Disclaimer: No infringement intended. Not affiliated in any way with anyone. Nothing to sue here people, move along. I don't own anything here. I am not making any money on this.

Huge THANK YOU to Maria for making time to Beta this no matter how hectic her RL gets.

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Scene 4: Kicking Ass.

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Max felt a profound sense of loss as she left Logan's bed. Still, she needed to make sure he was safe before she could … Don't even go there, Max. You aren't like that. He's said it. You've said it. What is it going to take before you can believe that?

If this is a typical heat ..

And I've already established that it is not!

… then it should be about three days!

Business before pleasure.

MMmm, pleasure.

Damit!

Fortunately, Max can parallel process and multitask like there is no tomorrow, so while she was engaged in a heated debate with the most stubborn opponent she had ever faced, with the possible exception of Logan Cale, she was also sneaking up on the bad guys. As it was dark, and the idiots hadn't brought flashlights to a heist in Seattle, she had an extreme advantage, several actually.

"We are supposed to make this look like a robbery," said the first soon-to-be-unconscious goon.

"No, his death needs to look like an accident," said the second soon-to-be-unconscious goon.

THAT got Max's full attention. They were not here for commerce; they were here for murder! They almost received it.

To say Max was fiercely protective of Logan was an immense understatement. Her attack was violent, brutal, powerful and immediate. Her training kicked in. She circled to approach the trio of intruders from the rear, to take them down one at a time before any could raise an alarm.

Max was smaller than her prey, but she's also capable of absolutely incredible speeds. Still, if she had not been furious she would not have accelerated her foot at nearly two hundred miles per hour into the first goons abdomen. For those of you unfamiliar with physics – force equals mass times acceleration. At that speed she transferred slightly over four thousand Newtons of force into the goons soft internal organs; in other words she hit him like a ton of bricks (dropped from a second story window). The only sound he made as he dropped was a soft exhalation of all the air that had been in his lungs.

Max moved on to the second would-be-assassin completely unaware of the massive internal bleeding in the first. Criminal number two dropped his gun from his numb hand as Max twisted and shattered the two thin bones in his forearm, the same move inadvertently pulling his arm out of its socket. He sucked in sharply but passed out before he had time to scream. Max, unaware he was unconscious, kicked his knees sideways at a truly unnatural angle then back-fisted his face so that he fell backward unto the first would-be-assassin.

"Bob? Where are you?" The third would-be-assassin had time to be terrified. He had heard a soft whoosh and then the crunching of bone and then an eerie silence. He could see nothing in the dark. He could hear only the thunder of his own pulse in ears.

Max thought about letting him suffer, but the sooner he was unconscious the sooner she could search the apartment and make sure that there were no more of them.

The last man standing saw a pair of eyes glimmer in the darkness for one brief moment, before the darkness took him.

Three down in just slightly over three seconds.

Cool, now back to Logan. Max cursed her libido. She ignored it and finished searching the apartment. She spared seven seconds to make certain the three she knew about were securely tied and then went to brief Logan before she left for further reconnaissance.

When she returned to Logan's bedroom he was on his cell phone with someone.

She mouthed the word 'mute' at him and hoped he could read lips. She felt like an idiot and tried to turn on the light so that he could see her. Then she felt like a double idiot. "Three down. Apartment clear. I need to go check on … the security guard."

Logan smiled, pushed some buttons on his remote and the lights came back on.

Max mouthed 'mute' at him again.

"Uh-huh," Logan said into the phone then pressed the mute button.

"They were here to kill you."

"You sure?"

"I overheard one say 'his death needs to look like an accident'"

"Damn." Logan cursed and only then unmuted his phone. "Listen, I'm sorry about this but I need to go. I'll be fine, just get someone here as soon as you can. We might need an ambulance." Logan noticed the look on Max's face. "We definitely need an ambulance. Thank you. Goodbye." Logan snapped the phone shut, his pain apparent on his handsome face.

He clenched his eyes shut for only a second, exhaled and looked up at Max. "Any idea how much they know."

"No. I need to go downstairs and see how they got past Jake." Max approached Logan. She was eager to have her hands on his naked body again. "You need to get dressed. Do you need ?"

"No! I can do it," Logan snapped.

"I know, but if it would save time …" The mental image of helping Logan with his clothing was seriously interfering with Max's ability to think clearly, which was saying a lot.

"Just go."

Feeling very rebuked, Max nodded and left.

She doesn't even think I can get dressed by myself? Logan thought bitterly. On the bright side, I guess me being pathetic wouldn't surprise her. I guess that dream wasn't as realistic as I thought.

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Max propped the elevator doors open at the penthouse level, effectively trapping it there and preventing anyone from using that means of egress to get past her to Logan. She hopped down the deserted stairs one flight at a time.

Jake was unconscious but breathing. Max checked him briefly, but an ambulance was already on the way. The monitors revealed one unfamiliar car waiting in the underground parking garage, with one unfamiliar goon sitting behind the wheel.

Max knew dozens of different ways she could disable him, but with Logan in the penthouse, alone and naked … Logan, naked … she groaned. She needed to get back to Logan, so she immediately implemented the fastest method, regardless of how distasteful it was.

She pulled off her jacket and tee shirt leaving only a thin camisole (that inadvertently showed off pert nipples) between her and the cool night air. She adjusted her hair, applied some lipstick, stuck Jakes handcuffs in her jacket pocket, swung her jacket over one shoulder and sashayed out the door.

She walked slowly toward the exit, making certain that her target got a good look at her charms. She wanted to give him enough time to form the wrong, though popular, conclusion about what a girl like her would be doing in a place like this.

He obligingly whistled at her, giving her the perfect excuse to notice him. She smiled and turned gracefully to walk towards him. He even rolled down his window.

"Hey," she tried to sound as seductive as she could. "What's a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?"

Based on his leer she succeeded more than she wanted to. "Damn shame I'm working right now, Babydoll."

"Oh yeah. That is too bad." Max looked disappointed. She knocked him cold with a right cross before he realized that she had moved. Max dragged him out of the car and used Jake's handcuffs to secure him to a pillar.

She checked Jake on the way back. He probably had a concussion, but there wasn't anything she could do for him. He might be OK; he might not be OK, but there was nothing Max could do to affect that one way or the other.

She needed to get back to Logan. I just need to make sure he is alright, she lied to herself.

To be continued ….