Logan swallowed the last of his breakfast, and looked for Max. She had been in the shower for ages, and he was starting to get impatient. He looked out the window, only to see it smashed into pieces by a masked man. Logan jumped to his feet, and saw that the man now advancing toward him had a tag. It was an SMS...but his brand read number 3 mark 31. Logan's eyes boggled, he was unaware that there was a new line. Logan jumped to his feet, and met a blow to his face with a block. He went on the offensive, and kicked the SMS hard in the chest. Then Logan chocked him, and threw him over his head. The SMS sunk to the floor after hitting the wall hard. Everyone had evacuated, so Logan jumped over all the tables to crash out the door. He looked around, bloody and angry, and then he saw Max being loaded up into an unmarked van. Logan yelled, and leapt high over the van. He spun, hit a surprised man in the face, then he grabbed Max by the middle and ran like a football player back to the Aztec.
He was surprised to see that they hadn't touched the dirty blue car, so he loaded Max up in the passenger seat, and climbed in after. He revved the car up into third gear and roared out of the motel car park. He headed down the highway, and pulled the car off onto the hard shoulder.
He pulled Max's head up, and observed a purple bruise on the back of her neck. He cupped his hands around her chin and spoke gently to her.
"Max, please Max speak to me..."
Max eyes flickered open, and she groaned and held her head.
"Ahhh..."
Logan smiled as he searched around for Max's spare glasses. He passed them to her, and helped her straighten her neck.
"It hurts" she said, her neck was extremely stiff and it didn't want to move. Logan lent the seat back to Max could lie down, and he felt his own forehead. The SMS had drawn blood.
"Are you okay? Who were those people?"
Logan drove off to the side, and continued towards Sandy Springs.
"That was Manticore. I don't know what hit you, but I was attacked my one of my own."
Max turned her head to look at Logan, but then a sharp pain snapped her head back into position.
"Move it gently, don't let it seize up. But at the same time it wasn't one of my line"
"Your line?" Max whispered.
"Yes. You see, Manticore started out with six of us Super Manticore Soldiers, that's where 'SMS' comes from, but we were all number 1 mark whatever. But the person who attacked me was a number 3 mark 31. That means that there are different lines, number 2 line, number 3, dammit I don't know how many there are of them."
Max made a slight noise to indicate that she was listening, so Logan continued.
"I don't know how they found us. I can only presume that they are tailing us now. I have to check the car out somewhere, can you get to your laptop?"
"Yes, just connect it up for me"
Max busily typed as best she could, but in a horizontal position that was difficult.
"Okay, there's a small town about 20 miles from here, the turning isn't far."
Max yelled loudly as Logan placed a cold flannel on the back of her neck. Her hands failed around madly, hitting Logan in odd places. His reflexive action was to hit Max on the cheek with the back of his hand, causing her to settle down slightly. She yelped, and grabbed his other hand.
"I'm surprised that you aren't concussed, you know"
"You have a lousy bedside manner, Logan. I just want to sleep"
"Go right ahead. I'm just going to take all the stuff out of the back of the van and search through it"
Max stared at Logan.
"Why?!"
"We're probably bugged."
Max got up. She wasn't going to let Logan tear her stuff apart, even if she had a bad headache.
He was surprised to see that they hadn't touched the dirty blue car, so he loaded Max up in the passenger seat, and climbed in after. He revved the car up into third gear and roared out of the motel car park. He headed down the highway, and pulled the car off onto the hard shoulder.
He pulled Max's head up, and observed a purple bruise on the back of her neck. He cupped his hands around her chin and spoke gently to her.
"Max, please Max speak to me..."
Max eyes flickered open, and she groaned and held her head.
"Ahhh..."
Logan smiled as he searched around for Max's spare glasses. He passed them to her, and helped her straighten her neck.
"It hurts" she said, her neck was extremely stiff and it didn't want to move. Logan lent the seat back to Max could lie down, and he felt his own forehead. The SMS had drawn blood.
"Are you okay? Who were those people?"
Logan drove off to the side, and continued towards Sandy Springs.
"That was Manticore. I don't know what hit you, but I was attacked my one of my own."
Max turned her head to look at Logan, but then a sharp pain snapped her head back into position.
"Move it gently, don't let it seize up. But at the same time it wasn't one of my line"
"Your line?" Max whispered.
"Yes. You see, Manticore started out with six of us Super Manticore Soldiers, that's where 'SMS' comes from, but we were all number 1 mark whatever. But the person who attacked me was a number 3 mark 31. That means that there are different lines, number 2 line, number 3, dammit I don't know how many there are of them."
Max made a slight noise to indicate that she was listening, so Logan continued.
"I don't know how they found us. I can only presume that they are tailing us now. I have to check the car out somewhere, can you get to your laptop?"
"Yes, just connect it up for me"
Max busily typed as best she could, but in a horizontal position that was difficult.
"Okay, there's a small town about 20 miles from here, the turning isn't far."
Max yelled loudly as Logan placed a cold flannel on the back of her neck. Her hands failed around madly, hitting Logan in odd places. His reflexive action was to hit Max on the cheek with the back of his hand, causing her to settle down slightly. She yelped, and grabbed his other hand.
"I'm surprised that you aren't concussed, you know"
"You have a lousy bedside manner, Logan. I just want to sleep"
"Go right ahead. I'm just going to take all the stuff out of the back of the van and search through it"
Max stared at Logan.
"Why?!"
"We're probably bugged."
Max got up. She wasn't going to let Logan tear her stuff apart, even if she had a bad headache.