That night Max couldn't sleep, she was not used to the soft mattress under her and the bed creaked from time to time. She got out of bed, and walked downstairs to where the kitchen was. To her surprise the light was on, and as she looked in she saw Jace lying sprawled out on the floor, convulsing and moving erratically. A glass of spilt milk lay next to her, and as Max dashed to her side Zane entered. He looked immediately to the kitchen side cabinet where he presented a small box of pills. He instructed Max to lift Jace's head and as she did he placed five into her mouth and forced her to swallow it. Jace shook twice, and then her body gave out into a state of sleep and rested on the floor. Zane looked at Max and requested that she helped him put her on the sofa in the next room.
As Jace slept soundly Zane took her aside.
"Max, please don't mention this to Jace, she's extremely sensitive toward people knowing about these seizures…she gets weird even if I see one"
"Okay, I'll keep it a secret…Zane, do you have any idea what her plan is to get Logan and the others out of Manticore?"
"She hasn't said much about it" Zane whispered to Max as they moved into the kitchen, "but she's been meeting regularly with a woman called Tinga Davis. Whatever's going on, I think that talking to her would be a better idea"
Jace slept through until morning, only waking up to demand a drink from Zane before falling back asleep again.
"Jace is meant to be meeting with Davis today, I'm going to call her and cancel" Zane said, but Max reached over and stopped him from picking up the phone.
"Can you convince her to meet with me instead?"
"That isn't such a good idea Max. Davis has had a rough time with Manticore assassins over the past three years…Jace only managed to persuade her a month ago that she wasn't from Manticore herself…suddenly introducing you into the equation may upset relations"
"Zane, I have no other chance of getting the truth out of her or Jace. Please?"
Zane looked away for a moment, and with a deep sigh brushed back a flop of black hair from his eye and picked up the phone.
"I'll make the call"
Miss. Tinga Davis sat nervously at a small booth in an out-of-town café, watching the window for any sign of either Jace or this new person she'd been coaxed into meeting. God knows what Jace is playing at, Tinga thought, she knows that I have a hard time trusting her and now her boyfriend suggesting that she meet with someone else. Tinga sighed and started to leave when a tall woman with full lips wearing sunglasses walked in. She indicated for Tinga to sit down, and smiled slightly when she removed her glasses.
"Well," Tinga began, "you aren't like any Manticore assassin I've ever seen. For one killing me in a public space isn't very good thinking"
Max gave an embarrassed smile, and brushed her hair back. She then extended a hand to the Doctor, and they shook.
"My name is Max Guevara, I'm a new acquaintance of Jace's…"
Tinga raised a hand to stop her, and examined Max's face intently with her eyes.
"Your father was…"
"Jacob Guevara, I guess you know about him...look, I'm sorry that Jace couldn't meet with you, she's not too good at the moment"
"A seizure?"
Max confirmed, and Tinga thumped her hand down on the table.
"I told those damn egg-heads at Manticore fiddling around with the genetic code wasn't a good idea after birth…even being the head of medical science didn't help matters. It was a rushed project, I told them the proper operation would take at least two weeks to complete then another two week test period had to be done…"
"Then Logan still may have time" Max started, and looked Davis directly in the eye, "Logan has been re-captured by Manticore, his sister shot him making me think that he was killed, but Jace has confirmed that he's still alive"
"I told her"
"How do you know?"
"I have friends still in the business who pass me information that may help me evade the people Manticore send out, they told me that mark 01 had returned and was in the process of reprogramming the full way. That's what I wanted to meet with Jace…sh*t I shouldn't be telling you this"
"I don't know how to assure you Doctor, but Manticore did not send me…Logan and I were very close friends…I was there when he was shot, Manticore has a price on my head too for knowing too much"
"Then it seems we have something in common"
Max nodded, and glanced over to the other people around the room. She coughed slightly, to see if she could provoke a reaction but nobody looked around.
"Now I assure you that Manticore doesn't know where we are, we rotate bars or cafés everytime we meet to avoid problems"
"Doctor, how can Logan still be alive…I'm pretty sure that I saw Cindy shoot Logan in the head"
"He was shot with a tazer. Tazers are new thing Manticore began to play with before I left; they send a shock down the spine, rendering unconsciousness and short-term paralysis. Cindy shot at point-blank range, preventing you from seeing the telltale spark of light that shoots out and strikes the person down. So Logan would have been unconsciousness for about two hours then a recovery period is needed before any major surgery takes place."
Max relaxed and felt all the uncertainty of whether Logan was dead or not wash away.
"Anyway, I wanted to tell Jace that they have not completed reprogramming on Logan and if she wants to go ahead with the plan…by the way, do you know about the plan?"
"Ah. Not exactly…Jace said something about it in the car but she refuses to tell me simply because of my inference."
Tinga smiled slightly and stood up.
"Let's go for a drive"
…"He's coming around"
Logan opened his eyes, a sick feeling washed around his head and his vision was blurry. Pains came from every part of his body, and he couldn't move. Logan blinked rapidly, and looked up at a woman with blonde hair looking over him. There was an older man there…Logan recongised him. There was a feeling of anger deep down inside, and as Logan felt some sort of strength returning to her upper body he pulled his arms up from the restraints and made toward the familiar face. He remembered this person…but as he started to rise a needle was pressed into his shoulder and he fell back onto the bed with the words of the blonde woman in his ears…
…"Place him back in the chair and restart the last stages of the reprogramming"…
As Jace slept soundly Zane took her aside.
"Max, please don't mention this to Jace, she's extremely sensitive toward people knowing about these seizures…she gets weird even if I see one"
"Okay, I'll keep it a secret…Zane, do you have any idea what her plan is to get Logan and the others out of Manticore?"
"She hasn't said much about it" Zane whispered to Max as they moved into the kitchen, "but she's been meeting regularly with a woman called Tinga Davis. Whatever's going on, I think that talking to her would be a better idea"
Jace slept through until morning, only waking up to demand a drink from Zane before falling back asleep again.
"Jace is meant to be meeting with Davis today, I'm going to call her and cancel" Zane said, but Max reached over and stopped him from picking up the phone.
"Can you convince her to meet with me instead?"
"That isn't such a good idea Max. Davis has had a rough time with Manticore assassins over the past three years…Jace only managed to persuade her a month ago that she wasn't from Manticore herself…suddenly introducing you into the equation may upset relations"
"Zane, I have no other chance of getting the truth out of her or Jace. Please?"
Zane looked away for a moment, and with a deep sigh brushed back a flop of black hair from his eye and picked up the phone.
"I'll make the call"
Miss. Tinga Davis sat nervously at a small booth in an out-of-town café, watching the window for any sign of either Jace or this new person she'd been coaxed into meeting. God knows what Jace is playing at, Tinga thought, she knows that I have a hard time trusting her and now her boyfriend suggesting that she meet with someone else. Tinga sighed and started to leave when a tall woman with full lips wearing sunglasses walked in. She indicated for Tinga to sit down, and smiled slightly when she removed her glasses.
"Well," Tinga began, "you aren't like any Manticore assassin I've ever seen. For one killing me in a public space isn't very good thinking"
Max gave an embarrassed smile, and brushed her hair back. She then extended a hand to the Doctor, and they shook.
"My name is Max Guevara, I'm a new acquaintance of Jace's…"
Tinga raised a hand to stop her, and examined Max's face intently with her eyes.
"Your father was…"
"Jacob Guevara, I guess you know about him...look, I'm sorry that Jace couldn't meet with you, she's not too good at the moment"
"A seizure?"
Max confirmed, and Tinga thumped her hand down on the table.
"I told those damn egg-heads at Manticore fiddling around with the genetic code wasn't a good idea after birth…even being the head of medical science didn't help matters. It was a rushed project, I told them the proper operation would take at least two weeks to complete then another two week test period had to be done…"
"Then Logan still may have time" Max started, and looked Davis directly in the eye, "Logan has been re-captured by Manticore, his sister shot him making me think that he was killed, but Jace has confirmed that he's still alive"
"I told her"
"How do you know?"
"I have friends still in the business who pass me information that may help me evade the people Manticore send out, they told me that mark 01 had returned and was in the process of reprogramming the full way. That's what I wanted to meet with Jace…sh*t I shouldn't be telling you this"
"I don't know how to assure you Doctor, but Manticore did not send me…Logan and I were very close friends…I was there when he was shot, Manticore has a price on my head too for knowing too much"
"Then it seems we have something in common"
Max nodded, and glanced over to the other people around the room. She coughed slightly, to see if she could provoke a reaction but nobody looked around.
"Now I assure you that Manticore doesn't know where we are, we rotate bars or cafés everytime we meet to avoid problems"
"Doctor, how can Logan still be alive…I'm pretty sure that I saw Cindy shoot Logan in the head"
"He was shot with a tazer. Tazers are new thing Manticore began to play with before I left; they send a shock down the spine, rendering unconsciousness and short-term paralysis. Cindy shot at point-blank range, preventing you from seeing the telltale spark of light that shoots out and strikes the person down. So Logan would have been unconsciousness for about two hours then a recovery period is needed before any major surgery takes place."
Max relaxed and felt all the uncertainty of whether Logan was dead or not wash away.
"Anyway, I wanted to tell Jace that they have not completed reprogramming on Logan and if she wants to go ahead with the plan…by the way, do you know about the plan?"
"Ah. Not exactly…Jace said something about it in the car but she refuses to tell me simply because of my inference."
Tinga smiled slightly and stood up.
"Let's go for a drive"
…"He's coming around"
Logan opened his eyes, a sick feeling washed around his head and his vision was blurry. Pains came from every part of his body, and he couldn't move. Logan blinked rapidly, and looked up at a woman with blonde hair looking over him. There was an older man there…Logan recongised him. There was a feeling of anger deep down inside, and as Logan felt some sort of strength returning to her upper body he pulled his arms up from the restraints and made toward the familiar face. He remembered this person…but as he started to rise a needle was pressed into his shoulder and he fell back onto the bed with the words of the blonde woman in his ears…
…"Place him back in the chair and restart the last stages of the reprogramming"…