The Vanished

But the scene in the picture didn't look like it was taking place at a barbecue. It looked like an office. Valenti's office at the Clean Slate compound, to be exact.

Liz's heart dropped to the floor. It can't be, she thought. But what other explanation is there?

If Alex's father was at the secret compound, he had to be a member of Project Clean Slate, too.

FIVE

Maria tried to open the front door to her house as quietly as humanly possible, but she wasn't doing a great job. The keys seemed to be making an incredibly loud jangling racket as she unlocked the door. It was late-very, very late. She'd still been on the road back from the ranch house with Michael at nine, and that was hours ago.

Not that it really mattered. Her mom was probably out somewhere wearing clothes that were way too tight for someone her age.

Maria stepped into the house and saw her ten-year-old brother, Kevin, standing on the stairs in his pajamas.

"You are in so much trouble," he whispered, his mouth exaggerating the shape of his words.

"Why?" Maria whispered back. "Is Mom-"

"Maria, is that you?" her mother called from the living room.

As Maria groaned, Kevin zipped back up the stairs. Little weasel, Maria thought without any real malice. Her little brother was an expert at getting out of the line of fire, a skill she wished she possessed.

Maria turned to see her mother swooping toward her across the foyer, a worried look on her face. She was wearing regular mom clothes-sweatshirt and jeans. Not a good sign.

And right beside her was Sheriff Kasey Dodson. A very bad sign.

For a second Maria thought her heart, trailing her entire circulatory system, was going to leap out of the top of her skull. Sure, she was late, but so late that her mom called the police on her?

Or what if Sheriff Dodson was Clean Slate, like Liz and Max suspected? What if she knew who Marias friends were and had come there to interrogate her?

"Where have you been?" Marias mother demanded. "It's after eleven, and I got no call, no note. Not acceptable."

"I was just over at Liz's," Maria lied quickly.

She couldn't say she'd gone on a road trip with a guy-even Michael. Her mother would freak, and mentioning him in front of the sheriff seemed like a bad idea-just in case she did know who Michael, Max, Isabel, and Adam really were.

"We got sucked into a late movie and lost track of the time. It was some old horror flick about giant ants." Maria knew that she ranked high on the list of the world's worst liars, but she could fool her mother if it was really necessary. Sheriff Dodson was another story. Maria glanced at the new sheriff to see how she was taking Maria's alibi.

There was a fu

"You should call if you're out later than you expected," the sheriff advised sternly. "It's not fair to worry your mother when picking up the phone only takes a minute."

Maria blinked, turning over the sheriff's words, searching for any hidden meaning. She came up with nothing. The sheriff's statement seemed clean.

"You're so right," Maria told Sheriff Dodson, then turned to face her mother. "I'm sorry, Mom. I should have called."

"Next time, okay?" her mother replied.

"I will."

Maria's mother let out a long sigh. "Would everyone like some tea?" she asked. "I even have some with caffeine that Maria doesn't know about."

"Mom, you promised to cut out the stimulants," Maria protested.

"Sounds great, Mimi, but I can't," Sheriff Dodson interrupted, glancing at Maria. "If everything's okay here now, I've got to get home to Julie. If she wakes up and finds I'm not there… Well, it wouldn't be good."

Maria stared at the sheriff in confusion. Her mother's first name was Margaret, and only her close friends called her Mimi. What was going on? Why were her mother and Sheriff Dodson suddenly acting all buddy-buddy? And who was Julie?

"Some other time," Mrs. DeLuca said. "And thanks, Kasey, for helping me out tonight."

"No problem," Sheriff Dodson said as she headed toward the door. "You know where to find me if you need anything."

She walked out. It wasn't until after she closed the door behind her that Maria felt her heart rate begin to slow. Even though the sheriff hadn't said one word that seemed suspicious, Maria still felt like she'd just had a close call.

Mrs. DeLuca put her hand on Maria's shoulder. "I could still make tea-some of your stuff," she said. "I could use a cup myself. Want any?"

"Sure," Maria said.

She followed her mother into the kitchen and took two teacups out of the cabinet. "Who's Julie?" Maria asked.

"Kasey's daughter," Mrs. DeLuca replied. She filled a teakettle with water at the sink. "That's why she came over this evening. Tonight was my night to host my MWP group, remember? We had a good turnout."

MWP stood for Mothers Without Partners, a support group Maria's mother had joined after the divorce. So Dodson's being here really had nothing to do with Maria-probably.

Maria took a deep breath. "That's great!" she said with a way-too-big smile.

"Kasey stayed after the meeting and helped me clean up," Maria's mother said. She put the kettle on the stove and turned on the burner. "Then she hung around to keep me company while I waited up for you."

"I didn't mean to make you worry," Maria said as she sat down at the kitchen table.

Mrs. DeLuca sat down across from Maria and smiled. "All's well that ends well, right?" she said. "Just call next time."

"I will," Maria promised. And she would because she had no wish to come home ever again and find the sheriff in her house.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, she thought. But the whole story about Sheriff Dodson just happening to hang around tonight seems a little too convenient. What if she's part of Clean Slate and just using Mom to keep an eye on me?

Yeah, Maria was being paranoid.

But sometimes a healthy dose of paranoia could keep you alive.

"You're not going to believe this," Max said as Michael pulled himself into Max's bedroom through the window.

"Sounds big," Michael said, brushing off the front of his black T-shirt.

"It's huge," Max responded, his blue eyes wide. "Liz and Adam broke into DuPris's office."

Michael's face went slack. "They did what?" he demanded. "Do they have a death wish or something?"

"That's not even half of it," Max said, plopping down on the edge of his bed. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands in front of him. He looked up at Michael, hoping he wasn't going to lose it when he heard the news.

"What is it?" Michael asked.

"They found a picture of Valenti in his office at the compound," Max said. He took a deep breath.

"And?" Michael prompted.

"And he was shaking hands with Alex's dad."

Michael just looked at Max for a moment. Then he slowly lowered himself onto the desk chair. "The Major is Clean Slate."

It was a statement, not a question, but Max felt the need to answer it, anyway.

"We don't know that for sure," he said. "It could mean nothing."

"But it could mean something," Michael said, his gray eyes flashing. "If he's Clean Slate, he's already out for our blood, and if he finds out we're responsible for Alex's disappearance…"

Max's stomach twisted uncomfortably, and he found himself staring at the carpet. We're responsible. There should have been some way to tell the difference between Alex and DuPris while the wormhole was open. Even though Alex had been molecularly altered to resemble DuPris, Max still should have been able to tell them apart somehow-