Reaching for The Moon by ThePekingNoodle
AN: Just a short word to my faithful readers. The Noodle will probably not be posting on weekends during the summer months due to Real Life commitments. So don't be concerned or fear that you have been abandoned. That possessed keyboard wouldn't allow it. Not to mention our hero and heroine! EEK!! And now back to our story…
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Chapter Ninety-Three: Running Out of Time
In which things are closing in on our heroine as our hero desperately tries to find her…
The vehicle carrying Max slowed and made a turn. She felt it bumping over something, and then it came to a halt. The engine was turned off. Max braced herself for whatever was to come. Her brain was still encased in a fog and when she tried to lift her arm it felt like it was carrying one hundred pounds of weights.
The front doors of the vehicle opened and it rocked slightly as the two men climbed out.
"Get her and bring her along." The driver's voice said.
Max heard the other man grunt something in response and then the back door of the vehicle opened. She kept her eyes closed as rough hands dragged her out of the SUV and she was tossed over a shoulder. Her captor's hand was roaming over her posterior in a familiar fashion, and she wanted nothing more than to give him a hard kick in the chest with her pointed shoes, but given her current physical state, she deemed it wiser to wait and let them think she was still unconscious. She promised herself that the man would regret his actions in due time.
Max was jolted along for several moments. She dared to open her eyes just a slit and she could see that they were in what appeared to be some type of warehouse. She heard a door being unlocked and opened and then they were proceeding down some kind of hallway. They entered a small room and she was roughly and unceremoniously dumped facedown onto a flat surface.
She could sense her two captors standing over her.
"So what do you say we take our fun now? I tell you she won't remember a thing. No one will ever know but us," the man who had carried her said to his companion.
"And I tell you, it's hands off. The Colonel has a way of finding things out. You wanna be strung up buck naked for him to try out the latest tasers on various parts of your anatomy? That's the least of what he'd do to you. She ain't worth it. Let's go. She's gonna be out of it for at least the next three hours. By then the Colonel will let us know where we bring her."
"Lemme just make sure she's comfortable." The second man said.
"You got five minutes to join me. I ain't gonna be held responsible for you doin' something stupid."
Max heard a set of footsteps walking away. Hands rolled her onto her back. She suppressed a gasp of anger as they briefly ran up her legs and over her bodice.
"You and me are gonna have some fun tonight, baby. Just lemme take care of him and I'll be back."
She heard footsteps leaving the room and the sound of the door closing, followed by a click of the lock. She waited a few moments and then opened her eyes. She was lying on a small foldaway cot in a dingy room. There was no other furniture and no light, except for what leaked under the door. The walls were lined with empty shelves. The door itself was a solid wooden one. There was no latch on the inside for her to release, which meant that this room had been originally designed to keep things inside of it secure. It was not a real cell designed to hold an X5, but more likely an old storeroom, that had been converted into a crude prison. Max sighed in relief to know that the Colonel still had no clue who she really was. That meant this kidnapping had to have something to do with his plans for Logan. It also meant that she needed to be careful not to reveal her actual abilities. It would make getting out of here a bit trickier, but she was confident she could do it. If she could get rid of the fuzziness in her head and the weakness in her body. She refused to think about what would happen if she couldn't overcome the drug's effects before her captor returned.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Logan was passed through Checkpoint Charlie with ease, which was one of the benefits of having a Class Five, VIP sector pass. The pass and some bills slipped discreetly inside of the folder had the Sector Patrols on duty waving him through the checkpoint in complete disregard of the curfew. Once past he made sure to drive out of their sight before pulling the SUV over to the side. He pulled out his cell phone and tried Max's number once more on the off chance that she might be able to answer. Again he had no success. He punched in Sebastian's number and waited impatiently for him to answer.
"Any information yet?" he asked without preamble when the call connected.
"The satellite just came up. Give me a few minutes to see what I can find."
Logan wanted to scream with impatience, but he restrained himself as he waited for Sebastian.
"Have you got your sector map up?" Sebastian asked.
"Hang on." Logan punched some keys on his laptop. "It's up now."
"Log in your GPS signal so I can coordinate with what I find."
"Got it." A red flashing light appeared on the on screen map, indicating Logan's position.
"I'm going to hook you into the infra-red satellite scan. Anything it picks up with a heat signature that corresponds to that of a human will show on your screen. That includes the neighborhood winos, I'm afraid."
Nothing happened for a few moments but then the screen came alive with green dots. There were at least forty of them scattered through the sector. Logan groaned in frustration. "That's way too many for me to check out in time. Is there anything you can do to refine it down?"
"I'm trying, Logan. Give me a minute."
Logan waited staring at the screen as if he could will it to show him Max's whereabouts with a flashing neon arrow. Suddenly two thirds of the green dots winked out.
"What did you do?"
"Narrowed the search parameters to require body heat signatures equal to at least two humans in close proximity."
"There are still too many. Can you narrow it to require three? There were two guys who grabbed Max according to the valet."
"They have to be in close proximity; within 25 feet of each other. If Max's captors are further away than that, her location will be eliminated."
"Try it. If no locations show we can go back to these parameters."
"You could miss her location and waste time searching the wrong ones."
"Just try it."
The next iteration of the search came up and this time only two green dots appeared. One was within several blocks of the SUV and the other was across the Sector.
"Okay I'm going to try the one closest to me. Keep running the search, Seb, just in case her captors are further than the 25 feet but they move closer. I'll keep the display open on my laptop."
Logan reached into his glove compartment and pulled out his gun. He inserted a clip and slipped it into his suit pocket. Then he shifted the car into drive and headed for the location shown on the map.
"Be careful, Logan."
"I intend to be. I also need you to do me another favor. I need to find something on the Colonel that I can use against him. There's got to be a way to even the odds and hold him off from this snatch and grab habit of his."
"You're playing a dangerous game, Logan." Sebastian warned.
"You think I don't know that? He's not going to go away so I need to neutralize him. It's either that or send Max away."
"Wouldn't that be easier?" Sebastian asked.
Logan laughed humorlessly. "You don't know Max very well or you wouldn't say that. I'm there so just wait to hear from me."
"Logan wait. Wear your earpiece. I'm going to keep monitoring and that way if something new comes up, I can let you know."
"Gotcha." Logan slipped the phone's earpiece in and put his phone in his breast pocket. "OK I'm going in. Wish me luck." He had pulled the SUV into an alley next to the building indicated by one of the green dots on the map. Within seconds he had exited his vehicle and was slipping along the wall of the building as he headed towards the back, figuring that would be his best bet to enter undetected. He pulled his gun from his pocket and held it ready. The back of the warehouse fronted on a parking area and there were two loading docks. The door to one looked solid but the other looked like someone had broken an opening large enough to allow entrance. Logan scrambled to the top of the dock and leaned down to peer inside. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust but then he thought he detected a faint glimmer of light off to the left. He squeezed through the opening and was about to head in the direction of the light when he heard a female scream.
End of Chapter Ninety-Three…TBC…
