Disclaimer: See chapters 1-3
Thank you to everyone who's been reading. Especially those of you who left me those wonderful reviews. And a special thanks to Calty for suggesting a title for chapter 3 since I couldn't come up with one. Thanks for helping me out. _______________________________________________________________________
The next three days were fairly uneventful. Josh was growing anxious to see Laura. She had called Pete and told him when she was coming home. Just one more day. He, Pete and Mindy were going to meet her at the airport. Laura didn't know that, but then it wouldn't be a surprise if she did.
Josh's week off had been cancelled to an extent. He only had to come in for a couple of hours everyday for briefings. Nothing heavy. They still had no idea what Psycho and Dread were planning, making everyone a feel a little on edge. Josh was glad he didn't have to stick around N'Tek too much right now. And frankly, he felt a little guilty because he had promised to spend the whole week with Mindy and now he couldn't.
Mindy, for her part, didn't seem too upset with him. She had accepted his excuse of there was some mix-up at work and some unexpected events, so he had to work a few hours a day. In fact, she had rented a car and spent quite a bit of time driving around town. Josh wasn't sure why. When he had asked, she'd said she would tell him later.
Now that Psycho had seen her, Josh was worried about Mindy all the time. He couldn't be sure Smiley had made a connection, but it was a possibility. He didn't like her driving around Del Oro all alone. His first thought was to send Pete to keep an eye on her, but quickly realized she would slap him silly if she found out he'd put him up to it. And he was afraid to think about what she would do to Pete if he was following her everywhere. So he'd settled for buying a set of 2-way radios and having her carry one at all times. She had agreed to this, but had given him strange looks about it. Especially when she noticed he'd gotten a set with the highest range availabe. She just didn't get why he was acting so oddly. He'd always been protective of her, but lately it was getting a little wierd.
Josh was beginning to think he was just being paranoid. If anyone was going to come after Mindy, wouldn't they have done it by now? Besides, she didn't know anything about N'Tek's real work, so she was useless in the information department. Besides, everyone else kept telling him he was being paranoid.
Right now, he was in Max mode. Some adjustments had been made to Shadow and he was taking it for a test spin. He actually felt completely relaxed for the first time in days as the wind whipped through his hair.
"How's it going, hermano?" asked Berto.
"It's running great."
"Did you test the new feature yet?"
"Was just about to bro." Max flipped a switch. He looked around to make sure no one was watching. "Green," he commanded. In seconds, the car had gone from it's normal blue to a shade of green. He smiled. "Purple." The car obeyed. "Uh, black with hot pink stripes." He grinned as the car changed again. "It's working."
"Great. Now you're not limited to just red and blue. Shadow will be harder to recognize."
"Blue," Max commanded. "Uh, Morgan hasn't tried to call, has she?"
Berto sighed. "If she had, I wouldv'e patched her through."
"You're keeping the radio on hand right?"
"Max," said Berto in a warning tone, "this is getting irritating. If she tries to call, I'll put the feed through your bio-link. You need to stop worrying. You're driving eveyone up a wall hermano."
"Sorry, I just can't help it. What if Dread and Smiley decide to use her to get to me?"
"If they find time with you watching her every second."
"Well, it's kind of hard to watch her when she's driving around all the time."
"Hermano, she's an active teenage girl. It's not like you can lock her in her room just so you can feel like she's safe. She's too much like you for that."
Mindy walked toward her rental car. Another dead end. She sighed. At this rate, she would *never* find a place off campus. And time to find a place was running out. Plus, she still hadn't told Josh. She should have, but she kept putting it off. The place she had just seen was not only overpriced, it was a dump. Wasn't trying to rent out a place like that illegal or something?
In a van that was slowly approaching, three men were watching Mindy. They had been watching her for the past three days. They had had several opportunities to kidnapp her, but had been ordered only to observe. Now, they'd been given the go ahead, but there were always people around. Right now, though, there was no one around. A perfect opportunity. Silently, they stopped the van a few yards away. All three climbed out, none of them were wearing their helmets. They would have drawn too much attention and were not the most comfortable things in the world. Besides, she was just a girl, and a small one at that. How much trouble could she be?
Mindy dug her two-way radio out of her purse with the intent on checking if Josh was home yet. Just as she pulled it out, she got a cold shiver up her spine. That shiver always meant she was being watched. Lately, she'd been feeling that shiver a lot, but when she looked, she didn't see anyone paying attention to her. She could swear she'd seen a black van a couple of times, but had just chalked it up to watching *way* too many spy movies.
When she turned around, she decided she shouldn't doubt her instincts so much. There was that same black van. And three guys approaching her. Her eyes widened as she realized they were wearing outfits identical to what those two had been wearing at the ice rink, except with no helmets. Her eyes darted around. Her heart sank as she noticed that no one else was around. She was on her own. She swallowed hard.
They were just a couple of feet away now. Quickly, she switched on the radio in her hand. "What do you want?" she demanded, trying not to let her voice shake.
Berto started as he heard a voice loud and clear coming through the two- way.
One of the men smiled evily. "You're coming with us," he said simply.
"In your dreams," Mindy spat out.
Berto filtered the two-way's signal into Max's bio-link. "Max, next time I tell you you're being paranoid, you can slap me."
Max was about to ask what he was talking about when he heard a man's voice. "Someone's taken an interest in you, Miss McGrath. Now be a good little girl and get in the van and we won't have to hurt you." Max's heart dropped into his stomach. "Berto can you trace her location from the radio signal?"
"I'm already working on it." A second later, he located her and gave the location to Max. Both just prayed he got there in time.
"Now be a good little girl and get in the van and we won't have to hurt you."
"Fuck off," she responded, glaring at him.
"The hard way it is," he said.
One of them stepped forward and grabbed her left arm.
"Get off me!" she yelled. She proceded to punch the guy in the face as hard as she could. He staggered back, holding his nose as blood poured out of it. Another came at her and she delivered a powerful kick to his groin. He fell to the ground, clutching himself, too surprised and in too much pain to let out a sound.
The third guy rushed forward and grabbed her wrist. She turned around and stomped on his foot. He let out a yelp of pain, but didn't let go. Instead, he twisted her wrist painfully and squeezed harder. She cried out in pain.
A red haze filled Max's vision as he heard Mindy's cry of pain. He pushed the gas petal harder. Mindy was capable of holding her own for a few minutes, he knew. He'd taught her basic self-defense himself. Against any one person, that is. But against what sounded like more than one Dread soldier, she didn't stand much of a chance.
"I sent a clean-up van for whoever's after Mindy. They should get there soon."
Max didn't respond. He just drove faster, taking the next turn on two wheels.
Mindy screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping that *someone* would hear her. The guy she'd punched had come over to aid his buddy. Mindy kicked at both of their shins, producing yells of pain. When the one with a probably broken nose tried to grab her other arm, she reached up and scratched his face and was satisfied at the sight of his pained look and a cut beginning to bleed.
The one who had her by the wrist swung her over his shoulder and tried to carry her to the van. Now desperate, Mindy drove her knee into his chest as hard as her akward position would allow. Unfotunatly, she had forgotten that he was wearing protective armor. So she did the only thing she could think of. She yanked his hair. He yelled in pain, but didn't drop her. Reaching for the other side of his head, she dug her nails into his ear. He did drop her then. Mindy was vaugly aware of a car screeching to a halt.
The Dread soldier covered his ear with his hands. When he drew it away, there was blood on his fingers. He turned his furious gaze on Mindy. "You little bitch!" He raised a hand to hit her.
To Mindy's astonishment and confusion, the guy was suddenly tackled by what appeared to be a blue, silver and brown blur. The blur delivered a fuw punches and kicks before turning to the other two. Her eyes widened. It was the same guy from the ice rink.
Max knocked out the Dread soldier who'd been about to strike his cousin in record time. He turned to face the other two. He was furious and it showed. The other two backed up a step before trying to take him down.
Mindy watched as they fought. Her brain managed to register that her saviour was an expert fighter. And he was *fast*. He landed blow after blow on her attackers. They could barely touch him.
It only lasted a couple of minutes. All three soldiers lay on the ground, unconcious. Max glared angrily at them. *Nobody* touched his baby cousin.
He looked over at Mindy, who was still sitting on the ground with a bewildered expression on her face. He was at her side in an instant. "Are you alright?" he asked, gently pulling her to her feet.
She just stared at the three men on the ground. She didn't even notice the second black van that pulled up. Several people got out and collected the three unconcious men. She watched them as they checked to make sure they were alive.
Max repeated his question when she didn't answer him. "Yeah," she said, so quietly he never would have heard it if he didn't have advanced hearing. He breathed a sigh of relief.
The Dread agents were loaded into the van and driven off. Max was still seething. All those times his friends had been in danger were horrible, but he couldn't remember ever being quite this angry. They'd known exactly where Mindy was. That meant they had been following her. Who knew how long they had been watching her?
He looked over at his cousin. She seemed fine except for a bruise on her left wrist and being shaken up. The poor girl had no idea why anyone would come after her like this. She'd done nothing as far as she knew.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.
She turned her confused eyes to his face. After a moment, she nodded.
"Good." He started to walk to his car.
"Wait!" she called. She ran up to him as he turned back to her. For a moment, she only stared at him. "Who are you?"
He looked at her a bit oddly for a split second. Regaining his composure, he answered her. "The name's Max Steel." He bowed a bit, just for the dramatic effect. "At your service."
Max Steel. She knew that name from somewhere. But where? "Mindy McGrath," she said, extending her hand. He shook it. "This is the third time you've helped me in under a week."
"Third?"
"Yeah. You showed up at the ice rink when that whacko showed up. You went back in to find my cousin after he took off. And you just saved me from three dementoids with no fashion sense. That makes three."
Max smiled.
"Ever since I got here, you seem to show up whenever there's trouble," she continued. "What are you, some kind of James Bond wanna be? I-I mean, uh." She closed her eyes. "That didn't come out right." When she opened her eyes, she saw, to her relief, that he didn't seem offended. Actually, his smile had broadened.
He had a smile that could make a girl melt. Yet, for some strange reason, she wasn't the least bit attracted to this guy. Logically, she knew she should be, but she wasn't. In fact, she was somewhat repulsed by the idea. She wondered why. "It's just that what just happened is like something right out of a spy movie or a cartoon, and-" She decided to quit while she was ahead. "Anyway, just... thank you. For everything."
"It's no problem. Glad to help."
He seemed *so* familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it, but he was. "I'm sorry. Do I... know you?"
"Um, I don't think so. I've got to run. I'll be seeing you around." He ran over to his blue convertable and hopped over the door. He drove off a minute later.
Mindy watched him go. The way he'd jumped into the car. Josh did that all the time. Max was also had a pretty laid back attitude like Josh. Maybe that's why she wasn't attracted to him. He reminded her of her cousin a bit. She shrugged and headed back to her rental car. At least she'd gotten to thank him this time. And now she knew his name. All she had to do was figure out where she'd heard it. And get over the burning humiliation of asking him if he was a James Bond wanna be. Sometimes, she thought sourly, I would do well to keep my big mouth shut.
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It's not the best chapter I've ever written, but I think it's pretty good. Let me know what you think.
Thank you to everyone who's been reading. Especially those of you who left me those wonderful reviews. And a special thanks to Calty for suggesting a title for chapter 3 since I couldn't come up with one. Thanks for helping me out. _______________________________________________________________________
The next three days were fairly uneventful. Josh was growing anxious to see Laura. She had called Pete and told him when she was coming home. Just one more day. He, Pete and Mindy were going to meet her at the airport. Laura didn't know that, but then it wouldn't be a surprise if she did.
Josh's week off had been cancelled to an extent. He only had to come in for a couple of hours everyday for briefings. Nothing heavy. They still had no idea what Psycho and Dread were planning, making everyone a feel a little on edge. Josh was glad he didn't have to stick around N'Tek too much right now. And frankly, he felt a little guilty because he had promised to spend the whole week with Mindy and now he couldn't.
Mindy, for her part, didn't seem too upset with him. She had accepted his excuse of there was some mix-up at work and some unexpected events, so he had to work a few hours a day. In fact, she had rented a car and spent quite a bit of time driving around town. Josh wasn't sure why. When he had asked, she'd said she would tell him later.
Now that Psycho had seen her, Josh was worried about Mindy all the time. He couldn't be sure Smiley had made a connection, but it was a possibility. He didn't like her driving around Del Oro all alone. His first thought was to send Pete to keep an eye on her, but quickly realized she would slap him silly if she found out he'd put him up to it. And he was afraid to think about what she would do to Pete if he was following her everywhere. So he'd settled for buying a set of 2-way radios and having her carry one at all times. She had agreed to this, but had given him strange looks about it. Especially when she noticed he'd gotten a set with the highest range availabe. She just didn't get why he was acting so oddly. He'd always been protective of her, but lately it was getting a little wierd.
Josh was beginning to think he was just being paranoid. If anyone was going to come after Mindy, wouldn't they have done it by now? Besides, she didn't know anything about N'Tek's real work, so she was useless in the information department. Besides, everyone else kept telling him he was being paranoid.
Right now, he was in Max mode. Some adjustments had been made to Shadow and he was taking it for a test spin. He actually felt completely relaxed for the first time in days as the wind whipped through his hair.
"How's it going, hermano?" asked Berto.
"It's running great."
"Did you test the new feature yet?"
"Was just about to bro." Max flipped a switch. He looked around to make sure no one was watching. "Green," he commanded. In seconds, the car had gone from it's normal blue to a shade of green. He smiled. "Purple." The car obeyed. "Uh, black with hot pink stripes." He grinned as the car changed again. "It's working."
"Great. Now you're not limited to just red and blue. Shadow will be harder to recognize."
"Blue," Max commanded. "Uh, Morgan hasn't tried to call, has she?"
Berto sighed. "If she had, I wouldv'e patched her through."
"You're keeping the radio on hand right?"
"Max," said Berto in a warning tone, "this is getting irritating. If she tries to call, I'll put the feed through your bio-link. You need to stop worrying. You're driving eveyone up a wall hermano."
"Sorry, I just can't help it. What if Dread and Smiley decide to use her to get to me?"
"If they find time with you watching her every second."
"Well, it's kind of hard to watch her when she's driving around all the time."
"Hermano, she's an active teenage girl. It's not like you can lock her in her room just so you can feel like she's safe. She's too much like you for that."
Mindy walked toward her rental car. Another dead end. She sighed. At this rate, she would *never* find a place off campus. And time to find a place was running out. Plus, she still hadn't told Josh. She should have, but she kept putting it off. The place she had just seen was not only overpriced, it was a dump. Wasn't trying to rent out a place like that illegal or something?
In a van that was slowly approaching, three men were watching Mindy. They had been watching her for the past three days. They had had several opportunities to kidnapp her, but had been ordered only to observe. Now, they'd been given the go ahead, but there were always people around. Right now, though, there was no one around. A perfect opportunity. Silently, they stopped the van a few yards away. All three climbed out, none of them were wearing their helmets. They would have drawn too much attention and were not the most comfortable things in the world. Besides, she was just a girl, and a small one at that. How much trouble could she be?
Mindy dug her two-way radio out of her purse with the intent on checking if Josh was home yet. Just as she pulled it out, she got a cold shiver up her spine. That shiver always meant she was being watched. Lately, she'd been feeling that shiver a lot, but when she looked, she didn't see anyone paying attention to her. She could swear she'd seen a black van a couple of times, but had just chalked it up to watching *way* too many spy movies.
When she turned around, she decided she shouldn't doubt her instincts so much. There was that same black van. And three guys approaching her. Her eyes widened as she realized they were wearing outfits identical to what those two had been wearing at the ice rink, except with no helmets. Her eyes darted around. Her heart sank as she noticed that no one else was around. She was on her own. She swallowed hard.
They were just a couple of feet away now. Quickly, she switched on the radio in her hand. "What do you want?" she demanded, trying not to let her voice shake.
Berto started as he heard a voice loud and clear coming through the two- way.
One of the men smiled evily. "You're coming with us," he said simply.
"In your dreams," Mindy spat out.
Berto filtered the two-way's signal into Max's bio-link. "Max, next time I tell you you're being paranoid, you can slap me."
Max was about to ask what he was talking about when he heard a man's voice. "Someone's taken an interest in you, Miss McGrath. Now be a good little girl and get in the van and we won't have to hurt you." Max's heart dropped into his stomach. "Berto can you trace her location from the radio signal?"
"I'm already working on it." A second later, he located her and gave the location to Max. Both just prayed he got there in time.
"Now be a good little girl and get in the van and we won't have to hurt you."
"Fuck off," she responded, glaring at him.
"The hard way it is," he said.
One of them stepped forward and grabbed her left arm.
"Get off me!" she yelled. She proceded to punch the guy in the face as hard as she could. He staggered back, holding his nose as blood poured out of it. Another came at her and she delivered a powerful kick to his groin. He fell to the ground, clutching himself, too surprised and in too much pain to let out a sound.
The third guy rushed forward and grabbed her wrist. She turned around and stomped on his foot. He let out a yelp of pain, but didn't let go. Instead, he twisted her wrist painfully and squeezed harder. She cried out in pain.
A red haze filled Max's vision as he heard Mindy's cry of pain. He pushed the gas petal harder. Mindy was capable of holding her own for a few minutes, he knew. He'd taught her basic self-defense himself. Against any one person, that is. But against what sounded like more than one Dread soldier, she didn't stand much of a chance.
"I sent a clean-up van for whoever's after Mindy. They should get there soon."
Max didn't respond. He just drove faster, taking the next turn on two wheels.
Mindy screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping that *someone* would hear her. The guy she'd punched had come over to aid his buddy. Mindy kicked at both of their shins, producing yells of pain. When the one with a probably broken nose tried to grab her other arm, she reached up and scratched his face and was satisfied at the sight of his pained look and a cut beginning to bleed.
The one who had her by the wrist swung her over his shoulder and tried to carry her to the van. Now desperate, Mindy drove her knee into his chest as hard as her akward position would allow. Unfotunatly, she had forgotten that he was wearing protective armor. So she did the only thing she could think of. She yanked his hair. He yelled in pain, but didn't drop her. Reaching for the other side of his head, she dug her nails into his ear. He did drop her then. Mindy was vaugly aware of a car screeching to a halt.
The Dread soldier covered his ear with his hands. When he drew it away, there was blood on his fingers. He turned his furious gaze on Mindy. "You little bitch!" He raised a hand to hit her.
To Mindy's astonishment and confusion, the guy was suddenly tackled by what appeared to be a blue, silver and brown blur. The blur delivered a fuw punches and kicks before turning to the other two. Her eyes widened. It was the same guy from the ice rink.
Max knocked out the Dread soldier who'd been about to strike his cousin in record time. He turned to face the other two. He was furious and it showed. The other two backed up a step before trying to take him down.
Mindy watched as they fought. Her brain managed to register that her saviour was an expert fighter. And he was *fast*. He landed blow after blow on her attackers. They could barely touch him.
It only lasted a couple of minutes. All three soldiers lay on the ground, unconcious. Max glared angrily at them. *Nobody* touched his baby cousin.
He looked over at Mindy, who was still sitting on the ground with a bewildered expression on her face. He was at her side in an instant. "Are you alright?" he asked, gently pulling her to her feet.
She just stared at the three men on the ground. She didn't even notice the second black van that pulled up. Several people got out and collected the three unconcious men. She watched them as they checked to make sure they were alive.
Max repeated his question when she didn't answer him. "Yeah," she said, so quietly he never would have heard it if he didn't have advanced hearing. He breathed a sigh of relief.
The Dread agents were loaded into the van and driven off. Max was still seething. All those times his friends had been in danger were horrible, but he couldn't remember ever being quite this angry. They'd known exactly where Mindy was. That meant they had been following her. Who knew how long they had been watching her?
He looked over at his cousin. She seemed fine except for a bruise on her left wrist and being shaken up. The poor girl had no idea why anyone would come after her like this. She'd done nothing as far as she knew.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.
She turned her confused eyes to his face. After a moment, she nodded.
"Good." He started to walk to his car.
"Wait!" she called. She ran up to him as he turned back to her. For a moment, she only stared at him. "Who are you?"
He looked at her a bit oddly for a split second. Regaining his composure, he answered her. "The name's Max Steel." He bowed a bit, just for the dramatic effect. "At your service."
Max Steel. She knew that name from somewhere. But where? "Mindy McGrath," she said, extending her hand. He shook it. "This is the third time you've helped me in under a week."
"Third?"
"Yeah. You showed up at the ice rink when that whacko showed up. You went back in to find my cousin after he took off. And you just saved me from three dementoids with no fashion sense. That makes three."
Max smiled.
"Ever since I got here, you seem to show up whenever there's trouble," she continued. "What are you, some kind of James Bond wanna be? I-I mean, uh." She closed her eyes. "That didn't come out right." When she opened her eyes, she saw, to her relief, that he didn't seem offended. Actually, his smile had broadened.
He had a smile that could make a girl melt. Yet, for some strange reason, she wasn't the least bit attracted to this guy. Logically, she knew she should be, but she wasn't. In fact, she was somewhat repulsed by the idea. She wondered why. "It's just that what just happened is like something right out of a spy movie or a cartoon, and-" She decided to quit while she was ahead. "Anyway, just... thank you. For everything."
"It's no problem. Glad to help."
He seemed *so* familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it, but he was. "I'm sorry. Do I... know you?"
"Um, I don't think so. I've got to run. I'll be seeing you around." He ran over to his blue convertable and hopped over the door. He drove off a minute later.
Mindy watched him go. The way he'd jumped into the car. Josh did that all the time. Max was also had a pretty laid back attitude like Josh. Maybe that's why she wasn't attracted to him. He reminded her of her cousin a bit. She shrugged and headed back to her rental car. At least she'd gotten to thank him this time. And now she knew his name. All she had to do was figure out where she'd heard it. And get over the burning humiliation of asking him if he was a James Bond wanna be. Sometimes, she thought sourly, I would do well to keep my big mouth shut.
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It's not the best chapter I've ever written, but I think it's pretty good. Let me know what you think.