The letter had been very specific. The hunters were not government. They were private. They had concerns of their own. First, only aliens were to be present and, second, that all the aliens were to be present.

In the end, Max could not hand his daughter over to the hunters and Michael didn’t ask it of him.

So they sat in silence, in darkness, with all the lights turned off and waited. They didn’t have to wait for long. A little over an hour later, a van rolled up and parked out front. Michael, Max and Isabel watched as two men exited the vehicle and opened the back doors. Both of the men were wearing long coats, obviously concealing something, possibly guns, beneath them. Out of the back, another, younger, man exited the vehicle with Maria in tow, a discreet gun placed against her head. Michael started toward the front door at the second he saw Maria with her shoulders slumped, her wrists handcuffed in front of her. Max caught him and forced him to stay.

“Let the hunters make the first move.”

The crew made their way up the front steps, with Maria in front. Maria opened the door and entered the dark living room. After everyone entered the duplex, Max and Michael raised their glowing hands in the direction of the hunters. Maria’s hands flew out in front of her and she started to follow the magnetic pull when a strong hand grabbed her hair. Maria winced from the pain, but managed to turn her head to see Jared’s excited eyes.

Kicking out with her left leg, Maria kicked the young man squarely in the shin. Jared howled out in pain, distracted long enough for Maria to get away and run to Michael’s embrace. Waylans put up his hand and called for his men to hold their fire. Confused, Max and Michael put down their hands when they realized that the guns were not flying through the air. Maria turned around and looked at Waylans and waited for his next move. Waylans stepped to the side and opened the front door and then walked away from the door. Waving his hand toward the open portal, Waylans ordered, “Girl, get out of here.”

Maria shook her head and resisted Michael’s urging hands. Standing her ground, Maria said, “No.”

Again, Max raised a glowing hand, lowering it again after it had no real effect except to pull Maria a little in his direction. Waylans laughed, “Haven’t you figured out that that don’t work yet, boy? These guns and the bullets, for that matter, are made from a non-metal substance. Your magnetic forces aren’t going to do any good.(Turning toward Maria) Now, girl, get out of here!”

Michael grabbed Maria by the arms and pushed her toward the door. Maria stumbled a bit before regaining her balance. She watched as Waylans and his men raised their guns, ready to fire. Maria ran in front of Michael, pushing him to the floor. Maria turned and kneeled down in front of Michael.

“Please, Mac, don’t do this! Please, don’t do this. (With her bound hands, Maria wrestled with her pant’s button. Undoing it, she pulled her zipper down and opened her pants, illuminating the darkness with a bright green glow.) Please don’t kill the Father of my child, Mac. I know what it’s like to grow up without a Father, please don’t do that to my baby.”

The entire group of people, both alien and human, stood in silence, staring at the green glow until Jared cocked his gun. Glancing to her right, Maria saw Jared’s crazed eyes, almost glowing on their own. Again, Maria entreated Waylans to stop his men.

“Mac, please! Even if you kill them, I’ll still have this baby. This baby will be alien but it’ll be human, too. What will you do then? Will you come back and take my child from me?”

Waylans hands started to shake. His finger slid on and off the trigger of his gun. Looking at the green light emanating from Maria’s abdomen and all the implications it represented, Waylans slowly lowered his gun. Beside him, Walter let out a held breath and lowered his gun. Only Jared still held up his gun. Waylans held out his hand toward Jared and commanded, “Give me the gun, Jared.”

Jared shook his head and sweat ran down his face. Shakily, Jared replied, “No, Mac, these aliens have to die. Her, too and her baby. All of them. My Dad said so. All the aliens have to die before he can rest in peace. That’s why we’re here. To bring an end to this. No more hunting. No more chasing.”

Quickly, Jared raised his gun and let go a spray of bullets. At that moment, Waylans also raised and fired his gun, shooting Jared in the arm and leg. Spinning to the ground, Jared fell headfirst to the carpet, his finger still pulling the trigger until twenty rounds later when the clip was empty. Max and Isabel fell to the ground behind the furniture. Michael grabbed Maria around the waist and fell to the left. He dragged her underneath him, covering her body with his.

But, he was too late.

When the bullets stopped flying, Michael raised up off Maria and looked into her desperate eyes. On her right shoulder, a red circle was forming and expanding more with each second. Quickly, Maria’s bright eyes were beginning to dull and her breath was starting to come short and fast. Searching Michael’s face, Maria managed to squeak out:

“Michael…”

Maria moaned in pain and started to choke for the want of air as Michael ripped her blouse open, exposing her shoulder. Placing a glowing hand over Maria’s wound, Michael prayed to a God he didn’t believe in, begging for Maria’s life.

A few minutes later, Michael felt Maria’s shoulder and found it smooth and healed. Michael took his hand away and lifted his gaze to Maria’s expressionless face. Michael rubbed her face and blatantly slapped Maria’s face and just when he was going to give up, Maria gasped, breathing hard. After Maria’s breathing slowed and steadied, Michael forced his hands under Maria’s back and raised up her torso, holding her tightly, wrapping his arms around her.

Cautiously, Max and Isabel ventured out of their hiding places and walked up to where Michael was holding Maria’s weak, but living body. With an air of calm about her, Isabel turned toward Waylans, surprising him by boldly addressing him, “What will you do now?”

Waylans looked at Maria, turning away quickly. He marched over to where Walter was nursing Jared’s mainly surface wounds. With Walter’s help, Waylans flung Jared’s good arm over his shoulder and picked Jared up off the ground. Together, they walked toward the front door. At the front steps, Waylans looked at Isabel and said, “Don’t worry. Any of you. I’ll tell them you were killed and disposed of. They won’t be bothering you again and they’ll never know about this (Waylans pointed at Maria).”

Isabel nodded. Waylans continued down the walk. Half way down the path, he turned and looked back at the duplex, Isabel standing in the door and Max standing behind her. Pausing for a moment, Waylans called to the young couple, “I suggest you move. They might check out this place.”

Isabel and Max nodded, stepped back and closed the door.

United States Federal Building in Downtown San Diego, CA. – May 17, 2003

Cloistered away in his mahogany office, Senior Agent Rudolph Corson critiqued the file laid out before him. He read the report and knew it to be a load of lies. He fingered the blood samples and knew them to be the genuine article. Bewildered, Corson reread the file, searching for some clue as to how this really worked out. He was tempted to call up Nelson Waylans and question him about the details, but he knew Waylans would most likely lie as unconvincingly during an interrogation as he had throughout his report.

Disturbed, Rudolph picked up the picture of his wife and children. He ran his thumb over the face of the baby in his wife, Dolores’ lap. He smiled remembering how she welcomed the new start she got three years ago. Her formerly boring husband seemed to return one night reborn. He was ambitious. He became the senior officer of his department. He commanded a larger salary and used it to make her and the children happy. The passion that had faded and all but died had come storming back like a hurricane. Even after it was obvious that she was no longer making love to her real husband, Dolores continued to wrap her arms around him, pulling him back for more. Little Thomas, sitting in her lap, was the product of this new life but the reason for it was laid out on his desk. Now, this position and its authority could do what Rudolph always thought it could. It would help to save and hide his kind.

Running a hand through his hair, Corson slowly started to glow. He put down the picture frame and started to shake all over. His features slowly changed until they melted into the handsome, youthful countenance of the ambitious Joseph Randall. Smiling in a cocky manner, Rudolph/Joseph picked up the file folder that could so easily show that the Roswell aliens still lived. He walked out of his office with the file under his arm. He walked past the secretaries, the security stations and out the door, making sure the cameras got a beautiful view of the serial numbers on the edge of the file.

Once outside, Rudolph/Joseph went to a nearby hotel and rented a room under Joseph’s name. There, he destroyed the file. Afterwards, Rudolph/Joseph walked back through the security station, past the secretaries and entered his office. Once inside, he changed back into Rudolph Corson.

A couple of days later, the missing file was noticed by a dedicated clerk in the archive department.

By the end of the day, the security tapes were replayed and the culprit was found out.