Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone from X-Men or the Marvel Universe. Stan Lee does. I only own Annica Sawyer.
Lonesome Days
By Leah Pensotti
Chapter Three: Somewhere Safe
Annica watched as Logan changed his shirt before the police came. His muscular body was amazingly clean and free of gaping wounds after being shot at close range. As he sat on her couch, she joined him and murmured lowly, "You know ballistics will show that he fired one shot."
Logan looked at her warily and noticed the fresh purple-hued bruises around her throat and resisted from touching her in comfort.
"I think we have bigger problems than that. Like who wants you dead and what will come next?"
"I know." Annica sighed fretfully.
While they waited for Detective Chambers and his team to come, Annica eyed Logan's hands curiously, "So you're a..."
Before she could form the word "mutant," Logan nodded.
"Yeah."
She nodded in response, taking it all in, "And you heal quickly?"
"Yeah."
They sat in a deepening silence until Logan questioned, "Why did you shoot him? I could've handled it. I wanted to handle it."
"Because you don't want trouble. And he tried to strangle me in my bed. I am not exactly comforted by the fact that he is bleeding on my carpet at this very minute. They know where I live. I can't stay here. I just wish I knew who I was up against."
Annica was scared. She was no longer safe in her own home and by all accounts, she was crazy. She had put her trust in a man she hardly knew and he was a mutant. She should probably be scared of Logan, but on the other hand, he was not the man who had tried to kill her in her sleep. He was not the man who had shot her the night before. On the contrary, he was the man that had come to her aid. And that, she thought, spoke volumes.
A knock came upon the front door and Annica stood to answer it and left Logan on the couch. When the door swung open, Detective Chambers stood on the other side and looked grim. Behind him were ten other men with cameras, cases, a stretcher and a body bag.
Her supervisor stepped inside and immediately turned her head to the side to see the contusions on her throat. Detective Chambers sighed heavily and took Annica's elbow to lead her to the couch.
"I'm afraid I've got bad news, Sawyer. Nothing but bad news." He eyed Logan suspiciously and looked back to Annica, "Who's this?"
Annica sat on the couch next to Logan and summoned up something quickly, "He's a friend. This is Logan. He saved my life in there."
Detective Chambers smiled sadly, "I guess we all owe him our thanks, then."
Annica looked to Logan, she saw a well-disguised smirk pull at his lips. She looked back to her supervisor and question, "What is it? The bad news?"
"Someone smothered Marcus Finnegan in his hospital bed. He's dead Sawyer, I'm sorry."
Annica's hand crept to her mouth in horror. She felt like crying, and it had been a long time since any instance elicited that response from her. Marcus was a good man, a good detective.
"Who did it?" She managed to ask weakly.
Detective Chambers sighed, "We don't know. Whoever it was dressed as an orderly. We found the disguise in the dumpster on the side of the hospital. There's more...your informant. I think we found him. We just pulled a car from the lake. Inside was a man, early forties. He was bound and gagged and his foot was taped to the gas pedal. I have a picture..."
Detective Chambers produced a Polaroid picture from the inside of his suit jacket. Annica realized that he wanted her to identify him as the informant from the night before. Not a common practice, but it seemed her supervisor had something else in store for her. As he handed her the photo, Annica inhaled deeply and looked at it.
"Yeah. That's him. The man we met at Maynard's."
Logan watched Annica closely as she gave her statement of the events that went on in her own home. She left out the fact that he was a mutant. For that he was grateful. She didn't show it, but he knew that she was a wreck inside. Her world had come crashing down. She was supposed to be one of the good guys, but as far as he could tell, the good guys weren't faring so well at the moment. In fact, they were under siege.
They asked him a few questions, about what time he heard the struggle in Annica's room, what the man had said; while Annica just sat on the couch looking very detached. Detective Chambers patted her shoulder and reassured her, "We're gonna protect you, Sawyer. Find you somewhere safe to stay. Do you have any other clothes than the ones in your room?"
Annica nodded, "Yeah, I just did laundry two days ago. I haven't gotten to put it away with everything that has happened. It's in the car."
She knew that most of the things in her apartment were off limits now that it was a crime scene. Detective Chambers nodded and then rose, "Come with us to the station. We'll get everything together. Matthews and Gillespie will walk you and your friend out to the car. I'll stay here and help out with the crime scene."
Logan pulled on his coat and Annica grabbed her keys from the hook by the door. Gillespie opened the driver's side of the squad car while Matthews held the back door open for when Annica returned from her own car. Logan stood by Annica's car and fired up another cigar while Annica dug through her laundry basket, putting a pair of jeans, five tank tops, a few t-shirts, ten days worth of underwear, two bras and a pair of sweats in with her gym clothes in a backpack she used for when she worked out off duty.
The box that she cleared from her desk sat in the back seat and she rifled through it quickly, finding her purse (which she did not mean to leave in the car) and a small framed photo of her father. Beneath the passengers seat, she pulled out a silver box that contained a small firearm and three magazines. Annica shoved everything into the bag and turned to walk to where the other detectives were standing.
Gillespie eyed Logan and Annica as he began to turn the key in the ignition, "Let's go Sawyer."
Before either of them could take another step, the car exploded and erupted into a blazing inferno.
Annica backwards to the ground, her one good arm and hand covering her face. She sat up cautiously and stared into the fire. There was no safe place.
Logan dragged Annica to her feet and pulled her by the wrist where his motorcycle sat. He looked over it quickly, looking for any devices. Detective Chambers and the other men came stumbling down the stairs completely aghast and he made his way over to Annica.
"You can't use your cars. They won't stop until they find me. You can't help me, you will just get hurt. Everyone will get hurt." Annica near sobbed to her superior.
Logan pulled her by the hand, "Come on."
"Where do you think you're going?" Detective Chambers bellowed to Logan.
"I'm taking her somewhere safe."
Annica stopped in her tracks, "Logan, I can't leave."
He stepped close to her and looked her dead in the eye, "It's like you said, Detective. All your friends will die if they help you. I know a place you can go for awhile. Take it or leave it."
Annica swallowed her fear and thought the situation over. Wherever she went, she would endanger the people there...but Logan was different. He didn't beat around the bush or say things that she wanted to hear. He was being honest and somewhere inside of her, she knew that he was right.
Leaving with him, going against orders and protocol was the last thing she wanted to do; but Annica knew that perhaps the only way to protect the people around her–the people meant to protect her, was to trust Logan, a mutant. Annica felt crazy for trusting someone she barely knew, but instinct told her to go.
She slung the backpack over her shoulders and looked to her supervisor sadly, "I'll be in touch, sir! Don't use any of these cars they may have devices!"
Annica could hear Detective Chambers calls of protest and threats to shoot the tires out as she hopped on the back of Logan's motorcycle.
"Go." She urged and took him by the waist.
As they started off, Annica could hear the faint sound of her fellow officers taking the safety off of their weapons and she turned her head around to see all of them taking aim at the tires of the motorcycle on which she perched. Annica met eyes with her supervisor once more, and she saw that he was angry, but he knew that she would make good on the promise of keeping in touch. She wanted it solved more than anybody...
"Hold your fire!" Detective Chambers ordered.
A small smile pulled at the corner of Annica's mouth and soon she and Logan were out of sight...when she asked where they were going, Logan only mumbled "Westchester County."
A/N: Sorry for the delay in updates. I have been waylaid by vacations, work and lots of movies. I hope this chappie satisfies and I promise that another will soon be on the way!
To TropicalTequila: Thanks for the review! There is more excitement to come!
To bluebell: Thanks for the lovely review! This chappie is for you!
To Angel of Harlem: Damn, I can't get anything past you. You got me on Springsteen. Annica strikes me as a hardcore Springsteen fan. I dunno why. I will work on the suspense for ya, I think I am a little rusty. I haven't been writing as much as I should. Tsk, Tsk ;-). Yeah, I met Bono in December. It was lovely. Absolutely lovely! Never underestimate the power of knowing where the loading dock is!
