Scott was on his way west to meet up with his friends to start a new life in L A. What he came across in the desert after his car broke down would change him forever. He wondered if his friends would recognise him once they finally met again. He didn’t think this was what his friend’s intended when they said, "start a new life."

Chapter Seventeen

Kevin changed back in the morning, much the disappointment of Maggie, who had spooned into 'her' back that night. Kevin and Sara had breakfast sent up, and they all enjoyed it before they started to make tracks to leave. They dropped off Maggie at her home and left her enough money to live on, seeing her bike was trashed and she would be unable to continue her job. They promised to be back as soon as they could. Sara gave Maggie her phone number to ring if there was a problem.

With hugs and some tears, Sara said goodbye to Maggie, waving to her as Kevin drove the car away down the street.

"Sorry you didn't get to see the Brickyard," Sara broke the silence. "Maybe when we return, you'll get to see it."

"Its no biggie, what happened was more important. As you said, we might get to see it next time," Kevin agreed.

"You realise what taking on Maggie means, don't you?" Sara smiled at Kevin.

"That you get to change the diapers?" Kevin answered with a question, being deliberately obtuse.

"Grrrrrr," Sara half growled, seeing the corner of Kevin's eyes crinkle up in humour. "You know that's not what I meant."

Kevin pushed the envelope a bit more, knowing exactly what she was getting at, but he was enjoying the teasing too much to give her the right answer.

"Oh I know," he smiled, keeping his thoughts from leaking to Sara. "We'll have to go shopping again, for toddler sized clothes oowwh." He complained, as the awaited poke in the ribs signalled the end of the kidding.

"Men," the single word Sara uttered, hung in the air, conveying a multitude of meanings. The fact that Sara had been a man once showed Kevin just how far she had embraced her femininity. He decided to capitulate and give her the answer she wanted.

He pressed the panel on the dash, which produced the change in identity for the occupants. The instant that Sara became Elaine Cosworth married to Steven Cosworth, Kevin/Steven turned to Sara/Elaine.

"Will you marry me?"

"Kevin" Sara/Elaine began, before looking once again at the rings that adorned her finger. "Looks like I already have," she giggled, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.

"Is that a yes?" he insisted.

"YES!"

Kevin leaned over and got his own kiss in, warily checking the road with a corner of one eye. He went to change the setting back, but Sara as Elaine held his hand.

"Please, I want to keep the ring for a while."

"Okay, why not take the ring off and we could change back, then you'd have the ring for your own finger," Kevin said, thinking of the saving.

Sara did try to take the ring off, but it was too tight to go over the knuckle. She gave up, saying it was just as well it wouldn't come off. "It's probably the wrong size anyway." she added sadly.

Once past Dayton, they sped east to Columbus where they stopped for a comfort break and bought a coffee and a bun.

Wanting to get to their final destination before nightfall, they took full advantage of the cars speed and radar jamming devices to reach Pittsburgh for lunch, again buying something to eat on the way, after finding some restrooms for the inevitable comfort stop. Then it was back on the road, heading southeast, though the Cumberland valley. Traffic increased the nearer they got to Washington DC, and they slowed to a crawl, to just above the posted speed limit. Eventually, the high-rise buildings hove into view, as they got closer. Kevin got out the laptop to locate the street they wanted, while Sara, now back in her body drove the Trans Am. The city had a lot of one way streets, that made getting there through the traffic just that much harder for visitors, but eventually, they found the place at the corner of 17th street and Church street, where the road forms a crescent turning back into 17th street in a loop.

Instead of a house like the other places, they saw an apartment block. Kevin who had used the bracelet to become Brian Somers, the owner of unit 15, told Sara to drive into the underground parking facility, directly under the building. He handed her a magnetic card from his wallet, which she used to open the barrier arm protecting the resident's garage. Unit 15 proved to be on the top floor and took up the entire level. The card had to be used, both in the lift and on the front door just outside the lift landing at level 15.

Kevin as Brian handed Sara the security card, while he used the bracelet to return to his own body, not wanting the card to disappear with the rest of Brian's apparel. Taking back the card, Kevin went to open the door.

"Wait, look at that," Sara called, pointing to the marks near the edge of the door.

"Damn, it looks like someone has tried to force the door. I wonder how they got to this level, seeing you need a card." He mused, looking around.

"What about the fire escape?" Sara asked seeing a locked door with a release button at the far side of the landing.

They walked over seeing that it was electrically locked. Pushing the button resulted in a low clunk as the bolts withdrew. Opening the door, showed that there was no signs of forced entry as they stepped out onto the fire escape landing that led down the outside of the building.

Going back inside, they looked for any clue to how an intruder had made it to the front door.

"Maybe they cut the power to the place, and got in through the doors then," suggested Sara, clutching at straws.

"No, that wouldn't work," Kevin answered, having had an uncle in the security business and had picked up some knowledge of it from him. "The security access system would have a backup system, probably batteries that keep it up. But... there is one way of shutting the doors down." He said, as he peered up at the sprinkler heads. "Look at those, they have been replaced recently, see how the paint is new."

Sara looked up at the ceiling, seeing that new paint had been applied near the sprinkler heads. She saw one spot that had been missed showing a rusty looking mark. She pointed it out.

"Yes, some one made the fire system go off. Breaking a sprinkler will set them all off and that would shut down the security, releasing all doors so people can evacuate. Still, that still doesn't show why there are marks around the door."

"So you’re saying, is that the persons who set the sprinklers off, got in through the fire escape door, but still couldn't get inside the apartment?"

"Yes, let's check inside. Hopefully, we'll find the answers there." Kevin answered, opening the door warily. The solid thunks as the door unlocked, showed that the security had been added to. They swung the overly thick door open, seeing multiple latches and what seemed like a steel plate running though the doors core. As they moved silently, splitting apart to check different rooms they could see that the sprinklers hadn't been set off, they were obviously the originals as they had paint on them from when the ceiling was repainted. Kevin found the reason why the intruders hadn't got in. He pointed out a suitcase-sized box near the door.

"This place has its own power backup. That's a UPS, I guess that they had a reason to keep the door secure, I just hope we haven't brought ourselves more trouble." Kevin reiterated.

"Wow! Look at this," Sara exclaimed, struggling to lift up what looked like a small cannon.

Kevin took the weapon and slid open the magazine. He whistled, showing Sara the long shells seated inside.

"It looks like a modified Desert Eagle. He turned over the weapon looking at the silvered triangular shaped barrel. "It must be at least a 44 or a 45 magnum, but these hand gun shell's these are for a rifle. No wonder it has porting on the barrel, the recoil must be something wicked." He said awestruck.

"It's so long, why would they need something that powerful?" Sara asked, feeling a sense of impending doom.

"The 10 inch barrel is to reduce muzzle flash and aid in reducing recoil, as to the reason?" Here Kevin shrugged. "You could shoot and kill a car with this. It would crack open an engine block." Kevin slid the magazine with its deadly load back into the weapon with a metallic snick.

They searched the rest of the place, finding nothing, no clothes, and no more devices. The place was bare, even the cupboards and fridge. The only thing there was the gun. Sara felt that something was wrong, it felt like a trap, one in which they were meant to find the gun, but why that? It didn't make sense, not with what they knew of the Shelke.

"Let’s get out of here, now!" Sara demanded, sharing her fears with Kevin. He nodded, silently, agreeing that things didn't add up. They left the place, not even bothering to lock it behind them, as a sense of danger started taking hold. Kevin touched his bracelet to assume Huang's form, somehow knowing the martial arts skills that came with this form might be needed. He tossed the heavy gun to Sara, instructing her silently to use both hands should she need to use it.

The lift dinged, almost immediately after they pushed the button, meaning it had been only on the floor below. Warning bells flashed in their minds and instantly they jumped to the side of the lift door as it started to open. Dull pops sounded and the wall opposite exploded as the bullets from silenced guns, tore the plaster to shreds. Kevin and Sara having flattened themselves against the wall beside the lift, held their breath, as two forms walked forward into view. They were holding guns with silencers fitted. These were held out in front of them, as they stepped forward. In a move made possible only by having minds synchronised together, Sara slashed down across the wrist of the nearest person with the heavy gun she was holding. She saw Kevin/Huang smash the wrist of the other with a blow from a lightening kick, and watched the two weapons skitter to the floor as the two men screamed in pain from their broken wrists.

Sara kicked the fallen weapons into the open lift and entered it, turning, and holding the Desert Eagle to cover the two groaning men. She took in their appearance as Kevin managed to frisk them quickly. The two men looked like twins, heavyset and reminded her of agent Smith from the movie Matrix. Kevin had found a pair of handcuffs, and had locked the two men together by their undamaged hands.

"We know who you are, and what you're doing here." One of the men shouted. "Give it up, and tell us where the rest of the Shelke are hiding. We have men everywhere, you can't escape."

"Who are you?" Sara yelled back, waving the gun threateningly.

"Your worst nightmare," the other answered menacingly, as the doors of the lift slid shut in his face, Kevin having pressed the button for the ground floor.

Sara was shaking so hard, as reaction set in, but she pulled herself together, as she knew they weren't out of the woods yet. Watching the lift level numbers light up as they passed the floors, she desperately pressed the level four button, then started pressing the buttons of the floors they had passed.

"What are you doing?" demanded Kevin still in Huang's body form.

"Making it take longer to find us in case they have men waiting below." Sara answered with a weak smile.

All the floors from four down were pressed, making the lift stop at each one. Sara dragged Kevin out at four and together; they ran down the stairs to level three. There, Sara went to the fire escape to climb down to ground level. Using the bracelets, they changed identities again, handing the gun to the other in turn, to stop it disappearing into limbo. It was Jennifer alone, who walked inside to the car park, her large handbag managing to conceal the gun. She checked out the area near the car as she walked closer. With her hand in her bag holding the gun, she was alert for anything. She finally reached the car without anyone jumping out of the shadows. She opened it and started it up. Driving the car towards the exit, two men stepped out, holding shotgun like weapons. She gunned the car heading straight for them. The wheels screamed in protest on the concrete floor, making a banshee shriek that would scare the dead.

The two men, who looked exactly like the ones on level 15, avoided being run over by the narrowest of margins. They fired their weapons at the retreating car; sending showers of sparks flying as the car easily deflected the projectiles. Sara slowed just long enough to allow a sprinting Kevin to leap aboard. Sara handed him the gun, knowing that he knew what was coming up from behind.

Trying to race through streets in an unfamiliar city, without causing accidents or become lost is a huge ask. With Kevin occupied with looking out behind them, he wasn't able to use the laptop, so it wasn't long before they found themselves lost. Kevin had spotted several cars following them; most had been lost, due to Sara's fancy driving and sudden turns at the last second. They had picked up another later on and this one seemed to cling to their tail like glue. Going down a relatively quiet street, Kevin asked Sara to spin the car sideways facing a side street and stop.

She didn't question Kevin, as she slowed and slid the car across the road, blocking it, as the pursuer closed on them. Kevin jumped out and reached out over the top of the car resting his hands on the roof to steady his hands, before taking careful aim with the gun and firing at the approaching car. The shot rang out deafeningly, echoing down the street, seeming to stop time for a second. Sara saw a flash of flame from the muzzle of the gun spear out over her head, and saw another flash of steam come from behind the grill of the car approaching them.

"Go now! Shouted Kevin, bringing the smell of cordite, back inside from the still smoking weapon.

Sara floored it, her ears still ringing from the single shot, and headed directly down the side street they had been facing. She saw that the other car had slowed, as oil smoke poured from under the hood. Racing through the littered strewn street, she saw that the wounded car had made the turn into the street on momentum alone, as it ground to a halt. She did a sharp left, as Kevin sat back and booted up the neglected laptop. Several minutes later they were headed to the outskirts of the city, finding a park to stop, where they changed the car into the more sedate looking Volvo.

Sara's phone rang, making them both jump at the sudden noise. It was William, and he wasn't happy.

"They have Julie." William blurted out.

"Who have?" asked Sara, sensing that William was in a panic.

"I'm not sure, but I'm sure it's to do with a fight I had earlier," William explained.

"Are you sure? We just ran into a problem ourselves," Sara asked, giving William a quick rundown on their current situation.

"Yes pretty much, I think I can handle it, but I wanted you to know in case- well you know- something happened," William answered, filling them in on his situation.

"I wish we could help, but we have our own troubles to sort out, be careful okay, and let us know the situation, when you can." Sara looked at her watch, seeing it was a quarter past five, time to find some food and a place to stay for the night.

To be continued.