Chapter Eleven: Fallout (Part Two)
Max slowly opened her eyes, or in this case eye. Her face felt hot and puffy and immediately started to ache as she looked around her. She found herself surrounded by hospital equipment, and it suddenly reminded her of a place that she had recently gotten free of. A shock of fear shot through her body and she sat bolt upright in bed at the thought that they had her again. She doubled over in pain at the sudden contraction of sore muscles over bruised and broken bones.
When the pain had eased she looked around her again, noticing that the place was a little too homey for a Manticore lab. There were curtains on the windows drawn tightly together and it was dusky in the room. Manticore did not take any such consideration when it came to their patients. She glanced toward the door watching as heads bobbed by the small window. They were just people, no faces looked in with berets on their head and guns in their hands, just the ebb and flow of normal people moving on about their lives. Max let out a breath relaxing a bit at the sight.
She tensed a moment later when she remembered that the unthinkable had happened. Logan's and her formerly private sanctum had been violated and Logan had now been taken from her. Her face dropped as she remembered what Bryn had done to Kito and intended to do to her as well, they had tried to kill her, and she had barely escaped by the skin of her teeth…she was lucky to be here at all. A pang rose in her stomach wondering if he had survived, she vaguely remembered Bling saying that Kito was in bad, bad shape, and was unsure if he would even make it. She suddenly wished that Bling were here to talk to.
She realized then just what she had done to get out alive and what had happened as a result. She must look like death warmed over. Looking down she found her right arm was in a sling up past the elbow and two of her fingers were in splints, when she attempted to move her arm, she nearly fainted in pain, realizing her left collarbone was broken. Looking at her left arm she saw a set of stitches holding her arm closed where the bullet had grazed her. The ache in her body as she raised her good hand told her that her gown was covering a good number of really nasty bruises.
Realizing her face was numb Max reached up and ran her fingers over it. Her exploring fingers encountered evenly spaced stitches holding closed a two-inch gash on the left side of her forehead and brow, a similar one was found on her right cheek over the highest part of her cheekbone. Her left eye was swollen completely shut and she silently hoped it was only the soft tissue damage that was creating the effect. As it was her depth perception was screwed. Looking around out of her right eye, she glumly thought the swelling of her already rounded face must resemble the size and shape of a large basketball.
Almost as an afterthought she remembered her unborn child, and wondered how, if at all, her fall might affect her pregnancy. She reached her hand to her belly, knowing it was too soon to tell anything, yet somehow the action was comforting. This was the one she wanted to keep more than anything in the world, and now more than ever. She fervently hoped the trend she had suffered in Manticore would not continue with her current pregnancy. She had nearly lost count of the number of times that she had been impregnated back in that lab, at least ten times. Not a single one of them had lasted, the longest she had been able to carry was five months. Each had ended in a miscarriage. She wanted this pregnancy to be different; she wanted this child that she had conceived with Logan.
She knew, without a doubt, they would not kill him, they wanted to unlock the puzzle he presented. That meant that they would hold him. Max's mouth thinned, they would probably take him back to the local base of operations. The question was how was she going to get him back? Security would be even tighter now, because Lydecker would expect them to try a rescue. It would be suicide to just rush back in.
Her musing was interrupted as the doctor stepped through the door. She smiled despite the pain it caused her, "Sam?" she whispered.
He smiled back at her, but it was somewhat more reserved than she would have liked, "Hey Max," He said stepping over to her bedside. He leaned over and expertly examined her face, lightly touching the flesh around the laceration, "How are you feeling?" he asked her looking into her good eye.
"As good as can be expected, I guess," She replied softly, "How bad is it?"
"Pretty good considering the fall you took," He said, "Nothing like being a revved up girl to keep you from killing yourself on a fall like that."
She shrugged, and then winced, "I've taken that jump before, no sweat, but it's just not the same when you're unconscious."
He continued to examine her even as he talked, "I'll state the obvious first…your collarbone is broken as is your left forearm and your middle and ring fingers are dislocated. You suffered a concussion from your impact with whatever split your brow open, and your impact with the roof below the kitchen window didn't help things out." He moved one of the exposed fingers on her left hand alternately pressing on it and letting it go to see how her circulation was, "Can you feel that?" He asked and Max nodded, "Good there seems to be no nerve damage."
"I can't see through my eye," Max said slowly. She was worried she had pulped or lacerated her eye, remembering all too well the pain of her initial impact with the window frame.
"Luckily that is temporary, just your body's reaction to the abuse you put your brow and cheek through. There appears to be no fractures anywhere in that area. You just laid it open, but," He leaned in whispering, "You got one hell of a shiner."
She smiled slightly but it didn't stay on her face long. "And," She took a deep breath, dreading the next question and its possible answer, "What about the baby?"
Sam gave her a comforting look, "It's still a little early to tell, but so far, there are no signs it sustained any trauma from your accident. The heartbeat is strong and all the signs look as if the baby is none the worse for the wear."
She smiled in relief, "Thanks Sam."
"Well you look better," Sam said standing up and sighing. She though he looked a little distraught himself and became concerned for him. Surely Sam had heard that Logan had been taken. Sam had been Logan's physician for a long time and Logan had become very good friends with the him.
Sam had let himself in on Logan's secret long before Logan and Max's marriage, when Logan had gone back to prove he wasn't "imagining things" as Sam had suggested when feeling had first returned to Logan's legs. Then Sam was amazed at the miraculous recovery of Logan's ability walk and the development of his extraordinary abilities.
Max reached out with her good hand, touching him lightly on the wrist. Sam looked down at her, "We'll get him back," She whispered firmly. It was said to convince herself as much as it was to convince him.
He nodded, "I know," He said softly, "I just hope he's OK."
Max dropped her hand and looked away, "Me too."
Zach and Tima moved swiftly through the dense undergrowth easily avoiding the low hanging branches that seemed to reach out for them as they sped past. They slowed as they neared the clearing surrounding their objective, Zach pausing to signal Tima to take cover. She immediately faded behind the nearest scrub, and once she was hidden he slowly proceeded through the bramble to get a better look at the facility.
Zack had decided to go as soon as he saw Tima's sickened face as she relayed the wrecked, blood soaked condition she found the apartment in. She had tried to contact him then, but he had been out taking care of his own business, so she had called Bling. Bling had been waiting for Tima at the front door of Logan's apartment. The entrance had confirmed the worst, Manticore had finally tracked Max and Logan down. Kito was not breathing and had no pulse when she arrived. She had taken over tending to him while Bling had searched the apartment for clues as to what happened and why. When he arrived in the dining area off the kitchen he had immediately noticed the broken window, and when he had looked out he had been horrified to find Max lying unmoving three stories below.
Max was now in the hospital, busted up, but in stable condition and Kito was on full life support, hanging on to his life by a mechanical thread. Kito had suffered a major concussion fighting the Manticores and would most likely die due to the swelling of his brain.
Here was Manticore once again meddling in affairs they should have left alone many years back. Zack was feeling that old paternal protectiveness coming back concerning his fellow "Renegades". He had thought that he was done with that, Manticore had left them alone for so long that Zack had gotten comfortable with letting the others, those few that were left, handle their own affairs.
As much as the two of them had not gotten along for so many years, Zack was going to make damn sure that Logan would not stay in Manticore's clutches. Their relationship had mellowed out, though it was a sometimes-uneasy truce. Zack, after all, would always remember just how much he was in love with Max. But now he had someone of his own, and the fact that Max had chosen Logan over him did not hurt so much anymore. Besides that he still owed the older man his life, several times over.
Zack stopped as the cover thinned, breaking out his high powered binoculars and looking over the facility. Everything looked tranquil and mundane, it looked like a Tuesday afternoon, just the guards left, it did not look as if they were expecting to receive a prisoner. Zack frowned as he watched one after another of the perimeter guards for some signs of heightened alert or that something out of the ordinary was happening. If the prediction that they would bring Logan back here was accurate, then the transport should have been here hours ago and security would have been stepped up. There was nothing here to indicate that Logan and whatever party took him had arrived.
He lowered his binoculars a moment glancing back at the piece of forest that hid his partner, he signaled for her to advance to his position. The bushes rustled slightly and then all was still until Tima was suddenly at his side. He handed her the binoculars silently and she surveyed the scene as well. She lowered them a moment later and met Zack's questioning gaze, frowning.
"Something's wrong," Zack growled in a low voice, "He should have been brought here by now."
"I agree," she said just as quietly.
"You don't suppose that they took him to different facility, do you," Zack offered.
Tima just shook her head, "I hope not… Let's give it a bit, there may be a reason for the delay."
He nodded, smiling at her. He reached over to touch her soft face a moment. A moment later he caught his slip and he forced himself back to the matter at hand. She smiled coyly as she looked away returning her attention to the compound before them.
"Let's see if we can get a bit closer. Split up and we'll meet at that outcrop right near the guard tower," Zack said suddenly all business again.
Tima nodded, "See you down there," She smiled again at him and silently slinked away through the ferns picking her way slowly down to the new rendezvous.
Zack watched her lithe body as she slowly disappeared into the green. He shook his head, trying to erase the thoughts that were trying hard to distract him from what he was supposed to be doing here. He snorted quietly and moved off the opposite direction of Tima in a round about route to his destination.
Zack had never thought he would get over his love of Max, she had been his alpha and omega for so long that the thought of seeing anyone else had seemed absurd to him. All the worse for the fact that he could never have Max, her heart had, for a long time, already belonged to Logan. He never thought that he would feel that way for anyone else. It had therefore surprised him how quickly he had fallen for Tima's emotional, shy charm. She had immediately intrigued him.
They had started dating soon after the mission to retrieve Max from this very facility, and it had been the best thing that he had ever known. Unrequited love had nothing on his and Tima's relationship. He laughed shortly to himself. Max had given him guff about how much the younger girl had toned down his constant drive to play "Mother Hen", and "Mr. Military. He grinned crookedly, he would have to agree with that assessment, she had affected him in some very positive ways.
It was not long before Zack reached the boulder leaned onto a small tree near the guard tower. Tima was already awaiting him there, her back to the rock and looking over her shoulder toward the guards.
They remained where they were for nearly five hours, listening to the guards watching for some sign of their accosted friend. There should have at least been some gossip regarding Logan either being here or on his way here. Not even Manticore Soldiers were above spreading juicy scuttlebutt around the compound. Yet there was nothing, no word, no hint, not even a rumor of his arrival.
Zack and Tima shared a glance at one another, Zack shook his head in the negative signaling a fall back to discuss what was next to do. They returned to their higher perch above the compound, "I don't think he's coming here."
Tima looked grim and a little stricken by that thought, "So what do we do?" she consulted her watch, "By now he could be anywhere from Canada, to Idaho, to nearly Oregon."
"I know," Zack said testily, "I know." he repeated quieted.
Logan sighed realizing just how big a chance he had taken in lashing out against the young Manticore stuck in the truck with him. He had been bluffing, there wasn't much else he could have done to defend himself if the girl had pushed the issue, not bound as he was. But the ruse seemed to have worked letting him know not only the measure of the woman but confirming just how much importance the committee had put on him arriving in one piece. He peeked from below his lids to look at her, she had yet to take her eyes back off him, seeming extremely wary of him.
Logan wanted to stand and stretch, but was not willing to push the limits of his guard that way, he was sure that in a knock down and drag out fight she would have the upper hand. So instead he sat trying to ignore his numb posterior, and began to think again.
How long had they been traveling now? He tried to think back and remember the trip with Tima out to the base, or the rescue they had conducted to get Max out. It seemed to him that it only had taken a couple of hours, and though he had no watch to confirm it, he was sure that they were well over that time limit. Where were they taking him?
A pang of fear ran through him, if they were not taking him to the base that they had held Max at, then there was going to be no way for the Brigade to track where he was going, not immediately, if at all. That thought balled up inside of him threatening to make him panic. He took several deep breaths trying to calm his suddenly racing heart. "Damn it," Logan thought gritting his teeth. He had been counting on returning to a place that was fairly close and accessible to his friends, all of his confidence to this point had been hinged on that suddenly very fragile crutch, and he could feel that crumbling from under him.
He was torn from his consternation when he felt a change in the speed of the truck, and was nearly thrown over at the less than smooth stop that the truck made. The girl guarding him was thrown of balance as well, throwing her foot out to one side to keep her from toppling over. Before he had even recovered, the sliding door on the back of the truck was slid open, nearly blinding his dark accustomed eyes with brilliant daylight. He held up his hands feebly shading his eyes against the glare trying to judge who and how many people were standing outside the door.
A shadow stepped into the truck taking two steps into the chill and pausing. Logan could feel eyes on him and yet could not see who was assessing him.
"Torri, where are his clothes?" A deep raspy male voice said angrily, "And why isn't he bound properly?" Logan's lips thinned as he recognized the voice only too well.
He could still see Torri and she popped to quick attention in front of the man, "Sir, my orders were to strip him of his clothes to lessen his threat."
Logan could almost hear the incredulity that must have been on Lydecker's face. That explanation sounded absurd even to him.
"To lessen his threat?" Lydecker repeated slowly in that voice that Logan had heard all too many times before. His eyes must have adjusted because Logan thought he saw Lydecker nod in that "I'm disappointed" way that he did, "So explain to me the shackles?"
Logan saw her swallow convulsively, and he actually found himself feeling sorry for her, "I have no excuse for allowing that sir," She said crisply. She said nothing further, taking the heat for what he had done.
Lydecker then kneeled down next to Logan, "Well now," He said looking Logan over closely.
His eyes lingered overly long on his left leg, "That explains that mystery," he pointed to Logan's ugly scar, "I think I still see boot prints," he said mockingly. Logan's face deteriorated into an ugly mask of shame and loathing. But he didn't miss Torri's look of confusion, "I wondered where the three of you had managed to get off to that night."
He stood back up, Logan's hateful gaze following him as he turned back to Torri, "Get him some clothes and bind him right this time. And use the waist shackle would you? He won't get his hands in front of him that way." With that he stepped down out of the van, yelling at the top of his considerable voice, "BRYN!"