Turnabout

«You bastardsl» Diane shouted, tears streaming down her face. The feral man holstered his weapon and, very calmly and casually, lit a cigarette. «If she speaks again," he said to his men, «kill her. Same goes for the rest of them.» Scarface shook his head and tsked in mock sympathy. His eyes never left Max's. «Drop the barrier, Max, and tell your friend over there to do the same. You've lost. It's over.» As powerful as Langley had said his «secret weapon» was, Max knew that it would take a few precious seconds time they no longer had for its power to build up properly. He had never felt so helpless before. Abruptly he found himself standing at the brink, teetering at the edge of a bottomless well of despair. Tears stung his eyes. I've failed again. Just like I failed everyone back on Antar. Like a gauge of his own strength, the barrier in front of him fritzed and popped like a bug zapper, then vanished. The suspended bullet clattered to the floor. «Let it down, Langley," Max said, then spoke to the others. «They've won. It's finished.» «Are you crazy, Max?» Langley said, his eyes huge. «Probably. You're supposed to do what I tell you, Langley. Don't argue. Just do it.» Duff, Valenti, and Liz all protested, but Max felt he was beyond hearing, almost beyond caring. He simply couldn't allow these thugs to murder his parents and the Parkers in cold blood. Langley sighed, shook his head, and dropped the barriers that covered his group, front and rear. More bullets rained to the floor. Max felt his emotional center of gravity shift subtly. The abyss of despair drew steadily nearer, I don't care. I just don't want anyone else to have to suffer because of me. I just want this nightmare to be over. One way or another. He shut his eyes. «Max, it's not over," came a voice from the darkness. Opening his eyes, Max found that he was no longer in the Special Unit compound. Or at least, he was no longer entirely there. On one level, he was vaguely aware of the rough hands that were dragging him away. On another, he was sitting in the backseat of the Microbus, looking into the faces of Isabel, Kyle, Jesse, and Shelby as the dark highway unwound in front of the weatherbeaten little van's windshield. Max felt groggy with fatigue and fear. «Who's driving?» Maria cast a quick backward glance in Max's direction from the driver's seat. «I have to get to do something around here, don't I?» «It's not over," Isabel repeated, looking Max squarely in the eye. Max laughed bitterly. «That's not how it looks from in here. I think they've finally beaten us, Iz.» He thought about telling her that they had pistol-whipped Dad right in front of him, but thought better of it. «Don't come here. There's no point in letting them capture you, too.» Memories of Liz's earlier future-flash predicting Isabel's vivisection returned to haunt him. It struck him that she might soon become the Royal One. Isabel thrust out her lower lip defiantly. «Shut up, Max. We're coming to rescue you.» «Listen, Max," Kyle said, leaning forward, his eyes shining with earnest intensity. «The camcorder cavalry should already be arriving in droves. Both local and national media, from the look of it. They'll blow everything the Special Unit's doing right now sky-high.» «We're almost there too," Jesse said, glancing briefly toward the front, where the white lines on the road were moving past as quickly as machine-gun fire. «You were all supposed to stay at Langley's," Max said. «We kind of thought you might say that," Shelby said, gri