Many thanks for the reviews – they always make my day!
Thanks very much to Kyre for the beta and for not changing my Aussie spelling.
Sorry for the delay in this chapter, but I've been working on VS 4 at the same time. The next chapter will be up a lot quicker.
CHAPTER 18
"Whaddya think the chances of them splitting are?" Max asked as Logan as the elevator creaked and shuddered its way down to the ground floor of the adjacent apartment block.
"I'm doin' my best not to think about it," was Logan's rejoinder. He purposefully leant back in his wheelchair to prove his point, finding the touch of the wheels under his hands surprisingly comforting after having been stranded so long without it.
Max merely gave him a small smile. The glow of finding him safe hadn't quite worn off. She still had that warm, slightly dazed feeling that comes after a moment of great relief.
"Gimme your keys. It'll be quicker and less noticeable if I head down an' get your car," Max told him, one hand out to receive them. Unable to disagree with her logic, Logan fished the keys out of his jacket pocket and gave them to her.
The first thing Logan saw when the elevator door opened was Seth and Emma, waiting with mixed expressions against the wall opposite the elevator doors in a dimly lit, faded and dirty lobby.
Seth stared at Max disagreeably when he looked up and saw them, but made no other movement.
Emma's eyes, Logan noticed, went straight to his chair and his motionless legs.
"Not much of a fashion statement," he told her flippantly as her eyes lifted to his face.
She looked away hastily and turned toward Max, who was staring out the grimy glass door that led to the street outside. "What do we do now? We waited...like you said," she reminded her caustically.
"Just stay well back from the door," Max told her in a detached manner. "There may be a few pryin' eyes out there," she added to Logan seriously as her eyes now automatically swept the lobby. There was little to check – the only items in the lobby were a decrepit wooden chair that didn't look like it could take the weight of a five year old child and a miserable, moisture-starved potted palm.
Logan nodded, signaling for Emma and Seth to stand closer to the back of the lobby where he was as Max slipped out the door.
"Over here, Seth," murmured Emma.
"I need to stand guard," Seth told her, moving closer to the glass doors.
"You can stand guard from back here," she pointed out firmly to him.
The large, young man shook his head decisively.
"Seth," Logan began, only to stop suddenly as the boy put up an urgent hand signaling him to be quiet and flattened himself against the wall.
"He's out there."
Seth's words, spoken in a hoarse whisper, seemed to resonate in the dingy lobby, leaving Logan with small tendrils of something cold running up the back of his neck.
Logan suspected Seth had watched too many bad movies, but he couldn't ignore the sudden tension in the air and he felt for his gun just in case.
Seth continued to stare out the window.
"Is it one of Petrovsky's men?" asked Logan, wondering why he felt so foolish, but getting out his gun anyway.
For a moment he had the impression of a shadowy silhouette gliding past the glass doors, then he looked up a little startled as the single fluorescent light that illuminated the glass doors from outside suddenly started blinking on and off with mesmeric rapidity.
"Seth, who's out there?" he asked, trying to sound calm and unconcerned.
"The man from before," Seth answered, becoming a little agitated. All of a sudden he turned toward Logan. "We hafta go," he said tensely, taking a step towards Logan purposefully.
"Seth, no," Logan said quickly, putting up a hand in protest. He had no intention of being hauled upside down again. "We need to wait here for Max."
Seth shook his head, clearly unhappy with this idea. "He's still looking – we need to go," he insisted again.
Logan eyed Seth warily. The boy had a mulish expression on his face. "Seth, we'll wait here till Max comes back with the car."
The young man continued to look around with uncertainty.
Emma spoke sharply. "Seth, you are not to touch Logan."
At that moment, they heard the sound of a car pulling up outside.
"That sounds like my car," Logan said with quiet relief.
In a matter of seconds, Max was back with them, a little startled to find Logan facing her with a gun in his hands.
"Seth was seeing things. Just in case," he added holding up the gun a little. "You see anyone out there?"
"Some, but no one we need t'care about," she answered with assurance.
That was good enough for Logan, so he stuffed the gun back in his pocket and pushed forward, wheeling quickly through the stiff door she held open for him.
"Come on. We gotta get to the car fast," Max urged Seth and Emma, letting go of the door to double-check that there was definitely no one she'd missed lurking outside the apartment as she came in.
Fine splinters of rain drizzled steadily from the sky with an eerie quiet into the still night, illuminated intermittently by the flickering light.
Logan waited a beat, looking around cautiously as he got to the sidewalk. It appeared to be deserted, but there were so many shadows it was difficult to be sure. Aware of Max behind him, he headed to his car. She had parked on the wrong side of the road, making it easy for him to access the driver's door.
The sound of movement behind him told him that Emma and Seth weren't far behind.
"He's here...somewhere," Seth whispered hoarsely once more, his eyes searching the roadway.
Logan felt the same tingle at the back of his neck that he'd felt before. Pausing in the act of opening his car door, he turned around to look at the giant. The boy didn't appear to be afraid, just very on edge.
Logan's glance swung to Max. She raised her eyebrows at him with an 'Is the guy wacked or what?' look.
"Isn't this the part where the monster jumps out?" she murmured under her breath to Logan.
Emma certainly appeared to be taking Seth's concerns seriously. She stood next to him on the pavement in front of Logan's car, her eyes attempting to probe the shadows as well.
Logan turned back to the car and opened the door, vaguely aware that that neither Seth nor Emma had made a move to get in the car. Because he was feeling slightly distracted by Seth's unease and wondering if he had an audience, his transfer was neither smooth nor efficient. Annoyed with himself, he didn't look up at Max but asked her coolly as he buckled his seat belt, "You comin' with us or following?"
"I'll tail you," she told him. "I'd better put this in the hatch," she added with a hand on his chair.
He simply popped the hatch in acknowledgement, then turned the key in the ignition.
"Emma, take the front seat," Max motioned to the girl who was standing a little uncertainly by the car, shivering with either the cold or her reaction to the events of the night. "Seth, take the back."
The huge young man looked at Max with something like dislike, but she ignored it as she held open the back door for him with one hand on her way to the back of the car.
It was all the invitation they needed, both quickly climbing in and fastening their seat belts. Logan turned to Emma and gave her a quick tightening of his mouth that passed for a smile, then turned the heater onto high as he noticed her trembling.
The hatch closed with a bang.
Max came back to Logan's now-open window. "Where we headed?" she asked, eyes darting to the road ahead as she spoke, then to the shadows opposite, then finally behind the car.
"Thorpe Street," he told her briefly.
He saw the smallest flicker of recognition in her eyes, but she merely said, "'Kay. See ya there."
--------------------------------------------------------
There was no telltale sign to reveal his presence.
With hands thrust deep into his pockets, he stood as one carved from stone – his expression cold and implacable to match.
He was supremely patient. Even the unpleasant smell of urine and rotting food failed to quench his resolve. There was no sign of even distaste as he simply continued breathing in each polluted breath of air in a calm, precise manner.
At last, a hint of emotion touched his face; his eyes glinted slightly as the SUV sped by, followed a minute later by a black motorcycle.
Only then did he make his move.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It was well after 2 AM by the time Logan pulled up in front of the small, three-storey apartment block in suburban Seattle.
Neither Emma nor Seth stirred as he stopped the car gently and put it into park. He stretched his arms out a little as he looked around for any sign of Max. He knew she had been tailing them most of the way, but she had dropped out of sight about five minutes previous, and he was becoming a little concerned that she still hadn't showed. She had definitely been behind him when he'd stopped briefly to anonymously call 911 to get some paramedics to Pertovsky's man whom they'd left behind in the sparsely furnished apartment.
The engine continued to turn over quietly with its smooth rhythm. He hadn't wanted to turn it off for Emma's sake, figuring that the temperature inside the car would start to drop fairly rapidly. Looking through the front windshield, he could now see a mostly clear sky scattered with a myriad of twinkling lights.
Twisting around, he looked at Seth. He didn't have to check that the boy was asleep – the deep sucking-in of air at the back of his throat told Logan that very clearly every time Seth took a breath.
"Come on, Max," he murmured impatiently, his concern for her going up a notch as there was still no sign of her arrival.
What if Seth was right? Maybe there had been some guy hanging around. What if he'd followed Max and knocked her from her bike and was now on his way here?
Even as he thought that, he heard the increasingly loud sound of a motorcycle. Almost before he had time to turn around to see if it was her, she'd pulled up next to his window and lifted her glasses onto her head.
"You made good time," she remarked as he let down his window.
"Where were you?" he asked back with a frown.
"Girl's gotta eat," she told him with a sassy smile. "I thought you might be hungry too."
She half-glanced behind herself as she spoke. Following her direction, Logan saw two pizza boxes on the back of her bike.
"Brings back memories," Max commented as she looked towards the apartment block.
Logan shrugged a little. "It was the only place I had available."
Both Emma and Seth were stirring now at the sound of their voices and the rush of chilly air that swept into the car.
The girl looked up suddenly with a vaguely bewildered look that lasted for all of a second. "Are we here?" she asked quietly.
Logan had been taking a key off his key ring, but he looked up as she spoke. "Yeah. Sorry it's nothing fancy, but at least no one will know where you are for the time being."
"Max." He held out a silver key in the palm of his hand for her to take. She just looked at it without making a move, her eyes darting back to his face. Then, in a quick movement, she deftly tossed it to Emma.
"Head in there," she told her, pointing to the door behind her with her thumb. "Number 6. Second floor."
Seth had already unfolded his long length and now stood by Emma's door. He opened it for Emma. She got out, then leaned down again, her eyebrows raised in mute enquiry.
"Just get goin'. We'll see you in five," Max said quickly before Logan had a chance to speak.
Logan looked at her with an annoyed frown. "I thought you had some questions you wanted answered."
"I do. Just not in the car. This place is hardly the Steinlitz, but it's more comfortable than breaking our necks trying to talk to them in here."
Logan flicked another annoyed glance in her direction from under his lashes. "The Steinlitz has an elevator," he pointed out to her curtly.
"Which as I recall you were reluctant to use," she pointed out facetiously.
"Hardly my preferred manner of descent," he snapped.
Max smiled suddenly, forgetting for the moment the horror she'd felt as she saw Jon Darius's May 22nd terrorists push Logan from the parapet, instead remembering the incredible surge of adrenaline as she'd soared through the night to catch him. "Sure was wild, though!"
Logan didn't look in the least pacified by her memory of the event.
Of course, I was pissed off with him that night, too, she reminded herself as she impatiently tapped one black-booted foot while she studied his profile.
"Hurry up. My pizza's gettin' cold and I don't wanna wait till tomorrow to talk to mystery girl. Watcha gonna do?"
She could see Logan was beginning to bend a little.
"Logan, it's only one floor. Seth's already hauled your ass up four floors tonight."
"No," Logan interjected practically before the last word was out of her mouth. "I'll do it," he added shortly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Max felt a slight stab of conscience as she effortlessly carried Logan's chair, with the pizza sitting on the seat, up the stairs. Within a minute she'd deposited it on the first-floor landing. Looking around cautiously, she admitted to herself that she'd forced him into something he clearly hadn't wanted to do and he'd no doubt raise quite a sweat.
At least at this early hour there seemed to be no one around. She doubted very much that she would have been able to talk him into it if it had been the middle of the day and there'd been the risk of an audience.
Then again, she mused, if that was the case, I probably wouldn't be starving, an' I'd be more likely to put up with one of Logan's possibly boringly long Q&A times in the car.
Anyway, he may be pissy at me now, but once he's up here and able to have a decent discussion, he'll probably thank me.
Her mouth turned up with derision at that thought.
Yeah, Max, right!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bling stifled yet another yawn as he tried to read the webpage on the screen in front of him, which detailed some of the latest research into preventing osteoporosis and atrophy in the limbs of those with spinal cord injuries.
It was a continual source of frustration to him that since the Pulse, the majority of the research was now done overseas. America was dropping back further and further and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep abreast of the latest developments. One of the advantages of working for Logan that Bling was particularly grateful for was the access to his state-of-the-art equipment. This gave him access to a huge range of information that many of his fellow PTs didn't have.
Still, as interesting as it was, his eyes were refusing to focus. Probably due to the late hour and the uncomfortable few hours he'd spent worrying about Logan, he supposed.
Not the first time that's happened and it probably won't be the last. Still, I wish I'd been a fly on the wall when Max caught up with you, my friend, he mused with a tired grin.
"Bling?"
"Hey, I thought you were asleep for the night. I've got some great news for you," he went on quickly as he looked at the woebegone face in front of him. "Logan's okay. He's fine."
Genevieve's face broke into a huge smile. "I've been praying," she confessed to him shyly.
"You think maybe now you're ready to sleep back with Monique? That couch looks awful good to me right now."
The child gave him a sleepy nod. "I'll grab my pillow. See you in the morning."
---------------------------------------------------
"The place hasn't changed since last time I was here," Max murmured to Logan as they opened the door and looked in the dimly lit room.
Logan looked around, his breathing still a little laboured. He could remember the other lifetime when he'd set up the apartment, but it was Max who'd been here last.
"Wouldn't know," he retorted shortly, which told her absolution may be a little way off yet.
Emma was pacing in front of the double bed with the brown cover, while Seth sat hunched uncomfortably in the same armchair Bruno had sat in when she'd handcuffed him to the heater.
The room was cold and damp, with a musty smell from lack of use and ventilation. Still, Max considered it an improvement on the dump she'd found Logan in. At least Logan made sure his safe houses were furnished, she thought as she looked around.
"Who's for pizza?" Max asked generally as she strode in, first of all turning on the lamp that stood on top of the bureau near the door. Hardly Logan's usual taste in artwork, she grimaced as the lamp lit up a depressingly dingy print of flying geese.
Seth stirred at the mention of pizza, looking at the boxes Max held in her hand with anticipation. Emma hardly looked at her, but instead looked to Logan, who was closing the door.
As soon as he'd swiveled around to face her, she said with a tinge of the hostility and distrust that she'd had when she'd held the gun on him, "Why have you brought us here? Seth knows nothing – why don't you let him go?"
Ignoring her questions, Logan pushed on through to the tiny hallway and open doorway at the back of the room.
"Pizza?" Max asked her with a slight edge to her voice, holding the box in front of her and effectively impeding her progress as she tried to follow Logan.
Emma shook her head impatiently, looking over to Logan.
"You should have some," he added over his shoulder. "There isn't much in the way of food here."
"You can't keep us here," she called to him insistently.
Seth now stood, all thought of pizza clearly gone as he moved closer to the girl. He looked at Max with open distrust. "I can hurt people too," he told her, sounding chillingly composed and focused, leaving her in no doubt of his intent.
"Seth," Emma said sharply, taking a step closer to him. Her eyes darted first to Logan, then to Max.
Max's face grew hard for an instant. So this is Logan's idea of 'harmless.'
Logan had stopped and swung around at Seth's words. "I'm not trying to keep you both here. I brought you here because I hoped you'd be safe," he told them calmly.
He looked up to see Max and Seth eyeing each other with open dislike - Max with calm confidence in her own ability, and Seth with a dogged expression that said he would do whatever it took to protect Emma. There was a challenge in Max's eye now and her stance changed subtly to one of readiness. A threat to herself she laughed at, but one directed at Logan was a different matter entirely.
Logan read the signs with alarm. Max teaching Seth a lesson was hardly going to win over either his or Emma's trust.
"Hey, we don't need to do this. Let's have some pizza and talk. That's all I wanna do. Then if you two want, you're free to go."
He caught Max's subtly raised brows of disapproval but ignored her, focusing on Emma Belding instead, who seemed to be struggling with some huge inner decision. When she didn't reply, he took that to mean the affirmative, and purposefully turned his back on all of them to diffuse the situation with a, "'Scuse me, I gotta wash my hands."
Logan navigated the sharp turn with ease, even though his shoulders were still burning a little from hauling himself up the stairs. He headed straight for the sink and turned on the faucet, relieved to find there was still hot water in the apartment.
He wondered what they were doing in the other room. It didn't sound as though Max was tearing Seth apart.
He let the water run for a few minutes, relaxing his shoulders and letting out a tense breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding. He found it soothing to watch the increasingly hot water play over his fingers, enjoying a sensation he could both see and feel. I could sit here for hours, he thought with a sudden feeling of lassitude. It had already been a long night, and it was only going to get longer, he suspected dryly.
Rousing himself from his lethargy, he put his glasses on his lap and cupped his hands, filling them with water to splash on his face. He did this several times until he felt ready to face the others.
"So, you ready for the Spanish Inquisition?" asked a voice at his elbow.
Max.
Logan looked up at her with a dripping face, surprised to see her holding out a hand towel.
"It was on the hook above the sink," she told him.
He went to say thanks, then remembered he was still mad at her for making him transfer up the stairs. He felt himself weakening - the hot water had felt awfully good.
"Thanks," he told her, deciding to accept the gesture as a peace offering, "And let's hope it won't quite come to that," he added, referring to her initial comment as he slipped his glasses back on with his right hand and tossed the towel onto the counter.
Max followed him out, admiring the smooth way he navigated the tight turn back into the larger room.
Emma still stood in the middle of the room, but Seth now sat on the bed with one of the boxes of pizza. He didn't seem to be having any difficulty in methodically working his way through it.
Logan and Max both ignored her and headed for the small kitchen table that was on their immediate right.
Logan paused a second at the table, but Max had already seen his intention and quickly moved the chair closest to his end out of the way. She didn't want either of them to have their back turned toward Emma and Seth. She wasn't prepared to let her guard down yet, regardless of what Logan may say on the matter.
Max walked to the other end, choosing to sit sideways on the table facing Emma and Seth, before scooping up a piece of pizza and biting into it with relish.
Logan stopped at the table and set his brakes, then frowned a little at the gloom at this end of the room. There was a low strip light on the wall above the table, so he assumed there had to be a switch somewhere. Finding one behind him on the wall, he started to reach back with his right hand, then thought better of it, choosing to unsnap his brakes and wheel back instead. He gave a small grin of satisfaction as the light illuminated the table.
Max ate her pizza slowly, barely noticing the fact that it was by now quite cold and becoming decidedly chewy. Her eyes were on Emma, whose eyes were on Logan with a puzzled, speculative gleam to them.
The girl's wasting her time if she's trying to work Logan out, she laughed to herself, unless she's planning to cross him, she thought in the next instance with far less humour.
Logan looked up at Emma and smiled a little, gesturing to the pizza. "It's not that hot, but it'll fill you up."
The girl didn't move, but continued her scrutiny of his face before finally saying with little warmth in her voice, "I thought you must've wanted it too?"
"The four million?" Logan asked her disinterestedly before taking another bite. "First thing I knew about it was tonight."
"I'm supposed to believe that?" she snorted.
Logan shrugged. "That's up to you, I guess."
Unexpectedly Seth spoke up. "I don't think Logan would lie."
Emma paused for a moment at his words, but still looked suspicious.
"You oughta pay attention to the big guy," Max told her from her seat on the table, feet resting on one of the old, olive green kitchen chairs, as she helped herself to another piece. "Seems like he's a better judge of character than you are."
"Well, I can hardly argue with that," muttered the girl, suddenly putting a hand to her forehead with a gesture of weariness and indecision.
Max watched Emma carefully without appearing to do so and was surprised to see a softening of her features as Seth proffered the box. "It's real good," he encouraged her.
Giving in, she took a piece and bit into it.
"Take a seat," Logan called to her, motioning to the other ugly chair at the table.
Seth had gone back to his place on the bed, where he concentrated on consuming the rest of the pizza.
Emma sat down with her back to Seth, forcing Max to get down from her perch in the interest of good manners.
"Any coffee in this place?" Max asked Logan.
"There should be some instant stuff in the kitchen," he answered, all the while keeping his eyes on Emma, who now sat dazedly at the table, the pizza in her hand growing colder by the minute.
As Max left, Emma finally said with a certain amount of wonderment, "So you really are Martin's cousin – and you were just doing him a favour...looking for me, I mean?"
"Guilty as charged," he told her quietly.
"You don't live here," she assumed.
"It belongs to a friend of mine. He's working overseas...left me the key," Logan answered easily. "So, you wanna tell me why Russian mobsters are hot on your tail?"
Emma put her pizza back in the lid of the box, with one small bite taken out of it. "I suppose I owe you some explanation after all the misunderstanding...Seth abducting you and then Petrovsky's guy showing up. I think you were right – I think if I'd gone with him, they'd never have let me go." She shrugged, a small, defeated gesture. "Maybe it would have been better all around."
"Why don't you tell me how you got involved with Petrovsky? I got contacts...maybe I can help," he told her in an upbeat tone as he wiped his hands on one of the napkins Max had brought back with the pizza.
Emma cast a quick look over at Seth, then took a deep breath. "You ready for a soap opera?" she asked Logan dryly, looking up as Max returned with two mugs of coffee. She put one down in front of Logan, then offered the other one to Emma, who took it silently.
"Seth, coffee?" Max asked the boy. He shook his head, so she disappeared back into the kitchen to reappear only a few moments later with a cup for herself.
"I did one of those dumb things and married the wrong one."
"Join the growing ranks," shrugged Logan.
She looked at him for a moment, then continued, "I thought he worked in security. Turns out he was a doorman for Petrovsky at his casino on –"
"Hillsgate Road," completed Max for her with a glance in Logan's direction.
"He stole the four million from the casino," said Logan in a voice that said he wasn't surprised.
Emma began to look uncomfortable. "I don't like to admit this part...he talked me into helping him. He kidnapped the baby of one of the cleaners because the guy had after-hours access. Grant hid in his garbage bin. That's how he got inside."
Max looked closely at Logan. He suddenly appeared to be very tense.
"This was about eighteen months ago?" he asked Emma curtly.
She nodded, then pushed on with difficulty. "I was so scared of him. He'd become...crazy or something at the thought of all that money. He started saying things like he wasn't gonna let anyone stop him."
"It's a well-known disease," murmured Max dryly.
"He made me look after the child...but..." Her voice broke a little here and they waited for her to compose herself.
Seth, Logan noticed, took little interest in the conversation. Maybe he'd heard it before, or maybe it was too hard for him to follow, Logan wondered as he leant back in his chair, waiting for her to continue.
"I was so scared he was going to do something really bad, so one afternoon when Grant went out, I called the parents..."
"Told them the child would be at a playground. Left her there."
Max looked with surprise at Logan now, as did Emma.
"Monique's sister told me," he admitted to both of them.
Emma's eyes widened at that as did Max's.
"Long story. I'll explain it all later. Meantime, what happened to Grant?"
Emma stood up abruptly as if it were too unbearable to sit down a moment longer.
"The Hacketts called the police. Grant was charged with kidnapping. Turns out the FBI was keen to bring down Petrovsky. Both Hackett and I gave evidence in return for new identities...new lives, they said. Grant went to jail on kidnapping charges – they couldn't get him on theft because Petrovsky never reported the money missing, of course."
"Guess it's hard to cry 'I've been robbed' when the money's dirty in the first place," commented Logan, releasing his brakes in order to swing away from the table to follow her a little.
Emma pulled idly on the yellow scarf that hung from a shelf. "Guess the answer to that died with him...he never admitted where the four million was."
"He's dead?" asked Max sharply, now standing herself and looking across at the girl.
"Knifed...in prison."
"Well, I guess this explains why Petrovsky wants the girls. He must figure their father knows more than he's let on," Logan remarked to Max.
"And he'd do anything to get that money back," said Max, her eyes fixed on the girl. "How does Martin figure in all this? D'you get suspicious of his sudden interest in you?"
"Oh yeah, he never fooled me for a minute," Emma said sarcastically. Shrugging a little she admitted, "One day I happened to see him around Hillsgate Road. I followed him."
"Look, I don't know what his feelings are towards you, but I think he was genuinely concerned about you when you disappeared," Logan offered.
"Either that or his conscience was wack," added Max, unforgiving as ever where Martin was concerned. Logan nodded a little absently and she supposed with a quick stab of guilt that he was still worried about his cousin.
"Well, you can tell Martin you found me. His conscience will be clear, at least," Emma finished dully.
"If we could find him," Logan told her dryly.
Max stood abruptly, her bearing tense, alert.
"What is it?" Logan asked her, instinctively dropping his voice to a whisper.
She just narrowed her eyes, listening intently. Then he could hear it too.
Someone was walking down the hallway, and the footsteps seemed to be coming closer and closer.
Max quickly raced around the room, dousing the lights. Whoever it was could only be coming to the apartment they were in or the one opposite. There was no other alternative at this end of the hallway.
Emma looked across to Seth before turning out the lamp closest to her. He was dozing on the bed, remnants of pizza decorating his huge chest as it slowly rose and fell. She looked to Logan, who appeared tense but calm, apparently confident enough in Max's capabilities to let her take charge of any defensive situation.
"Hey!!" Bang, bang.
The sudden call and the loud thumps on the door made both Emma and Logan jump in the darkness.
"Doris! Let me in!" the voice insisted even louder with what seemed like a drunken slur.
Logan winced. Nothing like trying to keep a low profile when someone's set on telling the world that you're there.
The third set of thumps on the door was even louder, and Logan was now aware of Seth moving somewhere around the room.
"I know you're there. I saw the light," the male voice continued with annoying persistency.
Logan heard the slight noise of the door opening, and then he saw a shaft of light as Max slipped out the door.
Logan couldn't help it, but now he felt really on edge. What if this was a trap? Who would Max be facing? Maybe I should go out there, he wondered, feeling a burning frustration that the back of his mind told him was a waste of time. She didn't need his help. Nonetheless, he pulled out his gun once more, feeling a certain amount of confidence in the feel of the cold steel beneath his fingers.
He could hear Max speaking now, followed by something that sounded suspiciously like a whack to the head, then more words.
The door opened again, and Max stuck her head in the room.
"Looks like Frank here has the wrong floor. You can turn the lights back on. I'll be back in five."
With that she closed the door, and Logan quickly put his gun away, waiting for Emma and Seth to turn on one of the lights. The apartment wasn't spacious and he doubted he'd be able to find one of the switches in the dark without bumping into something.
Within seconds Emma turned on the lamp closest to the heater, allowing Logan enough light to go back and turn on the one by the table.
"I should check that there's no one else," Seth told Emma.
Logan watched their exchange uneasily as Emma nodded her agreement.
"I don't think that's wise," was all he said mildly.
"He's been looking out for himself for a long time," Emma told Logan. "He knows what he's doing."
Logan said no more. If he wanted them to trust him, he couldn't keep them on a leash.
"This is yours by the way," he told her.
Emma watched with surprise as he took out the gun she had pressed against his neck. He dropped one hand down to his wheel then leaned forward to pass it to her.
"Not the best way to introduce yourself to the man who's trying to help you."
Logan gave her a small grin then watched Seth slip out the door with surprising grace and silence for such a big man. He figured the boy would have had to be about six foot four.
Taller than me, he mused.
Shaking off any thoughts along that line, he asked Emma, "More coffee?"
"Yeah. That'd be nice."
Logan grabbed their empty cups on his way through to the kitchen, wondering how long he could keep the telltale signs of sleep deprivation away. Then again, he didn't think a few chunks out of the woodwork would be as noticeable here as it was in his own apartment.
He was filling up the electric kettle when he turned his head to see Emma come through with Max's empty cup.
"I'm sorry," she said abruptly, making him look up at her in some surprise. "About what Seth did," she added, seeing his blank expression.
"Ohhh," Logan responded, hoping to shrug it all off. He didn't feel it was one of the high points in the career of Eyes Only.
"He didn't think about what he was doing. He told me he just wanted to get you away from the other man. I hope...I mean...I was a nurse, before I met Grant; I know how difficult it all could have been for you. In fact, I'm surprised I didn't ..." She stopped awkwardly.
Logan felt something squirming inside himself, for the moment feeling horribly exposed. It was almost as if she'd been one of the nurses who'd attended him personally while he'd been in the hospital. Most of the people he met had no idea of the indignities he'd had to experience after the shooting, and that was exactly the way he wanted it.
"So, you were a Florence Nightingale," he heard himself saying, still feeling too embarrassed to look at her as he rinsed the cups under the faucet.
"From Florence Nightingale to Bonnie and Clyde," she grimaced, not aware of the discomfort her revelation had caused him.
"Not quite," he told her, focusing his thoughts on spooning the coffee into the cups.
Logan heard the sound of the door closing, and in no time Max was breezing into the kitchen.
"Did you see Seth?" Emma asked her.
"Nope. One of those for me?" she asked Logan as Emma left the room.
"Sure," he told her, not looking up.
Max just looked at him. It was a tone she recognized. "Did I miss something here? Did Emma bare more of her soul to you?" she added with a touch of sarcasm that told Logan she hadn't been won over by Emma's story.
"She told me she'd been a nurse," he said curtly, pouring the now-boiled water into the cups.
"You know, there's a few questions we need t'get to the bottom of here. If all her troubles started here in Seattle, why the hell would she come back here...or Genevieve and Monique's folks, for that matter? Surely the FBI would have set them up with new identities in other parts of the country?"
"It was because of Seth," Emma said coldly from the kitchen doorway.
Max eyed her lazily. "Do tell," she invited.
"He's my brother."
Max raised both brows. "As far as bombshells go..." she congratulated her.
Emma stepped further into the room. Lowering her voice a little, presumably so that Seth himself couldn't hear, she said, "Here's the second installment in the soap opera. He was my brother, but we spent most of our lives separated. I was adopted by a family, but Seth spent most of his life in and out of orphanages and foster homes. He was...different."
Logan lowered his eyes and swallowed a little, but it was Max who said, "The life of someone who doesn't fit the mould."
Emma nodded. "I never knew I even had a brother until I was about fifteen, and then I found out he was disabled in some way. Because of the Pulse, most of the records had been lost. No one could tell me where he was or even what his name was."
Emma looked at Logan now. "That's why I decided to become a nurse. I thought maybe I could help him in some way, or maybe help other kids like him who'd gone through the same thing...being unwanted."
"So what went wrong?" asked Max quietly.
"I tried everything, and I just couldn't find him. I was so depressed...so lonely. I hadn't seen my dad in years. He'd accepted a job and was working overseas. I just didn't know what to do."
"And then Grant came along," filled in Logan with quiet understanding.
"It was all so stupid, I know...but I was desperate. I needed love myself," she told them in a voice that didn't ask for their sympathy, or maybe even their understanding. "Then in the middle of the whole Petrovsky mess, I got a call to say they'd found him."
The pain in her voice was clear, a mixture of guilt, self-reproach, and 'if only'.
"The FBI advised me to leave Seattle...but I just couldn't. Seth had been living in his apartment for years. He just couldn't cope with the stress of change. I couldn't ask that of him," she finished, almost defiantly.
The room had gone suddenly very quiet.
Max risked a glance at Logan. He seemed to be intently studying the Band-Aid on his right finger. Max did her best to look disinterested, but the flash of something in her dark eyes gave her away.
"I suppose you think I'm foolish?"
"No," said Max quickly. Easing back a bit, she said a little more coolly, "We...I...can understand that." Mentally cringing a little at her own clumsiness, she quickly picked up two of the rapidly cooling cups of coffee, leaving the third for Emma to pick up.
Seth was asleep on the bed when they went out to the living room.
Somehow, after Emma's latest revelation, nobody felt like talking and they drank their coffee in almost total silence.
Max didn't even want to ask what had been her other burning questions: how had Seth supposedly saved Logan's life – and from whom? And who had the blood belonged to?
Logan picked up the empty cups and placed them on his lap to take them to the kitchen.
The unexpected 'clunk' as Logan's footrest hit the leg of the table made both girls turn from their thoughts suddenly.
Max looked across at Logan.
"It's late. We gotta go," she said decisively.
TBC