Reaching for The Moon by ThePekingNoodle

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Chapter Seventy-Six: Oh Brother…

In which our heroine finds out the joys of having a sibling…

Max and Logan made it back to Fogle Towers without any further problems. As they were walking away from the bike, Max turned to Logan.

"By the way, are you planning on getting a new car anytime soon?"

Logan smiled teasingly at her, "It's so much fun riding with you." She just looked at him, and he relented. "It's on order. Everything takes time these days. I'm expecting delivery sometime this week."

"Another Lamborghini?" she asked.

"Actually not. I figured we could use something a bit more practical. And we do have the bike for when we want to take a ride on the wild side." He reached out for her hand and gave it a squeeze as he smiled down at her. They had reached the elevator and the doors opened as soon as Logan hit the code. The ride up to the penthouse was short.

"Do you really think Zack will show?" Max asked Logan as they walked inside.

Logan shrugged. "Hard to say. He didn't seem like the most trusting sort."

"That's Zack. He was the CO of our group. Always by the book. That's why it was kind of surprising that he's the one who said we had to leave."

"Why?"

Max hesitated. "It's complicated."

Logan waited.

"I think it was my fault. The seizures. They were pretty bad."

"And?"

"Jack had seizures and they took him away. We…never saw him again." She paused and then went on. "I was having a bad episode and some of the guards were there to see. They started after me and one of my sisters grabbed a gun from them to hold them away." Max stopped and stared into space, a sad look on her face.

"Max? Are you okay?" Logan looked at her in concern.

"Yeah. I'm fine. It's just hard to talk about."

He took her hand and led her to the couch, pulling her down next to him and placing an arm around her shoulders. "You don't have to, if you don't want to."

Max sat in silence, grateful for Logan's arm around her, as images of that long ago day flashed though her head. Logan stroked her hair gently, leaving it up to her to talk or not.

…It was cold in the barracks. The concrete floor and walls never held any heat, letting what little there was bleed out into the outer world. Max could feel the iciness of the floor on her bare feet, and the chill air seeping through her thin smock. She was aware of two of her siblings holding her arms to keep her from falling onto that cold, hard floor, and of Eva standing in front of them, guarding them. Holding off the guards with that gun that looked so large and heavy in her small hands. It was an impasse, until the group of guards in front of them parted. The Colonel appeared, as if from nowhere. Time seemed to stand still. Then the shot rang out and she watched Eva, falling in slow motion in front of her.

Zack took over then, signaling them to escape and evade. Max felt the adrenaline surge through her body, overriding the weakness induced by the seizures. Her blood was a hot rush in her veins as she dove through the window and out into the world that in reality wasn't much colder than the one inside…

"Anyway, I think Zack thought they were going to take me away. So we left." Max broke her silence.

Logan looked at her closely but didn't press for more. "And you've never seen any of the others since?"

"I was lucky. Nathan found me and I was protected and safe for years. I have no idea what happened to the others."

"Twelve of them got out and weren't recaptured." Logan said.

"Twelve? How long have you known?" Max looked at him, almost accusingly.

"Sebastian's been looking into it for me. He just confirmed the number the other day. Zack was the first hit we had, and I told you right away."

Max sighed. "Yeah."

"Max, I can find the others for you. That's why I want to do the deal with the Colonel. If I'm on the inside with him it will be that much faster."

"And you can turn us all over to him when you find us?" Zack's cold voice interrupted the conversation. He stood there glaring at Logan and Max. "Max don't you see what this guy is? He's playing you, using you, and then he'll turn you in when he's finished with you."

"Nice to see you again too, Zack." Logan observed mildly.

Zack looked at him stonily. "I should kill you right now."

Max jumped up and stood between Zack and Logan. "Stop it. Now. You have no idea what you're talking about Zack."

"I heard him talking about working with the Colonel. That's all I need to know, and all you should need to know as well. Have you forgotten everything we learned?"

"I've tried." Max said softly.

The two X5s stood there locked in a staring contest.

"Zack instead of jumping to conclusions, why don't you listen to what Logan and I have to say?" Max finally said.

"Because I don't trust him. He's not one of us, Max. I don't know how or when you hooked up with him but he's a normal. Why should we trust him?"

"My foster father was a normal too and he was the best person I ever knew. He trusted Logan and so do I." Max wouldn't give any ground. "Zack there are too few of us out here. We have to trust someone. We can't do it alone."

"I've done it and so have the others since we escaped. And we've done it without the help of ones like him." Zack's disdain was evident in his tone as he glanced at Logan.

"And Lydeckers been getting closer and closer every year, hasn't he Zack?" Logan pointed out. "He won't give up and he won't go away until he has all of you back. You can take whatever chances you want to, but I'm not letting him have Max. I'll do whatever I have to to protect her from him." His voice was now as harsh as Zack's. This time it was Zack and Logan whose eyes locked.

Finally Zack broke away. "I still don't like it, and I don't trust you."

"I do." Max said flatly. "Please Zack, give him a chance. I've wondered for so long what happened to all of you, if I was the only one left outside. I don't want to lose you again now that I just found you."

Zack's eyes softened as he looked at Max. "I don't want to lose you again either, Maxie. You were the only one I couldn't find after we got out, and I thought we'd lost you for good."

Max smiled and went to Zack putting her arms around him in a hug. Zack's eyes met Logan's over her head.

When Max stepped back from Zack she was smiling. She looked at the two of them and then said, "I want you two to be friends. You're the only family I have left."

Logan couldn't resist the plea in her eyes and he reluctantly held out a hand to Zack.

Zack looked at Max and took Logan's hand. "For you Max, but fair warning, if he does anything to hurt you he's dead."

Logan looked at him levelly. "I'm not the one Max has to worry about." Max shot a look at him, but Zack just shrugged.

"Logan, can you make us some food? Zack is probably starving and I doubt he's had anything like one of your culinary miracles anytime recently." Max tried to break the mood.

Logan smiled at her. "Sure, Max." He walked to where she still stood near Zack, and leaned in to drop a quick kiss on her lips. "I'll leave you and your brother to get re-acquainted." Zack didn't miss the slight emphasis on brother and shot Logan a look.

Logan met it levelly and then turned and headed off to the kitchen, leaving Max and Zack alone.

Max turned to Zack with a smile. "So big brother, sit down and tell me about what you've been up to…"

End of Chapter Seventy-Six…TBC…