"I picked up a new stereo. I thought I would install it tonight when we stop," Kyle said.

So that is what Kyle bought at the auto store, Liz thought.

"Not that we don't all enjoy listening to AM radio on a three-inch speaker, but we thought it was time to broaden our horizons," Michael said.

Liz shook her head. The guys had managed to surprise them. And she had thought secrets would be impossible given the close quarters they were living in now. Well, she and Maria had arranged a surprise of their own, but the boys wouldn't find out about that until later.

As Max found his way back to the two-lane road they were taking, Liz could hear Maria tuning the guitar.

"Michael, do you see that black SUV?" Max asked, his voice tight. Michael obviously heard the same thing and spun his head around to look back through one of the van's two rear windows.

"It was on the road this morning," Michael said.

"Before we stopped," Max said.

"Maybe they stopped too," Maria said, with uncertainty.

"For exactly the same amount of time as we did?" Michael asked.

"Coincidence?" Maria said, but there was no conviction in her voice.

"What's the plan, Maxwell?" Michael said.

Max hesitated for a moment before he answered. Just before graduation he had said that he was done making decisions for the group. He had said the same thing in Stonewall. Liz understood why: He knew that, under his leadership his, Michael's, and Isabel's home planet had fallen. And too many bad things had happened in the last few years. Max blamed himself for all of them, including Alex's death. It wasn't fair, but that was Max. Now he was determined not to take a leadership position.

"Too much traffic on this road for us to do much of anything. For now, I'll just slow down," Max said.

Max reduced his speed to fifty. Immediately cars started passing them. But not all the cars, Liz saw. The black SUV didn't pass them. It slowed down as well, falling farther back until Liz couldn't see it anymore out of her mirror.