Many thanks for the reviews - they always mean a great deal to me.
A very special thanks to Alaidh for betaing this huge chapter so quickly!
Chapter 25
Lying flat on her stomach atop the brick, perimeter wall, Max surveyed the compound with military precision.
Old Seattle nestled at the base of one of the rolling hills in the area. The town was simply laid out – one wide avenue bordered by rustic timber buildings and leafy, green trees. At the opposite end of town, to the right of her, Max could make out a stable and a blacksmith. The major development at that end of town made her roll her eyes – How many goldmines do you find at the end of your street? she wondered cynically as she studied the mine's entrance. It was a wide, black, cavernous hole cut into the side of a steep, rocky hill, but it appeared to be covered by a mesh, security fence.
With Bling's calm presence by her side, they'd done a thorough check of the outside wall and had found three black sedans parked at the back of the property, but so far, they'd found no sign of life.
Max knew Jaeger was in there somewhere – everything within her screamed that the FBI agent was close at hand.
The sun was quickly edging its way towards the horizon – they'd only have another sixty or so minutes of rapidly diminishing daylight left.
She wondered whether the darkness would prove to be a friend or a foe.
Jumping back down, Max returned to Bling waiting below.
"You ready for a leg-up?" she asked him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Get goin' faster," the man rasped at Logan heatedly, lifting a leg and prodding him hard in the back with the thick heel of his leather boot. A tightly controlled look of annoyance crossed Logan's face, as he had to grab onto his wheels hard to prevent himself from pitching forward onto his face.
"You keep doin' that and we won't be going anywhere," Logan retorted, now stopping completely while he slid himself back into his correct position.
"Whatever," the man replied unmoved, "just get goin'."
Logan twisted his head a little to get a look at the man who held a gun on him, but the result was another feral growl and a hard blow to the side of his head.
"My instructions were to bring you in – nothin' 'bout what state you had to be in," the other pointed out smoothly.
Logan nodded a little wryly and decided it was probably a good plan to keep his mouth shut. He suspected the man would prefer to hand him over to Jaeger in a less than pristine condition.
Logan cast frequent glances around the town as he pushed himself along the rutted, uneven, dirt surface that was Old Seattle's main road. Max was right, he mused, it was a replica of many-a-town found in any old western TV series. Up close, the buildings were quite dilapidated – it had obviously been many years since a coat of paint or even the most basic maintenance had been applied.
Where is everyone? he wondered with increasing concern. Max, Bling, Seth? Could Jaeger have captured everyone? The gunman's words about 'my instructions' had not been overlooked by Logan – Jaeger had definitely been tracking him. The question was, just how prepared had Jaeger been for their arrival?
"Davies!"
Logan stopped instinctively, surprised to see another three figures coming towards them. They were all dressed in casual clothes, and all held guns in their hands – not the usual image of FBI agents.
The three approaching men looked at Logan with a mixture of curiosity and cautiousness.
Once they'd reached Davies, apparently the name of the man holding the gun on Logan, one of them stepped forward and spoke quietly to him. Logan leaned back and gave his arms a rest, feigning casual indifference to their conversation. It was difficult for Logan to hear what he said but he thought he heard the word 'disappeared'. His hopes soared. Was it the work of Max?
More consultation occurred under their breaths, and then Davies strode off quickly, heading down one of the narrow alleys that ran between the buildings.
Logan looked up at the other three. FBI...maybe mercenaries? he wondered, and were they in the loop on Jaeger's plan or merely fellow agents following orders? If they were genuine FBI agents, then maybe there was a chance...
"Come on, Special Agent Jaeger is particularly keen to see you," the man who'd spoken previously told Logan. Something about the sneer he managed to express when he said the agent's name gave him a lead.
"So, I take it you're not FBI agents?" Logan asked casually as he spun his chair around and began slowly pushing his way down the street again.
A large guffaw from one of the other men greeted this announcement, only to be quickly muffled when one of the other men snarled, "Shut up!"
"You, no more questions," he added to Logan in a threatening tone. He held the gun in his hand clearly for Logan to see, but apparently didn't consider Logan enough of a threat to actually aim it at him. The man's eyes darted to one of the other men. "Sparks!"
Logan then felt someone grab the back of his chair and he knew that his hitherto slow progress was at an end.
It was surprisingly quiet inside the town, so much so that the sound of something clattering on the wooden sidewalk opposite made all four instinctively turn their heads. They were completely caught off guard by the whirlwind of fists and feet that found their mark with devastating and unerring precision. Each of their senses struggled to grasp the speed of the assault – it was as if the blows erupted out of midair, explosions of pain erupting on their bodies without warning. Then, one by one, they were plummeting into darkness – crumpling at the knees, arms flailing, jaws, noses, cheekbones hitting the dirt road with a force that made them bounce a few inches from the ground then hit it again with a soggy thump.
Max looked around quickly. Her eyes glittered strangely in the gathering gloom of the fast approaching night.
Logan wheeled forward, shaking himself a little from the sense of awe that enveloped him as he'd watched Max dispatch the three with such consummate ease.
"So, that's how it's done," he remarked with a touch of admiration as he surveyed the carnage before him. Max spared him a glance as she ruthlessly checked each body for weapons.
Logan interpreted the accusatory look in her eyes that said what are you doing here, but chose to ignore it. "Any sign of the girls...Emma?"
She shook her head as she stood up and looked around uneasily. The fight had been quiet, but they were in the middle of the main street -hardly the place for a conference, and the three unconscious men were an unwanted advertisement of their interference. Hooking her hands under the arms of one of them, she spoke brusquely to Logan over her shoulder, "Head to the sidewalk. We're too exposed here."
Stopping only to pick up the three guns that Max had tossed away, Logan followed her as she dragged the man off the street and deposited him, none too gently, on the sidewalk. Logan wheeled himself up a ramp, thankful the town had been built when disabled access was still a priority. He frowned as he watched Max move the men – they needed to get them out of sight. With this thought in mind, he tried the doorknobs of the closest shops. They were all locked with the only thing that appeared to be in good order. Apparently the owners were doing their best to protect their investment.
Logan rattled the doorknob with frustration.
"I got it," Max murmured curtly, slipping a hand into her jacket pocket as she approached. Within seconds she had the door open and in another minute all three men were deposited inside, the door locked securely behind them once more. Max had considered the small window – they could escape through it if they were able to break it, so she'd removed their shoes after first checking that the small shop had been completely stripped bare.
Logan looked up at her as she turned from the door. "Do you know where Bling is...or Seth?"
"Seth?" Max echoed irritably, tossing away a piece of wood she'd found in the shop.
"Damned fool went rushing off. I found a map that showed a goldmine they'd built here..." He let his words trail off, letting her fill in the missing pieces.
"So you had to follow him," she snapped in a fierce whisper, before her eyes scanned the surrounding buildings.
"As a matter of fact – no," Logan corrected her, annoyed by her tone. "Jaeger knew we were here. He sent me a welcoming party."
Max barely seemed to notice his words. Her mind was working at a furious speed, processing and analysing this new information at her disposal.
"I've been right over this end of the complex – there's been no sign of Jaeger – just two of his thugs and they should still be sleeping peacefully," she concluded smoothly.
"What about Bling?"
"He was checking the other end – where you say the mine is," she added after a pause.
Logan made a slight grimace. He wished it had been Max checking the mine.
"I'm gonna head down that end of town...think I might do a bit of goldmining," she added with a gleam, and an ironic tilt of her brows. "You gonna hang around here?" she asked him, implying that that was exactly what she wanted him to do.
Logan shrugged. "Guess so."
"You got plenty of trusty six-shooters," she said lightly, motioning to the three on his lap. He nodded slightly, picking one up in his hand to familiarize himself with it. Max turned to go, then after a moments hesitation, she turned back and added, "Someone's likely to come looking for those three. You might be safer heading down that way a bit. Maybe I should unlock another door for you..."
"I'll be fine, Max," Logan interrupted tersely, then on a more even note, "Just concentrate on finding the girls."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Max headed down the sidewalk, merging with the ever-deepening shadows as she flitted silently towards the far end of town.
Her eyesight sure and true even in the waning light, she kept an ever-vigilant lookout for Bling or Seth. So far, she'd accounted for five of Jaeger's men – how many more could he possibly have? It was hard to imagine him wanting to cut the four million into too many pieces of cake.
Max quickly reached the end of the sidewalk, and consequently, the protection of the shadows of the last building on that side of the town. Staring intently, she looked across to the mine entrance, carefully studying her surroundings for any sign of life. A crooked sign still announced a warning to those with heart conditions or to anyone with an aversion to cramped spaces. What about anyone with an aversion to living? she mused darkly.
The distance to the mine opening was about 200 yards with no hint of cover. How many eyes were watching, she wondered with a grim smile as she walked the last few steps of the sidewalk. She took a breath, and was about to make a run for it, when she suddenly realized with awful certainty that someone was watching her from the shadows.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Logan watched Max move off down the sidewalk, straining his eyes to see her in the gloom, until she turned a slight corner and was out of sight. For a few minutes he sat where he was, listening carefully to hear anything that would signify a return to consciousness of one of the men inside the room. At last, satisfied, he looked around the town. The wind had sprung up once more, and Logan could almost smell the approaching rain that was likely to burst forth with a vengeance.
Logan cast another long, hard look in the direction of the mine, but the distance and angle were too severe for him to make out anything at all. What he did feel, now that Max had left, was horribly exposed. It wasn't as if he could press himself into the shadows as Max had done. A little irritably, he came to the conclusion that she was right – it would be foolhardy to hang around here when anyone may come looking for the missing men, and he'd be of no use to Max at all if he managed to get himself caught again. He'd pissed her off once today already on that score. Pushing down hard on the metal rims, Logan got his chair moving along the uneven sidewalk, now heading away from the mine, down a ramp, across an alley, then up another ramp. On the other hand, his thoughts continued, it went entirely against the grain to hide in a room – as sensible as it all sounded to Max.
Logan suddenly pulled up short and listened, his hand automatically reaching for one of the guns on his lap. His ears strained to pick up the same sound again, but all he could hear was the moan and whine of the wind between the buildings. He relaxed again, feeling a little foolish that his heart rate had skyrocketed so quickly. He hadn't realized how jumpy he was.
With a deep breath to calm himself, Logan pushed on, wondering to himself a little wryly what distance Max would consider 'safe,' and just how many men did Jaeger have running around anyway?
Logan had just passed another narrow alley, when he stopped again, but this time what he heard was undoubtedly real, and it seemed to be coming from one of the buildings that backed onto the alley. His thoughts went to Seth – the banging he heard was loud enough to be Seth. Perhaps he'd been caught when he'd entered the town, and locked in a room somewhere as they had locked up Jaeger's men. If it worked for us...he thought to himself. On the other hand, there were the two guys that Max said she'd caught. Damn, it may simply be one of them!
Turning down the alley, Logan mentally cursed his inability to hold a gun while he wheeled. He knew Max was uneasy with his presence here – he couldn't really blame her, he felt a bit uneasy himself.
It was difficult to see in the alley as the buildings either side cast deep shadows, but he managed to avoid most of the potholes and arrived quite quickly at the door that was presently being bludgeoned with some sort of hard object. There was no window for him to look in – it appeared to be some sort of a storage facility.
Logan hesitated. He had no idea who was in there. Guess, I might as well just ask.
"Who's in there?" he called out with a frown. The butt of the gun felt solid and almost comforting in his hand.
His question was met by silence. Not promising, he concluded silently as he stared at the time-ravaged timber door.
"Is that you, Seth?" he tried hopefully, thinking the boy would be more likely to respond if he was called by his own name.
"Logan?" asked a voice filled with wonder, hope, even incredulity.
Logan froze. Was it some sort of a trap?
"Logan, it's me, Genevieve! And Monique is here too," a breathless voice told him.
"Thank God," breathed Logan, then in a louder voice, "Are you both okay?"
Genevieve's voice came back to him strong and clear. "We're both okay. The man gave us something to put us to sleep, but we're both awake now. Monique wants a drink."
Logan couldn't keep the smile from his face.
"Logan, can you get us out? We wanna see our mommy and daddy."
"Are they here, too?" Logan asked, hoping for something concrete, but the pause told its own story.
"I'm not sure...we've been asleep," Genevieve called back. "Please get us outta here, Logan," she added simply, but Logan could hear the wealth of emotion that she tried to hide behind the simple words.
Logan wheeled up to the door and examined the lock. He would have given a great deal of money at that moment to anyone who would have retrieved the flashlight he kept in his car. The lock appeared to be strong, in good order as was the one Max had picked, but without Max's lock-picking skills, his hope lay in the timber of the door itself, which looked to be quite rotten.
"Okay, hold on. I've gotta find something to open the door with." He kept his voice upbeat, even though he grimaced at the same time he spoke, wondering just how he was going to do this. He couldn't shoot it off – too much of a chance he might hit the girls, not to mention drawing unwarranted attention in their direction.
Urgently scanning the alley, Logan looked for a solid piece of wood or even a metal bar. There seemed to be a fair amount of garbage in the alley, but not building scraps. With a flash he remembered the piece of timber that Max had tossed out of the shop they'd locked the other three in. It seemed a long way to go back, but there didn't seem to be much choice.
"Genevieve," he called softly, "I'm gonna hafta find something to help me open the door. I'll be gone for a few minutes."
Silence.
"Genevieve?" he asked sharply.
"We're still here, Logan." The voice sounded a little strained this time and his heart went out to her.
"I won't be long. Promise."
"Okay."
Pushing himself hard this time, Logan headed back out to the street, only to freeze suddenly as he recognized the man called Davies heading up the street in his direction. Even as he watched, he heard the man call someone's name. More than likely the name of one of the men Max had knocked out.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" he swore under his breath as he quickly propelled himself backwards so that he was hidden beside the building wall. He had no choice but to turn and go back down the alley. He had to get the girls out of there fast.
Logan made his mind up as he headed back to the girls. Once there, he took the largest and sturdiest of the guns off his lap and emptied the chamber, then grasped the gun by the barrel.
"Genevieve, don't worry. I've gotta get rid of the lock on the door. It's gonna be a bit noisy." Even as he spoke the words, the idea of muffling the sound came to him, and he quickly took off the hooded dark blue jacket he was wearing. Ignoring the damage he was doing to the material, he managed to wedge the arm of it above the lock so that the entire lock was covered, then he smashed at the lock with a savage blow. After a few blows, he could tell that the lock was already beginning to tear away from the door. Removing the jacket, he quickly checked his results. The lock was indeed coming away, but now he needed to aim with more precision to remove or snap the last few screws.
How close was Davies? Was it better to be quiet but slow, or fast but 'tell-the-whole–world-I'm-here' loud?
Logan was about to put his jacket back over the lock, when something made him remove it just as quickly. He could hear a voice calling clearly above the wind. The actual words were difficult to pick up, but the voice sounded like Davies – full of feral frustration. He was about to smash at the lock again when Davies called his name. "Cale. I know you're out there somewhere. Don't make me come looking for you," he warned coldly.
Logan hesitated just once, then in the next instance, he let the butt of the gun smash down on the most vulnerable part of the lock. He cringed as the sound seemed to boom down the alley, but he swung a second time regardless, and this time two small figures burst out and threw themselves into his arms as soon as he'd shoved the door inwards.
"Too dark," Monique complained, justifiably unhappy with her living conditions.
"Logan, I knew you'd find us," Genevieve beamed.
Logan had to reluctantly push them both away.
"Cale!"
Davies' voice was getting louder much to Logan's dismay. Tossing away the battered gun he'd used as a battering ram, Logan whispered to the girls quickly, "Sorry, you'll have to wait in there just a few minutes longer. Can you do that?" he asked curtly.
Genevieve nodded for both of them, even though her face showed how little she relished the prospect.
Logan unlocked Monique's arm from about his neck, then helped her slide off his knee. It said a lot for her state of mind that she didn't make a fuss as she normally would have, but simply clung to her sister's hand.
"Cale!" Davies voice was much closer now – almost echoing down the alley.
Ignoring the sudden look of fear on Genevieve's face, he pushed her and Monique back into the room. At the last minute he told Genevieve reluctantly, "Listen, if something happens and I don't come back for you, I want you to try and run out of this place and into the closest farmhouse. Can you do that?"
Her eyes told him that she thought she could, but clearly didn't want to.
"Logan..." she began.
"Hush. I'll be back," he added, feeling guilty that he'd scared her.
The poor child nodded, but managed to smile tremulously at him nonetheless. "You want my stick?" she offered him.
Logan went to say no, but when he saw the sturdy implement, a thought came to mind, and he accepted it instead.
Pushing himself back to the main street, the stick as well as the guns on his lap, Logan tried to quickly formulate a plan. As it turned out, time to do this was a luxury denied him. By the time he'd reached the main street, the sound of footsteps clearly carried above the noise of the wind. The sidewalk Davies walked along was virtually at ground level, which suited Logan fine as he waited around the corner of the building. He held Genevieve's stick firmly in his hands as if it was a golf club and he was about to take a swing at the ball. However, no game of golf he'd ever played had had as much riding on it as this swing did.
The footsteps came closer...closer... closer...until at last Logan could see the toe of Davies's shoe appear on the sidewalk exit ramp – only then did he swing.
The stick took Davies hard in the stomach – sinking deep into the fleshy parts of his body. The man let out a huge oomph of agony as he doubled over and sank to the ground, rolling over until he was off the ramp and lying in the alley. Mentally cursing that Davies was now out of his reach, Logan hastily laid the stick across his knees and pushed hard to reach the man before he had a chance to recover. Davies was writhing and moaning quite loudly and Logan had a moment's attack of conscience as he lifted the staff to hit him again, but all thoughts of fair play suddenly evaporated as without warning, Davies hand snaked out and grabbed him by the ankle. Caught completely off guard, Logan had no chance to react as Davies now grabbed his other ankle as well and with a nasty grin of anticipation, yanked him from his chair.
The first thing Logan felt was his shoulders hitting the ground, then his head struck the footrest with enough force to make him see stars momentarily. In those few seconds, Davies jumped up with eyes blazing in a wild, unrestrained anger and grabbed Logan by his sweater at the throat. Logan resisted his first instinct, which was to grab at the man's hands. Hopefully, somewhere nearby, should be one of the guns that had been sitting on his lap. Too soon, Davies first blow slammed into the side of his head, his aim a little thrown by his awkward angle. Somewhere at the back of his mind, Logan was thankful that he was still conscious. Davies looked like he'd had a lot of experience at this kind of thing. His second blow was far more convincing, causing Logan to momentarily forget why he was letting Davies beat the crap out of him.
Damn. Where was the gun?
His hand swept the area desperately.
Dammit, Logan, you gotta change tactics, he told himself, as looking up he saw Davies draw his fist well back, taking his time to get his angle just right. He even leaned in a little closer to get a surer hold of Logan's sweater.
Logan knew he was less than seconds away from a black void. Instinctively he grabbed at Davies' arm with his left hand, bracing himself for the blow that was coming, while all the time his right hand encountered frustratingly nothing but dirt and stones.
Davies paused a moment to gloat, then he let go a powerful swing that was going to show Cale once and for all. Logan saw it coming. He tried to move his head to avoid it...then he brought up his right hand.
Davies was still smiling when the gun butt smashed into the side of his head. The fist that had been aimed with such certainty still found its mark, but only as a soggy missile that collapsed on impact as Davies collapsed onto Logan's chest.
Logan hastily heaved the man off his chest, letting him roll onto the dirt beside him and then struggled up on his elbow to double check that the man was truly down for the count – make it a long count, he added wryly, his breath coming in short gasps as he looked down at the man.
Satisfied that Davies was going to stay down for some time, Logan looked around for his wheelchair, then with a start he realized his glasses were no longer in place.
A quick, slightly blurry search found them within reach of his hand – but his wheelchair was another matter and he had to drag himself several feet to reach it. Once he had it righted, he paused for a minute to get his strength back, wearily letting his head rest on the seat.
The sound of running footsteps behind him made him turn quickly, but he relaxed as he saw the two girls run up, neither one perturbed by the unconscious body across the way.
"Wow. That was so coooool!" Genevieve told him, incredibly impressed.
Monique took one serious look at the unconscious form on the ground, and announced loudly, "He's a bad man."
Logan shook his head a little at their calmness, when his own heart was still racing as he hauled his body back into the chair.
"You want me to get his gun?" Genevieve asked hopefully, watching him as he lifted each leg into position.
"No," Logan told her quickly in a tone designed to dampen her enthusiasm as he wheeled across and reached down and grabbed Davies' gun that was lying by the man's hand. Manoeuvring his chair so that he could check the rest of the man's clothing for some sort of ID or hopefully his own car keys, gun or phone he added to Genevieve, "But you can pass me his bag."
Successful on two accounts, Logan had just put his car keys in his pocket and finished checking that his gun was loaded when Genevieve asked him, "What's this, Logan?"
He looked across to see her holding a small, tan coloured, rectangular-shaped block.
Logan looked at it with a kind of numb horror as he remembered that Jaeger's FBI fact sheet included the information that he was a demolition expert.
Logan snatched the explosive off Genevieve. "This is not good," he muttered as he took the bag from her and searched the rest of the contents. He found more C4 and three detonators.
Vaguely aware of Genevieve asking him a question, he searched his memory for what he could remember about the explosive.
"Logan. Is this bad?" Genevieve's insistent voice finally broke through his thoughts. Quickly stowing the contents back in the bag, he told her quietly, "These are explosives. You know what that means?"
The child nodded her head slowly, her eyes wide with understanding, one hand reaching out to grab Monique's.
"I've gotta find Max. She needs to know about this," Logan murmured, his eyes instinctively darting to the main street. Max was out there somewhere ... and Bling.
"Is she here somewhere? I can find her for you," Genevieve offered bravely.
In spite of the situation, Logan smiled. She was a courageous little thing.
"I think I'll need you to look after Monique for me," he told her gently. "But thanks."
Reaching down he put two fingers to Davies' neck. The man's heartbeat was reasonably strong and steady. There was no telling how long he'd be out for. With no way of tying the man up, Logan was extremely reluctant to leave the girls anywhere alone. The thought crossed his mind of sending them out to his car, but it was a long way out there and he couldn't bear the thought of one of Jaeger's men catching them again.
He looked around as he felt a hesitant hand on his shoulder. "What are we gonna do, Logan?" Genevieve asked quietly.
Desperately hoping that he was making the right decision, he said to her, "I think we'd better stay together."
A look of pure relief flooded Genevieve's features.
Logan leaned forward and took one of each of the girls' hands in his own. "We're gonna hafta go and find Max, but that means crossing the street and heading to the end of town." Logan hesitated before going on. He didn't want to scare the girls, but they had to be prepared..."If anything should happen, Genevieve, I want you to take Monique and run as fast as you can and hide until Max or Bling come to find you."
"Won't you come to find me?" Genevieve asked a little tremulously, hoping he didn't mean what she thought he meant.
"Hey, I found you once already. I gotta let the others in on some of the fun. Right?"
Genevieve gave him an unsure smile and grabbed at Monique's hand again, squaring her shoulders as she looked towards the end of the alley.
"Logan, do you know where my doll is?" asked Monique, adding in sad little voice, "I lost her."
Releasing his brakes, Logan assured her, "Well, if you can't find her, we'll just go back to the shop and buy you another doll."
"Now?" Monique asked hopefully.
"Soon," was the evasive reply.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TBC