Here you go! I'm glad you like this story, guys. Okay, so this chapter is four pages long, Times New Roman, size ten. I'm so happy. I'm watching Drew Cary . . . I have to do Spanish homework -- some stupid skit and a poster. Thanks NTR for all of the support.

Part .09
Olive Juice

Less than three minutes before the conference with Lydecker was scheduled to begin, Logan and Original Cindy were running around the apartment, making certain that everyone was out of the camera's viewpoint and out of the lighting. As Original Cindy put it, Logan didn't need no shadows making his pretty face go multi-shaded.

At a minute to go, Logan sat down and took off his glasses. Original Cindy sat at his computer, Bling to her right -- he having arrived as a sort of afterthought of Logan's -- both staring intently at the screen, where Original Cindy was programing Logan's 'mask' into the computer.

"Almost ready, boo," she told him, smacking on the computer keyboard viciously, "just press send and we all done. Now, everybody remember, stay quiet or Original Cindy will lay the smackdown on your ass. Don't nobody disagree with Original Cindy, least not after the first time, you hear?"

Finally, Original Cindy hit the enter key with a furious slam, then turned in her chair and watched as Logan began to speak.

"Colonel Lydecker," Logan said quietly in the cameras. "We meet again."

"What do you know about my girl?" Lydecker-on-the-screen asked, his blue eyes piercing. "I thought she was out there, but you send a report out telling us she's been dead for four years and is now suddenly resurrected?"

An ironic smile twisted Logan's features. "Its exactly what I'm trying to tell you, Colonel. Are you trying to tell us that you hadn't any idea that Max was dead?"

"None at all. Last we heard, there was a report of violent female in Chicago," Lydecker began pacing the room, drifting in and out of the camera's viewpoint. "I want her back, Eyes, and I will get her back. She's probably in some Russian lab being diced into pieces."

All in the room with Logan suddenly took a deep breath. Logan began speaking. "We have good knowledge of where she is being held, Colonel. We also have a second suspect on our waiting list, so don't worry if I'm not at all disappointed that you didn't get your slimy hands onto Max. I will give you one item of comfort, she's being held by the US"

Lydecker stopped his pacing and faced the camera. On the screen, his pupils were wide with anger. "Renfro," he muttered, half to himself, before he continued pacing.

"We have mutual contacts," Logan said softly. Lydecker stopped pacing once again and began to curse loudly, at Renfro, it seemed. "I take it you and Ms. Renfro are not on good terms."

"Second time I've caught her," Lydecker was saying. "That bitch keeps stealing my kids. They go out on missions and don't return . . . son of a bitch . . . I will kill her . . . takes my X-5 group and plays with them like they're dolls . . ."

"Isn't that what you do, Colonel?" Logan asked quietly. Suddenly, Lydecker stopped his almost incoherent mutterings and spoke directly to the camera.

"That woman does what I will not do. She knows no humanity. She doesn't even see these children she takes of mine as human -- they are merely an object of war to her . . ." Lydecker was cut short by Logan.

"Colonel, don't tell me you think of your children as anything other than objects of war?" he asked coldly.

"I see them as soldiers. Efficient in what they do, perfect in their actions," Lydecker said. "Look, if you want Max back, you're going to have to trust me on this," Lydecker seemed to be thinking quickly, desperately. The blow from Renfro must have struck deep, to get him so desperate. "Renfro is not somebody to screw around with. We've got to strike her deep in the heart of her operations to get the kids back, do you understand?"

"You want me to get the kids back for you?" Logan asked mockingly. The question hung out in the air for a few moments before Lydecker finally replied.

"I want you to help me get my kids back to me, yes," Lydecker admitted. "I'll help you if you help me."

"How will you help me, Colonel? I don't need your help very much, but it seems you need mine," Logan raised his eyebrows in question. "I have information on Max's location, I have at my disposal several of her brothers and sister who will do * anything * to get her back. So, I ask you, why do I need you?"

"You help me bring down Madame Renfro and get my kids back, I'll forget about Max, forget she ever existed," Lydecker said. Logan closed his eyes for a millisecond.

"Tempting offer, I'll have to think on it," Logan motioned for Cindy to disable the conference. "Gotta Blaze."

~ ~ ~ ~

When Logan was certain the conference was disabled, he went over to his computer and brought up the recordings of the conversation. Listening to it, he paused it right before Lydecker's ending statement. Turning around, Logan watched the others for a few moments, not speaking anything, Then, quietly, as if he'd made a decision to end all decisions, he pressed play.

". . . forget she ever existed . . ." the recording played.

"I'm going to lie down," Logan told the others. He made no move to leave, however. Looking around, almost helplessly, he said, "What do we do?"

Original Cindy put her arm around Logan's shoulders. "We wait, boo, till we talk to this Renfro person. We hope 'Deck don't go blabbing his mouth to her and get her too scared to talk to us. You did give her a ring, didn't you?"

"Yes, I gave her a call," Logan assured her. "We've just got to wait until tomorrow at this time so we can talk to her."

"Its not fun, you know, all this waiting," Seana said from the table, where she had been sitting, assembling some guns that apparently had been disassembled and stored in her bag. "Lucky me, I brought five guns to assemble, all with little pieces that I have to dig in my bag for. Good half hour of fun, that is."

"I don't like waiting either," Krit said, getting up from the floor where he had been checking ammunition. At the moment, it was in three piles on the floor. "We have to keep busy. Bling," he glanced up, "did you get those reservations made?"

Bling handed Zack some papers. "Seven tickets to Anchorage, Alaska, right there," he told Krit as the papers left his fingers.

"Seven? There're only five of us," Syl said, glancing up.

Logan spoke for Bling. "We're coming, too. Do you think I'll just let you go and stay here? We are going with you. We may not be able to go out with you, but we'll do security and we'll keep in contact with you."

"You're not thinking of leaving Original Cindy here," Original Cindy broke in, "while you and Bling go have all the fun."

"I'm not going, Cindy," Bling reassured her. "The other ticket is for you."

"Good. Or, like Max's last words to me, it's aiight," Original Cindy gave a smile.

"Her last words to me were, 'Don't let them take me,'" Krit said. "From the night we escaped."

"Same here," Syl and Seana added.

"Normal's gonna have kittens," Bling stated fondly. "What about you?" Bling asked Logan.

"Olive Juice," Logan said, his eyes unfocused.

[gray thoughts]

Max walks in. Logan is typing away at the keyboard. She sits down directly toward the right of his eyesight. He glances up.

"Guess what I learned today from Herbal," she says triumphantly.

"What?" Logan asks, smiling in an amused way at her excitement.

"Olive juice," she grins.

"Olive juice?" Logan is bewildered.

"See, Logan, if you mouth it across the room, it looks like you're saying olive juice," Max's pager goes off.

"Oh," Logan thinks on it for a minute, watching her check her pager.

"Gotta go. Olive juice," she waltzes out of the room.

"Olive juice," Logan whispers.

[/gray thoughts]

"What?" Seana asked, running to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Oh, she said olive juice. It was a joke that Herbal had just told her. She never really got to explain what it was about," Logan said absently. "So, the tickets are good for two days from now, right?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"This feels familiar," Original Cindy remarked as she settled herself into the computer chair. "Okay, everybody quiet. You talk, never gonna do it again." She pressed the button to start transmission of video footage.

On the screen in front of Logan appeared a rather severe looking woman with short, electric blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a thin-lipped mouth.

"Eyes Only," it was more of a statement than a question.

"Madame Renfro," Logan used the title that Lydecker had used. "You have her?"

The woman smiled. "I never lie to anyone I need, Eyes, and I need you. Of course I have her," Renfro snapped her fingers. Behind her chair back, you could see a pair of legs walk and stop. They were dressed in military fatigues. "I brought her, as a sort of treat. She was good this week."

Logan swallowed hard. Original Cindy started typing hurriedly and suddenly the camera's view widened. Behind Renfro, you could see the face of a young soldier, hair freshly shaven, her face covered with bruises and scratches.

Logan's throat suddenly contracted. "Max?" he squeaked out. He saw a slight nod of recognition from her frightened eyes. "What have you done to her?" he asked, suddenly fierce. "She's covered in bruises."

Madame Renfro's eyes flickered slightly. "We questioned her before allowing her to appear in this interview," she smiled cruelly.

"Maxie," Logan breathed. He shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry." He saw her mouth something. "What will it take to get her back?"

"Everything, Eyes," Renfro said. "Everything. It will take so many things. If you want, what was it you called her? Oh, if you want * Max * back, you've got to pay. I don't sell my children for light prices."

"Name your price, Renfro," Logan said, cutting off whatever her next breath.

"I want you to disappear," Renfro said, icily.

"What?" Logan took a deep breath. Behind Renfro, he could see Max making a barely perceptible shake of her head -- no, no, no.

"I want Eyes Only to fall off the face of the Earth. If you want your Max back, Eyes Only is going to have to halt all operations," Renfro stood up and went beside Max. "You may speak, now, since you have behaved so well during this interview."

Max stepped forward a half a step. "Olive Juice."