Juliet Parrish sat behind her enormous desk in her  laboratory at Science Frontiers.  Her life was anything but
of the normal variety.  Every day for nearly a year now, she had led a double life working for Los Angeles
Mayor/Science Frontiers proprietor, Nathan Bates, while aiding part time help to the local resistance movement.

Her nerves constantly remained on edge.  And sometimes, the mere thought of her double life being exposed made her stomach turn over.  Nathan Bates was her boss. He was also the only person who could keep Diana from destroying the world.  As part of the 'free city' agreement, the Los Angeles Resistance movement had been outlawed in 'Nathan Bates land'.  Yet, Julie couldn't help but to aid the resistance. It had become too easy for her to acquire the information that she needed to do so.

Nathan liked his top researcher a lot and in more than a casual way.  Not that Julie wasn't attracted to men with
wealth and fame, but Nathan Bates was old enough to be her father.  He had made several passes at her since her
employment under him had begun.  She was always afraid that his next pass would be more intentional than the previous ones.

The photograph of Michael Donovan that sat at the edge of her desk near the computer monitor was a constant reminder of a void in her life, one that he could no longer fulfill.  But still, she could not take the picture down.  For deep down in the hollow corners of her soul there was a little piece of hope.  Or maybe it was just denial.

Sometimes, just seeing Donovan at Resistance Headquarters was painful.  In the presence of their peers, they could
only assume a platonic relationship.  And for Julie, being Nathan's most trusted aide made spending nights of passion
with Donovan impossible.  Nathan would do anything to get to Donovan.

The young, blond, scientists' phone rang.  She answered it promptly.

"Hello, Juliet Parrish here."

"Julie." She recognized Robin Maxwell's whiny voice. "I'm supposed to tell you that your plane's leaving at six."

Julie's heart skipped a beat when she noticed that Nathan Bates was heading into her office.

"Okay, bye."

She'd hung up the receiver before her caller had a chance to tell her the same.

Nathan greeted her with a warm smile.

"You didn't have to hang up on my account," he said. "I was wondering if we could have dinner tonight?"

'A date?' she thought.  Luckily, she didn't have to come up with an excuse.  She already had one.

"Sorry, Nate.  I can't.  I'm flying to New York tonight to visit with my family."

"Out of the airport?" he asked.  "Why didn't you tell me before?  I would have arranged for a company jet."

It was a well known fact that flights through Visitor territory could not be guaranteed "safe" by airlines.  In
retrospect, out of the 12 major airlines that had existed only a year ago, six of them went under due to lack of
business.  The state of the war had intensified to its highest level.  Deniese Daltrey's news reports were stressful to take in.  The New York City Resistance Aid Relief Group was not able to keep up with demands of the growing number of freedom fighters.  Julie was thankful that her own group had not been dropped from the "list." The Los
Angeles Resistance movement had been declared the single most successful and heroic out of all the major resistance groups for their efforts during the first war. Of course, New York City's own band of fighters had come in second. It was too bad that citizens of Los Angeles were no longer "allowed" to protect their city.  However, the law did not keep the resistance immobile.  And they were still the most successful group in North America.  How could they not be when one of their "leaders" was working right under Nathan Bates?

Julie shrugged in response to Nathan's question.  "I guess I didn't think of it.  I hope you don't mind my being gone
for a few days," she smiled, showing her deepest expression of concern.

He reached over and patted her petite hand.  "Not at all, Julie.  If anyone deserves a vacation around here, it's
you."

"Oh, I'm not the only one."

"Well maybe we could take one together sometime?"

She did not have a comeback.  But she knew full well what he was implying and wondered how much longer it would take until he would give up on the thought of a romantic interlude with her.

Having noticed the portrait of Donovan, Nathan gave her an apologetic frown.  "I'm sorry.  I should have guessed that
you might be upset.   Hasn't it been almost a year now?"  He picked up the picture and stuck it out to her. "Don't take me for a fool, Julie."

He went back out into the outer office.

She put the picture to her desk face down and thought maddeningly to herself, 'I should've put it away.'
 
 

Clarence "Ham"ilton Tyler had first come to the aid of the Los Angeles Resistance group two years ago, to help them get acquainted with the growing World Wide Network of people who shared in their desire to fight the Visitors.  But Ham was dismayed when he discovered that he would be working with his nemeses of two decades.  Ham detested Mike Donovan like no one else.  He felt that his hatred could be understood due to the fact that it had been Donovan who exposed his scandalous acts as a CIA agent on international television. Needless to say, Ham Tyler was now an ex-CIA man.

He wasn't comfortable with his rank in the resistance group, since having grown accustomed to always being the man
in charge.  Now he worked, ranking under Donovan who was the groups leader.  Ham knew that if it came to it, the rebels would not have Donovan step down in his favor.  But never the less, there was no doubting that Ham's role in the resistance was just as important as the one of leadership.  Ham was responsible for finding the right people to help keep the rebels supplied with the weapons that they needed to fight the Visitors.  Ground shipments were out
of the question, due to the "Free City Agreement" signed by Nathan Bates.

The resistance took their supplies by air shipments only, taking turns with New York Resistance relief group to make
the long flights back and forth to Long Island, New York.  Most of the supplies originated from Third World Countries within the "safe zone" that wanted to make a lofty profit.  Inflation was excelling on the black market like never before.  It was also Ham's responsibility to find the right ammunition at the right price.  Funds within the resistance were very limited.

Tyler paced on a hillside, overlooking the flight landing strip.  Mike Donovan was about to fly their plane to New
York, but he wasn't taking the route which had been agreed upon two days ago.

"You're not flying through Nevada, Gooder, and that's final!" Ham Tyler shouted.

Gooder, which stood for "Do"-Gooder, was Ham's pet name for Mike Donovan.

Donovan's green eyes met his angry brown ones. "Ah, but you seem to have forgotten who's in charge here."

"You're wrong.  I got us that plane and it's our only means of transportation.  If we lose it, I'm holding you
responsible!"

Julie Parrish parked her car along the dirt road, and came over, carrying the luggage.  Nathan Bates' son, Kyle, took
them from her and loaded them into the jet plane. Julie went over to Ham and Donovan with only one question raging in her mind.

"Where's Maggie?" she asked.

"Your empty threats don't  scare me, Ham," Donovan continued as if he hadn't noticed the woman.  "You know
damned well that it doesn't make any sense to go out of my way and waste fuel and time!"

"It does if you don't want your ass to get blown out of the sky by the snakes!"

"Excuse me!" Julie said angrily.  "Where is Maggie?"

"Change of plans," Donovan answered, but his eyes were still fixed on Ham Tyler's.  "That's if Ham here would quit
trying to screw up my route."

"Great," Julie murmured not so enthusiastically.

"That's if I let you go, Donovan," Ham warned.

"Case is closed," Donovan answered then turned back to Julie.  "What's the matter now?"

"I don't think this is a good idea," she admitted.

"What?" he demanded.

"Going to New York with you.  What if something happens?"

Her skepticism was by far, no boost for his ego.  "I can fly that plane, Julie."

"That's not what I meant."  She wasn't sure that being honest was a good thing.  "I mean if for some reason we
don't make it, it wouldn't look good for me to be found traveling with you."

Their relationship was not a topic that he wanted to discuss right now.  He just wanted to get in the plane and
fly off, with or without her.

"Somebody has to pick up the shipment and Maggie is sick.  Unless you got us another pilot, it looks like I'm going,"
he said, then climbed up into the cockpit.

Ham Tyler was disgusted with Mike Donovan's lack of concern for the plane.  He grabbed Julie's shoulder,
spinning her around to face him as she turned away from the entrance.  He worried that she had changed her mind
out of fear.

"You'd better go with him and see to it that he doesn't get us into any trouble with your boss."

"Well that's great, Ham!" she exclaimed bitterly.  "I feel a hundred percent better already!"

Donovan could hear her shouting over the roar of the planes motor.  "Better hurry up, Doc," he yelled.  "Unless
you've changed your mind about going."

She climbed aboard and sat down in the right side of the cockpit, then buckled her harness.

Donovan picked up the CB.  "Decker, this is L.A. reporting take off.  Oh fourteen hundred hours."

The device responded with a crackle, then came Pete Forsythe's voice.  "New York to Los Angeles.  We read you."

"How's the weather?" Mike wondered.

"Well, you stay clear of the Black Hills and you're fine.  It's snowing pretty heavy down there."

"I read you, Decker."

"Hey, what happened to your pilot?" Pete asked.

"Well, she had some business to tend to and she came down with something."

"What about the other one?  Hannah wants to know if she's still coming."

"Yeah, Decker. We're over and out," he responded, clicking off the mike and getting busy at the controls.   Out in front of the plane, and up fifty yards, Chris Faber gave Donovan an okay signal and he let the little plane advance.  It picked up speed very slowly and let out a whine of protest.  But seconds later, it was airborne, under the control of its pilot.
 

It was nearly seven p.m. when Diana sprung a surprise visit to Bates' home.  He was annoyed that she had gone
there since they usually met in his office at his empire. This time, she seemed to be even more impatient than usual.

"What  did the  resistance do now, Diana?"  He sounded tired, but was not sleepy at all in the physical sense. He
had grown weary  of his  dealings with the Visitors and trying to keep Los Angeles a free zone. He'd tried to convince himself that he was doing the right thing by maintaining the treaty that he and Diana had made nearly a year ago.  But had it all been worth the effort? The Visitors already had control over most of the world not under the protection of the red dust bacteria.

The red dust itself was another struggle for Bates. The bacteria had caused a significant amount of ecological
damage around the world, which had mostly been contained to the oceans and their inhabitants.  It was Nathan's own Julie Parrish who had recently made some major breakthroughs to stop the ecological destruction.

Diana took in a deep breath and clucked her tongue as she spoke.  "They utterly destroyed our embassy in Santa
Monica."

He looked at her  intently.  "You know  I can't do anything about that.  Santa Monica is not in my  jurisdiction."

Her temper flared, "Well you'd better do something  before I do!"

"Is that a threat, Diana?"

"That's exactly what it is, Mr. Bates."
 

The scenery was breathtaking as the small plane flew  over the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado.
Exhausted, Julie Parrish had fallen fast asleep in the passenger seat.

Donovan had often worried about her, but she remained distant.  He didn't know how to talk to her anymore or even
if she wanted him to.  But right now, he wouldn't wake her up.  Instead, he took the time to think about his own life
as it was.  He had no job, no money and was facing the loss of the mortgage on his home.  The war had robbed him
of everything including his son and ex-wife.

He tried not to think about Margie anymore because he blamed himself for her death. If only he hadn't been so
naive, maybe he would of realized that she was converted before it was too late.  Now she was dead.  Sean, on the
other hand, was still in Diana's custody.  Mike knew that it would take better than a miracle to get his son back.

The plane hit some turbulence, shaking Julie out of her slumber.  She peered through her window and looked down
towards the earth, but she could not believe her eyes. Down below, there were snow capped mountain peaks, a beautiful river, and something that resembled a small airport.  The scenery reminded her of some photographs that were sitting in Nathan Bate's office, which he'd taken during a vacation to the Rocky Mountains.  But, the flight supposed to be on a northern course through Oregon and Washington states, and Colorado was within the Visitor occupied territory.  Would Donovan really endanger her like that?

"Where are we?" she asked.

"In the sky," he answered.

"I know we're in the sky."  She obviously was not amused.  "What state is this?"

"I wouldn't know.  I can't see the road signs from up here."

Donovan used his satiric sense of humor to hide the reality of the matter because he knew what she was getting
at, and he didn't want to hear her lecture right now.

"I have a hunch that we aren't in Northern California or Washington State for that matter," she said coldly.
"Donovan, how could you do this to me?"

She was angry.  He could tell she was angry because she had called him Donovan instead of Mike, and he didn't have
an answer.  He couldn't bring himself to admit not having taken her feelings into consideration.  It was bad enough
that they spent most of their time together arguing as it was.

"I'm not putting you in any danger," he explained.  "Don't you trust me anymore?"

She knew that he was referring to his recent reconciliation with his ex-wife, who had been killed nearly two months ago.    "Don't bring that into this discussion. You need to be a little more cautious because if I get caught, I'll go to prison for treason.  Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you had more respect for me than that."

Okay, I'll head north if you want.  See what a good guy I am?"

She gave him a hostile look because he was still humored by her anger.  But Donovan reached out for her hand and
said, "How about you take this baby up north.  Want to learn how to fly?"

"No, no.  I'm a scientist.  Scientist's don't fly planes."

"Well, I figured if you could  learn fast enough, maybe you could pilot some of the way back home."

She reluctantly went over and sat on his lap.  He took her hand placing it on the throttle.  "Okay, just pull up very
gently."

She smiled  saying, "I guess it's easier than  I thought, but tell me, Mike, wouldn't Maggie make a better instructor?
I mean she is more experienced."

"Well I might not be as good as Maggie, but I'm no amateur either."

"Not the best, either," she teased leaning back against his chest.

"On second thought," he kissed her ear, "I could put the auto pilot on."  He moved the control module to his left,
changing the planes course to a more northern direction.

"On second thought, I might just go back over there," she warned.

"Allright, I'll mind my manners.  But it's your fault. You just had to go and wear that damned perfume again."

She smiled ruefully.  "Well I wouldn't have if I'd known that you were taking me to New York."

"I don't suppose the autopilot can work for a long period of time anyways."  He traced his hand down the side of her
neck.

Julie tried to ignore his pleading gesture.  She couldn't help but notice the small blip growing more visible on the
radar screen.

"What's that?" she pointed to it.

"Damn.  We've got company!" He exclaimed.  "Hold on.  Why don't you go back over there, sweetheart?"

"What company?!"  Julie got up, but as she moved, the plane was hit and jolted to the left.  She fell to the floor.

"SQUAD SHIP!" he shouted.  He'd tried the installed rocket device but it wasn't working.

Julie let out a scream as her head smashed against a metal box on the floor.  The plane began to tail spin out of
control, falling helplessly to the earth.
 

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