"Ma'am, it's been one week since I started the mission. I am finding it more and more difficult to come in, even when it is late at night. Max and Jondy seem to be often awake, and I'm afraid of what might happen if they discovered me."

"You're afraid, soldier?"

"Worried, ma'am."

"All right, I suppose we can start using telecommunication to work. I'll send a few tec guys on getting you an inconspicuous device to use."

"When should I come in to get it?"

"As soon as possible."

"I might be able to make it tomorrow."

"We also need you for debriefing, soldier. Can you get out for a few hours?"

"Yes, Ma'am. They're encouraging me to go out and get a job anyway."

"What kind of job?"

"Well, I'm not sure. Well, they all have jobs in the same area. They work in a strip mall area. Jondy, Max, and Krit all work in an arcade type place that seems popular with a lot of nearby college students and high school kids."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, ma'am. They want me to work there with them. I think I might enjoy it, ma'am."

"Good. 494, can you make it in tomorrow, yes or no?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm going in to do an interview this afternoon, around 3 in the afternoon. I'm sure I can find an excuse to go out early."

"Good. I'll tell security to expect you at 1000 hours. Dismissed."

***

Alec snuck into the house, shutting the door closed quietly behind him. Letting his eyes quickly adjust to the dark, he glanced around the entrance hall. Something seemed… off. He headed into the kitchen. As he entered the site of Krit, Max, Jondy, and Zane sitting around the kitchen greeted him.

"Um… hi?"

Max stood up, sliding off the counter. "Alec, Alec, Alec."

Jondy came over to him, hooking her arm through his. "Why don't you sit down? I want to have a little chat with you."

Krit and Zane stayed where they were, intimidating him with unblinking stares.

"Sure," Alec said, working to keep his voice steady. "What about?"

Max pursed her lips. "How about how you always sneak out… every night.  And how you just seem so, so different. How you have no pictures in your bags."

Jondy picked up. "Or maybe we can discuss how all the clothes you have are new?"

At that, Krit and Zane stood, walking over to them all. "I like all of those, girls. So, Mr. Ben—No, I like Alec," Krit spoke for this first time.

"Me too," Zane agreed. "So, Alec, got an answer for us? Maybe a few answers?"

Max walked over to him, pushing him into a chair. She leaned over, whispering in his ear. "C'mon, Alec." She backed away. "We'd really like one of those answers now. Make it a good one."

Filled with internal panic, Alec looked around. "Well, I'm plum out of excuses. Why don't you tell me which one you're expecting me to use?"

"Well, there's always the criminal story," Jondy began. "You're a serial killer. You're on the run from a few pissed off cult inmates. You're being chased by a angry mob of ex girlfriends."

Krit took over. "Maybe you're running from a plain old angry mob. You stole something, so the US government is out to get you and you had to leave everything behind."

"Or," Zane said, "If you want Jondy and my favorite, you are running from an angry potato farmer for converting his only daughter into working in the whore house/gambling underground you were running, leading him to expose you to the government; they torched the place, but his daughter was caught inside and he blames you for her untimely death."

Alec blinked. "Oh," he said. "Well, I see you guys have been waiting for me for a while. Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm out here because Manticore was on my ass…"

The four glared down at him. "So?"

"I faked my death. Got over here."

"Why are you out late at night?"

"I have insomnia. It's been known to come from having men in black chasing you down like you're a freaking escaped rabbit."

"How'd you find us?"

"Hacked into the Canadian government mainframe. I assumed you would be in Canada, so I just checked all the citizen files."

"And?" Krit was beginning to look worried. "Are we that easy to track?"

"No. But I spent almost a year hiding out across the border as a dead person, going through census forms while I waited for a friend to get my citizenship through."

"Get to the chase, Ben."

"Well, there was a form for 7 people in a house in the middle of nowhere… all between the ages of 18 and 24. Five female, two male. It was the third or so house I'd found with that combo, so I just figured I'd check it out like all the rest."

"Why'd you check Census, though?"

Alec grinned his winning smile, knowing he'd fooled them. "It's the last place Manticore would look… for people who fill out census forms, pay taxes, and aren't model citizens."

Krit, Zane, and Syl backed away, out of his face. "Oh."

Syl grinned. "Sorry, Ben."

"I guess we're just a little paranoid," Zane amended.

494 grinned. "Forgiven. One request, though."

Krit glanced up. "Yeah?"

"Call me Alec. It's just a cooler name."

Syl chuckled. "Yeah, I think so too."

The three filed out, leaving Alec and Max staring at each other.

Max walked up to him, placing one leg on each side of his body in the chair as she sat, facing him, in his lap. She grabbed his face, pulling him in for a quick kiss. "I didn't tell them about us."

"I guessed as much." Alec grinned. "Probably a good move. I thank you." He pulled her in for another kiss.

Max took control, deepening the kiss. She pulled his lower lip into her mouth, running her teeth gently across it at she pulled away. She grinned down at him, again, this time a looking a lot more evil.

Alec blinked up at her, her look not registering. Her kisses left him a brainless fool for a few seconds. "What?" he asked, as her look sank in a moment later.

She winked at him and rolled her hips forward, leaving him groaning. Leaning over one last time, she grabbed his earlobe in her mouth and gently bit it. "You're lying," she whispered. "But I won't tell."

She stood up and walked out, leaving him staring after her in a confused daze.