Maybe a Roswell-update can help alleviate some possible Monday blues…
Thank you for reading, everyone!! <3
Roswelllostcause - Yeah, those nightmares of Liz's are really frightening… Maybe they're just nightmares, maybe they're something more… Thank you for the feedback!
L-J-L 76 - Thank you for the feedback!
saori_1902
Wow. Baby? Nightmares? Or reality?
That is the question… Thank you for the feedback!
Carolyn (keepsmiling7) - Liz has always had really bad nightmares. This is just the first we are reading about them. Unfortunately, not even Liz is aware - to the full extent - of the horrors of her nightmares, since she seems to go into shock after having them and somewhat pass out
Thank you so much for the feedback!
Eve (begonia9508)
Wondering why they did not understand that, what they are seeing are certainly premonitions for the future... and that Max is going to be the daddy, which seems impossible for him, in his state of mind!
Ah… interesting
You're going down that road, are you
Thank you for the feedback!
Previously on "Lethal Whispers"…
Max had dreams of a blonde girl (who he just recently met in person - Tess) and a brunette (apparently - Liz) growing up. In his dream they were fighting for his attention - in their different ways. The dreams stopped for awhile and were just recently replaced by premonitions, in which Max saw the brunette from his dreams getting attacked and killed by a man. Max happened to stumble upon this girl in real life, saved her life and stopped the premonition from coming true. But the hints into the future continued; with Liz now being captured by an FBI-agent.
This FBI-agent - Joel Martin - wants to quickly climb the career ladder. He wants to validate his research into the lives of Max, Isabel, Michael and Tess, and prove to the world that aliens actually
does exist. So he is highly motivated to capturing our dear aliens.
On the side, Michael traveled back to Roswell to explore the cave he crawled out of as a young boy. There he found a foreign language scribbled on the cave wall. He, Maria and Isabel have been trying to decipher the text, but haven't had much success. Tess - the fourth alien - has also made contact with Michael, Isabel and Max. She has put surveillance in Max's apartment and has - in the past - hired a private investigator to research Max, Isabel and Michael. So… Is Tess to be trusted or not?
Meanwhile, Liz has suffered from night terrors on and off throughout her life. They stopped in her teenage years, only to return just after meeting Max and the rest of the aliens. Max just witnessed one of those nightmares, which left Liz bleeding from her nether regions even though the blood seemed to have disappeared once the dream had ended.
The FBI-agent has questioned Liz and Liz's assailant (David Perkins) about the assault. He has yet to question Max about the incident…
CHAPTER 34
Anonymous
There was a reason for the secrecy. The less they knew, the better protected they were.
Her assignment was considered a privilege and she had treated it as such. But lately, she had suspected that they had started to remember. The cave had been visited and for all intents and purposes, they were right now trying to decipher the language in that cave.
The truth was scheduled to be revealed upon their required return to their planet, which was not yet.
She closed the back doors to the ambulance with a sigh and rearranged the name tag that had been pushed askew. The human population were not to be underestimated. They were cunning and could be very manipulative in getting their way.
They harbored a kindness and capacity for love which was unprecedented in the totality of the universe, but if their survival was threatened, most of them revealed a bad side.
She knew of the increased interactions with Elizabeth Parker, a person she did not consider a threat but an inconvenience. She knew of the FBI agent - a human she considered to be a very high threat - who was pursuing one of her protégé’s scalps.
“You ready?”
She looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah.”
His amber eyes smiled back and she wondered, for about the thousandth time, when it would be safe to tell them the truth.
*****
Isabel
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?” Max asked, apparently not caring that she hadn’t even offered him a greeting when she had picked up on his phone call.
“About Liz. About the FBI agent.”
There was silence. A silence which lasted so long that Isabel removed the phone from her ear and looked at the screen just to make sure that the call hadn’t been disconnected.
“Liz told me. She thought you’d told me already. Which is a natural conclusion. I am, after all, your sister. What I can’t seem to figure out is why you don’t think I deserve to know that my life might be in danger?”
“I had it under control.” His voice was subdued and guilty.
“Really?” Isabel sighed, feeling the betrayal wash through her system. “When are you going to learn that you can’t protect everyone against everything? That we would be safer if we were let in on your secrets? That knowledge gives us power. Gives us power to protect ourselves.”
“I didn’t want you to do anything hasty. I needed to think it through first. I was going to tell you.”
“You didn’t want Michael to do anything hasty.”
His silence told her that she had been spot on in that assumption.
“We deserve to be part of these decisions, Max,” Isabel said tiredly. “The path of our lives is not up to you to determine.”
“You know what Michael’s decision would be on this,” Max said. “He only has one response; Flight.”
“So what? It’s still his decision to make.”
“I’m not prepared to leave my home just like that. To leave our parents. Are you?”
Isabel closed her eyes and pinched her nose. He was not playing fair. He knew how much she adored their human parents.
When they had entered their teenage years, they had fought endlessly about whether or not to let their parents know about who they really were. Isabel had wanted to tell them, being certain that they would want to protect their children. Max had informed her that fear made humans do things out of character. Like turning their adoptive children into the government or the law enforcement.
“Of course not. But we have to know if our lives are being threatened. You must understand that.”
“I do,” Max sighed. “Believe me, I do. But I wanted to spare you that fear.”
“I’m sure it all seems like a very noble act in your head, Max. But we’re all adults here. It’s not your job to look after us or make all the decisions.”
“There’s been a development.”
Isabel was sure she felt her heart momentarily stop. Another development? What was this? The horror culmination of her life?
She was almost afraid to ask, “What?”
“I had another premonition.”
Isabel couldn’t help but exhale in relief. It couldn’t be so bad then, could it? Could it? “But you saved Liz. Danger averted.”
“This is a new one.”
And the fear was back full force. Would his premonition foresee her own demise this time? Or Michael’s? Or kill off Maria?
At her non-reply, Max continued, “Liz is to be abducted by the FBI and questioned about her knowledge of extraterrestrials.”
“That sound a bit dramatic. ‘Abducted’?”
“Held against her will.”
“Max, you were certain that she wouldn’t reveal anything about us. You said so yourself.”
“They’ll torture her for information.”
Isabel inhaled deeply.
Why was nature so bent on destroying Elizabeth Parker? “So…what’s your plan?”
“I want us all to meet up tonight. Michael wanted to talk to Liz, didn’t he?”
“He won’t be so inclined to speak to her after he finds out that there’s a FBI agent on our trail,” Isabel murmured.
“Have you told him?”
“No,” Isabel sighed. “I figured he might do something hasty.”
Max laughed and Isabel afforded to smile.
“Right.” She could hear his smile in that one word, a ‘thank you’ for not telling Michael yet.
“But you have to tell him tonight,” Isabel said. “Or I will.”
“I’ll tell him. But I need him to meet Liz first.”
“Okay.”
“Around seven?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Isabel answered. “I’ll let Michael know.”
*****
Max
“Max Evans?”
Max stopped dead in his tracks, still breathless from the run he had just finished, feeling the clothes stick to his sweaty body.
Turning to face the voice, he had to search out his best hidden talents of masking his reactions as he came upon the owner of that voice. The anger hit him out of nowhere, knowing that this was the man that would possibly hurt Liz. It was not without any effort that he bit back the animosity burning through his veins.
“Yes?” His question was the right amount of questioning, his expression not revealing that he recognized the man.
The red-haired FBI-agent that had chained Liz Parker to a metal chair in his premonition gave him a thin smile and offered his hand. “Special Agent Joel Martin.”
Max looked down at the hand for a second before grasping it in greeting. “What can I do for you, agent?”
He could feel the agent watching his every move, gauging his every reaction, but Max Evans had spent a lifetime hiding his feelings and thoughts. Reading Max Evans face would prove quite a challenge for Special Agent Joel Martin.
“I’d like to ask you some questions, Mr. Evans.”
Max looked down at his training clothes with a sheepish smile. “Erm, now is really not a good time, agent. Could we reschedule?”
“It won’t take long,” the agent said, his eyes hard.
Max watched him through his long dark lashes, considering the right action to take. Postpone or just get it over with? It had only been a matter of time anyway before the agent would seek him out.
Max settled for casually shrugging his shoulders. “Well, agent, in that case I’ll have to ask you to excuse the smell,” referring to his sweaty attire.
The agent didn’t seem amused, but gestured down the hall in the direction of Max’s apartment door. “I don’t mind.”
“Right,” Max said and turned his back to the agent, fishing around for the key in his pocket while thoughts were racing through his head.
The sweat that had started to dry on his body from the exercise was returning. At least the agent wouldn’t be able to tell that his presence was in reality affecting Max Evans quite a bit, considering that Max was already sweaty.
Max unlocked the door and swung it opened, remaining in the doorway while he hinted for the agent to, “Step inside, Agent Martin.”
Max removed the running armband around his bicep which carried his iPhone, the white earphones clattering against the tiled floor of the hallway as he disposed of it on the floor, while the agent moved passed him into his living room.
Continuing his act of trying to appear casual and not letting the agent see how his heart in reality was hammering in his chest, Max walked into the kitchen to retrieve a cold water bottle from the refrigerator.
“Take a seat, agent. Can I get you anything?”
Max watched the man out of the corner of his eye as he made himself comfortable on Max’s couch. A couch which had borne witness to a lot of alien-themed conversations over the years.
“Just answers,” the agent replied.
“Right,” Max said, closing the refrigerator door and taking a gulp of water from the bottle. “I presume this has something to do with the girl I helped a couple of days ago.”
The thin smile was back on the agent’s lips as he watched Max take a seat on an armrest of one of the armchairs opposite the couch. “You are correct, Mr. Evans. I’m just tying up some loose ends here. Getting all the ducks in a row and making sure we’re not missing out on anything.”
“I’m a bit surprised that the Bureau is taking an interest in this case,” Max said, screwing the lid back on the water bottle.
The agent’s expression was polite, but his eyes remained cold, almost hostile.
This man has already made up his mind about me, Max thought.
And he’s not a big fan.
“There were some elements to the attack that were outside of the…how should I put this?” The agent smiled. “Outside the scope of
normal.”
“Huh,” Max said, brushing at the bangs that were sticking to his damp forehead. “How’s that?”
The agent leaned forward in his seat, putting his elbows on his thighs and etching his eyes into Max’s. “Let’s just cut the bull, Mr. Evans.”
Max felt a chill down his spine, but showed it outwardly merely through a frown. “I’m not sure I’m following, Agent Martin.”
“I would like you to know, Mr. Evans, that I’m armed and I won’t hesitate to use deadly force.”
Max felt the coldness spread from his spine into his chest.
He’s afraid of me. But Max also knew the appropriate response to such an odd statement.
“I assumed that FBI-agents were armed, but I never thought you made a habit out of going around making threats.”
The agent narrowed his eyes. “I’m just evening the playing field here.”
Max laughed and he couldn’t help but notice how the agent jumped in his seat at the sudden sound. But he pretended to not have seen it. The agent was on edge, no need to put him any more on edge than he already was. Not as long as he was ‘armed and wouldn’t hesitate to use deadly force’.
“Agent Martin, you can’t be serious? I have no intention of hurting you. For God’s sake,” Max made a show of looking around himself in the very ordinarily decorated living room, “even if I wanted to hurt you, what would I use as a weapon that would match up to your gun?”
“I know things about you, Mr. Evans. Things that give me a reason to be cautious.”
Max felt the fake smile slip off his face, he couldn’t stop it. The agent couldn’t be fooled to make light of the situation anyway.
“And what would those things be?”
“I want you to tell me what you did to David Perkins, Liz Parker’s assailant,” the agent said, his hand moving to his waist.
Max noticed the agent’s movement in the direction of the gun attached to his belt and how he paused to let it hover over it. Ready to take aim if Max suddenly would…What? Turn into a horrible alien, make shark teeth push out of his gums and bite the agent to death? Even though Max possessed powers, there was something ridiculous about the thought, about the agent’s fear. Something that made Max lose respect for the guy, making the agent less ‘scary’ than what he had seemed in his premonition and in Liz’s description of the man.
Max relaxed his stance and answered evenly, “I removed him from Ms. Parker.”
“How?”
Without letting his eyes waver from the agent’s face, Max answered, “I took a hold of his shirt and hauled him off. He ended up against the wall.”
“It was quite a stretch from where Elizabeth Parker was,” the agent pointed out and as Max felt his own forehead drying up he watched a drop of sweat roll down the agent’s forehead.
“It must’ve been adrenaline,” Max answered with a shrug. “I’ve read about that. How a surge of adrenaline can give you incredible strength.”
“I’ve never heard of adrenaline giving you the ability to create energy fields,” the agent said grimly.
Since Liz had mentioned that the agent knew about the force field, Max was not surprised at the question and hence could hide his response expertly. He raised one eyebrow calmly. “Energy field?”
“Mr. Perkins stated that you produced a green electrical field with your hand and it was this force field that pushed him off Ms. Parker. Not you directly.”
“Hmm,” Max said passively and let a smile slowly creep onto his lips. When the agent didn’t add anything further, Max let the smile roll into a quiet laughter. The look he received from the agent was cold and hostile.
“Sorry, sir,” Max smiled and unscrewed the lid of the water bottle to take another sip of water. “You actually believe that story?”
“I have my reasons to do so, yes,” the agent answered tightly.
“If I were in Mr. Perkins situation, I’d probably try and wing the truth a bit too to get out of it,” Max said.
There was a pause and the agent stared at Max. Max could hear the blood rushing hotly in his ears, but to Agent Martin he appeared the optimum of serenity.
“You were adopted as a child, correct?”
Max hesitated at the sudden change of topic. “That’s correct.”
“And you have no memory of your childhood before that?”
“Correct.”
“In fact, you had no language, no social skills and there was no one to claim you as their biological child.”
“That’s all in the public records, Agent Martin,” Max said, impatience seeping into his voice.
“What’s not in the public records are statements given by the staff at daycare centers and your teachers concerning extraordinary events occurring in your surroundings.”
Max felt the chill return and he could tell from the smugness creeping into the agent’s expression that he had let it show. “What are you getting at, Agent Martin?”
“One teacher witnessed you picking up an injured bird which, after a couple of seconds, flew from your hands, as if nothing had happened. A Mrs. Krump at The Sunshine Daycare reports of you talking in tongues and even making a chair move by looking at it.”
Max laughed. “Come on, agent. They were only rumors. A lot of people back then were…fascinated by my background - or lack thereof as you so thoroughly recited - and stories arose. What was I supposedly doing with that bird? Healing it?”
The agent rose from his seat and Max looked up, his eyes flickering to where the agent kept his gun, afraid that the agent might actually act on his previous threat.
Instead, the agent looked down at him with a face cut in stone. “You might’ve been able to fool a lot of people throughout your life, Mr. Evans, but you don’t fool me. I
know who you are. Who you
really are.”
“What am I, Agent Martin?” Max asked evenly, almost looking forward to the agent’s answer.
“You’re a manipulator,” the agent answered and Max knew that was very far from what the man wanted to say. The more probable answer to that question started with an ‘a’ and ended with ‘lien’. “You did something to that man that night. You did something to that bird and somehow you are involved with the miraculous recovery of a girl back in the 90’s. A girl that now happens to be a friend of yours. And you might have been able to run under the radar undetected for a long time, but make one mistake, Max, and I will get you. I promise you that.”
“Are you threatening me, Agent Martin?”
“You’re a smart man, Mr. Evans. What do you think?”
And with that, the agent walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind him.
Max let his head fall into his hands as one shudder followed by the next and the next passed through him. The agent knew everything about him. Which meant that some branch of the government knew everything about him. Which meant that they could capture him at any time and make him disappear. Most likely, without a trace.
TBC...
