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Max sprang up from the couch, and looked into Logan's eyes. All of the terror that had previously been present in her eyes, rushed away and was replaced with rage. "Is this some kind of sadistic joke? Because I'm not laughing."
Logan was shocked that Max could think he could ever do such a thing. And especially, to her. He reached out to take her hand, but she pulled it away, and waited for his answer. "God no Max, how could you think that I would ever do such a thing?"
All of the rage left Max as quickly as it came, and she apologetically looked at Logan, and then hung her head. "I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't have done something like that. It's just that..."
Logan stood up, and took Max in his arms, enveloping her in a hug. He stroked her hair, and tried to calm her down. "It's ok Max. I know, that scared me too."
Max at once felt safe in Logan's arms, but thoughts started to tumble out of her mouth. "It had to be Lydecker, but how did he do the Eyes Only hack?" Max pulled away from Logan as the worst possible thought struck her. She looked up into his eyes. "Do you think he was here? Do you think that's what he meant about knowing where I was? Oh my god Logan, if he was here, you're in danger, we have to get moving. We have to..."
Logan could see the ideas spiraling through Max's head. He pulled her back to him, and once again tried to calm her. "Max, calm down. He wasn't here. He doesn't know that you know me, and he doesn't know that I'm Eyes Only."
"But then how did he get your hack?"
"He could have copied it from another broadcast, and simply added his own message instead of the original one. If it makes you feel better, you know me, I have programs all over the place that track everything that goes on on my computer. I can check them to see if he was here, but I highly doubt it. If he was, don't you think he would've taken you by now?"
Max knew that Logan was right. Lydecker would have taken her the first chance he got, so obviously he doesn't know that she was at Logan's, only that she was in Seattle. But maybe he was playing mind games with her, so that it would be easier to capture her in the long run. Lydecker would never do that though. That would go against his mission, and things could always go wrong. No, if he knew she was at Logan's, Lydecker would have had her back to Manticore by now. She took in a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down. Feeling Logan's strong arms around her, helped even more. She pulled away just ever so slightly so that she could look into his eyes. "Could you check? I know it's nothing, but just to be sure."
Logan smiled at Max, seeing the fear slowly draining from her eyes. He put his hand under her chin, and brought her lips to his. "Of course. Come on." The two walked hand-in-hand to his computer room, and Logan sat down at his chair, with Max leaning over his desk, so that she could see both Logan, and the computer screen. Logan brought up all of his files, and like he suspected, the last broadcast made, was one that he had done a few days ago. Both he and Max let out a sigh of relief and looked at each other and smiled.
"Do you mind if I stay here for the rest of the night? I don't really feel like walking out into a trap."
Logan placed his hands over Max's. "Of course."
Max gave Logan a quick smile, and then abruptly got up. She quickly walked by him, but not before giving him a long look. "See you in the morning." Max continued on out of the computer room, and headed towards the guestroom.
Logan was left feeling the slight pain of Max's abrupt departure, but her last look had sent his heart soaring. And then, to himself he muttered, even though he knew she could hear him. "Yeah. In the morning. Goodnight Max."
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The next morning, Max strolled into work feeling very well rested. One thing she could say about staying at Logan's was that she always got a good night sleep, and hearing Logan's goodnight wishes to her had helped her escape to that wonderful dreamland that almost always seemed to elude her. She was only at her locker for a few seconds before Original Cindy spotted her. "Hey boo, Kendra called me this morning to say that you never came home last night."
Max looked at Original Cindy and smiled. "Something came up..." Original Cindy smiled with an all knowing look, and it took Max a few seconds to realize the undertone meaning of what she had just said, causing her to blush.
Original Cindy laughed. "Original Cindy knew something was going to happen, and that's why Kendra and I split so fast after that movie. We didn't want to be postponing anything for too long."
"We didn't! That's not what I meant!"
"Sure, sure, and that's why you're turning every shade of pink in the book right now. Original Cindy is just happy that you had fun! Later boo!" And with that Original Cindy turned and left Max standing bewildered. Max turned towards her locker, and let out a sigh. There was no way she was going to get away with anything when she had friends like Original Cindy and Kendra. Max looked at the floor as she was thinking, and something caught her eye. A cockroach. Max calmly squished it beneath her boot. Damn things. Even the pulse couldn't kill them. As she opened her locker, a note fell to the floor. Max leaned over to pick it up, and started to read, hoping that it was from Logan.
Max,
He knows you're here. Pick up a package from Normal, and get out of the building. You're in big trouble.
Max swore that her heart was determined to keep stopping on her these last few days. She read through the note several more times, and tried to understand it, and more importantly, who sent it. After a few moments of staring at it, Max realized that the note was getting to her, and without a signature, she didn't know who it was from. Never assuming anything, Max took the note to heart, threw some of her things in her locker, and walked over to Normal to grab a package. Soon she was out the door, and was on her way to make her delivery. No sooner had she turned the corner of the building, she could see a black hummer drive by Jam Pony. Max pulled her hat over her eyes, and waited to see what they were going to do. If they were going to go into her work with guns a blazing, she'd have to stop them, even if it did threaten her own safety. Max watched carefully as the vehicles parked. Only one man got out, and went into Jam Pony. A few minutes later, he came out, and motioned for the rest of the squad to continue on. Obviously they weren't there for a fight. They just wanted her, and since she wasn't there they moved on. The note was right! If I had hung around like I normally do, they would have found me! Who could've put it there? Only the people who work with me know which one is my locker. And, none of them have anything to do with Lydecker. Except for Devon. But why in the hell would Devon be warning me? I don't think a simple crush would go above and beyond betraying your own lineage, but maybe with him? No, it couldn't be, but who else could've put that note there? Max shrugged her shoulders, and rode off towards her destination. Well, I guess I won't be going back to work today, that's for sure. I don't want to come back to only have a team of men appear out of nowhere to get me.
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Logan sat absently mindedly at his computer. He knew that he should be doing some more work for Eyes Only, but he just couldn't get his mind off of the fact that someone had used his hack for their own private use. Especially to get Max. Normally the fact that Max was in danger, worried Logan to no end, but now, especially in light of recent events between the two of them, Logan was petrified for Max's safety. And, it didn't help that she insisted she go into work today, even though there was a very strong possibility that Lydecker was in town, and an even stronger one that he was set up on Jam Pony. Logan was about to start a search on the location of the broadcast he had witnessed the previous night when the phone rang. "Hello?"
"Logan, it's me."
Only Max would ever just say 'it's me' because no one else was close enough to Logan to do that. "Hey. What's up? Are you ok?"
"Logan, I'm always ok."
Logan could hear a slight pause. "What is it Max? I know you better than you think."
"Wow, if that isn't comforting, I don't know what is."
Logan only smiled at the tone of sarcasm that Max was using, but still, there was something up.
"Truth is, something is wrong. I went into work today, and when I was at my locker, I found a note. And don't worry, it wasn't a love letter from any of my secret admirers."
"Well that makes me feel a hundred percent better. Wait a minute, you have secret admirers?"
"Doesn't every girl? But seriously Logan, the note told me to get out of Jam Pony right away. I believed what it said, and as soon as I left the building, a whole bunch of army-type hummers pulled up outside, and a man went in. He was obviously looking for me, because he only stayed inside for a few minutes, and then he and the cavalry left. What does all of this mean?"
Logan's reaction to Max's monologue went from amusement from her comeback, to his ever present worry for her because of this obvious display of Manticore. "Are you planning on going back to work today?"
"Hell no. I don't really feel like getting into the whole escape and evade game today. As much as I used to like it, I think I could do without it for once."
"Ok, then why don't you come back here. Maybe together we can find out just what the heck is going on."
"Sounds good to me. And Logan?"
"Yeah Max."
"I'm technically on my lunch break now, so I was wondering..."
"I'll have something ready for when you get here."
"Thanks Logan. You're the best."
And with that, Max hung up, leaving Logan with a smile spread across his face. Leave it to Max to think about her stomach when she could possibly be in danger. Not wanting to face her fury if nothing was prepared, Logan reluctantly got up from his computer desk and went into the kitchen to whip up a little something for lunch.
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Devon paced back and forth in his small apartment. The chair that had held him, still sat in the middle of the room, taunting him, but he couldn't seem to move it. For some reason, he wanted to keep it there to remember Max. He couldn't get her off of his mind. He knew he shouldn't have left her that note, but for some reason, he didn't want his father to find her. He never knew his real mother. She had left soon after he was born, and so he was raised by his father. When he was about ten, he noticed that his father was becoming increasingly despondent. He seemed very on edge and agitated, more so than normal. When Devon had finally gathered up the courage to ask what was wrong, he got the talk that he would never have imagined in a million years. His father had sat him down, and told him that he had a brother and a sister, named Zack and Max. The reason why he never saw them was because they were sick when they were born, and they were kept at a special place that cared for them. Devon had asked his father why he never got to see them, and his father had told him that it was because it would have been detrimental to their progress to see a child that wasn't sick. He then explained to Devon that the reason why he seemed so moody lately was because Zack and Max had somehow gotten loose from where they were staying, and no one knew where they went and he was worried about them. They needed to be found so that their treatment could continue. Devon had always accepted this story, because, why shouldn't he? His father was always good to him, so why would he ever lie to his son? As he grew older, Devon's father had started to use him to help find his siblings. He would be sent somewhere, and would try to fit in, to see if he could find either Max or Zack. On his latest mission, he was successful. He had found Max. The only problem was, she didn't seem like his sister at all. She looked totally different than him, and the more time he spent with her, the more he came to realize that he was developing a crush on her. Something that wouldn't happen if she really were his sister, because that just doesn't happen. Excited that he had finally found one of his siblings though, Devon had eagerly contacted his dad to tell him the wonderful news. The only problem was, his father seemed to want Max brought home under any circumstances. Even dead. That was why he had sent the gun, and why he had forced Devon to get Max to deliver it to him. Then everything went wrong. Max somehow seemed to have these superhuman-like powers, and knocked him unconscious before he even got a shot off at her. He woke up realizing that something was indeed not right, and so when his father had contacted him and said that he no longer needed to worry about bringing in Max, that the situation was under control, Devon did something that he may wind up regretting for the rest of his life. He left Max a note, warning her that she was close to being captured and that she should leave. The only problem is, now his dad may find out that Devon warned Max, and Devon could only pray that by being the son of Lydecker, his life will somehow be saved.
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