Brandon's funereal happened later on that night. Most of Max's brothers and sisters were there. When Zack finally put out the fire the barn was barely standing, so they kicked and punched out the supports and let it crumble to the ground. Zack, Zane and Krit cleared out the area where Max's room was so Brandon could be buried there. Brandon was wrapped in the sleeping bag he and his sister were born on before they laid him in the soil. Max stood over his grave holding Eva. Then she looked up at the stars.
"Eva, Ben wherever you are. Take care of my son." She rubbed Eva's back. You're all I have left. She thought. And you're gonna stay safe. She turned and went to her Ninja. She strapped Eva in the baby seat and hopped on.
"Where are you going?" questioned Tinga coming in to view.
"To where it's safe,"
"Nowhere is s…."
"Tinga. My baby just died and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen again." Max replied, revved up her motorcycle and left.
* * * * * *
I'm going back, Max thought as she blazed down the highway, Back to Seattle, back to my friends, back to…back to Logan. She sped up. She didn't want to think about him. She didn't want to think about the situation she was about to put him in. She didn't want to feel all the emotions that his image conjured up. But the more she tried to leave her feelings about him, the closer she got seeing him. I need to stop. She turned off the highway on to service station to feed Eva and sort out her thoughts.
As Max fed Eva, all she could think of, was that it might be the last time she would ever take care of her daughter. When Eva stopped eating, Max put her bottle down and looked in her eyes for the first time since Brandon died. Something in her baby's chocolate brown eyes told her that she knew Brandon was died, she knew her other half was gone.
"That's why you were crying when Zack found you, isn't it?" she said to Eva, put her back in the baby seat and started rocking it.
"Listen, you're going to see your daddy for the first time," she stated, choking out the word, "daddy". She never said it before… about anyone.
"I want to you to behave yourself and …remember
me." When she looked at Eva more closely she realized that she was asleep. Max
sighed and then smiled. Typical.
Then she looked up and saw a Docutravel booth, an area where people make recordings about, well, anything. After the pulse, many people jetted out the U.S. and didn't tell their families or friends. So some genius realized he could make money off peoples' guilty conscience. Well, I guess I'm as guilty as they came. She thought and walked to the booth carrying Eva.
* * * * * *
Logan and Bling were in the workout area in his apartment. Recently, Logan had taken up boxing to keep himself busy. They were working on the bags when they heard a knock on the door.
"Bling, could you get that?" Logan asked still punching.
"You can walk." He replied.
Logan smiled, "Yeah, but I want to get this last set in,"
Bling shrugged. Always the workaholic. He thought and went to the door. He was happy about Logan's progress over the past 11 months. Weeks after the incident, as they called it, Logan was obsessed with finding Max. He used all his contacts and informants and found nothing. Finally Bling convinced him to use his energy in something else. Slowly, Logan began spending less time in front of his computer looking for Max and more time in front of the punching bag.
When Bling opened to the door he saw an elderly woman in front of him holding a dirty-blonde haired baby in a pink outfit.
"Mrs. Moreno, what…"
"Shame on you!" she scolded.
"What?"
"Leaving a defenseless baby out in the hallway like that. Here!" She put the baby in Bling's arms.
"You men these days! You need to learn to take care of you responsibilities." She stated and started to the elevator. Then she stopped and turned around.
"Oh and if you ever need a baby-sitter, I'm right upstairs." She smiled and continued down the hallway.
Bling stood in shock for a moment and then shook his head. Then he switched the baby's position and held her at arm length. If I didn't know any better…He put the baby back into his arm and put her head over his shoulder. He bent down, picked up the baby seat and went inside.
"Logan. We have a problem." Bling stated. Logan walked out of the workout area and stood still when he saw Bling with the baby. His eyes darted from the baby to Bling and back again.
"That yours?"
"No," he handed the baby to Logan, "I think she belongs to one of your informants."
"No. None of…" The baby looked around and started crying.
"What does she what?" Logan asked panicking.
" I don't know. Is she wet?" Bling asked in the same condition.
Logan lifted her up and sniffed.
"No. You think she's hungry?"
"Maybe." Bling replied as he got the bottle from the baby seat. When he lifted it, a small disc fell out with Logan's name on it. He picked it up.
"Whoever they are…" He gave the disc to Logan. "They know you"
"Okay, Okay. Just get the bottle ready." He replied. He couldn't really hear Bling over the banshee-like scream of the child.
He put the disc in his computer and everything was silent. Bling even noticed this as he boiled the water for the bottle. Logan stared at the image on his screen. In front of his was an image of Max holding the baby, he was holding now. She was settling the baby down and then turned to face him full on.
"Hey."
"Hey." Logan replied as if she was in the room. She bit her lip and continued.
"A lot has happened, since the last time we saw each other." She gestured toward her baby.
"This is Eva… our daughter. She's, ummm, four months old. And, uh," Max looked down and smiled, then she faced the camera again, "She's really amazing."
"She's smart, of course. And she's a little revved up. So she's strong and fast and all dat."
"I'm really sorry to leave her to you like this, but I have to." Her eyes went dark, "You see, Eva's a twin,"
Her voice gained more power and became angry.
"Her brother's name is Brandon. He was," she took a deep breath, "He was killed by Lydecker… And I'm going after that asshole. He's gonna pay."
"I don't know if I'll be coming back. So take care of her and protect her for me. And tell her…tell her I love her," She stood up to stop the recording. Then stopped, and she sat down again.
"I should have said this a long time ago…I love you, Logan. Always have, always will."
The recording stopped and Logan just looked at the blank screen. All was quiet in the high-rise penthouse. The odd thing was Logan couldn't make one coherent thought. Too many questions, too many emotions, too many changes had happened in less than five minutes for him to organize in his head. Bling touched his shoulder.
"You okay?"
Logan looked at Bling like he was crazy.
"What do you think?" he asked rhetorically. He raised his head to look out the window…and his heart stopped. On the opposite roof was Max staring straight at him. They were locked in eye contact for a moment then Max grabbed her rope and climbed down the side of the building.
Logan raced out the door to the elevator. When he got out of the building, Max was blazing down the road on her Ninja.
"MAX!" he yelled, knowing she probably didn't hear him and if she did, she didn't want to.
Logan turned to face Bling who was behind him.
"Want to talk about it?" Bling asked with sympathy in his eyes. Logan didn't want anyone's sympathy or pity.
"Don't have time. I've got a daughter."
* * *
Max rode through the high-rise district as fast as she could. Hearing Logan's voice again tore her apart. She heard everything in his voice, his anger, his pain, his confusion… everything. As soon as the border came into view, she knew she would not be the same when she crossed it. Everything was in Seattle. Just the thought of it was almost enough for her to turn around. But the thought of Lydecker and the burning barn where her son died was just as strong a push forward. In truth the only thing that pushed her over the edge into leaving was her fear.
"Alright. You can go!" yelled the border policeman.
Max nodded and rode her bike through the border. As she crossed the border she felt her heart break into a million pieces and blown by the wind back to Seattle. Her friends, her daughter, her lover were all in that city…and my soul. She looked back for a moment at the city that changed her life. At the border, she saw a ghastly image of herself staring back at her. She turned her head around and looked in the rearview mirror. It was still there, the image nodded, turned and walked away. Max looked back at the road and understood what happened. X5-452 was going after Lydecker. Max was staying in Seattle.