Conway was past the bed in two quick steps. His eyes adjusted to the light, limited though it was, increasing his vision. The corners of the room were still dark. He saw one of his saddlebags next to the table, not where he left it.

He and Venus weren’t alone. His fingers slid along the wall until he found the light switch for the area over the sink. He flipped it on. More of the room illuminated.

Venus stirred, finally waking up as he lunged past the television.

He finally saw the boy, crouched behind the table. Just a kid, maybe twelve or thirteen. “Hands where I can see them. Are you armed?”

The kid’s arms rose in the air. His T-shirt sleeves fell away, exposing long, skinny limbs. He had black hair, and a straight nose that looked like Venus’s.

“Tell me you aren’t Jupiter’s nephew,” Conway snapped. He grabbed the kid by the collar of his shirt, hauling him from behind the table.

“What are you doing here?” Venus demanded. Her tone made it clear that she recognized the miscreant.

He heard rustling from the bed. A glance revealed that Venus had fashioned the sheet into a shield for her unclothed body.

“Great-nephew,” muttered the boy.

“He’s Steve’s son,” Venus said. “Little Steve. What are you doing here?”

“He’s trying to steal from me.” Conway crossed his arms over his chest as she came to his side. “After the serum, kid?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Crossing her own arms, Venus half-turned away from the kid.

“This is Jupiter Cloud saying he's going to do it his way.” Conway kicked at his bag. “This group is as ruthless as the Ks.”

“No.” Venus shook her head. “Not remotely that bad.”

“What was going to happen next?” he demanded. “Think, Venus. I asked for papers. I don’t have them yet. They were going to take what I had of value and hang me out to dry.”

“What exactly were you looking for?” Venus asked the boy.

“Some kind of vial or syringe or something like that,” the kid said. “I’m quiet. I thought I could get in and out.”

“You are quiet,” Conway agreed. “I had no idea you were my enemy, or even that you existed, for that matter.”

“So where is it?” the kid asked.

Conway chuckled. “I’m not telling you, but you’d never have found it.”

“You’re just wearing your boots,” the kid pointed out. “You look pretty stupid.”

Conway growled at the kid and grabbed his discarded clothes off the chair, then headed for the bathroom to get dressed. He stayed quiet enough to hear anything Venus and her nephew might have said to each other, but all he heard was her asking him how he’d gotten there and who was waiting for him. After the conversation ceased, he stepped out.

“What’s going to happen when you go back empty-handed?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Venus said. “You outsmarted him.”

He gestured toward the door. “So we get rid of him now?”

“I’m going to drive him home,” Venus said. “He walked here. In the middle of the night. I don’t know what Steve is thinking.”

“He’s thinking we’re at war,” the kid said. Despite the cute, freckled face, his expression was hard beyond his years.

“Conway could have killed you. What if he had a gun? You’re an intruder. It isn’t worth this.” Venus gestured wildly, almost losing her sheet. “He brought the serum to the Resistance. I just don’t get this.”

“Uncle J thinks Conway is going to rebel. Doesn’t think he’s a team player.” His hand went to his pocket.

Conway went on alert, but the kid just pulled out a pack of gum and slid a piece out of its wrapper. “I’m not a team player,” he growled. “Me. I’m the problem?”

They stared each other down, the boy chomping his gum with a defiant expression on his young face, while Venus went into the bathroom to toss on some clothes. Then she found her keys. She touched her shoulder as she walked by before both of the Clouds went into the night.

Conway sat down on the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands. Nothing had gone according to plan. He suspected nothing would. Given what must be coming next, he needed to try to catch another few hours of sleep.

***

Venus knocked on the motel door at nine. She’d spent the rest of the night on Steve’s couch, just in case he or his son decided to sneak over to the motel again. On the way she’d run into a grocery store and collected fruit and coconut yogurt for breakfast, having learned her lesson about trying to feed Conway pastry in the morning.

Besides, it wasn’t like she wanted to soften him up. Conway’s physique had her rattled and aroused. A magnificent specimen of man, as her grandmother would have said in her day.

Conway opened the door. She held up the sack from the grocery as he said, “I was wondering if you would come back.”

“I had nothing to do with Steve Jr.’s shenanigans.” She looked directly into his eyes so he would see the truth. “I stayed over there so you could sleep.”

He snatched the bag away from her. “So you thought they’d come right back.”

“They aren’t stupid either, Con,” she said. “You all but announced that the serum is hidden in your boots. They know where to look, now.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Most people aren’t going to take the time to put their footwear on in an emergency. Underwear, maybe.”

“Ah,” he said, shaking his head.

She felt mournful understanding flash between them. Now what?

She took the bag and set it on the table, pulling out the sliced mixed berries and a pint of yogurt. This time she’d remembered to pick up utensils and even some picnic bowls. She assembled their food and handed him a portion.

“I’m going to have to leave today, you know.” His voice was gentle as if he were trying not to scare her. “I’m sorry to leave without the fake identification, but after what happened I can’t trust your father to give me something that would hold up.”

“You need us.”

“I need you,” he countered.

“Me?” Her hand touched her throat. “Because of the K records?”

“No.” His smile was faint. “Just you for you.”

“Why?”

Instead of answering, he said, “Let’s start over.”

“Why?” she repeated.

“Because I’m falling in love with you.”

She heard the words. She heard them, but couldn’t believe them. He gazed directly at her, no subterfuge in his words or his posture, but she couldn’t accept it. Instead, anger flashed. She wanted to hit him.

“You have to be kidding me.”

His eyelids turned down, along with his mouth. “I’m not. I know it’s only been a couple of days, but you’re special, Venus.”

“What about me?” she demanded. “You expect me to fall for you, when you don’t even desire to live? I don’t want to be your last love. I don’t want the last word on your lip to be my name, while the Ks tear you from limb to limb.” She sniffed hard. “I don’t need that.”

“You’re part of the Resistance. Our life expectancy can’t be high. We’re up against super-strong, practically immortal aliens.”

Her chin thrust forward. “I’m not falling in love with a suicide. Where would that leave me?”

He wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “For as long as remains to me, I promise you can trust me. I’ll never lie. I’ll never go behind your back. You can’t stay with your family. They are rats.”

“I’m not going to be your camp follower. I’m not going to wait for you outside of Lenkarda’s security perimeter until the Ks pick me up after they kill you. That’s not me.” She pulled away.

He swiveled his shoulders into a more comfortable posture. “I’m heading out. I’m sorry to say good-bye. I’m sorry last night was the last time we made love.”

“You can’t go now,” she cried. “It’s too hot, and you haven’t given my family a second chance. Maybe I can get the papers you want so you can stay off the grid. You don’t have any intel.”

“This was a wasted trip,” he agreed. “Except for you.”

He cupped her cheek. She realized then that his saddlebags weren’t in the room.

“Would you have left without saying good-bye?” She hiccupped, then covered her mouth with her hand.

He pulled on his leather jacket and picked up his helmet. “I was still here, Venus.” He bent his head and captured her lips.

At first, she didn’t respond to his soft kiss, but then she broke, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Don’t die,” she begged, reaching for his belt buckle.

He pulled back, forcing her to let go. His hand went into his pocket and came out with the room card. He dropped it onto the table. “Checkout is eleven. Make sure you’re gone by then.”

His lips curved, then the helmet went over his head, hiding his face.

She stared at his retreating form as he left the room, unable to believe how fast everything had unraveled.

***

Conway climbed onto his motorcycle. He had one final moment to decide. Before he’d left Baltimore, he’d read that the space port over in Truth or Consequences was hiring. He could go north to get work as a firefighter. He’d only been off the grid for a few days. No one knew what he’d been planning. He could just start over here, leaving the memories of his life before behind.

Or should he stick with his plan? He could start making his way toward Costa Rica, where Fevet and his Ks lived at Lenkarda. He had his passport hidden away, which he’d blocked from being read with a specially designed secure sleeve. He could go through Texas and down into Mexico. It would take him less than a week to get there.

But he’d have to go through the borders as himself. The Ks would know when he entered Costa Rica. Would he be able to do any damage at all before they ripped him apart?

He’d learned nothing here in Las Cruces. Nothing except that his heart could still be broken.

He stared up at the sky. How much longer would humanity have the right to be free? How much longer would this be the sun they woke up to? Or would they be exterminated, what few of them were allowed to live, surviving as sex slaves with a party drug running through their veins?

A week of biking down meant a week to think. He might find others, like-minded souls, in Costa Rica. It was too late. He couldn’t go back to the ordinary world.

After he rode to the parking lot’s exit, he glanced around the scene. Good-bye, normal life. He turned left, heading for I-10 and the start of the long road through Mexico and Central America.

Not ten minutes later, wind whipped across his leathers as he started his journey to the border. He’d never see the United States again. His eyes burned as he watched the sandy landscape dotted with brush. So different from what he’d grown up with. At least he’d seen a good chunk of his country as he planned his revenge. He knew more about what he was trying to protect.

Live well, Venus Cloud.

***

Venus’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment as she relived the touch of Conway’s hands on her breasts. Not good on the freeway. She forced herself to pay attention to the road. The air conditioner fought the heat, blasting at top strength. She couldn’t hear her copy of the audio version of the novel Voyager, picked up at a garage sale a while ago. The perfect thing to listen to on her trip to the El Paso Costco, picking up bar snack supplies.

Conway looked nothing like Jamie Fraser, the hero of that story, but he had that kind of heroism. Her traitorous brain went to the memory of his bare torso.

“Stop it,” she said aloud as she arrived at the massive store and started her shopping. “You don’t want to get into an accident.”

She didn’t take long. Twenty minutes in the store and not too long after that, she pulled into the parking lot behind Cloud Bar. Claire, the heroine, was deciding if she could live without modern comforts for the sake of being with Jamie again in the mid-eighteenth century. She considered leaving everything behind, even her daughter, and Venus herself couldn’t even go to Costa Rica to keep her man happy for his last few days before he foolishly got himself killed.

She opened the trunk and pulled out massive bags of frozen shredded potatoes. They needed to go in first so they wouldn’t defrost.

Using her toes, she pushed in the door and took her bags to the chest freezer. She dumped them in and went back for two enormous bags of onions. The trunk was full of the fixings for bar snacks. Sliders, French fries, huevos rancheros, and migas. They had the kind of clientele that wanted to have breakfast at three a.m.

Something seemed off when she came in again. She was used to being alone in the kitchen when she made her stock runs, so what was bugging her? She listened intently. Was that something heavy sliding across the floor?

Making a half-circle, she asked, “Who’s there?”

The bartender was in the front, and they didn’t serve much food mid-morning, so where had the noise come from? She hoped they didn’t have rats. When she heard the noise again, she realized it was coming from the room where the Resistance meetings were held. Supposedly the room was soundproof, but apparently not.

When she approached the door she discovered it was cracked open. The air conditioner wasn’t emitting its usual hum. They needed to call their repair guy before their customers decided to leave.

“We’re agreed?”

She recognized John’s voice.

“The transmitter is working,” Hector said. “He’s not exactly burning up the freeway. Half an hour ago he was at Hotel Jimenez Plaza.”

“How far south?” John asked.

“Eight or nine hours south of here. We’re lucky that he didn’t take off the second Little Steve failed his mission. He must have slept in this morning, but I’m sure he’ll find his way onto the road again.” Hector’s voice went sarcastic. “I don’t think he’s gonna turn back, not even for your daughter, Jupiter.”

“He took the time to say his last good-byes, as is only right,” Jupiter said. “Poor kid was moping around all evening. I swear there were tears in my tacos.”

“Don’t develop a heart now, Uncle,” Steve said.

“I just think it’s too bad he couldn’t get out of hero-mode and see the big picture,” her father said. “He’d have been a good soldier for the cause.”

“Now we have to make sure he doesn’t ruin our best shot at the next attack,” John said harshly.

Hector cleared his throat. “It’s complicated to use my tracker. I have to link up my computer and the satellite image, but we know where he’s heading. We’ll catch up to him long before he reaches Costa Rica. Steve and I will go, take turns driving.”

“I want to be in on this,” John announced in a voice of authority guaranteed to create resistance in her father.

“No.” Her father pounded on the table. Predictable. “This is our opp. We’ll get the serum from him. The Ks know what you look like. We don’t want our guys being seen with you.”

Venus put her hand over her mouth and crept away from the door. She bumped into a counter covered with loaves of bread. Her hands trembled. Even though her father seemed to respect Conway, John and Hector were violent men, and they sure weren’t sold on her lover. Besides, it wasn’t that he wasn’t a team player, he simply didn’t agree. She needed to have his back.

Decision made, she grabbed a box of the staff’s favorite granola bars out of the case and liberated half an armful of Gatorade bottles.

She had to get to Conway before Hector and her cousin found him and fought for the serum. Dashing out the door with her snacks, she stuck her key in the ignition, turned the car on, and pulled out of the parking lot. Her only hope was to get on the road before the rest of the Resistance. And not stop driving until she couldn’t stay awake any more.

She checked the clock on the dash as she pulled onto the road. Still early. He’d only left about twenty-five hours ago. Less than an hour before, he’d only been a day’s drive south. If she drove sixteen hours straight, could she catch up to him?

Her brain babbled nonsense at her as she drove to the border. It was only when she was stuck there, waiting in line, that she realized she didn’t have access to Conway’s tracker. How was she going to find him? Sure, it was a straight shot, more or less, to central Mexico, but how could she predict where he would take road breaks? How would she see anything in the dark?

The border patrol guard did his best to discourage her from passing into Mexico. He spent a couple of minutes lecturing her to fill up her tank in Juarez and not get out of the car after that until she was out of the area controlled by the drug cartels.

Little did he know she was on her way to stop a potential murder. Maybe Conway felt like he had to die, but she believed in him enough to know he ought to have the chance to take Fevet and other Krinar with him. She also wanted him to have the peace of knowing what had happened to his mother.

Ultimately, she made it all the way to Chihuahua before she had to take a rest break, her eyes gritty from the strain, her stomach growling, her brain reeling. She found a Best Western with an available room not far from an airport, and once she reached her room, she was asleep as soon as she stripped and slid under the covers, hungry or not.

***

Conway reached Zacatecas City late that afternoon. He admired the challenging landscape of the historic mining city as he hunted for a hotel. The road had been hard going for a motorcycle rider, and his spine felt like jelly. He knew he’d stiffen up later. Tomorrow would be even worse. He decided to look for a resort hotel, the kind that might have a spa. Why not get a massage, spend a fortune on himself? He didn’t even have a will, so he might as well go all out for the last few days of his life. No one but the government was going to inherit. He felt a pang at that. Even Venus would have nothing to remember him by. But she hadn’t wanted him enough to go for this final trip with him. He’d had many lonely hours to think about it. If she’d really cared about him, she could have at least said she’d go as far as Guatemala and take a flight home from there. But he’d been the one saying he was falling in love with her. Would it have been any different if he’d said he actually was in love with her?

All he knew for sure was, he was going to die with Venus’s name on his lips. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. She was his sole regret. He tried to visualize the life they could have had together, but she was in the Resistance, too. No matter what they might have tried to build for themselves, it wouldn’t have lasted long.

After he gassed up on the outskirts, just off the main road, he rode around the center of town until he found a place called Spa Hacienda. It looked upscale, with a multi-floor central white stucco building and long, low side buildings, set among abundant greenery.

He thought the design looked Spanish, but what did he know? Never having been much of anywhere, he’d only seen Spain in the movies. How had he reached twenty-seven and done so little with his life? First school, then time spent building a career. His mother’s life had kind of passed her by, too, in the everyday whirl of family and home. Finally, she’d taken a risk, and look at where it had led them both.

At least he’d never blamed her, not for any of it. Once Fevet had chosen her, she never had a choice. That’s how it worked with the Ks. They were obsessive. Probably, some other K’s obsession with Fevet had led to his mother’s death. Ruthless, these aliens.

Berating himself, he climbed off his bike under the front porch overhang and went in to book his first and last ritzy hotel experience.

***

Venus woke when morning light filled the room. Blearily, she looked at the clock. She’d been asleep about six hours and wanted more rest, but she needed to get to Conway. If only he’d kept a cell phone, given her the number. She turned on her own phone and stared at the map, trying to figure out how close she was to him, and where Steve and Hector might be.

With any luck, the team had taken the time to gather supplies before they left. With her rest, they might be only four hours ahead of her if she was lucky. If Conway was driving eight or nine hours a day, that meant—ugh, her brain was spinning. They could catch up with him by tonight. If only she knew how to find them all. Maybe she’d just have to try and call Steve, talk sense into him when she had put in another day of driving. She needed to get on the road.

Her phone beeped. The sluggish system had just released voicemails. She saw three pop onto the screen. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she put the first on speakerphone. The bar’s cook, asking if she’d remembered to buy pepper jack cheese. She skipped the rest of the recording and opened the next one. Her father, demanding to know where the hell she was. She didn’t recognize the third phone number. It looked odd, but she hit the speakerphone anyway.

“Hey.”

Her heart began to pound as she recognized Conway’s voice.

“Listen, desert flower, I’m not sure we said a proper good-bye. I wish you were here. I’m in Zacatecas City. It’s beautiful here. Clean air, beautiful old buildings. I was so sore I found a spa hotel and got a massage. I guess at the end I’m not such a manly guy, huh?”

Her eyes welled with tears as he laughed a little.

“This place is called Spa Hacienda. I wish you were here with me. Perfect place for a vacation. Maybe someday you’ll come here and remember me.” His chuckle harshened from the light laugh of before. “I’d like that, if you remembered me. I’m going to take it easy tonight, head south again tomorrow sometime. Maybe I’ll wait it out, relax until checkout time tomorrow. Why not? Anyway, you probably think I didn’t meant it when I said I was falling in love with you.”

Venus realized she was holding her breath. She forced air in through her nose.

“But I lied. I am in love with you, tough girl. In a different world I’d be showing up to your father’s house with roses, begging your forgiveness for running away. But I can’t do it. I’ve got to kill Fevet. I’ve got weapons. Nice thing about Mexico is that it’s easy to pick up that kind of stuff if you’ve got cash. So I’m going in hard, with whatever superhuman strength the serum gives me. I wish I could take it now. It would make this drive easier. Oh well. Love you. Have a good life. Don’t throw it away.”

After a few moments of static, the message came to an end. “Love you,” she whispered to the empty airwaves.

She sat in a daze for a moment, then realized she had the chance to get five hours closer to him. If he stayed at the hotel until eleven, the usual checkout time, she could get really close. Maybe she had a chance now. She tried to call the number he’d used, but it didn’t work. Must have been a pay phone.

Shoving her sore feet into shoes while she rubbed her thigh, stressed from all those many hours of pushing the gas pedal, she took one last look around the room to make sure she hadn’t forgotten any of her meager possessions, and left.

Downstairs, the breakfast buffet had just opened. She poured coffee into a paper cup and dropped a couple of pieces of bread into the toaster, then grabbed a selection of everything to give her another meal later on. After checking out and filling her tank, she found the road south again.

At eleven a.m., her GPS directed her to the hotel where Conway had spent the night. She drove up the gravel drive, wishing she could have taken the time to get more gas, go to the bathroom, but time was of the essence. Her foot had stayed on the gas pedal the entire way, hoping to eat up more time. She turned off her car and dashed into the hotel.

“Hola!” she called at the front desk, trying to get the clerk’s attention.

The woman, sweet-faced and slow moving, turned to her with a smile. “Hola.”

“Habla ?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Do you have a reservation?”

“I’m looking for my boyfriend. Conway Smith. Dark hair, would have been wearing motorcycle leathers. He stayed here last night.”

The woman smiled without even having to check her computer. “Yes. Muy guapo.”

Very handsome. “Had a massage?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sure he isn’t here but do you know where he went? Did he say anything about sightseeing?”

“Mina El Eden,” she said promptly. “My colleague persuaded him to go there. It is our most important tourist site.”

Venus’s heart skipped a beat. Could Conway still be in Zacatecas City? She pressed a hand to her wrinkled T-shirt. “Where is it?” Probably a waste of time, but she had to try to find him.