After Eva returned from her phone call, she stood leaning against the doorframe. She stared at Logan. She shifted her gaze to Max. They stared back.
"Again with the staring. Are you going to explain anything to me?"
Max glanced at Logan, then nodded slightly to encourage him. They had to do it. He knew it. She knew it. And so he told.
He told the story, manipulating the parts about Max in Seattle, and omitting the fact he didn't truly look for the X-5. Eva didn't seem to believe it.
"Jesus, you are one funny little paranoid man."
"You don't believe me."
"How could I? This is Don we're talking about. He wouldn't lie to me." Eva's voice seemed unsure. In her mind, she realized that it was possible.
"Are you going to tell?"
"No. At least, not yet."
"You believe it?"
"No. If everybody's lying, if it's all been a lie, how do I know you're not part of it? Or that you're not lying right now? I don't believe it. But if it makes you sleep better at night, I won't tell. Yet."
"Good. Before, if and when, you tell, there's something else we have to take care of."
"If this about me not revealing you as my source, or your sources, or whatever, we've already covered that."
"No. This is about Ruth."
"Oh, Max and I already talked about that."
"I need contact information."
"Oooohhh, you're great, powerful informant net can't get you that?" she said, mostly jokingly.
"Don't mock me. I don't appreciate being mocked. I'm sure I could find it, but we're sort of running under some time constraints, here."
Out came the trusty planner again. She flipped pages, opened the rings that held them together, plucked a paper out, and snapped them shut again. She tossed Logan the sheet of paper.
"Home phone. Cell phone. E-mail and home address."
"Thank you. This is all under the highest confidence."
"You're strange. You're so strange."
"Eva, you're staying here until you go back to Wyoming. You better go get your stuff."
"Okay." Eva gathered up her bag and her planner and left.
"Logan, this is going to be hard."
"I know. You have to stay here, too. She has to think you're here from out of town. You're going to have to bring some of your things over."
"Logan, I'm going to lose my job if I keep missing days."
"No, you're not. Don't you have sick leave or something?"
"I'm not sick."
"Sure you are. We'll get a note from your doctor."
"I've got to go."
"Come right back. Don't take your bike when you come back. Here's money for a cab." He pulled a few curling bills out and handed them to her. She left. Alone again, Logan headed for his computer. He quickly drafted an E-mail to be sent to one rbennett@us.gen.manticore.gov from an untraceable account.
Logan hesitated for only a moment, shadows of doubt still pressing him, then clicked SEND.
Some time later, Max returned.
"I did it," he said, not having to explain any more. "Now we wait."
Eva came back a few minutes later. They sat quietly. Logan felt very uneasy. This was going to be much more difficult than he'd originally anticipated, and he had by no means thought it would be easy.
There was another knock at the door. It made them all jump a bit. Max and Logan could tell Eva had begun to honestly consider what they had told her, and it was taking its toll. They all stared at the door, hearing a key turn in the lock. It was Bling.
"Hey," he said to Logan.
"Hey."
"Hey," Bling turned to Max.
"Hey."
"Hey." Eva this time.
"Hey."
"Heeeey. Well, if we're quite finished with this, I believe you and I," Bling said, motioning to Logan, "have some unfinished business."
"Right." Bling and Logan left the room.
"What does he do?" Eva asked, half to herself, half to Max.
"Nobody knows. Personal assistant, bodyguard, physical therapist, light housework, sympathetic ear, computer tech, lifter of heavy things, all-around-good guy. He's a man of mystery. He's the wind."
"The wind? What the crap is that supposed to mean?"
"Your guess is as good as mine."
"Hunh."
+++
The next day, Logan handed Max a thin manila envelope. She'd passed envelopes like these on to other people before. They usually contained sector passes, tickets, passports, and such documents.
"For who?" she asked.
"You."
She slid her finger under the flap. The paper caught on her finger and cut a razor-thin paper cut. Ignoring the stinging, she withdrew a sheaf of papers. A drop of blood beaded on her finger, then slid off, spotting the train ticket she now held in her hand.
"Eva set up a meeting. Devil's Tower, Wyoming. Daily Bread Café. Be there at noon. Here are train tickets, sector passes, um…hotel reservations…Am I forgetting anything? You're going with Eva. Ruth doesn't know it's you, so don't blow it if you don't want her to know."
"Logan…I can't believe this. No terse warnings? What about confidentiality, security? No 'Max, this could be a trick?'"
"Max, I should probably saying all those things. And more. You're right - this is a huge security risk - Huge. But I know if it were me, and I passed this up, I'd regret it the rest of my life. And I'm not going to be the one that keeps you from this. So there it is. It's up to you now. Let me know if you decided to go."
Max didn't quite know what to do. She dropped the sector pass and the tickets back into the envelope. She felt a rising lump in the back of her throat. Say something she thought. say SOMETHING. Say thank you…
"I…I" Her voice caught. She turned and left.
