to kill Max Evans, Isabel Evans, Michael Guerin, and Tess Harding was what they were supposed to do. They couldn’t fail. There was too much at stake.

Bryan wondered if their foster parents even knew where they were. He knew that his foster father probably didn’t even know he was gone. Unbelievable that for his whole life, he could just disappear and no one would even notice. He thought that his dad would probably notice the fact that his car was gone before he would care that he was. Another reason to lay low.

He felt that his basic plan was a good one. Staying here, away from Roswell, would give them a certain amount of flexibility. Killing them would be the easy part, he thought, getting away with it would be harder. The less that they were seen around the scene of the crime, the better. Besides, all five of them had criminal records in various places. Even though they were all for relatively minor things, it was prudent to keep their exposure to a minimum. He was deep in thought when Caren walked up behind him.

CAREN: So what are we doing tonight?

BRYAN: Very little. We’ll go to Roswell tomorrow morning. Scout it out. The information we got from Javier should set us up pretty well. Say what you will about the guy, but at least he made positive contact with the four of them.

CAREN: And now that we know what he knew…

BRYAN: The rest should be a piece of cake.

CAREN: Exactly. A shame that we had to kill him though.

BRYAN: We couldn’t keep him locked up, and we couldn’t let him leave. C’est la vie.

CAREN: Don’t worry; I’m not too choked up about it. I just am sorry we didn’t have more time to pick his brain, learn more about our home. Our real home.