White rewound the tape and played it again. They worked as a team, the transgenics. Any attack on one of them would incur the wrath of all of them. He had, had his men keep a post of the two buildings either side of where the X5 had been attacked. After a month of no sighting, he figured the transgenics had moved on. Reluctantly he had pulled the troops out of the area. Cursing himself, White rewound the tape again.
Zane glanced over at Alec, who just shrugged and retreated back outside. Once they were a safe distance away from White, only then did either man speak.
"Distraction or not, there's no way I'm having Jondy anywhere near that obsessive lunatic." Zane was fuming. "There are fourteen children relying on her. What's his deal anyway? I though Max said something about him being married. What woman in her right mind would marry that animal." When it came to his sisters, especially Jondy, Zane would not even think about putting any of them in deliberate danger.
"Hey, I have been trying to find another way." Alec protested. "I've gotten sort of fond of your sisters pushing me around." He grinned good naturedly. "God, I never seen anyone look so beautiful when they loose their tempers. You can practically see the flames flicker in their eyes."
Zane chuckled. He knew exactly what Alec meant. "Don't let the flickering flames fool you. They are complex women, who keep everything important to them closely guarded. Especially their family."
Alec eyed up the other man. "Should I consider myself included in the category of family?" He could never be sure.
Zane laughed out loud. "Well, Jondy certainly thinks there's hope for you yet." He nudged Alec. "Come on, I want to check on Max before I crash for the night."
Max walked around her bedroom in her apartment. She was starting to feel like a cage animal. The only time she had left it in the last month to go to work. She couldn't seem to shake the fear of going out alone after dark.
Jondy had, had to return to San Francisco a couple of days after Max had been attacked, but she kept daily contact by phone. Logan's apartment building was still being watched, so he had taken to sleeping on her sofa. Zane had turned up at the beginning of the week, yet seemed to be up to date on what had happened. Max didn't have to ask whom it was who had told him. Jondy and Zane kept in constant contact.
Absentmindly, Max wondered lightly into the living room where Logan lay fast asleep on the sofa. She watched him for a moment. In some ways the attack on her had been just as invasive on him as it had been on her. Suddenly feeling the need to be closer to him, Max inched closer and sat on the coffee table. Despite the desperate need to feel his arms around her, she had no wish to wake him from his peaceful sleep.
As if he sensed that she were there, Logan stirred and opened his eyes to look up at her. His blue eyes sparkling at the sight of his dark angel watching him. "You alright?" For a moment he thought that he was still dreaming. Then she shook her head. "Can't sleep?" It wasn't unusual for Max not to sleep. Again his question was met with a shake of her head. Shuffling back a little on the sofa and reached out his hand to her.
It was Max's choice. She knew Logan would understand if she chose to stay put. She also knew that he would never hurt her. Taking hold of his long fingered hand and let him gently pull her onto the sofa. She cuddled into him instinctively knowing that Logan would realize she wasn't ready for anything more than to be held. Not yet.
Logan wrapped his arms around Max and rested his head on hers. He didn't want to hold her too tight in case he frightened her away. This was the closest they had been since she had been attacked and he wasn't going to ruin it by pushing her further than she was ready to go. The pattern of her breathing changed indicating that she had fallen asleep. Kissing the top of her head, Logan drifted back to sleep.
Zane and Alec quietly entered the apartment not wishing to wake Logan or Original Cindy. Smiles crept onto their faces as they saw the couple cuddled up on the sofa. They left the apartment as quietly as they arrived.
Max woke the next morning to find her head cushioned against Logan's strong chest. Stretching her limbs out careful not to wake him, she found they had an audience. Original Cindy, Alec and Zane were grinning down at them. "What are you all so happy about?" She felt Logan stirring.
Logan saw the annoyed look on Max's face and was confused. Following her look, he saw the trio grinning from ear to ear. "What are you all doing up at this hour?" He was actually surprised to find Max still in his arms.
Zane stifled a chuckle from escaping him at the sight of his little sister blushing. "Well I just thought that I would check up on my baby sister. Seems that I was overly concerned as you look as though you're doing just fine."
Max wasn't in a great hurry to move. She felt safe, a feeling that had been taken away from her a month ago. "How long have you been checking up on me?"
Alec sat down on the coffee table. "Long enough. We've found White's weak spot but we can't use it. Can't think of anything else though."
"Why can't we use it." Logan wanted to get back at White so badly. Unconsciously he pulled Max closer.
Max knew why. She saw the way men looked at her sister. It made her skin crawl, she could only imagine how Jondy felt. "We can't use it because it's Jondy. We'll find another way."
Logan felt as though they were constantly running up against a brick wall. He kissed Max's forehead. "Yeah, we'll find another way." He looked up at Zane and Alec. "Where did you find White?"
"He's set up shop in sector six. Don't know how long he'll stay though." Alec helped himself to coffee. "The good news is, he's pulled his men away from your apartment building."
Logan would be happy to be back in his own bed. Max's sofa wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep. "He's pulled all of his men? Are you sure?" The last thing he wanted to do is walk into a trap which could end up leading White straight to Max.
Zane nodded. "Might pay to go in the back way just to be safe. I don't want to have to bring Jondy to Seattle in a bid to get White to let you go because we underestimated him. You'd think his wife would keep him too occupied to obsess over Jondy."
Max was still nestled comfortably in Logan's arms. "He tried to kill her. That history you and Logan dug up on those bones seems to be connected to White's heritage. It looks as though he's responsible for Lydecker's disappearance. No big surprise there."
Zane sat on the arm of the sofa and glanced down at his sister. "Like I've said before, until I see Lydecker's deceased body with my own two eyes, I'll consider him still alive and walking around." He couldn't sum any pity up for the man who had used them as his own personal toy soldiers.
Logan's brain was ticking over at a million miles. A plan for getting back at White was forming, eating away at him. He and Max would find a way to get past her fear, but he couldn't get past what White had taken from them. "I suppose I'd better get back to my place and make sure that White didn't search it."
Max was reluctant to let Logan go back to his apartment alone. She insisted that Zane and Alec go with him. Once they had left, the apartment felt so empty to her. She couldn't blame Logan wanting to go home. The sofa wasn't exactly comfortable to sleep on. It couldn't be easy for him having her clinging to him all of the time. If Logan had wanted a clingy girlfriend, there were plenty of social butterfly types that were just dying for him to look their way. It had become impossible lately for Max to figure out what Logan still saw in her.
Original Cindy stood watching her friend. She could see the flood of emotions crossing her friend's face. "I think you'd better phone sister girl." Max looked shocked as though Cindy had invaded her thoughts. "I don't know what's going through that head of yours, Boo, but I'm willing to bet Jondy does." She picked up the cordless phone and tossed it to Max. "Call her. You can't go on like this Max, you'll drive yourself insane." Turning, she walked out of the room.
Max quickly dialed the phone number before she could convince herself that she was just wasting her sister's time. "Hi Jondy. You got a minute?" She sat down on the sofa. This could take a while.
"Of course." Jondy's husky accented voice rang down the line. "What's going on?" Judging by the reluctance she could hear in Max's voice, she easily guessed Original Cindy had told her to phone. "You're not still blaming yourself for everything are you?"
Max was relieved that her sister couldn't see the blush that crossed her face. "Logan got to go back to his apartment today. I made Alec and Zane go with him just incase. Zane's pretty sure that White's pulled all of his men out though. I think he's relieved to get out of here."
Jondy knew where this was going. "I can't blame him for wanting to sleep in his own bed. It's probably killing him to be away from you though."
Max curled up on the sofa. "I'm not so sure of that. Why would he want with a clingy transgenic female who's afraid of the dark and flinches every time he touches her." Max had never felt so worthless and miserable in her life.
"You stop right there." Jondy scolded her. "Logan loves you. That didn't stop when you were attacked. You will get through this. You won't always be afraid of the dark. If you think the only reason Logan was ever interested in you was for the sex, you need your head checked. When Manticore gave you that damn virus he stood by you, despite the fact that just brushing up against you accidentally could have killed him. Guys like him don't grow on trees."
Max glanced out of the window into the night sky. She saw Zane and Alec's reflections in the window as they walked into the apartment. "Logan's building must be safe. Alec and Zane have just come back."
"Can you let me talk to Zane a minute?" Jondy noticed that there was no mention of Logan being there with them. She waited until she heard her brother's voice on the line before voicing her concern. "Hey Big Brother. Logan doesn't happen to know where to find White does he?"
Zane glanced over at Alec as his sister spoke to him. He could tell by the tone of her voice what she was thinking. "Yeah. You don't think he'd do something stupid like going after White by himself do you?" As soon as he voiced the question, Alec got out his cell phone and dialed Logan's number.
"You killed a guard for me, Zane." Jondy reminded him. "What would you have done if you had been in love with me?"
"Oh God." Zane muttered. Alec was shaking his head. Logan wasn't picking up his phone. "Gotta go Sis. I'll call you later at work." He hung up the phone and raced out the door with Alec right behind him.
Original Cindy stared at the door as it slammed shut behind the two men that raced past her. "Where are they going?" She turned and found Max standing shell shocked in the middle of their living room. "Boo? What the hell is going on?"
Max seemed to snap back to reality suddenly. "I think Logan's gone after White." She grabbed her jacket and raced out the door, pushing her fears aside. Zane and Alec would head for Logan's apartment first to make sure he wasn't just ignoring the ringing phone.
White watched the tape again. Checking for some sign of where the transgenics had appeared from. Thumping his desk, he realized how useless it was. The eye cam had been solely focused on Max until after the others had arrived. "Idiot!" He yelled at the screen. Seconds later a gunshot fired and the screen shattered, spraying glass over him. Ducking under his desk, White tried to spot where the shot had some from. A second shot landed just in front of his hand.
"How does it feel to be violated." The voice that echoed through the warehouse was slightly muffled as if it was disguised some how. "You didn't think that your pathetic excuse to Jondy was going to stop any of us from extracting revenge did you?" Another shot was fired from a different direction. All of the shots were coming dangerously close to White but not quite hitting him.
White rolled his eyes. "You haven't got the guts to kill me." He yelled out at the sniper. "I doubt you even know how to." Another shot forced him back further under the desk. "What? You're trying to give me a taste of what the transgenic freak is feeling? Who cares? I'll get to her one way or another." As he reached for the gun he had strapped to his ankle, a shot hit him and went right through his hand.
"I don't think so." Logan kept hidden, but changed his position frequently so that it would appear as though he wasn't alone. The rage that had been boiling up inside of him, was spurring him on like a possessed machine. He was acting purely on adrenaline.
White wasn't that easily fooled though. When a couple of his men ran in to see where the gun fire was coming from, he yelled out orders. "I don't know who the hell it is, but I want it dead. This time follow orders." He didn't want another mess to clean up. Pulling a handkerchief out of his picket, he wrapped his hand up.
The soldiers had only taken a couple of steps when Max swung down from the roof knocking them flying. She somersaulted off of the rope she had used and landed on her feet. "I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me." She sneered at White. When he reached for his gun again, she kicked his injured hand. Snatching up the gun, she threw it over to where she knew Logan was. "My sister would never lower herself to be even the lightest bit interested in you." She could see she had hit a nerve with her comment.
White glared up at her. "You'll never get out of here alive. You only have one person as back up, I have many." He rethought what he had said when Max smiled down at him, the smile never touching her eyes.
As his men charged towards her, multiple gun fire exploded at them giving Max a clear path out. White lunged at Max growling. But Max saw him coming and leapt out of the way as Zane swung down and caught her swinging her up into the rafters. "Let's get out of here." He pulled himself up to stand beside his sister.
Suddenly they felt the extra weight on the beam they were walking across. Looking down they saw that White was hanging from the beam, having jumped up after them. "Freak." Zane and Max said together, as they both kicked out at White knocking him from the beam.
Outside the warehouse, Max stopped long enough to make sure Logan had gotten out safely before jumping onto her motorcycle with her brother behind her. "Great timing as always Big Brother."
Zane chuckled behind her. "Yeah, well I didn't want to explain to a certain redheaded sister that not only did we let Logan know where to find White, we also got to him too late. It should have been obvious what was going through Logan's mind. It didn't take Jondy two seconds to work it out and she's in San Francisco." He, of all people should have known the rage Logan was feeling.
They got back to Logan's to find him pacing, while Alec chatted to someone on his cell phone. Max strolled straight up to Logan and shoved him, almost knocking him over. "What the hell were you thinking? You could have been killed." She shoved him again. "You think playing target practice with White changes anything? You think I'm impressed with this macho attempt to defend my honor? It means nothing if you're dead." When she went to shove Logan a third time, he caught her hand.
The rage was gone. He had vented all of the pent up anger tonight. Logan knew that they were both lucky to be alive. He pulled her slowly towards him. "Are you alright? You didn't get hit by any stray bullets?" His eyes searched her face for any scratches or bruises. Apart from being highly pissed off, Max appeared to be fine.
Before Max could reply, Alec burst out laughing. "Yeah. Max got all brave and went racing out into the dark to save Logan's butt. Now that she's saved it, she wants to kick it." Alec saw that he was being watched by the others. "What? Jondy asked. Nobody said it was a big secret."
Logan snatched the phone off of Alec, not letting go of Max's hand. "Jondy? Yeah, we're all fine. I know. I shouldn't have kept it all bottled in." He felt like a school boy being told off by the teacher. "Oh come on Jondy. What would you have done differently?" Obviously Zane killing a Manticore guard, when he was a child, was mentioned as Logan turned pale and looked over at Zane. "You've got a point. Fine. I will phone if I need someone to talk to. Yes I promise." He handed Max the phone. "Your turn." He put his arm around her shoulders. Now that he had let got of all of his rage, he felt exhausted and realized tonight was not the smartest thing he had done.
Max spoke to her sister for a couple of minutes before handing the phone onto Zane. She looked up at Logan. "Don't ever scare me like that again." She released a pent up breath. She hadn't thought twice about going out into the dark tonight. She had only been thinking about getting to Logan.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted White to get a taste of his own medicine." Logan gently pulled her into his arms. "I got so angry that I couldn't stop what happened to you by myself. We've been through so much and all I could see when I looked at you, were the cuts and bruises that I had been powerless to stop."
"And now?" Max had been so consumed with her fears that she had totally overlooked what was going on with Logan. "What do you see now?" They needed to get past this to be able to get on with their lives and she couldn't do that without him.
Logan smiled down at her. "Human perfection." He bent down to kiss her, waiting for her to stop him at any moment.
Max grinned up at him. "I can live with that." She put her arms around his neck and kissed him back. She pulled back slightly. "Jondy reckons we'll just have to take everything one step at a time."
"Sounds like a good plan." Zane handed Alec back his cell phone. "Max, you want me to follow you home?" It had been a long night and he was planning to head back to LA tomorrow. He had someone looking after his dog and he had promised to be back by the end of the week.
"I'm going to stay here tonight. You know, make sure Logan doesn't try to take the bad guys on by himself." Max joked as she hugged her brother good bye. "Have a safe trip home tomorrow."
Zane kissed his sister's cheek. "I will. Take care of each other. If you need any help, I'm only a phone call away." He shook Logan's hand. "Come on Alec." He slapped the other man on the back.
Alec stood and stretched his arms out to Max, but only got an unimpressed look back. "No hug? You know, I always get a hug from Jondy." He teased.
"Jondy thinks there's hope for you." Max shot back as Zane hauled Alec out by his jacket collar. "I don't know if Jondy's right about that one." She muttered to herself.
Logan rested his chin on top of her head. "She's never been wrong yet." He stifled a yawn. "I think I'll turn in. Revenge tends to wear you out." He kissed her good night and went to his room. A few minutes after he had crawled into bed, Max walked in and silently crept into the bed. Cuddling up to him, they both fell asleep exhausted.
THE END
