The Hunted Ones

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



Note from Author:      Takes place shortly before "Demon Child"



**********



"Agent Sandoval?" Sandoval winced a little as Al'ith's clear high voice reached him. Somewhere along the line, he thought, she had picked up enunciation of "Sandoval" quite similar to Zo'or's, and hearing the drawling in the mouth of a child was... well, disturbing was the best word.

He turned from the console he was working at and looked down at Al'ith, staring up at him with her large electric-blue eyes. He hastily pasted on an impassive stare that he had perfected years before. "Yes, Al'ith?"

Al'ith drew her small hand from behind her back and held out a small dataclip. "Starcharts you asked for," she said simply.

Sandoval felt a spike of anger as he wordlessly took the starcharts and waved up a datastream. The Volunteers were getting lazy, he thought. Some of them were taking advantage of Al'ith's eagerness to help. "Thank you," he said quietly. He turned to the datastream and began to scan through the latest readings, comparing them to those a month ago to determine what might be Jaridian involvement.

A scuffing noise that would have been unhearable for a normal human reached his ears. He raised his head but did not look back. "Al'ith, you don't have to stay here."

"I forgot to tell you," Al'ith said with a hint of embarrassment. She wriggled a little, staring at her sneaker-clad feet. "Zo'or said I'm s'posed to go down to Earth for a medical scan. I already had a lot, why do I have to have more scans?" she asked pensively, looking up at him.

Sandoval glanced around the room. No one was watching. He dropped into a crouch, looking the little girl straight in the eye. "The human doctors want to know things about you," he began to explain.

"Like shakarava," Al'ith said.

That stopped Sandoval. He drew back a little, staring at her. "What do you know about shakarava?" he asked slowly.

"They think I might have them," Al'ith shrugged. She looked at Sandoval's thoughtful face, as if trying to read his emotions and store them away. "What are they?"

Sandoval opened his mouth to reply, then decided against it. "I'll tell you later," he said. He waved the datastream away and took Al'ith's hand firmly in his. He felt a slight pang at the easy way she followed him, feet pattering on the floor to keep up with his longer stride. Zo'or hated her with an almost irrational hatred, and would surely want her done away with at some time.

It didn't make sense, Da'an would surely make more hybrids anyhow, but Zo'or seemed to resent Al'ith's existance the way he would resent a fifty-foot remora being attached to the mothership. Sandoval glanced down at her, now turning the faster walk into a sort of prancing skip, and smiled a little.

Dee Dee had wanted a little girl, he remembered. She had asked if they could have a baby, and he had said that they should wait, until he had a job that would definitely be there permanently. And Siobhan had always loved children...

He shook it off, but the thoughts persisted like the ghosts of his two loves. What would they have thought of Al'ith?

****

Lili was already in the shuttle, programming in the coordinates, when Sandoval and Al'ith quickly climbed through the front shield. She smiled affectionately at the little girl as she climbed into the chair beside Sandoval, pulling the restraints around herself. "All buckled in?"

"Yes," Al'ith said brightly, smoothing her sky-blue skirt over her knees. Lili made a mental note to get the child some jeans as the shuttle zipped out of the mothership shuttlebay, and shifted into the colored stream of ID travel.

Al'ith gasped in the back, and Lili had to restrain the urge to look back at Sandoval and grin. He wouldn't understand the wonder of a child only seeing such things for the second time in her short life. The first time, Al'ith had rapturously stared out at the ID slipstream, eyes wide as saucers.

"Coming down to Washington," Lili announced, drawing her arms back and disengaging the drives. The ID stream flashed and vanished, revealing the Washington Monument just off to the side. Al'ith pointed at it unnecessarily as Lili veered to the right and landed on the grass by the monument. She dismissed the controls and pointed across a street. "The Parker Labs are over there. Let's go."

As Sandoval climbed down to the ground, Al'ith uttered a squeal and launched herself down from the pilot's chair. Sandoval caught her, then set her on the ground, surprised at how little she weighed. For a moment, her blue eyes were touched with a look that seemed far older than she was, a look he had sometimes seen in Da'an's eyes. It chilled him and drew him in.... no. Sandoval shook himself a little. He had to serve Zo'or, not Al'ith or Da'an.

The illusion passed from her small face as quickly as it had come. Al'ith smiled up at him sunnily and skipped away, following a grinning Lili into the Washington street. Sandoval turned and walked after them, hands folded behind his back, a peculiar look in his dark eyes.

****

The dark-clad man cracked his gum loudly, nestled in an alleyway. He knew perfectly well where his comrades were, and had to congratulate whoever had sent them their position instructions. He couldn't see them at all.

The insolent grin left his thin face as he saw the three figures, and hurriedly picked up the rifle and aimed it at the child in the middle. The little girl in the middle was swaying back and forth as she walked, holding onto the hands of the adults flanking her. Her snub-nosed face looked from one to the other, her lips moving as she chattered to them. His finger tightened on the trigger... adult, child, it made no difference who he killed.

A bullet ripped from the end of the rifle... just as the woman leaned forward.

****

Sandoval whirled at the gunshot. Captain Marquette straightened and slapped a hand to her shoulder, looking confused and blank. As she stared at her shoulder, red blood began to seep through her fingers. She gave Sandoval one horrified look, and crumpled in a heap. Her crimson-stained hand fell off, spread on the pavement as if in supplication.

"Lili!" Al'ith shouted, lunging forward, but Sandoval grabbed her arm and yanked her back, kneeling to look into her eyes.

"I'll take care of her," he hissed. "Run! Get away!"

Al'ith glanced at Lili, her face crumpling with emotion, but turned and began to run down the Washington street, dodging into alleys, as fast as she could. Bullets ripped into the pavement right after her...

****

A skrill blast thundered through the building top, shreding the walls and sending a pair of dark-clad men flying to the ground, screaming once before striking the ground. Their rifles fell at their sides, the plastic melted onto their users. The assassins' faces were reddened and burned, and Sandoval knew at a glance that they would not move again.

He turned his attention back to Captain Marquette, kneeling beside her and pulling off her jacket. The wound was in her shoulder, he saw, a huge red blotch on her white blouse. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it against the shoulder.

Running footsteps were coming behind him, but he couldn't turn to look. A teenage boy with spiked blond hair dropped to his knees beside the FBI agent. "What happened?" he asked, staring at Lili.

Sandoval looked down the street. No sign of Al'ith, but it was clear that she was their target. "Call 911," he said. The boy nodded and pulled a global from his pocket. Sandoval waited for the call to be complete, before pointing at Lili, still lying pale and still on the pavement. "I want you to keep this in place, to stop the bleeding, and not to move until the medivac team gets here,"

"Yeah, sure," the boy said, staring at the dead assassins. "What are they, some kinda Mafia thugs?"

"Possibly," Sandoval said dryly. He grasped the boy's wrist and pressed it against the makeshift bandage. "Stay here, and don't move." The boy gulped at the sight of the blood, but nodded slowly.

He set off in a sprint down the street, leaving an increasingly queasy young man taking care of Lili Marquette.

****

Al'ith stopped running, reaching a huge square filled with people milling around. Giant stone buildings lined the streets, taller and more forbidding than any she had seen before. Some were dressed like Sandoval, some more like Liam and Lili. She shivered and hugged herself, crouching in the alley and desperately hoping that no one saw her.

Her blue eyes filled with tears as she remembered Da'an, Liam, and Lili. She desperately wanted to know what was happening, whether Lili would be all right. Lili had been kind to her from the beginning, everything from braiding her hair to cheering for her when the Synod had accepted her.

"Hey?"

Al'ith jumped to the side at the slightly mocking man's voice. Then she stared in astonishment. The human was possibly the oddest-looking she had seen, with a bright-purple tight shirt and pants, a shaved head, except a tiny braid in the back, and a pair of yellow glasses.

Al'ith tensed to run as he knelt down and pulled off his glasses. She relaxed a little as his expression shifted into one of concern. "Are you lost?" he asked.

Al'ith just nodded, feeling a tear trickle down the side of her nose.

The man smiled and nodded. "What's your name?"

"Al'ith," she replied in a small voice.

He nodded and stood up. "I'm Augur. Well, we'll just find your-"

Al'ith screamed as a fist caught Augur in the side of the head, throwing him against the garbage cans with a thunderous crash. A tall man with eaglelike eyes and a rough face turned, glaring down at the little girl. As she began to run, his hand shot out and grabbed her, pulling her up and keeping her against him so tightly that she couldn't get away. She screamed again, kicking frantically at his stomach. It did no good.

"Hey, buster!" Augur choked, stumbling to his feet. "I don't appreciate being socked to the ground, you neanderthal! Now put down the kid now! She's with me!"

"I don't think so," the assassin growled. He pulled a gun from his belt and aimed it between Augur's shocked brown eyes. Al'ith shrieked again and clawed at the hands holding her in an iron grip.

****

Liam watched with rising anger as an unconscious Lili was wheeled into a waiting ambulance, strapped to a gurney with an oxygen mask over her pale face. He glared at the two men lying at his feet--the dead men that Sandoval had skrilled. About two dozen Volunteers were cordoning off the area and bringing the bodies to the shuttles.

He knew from the construction of their IDs that they were not Taelon-employed. But he didn't recognize them as working for the Resistance either.

He turned and stalked away as the Volunteers. Either way, he thought angrily, striding back towards his shuttle, whoever was trying to harm Al'ith was going to be very, very, very, sorry...

****

Sandoval heard Al'ith before he saw her, as he navigated a dark rat's maze of alleys and bridges. Skidding to a halt, he looked around, and called on his CVI, trying to remember where the scream had come from... the right.

Turning to the right, he began to focus on Raven, feeling the skrill warm instantly as he burst out of the alley. A large crowd of people were ringed around a horrifying visual.

Another dark-clad human was holding a struggling, screaming Al'ith to his chest, ignoring her frantic wriggling and cries. Her small feet were slamming against his stomach. He was holding out a gun, and aiming at someone out of Sandoval's sight. Sandoval's arm went up in a flash, sending out a burst of energy.

It struck the hand aiming the gun, blasting and melting both flesh and weapon. The assassin screamed and dropped Al'ith like a rock, gripping his mangled hand with the other and curling over. Al'ith scrambled to her feet and ran to Sandoval's side as the assassin painfully reached for a second weapon, hidden in his belt. "He has a gun!" Al'ith shouted.

The crowd had been drawing closer, now there were shrieks of terror as people drew back. Sandoval fired another blast, this one striking the black-clad man in the chest.

The man stopped, stared at the smoking hole in his chest, then looked at the child with the blankest eyes Sandoval had ever seen. The he toppled to the side and uttered one shuddering breath.

It was over.

Al'ith gave a whimper, her eyes overflowing. Sandoval gave her a comforting pat on the head and walked over to the dead assassin, who now stared sightlessly at the store windows. More people were coming over for a look.

Sandoval detached the gun from the man's still-clutching fingers and looked over it. What he saw gave him a chill of dismay.

The weapon was of Resistance build.

With Taelon enhancements.

****

Sandoval stared at the gun, astonished, then quickly tucked it into his jacket. Al'ith was squatting beside him, eying the gun's bluish bioenhancements. Sandoval took a brief glance around at the gaping crowd, then took Al'ith's hand and pulled her up. "We need to go," he said quietly.

Al'ith nodded and followed him, a little reluctantly. "Who was that?" she asked. "Does he work for Zo'or?"

Sandoval almost replied, but stopped. And thought.

Zo'or hates Al'ith, but I don't recognize any of those men. I don't think he could have hired assassins without my knowing it. And any assassin hired by Zo'or would not risk killing Captain Marquette in the crossfire... So the Resistance might have done it. But how would the Resistance get their hands on those weapons?

Sandoval's mind spun through the possibilities as he and Al'ith jogged back to the Washington street. He frowned a little; the shuttle was gone, and the area was cordoned off with yellow police tape, blocks of stone and plaster still littering the pavement.

"Liam was here," Al'ith said suddenly.

Sandoval glanced down at her. "How do you know?"

Al'ith pointed at a small leather-covered notebook lying by the curb. "That's Liam's." She pulled her hand from Sandoval's and ran to pick it up. She started flipping through it, smiling at the quotes and small cartoons jotted down on its smooth pages.

So Kincaid had been here. Sandoval's face darkened a little, as he thought of what it might mean. It could mean that Kincaid had not looked for them, expecting both of them to be dead, or it could mean... that he had been there for hours.

"Al'ith," Sandoval said suddenly. "Come with me. We're going away from here... somewhere safe."

****

As Liam Kincaid strode through the mothership, the dangerous click of his shoes and the furious expression on his face cautioned the Volunteers to keep out of his way. They stepped to the side as the agent passed them.

He had alerted the Resistance to look for Al'ith and Sandoval, and had been forced to beat down a growing paranoia at the thought of one of his comrades trying to kill the innocent little girl. Julia, he thought with a wry smile, had provoked those thoughts more than any other.

Well, he thought as he entered the bridge. It's probably Zo'or anyway.

Zo'or was in the command chair, eyes closed. As Liam approached him, he opened his eyes like an angry cat awakened from a nap. "Major Kincaid," he said by way of a hello.

Liam nodded once, then glanced around the bridge. He only saw the usual Taelons in their transparent bubbles and Volunteers scurrying on errands. "Where's Da'an?" he asked casually. Well, I sound realistic enough.

"There is no need for Da'an to be here," Zo'or said dryly. "Major, Captain Marquette has been... incapacitated, is that correct?"

"Yes..." Liam's green eyes narrowed a litttle, suspiciously. What are you getting at, you slippery eel?

"And with Agent Sandoval gone, you are the only available Companion agent," Zo'or said, a hint of his faint, cat-ate-the-canary smile touching his finely-carved features. "I need you to locate both him and the child."

"Surely Agent Sandoval will bring Al'ith to the mothership in this emergency?" Liam asked, voicing a question that had been buzzing in his mind all along.

Zo'or's smile melted away, and his air became one of restrained irritation, like a child whose pet refuses to obey a command. "By his lack of communication, I am only able to assume that Agent Sandoval's allegiances... are not wholly with the Taelons."

Liam quickly tamped down a smile that threatened to overwhelm his solemnity. "Isn't his CVI supposed to deal with that sort of thing?" he asked innocently.

Zo'or glanced down briefly, as if unwilling to make eye contact with the young man. "Supposedly. Unfortunately, some of the motivational imperitives in our implants appear to be failing. I believe that this may be the case with Agent Sandoval, and that he has taken the child to whomever he serves." The Taelon leaned back in his chair and swiveled it away from Liam, signaling that their discussion was at an end.

Liam nodded and left the bridge, his head in a whirl.

Either Zo'or was lying very well--and very elborately--or he genuinely did not know what was happening. Then... what is going on?

BEEZERP!

Liam almost fell over in surprise at the shrill beep of his global. As he pulled it open, Augur's morose face, somewhat purplish and bruised, appeared on it. "What happened to you?" Liam asked in surprise.

"I'll tell you later," Augur replied. "I wanted to tell you that Sandoval ought to be bringing that little hybrid girl there any second now."

Liam pulled his global out further and quickly entered a series of commands. "No, he isn't. Ship's sensors show no shuttles returning."

"Well, that's odd."

"Odder than you know," Liam said, just before shutting the global and heading for the shuttlebay. Zo'or not acting guilty, Sandoval on the lam, Lili in the hospital... this is starting to get me scared.

****

Sandoval didn't see the figure leaping at him from a doorway until the strangling wire was around his throat. Sandoval choked and clutched at the hands gripping the wire, trying to break their hold.

Darkness, blankness began to curl on the edges of his vision and hearing, making it hard to hear and see. Al'ith was screaming distantly, "Stop it! Stop! Let him go! Let him go!"...

****

Sandoval gagged, digging his fingers into the hands of his attacker, a muscular bear of a man. Al'ith threw herself against his, ripping at his wrists with her small hands. "Let him go!" she screamed.

The assassin looked down at her balefully, and kicked her to the side. Al'ith slammed against a garbage can, then forward onto her hands and knees. Sandoval gasped, his lips turning pale blue, dark blood beginning to drip from the circle around his throat.

Through the dark haze that was beginning to weave itself over his eyes, Sandoval saw Al'ith stagger to her feet, holding out her hands. "Stop hurting him!" she screamed again.

"Get away from me, kid," growled the assassin.

Al'ith threw herself against the assassin, and a pale white light began to radiate from her palms as she clung to his leg, grimacing determinedly. Sandoval lurched forward, retching and yanking the bloodstained coil from his leg, as the assassin screamed and clutched at his calf, throwing Al'ith backwards again. She tottered against the garbage can, still holding her glowing hands up. There was a smell of burning hair and skin.

Sandoval grasped a windowsill and shook as he raised his arm, firing a single skrill blast at the hunched thug. The man spasmed and fell like a tree, and for a time there was only Sandoval's labored breathing and a faint sizzle to be heard in the darkness.

Al'ith burst into tears and ran to Sandoval, clinging to his waist. He hugged her for a few minutes, then picked her up and walked slowly away.

****

"I found the ID of one of your mystery men," Augur said, pointing at the screen in his underground lair. Liam stopped pacing along the metal walkway and jumped down beside his friend. "His name is Jay Deavros, an IRS agent."

"Deavros?" Liam said, frowning at the image of a black-clad man on the screen. "What was the IRS doing involved in this?"

"Oh, it gets weirder," Augur said with an enigmatic smile. "Deavros was killed five years ago in a freak car accident."

"Yes, that's weirder," Liam said, sighing ad rubbing his forehead. "So what's he doing, alive and well and hunting down little hybrid girls?"

"Well, obviously he wasn't killed," Augur said, leaning back in his chair and frowning.

"Where was the car accident?"

Augur leaned forward and typed in a command. "Uh... the beach. Apparently the brakes failed and the car went over a cliff in the sight of hundreds of beachgoers."

Liam looked at the blurred photos of a small red sedan in a spray of surf, heading out to sea, and groaned. This is becoming downright nightmarish, he thought, rubbing at his eyes. "See if you can find anything about Deavros, wife, kids, parents, sightings, anything," he said, getting up and heading for the door. "And hack into any system you have to."

"Liam!" Augur suddenly swiveled his chair, looking worried. Liam glanced back at him. For a moment, the hacker stared at his lap, licking his lips, then asked, "How's Lili?"

Liam's face softened a little. "She's gonna be fine, Augur. She lost some blood, but the doctors say she's going to be fine."

Augur smiled a little and looked down. "That's good."

"Just keep it in mind, Augur, when you're looking for them," Liam said, turning and leaving.

****

Al'ith had been sleeping for almost five hours, huddled in the back of the rental car. Her pale little face had wisps of dark hair falling across it, and murmured words fell from her lips. Sandoval glanced at the tiny girl for the thousandth time, then stretched, working his head from side to side to relieve an increasingly stiff neck.

Then he slowly glanced back at Al'ith.

He wasn't entirely certain why he was protecting the child... she was not his charge, and if Zo'or was making this attempt on his own, Sandoval's own position could be severely compromised, if not destroyed. He couldn't afford that.

And he was becoming increasingly suspicious of Kincaid, who had not yet found them. Not wanting to risk exposure? Was Kincaid a part of the Resistance, or was he... working for himself?

Sandoval sighed and leaned his head on the headrest. He had abandoned his global long ago, fearful of being traced. He wasn't certain where to go, or what to do. But he had no intention of bringing Al'ith back to the mothership before he knew what was happening. He closed his eyes, touching the gun in his jacket...

"Agent Sandoval?" a thin voice whispered from the back.

"Yes, Al'ith?" Sandoval said without opening his eyes.

"There's a black car coming by here every few minutes," Al'ith whispered.

Sandoval straightened and started the car, blinking the tiredness from his burning eyes. He saw a somewhat rumpled Al'ith sit up in the back seat, then kneel to look out the window. "It's following us," she said with rising alarm.

Sandoval glanced out, at the sleek black limo that was picking up speed behind them. He began to accelerate....

When a blinding flash of light tore from the car behind them, ripping through the back and sending the car careening into a fire hydrant. As Sandoval slumped against the steering wheel, he distantly heard Al'ith shouting angrily...

****

Liam rubbed at his eyes, wishing he could clear the grit from them. The sun was just rising in the east, spilling golden rays over Washington. He was standing on a back street, where a Volunteer was standing in front of a small man with a face like a rat was wringing his hands and chattering, "I swear, I didn't know that he was a Companion agent until I saw the news this morning. They said to keep an eye out for an Asian-American man with a little girl, so I realized that I had-"

The Volunteer glanced at Liam and waved his hand dismissively at the agency owner. "What have you found out?" Liam asked, critically looking over the owner and making him shrivel a little.

"Sir, the car has laser burns on the back and side, and was apparently thrown against a fire hydrant. We haven't searched it yet," the Volunteer replied, holding out his global. Liam glanced briefly over the data, then walked out of the back street into a small expressway.

The car and surroundings were drenched. The small vehicle was on upside down on the sidewalk, its body twisted and melted from the laser blasts. Liam took a shuddering breath and dropped to his hands and knees, poking his head in the open window. There was a small smear of blood on the driver's seat, just where Sandoval's head would be.

He didn't see anything, anything left behind. Slowly he ran his fingers along the seats, the floor, the controls, any nook where it would be difficult to see.

"Ow!" Liam yanked his hand out from under the back seat and stuck it in his mouth. Then he pulled it out and looked at it. "Paper?" he whispered.

Gingerly, he stuck his hand back in and groped, finding a thin edge of paper jammed down hastily. As he pulled it out, he saw a familiar gold embossing on the top of the book page: it was from the tiny leather notebook he often carried. Written on it in huge, wobbly block letters were the words, "Help. Al'ith. Warchester Avanu 905."

****

The tall, gray-haired man was sitting behind a spacious desk, in his home office. He was immaculately attired in a blue business suit, and every line of his round face and sparkle of friendly blue eyes spelled friendliness as he looked out the window at the dark car parked in front of it.

He turned his head to the side as the sound of frenzied shrieking reached him. Roberts entered, holding what appeared to be a small hysterical bundle of humanity, kicking and pounding him. Roberts grimaced in pain and dumped the tiny girl onto a seat facing Senator Prastor's desk, then rubbed a faint bite mark on his wrist. The child pulled her dark dress straight and glared up at him balefully.

"Brat," Roberts hissed.

"Ox," the girl replied immediately.

Prastor burst into laughter, making Al'ith start in her seat. "Very good, my dear. Quite well-said."

"I want Sandoval," Al'ith replied sulkily, leaning her head forward so that her dark hair fell across her face.

Prastor walked around his desk, looking sad and regretful. "I'm afraid, child, that Agent Sandoval is a threat to us, and must therefore be disposed of."

"I want him!" Al'ith began to scream, sliding off the chair. "I want Sandoval!"

"Sir," Roberts growled, still rubbing his hand. "Perhaps we should keep this Agent Sandoval alive, just to keep the child under control."

"Who's he?" Al'ith said disgustedly, pointing at Roberts. "I hate him."

"And I hate you," Roberts whispered.

Prastor silenced his henchman with an icy glance, then smiled paternally at Al'ith. "He's a man specially selected for service under me, child, one of many brought here because of their... selective consciences. His death was faked, so that he wouldn't be disturbed or found out."

"You should dispose of him!" Al'ith said, wrinkling her nose.

Prastor shook his head and sat down on his desk, looking down at Al'ith with a fatherly smile. "I understand you're half Taelon. Is it true that Taelons retain all the knowledge of their parents?" She stared at him balefully, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling. "What do you know about the computer of the mothership? What about its defenses?"

"I'm not going to talk to you," Al'ith said in a low growl.

Prastor leaned closer and whispered, "Child, do you realized that Agent Sandoval does not care about you at all? His MI does not allow him to experience any real human emotion. He is simply following the will of the Taelons."

"You're lying," Al'ith said. "I've seen him. He likes me."

Prastor shook his head amusedly.

"You're a liar, you kill people, and you kidnap people!" Al'ith shouted. "I don't believe anything you say!"

"I say we take the brat to Larry," Roberts said with a sharklike grin.

"I'll bite him too!" Al'ith shouted.

"No," Prastor said with a shake and wave of his hand. "We do not interrogate children. Especially one that might tell us all we need to know about the Taelons and their plans." He frowned a little. "Take her back to her cell."

As Roberts grabbed Al'ith's shoulders, the child twisted and slapped her hands on his. There was a blinding flash, and Roberts began to scream, pressing his burned hands against his waist and doubling over. Al'ith jumped off her chair and raced out the door, as Prastor hit a button. Alarms began to sound...

****

It grated against Liam horribly to report to Zo'or. Standing in front of the Taelon leader and speaking to him like Sandoval... no, Liam groaned inwardly. Outwardly, he kept his face straight and solemn, cringing and bristling at Zo'or's offhandedly acid comments.

Right now, Zo'or was staring at the crumpled piece of paper Liam had handed him. "Warchester Avenue is a street where senators and billionaires sometimes live," he commented.

Zo'or smiled condescendingly. "Has it not occurred to you that this may be a trap, to mislead any who attempt to follow Agent Sandoval?"

"I did think of that," Liam said with an inward stirring of satisfaction. "That's why I think I should go alone." If it turns out to be a Resistance base of some kind--and that's a big "if"--then I don't want Volunteers descending like the wrath of God and getting Resistance information and members .

Zo'or considered it for a moment, then nodded. "Do what you think necessary, Major. But find Agent Sandoval. I wish to know why he left with the child and not returned to the mothership." A faint, snakelike smile began to creep across his pale face. "And, if Agent Sandoval had decided to act against"

"I'll find him," Liam said, backing out.

Zo'or coolly watched the young man leave, waited a moment, then waved up his datastream. The face of a Volunteer squad leader appeared. "Yes, Zo'or," the man said, snapping to attention.

The snakelike smile began to touch Zo'or's face and eyes again. "Follow Major Kincaid at a distance, and storm the building that he seeks when he arrives there."

****

A skrill blast thundered through the door leading to the basement. Sandoval staggered out, pressing a hand against his bruised forehead. His clothing was dirty and had a faint stain of blood on one sleeve. "Al'ith!" he shouted.

****

Al'ith crouched behind a curtain, flattening herself against the wall and breathing shallowly. The tips of her shoes could be seen if someone looked, and one electric-blue eye stared out fearfully through a slight tear in the heavy red fabric.

"Find the girl!" a voice barked.

Al'ith cringed and flattened herself further as a pair of thick, black-clad legs raced past her, heavy boots thundering. Her small hands shook as she pulled the tear shut.

For the first time in the hectic past few days, tears began to stream from Al'ith's eyes. She wiped at them wonderingly... she had seen people do this before, but it had never happened to her before. She didn't like the feeling: her chest felt thick and constricted, and her throat felt raw. But at the same time, it felt good to cry.

WHRUSH! She almost fell over as the curtain was roughly pulled aside, and a pair of blazing brown eyes looked down at her, in a hard face that... what had Lili said? A face that only a mother could love. "Found you, Taelon brat," the man hissed.

Al'ith hurriedly ran her sleeve across her face, the tears suddenly draining from her eyes. "I'm not scared of you!" she shouted defiantly. She feinted to the right, avoided his clawed hand, and started running down the hall.

A hard smack from behind threw her against an ornate table topped by breakables, which teetered dangerously. Al'ith's vision spun as she pushed herself up onto her knees. "You move and you're dead, kid," the man hissed, grabbing her shoulder and yanking her to her feet. Al'ith wriggled and tried to pull away, hearing her dress begin to tear along the arm.

SHRUUUUMMM!

The henchman stiffened, then staggered a little and toppled forward. As Al'ith scrambled aside, she saw a sizzling hole in his back. As she looked up, Sandoval stepped out of the shadows, hair and suit rumpled, his arm raised and his skrill glowing ominously. "Al'ith, are you all right?" he asked urgently.

Al'ith nodded, leaped over the thug's body and ran to him, holding out her arms. Sandoval, not thinking, scooped her up and hugged her, relief washing over him. If anything had happened to her...

Then thoughts of what Al'ith might innocently say later on sprang into his mind. Sandoval's eyes opened wide, and he hurriedly set the child on the floor. She glanced up at him. "Are we going to get out of here?" she asked.

"You are," Sandoval said, kneeling down and looking into her eyes. "Al'ith, I want you to get out of this place. I've already destroyed the front door, so you shouldn't have any problems getting out of the house if you take the back passages. I want you to find somewhere to hide, and not move until Captain Marquette or Da'an comes for you." Which, he thought, might take a while. She'd be hospitalized, at least.

"What about Liam?" Al'ith asked.

Sandoval hurriedly quelled a spike of anger. "Do not go near Major Kincaid, whatever you do. Do you understand?" he said, gripping her small arms. If he is going after Al'ith, if he's working for this senator or the Resistance or Zo'or, he thought darkly, then I will deal with him personally.

Al'ith looked puzzled, but nodded. "What are you going to do?" she asked worriedly.

"Go," Sandoval urged, giving her a little shove to the door down the hall. Al'ith scampered over to it, struggled with the knob for a moment, then vanished into it, the lock clicking into place after her.

Sandoval suddenly felt very alone. Sighing, he stood up and brushed himself off, straightened his tie, then walked back up the hall, his skrill hissing menacingly.

****

Liam found the tall door to the huge, off-white mansion blasted and the doorknob melted, from what looked suspiciously like a skrill blast. He kicked it open, hearing the wood splinter and fall apart under his savage attack on it. He pulled his gun from the holster and held it at the ready.

The inside of the mansion was richly but tastefully decorated, mostly in reds. The wood paneling was laced with pleasant pictures, mostly of the senator, his family, and his favorite boat. Liam glanced over the various knicknacks, watched for any sign of Al'ith.

He tensed as the sound of a skrill blast and running feet reached him. He raced past a sliding door, dashed down a corridor, then looked around in confusion. Where had the noise come from?

A slamming door answered his question. Liam threw open a large curtain that covered a doorway, and came face-to-face with a very rumpled--very surprised--Agent Sandoval.

Liam was about to smile in relief and ask Sandoval where Al'ith was, when the implant's face darkened, looking almost... angry. His skrill arm came up, an ominous hissing noise emanating from his sleeve. Liam's gun came to bear just as quickly, aiming between Sandoval's eyes, as Sandoval aimed at his.

Neither man moved.

****

Al'ith's small footsteps rang and echoed as she made her way through the dark back hallways. She had to move slowly, on steps designed for adults from centuries ago. She thought with a brief flash of annoyance that human steps didn't have to be so steep. Finally, after what seemed like years, a slit of light on the floor revealed where the end of the passage was.

Then she stopped. And looked back.

She knew that Sandoval was good at taking care of himself, but that... alone in a huge building with all the henchman... he wouldn't stand a chance.

For a moment, Al'ith just stared ahead. Her small chin set itself. Then she turned and decisively stumbled back up the stairs, gasping a little at the exertion.

****

The senator's office was empty, the door hanging open as his henchmen ran by, shouting that Sandoval was loose and attacking various men. Guns were cocked. Alarms began to sound. Globals were linked to the security cameras, trying to track Sandoval.

Al'ith watched this from behind a curtain, as a tall blond man entered codes into his global, then stalked away. The doorway was clear.

Giggling a little, almost giddy, Al'ith shoved the curtain aside and sobered as she looked down the hall, from side to side. She frowned a little, then ran into the office. She jumped into the large leather chair and, with an effort, yanked one of the desk drawers open. Inside was a pack of matches.

Al'ith smiled and pulled them out, then awkwardly opened the box. She tore a match from the inside and scraped it a few times across the small rough spot on the side. She frowned as it didn't light, then tossed it aside and tried again.

This one did light. Smiling and holding it gingerly, Al'ith hopped off the chair, and ran to the thick red drapes that were pulled over the window. As she pressed it against the drapes, the tiny flickering flame suddenly grew, expanding and licking at the red fabric...

****

Al'ith stepped back, turned, and pulled an overflowing file folder from the desk. Papers rained down as she started slapping the folder against the burning curtains, the thin cardboard catching and beginning to burn. She ran to a bookcase and hurriedly stuffed the blackening folder in amid the dry-paged books.

As the faint crackling from the flame-engulfed curtains and the bookcase began to rise to a roar, Al'ith ran out the door, as the boom of Volunteer weapons came through the window. Her blue eyes went wide...

A different type of alarm began to scream throughout the senator's mansion.

****

"So, I was right," Sandoval grimaced, not lowering his skrill.

Liam glared at him over the barrel of his pistol, knuckles going white as he stared down the icy implant. <I>Why?</I> Liam screamed inwardly. Sandoval was his only remaining parent, and he was not without hope that Sandoval might turn from the Taelons one day. But he hadn't... hadn't thought of this! "Right about what?"

"You're in league with the senator, aren't you?" Sandoval growled. "Why else would you be here?"

Liam's eyes went wide, and his aim wavered slightly as he raised his head. "I was sent here because Zo'or thought you might-"

BOOM! The floor rocked slightly. Sandoval and Liam swayed, Sandoval's skrill dropping as he gripped a nearby chair. Liam glanced out the window, at the darkening sky. Clouds roiled madly as a storm gathered. "Zo'or," he growled. "I told that son of a-"

"Later!" Sandoval said, running to the window and throwing the heavy curtains as if they weighed nothing. His dark eyes narrowed at the dark-suited Volunteers swarming around the building, aiming their rifled and shouting.

Then he saw the dark plumes spouting from the side of the house.

Sandoval leaned halfway out the window, gaping at the east wing. The roof and windows were spouting flame, raining bits of burned shingle and curling blackened paint. Dark gray smoke swirled up to the sky, joining the storm clouds that were gathering.

"What's going on?" he heard Liam call from inside.

Sandoval pushed himself back in the house, straightening his dirt-streaked shirt. "The wing's on fire. We need to get out."

Liam nodded curtly, then turned and began to run, Sandoval only a few steps behind him. A fire alarm began to buzz as the two agents raced down the hall...

****

Senator Prastor sighed as he rose from his chair in the kitchen, his nostrils twitching at the faint odor of smoke. His remaining men were lined up around him, blood lining their faces. Their number had diminished, and there was an air of twitchy fear amidst them, touched by hatred of the Volunteers...

"Sir?" Roberts asked. "Should we attack?"

"No," Prastor replied, raising a languid hand, then standing and heading for the back door. He paused, hand on the knob. "They've surrounded us. We'll only have to go underground for a time, and continue our work."

"The girl?"

"Leave her. We'll have other opportunities." The senator pulled his trenchcoat closely around himself, and glided out the door.

****

Da'an's face was impassive as the shuttle landed, Lili sitting beside him, her arm bound to her chest in a sling. Her face was still pale from shock and blood loss.

Da'an climbed down through the front shield and felt a shock go through him. The house was burning, a mere dark silhouette amidst golden-red flames that were quickly spreading to the trees nearby. Liam, Sandoval, and Al'ith were inside, possibly dying as the building crumbled and flamed. Volunteers were surrounding it, trying to spray the flames with tiny fire extinguishers, but their efforts were woefully inadequate.

The roof of the east wing collapsed, sending showers of ash skyward as its old rafters poked through the walls. One of the nearby shrubs began to catch fire as well.

Lili's jaw was hanging open as Da'an watched it, hoping against hope that the agents and their charge had escaped. But a horrible sinking feeling was coming over him.

"Da'an!"

The Taelon started, then craned his neck to look over the milling crowd of dark Volunteers and curious onlookers, overcast by the stormy sky. A dark figure raced along the street, followed by a second...

"Liam! Sandoval!" Lili shouted, joy lighting up her face.

Liam skidded to a halt only a few feet away from Da'an, his face registering first surprise, then happiness, then horror. "Where's Al'ith?" he shouted over the roar of the burning building.

Da'an's electric blue eyes went wide, then closed in sorrow. Sandoval glanced back at the building, and uttered a low curse.

"Here I am!"

The high voice rang through the crowd, as a pale child raced by, her dark hair falling out of its ponytail and her velvet dress torn. Al'ith's pale face was smudged, adorned with a wide smile. She ran straight to Liam, throwing her arms around his knees.

"I set that fire," Al'ith announced, pointing to the senator's now nearly-destroyed mansion, as Liam scooped her up. "I set it, because then the goons went away. They ran, didn't they?"

Liam grinned and rumpled her hair. Da'an and Lili smiled. "Yes," Sandoval said quietly, a hint of sadness touching his voice. "They did."

****

Liam glared at Zo'or, standing next to Da'an on the bridge. Al'ith was holding Da'an's hand, eyeing Zo'or warily.

Liam had done an admirable job controlling his temper, considering that the Synod leader had casually ignored his advisory, but he was beginning to tire of Zo'or's questions. The Taelon's eyes were narrowed to slits as Sandoval continued, "I believe that Senator Prastor was attempting to use the child for some anti-Taelon group... but the weapon I found on one of his henchmen was of Resistance make, enhanced by Taelon technology."

"Only used by the highest-level government agents," Liam added.

Zo'or's eyes lost their catty look, going wide. "You are suggesting that the United States government is working against the Taelons in this matter?" he asked, restraining the anger in his voice.

"We didn't say that," Liam soothed. "It's entirely possible that Prastor was working on his own, or for some small group. But there's nothing to indicate the US government or the Resistance."

Zo'or sat back in his chair, thinking hard. "I must consider," he said finally, voice devoid of emotion. Then his eyes turned up, reading Sandoval's eyes harshly. "Did the child show any signs of the shakarava during your capture?"

Liam tensed, and Al'ith seemed to shrink behind Da'an. Da'an absently placed his hand on Al'ith's dark head, comfortingly.

Sandoval seemed to be considering for a moment, then answered unsteadily, "No."

Al'ith's mouth dropped open. Zo'or looked disappointed, then waved a hand dismissively. Liam quickly crossed over to the hybrid child and scooped her up. She clung to his neck, but kept her gaze locked on Sandoval as he quickly left the bridge.

He wasn't certain whether Sandoval was telling the truth or not, but he wasn't going to ask.

****

The next day, when Sandoval arrived on the bridge, one of the consoles had a small square of paper on it. He stared in astonishment.

It showed a pair of dark-clad stick figures, smiling and holding hands. The smaller of the two wore a small blue dress. He smiled a little as he saw the words, "Sandoval and Me." He slowly folded the drawing and tucked it in his pocket.

THE END... FOR NOW...