Chapter Four- John F. Kennedy International Airport


"Now announcing the arrival of flight 265 from Seattle International Airport at gate D14."

Ben sat causally in a chair outside of gate D14, waiting for Max and Logan to arrive. He was running off of about two hours of sleep in the past three days, having pulled a couple of all nighters digging into the project he had recently found.

When people started to trickle out of the corridor from the plane, Ben stood to walk near the entrance, scanning the crowd for Max and Logan.

He spotted Logan's head first, then Max's at his side. "Logan! Max!" Ben called, but his voice was lost in the din of the crowd. It was Christmas Eve in one of the countries busiest airports, plus there was apparently some blizzard in Chicago. So there were people camped out everywhere and Ben stepped over several sleeping bags as he moved to intercept the couple that were rapidly walking in the wrong direction. "Hey!" He said as he jumped in front of them.

Max looked up at him from under the bill of the baseball cap she had pulled low over her hair. Her face lit up as she greeted him. "Ben!" She said as she jumped forward to give him a hug, but was cut off by a man who shoved through them dragging a suitcase behind him. "God! This place is insane!" Logan muttered under his breath. Ben didn't catch his words, but since it was five AM, and he was awake, it probably wasn't going to be good.

After an interesting half hour of tracking down Max and Logan's luggage and somehow making it out into the parking garage in one piece, Max dragging a half awake Logan behind her through the crowds, the group made it to Ben's car.

Fifteen minuets into the ride, Max was kicking Logan from the backseat to keep him awake. "Serves you right for not sleeping on the plane when I told you too." Max muttered from the back seat, nudging Logan yet again with her foot.

When they finally made it to Ben's spacious apartment, Logan crawled into the guest bedroom and was out before Max could kick him again.

"He hasn't had a whole lot of sleep in the last three days, so you'll have to excuse him." Max said walking back into the kitchen where Ben was fiddling with a coffee machine. "He had some, uh… work to do." She explained. Smiling briefly.

Ben interpreted that smile to mean tearing up the sheets. "Uh, keep it to yourself, thanks." He said with a dramatic grimace.

Max laughed, knowing the real reason that Logan had stayed up all night was because she was out pulling a little breaking and entering of the Eyes Only variety, and Logan never slept when Max was out at night. It was one more of the endearing qualities that she loved about him. Let Ben think what he wants, she thought as she propped herself up in one of the bar stools as Ben poured them both a mug of coffee. "Aren't you tired too?"

"Nah, I don't need a whole lot of sleep." Max said smugly. "Question."

"Go ahead."

"What was this big story that you needed Logan's help for?" Max asked, stirring a spoon of sugar into her mug idly.

"No offense, Max, but it is up to Logan whether he wants to tell you about it."

"Ben, no offense, but I'll find out anyway. I'm bored now, give me something to think about." Max said playfully picking up her coffee mug and walking across the room to look at Ben's book collection.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Something tells me you have Logan on a short leash, and you will find out regardless of whether I tell you."

"You learn quick." Max said.

Be started to explain quickly as he dug around inside his fridge. "The short version, a week ago I was reporting on the South African Civil war, I watched someone who was a lot stronger than humanly possible take out the leader of the rebel uprising. I started researching, and completely by accident I stumbled onto a genetics lab that I think are taking children and training them from birth to be the perfect super soldiers. A place called Manticore."

He whirled around at the sound of shattering pottery. Max had dropped her coffee mug and was staring at Ben, her hand frozen midair.


A/N: Oh, I love cliffhangers. I'll post more in a couple of days, or sooner if I get lots of reviews (nudge nudge wink wink!!).