Begonia 9508
Chapter 11
Liz:
Liz was traveling north. She came to the canyon, which she was sure was the one that Horsestealer had indicated. She wanted to observe without being seen. She drove her pickup back into the trees. She didn’t take any of the precautions that had been taken by the escapees or by Ed.
Liz wasn’t sneaking around. She just wanted to observe without being seen. Instead of walking up the canyon, Liz started the difficult climb to the top of the cliffs surrounding it. She had Hector and now, had her Glock strapped on her waist. The one shoot out she had been in, and where Liz was still not sure that she came out the winner, she had confronted so many men and monsters that she had to reload twice. This convinced Liz to carry four loaded magazines and a full box of ammunition in her pack. That gave her over a hundred shots. Hector was clearly uneasy. They had been on many hikes at Farmington and he, usually, enjoyed the outings. Now, he growled softly and kept very close to Liz. It was night before they got very far up the hills. Liz had a dry camp. Her pack had water for two days for both her and for Hector. He was wearing a pack in which he carried two days of dog food. Liz wanted to just see the place told to her by Horsestealer, she was not intending to disappear into the wilderness.
It was cool as soon as the sun went down. She and hector sat studying the stars and planning what they would do tomorrow. When Liz had been little, her grandmother had promised her that a man would come down from the stars and take her away. Liz knew that Max was that man. Now, Liz was planning, while looking at the stars. Her grandmother’s stars had always had the answers she wanted. Liz was looking for Isabel, but she was trying to justify herself also. She hadn’t talked to Max, but that one time, Liz had killed a man when they were fighting the drug smugglers and that was bothering her both intellectually and spiritually. Liz had been raised Catholic. She had married Max in a mixed Catholic wedding. Killing was wrong, but being killed was worse. Hector would just faithfully follow her wherever she went. For him, like Max, his religion was in the little woman.
Max at Farmington:
It was midnight when Max got the call. Tess brought the phone to his room. It was from Kayenta. “Mr. Evans, this is Thomas Charlie, sorry to call you this late, but I just got in and picking up my mail from the station. I found a note from your wife. Can I read it to you?”
Max was completely awake, “Yes, go ahead.”
“Max, don’t let him fool you. Joe Horsestealer speaks perfect English. He showed me a place where he says a woman ‘looking like Dolly Parton’ was being held captive. I am going to try to see if there is any truth in this. Get Joe to show you where the place is and get some kind of transportation and meet me. I will have the truck alarm on so you can home in on it. Love you and I know you are mad. Please don’t be.
Your loving wife, Liz.”
Thomas said, “Mr. Evans is your wife prone to doing things like this?”
Max swallowed, “Not in the last few years, but she pretty much did as she pleased before we were married. Can you get Joe to show you where he sent her and go with me back into the canyons.”
“Otis Begay already told me to not let you out of my sight. He wants that damn book finished. Trouble is, we still don’t have a truck and it will take a whole day to get one out of the agency,” Thomas explained.
“I will have a truck and will meet you as soon as I can get there tomorrow. Max hung up. Tess was waiting at the door. “Do you want Kyle to come with you?” she asked.
“No, but I want you to get the dealer we got the truck from. I need a fourwheel drive anything. Offer him one and a half times his sticker price and tell him not to dare change the sticker.” Max already had his pack ready. He had removed the medical supplies and put camping things in it along with a complete set of dehydrated food. Damn that Liz, but he knew that she was worried about Isabel. They all wanted to get to Isabel to see what happened. Would the alliances the aliens formed with the humans be falling apart?
Tess met him at the door. She had her ledger and the corporation checkbook. “He promised that the vehicle would be gassed and ready. You just take off and I will fill in the paper work.”
When they got to the dealer, they saw a neat little Landrover. That was not Max’s first choice. It was expensive and with the amount Tess had agreed to add to it, it was ridiculous. Max did not care.
When Thomas Charley arrived at the station, he found the Landrover parked in the drive and a sleeping Max behind the wheel. “Come on Max, let’s have breakfast. There is no way to get Horsestealer to be here any earlier than he normally gets here. We can eat and then, leave as soon as he arrives.”
Max didn’t feel much like talking. Thomas was apologetic, “Max, Shirley should have called me, immediately, instead of leaving that note in my mail. I am just lucky that I decided to pick up the mail last night instead of today.”
“No, it was planned that way. Liz was counting on Shirley not calling you. She probably said something like ‘no hurry, just make sure he gets it sometimes.’” Max well knew his wife.
Joe arrived and Thomas talked to him. He waved Thomas off and approached Max. “I told the little lady. She was pretty sure that this was important. Women don’t really mind like they used to, do they?”
Max looked at him, “Just how far back do you have to go to find the time when they did?”
Joe laughed and Thomas Charley, his shotgun, Max and, unknown to him, a whole passel of aliens sped off to find Liz.
Simon and company
Simon was pissed. True, it had been many years since he had been to that cave. But that asshole didn’t have the right to build a house inside his cave. The four escapees were on a cliff looking down on the cave in the opposite cliff. They could clearly see the structure in the cave. A tall man came out to watch the sun. When he turned, a woman was bent, looking like she was kissing his feet. He gestured to her and she stood.
Wow! Was she a looker! Tall, blonde and curvaceous, to men who hadn’t seen a woman who might be available for a long time, she was disturbing. In Simon’s mind, Vicente was already dead.
He was the only one who was sure to sample the beautiful blonde. Poor Arthur had been abused by the other inmates for so long, he just didn’t care anymore. Sammy had never had anything and he didn’t expect Simon to share now. Jace’s mind just didn’t work that way. Simon was already planning how his army was going to front the man below.
“Now here’s how it’s going down. That dude ain’t got no gun and he don’t seem to be the type to be carrying one. Sammy, you and Arthur will take the far left. Jace, I want you to work your way down as close as you can, and then, shoot him. I am going to take the right and, if possible, I will hit him that way.” Simon smiled His plan looked good. Even better, it looked safe for him.
Ed
Ed saw where Simon had left the canyon and was climbing the slopes of the hills surrounding them. He would have to be careful now. He was sure he had made up some time on the four. Simon was dragging three neophytes and they were lagging. Ed knew that as soon as Simon got where he thought he was safe, he would probably kill the others. Right now, Simon felt that other three would offer him safety.
Simon was climbing at an angle up the side of the hill, so Ed just started climbing at a steaper angle. This would bring him above the escapees. When he reached the crest to the hill, he slowly moved through the trees. Finally, he could see the valley floor. About half way down, he could see the four escapees moving toward something.
Ed took out his field glasses. These were Lecia glasses. Ed knew that there were many good field glasses on the market, but to lie in the sand for days on end, looking through glasses, they needed to be the best.
Ed was hidden in some brush and he decided to just study the men. He saw one hesitantly go to the right. He was letting the rest get ahead of him. There was one walking right down the center. Then he saw two on the far left. They were trying to use cover, but they were so amateurish, that it was amusing.
Ed couldn’t see what they were trying to attack. As he sat there, he saw a man come out of the cave. He looked long and hard at the man. He didn’t seem to mean anything to Ed. Ed began to move around. He wanted to find a good place to shoot from. He, finally, found a comfortable spot. He opened his pack and took out a loaded magazine.
Liz:
Liz was moving up one side of the valley. She was near the crest of the hill on one side. The other side was a sandstone formation that stood up like a monument to time. She was moving very slowly. If there was a cave, it would be in the sandstone face. Now, Liz didn’t expect to find a deep cave like the limestone caves back east or the magnificent ones in southern New Mexico. In this formation, she would find a hollow that would go back, probably no more than 50 feet.
Liz took out her field glasses, not near the quality of Ed’s. There was a dark feature up ahead about 300 yards in the opposite face. She glassed the land before the face. Then, she saw the four men advancing to the cave entrance. Liz surmised that they were the escapees, but what they were doing, she had no idea. Everyone seemed to just freeze. From her perspective, she couldn’t really tell how the men below were spread out.
It took over an hour before there was stirring from in the cave. Liz fine focused her glasses and lay there watching. A tall man came from out of the cave. Liz shuddered. It was the man she had seen when the Others had made her Isabel, The man in the picture she saw in the office at Teec Nos Pos. Liz couldn’t ever get over the image she saw in her glasses. The man turned and surveyed the valley. Even at the distance she was, Liz could feel his power, but she knew that was probably in her imagination.
As he stood, another figure came out behind him and bowed to the ground. Liz watched as the second figure just stayed in that position.
Liz swung her glasses back to where she saw the escapees hunkered down in the brush. Nothing happened for a time. Liz still kept wondering about the figure behind the evil man. The figure had not moved. Finally, the man turned and he made a gesture. The figure crawled to the man’s feet and then, she rose to stand with her head lowered. In time, she raised her face and Liz took a sharp breath. The figure was Isabel. Not the proud Isabel that Liz knew, but a subservient one who seemed to be almost the property of the man before her. Liz was searching her memory for his name. The sight of him had so un-nerved her that she had completely forgotten what was written on the document she had seen at the police station back at Teec Nos Pos.
Ed:
Ed was glassing the men below and also, the mouth of the cave. He hadn’t decided what he was going to do. There was something he clearly didn’t understand. He saw the men nervously shifting below.
Ed looked back to the cave and he saw the man just standing there. He saw the figure come out behind the man. She was bent toward the ground. Yes, Ed was sure, it was a woman.
Ed was reminded somewhat of being back in Afghanistan. The man turned and the woman rose still not looking at him. It wasn’t until several minutes that she finally looked up. Ed almost lost his cool. It was Isabel, the Captain’s missing wife. For several minutes, Ed didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of Isabel.
The senses, that he had built up in the far deserts, kicked in. He detected movement just outside the line of his glasses view. He quickly moved and saw Jace stand up, raise his rifle and fire at the man below. Worried about Isabel, Ed moved his glasses back to the couple standing there. He saw the man jerk; then, he saw him laugh. The man moved his hand over where he had been hit and looked right at Jace. Jace wasn’t that far away and couldn’t have missed. He quickly chambered another round and fired again. He did this over and over. The man was clearly hit, but with a wave of his hand, he seemed unhurt. Ed was watching him and he saw his eyes go dark. The man moved his hand toward Jace.
Where had Ed seen that gesture before? It was just like that night at the end of the smuggler’s war, when Ed was on the roof top and Max and Michael were hurling power blasts at the enemies storming the house. The man was a bloody alien.
Ed looked at Jace. Jace became a pillar of flame. The flame didn’t flare up. It seemed to slowly engulf him. Jace was screaming. Sammy and Arthur were now firing at the man. The man seemed to turn to Isabel and Ed saw her eyes turn dark. She held out her hand just like Ed had seen her do on her rooftop that night, sometime ago. Sammy and Arthur just came apart. Ed intended to get Isabel, away from this man, but what was he going to do? Bullets just were not that effective on aliens. For several minutes, Ed forgot Simon so absorbed he was in the fate of Isabel. He turned to look for Simon and he saw him just clearing the crest of the hill. Now, Ed would have worry about his back as well as what was before him.
When Ed was on the housetop at Farmington just as he was preparing his last magazine of alien-made bullets, the war had stopped. He had taken one bullet out for his collection, but the rest of the magazine was still in his kit. It was with the shooting things he had put in his present pack. There was only one way to see if they worked. He chambered a round and stood up and started walking. The man and Isabel idly watched him almost as if they didn’t consider him dangerous.
Ed walked as long as his nerves would allow him. Then, he shouldered his rifle. As he walked, he fired. He could see the bullets hitting the alien. The alien tried to move his hands to heal himself, but the alien bullets just kept coming. The man crumpled to the ground just as Ed was out of ammunition. He still had a regular magazine in his pants pocket, but no more of those fancy bullets. He looked at Isabel and with her eyes just black orbs. She was raising her hands toward him.
Ed had seen what she did to the two escapees. His only choice would be to shoot her. Ed remembered the night when he had slammed her down in the dirt as he picked off the assailants in the dark when they were trying to get to Albuquerque. He remembered when she was with Salas in the yard at Farmington. He remembered wishing she had a sister and then she introduced him to Bernadette. Ed wasn’t sure he could shoot her. She was the captain’s wife. He just lowered his rifle. Isabel remained standing with her right hand raised. Ed had no idea how they focused energy. He hoped she would come to her senses before someone, namely he, got hurt.
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Happy Holidays Christmas Gift # 2
Believe in the "Curse of the Cat." coming after the first of the year.
Betrayal, (CC, MATURE) [COMPLETE]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Hunter, Island Breeze, Forum Moderators
Re: Betrayal, liz of desert 3 mature, CC pg 3 ch10 Nov 30
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-
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-
Re: Betrayal, liz of desert 3 mature, CC pg 3 ch11 Dec 8
Begonia9508 that is the reason for the fourth story which is about 3/4 finished at this time.
Chapter 12
Liz:
As the shooting started, Liz watched the couple in front of the cave. She saw Vicente turn Jace into a pillar of flame. Then she heard the other shots and saw Isabel use her powers to destroy them. She couldn’t see Simon as he cleared the hill crest, but she did hear the shots of Ed as he methodically emptied the magazine into Vicente. Liz watched as Vicente crumpled. She saw Isabel turn to the new threat. Then, Liz saw that it was the state policeman she knew from Farmington.
Liz saw Ed walking toward Isabel. She saw him reload his rifle with a fresh magazine. He was pointing it at Isabel and she was raising her hand against him. Liz quickly stood up, dropped her pack and started running. As soon as she felt she was close enough, Liz started yelling. “No, Isabel. No!” Hector was running right beside her. Isabel turned to face this new threat. She brought her hand toward Liz. Her eyes were now black orbs. She was powering for a blast at Liz.
Ed now was in a quandary. Isabel was not herself and she was threatening someone else. He started to raise his rifle. “No, Andrews, don’t do it.” Liz stopped just a few feet from Isabel. “She won’t harm me, will you Isabel?”
Isabel, with her hand still raised, cried, “You have harmed my prince. I must go to him, but first, I must avenge him.”
Liz faced Isabel, “No, Isabel, you must stay with us. Vicente was evil. You do not need to avenge him. Isabel, you can’t leave those who still love you.”
Ed could see her hand waver. Maybe, the little archeologist would prevail. Ed had heard Max claim that Liz could order the aliens to stand down and they had called her their queen. Finally, Isabel began to lower her hand. Then, as realization began to sit in, she began to tremble. She raised her hands and they were glowing. Ed again raised his rifle. Isabel was going to place her hands on both sides of her face and self destruct. Liz was quicker. She reached up and placed her hands on the taller Isabel’s face first. The two women stood like this for sometime. Isabel’s hands on top of Liz’s, which Isabel could feel were warming the flesh of her face. “Isabel, if you destroy yourself, all you will accomplish is to destroy me,” Liz stated.
Ed saw flicker of recognition in Isabel. Her eyes began to return to their normal brown. Her hands began to tremble and she began to cry. She was crying on Liz’s shoulder.
Liz led Isabel over to a boulder. They sat and as they held on to each other. Ed and Hector stood guard. There was still one escapee at large and he was the most dangerous.
Ed had to retrieve his pack and on the way out, Liz would pick up her pack where she had dropped it when she started to run. Ed hoped they would not run into any more aliens. To his knowledge, there was only one more set of alien made bullets in the world and they were in a frame above his desk in his apartment.
Ed would dearly love to see inside the house in the cave. He would have to leave that to the Navajo Police, or maybe, some of the wise men of the tribe. Ed knew that now his first priority was to get Liz and Isabel back to civilization. Finally, they stated walking. Between himself and Liz they had enough food and water to share with Isabel for the one or two days they would be walking to Liz’s truck. Now Ed was the prey and he knew that they were being followed by Simon. It might end up trying to see who was the better Indian. Ed thought that was a good phrase since they were traveling in Navajo country. “How far behind you is your husband, Doctor Evans?” he asked.
Liz had to make a face. I don’t know. I sorta had to sneak off. He would have never let me come alone if he had known it. I gave a note to Shirley and told her that it was important, but there was no hurry. Just make sure Thomas Charley got in the next day or so.”
Ed now grimaced, “You just gave her permission to use Navajo time.”
Liz, now, felt she had made a terrible mistake. Navajo time was the standard joke on the reservation, for a people who did not govern themselves, by the clock. Tomorrow could mean anytime during that day or the next. Navajos could tell time as well as the next person, but they didn’t have dead lines or time clocks to live by.
Liz, also, knew that if she had been any later, the ending of the Isabel affair might have had a very unhappy ending for someone. Ed would have hated to return and tell the Captain that it was necessary to shoot his wife. Liz would have hated to return and tell Alex that Isabel was a murderess and that she had killed the boyfriend of Bernadette Gutierrez. Tomorrow, they should get back to the truck and then, they might even get back to Mexican Water before Shirley even gave the note to Officer Charlie.
They were walking at the top of the slope near the sandstone cliff that rose out of the rubble. Liz noticed that Officer Andrews kept looking back the way they came. She didn’t ask him why because she was sure he knew this business. They came to a jumble of boulders. Ed shed his pack and stated they would rest a while. He advised the women to eat and do anything else they intended and he would be back directly. He had his rifle and several loaded magazines.
Liz broke out some trail mix, some canned meat and a package of crackers. She had some energy bars. If they wanted much more, they would have to be somewhere they could make a fire so she could open and fix some concentrated pack meals. The trail mix had dried fruits, nuts and cereals.
Isabel turned to Liz, “You know I might have hurt you when you stepped in front of Ed back there, and when I was set destroy myself, you could have been carried along with me.”
Liz nodded, “Yes, I was aware of that.”
“Then, why did you do that?” Isabel inquired.
“That is what friends do,” Liz replied. You have become my friend and you are the sister of my husband. We are family and that is, also, what family does. They help and protect each other no matter what is the cost.”
Isabel had a lot to consider. She had been so concerned about her own plight that she hadn’t seen the people who would support her. She had never been alone. She wasn’t alone now, or was she?
Ed came back and built a small fire. Liz looked at him in surprise. He had put material on the fire that would purposely smoke. He also went about collecting long branches and rocks. Liz waited to see what he was going to cook on the fire. Ed saw the worry in her eyes, but he just went on with his labors.
When it was so near dark that they could almost not see the trail, he motioned for silence. Swinging up his pack, they all left, Ed leading and Liz bringing up the rear. They proceeded about a quarter of a mile up the trail. Then, Ed abruptly turned off the trail back through the brush in the valley. He motioned for them to sit down and be quiet. Ed took out his night vision glasses and vanished in the night. He was gone about 30 minutes. He returned and still motioning for them to keep quiet, he laid out his bedroll for Isabel and motioned for Liz to do the same.
Liz slept soundly until about two O’clock. She was awakened by a scream and noise from far off. She sat up. She turned to see that Isabel had also heard the noise. She felt a hand on her shoulder. “That is Simon finding out that I am the better Indian.”
Liz looked at Ed in question. He continued, “It started in wars years ago. Maybe, Vietnam or even before. The old tales of Native American woodcraft and who could sneak through the woods better, thus be the better Indian. I left a trap for Simon, the fire was set to give off smoke and I put wood on it to give off a strong smell. Simon tried to sneak up on our camp, but I also put up barriers so that coming along the trail, he would trip or fall. I think this won’t work again, but it will make Simon be more careful about approaching us the next time.” With that statement, Ed turned over, wrapped up in his blanket and petting Hector on the head once, went to sleep.
The next morning, with Hector ranging out a hundred yards or more and not finding any thing to stir his attention, Ed decided, that for the moment, Simon was far enough away that they didn’t have to worry. They fixed a cold breakfast of cereal and trail mix. They broke camp and. returning to the trail, against the cliffs, they proceeded toward Liz’s truck.
Isabel was walking with Ed who, while trying to listen to her was constantly scanning the trail ahead and behind them. “You took a chance yesterday. Why didn’t you shoot me when I was threatening you?”
Ed looked at her carefully. Isabel was close to a break down. He surmised that levity was the best way to answer, “What, woman are you suggesting that I shoot, the captain’s wife? He would have had me on school crossings in the smallest town in New Mexico.” Isabel looked at him and tried to smile. He continued, “Mrs. Whitman you were the strongest woman I have ever met. That night that we were in route to Albuquerque and those men were shooting at us, I have never gotten over how cool you were. Most women, in my experience would have broken down there.”
Isabel sighed, “Maybe that was another Mrs. Whitman.”
“No ma’am, it was the same woman who is standing beside me right now. We are going to get through this, just trust me. Besides we have the great Doctor Parker with us. I have heard some interesting stories about your sister-in-law.” Ed was also thinking that they were traveling a lot slower than Liz had when she was approaching the cave yesterday. They should reach the truck some time this afternoon.
Isabel was clearly tiring. Her normal life had always been a lot more sedate than that of Doctor Parker-Evans. She was suffering from the shock of being with Degrasse/Kivar those many days. His punishments had been dealt to both her mind and to her body. Every time he made her heal herself, she had taken a tremendous toll on her energy doing that.
“Isabel felt that every step she took brought her closer to Alex and what she must tell him. Humans had no prohibition against leaving their mates. Isabel had proved defective and would he understand or decide he could find a more suitable mate elsewhere. She didn’t know if her defect remained. If it did remain, Alex leaving her would result in her having a very lonely life from now on. If she was truly defective, would the other engineered ones still accept her?
Ed found a place where several pieces from the cliff had split and fallen. He led the women to a clear spot behind those boulders. “I need to see if I can pick up any sign of Simon. I will probably be gone a couple of hours.”
Liz had to admit that she was running on adrenaline at the moment and she also would enjoy a rest. Liz hadn’t put her Glock holster on her belt that morning. People who are not used to carrying a weapon all the time find it does tend to get heavy, even the lightweight Glock.
Liz had never, habitually, carried the Glock even when she had all the permits. She usually had carried it loaded and ready in her backpack and that is where it was today. Ed tossed them his blanket and they arranged it to sit on as they waited for him. Hector went with him without question. Liz smiled. It was nice to see Hector being so useful in scouting the country.
Liz was leaning up against the cliff. Isabel had curled up, her head resting on her outstretched arm. “Liz, what am I going to tell Alex?” Isabel queried. “You do not know what it was like!”
“That is where you are wrong, Isabel. I do not know what your whole ordeal was like, but I do know what it was like being with Degrasse. The Others had one of those hurry up interviews where they have to use other methods to bring information across to us. They made me into you. I was dressed like you. I looked like you and I felt like you felt when you met Degrasse. I know the power that man had over women. I guess it was the magic of Kivar, but I wanted to do anything he said. I fainted and Doctor Elizabeth Parker never faints. It took many times with Max to erase what I felt when Degrasse was around.” Liz was explaining to Isabel, but also talking to herself.
Isabel looked at Liz, “At first, the feeling was so wonderful. The abandonment of just letting go and being a slave to love was such a powerful aphrodisiac. I have never felt that way with Alex.”
“Maybe, you and Alex should talk. Maybe you should try some fantasy role playing or something,” Liz suggested.
“Maybe, I should really consider if Alex even wants me back or not. We all felt that our conditioning was fool proof. Since, with me, it has been proven that it is not, maybe, he would want a mate who would not depend on genetics to keep faithful,” Isabel stated.
“Alex has been prepared by the Others to forgive you. Before he does that, you are going to have to forgive yourself. The Others have been laying ground work for Alex to take you back just as before, but maybe, you should consider trying to make things better than before. Maybe. the Engineered ones should rethink their conditioning. They should not use the conditioning as a moral crutch.” Liz was trying to give Isabel hope.
“Humans must decide every day that they will uphold their commitments. All of you, for so long, looked at your fidelity as something that was automatic. We do not have that help or that curse. We maintain our fidelity to our loved ones by our best efforts.” Liz had been thinking about this ever since she had undertaken the Isabel impersonation instigated by the Others.
As the two women were talking they were startled. From behind the boulder stepped, not the state policeman Ed Andrews, but rather, the slovenly appearing Simon Roughhousen. “Well, well, that man may be a better Indian than me, but I am going to taste his women while he is gone!”
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Christmas Gift # 2
Believe in the "Curse of the Cat." A canon story coming after the first of the year.
Liz of the Desert
Smugglers of Antar
Chapter 12
Liz:
As the shooting started, Liz watched the couple in front of the cave. She saw Vicente turn Jace into a pillar of flame. Then she heard the other shots and saw Isabel use her powers to destroy them. She couldn’t see Simon as he cleared the hill crest, but she did hear the shots of Ed as he methodically emptied the magazine into Vicente. Liz watched as Vicente crumpled. She saw Isabel turn to the new threat. Then, Liz saw that it was the state policeman she knew from Farmington.
Liz saw Ed walking toward Isabel. She saw him reload his rifle with a fresh magazine. He was pointing it at Isabel and she was raising her hand against him. Liz quickly stood up, dropped her pack and started running. As soon as she felt she was close enough, Liz started yelling. “No, Isabel. No!” Hector was running right beside her. Isabel turned to face this new threat. She brought her hand toward Liz. Her eyes were now black orbs. She was powering for a blast at Liz.
Ed now was in a quandary. Isabel was not herself and she was threatening someone else. He started to raise his rifle. “No, Andrews, don’t do it.” Liz stopped just a few feet from Isabel. “She won’t harm me, will you Isabel?”
Isabel, with her hand still raised, cried, “You have harmed my prince. I must go to him, but first, I must avenge him.”
Liz faced Isabel, “No, Isabel, you must stay with us. Vicente was evil. You do not need to avenge him. Isabel, you can’t leave those who still love you.”
Ed could see her hand waver. Maybe, the little archeologist would prevail. Ed had heard Max claim that Liz could order the aliens to stand down and they had called her their queen. Finally, Isabel began to lower her hand. Then, as realization began to sit in, she began to tremble. She raised her hands and they were glowing. Ed again raised his rifle. Isabel was going to place her hands on both sides of her face and self destruct. Liz was quicker. She reached up and placed her hands on the taller Isabel’s face first. The two women stood like this for sometime. Isabel’s hands on top of Liz’s, which Isabel could feel were warming the flesh of her face. “Isabel, if you destroy yourself, all you will accomplish is to destroy me,” Liz stated.
Ed saw flicker of recognition in Isabel. Her eyes began to return to their normal brown. Her hands began to tremble and she began to cry. She was crying on Liz’s shoulder.
Liz led Isabel over to a boulder. They sat and as they held on to each other. Ed and Hector stood guard. There was still one escapee at large and he was the most dangerous.
Ed had to retrieve his pack and on the way out, Liz would pick up her pack where she had dropped it when she started to run. Ed hoped they would not run into any more aliens. To his knowledge, there was only one more set of alien made bullets in the world and they were in a frame above his desk in his apartment.
Ed would dearly love to see inside the house in the cave. He would have to leave that to the Navajo Police, or maybe, some of the wise men of the tribe. Ed knew that now his first priority was to get Liz and Isabel back to civilization. Finally, they stated walking. Between himself and Liz they had enough food and water to share with Isabel for the one or two days they would be walking to Liz’s truck. Now Ed was the prey and he knew that they were being followed by Simon. It might end up trying to see who was the better Indian. Ed thought that was a good phrase since they were traveling in Navajo country. “How far behind you is your husband, Doctor Evans?” he asked.
Liz had to make a face. I don’t know. I sorta had to sneak off. He would have never let me come alone if he had known it. I gave a note to Shirley and told her that it was important, but there was no hurry. Just make sure Thomas Charley got in the next day or so.”
Ed now grimaced, “You just gave her permission to use Navajo time.”
Liz, now, felt she had made a terrible mistake. Navajo time was the standard joke on the reservation, for a people who did not govern themselves, by the clock. Tomorrow could mean anytime during that day or the next. Navajos could tell time as well as the next person, but they didn’t have dead lines or time clocks to live by.
Liz, also, knew that if she had been any later, the ending of the Isabel affair might have had a very unhappy ending for someone. Ed would have hated to return and tell the Captain that it was necessary to shoot his wife. Liz would have hated to return and tell Alex that Isabel was a murderess and that she had killed the boyfriend of Bernadette Gutierrez. Tomorrow, they should get back to the truck and then, they might even get back to Mexican Water before Shirley even gave the note to Officer Charlie.
They were walking at the top of the slope near the sandstone cliff that rose out of the rubble. Liz noticed that Officer Andrews kept looking back the way they came. She didn’t ask him why because she was sure he knew this business. They came to a jumble of boulders. Ed shed his pack and stated they would rest a while. He advised the women to eat and do anything else they intended and he would be back directly. He had his rifle and several loaded magazines.
Liz broke out some trail mix, some canned meat and a package of crackers. She had some energy bars. If they wanted much more, they would have to be somewhere they could make a fire so she could open and fix some concentrated pack meals. The trail mix had dried fruits, nuts and cereals.
Isabel turned to Liz, “You know I might have hurt you when you stepped in front of Ed back there, and when I was set destroy myself, you could have been carried along with me.”
Liz nodded, “Yes, I was aware of that.”
“Then, why did you do that?” Isabel inquired.
“That is what friends do,” Liz replied. You have become my friend and you are the sister of my husband. We are family and that is, also, what family does. They help and protect each other no matter what is the cost.”
Isabel had a lot to consider. She had been so concerned about her own plight that she hadn’t seen the people who would support her. She had never been alone. She wasn’t alone now, or was she?
Ed came back and built a small fire. Liz looked at him in surprise. He had put material on the fire that would purposely smoke. He also went about collecting long branches and rocks. Liz waited to see what he was going to cook on the fire. Ed saw the worry in her eyes, but he just went on with his labors.
When it was so near dark that they could almost not see the trail, he motioned for silence. Swinging up his pack, they all left, Ed leading and Liz bringing up the rear. They proceeded about a quarter of a mile up the trail. Then, Ed abruptly turned off the trail back through the brush in the valley. He motioned for them to sit down and be quiet. Ed took out his night vision glasses and vanished in the night. He was gone about 30 minutes. He returned and still motioning for them to keep quiet, he laid out his bedroll for Isabel and motioned for Liz to do the same.
Liz slept soundly until about two O’clock. She was awakened by a scream and noise from far off. She sat up. She turned to see that Isabel had also heard the noise. She felt a hand on her shoulder. “That is Simon finding out that I am the better Indian.”
Liz looked at Ed in question. He continued, “It started in wars years ago. Maybe, Vietnam or even before. The old tales of Native American woodcraft and who could sneak through the woods better, thus be the better Indian. I left a trap for Simon, the fire was set to give off smoke and I put wood on it to give off a strong smell. Simon tried to sneak up on our camp, but I also put up barriers so that coming along the trail, he would trip or fall. I think this won’t work again, but it will make Simon be more careful about approaching us the next time.” With that statement, Ed turned over, wrapped up in his blanket and petting Hector on the head once, went to sleep.
The next morning, with Hector ranging out a hundred yards or more and not finding any thing to stir his attention, Ed decided, that for the moment, Simon was far enough away that they didn’t have to worry. They fixed a cold breakfast of cereal and trail mix. They broke camp and. returning to the trail, against the cliffs, they proceeded toward Liz’s truck.
Isabel was walking with Ed who, while trying to listen to her was constantly scanning the trail ahead and behind them. “You took a chance yesterday. Why didn’t you shoot me when I was threatening you?”
Ed looked at her carefully. Isabel was close to a break down. He surmised that levity was the best way to answer, “What, woman are you suggesting that I shoot, the captain’s wife? He would have had me on school crossings in the smallest town in New Mexico.” Isabel looked at him and tried to smile. He continued, “Mrs. Whitman you were the strongest woman I have ever met. That night that we were in route to Albuquerque and those men were shooting at us, I have never gotten over how cool you were. Most women, in my experience would have broken down there.”
Isabel sighed, “Maybe that was another Mrs. Whitman.”
“No ma’am, it was the same woman who is standing beside me right now. We are going to get through this, just trust me. Besides we have the great Doctor Parker with us. I have heard some interesting stories about your sister-in-law.” Ed was also thinking that they were traveling a lot slower than Liz had when she was approaching the cave yesterday. They should reach the truck some time this afternoon.
Isabel was clearly tiring. Her normal life had always been a lot more sedate than that of Doctor Parker-Evans. She was suffering from the shock of being with Degrasse/Kivar those many days. His punishments had been dealt to both her mind and to her body. Every time he made her heal herself, she had taken a tremendous toll on her energy doing that.
“Isabel felt that every step she took brought her closer to Alex and what she must tell him. Humans had no prohibition against leaving their mates. Isabel had proved defective and would he understand or decide he could find a more suitable mate elsewhere. She didn’t know if her defect remained. If it did remain, Alex leaving her would result in her having a very lonely life from now on. If she was truly defective, would the other engineered ones still accept her?
Ed found a place where several pieces from the cliff had split and fallen. He led the women to a clear spot behind those boulders. “I need to see if I can pick up any sign of Simon. I will probably be gone a couple of hours.”
Liz had to admit that she was running on adrenaline at the moment and she also would enjoy a rest. Liz hadn’t put her Glock holster on her belt that morning. People who are not used to carrying a weapon all the time find it does tend to get heavy, even the lightweight Glock.
Liz had never, habitually, carried the Glock even when she had all the permits. She usually had carried it loaded and ready in her backpack and that is where it was today. Ed tossed them his blanket and they arranged it to sit on as they waited for him. Hector went with him without question. Liz smiled. It was nice to see Hector being so useful in scouting the country.
Liz was leaning up against the cliff. Isabel had curled up, her head resting on her outstretched arm. “Liz, what am I going to tell Alex?” Isabel queried. “You do not know what it was like!”
“That is where you are wrong, Isabel. I do not know what your whole ordeal was like, but I do know what it was like being with Degrasse. The Others had one of those hurry up interviews where they have to use other methods to bring information across to us. They made me into you. I was dressed like you. I looked like you and I felt like you felt when you met Degrasse. I know the power that man had over women. I guess it was the magic of Kivar, but I wanted to do anything he said. I fainted and Doctor Elizabeth Parker never faints. It took many times with Max to erase what I felt when Degrasse was around.” Liz was explaining to Isabel, but also talking to herself.
Isabel looked at Liz, “At first, the feeling was so wonderful. The abandonment of just letting go and being a slave to love was such a powerful aphrodisiac. I have never felt that way with Alex.”
“Maybe, you and Alex should talk. Maybe you should try some fantasy role playing or something,” Liz suggested.
“Maybe, I should really consider if Alex even wants me back or not. We all felt that our conditioning was fool proof. Since, with me, it has been proven that it is not, maybe, he would want a mate who would not depend on genetics to keep faithful,” Isabel stated.
“Alex has been prepared by the Others to forgive you. Before he does that, you are going to have to forgive yourself. The Others have been laying ground work for Alex to take you back just as before, but maybe, you should consider trying to make things better than before. Maybe. the Engineered ones should rethink their conditioning. They should not use the conditioning as a moral crutch.” Liz was trying to give Isabel hope.
“Humans must decide every day that they will uphold their commitments. All of you, for so long, looked at your fidelity as something that was automatic. We do not have that help or that curse. We maintain our fidelity to our loved ones by our best efforts.” Liz had been thinking about this ever since she had undertaken the Isabel impersonation instigated by the Others.
As the two women were talking they were startled. From behind the boulder stepped, not the state policeman Ed Andrews, but rather, the slovenly appearing Simon Roughhousen. “Well, well, that man may be a better Indian than me, but I am going to taste his women while he is gone!”
------------------------
Christmas Gift # 2
Believe in the "Curse of the Cat." A canon story coming after the first of the year.
Liz of the Desert
Smugglers of Antar
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-
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-
Re: Betrayal, liz of desert 3 mature, CC pg 3 ch12 Dec 15
Begonia 9508 My stories do not get posted in the order of being written. I wrote this way before the story Liz Come back. SER (suicide eagle rath) was still around then. We once chatted about forgiving someone for things that happened through no fault of their own. Isabel was raped of both body and soul. literature is full of holding a person to standards they do not have the freedom to keep up. From that i wanted to take the idea of a person falling into depression where they didn't care what happened to them. That is what i wrote in Liz Come back. In this story her friends were looking for her to return and rejoin them. In "Betrayal" i show the forgiveness of Alex and the rest of the engineered aliens and humans at Farmington. It will be for the final story,Liz of the desert 4 to make her personally strong again. I leave it for you to see the one thing that will draw Isabel out. I wanted to also suggest the contrast of those whose fidelity was pre-engineered within their persons and humans who must decide to remain faithful through their own strength.
Starlescia maxwell I can't thank you enough for your support. I try to write to entertain but to also write about things that i want to share. For others who have never lived in the southwest there is a lot of magic in this country. Notice Eve, (Begonia) mentions many times the wonderful trip she took through the west of America. there are several others who write me who originally were from this area. I only hope i can maintain the standards you will respect in my telling of the people who live here. Thank you
Chapter 13
Simon motioned Isabel to stand up and go back against the cliff. “First, I will have the dinner. Then, little one, I will have desert,” he said as he took out some cord and tightly bound Liz’s hands together. He made her sit by their packs. Then, while pointing his weapon at Isabel, he ordered, “You lay out that blanket, but make it where I can see my next tidy play toy.”
Isabel was like in a daze. Liz looked carefully to see if there was any of the fire of the old Isabel left. Normally, Isabel could turn Simon into dust, but in the depressed condition she seemed to be accepting Simon as her just punishment.
“I didn’t loose my taste for women like so many do in the joint. I took what I could get, but I always remembered about the softness a real woman would have.” Simon indicated for Isabel to sit on the blanket. “Lie back, lady, I have a bunch of ashes stored up from the years in prison and you, today, are going to haul them away.”
Then, he turned to Liz. “When I am through with my ashes, you, little lady, are going to treat me to enough lovin to last for a long time. Then, Simon looked at both of them. “When I am through, you are going to do what you both were made to do. You are both going to die.” This was the part Simon loved, when his victims first learned that he intended to kill them. It gave him ultimate power.
Liz kept looking at Isabel to see if there was any indication that she would come forth and use her powers. All she could see was a blank look in her eyes. As Simon abused her body, Isabel just lay there doing nothing. Simon slowly took a knife out of his pocket and he deftly cut open her blouse. He put the blade under her bra straps and, with a quick movement, the bra popped opened allowing her breast to flow against her chest.
Simon was now gazing at her body with the hunger of a man who has not eaten for many days, for him it was a feast that he had not tasted for some many years. Simon placed his knife under the waistband of her skirt. As he cut the band the skirt fell partially open. Then, Simon sliced the skirt down the front. His eyes were so fixed on Isabel as he placed his knife under the waist band of her panties. It was then, that Liz knew if they were going to get free it would be up to her.
Ever since she had been tied and placed up against the boulder beside her pack, Liz had been planning her move. She had been flexing her fingers trying to get circulation back into her hands where the cruel cords were cutting. It would take two deleberte moves. The pack was unfastened at the top and she could make a dive for it even though she was bound. She would have to reach into the pack and grab the Glock. Her question was would her hands have enough feeling and ability to hold the Glock and pull the trigger.
Liz thanked those who looked after her for leading her to buy the Glock. Almost any other pistol would have either several safeties to move or they would have a very stiff trigger for that first shot. The Glock had all its safeties built in, it was safe to carry with a chambered round and it required only the normal pull of the trigger.
As Simon’s attention was focused on stripping Isabel of her last dignity Liz make her play. She jumped that short distance to her pack her bound hands entered the top opening and she felt the Glock. She withdrew the weapon and pointed it at Simon. He had lost his attention to the charms he was about to reveal in Isabel and reached for his gun.
When they were lovers, Kyle had drilled Liz in shooting. At that time, Kyle was a deputy sheriff and he was often in charge of training fellow officers. Training a civilian was so different. With officers, it was assumed that they had probable cause or they wouldn’t have stopped the subject in the first place. If the subject resisted with deadly force, the only thing Kyle had to teach these officers was to recognize that force and react.
With Liz, and her volatile temper at that time, Kyle concentrated on teaching her to evaluate if she could remove herself from the vicinity or not. When considering fight or flight, Kyle had tried to set up in Liz that flight was best. He concentrated with her on how to avoid the confrontation in the first place. Liz could withdraw most anytime while the officer couldn’t.
When there were no other options for either, what Kyle taught was the same for both civilian and officer. It was called the triple tap, two to the chest and one to the head. Kyle went over and over with both Liz and his officers. The shooting should not take place unless you had clearly no other choice. But if a man had to be stopped for the protection of self or others, this was the way to do it.
Liz forgot everything he taught her. She emptied all 16 hollow point bullets into Simon’s chest.
Ed had made several circles around their location. He had struck no sign,, nor had he seen any indication from Hector that any stranger was present. Ed was pretty sure that their way ahead was clear. They would make Liz’s truck by afternoon. He hated to leave Simon free on the reservation, but that was why Ed was a scout, tracker and sniper. He knew that he had to modify plans as situations came up. Finding his captain’s wife with a strange guy was a situation even if the guy turned out to be an alien.
Ed had been dating Bernadette for several months since he met her at a party thrown at the house in Farmington. Isabel organized the party so the growing number of Enginered ones and also the desendants of engineered aliens could meet and talk freely with no outsiders, well, few outsiders. Salas Zamora had married the editor, who was marked to be killed, because she had too much knowledge of the smugglers. She was human, as was Salas. Ed himself had only defended the house as part of his job with the state police.
Alex had complemented Ed on his action, but Ed never expected to be invited to the inner circle of the Captain’s family. The invitation was bait. Isabel, the always matchmaker, was as bad as Elena back at the house. Isabel knew that Bernadette Gutierrez, the daughter of an engineered one from Mexico, would be there. In Isabel’s mind, Ed would be perfect to introduce to Bernadette. Bernadette’s father was also a narcotics agent for the Mexican government.
Ed was just learning the prohibitions the engineered ones lived under. He still was in love with Bernadette and unless Patrick Gutierrez decided to shoot him for trifling with his daughter, Ed was just about to ask her father for her hand in marriage.
Now, back to the wife of his captain. Ed had admired the woman from the minute he met her. She was cooler under fire than any one Ed had ever known. She had every appearance of being devoted to the Captain. Ed just couldn’t imagine what had happened. Doctor Parker had been talking to her as if there was some mysterious force that Isabel had faced. Well, that alien guy was sure mysterious. Doctor Parker seemed to know something about the alien. Ed had heard Liz tell Isabel that she knew exactly how powerful he was. Well, that wasn’t Ed’s business. Right now, he had to get himself and the two women out of this area. Then maybe, he would come back to hunt down Simon.
That was when Ed heard the fusillade. At most, a firearms encounter usually involved one, two or occasionally, three shots. These shots went off so close together that Ed couldn’t count them. He turned and, with Hector right with him, he ran back to where he had left the women.
Ed slowed when he approached. It wouldn’t help anyone if he walked into a trap. Hector just walked into the hidden area so Ed surmised that there was no danger present now. When he entered the space behind the boulders, he saw Hector trying to comfort his mistress. Liz and Isabel were crouched in a corner of the space holding each other. In front of them, lying on his chest, was Simon. His entire back had been blown out. It was as if he had been hit close range with a shotgun. 16 hollow point bullets had exited through the man taking out most of his back. Between Liz and Simon was her Glock carelessly dropped as the shock of what she had done settled in on Liz’s mind. Both women were crying. They both looked at Ed searching for either acceptance or condemnation for what they had done.
Ed helped the women stand. He took Liz’s backpack. Then, he saw that her hands and ankles were bound. With his hunting knife, he cut her bonds. Liz was rubbing her wrist where the cords had cut. Leaning on Isabel, she managed to hobble out in front of the boulders where they didn’t have to look at the remains of Simon. Ed put his backpack down along with that of Liz. He sat the women on the packs with their backs resting against the boulders.
Isabel just sobbed. Liz looked at Ed through her tears, “I forgot every thing I was taught. I just kept squeezing the trigger. I couldn’t stop until the magazine was empty. I thought that Vicente Degrasse was evil. That man in there was the worst I have ever known. He sat there explaining that he would, eventually, kill us. He described to us what he was doing every step. When I thought his interest and attention was the furthest from me, I grabbed my Glock. I just kept firing.
Ed had heard that she had killed a man who was trying to kidnap her before in Albuquerque. That had been in a running battle where they were chasing Liz and she was desperately trying to get away. Now, she had killed another man, this time with a vengeance. Ed imagined that although she was a very tough lady Liz was near the end of her ropes. She was very distraught. He couldn’t imagine what Isabel had gone through as she clutched her ripped clothes. He could see her bra with its strap sliced, lying on the ground. This, was two men assaulting her in a row. How strong was she? Ed remembered that Isabel possessed an extremely strong power. Why hadn’t she used it to protect her person? It seemed she would have felt she had the right to defend herself.
Ed sat along the women. They weren’t in quite as much hurry as they were before. Degrasse had been killed by Ed and he was wondering whether or not he had killed something else with the alien blessed bullets besides the man. Doctor Parker had just accounted for Simon Roughousen. She had, in that minute, stopped the crime wave that the woman with good intentions so many years ago, set in motion when she managed to get Simon off as a juvenile. Ed knew that both women were going to need considerable help if they were going maintain their sanity.
After the last two days, the several hours walk to Liz’s truck was uneventful. He had given Isabel a wool poncho, which he carried in his pack. The poncho was as long as many women’s skirts, but Isabel, right now wanted more. They were opening the truck, getting snacks and a cool drink from the ice box Liz had in the truck, when Max drove up. He was accompanied, by Thomas Charlie. After salutations had been made all around Thomas and Ed drove back in the Land Rover and Max, Liz and Isabel got into the pickup. Liz was driving although Ed had whispered to Max that she had had a difficult time.
During this reunion, they all had missed the cloudy mist that had swarmed from the Land Rover and rushed up the canyon. The mist had broken into many segments as it covered the bottom of the canyon. The mist was ruthless as it seemed to seep through the brush, the cave and the surrounding area. If any had been close, they would have felt the collective moaning. The mist was finding what it was seeking or, maybe not found, what they were seeking.
Vicinte’s body was empty of soul. That was no surprise. He probably was always a bit defective, but it also bore no evidence of the deceased alien essence. All around, they found evidence that Kivar had been there but no sign of what happened to him. Kivar might be only a wisp of smoke until he found a body to give him shape, but he would be dangerous until his atoms were disassociated and he existed only in bad memories.
The three from Farmington talked very little. Both Liz and Isabel were expecting a stinging comment from Max as to what they had done. Max though kept thinking of right after the plane wreck, the Others telling him he had to forgive. He was mad at Liz because she had scared him. This had been the first time since their marriage, that she had deliberately not discussed something with him. Max remembered that before their marriage, she would always do just what she pleased without regard for her safety. He remembered twice she would have died if he hadn’t found her. He didn’t, yet, know the story, but it seemed that she again had put herself in harm’s way.
With Isabel, he just didn’t know. Isabel was known for flirting sometimes, but her prohibition had always held fast and the flirtation had always just vanished when she was back with her husband. Now, it seemed that she had consorted with the enemy. Max knew little about the history of Antar. The Others had tried to teach him, but their concepts of importance were so different from his own that his comprehension was vague. Isabel’s DNA was taken from Vilandra, the sister of Zan, king of Antar. Zan was, also, the major contributor of the genetic material of Max so they were, essentially, brother and sister. The Others had also conveyed that there was question about the loyalty of Vilandra much later. That was one of the reasons they were so concerned with her absence.
They dropped the Land Rover off at the impound area at Teec Nos Pos. They would return sometime later to bring it home. Ed hitched a ride with them in the truck as he had something really important to talk to Bernadette about. Little was said on the way home.
They all needed a shower and a good night sleep before they began to sort out the stories. Isabel spoke to Alex, but she declared that she needed to be alone tonight. She wasn’t ready to face his questions both voiced and implied. Alex was both hurt and confused. Liz took him aside. “Alex, do you love her?” Liz sounded just like the voice he had heard when he was with the Others that first day that started the end of his life. “Alex, do you really love her no matter what?” It came to Alex that he hadn’t recognized the voice when he first heard it with the Others, but now being repeated again from Liz, it had been exactly the same voice. The Others had mimicked her voice. “Alex, do you love her no matter what she has done or become?”
The fact that it had been Liz’s voice that he had heard the first time gave Alex pause to think. The Others intended for him to have this conversation with Liz or, maybe, they knew that it would be inevitable. Liz, after all, was the smartest of all of them. The Others had proclaimed her queen throughout the Universe. Liz went on, “Alex, Isabel has to forgive herself first. She has to come to the conclusion that though her body was abused, she still has her spirit. She will, eventually, arrive there. Make sure that, at that time, you are willing to accept her just as you used to.”
Liz, was so understanding and supportive to everyone else that no one seemed to pick up on the fact that she, herself, had an issue to resolve.
Just before Ed went to see Bernadette, he stopped off and talked to Max. “I do not know how strong your wife is, but I will bet she is on the brink of a collapse. All the last two days she has been supporting Isabel. She killed a man and, if I am right, this is the second one recently. She had no choice. The man was as bad as they come. You do not even have to look at his record to see this. Isabel is worried if she is defective, this man clearly was. He killed, not even for pleasure. He killed just because someone was in his way or he didn’t get what he wanted. He was fixing to rape Isabel. There was something wrong with her. I saw her fight during the smuggler war and she has great power. She was going to just let him do it. Liz made a jump for her Glock and even though she was bound hand and foot, she managed to pull it and she shot to stop him.
Liz didn’t have the luxury to think about this or to remember her training. She just shot. She saved her life and that of the captain’s wife. You need to make her see this. Maybe, those Others you talk about so much can help you, but be careful. She does need your help,” Ed finished. He admired many of the women of Farmington
Isabel spent the night in a spare room. The household staff had brought her fresh clothes. They brought her meals to her, but to eat, almost, made Isabel want to throw up. Isabel couldn’t pray. She really had no personal religion. She knew nothing of what the Others believed. Since she had been manufactured, she had no past history. She could not look to the faith of her fathers because she had none. When she married, she had accepted the faith of Alex. As a state policeman who worked different schedules, he was not strong in church attendance. Isabel, when she was raising Sabra as a baby, had made sure she took her to the Methodist church where Alex and his parents had always held belief. But, now, it was for her to find forgiveness. She just wasn’t sure. She was an engineered alien, a creature made to serve a purpose and then to be allowed the freedom, of sorts, to have a family and experience the joys of being human. Did this make her less than a real human? Secretly Isabel had thought of herself as superior to those humans who did not have the engineered principals in their lives.
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If you have time please read my christmas story Christmas Gift # 2
Starlescia maxwell I can't thank you enough for your support. I try to write to entertain but to also write about things that i want to share. For others who have never lived in the southwest there is a lot of magic in this country. Notice Eve, (Begonia) mentions many times the wonderful trip she took through the west of America. there are several others who write me who originally were from this area. I only hope i can maintain the standards you will respect in my telling of the people who live here. Thank you
Chapter 13
Simon motioned Isabel to stand up and go back against the cliff. “First, I will have the dinner. Then, little one, I will have desert,” he said as he took out some cord and tightly bound Liz’s hands together. He made her sit by their packs. Then, while pointing his weapon at Isabel, he ordered, “You lay out that blanket, but make it where I can see my next tidy play toy.”
Isabel was like in a daze. Liz looked carefully to see if there was any of the fire of the old Isabel left. Normally, Isabel could turn Simon into dust, but in the depressed condition she seemed to be accepting Simon as her just punishment.
“I didn’t loose my taste for women like so many do in the joint. I took what I could get, but I always remembered about the softness a real woman would have.” Simon indicated for Isabel to sit on the blanket. “Lie back, lady, I have a bunch of ashes stored up from the years in prison and you, today, are going to haul them away.”
Then, he turned to Liz. “When I am through with my ashes, you, little lady, are going to treat me to enough lovin to last for a long time. Then, Simon looked at both of them. “When I am through, you are going to do what you both were made to do. You are both going to die.” This was the part Simon loved, when his victims first learned that he intended to kill them. It gave him ultimate power.
Liz kept looking at Isabel to see if there was any indication that she would come forth and use her powers. All she could see was a blank look in her eyes. As Simon abused her body, Isabel just lay there doing nothing. Simon slowly took a knife out of his pocket and he deftly cut open her blouse. He put the blade under her bra straps and, with a quick movement, the bra popped opened allowing her breast to flow against her chest.
Simon was now gazing at her body with the hunger of a man who has not eaten for many days, for him it was a feast that he had not tasted for some many years. Simon placed his knife under the waistband of her skirt. As he cut the band the skirt fell partially open. Then, Simon sliced the skirt down the front. His eyes were so fixed on Isabel as he placed his knife under the waist band of her panties. It was then, that Liz knew if they were going to get free it would be up to her.
Ever since she had been tied and placed up against the boulder beside her pack, Liz had been planning her move. She had been flexing her fingers trying to get circulation back into her hands where the cruel cords were cutting. It would take two deleberte moves. The pack was unfastened at the top and she could make a dive for it even though she was bound. She would have to reach into the pack and grab the Glock. Her question was would her hands have enough feeling and ability to hold the Glock and pull the trigger.
Liz thanked those who looked after her for leading her to buy the Glock. Almost any other pistol would have either several safeties to move or they would have a very stiff trigger for that first shot. The Glock had all its safeties built in, it was safe to carry with a chambered round and it required only the normal pull of the trigger.
As Simon’s attention was focused on stripping Isabel of her last dignity Liz make her play. She jumped that short distance to her pack her bound hands entered the top opening and she felt the Glock. She withdrew the weapon and pointed it at Simon. He had lost his attention to the charms he was about to reveal in Isabel and reached for his gun.
When they were lovers, Kyle had drilled Liz in shooting. At that time, Kyle was a deputy sheriff and he was often in charge of training fellow officers. Training a civilian was so different. With officers, it was assumed that they had probable cause or they wouldn’t have stopped the subject in the first place. If the subject resisted with deadly force, the only thing Kyle had to teach these officers was to recognize that force and react.
With Liz, and her volatile temper at that time, Kyle concentrated on teaching her to evaluate if she could remove herself from the vicinity or not. When considering fight or flight, Kyle had tried to set up in Liz that flight was best. He concentrated with her on how to avoid the confrontation in the first place. Liz could withdraw most anytime while the officer couldn’t.
When there were no other options for either, what Kyle taught was the same for both civilian and officer. It was called the triple tap, two to the chest and one to the head. Kyle went over and over with both Liz and his officers. The shooting should not take place unless you had clearly no other choice. But if a man had to be stopped for the protection of self or others, this was the way to do it.
Liz forgot everything he taught her. She emptied all 16 hollow point bullets into Simon’s chest.
Ed had made several circles around their location. He had struck no sign,, nor had he seen any indication from Hector that any stranger was present. Ed was pretty sure that their way ahead was clear. They would make Liz’s truck by afternoon. He hated to leave Simon free on the reservation, but that was why Ed was a scout, tracker and sniper. He knew that he had to modify plans as situations came up. Finding his captain’s wife with a strange guy was a situation even if the guy turned out to be an alien.
Ed had been dating Bernadette for several months since he met her at a party thrown at the house in Farmington. Isabel organized the party so the growing number of Enginered ones and also the desendants of engineered aliens could meet and talk freely with no outsiders, well, few outsiders. Salas Zamora had married the editor, who was marked to be killed, because she had too much knowledge of the smugglers. She was human, as was Salas. Ed himself had only defended the house as part of his job with the state police.
Alex had complemented Ed on his action, but Ed never expected to be invited to the inner circle of the Captain’s family. The invitation was bait. Isabel, the always matchmaker, was as bad as Elena back at the house. Isabel knew that Bernadette Gutierrez, the daughter of an engineered one from Mexico, would be there. In Isabel’s mind, Ed would be perfect to introduce to Bernadette. Bernadette’s father was also a narcotics agent for the Mexican government.
Ed was just learning the prohibitions the engineered ones lived under. He still was in love with Bernadette and unless Patrick Gutierrez decided to shoot him for trifling with his daughter, Ed was just about to ask her father for her hand in marriage.
Now, back to the wife of his captain. Ed had admired the woman from the minute he met her. She was cooler under fire than any one Ed had ever known. She had every appearance of being devoted to the Captain. Ed just couldn’t imagine what had happened. Doctor Parker had been talking to her as if there was some mysterious force that Isabel had faced. Well, that alien guy was sure mysterious. Doctor Parker seemed to know something about the alien. Ed had heard Liz tell Isabel that she knew exactly how powerful he was. Well, that wasn’t Ed’s business. Right now, he had to get himself and the two women out of this area. Then maybe, he would come back to hunt down Simon.
That was when Ed heard the fusillade. At most, a firearms encounter usually involved one, two or occasionally, three shots. These shots went off so close together that Ed couldn’t count them. He turned and, with Hector right with him, he ran back to where he had left the women.
Ed slowed when he approached. It wouldn’t help anyone if he walked into a trap. Hector just walked into the hidden area so Ed surmised that there was no danger present now. When he entered the space behind the boulders, he saw Hector trying to comfort his mistress. Liz and Isabel were crouched in a corner of the space holding each other. In front of them, lying on his chest, was Simon. His entire back had been blown out. It was as if he had been hit close range with a shotgun. 16 hollow point bullets had exited through the man taking out most of his back. Between Liz and Simon was her Glock carelessly dropped as the shock of what she had done settled in on Liz’s mind. Both women were crying. They both looked at Ed searching for either acceptance or condemnation for what they had done.
Ed helped the women stand. He took Liz’s backpack. Then, he saw that her hands and ankles were bound. With his hunting knife, he cut her bonds. Liz was rubbing her wrist where the cords had cut. Leaning on Isabel, she managed to hobble out in front of the boulders where they didn’t have to look at the remains of Simon. Ed put his backpack down along with that of Liz. He sat the women on the packs with their backs resting against the boulders.
Isabel just sobbed. Liz looked at Ed through her tears, “I forgot every thing I was taught. I just kept squeezing the trigger. I couldn’t stop until the magazine was empty. I thought that Vicente Degrasse was evil. That man in there was the worst I have ever known. He sat there explaining that he would, eventually, kill us. He described to us what he was doing every step. When I thought his interest and attention was the furthest from me, I grabbed my Glock. I just kept firing.
Ed had heard that she had killed a man who was trying to kidnap her before in Albuquerque. That had been in a running battle where they were chasing Liz and she was desperately trying to get away. Now, she had killed another man, this time with a vengeance. Ed imagined that although she was a very tough lady Liz was near the end of her ropes. She was very distraught. He couldn’t imagine what Isabel had gone through as she clutched her ripped clothes. He could see her bra with its strap sliced, lying on the ground. This, was two men assaulting her in a row. How strong was she? Ed remembered that Isabel possessed an extremely strong power. Why hadn’t she used it to protect her person? It seemed she would have felt she had the right to defend herself.
Ed sat along the women. They weren’t in quite as much hurry as they were before. Degrasse had been killed by Ed and he was wondering whether or not he had killed something else with the alien blessed bullets besides the man. Doctor Parker had just accounted for Simon Roughousen. She had, in that minute, stopped the crime wave that the woman with good intentions so many years ago, set in motion when she managed to get Simon off as a juvenile. Ed knew that both women were going to need considerable help if they were going maintain their sanity.
After the last two days, the several hours walk to Liz’s truck was uneventful. He had given Isabel a wool poncho, which he carried in his pack. The poncho was as long as many women’s skirts, but Isabel, right now wanted more. They were opening the truck, getting snacks and a cool drink from the ice box Liz had in the truck, when Max drove up. He was accompanied, by Thomas Charlie. After salutations had been made all around Thomas and Ed drove back in the Land Rover and Max, Liz and Isabel got into the pickup. Liz was driving although Ed had whispered to Max that she had had a difficult time.
During this reunion, they all had missed the cloudy mist that had swarmed from the Land Rover and rushed up the canyon. The mist had broken into many segments as it covered the bottom of the canyon. The mist was ruthless as it seemed to seep through the brush, the cave and the surrounding area. If any had been close, they would have felt the collective moaning. The mist was finding what it was seeking or, maybe not found, what they were seeking.
Vicinte’s body was empty of soul. That was no surprise. He probably was always a bit defective, but it also bore no evidence of the deceased alien essence. All around, they found evidence that Kivar had been there but no sign of what happened to him. Kivar might be only a wisp of smoke until he found a body to give him shape, but he would be dangerous until his atoms were disassociated and he existed only in bad memories.
The three from Farmington talked very little. Both Liz and Isabel were expecting a stinging comment from Max as to what they had done. Max though kept thinking of right after the plane wreck, the Others telling him he had to forgive. He was mad at Liz because she had scared him. This had been the first time since their marriage, that she had deliberately not discussed something with him. Max remembered that before their marriage, she would always do just what she pleased without regard for her safety. He remembered twice she would have died if he hadn’t found her. He didn’t, yet, know the story, but it seemed that she again had put herself in harm’s way.
With Isabel, he just didn’t know. Isabel was known for flirting sometimes, but her prohibition had always held fast and the flirtation had always just vanished when she was back with her husband. Now, it seemed that she had consorted with the enemy. Max knew little about the history of Antar. The Others had tried to teach him, but their concepts of importance were so different from his own that his comprehension was vague. Isabel’s DNA was taken from Vilandra, the sister of Zan, king of Antar. Zan was, also, the major contributor of the genetic material of Max so they were, essentially, brother and sister. The Others had also conveyed that there was question about the loyalty of Vilandra much later. That was one of the reasons they were so concerned with her absence.
They dropped the Land Rover off at the impound area at Teec Nos Pos. They would return sometime later to bring it home. Ed hitched a ride with them in the truck as he had something really important to talk to Bernadette about. Little was said on the way home.
They all needed a shower and a good night sleep before they began to sort out the stories. Isabel spoke to Alex, but she declared that she needed to be alone tonight. She wasn’t ready to face his questions both voiced and implied. Alex was both hurt and confused. Liz took him aside. “Alex, do you love her?” Liz sounded just like the voice he had heard when he was with the Others that first day that started the end of his life. “Alex, do you really love her no matter what?” It came to Alex that he hadn’t recognized the voice when he first heard it with the Others, but now being repeated again from Liz, it had been exactly the same voice. The Others had mimicked her voice. “Alex, do you love her no matter what she has done or become?”
The fact that it had been Liz’s voice that he had heard the first time gave Alex pause to think. The Others intended for him to have this conversation with Liz or, maybe, they knew that it would be inevitable. Liz, after all, was the smartest of all of them. The Others had proclaimed her queen throughout the Universe. Liz went on, “Alex, Isabel has to forgive herself first. She has to come to the conclusion that though her body was abused, she still has her spirit. She will, eventually, arrive there. Make sure that, at that time, you are willing to accept her just as you used to.”
Liz, was so understanding and supportive to everyone else that no one seemed to pick up on the fact that she, herself, had an issue to resolve.
Just before Ed went to see Bernadette, he stopped off and talked to Max. “I do not know how strong your wife is, but I will bet she is on the brink of a collapse. All the last two days she has been supporting Isabel. She killed a man and, if I am right, this is the second one recently. She had no choice. The man was as bad as they come. You do not even have to look at his record to see this. Isabel is worried if she is defective, this man clearly was. He killed, not even for pleasure. He killed just because someone was in his way or he didn’t get what he wanted. He was fixing to rape Isabel. There was something wrong with her. I saw her fight during the smuggler war and she has great power. She was going to just let him do it. Liz made a jump for her Glock and even though she was bound hand and foot, she managed to pull it and she shot to stop him.
Liz didn’t have the luxury to think about this or to remember her training. She just shot. She saved her life and that of the captain’s wife. You need to make her see this. Maybe, those Others you talk about so much can help you, but be careful. She does need your help,” Ed finished. He admired many of the women of Farmington
Isabel spent the night in a spare room. The household staff had brought her fresh clothes. They brought her meals to her, but to eat, almost, made Isabel want to throw up. Isabel couldn’t pray. She really had no personal religion. She knew nothing of what the Others believed. Since she had been manufactured, she had no past history. She could not look to the faith of her fathers because she had none. When she married, she had accepted the faith of Alex. As a state policeman who worked different schedules, he was not strong in church attendance. Isabel, when she was raising Sabra as a baby, had made sure she took her to the Methodist church where Alex and his parents had always held belief. But, now, it was for her to find forgiveness. She just wasn’t sure. She was an engineered alien, a creature made to serve a purpose and then to be allowed the freedom, of sorts, to have a family and experience the joys of being human. Did this make her less than a real human? Secretly Isabel had thought of herself as superior to those humans who did not have the engineered principals in their lives.
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If you have time please read my christmas story Christmas Gift # 2
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-
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-
Re: Betrayal, liz of desert 3 mature, CC pg 4 ch13 Dec 22
mary mary
Chapter 14
The household staff were very loyal. They always had the support of those who lived at the house. The pay was excellent and the working conditions were not hard. There was very little turnover in staff. True, some would get married or move away, but for the most part, they remained at their post. Elena was one of the longest tenured people here. She had been with the house almost from the start. Elena saw each of the couples get married and she saw how strong were their relationships. She was the one who called the couples, ‘the children of the saints.’ It had been Elena who first saw the relationship between the state policeman, Salas Zamora, and the editor from Albuquerque, Mary Greer.
Elena was watching the lady from Mexico, Bernadette Gutierrez and the tall boy from Oklahoma, Ed Andrews. As household staff always knows, Elena knew that Isabel had gotten herself into trouble. As far as Elena could see, Isabel had allowed herself to become seduced by a man, a stranger, probably from boredom.
Elena knew that a man’s job might, many times, make the family to change their plans, but she also knew that sometimes changing these plans could be a disaster. It was bad all around that those animals had escaped from Prison in Santa Fe and Alex had to cancel his vacation with his wife. They had both needed that time together.
As she was passing the room in which Isabel was staying, Elena heard the sobbing. Elena pushed on the door and it swung open. “Senõra Isabel, hush your crying. It is not the end of the world,” Elena said.
“You don’t know, Elena. I have done something very bad to my husband! I am so unsure if he will ever forgive me,” Isabel sobbed.
“No, niña, he will forgive you because he loves you. Love is never perfect, but if it is strong, it0 is always forgiving.” Elena held Isabel as she had held Isabel’s child many years ago. She held Isabel’s head close to her breast.
“But how could I have done something like that? We are not supposed to ever be unfaithful,” Isabel asked.
“That is how niña. No one is supposed to ever be unfaithful, but it is always possible. No matter your morals, your ethics or your faith, failure to be steadfast is always possible. That is why we have forgiveness. Let me tell you a story,” Elena said.
Once when I was a young girl, I was married to a wonderful hardworking man. He made a good home for me and promised me we would have children to raise up in a home of plenty and not poverty. He worked so hard that the children seemed to be delayed. He was gone so much that I felt he no longer loved me.
A handsome caballero came by. He was known for being great with the ladies. He noticed me. I was home because my husband had to work and couldn’t take me to the fiesta. Now remember, I was young. I left with that caballero and we danced until dawn.
When José, my husband, came to look for me, he got into a fight with the caballero. Both men were hurt. I took José home and took care of him. I expected him to beat me because that is the way men were at that time.
José only held me and asked for my, forgiveness. He said that if he had been paying more attention to me, I wouldn’t have gotten into trouble. He cut down on his work. We had 4 children and when he died, I could only think that I had been loved by a wonderful man.
“Senõra, go to Senõr Capitán Alex and sleep with him tonight. Go now,” Elena ordered.
Elena had talked to Isabel like she was a child. Well, sometimes adults needed to be babied. They can’t be strong all the time. Isabel, with her heart in her throat walked to the room she always shared with Alex. She opened the door and she could hear him gently snoring. She walked to the bed and sat down. Alex felt the change in the bed and was instantly awake. “Alex, please hold me.”
Alex opened the sheets and held them as an invitation. Isabel stood and dropped her nightdress. In the lights from the hall way and other lights that came in the windows Alex could see her tall tanned body. Isabel had a complexion that was the envy of all who saw her.
Few had ever seen her as she now stood before Alex. Most recently, her body had been viewed most cruelly. Degrasse, when under the influence of Kivar, had caused as much pain as possible while manipulating her mind to believe that pain was pleasure. After he had caused her so much pain and suffering, he then made her heal herself, a task that he demanded she do, until it become almost an onerous duty. Failure to correctly perform this duty brought more pain.
Simon Roughousen had wanted to display her charms, but only to destroy them. Now, she wanted Alex to embrace her body not only in making love, but also, to desire and posses it because she was freely offering it to him along with her soul.
The next morning brought worry to several who lived in the house in Farmington. Isabel wasn’t in her room. Only Elena was not concerned. She knew that Isabel had taken her advice and was, maybe, on the way to recovery.
The night had not been so kind to Doctor Elizabeth Parker-Evans. She had snuggled against Max and not moved the whole night. Max had been told that she was having trouble. As usual, Liz had taken on Isabel’s troubles at the cost of her own.
Max understood this because, usually, it was he who tried to do this. Ed Andrews had said that she had killed a man with extreme malice. The man was going to ravage Isabel who had just been freed from a situation of bondage. Liz shot him and she’d had no choice. Simon had bragged that when he was through with the women, he would kill them.
Simon was an evil man, but civilization leaves a thick veneer on it’s subjects. The prohibition, “Thou shall not kill,” was a lot more than a religious commandant. It was only a short time before, when Liz had killed another man who was also intent on killing her. She had shot him in a running battle, but when you come down to it, Liz Parker-Evans had killed two men.
Max could only imagine what would have happened if Liz had been unarmed either time. No, to be compliant would not have put her in less danger. Liz had been threatened and, also, her friend, Max’s sister, had been threatened at the same time. Only the fighting ability of little Liz Parker had saved both of them. Liz began to shake. She had turned away and spooned against Max. Max whispered into her ear, “Liz, it is all right. You are home where it is safe.”
“No, Max, I am scared within myself. I killed two men. I broke commandants both civil and religious. Max, I do not even have any sorrow that I did it. When I shot Simon, every shot was a catharsis to my soul. It seemed that his bragging how he was going to first despoil my living body and then, how he was going to kill me, made me with every shot, scream back, no, you bastard I won’t live or die for your pleasure.”
Max held her tighter, “The alternative would have been so much more unacceptable.”
“Max, if I hadn’t been tied up, I believe I would have reloaded and continued to shoot into his body. Max, these aren’t the actions of a sane, rational person. Only once before had I hated someone so much. That was when the Others made me into Isabel and I was facing Degrasse.” Liz was fairly quivering now.
Liz continued, “When I shot that man in Albuquerque who was breaking into my home there was no time for feeling. I was defending myself and they were attacking me. I shot him just like Kyle taught me. Shooting Simon was just so different. While watching him prepare to abuse Isabel, I had time to think. I had time to prepare. Instead of visualizing how I was going to shoot him, I just thought up to the point of when I had my Glock in my hand.”
Liz took a few minutes break and then, said, “When I was young there was always so much anger in me. I always felt that I had to prove something to somebody. An outburst like this then, I could have understood. Now, I feel loved, I have a family and I do not care that much about academic recognition, but I brutally killed that man. Max, am I changing again and will I like that change? What is more, will you like that changed lady?”
Max was sure that everything that Liz had done she did because she’d had no other choice. He was, also, sure that the change she was now seeing was more maternal than anything else. Liz as a mother, well knew of her responsibility to others. Max wouldn’t want her to be any other way.
When they all were up and it was found that Isabel had gone to Alex late last night, there was relief in the house. Those living there and those working there were feeling that things were going back to normal. Sabra was becoming supportive of her mother. Sabra was a young girl and to most families, Isabel’s indiscretion would not be not be a proper topic for her daughter to be told.
The Others had insisted that Sabra not only be told about it, but that she understand it. It was very hard on Isabel to talk to her daughter about what happened, but finally, she felt that Sabra understood that her mother had been careless and allowed herself to fall under the spell of an evil entity. She, also, knew that now her mother and father were going to work to strengthen their bonds to each other.
Janis felt that she had been so lucky to have her parents returned to her. Michael and Maria were now physically over their ordeal. They had a private talk with Max. “Max, we are trying, but Isabel did crash the plane deliberately. She tried to kill us.”
Yes, Maria, and it was also she who just as deliberately kept the plane back that last second. Kivar had intended for the both of you to die and, probably, he would have succeeded if she hadn’t been there. None of this is simple. We four engineered ones must go back over our principles with the aliens. We need to reestablish our principles and not blindly depend on engineering to preserve them.
It was some days later when Liz was sitting on the terrace where she and Max had first had breakfast after that first night she had spent at the Farmington house. That was almost 20 years ago. At that time, she truly was Liz of the Desert. Liz was learning about the aliens and the involvement that Max and the other engineered ones had with them.
Liz had, at that time, had a very stormy love life. This was one of several times when Max had had her alone and nothing had happened. She had been disappointed at first. Was she loosing her ability with men? The last love affair she had, had been Kyle and she had broken that off because she wasn’t going to have any man telling her what to do.
Every time she got angry with Max, his touch had just washed away her anger and she was beginning to wonder if anger was the way she wanted to define her life. Every time she had prepared herself to give into the promised wooing of Max, she had been disappointed when he just said, “The time is not right, my queen.” At that time, she had no idea what that meant. She had no idea what it meant until the night, years after, when she stood above a battlefield and her image was broadcast through the universe telling all about the evils of Kivar and the generals who gave drugs to their soldiers.
That night, Liz had broken the market for the smugglers. She was not a queen to rule day by day, but rather, she was the symbol that billions of people and thousands of planets looked to as they made their own forms of democracy. Now, she was called to rule her own feelings and she felt inadequate.
Isabel had been looking for a time when she could approach Liz alone. She wanted to convey some things that she didn’t want the rest of the group to know. “Liz, may I talk to you?” Isabel asked quietly.
Liz looked up. She was dressed in her customary slacks and tee shirt, her bare feet thrust into penny loafers. Isabel was subdued, but she still was a picture of fashion. The two women sat at the table facing each other. “Isabel, the Others let me know a little of what it is to be you. The matrix you all believe is in your design is a great weight to bare. All of those principles which are supposed to never fail you, but if they do fail you, you have a so much harder time than humans in reconciling yourselves.
We fail, we are, after all only human. We have no such principles. The only principles we have are those we make as we go along and are corruptible. I hope Alex has convinced you, that humans are also capable of great forgiveness and acceptance. You faced power I could never withstand when you went before Vicente/Kivar. I only faced him once and that was in your mind. I only faced him for a few minutes. It still took weeks to rid myself of the power he impressed on me.”
“Yet, Liz, you faced a Kivar of your own. I had no ability to fight Simon. All I could see was that, what he would do to me, would be deserved. I had let the aliens down, let Alex down and let all of my friends down. This man was going to further destroy me and then, he would kill me. At that time, I could only see that, maybe, that would be justice. It was you who stood up and removed that man. Let me tell you, every shot I heard that day made me feel safer.” Isabel was trying to tell Liz how much she appreciated Liz’s action.
“I know, Isabel. It is just that I am worried that I am becoming something I don’t want to be. Most people go their whole lives without so much more than squashing a bug and here I have taken two lives.” Liz replied.
“Most people don’t take off on a moments notice to go hunt for a friend. By the way, has Max forgiven you for that stunt yet?” Isabel asked.
Liz smiled, “No, but the Others told him that if I hadn’t have taken off, either you or Ed or both, might not have made it. That has made him pause and think for a time.”
Isabel stood, “Well, I just wanted to tell you that, I think, I understand how much this has cost you. I am grateful that you were there to save me from Simon and from myself after Vicente.”
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Please take time to go to http://www.roswellianchronicles.com and leave a thank you note for their years of service. This board is said to close on Jan 1, 2009. boards are the safety net that allows stories not to me lost.
Curse of the Cat. This a story about creatures who used to be men. They are a result of a curse. We have Kivar, Lycanthropy and a trip with Maria through the Amazon forest.
Chapter 14
The household staff were very loyal. They always had the support of those who lived at the house. The pay was excellent and the working conditions were not hard. There was very little turnover in staff. True, some would get married or move away, but for the most part, they remained at their post. Elena was one of the longest tenured people here. She had been with the house almost from the start. Elena saw each of the couples get married and she saw how strong were their relationships. She was the one who called the couples, ‘the children of the saints.’ It had been Elena who first saw the relationship between the state policeman, Salas Zamora, and the editor from Albuquerque, Mary Greer.
Elena was watching the lady from Mexico, Bernadette Gutierrez and the tall boy from Oklahoma, Ed Andrews. As household staff always knows, Elena knew that Isabel had gotten herself into trouble. As far as Elena could see, Isabel had allowed herself to become seduced by a man, a stranger, probably from boredom.
Elena knew that a man’s job might, many times, make the family to change their plans, but she also knew that sometimes changing these plans could be a disaster. It was bad all around that those animals had escaped from Prison in Santa Fe and Alex had to cancel his vacation with his wife. They had both needed that time together.
As she was passing the room in which Isabel was staying, Elena heard the sobbing. Elena pushed on the door and it swung open. “Senõra Isabel, hush your crying. It is not the end of the world,” Elena said.
“You don’t know, Elena. I have done something very bad to my husband! I am so unsure if he will ever forgive me,” Isabel sobbed.
“No, niña, he will forgive you because he loves you. Love is never perfect, but if it is strong, it0 is always forgiving.” Elena held Isabel as she had held Isabel’s child many years ago. She held Isabel’s head close to her breast.
“But how could I have done something like that? We are not supposed to ever be unfaithful,” Isabel asked.
“That is how niña. No one is supposed to ever be unfaithful, but it is always possible. No matter your morals, your ethics or your faith, failure to be steadfast is always possible. That is why we have forgiveness. Let me tell you a story,” Elena said.
Once when I was a young girl, I was married to a wonderful hardworking man. He made a good home for me and promised me we would have children to raise up in a home of plenty and not poverty. He worked so hard that the children seemed to be delayed. He was gone so much that I felt he no longer loved me.
A handsome caballero came by. He was known for being great with the ladies. He noticed me. I was home because my husband had to work and couldn’t take me to the fiesta. Now remember, I was young. I left with that caballero and we danced until dawn.
When José, my husband, came to look for me, he got into a fight with the caballero. Both men were hurt. I took José home and took care of him. I expected him to beat me because that is the way men were at that time.
José only held me and asked for my, forgiveness. He said that if he had been paying more attention to me, I wouldn’t have gotten into trouble. He cut down on his work. We had 4 children and when he died, I could only think that I had been loved by a wonderful man.
“Senõra, go to Senõr Capitán Alex and sleep with him tonight. Go now,” Elena ordered.
Elena had talked to Isabel like she was a child. Well, sometimes adults needed to be babied. They can’t be strong all the time. Isabel, with her heart in her throat walked to the room she always shared with Alex. She opened the door and she could hear him gently snoring. She walked to the bed and sat down. Alex felt the change in the bed and was instantly awake. “Alex, please hold me.”
Alex opened the sheets and held them as an invitation. Isabel stood and dropped her nightdress. In the lights from the hall way and other lights that came in the windows Alex could see her tall tanned body. Isabel had a complexion that was the envy of all who saw her.
Few had ever seen her as she now stood before Alex. Most recently, her body had been viewed most cruelly. Degrasse, when under the influence of Kivar, had caused as much pain as possible while manipulating her mind to believe that pain was pleasure. After he had caused her so much pain and suffering, he then made her heal herself, a task that he demanded she do, until it become almost an onerous duty. Failure to correctly perform this duty brought more pain.
Simon Roughousen had wanted to display her charms, but only to destroy them. Now, she wanted Alex to embrace her body not only in making love, but also, to desire and posses it because she was freely offering it to him along with her soul.
The next morning brought worry to several who lived in the house in Farmington. Isabel wasn’t in her room. Only Elena was not concerned. She knew that Isabel had taken her advice and was, maybe, on the way to recovery.
The night had not been so kind to Doctor Elizabeth Parker-Evans. She had snuggled against Max and not moved the whole night. Max had been told that she was having trouble. As usual, Liz had taken on Isabel’s troubles at the cost of her own.
Max understood this because, usually, it was he who tried to do this. Ed Andrews had said that she had killed a man with extreme malice. The man was going to ravage Isabel who had just been freed from a situation of bondage. Liz shot him and she’d had no choice. Simon had bragged that when he was through with the women, he would kill them.
Simon was an evil man, but civilization leaves a thick veneer on it’s subjects. The prohibition, “Thou shall not kill,” was a lot more than a religious commandant. It was only a short time before, when Liz had killed another man who was also intent on killing her. She had shot him in a running battle, but when you come down to it, Liz Parker-Evans had killed two men.
Max could only imagine what would have happened if Liz had been unarmed either time. No, to be compliant would not have put her in less danger. Liz had been threatened and, also, her friend, Max’s sister, had been threatened at the same time. Only the fighting ability of little Liz Parker had saved both of them. Liz began to shake. She had turned away and spooned against Max. Max whispered into her ear, “Liz, it is all right. You are home where it is safe.”
“No, Max, I am scared within myself. I killed two men. I broke commandants both civil and religious. Max, I do not even have any sorrow that I did it. When I shot Simon, every shot was a catharsis to my soul. It seemed that his bragging how he was going to first despoil my living body and then, how he was going to kill me, made me with every shot, scream back, no, you bastard I won’t live or die for your pleasure.”
Max held her tighter, “The alternative would have been so much more unacceptable.”
“Max, if I hadn’t been tied up, I believe I would have reloaded and continued to shoot into his body. Max, these aren’t the actions of a sane, rational person. Only once before had I hated someone so much. That was when the Others made me into Isabel and I was facing Degrasse.” Liz was fairly quivering now.
Liz continued, “When I shot that man in Albuquerque who was breaking into my home there was no time for feeling. I was defending myself and they were attacking me. I shot him just like Kyle taught me. Shooting Simon was just so different. While watching him prepare to abuse Isabel, I had time to think. I had time to prepare. Instead of visualizing how I was going to shoot him, I just thought up to the point of when I had my Glock in my hand.”
Liz took a few minutes break and then, said, “When I was young there was always so much anger in me. I always felt that I had to prove something to somebody. An outburst like this then, I could have understood. Now, I feel loved, I have a family and I do not care that much about academic recognition, but I brutally killed that man. Max, am I changing again and will I like that change? What is more, will you like that changed lady?”
Max was sure that everything that Liz had done she did because she’d had no other choice. He was, also, sure that the change she was now seeing was more maternal than anything else. Liz as a mother, well knew of her responsibility to others. Max wouldn’t want her to be any other way.
When they all were up and it was found that Isabel had gone to Alex late last night, there was relief in the house. Those living there and those working there were feeling that things were going back to normal. Sabra was becoming supportive of her mother. Sabra was a young girl and to most families, Isabel’s indiscretion would not be not be a proper topic for her daughter to be told.
The Others had insisted that Sabra not only be told about it, but that she understand it. It was very hard on Isabel to talk to her daughter about what happened, but finally, she felt that Sabra understood that her mother had been careless and allowed herself to fall under the spell of an evil entity. She, also, knew that now her mother and father were going to work to strengthen their bonds to each other.
Janis felt that she had been so lucky to have her parents returned to her. Michael and Maria were now physically over their ordeal. They had a private talk with Max. “Max, we are trying, but Isabel did crash the plane deliberately. She tried to kill us.”
Yes, Maria, and it was also she who just as deliberately kept the plane back that last second. Kivar had intended for the both of you to die and, probably, he would have succeeded if she hadn’t been there. None of this is simple. We four engineered ones must go back over our principles with the aliens. We need to reestablish our principles and not blindly depend on engineering to preserve them.
It was some days later when Liz was sitting on the terrace where she and Max had first had breakfast after that first night she had spent at the Farmington house. That was almost 20 years ago. At that time, she truly was Liz of the Desert. Liz was learning about the aliens and the involvement that Max and the other engineered ones had with them.
Liz had, at that time, had a very stormy love life. This was one of several times when Max had had her alone and nothing had happened. She had been disappointed at first. Was she loosing her ability with men? The last love affair she had, had been Kyle and she had broken that off because she wasn’t going to have any man telling her what to do.
Every time she got angry with Max, his touch had just washed away her anger and she was beginning to wonder if anger was the way she wanted to define her life. Every time she had prepared herself to give into the promised wooing of Max, she had been disappointed when he just said, “The time is not right, my queen.” At that time, she had no idea what that meant. She had no idea what it meant until the night, years after, when she stood above a battlefield and her image was broadcast through the universe telling all about the evils of Kivar and the generals who gave drugs to their soldiers.
That night, Liz had broken the market for the smugglers. She was not a queen to rule day by day, but rather, she was the symbol that billions of people and thousands of planets looked to as they made their own forms of democracy. Now, she was called to rule her own feelings and she felt inadequate.
Isabel had been looking for a time when she could approach Liz alone. She wanted to convey some things that she didn’t want the rest of the group to know. “Liz, may I talk to you?” Isabel asked quietly.
Liz looked up. She was dressed in her customary slacks and tee shirt, her bare feet thrust into penny loafers. Isabel was subdued, but she still was a picture of fashion. The two women sat at the table facing each other. “Isabel, the Others let me know a little of what it is to be you. The matrix you all believe is in your design is a great weight to bare. All of those principles which are supposed to never fail you, but if they do fail you, you have a so much harder time than humans in reconciling yourselves.
We fail, we are, after all only human. We have no such principles. The only principles we have are those we make as we go along and are corruptible. I hope Alex has convinced you, that humans are also capable of great forgiveness and acceptance. You faced power I could never withstand when you went before Vicente/Kivar. I only faced him once and that was in your mind. I only faced him for a few minutes. It still took weeks to rid myself of the power he impressed on me.”
“Yet, Liz, you faced a Kivar of your own. I had no ability to fight Simon. All I could see was that, what he would do to me, would be deserved. I had let the aliens down, let Alex down and let all of my friends down. This man was going to further destroy me and then, he would kill me. At that time, I could only see that, maybe, that would be justice. It was you who stood up and removed that man. Let me tell you, every shot I heard that day made me feel safer.” Isabel was trying to tell Liz how much she appreciated Liz’s action.
“I know, Isabel. It is just that I am worried that I am becoming something I don’t want to be. Most people go their whole lives without so much more than squashing a bug and here I have taken two lives.” Liz replied.
“Most people don’t take off on a moments notice to go hunt for a friend. By the way, has Max forgiven you for that stunt yet?” Isabel asked.
Liz smiled, “No, but the Others told him that if I hadn’t have taken off, either you or Ed or both, might not have made it. That has made him pause and think for a time.”
Isabel stood, “Well, I just wanted to tell you that, I think, I understand how much this has cost you. I am grateful that you were there to save me from Simon and from myself after Vicente.”
---------------------
Please take time to go to http://www.roswellianchronicles.com and leave a thank you note for their years of service. This board is said to close on Jan 1, 2009. boards are the safety net that allows stories not to me lost.
Curse of the Cat. This a story about creatures who used to be men. They are a result of a curse. We have Kivar, Lycanthropy and a trip with Maria through the Amazon forest.
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-
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-
Re: Betrayal, liz of desert 3 mature, CC pg 4 ch14 Dec 29
begonia 9508
keepsmiling7
Chapter 15
After Isabel left, Liz was thinking. There really is not that much difference between humans and engineered aliens. They both have principles and sometimes those principles get bent. They both must not depend too much on these principles because logic and reasoning are still most important. Then, Liz thought no love of children, spouse, family and friends are most important. Logic and reasoning just keep things sorted out.
Liz was still on the terrace. Hector was now asleep at her feet. He had chased off three marauding jackrabbits and one gopher snake. He had in his mind secured the premises. There were no alien kings trying to sneak through the fences or monsters climbing the walls. It was time for his nap so he could, again, do his duty tonight.
She heard a gentle knock on the doorpost leading into the house. Liz looked up to see Ed Andrews, in uniform. “I just wanted to stop by for a minute. I go on night duty in a few minutes, but I wanted to see how you were doing.”
Liz tried to make a smile as she looked at him. “I will survive,” she said.
“Survival is not enough. I am worried about you. I know what it is to take a life. It is always serious. But you must always remember that when you must take that life, it was for a cause. Twice you defended yourself. If you hadn’t shot that man when they were trying to kidnap you just before the smuggler war, Alex would not have had any information to give Max and the aliens so they could arrange your rescue.
When I was bringing Isabel to Albuquerque the night before, I shot a man who was ordering others to attack us. I shot him because he was the leader and without a leader the rest fled. It was deliberate and calculated. I have no regrets. I saved Isabel that night and thus, helped save you. I shot the man and alien, Vicinte, to save Isabel. Again, I did something and I have no regrets.
I was in Afghanistan for two years. For several weeks, I was guarding a certain pass. I made sure that no one got a load of opium through that pass. I am sure some of those drivers were killed. Again, I did it and I do not allow myself any regrets. You can’t have any regrets either. You saved yourself and Isabel and I do not know how many other people by your actions. Simon would have continued to kill until someone stopped him. Ed reached in his pocket. He took out a military ribbon and a bronze star. I would like to give this to you. I got it for a solitary action that I can’t ever reveal. They didn’t give me this for killing, but rather for being steadfast in my duty. I saved others by my actions.
Liz did not know what to say. Ed was one of the best of Alex’s state policemen. She didn’t know just how to take his gift. She didn’t want to celebrate killing others, but Ed had implied that it was for much more. When he held out his hand, she took it.
Ed smiled, “Now, I have a favor to ask. Do you think that the house, here, could host a wedding party? There will be the friends and family of Bernadette and, also, untold state policemen. Bernie and I are thinking of about Christmas time.”
Liz had to smile. Now here was some good news. Yes, the children of the saints, as Elena would say, were going to be increased by another couple.
School days were coming up. Mary would have to be back at the University. She would be working on her doctorate in English and Bernadette would be right in the middle of her Master’s work in Anthropology. She was given a job with Sam Goldstein, Liz’s old boss at the museum. While there, she really intended to study Doctor Parker.
It was almost thanksgiving when the Others declared they would have their yearly interviews. They decided to have all them in one weekend this time. They said they had important information to share.
Liz never knew what to think at these interviews. Kyle hated them. Liz thought that he was worried by her stories of having to appear to the others naked that first time. He just didn’t understand what was said or what was expected. Kyle was a good cop. He came from a family of policemen and the mental gymnastics didn’t fit well with him.
Liz approached her interview wearing slacks and tennis shoes. Her light blouse was for comfort in the late fall heat. When she entered the lights dimmed as they did every time. A ghost-like apparition formed from nothingness in the middle of the room. “I am one. I have no divisors except for myself. However I divide into every number without remainder. The Other decried.”
Another apparition appeared out in the center of the room. “I am Two I have no divisors except for myself and one, but I will divide into half as many numbers as One.
This, so far, was as usual with the Others. It went on for some time. Liz couldn’t be sure, but there seemed to be more entities present than normal. “We want first to honor our queen.” They all winked out and disappeared. Then, they reappeared as some form of salute. They went on, “When our king chose you, we knew you would add much to this group. We knew you were intelligent and resourceful and that is what we hoped for. We know that now, you are both nurturing and a mighty warrior. You will stand in our minds right beside the warriors of Alex dressed in black and gray.
There were a few minutes and Liz wondered if she had been dismissed, but hadn’t understood. One of the Others stood before her. It darkened. The war is not over. Bullets cannot kill a mighty general like Kivar. Even the bullets which we made to kill the monsters and which would hurt those like us, but not like us.
The light went bright and the Others had all disappeared. Liz walked out to Max’s arms. She was still stunned.
Kyle went in next. When he entered and the lights went down, he sat on the first seat that seemed to rise out of the floor. “Kyle you are a good soldier. You brought back the professor, Doctor Witherspoon. You are very resourceful. You have been a good mate to the engineered one named Tess. You have also been a good friend to all of the engineered ones and the humans in your group. Your fight against kivar will get worse. Kivar is not dead. He will rise again and he might want to regain his source of narcotics. You must be diligent.”
The lights went up and Kyle left. It was only on reflection that he remembered that they hadn’t gone through the number system way for naming themselves this time.
Maria went next. The lights dimmed and the shapes came to her. “I am one, this is two.” The numbering droned on. Maria hadn’t ever understood most to the numbering stuff anyway. One of the others stood before her. “You must support the engineered one you are closest to. He will have trials and he will need you to have understanding.” The light went on suddenly and Maria was still trying to get her eyes adjusted. That had been the shortest interview she had had with the Others.
Alex was expecting a long interview and he wasn’t disappointed. The Others asked questions about his job. They asked questions about his personal life with Isabel. The others asked extensive questions about Janis and that was another, different thing. Usually, they kept completely away from the children. There was a voice, Alex recognized it, this time, as the voice of Liz. “Alex, do you still love her? Do you love her no matter what? Do love her no matter what she has done or what she has become?”
Alex looked at the Other. “Yes, I love her and I no longer feel that there is anything to forgive. Isabel fought a very powerful force, a force much too powerful for her. With the help of friends, she won. Isabel is back with us like before.”
The Other darkened. “Alex, you were warned before. You must make it better than before. You didn’t win. Kivar still lives.”
The lights went up and Alex was sitting there confused. He remained sitting and the column of whatever it was that the Others made also remained. It wasn’t until he stood up that the place where he sat disappeared.
Alex joined those outside the room who were very confused.
They broke for lunch. After lunch, the Engineered ones were scheduled. This was different. The engineered ones could be called anytime and the Others didn’t take as much preparation as they did for humans.
Tess was first and what was said to her she kept very quiet about. She did hold on to Kyle when she came out.
Michael went next and when he entered the room, it was like in a cockpit of an airplane. He sat at the controls and he lived over and over the crash he had survived. Michael did see that at the last minute, just before impact, the plane halted in mid air. Then, it fell the last few feet. He saw this every time. Michael saw himself standing over Maria who was lying on the ground hurt. There was a middle aged man in front of Michael and Michael was prepared to let loose with a power blast. He never quite did that, but he could feel the blast building up. The lights came on.
Max was next, but when he came out, he wouldn’t say what happened.
Isabel was last. By the time she was to go in, she was a nervous wreck. As she entered the door, one of the Others took her hand. She was surprised because they seemed that they were without solid form most of the time. Then, she remembered that the benches and chairs they made for those they interviewed.
One came forward and he took her hand. His touch was neither warm nor cold. His hand, or whatever it was, felt soft and silky. “We, at first, thought that you were flawed. Vilandra, who gave you her DNA, was not flawed either. She thought she was powerful enough that she could sway a prince. She gave him her love and tried to persuade him to consider the people. She did not see the greed within him. It was strictly by accident that she let him know about her brother’s troop movements. Her dying was what stopped Kivar from over running the palace. Since then, Kivar has grown stronger and more cruel. He is determined to rule the universe. The universe will not be ruled by anyone. That is why we proclaimed Max and Liz as king and queen. They have no intention of ruling and the universe does not have to be without its royalty. What was done to your body, you will never forget. For that, we are sorry. But, you must get over it and go to your warrior husband. He will always stand beside you. You, also, have great friends in the queen and the other humans who surround you. Soon, the warrior who tried to kill Kivar will be part of your family. You must welcome him. There, still, will be a fight to subdue Kivar. We have no idea where this fight will be but if it is on earth you must all be prepared for the sacrifice.”
----------------------------------
This the third story of Liz in the Desert is almost over. The fourth story is near completion it will be posted this summer.
Curse of the Cat. This a story about creatures who used to be men. They are a result of a curse. We have Kivar, Lycanthropy and a trip with Maria through the Amazon forest.
soon "Traitor" the story of Liz Evans, the consort of the most hated man on Earth and how she came to see him.
keepsmiling7
Chapter 15
After Isabel left, Liz was thinking. There really is not that much difference between humans and engineered aliens. They both have principles and sometimes those principles get bent. They both must not depend too much on these principles because logic and reasoning are still most important. Then, Liz thought no love of children, spouse, family and friends are most important. Logic and reasoning just keep things sorted out.
Liz was still on the terrace. Hector was now asleep at her feet. He had chased off three marauding jackrabbits and one gopher snake. He had in his mind secured the premises. There were no alien kings trying to sneak through the fences or monsters climbing the walls. It was time for his nap so he could, again, do his duty tonight.
She heard a gentle knock on the doorpost leading into the house. Liz looked up to see Ed Andrews, in uniform. “I just wanted to stop by for a minute. I go on night duty in a few minutes, but I wanted to see how you were doing.”
Liz tried to make a smile as she looked at him. “I will survive,” she said.
“Survival is not enough. I am worried about you. I know what it is to take a life. It is always serious. But you must always remember that when you must take that life, it was for a cause. Twice you defended yourself. If you hadn’t shot that man when they were trying to kidnap you just before the smuggler war, Alex would not have had any information to give Max and the aliens so they could arrange your rescue.
When I was bringing Isabel to Albuquerque the night before, I shot a man who was ordering others to attack us. I shot him because he was the leader and without a leader the rest fled. It was deliberate and calculated. I have no regrets. I saved Isabel that night and thus, helped save you. I shot the man and alien, Vicinte, to save Isabel. Again, I did something and I have no regrets.
I was in Afghanistan for two years. For several weeks, I was guarding a certain pass. I made sure that no one got a load of opium through that pass. I am sure some of those drivers were killed. Again, I did it and I do not allow myself any regrets. You can’t have any regrets either. You saved yourself and Isabel and I do not know how many other people by your actions. Simon would have continued to kill until someone stopped him. Ed reached in his pocket. He took out a military ribbon and a bronze star. I would like to give this to you. I got it for a solitary action that I can’t ever reveal. They didn’t give me this for killing, but rather for being steadfast in my duty. I saved others by my actions.
Liz did not know what to say. Ed was one of the best of Alex’s state policemen. She didn’t know just how to take his gift. She didn’t want to celebrate killing others, but Ed had implied that it was for much more. When he held out his hand, she took it.
Ed smiled, “Now, I have a favor to ask. Do you think that the house, here, could host a wedding party? There will be the friends and family of Bernadette and, also, untold state policemen. Bernie and I are thinking of about Christmas time.”
Liz had to smile. Now here was some good news. Yes, the children of the saints, as Elena would say, were going to be increased by another couple.
School days were coming up. Mary would have to be back at the University. She would be working on her doctorate in English and Bernadette would be right in the middle of her Master’s work in Anthropology. She was given a job with Sam Goldstein, Liz’s old boss at the museum. While there, she really intended to study Doctor Parker.
It was almost thanksgiving when the Others declared they would have their yearly interviews. They decided to have all them in one weekend this time. They said they had important information to share.
Liz never knew what to think at these interviews. Kyle hated them. Liz thought that he was worried by her stories of having to appear to the others naked that first time. He just didn’t understand what was said or what was expected. Kyle was a good cop. He came from a family of policemen and the mental gymnastics didn’t fit well with him.
Liz approached her interview wearing slacks and tennis shoes. Her light blouse was for comfort in the late fall heat. When she entered the lights dimmed as they did every time. A ghost-like apparition formed from nothingness in the middle of the room. “I am one. I have no divisors except for myself. However I divide into every number without remainder. The Other decried.”
Another apparition appeared out in the center of the room. “I am Two I have no divisors except for myself and one, but I will divide into half as many numbers as One.
This, so far, was as usual with the Others. It went on for some time. Liz couldn’t be sure, but there seemed to be more entities present than normal. “We want first to honor our queen.” They all winked out and disappeared. Then, they reappeared as some form of salute. They went on, “When our king chose you, we knew you would add much to this group. We knew you were intelligent and resourceful and that is what we hoped for. We know that now, you are both nurturing and a mighty warrior. You will stand in our minds right beside the warriors of Alex dressed in black and gray.
There were a few minutes and Liz wondered if she had been dismissed, but hadn’t understood. One of the Others stood before her. It darkened. The war is not over. Bullets cannot kill a mighty general like Kivar. Even the bullets which we made to kill the monsters and which would hurt those like us, but not like us.
The light went bright and the Others had all disappeared. Liz walked out to Max’s arms. She was still stunned.
Kyle went in next. When he entered and the lights went down, he sat on the first seat that seemed to rise out of the floor. “Kyle you are a good soldier. You brought back the professor, Doctor Witherspoon. You are very resourceful. You have been a good mate to the engineered one named Tess. You have also been a good friend to all of the engineered ones and the humans in your group. Your fight against kivar will get worse. Kivar is not dead. He will rise again and he might want to regain his source of narcotics. You must be diligent.”
The lights went up and Kyle left. It was only on reflection that he remembered that they hadn’t gone through the number system way for naming themselves this time.
Maria went next. The lights dimmed and the shapes came to her. “I am one, this is two.” The numbering droned on. Maria hadn’t ever understood most to the numbering stuff anyway. One of the others stood before her. “You must support the engineered one you are closest to. He will have trials and he will need you to have understanding.” The light went on suddenly and Maria was still trying to get her eyes adjusted. That had been the shortest interview she had had with the Others.
Alex was expecting a long interview and he wasn’t disappointed. The Others asked questions about his job. They asked questions about his personal life with Isabel. The others asked extensive questions about Janis and that was another, different thing. Usually, they kept completely away from the children. There was a voice, Alex recognized it, this time, as the voice of Liz. “Alex, do you still love her? Do you love her no matter what? Do love her no matter what she has done or what she has become?”
Alex looked at the Other. “Yes, I love her and I no longer feel that there is anything to forgive. Isabel fought a very powerful force, a force much too powerful for her. With the help of friends, she won. Isabel is back with us like before.”
The Other darkened. “Alex, you were warned before. You must make it better than before. You didn’t win. Kivar still lives.”
The lights went up and Alex was sitting there confused. He remained sitting and the column of whatever it was that the Others made also remained. It wasn’t until he stood up that the place where he sat disappeared.
Alex joined those outside the room who were very confused.
They broke for lunch. After lunch, the Engineered ones were scheduled. This was different. The engineered ones could be called anytime and the Others didn’t take as much preparation as they did for humans.
Tess was first and what was said to her she kept very quiet about. She did hold on to Kyle when she came out.
Michael went next and when he entered the room, it was like in a cockpit of an airplane. He sat at the controls and he lived over and over the crash he had survived. Michael did see that at the last minute, just before impact, the plane halted in mid air. Then, it fell the last few feet. He saw this every time. Michael saw himself standing over Maria who was lying on the ground hurt. There was a middle aged man in front of Michael and Michael was prepared to let loose with a power blast. He never quite did that, but he could feel the blast building up. The lights came on.
Max was next, but when he came out, he wouldn’t say what happened.
Isabel was last. By the time she was to go in, she was a nervous wreck. As she entered the door, one of the Others took her hand. She was surprised because they seemed that they were without solid form most of the time. Then, she remembered that the benches and chairs they made for those they interviewed.
One came forward and he took her hand. His touch was neither warm nor cold. His hand, or whatever it was, felt soft and silky. “We, at first, thought that you were flawed. Vilandra, who gave you her DNA, was not flawed either. She thought she was powerful enough that she could sway a prince. She gave him her love and tried to persuade him to consider the people. She did not see the greed within him. It was strictly by accident that she let him know about her brother’s troop movements. Her dying was what stopped Kivar from over running the palace. Since then, Kivar has grown stronger and more cruel. He is determined to rule the universe. The universe will not be ruled by anyone. That is why we proclaimed Max and Liz as king and queen. They have no intention of ruling and the universe does not have to be without its royalty. What was done to your body, you will never forget. For that, we are sorry. But, you must get over it and go to your warrior husband. He will always stand beside you. You, also, have great friends in the queen and the other humans who surround you. Soon, the warrior who tried to kill Kivar will be part of your family. You must welcome him. There, still, will be a fight to subdue Kivar. We have no idea where this fight will be but if it is on earth you must all be prepared for the sacrifice.”
----------------------------------
This the third story of Liz in the Desert is almost over. The fourth story is near completion it will be posted this summer.
Curse of the Cat. This a story about creatures who used to be men. They are a result of a curse. We have Kivar, Lycanthropy and a trip with Maria through the Amazon forest.
soon "Traitor" the story of Liz Evans, the consort of the most hated man on Earth and how she came to see him.
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-
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-
Re: Betrayal, liz of desert 3 mature, CC pg 4 ch15 jan 6 09
Keepsmiling7 In the police i was shot at many times i only got into one shoot out and no one was killed. I can tell you that a lot of the guilt a justifiable shooting suffers is made by those who are closest to the shooter. The medal wasn't a medal of honor but rather an honorable medal. the bronze star is given for duty and meritorious achievement or service. Ed had shown considerable steadfastness in dangerous situations. He wanted to share this medal with Doctor Parker-Evans becaurse even under extreme stress she rose to protect herself and Isabel.
begonia9508 In this story the warrior will be those already presented. In the story Curse of the Cat i will raise the most unlikely child to be a warrior.
mary mary see my answer to Eve above. I intend to kill Kivar because of a mother's love for her child. We still have one more story in this series.
Killing Kivar and making Liz have multiple pregnancies seems to be the principal occupation of Roswell fan fiction.
Chapte 16
Neither humans nor Engineered ones were willing to discuss what they heard in the interviews. They all seemed to go off in pairs. Liz and Max went to the stables and took out two horses. It had been in Mexico when Liz last rode horseback. Max had to laugh when he remembered the vaqueros watching Liz get on her horse for the first time. They had all thought that a woman had no business going on this search in the back country of Senõr Sanchez’s ranch.
When Liz’s horse put his ears back and his head down, preparing to relieve himself of the lady in his saddle. The vaqueros intended to all laugh. Liz surprised them all by kicking the horse in his ribs causing him to move forward and pulling on his reins to keep his head up. Max had assured all of them that Liz was an experienced rider and they shouldn’t have any doubts.
Now, Max’s horses were very gentle. They had the best of care and Sammy Begay, the son of a Farmington city police officer, had been hired to keep them fit by riding them each at least once a week. They were all kept in shape and used to an experienced rider. Max had learned that Sammy took his girl riding at least once a week.
Liz still had to almost leap into the saddle because they were so much bigger than the mare she used to race in her high school rodeo days. She grabbed the saddle horn and swung herself up into the saddle. Max was also an experienced rider, but he had never been in any competition. They road through the hills and down by the river. They could hear the trucks from the highway, but that was in the distance.
As they rode through the bosque, or brush and trees that grew by the river, the sounds of the wild birds covered the unnatural ones. For a while, they just thrilled at the strength of the animals beneath them. The horses were enjoying the outing as much as the riders.
Someone had built a table out of treated lumber in a clearing where they could see the river flowing by and hear it lapping against the bank.
No one knew who built it, but Liz liked to think that it was a young man who brought his girl to this romantic spot. It was a beautiful place. They tied the horses where they could graze on the grass that was growing in the bosque. Max and Liz sat opposite from each other and were holding hands. “Max, what did they talk to you about?” Liz asked.
Max was silent for many minutes. “Said that I might be called on to make a great sacrifice,” he replied.
Liz frowned at this. “Did they say anything about what the sacrifice would be?”
“No, they told me that I must be ready to heal and that I would be called on to do the hardest thing of my life.” Max was as confused as Liz about what this meant. “They said I had to trust myself that I would do the right thing and be strong enough when it would be needed.”
“They told me that Kivar was probably still alive. He would just look for another body to posses.” Max mused as he looked afar off. It was as if he was trying to see beyond the horizon to see what was coming.
Max does that mean that we will have to go through all of this again?” Liz was clearly distraught.
“I just don’t know. They told me I would have to make a great sacrifice. I am not sure I am willing to make that sacrifice.” Ever since, the Others had said that to Max, he had been listing things in his mind that he was unwilling to sacrifice for any reason.
First, there were his two children, Helen and Johathan. They were in high school and they were the promise that fulfilled the void in Max’s life. He had no past and they were the promise of the future. Then, there was Liz. Max had given her his heart when he first saw her taking a shower way back in the reservation. She was miles from any living person, but Max was surveying the cliffs with a very powerful telescope. At that minute, Max knew that she was the girl for him.
As Max spared with her during the ensuing year, he fell further under her spell. Max marveled at her ability and knowledge. He also worried about her hard headedness as she, so many times, put herself in harms way, many times not even seeing that she was doing so. When he finally won her heart and they were married, the Others had told Max that they were very pleased at his choice. No, if she was the sacrifice he was to be called to make, Max would not do so willingly.”
Liz was coming to grips with her own feelings. She had made an application for her concealed carry permit renewal. After a lot of soul searching, she decided that the responsibility of carrying a weapon after all was what had saved herself and also, Isabel. She was still bothered at taking two lives, but when she really got worried about this, she clutched the ribbons that Ed Andrews had given her and remembered that they ribbons stood for responsibility to save others.
That afternoon, Tess couldn’t let Kyle out of her sight. Kyle began to wonder. Finally, he asked, “What did the Others say to you?”
Tess lowered her eyes. “I was told to make you as strong as I could because you were going to have to do things that were very dangerous.” Tess continued, “I was told that I might loose you. They were not clear if something was going to happen to you or to me.”
Kyle held her tightly, “They told me that Kivar would return and we might have to fight him all over again.”
“Kyle, I once asked you to tell me that you loved me,” Tess said.
Kyle well remembered that night. Alex had just been shot and Isabel and Tess had rigged up Max to be in the cassock of a priest. They had told Kyle to get him in to give Alex a blessing. The nurse sniffed because she knew that Alex was Methodist, but Kyle had explained that his girlfriend wasn’t and the priest couldn’t hurt. With this subterfuge, Max was able to get into the hospital room and partially heal Alex, at least enough so his life wasn’t in danger anymore. Kyle wondered what he had just seen. It sure didn’t make sense to a deputy sheriff that a fake priest could heal the sergeant that quickly.
While Kyle was wondering, Tess began to tell him that she had to have a statement of his love or she was going to ask him to walk away. At first, Kyle stubbornly tried to stumble around the statement of love. Tess kept insisting that he make it in clear words that would have no mistake in their meaning. Finally, Kyle stated, “Yes, Tess, I love you.” Come to think of it, he still hadn’t gotten his explanation that night.
Tess had clouded the issue by her kisses and suggestions of love so that he forgot that he was wondering about the sergeant. It was later when she explained that she wasn’t human and that Max used his engineered powers to heal, that Kyle finally understood. By this time, Kyle had no intention of loosing his little blonde, engineered alien.
He had no intention of loosing her now. He frowned when she said that either he would be hurt or that it would be she. Kyle was going to be as strong as he could. He would protect his wife with everything he had.
Tess wasn’t quite ready to let things go. “Kyle, before I met you I had many experiences at love.”
Kyle held his fingers to her lips, “Tess, we do not need to talk about things we did before we met. I was going with Liz at the time and though I have some fond memories of that time, I do not want to bring up these memories because, now, there is only one person for me. Remember, I told you that I loved you?”
“Yes, Kyle, but please hear me out. There were many men in my life and I flirted with them much more recklessly than Isabel ever did. It is just that I always felt that I was superior to humans because I knew that, someday, I would find the one man for me and I would never go to another. I did find that man and since I have been with you, there have been no others.
Now, after Isabel’s experiences, I want to reaffirm that I will be with you, not because of my conditioning and the rules under which I was engineered, but because I want to always be true to you. If I ever fail, it will not be for the lack of me trying. Maybe, what I am saying is that I want to be faithful, not because of rules, but because I love you.
Kyle didn’t know what to answer to that. He had, finally, started to understand the engineered aliens and now, they seemed to becoming more human. But, the humanness was someway more loving than the rules. She was with him because she loved him.
Michael had been shown two things. First, he saw that in a plane wreck he could suspend time and control the falling of the plane just like Isabel had done. Secondly, he saw that it was going to be necessary to defend Maria against something. Even though it was afternoon, he and Maria were in their bedroom. Michael was holding her tightly. Maria couldn’t understand why, but she did know that she was told to support him no matter what.
Neither of them had said anything about what the interview had told them. Maria had always supported Michael. Well sometimes, they bickered and maybe, the aliens were telling her not to do that. She was to make Michael strong for some reason. Michael was totally unwilling to tell Maria anything about plane wrecks or to tell her about the visions he was given of protecting her. For a long time, they stayed just holding each other. Finally, it was Michael who stood and taking Maria by the hand, they went looking for their daughter, Janis, and the three of them went down stairs to dinner.
Alex had not brought up what had happened to Isabel since she had been returned. He had followed what the aliens had told him in the words of Liz. He affirmed to Isabel and anyone else, that he loved his wife no matter what she ever did or ever became. He loved Isabel because she was Isabel.
Alex had chosen her and she had been a good wife. She had given him a lovely daughter and what more could he wish for. He had talked to Liz later. Liz had tried to explain what the power of Kivar had done to Isabel. He was thankful that his best officer, and now, his closest friend, had been able to rescue his wife.
Alex knew that Isabel had more to say to him and he was going to wait until she made the decision. Alex was ready to listen and also to use the words of Liz whether it was in the person of Liz or the mimic of the Aliens. He was going to love his wife no matter what she had done or what she had become.
“Alex, I never understood what the preacher at your church meant when he was talking about Hell. Now I do. I feel as if I have traveled through all the levels that exist. That horrible man took my soul away and he made me into a puppet. I went to him. I went to him flirting because I was mad at you for not being with me on our supposed vacation. I had no idea of his power, but I should not have ever thought even a little bit of someone else.
Michael warned me time and time again. I just wouldn’t listen. Then, after that night I was in too deep. He told me that if I came back to the aliens, they would destroy me as a defective model. He even told me that you wouldn’t ever want me back because I had defeated my engineering. He told me to kill Maria and Michael. He said that they would tell on me and be witness as the aliens destroyed me. I almost listened to him. I put the plane into a dive. I was aiming at a mesa top where it wouldn’t be found for a long time. I do not know if I was intended to die at that time or not.
Later, he told me he intended to remove me at the last second. It was visions of everyone I know here that broke through and made me stop the dive. When he told me to leave with him, I just couldn’t think of anything to do but comply. When I was with him in the canyons, I couldn’t think of anything except him. When Ed shot him, all I could think of was anger. It was anger that my prince had been taken away from me. It was Liz who brought me back to earth. It was Liz who saved me from the escapee. I will always fear that Kivar will return.” Isabel had many things that had just happened to her that she was going to have to get over.
“Now that the Others have said he is still out there, I am scared. Will I have to go through this all again?2” Isabel had, finally, gotten a lot of things out of her mind, including things that might come to pass in the future. They spent some time just sitting. They both needed to do a lot of thinking.
Finally, Alex stood up. He reached for Isabel’s hand and when she offered it, he led her back toward their room. As they were walking through the house, c Alex led her to the room where Sabra was busy trying to make up her studies. She hadn’t gone to school since the news of her mother’s disappearance. Alex sat on one side of Sabra and he had led Isabel to the other side. Sabra looked up. Both parents were looking at her.
“I am just so glad that I didn’t lose you,” Isabel stated.
“Sabra leaned against her mother and smiled. “I am glad too, mom. I think I need a lot of guidance from you before I grow up.”
Again, Alex extended his hand and Isabel stood with him. He led her through the room where Maria and Michael were listening to the ballad she was hoping to sell. “Maria, are Michael and you going to be able to forgive me?” Isabel asked.
Maria looked at her with a frown. “Izzy, you tried to kill us.” Maria just continued to stare at Isabel. Isabel felt her heart sink. They probably wouldn’t ever be as close as they were before. Then, Maria leaned forward and put her arms around Isabel. “But, then you were under control of a powerful enemy. You did show Michael how to stop time and maybe, avert another accident next time. Kivar would have killed us without a thought. Izzy, in the end, your love for us came through. You saved us. That is what counts, finally. Izzy we are family. We will always love you as you love us.”
Again, Alex reached for her hand. They walked to Liz’s library. Bernie was working on her paper. Liz and Max were proof reading it. Isabel saw that while reading Liz was playing with some sort of ribbon with metal things attached to it. When they saw Alex and Isabel, Liz carefully put the toy she was playing with away. Max and Bernie looked up. Before Isabel could say anything Liz stood and walked over to Isabel. Liz took both of Isabel’s hands in hers. “Remember, I will always know what it was like to meet him. You couldn’t help yourself. Just learn to be strong again.”
Isabel, for a minute stuttered. Liz had taken the initiative and for a minute Isabel didn’t know what she wanted to say. Before she could get very far in her thinking, Liz went over to Bernie. “Isabel, how would you like to help plan a wedding. If Patrick doesn’t shoot Ed Andrews, he plans to marry Bernadette this Christmas.”
Isabel’s mind began to move. Isabel had an obsession with planning things. Christmas parties, family get togethers and especially, weddings. She began thinking. Elena probably already knew all about the intended wedding. She would have all the catalogs out and tomorrow, Isabel with Elena’s help, would start. A cloud partially lifted from Isabel’s mind.
Alex reached for her and he led her to their room. With the lights out, they took off their clothes and crawled into bed. For a while, they just held each other. Flashes kept running through Isabel’s mind, “Was she presentable for her lover?”
Finely, she asked Alex, “Am I good enough for you?”
This shocked him soundly, “Isabel, you were always more than good enough for me. All I want is to savor the fact that you are back home. I want to feel in my hands that your body is back. I am not examining to see if it is perfect. I love all of you, the imperfections as well as the perfect part.” Alex felt her shiver in his hands. He just pulled her closer and kissed her forehead as she buried her face in his chest. The heat of their bodies caused desire in him to stir. Alex asked, “Isabel, can we make love? Not like the love of lust, but a love that means we are now together forever again?”
They slowly made love with Alex whispering every step that he still loved her. Isabel had a way to go, but she was on the way.
-----------------------------------
Curse of the Cat this is a story about lycanthropy and the strength in Maria that i have never seen in fic before. It is also about a contention between the primitive beliefs of the forest against the superscience of Antar. There are things out there about which we do not know.
Traitor is a short story about patriots and traitors. What is the difference? It is for us to question those in history who we have labeled as either patriot or traitor. Is this a payback for the way we have always treated our own people?
begonia9508 In this story the warrior will be those already presented. In the story Curse of the Cat i will raise the most unlikely child to be a warrior.
mary mary see my answer to Eve above. I intend to kill Kivar because of a mother's love for her child. We still have one more story in this series.
Killing Kivar and making Liz have multiple pregnancies seems to be the principal occupation of Roswell fan fiction.
Chapte 16
Neither humans nor Engineered ones were willing to discuss what they heard in the interviews. They all seemed to go off in pairs. Liz and Max went to the stables and took out two horses. It had been in Mexico when Liz last rode horseback. Max had to laugh when he remembered the vaqueros watching Liz get on her horse for the first time. They had all thought that a woman had no business going on this search in the back country of Senõr Sanchez’s ranch.
When Liz’s horse put his ears back and his head down, preparing to relieve himself of the lady in his saddle. The vaqueros intended to all laugh. Liz surprised them all by kicking the horse in his ribs causing him to move forward and pulling on his reins to keep his head up. Max had assured all of them that Liz was an experienced rider and they shouldn’t have any doubts.
Now, Max’s horses were very gentle. They had the best of care and Sammy Begay, the son of a Farmington city police officer, had been hired to keep them fit by riding them each at least once a week. They were all kept in shape and used to an experienced rider. Max had learned that Sammy took his girl riding at least once a week.
Liz still had to almost leap into the saddle because they were so much bigger than the mare she used to race in her high school rodeo days. She grabbed the saddle horn and swung herself up into the saddle. Max was also an experienced rider, but he had never been in any competition. They road through the hills and down by the river. They could hear the trucks from the highway, but that was in the distance.
As they rode through the bosque, or brush and trees that grew by the river, the sounds of the wild birds covered the unnatural ones. For a while, they just thrilled at the strength of the animals beneath them. The horses were enjoying the outing as much as the riders.
Someone had built a table out of treated lumber in a clearing where they could see the river flowing by and hear it lapping against the bank.
No one knew who built it, but Liz liked to think that it was a young man who brought his girl to this romantic spot. It was a beautiful place. They tied the horses where they could graze on the grass that was growing in the bosque. Max and Liz sat opposite from each other and were holding hands. “Max, what did they talk to you about?” Liz asked.
Max was silent for many minutes. “Said that I might be called on to make a great sacrifice,” he replied.
Liz frowned at this. “Did they say anything about what the sacrifice would be?”
“No, they told me that I must be ready to heal and that I would be called on to do the hardest thing of my life.” Max was as confused as Liz about what this meant. “They said I had to trust myself that I would do the right thing and be strong enough when it would be needed.”
“They told me that Kivar was probably still alive. He would just look for another body to posses.” Max mused as he looked afar off. It was as if he was trying to see beyond the horizon to see what was coming.
Max does that mean that we will have to go through all of this again?” Liz was clearly distraught.
“I just don’t know. They told me I would have to make a great sacrifice. I am not sure I am willing to make that sacrifice.” Ever since, the Others had said that to Max, he had been listing things in his mind that he was unwilling to sacrifice for any reason.
First, there were his two children, Helen and Johathan. They were in high school and they were the promise that fulfilled the void in Max’s life. He had no past and they were the promise of the future. Then, there was Liz. Max had given her his heart when he first saw her taking a shower way back in the reservation. She was miles from any living person, but Max was surveying the cliffs with a very powerful telescope. At that minute, Max knew that she was the girl for him.
As Max spared with her during the ensuing year, he fell further under her spell. Max marveled at her ability and knowledge. He also worried about her hard headedness as she, so many times, put herself in harms way, many times not even seeing that she was doing so. When he finally won her heart and they were married, the Others had told Max that they were very pleased at his choice. No, if she was the sacrifice he was to be called to make, Max would not do so willingly.”
Liz was coming to grips with her own feelings. She had made an application for her concealed carry permit renewal. After a lot of soul searching, she decided that the responsibility of carrying a weapon after all was what had saved herself and also, Isabel. She was still bothered at taking two lives, but when she really got worried about this, she clutched the ribbons that Ed Andrews had given her and remembered that they ribbons stood for responsibility to save others.
That afternoon, Tess couldn’t let Kyle out of her sight. Kyle began to wonder. Finally, he asked, “What did the Others say to you?”
Tess lowered her eyes. “I was told to make you as strong as I could because you were going to have to do things that were very dangerous.” Tess continued, “I was told that I might loose you. They were not clear if something was going to happen to you or to me.”
Kyle held her tightly, “They told me that Kivar would return and we might have to fight him all over again.”
“Kyle, I once asked you to tell me that you loved me,” Tess said.
Kyle well remembered that night. Alex had just been shot and Isabel and Tess had rigged up Max to be in the cassock of a priest. They had told Kyle to get him in to give Alex a blessing. The nurse sniffed because she knew that Alex was Methodist, but Kyle had explained that his girlfriend wasn’t and the priest couldn’t hurt. With this subterfuge, Max was able to get into the hospital room and partially heal Alex, at least enough so his life wasn’t in danger anymore. Kyle wondered what he had just seen. It sure didn’t make sense to a deputy sheriff that a fake priest could heal the sergeant that quickly.
While Kyle was wondering, Tess began to tell him that she had to have a statement of his love or she was going to ask him to walk away. At first, Kyle stubbornly tried to stumble around the statement of love. Tess kept insisting that he make it in clear words that would have no mistake in their meaning. Finally, Kyle stated, “Yes, Tess, I love you.” Come to think of it, he still hadn’t gotten his explanation that night.
Tess had clouded the issue by her kisses and suggestions of love so that he forgot that he was wondering about the sergeant. It was later when she explained that she wasn’t human and that Max used his engineered powers to heal, that Kyle finally understood. By this time, Kyle had no intention of loosing his little blonde, engineered alien.
He had no intention of loosing her now. He frowned when she said that either he would be hurt or that it would be she. Kyle was going to be as strong as he could. He would protect his wife with everything he had.
Tess wasn’t quite ready to let things go. “Kyle, before I met you I had many experiences at love.”
Kyle held his fingers to her lips, “Tess, we do not need to talk about things we did before we met. I was going with Liz at the time and though I have some fond memories of that time, I do not want to bring up these memories because, now, there is only one person for me. Remember, I told you that I loved you?”
“Yes, Kyle, but please hear me out. There were many men in my life and I flirted with them much more recklessly than Isabel ever did. It is just that I always felt that I was superior to humans because I knew that, someday, I would find the one man for me and I would never go to another. I did find that man and since I have been with you, there have been no others.
Now, after Isabel’s experiences, I want to reaffirm that I will be with you, not because of my conditioning and the rules under which I was engineered, but because I want to always be true to you. If I ever fail, it will not be for the lack of me trying. Maybe, what I am saying is that I want to be faithful, not because of rules, but because I love you.
Kyle didn’t know what to answer to that. He had, finally, started to understand the engineered aliens and now, they seemed to becoming more human. But, the humanness was someway more loving than the rules. She was with him because she loved him.
Michael had been shown two things. First, he saw that in a plane wreck he could suspend time and control the falling of the plane just like Isabel had done. Secondly, he saw that it was going to be necessary to defend Maria against something. Even though it was afternoon, he and Maria were in their bedroom. Michael was holding her tightly. Maria couldn’t understand why, but she did know that she was told to support him no matter what.
Neither of them had said anything about what the interview had told them. Maria had always supported Michael. Well sometimes, they bickered and maybe, the aliens were telling her not to do that. She was to make Michael strong for some reason. Michael was totally unwilling to tell Maria anything about plane wrecks or to tell her about the visions he was given of protecting her. For a long time, they stayed just holding each other. Finally, it was Michael who stood and taking Maria by the hand, they went looking for their daughter, Janis, and the three of them went down stairs to dinner.
Alex had not brought up what had happened to Isabel since she had been returned. He had followed what the aliens had told him in the words of Liz. He affirmed to Isabel and anyone else, that he loved his wife no matter what she ever did or ever became. He loved Isabel because she was Isabel.
Alex had chosen her and she had been a good wife. She had given him a lovely daughter and what more could he wish for. He had talked to Liz later. Liz had tried to explain what the power of Kivar had done to Isabel. He was thankful that his best officer, and now, his closest friend, had been able to rescue his wife.
Alex knew that Isabel had more to say to him and he was going to wait until she made the decision. Alex was ready to listen and also to use the words of Liz whether it was in the person of Liz or the mimic of the Aliens. He was going to love his wife no matter what she had done or what she had become.
“Alex, I never understood what the preacher at your church meant when he was talking about Hell. Now I do. I feel as if I have traveled through all the levels that exist. That horrible man took my soul away and he made me into a puppet. I went to him. I went to him flirting because I was mad at you for not being with me on our supposed vacation. I had no idea of his power, but I should not have ever thought even a little bit of someone else.
Michael warned me time and time again. I just wouldn’t listen. Then, after that night I was in too deep. He told me that if I came back to the aliens, they would destroy me as a defective model. He even told me that you wouldn’t ever want me back because I had defeated my engineering. He told me to kill Maria and Michael. He said that they would tell on me and be witness as the aliens destroyed me. I almost listened to him. I put the plane into a dive. I was aiming at a mesa top where it wouldn’t be found for a long time. I do not know if I was intended to die at that time or not.
Later, he told me he intended to remove me at the last second. It was visions of everyone I know here that broke through and made me stop the dive. When he told me to leave with him, I just couldn’t think of anything to do but comply. When I was with him in the canyons, I couldn’t think of anything except him. When Ed shot him, all I could think of was anger. It was anger that my prince had been taken away from me. It was Liz who brought me back to earth. It was Liz who saved me from the escapee. I will always fear that Kivar will return.” Isabel had many things that had just happened to her that she was going to have to get over.
“Now that the Others have said he is still out there, I am scared. Will I have to go through this all again?2” Isabel had, finally, gotten a lot of things out of her mind, including things that might come to pass in the future. They spent some time just sitting. They both needed to do a lot of thinking.
Finally, Alex stood up. He reached for Isabel’s hand and when she offered it, he led her back toward their room. As they were walking through the house, c Alex led her to the room where Sabra was busy trying to make up her studies. She hadn’t gone to school since the news of her mother’s disappearance. Alex sat on one side of Sabra and he had led Isabel to the other side. Sabra looked up. Both parents were looking at her.
“I am just so glad that I didn’t lose you,” Isabel stated.
“Sabra leaned against her mother and smiled. “I am glad too, mom. I think I need a lot of guidance from you before I grow up.”
Again, Alex extended his hand and Isabel stood with him. He led her through the room where Maria and Michael were listening to the ballad she was hoping to sell. “Maria, are Michael and you going to be able to forgive me?” Isabel asked.
Maria looked at her with a frown. “Izzy, you tried to kill us.” Maria just continued to stare at Isabel. Isabel felt her heart sink. They probably wouldn’t ever be as close as they were before. Then, Maria leaned forward and put her arms around Isabel. “But, then you were under control of a powerful enemy. You did show Michael how to stop time and maybe, avert another accident next time. Kivar would have killed us without a thought. Izzy, in the end, your love for us came through. You saved us. That is what counts, finally. Izzy we are family. We will always love you as you love us.”
Again, Alex reached for her hand. They walked to Liz’s library. Bernie was working on her paper. Liz and Max were proof reading it. Isabel saw that while reading Liz was playing with some sort of ribbon with metal things attached to it. When they saw Alex and Isabel, Liz carefully put the toy she was playing with away. Max and Bernie looked up. Before Isabel could say anything Liz stood and walked over to Isabel. Liz took both of Isabel’s hands in hers. “Remember, I will always know what it was like to meet him. You couldn’t help yourself. Just learn to be strong again.”
Isabel, for a minute stuttered. Liz had taken the initiative and for a minute Isabel didn’t know what she wanted to say. Before she could get very far in her thinking, Liz went over to Bernie. “Isabel, how would you like to help plan a wedding. If Patrick doesn’t shoot Ed Andrews, he plans to marry Bernadette this Christmas.”
Isabel’s mind began to move. Isabel had an obsession with planning things. Christmas parties, family get togethers and especially, weddings. She began thinking. Elena probably already knew all about the intended wedding. She would have all the catalogs out and tomorrow, Isabel with Elena’s help, would start. A cloud partially lifted from Isabel’s mind.
Alex reached for her and he led her to their room. With the lights out, they took off their clothes and crawled into bed. For a while, they just held each other. Flashes kept running through Isabel’s mind, “Was she presentable for her lover?”
Finely, she asked Alex, “Am I good enough for you?”
This shocked him soundly, “Isabel, you were always more than good enough for me. All I want is to savor the fact that you are back home. I want to feel in my hands that your body is back. I am not examining to see if it is perfect. I love all of you, the imperfections as well as the perfect part.” Alex felt her shiver in his hands. He just pulled her closer and kissed her forehead as she buried her face in his chest. The heat of their bodies caused desire in him to stir. Alex asked, “Isabel, can we make love? Not like the love of lust, but a love that means we are now together forever again?”
They slowly made love with Alex whispering every step that he still loved her. Isabel had a way to go, but she was on the way.
-----------------------------------
Curse of the Cat this is a story about lycanthropy and the strength in Maria that i have never seen in fic before. It is also about a contention between the primitive beliefs of the forest against the superscience of Antar. There are things out there about which we do not know.
Traitor is a short story about patriots and traitors. What is the difference? It is for us to question those in history who we have labeled as either patriot or traitor. Is this a payback for the way we have always treated our own people?
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-
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-
Re: Betrayal, mature, CC pg 5 Author' Note jan 18 09
Thank you for all who followed this third story about Liz of the Desert
mary mary
Begonia9508
keepsmiling7
and the others who followed this almost like a cult following.
Chapter 17
Ed had been a trained sniper in the army. They dropped him and another man called a spotter, in all sorts of weird territory. Later, they literally, yanked them back out. He had spent days hidden in the sand guarding the mountain pass against the smugglers. He had single-handily set out against Simon Roughhausen. That ended with Doctor Parker-Evans taking the convict out. Now, he had to face, alone, the parents of his love. He wasn’t allowed any spotters or backup. Ed Andrews was a bit afraid of Bernadette’s father. Who wouldn’t be? Patrick had the ability to make people disappear in the desert as buzzard food. Zopilotes had to eat also, was Patrick’s favorite saying. No one knew how many Patrick had contributed to the Zopilote food bank.
Ed was sure that the Gutierrez family would look favorably on a traditional approach to the request of their daughter’s hand in marriage. When Bernadette kissed him the night, before she had whispered, “Just don’t let him scare you. He is a policeman the same as you are. Remember, you are the first man who had approached him to take away his daughter.”
That was so easy for Bernie to say. She was presenting her master’s thesis and all she had to face was a panel of old men who would fall for her charms. Ed couldn’t see how they could, but accept her paper and load her with praise. Bernadette had laughed. The old fogies weren’t that easy, but let Ed think what he would.
Ed drove his older model Ford Pickup. Bernie had offered her small compact, but Ed had always driven a pickup when he was young on his father’s farm in Oklahoma. He had always had a pickup for a personal car after he returned from the army. Since he used the pickup only for personal business, the mileage was low. Ed used his police cruiser anytime he could consider himself on police business. Somehow when facing Patrick Gutierrez, Ed felt he needed familiar things to hang on to.
Ed hadn’t known, but Kyle had called Patrick, the evening before Ed left for Chihuahua City. “Hey primo,” primo was a word that meant cousin, but it was, many times, used for friend and such. Kyle did consider Patrick as a friend. They were both in the same business, drug enforcement, and they both had a lot in common. “We are sending you one of our best. Try not to scare him too much. He is very much in love with your daughter, Bernadette. My wife, Tess, and I have already agreed to sponsor the wedding. I forgot what you call it, but that is what we agreed to do. Isabel, the captain’s wife, is well on the way to laying out plans for the event. Tell your Carlotta that if she wants to help with the plans, to call Isabel or Elena, the head of the domestic staff. Unless you are going to turn the boy down, I will see you Christmas time at the wedding. If you do turn him down, then you will have face your daughter. That is what happens when you let them attend school in the states. As for me, I am going to go shoot up a commune near the Pecos Wilderness, which is growing a field of Marijuana and then, I am going fishing. I have been around Isabel before when she is in the plan-making mood.”
Liz, privately, thought that Tess being the madrina of the wedding, or the sponsor who gives advice, was funny. Tess had been the wildest of he aliens before Kivar attacked Isabel. Well maybe, she would have advice which would be helpful to the virginal young couple. Knowing Patrick, Ed was very careful about anything that would show disrespect to the Gutierrez daughter. Ed was careful, especially since he knew he had to face Patrick in Mexico to request her hand in marriage. As he drove down the central highway toward Chihuahua City, in fantasy, he wondered if he would be returning. Or, would Captain Alex have to find a new policeman to take his place because Ed’s body would be somewhere on the desert as food for the zopilotes? Ed still did not know that Kyle had already pled his case.
Kyle, as the padrino, well, at least he was a policeman, also, so he and Ed would understand each other. Tess had already, with permission of the Others, agreed for the corporation to underwrite the wedding. They had all enjoyed the wedding of Salas and Mary last year. That was a lot easier because Mary didn’t have a big family and as Salas said, he was just related to most of Northern New Mexico. Ed’s primary family was small, but he, also, was a state policeman. That created a big family quickly. Many of Bernadette’s friends and family from Mexico would be there. Tess had rented a nearby motel for the week of the wedding.
The corporation had arranged for Ed to room at a hotel in Chihuahua City. It was a beautiful place in the very old Spanish tradition. They parked Ed’s pickup in the hotel garage and sent his luggage to his room. The room opened onto the courtyard which was filled with flowers and birds. Ed was to meet with the Gutierrez family at about 8:00 that evening. As to their tradition, the Gutierrez family had supper later in the evening than Ed was used to. That didn’t matter, as no matter how hungry Ed got, he was so nervous that he couldn’t have eaten anything before facing Patrick, anyway.
Ed was dressed in his best black western cut suit. His black Tony Lama boots and light gray Stetson hat rounded out his ensemble. Esteban, Bernie’s brother, met Ed at the door. He led Ed into his father’s study. Some little brothers might make fun of the suitor to their sisters hand, but Estaban was old enough to realize it would be his turn soon. Right now, he had several girl friends, but for some reason, he couldn’t take any of them seriously. Patrick had never explained some of the alien quirks that went along with the alien legacy.
Ed entered and Patrick rose from behind the large desk. Carlotta, Bernie’s mother, remained seated. There was a hand-shake all around which was different from what Ed was used to. It reminded him of the way the Navajos had greeted him back home. “Señor Gutierrez, Señora, I would like to request the hand of your daughter, Bernadette, in marriage,” Ed managed to get out.
Ed hadn’t relinquished his hat at the door and now, he twisted it round and round in his hands. Ed had faced aliens, drunken cowboys and the meanest training sergeant in the world back in cadet school, along with the most dangerous places in the mountains of Afghanistan, but now for the first time, he was scared. Patrick was an open-minded man. He was a close friend to Kyle. Just how would he take to a gringo yerno, or son-in-law?
Patrick sternly looked at Patrick. “Do I understand that you want to take our Bernadette away from Mexico?”
Ed swallowed. “No, we would be living in New Mexico, but Bernadette would be able to visit her home when ever she wanted,” Ed stressed.
Patrick cleared his throat, “What about her education? She has worked hard to accomplish what she has done.”
Ed again stated, “Bernie has finished almost all her work on her master’s degree in Anthropology. It will be up to her if she wants to go further.”
Patrick frowned at the familiarity Ed used in the name Bernie. Patrick knew that he had to end this farce soon. Patrick continued questioning Ed about his feelings. It was not proper for a father to question the one thing that Patrick wanted to know. “Was Ed sleeping with his daughter?” Patrick, wisely, avoided this question. Did he really want to know? The Gutierrez family had done the best they could to raise Bernadette. The fact that Ed had seen fit to follow tradition had to mean something. There comes a time when the actions of one’s daughter becomes, not the business of her father and mother, but rather, the business of her own and the man she loved.
Carlotta warned him that if he frightened Ed away, neither she nor Bernadette would speak to him again. Well, a father is responsible to make sure the man who takes his daughter away will be strong enough to protect her. Capitán Alex Whitman had called that morning. Again, as with Kyle, he had given a very favorable report on Ed Andrews. Patrick had already had good feelings to the strength of those in Farmington. It was good to know that his hija, his daughter, would be part of a group so strong. “Señor Andrews, it will be necessary for you to speak to the family priest. With the assurance that you will always take care of my daughter, I will welcome you into the family,” Patrick ended the formality.
Patrick was as tall as Ed, but the diminutive Carlotta reminded Ed of Doctor Parker-Evans. He had to bend down so she could kiss him on the cheek.
Esteban breathed a sigh of relief. This formal business had delayed dinner even later than was usual. Now, he had a soon to be brother-in-law and they could sit down to eat. He and his sister, Alicia, had been hiding near the study door so they could hear the proceedings.
Ed was now driving back to the States. He was a lot more cheerful returning than he had been coming down. The Gutierrez family had accepted him. Ed had a lot of respect for Patrick, along with still a little fear. Both the younger siblings of Bernie were excited because they remembered the party Isabel had thrown before. Esteban, the Sociology major, looked forward to seeing Salas who had told him so much about Hispanic culture in New Mexico. Alicia had formed an email friendship with the daughter of Thomas Ciel, Michele. Michele was part alien similar to Alicia. No matter, parties meant dresses and other finery. Parties with Isabel, meant boys who they could freely talk to; boys, who, also, might be part alien.
Ed’s pickup had several boxes simply tied with string so customs could inspect them. They, also, had letters with each box from Patrick. It would be a foolish inspector indeed who questioned the word of Patrick Gutierrez of the Policía Narcótico of Mexico. The boxes contained a traditional bridal dress and other things for the wedding. Ed was told that he was not to watch when the inspectors looked at the dress because it would bring bad luck.
The family priest had been almost as frightening as had been Patrick. When he knew that Ed was not Catholic, he questioned, if Ed promised to give his children a Catholic education. Ed had talked to Max once and Max explained the conversation he had had with the priest in Roswell before he married Liz. Max chuckled. “You know, you also will be called before the Others, the aliens of Farmington. They, also, will want assurance that you will be committed to their child. The Others consider all engineered aliens, no matter how far back their linage goes, as their children.
The priest of the Gutierrez family was assured that many of the children associated with Ed’s extended family had been given Catholic educations and that they were open to all knowledge. He explained that he would make sure they had the education, but the children would decide their own lives in the future.
It was more common in the States to have mixed weddings, where the priest and the preacher would share the duties of the wedding vows. Ed stressed that the Gutierrez family wanted very much for their priest to perform the ceremony and Ed wanted his own family to be represented by their own religion. There were questions, not common in Mexico, but finally, all was decided. The priest would be in Farmington the week before Christmas and could still be back at his post for his own parishioners in time for midnight mass, Christmas Eve.
Before the Others: the request was made for Patrick and Bernie to appear together. This was something different. At the first, the Others always requested that their interviews be singular. Liz, privately, thought that maybe, the Others were growing as the number of those who knew them grew. The Others might have been seeing their children as pairs and had more interest in how these pairs cooperated.
The Others had presided over unions between their children and humans from the first. This was the first time the child was the offspring of an entirely different group of aliens. The aliens who had made Patrick’s ancestors had disappeared. Ed and Bernadette now were added to those who would be charged with the fight against Kivar.
The wedding, the fiesta after, the different cultures all strengthened the group at Farmington. Maybe now, things would calm down until Kivar again rose up. Isabel was still fragile. Except for the time when she was surrounded by party planning, Isabel was still worried about her strength. Someway, they would have to all face Kivar again.
To be continued in the 4th part, “Witches Cave.”
Author’s note: I am not satisfies with this ending. Right now it is the best I can do. There is one more part in the story. Tess will meet the greatest trial of her life. Isabel will find that protecting her children brings out what Kivar stole from her. This time Doctor Parker-Evans will face Kivar herself. Ed Andrews and Salas Zamora will stand beside her. Thomas Charlie will also face things that he can’t explain either with tradition or by education. If we are lucky Ed will ruminate about his wedding thus telling us what I can’t tell now.
Ken r
mary mary
Begonia9508
keepsmiling7
and the others who followed this almost like a cult following.
Chapter 17
Ed had been a trained sniper in the army. They dropped him and another man called a spotter, in all sorts of weird territory. Later, they literally, yanked them back out. He had spent days hidden in the sand guarding the mountain pass against the smugglers. He had single-handily set out against Simon Roughhausen. That ended with Doctor Parker-Evans taking the convict out. Now, he had to face, alone, the parents of his love. He wasn’t allowed any spotters or backup. Ed Andrews was a bit afraid of Bernadette’s father. Who wouldn’t be? Patrick had the ability to make people disappear in the desert as buzzard food. Zopilotes had to eat also, was Patrick’s favorite saying. No one knew how many Patrick had contributed to the Zopilote food bank.
Ed was sure that the Gutierrez family would look favorably on a traditional approach to the request of their daughter’s hand in marriage. When Bernadette kissed him the night, before she had whispered, “Just don’t let him scare you. He is a policeman the same as you are. Remember, you are the first man who had approached him to take away his daughter.”
That was so easy for Bernie to say. She was presenting her master’s thesis and all she had to face was a panel of old men who would fall for her charms. Ed couldn’t see how they could, but accept her paper and load her with praise. Bernadette had laughed. The old fogies weren’t that easy, but let Ed think what he would.
Ed drove his older model Ford Pickup. Bernie had offered her small compact, but Ed had always driven a pickup when he was young on his father’s farm in Oklahoma. He had always had a pickup for a personal car after he returned from the army. Since he used the pickup only for personal business, the mileage was low. Ed used his police cruiser anytime he could consider himself on police business. Somehow when facing Patrick Gutierrez, Ed felt he needed familiar things to hang on to.
Ed hadn’t known, but Kyle had called Patrick, the evening before Ed left for Chihuahua City. “Hey primo,” primo was a word that meant cousin, but it was, many times, used for friend and such. Kyle did consider Patrick as a friend. They were both in the same business, drug enforcement, and they both had a lot in common. “We are sending you one of our best. Try not to scare him too much. He is very much in love with your daughter, Bernadette. My wife, Tess, and I have already agreed to sponsor the wedding. I forgot what you call it, but that is what we agreed to do. Isabel, the captain’s wife, is well on the way to laying out plans for the event. Tell your Carlotta that if she wants to help with the plans, to call Isabel or Elena, the head of the domestic staff. Unless you are going to turn the boy down, I will see you Christmas time at the wedding. If you do turn him down, then you will have face your daughter. That is what happens when you let them attend school in the states. As for me, I am going to go shoot up a commune near the Pecos Wilderness, which is growing a field of Marijuana and then, I am going fishing. I have been around Isabel before when she is in the plan-making mood.”
Liz, privately, thought that Tess being the madrina of the wedding, or the sponsor who gives advice, was funny. Tess had been the wildest of he aliens before Kivar attacked Isabel. Well maybe, she would have advice which would be helpful to the virginal young couple. Knowing Patrick, Ed was very careful about anything that would show disrespect to the Gutierrez daughter. Ed was careful, especially since he knew he had to face Patrick in Mexico to request her hand in marriage. As he drove down the central highway toward Chihuahua City, in fantasy, he wondered if he would be returning. Or, would Captain Alex have to find a new policeman to take his place because Ed’s body would be somewhere on the desert as food for the zopilotes? Ed still did not know that Kyle had already pled his case.
Kyle, as the padrino, well, at least he was a policeman, also, so he and Ed would understand each other. Tess had already, with permission of the Others, agreed for the corporation to underwrite the wedding. They had all enjoyed the wedding of Salas and Mary last year. That was a lot easier because Mary didn’t have a big family and as Salas said, he was just related to most of Northern New Mexico. Ed’s primary family was small, but he, also, was a state policeman. That created a big family quickly. Many of Bernadette’s friends and family from Mexico would be there. Tess had rented a nearby motel for the week of the wedding.
The corporation had arranged for Ed to room at a hotel in Chihuahua City. It was a beautiful place in the very old Spanish tradition. They parked Ed’s pickup in the hotel garage and sent his luggage to his room. The room opened onto the courtyard which was filled with flowers and birds. Ed was to meet with the Gutierrez family at about 8:00 that evening. As to their tradition, the Gutierrez family had supper later in the evening than Ed was used to. That didn’t matter, as no matter how hungry Ed got, he was so nervous that he couldn’t have eaten anything before facing Patrick, anyway.
Ed was dressed in his best black western cut suit. His black Tony Lama boots and light gray Stetson hat rounded out his ensemble. Esteban, Bernie’s brother, met Ed at the door. He led Ed into his father’s study. Some little brothers might make fun of the suitor to their sisters hand, but Estaban was old enough to realize it would be his turn soon. Right now, he had several girl friends, but for some reason, he couldn’t take any of them seriously. Patrick had never explained some of the alien quirks that went along with the alien legacy.
Ed entered and Patrick rose from behind the large desk. Carlotta, Bernie’s mother, remained seated. There was a hand-shake all around which was different from what Ed was used to. It reminded him of the way the Navajos had greeted him back home. “Señor Gutierrez, Señora, I would like to request the hand of your daughter, Bernadette, in marriage,” Ed managed to get out.
Ed hadn’t relinquished his hat at the door and now, he twisted it round and round in his hands. Ed had faced aliens, drunken cowboys and the meanest training sergeant in the world back in cadet school, along with the most dangerous places in the mountains of Afghanistan, but now for the first time, he was scared. Patrick was an open-minded man. He was a close friend to Kyle. Just how would he take to a gringo yerno, or son-in-law?
Patrick sternly looked at Patrick. “Do I understand that you want to take our Bernadette away from Mexico?”
Ed swallowed. “No, we would be living in New Mexico, but Bernadette would be able to visit her home when ever she wanted,” Ed stressed.
Patrick cleared his throat, “What about her education? She has worked hard to accomplish what she has done.”
Ed again stated, “Bernie has finished almost all her work on her master’s degree in Anthropology. It will be up to her if she wants to go further.”
Patrick frowned at the familiarity Ed used in the name Bernie. Patrick knew that he had to end this farce soon. Patrick continued questioning Ed about his feelings. It was not proper for a father to question the one thing that Patrick wanted to know. “Was Ed sleeping with his daughter?” Patrick, wisely, avoided this question. Did he really want to know? The Gutierrez family had done the best they could to raise Bernadette. The fact that Ed had seen fit to follow tradition had to mean something. There comes a time when the actions of one’s daughter becomes, not the business of her father and mother, but rather, the business of her own and the man she loved.
Carlotta warned him that if he frightened Ed away, neither she nor Bernadette would speak to him again. Well, a father is responsible to make sure the man who takes his daughter away will be strong enough to protect her. Capitán Alex Whitman had called that morning. Again, as with Kyle, he had given a very favorable report on Ed Andrews. Patrick had already had good feelings to the strength of those in Farmington. It was good to know that his hija, his daughter, would be part of a group so strong. “Señor Andrews, it will be necessary for you to speak to the family priest. With the assurance that you will always take care of my daughter, I will welcome you into the family,” Patrick ended the formality.
Patrick was as tall as Ed, but the diminutive Carlotta reminded Ed of Doctor Parker-Evans. He had to bend down so she could kiss him on the cheek.
Esteban breathed a sigh of relief. This formal business had delayed dinner even later than was usual. Now, he had a soon to be brother-in-law and they could sit down to eat. He and his sister, Alicia, had been hiding near the study door so they could hear the proceedings.
Ed was now driving back to the States. He was a lot more cheerful returning than he had been coming down. The Gutierrez family had accepted him. Ed had a lot of respect for Patrick, along with still a little fear. Both the younger siblings of Bernie were excited because they remembered the party Isabel had thrown before. Esteban, the Sociology major, looked forward to seeing Salas who had told him so much about Hispanic culture in New Mexico. Alicia had formed an email friendship with the daughter of Thomas Ciel, Michele. Michele was part alien similar to Alicia. No matter, parties meant dresses and other finery. Parties with Isabel, meant boys who they could freely talk to; boys, who, also, might be part alien.
Ed’s pickup had several boxes simply tied with string so customs could inspect them. They, also, had letters with each box from Patrick. It would be a foolish inspector indeed who questioned the word of Patrick Gutierrez of the Policía Narcótico of Mexico. The boxes contained a traditional bridal dress and other things for the wedding. Ed was told that he was not to watch when the inspectors looked at the dress because it would bring bad luck.
The family priest had been almost as frightening as had been Patrick. When he knew that Ed was not Catholic, he questioned, if Ed promised to give his children a Catholic education. Ed had talked to Max once and Max explained the conversation he had had with the priest in Roswell before he married Liz. Max chuckled. “You know, you also will be called before the Others, the aliens of Farmington. They, also, will want assurance that you will be committed to their child. The Others consider all engineered aliens, no matter how far back their linage goes, as their children.
The priest of the Gutierrez family was assured that many of the children associated with Ed’s extended family had been given Catholic educations and that they were open to all knowledge. He explained that he would make sure they had the education, but the children would decide their own lives in the future.
It was more common in the States to have mixed weddings, where the priest and the preacher would share the duties of the wedding vows. Ed stressed that the Gutierrez family wanted very much for their priest to perform the ceremony and Ed wanted his own family to be represented by their own religion. There were questions, not common in Mexico, but finally, all was decided. The priest would be in Farmington the week before Christmas and could still be back at his post for his own parishioners in time for midnight mass, Christmas Eve.
Before the Others: the request was made for Patrick and Bernie to appear together. This was something different. At the first, the Others always requested that their interviews be singular. Liz, privately, thought that maybe, the Others were growing as the number of those who knew them grew. The Others might have been seeing their children as pairs and had more interest in how these pairs cooperated.
The Others had presided over unions between their children and humans from the first. This was the first time the child was the offspring of an entirely different group of aliens. The aliens who had made Patrick’s ancestors had disappeared. Ed and Bernadette now were added to those who would be charged with the fight against Kivar.
The wedding, the fiesta after, the different cultures all strengthened the group at Farmington. Maybe now, things would calm down until Kivar again rose up. Isabel was still fragile. Except for the time when she was surrounded by party planning, Isabel was still worried about her strength. Someway, they would have to all face Kivar again.
To be continued in the 4th part, “Witches Cave.”
Author’s note: I am not satisfies with this ending. Right now it is the best I can do. There is one more part in the story. Tess will meet the greatest trial of her life. Isabel will find that protecting her children brings out what Kivar stole from her. This time Doctor Parker-Evans will face Kivar herself. Ed Andrews and Salas Zamora will stand beside her. Thomas Charlie will also face things that he can’t explain either with tradition or by education. If we are lucky Ed will ruminate about his wedding thus telling us what I can’t tell now.
Ken r
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-
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-