Dragging Alec
into it
Chapter Nine:
“Any suggestions how
we pull off $200,000 in…how long do we have, Alec?” Max turned away from
785 to question Alec.
Alec smiled, “The
pickup is at
785 shook his head,
“Nope, but I bet if you asked every one of the X-Series…we’d get an amazing
pile of cash.”
“Wait, you want us to
take a collection? This isn’t exactly a church.” Alec pointed out.
“Uhh…no. Have you heard
that the crime rate has gone up since transgenics appeared?” 785 asked
Max and Alec.
“Yeah…” Alec
suddenly smiled. “All of them will know of a job…and if we ALL hit them
ALL…”
“We’ll have a large
sum of money.” Max finished of his thought.
785 winked at
her. “Way to catch up.”
Max rolled her
eyes. “OK, let’s talk to our friends in the X-Series.” She moved to
walk out the door.
785 stopped her.
“You know what, I’ll handle it. They know me, I can introduce you later.”
“OK, you know what to
do and you know what we need. We’ll coordinate from here.”
785 rolled his eyes,
he couldn’t possibly care less where they ran things from, but he nodded and
was out the door.
“You trust him?”
Alec asked.
Max smiled, “He’s acts
like too much of a dick to actually be one.”
Alec raised an eyebrow
at this shaky and ridiculously feminine logic. “Whatever
you say, Max.”
“Shut up, Alec, we
need to plan the attack.” She took the map out of Dix’s hand.
“OK, we pick up the
weapons at 2…the truck will be HERE,” Max pointed at the map, “sometime between
3 and 5.”
“Two hours?”
Alec whined, “That’ll be boring as hell.”
Max ignored him,
looking at the map.
“What’s the terrain in
this area?” Alec asked.
“Wooded…evergreens.” Max answered,
thinking.
“Well…we really don’t
even need a huge attack, then, do we?” Alec asked.
Max paid attention to
him suddenly, “What do you mean?”
“Well…if all we have
to do is take out the truck…all we really need is a grenade launcher or some
C-4 and we’re all good.”
“There might be a military
escort…” Max suggested, but really didn’t know. “Dix, is there a
military escort?”
Dix shrugged. “
Alec was on the phone
immediately. “
Max grinned.
“So…all we really need is…how many people?”
“Well, we only need
one…but I hear we have a buddy system now.” Alec turned to her…”I wonder
who we should send…hmmm…”
Max rolled her
eyes. “Shut up, Alec, we’re obviously going. We should have a team
on standby just in case, though.”
“X-Series or can we
bring in the Mutant parade?” he asked, grinning, his mouth twisting into a
smirk as he mentioned mutants.
Max exhaled slowly, “I
guess it wouldn’t matter, it is a night OP.”
Alec was looking
forward to this more and more. Much as being normal and not having any
action was fun in a…normal, no action sort of way, he liked the
excitement. The fact that Max was right there with him for it was an
added turn on, or was it the turn on itself? He turned to her and could
see the sparkle in her eyes. She felt it too. It was amazing how
something so absolutely terrifying could be so exhilarating at the same time.
“We need a
buyer.” Alec remembered suddenly.
“A
what?” Max asked.
“Someone to pretend to
be the buyer, that can have the money so I can
introduce him to Ralph. And I did say he
so you can’t do it.”
“Well, I want to be
there to make sure nothing gets screwed up.”
“Come on, it’s
me!” Alec grinned infectiously at her.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m
talking about.” She said with a smile, trying to think of someone who could go
with Alec.
“785?” she asked,
drawing a blank. They didn’t know that many of the X-Series
personally. Sure, they were around, but because of Joshua, they generally
stayed on the freak side of
Alec shrugged, “I’d
take Biggs if his face hadn’t been all over the news today.” He threw a
glance at his friend, who gave him a rude gesture.
Just then, who should
come sauntering into HQ, but 785.
“Miss me?” he blew Max
a kiss and winked at Alec.
“You found enough jobs
between now and 2 to bring us $200,000?” Max asked incredulously.
785 smiled, “$250,000,
actually, but the kids were excited about, so I
figured why not?”
“When are they heading
out?” Max asked.
“Twenty minutes.
The plan is to hit everywhere at once. Some places will
notice, others won’t. Either way, the Sector Cops will be
confused.”
“Does anyone need any
help?” Alec asked hopefully.
785 shook his
head. “Just relax. They’ll be back in 3 hours.”
Alec frowned, “Is this
all cash we’re dealing with or do they have to fence everything they get?”
“Some
of both.” Answered 785, “The ones that are fencing have a buyer set up
already.”
“So we just sit around
now?” Alec was clearly restless and Max would have laughed at him if she
didn’t have to organize the buddies, supplies…
785 broke into her
thoughts with an annoyed request, “My God, 452, could you PLEASE just give him
some head so we don’t have to put up with his fidgeting?”
Alec froze.
Max’s mouth dropped.
Biggs rolled over and
started laughing into the couch they had laid him on.
Everyone was staring
at Max, who tried to speak someone unsuccessfully, “I…we…we’re busy planning.”
785 rolled his eyes,
“You know what you’re doing with the transport. What do you have to
do? Organize the buddy
system? It is pretty self-explanatory, I
think we can handle it without you.”
“The supply
lists…” Max’s voice trailed off as she realized that everything she
mentioned was already being worked out by someone else in the room. Much
as she wanted to avoid his gaze, Max was powerless as her eyes wandered over to
meet Alec’s. The look he gave her was intense and she could practically
feel his kisses already, burning into her. She didn’t know what to
do. She knew what she wanted to
do…throw him on the table, but she didn’t want to look ridiculous in front of
everyone, she had to be the leader.
Alec must have sensed
that, because he got up, went around the table, and knelt in front of
her. He lifted her right hand to his mouth for a kiss.
“Take a walk with me?”
he asked, gesturing to the door OUTSIDE, not the one that led to the rooms.
She smiled and followed him out the door.
“Thanks.” She
whispered, leaning on his shoulder.
“No problem,” he said
with a grin. “So where’s that other door again?” he
asked, veering around toward the back side of the building.
“Slow down,” she told
him with a laugh.
“Why?” he asked,
stopping to face her, not coming up with any realistic reason not to want to be
inside…in a bed, ideally, as soon as possible.
“Because.” She whispered, pulling his head down, allowing their lips to meet as his
arms encircled her, lifting her against him, to be as close as they could
be. Her right leg encircled his waist, bringing him all the closer to
her.
Finally, Alec pushed
away slightly and tried to catch his breath. “I guess…I could wait for you.”
He acknowledged the possibility. “But honestly, we’re racing to the door
now, right?”
Max laughed and shook
her head at him.
But obviously, they
were through the door in seconds.