| Isabel Evans heard the noise again, although this time it wasn't nearly as loud. Or maybe she was just closer to it. She let her breath out slowly and closed her eyes willing her ears to work harder. * * * "Did you hear that?" Maria whispered and halted her walk forcing Michael to stop with her. He shrugged afraid to say anything out loud. "Listen," Maria put her finger to her lips. Michael cocked his head to one side as a barely audible snap seemingly blared across the night sky. He looked at Maria and was relieved when her eyes were as wild as his were. She was an adrenaline junkie too. The thrill of the chase was on. He nodded and pulled her in the direction of the noise and hoped against hope it wasn't Isabel they were tracking. He kept his free hand out in front of them, pushing back branches and brush with a sudden need to make sure Maria didn't get hurt. Although he wasn't surprised when she found her place next to him and held back her own foliage. They had only traveled a short distance when Michael stopped and pulled Maria back. He put his finger to his lips as she had minutes earlier, and pointed. "Shit," Maria muttered under her breath. She looked in the direction she thought Michael was pointing in and heard another snap of twigs. "Go." She prodded him with a finger in the stomach. * * * Max Evans stumbled into the dark woods while constantly wiping blood from his nose. He was pretty sure by this time it was indeed broken because it hurt like hell. Not that he could blame Michael for punching him, he had, after all, kidnapped a bounty hunter and helped a felon. "Are you insane?" He asked himself seconds before he tripped over an exposed tree root. He fell to his knees and felt said root skin rip through the knee of his pants. "Damn it!" Max stood on shaky knees lost in the lack of judgement he had endured since he had received the phone call from Liz Parker. A girl he knew in high school. A girl he had a wild crush on. A girl that he hadn't had any contact with for eight years. But still a girl he would break laws for. With a deep breath, Max Evans stumbled back into the darkness with the hope of finding Liz Parker and helping her get out of town before the other's found her. Being a student of the mind, he knew where he feelings were coming from and there was nothing he could do to change them. It was all summed up into two words: human nature. * * * Isabel cursed a plane overhead; she was trying to listen to the noises around her but the roaring engine from above was distorting her hearing. She opened her eyes and caught a flash of light; she sucked in a deep breath and tried to zero in on the flash. Flash of light or flash of silver? She wasn't sure. Could possibly be a flash of jewelry, or a gun? With a staggered step, she bent down lower and stalked towards the flash of light. Or silver. Or metal. She heard footsteps and a whisper? The plane was gone but Isabel's ears weren't honing in the way she hoped they would. She kept her long body low and cursed her height. * * * Michael licked his bottom lip; his body filling with the adrenaline rush he loved. As the moon peeked out from behind a dark cloud, he looked at the bounty hunter beside him, working with him and smiled. This is how it was meant to be. A plane overhead made them stop in their tracks. "So," he whispered wetly in her ear using the camouflage of the plane's engine to cover his words. "I was thinking." "Oh yeah?" Maria whispered back. "I know you didn't like here in Roswell when you got here." She nodded and remembered her soliloquy of annoyance upon her arrival in Roswell. How things change, she mused. His voice was low and wet. "But I think it would be in everyone's best interest for you to stay here. You're not leaving Roswell, you know that? You got my heart so don't think you're going to drag it off to San Francisco. You're staying right here with me. Right?" She nodded before she could stop herself. In a moment when she should be hot on the trail of a little woman who had slipped her twice, Maria DeLuca was wondering what a life in the seventh circle of hell with Michael Guerin would be like. She wondered if her Angelfish would like it in Roswell. "Good," Michael kissed her earlobe. "Can we go get my bounty now?" "Your bounty?" Michael whispered as his lips met hers. "I think Liz Parker is our bounty, babe." A flash of light about twenty yards away caught the attention of both of them. The light flickered once then went out. Maria grabbed Michael by the hand and pulled him through the brush trampling everything underfoot. * * * Isabel Evans saw a figure off tot he side of her and panicked. She wished she had Michael with her; although he may annoy the hell out of her, she could depend on him. And as Isabel was learning, there weren't a lot of people in this world that she could depend on. Her brother was on that list. An Oak tree in front of her became her shield as she tried to figure out what to do. Bracing the sides of the enormous trunk with her hands, she tapped at the bark until she realized she was making noise. She damned herself for breaking the first rule in bounty hunting: Do not draw attention to yourself. The light was back and it was indeed a light. A very thin beam of a flashlight was hitting the ground first on one side of the tree and then the other sending Isabel into a near panic. Before she could talk herself out of it, she took a deep breath and jumped around the tree to face whoever was there. * * * "There!" Michael whispered excitedly as the light reappeared a few yards in front of them. They raced towards the light and bound into a small clearing, the first person they saw was Isabel with the thin beam of light trained on her face. The next person they saw was the one holding what appeared to be a penlight, Max Evans. "You've got to be kidding me!" Michael exclaimed. "Iz?" "Michael?" Isabel held her hand over her face, shading her eyes and turned to look at the duo that had arrived. "Michael?" Max asked and turned the light on him and Maria. "Max!" Isabel shouted with anger in her voice. "Liz," Maria smirked and stepped out of the direct line of light from Max's penlight and nodded towards a hollowed out tree trunk a few feet away from her. She pointed at the base of the trunk where a pair of white sneakers seemed to glow in the darkened rotten wood around them. TBC |
| Part 28 |
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