Reaching for The Moon by The PekingNoodle
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Chapter Sixty-Seven: Decisions, Decisions…
Our hero has to make a decision that could put both him and our heroine in harms way…
The next few days were quiet ones for Max and Logan. Logan was busy monitoring the Lydecker project on his laptop. Sebastian kept Logan updated on his negotiations with Lydecker, and Logan stayed in touch with his project leader at Millennium as well. Max spent her time outside, wandering through the woods around the cabin. On the second day she discovered a path that led to the lake. After that she spent hours sitting on the shoreline, staring out over the peaceful waters, thinking about her parents and remembering their time together.
Max also started back into her exercise routine, the same one Logan had first seen her doing when she was sixteen years old. She would get up very early every morning and go outside to run through the routine, as she had when she had been younger and lived with her parents.
Logan got up to watch once. After that, late nights spent talking to Sebastian on-line, and working with the project leader to come up with ideas of what side effects would be most undesirable to Lydecker, had him sleeping in most mornings. Max didn't really mind. She liked the time alone and undisturbed. It gave her a chance to clear her mind and relax from the turmoil of emotions that Logan continued to stir up in her.
Logan made love to her every night but he never slipped again as he had on the mountain.He was sweet and attentive and passionate, but Max sensed that a wall had gone back up again. She wasn't sure why, but in a way she was relieved by it. She was too confused herself to want to deal with any overt declarations from Logan. It was easier to relax into a pure physical relationship and push the emotional implications aside.
Four days after the bar brawl, Max came in from her workout to find Logan already up. Breakfast was sitting on the table waiting for her.
"To what do I owe this occasion? Logan Cale out of bed with the birds?" She teased him.
Logan shrugged. "I had an early morning chat scheduled with Seb and the project leader. Figured you'd be hungry when you came in so…"
"Thanks. I'm starving." Max dug into the pancakes that sat gently steaming in front of her, with gusto. "These are delicious, Logan."
"Glad you like." Logan answered almost absent mindedly, as he sipped on a cup of coffee.
Max regarded him closely. "What happened in the chat, Logan?"
He looked over at her, startled out of his abstraction. 'What makes you think that something happened?" he hedged.
"Logan."
Logan sighed, "Nothing really. Sebastian is about finished up with the negotiations with the Colonel, and the side effects that are going to be engineered into the chip are set. It's all going well."
"Something happened." Max wasn't going to be put off.
"Lydecker wants a conference call that includes me before he signs off on the final contract."
"A conference call or an actual face to face conference?" Max asked suspiciously.
"He wanted a meeting, but Sebastian told him no way."
"So then what's the problem?"
"I don't feel comfortable doing the call from here. I don't have the right equipment, and even with Seb running interference, there's too much risk of a trace. I want this place to stay off the radar. Bad enough he has the Fogle Tower address."
"You want to go back to Seattle." Max stated. "How is that any safer? You said yourself he has that address."
"I have better equipment there. Plus I can tandem it with Sebastian's to throw the Colonel completely off track."
"So then we go back."
Logan was silent.
"What?"
"I want you to stay here. I'll go back."
Max stared at him. "No. Not a chance. You're the one who he went after, not me. He doesn't have any idea about me at all. If you go back so do I."
The two stared at each other stubbornly, neither one giving an inch. Logan got up and silently began to clear away the remnants of the meal.
"Logan, I'm not letting you go back there alone. You were lucky last time. If he gets his hands on you again, he won't be so easy to get away from. I know."
"I don't want you in the same city with him, Max. You think he doesn't know. What if he really does? What if this whole Millennium thing has been a front to get to you? I'm not letting you take that chance."
"Then I guess we're stuck here forever. I won't let you go alone and you won't let me go period." Max wouldn't give in.
"Max, that's not a viable alternative."
"Logan, you said yourself that you and Sebastian can hide the transmission so he won't know where you are. I'm safer with you in Seattle than I would be anywhere else. If he thinks you're somewhere else, even if he does suspect about me, he'll think I'm there with you. Unless you really don't have that much confidence in your ability to hide from him."
Logan glared at her caught by the logic of her response. He sighed. "Let me talk some more to Sebastian about this whole thing. We have to let Lydecker know my answer by tomorrow."
"Fine, but your answer is either both of us or neither one. And if you try to sneak away and leave me here, I'll just come after you. Now if you don't mind I'm going to take a shower." Max didn't give Logan a chance to reply. She left the room and he stood there looking after her with frustration etched on his face.
Fogle Towers the Next Day
Logan pulled the door closed behind the two of them and looked around his apartment. It looked undisturbed.
"Are you sure it's clean?" Max whispered. "No bugs?"
"Sebastian had a sweep done two hours ago. The apartment has been under surveillance since then. No one has come into it." Logan answered.
"The roof as well?" Max asked him glancing up at the skylight.
"I told him to have someone watch the roof. He thought I was being paranoid, but he did it. No one has come in."
"I hope he's right." Max shrugged.
"I'll know in a few minutes." Logan was already at his computers. He started a program running and sat back. Max waited. "We're clean."
"And you know this how?"
"This program is set to detect any hint at all of electronic eavesdropping. It picks up on the transmission, no matter the frequency. There's nothing at all registering"
"So when's the big call?"
"Now." Logan punched some commands into his computer. Within seconds a face came up on his monitor. "Hey, Sebastian. Are we set?"
"Ready to go. I've already got the Colonel on the line. All I have to do is patch you through. You want visual?"
"I want to see him, but don't let him see me."
"Not a problem. I'll tell him you don't have access to sophisticated equipment from your South Pacific island paradise."
"Is that where we are?"
"What better place for a honeymoon?"
Logan laughed shortly. "Let's do this."
Max watched intently as the screen split into two pieces. One side showed Sebastian and the other showed a momentary burst of static. Then Colonel Lydecker's face came into view.
"Hello Colonel." Logan said.
"Mr. Cale. So glad you could join us."
"Sebastian said it was important." Logan acknowledged.
"I was sorry you left so abruptly the other night."
"I was already late in leaving on my honeymoon, Colonel. I'm sure you can understand."
The Colonel chuckled. "Your wife is lovely. I suppose I can."
"I understand that you've worked out a satisfactory arrangement on the chip with my associate?" Logan said.
"Oh yes the chip. That's a done deal. Sebastian has been most helpful with that."
"But you wanted to talk to me about it?" Logan asked.
"Not at all." Lydecker hesitated. "I'd like to speak to you privately for a few minutes if you would."
Logan and Max exchanged glances. "Sebastian you can leave us." Logan said.
"Not a problem, Logan. Colonel, we'll talk more later when you've received the paperwork I emailed you." Sebastian's side of the screen went to static.
"What did you want to discuss in private Colonel?" Logan asked.
"I'm very impressed with your level of expertise and your associates, Mr. Cale. I'd like to make a proposition to you. To make use of them. I believe I can trust your discretion in this matter."
"And that would be?"
"I'm searching for a very special group of young adults. I've been searching
for them for the last eleven years. With little success I must say. I'd like to
retain you to coordinate a search for them for me. I can make it very worth
your while."
"I'm confused." Logan hedged, shooting a glance at Max who had paled at Lydeckers words. "Who exactly are these people and why are you looking for them?"
"They're escapees from a top secret military facility and they're known as X5s."
End of Chapter Sixty-Seven…TBC…
