Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be.
A/N: Many thanks to alaidh for the beta. I will, however, be updating in the next few days with catherder's beta as well – just haven't had a chance to do that yet. Please read and review – I admit it, I'm a review addict *tries to stop shaking hands*…
Chapter 3
Logan listened impassively as Lydecker explained what he required. "I need someone to hack into the computer system, open the doors, and set up a fake security feed while my team goes in and takes out the database. You've done it before."
"So get one of your guys to do it. Why do you need me?"
"You're better than they are…and you have more to lose." Logan's jaw twitched, a sign of his tension. "If they were to get their hands on Max…"
Logan closed his eyes and nodded, exhaling sharply through his nose. His skin crawled. He could feel Lydecker getting to him, but was powerless to stop it. "Max is vulnerable right now. She's gone contrary to everything in her training."
"Stay on the run – don't look back – escape and evade…" Logan filled in sarcastically.
Lydecker looked at him stonily. "She was always special." Logan allowed the most fleeting of grins to pass across his face at that one and was caught unaware as Lydecker suddenly changed tack. "When's the baby due?"
"A month…maybe a bit less," Logan admitted, realizing he'd been out-maneuvered.
"My wife and I were never able to have children." Lydecker permitted himself a rare moment of humanity. "Max and her group – they were like my kids."
"You had a damn funny way of showing it."
"I gave them the skills they needed to survive."
Logan gave a short angry laugh. "Give me the information. I'll do it."
*~*~*~
Max swirled her coffee absent-mindedly, mixing in the sugar. She'd left the spoon sticking out of the sugar bowl on the other side of the room and couldn't be bothered going to get it. Half a dozen times, she'd picked up the cell phone to call Logan, and half a dozen times had put it back down. She looked at it – daring it to ring – make a sound – do anything other than lie there like the piece of electronic garbage it was. She finally became aware of a hammering on the door and was about to do something about answering it when it opened anyway. "Hey, Max! You there, boo?"
"Yeah, in the kitchen!"
"Damn, girl. I was bangin' on that door for ten minutes. Were you plannin' on ignorin' me all night?"
"Sorry. Didn't hear ya." She swirled her almost-cold coffee one more time.
Original Cindy slapped a pizza box down on the counter beside Max. "Thought you might like some company, boo, with Logan gone and all."
Max just looked at her and shrugged.
"Whassup with you? Aren't you gonna say anythin'?"
Max sighed. "Sorry. Guess I'm not very good company right now." She looked up at her friend quickly, then back down to the coffee.
"Rub-bish! Ain't nothing wrong with you that a little deep dish action, a long heart-to-heart with Mama OC and a short chat with a certain member of the three legged gender won't fix." Max gave her a small smile. "That's better. Now, you go and get yourself into somethin' more comfortable. I got movies and food. We can pretend we old bachelor girls again. Logan will call sooner or later – you see if he don't. In the meantime, let's see if Original Cindy can't stop you mopin'."
*~*~*~
Logan eventually found his way back to the hotel, missing a turning in the dark on his first sweep and having to back-track for a mile or so to find it. This time, he brought the laptop and the disassembled wheelchair up the three steps into the room with him. He felt defiled after the meeting with Lydecker. The man was a total creep and you never really knew what his motives were. Logan suppressed and shudder and went to take a closer look at the bathroom. I need a shower was his sudden thought. He studied the shower recess, with its billowing curtain – there was no bathtub – and looked back to judge the width of the doorway. Satisfied, he went back into the main room.
The room was of a good size, with two double beds, a bedside table and the phone, and a TV on a small table in the corner. There was what had formerly been a small kitchen area, although the old stove was so rust-bound it was unlikely to be functional. A scratched table and four solid wooden chairs with colourful padded cushions tied to the seats completed the kitchen furnishings. He pulled out one of the chairs and tested it out before untying the cushion and dumping it on the table beside the laptop. He dragged the chair into the bathroom and carefully placed it in the shower, trying to wedge it in such a way that it wouldn't slide. Then he assembled the wheelchair and began the laborious process of removing the exoskeleton – leaving it on one of the beds.
Before doing anything else, he rang the number of a local pizza parlor, selecting the number from the list of local businesses beside the phone, arranging for delivery in 40 minutes. Then he wheeled into the bathroom. The transfer into the shower was awkward because of the four by four inch lip at the bottom, and the kitchen chair slid a bit as Logan transferred across, but at least it didn't dump him on the tiles. He let the water pour down on his head for a while before giving himself a good all-over scrubbing, even washing his hair with the shampoo provided.
By the time the pizza arrived, he was ready for whatever codes and other information Deck's CDs might hold.
A pimply faced boy delivered the pizza exactly on time. Logan gratefully paid and gave the kid a generous tip.
*~*~*~
Max came out a few minutes later wearing a red bathrobe and fluffy pink slippers. Original Cindy, sitting on the sofa, smothered a laugh at the sight of Max wearing the ultra-feminine slippers. They were so un-Max.
Max looked at her strangely. "What's up with you?"
"Nothin', boo," Cindy smiled. "Come and eat." She patted the couch beside her.
"Right," Max looked at her somewhat askance, but still did as she was bid. Leaning into the corner, her back supported by a cushion with her feet pulled up under the bathrobe. Cindy pushed the pizza box down the table and hit "play" on the remote control.
*~*~*~
Logan shoved the remnants of the pizza into the tiny refrigerator and went back to the table. His hand hovered over the computer keyboard for a moment before picking up his phone instead. Almost without thinking, he hit speed dial 1 and waited, at the same time keying in instructions one-handed on the computer.
*~*~*~
Max looked up, hearing her cell phone ringing from the kitchen. "Well? Aren't you gonna answer that?" Original Cindy asked her.
She smiled and went to get the phone, sitting back on the abandoned stool in the kitchen to speak.
"Hey."
"Hey, yourself," Logan replied, smiling. "Thought you weren't gonna answer."
"I thought about it."
"Really?" Max could hear the smile in his voice.
"You know, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876."
"Okay, I'll bite. This is relevant how?"
"Just a reminder. I thought you'd call me sooner. I've been going out of my mind."
"I'm sorry, Max. It has to be like this. It's for your own good. I don't want these people coming anywhere near you…"
"Logan, where the hell are you?" Come on, Logan, tell me. It's not like I'm gonna go after you.
He didn't answer. Max, I can't tell you that. I won't. It just wouldn't be safe for you here.
"Logan?" Her voice sounded weak, almost pleading, even to her.
"Yes?"
"Are you okay? I mean, you're not in any trouble or anything?"
"I'm fine," he laughed. "Warm and dry."
There was a loud clatter from the hall, and Max looked enquiringly across at Original Cindy, who got up to investigate. "What're you up to?"
"Original Cindy's here. We're watching some movie. You'd probably like it."
"Really?"
"Yeah, something called…just a sec." She covered the receiver with her hand. "OC, what're we watching?"
"Sleepless in Seattle," Cindy called back. "Nothing broken. Bike fell over," she added.
"Sleepless in Seattle," she repeated, trying not to laugh at how apt that could well be. She didn't expect to get much sleep in the next few days – until Logan returned intact.
"Damn, I'm sorry I'm not there. That's a good one…for a chick-flick."
"Yeah right." Max rolled her eyes.
"It was one of my mom's favorites." Logan paused to smile at that thought. "Gotta go. Things to do. I'll try to call you tomorrow. I…I miss you."
"Logan, stay safe."
"I'll try."
Max snapped the phone shut, ending the call and sat there with her head in her hands. She stayed there for so long that Original Cindy came and put her arm over her shoulders. "Hey, you okay, boo?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Logan aiight?"
"Yeah, says he's fine." She gave Cindy a weak smile. "Come on, let's watch the rest of the movie.
"That's my girl."