Good Hunting

Summary: Annie gets a new assignment: Hunt down Max. Companion piece to "August" in the Losers archive.

Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters, I wish I did, and so on and so forth.

"Who's Max?" Annie Walker asked as she walked into the DPD's Tech Ops.

"Which Max are we talking about: Max in tech, Max in accounting, Max in-"

"Max, the operative that apparently went off the rails last year after the Bolivia tragedy and who Joan and Arthur have both tasked me with finding."

"Oh, that Max! Yeah, that Max is a psychopath that ruined the lives, deaths, and names of some very good men."

"Auggie."

"Yes?"

"Who's Max."

Auggie Anderson, head of the Domestic Protection Division's tech ops, closed his eyes and sighed before turning to face (he hoped) his friend and opened his eyes again, focusing his blind stare on the junior operative.

"Max is an agency codename for the most sadistic, sociopathic operatives the CIA has ever seen. You've heard of the agents called Lynch?" Annie gave a quiet "Yes."

"Well, Max is worse. And this particular Max decided that he wanted to start World War 3 by destroying entire islands. Remember what happened at the Port of Los Angeles last year? When that plane blew up in the yard? Well, Max was, at least in part, responsible for what happened."

"In part?"

"Yeah. Remember the Spec Ops team that was blamed for the Bolivia mission last year?"

"They died along with the helicopter crew and 25 children."

"Yeah, well, they didn't die. They went after Max because he was responsible and he burned them. And then they went off the grid. I occasionally pick up chatter concerning them, mostly the places they rob or destroy, but from what I can tell, they're still looking for him."

"How are they still alive?"

"They're the Losers and they are very hard to kill."

"Wait, the Losers? Isn't that the team you were with when the Agency recruited you?"

"Yep. And if you want to find Max, it might be best if you contacted them." Auggie handed her a card with a number on it. "That's a disposable number. Call it and tell them that Auggie says they owe me a bottle of Patrón and a night with Candy; they'll know you're good." Auggie turned back to his computer, put his headphones on, and resumed his previous activity.

"Oh, and Annie? Good hunting."

Annie smiled at his back before turning and leaving Tech Ops. She made a detour to her desk, picking up her encrypted phone, before heading out of the DPD, her thoughts on how she would broach the subject of Max with her friend's former team. She turned towards a pair of double glass doors that led to the balcony and fountain she always seemed to find herself at when she needed to think. This time, though, she would be hiding out and making a somewhat illicit call to a group of men that the world believed dead.

Carefully ensconcing herself in a corner of the balcony that hid her from view, she dialed the number that Auggie had given her. The other end rang twice before a man answered.

"H'lo?"

"Hi, I'm assuming this is one of the Losers. Please don't hang up. Auggie gave me this number and he says that you guys owe him a bottle of Patrón and a night with Candy."

The man on the other end of the call hmm'd before answering. "This is Colonel Clay. Who are you, what do you want, and how do you know Auggie?"

Annie smiled. Auggie had been right about his former CO being just a little bit gruff when talking to new people. "My name is Annie, and I've been tasked with finding Max. Auggie thought you'd appreciate the heads-up."

They talked for a few more minutes about what might be going on before agreeing to help each other, surreptitiously of course, find and kill/prosecute (it didn't matter which) the man known only as Max.


So, that's it. Please review! It feeds a writer's soul.