He could not have let her die. So he saved her and the whole group of them paid for his single act. Alex paid with his life.

Isabel paid with the end of her short marriage to Jesse and her only chance at a normal life.

Liz paid in tears. Way too many of them. She paid in other ways, too, deeper and more important ones.

But no more, Max vowed. If he accomplished nothing else with the rest of his life, he would keep her safe and do his best to make her happy for as long as she would have him.

Turning to Michael, Max whispered, breaking the silence that had lasted almost an hour. "You were right, you know," he said.

"What?" Michael asked.

"Three years ago, after Liz was shot… you were right," Max said.

Max saw his friend looking at him with raised eye- brows. "That's funny, Maxwell, I was just thinking that I was wrong. It you had listened to me, Liz would have died.”

"No," Max said, shaking his head gently. "I was right about that, but we should have done this that night. We should have run.”

For a moment, Michael was silent, and Max saw every- thing he needed to see in his best friend's eyes. Michael didn't gloat, though.

Michael made a small grin and said, "Does this mean that from now on you'll listen to me?”

Max found himself returning the grin. "I always lis- tened.”

"And then did whatever the hell you wanted," Michael added. "What's the plan now?”

"Plan? You're asking the wrong guy. I'm just the driver," Max replied.

Michael seemed surprised. Then he nodded.

He knows I'm serious, Max thought. And I am. More seri- ous than I have ever been.

Michael smiled again. "Okay, Jeeves, tell me when we get there." He leaned back in his seat.

Max saw something he almost couldn't identify on his best friend's face. A smile. Not a grin, but a smile… an actual, full-blown smile.

It took Max a moment to figure out what was wrong with that smile. He realized there were two things. First, Michael smiling at all was unusual. The second was that the smile looked almost… relaxed.