by G.M. Shephard

Michael, now able to see his wife and daughter through an unknown power, assumes the identity of Angel in order to stop Dwayne and save the two he loves. The exciting conclusion to Season One of Angel.

Angel S:1 E:16 Season One Finale “The Hero and the Terror Part II”
By G.M. Shephard
Copyright  © 2012
Edited by: jeffusually
kittylover

---

Acknowledgments

Back in August of 2012, I began writing my first ideas that had been occupying my mind for years. Looking back to that night, seated in front of my computer when I began typing “Angel’s” first couple words, I never thought it would become something to so many people. After several revisions I finally reached the point, the big defining moment where I hovered my mouse over the submit button for hours before finally gaining the courage. The story posted, and I waited in utter fear. Then, one at a time, reviews started popping up, emails began flowing in. The readers enjoyed the Pilot and wanted more.

What began as a simple way to express my inner feelings, soon reached others who wanted an escape from this world, even if temporary. Angel grew into something more and I found myself writing not only for me, but a rapidly expanding fan base. As a first time writer, I can’t say enough how much you all mean to me. You have been there for me with your words of encouragement, offers to help with the editing, death threats for Dwayne, and demands for a length of rope after leaving all of you on one to many cliff hangers.

Now, safely pulled up over the edge, we are about to embark on the final stretch of the journey. I would like to take a brief moment to thank several key people who volunteered many long hours of their own time to help Angel be the success it has. Jeff, my personal Perry White, my editor in chief who has gone above and beyond for me. Your hard work is very much appreciated. Kitty, also a dedicated editor has also spent many hours fixing my horrible typos and grammar. Both have evolved from volunteer help to close personal friends of whom I value their friendship.

Erin, Sephrena, Piper and anyone else I might not have named, who run and maintain Big Closet. Your site has become my main home for Angel as well as future stories as the community you have built has become family to me.

All of my fans. From those that chat with me on-line, to the regular reviewers to the casual silent reader. I love you all.

Finally, to the love of my life. Thank you for standing by my side all these years and believing in me. I love you.

---

Angel Season One Finale “The Hero and the Terror Part II”

...“Damn it Michael, what the hell is going on, snap out of it and talk to me. Instead I reached up and put my arms around her and hugged her so hard I could hear her back cracking slightly. Quickly I released my grip, grabbed the side of her head and pulled her toward me, planting a long hard kiss on her lips. Her eyes opened wide not sure what the sudden kiss was all about.

“Oh Megan, I love you.” A huge smile lit up on my face as I thought things through,
“Megan...They’re alive."

“What do you mean? How do-”

“-MEGAN THEY’RE ALIVE.” I lifted my hands into the air and looked up. “Thank you Kaaren, you're the best. Woo hoo! They’re alive.” I turned and grabbed her shoulders. “I’ve seen them, they’re not dead, she didn’t run off on me.”

"You saw them? How?"

"I don't know. Something strange starts happening when I put on their clothing. It's like I can see through their eyes.

“Psychometry!” She said with her authoritative knowledge. Megan, while working on her masters in Psychology, spent time learning about hypnosis and also studied ESP and other paranormal abilities that people claimed they had.

“What the hell is that? - Wait, never mind Doc, later. I have to find them, they're in trouble. Dwayne has them. He's in a plane right now with Ashley and Liz is chained up somewhere.”

“Dwayne? You mean Turner?" She thought long and hard about him, finally having an epiphany. "Son of a bitch, he's had them all this time."

"I don't know. I have to find Liz, she's in serious trouble and Ash," my heart sank, "Ash, I can't let that bastard hurt her." Megan came close and put her arms around me.

"Michael, I am really happy for you. This is the best news ever, but let's be careful, these might not be current images. They could be from past events. I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"I'm not so sure. I think you're mistaken, and what I’m seeing are current images. She was looking through her box last night. It was our anniversary and she was mourning me. I saw her face, she was crying."

"Maybe you're right, but she could have done that at any time." Her doubt was getting to me. I finally had my first solid bit of hope in a year, and she was trying to take it from me.

"Megan, take off your blouse," I commanded.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't argue, take it off. I want to prove this is the present that I am seeing. You are my control subject. If I'm right, I should be able to see through your eyes in real time." Megan reluctantly began unbuttoning her light yellow blouse and stripped down to her bra. She handed me the top as I stripped off Liz's purple dress, leaving myself naked in front of her. "Don't say it," I said, sensing she was thinking about how amazing Kaaren's body was. I put the blouse on and stepped into my office, closing the door and leaving her outside just as the white cloud started to appear. A second later, I was standing outside the door looking though her eyes.

"Well Michael, is it working?"

"Yes, I'm looking through your eyes. Turn around and hold up some fingers," I watched as her point of view shifted to face the hallway wall. Megan held up her hand displaying seven fingers. "Left thumb and index, all five on the right." She changed it up. "Four, right and left index and middle."

"You're not cheating with that x-ray vision of yours?"

"Thermal, and no. The heat from your body is blocking your hands, it doesn't work like that. Left pinky, right ring." She turned around and opened the door.

"Ok, enough, you were right. Now what are we going to do?"

"I have to find out where they are. Dwayne can be just about anywhere, but maybe if I can get some of his clothes, I can see his plane's instruments and figure out his position. Ash isn't helping much."

"Sounds good, you know where he lives?"

"No, do you?" She thought long and hard, then looked at me.

"No, but a quick call to NASA and I can find out.”

"Do it, I will be right back," I said as I started running down the hall to the bedroom.

"Michael, my shirt please?" After taking her shirt off I quickly threw the white dress on over my body and returned to the living room.

"Here," she took the shirt from my hand, "I will be back in five."

"Where are you going?"

"Gotta go to my cabin and get something."

---

Megan nervously tapped her foot repeatedly while waiting on hold. It was the third time being placed on hold and Frank wasn't answering. She hung up and dialed a couple of other numbers with the same results.

"Damn it, where the hell is everyone?" She hung up and dialed 411. After a couple of rings the operator picked up.

"City and name listing please," she said without a shred of politeness in her voice.

"Try Houston, looking for a listing for Dwayne Turner.

"One moment...I have a listing for 17 listings Wayne Turner."

"No, Dwayne. Delta, whiskey, alpha, yankee, november echo, got that sweetheart? Megan rolled the alpha codes off, proud they were still fresh in her mind after a year.

"Yeah, what are you military or something?"

"Just get me the listings, this is an emergency."

"Ok, I have ten listings for a Dwayne - with a "D" - Turner in Houston and surrounding towns."

"Let me have all of them, addresses too."

"I'm sorry, I can only provide one listing at a time, you will have to call back." Megan started getting pissed off at the regulations that simply made no logical sense.

"Come on, this is a life or death emergency, don't jerk me around."

"Ma'am, if this is an emergency, then dial 911 for your local police." She was starting to drive her nuts.

"Please cut me some slack, this is Dr. McCormack, you know, the Astronaut?" Megan felt great shame dropping her celebrity status to twist someone's arm, but considering the circumstances she felt justified.

"Just a moment." There was a pause followed by a new voice picking up. "This is Kristen, I am the supervisor. I would be happy to help you Doctor. I am terribly sorry about that. Let me get the information you need." Megan let out a sigh of relief as a sudden gust of wind blew through the back door.

"Jeez," she said as Michael's sudden presence in the room startled her. Kaaren's blond hair was a shaggy mess.

Megan listened and started writing each of the addresses down, struggling to avoid making mistakes. After asking several times for the supervisor to repeat the address, Michael took the phone from her.

"Sorry ma'am, can you please repeat that for me, I am going to take the information." Michael stood there listening as she read each of the listings.

"That's it, is there anything else I can do for the Doctor?" Megan got back on the phone.

"Kristen, thank you very much for your help. Look up my office listing and leave me your information and I will send you something for your troubles."

"No need Doctor, you've all ready done enough, thank you very much." As Megan expressed her final appreciation before hanging up, she watched Michael transfer all the addresses from his memory to a piece of paper with lightning speed.

"Great job, Doc," Michael said as he started to analyze the different listings.

"See anything?" Megan watched as he crossed off a couple of addresses right off the bat.

“Bad areas of town, I know he doesn’t live there.” Michael opened the drawer to his desk and withdrew a spiral bound book and tossed it on his desk next to the pad. He opened to the back and began poring over the index, then started flipping through the pages. Megan watched as pages of maps shuffled by. “Nope,” Michael said, finding the street and moving on in an instant, boggling Megan’s mind.

“You really can read that fast?”

“Yes, and I’m getting faster all the time,” he said, paging through to the next map, finding the grid, then scratching off another address.”

“What criteria are you using for eliminating the addresses?” Megan wondered what was going through Michael’s head.

“He’s got a large property. I remember him talking about owning a bunch of land. Never said where.” Megan started to think. He had approached her a couple of years ago about that project he was working on.

“Michael, stop.”

“What? Don’t interrupt me.”

“No, none of these addresses are them, he didn’t live in Houston. He had a ranch somewhere outside.” Michael threw the Thomas Guide across the room in a fit of anger.

“God damn it. We’re wasting time.” Michael, still in his wife’s white dress, paced back and forth his office.

“Michael, settle down, we are going to find them, but if we let ourselves get stressed out, we won’t be able to help them. Now let me see that Commander take charge and handle tough situations like I know you can.”

“This isn’t some stupid mission Doc, this is my wife and kid’s lives we are talking about.”

“Bullshit Michael, the whole god damn mission was about their lives. The two lives on this planet you wanted to save most were theirs. You are in that body because of them. I know you didn’t choose to become Kaaren for anyone else on the planet, so calm down, and let’s work this problem as if we were back on board.” Michael fell silent, Megan’s words going straight to the heart. He started to gain control of his emotions and take command of the situation.

“I’m sorry, you’re right. I never used to act like this. Like I said, this body has been screwing with my emotions more lately. Sometimes it’s hard to control. It’s scary at times, how easily I get upset, or take my anger out on people. That includes you. I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier.”

“It’s ok, you don’t have to apologize, let’s just concentrate on finding them. Can you still see them?” Michael left and returned a moment later with one of Liz’s jackets on. He stood there for a minute as if in a trance, staring at the wall.

“Nothing, she is laying down on her side. She is looking through a door leading to an open area. She is just lying there, not moving. Damn it, I gotta find her.”

“Ok, we will. Tell me, describe the room she’s in.”

“It’s cold, slightly dark. No personality. All the walls, the floor even, it’s all concrete. It’s like my bunk…” Michael paused deep in thought. “Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch.”

“What?”

“It’s just like my dad’s bomb shelter under my cabin.” At that moment, something popped into Megan’s head.

“Michael, I think I know where she is.”

---The Bunker---

“Liz,” Reid said, pulling himself over to her. He slid up alongside of her and fiddled with his chain, sliding his arms around her. Since she calmed down and stopped pulling on her chains, she fell into a deep depression and refused to talk. As he wrapped his bound hands around her, picking her head off the concrete, she remained motionless, her eyes fixed on a single spot in the room. Tears were dripping down her face, but she didn’t whimper. Reid caressed her hair trying to comfort her, but she didn’t respond. He looked at her bound wrists and saw they were bleeding from her struggles.

“It’s ok, I’m here.” She sniffled a few times and then started to break down again.

“Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? Ashley, what the hell did she do? I’m never going to see her again. Both of her parents have been taken from her. Why? She was a good kid, better than any mother could ask for. Her whole life was ahead of her and I failed her. I delivered her into that terror’s hands.”

---Owen’s Family House---

“Remember that party in Florida? It was your birthday and everyone was there? Well, Dwayne approached me, interested in some of the work I had done. I tried blowing him off, but agreed to hear him out later in the week. He told me that he was doing some side work for a company, working on environments that could sustain an eco-system, completely self sufficient, for deep space colonization.”

“What did he need your help with?”

The company had plans to conduct a two year test with actual test subjects living in the environment to see if it would work. He needed my background in selecting a compatible crew as I did for our mission.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That I was too busy of course. I didn’t have any spare time to think about anything other than THOR.”

“So, what does all this mean?”

“He gave me some materials to go through, it might have something we can use?”

“Where?”

“My house,” I grabbed the black case I brought back from the cabin and laid it on the desk. There were two large combination padlocks securing the case shut. I didn’t waste time with unlocking them, instead I squeezed the lock in my hand, the metal crushing until the latch broke free. I repeated the same thing on the second lock and tossed both away, “Michael, what is that?” Megan said with a concerned look, “you’re not going to shot him are you?” I opened the case, Megan waiting in suspense, curious as to what I had stored in there. The light glistened off the white metallic surface. It was clean and neatly folded in the main compartment. There were two foam cutouts on each side where I stored both of the remaining crystals. I reached in and pulled the suit out, letting the length of the alien garment unfold and fall to the ground. Megan’s eyes were fixated on the white single piece suit.

“Wow, Michael, is that Kaaren’s suit?”

“Yes,” I said as I stripped off Liz’s dress, completely naked in front of my friend, without a care in the world. Carefully, I stepped into the legs and guided my feet into the attached boots before pulling the suit up around my wide hips. With the lower half of my body covered, I reached in one arm at a time and fed my hands through the sleeves, pulling the upper half up and around my shoulders. I turned around, facing away from Megan’s view as I shifted Kaaren’s breasts inside the proper place before pressing the button. As the suit started to seal shut, I turned to face Megan again.

“Today, Dwayne is going to meet Angel in all her glory.”

---MOK99---

Dwayne brought the plane to a slow taxi along the runway heading toward the fuel station.

“Ashley, we are stopping for fuel. Now listen to me, I will take you to the bathroom and then get something to eat before we take off again. I want you to be good. If you say anything, anything at all to get me in trouble, remember, I won’t tell them where your mother is. You don’t want to kill your mommy do you?” She was quiet and didn’t say anything, “well?”

“No,” she finally said.

“Good, keep your mouth shut and in a couple of days you can see her again.” She stayed in the plane while he fueled up and checked the engine, making sure all fluids were at peak levels. Ashley sat in the passenger seat, arms folded, head down, her posture unchanged since the moment Dwayne first put her in the plane. She wanted to yell and scream for help, but was afraid of what would happen to her mother. Deep down Ashley was terrified, especially she was deeply afraid of heights and didn't like flying.

She looked up and saw Dwayne close the door to the engine and wipe the grease off his hands with a dirty red rag. He put his tool box back into the back of the plane and motioned for Ashely to get out of the plane.

"Not a word you hear me miss?"

"I'm scared, I don't want to fly anymore."

"Ashley, we have one more two hour flight, then you are done. You can be comfortable in the front seat, or you can lay down in the back tied up. What do you want?" Ashley started crying, making Dwayne very nervous.

"Stop it right now, otherwise we are going to leave and you can pee your pants."

"I want my mommy you creep." Dwayne pushed her back into the plane and pulled out a rope from his jacket. Ashley saw he was serious and started pleading with him.

"No, don't. I'll be good. I'm sorry, I'll be good." He set the rope on the dash and pointed his finger at Ashley's face.

"This is the last time you disobey me. Do it again, and I won't listen to your apologies. You understand me?" She shook her head in agreement. "Good, now I am going to let you go to the bathroom." He pulled her from the plane, holding tightly to her upper arm and escorting her to the back of the little fuel shack on the desolate air field. The attendant came by with the total for his fill up. Dwayne withdrew two one hundred dollar bills and handed them to the cashier. He thought a second and withdrew a third. "Here, keep the change." The kid's face lit up.

"Thank you sir, I really appreciate it. Anything else I can do for you?"

"No, just get back inside and go back to your book. You've been a great help." The kid thanked him again and ran back inside as Ashley came out of the bathroom. He looked inside to make sure she didn't leave any signs behind. Confident that she was behaving, Dwayne loaded her into the plane and fired up the engine. In a couple of minutes, they were airborne yet again, making their way toward the next stop on his flight plan.

---Owen’s Family House---

"I can't fly with you Megan," Michael said with stress in his voice.

"Why not, you've flown with Mitri?"

"I'm visible to radar. I think they've been tracking me and if I get jumped again, you can get killed."

"What are you talking about?" Michael recounted the encounter with the F-16s as quickly as he could.

"The only way I can avoid fighters is to fly fast. With you on my back, I can fly about one hundred miles an hour maybe more. Tell me what I am looking for and I will go to the house and pick it up." Megan started to detach her house key from the key ring.

"It's in my office somewhere. It's a large white binder with what looks like a large white dome on the cover. I forget the name of the company."

"Ok, I am heading over now." Michael pulled his gauge cluster from his coat and strapped it to his wrist and locked it tight. Megan reached into the case and withdrew one of the crystals, watching the light sparkling off the perfectly clear glass.

"Are these the crystals Michael?" There was no answer. She turned to look around the office, but found she was alone. "Michael?" After concluding he had left her alone, she went back to looking at the alien artifacts in his case. She pulled up his chair and took a seat, pulling the desk lamp over to get a closer look. "Amazing," Megan said, noticing dense clusters of imperfections inside the glass. She turned and started opening the drawers of his desk, finding what she was looking for. She withdrew a large magnifying glass from the top drawer and began scanning the clear crystal up close. At closer inspection, the imperfections seemed intentional and appeared to have some kind of pattern to them. A harsh bell sounded next to her, startling her. Michael's phone was ringing. She hesitated a second then answered.

"Hello?"

"Megan, I don't see it? You sure it's in your office?" She remembered having looked through it casually, reading a few details so that she could convince Dwayne she actually read through it.

“It’s gotta be there? I remember seeing it somewhere since we returned.”

“Well it’s not here,” she could tell he was getting frustrated. There was a rustle with the phone, then all she could hear was ambient noise. She tried calling for him with no response. After a minute he returned.

“Found it.”

“Oh thank god, where was it?”

“The only room it should be in. Anything Dwayne has authored should be listed as light bathroom reading.”

“Oh shit,” Megan exclaimed, covering her face in embarrassment.

“Yeah, exactly.” She heard the sound of pages rustling. “BioTech Labs? There is a Houston Address and phone number.”

“Great, give me the number.” Michael read it off to her as she wrote it down on the pad with all the Dwayne Turners in the Houston area. “Bad news guys, your name’s about to become mud.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, I’m going to call this-”

“-Hey Megan, this radio here in your suitcase, is that the one from Russia?”

“Yeah, I was going to give it to my brother.” The line disconnected. “Jeez Michael, you think a quick goodbye wouldn’t be too much to ask.” Megan picked up the handset and dialed the phone number. It rang three times before someone finally picked up and spoke with a rather bored dry monotone voice.

“BioTech, how can I direct your call?”

“Yes, I’m trying to get an address for a Dwayne Turner, can you help me out?”

“Sorry, I can’t give out employee information.”

“This is Dr. McCormack, Mr. Turner and I are former co-workers at NASA.” There was a sigh coming through the phone at the same time she heard Michael return.

“Yeah, and I’m Mary Poppins.” The line went dead.

“Damn it, she hung up on me.” Megan redialed the number.

“BioTech, how can I direct your call?”

“Listen toots, get your boss on the phone right now. I’m with NASA and I have a large investor with me trying to get to a meeting with Turner. If you don’t put that goddamn nail file down right now and help us get to Turner’s place, he is walking away with a large sum of money. You can either get yourself a finder’s fee, or your ass fired. You got me?” For a moment there was nothing but silence, then another sigh.

“Hold please,” Michael sat the book and Megan’s radio on his desk, then opened the middle drawer. She impatiently waited on hold while she watched him sift through the contents and withdraw a rubber band. Megan held her hand out and signaled for him to give it to her.

“Come here,” Megan said, “turn around.”

“What?”

“Let me fix it for you. Give me the band.”

“You don’t even know what I-”

“-Your hair, it’s driving you mad right?” He shook his head and she just motioned with her hand again. He reluctantly dropped it in her hand and sat in the chair.

“This is Benson,” a voice came on over the phone. Megan shifted the handset while she began pulling Kaaren’s thick blonde hair back in a tight bunch.

“Hi, Mr. Benson, this is Dr. Megan McCormack. Mr. Turner and I worked together at NASA-”

“-Right, I know who you are. Finally found an interest in what we are doing here?” She bunched up the rubber band and started pulling Kaaren’s hair through, keeping it as tightly bound together as possible before releasing the band.

“Yes, I have always had an interest, but it’s never been the right time for me. With my schedule clear, I thought I would talk to Dwayne about coming on board. I have a partner that is interested in an investment opportunity. We were supposed to meet with Dwayne at his place, but I lost his address.

“Investor? How much we talking?”

“Look Mr. Benson, we are already late, and my partner here is a busy man, can you help me out and Dwayne will fill you in later?”

"Of course, let me get that for you."

---

"Dayton?" I said while adjusting the throat mike around my neck, then securing the radio in the back pouch on the belt that held the crystals.

"Yes, 1159 Deer Trail, Dayton Texas. He said it's off the 90 and Farmer’s Market 1413. With the radio secure, I opened the Thomas Guide and searched for his street, relieved this edition covered surrounding areas. I committed the map to my memory and put another one of Ashley's shirts on my head. A moment later the white cloud passed and I was watching through her eyes. She was still in the plane, but it appeared as if they were on the ground moving pretty fast. At first I began to wonder where they were landing, then the plane suddenly lifted off the ground and began gaining altitude. The dense lush green tree line disappeared below, allowing me to see off to the horizon. Ashley looked down, showing me a rural landscape with several scattered lakes. The image began fading, returning me back to my office. I became aware of Megan's raspy voice coming through the radio earpiece.

"Radio Check, you copy Saint?" I squinted as the screeching sound from the feedback hurt my sensitive hearing. After moving to the far side of the room, I pressed the talk button on my neck.

"Roger Doc, read you loud and clear." Megan held up her thumb signaling that she could hear fine. "Ok, I'm leaving, Dwayne just took off. He must have stopped somewhere and is leaving again. I gotta find him before it's too late. My little girl is scared to death."

“Okay, that sounds good, but lets stop for a quick second and talk about what you are about to do.”

“I don’t have time. Fucking bastard, I'm gonna rip his heart out. How could he have done this to them and me. That asshole gave a eulogy at my funeral, and probably had them locked up at the same time? Why the fuck would someone do that? Jeez Megan, we knew this guy. He was a jerk, but he wan't a sick evil bastard?"

"No Michael, Dwayne had his shortcomings, but he didn't seem like the type. But you have to realize that there are some deep-seated issues in people that they keep hidden from the world. Now I want you to stop and clear your head. Breathe and mediate, pray, just do something, anything and calm yourself down. This isn’t Russia, you don’t want to get them killed because you rushed into an unfamiliar situation again. Do you understand me?”

"I didn't rush into anything in Russia Megan. We gonna start talking about that crap again?"

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I just want you to be the calm leader I always knew you as, and think rationally before acting. Don't let this body define who you are. My friend Michael," she pushed her index finger into my chest, "the one inside is what defines this body. Understand? You have to learn how to control Kaaren's emotions. I don't want you hurting or killing people just because you can get away with it." The ghosts of Tolkechev and the several others who I killed with absolute ease came back to haunt me. It took months to bury the pain and I knew it would be a matter of time before it resurfaced to torment me.

"Ok. Thank you, you're right."

“Ok Doc, you’re the doc. What do you have in mind?”

---To the Rescue---

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” I yelled out loud as the wind howled between us. My vision, detecting radio sources, scanned through the thick cloud layer that rolled into the Houston area mid morning. Below, endless sources of radiation emitted from communications towers, giving me a simple view of the city as I traveled east, concealed in the clouds.

“Damn Michael, how come you never took me up before? This is out of this world.” Megan had a huge smile on her face as we continued to accelerate over 175 mph. I had made her wear my old helmet with my call sign painted on the side along with a cheesy picture of St. Michael casting the devil into hell.

“I’m wasting time, I could have been there already.”

“Michael, if Liz is there, she’s going to need a familiar face.”

“What if she’s not there. I can’t keep carting you around?” The radio signals died down, marking the outer edges of the city. Smaller radio signals inching along directed me to a highway.

“We’re in a moderate clearing, I see the 90 below.” With Megan navigating, I restored back to visible and checked my position against my compass. We were right on track, speeding along the highway into the rural outskirts of town. I brought up the vivid images of the map within my mind, trying to align the streets below until I found the offramp leading to Dwayne’s street.

“There it is.”

“Where?”

“See the white structures? Those are the small test biospheres from the plans he gave you.”

“Yeah, I see them, why are you passing them?”

“In case they are tracking us right now, I don’t want to land right over his house. I'm going to loop around and come in low under the radar.” After a short diversion, I descended to two hundred feet and flew along the tree line as far from the road as possible. Behind his house was a small lake filled with green murky water. Megan reached out and touched the dirty water as I descended further skimming just over the surface before slowing to a stop behind the house. I carefully set her down and helped her take my helmet off. My ears could pick up the increased rhythm of both of our heartbeats. The excitement was starting to overwhelm me.

“LIZ!” I called out, “LIZ.” We were utterly alone without a soul around. Dense clusters of trees shielded the property from the view of passing vehicles.

“LIZ,” Megan joined in while trying the front door. “Michael, can you open the door for me, I’m going to check the house."

“Stand back,” I said as I stood in front of the single door. I wasted no time trying to be careful and kicked in the door as hard as I could, splintering the hard oak. The debris hadn’t settled when Megan rushed in calling out.

“Shh. Megan, be quiet for a moment,” I calmed down and focused my hearing, listening. The sounds of small critters scurrying around the property began to register in my ears, but nothing else. No sounds resembling a human. No whimpering, no crying, no more pleas for help. If she were here, she was silent. I turned Megan around and unzipped the backpack she had on, withdrawing one of Liz’s sweaters. A moment after putting it on, the vision returned. She was still in the same position as she was in earlier, her eyes flipped 90 degrees, looking straight down the hallway. I could hear her sniffling, the calming moments after a hard cry. The image faded, leaving me with nothing.

“I only have a few more,” she said as I tossed the sweater back to her. I ran over to the white structures and peered through the condensation on the frosted windows. Inside were rows of plants of varying variety set up on tables and shelves running down the length of the structure. In the front was a set of double doors with a pressurization warning in big red letters. I forced open the first door, then kicked in the second. As the air suddenly escaped, it produced a loud violent sound that startled Megan, who was trying to open the garage door.

My ears began to pick up subtle hissing sounds long after the last of the air escaped. There was a distinct sucking and blowing sound simultaneously sending audio signals to my alien brain. On the tables were some gardening tools as well as bags of small boxes with BioTech’s name was all over the packing materials.

“What do you see?”

“This bastard did it.”

“What?”

“He had a small stable environment before I destroyed it. If all this was grown inside, then he succeeded where others have failed. No one’s been able to keep an artificial, self sustaining ecosystem going long term.”

“They all fall apart?”

“Yes, it’s too bad, this guy could have been top dog for once in his life-” I froze, holding my hand up.

“What is it?”

“Shh,” I focused harder on the hissing, tracing it to a two large tubes at the base of the habitat. Along with the airflow and fan, I began picking up new noises. There was a rustling of metal and my heart skipped a beat. It was the unmistakable sound of a chain.

“Hello?” My emotions erupted as if someone squeezed my heart, forcing all the joy up and out through my eyes. I fought the tears back as I heard it again.

“Hello? Is someone out there?” I quickly ran outside to the other side of the wall where the tubes were coming into the habitat from underground. My strong hands ripped a single tube from its housing and pulled it up out of the ground. The dirt fell away as the black tube rose high, stretching across the driveway to a large debris pile. Several trees that had been cut down leaned against the piles of junk on the other side. Megan watched as I traced the tube through the scattered branches lying on the ground. As I drew close, the sharp details of a wooden door peeked out. I kicked away the branches to find what looked like a cellar door.

Megan was standing next to me holding a shirt out.

“I don’t need it. Oh god Megan, I found her.” I hugged her hard, “thank you, thank you.”

“Later my friend, go to her, she’s waiting for you.” I grabbed the shirt and wiped the tears from my face, then pulled the band from my hair before turning and ripping the door open. “I’ll be outside, call me on the radio.” Her voice, loud and clear, passed through my ears without her words registering. The sole focus of my attention was seeing my wife again. Liz’s faint inquires toward the outside world became loud desperate screams for help as she concluded the noises announced the presence of potential rescue.

I stood before the large steel door and debated tearing it out of the concrete frame before deciding on leaving minimal evidence of my presence behind. Air rushed out as I severed the seal the door provided and swung the heavy door open. Carrying through the air was the sound of my wife’s voice. I called out to her, choking up in the process.

“Liz,” I called out.

"Back here. Help," she called out to me, not caring who it was as long as it meant her freedom. I cleared the entryway and found myself on the other end of the long concrete hallway that I had seen through her eyes. There were no time dilation effects from my super fast movement, yet the world seemed to pass slowly around me as my eyes locked into the struggling red headed woman whom I had committed my life to. Her face had a look of confusion, not knowing who it was that was coming to her rescue. She was at the end of her chain, and her head was barely clearing the doorway, her bound arms were out of view. My excitement rapidly disappeared and fear overtook me. Instead of rushing over to her, I slowly inched myself forward, suddenly afraid of her rejecting me.

"What are you doing? Hurry, help me." I snapped out of it and ran down the length of the hall, maneuvering around some contraption on the ground.

"Liz," I said, finally standing before her. She stared up at me, tears of joy streaming from her face knowing her freedom was seconds away. My hands gently reached out and took hold of the handcuffs.

"Quick, there's a key in that water bot-" she stopped mid-sentence, feeling the force binding her wrists together suddenly give way, no match for my strength. The chain keeping her prisoner hit the ground, making a loud rattling noise while I pried the ratchets apart and discarded the cuffs as if they were made of foil. She was about to ask how I accomplished such a feat, when I wrapped my arms around her. Far from being able to feel her warmth, I felt my body temperature increase as I savored her body in my arms again.

"It's ok Liz, you're safe. Everything is going to be alright." After an embrace that lasted an eternity, I released my grip, moving back slightly while reaching up with one hand and softly catching the tears racing down her cheek.

"Who are you?" she asked. I paused a moment, forming in my mind the words I crafted, the ones I rehearsed in my mind millions of times as early as the moment Kaaren ejected me from her ship.

"Liz, my name is-"

"-Karen?" I heard a weak inquiry from the side. As soon as the voice spoke, movement in my peripheral vision confirmed that we weren't alone. I abandoned my words, looking to my left and finding myself face to face with Reid. "How did you find us?" A look of disappointment was now showing on Liz's face. I became confused and scared standing in front of my friend, happy that he somehow found her, but afraid of what he told her. Afraid of him knowing I wasn't who I said I was. In a panic, I pressed the button on my neck.

"Doc, get down here." My fingers hadn't begun to release the button when the first sounds of footsteps began echoing throughout the concrete prison.

"You are the mysterious sister?" He had told her, and she knew my cover was crap and now it was obvious so did Reid. I didn't have a choice.

"No, I am not Michael's sister." I turned to Reid, "I'm sorry Reid." I turned back and went for broke. "Liz, my name is Kaaren. I am a friend. Michael has sent me to watch over you." Liz turned her head, seeing Megan approaching through the dark hallway. Megan paused, watching the rapidly crumbling grand reunion. She didn't say anything, but gave an approving nod, inviting me to proceed.

"It's ok Liz." Megan spoke up, holding her hand up to convey her trust in me so that Liz would know it was safe to confide in me. She looked briefly at me, then at Reid, confused as to who to believe.

"Liz," I said, "I am a friend from far far away. I am the one who saved the Earth from the asteroid and I am also the one who," Megan nodded further approval as both Liz and I turned to her, "I am the one who also saved him."

"What? What are you saying?" she said with the sound of skepticism in her voice.

"What I am telling you, it that your husband is alive." Megan stood at her side and took my fragile wife into her embrace as she started to weep.

"No. Please stop. I can't take it anymore. Will someone please make up their minds, I'm so confused," Liz said, yelling, grabbing Megan and clutching onto the security of her trustworthy presence.

"Liz, I'm here, it's ok. I know this is difficult to hear. Listen to me, you know me, you trust me right? You know I would not lie to you?" She nodded her buried face up and down and let out a muffled yes into Megan's shoulder. "What Kaaren is telling you is true, Michael is alive." As she spoke those words, she caught her first sight of Reid sitting against the wall watching the drama unfold. I gave her a reassuring nod that it was ok to say more.

"Where is he, why isn't he here?"

"Liz, it's very complicated and I'm going to help you understand, but for right now, Michael is on his way to help save Kaaren's home planet. She chose him to help her people, while she accomplished what we couldn't do. Kaaren saved him. She saved all of us on the Deliverance, as well as the whole planet. Today, it’s your turn, but we need to act quickly if she is to go after Dwayne and rescue Ashley.

"Liz, help me, where is he taking Ash?" All of her doubt was cast aside the moment she realized there was hope in saving her daughter.

"I don't know, he is taking her somewhere in his plane."

"I know, do you know where he is taking her?"

"Somewhere out of the country," Reid said. "He left some instructions for us in the house for when we escaped." I left Liz with Megan while I ran over to him, kneeling next to him. I took his handcuffs and removed them from his wrists. Sweat was beading down his head and I could tell he was weak.

"You ok Reid?"

"That asshole shot me in the leg with my own gun," he said, moving the blanket away, revealing the bandaged wound. "So, you are an alien?"

"Megan, get over here, he's injured." She hurried over, Liz following. "Yes, Reid. Forgive me, but I couldn't tell you who I really was."

"How long ago did this happen?" Megan said, interrupting our exchange. "Hell, I don't know. Three, maybe four days ago. Lost track of time." She finished unwrapping the bandages and examined the wound.

"Yeah, it's infected, we gotta get you treated right way. 9mm?"

"Pretty good,"

"Yeah, getting a lot of gunshot wound experience lately. Don't worry, you are going to be fine, but we have to get you to a hospital." She turned to me, "Kaaren, can you get him topside, while I help Liz?" Without hesitation I picked him up, put him over my shoulder and carried him out of the shelter, flying up the staircase. As we reached the top, I watched as Megan held tightly onto Liz, who was shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight she had grown accustomed to living without for the last year.

"Where did he say he was leaving Ashley's whereabouts?" I asked as I set him down on Dwayne's couch in the living room.

"I don't know, try the kitchen." Liz followed as I started searching, quickly finding a handwritten note on the countertop next to the phone. All the note said was “Ashley, 954-555-1212.” I grabbed the phone and dialed, after a couple of rings an elderly woman answered.

“Hi Honey, did you land already?”

“Sorry," slightly sickened at the thought of someone calling Dwayne 'Honey', "not your honey. Who is this?”

“You’re calling me, who is this?”

“You know a Dwayne Turner?”

“Of course, he’s my son.”

"He left this number for us to call,"

“Why, did something happen to him?” She sounded concerned while I thought to myself how I was going to give her a real reason to be concerned about the trash she called a son.

“No. Can you please tell me where you are?”

“Why, who is this?” Reid took the phone out of my hand.

“Back off Miss, official police business,” he said jokingly, while putting the phone to his ear, “This is detective Reid with Houston PD, Ma’am, can you please give me your whereabouts?” He listened while searching for something to write with. “West Hollywood? Where is he meeting you?...North Perry Airstrip? Ok, thank you,” Reid said, hanging up the phone. “He’s flying to Hollywood, should be landing in about 30 minutes.”

“I’m going after him,” I said, turning to head out the front door.

“What are you, crazy? He will be long gone, let me get LAPD on the phone and we can meet him at the airport.”

“Do it, but I am going after him anyway,” I said as I went outside, Liz following me.

“What are you going to do?”

“Liz, I’m going to bring Ash back home, trust me. I'm not going to let anything happen to her."

"You're really real? This isn't some trick, because I really don't know what to believe any more. How can I be sure that what you say is true?" I paused a moment thinking how to proceed. Everything Megan told me to say to Liz I wanted to throw out the window, and just tell her the truth, that the woman standing before her was indeed an alien, but an alien that contained her husbands spirit. Michael’s body was far away, but we were soul mates, drawn together by our intangible essence, not by our outer appearance. Inside, I was still the man she fell in love with, the same person she was mourning the other night. Her eyes were still squinting, getting used to their first sunlight in a year, as she gazed up at me, tears flowing. I gently put my hand on the side of her head, caressing her dirty red hair.

"Liz, Michael wanted me to give something to you,” my suit expanded and opened after pressing the button on the collar. I reached behind my neck finding the clasp of the gold chain. After struggling for a moment I unhooked it and removed it from my neck clasping it together again before withdrawing the rest of the chain hidden between my breasts.

"Michael never took this off his finger since you placed it there 13 years ago. He wanted you to hold on to it, and when he returns, he wants you slip it back onto his finger." I took her hand into mine and turned it, watching as she opened it. Holding the chain I lowered my wedding ring into her palm, the chain slowly piling on top. She closed her hand around it and gently squeezed with both hands. Tears continued to flow, but this time, a faint hint of her pretty smile appeared.

"Liz I'm going to bring her back to you, I promise you. You have to trust me.” With that I lifted up into the air, watching her stare with amazement as I defied the laws of physics. My eyes left hers, instead looking into the big blue expanse above and I began preparing to accelerate when Megan burst out the door screaming for me to stop.

---

“Dispatch, what’s your emergency?”

“Dispatch, this is 162, officer needs assistance. Requesting a bus ASAP to 1159 Deer Trail in Dayton,” Reid said, calling for a ambulance.

“Reid, where the hell have you been? We have a major situation and we need all hands on deck,” the voice on the other side came back.

“No time, I have a gunshot wound to the leg and need you to get Los Angeles PD on the horn. Tell them to have a welcoming committee at a North Perry-” Megan was tapping him.

“I didn’t catch that, please repeat,” the dispatcher replied.

“Hold on,” he lowered the phone and acknowledged Megan, “what?”

“954 is Florida, that's a Florida area code. Miami I believe. Brad use to take me down there.”

“Who? Never mind," he said, switching back to the handset. "Scratch that, get Miami Dade on the phone. Need to meet a plane at North Perry. Look for a plane registered to a Dwayne Turner.”

“Roger,” the dispatcher paused a moment. “Reid, Whithers is in ICU and likely won’t make it. He was hit two days ago during a bank robbery. He was a first responder and they lit his car up with automatic fire. Didn’t have a chance. Diaz and Myers were killed as well.”

“Shit,” Reid said, starting to feel really weak.

“What’s this business in Florida all about?”

“I found them, I found the Owens. Turner’s got the little girl and is going to make a run out of the country.” Megan darted out the front door as she watched Michael lifting up off the ground.

“Stop, don’t go, wait!” Michael stopped and looked down at Megan. “Florida, he’s going to Florida. 954 is Hollywood, Florida, not California." Michael paused, hovering a few feet off the ground. "Wait a moment or two, Reid is on the phone with the police.” A couple of minutes later, Reid was limping outside. Liz and Megan were looking up in the air. As he cleared the overhang, he saw Kaaren floating in the air above them with the late morning sun behind her. Upon seeing him, she came to a landing.

“North Perry is about 8 miles west of Hollywood Beach. Turner is in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, N Number MOK99.”

“Great, thank you,” she said. "Reid, you did it, you found them. Don't forget, today, you are the real hero, never forget that," Kaaren said as she lifted up again. Megan, who had run back inside, quickly re-emerged holding a leather jacket.

“Kaaren, here," she said, tossing Dwayne's jacket she found hanging in the front entryway. "I hope you don’t mind the foul stench.”

"Thanks, I will have to pinch my nose shut," she said, catching it and in a quick flash disappearing into the clouds. Reid collapsed and fell to the ground. Both of the women rushed to help him.

“That's quite a friend you got there Doc.”

“She sure is. Look Reid, your buddies are going to be here in a minute, are we going to be telling different stories as to what happened, or are we going to agree on something right now?”

Reid thought long and hard. He considered who Karen or Kaaren really was and what she could do. The possibilities were now endless for him with her as an unofficial partner. He turned and looked up at Megan. “I’m game, what did you have in mind as far as a story is concerned?”

---Mike Oscar Kilo Niner Niner---

Dwayne checked his heading and fuel. The Cessna had a little over a quarter of a tank left. He would refuel at North Perry, where he first learned to fly, and then continue a normal flight plan. It was close to where he grew up and his mom still lived in the house she and his dad bought. She didn’t know anything other than he needed her to watch a friend's kid for a few days until she came to pick her up. She didn’t question the reason, she was excited that Dwayne finally had someone in his life, a possible girlfriend with whom he was serious with. By the time she found out, he would be long gone, dead, or living in exile for the rest of his life.

It was a perfect plan, and foolproof. That cop and Liz would be down there another couple of days, by then he would have made it to Central America. He began setting up his escape plan a few months ago. All was set, his money was transferred to offshore accounts that couldn’t be touched. He had a new identity waiting for him and a few procedures planned to alter his appearance. A little pain under the knife, and Dwayne Turner would cease to exist. There was nothing to stop him. By they time anyone figured it out, he would be history.

“Tower, this is Mike Oscar Kilo Niner Niner, on final approach, requesting permission to land.”

“Roger, Mike Oscar Kilo Niner Niner, you are cleared for landing on runway two.”

“Ok, Ashley, you have been a great kid. I am going to let you out, and you are going to go with my mom. In a couple of days, your mother will come get you, OK?” She didn’t say a word. Dwayne lowered the flaps and lowered his airspeed in preparation for landing. The runway was dead ahead and drawing closer. He had skipped a stopping point to make up some time and was going to be landing about twenty minutes early. The landscape below began changing as lush green fields became buildings, then green again. The plane was less then a hundred feet off the ground when Ashley saw the runway appear below her. She continued to watch so that the dreaded moment the airplane hit the ground wouldn’t startle her. A stream of cars turned on to the runway and started riding alongside the plane.

“Police cars!” Ashley said, “lots of police cars.” Dwayne momentarily took his eyes off the instruments and looked around the runway. He began to panic at the sight developing before him on the tarmac. Up ahead, there were a couple dozen black and whites driving out along the runway with their lights flashing. A police helicopter and at least one news helicopter were hovering overhead.

“Oh shit, how did they find me, there is no way they could have got free this quickly. No, no,” he said as he pulled back on the yoke and raised his flaps, knowing without a doubt in his mind that the welcoming crew was for him.

“Let me go, you jerk,” Ashley said as she started crying, watching the police passing by as Dwayne aborted his landing, increasing his throttle and gaining altitude.

“Tower to Mike Oscar Kilo Niner Niner, you are ordered to land your aircraft. I repeat, you are ordered to land your aircraft immediately.” Sweat was beading down his forehead. He was caught and had no way out. He turned the aircraft toward the ocean knowing it was suicide, hell, homicide.

‘Come on, don’t take the chicken way out, you couldn’t kill Liz, and you certainly aren’t going to be able to kill Ashley.’ he thought to himself as the ATC operator kept ordering him down.

“Mike Oscar Kilo Niner Niner Turner, this is Agent Sanchez, FBI. Come on Dwayne, land the aircraft and we can talk about this. You don’t have the fuel. Look at that little girl in the seat next to you, are you really going to crash that plane with her in it? Come on, you were a good guy with NASA, I don’t believe you are a killer. Land the plane, and we will take into account your record.” Dwayne was thinking hard about his choices. He could attempt to make a run for Key West, and glide part of the way. He could ditch in the ocean, land and get arrested, or he could crash the plane, killing both of them.

“Turner, a pair of F-15s are en route to escort you to Miami International. Do you copy?”

---Harris---

Dispatch to 143. Come in 143." Harris sat in his unmarked sedan sipping his lousy coffee, watching the house across the street, waiting for his boy to leave. The no good punk he would love to lock up, but knew he had information, something he could use to find these bastard cop killers.

"143, go ahead dispatch."

"Switch to channel 16, and stand by." Harris reached out for the channel selector dial.

"Roger, switching to 16, over." He twisted the dial and announced that he was on the new channel.

"Harris, relief is on the way, proceed to Astro. Fox Two is standing by to airlift you to Dayton."

"Dayton? I'm in the middle of a stakeout, what the fuck is in Dayton?"

"Harris, Reid is in trouble. He's with Elizabeth Owen." Harris didn't waste a second. He fired up the engine and peeled out down the street, flipping his light and sirens on the moment he turned the corner. "A NASA astronaut by the name of Dwayne Turner has been holding them captive at his ranch in Dayton. He shot Reid and is fleeing by airplane with the girl. We have Miami Dade PD en route to meet his plane."

"Roger Dispatch, tell Fox Two to stand by, ETA ten minutes. What’s Reid’s condition?"

“Stable. Took a gunshot to the upper thigh. He’s been locked up with Liz for about four days and an infection has set in. He’s being airlifted to St. Luke’s for treatment.”

“What about Mrs. Owen?”

“She is being transported as well for injuries, and malnourishment.” Harris beeped his horn at the car in front of him. The traffic was backing up and the cars were hesitant to move out of their place in line, even for a law enforcement vehicle.

“If they’re heading to Houston, why am I going to Dayton?”

“You have to take control of the crime scene. The guy had them locked in a bomb shelter for a whole year. Supposedly convinced them the end of the world happened.” Harris jumped out of the car, fuming at the news. He stormed over to the driver of the car stopped dead in front of him. Inside were a couple of teenagers with long hair rocking out to some obnoxious heavy metal. The passenger saw Harris approach and turned the music down.

“This piece of shit work?” The kid nodded his head. “You see my fucking lights?” He nodded again. “So, you are sitting with your thumb up your ass to piss me off?” This time he shook his head no. “If by the time I get back in my car, you haven’t pulled over, I’m going to have you charged with every goddamn thing I can find a reason for and then some.” Harris didn’t even begin to start turning when the kid started pulling over. He pulled forward and purposely sideswiped the kid’s car before switching channels and reporting a hit and run, giving the description of the driver along with the make and model of his car.

“Next time you’ll pull over for an emergency vehicle now, won’t you asshole?” he said out loud as he began accelerating.

---Mike Oscar Kilo Niner Niner---

Ashley sat with her arms still folded, keeping to herself. Dwayne had tried repeatedly to engage her in conversation. He turned the radio off, no longer listening to the police trying to convince him to land. She completely ignored him and took off her headset so the sound of the engine drowned his voice out. He tried handing her some beef jerky, but she turned her head and looked out the window on the lower half of the door. She watched the ocean below, little tiny ships bouncing in the waves, with the reflection of the Sun sparkling off the crystal clear water. As she started to turn her head, something caught her eye and prompted her to quickly turn back. At first she didn't believe what she was seeing, until she closed her eyes and looked again. The angel was still there. She was pretty and had long blonde hair blowing around in the wind. The angel had her finger up to her lips signaling to be quiet. Ashley became frightened, but somehow, there was something peaceful, something trustworthy about her. She tried to see the rest of her body, checking to make sure it wasn't a trick, but she was unable to see past the door.

The angel started making strange gestures around her waist with both her hands as if she were touching an invisible belt and taking it off. After several times, it clicked that she was trying to get her to take off her seatbelt. Ashley, afraid, quickly shook her head back and forth in a fit of refusal. She was scared to death of heights and was terrified of falling. The angel turned sideways and kept flying in the same direction as the plane. She watched as the heavenly being outside the plane started making funny faces and put her hands up to her neck flapping in and out like they were gills on a fish. Immediately Ashley recalled her daddy doing the same thing in the spaceship, pretending he was a fish. Here, this angel was doing the same thing. Ashley giggled briefly and the angel’s face lit up into a huge smile, laughing back.

“What are you laughing at Ashley? What do you see out there?” Ashley ignored him and kept watching the angel. She gestured again to keep quiet and flew under the plane. Dwayne checked his instruments before looking to the right to see what it was that Ashley was looking at. Ashley turned to see Dwayne leaning over in time to watch the angel approach Dwayne’s side of the plane. She gestured again to remove her seat belt and this time Ashley complied.

“Ashley, what are you doing, put that back on right now.” She threw the belt far to the right so he couldn’t reach. “Do as I say, put that belt on right now miss.”

“No, go to hell Dwayne,” she said with a big smile on her face. Dwayne raised his hand to hit her when the window on his door suddenly shattered. Ashley watched with amusement as the shattering of the glass scared Dwayne. Wind blew into the aircraft, spraying broken glass all over Dwayne. He turned to see a large hole and began looking around the cockpit for the object that broke his window. Dwayne looked between him and the door, peering down trying to find something that broke his window. The feeling of the air getting sucked out increased, but came from a new direction. He felt the cool air blowing over his face toward the right side of the plane. It was then that he heard the increased noise in the cabin and heard the wind from the outside rushing by the aircraft. He sat up to see what the new source of the noise was as the right side door slammed shut.

“Ashley, what the-” He paused and looked around the cabin not seeing her. “Ashley, get back up here.” There was no response. “Ashley, don’t make me come back there.” He flipped on the autopilot and unbuckled his seatbelt before turning around to look in the back. Dwayne found the back seats and the floor empty. He paused a moment, becoming very frightened. She was nowhere to be seen. He frantically called out while looking under the seats.

“Ashely! Oh god no,” he said with an unsettling feeling creeping up his stomach. The right side door was slightly open and a loud thumping sound was beating against the side of the aircraft. Dwayne put his knee on the passenger seat and carefully checked the door, finding that the seatbelt was half outside the aircraft and preventing the door from fully closing. A panic filled his body from the sudden horror that Ashley fell from the aircraft. The images of her screaming to her untimely death from his stupidity overwhelmed him. A sour feeling in his stomach increased, and his saliva felt warm as he kept swallowing, afraid of what was coming. The image of Ashley’s body hitting the ocean at terminal velocity triggered his gag reflex, and his stomach contents rushed to the surface.

---

“It’s okay Ash, I’ve got you,” I said, holding on to her tightly as we fell away from the plane. We fell several hundred feet in a shallow dive before I leveled out. “Ash sweetie, are you okay?”

“Yes, but I’m scared,” I held on to my daughter, in part holding her tight so she wouldn’t fall, and hugging every square inch of her, happy to have her in my arms again.

“It’s OK Ash, I got you, we’re not falling, we’re flying, just like your daddy, only better.” I slowed to a halt and brought us to a hover over the ocean to let her see that we were not falling. “See, we are standing still.” It was hard for her to grasp in the wide expanse that we weren’t moving. I slowly began descending to a lower altitude, hoping to quickly calm her nerves, still holding her tightly. I rubbed my hand through her hair and lifted it to my nose, taking in the smell of her dirty hair. It was still surreal, holding my daughter once again in my arms after such a long time. Tears started pouring down my face as my emotions took hold.

“Why are you crying?” Ashley asked.

“Because sweetie, I am so happy I finally found you.”

"Who are you?"

"I'm a friend of your daddy's, he sent me to find you and protect you," I said as I watched Dwayne's plane flying further into the distance, making its way out of US airspace. I couldn't let him get away, so instead of our long trip back to Texas, I turned and headed to Miami.

---

"Ash," I said, kneeling down next to her, "I have to go stop Dwayne so he can't hurt anyone ever again. I have to leave you here while I go after him. Can you stay up here for a little bit?" We were on the roof of a high-rise in downtown Miami. I bent part of the door frame so that no one would be able to open the door. Still, she was afraid and shook her head no.

"I don't want to be alone, I'm scared."

"I know you are, come here." I hugged her tightly. "I can fly really fast, but not with you. If I take you back home, it's going to take a while. By then, Dwayne will get away. You are very safe up here. No one can come up here and hurt you. Just stay by the door here, and I will be back very soon." I took my radio off and gave it to her. "Nothing can hurt me, so you have nothing to worry about. I promise I will be back as soon as I can. Remember Dr. Megan?" She shook her head yes. "Good, because she has the other radio and is with your mommy right now. When we get close, you can talk to them. You hold on to this, but don't worry you won't need to use it. Can you do me a big favor and be a big girl and wait for me Ash?"

"Only my daddy calls me Ash."

"You are so cute, you know that?"

"You look like an angel."

"I do, don’t I? My name is Kaaren, I'm from up there in outer space," I said, pointing to the sky. "Can I tell you a secret?" She nodded her head up and down rapidly. "Your daddy is still alive, and one day you can see him again.”

"Dwayne said he was dead."

"Well, Dwayne's a big jerk, that's why I need to stop him and make him pay for what he did to you and your mommy. I understand if you want me to take you back right now. I know you're scared Ashley."

"You can call me Ash, it's ok. Go get him, I can wait for a little while. You will be back right?" I shook her hair and gave her a big hug.

"I promised your daddy that I will protect you no matter what. You stay put, and I will be right back soon, then I will bring you back home to be with your mother," I told her as I lifted up, waving goodbye. She had a huge smile on her face as she watched me start flying high into the air. Ash waved frantically, confident that I would be back as promised.

---

It was the fastest I had ever flown in the atmosphere. My body began glowing from the friction at the low altitude. The glow faded as I reached about 60,000 feet and came to a stop near the Keys. I concentrated with Dwayne’s jacket on, and his point of view returned. It was a clear day with few scattered clouds, still Dwayne, a highly skilled pilot, flew by instruments. I tuned into his point of view wishing I could see deep into his heart and understand why he did what he did. The man who gave a eulogy at my funeral stole my family from me, keeping them prisoner. Every aspect of my humanity was locked in a fierce battle to control the rage flowing through my alien veins.

Dwayne stared at his instrument panel. He was flying at ten thousand feet, heading 210 degrees south-southwest with a rapidly diminishing fuel level. Dwayne turned his head to the left and through his eyes I saw an F-15 Strike Eagle flying just above stall in order to keep pace with the slow-moving Cessna. I shifted to radio as I quickly descended, looking for the Eagle’s radar emissions.

The F-15’s pulse-Doppler radar was sophisticated and could track multiple targets at different altitudes at the same time. Carefully tuning my vision to the frequency range of the Eagle's target acquisition range, I scanned the area. There were two Eagles positioned just behind the Cessna, somewhere half way between the Florida coast and the Keys.

"Think Michael," I said out loud, "I want Dwayne all to myself."

I descended and picked up speed, rapidly approaching the rear of the fighters, staying behind their radar. As I drew close I increased my speed; time began to slow down. My eyes rapidly scanned the markings of the aircraft. They were 152nd.

“They were 152nd? What the hell are my Reapers doing following Dwayne?” I said out loud, wondering why the typical Air Guard wasn’t in pursuit. The planes approached as I made a second ID pass, reading the names below the canopies before speeding away.

“No shit, small world my friend,” I said after discovering one of the drivers to be Hollywood riding along with a Major L. “Noodles” Caparelli. I laughed quickly at his name before returning to a serious brainstorming session about how to get rid of these two escorts. I couldn’t take out their planes, especially Jordan’s. Not an acceptable solution, it might be all the excuse the brass needed to get her out of the cockpit. Besides, I could accidentally kill her. I didn’t want to do anything to ruin her career, but what if I could help it, and draw the Eagles away from Dwayne at the same time.

“All right Jordan, let’s show them what a woman can do in the cockpit. Let’s put these boys to shame,” I said, gaining altitude and speeding ahead of them, stopping twenty miles out beyond visual range. “I’m here, come get me,” I said while hovering within the scope of their radar. I began a series of acrobatics, flying in large loops, sudden dives, and fast steep climbs, all hoping to draw their attention toward an unknown contact within US airspace. I kept at it for a few minutes, but there was no reaction.

"Come on, protocol requires that you investigate a threat, leave the damn plane alone and come after me. I know you can see me.” After closing in, I realized they were still following Turner. One Eagle scissoring behind, the other moving to the starboard side of Dwayne’s plane.

“Damn it Hollywood, engage me damn it. I know you would love to ram your heaters up his ass, but a threat to the US overrides that target.” It made no sense that Turner would be a higher priority. I shifted vision modes to see if their radar was on. The waves appeared in my vision and were traveling toward me from the Eagles and a strong source coming from behind.

“AWACS,” I said, turning to hone in on its source. The waves were emitting from the E-3 miles away, but instead of reflecting back, I realized all the radar waves were being absorbed or passing by me. The signal wasn't returning to the source. The Eagle's target acquisition and fire control systems couldn’t see me. It was almost as if I were suddenly invisible. How? My last dogfight over Kansas, they kept tracking me. I was able to outfly them, but other aircraft kept intercepting near my target destination until I went above their max ceiling.

"What the hell is different, how come they can't see me?" I said while checking my alititude. As I stared at my gauge cluster, my eyes left the gift Megan gave me and began trailing up my arm. With the exception of my head and hands, my body was completely encased in Kaaren’s suit.

"No. It can’t be. Really?" Was her suit rendering me invisible to radar? Was there a reason after all for her wearing this suit?

"Well Kaaren, let's experiment," I said, not sure if I was talking to my alien friend, or myself. I pulled Dwayne’s jacket off and threw it away. Next I pressed the button on my neck to open the suit. It started expanding and I realized I wasn’t wearing a bra. Kaaren's breasts drooped slightly as the support of the suit gave way. My upper body was fully exposed as I lowered the suit, and quickly, I tied the sleeves around my waist to keep my suit from falling completely off my body. I then refocused my vision, tuning to the right frequency.

"Son of a bitch," I said as I saw the radar waves bouncing back to the fighters and E-3.

---

Captain "Hollywood" Jordan was struggling to keep the F-15 from stalling. ‘Jeez Tuna, you’re flying slower than an old woman drives.' Jordan and Caparelli started scissoring Turner, zigzagging back and forth, allowing her to pick up a little speed and still keep the Cessna in front of her Eagle. He was being an asshole, knowing he could fly slower than the Eagle’s minimum speed and conserve fuel at the same time. The two planes were essentially swerving wide to the right, then banking and swerving to the left, then repeating in order to stay behind. "Mike Oscar Kilo Niner Niner. Come on Tuna, land your aircraft immediately. Dwayne, this is Hollywood, listen to me, don’t be stupid. Land that aircraft and let Owen's daughter go." It was no use, he was not responding and not changing course. She noticed the hole in the door's window and wondered if he was injured.

"Miami Tower, this is Reaper Two come in, over?"

"Roger Reaper Two, go ahead."

Miami Tower, Mike Oscar Kilo Niner Niner, is not responding and maintaining a steady heading 210 south-southwest fifty five miles out from Key West. Aircraft appears to be damaged. Starboard door's window looks like someone hit a baseball through it. Pilot might be injured. Please advise."

"Reaper Two, do you have a visual on the girl? Over."

"Standby tower," Hollywood replied, shifting her fighter and pulling up along the starboard side of the Cessna. She looked left, scanning the aircraft for signs of a passenger.

"Miami Tower, negative visual on the girl. She is either in the back, or not in the aircraft." Jordan increased her altitude slightly to get a glimpse into the back seat, but was unable to see much,

"Reaper Two, maintain present heading. Keep target in sight, do not, I repeat, do not engage."

"Affirmative, maintaining present heading." As she finished acknowledging her orders, the threat radar burst into life. A faint bogey suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began dancing around her radar display. "Shit, that's moving fast." Jordan double-checked the data pouring into the threat display before switching to a secure channel.

"Reaper One, Eagle Control, contact, fast moving bogey, angels 15, vectoring 080 rapidly changing course. Speed 545 knots. Confirm my bogey, over." Jordan watched the bogey on her radar screen while she waited for the E-3 Sentry AWACS to verify her data.

"Eagle Control to Reaper One, roger your contact, left 220 for the bogey, speed increased to 575 knots, angels 12. Disengage current target, ID bogey vectoring 080, signal buster, repeat, signal buster. Alert aircraft scrambling, ETA, 10 minutes."

"Roger vectoring to 080, out." Caparelli said, retaking lead now that he was in pursuit of a worthy adversary. The two Eagles rose high above the Cessna, avoiding leaving the plane in their jet wash before throttling up and engaging their afterburners.

“Hollywood, watch my six, stay alert,” Noodles ordered over the radio.

“Roger, I got your six. Damn this thing is fast, you ever see anything like this before?”

“Negative. Whatever this is, it’s something new.”

“Russian?” Hollywood offered her best guess as to the bogey’s origin. Their work with propulsion systems could have very well made its way to fighter aircraft, but why would one come this close to US airspace in light of the progress the two countries have made.

"Holy shit,” Noodles yelled through the radio, “the bogey just stopped.” With the bogey now stationary both Eagles rapidly closed in on it.

"Thirty seconds to visual contact, bogey 0 knots, angels 12...Fuck, what the hell is this thing? Bogey accelerated to 412 knots, angels 25...28...32." Noodles in a panic relayed the rapidly changing altitude in 1,000 foot increments. This was impossible, there is nothing that can travel that fast and come to a sudden stop, then go vertical like that...Nothing.

"Eagle Control to Reaper One and Two, weapons free, repeat, weapons free." Jordan's hand's quickly shook as she processed the order.

‘This shit just got real,’ she said to herself as she was about to engage her first live target, an unidentified contact.

"Request verification, weapons free," Noodles said as he took his Eagle vertical after the mystery bogey invading his airspace.

"Eagle Eye, to Reaper One, repeat, engage and destroy target." They now had their orders verified three times, that was enough to clear them should they accidentally shoot down a friendly. Jordan was on the edge of her seat, she had never heard of such orders given without visual ID of the aircraft.

"Eagle Eye, do you have visual ID of the bogey?" she asked for further clarification.

"Reaper Two, engage goddamnit."

Jordan flipped the switch to bring up the master arm on her weapon stores, trailing close behind Noodles. She selected an AIM-7M semi active radar guided missile and loaded the target into her fire control computer, locking onto the target. As soon as she did, the target suddenly reversed direction at 35,000 feet and was rapidly descending. Noodles didn’t react in time and overshot, trying desperately to compensate, but Jordan for some reason anticipated the change, watching the contact slow briefly before reversing. It was enough of a warning that the bogey wasn’t going to stay on the current path. She ignored Noodles and instinctually rolled the aircraft and while inverted, brought her nose up, putting the Eagle into a steep dive. She throttled up and sucked hard on her oxygen, flexing her abdominal muscles as the bladders around her abs and upper legs inflated within her G-suit, preventing blood from pooling in the lower part of her body and thus robbing her brain of oxygen. The world around her started to turn slightly gray and her vision narrowed slightly as the blood traveling to her brain was temporarily reduced by the excessive g-forces. Completing her turn, she continued her dive, accelerating after the bogey just beyond visual range. She closed in and could only make out a faint dot padlocked in her sights. The tone sounded as she gained a valid lock and before the target could change course, she fired.

"Reaper Two, Fox One," Jordan said over the radio announcing her launch of the AIM-7M toward the target. She kept diving toward the bogey so that her radar continued to paint the target for the Sparrow, guiding it until it impacted the bogey.

"Shit!" Jordan yelled as the target suddenly changed course, pulling a hard 90 degree turn. She throttled up while clenching her ab muscles, pulling back on the stick, taking the Eagle into a steep turn. She increased throttle further, stressing the aircraft to its limits just as her vision began narrowing.

“Over speed, over speed, over speed,” Bitching Betty, the F-15’s in-flight computer, began warning her of excessive strain on the aircraft. The bogey remained just outside the steep angle of attack she was able to achieve. She watched as the Sparrow came close to impact, but ended up missing.

“Shit. Negative impact,” she reported, her first weapon launch at a live target having ended in a miss.

“God damn it Hollywood, get your ass behind me,” Noodles yelled. Jordan reluctantly obeyed orders and resumed her position behind her Major. She maneuvered in behind his six, resuming her cover, making sure the bogey didn’t slip in behind him and acquire a firing solution on Caparelli.

“I got him,” Noodles padlocked the bogey, the tone of his lock sounding through the cockpit, “Reaper One, Fox One.” The AIM-7 launched, leaving a trail of smoke. The moment the Sparrow cleared his fighter, the bogey took another sharp turn, this time to the right. Noodles banked hard right after it, keeping the radar painting the faint target. Without warning, the bogey reversed direction. Caparelli’s vision was starting to turn grey, the world’s vivid colors rapidly fading as he tried to follow suit and keep his missile on the target. He continued to clench his muscles and breathe rapidly as his vision narrowed, only a small area directly in front of him remaining visible. He was a couple of seconds away from G-LOC but refused to give up.

“Get out of the way, I have a shot,” Jordan yelled, keeping up with the bogey’s movements. She watched as Caparelli’s Sparrow went wide, missing the target, while she still had it in her sights. Still beyond visual range, the contact began a large but tight sweeping left circle. Hollywood was still following Noodles when his Eagle suddenly leveled. Collision alarms sounded from Caparelli’s sudden change of flight.

“Son of a bitch,” with lightning reflexes she pulled her fighter into a climb, avoiding his Eagle. As she rose high, she looked low and to the left for the bogey, “Noodles?” Jordan tried to get him on the radio.

“Eagle Control, Reaper Two. Reaper One appears to have G-LOCed, please advise, over.” She brought her fighter around, performing a high yo-yo maneuver, intercepting the bogey from a high vantage point. She glanced below as his Eagle began diving and spinning out of control.

“Reaper Two, pursue hostile,” Jordan continued engaging, while wondering who the true hostile was. As far as she was concerned, she was ordered to disregard rules of engagement and fire on an unknown aircraft that so far did nothing but violate US airspace and take them for a wild ride. She banked her Eagle, building energy as she brought her nose down, lining up with the bogey, completing its long circular sweep. The unknown craft, still beyond the range where she could visually ID the contact, appeared directly ahead in her radar. Her fighter, diving with a steep attack angle, gained valid lock.

“Reaper Two, Fox One,” Jordan’s second Sparrow was seconds into its launch as the Bogey again reversed direction into a tight right turn. “This thing is being a pain in the ass,” she yelled while keeping pace with the turn, still tolerating the continuous strain of the high G maneuvers. She announced a third AIM-7 launch while still struggling to keep the second on the target. Her ECM light lit up.

“Reaper Three Fox One,” a voice called out over the radio, followed by a fourth launch by Reaper Four.

“This bitch is mine,” Splinter yelled out as he and Waffle arrived on scene. Jordan’s second missile missed, but she continued struggling to get her Eagle to follow the bogey’s incredible maneuverability, still remaining just outside the range of her radar. Finally she had the edge she needed as the contact came head-to-head with her reinforcement’s ordinance. The craft suddenly stopped, allowing her to catch up and paint the target. Jordan grew excited as she counted down the final couple of seconds leading to her first kill. A small fireball erupted and a suddenly expanding cloud of smoke engulfed the area where the faint white speck was. Moments later, Splinter and Waffle’s Sparrows passed through the cloud and exploded.

“Bingo!” Jordan yelled, claiming victory.

---

“Woooohooo. Hot damn this is fun,” I said, accelerating as I went vertical. “They must be pissing their flight suits right now.”

Dogfighting in this body was a thrill. My situational awareness beat the pants off the most advanced fighter. I could keep my eyes locked on target and fly in any direction, including backwards. No effects of G-Forces let me turn on a dime, while traveling several times the speed of sound. It almost took the fun out of it, but the freedom I felt was something no one else would ever experience.

I watched Hollywood and her flight lead go ballistic, taking chase after me as I approached 30,000 ft. A narrow wave started emitting from the Eagle and I knew at once, they were locking on to my half naked body. ‘Gonna be time to cover up soon,’ I thought as I reversed direction by ceasing thrust from my feet, and expelled the energy from my head. For a brief second, I was truly weightless and my breasts bounced as my direction changed. I cupped them as I picked up speed.

“That a girl,” I said excitedly as I watched Noodles miss my change of direction and overshoot, while Hollywood kept pace with my sudden maneuver. She rolled the craft early and began turning toward me. I had already descended to 20,000 when she re-acquired lock and fired. The missile raced toward me while I continued my descent.

“All right girl, try keeping me padlocked,” I said as if coaching her through the radio during our training hop a couple of years ago. I pulled a hard turn, trying desperately to guess where her limitations began, unable to feel the effects of Earth’s gravity multiplied. During our training flight I was amazed at her natural ability to withstand slightly higher G-forces than what most of us guys were able to handle. I didn’t doubt for a minute that the ego-driven male pilots made sure to denigrate her natural ability for fear they would be found inferior to female pilots instead of finding a way for both the men and women to bring their own set of advantages to the team and work in tandem.

The missile drew close as I flew forward, while keeping my eyes constantly locked on the inbound AIM-7. The E-3 was undoubtedly tracking every move I was making and although I could easily outrun the missile, it was my goal to demonstrate her effectiveness as a fighter pilot. Finally give her the chance to shine. ‘Not just yet though,’ I thought as I tightened my turn, allowing the Sparrow to overshoot.

Noodles’ Eagle resumed pursuit while Jordan broke off the attack and formed up behind him.

“Didn’t want anything to do with Dwayne, but you’ll be damned if a woman’s getting the glory of engaging a UFO, is that the game we’re playing?” I imagined the bullshit going on over the radio. “Follow this, jerk,” I said as he lit me up and fired. His missile was rapidly approaching as I led him through a series of tight runs and rolls, forcing him to the edge of his tolerance. The Sparrow went straight, missing me as I reversed a final time, taking him into a large sweeping pattern. Jordan, trailing close behind his lead, suddenly broke off high and right, climbing high.

“Shit,” I said, tracking Noodle’s Eagle beginning a dive while Jordan continued to climb and began turning toward me, building up energy. “Angels 28,” I said, reading off my current altitude of 28,000. If Noodles didn’t have control, he wasn’t going to have enough time before he hit the drink.

Jordan came around as expected, angling her nose down and firing. Her radar had me locked, lighting up a path for her missile. She wasn’t playing any more and fired a second missile as I tightened my turn again. I was watching her radar when the world in the radio spectrum started to violently strobe, completely engulfing my vision with noise that nearly erased the signature of the Eagle’s radar.

“Crap,” I yelled as I searched for the E-3. It was no use, the area was completely blanketed with electronic jamming. There were seconds left and I was prevented from trying to filter out the Sentry’s highly advanced electronic countermeasures. Instead, my eyes shifted to infrared to lock into the missile's exhaust while I completed my turn. Distracted by the AWACS’ electronic assistance, I lost sight of the troubled F-15 and began a sweep of the area, coming face to face with two inbound missiles originating from other aircraft.

“Shit,” seconds away from impact and I was caught in the middle. Moving at an accelerated speed, everything began to slow down as I struggled to feed my arms back into the sleeves of Kaaren’s suit. It began sealing up when Jordan’s second missile flew below me and exploded. The warhead, which is between the engine and the guidance system in the front, consisted of long flexible metal rods that explode and expand into a circular pattern meant to inflict maximum damage to the air frame. The shockwave did more to faze me than the rods themselves. The second Sparrow from the reinforcing fighter group arrived and exploded, sending rods and debris into my face.

There was no pain or damage done, but particles worked their way into the ducts in my eyes. For a brief moment, I couldn’t see from the smoke in my eyes. The heat from the fireball blinded my IR vision and the continuing jamming prevented me from seeing in radar. I had little time to make a break for it but was completely blinded in all three of my vision modes. My mind cleared, releasing all signals controlling my flight and I began to fall like a brick. Once I determined which way was down, I turned in the direction of the ocean below and accelerated toward the water, hitting the surface seconds later. The salt water soothed my eyes and cleared the carbon from the cornea, allowing me to see again.

I broke the surface and waded in the water, fighting hard to keep my dense body afloat while searching for Noodles. He was in a 230Ëš downward path, rolling out of control. With no more need to hold back my full capability, I took off after him as quick as I could, once again invisible to radar.

---

“Eagle control, Reaper Two, negative contact. Target destroyed, repeat target destroyed.”

“Reaper Two, vector to 310. Texaco is standing by for refuel. Maintain radio silence and await further orders.”

“Roger, Reaper Two vectoring to 310 for refuel. Any signs of Reaper One?” She waited a moment before repeating. Eagle Control was not responding to her transmissions. An uneasy feeling creeped up and overwhelmed her as she adjusted her course, while checking her fuel levels. The high of her hot shit performance was rapidly plummeting as she began to fear she screwed up somehow. It was odd to her that she would be removed from the combat zone so quickly. She switched off her mike and engaged her autopilot before taking in deep breaths trying to calm her nerves.

“Come on Julie babe, you did it. You got a solid kill,” she said to herself, in a desperate attempt to quell the negative feelings surging through her. Her entire career was built around knowing she was a superb pilot, but forced to constantly live in doubt as she received no love from those on her team. As she continued to convince herself that she did everything right, something else crept into her consciousness. There was an intense feeling of Déjá  vu racing through her mind. All of a sudden, the inferior thoughts vanished, leaving behind eerie feelings that much of that dogfight played out once before, in a different life.

“What the hell was that?” she said out loud while hearing the radio chatter reporting a positive chute deployment.

---

Dwayne glanced down at the roadways, finding them clear of police traffic. The fighters were gone, and the runway at Sugar Loaf Shores about 25 miles ahead. He was going to make it. A quick refuel, and he could hop back into the air before the police arrive. It won’t be a clean get away, but he knew some people in Central America, he still had a chance. Dwayne clenched the yoke, his anxiety building. He desperately wanted this whole thing to be over, but deep down he knew he would be lucky if he was able to get away with it.

The smell in the back of his plane returned as did the images of the poor innocent child plunging to her death from his plane. Panic began to build knowing that they were going to hunt him down, no matter where he went. She killed a child, shot a police officer and imprisoned the wife of an international hero.

Dwayne was starting to feel a little uneasy and needed something to drink. He turned to his right looking around between the seats for his thermos and found it had shifted. It was slightly out of reach so he unbuckled his his harness allowing him that extra few inches. There was still about half a thermos full left of luke warm coffee, but he would take anything at this point, especially if it would help erase the foul taste in his mouth. His hands shook as he unscrewed the cup and poured a small serving before closing the seal and tossing it on the seat next to him.

Dwayne put the cup to his lips and began drinking as he shifted back to a forward facing direction. As he did, he spilled the coffee all over himself dropping the cup from his hand as the image outside the plane startled him. He screamed at the sight of the figure, who suddenly appeared out of no where, and was now sitting casually, indian style on the hood of his plane.

“Ok Dwayne, it’s a dream. Calm down,” he lifted his aviator glasses and closed his eyes, rubbing them with his clenched fists before opening them again to find she was still there staring at him. As fast as lightning, she stretched her long legs out and burst through the plexiglass windshield, kicking him hard in the chest. The vicious attack knocked the wind out of him, while a harsh warm wash from the prop poured into the cabin. The sudden change in the airplane’s aerodynamics forced him to compensate for the new drag. As his fought with the plane, the strange figure righted herself next to him.

“You son of a bitch, I’ll kill you,” she cussed as she began striking him, jabbing him hard in the side. It felt as if she were punching him with knuckle dusters.

“Stop!” She ignored him knocking his hand off the yoke and driving a hard hit to his upper chest.

“Stop? I’m not going to stop you miserable piece of trash,” she reached up and grabbed his throat squeezing tight. Dwayne did everything to fight her off, but she was incredibly strong and resisting all of his attacks. He reached with his left hand and unholstered his .357 and quickly pointed it at her mid section and fired. There was a defining sound filling the cabin piercing his half covered ears. He re-cocked the gun as she continued to squeeze the life out of him. The gun discharged a second time, a point blank shot to her midsection. Before he could register that she was unharmed from the round, a searing pain shot through his leg. The powerful round ricocheted off of something and struck him in the knee cap.

“That’s for Reid, you scum.”

---

The life was rapidly fading from Dwayne’s face as I finally came to my senses and took control of my Rage. Megan’s voice of reason began forcing my hand to loosen around Dwayne’s neck before he expired. His throat now clear, he began sucking in precious oxygen while I sat back on the passenger seat and began strapping myself in. I checked our heading and banked to the left back out towards the ocean using the right side set of redundant controls.

I watched as he clutched his bleeding knee with one hand, the bone knee cap all but gone, while his trembling right hand nervously pointed his .357 at me.

“Go on, shoot. You can’t hurt me,” I said grabbing the barrel of the gun and placing it to my forehead. I locked his hand to the pistol and cocked the hammer back, “come on, don’t be a sissy, go for it.”

“You’re crazy,” was all he could say as I pulled the trigger discharging the handgun point blank into my dense forehead. I angled the gun so that the bullet ricocheted off my head and away from Dwayne. A loud sound immediately followed the explosion as the bouncing bullet struck the prop. Terror began to form on his face knowing his game had finally come to an end with no possibility for escape. I took the gun away from him crushing the solid steel frame in my weak looking hand. His eyes went wide, marveling at yet another of my wonders.

“Who are you?” he yelled over the sound of the prop just as the engine cut out, the prop coming to a quick halt. The aircraft began losing it’s lift leaving us in a gentle glide some 7,000 feet over the clear blue tropical waters.

“A messenger. Michael sends his regards and wanted me to remind you that Liz doesn’t belong to you. Today, is judgement day,” I said to him while trying to formulate in my mind just what that meant.

'What the hell are you doing Michael?‘ I said to myself, ‘I can't kill again.’ Dwayne deserves to die for the life he took from Liz and Ash, but I can't cross that line, not with a vengeful heart. Still, justice needed to be served, I had to deal with him, but what options did I have. He would certainly squeal about me, so turning him over to the authorities was out of the question. Nothing shy of killing him seemed satisfying...except one. I thought long and hard, yes, very fitting indeed,' I thought.

"Jeez Tuna, you chuck again?" I said taunting him.

"Fuck you, who the fuck are you? How do you know that name?" His only defense was to get angry and belligerent with me. In infrared, I could see his body heat increasing as fear took hold.

"Dwayne, how's your g-force suppression techniques these days?" I asked him as pulled back on the yoke and took the Cessna into a climb. Increasing speed. Dwayne, confused kept looking back and forth between me and the stationary prop. "A 172's don't not exceed speed is 167 knots. I personally think it can withstand more. What do you say we find out?" I said to him while watching the airspeed indicator increase. Using my own body to propel the aircraft I began a series of strenuous maneuvers taking the Cessna beyond what the frame was able to handle. The look on his face was priceless as I took the plane into a vertical climb high above the Cessna’s maximum ceiling where the oxygen started to grow thin.

"You're insane." He yelled trying keep from passing out at the high altitude. "You're gonna get us killed."

"No Dwayne, just you.” Violent sounds started echoing throughout the cabin from the strain the speed and G-forces I was applying to the airframe. As Dwayne was slowly passing out, the right wing finally gave out and snapped.

"Yaaawhooo! Holy shit this is fun, isn't it Tuna? I looked over and Dwayne was out, finally passed out. I reached over and un-buckled his seat belt grabbing a hold of his arm. Releasing my lift, the Earth’s gravity took ahold of the plane and it started to fall. With a tight grip on sleeping beauty, I kicked the door off the plane and unbuckled my own harness. We were a few hundred feet from impacting when I pulled him from the plane and flew low along the surface of the ocean, heading back to Miami.

---Owen’s Family House---

"This is Mendoza," Trish said over the phone as I finished putting one of Liz's long white dress and my suit and crystals back in the case and hidden in a large oversized purse of Liz’s.

"Trish, Karen here, I have Ashley. Send someone over to the Owen Residence right away and keep it quiet."

"What do you mean, she's over at the house? I thought she was on the plane."

"What plane? I just got home and found her here. She said Dwayne locked her in her room before leaving somewhere. Where is that bastard by the way?"

"From the reports, that bastard is dead. Looks like he ditched his plane in the ocean. So far all they have found is wreckage. I imagine they will spend a whole five minutes before calling that search off." I didn't respond, instead, I hung up the phone and turned to my daughter.

"Ok Ash, listen to me. The police are on the way, you are going to see Mommy again real soon. They police are going to ask a lot of questions. Remember what we talked about. Let your mother speak for you, you don’t have to say anything you don’t want to."

"Ok."

"Now, what's my name?" I asked putting her through a series of test questions.

"Aunt Karen." she replied with surprising conviction.

"Great, who am I?"

"Daddy's sister."

"How did you get here?"

"Dwayne brought me here yesterday and locked me in my room. You found me just a few minutes ago."

"Oh my God Ash, I can't believe I found you. Come here,” I said stretching my arms open wide taking her into my loving embrace, “I am never going to let anything bad happen to you ever again. Your daddy loves you very much and wanted me to be your friend until he gets back. How does that sound?" Instead of replying, she put her arms around me and started crying. I spent ten minutes alone with Ash savoring every moment until finally the sound of cars pulling up on the drive way made it to my ears and I knew the calvary had arrived..

"They're here, and so is your mother," I told her as I could see her approaching through her point of view, connected through the vibes on her clothes. I opened the door and saw Liz break down at the sight of her daughter. She started running towards us with her arms outstretched.

"Ashley!" Ash took off towards her. The two met in the middle, Liz falling to her knees and began kissing every inch of our daughter while the officers watched. They embraced as if they had been apart for years, "Ashley, my sweet girl, I never thought I would see you again," Mendoza's cruiser pulled up with Megan in the front seat. I stood to the side watching in silence wishing Michael was between them joining in on the reunion.

"You did it Michael," Megan said in a soft whisper so only I could hear, "I'm so happy for you. You know you have the prettiest smile on your face right now."

"Still, I'm sad," I said as we walked out onto the grass away from the scene, "I want to tell them. They are so close, yet they feel light years away."

"I know you do, but they are very fragile right now. Liz has been lied to, she's very confused. Right now she looks happy, but in a couple days, things are going to get really bad for her. She is going to blame herself. Believe me, I know what she is going to go through. It's going to take her a while to sort it all out, but I made you a promise, and I am going be there for all of you. Give it time, and when the veil is lifted, we can tell them who you really are inside. For now, you have to trust my experience. Can you do that?"

"Yes," I said with a low hanging head.

"Look at me," she waited until I looked her in the eyes, "are you going to trust me?"

"Of course. I always have."

"Good," She lowered her voice, "Dwayne?"

"Gonna take care of that right now,"

"He's not dead? Where is he?" She continued to speak in a very low voice.

"The Cabin."

"What are you going to do with him?"

"It's better if you don't know."

"Michael?" She said in a disappointed sound in her whisper.

"Hey, trust me. You can do that right?" Liz and Ashley started to walk over to us. Mendoza stood from a distance and watched over all of us.

"Kaaren, thank you, thank you so much. I’m still having a hard time believing what is really real, but having my little girl back in my arms is a start,” I reached out and gently took hold of my ring, now around her neck.

“Michael loves you two very much and wishes he could be here with you. He gave me a message for you,” she looked up at me with curiosity, “he said, when the world was safe along with you two, to let you know to have your pot roast waiting for him, when he returns. Not sure what that means, but he said you would know,” Liz reached out and hugged me laughing through her pain.

“You’re really real aren’t you? Pot roast. That was Michael’s code that the mission was a success. He wouldn’t be able to tell me over the radio, so he devised a secret dialog to let me know it was safe and he was on his way home to us. By then, he was sick of the freeze dried foods and wanted nothing more than his favorite dish waiting for him on the dinner table.”

“Oh,” I said pretending to be ignorant of it’s meaning, “well, he will be a little delayed, but, yes you two are finally safe.”

‘Liz, I’m right here in front of you,’ I said to myself standing on the edge once again scared of revealing myself.

“Liz, I’m going to leave you with Megan. I know she is a good friend of you, Ashley and Michael. If you are willing, she is going to help you two get through this. You and Ash take all the time you need. I will be close watching over you and when you are ready for me, I will be here."

"Thank you for understanding. I don't know you, but thank you for never giving up on us. Michael would be proud to know just how loyal you were to him.”

"Goodbye Liz," I turned and bent down to Ashley's level, "Ash, you take care of your mom ok, she is going to need you to be strong for her, promise me?"

"Yes. When can we see you again?"

"That's up for your mommy to decide, you listen to her, and hopefully sometime soon. I have to get going. You stay sweet."

"Bye Aunt Karen," I waved and turned to leave, walking off into the setting sun.

---

Mother and daughter held on to each other as they walked back toward the police car. They watched as Karen walked off into the distance. For Liz, it was so surreal. For months, she built images of a ruined wasteland where they stood. Instead, life seemed better than they had left it. There was no more worry of doom. Life seemed to have continued as if it didn't care that they were missing. She knew the night would be long. A health checkup at the hospital, maybe a day of rest, followed by endless statements to the police. She dreaded the endless slew of stupid questions the media would barrage them with.

"Why is she so sad?" Ashley asked.

"Because she has a family too," Megan said. "She has a little daughter like you that is far away and she misses them. Perhaps when your mommy says it's ok, you can be her friend, I know she would really like that.

"Isn't she already our friend?"

"Yes, indeed she is," Megan answered, knowing just how true that was.

Liz asked, "Where is she going?"

Megan turned to Liz and said, "She has some trash back at her place that she needs to take out before it stinks everything up."

---St. Luke’s Hospital, Houston Texas---

Reid was laying on his side, his freshly operated thigh sticking up in the air off. He was still groggy from the drugs, but fought to keep awake, watching the news report for the second time...

...“In a startling turn of events, the missing family of Astronaut Michael Owen, the late commander of the Deliverance has been found. It had been almost a month shy of the first anniversary of his death when lead detective James Reid of the Houston Police Department found them. We turn live to our correspondents on the scene.”

“That’s right Phil, Elizabeth Owen and her daughter Ashley Owen were found thanks to the brave heroics of Detective James Reid. Reid had been working on the case since November of last year and had been diligent in searching for the missing family of the late Commander Owen. According to the police, Mrs. Owen and her daughter were being held prisoner by this man, Dwayne Turner, also an astronaut on Project THOR.” The image on the TV shifted to a scene just outside the bunker.

“We take you live right now to the place where the Owens had been living during the course of the last year.” A reporter and cameraman walked through the vacant remains of the bunker.

“That’s right, behind me might look like a warm cozy two bedroom apartment, but in reality, it’s a concrete dungeon, one with chains, and cold concrete walls. The alleged kidnapper had taken them and kept them locked up, sometime chained up, throughout the course of the year. The mother and daughter survived on canned food rations and had no contact with the outside world until around 10 am this morning when Officer Reid, who had been shot by Turner and locked up with Mrs. Owen, managed to pick the lock to the handcuffs and call for assistance.”

“Stupid shit media,” Reid said from his hospital bed. “They weren’t chained up the entire year. I swear Doctor, the people who report the news are complete morons. Would be nice to see them actually tell the truth.”

“Get some rest Detective, you are going to need it,” Megan said, looking over his charts. “Damn lucky, a little more time, and you would have lost that leg. You’re gonna be off it a while, but when you need to get back in shape, I know one hell of a good physical therapist.

“How are Liz and Ashley doing?”

"They’re fine, they are going to spend the night here and have some tests run to make sure they are in good health. It’s going to be a long road ahead, but-”

“-Shh, hold on Doc, this is my favorite part,” Reid said, interrupting as the News continued the developing story.

“We now go to our partners in Miami, who have some developments as to how the story concluded around 3pm Eastern time.

“Yes Phil, Turner attempted to flee the country in his private Cessna. According to his flight plan, he was supposed to stop at this airfield behind me, where his mother, Diane Turner, was scheduled to pick up Ashley Owen. When police arrived on scene, Turner abandoned his landing and made a run for the Florida Keys. It was a tense 45 minutes where Air Force fighters attempted to divert him to Miami International. At some point all fighters broke off their pursuit and some twenty minutes later, Turner's plane disappeared from radar. Witnesses on Key West reported that they saw the plane disintegrate in the air and then crash about about a mile off shore. Coast Guard Search and Rescue found pieces of the wreckage, but no survivors were found. All seemed dim for Ashley Owen until a phone call to the police in Houston reported that Turner had locked her in the family home, leaving her behind. At some time around 5pm, both mother and daughter we re-united to watch their first sunset in over a year. This is Colleen Baker, Instant News Miami, back to you.”

“Thank you Colleen. According to officials at NASA, Turner had resigned back in October to take a position with a company called BioTech Labs in Houston. NASA refused any further comments, and officials at BioTech Labs were unable to be reached.”

“Coming up, Houston PD has released new information and is asking for the public's help in finding the suspects wanted in connection to the shootings of three Houston Police officers. Later, do you believe in angels? We will talk with a family who is convinced a beautiful angel saved them after their car drove off the road and down a steep embankment as well as several others who have been reporting strange divine sightings.”

---Cast out of Heaven---

My hand forced Dwayne into a sitting position on a snow-covered fallen tree. He sat in the cold freshly fallen snow, shivering, wearing nothing but his flight suit and flight jacket, his hands still secured behind his back and a blindfold draped over his eyes.

“I have a problem Dwayne, I hope you can help me, you see, I can’t feel hot or cold. It kinda sucks, not being able to sense differences in temperature like you can. A cold snowy morning in the mountains and a hot day at the beach feel the same. I kinda miss what it’s like. Tell me, and be honest, is it cold out?” It was kind of a stupid question, his teeth chattering could be heard for miles. He tried talking while I pulled the blindfold off.

“Whwhwha what are you you gon gonna do do to me? Where are we?” I teased him, putting my warm hands on his face, moving them around, keeping him from a constant warmth before reaching behind him and snapping the frozen steel bar that was bent around his wrists. I squatted next to him and put his freezing hands into the warmth of mine, restoring the circulation. As I massaged his hands, I spoke to him.

“You know Dwayne, it’s amazing what jealousy does to a person, don’t you agree? The entire time you two knew each other you envied Michael. You wanted his wife, his daughter, just about everything he had, you had a lust for. You couldn’t stand being second, could you? You wanted Michael’s life so bad, you were willing to steal whatever was left of him. You know, you could have probably gotten Liz to love you, by just being a man to her. Really protecting her. You didn’t need to keep her prisoner in a cold dark cave, cut off from the world. No, you had to be a monster to her. I may not be able to feel hot and cold temperatures, but I can feel the warmth of one’s heart. You Dwayne, your heart is ice cold. It’s bitter and black, without a shred of remorse. I know, I have been searching your heart for something that would convince me that you are human. You are twisted and evil. There in not a human in this world that could stop me from killing you, and the thought has crossed my mind, but inside this alien body, I have a human soul, one that feels, and has compassion.” I let go of his hands, robbing him of my warmth. He quickly plunged them into his pockets to keep his bare skin out of the harsh chill.

“I never meant for it to-”

“-Shhh!” I said, holding my finger to his lips, “I know Dwayne, I know. It is partially my fault. Had I not stopped the asteroid, and saved the whole planet, your heroics might have been noble. You had no way of knowing I would descend out of the heavens and cause the apocalypse to pass over humanity. But, your heroics were a sham, you were happy that Michael was finally out of your way, and your desire to keep Liz and Ashley safe turned into a nightmare for them as you imprisoned them in your little dungeon, feeding off their desperate need for a man in their life. It’s sad how much you wanted to be him, but you came nowhere close. You wanted to be the hero, the one drifting helplessly in space. You know what his final thoughts were? He was remorseful that the world was going to die, including his family, because he failed. He tried his best, and in the end, gave up his life to save his crew. Unlike you, he is compassionate, loving, and is willing to put others first. You? You’re full of pride. You wanted nothing to be number one, but now, nothing but a lost fallen soul void of repentance.

“What are you going to do to me?”

“Nothing, you are free to leave,” I said, pointing to the endless snowy landscape. “I will not kill you. In fact, I am going to spare you from the American justice system. You wanted to disappear and start a new life. Well I am going to help you do just that. These papers will help you get started with your new life,” I said as I put the small bundle in his jacket pocket. “Before I let you go, I want to tell you a little something that Michael told me. You could have been number one. You had everything it took, but in your heart you had hate. You hated Michael, and you hated the Russians. It’s a shame, had you learned to like them, things would be different for you right now. It’s too bad really, they are really nice people when you commit to learning all about them. It’s a shame you never learned how to speak Russian. It would have made your life so much easier.” I paused, letting it sink in a moment.

“Isn’t that right Comrade Colonel?” I called out in Russian to the figure in the background. Sergei, stood in the snow, bundled in his cold weather uniform, sporting his new rank of Colonel. He took the last drag of his cigarette and pitched it into the snow. Dwayne turned to see the Russian officer behind him being joined by several soldiers with assault rifles and packs of vicious dogs.

“What is American Pilot doing out here?” Dwayne became very frightened, suddenly figuring out where he was.

“No, you bitch. Don’t leave me here you miserable fucking whore.” Sergei punched him hard in the mouth splitting his lip. Dwayne fell over and struggled to get back up with his blown out knee.

“Not nice thing to say to my comrade. From now on, you don’t speak,” he said as he hit Dwayne again. Dwayne went to fight back when one of the guards fired his AK-47 into the air. Dwayne immediately backed down. The other soldiers surrounded him and bound his wrists.

“Enjoy what's left of your summer here in camp Kolyma. Winter is a few months away and it’s expected to be in the record lows, but hey, what do I know about such things.” I walked up close to him. He was trembling in a state of terror, knowing full well the stories of those who managed to emerge from Kolyma, the Soviet’s most notorious hard labor camp. I hope you liked living in that little bunker of yours. That’s a five star resort compared to where you will likely die. Goodbye Dwayne,” I gave Sergei a nod. He in turn gave his men a similar nod, signaling them to began striking Dwayne into submission before dragging him to the awaiting truck.

“Congratulations on your promotion Comrade Colonel. I trust, you will keep to our agreement?”

“It has all been arranged my friend. He is no longer your concern, your secret is safe as is Michael’s family. NASA will suffer only little embarrassment. Now, be at peace, you have people back home waiting to see you. Go to them and we will take care of him.”

“Thank you. Please give this to Nikolai, and tell him I will be by to see him next week,” I said, handing Sergei a small envelope.

“Go!” I turned, walking into the snow, ignoring Dwayne’s cries. As I vanished into the fog away from Sergei's men, I lifted up into the sky, passing through the dense cloud layer, picking up speed. Higher and higher I went, watching the clouds grow smaller and smaller. As the air started growing thinner, I took in a deep breath before accelerating out into space, traveling far beyond the planet until the Earth appeared as small as it did that fateful day. Countering the inertia effects, I came to a stop and stared at the beautiful sight before me. I had come full circle. Today was the first day of the rest of my new life.

“Well Kaaren, had someone asked me a year ago, where I saw myself in a year, I would have never guessed what you put me through. It’s been a bumpy ride, and I have spent much time hating you. Today, I love you. All this would have been impossible had you not found this poor excuse for an astronaut drifting in front of your ship. My family is alive and safe because of you. I only wish you are having as much success in your mission as I have had with mine. Thank you for the gifts you have given me, and for the purpose I have found in the body I now occupy. There is not a day that goes by where I hope that crystal starts glowing, but until that time when you return for me, I will use everything this mind and body has, to serve my fellow humans. Until we meet again.” I turned toward the blue and green sphere before me and thought of the family that was home, waiting for me to return to them. My neurons started sending signals to various parts of my body to expel the vast stores of radiation, propelling me toward the Earth.

END OF SEASON ONE

Angel will return June of 2013. Stay Tuned for other stories by G.M. Shephard until then.

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