Murder on the Rio Puerco (CC,MATURE) complete,8/4/2012

Finished Canon/Conventional Couple Fics. These stories pick up from events in the show. All complete stories from the main Canon/CC board will eventually be moved here.

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ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
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Murder on the Rio Puerco (CC,MATURE) complete,8/4/2012

Post by ken_r »

Murder on the Rio Puerco

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Title: Murder on the Rio Puerco
Author: ken_r AKA ken242 AKA Kenneth Renouard
Couples: CC except for Kyle and Ava
Genera: Canon
Rating: mature, maybe
Disclaimer: The actors of Roswell are not mine. I merely suggest a life many years later that they might have lived.

Where my Spanish is correct thanks to Misha. Where there are mistakes, they are the products of a public school education behind the gym.
Summary: 15 years after graduation. Max had made Liz leave because he thought being with him was too dangerous for her. Liz moves on with her life obtains a doctorate degree in Anthropology and marries Doctor Frank Johnson, a geologist. While camping in the back country of the Rio Puerco, she and her husband are brutally attacked and he is murdered. Her old friends surround her. Max realizes that Liz is in more danger away from him than with him.

Murder on the Rio Puerco

Ta was what the archeologist would call “The early man.” Ta had no idea that he was an early man. He only knew that he was a man of his village. Ta had no concept of men not of some village. Ta had no concept of any men who did not think and live as he did. Ta did not have the concept of much outside the drainage of the river valley below him. Ta sat watching the valley. The river flowed below him. The river, which sometimes hid for generations, then it would appeared and flourished. Vegetation grew along its banks and even when the river hid, the trees and shrubs seemed to know that it had just gone deeper in the sand. The substance of water was still there. Ta knew that by patient watching he might find food. The great wolves had been seen less every generation. The long toothed ones had been gone for sometime. There were still rumors and it was best to be on guard. A long tooth was a formidable enemy. There still were other dangers and Ta was watchful. He was only one person and what ever he could take must be something that one man would be capable of killing and carrying back to his family. Of course, Ta wasn’t his real name. His real name was only know by his society and then, only on ceremonial occasions. Even the woman who bore his children didn’t know it. By sacred law she couldn’t be of his clan. She would belong to the woman’s society within her own clan. His own children were of his woman’s clan. He would care for them and look to their welfare, but just as he tended to the children of his sister, his offspring would be tended and trained by the brother of his woman.

Ta remained immobile for a long time. A hunter was successful by his ability to not be detected by game. Ta had rubbed his body with the sage. He had been careful what he had eaten. He was constantly watching the breeze. His small bag of powders was shaken every so often to gage the direction of the varying errant winds. His mind went to stories of his uncle. The brother of his mother had told of the old days, days when the giants shook the earth. Ta fondled his totem; a piece of ivory which hung about his neck on a rawhide string. His uncle had given it to him when he had become a man. The carved totem had been made several generations ago. Since it was from one of the giants, Ta was told that it had great medicine. His uncle had said that killing one of the giants would feed several clans for a long time. Killing a giant would be a feat, indeed. To do it alone would be almost impossible. Ta was a mighty hunter and he could still dream.

To call the family to a kill of a giant would make him renown through out the world, which for Ta wasn’t that big, others would be invited and the uttered sounds, which called him, would be known to all. There would be a gathering and young men could seek willing women from other clans and if fortune was kind, the women would follow them, bare their children and allow them to establish a family group of their own. A woman alone could attach herself to a family, even if she was not the primary woman of any man, but she would have safety and be cared for. A man was lost if he didn’t have a woman. Men could hunt and men could fight. Men seldom had the skills to tan skins, or the patience to gather seeds. There were other things that women did, also. Without a woman, a man would not have a family, surrounding himself with children who would care for him in his aged years, a family who would pay for the services of the shaman when sickness or bad luck came to him.
-----------------

Doctor Elizabeth Parker-Johnson was trying to dig her self out of the dense fog. She knew that reality was somewhere above her but the pain kept her from finding the surface. The nurses of the hospital heard her moan and then they heard her call, “Frank, Franklin, where are you? Don’t look at the light. They will only see you if you look at them.”

The good doctor felt a cooling hand and a damp cloth placed against her face. She could feel the heat of the light. They were here looking for him. He had been gone for over 15 years. They were still looking for him; some how they had found her and thus put Frank in danger. It wasn’t fair to bring Frank into this. She had left Max, 15 years ago to let him better hide. Frank knew nothing about the life she had formerly led. To Frank, she was a well-known anthropologist, with whom he had fallen in love.
------------------

Doctor Parker-Johnson had left the alien abyss so long ago. Frank never knew that Doctor Parker-Johnson had been a fugitive, both from the FBI and from unfriendly forces from out there. Doctor Franklin Johnson had met the young Doctor Parker just after she received her doctorate’s degree in archeology. He was a field researcher in geology. He was working the volcanic mountains north and west of Taos, that tourist/artsy community. There had been an archeology field school on Lobo Peak, a research location for the University of New Mexico. Field schools are usually summer classes where students from freshmen to those holding a doctoral degrees, work and study practical archeology. They jokingly called it “Ditch Digging 101.” There is more to this name than might be imagined. Physical Educations majors would be assigned to this summer class to keep in shape. No mechanized equipment would be used on these field schools, all the dirt would be removed by the strong backs of the students. At least, their backs would be strong by the end of the session.

Many field schools live in primitive conditions like camping out all summer. Not so, the school on Lobo Peak. The University of New Mexico owned a facility at the D. H. Lawrence Ranch where the school would be housed. For archeologist, this was luxury. There were dorms, a cafeteria and the most appreciated luxury, showers. Doctor Frank Johnson was taking advantage of the hospitality offered by the university research group to traveling associates. Doctor Parker had kindly given him a tour about the site they were excavating. “Franklin,” they were on first name basis now, “there are several different theses being tested on this site. The overall site covers several square miles. A separate team is excavating each individual dig site. They bring their artifacts in to headquarters and the individual researchers then go over the team notes to look for evidence that supports their theses. When the summer is over, the evidence will be cataloged and the individuals will prepare their papers to present to the department,” she explained.

This was very different from what Frank Johnson did. Frank mostly worked alone. He would study maps, formations and then, the only sure thing was actually taking samples. Frank would look at these samples and recommend cores be drilled at certain points; then, he would spend the winter studying every thing he had found. The land and its contours grudgingly gave up its secrets. Frank managed, that summer, to stop by the archeology dig several times. He even arranged a few lectures for the students on the geology of the area. Every time he arrived, it was Doctor Parker who entertained him.

An archeology dig has its romantic side. The students work hard during the day. As said, there is very little difference for the most part from just ditch digging. They might use their trowels, tooth brushes and dental picks to carefully remove an artifact, but to get to that artifact someone had to move a lot of dirt. For many of the academic students this is the first time in their young lives they had needed to do this type of labor. It is common for the sweet, beautiful sorority girl to show with pride her first blister that she had ever known. Some of the men become renowned like “John Henry,” the steel driving man with their newly found ability to move huge amounts of soil. The legendary John Henry competed with the steam drill in laying railroad tracks, the modern legends must do what the modern earth moving equipment can’t. That is, move dirt with the finesse to not destroy the artifacts. With this hard manual labor, the students feel they have the right to play hard when their academic chores are finished in the evenings. Celso’s bar, at Arroyo Hondo, meaning deep arroyo, was a traditionally Hispanic bar. Being just a few miles from Lobo Peak, in the southwest this meant less than 25 miles; the college students quickly discovered it. Celso was a wise entrepreneur after the first summer of trying to mingle the college students with his Hispanic regulars; Celso built a separate room for the outsiders. The college students had a separate room to celebrate and when they all left for the summer, Celso had a meeting room for the small community of Arroyo Hondo. It was noted that a few ethnologists would filter into the Hispanic section and with their quiet inquisitions they would be regaled by old Hispanic stories. La Llorona, the cry-baby, would live on in the documents these students carried back. Stories from down south about the monster Chupacabra would be told and sometimes, the students would see changes that appeared, making the monster fit into the neighboring villages.

Doctor Parker and Doctor Johnson were seen to frequent Celso’s bar, the times he visited. The romantic drive back to the peak, along with the opportunities for clandestine stops under the pines, gave the students fodder for thoughts that Doctor Parker was also, playing, as hard as she worked. Long walks along the forest roads, trying to avoid the grottos where they heard giggling or sighing, were romantic. No one was surprised when Doctor Johnson taking Doctor Parker’s hand and with a serape thrown over his shoulder, led her into the moonlight. The students all smiled. Doctor Parker would get laid tonight for sure, if she hadn’t been getting some, all along.

Frank and Liz found many times to be together that winter. Doctor Parker gave several lectures about the habitation sites in the areas discussed in Doctor Johnson’s classes. Doctor Johnson gave many lectures about the geology of the southwestern sites that the anthropologists all held so dear.

The courtship was very open to the college community, so no one was surprised when it was announced that there would be a interdepartmental marriage.
------------------

The nurse ran for the doctor on call. The Lady in room 304 was now awake. The doctor hurried to the side of the lady who had been unconscious for so long. The lady at the switchboard, as per instructions phoned the city police who passed the information on to the state police.

Liz, again, saw the light. She cringed from its source. The light flickered past her face and in the darkness Liz could see shapes. Were these the aliens who had looked for Max so long ago? Liz heard a voice, “Doctor Parker can you hear me?” the voice asked.

It didn’t sound like an alien, but Liz remembered some of the aliens they had faced had been almost indistinguishable from humans. Liz tried to move away from the light, but she was bound to her bed. This brought back memories of when Max had been kidnapped by the FBI. Fear ran through Liz as she must be tied to her bed in preparation to be experimented upon.

There was a soft motherly voice, “Hon, try not to be afraid. You are safe here. The doctor just wants to know how aware you are.”

That voice didn’t sound like FBI and unless Ida Crawford, the mother of congresswoman Vanessa Whitaker, had returned from the dead, Liz couldn’t think of any other aliens who might sound like this. The level of the light was raised and Liz began to make out several people dressed in hospital scrubs standing around her. “Doctor Parker-Johnson, can you hear me?” the voice said again. This time correcting itself about her name.

Liz saw no reason to not cooperate at the moment so she nodded. “Do you know what happened to you?” the voice asked again.

Those crowded around the woman saw her eyes dart about as the level of light kept rising. She looked like a trapped animal. “Where is Frank?” she asked.

The soft voice continued, “Was Frank the name of the person who was with you?”

“Yes,” Liz responded. Then she looked around frightened again, “Where is Frank? He was standing right beside me when we saw the light. Did they get him?”

The soft voice again, “Now, Elizabeth, we will talk more later. Right now, I want to examine you and determine the extent of your injuries.”

Liz was too groggy to argue. They had shown the light into her eyes, which caused her a great deal of discomfort. She could almost hear the aliens talking. Now she could feel the bandages and pain was starting to mount from injuries she was yet unaware that she had. Liz was covered in bandages over her burns.
------------------

Kyle Valente, born in Roswell New Mexico and now a detective in the New Mexico State Police, hurried up to the hospital desk. “Is the burn victim, Doctor Johnson, awake?” he asked.

Kyle had worked his way up with native ability. He was from three generations of police officers. Usually, if something happened in the Rio Puerco valley, just west of the city, it would be drugs. This time, it was rumored that aliens were involved. Kyle wouldn’t brag or talk about it, but he was one of the few cops who didn’t shy away from the word aliens. Mention UFO’s in the presence of Sergeant Lonnie Zamora, retired State policeman, and you started a fight. Lonnie had been razzed so many times by the younger officers and those in Santa Fe that at the mere mention of UFO’s he took personally that you were making fun of him. Lonnie had a chip on his shoulder, which looked like a flying saucer. He just dared anyone to knock it off. http://www.ufocasebook.com/Zamora.html

Lonnie had been patrolling just south of Socorro, New Mexico. He was chasing a speeder when he heard a roar and saw something in the sky. Lonnie knew that there was construction in the area and in this part of the world construction meant explosives. Maybe, one of those storage units had gone up. There also was the possibility that one of the rogue dissident groups had tried for the explosive and blown themselves up. Rito Canales and Antonio Cordova would be killed, by the State Police, a few years later while trying to steal dynamite from a road construction project, in this area. There were many groups in the news during the 60s and 70s. The news of dissent was about California or the schools on the east coast, but in New Mexico, it was almost insurrection. There was talk of secession. Aztlan was a real concept, if not a practical one. http://ca10.washburnlaw.edu/cases/2001/02/00-2164.htm

For Lonnie, it was 1964 and there were many rebellious groups in New Mexico. You name it and they wanted it. Blowing themselves up was not unheard of. Lonnie proceeded up the dirt roads, towards where he believed the flames had originated. When he arrived, he saw in an arroyo some type of vehicle. It was on a platform and there was movement around it. As Lonnie approached, it took off with a roar; not an explosion, but a roar. Lonnie was on duty and cold sober. His fellows kidded him unmercifully.

He knew what he had seen and so did Kyle. Kyle just couldn’t tell Lonnie what it was. As said, it happened in 1964. Kyle hadn’t even been born yet. His parents hadn’t yet met because they were in grade school. From his associations with the aliens of Roswell, Kyle knew that the skins, an alternate alien group, bearing no good will, to those aliens Kyle knew personally, were setting up a colony at that time.

New Mexico State Patrolman Gabe Valdez had many ideas of what caused the cattle mutilations. They ranged from Insurance fraud to possible experimentation. The experimentation could possiblely be our own government or outsiders, and Gabe meant “real far outsiders.” Gabe wasn’t closing any doors. There had always been stories about animals used in strange rites. The influx of the alternate “hippy” cultures worried the locals. Were these newcomers bringing in some bizarre rituals? Along with these scenes of mutilation, there were many sightings of strange air ships. There were tales of silent-black helicopters and strange alien ships. The area in the northern part of the state greatly mistrusted the “Gringo” government even more than the “red-necked, farm workers of the south. There were stories of toxic waste dumps and of strange death rays. Kyle had researched as much as he could, but he just wasn’t sure. Gabe was as closed mouth as was Lonnie, now, when questioned about the affair. http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/dulce/chapter10.htm

Unknown to Lonnie or Gabe, Kyle was one of their staunchest supporters. Whether it was his own government or something related to his alien wife, Kyle followed these stories closely. More than any other officer, Kyle was aware of “Outside Terrorism,” not politically inspired locals, but those from way out there.

Kyle also knew that as late as July 2009 there had been UFO sightings along the Puerco. http://www.ufodigest.com/news/0809/manta-ufos.php Kyle wasn’t sure if the sightings were just normal paranoia of the UFO nuts in the area or if, Indeed, the skins or maybe, a group that neither he nor the Roswell aliens knew anything about, were involved. There was another troubling theory, which if proved true, would greatly impede any investigation. Test pilots used the Rio Puerco area, because of its sparse population, as country to fly over. In the days of the TFX F-111 project, they were testing terrain–following radar. The still semi secret planes would fly as low as 100 feet or about 30 meters above the valley floor. As long as there were no cattle mutilations, the local Hispanic ranchers could care less what was going on in the sky. They did complain about the sonic booms that would appear out of nowhere. For Kyle, if the military was in any way involved, he would face an impenetrable wall.

Now, it had been the local ranchers who saw the light and investigated to find Doctor Johnson and the unidentified corpse. Screw with the skies all you want, but if you effect cattle or people, the ranchers were up in arms. The ranchers called the police because someone was hurt. If they had caught anyone out there doing harm, they would have administered ‘swift country justice,’ and said nothing more about it.

Kyle had been told to attend the hospital and interview this Doctor Johnson who apparently had met something. She was in bad condition. Kyle had shrugged. His sensible mind had told him that Doctor Johnson had in, someway, found herself in the middle of a drug transaction. The narcotics agents had several small outlying airports around Albuquerque, which they called “Mexican Internationals.” There were more nonstop flights from south of the boarder, which landed at those airports than there were at the commercial Albuquerque International Sun Port. New Mexico was so barren that the State Police and the federal narcotics agents couldn’t patrol it very well.

When the attending doctor for Doctor Johnson approached him, Kyle could see that he had a very grim expression on his face. “They called you too early detective. She is coming around, but it will be tomorrow before she can talk coherently. So far, we haven’t gotten any information from her or any knowledge about the person who was with her. It is reported that Doctor Johnson is married to a geologist. Maybe, that is who was with her. We can’t yet even tell the sex of the companion. It was burned almost beyond recognition as a human being. We released the remains to the medical examiners and they will have the DNA and other evidence for you soon, if they can.”

Kyle made a face. He didn’t relish the drive back to Santa Fe tonight. He would get a room and be ready early in the morning to question the good doctor. “Ava,” Kyle said over his cell phone. “Doctor Johnson isn’t awake enough for me to question, so I am going to take a room and see her early in the morning.”

Kyle heard her soft voice. They had been married several years and Kyle never tired of hearing the voice of his alien wife. Kyle remembered when he first saw Ava. She had returned to Roswell after the aliens she was running with were captured. Her hair was in tangles, her lips and ears were pierced in several places and she had a nose ring which was inconvenient as she had a terrible cold. Kyle knew that she was the duplicate of the rogue alien, Tess, who had caused so much trouble. All the Roswell aliens had duplicates. The duplicates had had even less guidance growing up. Ava, for some reason, turned out to be almost as kind as the other aliens she ran with were evil. Kyle had known the aliens of Roswell most of his life and since high school he had know about their out of this world status. The aliens Ava had grown up with, Kyle was sure, had been destroyed.
----------------

When Liz awakened the next morning the first thing that faced her was pain. Her whole body ached. The staff gave her something to deaden the pain. It also slowed her thinking. Maybe, that was a blessing. As the morning wore on, Liz slowly began to have thoughts of Frank.
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After Liz became Doctor Parker-Johnson, she found that anthropology and geology had lots in common. Frank would spend much of his leisure time exploring geological sites and Liz soon found that she could do a lot of archeological field surveying while accompanying him. Finding archeology sites in the southwest is not difficult. The difficulty was in exactly locating their center, researching the archives at the University, and seeing if the sites had been mentioned by previous archeologists. Then, she spent time trying to learn something about the people who had lived there. This had to all be done without excavation. Excavation could only be undertaken after extensive research and a presentation that the excavators could learn enough to make the destruction of a site worthwhile. Many sites were set-aside for investigators, years from now when techniques would be better refined, to study them.

Frank Johnson, PhD enjoyed his wife accompanying him. She had almost as much interest in the land as did he. Frank would study the geology of the area and Liz would seek out and catalog habitation sites.

Liz was remembering their latest venture into the Rio Puerco valley. The Rio Puerco, (puerco meaning muddy or dirty, piggy would be the slang phrase,) was in the middle of New Mexico. It started as a inconsistent river, somewhere in the mountains north of Cuba, New Mexico. It traveled several miles west of Albuquerque and finally entered the Rio Grande to the south of the city near a town called San Acacia. Acacia was the name of a type of tree and had been adopted by the Spanish as a common name. The area was rich in semi-precious gem stone and almost every hill had some sort of indication of habitation. Mostly the Rio Puerco was now, seen as a very wide, dry arroyo. Frank had told Liz that this was the second biggest tributary of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. It only contributed about 4% of the water to the Rio Grande, but it contributed over 78% of the sediment. The river still flowed, but most of the flow was under ground. When the Spanish first saw it, they saw an oasis of cottonwoods. The arroyo as it appeared now, followed a fault line. There were ancient volcanoes scattered all along it length. The water, whether above ground or below, allowed cultivation up into historical times. If the ancient people had all been there at the same time, they would have made up a metropolis. As it was, the different habitation sites were separated in time by many years. Frank had driven north from Interstate 40 along ranch roads. There had been considerable Uranium mining years ago, so many of the roads were left from that effort. The area had volcanic flows of basalt here and there. They finally camped on a small flat, or playa, formed by an ancient lake. The Johnsons had been there for almost a week. Liz had filled several notebooks and Frank had probably almost a ton of labeled samples. Some, he would take back to his laboratory and others, the gem quality ones, he would sell to several local rock shops. It was good that he had a one ton, four wheel drive Ford pickup. Its duel rear wheels would be put to use carrying out his samples.
---------------

Ta held his collection of spears or darts. They were tipped with basalt chips. Ta had carefully crafted them the way his uncle had taught him. There was one dart which Ta had traded for. It was from the land where the sun lived and was reborn every morning. It was of a lighter color than the basalt ones he had made. His uncle had told him to save it for the one time when he needed great medicine. The basalt tips would usually break if they hit rocks or hard ground. Ta could replace them. The medicine tip with its flutes on each side had been bound to a straight shaft of willow. It was guided by feathers of the great eagle. (Description of a Folsom point. These were found by people for many generations and reused. The skill to make them no longer existed.) His uncle told Ta, that he would know when he needed to use it.

http://www.google.com/images?client=saf ... 0&bih=1024

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folsom_point

Ta held his thrower. It was an extension of his arm. With the spear thrower, or atlatl, Ta could hurl his spears a great distance. The atlatl was not a weapon of offense or defense. It was a weapon of hunting. A man watching a spear cast high in the air could easily get out of its way. An animal, grazing casting its gaze about itself would not see the spear as it came out of the sky. Gravity would give the spear a great deal of energy. Ta’s uncle had told of times when many men would cast their spears into one of the giants. The reward for killing one of the giants was great. Many families would feast and gather for a long time. The man who helped kill one would be reveled for some time. (At least until the meat was consumed.)

http://www.google.com/images?client=saf ... 0&bih=1024

It was as the sun departed to the west, the direction of death and non returning, that animals would come out. The climate had been warming for many years. Ta’s uncle had told tales of a time when the winter snows were so high that the people had difficulties in hunting. Tonight, Ta sat patiently waiting. He had seen a small herd of prong horns. They were not a difficult game to catch. It just took guile. If they came near Ta would do something stupid or unexpected. The prong horns were very fast, but they were very curious. Ta had taken them by lying on the ground kicking his legs in the air. That was their big fault and in this case curiosity surely killed the prong horn. (I have a video of a friend taking an antelope by walking towards it and yelling obscenities. The obscenities were for effect for those watching and running the camera. I am sure that the antelope did not know what was being said. My friend shot the creature at very close range. This was more interesting by the fact that they had recorded several careful stalks, which all failed as the antelope saw them and ran away.)

Suddenly Ta heard a noise. It wasn’t a noise he had ever heard before. Ta wasn’t afraid as he, again, touched his totem. Ta was a hunter and he would face any danger. The thing, Ta had never seen the like, sped across the sky and turned to land in the valley below. Ta was angry. He was sure, that now, none of the prong horns or any other game would come near, for many hours.
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Suddenly, Liz started to shake. That was when she remembered the sound and saw the lights. Liz never knew what Frank thought. She was knocked unconscious. The last thoughts Liz remembered were of someone speaking and the bright lights. Then, there was a vision of a bright ray and a terrible noise, like a roaring of a hundred motorcycles. That is all Liz could remember.
-----------------

Kyle knocked lightly on the opened door. “Doctor Johnson,” he began. When Liz turned toward him, Kyle recognized her even though she was covered in bandages and her body was badly bruised and burned. “Liz, babe, what are you doing here?”

To Liz, seeing Kyle, was like falling into the arms of a friend, after finally emerging from a haunted house. Kyle walked over to her bed and gently hugged her. Liz winced in pain and Kyle was immediately apologetic. “Liz, I am so sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be, Kyle you have no idea what it means to see an old friend. I feel so frightened and alone. What have you been doing with yourself?” she asked.

“Oh, you know, working for the man, except now the man is the state police in Santa Fe.” Kyle was always apologetic when it came to what he did for a living. He once had grandiose plans when he started high school. Playing pro football seemed at the time the way he was going. After he met the aliens, Kyle seemed to be lost. His beliefs were shaken and dreams seemed to suddenly be beyond his grasp. “They sent me to review your case. What do you remember about what happened?” Kyle asked.

Liz shook her head. For an instant, her memory failed her. Then, she remembered Frank. “Kyle, what happened to Frank?” she cried.

“Frank, Liz, who is Frank?” he returned.

“Frank is my husband. We were married several years ago. Max made it clear that us being together was too dangerous. I, finally, decided to go on with my life. Doctor Frank Johnson is a geologist. We had many things in common. We have been married for several good years. Do you know what happened to him?” she asked again. The tone of Liz’s inquiry said loads about her fears. She almost started talking about her companion in the past. The look on Kyle’s face told Liz all. There was something terrible that he knew.

Kyle’s discomfort was saved when doctor Sanchez entered the room. One look at Liz and another at Kyle, Doctor Sanchez knew that they must be talking about the companion of Doctor Parker-Johnson. He spoke up, “Doctor Johnson who was the person with you?”

Liz trembled, “Frank Johnson, my husband. What happened to him?”

“Who ever was with you was killed by what caused all your injuries. I am truly sorry, but the policeman is correct we need to know what happened to you,” Doctor Sanchez continued.

I don’t remember,” Liz said as her mind began to close down again. “I remember the light, high in the sky and I heard voices. I remember shooting or fire-crackers like on the Fourth of July. Then, I remember nothing else,” she murmured.

Doctor Sanchez frowned at Kyle and he took the hint. “Liz, I will see you later. Tell the doctors if you remember anything else.” With that, Kyle left Liz as she peacefully went back to sleep, a nurse having slipped an injection into the tubes leading to her arm.

Kyle went to the local state police office and placed a call. “Hey, Mike, Kyle Valenti here, have you seen Max recently?” he asked.
Last edited by ken_r on Sun Aug 05, 2012 10:16 am, edited 21 times in total.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
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Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mature, 4/8/2012

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508

mary mary: The atlatl is one of the oldest of man made tools. For hunting is was considerably a step up. There is a tribe somewhere around Australia where they fight duels with the atlatl. The duels are a socially acceptable way to vent anger. Very few people are actually hurt in them. The darts or spears are cast high in the sky and it is no problem to step aside. Cast over a herd of animals the spears can be deadly. There was some accuracy against a single target also. The Fulsom, the Clovis and other large points were not made for arrows. Spears could be used like the Zulu Assegai, as a stabbing weapon, thrown like a javelin or like the middle ages plant the butt of the spear in the ground and catch charging men and horses as they impelled themselves on it.

Natalie36

L-J-L 76 I am always glade when I see your questions. I try to check to see if the questions will be answered eventually in story. Let me know if they are not answered or if they are still unclear and i will gladly go back over them.

keepsmiling7

Chapter 2

“Hey Kyle, long time no see. How’s the blonde holding up? And, yes, I saw Max not too long ago. He is free-lancing out of Denver. He does a lot of work for the Denver Post Newspaper, I think.” Michael Guerin answered. Michael had matured. No longer was he the frightened boy that the foster care system could push around. Kyle knew that a lot of his change was due to Mr. Parker, Liz’s dad. Jeff Parker had taken a chance and hired Michael in his restaurant. Once Michael had a job, he could look at life independently. There were others who took an interest in Michael. Michael wasn’t any longer a stonewall. He had many cheering for him and now, he owed a great deal to friends and their families.

“Ava is fine. She hopes that we can have an alien-human get together sometime. That is, if you all think the feds have their heads down about aliens now. I just left an old friend of ours. She is in deep shit. It may be alien related or she might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Kyle explained.

“Who might that be?” Michael’s interest was stirred.

“You remember Liz Parker, don’t you? We are not sure what happened to her, but it appears that something toasted her husband,” Kyle stated.

“Husband!” Michael exclaimed. “When did she get married? I haven’t seen her since Max sent her packing because he was convinced that she was in too much danger from being with him.”

“Yeah, husband, seems she got her doctorate and married some fellow she was working with at the university. They were working west on the ‘Puerco and all she knows is that a bright light appeared out of the sky and then, some ray struck. Apparently, it struck her husband who was standing beside her. Before anything else could happen, a rancher appeared and began shooting at the light with his Winchester. He called us and we got Liz to a hospital. The other person was burnt beyond recognition. I just interviewed Liz and she told me that her husband was there. I might need some help from you and Max. If there are aliens, you need heads up anyway,” Kyle related to Michael. There was a twinge of guilt while Kyle was talking to Michael. He would never have been that irreverent talking about a deceased to the public. With someone like Michael, he reverted this way just to kill some of the pain. Police officers and emergency medical technicians saw a lot of grief. This was the way they kept it from destroying themselves.
--------------------

It might have seemed cruel, but Max had insisted that Liz leave the alien group. They got an annulment of their marriage and she went on to college. Michael had followed Max. He was unquestionably tied to Max. Maria had taken that as an excuse to go on with her singing career. Ava wandered back to Roswell and struck it up with Kyle. Ava hadn’t had much kindness in her life. Kyle found everything in her, that he found missing in Tess. She was Tess’s duplicate.

Isabel had left with Jesse. They were somewhere back east. Michael had said it once. Their only safety lay in separating. As a group they were identifiable. Separated, they could better hide in plain sight.
---------------------

Michael went to his phone and rang a number. “Hey, Max, the past is catching up with us.”
----------------------

Max Evans was now 35. He had a full life to look back on, since his best friend, Michael Guerin had stated, “I dream every night about getting whacked.” Or something like that, Max didn’t remember all the details anymore. There had been many happy times. First was his adoption by loving and supportive parents. Then, there was meeting and falling in love with Liz Parker. This ended eventually in their brief marriage. There had also been times when Max was badly hurt. He met Tess and she brought along the past life of Antar. Along with this past life came the problems that had resulted in the death of his gene donor back on Antar. The four Roswell aliens were clones as were their duplicates. Tess, also, brought problems with Max’s girl friend, Liz, and later the death of one of their other human friends, Alex. Tess had driven a wedge between Max and his friends, along with his sister. The boy Tess caused to die was someone the sometime stand-offish and difficult Isabel Evans was just beginning to accept. As Max learned of this past life, it only offered death to the four Roswell aliens. Max, Michael and his sister, Isabel, were saved by their human friends. Tess’s actions, with Max, did cause a child to be born and eventually the tangles of this past life caused her suicide. The child was safely hidden within the legal system, but Max had to face many fallouts from the actions of Tess.

Max remembered holding the soft body of Liz and he remembered the first night they made love. It was just before their graduation from high school. Max, with his ability to manipulate matter, had just created a diamond. They both firmly believed that they would be killed within the week. It was dangerous making love with Liz, on her balcony. There would have been hell to pay if her parents had chosen that time to check up on her. It would have been even worse if their enemies had seen them, coupled in love, as they would have been perfect targets. The attack by the remaining members of the “Special Unit” on graduation night put all of them and their friends on the run. Isabel, now married felt forced to leave her husband. Liz saw all of her dreams of education go up in smoke. Her best friend, trying not to lose her stormy relationship with Michael Guerin, left her only family, her single mother who had lived most of her life for Maria.

Finally, everything they gave up was for nothing. Congressmen and senators steal federal funds without conscience, but they take a dim view of underlings who do the same thing. The Special Unit became a lighting rod for those who sought leaks in the country’s budget. They had already dismissed the unit once before when the shape-shifter, Nasado, took the place of the special unit head. Now, it was shown that the same bunch of wastrels had again surfaced. They were spending funds at a rate that eclipsed what they had spent before. This time, when members of the defunked special unit surfaced the congress took extreme action. “Didn’t they know there was a recession going on? Spending money to chase aliens indeed!” The expenses were not capable of being explained and finally, those responsible for the unit were dismissed in disgrace and whatever files the unit had collected were put in a box marked secret and placed in a dark corner of area 51 where they wouldn’t be found for years, somewhere under the crashed flying saucer of 1947. This time, congress felt they had crushed this group for good.

Michael and Max both felt that they were hurting their girlfriends. They broke off their relationships. It was traumatic for everyone. Michael kissed Maria and just walked out. For Max, it was harder. Max and Liz felt they were married. The fact that it was done by a questionable preacher somewhere in the southwest, Max couldn’t remember exactly where they were when they stopped at the little white house marked “Reverend.” This led them to question the validity of their marriage. They had a marriage certificate, but no official marriage license. Liz wanted to get their marriage redone, just in case there was ever a question about its legitimacy. Max just shook his head, “Liz look what being with me has caused you. Accept an annulment, just in case, and return to your dreams of education and a good life. With me, all I can offer is more of what I have put you through the last few years.”

It was through a face full of tears that Liz sobbed, “Max, I will finish college, but when I do, I will return and look for you. You were my first love and you shall be my last love.”

Max accepted this because, in his mind, he would be dead before she ever returned. For Liz, it would be later when she remembered this declaration and realize that it was made through grief and youth. Things don’t always work out they way you plan.

Max and Michael had pursued their academic careers under different names. Max found that as a reporter and investigator of the news, he had access to many things and information, which would offer him protection. He, finally, returned to the name Maxwell Evans. Michael found that there was an outlet for the troubling dreams he kept having. Under the pseudonym, “SpaceBoy” he wrote his dreams as fantasies and science fiction stories.

Kyle had suffered many wet dreams about Isabel. He knew that she was married, but except for a few brief moments when she was very depressed, she paid little attention to him. When the aliens broke off their relationships with Maria and Liz, Kyle returned to Roswell. He tramped around for a time, until the thing he wanted least, hit him. Kyle did not want to follow his father and grandfather in law enforcement. It was about all Kyle knew besides sports. Kyle, finally, found himself in the New Mexico State Police. This wasn’t his first choice in life, but ever since his then girlfriend, Elizabeth Parker, had dumped him for Max, Kyle had felt that he was floundering. When he chanced upon the duplicate, Ava, Kyle truly found himself for the first time.

Now, Max was again facing Liz, at least figuratively. Michael said that Liz was married. Max had heard about this and he had forced himself to be happy for her, but in the next sentence Michael said that her husband had been murdered in a terrible manner.
--------------------

As Michael was explaining, Max‘s mind wandered. He had been so sure that being with him would get Liz killed. Max couldn’t live with that. No matter how badly it hurt at the time, Max was sure his decision to break up was right. Now, he had to face that Liz was still in danger and there had been no one there to offer her protection. Kyle said he might need help. Max would arrange to travel to Albuquerque. He was sure that Michael would follow.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
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Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mature,ch2 4/15/2012

Post by ken_r »

Begonia9508: you are closer than you think

Natalie36

mary mary

L-J-L 76: Some strange things will happen

keepsmiling7

AN: Its been probably 30 years since I was back on the 'Puerco. I imagine that now the eastern sky would be polluted by the lights of Albuquerque. Most of the sky would have no un-natural light at all. The terrain, the geology and the history of this area have both beauty and violence. Rio Rancho reaches almost to the banks of valley. Further south, the sky becomes almost totally black, except for stars and other things. If you know where to look you find spear points and other ancient man artifacts along with the beginning of pueblo culture. Then there is the gem stone. walking down in the valley, you spit on almost every rock you find. There are some very pretty ones there.


Chapter 3

Kyle had returned to Santa Fe. His wife, Ava, was deeply concerned about the mention of aliens. She had not been with the Roswell aliens during their fights with the FBI nor the Skins. Her group of dups had their own run-ins with the feds, which had caused considerable confusion to the agency. They, at that time, were not aware that two almost identical groups of aliens existed. The Skins were on the lookout for anyone from Antar. They didn’t care if it was the first wave or some later colonization. So they were busy either trying to seduce the hybrids with promises or to destroy them. They didn’t care which production line they came off of.


After her marriage to Kyle, Ava had attended college and finally, with his encouragement, she attained her degree as a doctor in psychology. She passed the state board exams and now, she had a small practice. It was mostly with law enforcement personnel and she did consulting for the state police, as well as other state agencies.
-----------------

Doctor Johnson was still in the hospital when Max and Michael met Kyle in a café just west of Albuquerque. As they shook hands Max asked, “How’s Ava doing, Kyle?”

Kyle smiled at Max. He felt that he had been dealt a ration of shit by knowing the aliens, but Ava, the dup of Tess, was not part of it. She was the one golden thing in his life. Kyle had been in love with Tess because of her proximity to him for so long. After her guardian,` who was the before mentioned shape-shifter, Nasado, was killed, she moved in with Kyle and his father. The un-inhibited Tess, would wander about the house in just her panties and bra. In the strictly male household that the sheriff maintained, this stirred in Kyle many feelings. He, at that age, could not separate love from lust so he fell in love with what he thought he saw in her. She could not get Max out of her mind. She stressed Alex to the point that he died while trying to figure a way for her to return to Antar. She knew that in returning, Max would have been executed, but Tess never let that get in her way. She assumed that by delivering Max and his alien son to the dictator of Antar, she would be given status that she desired. The son she tried to produce with Max, by the luck of his genes, was not alien, not even hybrid. He was pure human. Tess was almost executed along with the baby because of this.

Once that Tess killed herself and destroyed half of an air force base, it was seen that she had killed a part of Kyle. Her demise troubled him. The arrival of Ava was a healing balm to Kyle. He thought he had loved Tess, but, time spent with Ava showed Kyle he finally had a home. They brought family to each other. They also brought family to Kyle’s father. He may have lost his wife, but his son seemed to be in a good relationship. Now, Jim Valenti had a daughter-in-law and the hope for grandchildren. No matter what else had happened, Kyle had the true love of his life. “Ava misses all of you. Sometime, we need to get together if possible,” Kyle said.

Michael stirred his coffee and looking at Kyle asked, “What is this about Liz?”

“I know that Liz finally married,” Max sighed. “I was hoping that she would be safe with a human companion. Now, you tell me she was almost killed. What happened? Was she attacked by humans or by aliens?”

Kyle busied himself cutting his breakfast Danish roll. “We don’t know. She could have been in the middle of a drug transfer and someway they had a flame thrower. She was badly burned and the man standing beside her, probably her husband, was killed instantly. He was burned to death. We don’t know if it was an alien or human attack. There have been some strange things going on back there. The Hispanic ranchers are getting touchy. When they saw the light in the sky over the Johnson’s camp, they opened up on it. I don’t think Aliens like bullets any more than humans if they are not prepared for them.”

“Have you been back there?” Max asked.

Kyle reached for a creamer for his coffee. “Nope, I wanted to have some experts with me when I looked at the scene. Leave recognizing dope smugglers to me, but if it is alien, I want to know about it as soon as possible.”

“What happens if it is alien?” Max asked again.

“I don’t know. I am packing a car-15, which is a shortened military machine rifle and I checked out two SAM, surface to air missiles, from the National Guard. They are packed in the truck. I figured you guys would have your own protection so we will just have to wing it; try to figure out our moves as we go,” Kyle informed them.

The surprise registered on Max’s face. “How in the hell did you get your hands on one of those, much less two?” Max asked, referring to the SAMs.

Kyle smirked, “It’s not for general knowledge, but I work for some high tech organizations that deal with the state police. Not everyone who knew the ‘Special Unit’ hated aliens. The unit’s reasoning of declaring those ‘not of this Earth’ as having no rights is not held by everyone in Washington. If, however, the aliens are up to no good, then they have to be stopped like any other terrorist organization. The SAMs I checked out are called MANPADS, that is man portable air defence systems. They are pretty sophisticated. Try to take them out of the truck and you will probably blow yourself up. That is, unless you know what you are doing.

Max looked at Kyle. “Do you think I should stay away from Liz? After all I did run her off, even if I thought at the time, it was for her own good,” Max inquired.

Kyle put down his fork. “No, I don’t. You ran Liz off because you thought being with you was dangerous. Well, she got hurt anyway. She may have dearly loved the guy with her, but he wasn’t able to protect her. Liz is now alone and scared. She trusted you. If that trust still remains, you should offer her your friendship and protection.” Kyle looked up at Max, “That is, if your still have feelings for her.”

Max looked down at his coffee, “Then, I will see her when we return and I have something real to tell her.” Asking if he still had feelings for Liz shook Max for a minute. Yes, he still deeply loved her. When she moved on, Max felt lonelier than ever. There was no one for him to move on to. Max loved Liz and as far as he was concerned, that was as far as he wanted to allow his emotions to go. It had been a big concession for him to lose her. In his way, it was a measure of his love. He did not see it as a long sacrifice. Again, Max did not expect to live out the year.

Kyle nodded as he sipped his coffee. The three men finished what was before them and leaving a tip for the harried waitress, they left in Kyle’s pickup. The car Max and Michael had rented would remain at the truck stop until they returned to town.
---------------

Ta was watching. If the enemy was alone he might attack it. Ta had no fear. He was a mighty hunter and his totem was powerful. As he crouched behind the small juniper, he saw something appear to come out of the light. That someone stood there. It was a gray, almost shapeless figure. It had a large head and huge black eyes. The limbs were almost spindly. It was alone and Ta prepared to charge it screaming the names of unknown gods that he prayed to for protection.

Then Ta caught himself. Someone was coming out of the sage. It was a shaman. Ta knew him, but he was not related to Ta’s family or clan. He was not a good person. To the men of Ta’s time, being a good person meant always sharing what they had and always taking time to help others, this shaman was feared by his clan. Ta had met him, but Ta did not treat with those who ruled by fear. If you had real power, then Ta would show you respect, but using your power to frighten people was not the way Ta’s uncle had taught him to live. This shaman was known for taking and never sharing.

Ta was watching as the shaman stood by the stranger. They both turned toward a clump of sage and suddenly, the sage burst into flame. Ta now was sure that the flame was not from the medicine of the shaman, but something that the stranger had given him. Ta remained quiet watching as the stranger returned into the light and the light sped away. In the moon Ta could see the shaman retreating back to his village.
-------------------

Only the locals knew this area very well. Kyle had been back west of the Puerco many times, but even he needed a good map. So, with a map in hand, he navigated to where he wanted to go. There were three Native American reservations in this area. The Accoma and the Laguna pueblos had joined much of their civic administration. They both still kept their religious and private identities. The Canyoncito Navajo joined the other two under the government health authority, but were culturally, linguistically and in their governing bodies totally different. None of the reservations were defined clearly. The population of this area was peaceful because they had learned the art of accommodation. This area was a checkerboard of the different reservations, private land and Land Management areas. There were many fences where the gate was to be opened and closed behind the traveler. The rule here was if the gate is closed, make sure you close it behind you. If the gate is opened then leave it open. The ranchers might be allowing their animals access to different pastures. If everyone followed the rules, it worked. If tourists or greenhorns from towns or worse from back east traveled through this area, havoc could rage. Animals would range through any open passage. The cowboys would have to round them up later.

Michael was sitting shotgun and this necessitated he jump out at every gate to open and close it. If you like canyon land, it was beautiful back here. There were sandstone cliffs, there were basalt cliffs and occasionally, peeking about the near horizon, you would see ancient volcano plugs. These were lava plugs that had stopped up the old volcanos and the softer cone around the plugs had worn away leaving an almost cork shape to the small mountains. There were even on the horizon, the cone shaped hills that had once been fiery mountains contributing to much of the geology of the area.

This was the high desert and water was scarce, especially as you departed from the vague location of the Rio Puerco. There, never the less, were several species of wild life as well as a vegetation made up of juniper, piñon and several types of grasses and, of course, several cacti in this area.

Kyle was surprised that they hadn’t seen anyone earlier. The man came out of a draw riding his horse. Kyle saw the cowboy. He might look like a Mexican vaquero with his dark complexion and handle bar mustache, but the rifle he was holding was an AR-15, the civilian, semi-automatic version of the military weapon Kyle carried. He was just sitting on his horse watching as Kyle drove up. He made no threatening motion, but the result was scary if you didn’t know him. Max could see his dark eyes under the flat, Colorado styled crushed Stetson, watching their every move. He made it clear that the AR-15 wasn’t for show. He wasn’t hunting rabbits, either. He was dressed in the uniform of the working cowboy, faded jeans, black boots and a Levi jacket over a blue denim work shirt. The horse on which he sat was a buckskin. Its mane and tail were black and the body was a golden color. The man sat in a western saddle with a coiled lariat hanging from the saddle horn. Max saw that even though he carried the semi auto rifle there was a scabbard attached to the saddle, probably carrying a Winchester and the man wore a holster hanging from his belt that carried a single action “cowboy” pistol.

Kyle stuck his head out of the pickup window and shouted, “Ortiz, it’s us. I brought some experts to look at the scene where the Anglo and his lady were attacked.”

The Hispanic cowboy nodded. “Joe Martinez is keeping his eye on that place. Just keep on this road. If there are any turn offs, just keep to the right. Joe will find you. He has that scoped M-1 Grand, which he uses for military target matches. He will wait until he identifies you before he shoots,” Eloy Ortiz laughed at his joke at the expense of the Gringos. With Kyle they were safe, but if they were up to no good... well…

They kept on the road as instructed. Max turned to Kyle and asked, “Was he kidding or are they that touchy back here?”

“Joe Martinez knows me and he knows my pickup. You get back here without an escort or not knowing anybody; if you get shot they probably won’t ever find your body, at least not in this century. Most of these men have residences in town either in Albuquerque or in Grants. Most of them have jobs during the week. These ranches are part of their heritage. Many of the ranches have been in the family for almost a 100 years. They take a dim view of those who bring them harm. As I understand it, Doctors Johnson, both of them, are well known by these people. Liz and her husband have studied this area for several years.” Kyle was thinking of the years it had taken to build up this trust. He was hoping that he could transfer this trust to Michael and Max. If Liz was with them, it would help.

They came around a bend and saw a stocky, dark man step out. He showed both Hispanic and Native American heritage. He also showed evidence of a man who was used to heavy work and maybe, he even worked out occasionally. Again, he was dressed in the cowboy work attire, his boots showing an application of duct tape about the arch perhaps covering a hole in the sole to get a few more months out of them. His jeans were faded to almost a light blue. He had on a denim work shirt with an army green jacket. He handled the heavy M-1 Garand like it was a toy. “Hey Kyle, these the experts you’re bringing in?” he asked.

“Yeah, Joe. Meet Max Evans and Michael Guerin,” Kyle introduced the two men with him.

“They experts on drugs or are they experts on aliens?” Martinez asked.

“Aliens, Joe. I will take care of the drug problems,” Kyle replied.

Joe Martinez turned to Michael, “You know anything about aliens?” he asked.

Michael shrugged. “I may have met one or two in my time. I will tell you if I know anything about aliens after I see where the doctor was murdered,” Michael stated.

This was very different from most Anglos who claimed to know anything about aliens. Joe had found that either they spoke with almost reverence toward the aliens or they had a bitterness, which they quickly explained as results of an abduction. “You can see the place right up ahead. It is off the road and best that we walk to not further destroy any chance of evidence.” Joe led the men down the road and then, cutting across country Michael saw the evidence of several pickup tracks. Joe probably could explain each tread mark and there was no use of cluttering the crime scene any worse.

They dropped off a rise onto a sage bush flat. This was the old lake bed where Liz and Frank had been camping. There was a truck, burned almost beyond recognition. The men walked around the remains of the vehicle. Where, Max assumed the rear of the truck would be, they found a pile of rocks. Max remembered that Liz’s husband had been a geologist. This must be what was left of this foray’s collection.

“I think Sammy, my son, has a school boy crush on Doctor Liz, as we call her. He was riding over to invite them to Sunday dinner. He spends so much time helping with her archeology, that Angie feels we ought to feed them ever so often. Doctor Liz is encouraging Sammy to attend college. She says he has a talent for archeology. When he saw the light, he rode closer because he feared they might be in danger. When the flame hit Doctor Frank, Sammy un-holstered his little Winchester 92. It had a full magazine. He triggered those 44 bullets into the light. That is what made it leave. He said there wasn’t much sound, but after firing that many bullets, he wouldn’t hear so good anymore, for a while,” Joe explained.

The men walked around the burned area. Michael bent and picked up a metal fragment. He handed it to Kyle. “That looks like a fragment from an incendiary grenade,” Kyle stated. http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Type-3_Antip ... ry_Grenade

Joe walked over. “Sure does. Kyle those druggies are getting bold. If we catch any of them we are not going to call you. We will just dump them down a fissure in one of these lava flows,” Joe said.

“Fine Joe, just don’t ever tell anyone about it,” Kyle told him. To Kyle catching drug smugglers was his job, but to the Martinez family and those who lived nearby, this was their front yard. This was where their children played and their cattle grazed. The type of characters who were associated with smuggling were really devaluating the neighborhood.

Kyle watched as Max and Michael walked about the burn. They tested the soil and examined the burnt truck. When they came to the place where Frank had been murdered and Liz had been so brutally hurt, Kyle saw them whispering and shaking their heads. He saw tears in Max’s eyes. Max turned to Joe Martinez. “Have you been seeing lights recently?” Max asked.

“Yeah, that is why we are armed when we check the cows. We don’t know if it is drug smugglers, some modern rustlers or something else. Why do you ask?” Joe inquired.

Max looked at Michael. “I think we can agree that the truck was hit by an incendiary grenade. Look at the burn pattern. It takes in the whole truck. But, Frank was hit by something more selective. Who or what ever they were, didn’t want to kill Liz. They only wanted to get rid of the male with her,” Max explained.

Joe frowned, “Do you mean they wanted to abduct Doctor Liz or something?”

Max shrugged, “Looks like it. I can’t think of any weapon the smugglers would have that was that precise.” Then, Max looked at Joe. “How about you? Have you heard of any military weapon capable of burning one person to death and just injuring the person standing beside them?”

Kyle spoke up, “Liz was burned, but to be close to someone who was burned as badly as her husband, I do not see how she could have lived.”

Joe shook his head, but it was seen that he gripped the old M-1 tighter. Max, for the first time noticed that Joe might be dressed as a cowboy, but he had slung on his shoulder an old World War II cartridge bag. Max would bet it was full of 30/06 cartridges for the Garand.

Kyle stepped up. “What are we saying, then?” he asked.

“Kyle, I think we have two entities here. One is just ordinary, vanilla Dope smugglers, but the other is something else,” Max told him.

Kyle said, “You mean…” and he pointed to the sky.
-------------------

Ta was angry. The evil shaman was taking some sort of medicine from the strange creature. Ta had already made up his mind about the evil of the stranger. In Ta’s world, being good meant that you were part of the world. Granted that the world, which Ta saw was small, the strangers clearly did not belong to it. When they gave this power to the shaman, it hurt all the people. Ta’s totem felt warm. It was warning of danger. Ta was not ready, yet, to face the shaman, but if no one else would stand up, he would try to stop him. The stranger, now, that would take more thought. As he contemplated what he had just learned, Ta fingered the special dart, the one with the light colored point. He was thinking what his uncle had said, “You will know when to use this.”

Ta had to wait until the sun had been reborn before any animals came near the slight pond near where the stranger had been. Ta did manage to kill a small deer. He carried the animal back to his family. It would feed them for a time. His mind went back to the time when men brought down the giants. Many families could feast on one of those.
-----------------------
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mature,ch3 4/22/2012

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508

Natalie36

mary mary: sometimes i feel free to give out spoilers. i worked way to hard on the ending that surprised even me.

keepsmiling7


Chapter 4

Hospitals are for sick people. When you are on your deathbed you do not notice the smells, the sounds or the people. Hospitals in the morning smell of feces. Nurses are hurrying to empty bedpans of patients as the patients make their morning bowel movements. Many patients are waking up after a sound sleep, learning that their pain killers have worn off. Groans are impossible to hold back. Doctors, interns, nurses and ambulance chasing attorneys are running everywhere, muttering cryptic phrases understood only by those of their craft. There is olfactory, auditory and visual chaos. Now, if you are not on your deathbed, this all convinces you to hurry and heal so you can get out of this joint.

Max wandered through this confusion. He knew Liz’s room number and he was heading directly there, but it could be seen that he was dragging his feet. Max had never told Liz that he no longer loved her. On the contrary he loved her more every day that he was absent from her. Max had been convinced that the alien chaos was going to kill him along with his sister and best friend. In Max’s mind, if Liz died also, then nothing he had done during his life, would have any value. When he read that she had married, in a bitter-sweet way, Max was glad. Now, Liz could travel and love without looking over her shoulder and figure on a long life with her human husband. It hadn’t worked that way. Liz had almost been killed and she had lost the love of her life in her husband, anyway. Max always wanted to protect Liz. That is why he drove her away. She had promised to return after she finished her education, but Max made sure that she heard no word about him at all. Liz was human. Liz was passionate. Max counted on this to lead her back to a normal human life.

Somewhere in his mind, he heard if you had been with her you might have protected her. That was ridiculous, because Liz had been married to a human. It was not for Max to follow, stalking her just so he could offer her protection. He was wondering what his reception would be. A nurse almost knocked him down as she exited the room. Liz was lying there with her eyes closed. Max softly approached, but Liz never forgot the feeling of their connection, when he was near. Her eyes sprung open and she looked at him.

Max was older. Even alien magic could not stop the process of aging. He might have healed the scars on his body but the scars were still seen in his eyes. Liz looked at a man who had seen a lot of horror and overcome most of it. Liz reached out with her burned arms. Regardless of the pain, she wanted to hold Max. Just as she hadn’t minded the touch she received from Kyle, she grimaced as Max took her into his arms, but she also reveled in the fact that Max was here. Max was always able to help her. Just the feel of his arms lessened the pain. Liz hadn’t noticed that Max was staring at her eyes making contact. He couldn’t do much until he had her out of the hospital and away from the doctor’s constant observation. He did try to alleviate the pain for the moment.

Liz thought, “Frank is dead.” He had tried to stand up. Liz remembered that much, but Frank knew nothing about aliens or criminals either. Frank was wonderfully bright, but Frank had no weapons and no knowledge of how to use anything to protect either Liz or himself. Max was a weapon. Liz knew that Max had killed when necessary. Usually, Michael tried to protect Max from killing, but Max still had done his share. Max’s arms, even if they hadn’t brought complete relief from the pain, brought security. Liz had felt so alone. Security was what she needed, now.

Her tears were running down his back. “Max, it wasn’t what we had but I loved him very much. Kyle has no idea what killed Frank or what injured me. Have you seen our truck? All of our things are in it, the whole summer’s recordings and samples. We were going to return shortly and spend the entire winter writing about what we found. Are they safe?” she asked.

Max held her, fearing to touch or caress her because he might cause more pain. “Liz, the truck is totally destroyed. There is nothing left of it. You have Sammy Martinez to thank for saving you. He ran, whatever was attacking you, off. He started shooting his rifle, firing round after round at the light. He didn’t know what it was,” Max explained.

Liz shuddered as she lay in Max’s embrace. She was thinking of the young boy she had been trying to counsel into entering college. His family was so proud of him and the fact that someone like Liz and Frank took an interest in him. It was hard for Liz to think of who she thought of, as only a boy, fighting whatever had attacked her and killed Frank. “Max, they wouldn’t let me see Frank. They said it would be too hard on me,” she sobbed.

“That is all right, Liz. He was burned beyond recognition. Don’t think of him that way. Think of the good times you both had together. They confirmed that it was Frank who was killed and when the investigation is over you can bury, the remains,” Max informed her.

“Max, I didn’t keep my promise to you. I said I would return after I got my degree. Something happened. I am sorry, Max,” Liz cried.

“Don’t be sorry, Liz. I wanted you to be free to continue your life. I knew that you had married. I missed you so much, but I was happy that you had moved on. I just wanted you to be safe. I didn’t think this could be possible with me,” Max explained.

“Now look at me! The second man I chose to love has been brutally murdered and I am alone. When I get out of here, where will I go? What will I do? They want to release me this week. I am afraid to go home. What if whatever was after us returns? I don’t know how to fight it. Max, I am scared,” Liz stated.

She pulled a little away from Max. “Max, I didn’t say anything to Kyle or the doctors. I didn’t think they would understand. After I passed out from what ever hit us, I had dreams. They were dreams of something looking for me. I felt the totally irrational feeling that something wanted me. I felt that Frank was killed because he stood in its way. You were afraid that being with you would bring danger to me. Look what being with me did to Frank. It was a horrible feeling, something wanted me enough to kill who ever was with me.”

“That is the feeling I always had, Liz,” Max stated. “I believed that something would eventually get me. The fear that you might be hurt also was more than I could stand. Now, I think that being with me a long time ago, has made something which endangers you.”

“Max, what if something wants me for their own reason? What if my danger is not from you, but from something about me?” Liz stated. “I don’t know enough about what it is to protect myself,” Liz continued.

“Liz, for the moment, you can stay with us. Better yet, maybe, you can stay with Kyle. You know he is married, don’t you? He married an old friend of yours. You remember Ava, don’t you? She returned to Roswell and married Kyle. They live in Santa Fe, but Kyle says he intends to take an apartment while working on this case. Ava will be back in the city soon. I am sure they would be glad to have you,” Max said.

Liz pulled back again. “Max, what about you? Would you be glad to have me back?”

Max saw the fear in her eyes. Yes, he would die to have Liz in his arms again, but was that wise? Max was safe for the minute, but what if there were aliens involved here? Wouldn’t Liz be returning to danger? Then Max rationalized. Liz was already in danger. What ever had killed her husband had spared her. Why? Max had allowed Liz to be free of the alien abyss and lead a normal life. What if she had already departed from normal? Max had taken her down a new road when he saved Liz from the shooting at the Crashdown. Max had made it possible for Liz to live again. There was something else that bothered Max, what if Liz had been picked for something long ago? Having her with him, he might be able to offer her protection.

“Liz, you know that I never stopped loving you. I was just so sure we would all be killed that I didn’t want to bring danger to you,” Max said as he gently laid her back in her bed.

The rest of the week was a hell for Liz. She fought sleep every night. She couldn’t tell the doctors but, if she slept, strange beings would be looking for her in her dreams. They seemed to be dream walking her just like Isabel had told her long ago. Every single time she closed her eyes, she had to relive the fiery death of Frank. It was the same every night except there were extras thrown in. When Frank had been killed, Liz was knocked unconscious. She never knew of his death until she woke up in the hospital. Now as she saw and saw again the flames taking his body she heard the screams and smelled the acid smell of burnt flesh. Liz had been spared, in reality, the details of Frank dying. In her dreams, all of this was being re-presented.

Her attempts at not sleeping were misunderstood by the medical staff. The sedated her every night to keep her alive. The sedation just allowed the dreams to return. Liz’s body was healing, but the doctors saw that she was slowly going into a depression which could lead to insanity. They didn’t know what to do about this. Liz couldn’t afford to explain it to them.

They were was starting to develop discussions of institutionalizing the patient. She needed strong psychological help. The doctors wanted to release her from the hospital, but they wanted her to be under some mental health care.

Ava Valenti was a truly beautiful woman. After all, she shared almost the same genetic make up as the girl the aliens of Roswell had grown up with. The only difference between Ava and Tess were the accidental gene shifts that duplicates would have.

When Ava entered the hospital, there wasn’t a single male who was unaware of her entrance. Ava was a small woman with a perfect figure. She had a mane of yellow hair that framed her face. She was dressed in a dark blue suit made up of a short skirt and jacket. Under the jacket her white blouse had just enough ruffles to draw attention, as if that was necessary, to the ample cleavage she showed of creamy white skin. Ava had breasts which enhanced her perfect figure. The second thing the males all saw was her narrow waist which spread to her rounded hips. The women, also couldn’t take their eyes off Ava. They saw her mostly with green envy. Ava, had a “too perfect,” body. Since she had become an adult, Ava was talented in mind control. The warping she and Tess had performed as children, was under total and complete control. Not only her education made Ava an excellent psychologist; her powers helped her to see deep in the mind of her patients. Of course even Kyle didn’t realize this.

When she first met Kyle Ava sensed the fears he had experienced with Tess. Kyle might be her last stop to find a family. Ava made a vow to approach Kyle with the wiles of a human woman and to never use any “alien magic” on him. The magic of just being a sensual woman was enough to endure her self to Kyle.

In high school, Kyle had formed the reputation of a real stud as a freshman in high school. Kyle had his first taste of romance under the bleachers after a game one night. Kyle, this time, might be a virgin, but he was assured that the girl in front of him and later under him, was well skilled. She was quickly replaced by other girls eager to get laid by the budding sports hero. Points on the field and court added up to scores later in beds. The next summer, Kyle met Liz Parker. He dated her and tried everything he knew to get her into a bed. He was pretty sure that Liz Parker was a virgin. Liz eluded Kyle in every thing he tried. He was beginning to think that Liz was one of those girly girls who did not have a use for boys except for show. Then, she met Max Evans. Kyle could see it clearly. If Max Evans was to drop his pants, Liz would do anything that was his bidding. It soon became clear that it was Max who used restraint.

The half naked appearance of Tess wandering about the Valenti household, apparently without realizing what she was doing, almost became an obsession to the young Kyle. No, he never made it with Tess. She was pregnant with Max’s child before he could ever make it round the bases. When his vision of Tess was reincarnated in Ava, he found more than he could handle. Of course, Ava knew every thing that he saw in Tess from his mind. She went into the bathroom and taking off all her clothes except for her bra and panties, she came out and walked past him. Kyle’s heart and mind went into overdrive. When the Tess look-a-like, turned to Kyle and motioned him to follow her into his room, his mind just shut down.

That was when Ava determined to pursue Kyle on human terms. What she saw in his mind was passion. She, also, saw a strong responsibility there. Max and Liz kissed and saw into each other’s souls. You can imagine what happened when Kyle entered Ava to make love to her. They exchanged visions that convinced each of them that they had found the perfect mates. Later as a psychologist, Ava made full use of her powers. She developed a strong ethical feeling toward what she found in her patients, but she, also, got past a lot of the crap that most psychologists had to put up with on their way to understanding.

Ava presented her credentials and stated, “I have been asked to undertake the care of Elizabeth Parker-Johnson, PhD. I feel that she should live at my house and let me observe her. We are old friends so there should be no trouble with her acceptance of me as her doctor.”

Frankly, the administrator was glad to not have to send the young professor to an institution. Papers were signed and a schedule for her medical attention was set up. Ava hurried to Room 304 to see her old friend and new patient.

Liz was terribly depressed. The doctors had expressed that they wanted to release her, but the fact that she was alone and she still had severe mental concerns was holding them back. “Hey, cornball, how did you get in this mess?” Ava cheerfully asked.

Liz turned quickly. Kyle had dropped by to see her several times. He still had many questions. Max hadn’t been back to see her since that first time. Like both Max and Kyle, a friendly voice cheered her up immensely. “Ava, I would never have recognized you,” Liz cried.

“Yeah without the torn dress and the piercing, I am just not the old Ava,” she stated.

Liz was a bit embarrassed. “I meant that since we are grown up we have all changed a lot,” Liz explained.

Ava laughed, “Yeah, I am here to invite you to spend some time with Kyle and me. I checked you out of this joint. I would imagine you would be happy to get out of here.”

Liz’s visage fell. “That would be great Ava, but I don’t think they will let me go that easily. The doctors have been telling me that I need to be under care for my mental health,” Liz sadly informed Ava.

“And, I agree. If you will accept me I am now your doctor. Ava Valenti, Doctor of Psychology and,” Ava leaned close and whispered. “Alien expert on all mental health.”

“Ava Valenti!” Liz exclaimed.

“Yep, I married Kyle. He was almost there in his memories of Tess. Once I opened myself up so he saw I was different from her, he fell in love with me. I quickly fell in love with what I saw in his mind. He sent me to the university and I finally got my doctorate in psychology. I have a small private practice, am a consultant for the State Police and now, I am undertaking the care of one Doctor Liz Parker-Johnson. That is, if she will let me.” Ava was sensing every thing about Liz as she explained all of this.

“Of course, Ava, I was so afraid I would have to be alone. For a minute, I thought that Max would take me back, but I guess what he told me long ago still holds,” Liz sighed.

“Don’t give up on the big fellow yet. Max still is the person of responsibility. He will come around. Just be patient and trust your doctor,” Ava explained.

Armed with several plastic bags filled with items the hospital makes you take home so they do not have to bother throwing them away, Liz and Ava walked out of the hospital into the bright cheerful New Mexico sunshine. The blue sky itself lifted Liz’s spirits considerably. “Kyle and I took a two bedroom apartment, while he is working on this case. When he decides to move back to Santa Fe you can follow us to our home.” Then, Ava looked playfully at Liz. “That is, unless something better doesn’t come up in the mean time.”

Liz had to laugh at what Ava said, but she wanted to believe that something would once again develop between herself and Max.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
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Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mature,ch4, 4/29/2012

Post by ken_r »

mary mary

begonia9508

keepsmiling7

L-J-L 76


Chapter 5

Ta returned to his family. The man of one of his woman’s sisters was of the same clan as the evil shaman. He told stories of how the shaman was making those of the clan support him and give him the best of everything. Ta listened, but said nothing. This was business of another clan, not something for him to meddle in. The men of Ta’s family were the men of his wife’s sisters and unmarried children who had finally made it to adulthood. That in itself was not easy. There were so many dangers to people that to be an adult was a challenge. As children became adults and the girl children returned with men of their own, the family would grow. The men would always remain in the clan of their mothers but they would live in the families of their woman. The boys would leave and follow the women of their choice. That was the way of the people.

The family Ta lived in looked up to him because he was the best hunter. He had the best medicine and he cared for his family. If they disagreed with him there would be no hard feelings. The family was free to break apart and form their own groups. The man of the evil shaman’s clan spoke to Ta because he respected Ta. He knew that Ta wouldn’t interfere in another clan, but Ta would try to keep the evil from this family group.
-----------------------

Max and Michael again were with Kyle back behind the Rio Puerco. “Damn it, Ortiz. You can’t just shoot at an airplane because it is flying low. You are going to have the FAA out here complaining and trying to bring charges against you. What if it’s just some city fellow, giving his girl a thrill? You need more cause that that to open fire,” Kyle said while wringing his hands.

Eloy Ortiz just glared at Kyle. “If those pedejoes dive bomb my cows, I don’t care if it is the fricken president, I am going to run them off,” he stated.

“Ortiz, the president flies in a very large plane and can’t fly that low to bother your cows. Popping a drug smuggler and dumping his body down some crack in the lava is one thing, but firing at airplanes when you don’t know what they are doing, is another. Sammy Martinez firing at that light which attacked Doctor Johnson I can explain, but if you shoot some Cessna out of the sky that may be a might difficult,” Kyle explained.

Max saw that Eloy Ortiz wasn’t convinced. Something was attacking these people and they were not willing to just sit back. Out here the wild west was the same as in the time of Wyatt Earp. Maybe, more so. Earp was a city marshal. He represented city government. Out here on the ‘Puerco there wasn’t much government. It was mostly pretty wild. “Mr. Ortiz, we want to camp out on this flat and see if we can find anything. You might want to drift your cows away from here for a while.” Max explained.

Ortiz looked at them. “You want to be the bait to see if you can attract them?” he asked.

Max nodded. “Something like that. We are heavily armed,” Max stated.

Ortiz shrugged, “Well, if I come back tomorrow and I find the three of you burnt to a crisp, like a taco dropped in the fire, then, I will start shooting anything that flies low enough for me to hit.”

Kyle nodded and with a perfectly straight face said, “Ortiz if those bastards burn me to a crisp, I promise to not ever harass you again about shooting at airplanes.”

Eloy Ortiz got up on his horse. He was still chuckling from Kyle’s statement as he rode back home.

As soon as Ortiz was out of sight, Kyle started unpacking. First, he took two crates and piled them some distance from the truck. “These are the two MANPADs. I wasn’t kidding. If they were removed from my truck by someone who didn’t know what they were doing, they would explode. Tonight, I want them far enough that if someone torches the truck, we still have them,” he explained. Then he unpacked several camp chairs. A little ways from camp Kyle set one of the chairs and then, taking a case, he withdrew a pair of binoculars. Now, compared to the average field glasses, these were on steriods. “These are used for battle field observation. They are very high power and you can see by the size that they capture a lot of light. The average binocular objective lenses are about 35 millimeters. These are 200 millimeters. The average binoculars weighed about two or three pounds. These are almost 80 pounds,” Kyle explained They had a special low tripod and Max could see that sitting in the chair Kyle had placed there, you could sit there and observe for hours. Kyle looked up and continued. “These are used on battle fields and for astronomy. They have wonderful night vision and they give a three dimensional picture. I borrowed them from the Astronomy department of the university.” Kyle laid out his automatic rifle and several magazines of ammunition. After that it was camp fare.

“Look, my foster father wasn’t into the Boy Scouts so I am not a hand at camping. Wiping myself with sage brush isn’t my idea of a good time either,” Michael growled.

Kyle laughed, “Good Mike. Here is a camp shovel. Go over there behind the junipers and start a latrine trench. Leave the shovel sticking up in the ground and place a roll of toilet paper on the handle.”

They turned a five gallon water jug on its side on the tail gate of the pickup. Kyle was using the spigot as a faucet. Max took out the camp stove and from all appearances, they were just three men on a camping trip. Kyle started the steaks. Max unpacked three sleeping bags and threw them some distance from the campfire. Kyle spoke up. It won’t rain this time of the year. I think we want to be aware of anything that happens in the sky, so we won’t use a tent,” he explained.

Just before the sun finally made its dip below the horizon, they heard the buzz of a small plane. Kyle ran over to the binoculars and swinging the chair around he peered at the plane in the distance. It was making a touch and go on the far side of the flat, about five miles away. They heard him mumble. “That is a Cessna 210. Modified, it can carry a full load of fuel and over a thousand pounds of cargo. It is ideal for bringing something in from Mexico. They are checking out the landing area. They must have cleared a strip over there.”

They heard the plane rev up its engine and gain altitude. Kyle quickly covered the binoculars with a blanket. “They will see us when they climb high enough. We just have to make sure we look like a bunch of campers.”

The three men watched as the little plane climbed high in the air and disappeared. The sun finally sunk below the horizon and the night winds blew. In the desert, it can be close to a hundred degrees in the day and the minute the sun disappears the temperature plummets. It was early in the evening when they heard the sound of a truck. The vehicle was way off in the distance. It probably was somewhere on the far side of the Playa. Once again the plane was heard. The three men saw a brief flash of light in the distance. “That is probably a signal,” Kyle stated.

“Do you think they will unload something over there?” Max asked.

“Probably,” Kyle retorted. “I have already radioed for narcotics officers to be ready to track the vehicle. They will also attempt to track the plane on radar. There are just so many ways both the plane and the vehicle can get away.” Kyle was making use of the binoculars and he could see the shadow of something landing. Then, they all heard an airplane engine revving up as the plane gained altitude. Not much altitude, though the plane turned north and finally the sound was gone. They never saw any running lights on the plane. The only thing the plane had to worry about was Ortiz, Martinez or some of the other ranchers taking a shot at anything flying low enough that they thought they could hit.

All three men felt a strange sensation. It was like the feeling just before lightning was going to strike. Max and Michael were on guard immediately. A shadow was seen cross the sky. It was almost silent. Kyle stood near the crates holding the two SAMs. He opened one crate, but made no move to take the weapon out.

In the distance they saw a light shine down from the sky. Then, the light slowly dropped to the ground. It remained for a few minutes, then with a whoosh, it disappeared. “Do you suppose, the fricken aliens are now into dope smuggling?” Kyle asked.

Max and Michael just shook their heads in dismay. In the distance, they heard a truck start and the motor sound faded away.

Lying in his bed roll, Max was looking up at the stars. They were so bright this far from any city lights that he felt that he could reach up and touch them. Ever since Max had decided his Not-of-this-world status, he had held a great interest for the stars. Somewhere, probably in a galaxy not visible from Earth, there was a red star. Around that star circled a planet. The planet was old, compared to Earth. Max never knew if the planet was named Antar or the star it circled held that name. The people on this much older civilization were much like those of earth.

Max had to smile as he thought of the writers who said an older civilization would have learned to solve their internal personal relationship problems. Max knew from his racial memory and also, from what he had learned from Tess, that the people of his world would fight and kill, even betraying their own families, much like those of Earth. Tess had had her memories enhanced by her time with her guardian. Before, he was killed by the skins, Nasado had carefully trained Tess. She saw no harm in what she knew about their people. To Max, he was appalled at the thought of the years of bloodshed his planet had suffered. Max wanted to start anew. Max had always wanted to fit in on Earth. He did not want to relinquish his powers, but he wanted to use them for good.

Michael stared up at the bright stars. He had many times gone out alone to look at the sky. The only time he really felt grounded was when he was with Maria. Like Max, Michael never expected to see twenty, much less the old age of thirty-five. Michael was always more closed down than Max. Michael, last night, had felt Max shut down the moment the UFO appeared. Michael had already shut down to not alert the strangers. The bastards on Antar were not satisfied killing their own people, they also wanted to poison them with the alkaloids of Earth.

Michael felt even more alone. If he had died, as expected, when he was a teenager and someway Maria had died with him, his life would have left nothing to mark his passing. For Michael, thoughts like that had worried him ever since he had met her. Michael had freed Maria to live the life he felt she deserved. Michael, on the other hand, had to suffer the dreams of Antar, amplified by what he had learned of Earth. Putting these thoughts into fiction helped him deal at the moment. If he relaxed, his mind would go right back to wondering about Maria. Was she safe? Was she happy? Did she in anyway miss him?

The next morning they packed up their kit and drove cross country to the far side of the playa. They saw the runway carved out in the sage. “It is short, but the plane would be considerably lighter after unloading and if it was modified, it could probably safely take off,” Kyle stated.

In the distance, they saw a cowboy approaching. “That would be Ortiz,” Kyle said.

They all watched as the horseman approached. “You see them last night?” Eloy Ortiz asked.

“Yeah, the plane made a quick “touch and go.” We imagine it left its load for a truck to take it off,” Kyle explained.

“No, I mean that other thing. I was over on that hill,” Ortiz turned and with his rifle he pointed to a cliff in the distance. “ I had a pair of good glasses, I saw you setting up your camp and then, I saw the plane. I also, saw the other thing. The truck is not the only one taking on cargo.” Eloy took a deep breath. “Amigo, what the fuck was going on last night?”

Kyle just shrugged, “Your guess is as good as mine. You saw what we saw and I am thinking that this is not the first time you have seen things like this. Whatever that thing is, it is involved in drugs, also.”

“What about you, space man? What do you know about this?” Ortiz asked as he looked at Michael.

At first Michael almost jumped, but Michael was no longer a scared kid. He had learned to take surprises in stride. He looked at Eloy Ortiz and decided that the comment was meant to allude to the fact that he and Max were introduced as experts on UFOs. “Eloy, if we have unknown creatures involved in drugs, it may mean that this is more than just New Mexico’s problem. It might even be more than a national problem. Drugs are bad. We don’t care who they are, if they are involved in drugs and maybe, involved with the death of Doctor Frank Johnson, then they need to be brought to somebody’s justice.”

Eloy Ortiz turned to Kyle. “Amigo, Joe Martinez was with me last night as you were setting up your camp.” Ortiz indicated the covered crates now back in the bed of Kyle’s pickup, containing the SAMs. “He says you have some pretty impressive toys. You told me to be careful about shooting at airplanes. Do you intend to blow something out of the air?” Eloy asked.

Kyle looked down at his feet. He was kicking some dead cactus branches trying to figure out what to say. He looked up. “Ortiz, you know how illegal those things are in the hands of a civilian, even if he is law enforcement. I would appreciate it if you and Martinez would keep this to yourselves,” Kyle requested.

Eloy smiled under his black mustache. “You got it, amigo. If a plane or something else crashes into a mountain, we will witness that it was pilot error, especially if it is something else. We expect you not to check any cracks in the lava too closely, either,” he stated.

His AR-15 cradled in his arms, Eloy Ortiz road back towards his ranch. “You are putting a lot of trust in that fellow,” Michael stated.

Kyle looked at both Michael and Max. “In this country, you have to have trust and give trust. If you fail, don’t come back here. These people have long memories. Part of their cooperation is from me building that trust and the rest is they liked the Doctors Johnson. You heard how Liz was trying to convince Sammy Martinez to attend college. Sammy in college, would be Joe’s greatest dream. They are good family people. They are, also, a fierce people defending what is theirs. The main reason I wanted you two with me is you probably are going to want to come back here again. They now, know you. Always tell them the truth. If they guess your out-of-this-world status don’t lie.” Kyle turned to Max. “You should probably bring Liz out to see them. I think it might be good for both, the ranchers and Liz.”

The three men now had some of the information they needed. They turned their pickup back toward I-40. In a few hours, they would be back in Albuquerque.
----------------------

The reputation of the evil shaman was spreading. Several family groups were paying tribute to him. So far, he did not feel he was strong enough to threaten Ta’s family. The fact that Ta’s woman had a sister who was with a man from the shaman’s clan bothered the whole family group. Ta might not interfere in another clan’s affairs, but if the affairs brought pain to Ta’s family by way of the man of his woman’s sister, then the affair would be Ta’s, also.
--------------------------
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg3,ch5, 5/6/2012

Post by ken_r »

Natalie36: I was in this area one time with the state police. We had been called in to find a wrecked small plane. I was very impressed by the families i met back there. I hope i do them justice.

L-J-L 76: You might find the ranchers i describe a lot like some of the old families where you live.

begonia9508: The shaman is human, but many archeologist agree that this stage in cultural development Ta's version of balance was all important. The accumulation of wealth was not right. Skills were to be shared with the family. it was the shaman's actions which were alien.

keepsmiling7: Clan and family are very important concepts to define. We were given rough rules for this then we spent the rest of the semester looking at exceptions. Taking clan membership through the mother is simple. she is the person who does not need to submit to proof. One result of clan membership is to prevent incest. it forces the gene pool to widen. it also binds the many families giving them membership in common. Hunting and gathering, hunting being mainly activity of males, alone or for brief times small groups. Gathering allows the women to work in the village and many times in large groups, many times sharing the caring of children. Living with the woman's family allows these already bonded groups not to be broken. All the people in the family work to better family life. The clan ties reach across for the mother's brother to be involved in the education of the children. Complex agriculture forced the men to form the strongest bond. where men had to build the irrigation systems, you find clan ship with the fathers, sometimes. Maybe you get the idea.


Chapter 6

Twice a day, for an hour each time, Doctor Valenti would patiently listen to and ask questions of Doctor Johnson. The rest of the day they were just two women who had met in their teens. Being under the care of Ava was easier for Liz. Liz didn’t have to conceal anything. She could feel Ava gently probing her mind. Not seriously, but just trying to encourage Liz to open up and to understand what Liz said, even more than Liz did, while saying it.

Doctor Valenti was an excellent psychologist. For Liz, she was probably the only one who Liz could talk to safely. Liz was suffering several shocks that now had all chosen to make them selves known. Liz had to face her near death experience, both times. Then, she faced the knowledge from her high school days that humans were not alone in the universe. The fact that now, whatever it was had attacked her personally. It wasn’t because she was with Max. Those things alone would have caused a lesser person to withdraw. There was also, the withdrawal of Max, with whom Liz had formed a strong bond. That left her with a great emptiness.

Even her marriage to Frank Johnson had been a flight from the alien abyss Liz understood. Seeing and knowing how Frank was killed, even if mercifully, she had passed out from her own wounds and hadn’t had to see his actual death thrust her back into reality. “Alice was out of the safety of the rabbit hole.” Now, the Queen of Hearts she faced was real. There would be no magic potions to make her bigger, smaller or stronger. Alice had left wonderland. Liz would have her friends and if she was to return to the strength she had in high school it would be them who helped her.

The morning session was over and Liz was helping Ava around the apartment. “You know that I went with Kyle at one time, don’t you? she asked.

“Yes, and I know that secretly you were bothered when you dumped him for Max,” Ava replied.

“I could never have been what Kyle wanted.” Liz explained.

“No, but you were willing to be what Max needed without question,” Ava reminded her.

“You make it sound so shallow,” Liz stated as she hung her head.

“I didn’t mean to,” Ava replied. “You were what Kyle needed, also. If it hadn’t been for you, Kyle would have messed around, probably getting some girl pregnant, and lost his whole future. You made Kyle think. When we make love, I see Kyle talking to you that time he hurt his ankle. Those thoughts are locked away in some far part of his mind. Kyle drifted for a time and that wasn’t all bad; he explored different religious beliefs. Even Tess teasing him with her body made Kyle grow. Kyle is now a strong man. For me, he is a perfect mate. If you believe in destiny and fate, we are all now living our destiny.”

When Tess had talked about destiny, it seemed Liz’s world would end. As Ava saw it, destiny was opening a whole new future. “Do you think I will have another chance with Max?” Liz asked.

“I don’t know. Tess thought destiny was something you had to follow. She never realized that destiny is not some story about the future. Destiny is what happens. It is, maybe, conceived in the past and accepted in the present. If your new destiny includes Max, I assure you, it will happen. More than that is not science. I have been trained to observe and evaluate the present and see how the past effects it. I must also study how the present affects your behavior. I can make suggestions, but no more. I can, also, be your friend. Even more than your doctor,” Ava explained.

Liz leaned over and hugged Ava. “Thanks, Ava, I don’t know which I need more. Perhaps, I need both. Again, thanks for being my friend and my doctor.”
-----------------------

Max, Michael and Kyle were back at the restaurant eating lunch. Michael seldom showed his feelings, but Max felt that the closer he got to Roswell the better the chili tasted. It was a matter of something from home, but Denver never quite had the flavor in their Mexican food that was found in New Mexico. Max could only remember the chili served by José in the Crashdown or even the chili served in Señor Chow’s place in Roswell. “Max, you and Mike will have to come over to our apartment for dinner sometime. Ava makes a chili she will only serve to home folks. True, she uses alien magic, but it is out-of-this-world,” Kyle declared.

This even brought a smile out of Michael. “Out-of-this-world, eh. Sounds like we need to have an alien-human meeting as soon as possible,” Michael stated.

Kyle turned to Max. “Are you still going to see Liz this afternoon?” he asked.

Max nodded. “Yes, if she will see me. And, maybe you are right, I should try to get more information from her about the years she has spent since I left. It might not work. Most women do not like to discuss recent lovers with past lovers,” Max said.

“Max I think you will find that you are a lot more than a past lover. Liz was a strong support when she was with you, but you were her life at that time. I just talked to Ava and she thinks, professionally that the two of you need to get together. If nothing happens, that is the way it goes, but she thinks you both can, again, support each other. Right now Liz needs support. It may sound crass, but we need information, also. Max, be truthful, you need Liz.” Kyle indicated Michael. “Mike says you are not raising a storm in the singles world. Max, that ain’t natural. At least, give it a try,” Kyle explained.

Max growled as he pointed to Michael. “He ain’t cutting no rug without Maria, either.”

“Hey I am not part of this conversation. I can schedule a session with Kyle’s wife, Doctor Valenti, on my own. If I think I need it,” Michael exclaimed.

Max left immediately after they finished lunch. Kyle dropped Michael off at the library and said that he had some papers to tend to before he returned home. Michael wanted to do some research, either for his own writing or for their present investigation. “Aliens smuggling narcotics, makes a great plot. I want to read the papers for the last ten years about any UFO sightings.

Max was hesitant as he walked up to the apartment at the end of the line of several homes. It was one of the older apartment complexes in Albuquerque, built sometime in the 70s. There were several lines of one story apartments, each with a number on the door. Kyle had rented one of the larger offerings because it had two bedrooms. Max walked up the cement path. The two lines of apartments faced each other. There was a strip of lawn with a cement walk on each side. He came up to the number Kyle had given him. The large front window was facing the walk. Inside, he saw Liz and Ava doing something in the kitchen. They waved, so Max waved back. That was a good sign. If anything bad happened, it wouldn’t be immediate. Max raised his hand to knock on the door, but before he could do so, Liz threw open the door and she was in his arms.

Inside, Max saw a version of Tess. But, it wasn’t a perfect vision. There were many differences in her face. Tess always had a wild hunger about her. There were many things that Tess wanted and she was determined to get them. In Ava, there was a beautiful contentment. She had the life and lover she wanted. If there was any racial memory of his wife in his former life, that wife would look like Ava looked now. Max saw no sign of the bitterness or anger that he had witnessed many times in Tess as she felt frustrated in her actions. Max saw an intelligence that Tess must have also had, but Ava actively used this intelligence and it showed. Tess only used force to get what she wanted.

Liz was still in his arms as Max leaned forward to extend his hand to Ava. “Hello, Ava, Ms. Valenti or Doctor Valenti, which ever you prefer,” Max greeted Ava.

“Unless you become my patient, it is just Ava, Max,” Ava explained. “Kyle called and said you missed home cooked chili. If you and Liz get back in time, you are invited for supper. I will, also, call Michael. He won’t admit it, I am sure, but I imagine there are things he misses from Roswell also.”

“Yes, Michael does miss things from Roswell, but I am not sure you can supply them. For myself, Kyle’s praise of your chili makes me ready try it as soon as I can. Liz and I just need some time alone to bring each other up to speed. We should be back in time for supper,” Max replied.

There was a mysterious twinkle in Ava’s bright blue eyes. “I will call Michael, you might be surprised what I can supply. You all make it back by six this evening,” Ava requested.

Max and Liz got into his rented car. “Where to, Max?” Liz asked.

“I was here this summer doing a piece for the Denver Post.” Max stated. “There was a small coffee shop south of the University. Students sometimes sit there all day drinking coffee and talking. That might be a place we can talk.”

“Yes, Frank and I used to go there sometimes when we were dating.” Liz quickly looked at Max. “I am sorry, Max. Maybe, I shouldn’t talk about my last husband to my first one. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“It won’t, Liz. I saw you there one time when I was writing a piece on homeless people, several years ago. I thought that you and Frank made a good couple. You seemed to be happy and that is all I ever wanted,” Max stated.

“Max, what about what else you wanted? Max, if you were that close why didn’t I feel your presence? Liz asked.

“Liz, I am a lot older. I can shut down my feelings and my presence better than I could when we were teenagers. Michael and I both did that, the other night, when we saw the UFO meeting the drug smugglers. The evening I saw you, you only had eyes for the man you were with. I didn’t want to take that from you,” Max explained.

Liz looked at him for several minutes. “Max, I have to ask. Did you stop loving me?” The look Max saw in her eyes almost made him break down.

“Liz, I have never stopped loving you. At that time, Michael and I were convinced that we, along with Isabel, would be killed within a couple years. We were facing a lot more attacks than we ever told you about. The most beautiful thing in my life was our love. If you had been killed with us, that was a fear I couldn’t face. Neither could Michael. He doesn’t say much, but every time we are together and he relaxes a bit, I feel his love for Maria. Liz, Michael and I are grown. We both are better prepared to defend ourselves, but if you hadn’t already been pulled into the alien abyss, I would never have approached you.

If you could have been happy with Doctor Frank Johnson, I would never have dared to disturb you. Now, there is something else. Something is targeting you. Ava was right, long ago. When I healed you, something changed. You do not have the skills to hide from it. I am afraid, Liz, you are now destined to remain with the aliens of Roswell. Away from us, you are a danger to yourself and anyone who is close to you. I am sorry Liz. We didn’t know much about the results of our skills when we were young,” Max was almost apologetic as he explained things.

Those statements made Liz reminisce. Liz remembered the time when Max had traveled to New York with two of the duplicates. The dups had dumped Ava as they prepared to take themselves back to Antar. The payment had been the life of Max. Liz had found Ava so different from Tess. Ava was a sweet person with a lot of caring about her. Her companion Zan, the dup of Max, had been killed by the other two dups. She knew that Lonnie and Rath had no care for anyone but themselves. Now, they needed a Zan to trade for their transportation. Ava knew that they would leave her in a moment for their own welfare. It was Ava who told Liz all about the change brought on by being healed by Max. Ava helped amplify Liz’s beginning powers so Liz could warn Max of the danger he was in back east.

“Max, if you hadn’t used your powers, I would have died. I have an education. I followed Grandmother Claudia into anthropology, instead of taking the biology route I had intended. I have had the privilege of loving two wonderful men. Frank is dead, but we didn’t kill him. Something out there did. If you will take me back, maybe, we can restart as equals to rekindle what we had long ago.” Liz had told Max a lot. He still had many specific questions both for himself as well as Kyle. They were now at the small coffee house, just south of the university.

Max took Liz by the hand and led her into the coffee shop. As they entered the door there were several cries, “Doctor Johnson, it is so good to see you. We are so sad about your loss. Doctor Frank’s death is a loss for all of us.”

They sat down and Max leaned over to Liz. “Sounds like both you and Frank have a lot of fans in the university world.”

Before she could answer him, several students came over to personally speak to Liz. Max waited quietly to see how Liz would introduce him. He was a little surprised. “This is Max Evans, my first husband, who has stopped by to help me with Frank’s affairs,” she explained. Several of the students warmly shook his hand.

One student kept looking at Max. Max was clearly getting uncomfortable. Suddenly, the student blurted out, “You are that Max Evans guy who writes for the Denver Post. I have followed your work since it started. You are the inspiration that led me to Journalism.”

Liz giggled, “I seem not to be the only one who has fans, Max.”

One young lady leaned over to Max and taking his hand said, “I am so happy that you and Doctor Johnson have retained your relationship so that you now can help her. It is so good not to see bitterness in an ex.”

Max smiled, “Liz and I will always be friends. It was circumstances that broke us apart. I was happy that she found someone as good as Frank to care for her. Now, I will do all I can to support her.”
-----------------------

The shaman was getting bolder. He had demanded of his clansman who was part of Ta’s family a tithe of support. He was making this of all his clan, whether they were of his family or part of another. This was unheard of. If the clansman had approached Ta about a member of his clan destitute or in some trouble, Ta would have been the first to offer assistance. Not only to the clan of a member of his family, but to any of the people who were not at enmity with him. For a man as powerful as Ta, there might even be consideration for an enemy.

Tribute was not a concept of the people. It must be something of the strangers. Ta was a firm believer that any gift went two ways. If the strangers were bringing things to the shaman, what was he giving them in return?

Ta knew that within his clan and even within his family unit there were shamans who used medicine to bring themselves closer to the mysteries that surrounded all of them. If a young man was respected, he might be given something by a shaman, to enhance his vision, when he was fasting on a quest. Ta wondered, did the strangers need this gift of the shaman? Was that what the shaman exchanged for the strange customs of the strangers?
---------------------
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
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Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg3,ch6, 5/12/12

Post by ken_r »

mary mary

keepsmiling7

begonia9508: Liz might have guilt feelings that she was responsible for Frank's death. At this time, Liz is a lot more emotional then rational.


Chapter 7

Soon the students returned to whatever was occupying them before. Max and Liz were again alone. “Max, I am so glad to see you again,” whispered Liz. “Even if you have to leave me again someday. Right now I need someone from the past.”

“We will see, Liz. Right now, I agree that you need someone to be with you. Your powers have grown. I don’t think you understand how much they have grown. Ava will help you a lot. Listen to her. I will stick around for at least a while. Being away from me might even be more dangerous than being with me.” Max wasn’t even sure that Liz wanted him to commit. There was a lot more going on than she understood. Max was sure that the aliens who killed Frank realized that there was something alien about Liz. They just were not sure. They didn’t want to start in intergalactic war if they harmed another alien from a different system.

“Let’s don’t talk about when it is over. Now, I just want to know you are around. Tell me, what have you and Michael been doing since we all broke up? Where is Isabel? What is she doing?” Liz was as full of question as was he.

“Isabel is back east with Jesse. He has become one powerful lawyer. He even hires dad as a consultant from time to time. I don’t know about Aliens, but no one in the government is going to touch Jesse or his wife. They now have two children. Jesse told me, last time we talked, that they finally had learned to not spark when strangers were around and to never spark at school,” Max started.

Liz laughed. It was good to see her laugh again. “I can just see that. It makes me sad that we never had any children.”

Max smiled and continued, “Michael has been plagued by dreams of Antar for years. He can’t go to a shrink so he just self medicates. He can’t use alcohol, but he can get lost in writing what he sees on paper. If you have ever seen, a paperback science fiction book by SpaceBoy, that is Michael. Neither Isabel nor I will read them. They are just to close to our own nightmares.”

Liz reached for his hands, “And you, Max, what have you been doing?”

“Well I took journalism in college. Maybe, I thought too much about Superman. Like Clark Kent I found that working for a large metropolitan paper gives me insight into what is going on in the world. Recently I have been working for the Denver Post like the student said. I have traveled to Roswell several times to see my folks. Besides them, I saw Jim Valenti several times. I knew when your folks died, but except for opening up old wounds, I didn’t see how I could attend their funeral. You were married to Frank so I held a memorial by myself and I like to think they would have appreciated that,” Max explained.

“What did you do, Max?” Liz asked.

“There is a small diner just outside of Denver. It is family run and the owner employs several high school girls to wait on tables. I drifted there on the day of your parents funeral. I asked if I could wash dishes in exchange for a meal. I spent the whole day working there. I like to think that I saw your father glaring over the counter from the kitchen. One of the owner’s daughters was working there, just like you. She had a scraggy boyfriend just like you did.” Liz giggled, thinking of Max as a scraggy boy. “I don’t think he was an alien. He was just a teenaged bum. I saw in the owner all the anguish I remember from your father. He didn’t have anything against the young man but he was so afraid his daughter would get in trouble. I guess I spent the day apologizing to your father for the grief we caused him. It gave me a different perspective to being a parent. At the end of the day, they treated me to a fine dinner. We all sat around a table talking, including his daughter and her boyfriend. I told them a few stories about us. They offered me a permanent job. Of course I refused, but I did run several articles about the restaurant. I only hope I added to their business.” Max clearly relaxed for the first time since Liz had seen him returned.

“Max, I am sure that whatever spirit of my father there is, appreciated your gesture. That was a fine thing to do. Now tell me what else you have been doing?” Liz requested.

“Well, Michael and I derailed a couple movements of skins trying to take over certain industries. Some of what we did, I am not too proud of. A lot of aliens got themselves killed. I would do it again if the situation presented itself. We had a couple of close calls and Michael was under the weather for some time. He got in the way of a powerblast. Even I had a hard time healing him. Things are quiet now, except for what may be going on west of the Rio Puerco,” Max stated. “This brings me to ask more of what you and Frank were doing out there?”

“Max, you know that this whole state is a series of principal habituation sites. Every hill every farm and every well had, at one time, someone living and dying on it. Max, we are not against progress, but if we know where all these sites are we can plan field schools to properly study those scheduled for destruction. If we do not have time for field schools, then we can arrange salvage projects. These will not take careful time to view the artifacts where they are found, but they will rescue most of the artifacts to be studied later. Frank was interested in certain geological formations. I went with him and cataloged habitation sites to add to the university’s data base. We have been working the Rio Puerco area for many years. We always knew about the drug smugglers. If we saw signs of them in the area, we left as fast as we could. Lately, there are more and more signs of their operation. We work with the people who live back there. They are more and more being pushed by this illegal traffic. Now there is something else. I had dreams for days after Frank was killed. Something was looking for me and it wasn’t the drug smugglers, at least not the human smugglers. There are other things happening back there. You do not know how many times I wished I could talk to you. Now, something killed Frank. He was the second dearest person to me. I only hope I can receive the support of the first dearest one.” Liz had a lot on her mind. Some of it was personal, but there were many things that Kyle would want to know.

“Kyle wants you to return to the ‘Puerco sometime soon. There are several people back there who supported you. They need assurance that you are well,” Max explained.

“Yes, as soon as I am a little stronger, I would like to go back there. I don’t think I can face the place where Frank was killed, but there are several families I would like to see again,” Liz declared.

Max looked at his watch. “It is getting on to six o’clock. We better get back to Kyle’s,” he said.
------------------

“Hon, are you sure about this?” Kyle asked.

“Kyle you know that nothing is certain. Michael is pining for Maria and I think talking to her, that she misses him. Max and Liz will be gone until almost six. I invited Michael over at three. Maria should arrive a little before that,” Ava explained.

“Well, okay, I think I maybe should go back to the office and get caught up on my paper work,” Kyle moaned.

“Kyle Valenti, you will do nothing of the kind. I am trying to help people you grew up with. You will stay here and face them along with me. Remember, you do not want to see death rays come out of my eyes,” Ava stated.

The death ray was an old joke that Tess had used. Once, when Kyle was still trying to get to know Tess, she had threatened him with death rays. Kyle, then, was taken back. Of course, they did not have death rays coming from their eyes. Ava had gotten this from deep in Kyle’s subconscious. She liked to tease him about it. Ava could push Kyle quite a bit. Kyle was completely in love with her. He was just hoping that they would be able to produce a child, someday. That was the ultimate object of love.

Kyle heard a familiar laugh. Then like a whirlwind, the hurricane named DeLuca entered the room. “Kyle, brother almost, how have you been?” Maria asked as she hugged him closely.

“Fine, Maria,” Kyle grunted. “We are just in Albuquerque for a time until I make headway in this case.”

Just as suddenly as she had appeared, Maria got serious. “How is Liz? Her husband was murdered right in front of her eyes. I can’t imagine how that is affecting her.”

Kyle sat and invited Maria to do likewise. “Liz is coping. You know that Ava is a licensed psychologist. Liz is now her patient. They can discuss all the alien things without danger. She is out talking to Max right now they should be back in a few hours,” Kyle said.

“Max here. I suppose the other one is with him,” She stated.

Ava spoke up, “Maria, Max and Michael thought they would be murdered in just a few years. That is why they broke up with both of you.”

“Yeah, I know. SpaceBoy, the author. I have read every book that bastard has written. They always end the same way. The hero goes off with the blonde singer. All he had to do was look me up. I would have shown him sex that would have set his books on fire. In those damn novels he dresses me. He undresses me. He makes 50 kinds of love to me and it is all just fiction. Look Ava, I have moved on. I have learned techniques of love that he can only dream of. I guess his dreams are sufficient for him.” Maria continued to rave. Kyle was getting uncomfortable, knowing what was to come. Maria was now so wrapped up that she was crying.

Ava spoke again. Kyle was amazed how her soft voice seemed to effect Maria. Kyle was sure Ava was using alien powers, but this was a time for such magic. “Maria, Liz was probably hurt by aliens. Her husband was probably killed, by the same. Max and Michael are helping Kyle to solve what happened. Michael won’t say anything, but he sees how Liz being hurt is making Max feel guilty. Max is worried that letting Liz be free to continue her life led to her husband being killed and her being hurt. Michael is suffering from the same fears. He doesn’t know how to get in touch with you, but he fears that you are in danger, also.”

Maria settled down, Kyle was sure, partly by Ava’s aid. “Michael is worried about me?” Maria asked between her sobs.

“Maria, believe me. Aliens do not fall in and out of love very lightly. Max and Michael, along with Isabel, expected to be killed. They didn’t know which side would do it, but they saw very little chance for life. None of them wanted their loves to die with them. They didn’t know anything else to do,” Ava explained.

There was a knock on the door. Kyle started to get up. Ava motioned with her hand. ‘Maria, would you answer the door. It is probably Michael.”

Kyle just rolled his eyes back in his head. He had studied several eastern religions and none of them offered him the strength to withstand the power of the storm that he was sure would soon hit.

Michael Guerin prided himself that he would never be taken by surprise. He was a soldier, a rock, a barrier that nothing would get through. The door opened and he saw Maria. Michael had been keeping his senses closed down. If there was an alien influence near, Michael didn’t want to alert it. Nothing prepared him for the sight of Maria.

Nothing prepared Maria for what happened next, before she could even start a protest. It had been building in her mind from the minute Ava asked her to answer the door. That bastard thought he could just march back in and everything would be just like it was before! Maria was thinking of exactly what she was going to say to him. She would pin his ears back. When he left, she was nothing but a young girl. Now, Maria was a renowned singer and she knew how to handle men. SpaceBoy, indeed. She would teach him to use her as a character in his novels.

Nothing she planned had a chance to happen. Michael reached for Maria and brought her to him. His arms were wrapped around her and his kisses were confusing her thinking. She was going to tell the bastard off. That was hard to do when she was tightly gripped and Michael’s tongue was probing her mouth. Michael was showing a hunger that was stronger than anything she could remember. Maria’s hidden love for Michael was stronger than her rational mind’s desire to strike back. They were entwined on the front step when the door closed. Their emotions were so strong that even Kyle could feel them. Ava was sure, now, that she had been right. Mark one more up for Psychology.

As the door closed behind them, Kyle looked at his wife. “Do you think they will be back for supper?” he asked.

Ava shrugged, “I think so; I just hope they both are in one piece. So far, I don’t hear any sounds of violence.”

There was another knock on the door. This time, Ava opened it. “We got locked out,” Maria explained.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg3,ch7, 5/20/12

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508: or her devour him.

mary mary


Chapter 8

When Max and Liz walked into the room Liz saw Maria, her hand tightly entwined with Michael’s. When Maria saw Liz, her action was predictable. She released her grip on Michael and ran to her friend. “Liz I am so glad to see you,” Maria said.

Liz was sobbing. “Maria, it was so horrible. He was burned beyond recognition. I think something out there is after me,” Liz cried.

“Oh, Liz, we are all here for you. You don’t have to be alone,” Maria was crying also.

Max gently pried Liz away from Maria and led her to a double love seat in Kyle’s apartment. Maria returned to Michael and it was almost automatic as her hands again engaged his. Kyle let out a sigh of relief. “It looks like Ava is ready for us if you are all prepared to tackle the chili.”

Of course, the chili was perfect. It was seasoned to everyone’s taste. Long pods of perfectly dried Hatch chili, now, the red pods crushed into flakes and by the time it had been simmered, Max could have believed that it had been picked that way. A slight molasses flavor, that didn’t over power the ground and cubbed, beaf and pork. Max was sure that Ava changed the spices as she passed out the bowls. These individual changes would be Ava’s secret. Yes, it was excellent chili and with the alien enhancement, they were all pleased. Kyle had to smile. His alien wife was perfect.

It was about an hour later when Michael stood up. “Max, we are going to leave. I won’t be in our room tonight. Don’t worry, I will go with Maria in her car.”

After they left, Kyle let out another sigh. “That went over a lot better than I thought it would.” That earned him a kick from under the table, Ava, all the while, looking perfectly innocent.

Liz got up and went into her room. She returned in a few minutes. “Max, I was going to suggest that I return with you to your room since Michael wouldn’t be there. I just can’t. It is too soon after Frank’s death. Don’t be angry,” she whispered.

“I am not angry, Liz. I am here to protect you. I neither ask nor expect anything. I will go back to my room. I will see you tomorrow,” Max explained.

Max left and Kyle was in the bathroom. Liz whispered to Ava, “Do you think I made Max mad?”

Ava patted her hand. “No, dear, I think Max understands. He doesn’t expect anything from you, but he would like to have you again in his bed. He is just not going to pressure you. It is for you to decide when or if you are ready.”

When Kyle returned from the bathroom he saw both women deep in thought. Kyle leaned over and kissed his wife. Let’s go to bed, babe. I might have a hard day tomorrow.” Taking Ava’s hand, Kyle turned to Liz. “Good night, Liz see you tomorrow.” With that, he and Ave retired arm in arm to their bedroom.

Liz lay there in the dark. She had no idea what woke her. There were no strange noises and looking at the curtained window, there were no strange shadows in the light of the full moon. On nights like this when she would wake up Frank, he would sense her movements and he would reach over and pull her to him. His hands would find their way under her gown and she would feel his rough hands caressing her body. The very feeling of his hands comforted her. From the methodical movement of his hands over her body, Liz would again release herself to sleep. Frank would never again be there to hold her and give her security. What security could he give anyway? Frank was a rough man, but he didn’t believe in violence. What would he have thought if he had known about the times she and Max ran from the FBI? What would Frank have thought, if he had known about Max and Liz huddling in the abandon car as they heard the feds prowling through the junk yard just outside? What about Michael, Max’s best friend killing Pierce? In Frank’s world, these things just didn’t happen. What would he have thought if he had seen the sparks running across her skin when she was stressed? There were so many things that Frank had not been allowed to share with his wife. He hadn’t even known what they were.

Liz lay there trying to think of what was bothering her so much tonight. Maybe, it was just the knowledge of Frank’s absence. Liz looked around the room. She could see the lamp sitting on the dresser. She saw her clothes resting on the chair near the bed. The blue of her slacks showed the wrinkles from wear today. She saw the brown of her shoes on the floor. Wait a minute, she was seeing in the almost total darkness. The moonlight through the window wasn’t bright enough for her to see this much. Liz sat up. In the corner of the room, she saw a light forming. There were two dark eyes and a small mouth. She could see the thin hands and arms forming. Looking she saw the spindly legs. Liz was seeing an alien in its natural form. For several seconds, Liz was frozen. She was terrified. Then, she glanced at her hands and Liz could see that green streaks were arcing between her fingers.

Liz screamed.

Kyle was the first to enter Liz’s room. He entered with his pistol drawn. Shooting in an apartment was dangerous. The thin walls would allow the bullet to travel through several rooms. Kyle didn’t have to fire. Ava was right behind him. She leaned against Kyle with her arms on both sides of his face. She made a green wall. It moved against the strange creature in the corner. Kyle could feel Ava straining. She was pushing the creature into the corner. Suddenly, there was a release and the creature disappeared.

Max was sound asleep. The phone rang. He reached out for it and heard Kyle’s excited voice. “Max, there was an alien in Liz’s room. Ava drove it off. Max, whatever was after Liz is still after her.”

Max was collecting his senses. Max did not like to be pressed. When he was a teen, he depended on Liz to help him make decisions. Either Liz or his sister, Isabel were usually counted on to have level advice. The only times Max ignored either of them, led to disaster. Liz was in trouble; that was sinking in his mind. “Kyle I will be there as fast as I can.”

Max hung up and reached for his pants. It was twenty minutes before Max drove into the apartment parking lot. For almost a quarter of an hour, Max sat there. He couldn’t sense any alien presence. Max got out of the car and walked around the block.

Patrolman Jake Chavez had been on the Albuquerque Police Force for almost ten years. His partner, Jolene Silverton, had been on the force for three. They had a report that there was screaming at the “National Apartments.” Jake drove as fast as he safely could. Having a wreck while answering a disturbance call helped no one.

Jakes wife, as supposed, had concerns when it was announced that he would have a female partner. Sadie Chavez made it a point to meet Jolene. Jolene explained that she had a boyfriend. The women made a pact to contact each other if either of them had a worry about the arrangement in the squad car. Jolene brought her boy friend around to meet Sadie. Sadie understood that Jolene and Jake intended to always keep their relationship strictly professional. Sadie made it her job to keep Jake satisfied and to be open to him about her worries and needs. Divorce rate, among police officers is very high. Sadie, Jolene and Jake were doing all they could not to join the statistics.

With their emergency equipment off, Jake slowly approached the apartment complex. Jake knew the apartments were important; he had lived in a complex much like this one for the first few years of his marriage, but they were always a center of trouble. Many of the occupants were newly divorced and the troubles that had terminated their marriages followed them to their new homes. There were many semi-transients. They would be here for a few years to work and then, having no roots, would move on. Much of the complex’s occupants were young. Unfortunately, the young attracted misfortune. The many domestic disputes, which could be fermenting, gave both Jake and Jolene pause as they approached. Everything seemed quiet. There was a single man walking around the site. As they passed him, Jake spotted him in their light. He appeared in his thirties, he had the stubble of yesterday’s beard, which gave him a sinister appearance. Jake stopped and he and Jolene got out after a brief message to headquarters. Jake, carrying his flashlight in his left hand, showed the light in the man’s face. Jolene positioned her self with the police cruiser between her self and the subject. As departmental regulation Jake did not unsnap his holster. He kept his right hand free as he approached. Jolene was far enough away to not be closely observed. She quietly released the strap of the Bianchi holster over her Glock. Her Glock was a 40 caliber department issue. It was a good weapon. She knew that Jake, with his experience, carried a 45 ACP. He felt that the 45 had less penetration for city use. In this case, Jake was depending on his partner if something went south.

Max stood as the officer approached. Having worked the police beat in Denver, Max knew that if Jake had a partner, the partner would be in the shadows waiting to cover him. Aliens always had trouble with bright lights. Max raised his arm to shade his eyes from both the spot light of the cruiser and the flashlight of the approaching officer. Max could imagine that he looked like hell. He had grabbed pants and some sort of shirt. He hadn’t even waited for socks. The coat he had pulled around him sufficed, but was neither fashionable nor really warm. Max was sure he looked more like a homeless man than a noted newspaper reporter.

“Howdy, fellow, what are you doing out here tonight?” Jake asked.

Max grimaced, “Officer, my appearance is shoddy, but my ex-wife just called; she had a prowler in her room.”

“Ex-wife, eh, seems that if she was ‘ex’ you wouldn’t care?” Jake made it both a question and a statement.

“No, Officer, it isn’t like that. I still try to take care of her, no matter where she is,” Max said.

“Come on buddy, let’s have some identification,” Jake demanded.

Max looked chagrined. “Officer, I left so fast I forgot to pick up my wallet,” he explained.

Jake reached behind him and released his handcuffs. “Could be amigo, but for now, you better come downtown with us. Turn around,” he ordered.

Jake was fastening the cuffs on Max. He felt rather than saw some movement just out of his vision. He was depending on Jolene to identify any danger from there. He heard her call out, “Police business, identify your self.”

Jake spun Max around and using him as cover he saw a man in a robe approaching. Damn, bystanders, they always complicated things. “Beat it buddy, we are busy,” he called.

Max relaxed as he heard Kyle, “State Police, I called this man. We are taking care of his ex-wife and there is a chance she was accosted in her room tonight.”

Jake saw Jolene approach the man. She, carefully, took his Identification in her left hand. She tilted the folder so the car light reflected off it. “He is right, Jake. I know him. He is Kyle Valenti, a special detective of the state police,” she called out.

Every one relaxed and Max felt the handcuffs released. He stepped back, rubbing his wrists. “I am sorry, officer. I am assisting the state police in their investigation. My ex-wife had remarried and she and her new husband were assaulted back on the Rio Puerco the other night. I was walking the perimeter to see if I could find any one loitering,” Max explained.

Jake still wasn’t totally convinced. “Looks like you would be the prime suspect, being her ex,” he drawled.

Kyle spoke up. “We don’t think so. Max was in Denver when it happened. We have some evidence that Doctor Johnson and her husband were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got in the way of a drug transfer.”

Jolene spoke up. “Jake, I read the sheet on that assault. Kyle is right, this man’s ex was with her husband in an area where drugs are routinely transferred.”

Kyle looked at Max. “Did you see anything, Max?” he asked.

Max just shook his head. “These officers are the only thing I saw stirring. There was no one around.”

Just then Jolene gave out a cry. She drew her weapon and pointed to the sky. Right over the complex was a large object. As they watched, the thing floated silently past the apartments and then, with a “whoosh,” it disappeared.

Kyle immediately turned and ran for the apartment door. He ran up the walk and hammered on his front door. Max and the two officers were right behind him. Ava opened the door. Jake could see that she was a beautiful woman, even with her makeup off and her hair tossed from sleep. She was barefooted, but wearing a robe. Jake saw behind her another woman. She was a brunette and slightly darker in complexion. Right now, her complexion was kind of pasty. She clearly had been scared. As Max pushed by, she ran to him and he was holding her in his arms.

“Babe, we didn’t see anyone except for these officers out there,” Kyle stated.

Jake wondered why Kyle didn’t mention the object. Well, maybe, Kyle didn’t want to further frighten the two women. Jake would have to talk with Silverton later. He wasn’t sure how they wanted to report the object. Years ago, Jake’s cousin, down at Socorro, had introduced Jake to a state policeman. Because his cousin was a personal friend to the state officer, the officer had spoken openly and candidly to Jake. Jake remembered one thing. “If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have seen anything,” the officer had said. Now, Jake was faced with the same decision. He and Silverton would have to discuss this. It would be collusion, but both of their careers would depend on the outcome.

Jake and Jolene bid the couples, “Good Night,” and left to have an intense discussion back in the safety of their cruiser. As soon as they left, Ava threw her arms about Kyle, “They tried to take Liz. My shield held. I don’t think they were expecting alien interference,” she cried.

Max unwrapped Liz from himself. “Liz, I think you are going to have to trust me. At least at night, you need to be in the same room as an alien. That may be your only protection. Go get your things. We need to decide tomorrow how better to protect you,” he stated.

Max’s cell phone rang. “Max, what the hell is going on?” From his voice Michael was greatly disturbed. “Maria and I were in the middle of something and I had let down my feelings. Right when we needed to be the least disturbed, I felt an overwhelming alien presence. I am having the devil of a time explaining this to Maria. She goes from yelling to crying. Are we being attacked?” was his final question.

“Something tried to take Liz,” Max explained. “Tell Maria you will try again in the morning, but for now, shut down everything which would tell anything you are an alien. I don’t think they will bother you in the daylight.” Max didn’t know whether to laugh or be scared. In his mind, he saw Michael trying to make love with the volatile Maria and, suddenly, getting shut down. Knowing Michael, Max was sure that his frustration was almost as strong as Maria’s first anger and then fright. Damn aliens, this act alone was enough for Max to wish Kyle could have unleashed one of those toys secured in his truck.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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ken_r
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Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg4,ch8, 5/27/12

Post by ken_r »

L-J-L 76: It may be only after Liz

keepsmiling7

begonia 9508: Right now is 107 in the sun. When the pain allows we are doing a little work in the evening. The Aliens don't know what Liz is. The try to explain it at the end.


Chapter 9

Liz had no idea what would be in store for her. She had no idea what she was ready for, either. The alien in her room was frightening. She could only imagine how it would have been if Frank was still alive. Frank often chided her for the stories she collected from the Hispanic families. “Liz, how can they progress is you keep feeding those old tales and superstitions.” Frank didn’t believe in anything supernatural. Liz once asked him about his religious beliefs. “Liz, religion is for church. Leave it there,” he had commanded. Liz later realized that this feeling was the way he resolved his earlier childhood training against what he had learned in college.

That wasn’t the way Liz remembered her childhood training. It wasn’t how anthropologists saw their informants, either. Anthropology taught that all parts of a culture made up the character of the people. The local Hispanic people held deep religious beliefs. The charity and family responsibilities were important to the way they thought and the way they conducted their lives.

That, again, brought up why she never told Frank details about her previous marriage or her life, which proceeded it. Frank knew that she had been married right out of high school. He never asked questions. Liz had just explained that she had gotten an annulment. Frank would probably not even have admitted to her occasional sparking, if he had seen it. That she had lived and slept with aliens would have freaked him out. Frank considered himself open-minded, but he was bull-headed or as he said, practical about some things. If he had seen what she saw, tonight, Liz had no idea of how he would have taken it.

Max pulled into the motel parking lot. He gently helped Liz out of the car and collected her things. Ava and Liz had retrieved some of her clothes from the house she had shared with Frank. Liz still wasn’t ready to return to the empty house. There were too many things which reminded her of Frank. Liz and Ava had gone shopping for some new things that did not have the baggage of her past life with them.

When they entered the room, Liz saw the bed clothes in a mess on what she assumed was Max’s bed. The other bed was still made up by this morning’s housekeeping and Max placed her things near it. Michael would probably be convinced to spend the rest of his time with Maria. All three women would gather at Kyle’s apartment in the daytime.

They had been married, but they, now, were not married. Many things confused Liz as to how she should act. Max had seen her in all stages of nakedness, but now, she felt shy with him. How did he feel about her? Max had made it clear that he was there for her protection. He had made no move to invite her to his bed. Liz knew that any moves made romantically would have to come from her. Max had too many people problems to catch subtle hints or unspoken signs.

Liz retired to the bathroom to change. While she was out she saw that Max had gotten out of his pants and shirt and was under his covers. From the past, Liz imagined that he was in his boxers. There was a moment of nostalgia that even eclipsed her grief about Frank. Liz could imagine running her hands over his body. There were even thoughts of her hands exploring inside his shorts. Liz, again, had no idea of what was in store for her. She would just have to wait. Ava, as her psychologist, had cautioned Liz to be patient. Whatever was to be would develop in its own time.

With whatever was going on in Liz’s mind, it was worse for Max. He had seen her outline as she exited the bathroom before she reached back to turn out the lights. The animal, human part of Max, almost made him get out of his bed and crawl in with Liz. Max was sure that Liz would have allowed whatever he chose to do. She had begged off earlier, but that was before the fright of tonight. No, if Max got back with Liz, it would be on her schedule this time. For himself, Max was now convinced that he needed to be close to her for her protection. Figuratively, Max shook his head. He cleared the many thoughts, which were living there. He reached over and turned out the light. He could not help it; he said, “Good night, Liz. Be safe tonight.”

He heard her murmured, “Good night, Max. Thank you.”

The life style Maria had been living led her to sleep until almost noon. Maria usually closed the blinds so the sun wouldn’t awaken her. She felt strange hands on her stomach. The hands were caressing her. She felt them as they traveled to her breast. Maria started to stop this. For heaven’s sakes, it was 7:00 in the morning. She should have at least four more hours of sleep.

Before the words could get out, Maria felt a presence in her mind. It was full of longing. She saw the many stories that ran through the presence. She had joked that the blonde singers in Michael’s books were all images of herself. Now, she saw that this was true. She saw herself in the presence of a blonde laid out on a bed of satin. Maria gazed at the naked body in her mind and as she traveled up the body, she saw that there was no question. The face of the body was Maria. It was a Maria that took her breath away. At the same time, the face had the youth of a teenager and the wisdom of a woman of the world. Poised above Maria was a golden god. The god was reaching for her breasts. Maria saw the god’s knees forcing her legs apart. As one of the god’s hands gently gripped her breast and his thumb messaged her nipple, Maria saw his man hood approaching. The god melted and Maria saw Michael. As he entered her, she felt that alien magic which showed both of them the others feelings. Maria remembered this love as a teen and she remembered the same love as she approached adulthood.

Maria’s complaint about the earliness of the morning disappeared. Roadies, groupies and managers were nothing like what she felt. Maria knew that this was where she belonged. When they both collapsed in exhaustion, Maria and Michael in each other’s arms returned to sleep. Unfortunately the sleep was disturbed an hour later by the house phone.

“Hey, Mike, rise and shine. We are going to park the girls over at Kyle’s. Jake Chavez called and we have an appointment with him and his partner. They have some intel for us,” with that, Max hung up.

Michael could imagine that Max had a cold bed last night. He had seen the text message that Liz would be at their motel room for safety. Michael knew of Liz’s condition after the death of her husband. In his opinion, she needed a good fuck, but he knew that Max would go only at the pace she set. Michael could have had a cold bed himself, but he took a chance and now, he found that Maria was just as warm towards him as he was to her. In her absence, there was no one else for Michael. He was aware that she had sampled love in her travels. That was her business. If she took him back now, Michael intended to never let her go again. She was always the only girl for him.

Michael, also, knew that you didn’t park Maria. He would have to find a better way to phrase it. “Maria, wake up. I have an appointment with the city police this morning. Max just called and he asked if you would lend support to Liz this morning. Something tried to abduct her last night. I figured you wouldn’t mind spending the day with her, so I told him yes.” Michael was pleased how he had put the responsibility for Liz’s well being back on Maria. Maria would not refuse anything to help Liz.

Maria disappeared into the bathroom and Michael heard the shower. He gathered his things. As soon as she got out, it would be his turn. Maria, returned and dressed in her brief bra and briefer panties as she paraded across the room. Michael grabbed his things. It was a good thing she did this before he had showered and dressed.

Soon, they were in her car. The smell of Maria beside him was intoxicating. Michael hoped they didn’t have too much trouble with aliens. Michael now knew how hard it would be to ever leave Maria. He couldn’t manage to do that again. He could only hope to be enough for Maria for her to leave her tour and live with him, with or without marriage. He did hope to, someday, sire children with her.

At Kyle’s apartment, Maria was quickly holding Liz and both of them were crying about the fright of last night. Max was out the door and he and Michael were in their rented car off to City PD.

Kyle was sitting in front of Jake’s desk. His chair was sideways and he was leaning on the desk with his right elbow. Jolene was at Jake’s side, her note book out as she went over her notes. Max and Michael had arrived at the front desk and been given visitor’s badges. As they walked into the large room which served as office for several detectives, they saw Kyle and waved. Jake got up and pulled two more chairs over to the desk. With the addition of the two chairs, Kyle had to quit leaning and sit up.

“Jolene and I have this snitch. He is a homeless guy, probably an addict, but we are careful to not give him anything that he can sell and support his habit. We warn him that if we ever catch him selling anything we give him, we will put the word out and the next sweep just before a freeze will not help him. He can endure the cold if that is what he wants.” Joe shuffled his notes as he looked at the three men in front of him. There was something strange about the two men who were with Kyle. Kyle was well known, but they seemed different.

Jake continued, “He called late last night, just before our shift was over. He heard our car number and, also, that we were over at that apartment building, last night. He has some sort of dilapidated old police scanner. He is never clear, but he claims that he heard two men talking about ‘killing that damn woman before those other’s get her.’ The old man couldn’t completely understand, but whatever the others are, they want to abduct her. You understand any of this?” Jake inquired.

Kyle stood up. “We will have to think about this, Jake. We will let you know if we figure anything out. How are you handling the strange thing in the sky?” Kyle asked.

Jake looked at Jolene, Max was sure that she gave an imperceptible nod. “What thing in the sky, Kyle? We just stopped a stranger and talked to a detective from the state police.”

The three men stopped at a truck stop near the freeway in the middle of town. There was so much noise and chaos in the place that they were sure no one would pay any attention to their conversation.

Kyle poured half and half into his coffee. “Chavez and Silverton may have found out more than they know. We now know that two groups are interested in Liz. I will take a guess and say ‘those from out there’ want to abduct her for whatever reason. And, the human dope smugglers, think she might have some information or that she saw something back on the ‘Puerco and want to kill her,” Kyle summarized.

Michael had snagged some Tabasco sauce, from another table, before the busboy could clear it. Max was adding the Tabasco along with two servings of sweetener to his coffee. He spoke up, “They have made two, maybe three, attempts to take Liz. I think she should remain in the presence of one of us, all of the time. Liz is developing powers or something that aliens can sense.”

Kyle never ceased to be revolted at the sight of the Tabasco treated coffee as Max now stirred in a little half and half dairy cream into the now orange mixture. “Did you notice how Chavez gave us the information, but he clearly steered away from admitting aliens?”

Max looked up, “He mentioned that state policeman down south in Socorro. If I remember my research from the Denver Post Morgue, (Place where newspapers archive their old copies) the man’s name was Lonnie Zamora. I guess if he talked to Zamora, then he might be scared of admitting anything like that during a patrol.”

Kyle turned to Max. “Have you given it any thought about taking Liz back to see the ranchers on the ‘Puerco?”

“It is her call, Kyle. I will let her tell me the moment when she is ready. Right now, I am having trouble staying in the same room with Liz and in separate beds,” Max stated.

Michael chimed in. “I didn’t give Maria a chance to think. I just moved in and did what was natural,” he said.

“Liz is not Maria, Mike. Maria, also, isn’t trying to recover from loosing a husband. I am sure Liz wouldn’t resist if I just made a move, but there might be problems later,” Max explained.

Michael just shook his head, still not convinced. “Maybe so, Max, but some of your problems are those you build yourself.”

“Maybe, Mike, I just have to do things I can live with,” Max answered.

Kyle went back to his temporary office at the Albuquerque State Police headquarters, while Max and Michael drove over to Kyle’s home to see the women. Ava answered the door. “Everything is quiet. Maria and Liz spent the morning getting caught up. You know, the way the girls talk, it is surprising that either of you survived, fighting the skins, the special unit and even your parents,” Ava exclaimed.

Max looked at her, “I imagined it was no worse and maybe not as bad as you all had it. You were fighting just to survive in the underbelly of a human world.”

Ava smiled, “Probably, we did know what it was to be homeless at an early age. Look, Max, Santa Fe called and they want me to start up a Psych evaluation on an officer who was involved in a shooting. He is from the southern part of the state, so while I am here in the city, they are sending him to me. Do you guys think you can watch over Maria and Liz while I am in session? I really need to give this guy my full attention. His career depends on it.”

Michael walked past Ava and into the room where Liz and Maria had been talking. “Hey, babe, Ava has an appointment this afternoon, how’s about going for a ride with me?”

Both Ava and Max were looking for a DeLuca explosion. The fact that Maria meekly rose and took Michael’s hand, was a surprise. Max frowned and looked at Ava. Had she in some way moved Maria to this placid character with respect to Michael. Ava shook her head and mouthed, “it wasn’t me,” behind their backs.

Max watched as Maria walked out with Michael and Michael looking back like he was saying, “I told you so.”

“Liz, we probably should go over to my rooms and let Ava get ready for her appointment,” Max told her.

“In a moment, Max. I guess I should move all my stuff over to your room, since Ava and Kyle need as much normal time as they can get. Kyle has to stay sharp,” Liz stated.

Max nodded. Neither Ava nor Kyle had complained about Liz being with them. Max looked at Ava and she gave kind of a mysterious smile. Max wondered, how much of this was from Liz and how much was from the suggestion of her psychologist? From Ava’s smile, how much was from the advice of Ava, the woman, alien though she might be?

Michael drove the car Maria had rented. “Where to babe? What do you want to do?” he asked.

Maria had her seat belt fastened, but she still managed to curl up in the most provocative manner. Michael thought how much would she be hurt in a position, which the seat belt was not designed to protect, if he had an accident? “To my rooms, SpaceBoy. You have a lot of catching up to do and I have several years of memories to replace.”

As they got out of the car, Maria handed Michael a bag labeled by a nearby drug store. Michael took the bag and helped Maria out of the car. As he held the door for her and she walked into the lobby, Michael looked down at the bag. It was a box of condoms. Maria, indeed, intended to replace a lot of memories.

For Max, things were a lot less clear. He had spent most of the afternoon helping Liz with her things. She had, also, needed to go shopping. Max wasn’t sure what she had bought. It was feminine things, so Max stood looking at the tools as she meandered through the clothing department of Sears Department store. Liz still had the attachment that she had for him in the past, but she also had, a murdered husband looking over her shoulder. To intensify the argument she had with her self, Liz had bought a night gown that when she finally would let Max see her in it, would convince him that, no, she hadn’t forgotten Frank, but she wanted to rebuild what she had lost with Max. Liz had a lot of baggage with the things she had never told Frank. Should she have told him about the aliens? Again, would Frank have ever believed her? Frank had been very intelligent, but he always had a New England, Protestant outlook which made it difficult for him to ever accept some of the different religious beliefs she studied in various cultures. It was to his credit that college had broaden his ability to accept the beliefs of others, for themselves. What would he say to spaceships and little green men, which after all, were gray in their natural state, not green? Frank was not stupid when he talked to Liz. He understood that she saw many things by way of her anthropology training. This training in Frank’s eyes was about human cultures. Frank just didn’t have to accept these differences himself.

Max was the perfect gentleman, well, Liz would expect nothing less. He carried her heaviest bag and reached to open the door for her. It was now late in the afternoon or early in the evening, depending on how you saw it. The sky outside was darkening. As Max stepped back to make way for Liz, suddenly she felt her self pushed through the door. Liz tripped and fell sprawling into the entryway. She saw rather than heard Max drop her bag. First in her mind, Liz hoped that there was nothing breakable in the bag. Then, her mind cleared and Liz looked out the open door where Max was standing. There was a green haze just outside the door. The haze did not allow any sound to enter through the door, but Liz saw what she thought were two flashes from a building across the street. She was sprawled on the floor of the entranceway. Finally, Max relaxed and the green haze disappeared. Liz thought she heard three plinks as something hit the sidewalk in front of the door. Max bent over to retrieve them, then, he turned to help Liz up. “These are definitely human in origin,” he said.

Liz bent to look in his hand. She didn’t know much about rifle bullets, but she did know that these were not for rabbit or pigeon hunting. This was no accident. Here were three rifle bullets. They were undamaged except for the rifling marks on their sides. Keeping his constant vigilance, Max retrieved her heavy bag and taking her arm, he led her to his room.

Max made Liz stand just inside the entrance as he carefully checked the room. Max made both a visual check and used his powers. He saw nothing amiss nor did he sense anything to worry himself about. They sat on his bed, Liz still trembling. Back with Max and she was already dodging bullets, again. That is why he made her leave. Yes, she left him for Frank, totally a safe human. Still, she was the target for some attack. Liz, now, needed Max. Max, Michael and Kyle were the only men who would understand her troubles. Frank, might have said, “Go to the authorities.” At one time, the authorities were the enemy; now, the authorities would never understand anything Liz told them. Liz didn’t really understand all of this, herself. She would have to resolve some of this with Ava.

Max had been considering calling Kyle. He intended to do this as soon as Liz quit trembling. The phone rang.

“Hey Max, Kyle here. You remember that source, Chavez told us about? The city PD just found him in an alley. He was still wrapped up in the blood blanket that Chavez and Silverton gave him. (Old blanket that police carry in their vehicles to use with accident victims. They eventually get covered in blood stains that won’t wash out.) Chavez just called. He said the old man had a dozen bullet holes in him. He must have been hit with full automatic rifle fire,” Kyle explained.

“Kyle, someone just took a shot at Liz. It was probably a sniper rifle. I heard the air moving and I blocked the shot with my shield. I have three perfect bullets, but no explanation as to their condition that you can use. For the moment, I will just hold on to them,” Max stated.

Kyle had no more to say so he just hung up. Liz was as safe with Max as anywhere. Max had grown, in power, as he became an adult. Just like with Kyle’s wife, Max was a formidable opponent when challenged. If Poor old Pierce had been still alive, he would have found that the shape shifters he was chasing were tame, compared to full grown aliens with genes from Antar.

As Ava held Kyle close she felt the happenings of his day. Kyle knew he was a brave protector, but it would be her power that would repulse a full blown alien attack.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Murder on the Rio Puerco, cc,mat, pg5,ch9, 6/3/12

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508: One group want to kill Liz. The other group want Liz captured. I worked the reasons out at the end of the story

L-J-L 76: Soon you will see a new side to Liz

Keepsmiling7: I think I answered one of your questions in this chapter\


Chapter 10

The room service had made both beds since the morning. Max, again, placed Liz’s bags and purchases on one side of the room. Max also went to the bathroom to change, or rather strip down, to his boxers. Liz thought how many times she had seen Max in his boxers and bare-assed as well. Their marriage had been filled with passion. Liz would never understand how hard it was for Max to force her back to her dreams of an education and to give her up. He consoled himself that he would be killed soon and that would end it. If there was anything after life, Max wanted it to know that he had not cost Liz her life for being with him.

In her mind, Liz was in a quandary. She hated that Max had chosen to terminate their relationship, no matter what his reason. She couldn’t regret her time with Frank. He was no Max, but he did fill Liz’s lonely years with love and companionship. Even though Frank did not see people like she did, he was a kind and to her, a tolerant man. He just didn’t believe everything he heard. He kept his disbeliefs to himself. That didn’t help Liz as she thought of her past. She managed to keep that to her self as well.

It was Liz who made the close friendships with the ranchers on the ‘Puerco. Frank soon discovered that the rancher’s aid and friendship made his job more productive, also.

Now, Frank was gone. Liz would grieve, but Max was back. He seemed to want to give her support and protection. Liz couldn’t help it, she wanted him to give her his love, also. Liz was sure, or rather she hoped she was sure, that Max was distancing himself from her because of respect for what she had gone through. Tonight, she had, again, been subjected to an attack. Max believed it to not be alien, but rather human. Liz, definitely, did not want to die. If she was to die soon, she wanted to experience Max’s love again. Love not from a consideration that he was protecting her, but rather love because he couldn’t stand to not have his hands on her and to take her naked body to himself. She wanted that feeling she had that night before “graduation,” so long ago. Liz still had the diamond. Frank had remarked that it must be man made, because it was perfect, that is, no flaws like would be in a natural stone. Liz had smiled when he said that. No, it was not man made, but alien made.

For a minute, Liz thought of undressing in front of Max. When they were so young and married, he always expressed joy in watching as she removed her clothes and pulled her gown over her head. She always did this facing Max. It was solely for his enjoyment. Now, it wasn’t modesty, which made Liz go into the bathroom. It was fear; what if Max wasn’t ready for a renewal of this experience? Frank like to feel her naked, but he wasn’t into a stripper image of his wife. They changed clothes in the same room, but usually sitting on opposite sides of the bed. When the lights were out, Frank’s hungry hands would readily remove her gown and he would prove he loved to touch her and to make love to her.

Liz remembered that first night with Frank. They were under the trees. They had to hike quite a way to find a shadow not already taken. Frank was well back in the shadows. They were lying on the blanket he carried and he slowly pulled off first her blouse, then her Levies. He fondled her body dressed just in panties and bra. He, then, stood and shucked his shirt and turning to the darkness away from her, Frank removed his pants and shorts. When he lay beside her on the blanket, Liz helped him with the bra fastenings. She then raised her hips so he could remove her panties. Frank’s solitary life did not give him many openings for social entertainment with the opposite sex. When Frank made love to Liz it was with a lot of pent up passion.

When Liz returned from the bathroom, she was wearing a nightgown, but not a robe. It wasn’t the special gown she had bought. That would come later. Liz did manage to stand for several seconds in the doorway silhouetted with the back light of the bathroom before she turned off the lights. She had noticed last night how Max watched her, when he thought she wasn’t looking. That is why, this evening she was so obvious. She hoped this made a favorable impression on Max. He did “again watch her from the semi dark side of the Motel room.

Yes, Max did hope to rebuild relations with Liz. Right now, he was concentrating on her protection. What if he had allowed himself to be distracted at the doorway? There were only micro seconds between his feeling of something moving towards them and a chance to react. He had used the bathroom to imply to Liz that she didn’t owe him anything sexually. She had stayed in that bathroom door for eternity it seemed. Max could see the form of her body not concealed by the gown. He wanted her more than anything. “No, Max, let her come to you when she is ready,” he told himself.

Max turned out the lights. It is never dark in a motel room. For safety, there are lights just outside the windows, there is light leaking under the door from the hallway, and there are all sorts of alarm lights winking throughout the room. Max turned his back to Liz as he snuggled down under the covers. He heard her movements as she, like wise, pulled her covers about herself.

Like the riders of the plains long ago, the soldiers of modern war or any people who needed their rest, but had to be ready at a moment’s notice, Max slept lightly. He felt her move and he felt the movement of his mattress as she climbed up behind him. “Max,” a soft voice said. “Hold me. I won’ ask anything else. I am just scared.”

Max turned over and taking her in his arms, he pulled her close to himself. He would do this because she asked. Max did hope that she wouldn’t take offence at the swell that could not be concealed in his shorts. Pulled back against him she had to feel this. Having Liz this close was a challenge for Max to stay alert and to be what he thought she wanted, as respectful.

Having Liz that close made Max sleep deeper than he intended. When he awoke, he was holding Liz tightly with her back to him and her gown was up around her breasts. Her naked body had been pulled close to his. When he tried to move, he worried what Liz would say if she woke in this situation. He heard her soft voice. “Max, I am awake. I didn’t want you to stop, so I was careful not to move,” she whispered.

“Liz, are you sure?” he asked. “I know you are still grieving over Frank.”

“Max, I will grieve for Frank in my own way and in my own time. It isn’t like I am moving to a new place, but rather like I am returning to a place I feel secure. Max, if you will let me turn over, we can make love like we did long ago,” she stated.

“Liz, I came here to help Kyle and to protect you. I am not carrying any condoms,” Max declared.

“That is all right, Max. With you, I do not want nor need any condoms. Just make love to me like we used to. This time without any fear of what will be the consequences in the future,” she whispered.

Max and Liz slept late. No, they didn’t sleep. They dozed as they made love several times. They were feeding a hunger they both had for each other. It was Kyle who phoned and at the sound of Max’s voice, Kyle said, “Max, wake up. It isn’t like you to be sleeping this late.”

“Kyle, I wasn’t asleep,” Max murmured.

“Well then, are you up and dressed?” Kyle inquired.

“No, Kyle we aren’t up and dressed, yet,” Max informed him.

“Oh,” comprehension was dawning on Kyle. “Things back together again?” he asked.

“Kyle, what the hell do you want?” Max asked angrily.

Max could hear Kyle chuckling in the background. “If Liz will go, I think you ought to go back to visit the Martinez family. They have called several times. I will tell that city officer, Jake Chavez, that you will be out of town. I think he will want to talk to Liz when he gets a chance to think about it. This will give us a little time to put off another interview with Chavez,” Kyle summarized.

“All right, Kyle, I will ask Liz and if she is up to it, we will drive back behind the ‘Puerco. Do you suppose that Ortiz can be talked out of shooting us, as we approach?” Max asked.

Kyle laughed out loud this time. “Hey, Max, I will call him on his cell phone and tell him you are coming. They just like to pretend they are in the days of Poncho Villa. Most of those ranchers are pretty modern,” Kyle informed Max.

Max hung up and turned to Liz. She was lying with just part of a sheet over her body. “Liz, Kyle wants us to visit the Martinez family. It seems that they are very worried about you,” he told her.

Liz frowned, “I know I should. I just dread going back there.”

“Kyle has another motive. He wants to delay the city police. They want to interview you. Kyle thinks we should wait for a while before you talk to them,” Max said.

“What is going to change, Max? I have to talk to them sometime. The state police can’t be responsible for hiding a witness from the city,” She stated.

“Kyle wants you to delay the interview. He didn’t say why, but I have found he usually knows what he is doing with regard to police matters,” Max explained.

Oh, all right. Let me shower and then, we can get brunch and maybe, something to eat in the car. It will be good to see the Martinez family again. I haven’t thanked Sammy for saving me that night,” Liz stated as she walked to the bathroom. Max noticed that she didn’t pick up a robe or underwear. He guessed she would return from the shower the same way.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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