AN: The long-awaited Alec chapter. Much thanks to the X5-494 Genetically Empowered website for the map I used to think out the location details for this story.

Chapter 10

The next morning brought four calls from the families of the missing children. They had all received anonymous letters from the kidnappers saying they wanted 50 thousand dollars cash. Per child. Detailed instructions for payment were laid out in precise commands along with an ambiguous threat that something ominous would happen if the kidnappers didn't get their money by two o'clock that day.

Laboratory analyses of the letters brought forth little information. The identical letters and the addressed envelopes that they came in were printed from the same printer. There was the same slight flaw four inches from the edge on each where the ink was to be smeared—some kind of defect in the machine.

The families were advised not to pay the ransom but to let the police handle the matter, but Lindsey Harrison's parents had gone to the bank as soon as they received the letter in the morning mail and were insisting that they would pay it, lest something more terrible should happen to their little darling. Mrs. Morland hysterically insisted over the phone that they had to do something, and Mr. Berrisford had gruffly hinted that if the police were not going to do anything about this business, he was going to turn to private means like the Harrisons had. There were no extra calls from Jake Wright's residence besides the one that informed them of the letter. Mrs. Wright was apparently nursing a hangover.

Logan had stayed up practically the whole night trying to find something to help with the search for the kids. Max and Alec had each called several times (an hour) to check up on his progress. He had said nothing to let either of them know that he knew about Sarah's parentage, knowing that despite Alec's outgoing and flamboyant outward personality, he preferred to keep personal things private. All Logan had to give them and the police was the fact that the black truck the kidnappers drove away in was most likely in Sector 4 right now. He didn't know for sure, since there were many black trucks in Seattle, but he was pretty sure of it.

After hearing this piece of news, Alec had taken off for that sector like a madman with Max only a step behind him. As the two motorcycles blurred down the road, Max contemplated what had happened over the past two days. The startling revelation that her deceptively carefree friend had fathered a child who had then been kidnapped had shocked her considerably.

Now, however, she only hoped that they would be able to find her, and soon; Alec had lost so much already and she didn't know if he could handle having his heart broken again. And there was no doubt that it would be if…no, Max wouldn't think it. She couldn't. If she did, the possibility that it might come true would become real. Best to run away from that thought.

From what she'd seen in the photographs of the girl that had been airing on the news on all channels, Sarah's appearance was a lot like how Rachel must have looked like at her age. Except for the eyes. Hazel-green and exceptionally expressive, those were all Alec's. Any doubt Max might have carried concerning Sarah's "pedigree" was set to rest when she saw those eyes. She'd never seen eyes quite like that on anyone besides Alec. Not even on Ben. His were…different. Both Alec's and Sarah's were livelier and less solemn. Not crazed as Ben's had been.

But now, shooting a glance at her companion's tight-lipped visage as he revved his motorcycle racing the streets like death on wheels, Max saw the same look of desperation that had fueled her brother in his crusade for his Lady and had consequently led to his death. No, Max would not let that happen to Alec. She couldn't let him break like that. Terminal City and the transgenics needed him. Joshua needed him…she needed him.

With that thought, Max turned her mind to the task at hand; searching for black vans of the same model as the one that the four kids were bundled into. Except there were a lot of those, especially in this sector, the longtime territory of the Steelheads. Max hoped Alec wasn't going to try to pick a fight to let out his pent-up frustration.

She sighed. "Alec, there are dozens of black vans here," she called out. "How do we know which one is the right one? Alec?"

Alec slowed his bike and cruised to a stop, taking his sunglasses off in a sweeping motion and keeping his head bowed. Max followed suit, positioning her bike next to his. When he looked up, his expression was pained, and there it was—that same desperation in his eyes and leaking out in his voice when he spoke. "I don't. I don't know. I just…" His voice cracked. Alec slammed a fist into the handle of his motorcycle and gave a grimaced swallow before speaking again. "I just need to do something, anything. I can't sit around doing nothing. Not when she could be…" He looked away as his voice broke.

"Hey." Max brought her arm around his shoulders and brought him close to her when he faltered, his back shaking from suppressed anger, grief, and most of all, fear. A hand came up to fist desperately in her sleeve, clenched fingers almost ripping the fabric with their strength. Choking gasps wracked his body and Max held on even tighter. Alec had never truly experienced real fear until that moment he'd heard about the kidnapping on the news. He now knew the paralyzing, debilitating fear of losing someone dearer to him than himself. And she did mean more to him than anything in the world. He'd die for his daugher. Taking deep gulps of air to try to control the tremors, he forced himself to listen to Max's soothing voice.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. We're gonna find her. Alright? Like you told me before, she's a tough kid, right? We'll get her back. We will find her. She'll be okay." Max held on to Alec firmly as she felt him attempt to compose himself after a minute. She took a breath. "So she's a lot like you, huh? Always getting her little butt in trouble?"

A strangled laugh came from deep in Alec's throat. "Always my ass, Maxie. And now my kid's? Geez, talk about obsessed," he drawled, his effort at joking falling a little flat. He pulled away from Max's embrace, rubbing his hand down his face to erase all traces of his breakdown. He cleared his throat but didn't meet her eyes, embarrassed. "Thanks. I guess I needed that." He twitched a tentative smile at Max. "Better not tell anyone I cried like a little girl."

Max smiled back. "Anytime…Don't worry, I won't tell Mole. On second thoughts, maybe he'd stop calling you 'Princess' if I did, and think of something worse," she said thoughtfully.

"Don't you dare," Alec exclaimed, temporarily snapping out of his melancholy. "That's just mean. That's not very nice, Max."

"'That's not very nice'?" she mimicked. "That the best you can do, Pretty Boy? You're slippin' in your old age." With a smirk, Max got back on her bike. "So you wanna head to Logan's, see what he's got?"

Alec nodded. "Yeah. Okay. You really think he's found anything?"

Max pursed her lips. "There's no harm in hoping he does. We might think of something if we see what happened, too. Something that he might have missed."

"Okay then," Alec agreed. "Let's go bug Wheels."

Max rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses as they pushed off. Her Smart-Aleck was back, at least. She could live with that.

Boy, was Sarah getting tired of the dark. The company, too. Jake was almost as whiney as she was and Lindsey wasn't so bad at it herself. In fact, she was getting better at it every time she opened her mouth. Brittany had proved herself the queen of groans and sighs. They sure were a miserable bunch.

She was hungry, too. "Dinner" last night had been half of a peanut butter sandwich each with a bottle of water brought in by a tall and really skinny guy. Lunch yesterday had been skipped and so had breakfast this morning, apparently. Sarah wondered if they planned on feeding them lunch today as her stomach gurgled. Probably not. She bet the guy was going by his own eating schedule—he was totally emaciated-looking, like an anorexic skeleton or something. She heaved her 5,482th sigh since she'd woken up in this dungeon. Okay, maybe not a dungeon, but it had to be a leaky basement at least.

Sarah sat up as an idea suddenly shot into her brain and ricocheted around in her head. Oh, yeah, that was a plan. They could get out of here, fast. Like in that one pre-Pulse movie. "The Great Escape." She sat back and thought about it. Yeah, it could work. Better than just sitting on their butts doing nothing but sighing, groaning, and whining. In the dark. There was nothing to do in the room, since there was a wall of boxes on one side of it and nothing else in the room. Sarah and the others had fumbled one of the cardboard boxes open and felt around—books. Ugh. Not Sarah's favorite medium of entertainment. Apparently Brittany liked to read, though. But that was of absolutely no use because of the complete lack of light. Did she forget to mention that? When Sarah got home, she was definitely getting Grandpa to buy her a night-light. She didn't care if they were for babies. Anything but pitch-black darkness was just fine by her. Sarah grinned, a determined look in her eyes. When she got home.

Then she settled back and got to work on thinking out the finer points of her plan. It had to be perfect.