Chapter One
Fear
Alec sat quietly on one of Logan's couches.
Max hadn't deserved this new twist of fate. As sickening as her relationship with Eyes Only was, she did deserve a chance at having a relationship. And now she was in his bedroom and he was in a cell at her former home.
Maybe he was being stupid. Maybe he just didn't understand what they had. Maybe he was too selfish to comprehend the idea.
But he was having a hard time with the unprofessional way in which his sister was acting.
Love. Didn't she know she wasn't made for it? She must never have experienced the fun she could have when she didn't attach herself to just one person. Besides, it didn't hurt as badly when they left if you never let them in.
She must not have understood the risk she was taking. Because he couldn't believe that she was surprised by this new development. She had to have known it was only a matter of time.
She really couldn't have been that blind.
He wanted to be angry with her but he could only find himself pitying her. Her and her foolish attachments.
True Zack rarely knew what he was talking about, but in this case Alec was only too glad to agree with him.
They were never meant to mix with the norms. It would only lead to trouble. Pain.
Unnecessary risks that could easily be avoided.
Lydecker was right when he'd told them love, attachment, feelings, were weaknesses.
Alec hated that he was right. But Max's silence from the other room only proved those lectures, those hard learned lessons.
He understood how easy it was to fall for a norm. How nice it felt to have someone say they loved you.
He'd fallen for it his first time out. But never again.
The guilt over her death was still fresh in his mind and probably always would be.
They all had their secrets. They'd always have their secrets.
Bling and Original Cindy, quite the character if he ever saw one, were whispering quietly in the kitchen. He was amused that they tried to keep their voices low so he wouldn't hear them. He couldn't find himself caring what they were saying anyway and if he'd wanted to find out he wouldn't have to try very hard.
No the sound of someone coming to the door was more important.
He jumped up from his seat and grabbed his gun.
"Quiet." he hissed passing the two whisperers. He waved for them to move. And they retreated to the guest room. They knew the danger.
Lydecker could be behind that door.
Standing to the side of the door behind a partition he watched and waited, gun ready.
She was blonde, short, attractive, and far from a threat. She had a key and she let herself in.
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Asha paused in Logan's doorway.
Something was wrong. Pulling her gun she let the folders fall to the floor.
She'd learned the truth about Eyes Only only a few months ago and ever since she'd been more cautious when visiting Logan. Always armed. Always aware.
Just in case. In case someone followed her here. In case someone was here when she got here.
She told herself it had nothing to do with the way she'd found him that afternoon. With a hole in his spine, bleeding on the floor.
Regardless, she always came prepared for the worse.
"I don't know who you are but if you've hurt him you'll pay for it." Her voice, cold steel. Her gun trained on the partition that she knew hid the reason the hairs on her neck stood up.
He stepped out with a gun trained on her.
"Nice piece." he commented looking her over. She had the distinct feeling he was not referring to her gun. And that pissed her off.
"I've killed for less. I suggest you drop the weapon." Her resolve, not wavering in the least. He only chuckled and continued his brash and decidedly objectionable look over.
She fired a round that narrowly missed his head in warning.
"What the hell?" He objected and then she was on the ground on her stomach with her hands pinned behind her, his weight keeping her in position, his gun pressed into the back of her neck.
"I'm not to fond of being shot at. I suggest you tell me who you are and why you are here or I'll return the favor. Only I assure you I won't miss."
She liked to believe that she wasn't scared out of her mind. But he was awful fast. She'd been trained to handle guys twice her size. She'd taken down cocky bastards like him before, but he was very different.
And though it was clear where most of his brains resided by his earlier actions, it was also clear he had enough in the correct local to be a threat.
He pushed the cold metal into her neck again.
"Get off of me and I'll tell you." Her voice wavered betraying her emotional upheaval.
"Not quite." she could hear the smile in his voice. He loosened his grip on her wrists and transferred some of his weight off of her.
"I'm a friend of Logan's." the metal bit into her neck once more.
"Wrong answer. I'm feeling generous. Try again."
"Look. Is he ok? If you hurt him..."
"You'll what... pee in your pants." He mocked. She hated herself for letting him see how terrified she was.
"What do you want?" she begged instead.
"A name would be nice." And a number. He silently added.
"Asha. Look get off of me and I can prove it." He backed off of her and grabbed the collar of her shirt, yanking her to her feet; he shoved her against a partition and smiled.
"Asha... I like it." He pressed the gun to her chest and let his eyes drift south.
"It's not for you to like." She pushed against him causing his eyes to return to her face and lock on hers.
"Give me one good reason not to shoot you." he continued with the intimidation game. He'd long since given up the notion of shooting her. In fact he never really planned on hurting her at all.
Well not like that.
She was definitely a possibility for other things though.
"How bout I give you five?" she threatened earning another laugh. She was pretty cute when she got pissed he realized when her face turned to ice.
"Let her go." Bling called, finally coming to see what had happened. "She's a friend of Logan's."
"Bling. Thank God." Asha sighed.
Alec tightened his grip on her collar.
"Let me go already." Asha squirmed. "You've got your confirmation that I'm not a threat."
"I never thought you were." He smiled. "Bad guys usually don't have keys." He stepped back.
"Bastard."
"I can still kill you." He played with his gun and she shut up. She didn't doubt him.
"Are you ok?" Bling asked Asha shooting pointed looks at Alec.
"When did Logan spring for brainless brawn?" Asha shot out gesturing toward Alec and O.C. smiled from her position behind Bling.
"When did he hire blonde bimbos?" Alec shot back. Not minding in the least that she was blonde or that Logan had hired her and knowing immediately that bimbo was a far cry from what she was.
Intelligence flooded her eyes. Even he could see she was not what she appeared to be. Of course in her line of work that was a necessary trait.
Asha ignored his comment, as did the rest of the room.
"About Logan..." Bling started out.
"Is he ok?" Asha interrupted.
"He had visitors last night. They decided to take him with. Apparently our good buddy is a wanted man." Alec let out. Still not trusting her.
Oh he was sure she'd keep what they discussed to herself.
Until they started torturing her that is. Everyone cracked under pain. Genetically enhanced or not.
She sunk back against a wall, all the color leaving her face. Feeling her legs start to give, Asha slipped to a seat on the ground. Not quite believing it.
"Is he ok?" she asked Bling again. As if her brain couldn't quite wrap around it.
"What part did you miss? He. Is. Not. Here." Alec enunciated hoping that she didn't have something for the man as well. He didn't need two women crying over the loss of Logan. Things wouldn't get pretty if he had to stay locked up with them.
Max would end up kicking the crap out of her eventually. And for some reason he found himself not liking that thought.
Course if they'd been fighting over him he'd have no problem, except for the fact that Max was his sister.
"Who the hell are you anyway?" Asha demanded turning to face him. "Who the hell are any of you?"
She didn't know but she was pretty sure that Logan wouldn't be all buddy buddy with a guy like Alec. And Original Cindy didn't look too familiar either.
"Alec. Nice to meet you." He offered her a hand mocking her. She ignored it. "Fine be rude about it." Original Cindy chuckled.
"The girls got taste, pretty boy. Original Cindy."
Bling reached down and pulled Asha to her feet. "I know you know about Max. She's in Logan's room. Alec is her brother of sorts and Original Cindy's her best friend."
"And they know?" Asha questioned Bling. He nodded.
Nodding she turned and walked to the door to retrieve the folders she'd dropped. "Logan wanted me to get him some info on Manticore. It's not that easy to come by. But I did manage to get in contact with some ex-scientist who did some early work for them." She offered as she returned to them.
Opening the files she looked over the information she'd spent hours, long hard and often dangerously risky hours, obtaining. Alec paused looking over her shoulder and reading what she'd collected.
She quickly closed the folders.
"Get your own information." She hissed.
"Been there, done that. How is grumpy old katerpillar anyway?" he mocked. It finally clicked for her.
"X-series?"
"X-5494 reporting for duty." he continued to mock.
"Do we have any idea who has him?" Asha continued to ignore him, which only made her more appealing to him.
"Manticore." Bling supplied.
"You're sure it's not Eyes Only related."
"There was a bug in the phone, government issue. And nothing else was touched. Someone with a vendetta against Eyes Only..."
"Would have done some damage. And nothing was touched. At the very least they'd try to hack into his computers and we'd have gotten wind of it. He's got enough bells and whistles on that thing it would take a professional hacker a good week to get anything worthwhile." Asha admitted.
"It's no secret there's no love lost between the two of them." Bling added.
"So what's the plan?" She asked as the party moved to the kitchen.
"The plan? How about you give me those folders? Then you turn around and leave." Exasperating, that's what this freak was. Asha threw the folders on the counter then turned to him and shot him a death glare.
"Look no one asked you."
"As I recall the question was general and not directed to anyone. Thus as an occupant of this room I was entitled to an answer." He was not smiling anymore. Asha gloated.
"Next time I'll remember to be more specific. Does anyone besides smartass here have any ideas?"
Original Cindy and Bling shook their heads in the negative.
"You're asking a delivery girl and a physical therapist how to break into a government facility and extract an underground cyber journalist. That's rich. Really... Asha was it? Really I thought you might just have some brains upstairs for a little bit there. I guess I was wrong." Alec laughed.
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you."
"Touché."
"What's your problem?" Asha demanded.
"My problem is you."
"Now that we're finished with this pleasantry business, do you think you could get your head out of your ass long enough to help Logan out? Cause trust me I don't want to spend anymore time then I have to with you."
"I don't know, maybe you should help me."
"Aiight! Enough! This ain't verbal sparring hour. Either you two get along or Original Cindy's gonna smack you round herself." O.C. broke in.
"And we thought Max and Logan were bad." Bling added. Producing a laugh from Cindy.
"Who are you?" The voice was cold and accusing.
"Asha. I came by with some information for Logan." Asha answered carefully. This must be Max.
"Boo maybe you should go and lie down some more." Original Cindy offered to Max's attitude.
"I'm fine. Logan needs us." She answered briskly. Original Cindy had sense enough to back off. Alec on the other hand decided to test the limits.
"Gee Max, last time I checked it took a lot more then just us to break into Manticore." he shot out. Max shot him a look meant to shut him up. Asha gathered that Max still didn't trust her.
With good reason too. Even if she wanted to Asha knew she couldn't fault Max for her suspicion.
"It's ok. I know." She answered, trying to assure Max.
Max spun around to face Asha with an accusing look. A look asking her to explain or leave.
Suspicion must run in the family.
"When Logan was shot I did some work for him, hunting down this Manticore place." Asha answered in explanation.
Her explanation seemed to have the opposite effect however, Asha noted as Max shot her another look of mistrust.
Alec shot Asha a look that echoed Max's before he started in again.
He had some problem. And Asha knew that she was the least of it.
"Don't mean to ruin this streak of yours Max but do you have any kind of plan?" he asked rudely.
"As a matter of fact I do." Max smiled.
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The plan it turned out, was an Eyes Only broadcast targeted to the other escapees.
And Asha was not looking forward to the reunion.
So far Alec was an ass and Max was a bitch. If that was any indication of the other X-5's she didn't know how she'd survive the experience. If Logan wasn't such a good friend...
She shot a look at Alec from her seat at the table. She was busy reading over the files she'd collected for Eyes Only, hoping for some kind of break through. He was occupied in front of the television.
How he could totally blow off everything and get so sucked into some dumb Simpson's rerun was beyond her. She guessed it was cause he was a jerk and could care less what happened.
As long as he didn't get hurt in the process he probably didn't care who else did.
He laughed.
Even his laugh was irritating. She turned back to her reading, berating the transgenic the whole time.
Alec caught her movement and watched her out of the corner of his eye.
She wouldn't find anything in those files; he'd already gone through them. Sometimes norms could be so slow. Besides she'd already gone through it twice, he'd picked up on that too.
Maybe she just felt like she had to be doing something helpful. He shrugged it off.
If she wanted to pretend to be busy that was her business. And he could care less.
He found himself looking over his shoulder at her again.
She wasn't half bad as looks went. But after that... Well he didn't really want to know any thing more about her. She had a real problem. And he really didn't have a hard time spelling it out. B. I. T. C. H.
And he'd thought that Max was bad.
Still. A part of him delighted in getting under her skin. She'd get all passionate and riled up; her face would twist in an amusing and almost funny manner, which he could only categorize as cute. It was obvious she hated him, and there was nothing more that he liked then a challenge.
And she was just that. A challenge.
He clicked the TV off. And turned back just in time to see her look away.
"Hey. Asha there is nothing in those, we both know it. Why don't you give it a rest?" He called over his shoulder, not missing her reaction to his voice. The embarrassment covered with rolled eyes. The slight sliver of fear. The intoxicating annoyance that flashed across her features.
"What do you want now?" was her retort.
"I think we started off on the wrong foot." His voice soft and almost apologetic. He watched her features soften and he let out his sigh of relief. It worked.
She joined him on the couch.
"Hey guys. I'm out of here. I'm going for a ride." Max breezed by. And the two watched the door close behind her.
"Someone should go after her." Asha remarked.
"She'll be fine." Alec answered noting Asha's discomfort.
"Yeah, sure." The two sat in silence. The kind that swallowed uncomfortably.
Asha reached for the remote but Alec pulled it out of the way.
"Do you always have to be doing something?" Alec asked amused at the way she shied away from him.
"Do you always have to be like that?" she retaliated. Vulnerable, this whole situation was not making her feel very safe. More like he was testing her on some level. And oddly she found herself wanting to pass.
"Not always." he offered truthfully, sending them both back into an uncomfortable silence.
A few minutes passed and she started to rise.
"I should go see what everyone else is doing," she offered lamely. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down.
"Stay." His hand still locked on her wrist, her eyes locking with his.
He was unlike anyone she'd ever met. And he had potential to hurt her. Maybe not in the same way that other men had. She wasn't sure he'd ever raise a hand against her, but then she really couldn't be sure of anything about him.
He was a trained killer. And yet she found herself more frightened by the way he was looking at her. More scared by the pain his eyes shared with her.
His hand released her wrist but his eyes stayed trained on her for a bit longer.
He had no idea what she was thinking and that made him uncomfortable. He looked away and flipped the television back on.
She let him.
They sat in silence once more, laughing awkwardly at things that weren't funny. Speaking only when the mood struck, and then only about what they were currently watching.
The show ended and Asha reached over and took the remote from Alec. He didn't mind sharing it with her, she noted as he let her slip it easily out of his hand.
She wondered what kind of mind game he was playing now. It was time they cut through all the crap. She flipped the television off and waited. When he didn't object she started out.
"So you and Max, you're both from Manticore?" She asked.
"Yeah. Both genetically engineered killing machines." he smiled and she scooted farther away from him slightly disturbed at his word choice.
Alec couldn't help but smile at her discomfort.
"And this Zack, he's...he's..." she couldn't quite get it out which Alec found more then slightly amusing.
"He's our CO. Big, hairy, fang-like teeth, claws, he even has horns." he led her on.
"Really?" she questioned, buying every last word out of his mouth. Fear evident on her face, though to her credit she tried hard to hide it.
"No" he admitted and watched as she relaxed.
"Um...When do you think Max will be back?" Asha asked trying to hide her embarrassment at believing him by changing the subject. Alec wasn't buying it.
"This really creeps you out doesn't it?" he questioned.
"Look, it's getting late and I should be going." she offered instead, starting to rise. Alec grabbed her arm and pulled her back down next to him.
"We're just like you. We just grew up on a military base and have souped up genetics that's all. Doesn't mean we don't like to go out and get our drink on every now and then." he offered hoping to calm some of her fears. If she was going to be working with them, she'd need to trust them.
"Look, it isn't a big deal." she lied, very uncomfortable with Alec's close proximity.
Leaning closer yet to her, Alec paused inches from her ear and whispered. Noting her scent, which he was in no way objecting to.
"I could have snapped your neck long ago. And don't think I wouldn't have if I thought you were going to be a threat. I'm not going back to that place. Like you or not, I will not hesitate to hurt you if you even think about causing trouble."
Asha's eyes grew wide. Swallowing the lump in her throat she tried to assure him she wouldn't dream of it. But she found that the words didn't want to come.
Smiling at her reaction he backed away.
"But I like you so I think I'll keep you around for awhile. Can we trust you?" he asked seriously as he reclined on the couch next to her, totally at ease.
Finding her nerve she swung at him. Fist connecting with his cheek. Finally understanding what this mind game was all about. Playing her. He was just playing her.
"You're a real ass."