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 Valenti's telephone rings. Jim Valenti is not happy at all. Amy DeLuca had just cut a thick slice of her famous coconut custard pie. He hates interruptions that separate him from his favorite pie.
"Excuse me, Amy," he says, picking up the kitchen phone. "Leave that pie right there."
"Hello," he says, "Hanson, in case you've forgotten, I don't work for the department anymore."
Amy watches as his face becomes grim and he hangs up the phone slowly.
"What's wrong?" she says. "Is it Kyle?"
"No, it's Max and Liz," he says, shaking his head. "They found Max's car overturned on the backroad to Albuquerque, near Corona. It looks like they got caught in a flash flood.
"OMG," she says. "Maria said that Max and Liz were going to a concert in Albuquerque. Are they okay?"
"They're missing. They found Liz's purse a few hundred feet from the car."
Jim stares at the uneaten pie on the table. He suddenly has lost his appetite.
"I have to go."
"I'm coming with you," says Amy.
 By the time Valenti and Amy reach the Roswell Sheriff's office, the Evans and Parkers are already there. Isabel, Maria and Michael arrive together minutes later.
"Okay, people," says Hanson. "The car was found by a local farmer off the old road near Corona. There apparently was a flash flood and washout that knocked the car off the road and swept its occupants in the water. We're looking for one male, 18 years of age and one female, 17 years of age. Here are their pictures. We have choppers in the air checking the area; a ground search commences at 0600 from Corona."
A reporter from the Gazette asks, "Is this a search or a recovery effort, Sheriff?"
"What?" says Hanson, slightly taken aback by the question.
Valenti steps in.
"This is a search and rescue operation until further notice," says Valenti.
"There was something in front of this opening," says Max. "A slab of rock, a tomb of some kind ... I couldn't see it clearly, but it was here," he continues, standing on the spot where the object had been in his flash.
"It was fairly big," says Max, gestimating the size with his hands.
"You think my grandmother has something to do with this place?"
"Yes."
"I suppose it's possible. She did visit a lot of sites when she researched her books ... and she took lots of pictures."
"Do you still have them?"
Liz nods. "Yea, my dad has boxes of pictures."
"Maybe we should look around some more," says Max.
"Could Nasedo have used it ... I mean, to hide or live ...," says Liz. "He hid on reservation land. Maybe he knew about the cliff dwellings."
"Maybe."
"I wonder if Riverdog knows," ponders Liz.
"We should talk to him," says Max.
"What's this?" asks Liz, pointing to a stone, slightly recessed in the wall.
Max comes over to Liz and examines it closely.
"I'm not sure. He tries to pull the stone out, but it won't come, so Max pushes it. As he does, there is a click and part of the rock wall slides open. Just inside, there is an extinguished torch. Max takes it and smells. It hasn't been used for a long time. He waves his hand over it to light it.
"Let's go," says Max.
"Why don't you folks just go home?" says Valenti to the Evans and Parkers. "There's nothing you can do until morning anyway. It might be better if you were home in case Max and Liz try to reach you."
Jeff Parker nods.
"What do you really think, Sheriff?" asks Phillip Evans.
"I'm not the sheriff anymore," Jim reminds Phillip, then continues. " Max and Liz are very resourceful kids. I'd say their chances are pretty good. My guess is they found a place to sit tight for the night."
"I hope you're right," says Phillip.
"Of course, he's right," says Amy, trying to be the cheerleader.
"It's a tunnel," says Max.
"I wonder where it goes," says Liz.
"That's what we're going to find out."
Max grabs the torch and lights it, then takes Liz's hand and leads the way. They look carefully at the walls for any writing or symbols, but there are none, just brackets which apparently held torches in the past based on the scorched marks on the rock face. The tunnel runs approximately a quarter of a mile before it stops in a dead end. Max waves the torch, looking for another trigger or lock. He misses it the first time, but Liz picks up the shadow of another recessed stone.
"Here," she says.
Max brings the torch back and illuminates the area. Liz pushes on the stone and the rock face slides back. When they enter, it's not what they expect. Instead of an abandoned ruin, the room looks recently lived in. There's a mission-styled bed, freshly made, a wooden table, a camping stove, some food tins, a kerosene lamp, a flashlight, water, all signs of recent habitation. There's a well-worn copy of Atherton’s book on the floor. Max picks it up. It bears Atherton’s autograph. Liz takes the flashlight and opens the battery compartment. The expire date on the batteries is Jan. 2003.
"Max, someone lives here," she says.
But Max's attention is drawn elsewhere. In the corner, hidden behind a full-length screen are the remains of one single hatched pod.
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