ARCHIVE: With permission
By Valjean
Party
Alec looked up when Max came aft from the forward compartment of the plane, and suddenly felt like he couldn't breath. The sight of her in that form fitting, mini red silk dress, black stockings, and sequined high heels with her hair hanging in dark ringlets around her beautiful face literally made him feel like he was suffocating. God, she was gorgeous ... the most incredible woman he'd ever known or even imagined.
And then he saw who's arm she was hanging on and felt like someone had just doused him with a bucket of cold water -- Logan, in his black formal wear every inch the fine gentleman and, thanks to his constant transgenic blood transfusions, walking without the aide of his exoskeleton. Together at last, all worries about the virus long gone, the two looked to be the ultimate couple.
They'd be dining together tonight at the museum. There'd be candlelight, romantic music, slow dancing. Max would have a really good time with her "date" before sneaking away just before the party's end to hide until the building closed.
And meanwhile I'll just be hanging around in a maintenance shaft. Out of sight, out of mind.
Alec gave a final tug on the strap of his backpack and turned away from the happy couple. It was times like this when he asked himself why he cared ... why Max with Logan always got to him. Afterall, she was his mate now, had been for almost two years. They had a son together, a life and home they'd built together on Chimera ...
But the truth was, Alec knew damn well why he cared, and despised himself for his insecurities. And seeing her like this tonight, in that breathtaking red dress that would be turning every male head in the room, wasn't doing anything to make those fears go away.
I always fall for the ones I can't have, the little voice nagged in his head. But you have her already you idiot!
"Alec!" Max more or less bellowed his name across the cavernous cargo hold.
Alec took a deep breath, gathered his emotional defenses, and forced a devil-may-care smile as he walked to meet her. No way was he going to let Logan know he was jealous. The argument he and Max had had while planning the mission was bad enough. He highly suspected Logan had tried to kill him on more than one occasion, but Max, for some twisted psychological reason, still trusted the guy. Nothing he could do or say could shake her from that stance. He supposed it would take Max someday finding Logan standing over his corpse with a smoking gun in his hand before she saw the truth. Until then he was stuck with Cale, who admittedly did have his uses as computer hacker extraordinaire, source of obscure information, and procurer of the impossible -- like tickets to tonight's museum party.
"You called your highness?" he replied, sketching a mock bow, acknowledging her exquisite wardrobe, and truth-be-told her beauty. She really did look like a princess tonight.
Max scowled, obviously not getting the compliment. Then she eyed him closely, looking him up and down in a way he found vaguely insulting.
"What?" he said. "I've got everything."
"You sure?" she said. "Because we can't afford any slip ups tonight."
"Max," Alec said, truly offended. "I'm a pro at this."
"You're also careless," she said, her grip on Logan's arm tightening. rubbing the insult in. However, just as Alec was about to say something he'd probably regret later, her brown eyes softened. "But you're also good. And I trust you."
Somewhat mollified, Alec took the compliment for what it was worth, a crumb tossed his way by Max.
At least she's not yelling at me.
He shook it off. "Hey," he said. "Let's do this. I wanna get back to the island by tomorrow night. I promised Dalton I'd go over that kata with him before his martial arts test. And our contact will be waiting for delivery of the goods at dawn. We need to get that formula to Dr. Makari as soon as possible. He said he might be able to make a longer lasting serotonin vaccine with it."
"We're as ready as we'll ever be," Max said, smiling. "Logan has a car waiting over at the airport terminal."
"And my bike's outside on the tarmac," Alec said. He checked the time on his watch. "It'll take me a couple of hours to get to all of the alarm lines. There are two maintenance shafts I've got to access. But the party won't break up until after midnight I bet and that'll give me plenty of time. If anything changes, you can get me on the ear piece." He touched the sophisticated transceiver patch adhered behind his right ear, a bit of very useful technology Lydecker had once let them borrow that they'd conveniently forgotten to return.
"Just to be safe," Max said, "I'll wait until two. The clean-up crew should be gone by then leaving only the guards to deal with."
Logan cleared his throat. "You still don't know how many men will be in the building," he said. "That's a big factor."
"Those we can't avoid we'll have to take out." She looked at Alec, her eyes warning. "Non-lethally I might add."
Alec held up his hands. "Hey, not a cold blooded killer, remember?"
"Just, meet me in the atrium at two," Max said firmly. "And Logan ..." She turned to her escort. "Have the car ready at the pick-up point by two thirty."
"Will do," Logan said with a smile of his own. "I've always wanted to be a get-away driver in a heist, sort of a boyhood dream."
"Gee, Logan," Alec said, one eye-brow raised. "My boyhood dreams were a lot more interesting than that." He couldn't help it. He glanced at Max and winked.
Max didn't notice, but Logan did, and gave him one of those funny looks he'd been shooting his way ever since they'd flown in that morning. Alec knew damn well what it meant.
He still wants Max.
Shrugging deeper into his jacket -- it was cold tonight -- Alec shook it off. Now was not the time for romantic intrigue. He then gave a high sign to Max, and turned away, heading for the outside and his bike. "Later," he said over his shoulder.
"Be careful!" she called after him.
"Always!"
"Did you take your tryptophan?"
He ignored that.
*****
Getting into the first maintenance shaft from the roof of the museum wasn't difficult, but Mole had been right about the rope. After hanging on it for fifteen minutes nearly four stories up in the air while testing the various alarm cables that ran the length of the space, it was all Alec could do to make his hands keep working. The rope was cutting into his palm and fingers something fierce, and shutting off the circulation in his right leg where he'd wrapped it.
He glanced at his watch and groaned. An hour more of this and he wouldn't be able to move. But he had to finish the job in this shaft, then go on to the next one. Working as quickly as he could, stopping often to shake his hand and renew the blood flow to his fingers, he methodically tested, cut, and re-routed each of the alarm circuits. There was no way to tell which controlled the alarm to the case they needed, and this way all of the loops would be off.
At last the first group of splices were finished. Alec knew he should go straight on to the next shaft, accessed by a different vent on the roof. But it was only ten o'clock. It wouldn't take much effort to hop out one of the ducts into an empty office. He could then sneak down and take a peek at the party. Besides, he told himself, it would give his poor circulatory system a rest as well. Also, he hadn't heard from Max since he'd arrived. They'd agreed to maintain radio silence as much as possible, on the off chance their signal might be picked up by surveillance equipment, but he'd feel better actually knowing she was in place down below.
Or so he told himself.
Leaving the rope hanging, Alec leaped over to one side of the shaft, clung like a cat, and pushed the screws out of a ventilation grid. The room beyond was dark and quiet, an unused office on the fourth floor. What harm could it do? He dropped softly onto the carpet, then ventured out into the hall.
*****
Max couldn't remember when she'd had a better time. The dinner was superb, lobster and filet mignon with the most expensive wine she'd ever tasted. There was soft music, candlelight, and Logan looking ever-so-elegant in his tuxedo seated across from her. For awhile she could almost forget that this was supposed to be work.
After dinner there were speakers, then the orchestra came on stage and romantic music began to play -- which is when she found out Logan wasn't the best of dancers. Not that it mattered. She just enjoyed swaying to the rhythm with her head resting against the chest of a man who's, truth-be-told, company she still enjoyed -- not that she would ever dare let Alec know.
"Have you picked your pleasures yet, Max?" a seductive voice whispered in her ear.
Max's head jerked up, her eyes wide and startled.
Logan looked down at her. "Max?" he said. "What's wrong?"
And then she remembered. The miniature transmitter behind her ear. Scowling, she said in a low voice, "Alec. We're supposed to maintain radio silence."
"Just checkin' in," Alec said. "Wanted to make sure the link worked. By the way, that case with the necklace in it is at the top of the stairs."
Max swiveled her head, looking around. "Where are you?" she whispered harshly.
Logan was staring at her. An apology in her eyes, she pointed to her ear. "Alec."
"And what's our lovable X5 rogue screwing up this time?" he asked.
"I don't know," Max said. "And that's what worries me. Alec, where are you?" she repeated.
"Look up, ten o'clock," the voice in her ear said.
She glanced up at the second story balcony and was just able to make out a dark clad figure half hidden behind a heavy velvet drape.
"You're supposed to be taking care of the alarm system," she said hotly.
"And you're supposed to be casing our target," he returned. "So what about it? Are there any external security devices? Or are you too busy wining, dining, and livin' the high life to bother checking?"
"You do your job and I'll do mine," she said harshly. "Now, shut up and get out of here."
"Fine, Max. But first tell me what Logan's--"
But the rest of Alec's words were drowned out by a burst of gunfire from the front of the room.
To be continued ...
There is one upcoming chapter in this story that might not be acceptable for fanfiction.net's new guidelines. Anyone who wants to read "The Best Laid Plans 2: Death and Life" in its entirety as I write the story is invited to my website: http://www.michaeleaston.com/DA/DAfanfic.html. I also have a number of other DARK ANGEL M/A fanfiction stories there that I've not made available on ff.net as of yet. I even keep an email list of interested readers whom I notify when I post new work on the site.
Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note