Chapter 4
Max�s voice caught in her throat. Logan looked Finn in the eyes, silently challenging him to go ahead, pull the trigger. She wanted to scream "NO!" or throw herself in the line of fire. She wished everything would play in slow motion, like in the movies, but reality was quick and brutal. Finn fired one clean shot into Logan�s chest and Logan jerked backwards, then slumped down a little in the wheelchair, his limbs slack. The hot scent of iron jerked Max�s memory back to Eva, of how Lydecker had shot her in the same place Finn shot Logan. Straight through the heart.
"X5452, drag the body into the corner and search him for wires or other information," Perry ordered, taking the folder out of her hands. The rest of the division gathered around their C.O., awaiting information. Finn put his gun away and barely gave the body a second glance.
"Need help?" he asked as Max moved forward.
"I got it," she shrugged, as though this happened every day.
Sure, she thought bitterly, heart thumping so wildly she imagined everyone could see it beating. No problem, because it�s easy to see the man you love get shot in the heart, not knowing if he obeyed your order and wore the bulletproof vest. Because it�s easy to pull him over your shoulder and carry the dead weight over to the dank corner of this soggy building, praying for some sign of life, any little scrap of hope to let you off the hook. Knowing that if the gamble didn�t pay off, you�ve got blood on your hands again, like you pulled the trigger yourself.
"Logan," Max whispered, carefully laying him down on the floor. She straddled him and stared in horror at the hole in his black jacket. Her trembling fingers unzipped his jacket, untucked his shirt. "Logan." Her fingers reached the Kevlar and her eyes slid shut on a rush of hot tears. She pulled his t-shirt up, making sure the vest stopped the bullet�it had, renting the material. Max unbuckled the straps and yanked the vest off, needing to see, needing to know he was safe. She passed her hand over the unharmed flesh of his chest, pressing down gently on his heart. Right here, she thought. This is where you love me, if you still do.
"This isn�t how you undress me in my fantasies," Logan whispered.
Max dropped her palms down on either side of his body and for the first time in a year and a half, looked into his eyes. She�d imagined this moment a thousand different ways. Sometimes it was him that rescued her, sweeping her up in his arms and declaring eternal love. There were many versions of that fantasy. But on the days when she returned to her cot, skin bleeding, muscles screaming, she tortured herself with visions of Logan rejecting her. Yelling at her. Calling her destroyer, traitor. It was a risky thing to look into someone else�s eyes and not hold back your own emotion. Max had never felt so vulnerable before. Oh please, she prayed. Please let him not be mad at me.
All she saw was love. No guilt, no accusations, no incriminations or resentment. Just love and a little humor. She felt lightheaded and wondered if she was going to throw up again. Logan just smiled.
"Got your email," he continued. She placed one finger over his lips, silencing him.
"Shh," she whispered, giving him a tremulous smile.
"X5452!" Perry called.
"No wires," she called back.
"Bag him and throw him in the back of the transport truck."
"Yes, sir," Max replied. She jumped up and jogged lightly to the Rover, rifling around for a body bag. It surprised her to find a large stack of them. On a mission where Agent Hunter told them all would return, it bothered her to see someone preparing for the opposite. Logan shook his head in protest when she returned and unzipped the black leather bag in one swift motion.
"No way," he said through gritted teeth.
"I�ll leave it unzipped a little," Max promised. "I�ll get you out of here, I promise. Trust me. No matter what you see, you have to trust that I�ll come back to you this time."
"Max�"
"I love you," she whispered. "Now shut up and play dead."
The X5�s took turns reading through the information in the folder Logan gave them. It was highly disturbing, all of it pointing fingers at Manticore and specifically, Director Renfro and the committee. The pages got passed around until everyone had a chance to read every word, every pie chart, every phone transcript.
The most disturbing piece of intelligence was a copy of an order received the day before they were sent to Seattle. It ordered the military genetics projects to be completely terminated, all evidence burned. The government was making budget cuts, the paper explained, and wanted to focus solely on disease control, not warfare options. No one was at war with the US anyway.
Perry felt like he was on a flight simulation exercise and no one would let him off. Everything in his brain felt turned upside down and he didn�t know what to believe. Of all his shocked soldiers, only Max and Brin didn�t look surprised. Maybe it was because they�d been on the outside. Despite the reprogramming, maybe they really did remember what it was like when Manticore was the enemy, when all they knew was running scared and looking over their shoulders all the time. Maybe they knew what this felt like and how to deal with it, because he sure as hell didn�t.
"They�re really killing their own people in this city," he said bitterly. "They�re using us to cover it up. Hoping we�ll die in the fire. Hoping we get sick and die long, horrible, gruesome deaths rather than let us come back to Manticore. They don�t want us back, because they�re going to get shut down and we�d be terminated anyway, since we�re nothing more than projects. Projects."
"Guess they didn�t count on that Eyes Only guy spilling the beans about the water supply," Brin said. "Is that how Manticore thought we�d all die?"
"That or these frickin� rats," Finn said, kicking one clear across the room with his boot.
"I counted nineteen body bags in the Range Rover," Max reported. "Eighteen now."
"Great," Perry said. "I don�t know. I just don�t know."
"Okay," Finn said. "Recap. We have civilians being incinerated in South Market. How do we know who else is contaminated and who isn�t? Can we get the healthy ones out before we torch the place?"
"And when our dental records don�t show up in the ashes, what then? I don�t want to spend the rest of my life running from Manticore. Again," Brin stated firmly.
"Been there, done that," Max agreed, her heart soaring. They were staring to come around, they were seeing the evil she saw every day, they were trying to grasp it, trying to wrap their high minds around the fact that their little home-sweet-hellhole was little more than a prison. For one sweet moment she imagined a real X5 reunion, complete with Krit and Syl and everyone else still on the outside. Perry would man the grill, Finn and Zane would be in charge of obtaining illegal fireworks, Jondy would insist everyone have matching cups and plates�
"We have to die in that fire," Perry said thoughtfully, his eyes turning to Max. "We, with barcodes and dog tags intact, have to die in that fire."
*****
Original Cindy was no man�s maid.
"Unbelievable," she said for the hundredth time, as she pulled open another drawer and wondered how a man so obsessively organized about his computer files could be such a slob when it came to his personal effects. Maybe she should switch jobs with Bling and pack up the computer stuff. She couldn�t tell a cable from a wire, but it had to be easier than this. Logan hated clutter, instead cramming as much stuff into his drawers as possible. Cindy was under instructions to pack one suitcase full of clothing and the other full of the list of kitchen items he�d given her. The man had twenty different belts to choose from, but got specific about which wineglasses he wanted her to wrap up? Insanity.
"How�s it going in here?" Bling asked with an amused voice. "Finding everything okay?"
"Homeboy�s in big trouble when I get my hands on him," Cindy promised. "You�d think someone as anal as Logan would be organized everywhere, but I can�t find anything."
Bling laughed.
"Yeah, the bedroom is pretty bad," he agreed. "Wanna switch for awhile?"
"No, I�m gonna beat this bitch. How�s your end of things?"
"Got the gear crated up, ready to go. I hope his contact in Portland can get the house ready in time. I don�t think Logan can handle being homeless."
Cindy laughed, glad that Bling was being so cheerful. Packing up someone�s life and moving it for them was not an easy task. Yet Logan hadn�t even cared when Cindy pointed out they�d probably need to leave Seattle if Max managed to escape. He�d just picked up the phone and made a deal with a guy in Portland, switching his penthouse for this man�s house on the water. She could hear the man�s "Really?! Yes!" loud and clear, as Logan pulled the earpiece away from his ear. Evidently, the guy had been after Logan to make the switch for awhile. "You�ll love country living" the man promised.
Now they were packing up everything that could fit in Logan�s beat-up old Aztek and the trailer attached to the back. Room for essentials, not luxuries. Cindy looked around at all the art still on the walls, wondering if Logan would miss it. It was no secret his financial situation wasn�t as plush as it used to be, but this place was his sanctuary. It made her feel a thousand times better that he would pick up and move at a moment�s notice just to keep Max safe; he really loved her, and Cindy wouldn�t allow anything less.
"I�ll move on to the kitchen," Bling said, leaving Cindy to her task. She sighed and dumped the contents of an entire drawer on the floor, making him laugh.
"Gonna do this the hard way," she muttered, kneeling on the floor to sort through the tangle of underwear and t-shirts.
*****
Inside the body bag, Logan closed his eyes and thought about Max.
Her hair was past her shoulders now, dark with red highlights, the length pulling out most of the curl. She was dressed like everyone else in standard combat gear, weapons strapped around her waist. A thin scar ran from her earlobe all the way down her throat, like she�d been sliced open. He�d noticed the start of another scar at the base of her throat and knew that was where they�d cracked her chest. They would have had to do that to restart her heart�he�d seen the damage the bullet had wreaked on her body. It was a miracle she survived and he couldn�t wait to hear the entire tale. He didn�t care how many scars covered her body�she was still the singularly most beautiful woman he knew.
It struck him, finally, that she�d had to spend the past year and a half inside Manticore, living a lie. She�d had to prove herself. Probably killed to prove her worth to the team and make everyone believe she was completely reprogrammed. That moment when she realized he was alive�was that fear for him or of him? Well, first things first. He needed to get them both out of here for good. They could sort everything out in Portland.
He�d been to Bennett�s house once. It was a four-bedroom shingled cape, the kind that got looted and abandoned after the pulse because no one had the kind of jobs to afford houses like that anymore. There was a large backyard, a boat launch and dock and a white picket fence out front with graffiti only on the outside. Bennett and Marianne wanted to move to Seattle and told Logan that he could say the word and they could switch places. There was even a job waiting for him in Portland, working for a private computer security company. He could still keep up on the informant net in his spare time; Portland had plenty of crime and rough characters screwing things up. Eyes Only wouldn�t have to die and Max could stop running. They could even have house guests in the extra bedrooms if her brothers and sisters wanted to visit.
Logan stopped fantasizing and moved his nose towards the hole at the top of the zipper, praying for Max to hurry. He was getting claustrophobic. It wasn�t much fun playing dead.
