Okay.  I know it seems like I lied.  I said I would post this Tuesday at the latest and I didn't.  Technically that is a lie but I have an excuse.  The business side of life just gets in the way sometimes.  I apologize for everyone waiting for this.

This one's kind of short compared to a couple of chapters.  Here's the thing.  I had a corrupted file for chapter three and had to rewrite the original draft.  I was more worried about rewriting than following the story itself and changed some things around that didn't fit the last chapter which would have been this one.  I have to remedy this now and so there will be a few more chapters than originally intended for The Industrial Cycle.  This chapter will answer some questions from the previous chaps and begin the buildup for the final climactic sequence.  I assume no one will be upset by this…

Now here's the dealio.  Did I just say dealio?  Anyway, Eva finds a group of X-5 in Logan's apartment and learns more about what's really going on than she ever bargained for.  Things are spinning out of control for all involved.  Eva doesn't know who to trust anymore.  Max learns something of Logan she never knew.  Lydecker sees an opportunity and seizes it and Bennett and Marianne will soon have the worst night of their life together.

Read on and let me know what you think but above all else, enjoy!

Truth, Lies and a DVD

          She stood there centered among a group of transgenic soldiers.  The hall of the penthouse was bathed in varying patterns of shadow and light giving a surreal quality to the moment.  She flashed back to the gunshot that eventually took her life.  She remembered her reality fading away and she remembered that one feeling she hated more than anything else in the world.

          Failure.

          It was not an option at Manticore and she had failed so many years ago when the Colonel shot her.  She failed again so recently when she couldn't find Eyes Only and now she stood here facing the unknown surrounded by a single ordinary human and seven highly trained warriors.

          She looked at each one of them.  She remembered 822, the one calling himself Biggs.  He trained her in push hands and blade technique.  He was one of the best with a knife.  "Anyone can use a sniper rifle…"  Biggs had said that one night in the forest outside of Manticore.  They were hunting a nomlie.  Just Biggs and Eva.  She knew it was a test and she had done her best.  She impressed them.  "But it takes skill.  To do it with the blade is absolute.  To slide in behind the enemy without their knowledge knowing the only recognition they will give you is the slight squelch as they fall to the ground dead..."  She had killed the nomlie that night.  Slit his throat without ever letting it see her.

          494 stood beside him.  Those two were always mumbling quietly to themselves in the mess hall at the end of the table.  Between them, they had run several missions and always they came back smiling and laughing as if they had an edge that not even Manticore knew about.  Then it happened.  494 went solo and he didn't come back like he usually did.  He came back in chains with a bag over his head and was thrown into the basement with the nomlies.  They left him there for a long time before taking him to Psy-ops and leaving him there for six months.  She never saw him again until tonight.

          863, the blonde, stood about two inches taller than Eva.  She was standing just behind Max.  She was hard to pin down.  Eva had trained with her a few times but she was usually being called into Data-entry and undergoing some new language skill training or another.  It was her specialty.  There was no telling how many languages she spoke fluently or how many dialects she understood but she spent more time in Data-entry than in actual training.  It was the way of Manticore.  Once they found your specialty they centered your training on it.

          She looked at Krit and Syl on either side of Logan Cale.  They looked young and happy.  They looked like a couple of college kids visiting their big brother or maybe an uncle.  They were happy.  Eva recognized happiness but she didn't understand it.  She could see it on all of their faces.  She turned back to Max just as Jondy stepped out around the corner from the central room.  She was holding a small black pistol.

          Eva eyed Jondy suspiciously but could see no animosity.  She was just protecting the man Cale.  They all were.  Eva had been impressed with his power and business savvy at lunch.  His control of the situation had left her with a sense of respect.  Now, though, she was in awe of the man.  Here stood three Children of Manticore and four Rogues.  All of them were in league with Logan Cale.  This man had power.  It oozed from everything in the immediate environment.  She had underestimated him.  First was the escape.  Second, the Eyes Only hit and now she had failed a third time.  Underestimating Logan Cale had been her undoing.

          She recognized the no-win scenario only now that she stood trapped in the center of it.  She reached behind her and slowly pulled her gun, tossing it to Max.  She watched, confused as Max twisted her lips in disgust and carried the weapon over to Logan.  Max looked at him for a long second and he nodded once.  It was the same thing she had seen at lunch.  It was as if they were communicating without words or signals.  Max reached her arm around Logan and hugged him close.

          "Max.  Jondy.  Take our guest into the living room."  Logan said.  Eva watched as Max squeezed the man one last time and reached out for her.  Jondy smiled for the first time and waited for Max to pull Eva past her and head around to the living room closing the office doors along the way.

          "Pretty strange isn't it?"  Max said.

          "What do you mean?"  Eva asked.

          "You come into the apartment expecting to find Logan and maybe a girl and instead you find seven transgenic soldiers.  Lempkin didn't tell you anything did he?"

          "Lempkin doesn't know anything."  Eva admitted.  "What he has on Logan Cale stops with the assassination of his parents and holds no information about an army of super-soldiers on his payroll."

          "There is no army of super-soldiers.  Alec and Biggs work with me as bike messengers.  The rest have jobs and make their own way like you are.  Krit and Syl were visiting from LA for the weekend and stayed on for a few extra days."

          "I have to admit I'm stunned…"  Eva was hesitant to use any names.  It had been so long since she had used her own chosen name.  "I came here expecting to find you two in bed making out.  That scene at lunch today was, well…"

          "I was just playing Lempkin."  Max said.  She didn't want to admit her heat sequence to Eva.  She didn't trust Eva… yet."

          "What about you?"  Eva asked Jondy.  She was eyeing the gun.  "What do you do around here?"

          "I tend bar mostly."  Jondy said.

          "Do you all get together like this often?"  Eva asked.

          "No.  There are some strange things going on and lately it's been centered on an ancient cult."  Max said.  She would have continued trying to gain any information Eva might have but Logan and Alec walked by and Eva was paying more attention to them than to Max at that moment."

          "I was going to try and figure that out tomorrow."

          "Tomorrow?"  Alec asked.  "Tomorrow may be too late."

          "I have to trace Martino and find out where he fits in all of this.  These twins are part of the equation and it frankly doesn't make any sense."  Logan explained.  "And to top it all off, Lempkin isn't going to let this one get away from him.  It's the reason that she is here."

          "I know why she is here, Logan."  Alec said.  "She came here to get information and if possible kill you."  He looked directly at Eva and she dropped her head.

          "I didn't come here to kill Logan."  Eva said.  "I came here to get information to use against Logan.  Mr. Lempkin wants Cale Industries and he will stop at nothing to get it.  He's working on a contingency plan right now."

          "What kind of a plan?"  Jondy asked.

          "He's calling in favors trying to find investment capitol."

          "Why is Cale Industries so important to him?"  Max asked.

          "I have two reasons.  The first is The Marcastle account.  The second is me."  Logan said.  "It was just about Marcastle to begin with but when he found out I was involved it became personal."

          "What's Marcastle?"  Alec asked.

          "The hover-drones.  The Marcastle deal is all about the hover-drones.  My father snatched it out from under Marley and his wife and secured the account for Cale Industries which guaranteed two things.  It guaranteed that Cale Industries and my family would not want for anything for a long time.  It also guaranteed that my parents would eventually be assassinated by Marley Lempkin."  Logan explained.  Everyone was stunned by the information.  Logan had never told Max how his parents were killed.  He just didn't talk about it.  Jondy and Alec were staring at each other as Max stood and walked over to her man and looked up into his eyes.

          "Do you have proof?"  Eva demanded.  Logan stared at her.  He stared back.  They were challenging each other.  She read his eyes.  "Show it to me."  She demanded.  Max turned to face her but Logan walked into his office and returned a moment later with a blank disc in his hands.  He placed it in the DVD player and turned on the television.

          He clicked a few buttons and the DVD skipped to a scene at a party.  It was a birthday party.  There was a shiny new mountain bike and a bunch of people singing happy birthday.  "When the song ends, listen carefully after Jonas confronts my Uncle.  You can just barely hear it off camera."  Logan said.  Max watched Logan for a second before turning to the video.  The birthday song ended.

         

          Everyone watched two middle aged men walk up to each other as a younger Logan took his new bike for a spin around the well-manicured and very expansive back lawn.  The camera followed the boy but the microphone picked up the conversation between the two men.

          "Logan."  One man said.  The older Logan turned to look at him as the camera panned over them still following Logan in the yard.  "I can't stress the importance of this upcoming meeting."

          "I know you can't."  Logan Cale Sr. said.  "This is Junior's day, Jonas.  Don't ruin it.  We'll talk about this on Monday before the meeting."

          "I want to talk about this now."  Jonas said.

          "Not going to happen.  Go get drunk someplace else and quit whining about it.  Marley and his wife cannot top my bid.  I will win the account and CI's future will be secure.  The family will be set for decades to come."  Logan Sr. said.

          "What about me?"  Jonas asked.  "You told me I would have some say in this and you went ahead without me.  What the hell am I on the board for if I'm not involved in any decision making?"  He was obviously drunk and letting it cloud his judgment.

          "It's my son's birthday.  Say one more word about this and I will have you and that greedy little wife of yours removed from my house.  Do you understand?"  Logan turned and walked toward the camera.  The camera was handed off to someone else as Logan Sr. took his wife's hand in his and walked toward the approaching Logan Jr.

          "That's your mother."  Max said.  "I've only seen pictures.  She's beautiful."  Logan squeezed her shoulder but otherwise didn't respond.

          "This is going to end soon."  The older Logan said to his wife.

          "I know.  I can't help wondering how, though."  His wife answered.  In the background beeping could be heard.  Jonas was dialing the phone.  The camera was on Logan.  He was pedaling hard and fast and pulled a few bike tricks stopping just feet away from his parents.  He bounced on the front tire a few times with a big smile on his face.  His mother was clapping.  Jonas was talking.

          "Marley."  He said.  The voice was barely audible.  "It's time.  He won't acknowledge my existence.  I think he's pushing me out.  Do what you have to."  Jonas said.  "Don't call me again until it's finished."  The call disconnected.

          Everyone turned and looked at Logan.  He used the remote to find another clip on the DVD forwarding through several more family and party scenes.  He stopped on a view of his parents standing in front of a limo.  His mother Maria was holding a small girl that didn't seem to want to stop crying.

          "You had a sister?"  Max asked.  "You never told me you had a sister."  She started to turn and face Logan.

          "Just watch."  Logan said holding her still with his hand.

          "When will you arrive?"  Logan Jr. asked.

          "I assume in about ten hours.  It really depends on the weather when we get there.  There's a chance we won't make it Tokyo due to the monsoons.  It's that time of year and we may be re-directed to Hong Kong or further south."  Logan Sr. said.

          "I'll miss you two."  The younger Logan said.

          "You'll be okay.  McKinley prep will keep you distracted while we're gone and we'll come by and visit as soon as we get back."  Maria said.  "Besides you'll be starting at Yale in the fall.  We won't be taking the company jet out east to see you every weekend."  She smiled.  "You're going to have to get used to being alone."  Max felt Logan's hands tighten on her shoulders and she reached up to hold them.

          "I'm proud of you, son."  The older Logan said wrapping his arms around Logan.  "McKinley hasn't had a Cale in its halls since your Uncle Jonas graduated."  He said.

          "McKinley hasn't had real Cale in it's halls since you left the school Dad."  Logan said.

          "That's my boy."

          "You two are too much alike."  Maria said.  The Captain of the Leer Jet walked up and announced that pre-flight preparations were complete and they were given a three minute departure schedule."  Logan Sr. nodded and Junior turned to his mother.  She was crying.

          "Logo by now."  The little girl said through her own tears on her mothers shoulders.  Logan reached up and tickled the girl until she was giggling.

          "That's right.  I'm going to school while you get to go play in the orient and see all kinds of wonderful things.  I envy you."  He said.  As soon as he stopped tickling his sister she turned back to her mother and started to cry again.

          "Loga by now…"  She mumbled as Logan hugged his mother and watched them walking toward the company jet.

          "You be good."  Maria said.

          "Always Mom."

          "Watch out for old man Monroe."  His Dad said as he gathered luggage over his shoulder and put his arm around his wife.  "He's mean but he's fair.  I swear he's an alien the son of a bitch has been there for so long."  He mumbled as they walked away.  His wife just laughed.  The little girl was just staring at Logan and waving goodbye.  They waved to him just outside the door.

          "This is fascinating…"  Eva started.

          "Just watch and you'll get proof that you made a mistake working for Pierpont Lempkin."  Logan ordered.  She stared up at Logan for a second before looking back at the TV.

          Logan turned back to the camera and smiled at the cameraman.  "Well, up the academy, eh Pier?"  He said.  Pierpont, filming the whole thing laughed.

          "Up something."  Pier said.  It was an almost devious laughter.  Logan stared at him for a few seconds before climbing into the Limo.  The camera followed him the whole way.

          "Let's get back to my place and get the stuff…"  Logan started but Pier interrupted.  He turned the camera on himself.

          "Let's go see the plane take off safely."  He said with a quick double pop of his eyebrows.  "Then you can do what you have to before we go to McKinley."  The camera panned back to Logan who was staring out the window and watching the Leer jet taxi toward the runway.  The camera switched off.

          When it came back on, Logan was handing the camera back to Pier who was now standing through the sunroof in the limo looking down on LoganLogan closed the limo door and stepped away from the vehicle.  The jet was just pulling around behind an airbus on its way along the runway.  The video seemed tense.  Both young men were silent until just before the plane started its run toward the end of the runway.

          "What's it feel like, Logan?"  Pier asked.  Logan turned and looked at him with a confused look.  He cocked his head before turning back to watch the jet approaching the midway point of the runway.  "Tell me what it feels like…"  Pier said.

          The nose of the plane tipped up and the rest of the craft followed for only two seconds before the entire plane burst into flames in a huge explosion.  Logan fell to his knees as parts of the plane fell in flaming chunks to the tarmac below.  There was no sound but the low rumble of the explosion fading out and the dull thudding of burning plane parts landed, skidding to a stop along the runway.

          "I want to know what it feels like!"  Pier shouted as the limo started to drive away.  Lempkin tossed the camera on the ground behind the long car.  His laughter could be heard for a few seconds as the bouncing camera eventually came to rest framing Logan sideways in the picture.  Burning debris littered the runway in the distance behind him.

          Max turned to face him immediately.  She reached up for his face but there were no more tears from him over this.  He was angry now.  Max could see it in his eyes.  She could feel it in the air around him.  She wanted to do something to make the pain go away but she knew the pain would always be there.

          He grabbed her hand in his and squeezed it tight.  His eyes told her this wasn't the time or place to discuss this in the way she wanted to.  She nodded.  He looked around the room.  Alec was still watching the video.  Jondy was as well.  Eva was staring at Logan.

          "There's more?"  Alec asked.

          "Surveillance footage."  Logan said.  A man was lying on his back with a towel over his waist in a steam room.  Logan switched off the video just as another man entered the room.  Max saw it was Logan.  So did Jondy but Alec and Eva were looking at each other.  There was more to Logan than any of them had ever realized.

          "Do you still think that Pierpont Lempkin is a good man?"  Logan asked.

          "I never thought about it either way.  I just work for him."

          "You can justify that after seeing what you just saw?"  He asked Eva.

          "I'm sorry about your loss…"

          "Sorry?  You don't have the capacity to understand what I lost.  You've never had a family.  You couldn't understand what I lost."  He had the look of a man that was about to lose control.  Max was close and hadn't let go of him yet.  He retained some semblance of control even though his words stung all four of the transgenics in the room.  "You only know duty and the mission."  Logan turned and headed away as his cell phone rang.

          "Hello."  He said.  "Hey, Sebastian.  It's a really bad time…"  Logan said.  He listened for a minute before turning and looking back at Eva.  "That's very interesting news."  He said.  "Are you sure this information is accurate?"  He listened.  "I understand.  Thanks for keeping me filled in.  I'll call Bennett now."

          He punched in Bennett's number still staring at Eva.  The phone seemed to ring for a long time before someone answered.  "Bennett."  Logan said but didn't continue.  He listened.  Max and Alec were close enough to hear.

          "Logan.  She's gone.  Lempkin took her and told me that if I over bid him again that he would kill her."

          "What are you talking about?"  Logan asked.

          "Lempkin.  He took Marianne."  Bennett said.  "She went to meet her mother but she never arrived.  Lempkin called ten minutes ago and said that if I wanted to see her again then I had to give up on Cale Industries."

          "You can't do that?"  Logan said.  "I'll take care of it."

          "You'll do no such thing."  Bennett said.  "I will not let you risk my wife for one of your personal crusades!"  He yelled.  Eva and Jondy both heard him then.

          "Calm down.  I'll find her and bring her back."  Logan said.  "Nothing will happen to her."

          "You've done enough."  Bennett said disconnecting the call.

          Logan stared at the phone for a few minutes before stalking up to Eva.  She rose to meet him coming almost eye to eye with him.  She was on the defensive.  Max stepped up beside them.

          "Where is she!"  He demanded.

          "Who?"  Eva asked.

          "Don't play games with me!  Lempkin just took my cousin's wife.  He's going to kill her if I make another bid for my company."  Logan said.  "Where would Pier take her?"  He demanded.

          "I don't know."  Eva said.  She didn't.  Logan could see it on her face.  She wasn't close enough to Lempkin to know all of his secrets.  "I knew nothing about this.  I didn't know about any of this."  She said gesturing to the DVD.  "I was just supposed to supply Mr. Lempkin with proof that you were behind the bid and not just some anonymous investor."

          "Then you'll find out where she is being held so my people can go in and get her."  Logan said.

          "What if I don't?"  Eva asked.

          "Then you'll never leave this apartment alive."  Lydecker said.  Everyone but Logan turned and looked at him.  Eva collapsed into the couch clutching at her chest where she had taken the bullet from him so long ago.  She reached for her pistol but forgot Logan was still holding it.  She checked Logan, looking for it.  She was calculating odds.  Original Cindy was standing over Lydecker's shoulder with his pistol pointed directly at Eva's head.

          "OC?"  Max didn't know what to think of OC's actions.

          "Just following orders, Boo…"  OC said.

          "Original Cindy is one of mine for now."  Colonel Lydecker said.

          "Like hell…"  Max started but OC leveled the gun against her stopping Max in her tracks.  Max looked at OC.  Eva looked at Lydecker.  OC winked at Max.  Jondy nodded when Max did.  They would play the game for now.  Deck had a plan.  Only he knew what it was.

          "You shot me."  Eva muttered sounding like a little girl, not a revved up super-soldier.

          "I had no choice.  I had to maintain discipline."  Deck said.  "You kids were trying to escape.  I had to stop you by any means necessary.  I had my orders."

          "What orders would those be?  Kill small children that wanted to be free?"

          "No.  Protect a nation by any means necessary.  That's why you were created.  You were going to insure The United States a solid future as the world's only superpower.  We were going to bring the entire world into the twenty-first century as a singular entity.  The plans for a one world government had been in preparations for decades.  You were created to insure that government didn't fall."  Deck was explaining when Logan cut him off.  "When you kids escaped, it jeopardized everything we…"

          "That's fascinating."  Logan said.  "Tell someone who cares.  He stepped forward again.  Deck shot you.  So what?  An X-7 replica of Max shot her and killed her.  I took a bullet in the spine protecting a child.  It's just a bullet wound.  Get over it.  Help me find Marianne."  He said.  "Please."  He dropped to one knee in front of her.  "You're an X-5.  I know you are too smart to work for a man like Pierpont Lempkin.  Help me and I'll help you."

          "Help me what?"

          "Live the life you've always wanted."

          "What do you know of my life?"  She asked.

          "I know a lot of your life."  Logan said looking at Max and Jondy before turning back to Eva.  "Help me.  I can help you."

          "What do I want?"  Eva challenged.

          "I know you tried to escape once because you didn't want the life you had.  I can help you find the freedom you want."

          "I am free."

          "Not working for Pierpont Lempkin."  Max said.  "Stick with him and you will be a fugitive on the run in no time.  He's a major bad guy, Eva and it's only a matter of time before Eyes Only takes him down."  Eva noticed the name again.  Eyes Only. 

          "Help him Eva."  Jondy said.  "Only you can."  She added.

          "Please, Eva.  Help us bring Lempkin down."  Max said.  "You have been inside of Lempkin's home and his business.  Where would he take Marianne?"

          "I don't know."  She said.  Her eyes hadn't left Lydecker or OC.  "I don't know where he would take her.  It would have to be his home."  She said.  "I know every inch of his offices.  There's no where in the building to hide a captive."

          "Alec."  Lydecker said.  "Get Biggs and check the offices just in case and then return here as quickly as possible.  Send Krit and Syl back here and prepare anyone else you have access to just in case.  He reached into his pocket and pulled his cell phone.  Three minutes later he had secured five squads from his forward base in the sector and air support from his base in the mountains.  "I have air support and five squads on call.  Captain McKeechan here will rendezvous with my men and provide logistics and back up the advance team.

          "Captain?"  Max asked.

          "Captain Mckeechan."  Deck said.

          "I'm not a Captain."  OC said.

          "Consider it a field promotion."  He smiled.

          "I'm not in the military anymore."  She said.

          "Neither am I."  He laughed.  "Work with me here."  He said.  She nodded with a smile on her face.  Alec laughed out loud and headed out the door.  He knew OC was in the army.  It would prove to be an interesting night.

          "Captain.  I like the way that sounds."  She said.

          "Eva.  Can you get Logan into Lempkin's place and convince him that Logan's clean?"  He asked.

          "I can.  I was sent here to get the proof Lempkin wanted."  Eva admitted.  "Logan was a part of that plan if I couldn't find the proof."

          "I'm already not liking the sound of this."  Max said.  "You were going to try and kill him."  She concluded.

          "So I go in as trade for Marianne."  Logan said.  He looked at Max.  They were both thinking about May 22nd and the hotel fiasco.

          "Sort of.  When we locate the woman, my team will get her out.  When Lempkin finds out what's going on he'll turn on you.  Eva will protect you until Max and Jondy can get there."

          "I've been in his place before.  He's got these big piles of meat he calls bodyguards.  Logan, no offense but even with Eva watching your back you'll still have a hard time of it."  Max said.

          "Won't matter.  I can get to Lempkin and control the situation through him."  Logan said.

          "I have no doubt of your ability to control Lempkin but what if you don't get to him.  Jondy and I will go in first.  Once Jondy and I are in place then Eva can bring Logan in.  I'll feel safer that way."  Max said.

          "Tonight isn't about being safe."  Logan said.  "Tonight is about bringing Marianne home.  I've been playing this game with Lempkin for far too long.  It ends tonight."

          "Playing a game?"  Eva asked.  "It really is just a game to you, isn't it?"  She continued.  "Even after what he did to your parents…"

          "He did nothing to my parents.  His father killed my parents and I…"  He paused.  He was hiding something.  Max could tell he was hiding something.

          "You what, Logan?"  She asked looking back at the DVD player.

          "I've let him operate his little criminal empire for far too long.  Now he has become just like his father.  He is trying to hurt my family like his father once did and he'll pay for it."  Logan said heading for the bedroom.  Max followed after him.

          Jondy pushed herself from the couch and grabbed Eva's hand.  She pulled Eva into the kitchen and toward the warm pan of spaghetti still sitting there.

          "What are you doing?"  Eva asked.

          "I see how you're looking at Deck.  I'm getting you away from him so you don't hit him or worse."  Jondy said.

          "Yet you're the one carrying the gun around wherever I go."  Eva said.

          "Just a precaution.  We didn't know what you were planning and I won't let you harm Logan.  Neither will Max."  Jondy said.  "She's already had to make that choice and Logan will win that battle every time."

          "She really loves him."  Eva said.

          "He has protected her at great risk to himself.  I won't go into details but he has risked his life to protect her even with a severed spinal cord.  He even went inside Manticore and brought her out himself."  Jondy was explaining.

          "A severed spinal cord?  How is it he can walk?  Shouldn't he be paralyzed?"  Eva asked.

          "He is."  Jondy said.  "He wears a DOD exo-skeleton.  Otherwise he's confined to a wheel-chair."  Jondy set a plate of spaghetti in front of Eva and poured a glass of soda for her.  "Try this.  Logan is a gourmet.  He made the sauce himself."

          Eva tentatively picked up a small meatball with her fork and tasted it.  She smiled.  "So he's paralyzed…" she mumbled to herself as she ate.

          Original Cindy looked down at Lydecker in Logan's wheelchair.  "Don't go getting no ideas bout me and you.  I'm going to help you tonight because both my boos need me to but when this is over I'm going back to being Original Cindy, bike messenger extraordinaire and Nubian Goddess of the First Order."  She said.

          "Fair enough.  I'm only working with what I've got.  When you told me earlier that you were involved with special operations…"  Lydecker said.  "I just try and use everything at my disposal."  He smiled.

          "So I've heard."  OC said.  "What are you going to do about Eva?"

          "What do you mean?"  He asked.

          "You shot her."

          "Logan."  Max was fastening his belt buckle while he pulled his black shirt on.  He reached down and picked up her black leather vest and pulled it over her when she finished with his pants.

          "I'm not going to argue this with you.  I'm going and that's final."  Logan said as he zipped up the front of her vest.  She picked up his leather jacket and helped him into it.

          "I won't try to talk you out of this.  I know better but at least put on your Kevlar before you leave."  Max said.  "For me."

          "I can't.  They are going to search me at the door.  I don't know where Lempkin got his money all of a sudden but I'm going to find out and when I leave there tonight Cale Industries will be mine."

          "I don't care about Cale Industries.  I only care about you.  Just make sure you come home tonight."  Max said.