Author's Note: Thank you to all my reviewers! I'm so surprised!! Your support makes me happy. Just to make it clear, this is a Alec centered story, so Max and Logan play supporting roles but nothing more. I'm an avid M/L fan, but this story doesn't revolve around them. Nonetheless...give it a shot. I know where this story is going, and I hope you like it. Please review!
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The huge man in the trench coat pulled Kris over to a black car. She didn't get a chance to look at the license plate. Another man in a trench coat came out of the car. He looked beyond cold, beyond icy, as though completely void of anything resembling human emotions.
He looked at the man holding Kris. "Is this her?" he asked him.
"Yes, sir," the other man replied.
The second man looked at Kris carefully. Kris felt terribly uncomfortable under his harsh gaze, but she refused to not return the eye contact.
"I'm Agent White," the second man said, flashing some sort of badge. "I just want to ask you a few questions."
"What is this about?" Kris asked assertively.
Agent White pulled out a picture from inside his jacket. "Do you recognize this man?" he asked her.
She struggled in the other man's grip, but he released her this time. She walked towards Agent White and looked at the picture. It was of Sean, her Sean. Kris panicked. What was an agent doing with Sean's picture?
"Again, what is this about?" Kris asked, but this time her voice wavered.
"Just answer the question," White replied, moving his trench coat to expose a gun by his side, then shifting the jacket back to its original position.
Kris gulped. There was no way she could run. A giant was behind her and an agent with a gun was in front of her.
"Sean Verima," she said softly.
"How do you know him?" White asked.
"He was my boyfriend."
White made some sort of signal to the man behind Kris and she felt hands on her again. Something wasn't right. A federal agent wouldn't do something like this.
She started screaming. "Get you hands off me! No! Stop! Let go!" She struggled relentlessly as he tried to push her into the car, but it was a losing battle.
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Alec looked around, trying to find Kris. It was freezing outside, so she couldn't have gone far without realizing she was missing her jacket.
Then Alec heard screaming. "Get you hands off me! No! Stop! Let go!" Each plea sounding more and more desperate. It was Kris. Alec ran towards the screams.
When he turned the corner, he saw a man trying to shove Kris into a black car and another man with a smirk on his face watching the whole ordeal. White. What the hell was going on?
"White!" Alec yelled. The man holding Kris loosened is grip momentarily, and Kris took this opportunity to step on his foot hard and kick him in his groin. But the man didn't even flinch. He was surprised, but not hurt.
What the...was all Kris could think before the man slammed her against the car.
White turned in Alec's direction and smiled. "Ah, 494, what a pleasant surprise." He stalked forward towards Alec and drew his gun. Alec barely had enough time to dive behind the side of the car before shots rang out. Alec ran around the front end of the car and came across a badly beaten Kris and one of White's men. Alec punched the man squarely in the jaw, but the man took no notice.
Crap! Those cult guys, Alec thought right before the man punched him. Alec staggered back and grabbed a trashcan from the side of the alley. He threw it at the man fiercely, knowing full well now that punches wouldn't help against his opponent. The distraction gave Alec just enough time to scoop Kris up in his arms and run away from the car.
"After him!" White yelled.
Alec heard the footsteps gaining on him. He turned the corner and looked down the bare street. There was a pothole. He quickly opened it and said, "Get down there," to Kris, who climbed down the ladder. Alec followed and closed the top. He could hear the footsteps fade away as the men ran down the street.
Alec turned to Kris. The sewer was pretty dim, but he could still see her panting form clearly.
"Who are you?" he asked firmly.
Kris looked at him sternly. "Kris Mariko. Who the hell are you? How do you know that guy? What the hell does he want with me?" she asked frantically.
"I don't know how he knows you. You never saw him before?" Alec asked, trying to assess whether Kris was telling the truth.
"No, I don't know who he is. He showed me a picture of Sean and asked if I knew him. I said yes and then they were trying to put me in the car."
Alec thought about it. She looked genuinely scared, which was a big difference from her usually calm exterior.
"Okay," he said. I know a place you can lay low for a while. C'mon," he said gently, extending his hand for hers.
She looked at him critically. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked calmly.
"Ah, shit! I just risked my life for you back there! Look, I'm gonna take you to Logan's place. He has a nice apartment, and he's loaded. Geez...you save someone's life and they spit it back at you," he replied, annoyed.
"Well, excuse me! I just got bullied around and slammed on a car because I recognized a picture of my dead boyfriend the third day I'm in this shitty town! So, I'm sorry if I'm having trouble trusting people, especially someone who knows that White guy and was called some weird number, 4-9-whatever!" she yelled back.
Alec sympathized, he never thought about what she could be feeling or thinking.
"Look, I'm sorry. I'll explain everything when we get to Logan's okay? Just, please, trust me. If I do something stupid, I'll buy you three sorbets." he added, smiling and extending his hand again.
Kris smiled back slightly. Where would she go anyway? Her motel room was probably ransacked by now. "Deal," she replied, taking his extended hand.
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Alec prayed Logan wouldn't mind helping out. Then again, Logan had that White Knight complex where he was willing to 'save' anyone he could.
The door to Logan's loft swung open.
"Alec," Logan said, clearly surprised. He looked at the younger man; he was slightly beat up, a swollen lip and a red bump on a cheekbone. "Come in," Logan said, wheeling out of the way to let Alec in. Logan hadn't even noticed the young girl with Alec until then. She was clearly scared about whatever had happened, though she tried to hide it.
Alec stopped after he and the girl entered.
"This is Kris. For some reason, White is after her. We just needed a place to go to and you were the first person I could think of," Alec said truthfully.
Logan was pleased that Alec thought rather highly of him. He looked at the girl, Kris, again who was looking around the apartment.
"Hi, I'm Logan," Logan said, extending his hand upward towards her.
"Kris. Nice to meet you. Thank you for helping me out," Kris replied, smiling at the handsome man in the wheelchair.
"My pleasure. Should I call Max?" Logan asked Alec.
Alec thought about it for a second, "Yeah, I think so."
"Alright," Logan said, picking up the phone.
"Alec, why is Logan calling Max?" Kris said, utterly confused.
"Max has had contact with White. Don't worry, she's very trustworthy," Alec said, placing a comforting hand on Kris' shoulder.
Kris' head was swimming with all these fragments of information. Alec, Logan, and Max knew of White. White knew her. And she knew none of them well at all.
"Max is on her way. Kris, can I get you anything? Any food? Drink? Shower?" Logan asked, trying to ease the tense girl.
"Oh, a shower sounds wonderful," Kris confessed. Being handled like luggage and beaten up by White's freakish goon made her feel particularly dirty and sore.
"Sure, I'll get you some towels and clean clothes. Follow me," Logan said, wheeling towards his room and adjoining bathroom.
When Logan came back into the living room, he asked, "Who is she? She seems nice, but, if White knows her..."
"She didn't know how White knew her," Alec said, coming quickly to Kris' defense. He felt that need to make it clear to Logan that Kris was not the bad guy, though he honestly wasn't sure himself. Manticore would have been so disappointed if they knew what I have become, Alec thought, a semi-trusting person.
Fifteen minutes later, Max arrived and Kris was still in the shower. "How do we know she's telling the truth?" Max asked suspiciously.
"We don't know. It's called trust, Maxie," Alec replied cockily.
Logan cringed at Alec's term of endearment for Max. Max simply looked annoyed.
Kris appeared a few seconds later clad in Logan's black T-shirt and blue sweat pants. Both were too big on her, but she felt incredibly happy.
All three looked at the smiling girl strangely. Max felt a twinge of jealousy that a girl Logan knew nothing about was wearing his clothes. She never got to wear his clothes. Then again, she had sets of her clothes at his apartment. Alec felt envious that Kris wasn't wearing his clothes mixed with a strange desire to snuggle next to her - she looked so comfortable. Logan was just wondering why she had such a strange grin on her face.
"You have hot water," Kris said dreamily to the trio, explaining her happiness. She hadn't had a hot shower in months.
Max, Alec, and Logan burst out laughing at her statement. Alec looked up into her sparkling eyes. Kris' delight in the small pleasure of a hot shower showed her innocence behind the walls she usually held up around herself. Alec was drawn to that for some reason. Maybe it was because he was never innocent, no he was innocent to a point during his time with Rachel. His affection for Rachel was innocent, but dangerous. He snapped out of his momentary trance and refocused his attention on Kris. He wasn't going to fall for Kris like he had fallen for Rachel. It was deadly.
When they all sat down on Logan's couches and chairs, Kris began her story as they asked her to do.
"Six months ago, my boyfriend, Sean, died. We met about two years ago at a party, I was seventeen then. We started dating five months after we met. He was nineteen at the time," Kris started.
"Can you tell us about him?" Max asked. She needed to know what it was about that guy that White was so interested in.
"Well, physically, he was about Alec's height, had dark brown hair and green eyes. Well built. He was considerate, which initially caught me off guard. I kept on expecting him to turn into some sort of monster who just wanted me as another notch on the bedpost, but it wasn't the case. It took me five months to trust him enough to let him in. Um, he taught me a lot of stuff too. How to play pool, how to defend myself, you know just stuff. Anyway, six months ago, the cops came to our door, we were living together, telling me that Sean died in a car accident. He was driving home from the market and an oil tanker swerved and hit him. His body was burned beyond recognition, they said." Kris swallowed hard. She wasn't going to cry, she was through with crying.
"So, after the funeral, I tried to have a normal life, but it just felt all wrong. Everything reminded me of him. Eventually, I saved enough money to get out of Los Angeles. I decided that the furthest I could afford to go was Seattle and here I am. Today, White's guy stopped me before I went back into the Crash and took me over to White. White flashed a gun after I gave him some lip, and he showed me a picture of Sean. He asked me if I knew him and I said yes. There was no way I could fight my way out of the situation. So, the guy grabbed me and tried to push me into the car. And then Alec showed up. White called him some number 4,9, something. I tried to get away. I kicked the guy in the crotch, but he didn't even flinch. It was so weird, like he didn't even feel the pain. I mean, that should hurt like hell, but it was like he felt nothing."
Logan, Max, and Alec exchanged glances, knowing full well why that guy felt nothing.
"What?" Kris asked her audience.
"Nothing," Max replied. "You can go on."
"That's basically it. Alec got me out of there and now we're here," she said, looking over at Alec with a small smile on her face. Alec smiled and nodded.
The three in the audience became quiet, each trying to assess the validity of Kris' story.
After long minutes of silence, Kris asked, "So, can you guys enlighten me as to who this White guy is and why he wants me and why he called Alec a number and who exactly you guys are?"
Max looked up at her from her thoughts. There was something in this girl that made her want to trust her. Her story seemed truthful, but she could never be 100% positive.
"You swear you're telling the truth. Your story, the fact that you don't know White, all of it?" Max asked.
Kris' eyes narrowed. "You think I'm lying? I spill my guts you people who I don't even know and you think I'm bullshitting the death of my boyfriend?" Kris asked fiercely but in an even tone.