Max waited impatiently outside of the chain link fence, drumming her fingers against the bar of her motorcycle just to outwardly show her annoyance. How long could it take him? He was usually so speedy, she thought angrily for she knew how precious the time was that they were running on.
As if in answer to her question, Zack strode out, wheeling the freshly stolen motorcycle beside him out of the confiscation area.
"Took you long enough," Max remarked as he came along beside her.
"Got what I needed-didn't I?"
"Does it work?" she asked him.
"Should. Got checked in this morning for a missing taillight…sector police problem most likely." He jingled a ring of keys, holding them up for Max to see in the pale, creeping moonlight. "Fat guard didn't even see me take 'em," Zack bragged. "Had a stream of drool coming down over the flab he calls a cheek."
Zack was excited, Max noticed. This was fun to him; adrenaline rushing through his veins was no different than sugar to a toddler. But, she knew that he truly wasn't as carefree as he seemed. Covering his true emotions was always a trend with Zack; he never wanted anyone to know what he was feeling.
"Where should we go?" Max asked, pulling her glasses off the top of her curly head and straightening them on her face. "There's at least a hundred different bases outside of Wyoming. Who knows where they took him?"
Zack shrugged and swung a powerful leg over the black leather seat of the motorcycle and settled down onto it. "I'm guessing Wyoming. He's too precious of a commodity to take anywhere else."
"Why?"
"He knows where you are. And, from your location, Lydecker's probably hoping he can get his filthy hands on the next one of us. Chain reaction-y'know?"
"Oh."
Zack studied her carefully, her face shadow streaked in the pale moonlight overhead. She stared straight ahead, as if trying to see through the black sea before them before pushing away from the shore. Oh god, she was so beautiful! He just wanted to wrap his arms around her, telling her how much she meant to him. Why, oh why, did she have to waste her time swimming after a man such as Logan? Why?
"You ok?" Zack finally asked, breaking the silence as he watched her strangely placid face with set jaw.
"I was just thinking…"
"'Bout him?" Zack questioned, referring to "him" as Logan.
"Both him…and Lydecker."
"We can still turn back, you know."
Max fervently shook her head. "No. We have to go after him."
"That's what I thought."
Max wheeled her bike away from the confiscation area and swung a leg over, gazing out into the seemingly endless blackness. Would they ever find Logan? What if they couldn't make it back to the base? No, she firmly told herself, don't start doubting now. That's not going to help anybody. You will get Logan out and everything will be fine.
Zack pushed his bike up besides her and waited for her to say something.
"Thanks," she told him, still not looking at him.
"For what?"
"For coming with me…supporting me."
"Well, I certainly don't support what you're doing, but I'm not going to stand back and let you get yourself killed and blame myself for the rest of my life."
Max turned to him, a wry smile upon her lips. Seeing her precious smile, Zack nearly jumped off the bike right then and there and kissed her. But, he remembered how those same lips had touched Logan's, and he forced himself to stay on the bike and act like nothing was wrong.
"Wyoming then?" she asked him.
"Wyoming it is."
The engines both started at once and the growling noise rose until both Max and Zack had disappeared into the night. Their headlights sliced through the thick fog that was starting to set in from the bay, but they kept on riding, unsure of what they would find when they reached Manticore to save a man that one of them loved and the other hated.
