Disclaimer- Characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee

A/N- barcode-babe-210, I hope this chapter answers your question. I'm working on Chapter 7 right now, but it's slow going. I'm not focusing on the sibs pairing right now. I might add that in later, I don't know how long this series is going to run on for. Could people just vote (send me a review saying which you prefer) on which pairing is the best K/S, Z/S, J/Z, K/J- be warned I might not necessarily use them, I like the bro/sis relationship at the moment.

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Chapter 5- Fence

Max had just had a smashing (notice sarcasm) breakfast of cold egg, limp sausage, curdled milk and four trytophan pills. *I think I'm going to puke* she thought *We need supplies, it's not viruses we should be afraid of or those damned militant nutcases, it's the food!! That'll kill us*. She was snapped out of her reverie when Randy came running up to her.

"Ma'am, ma'am!" he shouted excitedly. Max turned, he stopped and snapped to attention.

"At ease soldier" he complied. Max had long since given up trying to tell people to call her Max; she'd yelled herself hoarse telling them that she was not their CO. They still called her ma'am or referred to her as 452. She sighed "What is it?".

"We've discovered a new contact"

She was immediately suspicious; she expected several attempts to infiltrate TC and had already put an end to many an attempt. "Who? What? Where? When?"

"Skip Damario ma'am. He's offering to set us up with supplies, including food and medical supplies for a certain price. He's the best, guaranteed service never lets his customers down. He's offered to deliver the goods on a weekly basis right here at TC"

"How do we know he's legit?"

"We've checked him out. He despises the authorities, the feelings mutual. He would never work for them. As far as he's concerned, any enemies of the cops are potential friends of his so he wouldn't turn us in. We also know that the man's only loyalty is to himself and to his biggest customers, that loyalty can be gained if we give him enough money. Business for him isn't exactly booming now, the raised security means that not a lot of people want to risk ordering and since he doesn't do business with cops he's got even less business than the average pimp; we would be his biggest customers, he'd have no incentive to betray us"

"Who did the checking?"

"X5-369 ma'am."

 "Shaile. She isn't head of recon for nothing" Max sighed again.

"How much?"

 "$2 million US" The nervous X-6 cleared his throat "In cash"

She was flabbergasted "2 MILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????? And just where does this nut job expect us to get 2 million US dollars, 'in cash'? If we had that we could've bought an island and lived there in peace!"

"And have been nuked into oblivion before we could say 'bob's yer uncle'" Alec interrupted before she could complete her diatribe. He'd come down from the roof a couple of hours ago and gotten a full report from Dix and Shaile, he overheard the conversation and felt sorry for the poor kid that was on the receiving end of one of Max's famous tongue-lashings. *So do what you always do Alec* came a sarcastic tinny voice from somewhere in his head *Be the lapdog and aim that lashing at yourself* he mentally kicked himself. 

"And I suppose you have two mil stashed somewhere?" she asked sarcastically "Did the great Alec and his even greater scams pay off that much?"

"Have you tried decaf?" he asked looking at her quizzically.

*Ooh, big mistake. Big, big mistake* He wouldn't have thought it possible but Max's gaze became even more heated than it already was, he could swear she had heat vision. He tugged at the collar of his T-shirt, wasn't warm in there or was it just him? Her face practically purpled with rage.

"Alec" she said through clenched teeth "My office. Now" she stormed past him and stomped into her little 'office'. It was just a small room really, it had some old filing cabinets, an old couch with broken springs and a work desk with a lamp. She had been compiling lists and files for all the transgenics at TC and her table was cluttered with papers. Alec's sensitive nose twitched at the musty scent of the room.

She slammed the door, Alec winced in anticipation of an attack, and surprisingly it didn't come. He turned around; Max was sitting on the couch shifting uncomfortably as the springs dug into her. She squirmed under the intensity of his gaze "What?"

"Nothing" he continued to look at her and wondered if this was some new form of torture Max had invented; keep him in agonising suspense and then pounce when he wasn't ready.

"What do you propose we do?" *Oh so that was it. One of Maxie's little denial situations, she knows this guy's our only chance. Funny, didn't take that long for her to snap out of it*

"What? Do you want to gloat?" Max asked glaring at him.

Abruptly Alec realized that he was still staring at her, he averted his gaze. "Nah" he grinned cockily at her "I'll save this one for later".

She picked up a dusty cushion from next to her and threw it at him, he ducked. "Now now, there's no need to get violent"

She continued to glower at him. It was his turn to squirm under her gaze. He let out his breath in one great whoosh. "I don't know Max. I think we should take this guy up on his offer. He's good at what he does I'll tell you that"

"And you would know" she sounded the slightest bit skeptical.

"Actually I would. I've had some minor dealing with this guy, made a couple of bucks. I brought him some business, especially when I left the Andy business. Let's leave it at that. Anyway, this guy doesn't come cheap"

"Yes, let's leave it at that" Max thoughtfully chewed on her lower lip "How're we gonna get the money Alec?" she sounded helpless. "It wouldn't matter if we pooled every penny that all of us have, it wouldn't even be a fraction of what we need or rather the problem is, it would only be a fraction of what we need."

"Well Maxie" he flopped down beside her and grinned at her roguishly "Looks like we're gonna have to do what we're best at"

Her glare turned suspicious "And that is?"

"Fence" he said simply.

"Just what item do you have in mind that would get us two million?"

Alec pulled a newspaper out from his back pocket and tossed it at her, she caught it "Anubis Jade Fire necklace on display at the Fenworth Museum" she read aloud. She softly whistled "It's beautiful" she whispered in awe. She cleared her throat when she realized that Alec was looking at her with amusement, assessing her reaction.

"We could get a mil and a half for this, easy" she said turning businesslike once more.

He grinned at her impishly "That's what I thought"

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Max poured over the plans, memorizing every twist and turn. Opposite her Alec was doing the same. It was late evening and a quick trip outside earlier had gained them the plans to the Fenworth  Museum, Dix was working on getting them the precise details of the security systems.

"I propose we move in this way" Max used her finger to show Alec a certain route along the vent shafts in the museum. He shook his head.

"Nah, that wouldn't work. That way's really noisy, there'll be guards right underneath us"

"But we don't make that much noise"

"It's enough. Those cursed shafts are a tight fit, trust me"

She turned suspicious "And exactly how do you know this?"

He suddenly looked uncomfortable "Uhh, lucky guess?" Max was nonplussed "Psychic powers?" he tried again.

"Alec…" she said warningly.

"Alright" he sighed resignedly. "I pulled the Slough job" she just gaped at him.

After a couple of seconds it stopped being amusing and got unnerving "You know I heard that if you leave your mouth open for that long flies will settle there" her teeth snapped together with a click.

"You, YOU pulled the Slough job?" A month ago a considerably expensive diamond was stolen from Fenworth Museum; it had been an amazingly tricky job. The diamond was owned by Travis Slough, a millionaire, and he had put a lot of money to boost up security so that the diamond wouldn't get stolen. Nevertheless, it was. It was unknown who stole it but he/she had been hailed by cat burglars everywhere. The case baffled the cops; there was no footage of a single living soul stealing anything, no fingerprints, no traces whatsoever. The only proof that they had that the burglar was real was a circular cut in the shaft on the rooftop.

"What, is that so hard to believe?" he asked, offended.

She eyed him warily "What did you do with the money?" 

"I donated it to charity" he deadpanned.

"Yeah right, I'm thinking what? Hookers and beer"

"Maxie!" he looked hurt, her gaze never wavered. He gulped, he was balking at the task of telling her just what happened to that diamond. "I lost it" he admitted.

"You WHAT????????????" she shrieked

"Someone stole it"

"Please don't tell me you lost a priceless, flawless, humungous diamond because you got ripped off by a PICKPOCKET!!"

"Actually, I thought it was, until…" his face hardened.

"Until?"

"Until it turned up on the black market with Skip Damario's name all over it. That *insert swear word here* stole it, that's kind of when I stopped doing business with him"

"Some honour among thieves" she shook her head ruefully but with amusement, then her expression became cold "He stole from you, and you still want us to trust him?"

He sighed "Look, I know that it might not sound it but he can be a good guy" he was met with skeptical silence. "Well it wasn't like the guy owed me anything"

"What aren't you telling me?"

"I kind of… borrowed something of his. His prized Lamborghini actually" he grinned at the memory of it "Tricked out stereo, bulletproof windows, leather upholstering, tinted windows, videophone, TV screen, amazing engine- silent by the way… I could go on and on. Damn that was a good car. I could see why he loved it"

"No wonder" she muttered.

"Hey, I returned it!" he exclaimed defensively "Albeit  with a few dozen bullet holes, a dent in the bumper and a couple of minor scratches here and there, I don't see what he was so mad about."

"Damn that was a good car" he said again.

"Alec you stole the guy's car!!! He probably loved it like I love my bike and you wrecked it, you deserved what he did to you. We really could have used the money though, why the hell do you have to be such an idiot?!"

Alec smiled "But you love that about me don't you Maxie?" he asked seductively. He moved towards the couch and put his hands against the wall above Max, leaning in just a little.

Max opened her mouth to respond but Syl suddenly burst in 'Hey sis! We just…" the words died in her throat as she took in the positioning of the other two X-5s she smiled knowingly "I'll come back in 5 minutes" She turned to leave.

"No!" they chorused. Alec quickly drew back, Max tried to burrow down further in the couch. They avoided looking at each other. "Stay" she said.

Jondy, who had walked in with Krit after Syl, and Syl exchanged one of their meaningful glances. They moved to flop down on the couch next to Max, Krit cleared his throat "I'll be outside" he waved his hand in the general direction of the door and began to uncomfortably inch backwards. All three females were looking at him in that knowing way that was so… female.

"I think I saw Lian down by the jeep, she was repairing it" Jondy said helpfully.

Krit's ears reddened "What makes you think I want to see her?"

"Well, because you…" Max's hand on her mouth quickly shut her up, she mouthed the word 'male'. It took Jondy a second to realize what she meant, "Oh, right" she lit up in recognition "No reason, we'll see you later then. Bye!" Krit dashed out.

It was a well known fact that Krit had a crush on Lian, an old hand at TC. She was a stunningly beautiful blonde X-5 with expressive grey eyes, full pouty lips and the figure of a gymnast. It was just as well known that she had a crush on him; they had started hanging around each other but still maintained that they 'weren't like that'.

"Watcha guys talking about?" Syl asked.

As an answer Max threw the paper onto Syl's lap, the girls whistled in awe at the picture. "Isn't that a bit risky though? This'll be in maximum security" Jondy commented.

Max looked to Alec "You tell them". He hastily filled them in on their predicament.

They both looked to Max "Go for it"

"That's what we thought too, but it'll be tricky"

Syl shrugged "Since when did that ever stop us?"

"Good point"

Alec cleared his throat "It's a two man job"

"Then you and Max are going" Jondy said firmly. They both immediately stared to voice their protest, each claiming that the other would jeopardize the operation and be a distraction. "No arguments" she said with finality "Now what's the plan to get in?"

Alec and Max glared at each other then pointed at the blueprints and started belting out two very different plans "Whoa, whoa!" Syl exclaimed, then she burst out laughing "Looks like we're gonna have to sort this out". Then they set to work.

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