Disclaimer: Same as always...We don't own them, bla bla bla...
Authors' note:
Here we go again. (Finally). We decided to make this chapter longer- to make up for the two previous shorter ones :) -and in order not to leave you with a cliffhanger!
Please note though, that this is our first attempt to actually write an action scene, so don't be too hard on us! Nevertheless, good and bad criticism is welcome- as always!
Thanks to those who reviewed already and please continue to drop us a line.
Now get ready for some action! :)
************************************************************************************************************
~4~
Unexpected Company.
-----------------------
Max stared at the pager in her hand. She had been waiting all day for Logan to page her. But he hadn't. Until now. She had figured that maybe if he paged her, it would not be too much of a commitment to call him back. But she definitely wouldn't be the first to make a move.
She looked at her watch. It was quarter to nine. What the hell had taken him so long! She was just about ready filling the bath tub. The water was going to be cold by the time she used it!
With all the anger boiling up in her again, she picked up her coat and ran down the stairs to the telephone booth across the street.
"You paged?!" she said snootily, when she heard Logan pick up the phone.
"Yeah." Was his short answer. "I thought you might want to come over. Fight it out over a game of chess" he tried to sound funny, but he felt miserable.
"You're not going to apologise?" Max snapped.
She could hear Logan draw in a deep breath.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...offend you."
"You know, if you want to apologise you should mean it!" she insisted.
"I do Max! I was angry, so it just slipped...."
Max thought about it for a moment. She could live with that for now.
Her voice softened a little. "So you're up for a game of chess?"
"Yes, if you'd like to come over..." Logan said coyly.
"I was just going to take a bath. I'm gonna be there in about an hour." Max said and put down the phone.
***
'What was that?' Logan was sure he had heard the scratching of footsteps on the roof. Also he was sure now that he had seen a shadow move across the sky-light. He stopped dead in his tracks and listened intensely. He could hear steps on the roof above him, there was no doubt.
Then he saw the beam of a flashlight enter through the glass, circling the room.
Logan turned his wheelchair around and headed for his office. He opened the top drawer of his desk. The gun was still in there. He hadn't touched it ever since that day. He loaded it and carefully returned to the living room. He glanced out of the large window but didn't see anything suspicious in the opposite building.
Then he heard a high pitched whirr and the dull sound of two feet touching the wooden floor. Someone had broken into his apartment. His heart was beating at his throat, as he slowly approached towards the skylight. There was no one in sight. But looking up, Logan saw that a clean whole had been cut into the glass, big enough for a man to fit through and a rope was hanging down from it.
"Good evening, Mr. Cale!" a voice snarled behind his back. "Or should I say Mr. Eyes Only?!" The man spoke with a sharp Asian accent. Logan froze, then slowly turned around to face the intruder. He saw a small, slender but athletic man standing just a few feet away from him. He was puzzled to see that the man seemed to be unarmed. Logan moved to point his gun at the intruder, but he had not even raised his hand, when a tight grip around his neck made him gasp. At the same time the gun was kicked from his hand and with a smooth move his arm had been twisted behind his back, sending a stabbing pain through his right shoulder. He was caught. He couldn't even move an inch.
The man in front of him was still looking at him with an intense gaze. His calmness was scaring the shit out of Logan. That man could probably slit his throat with one swift move, without getting his shirt dirty.
"My boss would like to talk to you, if you don't mind. You have some information on somebody we are looking for." He smiled a fake smile.
Logan tried to struggle free, but he was locked in an iron grip. His shoulder hurt like hell. He could feel the breath of the guy behind him. Now a third man stepped from the shadows and with a short order in a foreign language from the man in front of him, he went towards the office.
All of the sudden Logan could hear the distant sound of the elevator near his apartment.
Max!
The man in front of him turned his head and listened. "You awaiting someone?" he snarled.
***
Max, started to pick the lock as always. But then she hesitated. What was that, hadn't there just been voices inside Logan's apartment? She could hear steps near the door.
Something was wrong. She stepped back and kicked the door open, slamming it into the face of an Asian guy who had just been about to open it. Puzzled, Max looked at the lifeless body on the floor. She took in her surroundings instantly. There were two other guys standing underneath the skylight, which had been broken into, one of them holding Logan in his tight grip.
Logan tried to call out to Max but only a muffled sound escaped his mouth.
The other man, who seemed to be the boss, stepped forward and held out something that looked like an aerosol from far. He held it against Logan's face and Logan started to cough violently.
The stuff smelled terrible, he felt like he couldn't breathe anymore. He burst into a coughing fit and gasped for air, inhaling even more of the disgusting substance. Instantly, he felt dizzy and the room started to spin around him. Through a thick fog he could hear the man yelling something at his accomplice which sounded like:
"Bawa dia maruk kereta!" ["Get him into the car!]
The man lifted the half unconscious Logan out of the chair and flung him over his shoulder.
It took Max only two steps to be with them. Her elbow hit the man's face. He groaned and let go off Logan, who fell to the floor. The man whirled around and surprised Max with a kick into her stomach. When she crouched over in pain a hand came cutting down onto the side of her neck and she stumbled.
'Whoah'! She thought, catching her breath, 'This guy is good! Gotta put more effort in this.' She straightened up and hit him under the chin, which send him flying back against the wall this time. Max glanced over at Logan, who was still lying where he had been dropped. But he was stirring now. The guy was already back on his feet, launching for a jump kick, but Max ducked just in time and kicked him off his feet again. The guy lost his balance and went crashing to the floor, taking Max with him.
Logan's mind cleared up a little and he started to take in his surroundings again. He could see Max lying on the floor, a few feet away from him. She was fighting a guy that looked like a super-soldier himself. Like one of the karate fighters from those old pre-pulse movies.
Through watery eyes, he watched the other man approach the fighting bundle with the aerosol that had knocked him out earlier. He tried to warn Max, but his tongue felt numb. Before he could get the words out, the man had sprayed a load of the substance right into Max' face.
Max gasped for air as the disgusting and bitter mist filled her lungs. The more air she drew in, the worse it got. She freed herself from the grip of her attacker and banged his head on the wooden floor. Pushing the limp body off of her, she struggled to stand up, but her legs gave way. Her head was spinning and she felt a wave of nausea well up inside her. All of the sudden her whole body began to shake violently.
'What the hell is going on?', she asked herself horrified. This was worse than any seizure she had had before. Within seconds, she lost all control over her body. Crouching on the floor she looked over to the guy. His groaning indicated that he was about to wake up. She had to do something. She tried to make out Logan, but her vision was blurred. All she could see was a hump lying there on the floor, where Logan had been.
Logan watched helplessly as Max stumbled to the floor. He had never seen her seize that badly before. He had to do something about it. Maybe the Tryptophane would help. He kept some in his bathroom for emergencies and surely this was one. When the guy with the aerosol came within his reach, he firmly grabbed his leg and pulled as hard as he could, sending him to the floor. Being on one level with his enemy, he had enough strength to wrench the bottle from his hand, struggling to bring it close enough to his face to knock him out. Finally the man sank back on the floor and lay there, motionless.
Max was still lying on the floor, shaking all over. She was trying to get up but couldn't.
'Now it's up to me,' Logan thought. With all of his strength he dragged himself over to his chair and managed to get into it. His right shoulder hurt like hell. But he had to get hold of that bottle of Tryptophane, no matter what.
In the bathroom, he frantically searched his cupboard for the bottle and finally found it in the very back. When he came back to the scene, the two men were just beginning to regain consciousness. Logan quickly rolled over to Max and lifted her head up to force the medicine down her throat.
"Max!" he pleaded "Can you hear me?! You gotta take this, okay?!"
When Max had swallowed about a dozen of the pills, the seizure seemed to subside slowly. Her gaze cleared up a little. "Logan, ...what ...happened?" she whispered. "I don't.."
"Shhh!" he tried to sound as confident as he possibly could. "It's okay. You're gonna be okay. But we gotta get out of here and quick!" he urged.
The guy who had attacked him before began to sit up now, but Max didn't seem to be strong enough to fight him yet. Logan looked around for anything to fight him with. His gaze fell onto the bast statue that was sitting on its post again, as Max hadn't wanted to keep it at her place. Reluctantly, he reached out for it, then lunged forward and smashed it onto the guys head.
The massive statue knocked him out immediately for another few precious minutes.
Logan checked on Max again. She had sat up, but looked very weak and was still shaking. "Okay, let's get out of here" she stuttered, struggling to get up.
"Hang on a second, Max. I gotta do what I can to prevent further damage."
"Logan, what..." Max started out.
" I gotta delete all the information and shut down the computers." Logan called back at her.
He breathlessly wheeled towards his office, frantically typed in some keywords and then hit the delete button. The screens went blank instantly. There went all of his work, all the years of fight for justice, deleted in just one second. Logan sighed. He heard glass crashing in the hall way. "Max!" he yelled, "Are you okay?" Her shaky figure appeared in the door frame. She looked exhausted and she seemed to have difficulties keeping her balance. Logan opened a drawer and revealed a small and handy laptop- He gathered some disks and advice and stuffed it into a bag on top of the laptop.
"I'm okay, I guess." He heard Max say. " Just had to take that guy at the front door down again. A door slammed into his face obviously didn't do the job."
Logan wheeled over to her. "Okay, lets get out of here!" He grabbed his car keys and started off towards the front door.
Max shakily leaned against the wall. "Problem is, ...our friend at the door blocked the elevator.... So we can't get out, that way."
Logan brought the chair to a halt abruptly. "How about the stairs?" he asked not really considering that as an option.
Max shook her head. "The door is locked, too. And it's a pretty heavy door. Can't kick in that one!"
Logan buried his head in his hands "So we're stuck, with some crazy Mafia gangsters who want to kill us. Or me. Great!"
"We could get out over the roof.." Max said, already moving towards the skylight. "Same way your guests came in," she added.
Logan turned and followed her nervously. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa..! How are we gonna do that? I mean, how am I supposed to do that?" he asked. He saw the gun lying in the far corner of the room and quickly wheeled over to pick it up, nervously checking on the guys who should be waking up any minute.
He considered their options for a second, but dismissed the idea of tying them up and holding them in check with just one gun. Calling the police wasn't an option either, for it would probably take them ages to get there.
Max was already waiting impatiently underneath the sky-light, checking the rope hanging down from it.
"I'll carry you." she said matter-of-factly as Logan approached her. "You'll just have to hold on to me tightly. Think you can do that?"
Logan felt panic rise inside him. This wasn't going to work. He backed away. "Max, this isn't going to work. You... I can't do that... It's too dangerous. It won't work."
Max shot him a glance.
"Cut out that crap!" she yelled. "This is our only freakin' option! Either this or stay here and wait for them to wake up....Now you chose!" Logan looked back at her, fear filling his eyes.
"Now move over here, will ya?" Max commanded.
Logan did as he was told. "Set the brakes!...Now take off your sweater!" she barked at him.
Logan threw her a puzzled look.
"Just do it! I need it to tie your legs around me."
Logan reluctantly took off his sweater, hissing at the sharp pain that cut through his right shoulder, then slung the bag over the other.
"Now put your arms around my shoulders," Max bent down with her back towards him and took him piggyback, then she sat back in the chair, wrapping his legs around her waist, tying them together in the front. Then she stood up and shakily climbed onto the seat of the wheelchair. The men on the floor were beginning to stir. "Max, are you okay?" Logan asked worriedly.
"Yeah, just a little shaky. But I can do it." She answered pulling them up towards the night sky.
***
They had finally made their way down the fire-ladder and back into the building through the front entrance. When they reached the parkade, Max was panting heavily and sweat was dripping from her forehead. "You got your car keys?" she asked.
Logan nodded. He quickly reached into his pocket and handed the keys to Max. Max rounded the car, unlocked the door and gently let Logan down onto the driver's seat. Then she untied the sweater and ran around to the passenger seat while Logan pulled is legs into the car and leaned over to open the door for Max and started the engine.
Within seconds they were speeding out of the garage into the night.
**********************************************************************************
TBC...
Authors' note:
Here we go again. (Finally). We decided to make this chapter longer- to make up for the two previous shorter ones :) -and in order not to leave you with a cliffhanger!
Please note though, that this is our first attempt to actually write an action scene, so don't be too hard on us! Nevertheless, good and bad criticism is welcome- as always!
Thanks to those who reviewed already and please continue to drop us a line.
Now get ready for some action! :)
************************************************************************************************************
~4~
Unexpected Company.
-----------------------
Max stared at the pager in her hand. She had been waiting all day for Logan to page her. But he hadn't. Until now. She had figured that maybe if he paged her, it would not be too much of a commitment to call him back. But she definitely wouldn't be the first to make a move.
She looked at her watch. It was quarter to nine. What the hell had taken him so long! She was just about ready filling the bath tub. The water was going to be cold by the time she used it!
With all the anger boiling up in her again, she picked up her coat and ran down the stairs to the telephone booth across the street.
"You paged?!" she said snootily, when she heard Logan pick up the phone.
"Yeah." Was his short answer. "I thought you might want to come over. Fight it out over a game of chess" he tried to sound funny, but he felt miserable.
"You're not going to apologise?" Max snapped.
She could hear Logan draw in a deep breath.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...offend you."
"You know, if you want to apologise you should mean it!" she insisted.
"I do Max! I was angry, so it just slipped...."
Max thought about it for a moment. She could live with that for now.
Her voice softened a little. "So you're up for a game of chess?"
"Yes, if you'd like to come over..." Logan said coyly.
"I was just going to take a bath. I'm gonna be there in about an hour." Max said and put down the phone.
***
'What was that?' Logan was sure he had heard the scratching of footsteps on the roof. Also he was sure now that he had seen a shadow move across the sky-light. He stopped dead in his tracks and listened intensely. He could hear steps on the roof above him, there was no doubt.
Then he saw the beam of a flashlight enter through the glass, circling the room.
Logan turned his wheelchair around and headed for his office. He opened the top drawer of his desk. The gun was still in there. He hadn't touched it ever since that day. He loaded it and carefully returned to the living room. He glanced out of the large window but didn't see anything suspicious in the opposite building.
Then he heard a high pitched whirr and the dull sound of two feet touching the wooden floor. Someone had broken into his apartment. His heart was beating at his throat, as he slowly approached towards the skylight. There was no one in sight. But looking up, Logan saw that a clean whole had been cut into the glass, big enough for a man to fit through and a rope was hanging down from it.
"Good evening, Mr. Cale!" a voice snarled behind his back. "Or should I say Mr. Eyes Only?!" The man spoke with a sharp Asian accent. Logan froze, then slowly turned around to face the intruder. He saw a small, slender but athletic man standing just a few feet away from him. He was puzzled to see that the man seemed to be unarmed. Logan moved to point his gun at the intruder, but he had not even raised his hand, when a tight grip around his neck made him gasp. At the same time the gun was kicked from his hand and with a smooth move his arm had been twisted behind his back, sending a stabbing pain through his right shoulder. He was caught. He couldn't even move an inch.
The man in front of him was still looking at him with an intense gaze. His calmness was scaring the shit out of Logan. That man could probably slit his throat with one swift move, without getting his shirt dirty.
"My boss would like to talk to you, if you don't mind. You have some information on somebody we are looking for." He smiled a fake smile.
Logan tried to struggle free, but he was locked in an iron grip. His shoulder hurt like hell. He could feel the breath of the guy behind him. Now a third man stepped from the shadows and with a short order in a foreign language from the man in front of him, he went towards the office.
All of the sudden Logan could hear the distant sound of the elevator near his apartment.
Max!
The man in front of him turned his head and listened. "You awaiting someone?" he snarled.
***
Max, started to pick the lock as always. But then she hesitated. What was that, hadn't there just been voices inside Logan's apartment? She could hear steps near the door.
Something was wrong. She stepped back and kicked the door open, slamming it into the face of an Asian guy who had just been about to open it. Puzzled, Max looked at the lifeless body on the floor. She took in her surroundings instantly. There were two other guys standing underneath the skylight, which had been broken into, one of them holding Logan in his tight grip.
Logan tried to call out to Max but only a muffled sound escaped his mouth.
The other man, who seemed to be the boss, stepped forward and held out something that looked like an aerosol from far. He held it against Logan's face and Logan started to cough violently.
The stuff smelled terrible, he felt like he couldn't breathe anymore. He burst into a coughing fit and gasped for air, inhaling even more of the disgusting substance. Instantly, he felt dizzy and the room started to spin around him. Through a thick fog he could hear the man yelling something at his accomplice which sounded like:
"Bawa dia maruk kereta!" ["Get him into the car!]
The man lifted the half unconscious Logan out of the chair and flung him over his shoulder.
It took Max only two steps to be with them. Her elbow hit the man's face. He groaned and let go off Logan, who fell to the floor. The man whirled around and surprised Max with a kick into her stomach. When she crouched over in pain a hand came cutting down onto the side of her neck and she stumbled.
'Whoah'! She thought, catching her breath, 'This guy is good! Gotta put more effort in this.' She straightened up and hit him under the chin, which send him flying back against the wall this time. Max glanced over at Logan, who was still lying where he had been dropped. But he was stirring now. The guy was already back on his feet, launching for a jump kick, but Max ducked just in time and kicked him off his feet again. The guy lost his balance and went crashing to the floor, taking Max with him.
Logan's mind cleared up a little and he started to take in his surroundings again. He could see Max lying on the floor, a few feet away from him. She was fighting a guy that looked like a super-soldier himself. Like one of the karate fighters from those old pre-pulse movies.
Through watery eyes, he watched the other man approach the fighting bundle with the aerosol that had knocked him out earlier. He tried to warn Max, but his tongue felt numb. Before he could get the words out, the man had sprayed a load of the substance right into Max' face.
Max gasped for air as the disgusting and bitter mist filled her lungs. The more air she drew in, the worse it got. She freed herself from the grip of her attacker and banged his head on the wooden floor. Pushing the limp body off of her, she struggled to stand up, but her legs gave way. Her head was spinning and she felt a wave of nausea well up inside her. All of the sudden her whole body began to shake violently.
'What the hell is going on?', she asked herself horrified. This was worse than any seizure she had had before. Within seconds, she lost all control over her body. Crouching on the floor she looked over to the guy. His groaning indicated that he was about to wake up. She had to do something. She tried to make out Logan, but her vision was blurred. All she could see was a hump lying there on the floor, where Logan had been.
Logan watched helplessly as Max stumbled to the floor. He had never seen her seize that badly before. He had to do something about it. Maybe the Tryptophane would help. He kept some in his bathroom for emergencies and surely this was one. When the guy with the aerosol came within his reach, he firmly grabbed his leg and pulled as hard as he could, sending him to the floor. Being on one level with his enemy, he had enough strength to wrench the bottle from his hand, struggling to bring it close enough to his face to knock him out. Finally the man sank back on the floor and lay there, motionless.
Max was still lying on the floor, shaking all over. She was trying to get up but couldn't.
'Now it's up to me,' Logan thought. With all of his strength he dragged himself over to his chair and managed to get into it. His right shoulder hurt like hell. But he had to get hold of that bottle of Tryptophane, no matter what.
In the bathroom, he frantically searched his cupboard for the bottle and finally found it in the very back. When he came back to the scene, the two men were just beginning to regain consciousness. Logan quickly rolled over to Max and lifted her head up to force the medicine down her throat.
"Max!" he pleaded "Can you hear me?! You gotta take this, okay?!"
When Max had swallowed about a dozen of the pills, the seizure seemed to subside slowly. Her gaze cleared up a little. "Logan, ...what ...happened?" she whispered. "I don't.."
"Shhh!" he tried to sound as confident as he possibly could. "It's okay. You're gonna be okay. But we gotta get out of here and quick!" he urged.
The guy who had attacked him before began to sit up now, but Max didn't seem to be strong enough to fight him yet. Logan looked around for anything to fight him with. His gaze fell onto the bast statue that was sitting on its post again, as Max hadn't wanted to keep it at her place. Reluctantly, he reached out for it, then lunged forward and smashed it onto the guys head.
The massive statue knocked him out immediately for another few precious minutes.
Logan checked on Max again. She had sat up, but looked very weak and was still shaking. "Okay, let's get out of here" she stuttered, struggling to get up.
"Hang on a second, Max. I gotta do what I can to prevent further damage."
"Logan, what..." Max started out.
" I gotta delete all the information and shut down the computers." Logan called back at her.
He breathlessly wheeled towards his office, frantically typed in some keywords and then hit the delete button. The screens went blank instantly. There went all of his work, all the years of fight for justice, deleted in just one second. Logan sighed. He heard glass crashing in the hall way. "Max!" he yelled, "Are you okay?" Her shaky figure appeared in the door frame. She looked exhausted and she seemed to have difficulties keeping her balance. Logan opened a drawer and revealed a small and handy laptop- He gathered some disks and advice and stuffed it into a bag on top of the laptop.
"I'm okay, I guess." He heard Max say. " Just had to take that guy at the front door down again. A door slammed into his face obviously didn't do the job."
Logan wheeled over to her. "Okay, lets get out of here!" He grabbed his car keys and started off towards the front door.
Max shakily leaned against the wall. "Problem is, ...our friend at the door blocked the elevator.... So we can't get out, that way."
Logan brought the chair to a halt abruptly. "How about the stairs?" he asked not really considering that as an option.
Max shook her head. "The door is locked, too. And it's a pretty heavy door. Can't kick in that one!"
Logan buried his head in his hands "So we're stuck, with some crazy Mafia gangsters who want to kill us. Or me. Great!"
"We could get out over the roof.." Max said, already moving towards the skylight. "Same way your guests came in," she added.
Logan turned and followed her nervously. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa..! How are we gonna do that? I mean, how am I supposed to do that?" he asked. He saw the gun lying in the far corner of the room and quickly wheeled over to pick it up, nervously checking on the guys who should be waking up any minute.
He considered their options for a second, but dismissed the idea of tying them up and holding them in check with just one gun. Calling the police wasn't an option either, for it would probably take them ages to get there.
Max was already waiting impatiently underneath the sky-light, checking the rope hanging down from it.
"I'll carry you." she said matter-of-factly as Logan approached her. "You'll just have to hold on to me tightly. Think you can do that?"
Logan felt panic rise inside him. This wasn't going to work. He backed away. "Max, this isn't going to work. You... I can't do that... It's too dangerous. It won't work."
Max shot him a glance.
"Cut out that crap!" she yelled. "This is our only freakin' option! Either this or stay here and wait for them to wake up....Now you chose!" Logan looked back at her, fear filling his eyes.
"Now move over here, will ya?" Max commanded.
Logan did as he was told. "Set the brakes!...Now take off your sweater!" she barked at him.
Logan threw her a puzzled look.
"Just do it! I need it to tie your legs around me."
Logan reluctantly took off his sweater, hissing at the sharp pain that cut through his right shoulder, then slung the bag over the other.
"Now put your arms around my shoulders," Max bent down with her back towards him and took him piggyback, then she sat back in the chair, wrapping his legs around her waist, tying them together in the front. Then she stood up and shakily climbed onto the seat of the wheelchair. The men on the floor were beginning to stir. "Max, are you okay?" Logan asked worriedly.
"Yeah, just a little shaky. But I can do it." She answered pulling them up towards the night sky.
***
They had finally made their way down the fire-ladder and back into the building through the front entrance. When they reached the parkade, Max was panting heavily and sweat was dripping from her forehead. "You got your car keys?" she asked.
Logan nodded. He quickly reached into his pocket and handed the keys to Max. Max rounded the car, unlocked the door and gently let Logan down onto the driver's seat. Then she untied the sweater and ran around to the passenger seat while Logan pulled is legs into the car and leaned over to open the door for Max and started the engine.
Within seconds they were speeding out of the garage into the night.
**********************************************************************************
TBC...