Title: Secrets, Lies and Betrayals
Rating: PG, for now, may contain a few swear words
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Dark Angel, Cameron & Eglee, etc. I own nothing and I'm gaining only valuable writing experience.
Summary: Logan has a secret, which ultimately puts both Max and Alec in danger. M/A
Chapter 2: Danger
Alec decided to head out to the complex around dusk. In the meantime, he had gone about his day just like any other. He went to Jam Pony and managed to only deliver 3 packages all day! In the quieter moments during the day, Alec took the time to go over the layout, routines and his plan in his head. He didn't want anything to go wrong on this mission. After all, it was for Max and she had recommended him as the man for the job and to Logan no less. That sure meant a lot to Alec and he was determined not to let her down. Which was, unbeknownst to Max, the main mission in his knew found life, provided by and revolving around her.
Max was tired and irritated and it was showing. Her last drop off contained a small child who insisted on throwing every toy he ever owned at her while she waited patiently at the door for the all-important signature. The final straw was when a tow truck smacked her in the head causing a small bruise to form instantly. All Max did was gently return the toy to the child. She hadn't meant to make him cry… honest. Besides, it didn't hit him as hard as it had hit her so what was he complaining about? He wasn't the one that had a bruise on his head. Her headache had started sometime between the tow truck hitting her head and the mother of the now screaming child yelling something about calling her boss and pressing charges. Max sighed as she entered Jam Pony and wheeled her bike over to the row of locker's that contained hers. She rested her bike against them and then gratefully sank down onto the bench provided. A shadow with a soft, yet concerned, face appeared above her.
"You all right Max?" the shadow asked.
Max raised her head to look at the shadow commonly known as Alec
"Just peachy" she replied as she rubbed the back of her neck, trying to relieve some of the tension that was always there.
When Max had looked up at him, Alec noticed the bruise on her forehead. 'X-5's don't bruise very easily' Alec thought to himself and he should know since Max was constantly hitting him hard enough to cause bruises.
"What happened to your head?" he asked in a gentle and caring tone.
"Tow truck" Max answered flatly not bothering to elaborate or say it was only the toy of some demon child
"So what are you doing tonight?" Max asked Alec as she rose, went over to her locker and began to rummage through it.
"You know what I'm doing tonight Max," Alec said with a puzzled look on his face and then proceeded to head over to Normal's office.
'I do?' thought Max with an equally puzzled look on her face as she abandoned the search in her locker and watched Alec walk away. The way Alec had Normal wrapped tightly around his little finger never ceased to amaze and annoy Max. She witnessed Alec not only managing to convince Normal into letting him go home early, but also convincing Normal that it was his idea and a very good one at that. So good, in fact, that is should be repeated…often.
Max couldn't seem to help the small knot in the pit of her stomach from forming the instant Alec had mentioned, or rather not mentioned, his plans for the evening. What ever Alec was doing tonight, she had a very bad feeling about it. She caught sight of him heading towards the exit and called out his name in a rather loud voice causing him to spin round and seek her out through the throng of people that meandered through out Jam Pony. He said nothing and instead gave her a questioning look.
"Be careful," she yelled
Alec let out a short laugh before yelling back "Yes, Logan" and with that he gave a short wave over his shoulder as he, once again, headed towards the door and eventually disappeared from her view.
Alec quickly mounted his motorcycle and returned to his apartment to pick of the few supplies that he needed and, of course, the 20 grand. He then continued onto the complex, which was located 40 miles past the outskirts of town. Alec sped through the countryside enjoying the scenery and freedom as much as was possible at that moment in time. He never lost sight of his goal but he did allow himself to relax somewhat on the pleasant, 2-hour drive it took to get to within three miles of the complex. Alec had decided it would be best to leave his bike a safe distance away, making it less likely to be discovered and removed and also because it would draw less attention during his getaway. Not that he was planning on drawing any attention on his getaway. After all, this was to be an easy mission, or so he thought from his initial reviews of the layout and his plan.
Alec hide his bike behind a thick patch of trees and shrubs and quickly made his way silently across the countryside and to his destination. By now night had fallen providing the perfect cover for him. Whilst retrieving the supplies from his apartment earlier in the night, Alec had removed the money from the briefcase and deposited it in his backpack. He had concluded that the money would be much easier to carry in the small bag, which was now slung firmly around his body, than in the bulky briefcase Logan had provided. Alec was sure that the person who was receiving the 20 grand would be much more concerned about the money itself, rather than what it came in and at least then, he would be able to return the briefcase back to Logan. Alec was pleased with his decision.
It was quite a dark night as the moon was being well hidden among the vast number of clouds that blanketed the sky. This didn't bother Alec in the least as his eyes had quickly adjusted to his surroundings and he was now crouching in the cover of some trees and bushes and was surveying the perimeter of the complex. The complex consisted of 3 buildings, all of which were 3 stories high. The contact was supposed to be in an office at the end of the corridor on the second level of the southern building. Alec had devised quite a simple plan, but one he felt was definitely adequate to complete the mission successfully. Alec half crouched/half sat in his position near the perimeter fence, which was situated slightly between the southern and eastern buildings. He continued to observe his surroundings until he felt it was exactly the right time to proceed.
Just as the recon had predicted there was only 2 guards at the south entrance and another 4 covering the east. Although the northern building was out of view, Alec knew that there were a further 3 guards covering it. He had already decided that the south was the best option for point of entry and the placing of the guards had made his decision all the sweeter. Glancing at his watch, Alec noted that the time was now 10:15pm and there was due to be a roster change at 10.30. The plan was to be in an out whilst the guard change occurred making sure neither group of guards knew what had hit them. In the event that his presence was detected, however, Alec was going to capitalise on the element of panic and fear that would no doubt consume the guards and make their collective efforts to regroup and find the culprit just that extra bit slower and thus enabling him that extra precious amount of time needed to escape without being caught or identified.
After checking his surrounding one last time, Alec blurred to the perimeter fence and quickly cleared it. He continued to blur until he was flat against the nearest wall, where he then blended expertly into the shadows. The 2 guards that were covering the entrance that he planned to use hadn't been alerted to his presence and were wandering around looking rather bored. Alec noticed the small furry animal before the two guards did and had already planned to use it as some sort of distraction in order to sneak his way inside.
"Hey Charlie," he heard the larger of the 2 guards yell
"Yeah?" Charlie yelled back. Obviously maintaining strict silence so as to ascertain any sign of an intruder quickly and efficiently hadn't been drilled into these guards.
"Come look at this"
'Amateurs' Alec thought to himself
Charlie obeyed his fellow guard and came wandering over to see what had attracted the other guards' attention.
"What's that?" the large guard asked, pointing to the squirrel that was now harmlessly ferreting around on the ground. 'Dumb amateurs' Alec thought, correcting his first assessment.
"I think it's a squirrel," remarked Charlie. Alec almost laughed out loud. 'Seriously dumb amateurs'
Alec was rather amused that 2 guards that were supposed to be on duty were distracted by the likes of a squirrel. But he wasn't complaining and took the opportunity the squirrel had created and snuck into the door behind the unsuspecting and otherwise occupied guards. Once inside he crouched in the corner and surveyed his surroundings, his eyes adjusting quickly, in much the same way as they had whilst occupying his previous surroundings. Charlie and the other guard had obviously not been alerted to his presence yet again as they were continuing to try to identify the animal that had invaded their watch. Quickly getting his bearing and bringing the layout of the southern building to the fore front of his mind, Alec swiftly made his way to the stair case that he knew to be straight down the hall, then the first right, second left and finally the 4th door on the left. Alec opened the door carefully so as to not make an excessive noise and silently made his way up the stairs to the second level.
He crouched at the closed door of the second level stairwell and opened it ever so slowly until it was slightly ajar. Alec then stuck a small mirror, similar to the one dentists use to examine the inside of a patients mouth, out into the corridor to survey the hallway. When he saw it was all clear, he stood, opened the door enough for him to slip out and continued his silent movements towards the end of the hall.
Alec noiselessly entered the office he was instructed the contact would be in and took in his view. The room held only a few random items of furniture and contained no windows. There was a large metal door, with an observation slot in the middle of it, at the far end of the room. The door was open. Alec simply shrugged and assumed his contact would be in the back room. He made his way over and stepped inside, spying a short man with glasses sitting behind a round table engrossed in the paperwork that lay scattered before him. Alec cleared his throat in order to make his presence known startling the short man and causing him to jump. The short man eyed Alec warily and backed away from the desk in obvious fear.
"Who… who are you?" he managed to stammer out.
Alec remembered a piece of trivial information that Logan had disclosed during a conversation while they went over the details of the mission earlier in the night. 'His voice doesn't sound all the squeaky to me?' Alec thought to himself. He was now very suspicious. For a contact that was expecting a 20 grand deal to go down tonight, this guy sure was scared. It was more than just the fear of being caught by his superiors, Alec could sense that and it was beginning to unnerve him.
"Eyes only sent me" Alec replied, as the man continued to back away until his small form came in contact with the wall and he rested flat against it.
"Oh?" the short man said, raising his eyebrows in obvious surprise.
It was now clearly obvious to Alec that the short man had no idea what was going on or about any deal that was supposed to go down tonight on behalf of Eyes only. The whole situation was suddenly reeking of "set-up" and Alec wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Just as the instinct to flee hit Alec he heard the large metal door slam shut behind him and lock firmly in place, with what sounded like a large metal bolt sliding into place. Despite this, Alec immediately went to the door and tried to open it. The observation slot slid open and only the cold, hard eyes of White were visible. Alec cursed inwardly. His simply mission complete with seriously dumb guards and squirrels had suddenly gone from easy to bad to catastrophic within the blink of an eye.
"Try all you like 494" white said lazily as he watched Alec struggle with the door, "This door is reinforced steel, even your skills, if you can call them that, are no match for it."
Alec took a step back and underwent a mental inventory of the room and anything that would aid his escape. The short man was now cowering in the corner of the room upon hearing white's voice. Alec sighed, as it was obvious that the short man would be now help to him during an escape. The rest of the room was just as useless with the table the short man was sitting at earlier the only other item in the room. The sound of a large bolt being pulled back echoed through out the room and the metal door swung open allowing 6 men to file into the room, all equipped with tasers and guns. Alec immediately unclipped the bag from around his chest and threw it to one side then adopted his fight stance. Although the odds were stacked against him and he was severely out numbered, Alec wasn't prepared to go down without a fight.
The men formed a rough semi-circle around Alec. They all stood there, motionless for a few seconds just eyeing off Alec and waiting to see who would make the first move. In the end it was Alec who initiated the fight, as this was one fight he wasn't going to back down from, no matter how out numbered he was. The room erupted into a flurry of kicks, punches and lunges, with bodies ducking and weaving every which way. It appeared as thought the 6 familiars were quite content to fight Alec before subduing him with their weapons and indeed that is exactly what happened. A familiar lunged towards Alec and he used the larger man's momentum to flip himself over and kick several more of the men in the process, sending them crashing down to the ground. Three of the familiars lay strewn on the floor and the other 3 simply stepped over them and came at Alec. They simultaneously threw combination after combination of punches and kicks and Alec did as best he could to subdue their attack and fight back as best he could, considering the situation. As Alec was busy fighting them off, the three familiars who had previously been disposed of on the floor came round and closed in on Alec from behind. He was now completely encircled. This was not good. 'Be careful'…the concerned words that Max had offered echoed through Alec's mind. Again all the men simply stalked round each other, eyeing Alec off, trying to ascertain just how much he could take. Then, without warning, all 6 of the familiars lunged toward Alec, tasers drawn. The combined force of the 6 tasers was far too much for Alec as they battered his body in various places. Alec collapsed onto the ground and continued to spasm long after the tasers had ceased and he had blacked out.
It was at this moment that White entered the room for the first time. He came into the centre of the group of men who were all staring at Alec, tasers still at the ready. White simply nodded to the men, as if in appreciation of a job well done and then kicked Alec once in the stomach and once in the head. There was no reaction whatsoever from Alec, causing White to smirk.
"Take him away" White ordered before leaving the room. 2 of the men grabbed Alec's unconscious form and dragged it from the room closely followed by the other 4 familiars. The door slammed shut once more and the room fell eerily silent apart from the occasional sob of a short man with glasses who was huddled in the corner of the room. He had witnessed the entire fight and was more scared and confused than ever before, if that was even possible. The short man stood unsteadily and surveyed the room, just to make sure everyone else was really gone. His eyes fell upon a black bag, long forgotten, which was lying slightly underneath the table where he worked. The short man eyed the bag suspiciously, unsure of whether it would bite or not, until he finally picked it up and placed it in a drawer in his desk. He then sat down and continued working on the papers and trying to forget about what had just happened. Although the short man was scared beyond belief about what he had just witnessed, he knew that he would be the one on the receiving end of a similar attack if he didn't get this work finished. Despite knowing full well what would happen to him, the short man couldn't help his mind wandering to the young man who had taken on the 6 larger men and seemed to be holding his own for the majority of the battle until they had used their tasers. The short man couldn't help but wonder who the young man was and what kind of pain he was, undoubtedly, enduring right this very minute. He shuddered at the thought and pushed them to the back of his mind, determined to finish his work so he didn't end up in a similar fate.
A/N: Let me know what you think!