The Vanished

"I think they're encrypted," Max said. "I'm not going to be able to open these files. Sorry, Iz. All that work for nothing."

"Encrypted," Isabel repeated. "If the Major's encrypting stuff, he's got to be hiding something, don't you think? He's got to be Clean Slate."

"We shouldn't jump to any conclusions," Max said.

But Isabel knew she was right. Encrypted files. Tabula rasa. The photograph of Mr. Manes shaking hands with the thankfully deceased Sheriff Valenti.

It all pointed to one inescapable conclusion. Valenti might be dead, but now they had a new force to contend with.

And Mr. Manes was just a little too close to Isabel and her friends for comfort. Make that a lot too close.

The Crashdown Cafe was a madhouse.

Maria had been working her butt off all afternoon, and she still had another half hour before her break. She navigated her way through the aisle of the Ortechos' diner with a teeming tray on her arm, sidestepping a little girl who was ru

As Maria headed across the room to take the order of a couple who had just sat down, she glanced across the restaurant. Adam and Michael were hanging out in a booth in Liz's area. Liz hurried by them, rushing to the pick-up window, and Maria smiled to herself as she watched Adam following Liz with his eyes.

The boy had it bad. Maria had felt the same expression cross her face too many times when she looked at Michael. She could recognize a major crush when she saw one. She just hoped it didn't look as sweetly pathetic on her. But of course it probably did.

Michael, Maria thought as she half listened to the new couples drink order. My good friend Michael.

"I'd like an iced tea, no sugar," the woman said.

Maria nodded absently. It wasn't easy slipping back into thinking of Michael as just a friend. Understatement. It was one of the most painful processes of her entire life.

But that's the way Michael wanted it, so that's the way it would be.

Friends.

Good friends.

One of her best friends.

"Miss, are you even listening to me?" the man at the table in front of her asked.

"Oh," Maria said. "Oh, sure. You wanted an icecream sundae, right? With a cherry?"

"No," the man said. "I wanted a beer."

"Right," Maria replied. "Beer."

As she bustled away to get the drinks, Maria caught a cute girl shooting Michael a flirty look. Please, just don't let him start bringing some girl around me, she thought. At least not for a while. Not until I've… mended a little more.

Maria filled a plastic tumbler with iced tea. When he does find some girl, some girl he looks at the way he looks at Cameron, Maria told herself sternly, you are not going to allow yourself to be pulverized again. You will still be Michael's buddy. Get used to the idea of him dating because it's going to happen.

She put the iced tea on a tray, along with a bottle of beer and a tall glass. Maybe we'll even discuss what to get Michael's girlfriend for Valentine's Day and stuff, Maria thought, like I do with Alex.

Why don't I just stick needles in my eyes while I'm at it?

As she brought the tray over to the tourist couple, Maria continued her conversation inside her head. Not pins, but needles, she clarified to herself. Because needles have nothing to stop them from traveling through your bloodstream until they pierce your heart.

Maria put the tourist woman's iced tea down too hard on the table, splashing some on the woman's T-shirt.

"Yikes, sorry," Maria said. "Here." She pulled a handful of napkins out of her apron and handed them to the shocked woman. "The tea's on the house."

Then Maria noticed the woman's T-shirt. Or rather, what was printed on it.

It was a logo for My Favorite Martian, the old TV show.

As Maria gave the guy his beer, she glanced at his T-shirt, too. Tourist couples often had matching or similar slogans on their shirts, which always amused Maria.

But his didn't match. Instead it proclaimed, I've Gone Underground… in Carlsbad Caverns! over a picture of the gigantic cave's yawning mouth.

Carlsbad Caverns, Maria thought, staring at his T-shirt. Could-

"Miss, is there something wrong?" the man asked.

"Uh, no," Maria replied. "Sorry, I was just spacing out. Are you ready to order your food?"

"Ten minutes ago," the woman piped up.

But Maria barely heard her.

Carlsbad Caverns. Stalactites? Check. Stalagmites? Check. Bats? Check. A possible hideout or whatever for DuPris, down deep in the cavern where no tourists or explorers ever went?

Check.

"Miss?" the man at her table asked. "Can we just forget about the food and get a check for the beer? Quickly?"

Check.

SEVEN

Liz grabbed the dashboard for support as Max drove over a pothole and her knee slammed into the center console. "That was pleasant," she grumbled, trying in vain to get comfortable. "We have to get ourselves a bigger car."

She was mashed in the shotgun seat of Max's Jeep with Maria, and she felt like her legs were going to be eternally cramped. Max was driving-somehow managing to hit every bump-and Adam, Isabel, and Michael were in the backseat.

Just be thankful that Papa let you come on this trip at all, Liz told herself. She loved her father, but the strain of constantly proving herself stable, responsible, completely Liz-not-Rosa was almost too much sometimes. She was hoping that the fact that he'd approved this weekend trip to Carlsbad Caverns meant he had actually developed some kind of trust in her.

Of course, Liz thought with a pang of guilt, he thinks Maria's mother is coming along with us. But still.

It hadn't hurt that Carlsbad Caverns was less than a hundred miles from Roswell. It was a major tourist destination and a favorite campsite for lots of families in town. The grounds around and above the vast network of caves were a national park, and her father had been relieved to hear that the park was policed by rangers. Liz had known to come to that discussion armed with ammunition in the form of information off the Internet.

"I am so psyched for this trip!" Maria called out suddenly, turning to grin right in Liz's face. "I haven't been camping since forever."

"This is not a pleasure trip," Isabel said grumpily. "We're going there to find the guy who killed our parents."

"And hopefully find a way to get Alex back," Max added.

For a long moment they were all silent, all thinking about Alex.

"Still," Michael finally said, "I brought marshmallows."

Everyone cracked up, including Isabel, releasing the heavy tension. Liz caught Max's eye and smiled. Marshmallows, campfire, dark starry sky. It could be a pretty romantic night. If Max could stay focused on her long enough to enjoy it with her.

Liz glanced in the rearview mirror to see if Adam was staring at her. She had that hot back-of-the-neck feeling that made her think he was. Just as Max changed lanes, she caught sight of a small blue clunker a few cars back abruptly swerving to follow them. Liz's heart gave a hard double thump.

She craned her neck to look out the back, but Adam was blocking her view. And yes, he was staring. "Duck for a sec," Liz told him.

Sure enough, a blue Nissan Sentra was keeping pace with the Jeep. "Speed up a little," Liz said to Max. "I want to see something."

"Your wish is my command," Max said.

"Oh, please," Isabel said with obvious disgust.