Chapter four: Treading Lightly

Logan's eyes darted to the phone where it lay on his computer desk ringing. He prayed with every fiber of his being that it was not Max. Be Margo, or Matt, or anyone else but her. He was so sure that they were after Max, the reason eluded him, even now, but his inventive mind could come up with some pretty wild possibilities. Something told him that his prayer was not going to be answered. So he sat listening to it ring unable to breath, heart thudding in his chest.

The two men looked at the phone and then to Logan, "Answer that," the larger one ordered.

"And keep it cool," The red head added. Logan had started calling him "Carrot Top" in his own mind, and it was all he could do to keep from smiling when he thought about it.

"Sorry," Logan replied with a falsely apologetic smile, "Can't... its over there and I'm over here… and my chair..." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, "It's in there." This was one time that he was glad to be able to use his disability as an excuse. Only…his Machine! If she identified herself his whole ruse would be sunk. Suddenly there was an overwhelming desire for the phone to be in his hand.

Carrot top glared at Logan acidly, then strode over to where the phone rang incessantly. Grabbing it off its holder he stormed back to where Logan sat slapping the phone hard into his chest.

Logan glanced up at the soldier towering over him as he took the phone, his heart thudding in his chest at the man's murderous look. Logan's mouth was a thin line, as he thought, "What the hell possesses you to antagonize people like that."

Logan struggled to open the phone one-handed, all thumbs for his need to get it to his ear, when the answering machine took the call. He barely heard the greeting, angry that he had not been able to catch the call before the Machine broadcast it throughout the apartment. Now they were all going to know who the caller was going to be.

"Please don't be Max," He prayed silently.

"Logan!" Max shouted into the machine. Logan's jaw clenched tighter at the sound of her voice. Her voice sounded scared and worried, and a part of him wondered if she had not already run into some trouble of her own.

He glanced toward his two captor's who were watching every movement he made and tried to smooth out his expression so as not to give away what he knew…about them… and about his caller. "Don't say your name," He thought, "Just don't tell them who you are."

"Damn it! I know your home, pick up!"

Logan thumbed the button and put the phone up to his ear, "I'm here," He answered looking up at the man still towering over him, "What's up?" He asked letting some of his pain slip into his voice and praying Max picked it up. He wondered if she even had a clue about what was happening here. He glanced again at the soldiers hovering above him and hoped that they wouldn't notice his exaggerated voice even as his machine amplified it.

There was a long pause from Max's end of the conversation, "Logan," she said hesitantly, then her speech resumed a normal tone. It was suddenly just another phone conversation, "Are you OK? I came by work earlier and you weren't there," she add-libbed brilliantly.

"Yeah, nothing major," he lied, relieved that she had picked up on his hint, "Are you coming over later?" He asked, implying that she shouldn't.

"Maybe, depends on how kickin' the club is," She replied teasingly, "In fact I gotta bounce, they'll be expecting me."

"All right, hope you can stop by," Logan finished hanging up the phone. He hoped that she would take his hint for what it was worth and stay away. It was she, after all, which they wanted.

"Who was that?" carrot top asked suspiciously, suddenly in his face again. He snatched the phone out of Logan's hand, as if he might be brazen enough to try to make another call.

"A friend, why?" Logan inquired wondering if they would actually admit to wanting Max.

The man straightened the corners of his lips pulling down. He moved away from Logan and out of his sight. Logan tracked his progress through the place by the sounds of his footsteps.

"Nice place," He commented almost as if he meant it. Logan saw him again as he paused just outside his therapy room, looking at him. There was a queer smile on his face, and his eyebrows were steepled high over his cold blue eyes. His hands were clasped behind his back.

Logan smiled falsely, saying sarcastically, "Thanks, from you that means a lot."

Carrot Top moved into the hallway momentarily and then into Logan's study. After many moments he heard, "This is quite a set up you have here... must have cost a bundle." There was a short pause and the silence was broken by the crash of one monitor hitting the floor.

"OK," Logan thought, taking a deep breath, "Its OK as long as they don't access anything."

Another crash soon followed the first, this time it sounded like his shelving unit where all of his recording equipment was set, "Shit," Logan thought. Logan chewed on the inside of his lip trying not to reflect on his face how important the equipment that the man was destroying was to Logan.

"So..." Carrot Top said peeking out of the doorway, "Who was on the phone?"

"Why?" Logan asked, "She's no one of importance to you. Just a girl, one of many, to tell the truth." He lied, trying on the playboy nonchalance that he had used so often when he was younger. It didn't sound very convincing in his own ears, and from the look on Carrot Top's face he was not convinced either.

"Call it my need to know," the man said angrily and disappeared back into the computer room. Several more items crashed to the ground and one of his CPU's bounced into the door leaving a scratch across the glass.

"Whatever," Logan answered and fell silent.

He looked over as the man's head popped out of Logan's study again, "Who was on the phone? Give me a name and it will be over that much quicker."

"She's just a friend," Logan said in what he hoped was a bland tone, "Her name is not important."

"More important than you think!" The man sneered, disappearing back into the study. The noise continued for sometime and Logan wondered just how small of pieces the man was breaking his equipment into. It nagged at him, causing him to wonder if he was going to be able to salvage any of his equipment when this guy got done with it. Eye's Only would be seriously in the hurt locker if he could not access the information residing in that CPU. His head was full of images of what his study must look like now. There were probably bits of wire, transistors, sensors, and circuit cards all over. What a mess, how much would it cost to replace?

"Boy are your priorities out of whack, Logan," He heard that voice inside him say, "So Eye's Only has been temporarily blinded. I would think you would be worried about it becoming blinded permanently. Worry about you and not the computers."

Logan nodded to no one, feeling that tension ease in him, it suddenly didn't matter quite so much. The din continued, and the man kept asking for information on Logan's caller. He barely heard the man speak, and didn't really care to answer him anyway.

Logan mind slid away from the unpleasant reality that was happening in his study, and he became acutely aware then of just how uncomfortable that his position on the couch was becoming. Tiring of the cloak and dagger routine being played out by his unexpected guests and in urgent need of some relief for his lower back, he set down his good hand in an attempt to shift his body over. Logan had not even shifted his weight onto his arm when the larger man descended on him, pinning him with a forearm in the throat.

Carrot Top, evidentially hearing the commotion, returned from his tirade through the study, "What were you doing?" He asked sharply seeing his burly partner poised like a snake of Logan's form.

Logan looked to him now, noticing a bottle of his best pre-pulse Vintage under carrot tops left arm. Evidently he had made a pass through the kitchen, "Thanks for asking!" he wanted to say to the thug, but he knew better. Instead he replied in a low surly voice, "The parts of me that still feel are going to sleep. I need to reposition..." He smiled blinking several times, "If that's all right with you?" Logan returned to staring into the ice blue eyes of the man still trying to crush his throat with a thick forearm. The soldier shifted his gaze to his redheaded partner, who merely nodded. The larger one, looking unhappy about the prospect of letting Logan live another few minutes, never the less began to straighten.

They both stood in arms reach watching Logan closely, still after all these hours expecting him to jump up miraculously and make a run for it. Logan waited long moments wanting some privacy to maintain at least a shred of his dignity. When they had not budged or even turned away after five minutes however, Logan figured they were not letting him out of their sight. With a sigh of resignation he went ahead with making himself more comfortable. It was a painfully slow process one handed. His right supported by the pillow he had propped under it, still screamed with pain at even the slightest movement. Several times during the excruciatingly slow process he wondered if it was even worth what he was now putting himself through. The worst part came when he needed to shift his legs over to better support his new position. Grabbing his pant leg just below the knee did nothing to shift the leaden weight of his foot. Taking a deep breath and bracing against the pain he leaned over further dragging his broken arm behind. He fought through the nova's that were exploding behind his eyes and the blackness that closed in on his consciousness as he methodically dragged each of his feet into a proper position. He was panting hard as he straightened back up, wanting to give in to the blackness that was nearer now. He shook his head again clearing the closing fog for another few moments. Took a bit of additional time to put his arm back in a position where it would not scream at him, then looked back up at them. When the pain finally subsided and his breathing had returned to normal he said, as much to ease his embarrassment as anything, "Sorry guy's, that's it, shows over. I'm a one trick pony. But hey, thanks for the help."

Something that was almost a smile touched Carrot Top's lips as he nodded his head to one side, motioning them toward the balcony. As he walked away, Carrot top popped the cork on his best wine and took a long swig of it before opening the door and stepping out onto the balcony, "Damn," Logan thought as he watched him, "He didn't even let it breath."