Chapter Twenty-One: Twist of Fate

Logan sat for long moments just staring at the hub of the Humvee, at the nut at the six o'clock position. His mind was chasing circles, if they had been delayed just a few more minutes! Just a few more minutes and they would have been able to overpower the guards and he could have been on his way home. Home, away from here and into Max's arms. His stomach contracted…if she was still alive that is. Otherwise he would just be returning to a cold and lonely apartment. But…she had to be alive didn't she? Who else would have sent Zach and Tima this far to find him?

"Assuming she is alive," Logan thought fiercely. Had she stayed in Seattle or had she taken the assault on their home as a cue to find another place to hole up? If she had been smart she would have moved away. She would reduce her risk as well as the baby's by finding somewhere where the radar for Manticore's wasn't so strong. "Since when has she ever played it smart?" He asked himself laughing a little. She was stubborn…she would probably stay in the city at least until she determined if he were alive or dead, and if alive, until she had news on his return. He hoped the answer would be an emphatic yes on that. And yet the opportunity still eluded him.

She would be due any day now if his muddled calculations were correct, and he would be absent for the baby's birth. Again that pessimistic part of him threw up a roadblock, bringing up her inability to carry any child to term.

Absently he shook his head, convincing himself that this time would be different that the child of their love would grow strong and be born healthy. What will she have? The thought drifted through his mind, and he was unsure that he had a preference as to sex. The harder question to fathom was whether it would be like Max or Normal. He was no longer normal and that increased the chances of the child being exceptional. That thought scared him more than a little, causing him to wonder if they would be able to handle a child where every tantrum might lead to breakage or someone's serious physical injury. That would require heavy discipline until such a child was old enough to understand the need for control.

Logan shook his head realizing that the train of thought he was on was going to get him into trouble. He centered his mind back on the mission at hand and the possibility, if any, of an escape. He had not let the others in on the deal yet and looking over at Case he could see the boy was getting anxious about getting a green light.

Logan drew a deep breath then leaning forward and looking toward the front of the plane to see where Torri was. The Manticore was reading over their list of supplies and double checking all of their preparations. The two Manticores who had come with her to ensure that nothing untoward happened on the trip were both soundly sleeping in their jump seats toward the cockpit.

Logan then turned back to his comrades signaling for attention. Most of the group was immediately alert and those that had fallen asleep were quickly roused. It was too noisy to speak inside the rattletrap of a plane so Logan was reduced to using a combination of combat signals and the sign language he had learned to communicate more efficiently with Mouse. Mouse and Shawnee began shaking their heads before Logan had even finished his haphazard telling of he and Case's plan. Shawnee had that same look on her face as when she warned him not to consider trying to escape. She quickly signaled negative vote on the issue. Mouse was right behind her. Logan continued to look around the group. Hawker was smiling and nodding as if he had known this was coming despite Logan's insistence that there was no plan. Case's expression was guarded but Logan already knew his vote was a resounding yes. He then looked to Cotton and Thomas, whose expressions were unreadable.

Logan raised his eyebrow at the two of them. They were slow to respond and reluctantly they both signaled their vote against the action. Logan sighed heavily and closed his eyes a moment, no majority for, therefore there would be no attempt, at least not a team attempt. Was he willing to risk it with just Case, and maybe Hawker and himself? He wanted to get away, but he wanted a clean break, he didn't see that as a possibility. There were too many variables that he had no answer for, not the least of which was he and Case were in separate vehicles leaving the base. Hawker would be with Case and that left Logan with all the reluctant ones. Again that lack of planning for a mission ate at him.

A slap on his arm brought him back as a participant. It had been Case who was now looking at him and signaling for a final call to be made on the attempt. Logan looked at him long and hard and finally shook his head in the negative, at which Case's face hardened and crossing his arms he threw himself back into his jump seat. It was the same expression that Logan had seen when he had first joined the group, that hard, proud, and stubborn look.

With a weary sigh Logan leaned back and closed his eyes, feeling his world suddenly spinning out of control and all his plans being laid.

A loud thump and a sharp drop in altitude woke Logan from an unexpected slumber. He looked about him seeing the anxious faces of his unit to either side of him. Had something gone wrong? He glanced toward the front of the plane seeing Torri unstrap herself and start for the ladder that led up to the cockpit.

Logan leaned back again reassuring them with, "It's probably just turbulence." Several of them nodded accepting that and relaxing slightly.

He spoke too soon, as they all heard a loud pop followed by a sound like metal grinding and the pitch of the prop became erratic. That was followed shortly by a loud explosion behind his head somewhere. Everything was dizzying action after that. The plane lurched heavily to the left throwing Torri from the ladder she had begun to climb across the space to the other bulkhead. He heard her head smack sharply even above the added din and watched helplessly as she crumpled into an unmoving heap. Multiple projectiles pinged off the skin behind where the team was sitting.

"AH!" Logan yelped in surprise as a searing pain tore through his upper left arm. He looked toward the source of the pain seeing a six-inch piece of metal protruding through his flesh. The shrapnel had essentially mushroomed the skin of the aircraft into the back of his arm and he was now stuck quite literally to the aircraft. Grimacing Logan drew a deep breath and then quickly tore himself away from the hooks in his arm. His vision went white for a moment and he felt close to fainting from the burning pain, but he found himself free. Logan glanced down again finding the shrapnel still protruding from his arm muscle. He reached over nearly fainting as he pushed the tapered chunk of metal out the way it had come in then clapped a hand over it in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Looking around him there was similar damage all over the section where they were seated, which was parallel to the engine. That thought sent a chill through him.

"Is everyone…" He never was able to finish the statement as a second explosion rocked the plane. Again the plane lurched to the left. Logan felt the attitude of the plane shift as the pilots fought desperately to recover, they over corrected and the team found themselves hanging by their harnesses from their seats and he caught a glimpse of Torri's limp body sliding the other direction. The plane righted once more but only momentarily as the nose tipped down and he heard Mouse actually make one of her rare sounds as her stomach left her.

The plane was going down now at a sharp angle and began to list to the left side again and Logan worried that they might get into an unrecoverable spin. Somehow it had yet to happen and Logan prayed that the pilots were good enough to not kill them all. Logan strained to look over his shoulder out the small window to his right, feeling his stomach drop in anxiety as the ground was quickly rising to meet them.

"Hold on!" Logan hollered as loud as he could, bracing himself for what was going to be at best a nasty landing. Miraculously the nose began to come up toward the horizon but it ended up being too little too late.

The pain in Logan's arm roused him from unconsciousness and he attempted to raise his head grimacing at the shooting pain the move caused him. Slowly he opened his eyes blinking several time to try and focus on…well anything. He was slouched into his harness the ground being oddly tilted down and away from him. His left sleeve was wet and sticky with blood and Logan raised his right hand to his biceps laying fingers against blood crusted around the still oozing shrapnel wound. Some of the material from his sleeve was stuck to it and Logan did not relish the idea of trying to get that free of the scab. His right hand and his feet were all numb and for a moment Logan feared that he might have damaged his spine yet again. Quickly he moved his toes in his boots reassuring himself that they functioned. He then realized that it was due to the harness cutting into him painfully at his shoulders his chest and his crotch. Slowly he reached up feeling for the latch that was holding him suspended. He slid from his seat landing on rubbery legs that threatened to collapse under him. Logan reached out a hand to steady himself a moment and to get a look around them.

The plane was semi intact though he could see where the frame had been twisted up at the nose of the plane where they had taken the brunt of the impact. Several sections of the decking were cracked and dirt had actually been piled into it just forward of the second Humvee. Looking up the ceiling was wrinkled heavily almost like clothes left in a rumpled heap. Everything not secured had been thrown about and debris covered the whole of the cargo area.

Glancing forward he could see one of the Cadre laying slightly reclined still in his jump seat, obviously unconscious. The other Cadre member and Torri were nowhere within his field of vision. He turned back to look at his team all of them unconscious. He looked each over with his eyes seeing that Cotton had suffered a pretty good gash to his leg and Shawnee had a graze mark on her cheek where some shrapnel had penetrated the skin near her head. The others had nothing physically wrong with them. He let out a breath that he had not known he was holding at that assessment.

Logan slowly became aware of the smell of smoke, and he glanced around looking for the source of the smell but did not find the source to be anywhere within the visible cabin. It was probably the wing tanks on fire from the explosions, the landing or possibly even both.

"Not a good thing," Logan muttered fighting off a bout of dizziness from the sudden motion. He stumbled over to the next closest person to him, Case, and leaning over he said, "Case?" The younger man did not respond, not thinking, and immediately regretting it he reached over with his left hand laying it on Case's shoulder, "Case!" He repeated adding a little shake that sent shock waves up his already sore arm.

"NNmm uh?" The younger man muttered in coherently.

"Case, damn it man, wake up!" Logan said leaning down to get a view of his face.

"Wh…what?" He asked groggily trying to focus on Logan's face. Logan unlatched him impatiently watching as he slid to his knees and Logan had to catch him to prevent the boy from ending up face first on the ground.

Case straightened in Logan's arms shaking his head slightly then he looked up with a more focused gaze, "What happened?"

"We crashed," Logan said succinctly, "Case I need you to get the rest up and out of here."

Case did not register that immediately. Logan reached down grabbing him by both shoulders and shaking him once, "Case! The plane is on fire! Get the others up!"

Case shook his head again this time in the positive, "Right," He said finally sounding possessed of his senses. Shakily he got to his feet moving away to rouse the others. Logan watched him a moment before moving off to check Torri and the crew of the plane.

Logan moved quickly to where the other Cadre Rojas should have been and he found him, but not in the way that he had hoped. The forward Humvee had come free of its chains and had rolled violently forward coming to a stop at the forward bulkhead in the cargo bay. Laid across the hood surrounded by his own blood and viscera, was the other Cadre, he had been popped by the vehicle like a bloody grape. His eyes were wide and scared, now glazed in death, blood was everywhere even staining high up the wall. Logan took a deep breath trying to quell his suddenly heaving stomach. He turned away closing his eyes against that image, but it was already burned into his brain. Quickly he turned to the other Cadre, kneeling down to look him over. He was breathing steadily and he looked no worse than the members of his unit.

Logan stood back up looking around for Torri, not immediately seeing her anywhere around. He began a search in earnest for her, finding her limp body tangled up in one of the unused cargo nets clipped to the deck plate. Slowly he untangled her from the net, realizing how lucky she was to have been caught in it. Otherwise she would certainly have been dead by now. He laid her out flat on the deck once he had freed her looking her over for any serious injuries. Nothing, how lucky could one girl get? There was only the impact mark on her head. It had split her brow open diagonally across her barcode as if God wanted to negate that particular mark from her. The area around the gash was deep purple blue and black and her eyes were both swollen and would probably show the blood from her impact.

Logan left her, and the unconscious man in his seat, a moment and ascended the ladder to the cockpit. The smell of fresh blood was thick there and both the pilot and co pilot was slumped forward against the yokes. Logan grimaced and held his breath as he reached for the man on the right slowly pulling him back from the console. The head lolled toward him and it was all he could do to jump back to avoid it leaning against him. The man's eyes were open and starting to turn white and blood was coming from his nose mouth and ears, well dried, which probably told that he died shortly after the impact. It looked as if he had impacted the yoke at an angle that had driven it up under his ribs. A shiver ran up Logan's back, how had the team gotten so lucky? The Pilot was dead as well but in his case the windshield had shattered and the shards had nearly shredded him.

Logan quickly backed out and trying to erase the images of death again from his mind as he slid down the ladder and moved back over toward Torri. The smoke was heavy and thick now and through it Logan could now see wisps of flame coming from where the wing attached to the fuselage of the plane. He checked Torri over more thoroughly before slinging her over one shoulder and heading toward the aft of the aircraft. By the time he had done that most of the team was up and about and the stern gate had been opened somehow to allow them to egress the plane.

He stepped out into a darkening sky but there was still enough light to make out the trench the craft had dug on its landing and the trail of debris behind them for probably ten miles. One wing stuck out of the ground at a forty five degree angle, one mangled prop the only thing keeping it from tipping over. He saw wheels Logan whistled under his breath, feeling extremely lucky to be walking away from this at all. They were in the middle of a set of rolling hills. Off in the distance he could see the occasional taillights of vehicles passing on a fairly large Highway. There were many headlights and taillights to be seen nearly perpendicular to their crash sight and it was almost a certainty that someone would be out this way soon. It was the first moment that he had actually stopped reacting and thought. This was it, this was their chance to get the hell out. By the time that Torri and the other Manticore would revive it would be likely that they would be beyond any net that Manticore tried to set up for them. The other Humvee seemed to come through the crash intact. It would take them all, it would be cramped certainly but it would get them away. They were going to have to move fast however, he didn't know just how long he had been unconscious and he still was uncertain how fast any "Rescue" would arrive.

He moved over and gently lay Torri on the ground next to Mouse who had yet to regain consciousness. He looked down at that lax face again, he smiled bitterly at her unconscious form, "I know you did what you had to with me…with us all. I understand that this was not what you wanted, and I forgive you for what has happened. I hope…" He found it hard to say this about an enemy, "I hope you get to work for Lydecker again someday. Just leave me and mine alone… that is all that I ask of you." He stopped speaking as he felt Case approach in his radar. Again his head started spinning and suddenly his head started hurting.

"What are you doing?" Case asked angrily, "Why are you saving her?"

"I'm getting any who survived out of there Case," Logan replied sternly, "No one is getting left inside that plane."

"Why?" He repeated, "You're going to save the enemy…the very person who has suppressed all of us for the past six months?"

Logan straightened quickly looking angry and ready to punch the younger man, "I may not like Manticore, or what it stands for, or what it did to my life, but I will not allow someone to die, no matter who they are or what they represent. They have yet to break my will that far down."

He settled a moment later, "Get as much as you can out of the wrecked Humvee and pack it into the other. Hopefully it still works, if it does get it out of there. Move it and everyone else away from the wreckage. I don't know how long we have until 'help' arrives but I want to be out of here when it does."

Case brightened suddenly really registering what Logan had said to him. This was it their escape plan, and what better way to get away scott free? Case nodded enthusiastically, trotting off toward the aircraft, Logan followed at a slightly slower pace still dizzy but knowing he had to get the other Cadre out of the wreck.

Logan fought through the thick smoke as he approached the other man, having to cover his mouth with his sleeve in order to breathe. He heard rather than saw the intact Humvee start and back out of the aircraft, and glanced back trying to make the vehicle out through the heavy gray wall of smoke. He turned back around still moving toward the Cadre Rojas seat, and he didn't see the punch coming, he hadn't felt the man nearing him in his radar. The Cadre had wakened sometime since Logan had last checked him and the punch caught Logan solid in the jaw. Logan staggered back one hand going to his aching face. The boy loomed out of the smoke tracking what he thought was an easy target in Logan. Evidentially the boy had never seen him fight.

Logan recovered quickly watching the toe headed boy approaching, standing amazingly still his eyes glinting in anger, "Boy, we don't have time for this." Logan growled, "This plane's about to go up in flames. You need to get out of here."

"You think I am going to let you freaks escape you got another thing coming." The boy stopped arms lengths from Logan, assuming a fighting position.

"Escape?" Logan said incredulously, "Do you think I would come back in here after your sorry butt if I was planning to escape?" Logan lied. He planned to escape all right, as soon as everyone was safely away from the burning hulk of the C-130. This particular Cadre Rojas was putting a serious kink in the credo he had insisted on about letting no one die.

"Who knows, who cares?" The boy stepped in and Logan dodged easily the combination. The boy spun to face Logan again and waited for Logan's move.

Logan stepped in feinting to one side and as the boy ducked away Logan threw a heavy fist up at an angle catching the soldier square in the gut and winding him. Logan stepped into the boy as he went down, bringing up one knee as he pushed the soldier's head toward it. A resounding crack echoed through the place and the boy fell onto his back unconscious.

"I told you," Logan said with a pained grunt, lifting the young soldier and throwing his weight onto his good shoulder, "I don't have time for this." He coughed as he moved back through the still thicker smoke feeling the ash burn his lungs and unable to shield himself from inhaling more. He winced as he passed unseen flame, feeling the heat of it against his face. He was practically running as he reached the stern gate and exited into the clean air of the cooling night.

Logan laid the young, again unconscious, Cadre on the ground next to Torri then stood feeling slightly dizzy and a little nauseous. He told himself that it would pass as the air soothed his seared lungs.

Logan looked about the makeshift staging area. Case and Thomas were busily loading supplies into the back of the Humvee and rearranging it to place the added supplies culled from the wrecked Humvee still in the burning plane. Mouse was awake now, sitting some ways from the hulk of the plane cradling her head and looking scared. Hawker was standing staring off into the night cradling one arm next to his body, and Logan wondered if he had misjudged the condition of some of his unit mates.

Shawnee was just finishing a bandage on Cotton's leg and seeing him she stood moving his direction.

Logan smiled wearily at her as she stepped up, and he just noted that she was limping slightly, "You OK?" he asked her.

"I twisted my aankle stepping off the ramp into the darkened and evidently deeper than anticipated ditch," She said shrugging, "I will be fine…You however." She added, "Look as if you should sit down."

"I'm fine," Logan said, even as another wave of dizziness blackened his world. He raised his hand to his forehead.

"Sure you are Ca-ale," She purred, slowly guiding him toward a small mound just high enough to make a comfortable seat and the wall of the trench served as a good backing. She handed him a cup of water, "Drink it slowly." She admonished him. He nodded slightly causing the world to spin suddenly and brought the cup to his lips.

He took a sip and looked back down into the feline face of his companion, "How're the others?" he asked starting to get concerned for himself at the way his own voice sounded in his ears.

"They will live, Hawker was hit by flying debris and his right arm is broken. Mouse, I fear may have a mild concussion. Tomas is quite fine, a little shaken but not hurt in any physical manner. Cotton and you received the worst of it I fear. Cotton's leg will heal but one centimeter deeper and he would not be with us now."

Logan grimaced as Shawnee straightened his arm, "As for you my strong willed friend, this is a very ugly wound. You look to have lost a lot of blood." As Logan drank, Shawnee unbuttoned and rolled up his sleeve.

"I'm fine," Logan insisted after swallowing what felt to be sandpaper on his tortured throat.

"Logan…" She said softly, and he realized through his hazy thought that it was the first time she had ever used his first name, "You are as pale as a freshly bleached sheet."

"Oh," Logan replied distantly, "Must be why I can feel the world spinning." He admitted to her and to himself.

She smiled wanly as she finished rolling the sleeve up to the caked in portion of it.

"We'll be out of here soon," Logan muttered, "Everything will be better from here on in."

Shawnee only nodded without conviction, then she held his arm to his side with a strong hand, stronger than he would have imagined actually, as she quickly ripped the sleeve loose from the hold of his wound. Logan lost his tentative hold of consciousness after that.

Shawnee laid the unconscious man back gently against the freshly torn earth and finished treating his wound as she said, "I will miss you Ca-ale. I wish you the best for a safe return and a happy life."

When she had finished she stood looking down upon his slack face smiling a little before searching for Case, "Ca-age!"