Disclaimer: I still don't own Dark Angel. Sadly, Santa was not that good to me this year.

A/N: Sorry, I didn't mean to leave it this long. Hope you like this chapter.

Chapter 1

"Alec, come quick. It hurts."

Static filled the line.

"SHIT!"

Utter frustration filled Alec, as he slammed his fist into the wall beside the mounted telephone, barely bruising his knuckles but leaving a sizeable dent in the plaster. When that did nothing to lessen his tension, he ripped the phone, that had only been installed the week before, off the wall and threw it into the corner of the room, where it landed with a most satisfying crash.

Only pausing to grab his leather jacket from the hook by the door, Alec let it slam shut behind him.

The quiet in Central was shattered when Alec stormed in like a blond whirlwind.

"Dix, get your ass over here."

"What's up, Alec?"

"White's got Max." That last statement ensured the undivided attention of the entire group of people currently in the room. A circle of silence spread with Alec at its centre.

"How do you know?"

"She phoned me. Mentioned White, that they were left alone. Thinks she killed somebody."

"Hopefully White." Mole mumbled.

"Doesn't matter. She mentioned blood, indicating wounds. Words were slurred, had difficulty concentrating."

"Did she give any info to where she is?" Dix asked, booting up the computer as he did so.

Alec frowned. "Max says it's a big room with skylights, dirty, lots of boxes. Sounds like a warehouse. Doors're locked but she could see a big round building. She mentioned spaghetti. Blue and green spaghetti with a meatball on top. She was pretty far gone at that point." Alec swallowed, as worry began to get the better of him. Ruthlessly he suppressed the emotions coursing through him and let 494 come to the front. It would be no help to Max if he went all ordinary and panicked. "She mentioned she could hear people screaming."

Dix frowned. "Could be anything. Could be nothing. The warehouse info limits it to 15 locations in and around the city. The rest might make sense when we have more information. Do you have anything else. Doesn't matter how insignificant it might seem."

Alec thought hard for a second, then it came to him. "She said the boxes had writing on them. Badly smudged. Started with R and ended in 'etts'. Don't know if that helps."

"Well, I can cross-reference the potential companies with the locations and see if we have any matches." Dix turned to his computers, all else already forgotten in the quest of finding Max, leaving Alec to focus his attentions on Biggs. Absently he noted that his fellow transgenic looked almost as worried as he felt. Deep inside he acknowledged that Max would be pleasantly surprised by that and resolved to tell her when this entire affair was over. Giving a mental shudder, he returned to the matter at hand.

"Biggs, send out the X5's and sixes. I want to know everything. Who saw her last. Where did she go. What did she do. Start here and work your way outward. Report back every ten minutes."

"Will do."

"And hurry. She fainted at the end. We don't have that much time. We need to find her a.s.a.p. Have a med team on standby."

Biggs nodded and left.

Fifteen minutes later the first reports started coming in. Nobody had seen Max since the morning of the previous day. After their customary early morning meeting, Max had handed out assignments, then gone to the school which had been having trouble integrating the young nomilies. Julia, the X5 in charge, stated Max had received a phone call that had left her extremely troubled.

"Julia says Max mentioned Logan and something not being possible. That she saw him die. Then she went all silent and left." Biggs reported. "The next sighting was at the gate at eleven hundred. Heading off in a westerly direction on her ninja. Could be nothing."

"But Logan lives in that direction." Alec finished for him. "I say it's time to visit Logan."

Leaving Dix to input the new info, showing Max's presumed route on a grid of the city, Alec and Biggs headed off to pay Logan Cale a visit.

On the way over. Alec had time to collect his thoughts. The inability to do anything was nagging at him. One reason why he had elected to join Biggs instead of letting him handle it on his own. They were running out of time and God only knew what had happened.

Neither transgenic spoke as they headed up in the elevator to Logan's penthouse. When they rang the doorbell, Logan buzzed them through without asking. They were welcomed by the smell of chicken alfredo and Logan's voice shouting: "I'll be out in a minute, Asha. I'm in the bedroom."

As Biggs shrugged, Alec simply raised an eyebrow. Mozart was playing in the background and a table set for two could just be seen round the corner on the lounge. The buzz of the exo-skeleton warned Biggs and Alec of Logan's imminent arrival long before the man himself appeared.

"Subtle, my ass." Biggs muttered.

Logan's welcoming and he liked to think rather sexy smile froze on his face when he saw the two young men he despised the most, simply for being who and what they were. Anger bled into his eyes and voice: "What do you want?"

Alec kept a tight reign on his temper, only betrayed by the coolness slipping into his voice. "Where's Max?"

Logan smirked, comfortable on his high horse. "Oh, she didn't tell you? She came over yesterday."

When nothing more was forthcoming, Alec ground out: "And?"

"She came over yesterday, I had some info for her. She took it and left."

"What info?" Alec's control was slipping, melting away like a snowball in hell.

Logan, unknowing of the danger he was in, sneered. "I don't think that's any of your business."

A growl left Alec's throat. Moving so fast, not even Biggs registered his move, he hauled off and punched Logan right in the face. It spoke volumes for his character and self-control that even then he managed to pull his punch enough that Logan was only momentarily stunned. Pushing Logan into a handy chair, Alec vented his frustration by burying his fist in the wall next to Logan's head.

"What information?" he asked again.

Logan swallowed hard. "I found evidence that her brother Ben is back in town. There has been a series of murders in the north of town. They have his m.o. written all over them. She said she had seen him die. But when has that ever stopped you guys." Logan added bitterly.

Alec felt dread settle into his stomach, as he realised Max had never told Logan the true story of what had happened.

"I gave her the address of the last incident. A protestant church up in Bellevue. She took off and that was it."

Biggs was surprised how stupid this man was. "It never occurred to you that it could be a trap?"

"Why would it?" Logan asked somewhat naively, still unable to grasp the gravity of the situation. "Now if you don't mind, I have a guest coming to dinner."

This time Alec didn't pull his punch, knocking Logan out cold. "Let's go." was all he said.

"One second." Biggs muttered. Aftera quick detour into the kitchen he joined Alec in the lift.

As they rode down his only comment was:" Laxative in the sauce. Brings out the flavour."