ARCHIVE: With permission
By Valjean
Getaway
Pain shot through Alec's skull as the deafening sound of the gun shots reverberated through the transceiver straight into his brain. Yelping, he tore the patch off from behind his ear, then stood massaging the side of his head trying to will his badly overloaded hearing to return while he watched, incredulous, what was happening down below.
It seemed the transgenics weren't the only ones interested in stealing from the King Tut exhibit. A group of at least 15 black clad, masked men had just burst through the front door, gunned down half a dozen guards, and were now herding the crowd of elegantly attired guests into a circle in the center of the room.
"This is bad," Alec said. "Very, very bad." He debated retreating upstairs to the safety of the maintenance shaft where he could still get out of the building. But Max and Logan were trapped with the others down below, and with the way those thugs were taking lives without a second thought, leaving them there didn't seem like a very good idea.
For just a second, Alec wondered what Max would want him to do. He could almost hear her voice saying she could take care of herself, and that he should get out, not risk exposing them as transgenics.
Alec shrugged. So much for what Max wanted. Now, what was he going to do?
*****
"Could my life suck any harder?" Max muttered as she and Logan were pushed with the rest of the guests into middle of the museum hall. So much for her fun evening. And also so much for their plan to steal the King Tut necklace.
"What do you think we should do?" Logan asked nervously, eying the combat uniformed men who were spreading out over the museum even as they watched. "They don't seem too concerned with not being noticed." He nodded in the direction of a dead guard by the front door. "Nor are they worried about casualties."
"Just stay calm and say nothing," Max said tiredly. "They'll get what they want and then leave."
One of their assailants came toward them, machine gun at ready. Gruffly he said, "your purse and your wallet, and any jewelry you're wearing."
"Really," Max said huffily as she tossed her evening bag at him. "You're giving thieves a bad name. I mean, isn't all the priceless Egyptian gold enough? You're going to roll your hostages as well?"
"Shut up!" the man growled. He swung a fist at Max, intending to backhand her, but she was too quick, grabbing his arm and bringing it up behind him eliciting a shriek of pain.
"Max!" Logan shouted. "Watch out!"
Another of the men saw what was happening and had raised his gun. Max let the guy go and stepped back, her brown eyes blazing with fury. Leering, Mr. Machine Gun motioned to her. "Upstairs bitch," he said. "We'll put that spunk to good use."
Max looked around and noticed several of the most beautiful women had been singled out and were being shoved up the elegant staircase toward the second floor balcony. Her eyes flew to the curtains where Alec had been standing a few moments before. He had to have seen the whole thing. If he was sensible, he'd beat a hasty retreat, getting out before being discovered.
But this was Alec.
Max knew he was still lurking around somewhere, undoubtedly about ready to do something stupid. She wished she could use the transceiver, but didn't dare with the gunman so close by.
"Max!" Logan said, grabbing her arm and trying to follow. The butt end of a gun cracked into his head and he went down.
"Logan!" Max cried out, easily pulling away from the masked man who had hold of her arm. But she found herself looking straight down the barrel of another gun. "Tsk, tsk, sweetheart," the thug said. "Forget Mr. Right. We're gonna have a little party upstairs. Oh, and guess what? You're the party."
There were too many gunmen, the guests too afraid to do anything, and the guards were dead. With Logan down as well, Max was finally beginning to worry just a little bit.
*****
Watching from the shadows, Alec counted at least sixteen gunmen in the building, half a dozen of which had just herded a bunch of the women, including Max, upstairs. His recovered hearing picked up the sound of sirens outside, probably summoned by alarms going off when the strong-arm gang smashed museum cases down below. He had, after all, completed only half the job of rerouting the wiring.
The fact that the police were here worried him. The fact that the armed men didn't seem particularly upset by it worried him even more. But then they had an awful lot of hostages ...
Not my problem.
Only Max counted. He'd had it drilled into him his whole life at Manticore that the mission objective was the only thing that mattered. Outside distractions had to be ignored. The others didn't matter. The important thing, what he had to focus on, was getting her out without anyone tipping to the fact that there were transgenics mixed into the melee. The world was in enough chaos as it was with the global virus killing thousands every day. Humans were looking for a scapegoat, and the last thing he wanted was to draw attention to his people. Then he remembered Logan down below.
Shit.
Max would never leave without Logan. He'd seen the older man go down with a blow to the head. Peeking over the balcony railing, Alec saw Eyes Only climbing slowly and painfully to his feet. Good. At least he was conscious.
Then he looked back to where Max was being held at gunpoint with half a dozen other women. "Hey Max," he said softly. "Guess we can't catch a break." But then suddenly he remembered. He'd pulled the transceiver off. It was lying on the floor by the railing. Snaking out a hand, he plucked the tiny device off the carpet and put it back in place behind his ear. "Max?" he said.
No answer, not even static.
Shit again. Alec closed his eyes. He'd broken the damn thing. Now, there was only one option. Reaching behind and beneath his leather jacket he drew his gun, rose to his feet, and began advancing stealthily toward the group at the top of the landing. There were only six armed men. With luck he'd be able to take out three before they knew what hit them, and hopefully Max would be able to handle the rest.
*****
Max's eyes widened as she saw Alec, gun in hand, creeping forward along the drapes curtaining the balcony.
The idiot. The absolute idiot. Alec's answer to everything -- when in doubt start shooting. He was going to get a lot of people killed.
"Alec," she whispered into the receiver. "Hold your position. I repeat, hold your position. That's an order, soldier."
No reply. He didn't look as if he'd even heard her.
Great. She saw him duck back behind a pillar and braced herself. She knew what was coming next.
Two seconds later, Alec stepped clear, took aim, fired three times -- and three men went down. The other three immediately ducked and rolled, seeking cover, their shouts drowned out by the women shrieking and cries of alarm from the ones left down below. The sound of footsteps on the staircase meant re-enforcements were arriving even while she stood there.
"Max!" She heard Alec call her name just as one of the remaining guards grabbed her around the waist and put a gun to her head.
"I really don't have time for this," Max said tiredly as she whirled in his arms and wrenched the gun out of his hand. Then she kicked him hard in the groin and he went down. Turning, her eyes sought Alec who was keeping up a barrage of shots pinning down the other two. The other women had fallen to the floor, some of them sobbing with fear, others cowering silently.
"Max, will you get down!" Alec screamed at her.
There was no right way out of this situation, no graceful exit, no way to help the others. All she could do was save herself, and hopefully come back later for Logan. Kicking off the high heels that would hamper her speed, she blurred for Alec. Reaching out from his cover, his strong arm grabbed her, pulling her out of harm's way -- but not quite in time.
One of the remaining gunmen had recovered his courage.
The Teflon coated, armor piercing bullet struck Max in the upper thigh, shattering bone, rupturing muscle, shredding everything in its path before exiting her flesh and leaving a gaping hole in her leg.
"Max!"
Max stared up at Alec with wide, shocked eyes, her mouth open in a silent cry. The pain was a moment arriving, her nervous system overwhelmed. But when the agony came seconds later it was unbearable.
Alec caught her in his arms as she fainted.
*****
He showed no mercy ... no regard for collateral damage. Barely able to focus through a red haze of fury, Alec lay Max on the floor at his feet, stepped around the pillar, and opened fire, emptying his clip at the gunman who had hurt her. The other two, seeing their companion go down with eight slugs in his body, turned and ran, colliding with those on their way up the staircase.
Alec took aim at the others, but when he pulled the trigger all he got was the sound of the hammer clicking on an empty chamber. Cursing silently, he reached for another clip in his jacket pocket, but then he heard a sound from behind him.
Turning quickly, he was just in time to catch a glimpse of several figures scurrying through the darkened hallway.
Sector police? SWAT more likely. Maybe even military.
"Shit, Max," he breathed, falling to his knees beside her. The phrase "caught between a rock and a hard place" came to mind -- the law on one side, the bad guys on the other, and a very seriously wounded Max right in the middle. Alec slid the fresh clip into the Glock and steeled himself.
And then he thought of something.
Tucking the gun back beneath his jacket and keeping the large pillar between him and the gunmen behind, he scooped Max up in his arms and stood, deliberately appearing shaky. "Don't shoot!" he called out to the approaching police. "We're hostages! She's wounded!"
Alec could hear more police coming in down below. The robbers on the staircase, their attention divided, turned and began shooting toward the front door of the museum causing a fresh round of screams to erupt from the guests in the dining hall.
One of the policemen motioned to him with the barrel of his rifle. "Come forward into the light!" he ordered.
Alec complied. All he needed was a chance to get Max outside, out of this mess. Logan would just have to take care of himself for once.
The man who'd spoken stood slowly. Only then did Alec notice that there was something odd about the way these guys were moving -- far more graceful than any SWAT or sector police squad he'd ever seen.
As the team leader removed the knit mask covering his face, Alec's eyes widened, and another cliched phrase came to mind: "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."
Grinning, her malignant eyes alight with pleasure, a Familiar female he recognized all too well stood right there in front of them, not five feet away -- the look on her face pure evil -- White's bitch from the Jam Pony siege, the one who'd already tried to kill him twice.
"Well, well, well," she gloated. "I expected we might catch some transgenic filth tonight, but I never dared hope it would be you." She pointed a finger at Alec. "494, you and I are going to have a little fun before I allow myself the pleasure of putting a bullet between those damn green eyes of yours." Her gaze turned to Max, lying limp and bleeding in Alec's arms. "But as for 452 ..." She raised her rifle. "I'd like for her to live long enough to hear your screams, but I'm afraid duty takes precedence over personal pleasure. Her existence in this world is hampering our cause, and I have my orders."
Her finger tightened on the trigger. And Alec moved--
*****
It was one of the most spectacular feats of athleticism Logan Cale had ever witnessed. He looked up just in time to see Alec, cradling Max in his arms, leap over the second story balcony railing.
Their fall had the illusion of slow motion. The drop had to be more than 40 feet, and for a moment the two seemed to be frozen in mid-air as the trajectory of Alec's leap took him out and over the battle raging below. Max's body actually left his arms for a second, gravity pulling her up and away from his grasp as he plummeted down.
A ordinary man ... a human ... would have shattered his legs on impact with the marble floor. But X5-494 with his feline DNA and genetically enhanced strength and bone structure landed with the grace of a panther, knees bending, Max still held possessively in his arms, a deep grunt the only indication of the stress his body had just endured.
The young transgenic male stood poised for a heartbeat, scanning the room, assessing the danger, legs apart in a fighting stance. A silence fell over the crowd -- gunmen, hostages, and police alike astonished into inaction by Alec's incredible jump.
And then, before anyone could even think to try and stop him, Alec blurred for the door, the night, and freedom.
Utter quiet. Followed by utter chaos.
"For God's sakes why didn't you imbeciles shoot him!" a woman's voice screamed from the balcony. "Don't just stand there! Go after him!"
Logan looked up, and his headache intensified. A Familiar female was standing above, shouting orders, yelling about transgenic filth.
And then he looked down and saw the blood on the floor where Alec had landed with Max.
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