Chapter 17
Max took a long, deep breath as she went outside, for once not annoyed by the rain, or the sector cop who complained about her bike being parked where it was, or the fact that the coffee she'd bought in the cafeteria had been cold, and the muffin had tasted like it was at least five days old.
"Sweet," she thought to herself as she surveyed the rain, and the muddy roads, and the trash scattered on the ground - probably by some dog. No, it was 'all good', she thought, compared to what the sunrise 'could' have brought her.
Nothing like facing a possible disaster to give you an appreciation for the everyday annoyances of life. At that moment, she felt that it could rain every day for a year and she wouldn't give a damn.
Max had contacted Bling, and had left it in his hands for him to bring to the hospital anything Logan would need, and Zack had promised to sit with Logan while she was gone. She was still worried about how far MacFarland would go in achieving his ends.
The morning traffic was still quite heavy, but she was confident she would get to the diner by 9 am – the question was, what would she do when she got there?
The attack on Logan had proven that MacFarland had gone beyond the merely suspicious stage, and had seen Logan as a threat to his plans. Where did that leave his son, she wondered? Like Logan, she had no desire to see Byron killed because they had coerced him into helping them.
Reaching the diner, she looked around cautiously before getting off her bike. There was no sign of anyone suspicious.
The diner itself was a long, rectangular affair, with a long counter running the length of it, lined with a row of rickety stools. Opposite the long counter, a series of tables lined the walls, where the paint had long ago given up any attempt to stay adhered to the plaster.
Opening the door, Max looked in to find the diner was virtually deserted. Not unexpectedly, of Byron MacFarland there was no sign.
With a quick glance at her watch, she noted the time was exactly 9 am. If Byron was anything like his father, she suspected that punctuality would be one of his character traits.
Max looked carefully at the diner's occupants. There were two men seated at one table, and another man on one of the stools at the counter. All three were dressed in jeans, pea coats and wool caps as if they worked on the wharf.
At this point, Max was prepared to be suspicious of anyone.
As she took a step inside, she noticed the man behind the counter closely scrutinizing her and then she was surprised to see an almost imperceptible nod in her direction.
Playing it cool, she walked up to the counter and ordered a coffee. "Make it hot," she added.
Feeling slightly on edge, she thanked the man for the coffee when he brought it, pleased to see the steam coming off it.
As she handed the money over, the man's eyes momentarily darted down in a meaningful way towards the coffee, then he thanked her as if nothing had happened.
"Thanks," she said, picking up the hot mug in her right hand, while her left pocketed the small piece of paper that had been tucked beneath it.
The coffee was hot as promised, and she was enjoying the scalding liquid as it slipped down her throat, for the moment wondering how Logan was doing, when she caught one of the men at the table looking her way.
She'd only seen that face very briefly, in the dark, once before, but Max was trained to remember faces, particularly faces that had had their hands at Logan's throat.
Schooling her features to not betray her, she suspected nonetheless that suspicions had been raised.
More desperate than ever to get out of there and read the note unhindered, she regretfully put down her coffee, and proceeded to saunter out of the diner towards the front door.
Immediately the men at the table followed, but Max continued on at the same pace, opening the heavy door and closing it behind her as she felt the men approaching at a faster rate.
Standing outside the door, her hand on the handle, she waited until she felt the first sign of movement to open the door from the other side.
The two men following her were stunned to find the door suddenly open on them with a force wiw which knocked them backwards.
Satisfied, Max ran towards her bike, but before she was half-way there, the third man who had been sitting at the counter, came from around the back of the building, with the obvious intention of cutting her off.
Instead, Max veered in his direction, coming at him with a flying kick that knocked him flat on his back, sliding gracefully along the ground to land in a heap against the wall.
The delay gave the other two enough time to come from the diner, and now they came rushing at Max.
Max stood and waited for them to come at her, an annoyed look on her face. "You made me ditch my coffee – and it was hot!"
Apparently neither man realized what a serious mistake this was, because with self-assured smiles, they both continued to come at her.
Max stood still until the last second, when, to their complete surprise, she stepped forward, hitting each one flush in the jaw with a speed that left them gaping and enough force to knock them out cold.
Max took a quick look at all three, but none of them showed any sign of returning to the fray, so with a final longing glance in the direction of the diner and her hot coffee, she jumped on her Ninja, and sped away.
**************************************************
Max stopped by her own place on her way back to the hospital, touching base with Original Cindy, having a quick shower and changing into fresh clothes.
The hospital was busy now with it's daily ministrations and the corridors were filled with nurses, doctors, orderlies pushing gurneys with patients to various parts of the hospital, cleaning staff, and people with any number of other reasons to be there mid morning.
Zack was leaning against the wall outside Logan's room when she returned, surveying the passing traffic with an almost bored expression that hid his eagle-eyed scrutiny.
"Bling's in there with him," he remarked to Max as she approached.
Hearing the sound of Bling's slightly raised voice through the open door, Max looked in, surprised to see Logan, dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed.
With eyes rolling, she stepped past Zack and went inside.
"What d'you think you're doing?" she snapped incredulously.
Zack, with a small smile to himself, followed her in. He didn't want to miss the fireworks.
Bling, who was kneeling in front of Logan putting on his shoes for him, gave her a resigned look. "I've already gone through this with him," he told her.
"I'm getting outta here, what does it look like?" replied Logan calmly.
"Does Sam know about this?"
With a very annoyed sigh- and he could put a great deal of expression into such a small sound- Logan stated slowly, "They were moving me out of ICU, so I decided it would make more sense to go home than go to another room."
"Even though you don't have the strength to put your own shoes on," muttered Bling.
"I've got things that need to be taken care of," Logan explained exactingly.
"One of them being your 'health'," added Max quickly.
"Yeah, well I can take care of that tomorrow, today I've got things to do!" answered Logan stubbornly.
"Let's just hope you're still around by then," replied Max, lightly sarcastic.
Logan looked up at her, but for once he didn't have the strength to reply.
Taking his silence as a victory to her, her next comment was cut short by Sam's arrival on the scene.
"I hear you're leaving us," he remarked ironically to Logan. "Not many of my patients leave ICU to go home."
Bling stood up at this point, hesitating in bringing Logan's wheelchair over until he heard what Sam had to say.
Max watched the proceedings with interest. She thought Logan looked as determined as ever, but perhaps less confident of the outcome with Sam's appearance on the scene, and Max was sure Sam wouldn't let him leave if it was dangerous to his health.
Lowering his own eyes, Logan waited a little tensely for his doctor's words.
Sam considered Logan thoughtfully for a moment. "As your doctor, I 'should' insist on you staying ..." Logan felt a glimmer of hope, "but then I never like to waste good words."
"Thanks Sam," Logan said, unable to hide the small smile of relief.
Sam nodded. "Just take it easy, huh, and I'd be grateful if I didn't see you around here for a while," he added with a wry smile.
"I'll do my best," grinned Logan.
Once Sam had gone, Logan turned to Max, asking the question that had been uppermost in his mind, "How'd it go at the diner?"
"No sign of Byron, but I did have the pleasure of meeting up with one of our friends from Morristown."
Logan raised his eyebrows at that.
"And the man behind the counter serves notes with his coffees for no extra charge."
Max handed the note to Logan, still sitting on the bed.
Logan read it silently, then looked over at Max. "What d' you make of it?"
"I'm wondering why Byron's brother Phillip wants to meet with us."
"It could be a trap," acknowledged Logan, handing her back the note and sliding across to his wheelchair. "When does he want to meet us again?" he queried.
Max frowned a little, noting that Logan didn't quite have his wits back.
"8 pm, back at the market."
Aware of Max's stare, Logan tried to work through the problem quickly, but it was hard when his brain seemed to be in 'slo-mo'.
Glad of the distraction of putting his feet on the footrest because it gave him longer to reply, he had to admit he was struggling to come up with a reasonable plan.
"I'm not sure I like it, Logan," stated Max, picking up the bag Bling had brought in for him.
Logan looked at her, trying to make a decision, but all he could come up with in his mind was, 'I feel like crap, and I think I'm gonna throw up.'
Max took one look at him and said, "Let's get you home, and we can work it out from there."
********************************************************
"Why are you doing that?" asked Max, her temper showing, when she saw Logan booting up his computer as soon as they got back to the penthouse.
"I thought I'd better check into the security at MacFarland's. See if that's where they're keeping Byron."
"Or maybe they're not keeping Byron anywhere, and the whole thing last night was a set up," suggested Max.
"You're just being the devil's advocate," replied Logan, with a quick glance at her. "You don't believe that any more than I do."
"Well, our track record in character reading hasn't been the best lately remember."
"You seem 'determined' to remind me of that fact," Logan said caustically, turning back to his screen.
"You know what I mean," Max said, easing up a little.
Logan continued to stare at the screen, waiting for his information to come up.
"You want some lunch, people?" asked Bling, coming through from the kitchen.
Max looked over at Zack, who was standing at one of the windows, gazing across to the other buildings.
Walking over to him, she said, "You hungry, Zack?"
"I'm an X5 aren't I?" he smiled back at her. "I'll say this for Logan, he's got a great view from up here. He's got a lotta great things in his life," he added suddenly, staring at her intently for a moment.
Max's gaze faltered under his. "I'm not sure I thanked you properly for everything you did last night," she said.
Zack shrugged. "I guess you had a lot on your mind."
"Well, I want you to know it meant a lot to me," she said sincerely.
Zack's blue eyes held hers searchingly, then flickered to Logan. "I know it did," he answered evenly.
Max smiled at him. "Come on, and I'll feed you; it's the least I can do."
***********************************************
Max helped Bling put the various items of food out for sandwiches, while Zack set about making some hot drinks.
"Logan, you eating lunch?" asked Bling, walking through to his computer.
"Uh uh," was the only reply.
"What about something to drink?" Bling tried.
"Nope."
Bling looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind, and walked back to the kitchen where Max and Zack were making their sandwiches, with Max filling Zack in on what had happened since they'd left him in Morristown.
"This MacFarland sounds like a great guy," remarked Zack, biting into his sandwich as the three of them sat on the stools at the counter.
Looking at Max he asked, "Are you gonna meet this other brother, Phillip, tonight?"
"I'm not sure," answered Max, with a worried look in Logan's direction. "We've gotta talk about it."
"I wouldn't expect too much from Logan in his present state," said Bling quietly.
"You know you can count on me," put in Zack quickly.
"I should talk to him," she said to Bling.
"Someone's got to," muttered the trainer.
*****************************************
"Are you making much headway with that?" Max asked, leaning against the computer desk next to Logan.
"No," he replied shortly.
"Maybe you should leave it for a while. Come and have some lunch."
"Lunch is the last thing my stomach needs right now," admitted Logan with a grimace.
"You feeling bad?" Max asked tentatively.
Unlocking his brakes and pushing back from the computer with his hands, he grimaced again. With a grunt of annoyance he knew he had to give up.
"Just get Bling," he told her.
********************************************************
Max paced restlessly in front of the 'much admired' view of Seattle.
She'd seen it all before.
Zack walked into the living area, offering the information that he'd washed the dishes, but Max scarcely heard him.
"I shouldn't have let him leave the hospital. He wasn't well enough," she told Zack.
Zack grinned at her a little. "Seems to me that you two are a lot alike. Short of physical violence, I don't think you could have stopped him."
Max smiled at that. "It's probably good for him to have his ass kicked every once in a while."
Seeing Bling coming from Logan's room, she walked out to meet him.
"Is he all right?" asked Max at once.
"I put him to bed and he was asleep in five seconds. He probably just needs to sleep this off."
Max looked relieved. She trusted Bling in these matters.
The trainer smiled easily at her. "I'll check in on him later."
"You'll have to decide what you're gonna do about the meet with the other brother," said Zack, breaking in on her thoughts as she returned to him.
"Phillip MacFarland," sighed Max, dragged back to their problems.
"Logan's not up to making a decision on this one," Zack pointed out.
Max stared out the windows, much the same as Zack had earlier, feeling strangely alone. She had become so used to talking things through with Logan, even when he didn't agree with her, that it felt strange to not be able to talk this out with him, particularly when it involved him so much.
"D'you know what Logan was thinking?" prompted Zack.
"All I'm sure of is that he wanted to save Byron," replied Max with certainty.
"Seems to me we have no choice but to meet the other brother then," stated Zack prosaically.
"You said 'we'. You don't have to come along. I can't be sure it's not a trap," Max told him honestly.
Zack shrugged, saying, "I said I'd help you," as if the matter were settled.
******************************************
Max spent a great deal of the afternoon at Logan's computer, continuing his hack into MacFarland's files to access any security information she could, assuming that Byron was being held somewhere on the grounds.
Standing at the doorway, Zack watched her as she intently searched the screen for the information she sought, her full lips slightly parted, brown eyes pools of concentration, leaning forward slightly, her entire attention solely concerned with finding that information. For Logan.
"Have you discovered anything?" he asked, more to make conversation than anything else.
Max took a sip of the coffee she had at hand. "I don't have Logan's talent for this sorta thing," she admitted disheartened, tightening her lips.
Watching her, Zack wondered how eyes with her depth of brown could be so exhilaratingly expressive.
As Logan did so many times, Max stared at the screen, feeling the frustration that the answers she needed were locked somewhere inside the machine in front of her, if she only had the right key to open it.
"I feel like I'm letting him down," she murmured.
"I don't think anyone would 'ever' think that of you," Zack told her, perhaps with slightly more emotion than he'd meant to. "Certainly not Logan, from what I've seen of him," Zack added at his clinical best.
Max abruptly got up from the computer. "Maybe I can't find the security information, but I 'can' finish checking out the sites Logan gave me last night, before we see Phillip MacFarland."
"Sounds fine to me," agreed Zack, although not honest enough to admit it to himself, his good mood was directly related to the fact that he would be spending some time alone with Max.
Max acknowledged his words with a small smile, then went in search of Bling, whom she found coming out of Logan's room.
"Is everything okay?"
Bling smiled at her reassuringly. "Logan's still asleep."
Max nodded, going through to the guest bedroom to change into her black gear.
On impulse, as she passed Logan's room again, she gently opened the door. As Bling said, he looked to be sleeping peacefully, even though she thought his colour was still very pale.
Unexpectedly, his green eyes opened, as if somehow he'd been aware of her presence.
"Max?" he murmured.
Annoyed with herself for having disturbed him, she went across to his side, kneeling down until her face was close to his.
"Shh. I just came in to tell you that Zack and I are going now. Go back to sleep," she whispered soothingly.
Max watched him as he looked at her with a funny, confused expression on his face that made him look young and boyish. He then turned his head on the pillow, and with a small smile at her, closed his eyes again. It was an expression to remember she thought with a grin on her own face, as she walked out.
"You had some good news?" Zack asked her as they went down in the elevator.
"No, it's just 'all good'," she told him, not completely able to hide her own smile.
**************************************************
It was slow going checking the last two sites on Logan's list, as being daytime, there were more people around, and it wasn't as easy to get in and out unseen. As it turned out, neither one proved to be what they were hoping to find. The house had been taken over by squatters, and the factory, in a remarkable show of strength, had somehow managed to restart their production again, on a small scale.
"Well, so much for that," remarked Max as they walked to her bike. "We've still got some time to kill before eight. You wanna grab a bite to eat?"
"Do you know somewhere nearby?"
"Hey, you're looking at a Jam Pony rider. I know all the good places. I just can't afford to go there," she joked.
"What about someplace close to the market where the meet is?" suggested Zack.
Max thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think I know a place near there. You buyin'?" she added with a cheeky smile.
******************************************************
Logan was having an extremely pleasant dream.
It didn't make a lot of sense, but Max was in her black catsuit, saying something to him about feeding the dog, and he suddenly remembered he'd never bought the dog food for Bob in Morristown.
Instead of being annoyed with him, she looked at him with a particularly seductive smile, and brought her lips very close to his ear.
Logan closed his eyes in anticipation, only to open them very suddenly with disgust.
Something big and wet was slobbering on his face, and he knew for a certainty it wasn't Max.
"Bob?" he spoke out loud, realizing unexpectedly that he was awake, and Bob was an inch from his face, tongue out, panting happily at being reunited with the owner of the steel framed glasses, which he had, for old time's sake, deposited once again on Logan's chest.
Trying to move himself away from such close proximity to the dog's breath and at the same time push the dog away a little, it finally dawned on Logan that it was remarkably strange for Bob to show up in his apartment in Seattle.
Staring at the dog, who had now put two large paws on Logan's legs and regarded him with a slightly territorial look, Logan looked at it with a bemused expression that Max would have enjoyed if she'd been there, and called out very loudly to Bling.
Within seconds, Bling popped his head around the open door, then another figure appeared behind him.
"Riley, what are you doing here?" asked Logan, wondering if perhaps he was dreaming after all.
"Bob, get down," were Riley's first words, then he turned to Logan. "Hi, how're you doin'? You look awful," he finished bluntly.
Logan scratched at his face. "Thanks."
"Bob, get down," snapped Riley again to the dog, who was still on Logan's legs, panting happily.
"Riley, why don't you come and grab him," suggested Logan 'patiently', wiping his glasses on the sheet before putting them on.
The young man smiled at Logan and going forward and grabbing the dog by the collar, he pulled him off.
"You wanna sit up?" asked Bling, grabbing a couple of pillows from a chair as Logan nodded.
"How're you feeling?" he smiled down at Logan as the latter pulled himself into a sitting position and leaned back against the pillows.
"Remarkably good," Logan answered, sounding surprised. Both the nausea and the overpowering weariness that had forced him to bed appeared, thankfully, to have gone.
Logan looked at Riley. "What are you doin' in Seattle?"
"I tried callin' ya, but I couldn't get an answer."
Logan nodded. "You didn't think of leaving a message?" he suggested.
"I don't like speakin' into those things," admitted Riley, manfully.
Logan nodded again. What could he say?
Waiting a beat, but still with no explanation forthcoming, Logan tried again, "So just why 'did' you have to talk to me?"
"It was on account of this," replied the boy, taking out a newspaper clipping from his back pocket and handing it to Logan.
"What is this?" Logan asked.
"It's our local paper, thought you might be interested in it."
Logan was interested all right, and he wondered how Riley could have known about Stuart MacFarland's involvement in all this.
The article was reporting a welcome injection of capital into the logging industry, by Carmichael Logging.
"And?" asked Logan, still not sure of what Riley was getting at.
"I saw him talking to the man you think killed Charlie, the day after you left Morristown," explained Riley in a matter-of-fact way.
Logan looked at the clipping again. It was at least four months old.
Shooing Bob out of the way, Riley moved to Logan's side. "This is the man I saw."
With an assured manner he pointed to one of the three men in the picture.
It was Phillip MacFarland.
TBC
Max took a long, deep breath as she went outside, for once not annoyed by the rain, or the sector cop who complained about her bike being parked where it was, or the fact that the coffee she'd bought in the cafeteria had been cold, and the muffin had tasted like it was at least five days old.
"Sweet," she thought to herself as she surveyed the rain, and the muddy roads, and the trash scattered on the ground - probably by some dog. No, it was 'all good', she thought, compared to what the sunrise 'could' have brought her.
Nothing like facing a possible disaster to give you an appreciation for the everyday annoyances of life. At that moment, she felt that it could rain every day for a year and she wouldn't give a damn.
Max had contacted Bling, and had left it in his hands for him to bring to the hospital anything Logan would need, and Zack had promised to sit with Logan while she was gone. She was still worried about how far MacFarland would go in achieving his ends.
The morning traffic was still quite heavy, but she was confident she would get to the diner by 9 am – the question was, what would she do when she got there?
The attack on Logan had proven that MacFarland had gone beyond the merely suspicious stage, and had seen Logan as a threat to his plans. Where did that leave his son, she wondered? Like Logan, she had no desire to see Byron killed because they had coerced him into helping them.
Reaching the diner, she looked around cautiously before getting off her bike. There was no sign of anyone suspicious.
The diner itself was a long, rectangular affair, with a long counter running the length of it, lined with a row of rickety stools. Opposite the long counter, a series of tables lined the walls, where the paint had long ago given up any attempt to stay adhered to the plaster.
Opening the door, Max looked in to find the diner was virtually deserted. Not unexpectedly, of Byron MacFarland there was no sign.
With a quick glance at her watch, she noted the time was exactly 9 am. If Byron was anything like his father, she suspected that punctuality would be one of his character traits.
Max looked carefully at the diner's occupants. There were two men seated at one table, and another man on one of the stools at the counter. All three were dressed in jeans, pea coats and wool caps as if they worked on the wharf.
At this point, Max was prepared to be suspicious of anyone.
As she took a step inside, she noticed the man behind the counter closely scrutinizing her and then she was surprised to see an almost imperceptible nod in her direction.
Playing it cool, she walked up to the counter and ordered a coffee. "Make it hot," she added.
Feeling slightly on edge, she thanked the man for the coffee when he brought it, pleased to see the steam coming off it.
As she handed the money over, the man's eyes momentarily darted down in a meaningful way towards the coffee, then he thanked her as if nothing had happened.
"Thanks," she said, picking up the hot mug in her right hand, while her left pocketed the small piece of paper that had been tucked beneath it.
The coffee was hot as promised, and she was enjoying the scalding liquid as it slipped down her throat, for the moment wondering how Logan was doing, when she caught one of the men at the table looking her way.
She'd only seen that face very briefly, in the dark, once before, but Max was trained to remember faces, particularly faces that had had their hands at Logan's throat.
Schooling her features to not betray her, she suspected nonetheless that suspicions had been raised.
More desperate than ever to get out of there and read the note unhindered, she regretfully put down her coffee, and proceeded to saunter out of the diner towards the front door.
Immediately the men at the table followed, but Max continued on at the same pace, opening the heavy door and closing it behind her as she felt the men approaching at a faster rate.
Standing outside the door, her hand on the handle, she waited until she felt the first sign of movement to open the door from the other side.
The two men following her were stunned to find the door suddenly open on them with a force wiw which knocked them backwards.
Satisfied, Max ran towards her bike, but before she was half-way there, the third man who had been sitting at the counter, came from around the back of the building, with the obvious intention of cutting her off.
Instead, Max veered in his direction, coming at him with a flying kick that knocked him flat on his back, sliding gracefully along the ground to land in a heap against the wall.
The delay gave the other two enough time to come from the diner, and now they came rushing at Max.
Max stood and waited for them to come at her, an annoyed look on her face. "You made me ditch my coffee – and it was hot!"
Apparently neither man realized what a serious mistake this was, because with self-assured smiles, they both continued to come at her.
Max stood still until the last second, when, to their complete surprise, she stepped forward, hitting each one flush in the jaw with a speed that left them gaping and enough force to knock them out cold.
Max took a quick look at all three, but none of them showed any sign of returning to the fray, so with a final longing glance in the direction of the diner and her hot coffee, she jumped on her Ninja, and sped away.
**************************************************
Max stopped by her own place on her way back to the hospital, touching base with Original Cindy, having a quick shower and changing into fresh clothes.
The hospital was busy now with it's daily ministrations and the corridors were filled with nurses, doctors, orderlies pushing gurneys with patients to various parts of the hospital, cleaning staff, and people with any number of other reasons to be there mid morning.
Zack was leaning against the wall outside Logan's room when she returned, surveying the passing traffic with an almost bored expression that hid his eagle-eyed scrutiny.
"Bling's in there with him," he remarked to Max as she approached.
Hearing the sound of Bling's slightly raised voice through the open door, Max looked in, surprised to see Logan, dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed.
With eyes rolling, she stepped past Zack and went inside.
"What d'you think you're doing?" she snapped incredulously.
Zack, with a small smile to himself, followed her in. He didn't want to miss the fireworks.
Bling, who was kneeling in front of Logan putting on his shoes for him, gave her a resigned look. "I've already gone through this with him," he told her.
"I'm getting outta here, what does it look like?" replied Logan calmly.
"Does Sam know about this?"
With a very annoyed sigh- and he could put a great deal of expression into such a small sound- Logan stated slowly, "They were moving me out of ICU, so I decided it would make more sense to go home than go to another room."
"Even though you don't have the strength to put your own shoes on," muttered Bling.
"I've got things that need to be taken care of," Logan explained exactingly.
"One of them being your 'health'," added Max quickly.
"Yeah, well I can take care of that tomorrow, today I've got things to do!" answered Logan stubbornly.
"Let's just hope you're still around by then," replied Max, lightly sarcastic.
Logan looked up at her, but for once he didn't have the strength to reply.
Taking his silence as a victory to her, her next comment was cut short by Sam's arrival on the scene.
"I hear you're leaving us," he remarked ironically to Logan. "Not many of my patients leave ICU to go home."
Bling stood up at this point, hesitating in bringing Logan's wheelchair over until he heard what Sam had to say.
Max watched the proceedings with interest. She thought Logan looked as determined as ever, but perhaps less confident of the outcome with Sam's appearance on the scene, and Max was sure Sam wouldn't let him leave if it was dangerous to his health.
Lowering his own eyes, Logan waited a little tensely for his doctor's words.
Sam considered Logan thoughtfully for a moment. "As your doctor, I 'should' insist on you staying ..." Logan felt a glimmer of hope, "but then I never like to waste good words."
"Thanks Sam," Logan said, unable to hide the small smile of relief.
Sam nodded. "Just take it easy, huh, and I'd be grateful if I didn't see you around here for a while," he added with a wry smile.
"I'll do my best," grinned Logan.
Once Sam had gone, Logan turned to Max, asking the question that had been uppermost in his mind, "How'd it go at the diner?"
"No sign of Byron, but I did have the pleasure of meeting up with one of our friends from Morristown."
Logan raised his eyebrows at that.
"And the man behind the counter serves notes with his coffees for no extra charge."
Max handed the note to Logan, still sitting on the bed.
Logan read it silently, then looked over at Max. "What d' you make of it?"
"I'm wondering why Byron's brother Phillip wants to meet with us."
"It could be a trap," acknowledged Logan, handing her back the note and sliding across to his wheelchair. "When does he want to meet us again?" he queried.
Max frowned a little, noting that Logan didn't quite have his wits back.
"8 pm, back at the market."
Aware of Max's stare, Logan tried to work through the problem quickly, but it was hard when his brain seemed to be in 'slo-mo'.
Glad of the distraction of putting his feet on the footrest because it gave him longer to reply, he had to admit he was struggling to come up with a reasonable plan.
"I'm not sure I like it, Logan," stated Max, picking up the bag Bling had brought in for him.
Logan looked at her, trying to make a decision, but all he could come up with in his mind was, 'I feel like crap, and I think I'm gonna throw up.'
Max took one look at him and said, "Let's get you home, and we can work it out from there."
********************************************************
"Why are you doing that?" asked Max, her temper showing, when she saw Logan booting up his computer as soon as they got back to the penthouse.
"I thought I'd better check into the security at MacFarland's. See if that's where they're keeping Byron."
"Or maybe they're not keeping Byron anywhere, and the whole thing last night was a set up," suggested Max.
"You're just being the devil's advocate," replied Logan, with a quick glance at her. "You don't believe that any more than I do."
"Well, our track record in character reading hasn't been the best lately remember."
"You seem 'determined' to remind me of that fact," Logan said caustically, turning back to his screen.
"You know what I mean," Max said, easing up a little.
Logan continued to stare at the screen, waiting for his information to come up.
"You want some lunch, people?" asked Bling, coming through from the kitchen.
Max looked over at Zack, who was standing at one of the windows, gazing across to the other buildings.
Walking over to him, she said, "You hungry, Zack?"
"I'm an X5 aren't I?" he smiled back at her. "I'll say this for Logan, he's got a great view from up here. He's got a lotta great things in his life," he added suddenly, staring at her intently for a moment.
Max's gaze faltered under his. "I'm not sure I thanked you properly for everything you did last night," she said.
Zack shrugged. "I guess you had a lot on your mind."
"Well, I want you to know it meant a lot to me," she said sincerely.
Zack's blue eyes held hers searchingly, then flickered to Logan. "I know it did," he answered evenly.
Max smiled at him. "Come on, and I'll feed you; it's the least I can do."
***********************************************
Max helped Bling put the various items of food out for sandwiches, while Zack set about making some hot drinks.
"Logan, you eating lunch?" asked Bling, walking through to his computer.
"Uh uh," was the only reply.
"What about something to drink?" Bling tried.
"Nope."
Bling looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind, and walked back to the kitchen where Max and Zack were making their sandwiches, with Max filling Zack in on what had happened since they'd left him in Morristown.
"This MacFarland sounds like a great guy," remarked Zack, biting into his sandwich as the three of them sat on the stools at the counter.
Looking at Max he asked, "Are you gonna meet this other brother, Phillip, tonight?"
"I'm not sure," answered Max, with a worried look in Logan's direction. "We've gotta talk about it."
"I wouldn't expect too much from Logan in his present state," said Bling quietly.
"You know you can count on me," put in Zack quickly.
"I should talk to him," she said to Bling.
"Someone's got to," muttered the trainer.
*****************************************
"Are you making much headway with that?" Max asked, leaning against the computer desk next to Logan.
"No," he replied shortly.
"Maybe you should leave it for a while. Come and have some lunch."
"Lunch is the last thing my stomach needs right now," admitted Logan with a grimace.
"You feeling bad?" Max asked tentatively.
Unlocking his brakes and pushing back from the computer with his hands, he grimaced again. With a grunt of annoyance he knew he had to give up.
"Just get Bling," he told her.
********************************************************
Max paced restlessly in front of the 'much admired' view of Seattle.
She'd seen it all before.
Zack walked into the living area, offering the information that he'd washed the dishes, but Max scarcely heard him.
"I shouldn't have let him leave the hospital. He wasn't well enough," she told Zack.
Zack grinned at her a little. "Seems to me that you two are a lot alike. Short of physical violence, I don't think you could have stopped him."
Max smiled at that. "It's probably good for him to have his ass kicked every once in a while."
Seeing Bling coming from Logan's room, she walked out to meet him.
"Is he all right?" asked Max at once.
"I put him to bed and he was asleep in five seconds. He probably just needs to sleep this off."
Max looked relieved. She trusted Bling in these matters.
The trainer smiled easily at her. "I'll check in on him later."
"You'll have to decide what you're gonna do about the meet with the other brother," said Zack, breaking in on her thoughts as she returned to him.
"Phillip MacFarland," sighed Max, dragged back to their problems.
"Logan's not up to making a decision on this one," Zack pointed out.
Max stared out the windows, much the same as Zack had earlier, feeling strangely alone. She had become so used to talking things through with Logan, even when he didn't agree with her, that it felt strange to not be able to talk this out with him, particularly when it involved him so much.
"D'you know what Logan was thinking?" prompted Zack.
"All I'm sure of is that he wanted to save Byron," replied Max with certainty.
"Seems to me we have no choice but to meet the other brother then," stated Zack prosaically.
"You said 'we'. You don't have to come along. I can't be sure it's not a trap," Max told him honestly.
Zack shrugged, saying, "I said I'd help you," as if the matter were settled.
******************************************
Max spent a great deal of the afternoon at Logan's computer, continuing his hack into MacFarland's files to access any security information she could, assuming that Byron was being held somewhere on the grounds.
Standing at the doorway, Zack watched her as she intently searched the screen for the information she sought, her full lips slightly parted, brown eyes pools of concentration, leaning forward slightly, her entire attention solely concerned with finding that information. For Logan.
"Have you discovered anything?" he asked, more to make conversation than anything else.
Max took a sip of the coffee she had at hand. "I don't have Logan's talent for this sorta thing," she admitted disheartened, tightening her lips.
Watching her, Zack wondered how eyes with her depth of brown could be so exhilaratingly expressive.
As Logan did so many times, Max stared at the screen, feeling the frustration that the answers she needed were locked somewhere inside the machine in front of her, if she only had the right key to open it.
"I feel like I'm letting him down," she murmured.
"I don't think anyone would 'ever' think that of you," Zack told her, perhaps with slightly more emotion than he'd meant to. "Certainly not Logan, from what I've seen of him," Zack added at his clinical best.
Max abruptly got up from the computer. "Maybe I can't find the security information, but I 'can' finish checking out the sites Logan gave me last night, before we see Phillip MacFarland."
"Sounds fine to me," agreed Zack, although not honest enough to admit it to himself, his good mood was directly related to the fact that he would be spending some time alone with Max.
Max acknowledged his words with a small smile, then went in search of Bling, whom she found coming out of Logan's room.
"Is everything okay?"
Bling smiled at her reassuringly. "Logan's still asleep."
Max nodded, going through to the guest bedroom to change into her black gear.
On impulse, as she passed Logan's room again, she gently opened the door. As Bling said, he looked to be sleeping peacefully, even though she thought his colour was still very pale.
Unexpectedly, his green eyes opened, as if somehow he'd been aware of her presence.
"Max?" he murmured.
Annoyed with herself for having disturbed him, she went across to his side, kneeling down until her face was close to his.
"Shh. I just came in to tell you that Zack and I are going now. Go back to sleep," she whispered soothingly.
Max watched him as he looked at her with a funny, confused expression on his face that made him look young and boyish. He then turned his head on the pillow, and with a small smile at her, closed his eyes again. It was an expression to remember she thought with a grin on her own face, as she walked out.
"You had some good news?" Zack asked her as they went down in the elevator.
"No, it's just 'all good'," she told him, not completely able to hide her own smile.
**************************************************
It was slow going checking the last two sites on Logan's list, as being daytime, there were more people around, and it wasn't as easy to get in and out unseen. As it turned out, neither one proved to be what they were hoping to find. The house had been taken over by squatters, and the factory, in a remarkable show of strength, had somehow managed to restart their production again, on a small scale.
"Well, so much for that," remarked Max as they walked to her bike. "We've still got some time to kill before eight. You wanna grab a bite to eat?"
"Do you know somewhere nearby?"
"Hey, you're looking at a Jam Pony rider. I know all the good places. I just can't afford to go there," she joked.
"What about someplace close to the market where the meet is?" suggested Zack.
Max thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think I know a place near there. You buyin'?" she added with a cheeky smile.
******************************************************
Logan was having an extremely pleasant dream.
It didn't make a lot of sense, but Max was in her black catsuit, saying something to him about feeding the dog, and he suddenly remembered he'd never bought the dog food for Bob in Morristown.
Instead of being annoyed with him, she looked at him with a particularly seductive smile, and brought her lips very close to his ear.
Logan closed his eyes in anticipation, only to open them very suddenly with disgust.
Something big and wet was slobbering on his face, and he knew for a certainty it wasn't Max.
"Bob?" he spoke out loud, realizing unexpectedly that he was awake, and Bob was an inch from his face, tongue out, panting happily at being reunited with the owner of the steel framed glasses, which he had, for old time's sake, deposited once again on Logan's chest.
Trying to move himself away from such close proximity to the dog's breath and at the same time push the dog away a little, it finally dawned on Logan that it was remarkably strange for Bob to show up in his apartment in Seattle.
Staring at the dog, who had now put two large paws on Logan's legs and regarded him with a slightly territorial look, Logan looked at it with a bemused expression that Max would have enjoyed if she'd been there, and called out very loudly to Bling.
Within seconds, Bling popped his head around the open door, then another figure appeared behind him.
"Riley, what are you doing here?" asked Logan, wondering if perhaps he was dreaming after all.
"Bob, get down," were Riley's first words, then he turned to Logan. "Hi, how're you doin'? You look awful," he finished bluntly.
Logan scratched at his face. "Thanks."
"Bob, get down," snapped Riley again to the dog, who was still on Logan's legs, panting happily.
"Riley, why don't you come and grab him," suggested Logan 'patiently', wiping his glasses on the sheet before putting them on.
The young man smiled at Logan and going forward and grabbing the dog by the collar, he pulled him off.
"You wanna sit up?" asked Bling, grabbing a couple of pillows from a chair as Logan nodded.
"How're you feeling?" he smiled down at Logan as the latter pulled himself into a sitting position and leaned back against the pillows.
"Remarkably good," Logan answered, sounding surprised. Both the nausea and the overpowering weariness that had forced him to bed appeared, thankfully, to have gone.
Logan looked at Riley. "What are you doin' in Seattle?"
"I tried callin' ya, but I couldn't get an answer."
Logan nodded. "You didn't think of leaving a message?" he suggested.
"I don't like speakin' into those things," admitted Riley, manfully.
Logan nodded again. What could he say?
Waiting a beat, but still with no explanation forthcoming, Logan tried again, "So just why 'did' you have to talk to me?"
"It was on account of this," replied the boy, taking out a newspaper clipping from his back pocket and handing it to Logan.
"What is this?" Logan asked.
"It's our local paper, thought you might be interested in it."
Logan was interested all right, and he wondered how Riley could have known about Stuart MacFarland's involvement in all this.
The article was reporting a welcome injection of capital into the logging industry, by Carmichael Logging.
"And?" asked Logan, still not sure of what Riley was getting at.
"I saw him talking to the man you think killed Charlie, the day after you left Morristown," explained Riley in a matter-of-fact way.
Logan looked at the clipping again. It was at least four months old.
Shooing Bob out of the way, Riley moved to Logan's side. "This is the man I saw."
With an assured manner he pointed to one of the three men in the picture.
It was Phillip MacFarland.
TBC