Chapter 4: Not Everything is as it Seems
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She ran through the streets at break neck speed and kept glancing over her shoulder to see how far behind her the vehicles were. They were getting closer and closer, and no matter how fast she ran, they only seemed to go faster. Even with her super human speed, she was no match for a car. Especially one who�s sole purpose was to catch her. She knew this, but she would never give up. Ever. She had gone back to her crib earlier that night, just to watch to see what was going on, and to make sure that no one she cared about was in trouble. All of that had gone horribly wrong though, and now she was on the run. As she was perched on a rooftop across the street, a stray searchlight had caught her. She had frozen for only a split second, but that was all they needed to see her. And, now they were after her. She turned corner after corner, weaving in and out of alleyways, stuck to all the shadows she could, but nothing seemed to be able to lose her pursuers. She was beginning to breathe more heavily, and was starting to slow just a bit. Her captors were getting closer, and suddenly a shot rang out, shattering the serine nightlife. She looked down to see the blood oozing out of her shirt. The spot was getting larger and darker, and she was beginning to loose her balance. She finally succumbed to the loss of blood, and fell to the sidewalk. Her pursuers caught up immediately, and some held guns to her head, as others roughly lifted her up, and tossed her in a van that had pulled up to the side of the road. The door closed with a loud bang, and the van peeled out of the light, heading down the street, leaving it once again quiet, as if nothing had ever happened.
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Logan woke up with a start. Sweat was pouring down his face, and he was shaking in his twisted sheets. His eyes were refusing to allow him to see, but he forced them to focus. He didn�t want to look, but he had to. Without turning his head, Logan just moved his eyes so that he could see if his dream had actually happened. Please just let that be a dream. Please. Max had gone out earlier that evening to check out her crib after she had seen the video of the military vehicles, but at the moment, Logan couldn�t for the life of him, remember if she had made it home, no matter how hard he tried. His mind was running too fast for any coherent thoughts to develop. It had to have been a dream. There�s no way that that could have happened. There�s just no way. Logan�s eyes crept along from the wall across from his bed, moving towards him, and sweeping towards the side of the bed beside him. There, wrapped tightly in the blankets, was his angel, sleeping soundly. Thank God. Logan whipped his head around, and fell back onto the bed, clutching onto her for dear life. She was alive and well, and was safely beside him, in his bed. Their bed.
Max woke with a start, and could feel Logan holding her tightly. �Mmmmm, Logan, what�s wrong?� Max�s voice was thick with sleep.
�I had a dream Max. I had a dream that you were caught tonight, and I didn�t know what to do.� Logan was almost frantic in telling Max what had happened.
Max rolled over so that she was on her back, and Logan laid his head on her chest, gripping her tightly. She looked into his eyes when he quickly glanced up at her, and could see the fear that was very evident in them. His dream seemed to have really been a bad one, and had genuinely scared him. Max was touched, but she was worried about him. Max reached up and began to run her fingers through Logan�s hair. �It�s ok Logan. It was just a bad dream. Everything�s ok now. It�s over.�
Logan replied by simply holding Max tighter. Just feeling her in his arms made his heart begin to slow down, and he allowed sleep to once again overtake him.
Max watched Logan carefully as he drifted off into dreamland. Once he fell asleep, Max allowed her own eyes to close, but she couldn�t sleep. After everything that had happened in the past few days, and with her normally erratic sleeping patterns, she could not reach the blissful escape of sleep once again. So instead, she just laid there on the bed, tucked safely in Logan�s arms.
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�So Max, how did your stakeout go last night? I didn�t even hear you come in.�
Max padded into the kitchen with her fuzzy red robe tied tightly, and was hit immediately with the question from Jondy. She was a little taken aback by what Jondy had said. �You? Not hearing me come in? What�s up with that?�
Jondy leaned back in her chair, and held up her hands. �Hey, say what you will, but I have never slept in a bed as comfortable as the one I slept in last night.�
�Yeah, it is pretty comfy, isn�t it?� Max walked over to the coffee pot, and smiled as she saw that Jondy had already made some coffee.
�You mean you�ve actually slept in the guest bed? How come? You and Logan had a fight?�
Max glanced up from her task of pouring herself a cup of coffee to shoot a glare over at Jondy. �No. We weren�t always like how we are now. Whenever I got caught here after curfew, sometimes it would just be easier to crash in the guest room than try to avoid the sector police while on my way home.�
�Ahhh. I was kind of wondering why there were some of your clothes in the closet in there.�
Max took a sip of her coffee, and looked at Jondy over the rim of the cup. �You went through all my stuff?�
Jondy grinned. �A good soldier always knows their surroundings.�
�Hmmm.� Max began heading towards the table, and was pulling out the chair across from Jondy, as Jondy asked another question.
�So. Sleeping in that bed did not totally dull my senses. What happened with you and Logan last night? I was going to listen, but I figured you�d want your privacy.� Jondy let a smirk cross her face.
Max sat down, shot a knowing look at Jondy, and took another swig of her coffee before she answered. �Oh, Logan just had a bad dream.�
�About what?� Jondy pulled her one leg up towards her so that her knee was visible over the table. She wrapped her arms around it, and cupped her hands around her own cup of coffee.
�That I had gotten captured. He dreamt that it had happened while I was doing recon last night. It really scared him for some reason.� Max narrowed her eyes as she looked away from Jondy. Thoughts as to why Logan had been so scared jumped around in her head.
�You do know why, don�t you?�
�No, why?�
Jondy put down her cup, and lowered her leg so that she could lean across the table. �You two have finally taken that next to final step in your relationship. He cares about you so much, that he can�t even fathom losing you. He needs to know that you are safe, no matter what, and he�ll stop at nothing to make sure of that.� Jondy glanced up over Max�s shoulder, and leaned back in her chair.
Max shot Jondy a questioning look as to the glance, but her suspicions were confirmed when a strong pair of hands rested on her shoulders, and the telltale scruff of her significant other brushed against her face as he kissed her cheek.
Jondy smiled, and shot back the last couple of gulps of coffee she had left in her cup. She got up from her chair, and shot a smile towards Max and Logan as she walked out of the room. Jondy could hear Logan sit down as she walked away, and knew that it was the right thing to do, leaving those two alone. As she made it into the living room, she saw Zack out on the fire escape. She veered towards the window, and leaned out of it.
�What�s up big bro?�
Zack didn�t even turn to look at her. He simply continued watching the people run along the streets below, continuing on with their lives, scraping along to get by.
Jondy climbed out of the window and sat next to him, looking out over the people that he was watching. She stayed quiet for a few minutes. Deep within the apartment, a door could be heard closing, and Jondy knew that Max was out of earshot range, so she tried talking to Zack again. �Spill it.�
At this, Zack turned to look at her. �It�s amazing how two people who have never met can be so similar.�
Jondy turned her head so that her cheek was resting on her knees, that were tucked up to her chest, and were held together by her arms that were hugging her legs. �What do you mean?�
Zack looked away, and instead focused on a bird that was gliding by the fire escape.
Jondy could see Zack�s jaw tighten as it always did when he didn�t want to talk. �You�re thinking about her, aren�t you?� Jondy waited for a response, but when it became obvious that she wasn�t going to get one, she continued on. �She�s a good kid Zack. She can take care of herself.�
�Don�t you think I know that Jondy? Why do you think she�s the only one that doesn�t have the contact number?�
Jondy stiffened and scanned Zack�s eyes for any sign that he was joking. Zack hardly ever did, but who was to say he wasn�t this time? Not seeing any kind of humor behind his eyes, Jondy spoke, but her voice came out in only a whisper. �She never had the contact number? What if something had happened?�
Zack turned and glared at Jondy. �Like you said Jondy, she�s a good kid, she can take care of herself.�
�Hey. Don�t get angry at me. I don�t know what crawled higher up your butt than normal this morning, but that doesn�t mean that you can go all military on me. I�m still your sister. Your younger sister at that, so that should give me a little bit of leeway with your wrath here.� I always was good at making Zack realize what a prick he�s being. There look at that. He�s starting to relax. Good. Maybe now I can figure out what the hell his problem is.
Zack looked out over the city again. �Max is going to get herself in trouble, and I�m not helping. I came here the night after I helped you out. I wanted to take her away. I told her that if she came with me, I�d take her to you.�
Jondy chuckled. �Wow, that�s got to make a girl feel good. Her boyfriend is more important to her than her own sister.�
�See? That�s exactly what is going to get her into trouble.� Zack turned to look at Jondy, expecting to see understanding in her eyes, but he didn�t get that at all.
Jondy narrowed her eyes. �Zack you moron, I was being sarcastic. You know, being funny? I don�t fully understand why Max turned you down, it could be the fact that I�m sensing some serious sibling rivalry between the two of you, but I know that if I was in her position, I�d probably stay with my boyfriend too. I mean, it�s stability. What if I had turned out to be a bitch or something? And knowing you, you probably gave her an ultimatum of giving everything up to go with you, or to give all of us up to stay. If she�d gone with you, she�d have made a huge mistake, and would be kicking herself everyday for making the choice she did. Personally, I think she made the best one, because, well, here I am!� Jondy smiled as she finished her monologue. Zack is so not impressed with that little speech. Oh well, he needed to hear it. �But I know you better than that Zack. What�s up? Why are you so pissed off this morning?�
Zack looked away from Jondy and stared off down the street. It was awhile before he finally replied. �It would have been my fault that Max got caught. I didn�t even tell her about the serum in the water. What if she had gotten some? I wouldn�t have been here to help her.�
�You know, it�s not my fault that I.....�
Zack looked right at Jondy. �Jondy stop. I�m not blaming this on you. It�s just that... Max is making a mistake staying here. No matter how you or she feels. She should be moving on every once in awhile. I mean look. Lydecker is set up on her apartment. What if she was there? She could have been caught.�
�Zack, don�t you care how she feels?�
Zack stopped. �Of course I do. Why would you ask something like that?�
�Because Zack. Max has chosen to stay in one place for a long period of time, and in case you haven�t noticed, she seems to be the most well off out of all of us. She has a job, she has great friends, she has someone who she cares deeply about, and who cares about her, and obviously she can take of herself. She has never come running to you for help. Ever. Not that she could, but still. Even if she needed it, she handled the situation on her own. As for the Lydecker thing? There�s three of us here now, and Logan will help too. We can deal with this Zack, and we can help the rest of our siblings. So stop moping around, and go take a shower or something to cool off. We�ve got to get working on a plan here.� Jondy stood up to crawl back into the apartment. She was fuming, and if she had spent any more time with Zack, she was sure she was going to kill him. When she got in, she could see Max deep in her own thoughts. Not wanting to disturb her, Jondy quietly made her way towards the guest bedroom.
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As Jondy walked out of the room, Logan sat down across from Max, and quietly began to read the paper. Max stared at him, waiting for him to say something, but he never did. Sighing, she put down her cup of coffee, and pulled down the paper so that she could look into his eyes. �Logan, are you ok?�
Logan looked up at Max, and then promptly pulled the paper back up. �Yeah, I�m fine.�
�You don�t seem fine.�
�Well, I am.�
�Logan.�
Logan roughly put the paper down on the table and looked Max straight in the eye. �You want to know what�s wrong? Fine. I�ll tell you what�s wrong. Max, everyday I�m afraid that something is going to happen to you, and I can�t even fathom what I would do if something did. That dream was just another reminder of how scared I am. Especially now. This situation just doesn�t feel right, and I don�t like it.�
Max gave Logan a weak smile, because she figured that she would be able to handle this situation without too much of a problem. She leaned across the table, and put her hands over top of his. �Logan, it�s going to be ok. I�m here, I�m ok, and everything�s going to be fine. I can take care of myself, remember?�
Logan pulled away from Max�s grip and stood up. He began to pace around the table, throwing his hands up in the air every once in awhile to help make his point. Max watched him carefully, because she was taken aback with his sudden change in mood. �That�s just it Max. You have to let other people take care of you once in awhile. Let me help you sometimes. Don�t always be thinking you can handle everything, because there will come a time when you won�t be able to handle something by yourself.�
�Logan...�
Logan stopped right in front of Max. �No. I don�t want to talk about this now. I�m going to go and take a shower.�
Max was left sitting stunned. I�ve never seen Logan react to anything like this before. But he�s right. Something isn�t right. I don�t like this situation one little bit. Like, how did Lydecker know where my crib was? No one knows where I live except for my peeps here in Seattle. And as far as we know, the water here hasn�t been tainted yet. So how did he know where to look? The only other person who knows where I live is....Oh god. That can�t be right. He would never do that. He would have known if he was drinking that tainted water, right? Max�s thoughts were interrupted as she heard movement coming from the window that led out to the fire escape. She looked up and tensed right away as she saw the look on Zack�s face.
�There�s about twenty military vehicles setting up shop right outside. Looks like your miracle boy there, really is in league with Lydecker.�
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