Mountain View resort, 45 minutes outside of Seattle, was a step backwards in time

Disclaimer: Same ol' same ol'

Mountain View resort, 45 minutes outside of Seattle, was a step backwards in time.Looking around one would never have known that the Pulse had ever happened. The rustic lodge was set amidst tall pines on the side of a mountain and displayed none of the post-Pulse wear and tear so common to even the best buildings in Seattle.

As Logan and Alec pulled up in a borrowed Lexus a uniformed valet ran to open the doors and hand Alec a parking receipt. Alec accepted without comment and moved around to join Logan who had emerged from the back of the car, carrying a small case containing his laptop computer.

Nodding at Alec Logan strode into the lobby, the picture of a wealthy successful businessman, followed closely by his ever-vigilant bodyguard, a sight common enough at this place to occasion no undue notice. A large board in the Lobby listed the events of the day and quickly checking it Logan nodded to Alec to follow him as they headed to the Pines conference room. Logan signaled Alec to come up with him and in a low voice said,

"Dr. Mendoza is speaking in 15 minutes. The plan is that we listen to his talk then afterwards we see if we can get a few minutes in private with him, I've got the analysis on Max's virus that the tech put together on this laptop. I want to see what he thinks after looking at it. Since you say you have some grounding in the subject you listen and let me know if he seems to know what he's talking about." Alec nodded and the two entered the conference room, quickly finding seats to the rear. Alec automatically checked the room, looking for anything suspicious but saw nothing that raised any red flags.

Logan patiently waited for the question and answer session currently under way to end. Once finished an attractive woman, who was obviously the moderator, rose and introduced Dr. Mendoza. The doctor launched immediately into his talk accompanied by an extremely technical slide presentation that had Logan lost within minutes. He spent the time looking around at the other attendees who seemed engrossed in Mendoza's talk and on working on his laptop, an action that did not stand out as many in the audience were similarly making notes on laptops as the doctor spoke. Alec listened closely and once when Logan looked an inquiry at him nodded affirmatively which Logan took to mean that Dr. Mendoza appeared to know what he was talking about.

After an hour, which included a brief question and answer, the moderator announced a break for lunch, to be served in the next door meeting room. There was a general exodus and Logan and Alec took advantage of the movement to make their way to Dr. Mendoza. Holding out his hand Logan introduced himself to the doctor.

"Logan Cale."

"Juan Mendoza. I don't believe we've met – is your area of specialty somewhat outside of mine?" The doctor seemed curious that he couldn't place Logan's name. Logan smiled.

"I'm not in the filed of medicine. I'm a businessman but I'm hoping you can assist me with something Doctor." The doctor looked at him curiously.

"I'm not a practitioner you know, I'm a researcher."

"I'm aware of that. I was really hoping I could talk to you privately. This is an extremely important and personal matter. If you're amenable I'd like to buy you lunch, I can assure you it will be better than the meal they'll be serving in there."

Dr. Mendoza laughed. "Oh yes, banquet food, never the best. You intrigue me Mr. Cale.

I'd be pleased to have lunch with you."

Logan nodded and followed by Alec led the doctor to a small private dining room he had arranged for prior to their visit. They spent several moments looking at menus and gave their lunch orders to an efficient waiter. That done Logan proceeded to chat with the doctor, putting him at ease until their food was served and the wait staff withdrew, leaving them completely private. Logan signaled to Alec who pulled out a small electronic device that he used to check the room for bugs.

"It's clean, boss." Alec told Logan, the faint sarcastic tone on the word boss evident only to one who was in the know.

"Thank you, Alec." Logan acknowledged playing his role to perfection. At the same time he was chuckling wryly to himself about how his father and uncle would have loved to see him in exactly the role he was now playing. Instead he had become the black sheep of the Cale family and he would do it the same if he had to make that choice again.

"So what exactly is it you wished to discuss with me, Mr. Cale?" Dr. Mendoza inquired.

"It's about my cousin" Logan replied. "She's been having health problems and the doctors have isolated what seems to be an unusual virus in her bloodstream. They tell me they have no idea what it is or even if it's the cause of the problem. That said they feel that they need to somehow eliminate it from her body to see if the problems then subside."

"And…?" The doctor questioned.

"They haven't been able to get rid of it. I've been doing some research of my own and I came across your name. I was hoping you would take a look at the blood analysis and see if you thought you might be able to help."

"Sounds very intriguing. Do you have the analysis here?" The doctor looked on with interest as Logan opened up his laptop and pulled up the analysis of Max's blood.

Sliding the computer to Dr. Mendoza, Logan and Alec looked on with interest as the doctor studied the various reports prepared by the renegade Manticore tech.

"This is very interesting. Good work whoever did it."

"The analysis?" Logan asked.

"What? No the virus Mr. Cale. This is not a naturally occurring virus. Someone created this and infected your cousin with it." He gave Logan a hard look. "I have to wonder why someone would do that and who this is targeted towards."

Logan returned his look impassively but his mind was racing. He debated how much to tell the doctor.

"What do you mean targeted towards?" he stalled.

"This virus is harmless to your cousin Mr. Cale. This part here and here is keyed in to someone else's DNA. If your cousin were to come into contact with that person intimately, she would infect them and the virus would most probably be lethal. to them. But I suspect you already know that."

Logan sighed. "You're correct doctor I do. My family is wealthy and influential and we've made enemies, as I'm sure you can imagine. I believe this virus is intended to be an assassination attempt on a particular family member. We've been keeping my cousin isolated but you can see that we need to take care of this." The doctor nodded and seemed satisfied and turned back to the computer.

He pulled out a pad and began jotting notes, checking and rechecking the pages of the analysis. Logan watched silently while Alec got up and roamed the room, pausing every so often to listen at the door. Finally the doctor stopped writing and looked up.

"So?" Logan asked, "Do you think you can come up with a solution?" Dr. Mendoza laughed.

"I already have." Logan looked at him stunned. The doctor held up his notes and pointed to a formula at the end. "This Mr. Cale should do it. Given a sample of your cousin's blood I can engineer this antidote. Shouldn't take more than a day or two."

Logan couldn't believe what he was hearing. It seemed too easy.

"Dr. Mendoza would you object if I took your notes and had my own medical staff review them? If they're in agreement I'll get you that blood sample and you can go ahead with the antidote. If you would?"

The doctor smiled. "I doubt they'll understand what I'm doing but of course you're free to have them review this. I'll be here for 2 more days then I return to Chicago. Please bring me the blood sample before I leave." Logan had a sample in his briefcase but he had a nagging feeling that he shouldn't hand it over to this doctor quite so easily.

"Done. And when you deliver the cure we'll discuss how best I can express my appreciation." The doctor nodded.

"Yes well research does cost quite a bit and these days…"

"Cale Industries believes in supporting our medical researchers. We can be very generous to those we feel are on the track of medical breakthroughs." Logan said smoothly.

Lunch and business finished Logan gathered the notes the doctor had made and carefully folded them, placing them in his inside jacket pocket. The doctor shook hands with Logan and promised he would be on the lookout for the sample and left the room. Logan and Alec waited a moment to be sure he was gone and then Logan turned to Alec.

"What do you think?"

Alec shrugged. "Hey I have a working knowledge. I 'm no expert. He seemed to know what he was doing. Why didn't you give him the sample? "

"I'm not so sure I want to give a sample of Max's blood out to anyone. Until I know of this guy has any connection to Manticore I don't want him to see anything that could compromise her safety. I also want a friend of mine to look at these notes to see what he thinks."

With that Logan and Alec prepared to leave the room. Just as Alec was about to open the door an explosion rocked the building and both men were thrown to the floor.

"What the hell?" Logan exclaimed as he rolled over and sat up. Alec was already up standing at the door but not opening it.

"I have a bad feeling about this Cale." He cracked open the door and quickly slammed it closed as a puff of smoke entered the room. "Forget that way out. – hallways on fire either end." As he spoke he was striding to the windows and pulling the blinds open to see if there was a possible way out. "Damn. I knew I should have brought rappelling gear."

Logan had joined him at the window and saw immediately what he meant. The resort sat on the side of the mountain affording the various rooms views of the Cascade Mountains. It also afforded a sheer drop out of the windows as it was cantilevered on the mountainside.

Alec began to stride around the room looking for something to use to make an escape out the window while Logan pulled off the tablecloth and stuffed it in the crack at the bottom of the doorway to prevent smoke from seeping in. He had just finished and straightened up when his cel phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Logan! Thank god you're okay. Where the hell are you?" It was Max's voice.

"Right now Alec and I appear to be trapped in a room in the Mountain View Resort. Where are you, Max?"

"Standing out front watching the resort burn. What room?"

"Max there's no way you're getting through that fire. Don't even think of it." At that moment Alec walked over and grabbed the phone from Logan.

"Max? Got any rappelling gear with you? Okay, that'll work, look here's the plan…"

As Logan looked on he rapidly spoke into the phone the satisfied snapped it closed.

"What was that?" Logan asked sharply.

"Getting us out of here. That is if Max can come through in time." Alec looked at the door and placed his hand on it feeling the heat. He nodded to Logan and the two took up station next to the window which Alec broke easily using a small chair. Smoke was seeping through the barrier Logan had made and the door was beginning to have a faint glow. Logan thought to himself how ironic it would be if he were to die now, now that he had found the cure and now that he was so close to being with Max.