"Sorry to interrupt." She said loudly. "But there was a mad traffic jam out there. I believe this is your witness."
Max bowed sarcastically, then smiled at Lauren and took a seat next to him. She felt him squirm and knew that it meant he was uncomfortable with her entrance, and the look Peter gave her said that he was in agreement, though much more perturbed. Oh well, she thought. She's here, isn't she? Now all I have to do is make sure she's alive at the end of the day.
Peter leaned over and whispered in Logan's ear, "Your girl isn't my idea of a team player."
Logan leaned over and whispered back to Peter, "She probably heard you just now."
Max leaned forward in order to get a good look at both of them and smiled widely. She gave a little wave and whispered, "Hi, Peter."
"I'm sure you two can continue this later." Logan broke in, sensing something was going to go down between the two. "Right now we have more important things to be worrying about."
Both Peter and Max sat back, both on high alert. Not one of the three of them would put it past Sonrisa to try and gun Lauren down in the courtroom. Once Sonrisa's lawyer began talking about ethics and things totally unrelated to the case, Max turned to Logan. "Did you know Lauren has a daughter?"
"A daughter? Really?" Logan replied, not taking his eyes off the scene before him. "I didn't know that."
"Yeah. She basically told me I better protect her ass 'cause she didn't want her daughter to grow up without a mother." Max said. Then added with a tinge of sadness in her voice, "Must be nice. You know, having a mother... and one who cares. That's gotta be... wow."
Logan slowly turned his head and looked down at Max. He smiled warmly then took her hand in his. She smiled back, then they both turned their attention back to the case going on in front of them. Sonrisa's lawyer finished his speech, then the judge called on the plaintiff, the city. The lawyer stood up and called Lauren to the stand. She took her oath and sat down and that's when Max's soldier instinct kicked in.
"Something's happening." She muttered to Logan and disentangled their hands. She stood up and Logan let her go, knowing that she could feel something he had no idea of. Her eyes roamed all over the room, examining everyone in it. Finally her gaze came upon a man sitting in the first bench, directly behind the city's lawyer.
Perfect position. Max thought as she walked down toward him. He's got direct aim to - Oh my God!
The man's hand had dipped inside his jacket and Max knew that it might be too late. She ran full speed toward him, then leapt into the air and managed to grab him. She had the back of his jacket as she continued flying through the air, but lost her grip on the man and he just slammed up against the desk in front of him. Knowing he wouldn't be long to react, Max went rushing over to Lauren. Again she leapt into the air, but this time kept her grip. Lauren went tumbling to the floor with Max just as gunshots rang through the room.
Max stayed on top of Lauren, for some reason unknown to her, wanting to keep her promise about her daughter having a mother. There were two more shots, then a grunt, and silence. Max lifted her head slowly and looked around the room. The shooter was slumped over the bench, blood trickling from two bullet wounds in his back, and Peter was standing in his spot, his gun held firmly in his hand.
Oh, Goddamn. Max thought with exasperation as she saw another potential shooter glancing back at Logan. She was already halfway across the room and had dove at Logan by the time the shot rang out, but this time it was different. This time she felt a sharp pain that she didn't like very much at all.
Logan looked at her and she looked at him, then another shot rang out and Peter was rushing to them. Max looked down at the source of pain and saw that the bullet had grazed both their arms and a steady flow of blood was dribbling from the wounds. She frowned and looked back to Logan.
"We've been shot."