Dog Will Have His Day
Summary: Alec is trying to catch the man who made him hurt Max, but he has to save her first... MA. Sequel to Loose the Hounds and Dogs of War.
I know, I know. It was very bad of me. Pardon my breakdown. Truly. The entire story is now finished and will go up in short order.
When last we talked, Alec was a wreck and Max had just been given a mysterious injection by a nurse...
Chapter Two
Max sat up at Dr. Carr's urging and held out her hand to allow him to check her pulse.
Max heard Alec groan and turned her head in time to see him put his feet on the floor and stand. "What are you doing?" she exclaimed.
"You need to stay in bed," Dr. Carr urged.
Alec paid no attention to either of them and came around the end of the hospital bed. He was in pain, but remarkably clear-eyed, and Max supposed adrenaline was better than almost anything for clearing the drugs out of his system.
"How is she?" Alec asked.
"Blood pressure's up."
"Yours would be too if some stranger just shot you up with who knows what," Max snapped.
Dr. Carr ignored the outburst. "I'll be right back," he said and strode out of the room. Almost immediately Max heard him shouting for security as well as giving medical orders to someone at the nurse's station.
"How do you feel?" Alec had moved to stand right in front of her and his eyes roamed up and down examining her for signs of anything off.
"I'd feel better if you'd sit down."
It was a testament to how badly he was hurting that Alec did as she asked. He very gingerly sat beside her, but with his feet still on the ground in an attempt not to put pressure on his abdominal muscles.
"You ok?" she inquired.
"Pretty sure I was the one asking you," Alec replied.
Max shrugged. "I don't feel any different."
"You sure?" He put his arm around her and she allowed herself to lean into him. As always, Alec's touch was just what she needed. When she was feeling frisky, Alec was always ready to play, when she was itching for a fight, his temper was every bit as fiery as hers, but when she needed comfort, he was just as ready to offer it. It was part of his chameleon charm.
Alec's cell phone rang and Max reached for it where it was hidden in the bedside table to keep the nurses from yelling at them. "Max."
"Your idiot husband still breathing?" Mole asked. Max knew that whether he would admit it or not, he was worried about Alec. After all, Mole and his secret tracking device were how she'd found Alec after he took off. She'd called Command to let them know she was taking Alec back to the hospital, but she hadn't had the energy to call since. Sometimes she forgot how many people she had in her family these days and they were all concerned about the welfare of Mama and Papa Bear.
"I was tempted to smother him in his sleep," Max said casually, "but the nurses have been watching him too closely."
"Pretty boy been leading 'em on again."
Max just raised an eyebrow. "Then I would have to kill him," she said, only half joking and was rewarded with a tiny snort from Alec. "What's up?"
Instantly sobering, Mole answered, "We've been trying to track down Kincaid."
"And?"
"And so far we've got nothing. Less than nothing. No family and he hasn't used any cards, ID, travel passes… nothing registered to him."
"And you're calling while Alec's laid up in the hospital because…" She let it trail off ominously. After all, in addition to Alec's sorry state, she'd just been given a shot of something that might kill her. She kind of had her plate full without taking calls about how much they didn't know.
"Because we've got nothing on Kincaid, but the mole at the UN? We think we might know where he's holed up."
The mole in the UN was part of what had started this whole mess. The Secretary of Homeland Security had brought them the file, asking them to look into it and figure out how widespread the damage was. At that meeting they had been introduced to Kincaid as their new government liaison. That relationship had quickly gone south as soon as Kincaid realized his cover was blown along with the mole at the UN. Kincaid had tipped off his fellow Familiar and they'd both disappeared, although Kincaid had continued to pop up just long enough to wreak havoc on their lives. Max had been shot, Alec had gone mental, and then just when things were getting better, Kincaid had called in a hit on Secretary Gordon and Alec had been nearly disemboweled.
Max closed her eyes, exhaustion creeping in, although to be honest it was never that far away these days. "Where's the mole?"
"We've already got a team on the way to retrieve him. Get back to TC. We'll be able to give you a full rundown by the time you get here."
"Great." Max sighed. "Give me time to get out of here without the reporters knowing." That was if she didn't suddenly drop dead, she mentally added.
"Do us all a favor and order Pretty Boy to stay there this time," Mole said and hung up.
Max put the phone away, distantly noting the sounds of security personnel arriving outside their room. She knew it was a waste of time to have them look for the woman who'd given her the shot. Odds were it was a Familiar, which meant she was already long gone. Even if they did run across her, the security people would be seriously outgunned.
Max felt remarkably calm for someone in her position. There was no telling what she'd been given. Kincaid had warned Alec that the familiars had found all of Manticore's files. Who knew what kind of sick projects they'd been working on? They certainly had meticulously detailed files on each and every transgenic Manticore had produced, herself included.
She knew freaking out would do absolutely no good. If she was going to die, then she was going to die. She would sit right where she was beside Alec. She wouldn't run around like a chicken with her head cut off and waste her last few minutes with her husband.
"Promise me-"
"Max, so help me if you finish that sentence..."
Max let out a very inelegant snort. "You'll what?"
"I'll..." He paused, clearly trying to think up something heinous enough. "I'll make you talk to the reporters."
Max shook her head. "Can't make me talk to them if I keel over dead."
"Don't," Alec bit out, all pretense of joking vanishing in an instant. "Don't say that." Max knew it was too soon after her shooting. That Alec had been the one to shoot her just made it that much worse. He'd been absolutely certain he'd killed her, and had sat down to die himself. Max had no idea what he would do if whatever she'd just been given was lethal.
Max reached up and turned his face toward her, meeting him in a suddenly desperate kiss. They'd been at cross purposes ever since Alec's Manticore programming kicked in, and now this... Max just wanted to be alone with him, alone and safe, and without a gun to their heads.
"Max," Alec said, pulling back to study her face again, his brow deeply furrowed with worry.
"I feel fine," she assured him. "Not a bit of difference."
Alec's arm tightened around her as if he could keep her with him by brute strength. "Make sure it stays that way, all right?" It was more a demand than a question, his voice very tense.
Dr. Carr bustled back into the room breaking the spell. He had a nurse with him who was carrying a tray with supplies.
"Max, we're going to draw some blood and see if that can tell us anything." While the nurse pulled her gloves on and got what looked like an entire squadron of vials ready, the doctor got out his stethoscope to listen to her heart and lungs, checked her eyes, and once again checked her blood pressure. The nurse then took her turn, filling up vial after vial with different colored tops.
"Now," the doctor said, looking from Max to Alec and back again, "I've given up trying to get you two to stay in separate beds, but I need you both lying down. I don't want to redo any more stitches, and until we know what this person gave you, Max, I don't want you running around."
Max didn't bother to argue. One look at Alec told her that his momentary burst of energy was already waning. She immediately got off the bed and helped a scarily pliant Alec back into it. She knew he was fighting sleep, wanting to stay awake with her, but his body had different ideas.
Max looked up and was struck by a severe attack of vertigo. She grabbed Alec's arm and the side table in an attempt to steady herself. The room was suddenly too bright, painfully so, and all the sounds around her were too loud.
"Max? Max, what's wrong?"
She flinched away from the too loud voice. The action dislodged her grip on the table. She fell to her knees, the shock of it hitting her so hard, it was as if someone had taken a bat to them.
Her vision darkened and she wanted one last chance to say something to Alec, but she couldn't. Her body wasn't doing anything she wanted. She fell forward and her head hit the metal bed railing with a clang. She felt blood on her face, heard someone call her name, and then it was all over.
More soon...