I'm back! Now that we've finished with VS3, and I've had some time to rest, I'm writing again. This chapter and the next were originally conceived as one, but I've decided to split them up. Hope you enjoy.

Thanks to Kasman, catherder, and Alaidh for the beta.


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The next afternoon, Logan dropped his pen and sat back in his chair with a sigh. He had spent all morning working on his search, tracking the money trails that led out of Manticore's Gillette facility. He'd obtained a list of VA hospitals throughout the country and dug up the financial records of as many as he could. Of the hospitals whose records he'd examined so far, none had experienced a sharp increase in funding during the past few months to match the decline at the Gillette hospital. If he finished the list and still didn't find what he was looking for, he would have to find a way to dig up the financial records he was missing. It was a long process.

Now his rumbling stomach let him know it was well past lunchtime, and his shoulders were all kinked up. It was time to move around. Logan decided to make another batch of garlic bread and run it over to Jam Pony. Original Cindy would appreciate the "leftovers," and maybe she'd share with her coworkers as well.

Briefly, Logan wondered whether Max had ever taken goodies to Jam Pony to share with her fellow messengers. Then again, there might not have been leftovers to speak of. Max had always had a ravenous appetite—due to her advanced metabolism, he supposed. He'd asked her about it once.

FLASHBACK:

"You always put away two platefuls in a sitting?" Logan asked Max, a smile on his lips, after watching her polish off her second helping of every dish on the table.

"Hey, a revved-up girl's gotta eat," she answered. "Higher engine speeds require more fuel."

"The really good engines are fuel-efficient," he teased her.

The smile on her own face grew wider as she took a sip of the wine in her glass. "They also run better on high octane. Where else does a girl get beef tenderloin and fresh raspberries? I'm just fillin' up my tank while I have the chance."

END FLASHBACK

Logan had been disappointed by that remark, he remembered now. Max had called him her meal ticket earlier that evening. He'd wondered whether his cooking was her main motivation for coming over.

Eventually, as they had grown closer, she had quit making those meal-ticket jokes. Logan still wasn't sure whether Max had really seen him that way in the beginning, or if those jokes had been just a defense mechanism to keep herself from allowing him too close. While his ego hoped for the latter, it didn't really matter which was the truth. She had fallen in love with him.

And now she was gone. He'd give anything to have Max around to call him her meal ticket now.

Sighing, Logan headed into the kitchen and began preparing the garlic bread. Cooking proved a good distraction that day, as it often did. Sometimes he allowed himself to think Max was just in the other room, waiting for dinner to be served. Of course, that only made it harder when he put the food on the table and nobody came to sit down at it. Cooking for Original Cindy, at least he knew someone other than himself would enjoy the final product.

While the bread was in the oven, Logan wheeled into the exercise room to put on the exoskeleton. He'd head over to Jam Pony as soon as the bread was done and hope Original Cindy was between runs, so the bread would still be warm when he gave it to her. A smile cracked his face as he imagined the hungry looks Sketchy would be shooting her way.

He was just about to put on his pants when his cell phone rang. Lydecker! he thought. And of course the phone's in the other room. Logan hurried over to the phone, not wanting to miss the call and his chance to find out Manticore's location. A quick glance at the caller ID confirmed Logan's suspicion. "Lydecker," Logan said in greeting.

"That's my line." The voice on the other end sounded slightly amused.

"Thought you were going to get back to me yesterday."

"Something came up," Lydecker said. Logan had no doubt that something had. Whether Lydecker had anticipated it or initiated it was a different question.

Logan realized he was still standing by the window in his shorts and headed back to the exercise room to finish dressing. "You got time to talk now? I want to know where Manticore is. You said something about a contingency location."

"Not on the phone," Lydecker replied. "I think you know how easily a phone call can be traced. Meet me at 46 Belton tonight, and—"

"No, I want to do it now."

"Now?" Lydecker repeated.

"Yeah! Right now!" Didn't I say it clearly enough the first time? Logan knew he was getting testy, but he didn't care. There was no way he was going to let another chance slip away.

Lydecker paused. "All right. We'll do it now."

"Okay. I'll meet you there."

Logan hung up, grabbed his keys, and headed for the door. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts of Manticore that he didn't hear the elevator ding outside his apartment.

"Hey." Asha's presence on the other side of the door when he opened it took Logan by surprise.

"Oh. Hi. Uh, what's up?"

"I need a favor. I gotta go to Sector Three—can I stash this here?" she asked, indicating the large box she was holding.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Something I don't want the sector police to see."

Asha apparently didn't want him to know what was in the box, but Logan waited for an explanation anyway. The box was clearly heavy; she kept having to boost it up to get a better grip on it.

"It's a box of guns," she explained in a rush, finally giving in.

"Right. Okay. Well, look, I gotta meet someone so, uh, let yourself out, okay?"

Expecting Logan to object, Asha looked slightly surprised when he didn't. "Okay. Thanks. I promise it'll be gone by tomorrow night."

The members of the S1W were much more willing to use violence than he, if they deemed it convenient to achieve their means. Logan didn't like encouraging that practice and Asha knew it. This time, however, he was too distracted to worry about it. He had to get to the warehouse before Lydecker changed his mind.

While waiting to pass from Sector Nine to Sector Five, he realized he'd left the garlic bread baking in the oven.

Luckily, Asha hadn't yet left his apartment, and she agreed to turn off the oven. Logan closed his phone just as a sector cop finished inspecting his pass. Now able to concentrate on the meeting before him, Logan eased his Aztek through the gate and headed for the warehouse.