Too Far Gone
Part Four
Previously:
"Sketchy, call Logan . We're gonna need Eyes Only's help on this."
Sketchy jumped at the harsh tone coming from his friend. 494 the soldier had taken over. This was not the Alec he knew. The face of the man in front of him was cold and hard. Alec, for all intents and purposes, seemed to have vanished. Sketchy gulped, then nodded and ran for the phone.
All thoughts of Max vanished from his mind for the moment. Biggs is missing. This day can't possibly get any worse. But Alec couldn't have been more wrong…
Logan
Logan sat on his bed, head in hands. He had just hung up the phone with Original Cindy . She'd called to tell him the news. It was a conversation he could have done without. It had left his heart broken and filled him with guilt.
He closed his eyes and recalled Cindy 's harsh words.
"You a dog, Logan . Din even have the decency to tell my boo dat it's over. No, ya had t'go cheatin' on my girl. Dat's low. I thought you was above dat."
"H-h-how did she know?" he'd asked in a small voice.
"My girl went to yo' place to talk to yo' ass n' walked in on you n' Blondie dancin' da horizontal mambo." Cindy had paused, letting her words sink in.
Logan was desperate. " Cindy , I need to talk to Max. Let me talk to Max."
"Yo' too late. My boo took off last night. Fo' good."
She'd hung up on him then.
It all started the night before. Logan had taken to wallowing in self pity. He thought back over the last few months. Max had become distant, largely due to the retrovirus she carried that was targeted specifically to his own DNA. They couldn't touch without it killing him. That weighed heavily on their relationship, such as it was.
Then there was the fact that Max was spending so much time with Alec. Alec being a fellow X5 shared a similar background and experiences and that was obviously comforting to Max. Comforting enough that she began to let Alec take a larger role in her life. And while Logan and Max were drifting apart, Alec and Max were getting closer. It was only a matter of time…
So when Asha had come by last night to discuss the next morning's mission, he'd been extremely vulnerable. Asha had offered a shoulder to cry on and he'd taken it. Then she'd offered him her body and he'd taken that too. And it felt damn good
But he'd been wracked with guilt this morning. Logan had just finished asking Asha not to say anything about their encounter to Max when Originally Cindy called.
" Logan ? Are you alright?" Asha's soft voice permeated the haze clouding his mind.
"Huh? Uh, no. It's Max. She knows about us." He answered quietly.
Asha stilled, stunned. "When? How?"
"She was here. Last night. She saw us and she left. Cindy said she left. Left Seattle ." Logan choked out. He was a broken man and Asha gathered him in her arms.
"Shhhhh." She crooned. "It's gonna be ok, Logan . We'll get through this together. Shhh." She pulled him to her and he let her.
After a while Asha looked at Logan . "You ready to go? We have to finish this thing today."
Still in a daze, Logan nodded. He went to his desk, opened the drawer and removed his Beretta. Slipping it in the waistband of his pants, he gathered up his car keys and together they left the penthouse.
Back at Jam Pony
"Alec, my man" Sketchy called from across the room. "There's no answer."
Shit. Figures that when we need the Log he wouldn't be around. "I guess we're just gonna have to go borrow his stuff then, Sketch. You game?" some of the real Alec had come back into his voice and his friend sighed in relief.
"Sure man, I'm game. What are we gonna tell Normal ?" He gave Alec a sceptical look.
"Leave that to me." Alec stormed off in search of his boss.
Logan and Asha crept stealthily through the dark warehouse. It was eerily silent and a sense of foreboding washed over Logan . If not for last night Max would have been here he kept thinking to himself. Max had a knack for sensing danger before it happened. Her enhanced hearing and sharp reflexes had gotten them out of more situations than he could count.
Asha motioned to him to hold his position. She spoke softly into her comms unit. "Gavin, Trish, the information we need should be on the computer in the office. Travis, Logan and I will set the explosives. Stay low. Now move out."
Logan extracted the bricks of C-4 from his side bag. He handed them to Asha along with the detonators. They crawled toward the far recesses of the room, strategically placing explosives as they went.
Suddenly, Asha stopped. Logan opened his mouth to question her but snapped it shut as he focused on the sight in front of him.
A team of sector police had raided the building. Seeing their firearms raised and aimed at the S1W, Logan screamed.
"Wait! Don't shoo—"
I never got to apologize was the last thought in his head before his world exploded in a raging inferno.
Alec picked the lock quickly. He motioned to Sketchy to enter and swiftly closed the door behind him.
Sitting down at Logan 's computer, Alec set to work.
Sketchy turned on the television, flipping channels every few minutes. TV sucks He looked at his friend who was hunched over the keyboard, tapping in an extremely irritating manner. Tap, tap, tap. I'm gonna go insane
"What exactly are you doing, Alec?" They'd been there for over two hours and Sketchy was bored.
"Trying to figure out what happened to Biggs. See if there were any strange vehicles around Crash last night. All comings and goings through sectors are reported and recorded in the police databases." Alec kept his eyes on the monitor.
Sketchy shrugged. Dull, dull, dull. He shook himself. Man, what am I thinking? My friend is missing and all I can think about it how bored I am. "Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked his friend, guilty that he hadn't suggested it before.
"Nah Sketch, it's all good."
Sketchy turned his gaze back to the TV and his mouth dropped in shock.
"Uh, Alec? I think you should take a look at this." He called to his friend in a shaky voice.
Alec heard the distress in his voice and hurriedly rose from his place. He crossed the room and stared at the screen in horror.
"This is Felicity Corbrand for JDT News reporting live on the scene. I'm standing in front of the Farrington Stock House in Sector 9, Seattle Washington , where an explosion ripped through the building under an hour ago.
"We've just been told that the building was rigged with explosives that seem to have been set off prematurely, trapping the saboteurs inside.
"Our exclusive information comes from the Seattle PD. It has been confirmed that the S1W and Eyes Only, now identified as Logan Cale of Cale Industries, were killed in the blast. Sources say…"
Alec and Sketchy looked at each other in disbelief. Eyes Only dead?
A loud beep from the computer startled them out of their stunned stupor. Alec scuttled over to the monitor.
Suddenly he slammed his fist of the table. "Oh, FUCK!"
"What is it?" Sketchy's eyebrows furrowed in apprehension as he waited for Alec to continue.
Alec sat up straight and rigid. "Looks like today it's just one shitty thing after the other."
"I got the search results. There was only one vehicle logged at the checkpoint near Crash last night. Around midnight ." Alec turned to Sketchy, his face pale and pinched. "It belonged to a Vividyne Labs. Do you know what that is, Sketch?"
Sketchy shook his head. The look on Alec's face scared the shit out of him.
Alec's breath hissed out. "Vividyne Labs is a cover for Manticore. Biggs is back at Manticore."
