Disclaimer: Dark Angel belongs to Fox et al. I claim any original characters, should they decide to present themselves.

A/N: This is my longest chapter ever. (I almost broke it into two, but it wouldn't have worked very well.) Let me know how I can make it better. Feedback is much appreciated; it makes me happy.

Chapter 8 - Washed Up

The phone was ringing as Max and Alec entered her office. She sat on the edge of her desk and waited until Alec settled himself in a chair before pushing the speakerphone button. "Hey, Logan. What have you got for us?"

"I found another lead on those unmarked vehicles—"

Alec interrupted, "For sure this time? Because as much fun as our little field trip was, we really don't have the resources to take people sightseeing every night."

Logan's voice sounded a little indignant, "I said a lead, Alec. You'll have to figure out what it's worth, or you can give me a couple days to follow up."

"Yeah, blame it on someone else," Alec muttered. Max shot him a warning glance and he subsided.

Not hearing the comment, Logan continued, "Everything drives south for a while, but some of the traffic seems to be cutting east once it hits Federal Way. Then it gets out of range for regular satellite coverage."

Max remained silent and stared down at something on her desk. Alec studied her for a second before prompting, "Anything else?"

"Uh, is Max still there?" Logan's disembodied voice asked.

Alec nudged her leg with his foot, and she pulled her eyes up from the maps on her desk to scowl at him. "Yeah, I'm here," she said shortly.

"Oh. Well, that's all the information I could get for now."

"Thanks," Max answered without much feeling.

"No problem. I'll be in contact if I find out anything else. Let me know what you decide to do, or if I can help," Logan said, trying to end their conversation on a friendly note.

"Sure, whatever." Max leaned across the desk and ended the call, her eyes trailing back across the cluttered paperwork as she reached.

"Max?" Alec subtly tried to get her attention.

"Hmm?" she responded automatically without looking up.

"What's up?"

She answered absently, "Nothing."

"You said that once already today," he pressed. "I still don't believe it."

Max finally met his gaze and the shadows of unpleasant memories in her eyes were replaced with an expression of annoyance. "And I already told you there's nothing I want to talk about."

"Max, you can't always stuff everything inside. We're all in this together."

Her voice rose, "Lay off! I—" Abruptly she switched to a commanding officer tone, "Get everyone together with the latest intel. We're meeting at 07:00."

Alec looked at her with a closed expression, but he refrained from saying anything else that she might shoot down.

"What are you waiting for?" she barked. "Go tell everyone we're meeting in half an hour." She winced almost undetectably at the impassive way he stood and walked out of the room, but her attention was quickly pulled back to the papers littering her desk.

Alec glanced over his shoulder as he closed the door and saw Max slump into her chair. His enhanced hearing picked up her heavy sigh as he left to gather the others.

Max tossed aside the lists documenting traffic in the southern part of the state and searched the map for White's most likely route. The crisscrossing lines blurred and tangled before her eyes, causing her to blink a few times to clear her head. She tensed at the memory of her earlier nightmare, but the ink stayed uniform and still. Slouching a little more and resting her head on the back of the chair, Max searched the water-stained and cracking ceiling tiles for answers.

Her thoughts turned wistfully to what it would be like to have a normal life. However, it inevitably led her to her ended relationship with her "normal" boyfriend. Do I really even want to live normally? Nah, not right now, but I'd settle for not being the leader of a hunted military experiment. Then maybe I wouldn't worry so much about losing the people I care for. A light knock interrupted her introspection.

"Everyone's on their way," Alec said when she opened the door. His posture was relaxed with his hands in his pockets, but he watched her closely.

"Right, thanks," she broke off awkwardly, remembering how their last conversation ended. Max fidgeted. "Alec, I" she tried to begin something, anything but another fight or a full apology.

"Max, how much have you slept recently?" he asked.

"What?What business of—" She was thrown off momentarily but stopped herself before snapping at him again. Instead, she tried to blow off the question. "I don't need a lot of sleep."

"Maybe not much, but you need some," he stated. "So let's say in the last, oh, four days, how much sleep did you get?" He waited for an answer, but she avoided looking at him. "Ok, after our meeting you're taking a nap," he ordered.

"I'm not a baby," she protested.

He grinned. "Then don't act like one. It's not like I'm telling you that you stink or your taste in clothing sucks or something." He sobered, "Besides, we've all got be on top of it if we're going to catch White."

"I know that," she griped. Pausing guiltily, she conceded, "Fine. After the meeting I'll take a break for a few minutes."

"A nap, Max. Sleep. Eyes closed. No talking."

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever. We've got people waiting."

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Dix opened the meeting, sharing the same information Logan told Alec and Max earlier. He had also hacked the controls of a rarely used satellite and assigned someone to track the vehicles when they next departed Seattle.

Trace followed with a brief summary of the dying news coverage of the transgenic murders. "Since they didn't have time to fully investigate the body we recovered and the first victims were found a few days ago, most stations have moved on to other news. Really, it's not TV news if there are no grisly pictures or mourning relatives to show."

Bren had no report of unusual activity around TC borders, leaving them with only one solid lead to follow.

"Right, as soon as we have any location possibilities two-person recon teams will investigate to see if they are the real deal. Dix, I'll have phone two if you need to get a hold of me," Max finished the meeting. Walking over to a shelf of equipment, she picked up a cell phone. Turning towards the door, she almost ran into Alec. She tried to sidestep around him.

"Max, I thought you said you were going to rest," he commented.

"I said I'd take a break. I need to clear my head. Now get outta my way." She stepped the other way, but he blocked her. "Alec, stop dancing around in front of me. I'm going for a ride. By myself," she emphasized. "If you follow me, I'll kick your ass." She pushed passed him.

"Sounds like someone's cranky and needs her nap," he mocked her back. "Maybe I'll have to tranquilize you when you get back. It'll save the rest of us an undeserved beating."

"Bite me," she yelled without looking back.

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The wind on her face and blowing through her hair helped Max release the tension of the last few days. A voice in her head nagged that she was afraid what she might dream, but not sleeping was making her an ultra-bitch. Fine I'll take a few minutes when I get back.

She shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind and looked out across the water as it came into view beyond the last of the buildings. The rain had cleared, and the sky was now a uniform light gray, broken across the water by the dark, slightly jagged line of evergreen trees at the horizon. Glancing ahead to a fishing pier, she noticed something washed up on the narrow strip of land exposed by the low tide.

After parking her bike, Max climbed down sea wall of large rocks to the wet pebble floor about five feet lower than the road. She realized the object was an unmoving body, half in, half out of the water. Glancing at the hole in the middle of its back and the unrecognized barcode on its neck under long strings of wet and dirty dark hair, she tensed before forcing herself to hook her foot under its shoulder and flip the body over.

Looking at the woman's lifeless face made Max feel as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. She dropped to her knees and gasped for breath, forcing herself to concentrate only on the small wet rocks beneath her. She examined the variety of colors and noticed the way they dug into her knees and shins until her stomach stopped rolling and trying to reject breakfast.

Cautiously, she glanced up at the lifeless face. A trickle of water leaked out past pale lips and cut a thin trail through the sand and small particles stuck to the white skin. Max pushed herself up with an effort and stepped slowly to the other side of the body. Getting a better view of the red slashes breaking the pale smooth skin of the right cheek made her insides flip again and she looked away across the water for a moment.

Max pulled the cell phone from her pocket and shakily pushed the buttons. When Dix answered her voice came out as a dry squeak, so she cleared her throat and tried again, "Yeah, this is Max. Get Alec on the phone." She waited, now transfixed by the crimson snake image that seemed almost alive on the ghostly face. "Alec, I need you to get a car or something and meet me down by the waterfront right nowI'm fine, but there's been another oneNo, no one I knowOk, bye."

Putting the phone back in her pocket, Max bent and grabbed the body under its arms. She straightened and began walking backwards toward the pier. As its legs emerged from the water, she noticed a piece of rope tied to the ankle. The five-foot length flopped in the shallow tracks made by the dragging feet. Leaving the body in the shadows underneath the pier, Max walked back kicking the rocks and scuffing away the trail. She made herself concentrate on that small task, but in the back of her mind she urged Alec to hurry before the reality of the situation hit her again.

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Alec saw Max's Ninja and parked the SUV just past it. At the shoreline level, Max sat perched on one of the rocks with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees and stared across the water. She willed herself to move, finally standing when she heard two doors slam. With an emotionless mask in place, she turned stiffly to face Alec and Bren as they easily climbed down the rocks.

"I didn't want anyone wandering by to see it, so it's under the pier," she explained.

They quickly examined the pier for any evidence of what had happened, but found nothing useful. When they descended back down to the water level, Alec made out a shape in the shadows under the wooden walkway just past the barnacle-encrusted post. He and Bren quickly retrieved the body, their jaws clenching when they came into the light and saw the serpent carved into her cheek.

"Wait a second," Max ordered. She pulled a knife from her pocket and cut the rope from the dead transgenic's ankle, coiling it as she followed the two men back to their vehicles. When they had secured the body in the back of the SUV, Alec turned to Max.

"Can I catch a ride back?" he asked.

"I don't care," she answered noncommittally, but waited for him to toss the keys to Bren and climb on behind her. They silently followed the SUV toward Terminal City until Alec tried to gauge how Max was doing.

"Are you ok?"

She made no response for a few minutes, but finally questioned, "Do you think they weighted the body? That the rope was tied to a rock or something?"

He thought for a second. "No, the end of the rope had a clean cut. It didn't look like it had been tied and pulled loose or broken."

Neither spoke during the rest of their ride to TC. After assigning Bren to move the body discreetly to their makeshift morgue, Alec followed Max to headquarters and into her office. He made sure the door was closed behind them. She stood silently watching him. Her face was slightly pale, although expressionless.

"Max, really, are you alright?" He made no effort to keep the concern from his voice.

"Alec, I told you" Max began to snap back at him. The words caught in her throat, and the vision of a red snake cut in a white background swam before her eyes. She choked as the dam inside broke, and she could no longer contain her tears.

Alec instantly put is arms around her, trying to comfort her as she sobbed and sagged weakly against him.

"No matter what we do, it keeps happening." Her statement was muffled against his shirt.

He gently placed a hand under her chin and tilted her tearstained face so he could look into her eyes. "Max, we will stop this. We will find White. He's not perfect, no matter what he thinks. Look at this one." At her unspoken question, Alec explained the conclusion he had reached, "White's not the perfect assassin. This transgenic almost made it. Low bullet wound, she was probably diving off the pier to escape. I think they had to dive in and drag her back tofinish the job."

"You really think so?" she whispered.

"Yeah." Relief washed through him at the hope that flickered in her earnest gaze. He gave her a slight squeeze.

A knock on the door made them break apart so Max could hastily wipe her eyes and face. Dix waited on the other side.

"We used the satellite to trail a group of unmarked vehicles leaving the Seattle's southern checkpoint early this morning," he reported. Max unconsciously grabbed Alec's arm, but he barely noticed.

Dix continued, "Like Logan said, they cut east, but they were farther south than Federal Way this time. We followed them into the national park. Seems like someone's got a hidden base up by Mount Rainier."