From: "Veronica Bowles" <yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:53:33 -0400
Subject: new post
Source: direct
Title: Choices III-"Senses"
Author: Mystic25
Email: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com
Distribution: Archive, so long as my name and info are
kept the same.
Genres: Story/Romance/Angst
Relationships: Max/Logan married
Content: violence, graphic images, and descriptions of
prostitution and sex
Keywords: Alternate Universe
Rating: R
Spoilers: none
Summary: When a number of women turn up dead in Seattle
Logan and Max go undercover to learn why. And when they
do Max must keep herself from suffering the same fate.
Disclaimer: All characters that appear regularly on Dark
Angel are Cameron's. I won't break them. I just wanna
play. Jesse is my own creation and so are any others
introduced in this story.
Author's note: Thanks to everyone for all the reinforcement
on this series. My other idea for the third 'chapter' was a
little plot-less. This one has more substance.
*****
35th Ave.
Seattle
'Ring of Fire'
7:35 p.m.
Adrianna was lookin' for action. And judging by the cars
that lined the street there were plenty of people willing
to indulge her.
She pulled down the pink mini dress lower to show more
cleavage. /Can't sell products without advertisement./
Her pale skin shone like ivory in the moonlight.
One of the many cars crowded by her normal business spot
slowed to a stop. The tinted window of the Benz rolled
down and a face with buzzed brown hair in dark Oakley glasses
appeared behind it.
Adrianna approached her customer "Whatcha need tonight
hon?" She bent down and stuck her head through the window.
The man smiled lazily at her "A little trip around the block."
Adrianna nodded, pulling back and climbing in the passenger
seat.
The car sped off into the night.
Adrianna pulled out her makeup out of her purse and began
applying a deep shade of red lipstick to her mouth. "How many
stops do you want on this ride?"
The man turned to her "Enough to see the scenery." He
scratched his right arm, which was bare except for a black
Chinese dragon tattooed on the muscled bicep.
The ride was silent for a while as Adrianna worked to fix up
her face and her customer drove. After a few more minutes
went by he pulled up into a small motor lodge. He killed
the motor and turned towards her. "Let's get our freak on."
Both adults climbed out of the car. The man led her around
the first row of mobile homes until they reached a small
blue one with aluminum siding. The old screen door creaked
as they entered.
The place was pretty well furnished, considering the location.
He gestured for her to sit on the large king size poster bed
that sat in the center of the room.
"Nice place." Adrianna remarked falling back on the silk
sheets "Wouldn't have known by the neighborhood."
"I like to keep out of the mainstream." he remarked from
across the room. His hand moved to grasp a spray bottle
on the mahogany dresser.
Adrianna kicked off her shoes, and was undoing the zipper
in the back of her dress when a large German Sheperd
appeared out of the back room and leapt up on the bed.
Adrianna cried out in surprise. The dog looked at her
with large brown eyes.
"Down Kaja." he commanded, and the dog obeyed instantly,
hopping off the bed and retreating back into the shadows.
"I hate dogs." she remarked, brushing the hair off her.
"She's good for protection." he replied coming over to
her and sitting on the bed. "This isn't exactly the ideal
living area." He held the spray bottle in his hand.
She looked at it "What's that?" There was a cream colored
liquid in the plastic holder.
"I make perfume." he responded, spraying her with a gentle
mist of the substance. "Like it?"
"It's aiight." she responded. Truth be told, it didn't smell
wonderful, but it wasn't bad either. It smelled like all those
products that claimed they were unscented but in reality had a
slight odor.
"I'm glad." he said, leaning over to kiss her hungrily.
She let him exert control, knowing that pleasing him would
be a ticket for more cash. He fondled her through her clothes,
and hastily removed his. Within minutes he was straddling her.
There was no foreplay before the main event. He rode her fast
and hard, making her orgasm almost immediately.
She arched against him as she came, and after her body
relaxed she turned to him. "It's sixty-five. Cash on
the table."
He laid some crumpled bills on her sweat soaked chest
and climbed off the bed. He pulled on his pants and
made his way back to the dresser.
She sat up, not bothering to look at him while she got
dressed. There were no fireworks, or small talk after
these events. It was just a business transaction.
"Was it to your liking?" she asked, as if taking a customer
review.
He nodded "More then you'll know." he whistled sharply.
Kaja, the German Sheperd sprinted out again. She sniffed
the air for a second and then snarled at Adrianna.
This time she couldn't even scream as the dog leapt on her,
clamping down with sharp teeth. She dug into the flesh
of her chest, biting tearing. Strips of skin came away in
her mouth, and soon Adrianna was still.
He gave two sharp whistles and the dog climbed off the
dead woman as if nothing had happened. Walking back over
to the dresser he opened a black book. Under the date
May 26, he wrote down: Caucasian experiment: Successful.
He retrieved the bottle from where it fell on the floor
putting it and the book into a drawer. He turned to the
lifeless body, picked her up and left silently out the
door.
*****
8:32 a.m.
The Next Morning
Max stood under the spray of the shower, letting the
steamy water pound on her back and shoulders.
She enjoyed the hard spray a few more minutes before
shutting off the flow from the shower head. Climbing
out she wrapped a towel around her head, and slipped
another around her body.
She exited the bathroom, noting that Logan had obviously
decided to get up as well. He never took advantage to
enjoy the luxury of sleeping late in the morning.
After putting on her underwear, Max moved over to the
closet and pulled out her dark army green ribbed sweater,
and a pair of dark denim jeans. Pulling the clothes on
she mentally complained to herself how it was fuckin'
May and it was still sixty-five degrees outside. She
removed the towel from her head and tossed it on her
side of the bed.
Letting the dark locks cascade down her shoulders she
combed out all the snarls and replaced her jade wedding
band back on her hand. Satisfied with her appearance
she left the bedroom in search of her husband.
"Logan?" she called out walking through the halls of their
house. She found him at his office talking on the phone.
She approached him, and kissed the back of his neck
"Breakfast?"
He smiled from in front of her, and covered the mouthpiece
with his hand. "On the table." he gestured to the steaming
plates of eggs benedict and fresh strawberries on the large
dinning table.
"You gonna join me?" she asked.
He nodded "In a second baby, I just gotta finish this call."
She sighed, the man was a slave to his work. "I'm gonna go
wake up my other man." she left him there and retreated
back to the hall. Instead of a right she took a left and
opened the door to the nursery. Her son was awake and staring
intently at the mobile that was suspended above his crib.
"Ready for breakfast kiddo?" she smiled at him and reached
down and scooped him up. She carried her son out the door
and back into the dinning room.
She set him down in his high chair, and walked into the
kitchen. Opening the refrigerator she retrieved a jar
of baby food. All natural, made by her girl Kendra. Jess
had been weaned from breast milk about three weeks ago,
and even though he was still only five months old, she
felt like he was growing up too fast.
She set the jar on the little plastic table of his
high chair. Opening the lid she spooned out some
of the dark mush "Open up sweetie." she stuck the
spoon into his mouth. Needless to say, more went on
the cotton bib then in his mouth. After a few more
minutes of this game, she had concluded that he
had eaten enough for now.
She sat down and began to eat her own breakfast when
Logan walked in.
"Who was that on the phone?" Max asked in between bites.
"An informant of mine." he responded, pouring two cups
of coffee from the pot. He walked back out to her and
handed her one, and offered her a kiss before sliding
into the seat beside her. "Had some information to tell me."
"About?" she inquired sipping from the mug he handed
to her.
Logan took a bit of a strawberry before responding.
"Yesterday the police found a woman's body dumped
by the alley next to the waterfront."
"How did she die?" Max asked, becoming interested.
"From what they have it looks like blood loss.
Among other things. Her chest was torn open, entrails
all out, it was kinda grizzly." he opened the file and
placed the photo that was faxed to him in front of her
"These are the autopsy photos."
She stared at the images of the woman's body, splayed
out and covered in crimson blood. The bright pink of
her dress mingled grotesquely with the blood that was
streaked across it. "Was she a hooker?" Most women
opted not to wear colors that bright unless they were
trying to attract attention.
He nodded "That's why not many cops are looking into
it. They figure she got into it with a customer."
"But how many men rip open a girl's chest in the
heat of passion?" she asked in disbelief.
"Maybe he was one of yours." he answered.
She snapped her head up "I don't think so. Doesn't look
like anything I remember being taught to do" her finger
pointed to the wet trail of blood and semen that ran down
the dead woman's calf. "If a Manticore solider was sent
to assassinate someone he wouldn't decide to get a little
freaky before the kill." her voice shook slightly. It was
still hard to talk about 'back then', even after all this
time.
Logan sensed her mood change "You're right, doesn't fit
description of what you've told me about the train." he
touched her hand.
Their somber mood was broken a few seconds later when
Jesse knocked the entire jar of homemade baby food
off his high chair. The jar didn't break, but the dark
mush was splattered all over the floor.
Both Max and Logan laughed. "Trying to test the endurance
of that jar Jess?" Logan asked his son as he got up out
of his chair to get some paper towels.
While Logan cleaned up the mess on the floor Max cleaned
up the mess on their son. "If only you could absorb food
through your skin sweetie, you would be able to eat much
more." she wiped off a dollop of apple sauce that hung
on his chin.
After cleaning him up, and giving him a fresh diaper,
Max continued to get ready for work. She pulled on
her leather boots, and grabbed her jacket off the back
of the chair that she had thrown it at last night.
When she emerged again she found Logan on the couch
looking over some papers that was faxed to him with
the file.
"Gotta head out." she stated looking at him from her
standing position in the middle of the room.
He stood up from the couch and walked over to where she
was. "Have a good day baby." he placed the file on the
coffee table and kissed his wife lovingly on the lips.
"I'll do my damndest." she remarked when they pulled
back. "Be back around five."
He nodded "I'll just go over more of that file
today."
"Are you sure it wasn't just an isolated incident?" she
questioned.
"I don't know." he responded honestly. "But, it wouldn't
make any difference. Prostitute or not, a woman was murdered
last night, and I want to know why."
"Maybe I'll help you when I get back." she remarked with
a smile.
He smiled back "That's kinda what I was hoping for."
She kissed him again "See ya at five then." She
turned and smiled at her son who was playing in
his play pen. "Be good for daddy." she turned
again and left out the front door.
*****
Jam Pony X-Press
12:23 p.m.
"Two nines." Sketchy proudly announced, laying his
cards down, on the crate. "Top that."
Max smiled smugly, putting down her hand "Straight flush."
She swept up the small wad of bills that was positioned in
the center.
"That makes two wins in a row dude." Cindy remarked from
behind them. "You should've quit while you were ahead."
"I thought it was in the bag." Sketchy stated. He
turned to Max. "I didn't know you were such a card
shark."
"Knowledge can be a powerful thing." Herbal stated, who
was also watching the game. "Dat is if you wish to use
it." He walked over and patted Sketchy on the arm.
"Mmmhmm." Max remarked straightening out her winnings
"'Cause there's no such thing as a sure thing." she
pocketed the cash into the pocket of her capris.
"Does Logan know that you gamble?" Sketchy asked out
of the blue, still a little upset that he dropped
twenty dollars.
"Of course he does." she answered back. "We play
a lot. 'Cept when we play poker, we don't play for
cash." she adapted a sexy little grin on her face.
"I hate to ruin this lovely game of illegal gambling."
Normal broke in, walking up to them. "But these packages
are meant to be delivered, not sit around and take up
space in the storage room." He turned to Max "And please
keep what you and your husband do in your free time
to yourself." he handed a box "This one's for Royala."
She took the box from him with one hand, ignoring his
other remark. She stood to leave when the cell clipped
to her waist came alive.
"Bet that's Logan." Sketchy remarked.
Max shot him a look and answered it "Yea?"
"Baby, it's me."
She smiled "What's up?"
"Can't a guy call his wife just because?"
"In your case." she began "No."
He laughed slightly from his end. "You got me. I need a favor."
"Who- I mean *what* do you want done?" she corrected herself,
hoping that the others around her didn't hear.
"There are some records on that murder victim at the
morgue that I need. Place is located on fifty-sixth
and Morgan."
"But baby, It's very exclusive, I can't just walk in."
she rephrased what she wanted to ask him, because if
she just came out and said she couldn't get the
confidential records without special access, people
might get suspicious.
"Look in the pocket of your leather jacket."
he responded, catching on immediately about what
she was getting at.
She did as he said and found a plastic ID tag.
It was a very good copy. "Dr. Anna Richardson?"
she said this low so no one else would hear.
"Okay the name is a little plain." Logan admitted
"But I made it out to be a level four clearance
ID. You should be able to get in and out of there
without any problems."
"'Kay." she agreed, pocketing the fake ID in her
jacket pocket. "You owe me."
"What do you have in mind?" he asked through the
phone.
"Wanna play a little poker?" her voice was low,
almost seductive.
He smiled from his end. "I'll deal."
"Aiight." she responded. "See ya then." she disconnected
the call and walked out of the cubby of lockers.
She figured Logan wanted this file right away, so
she needed an excuse to be near fifty-sixth street.
"Hey boo" she called out to Cindy. "Whatcha got?"
"Tortes." Cindy held up the box with 'fragile'
stamped across it in black letters. "For some
uppity snit named McKenzee on Rolan Dr."
No luck there. "How 'bout you Sketchy?"
He looked up, obviously, not paying attention.
"What?"
She pointed to the box in his hand. "Where is
your extra weight headed?"
"Oh." the light bulb went on in his head. "Dulan
Ave."
Bingo. Fifty-sixth and Morgan was two blocks
away from there. "Wanna trade with me?" she
held up her small box. "It's just to Rolaya,
that fish market on Colonial."
He looked at her in disbelief "You're willing
to take my little brown friend all the way
downtown?"
She nodded. "I kinda feel bad for snaggin' up
your hard earned green."
"Thanks girl." he stated, exchanging boxes with her.
"Maybe my luck is changing."
"Yea." Cindy agreed. "Some beautiful woman might decide
she needs to buy fish today."
"The possibilities are endless." Sketchy said, grabbing
his bike and heading out.
After he left Cindy turned to Max. "Why the sudden urge
to go across town? Is something up?"
"Just taking care of business." Max answered to her
friend, as they walked their bikes out of the building.
"Doin' a little pan handling for your man?" Cindy
asked.
Max nodded, showing her the ID. "I get to play doctor."
"Anna?" Cindy raised an eyebrow. "No offense girl, but
your husband lacks a little imagination on names."
Max replaced the ID. "'Cept the ones he calls me."
Cindy shot her a look. "Original Cindy's gettin'
to much info. from her boo, so she's gonna bow
out." she climbed on her bike. "Let's do the lunch
thang when I get done handing off the goods."
Max smiled. "Aiight." she climbed on her bike as well.
The two women went their separate ways.
*****
Seattle City Morgue
Fifty-sixth and Morgan
1:24 p.m.
"Right this way Dr. Richardson." the receptionist said, leading
Max to the office of a one Dr. Sinclaire, head of pathology.
A tall, red headed woman was seated behind a cherry wood desk.
Behind her were many metal file cabinets that took up the entire
space of one wall.
"Dr. Sinclaire?" the receptionist spoke up.
The woman behind the desk looked up from the paper she
was looking at. "Yes?"
"This is Dr. Anna Richardson." she began, gesturing to
Max. "She's with the residency from Eastland."
Dr. Sinclaire put down her pen and stood. "Thank you
Jerry."
The woman nodded and left.
Sinclaire turned towards Max, extending out her hand.
"Welcome to Seattle Dr. Richardson."
"You have a beautiful city." Max remarked, shaking her
hand. She made sure she fit the character of what most
doctors she knew were like.
"Please." the other woman gestured to the seat that sat
horizontal from her desk.
Max sat where she indicated.
Sinclaire moved to stand in front of her. "What brings
you to our city?"
"I got wind of a murder here last night." her voice
had a completely professional tone. "Decided to come
and what there was to be seen."
Dr. Sinclaire nodded, walking over to the file cabinets
behind her desk. "There were a lot of murders last
night Dr. Richardson. But-" she pulled out a file
from among the scords of others. "I think I know which
one brought you all the way up from Eastland to see."
She handed her the file.
Max opened it in her lap. Clipped to one side, there
were the same graphic autopsy photos she had looked
at that morning. Beside that was a description of the
injuries the woman sustained.
"Her name was Adrianna Walker." Sinclaire began. "She
was a local prostitute who worked the corner of
Belger."
Max looked up at her "The Ring of Fire? She must have
been something sweet. Word on the street is only the
elite get to chill there."
"I wouldn't know about that." Sinclaire admitted,
crossing her arms over her chest. "All I know is
what I see. There was massive blood loss from her
heart. Her skin was literally torn in fringes from
her body. The cardiac muscle was in shreds."
"Like something was ripping at her." Max stated, examining
the photographs for the second time that day. "There's a tear
in the wall of the inferior vena cava, it looks like it
could've been made by the claws of an animal."
"I've considered that." Sinclaire agreed. "There are a lot
of stray dogs around this city, and some of them aren't
exactly friendly. But-" she knelt down and pointed to
the same trail of seamen Max had spotted earlier. "That
wouldn't explain this. It's human, and was very fresh
when the sector police found her, it couldn't be just
an attack by a pack of strays."
"One of her customers might have had a dog." Max said.
Sinclaire shook her head. "It's more then that. If this
person wanted to kill her with his dog, why bother having
sex with her? Why not just let the animal loose to
begin with?"
"May I review this some more at my office?" Max asked
standing up. She had suddenly realiazed that she had
stayed longer then she intended.
Dr. Sinclaire nodded. "I have an extra copy in my files."
"Thank you." Max replied and turned to leave.
Once outside the building she dialed home on her cell.
Logan picked up "Yea?"
"I got it." was all she said.
"Any trouble?"
She blew him off "Piece of cake."
"Good job girl." he praised to his wife.
"Gotta love whatcha do." she replied.
"Then I'll see ya when you get home." "And sweetheart?"
"Yea?"
"Don't wear to much tonight. I want to get to the
second round quickly."
She smiled mischievously "I'll see what I can swing."
She ended the call and climbed back on her bike, peddling
down the street.
*****
Ceaderview Motor Lodge.
8:34 p.m.
"Out of all the guys I've been with, you're one of the
best." Suzanne remarked looking at her bed partner
for the evening. Club hopping was defiantly paying off.
A long, muscular arm stroked her breast. "You're
not so bad yourself." The dragon tattoo moved with
the flexing of his muscle.
She turned to face him completely "What was that
perfume called that you made?"
"It has no name yet." he replied, staring at the
ceiling. "It's still in the experimental stage."
He climbed off the bed. "Nature calls." He walked
to the back of the trailer.
Suzanne lay back on the silk sheets. A man who made
perfume was a first for her list of bed mates.
A low growling caught her ears. She sat up in the
bed, and stared into the darkness. "What is that?"
She then made out the sillouette of a dog barreling
straight at her.
"OH GOD!" she screamed as the animal tore at her
chest. "HELP ME!" She could feel each tooth pierce
her skin, and the blood poured out of her in rivers.
She soon lost the battle and fell limp on the bed.
Two sharp whistles and Kaja came off the now dead
woman.
The black book opened, and he wrote. "African-American
Experiment: Successful."
*****
Foggle Towers
8:55 p.m.
"Royal Flush." Logan stated with a sly smile, revealing
his hand. He looked up at his wife "Loose the shirt
honey."
Max matched his sly smile with one of her own. She pulled
the small white tee over her head. Her full breasts were
only now concealed from his view by a silver toned satin bra.
His eyes roamed over her. "Damn, I love winning."
"You'll get yours." she remarked, dealing the cards again.
He wagged his eyebrows at her "That's the whole point of
this game."
The cards slipped out of her hands, all thoughts of poker
flew out of her head. She came over to him and straddled
his waist in the chair. She kissed him hungrily, moving
from his lips to his chest in one fast motion.
He teased her through the satin, feeling her nipples
pucker under his fingers. He cupped her with one hand
and used his tongue to trace a circular pattern
around the base of her breast.
"Jess is being awful quiet." she managed to get out
in between breaths.
"That's good for us." he responded, picking her up,
with her still straddling his lap. He backed them
up into the bedroom, and flipped her over so that
he was on top.
Looking up into his deep blue eyes she smiled coyly
"Who won?"
"Let's call it a draw." he responded huskily, undoing
the drawstrings of her cargos.
Twenty-five minutes later they lay tangled together
in the bed.
"He didn't even make a sound." Max said, one hand lazily
moving across his bare chest. "Should we be worried?"
"No baby." he responded, playing with her silky curls.
"If something was wrong he would have vocalized it
very loudly to us."
"Maybe we were to loud to hear him." she remarked.
He smiled "Or at least you were anyway."
She hit his face lightly with a loose pillow. "It
just means you do good work."
"The feeling's mutual." he returned, still playing with
her hair.
The loud shrill of the phone cut through the air, and the
baby monitor came alive with the sound of Jesse's crying.
"See that's the vocalization I was talking about." Logan
sighed and looked at his wife. "You want to do the phone
or our son?"
"I'll take Jess." she replied climbing out of her side
of the bed. She pulled on her discarded clothing and
went to see what her son wanted.
Logan slipped on his robe and headed out to answer the
phone.
After tending to the wailing baby with a fresh diaper
Max sat with him in the rocker, trying to get him
to go back to sleep.
Logan softly came through the door. "He okay?"
She nodded, standing with the now sleeping baby in
her arms. "He just needed a change." She kissed him
gently and laid him back down in the crib.
Logan came up to them and touched Jess's tiny head
with a large hand, before turning to leave, Max
following close behind.
"There's been another murder." he announced once
the door was shut to the nursery. "A woman was
found on the shores by Puget Sound."
"Same cause of death?" Max asked as they both
sat down at the dining room table.
He nodded "Massive blood loss, and same wound
patterns. Except she wasn't a prostitute." He
handed her a photo he received via fax machine
"Her name was Suzanne Miller. She was a legal
secretary at law firm downtown."
Max looked at the images. The flesh had been
torn clean away on this woman. Her intestines
and spleen were hanging out of the gaping
hole in her chest. "Was their evidence of sex?"
"Police found traces of semen and slight irritation
you would find in a woman who was allergic to latex."
he responded. "Although I doubt the practice of safe
sex would be a star on this guy's record."
"What kinda man gets his ya ya's out my hitting it
and then murdering his bed mate?"
"I don't know" he answered honestly. "But I plan
to find out." He laid an ID on the table. "Meet
Dr. Richardson's new counterpart." he slid the
piece of plastic across the table to her.
"Gerald Whidon?" she arched a eyebrow "Honestly
baby, your names lack much to the imagination."
she examined the forged name tag. "And how come
you made this one out to be a level five?"
"Because that'll allow me access into the main
data base at the morgue Max." he answered.
"So why didn't you do the same with mine?" she
asked him straight out.
"You're not exactly a computer novice baby."
She shot him a hard look.
Logan held up his hands. "That's not what I meant. You-"
he paused, searching for the right words. "Know enough
from what they taught you at Manticore, but I know how
to hack into the infrastructure of systems." when he
saw that this wasn't helping his situation any he added
"Besides, you have more medical knowledge then I do.
If that head of pathology wanted one of us to re-examine
the body of the latest victim, you-" he paused again
"wouldn't make an ass out of yourself."
She seemed satisfied with his explanation. "If you were
any other guy I'd a wrapped your balls around your neck
in a bow and mailed you off as a present to some vasectomy
patient by now, but then again you're not just 'any other
guy."
"I'm glad that I'm thought of so highly." he smiled at her.
"So when do we do this bitch?" she leaned back against the
chair.
"Tomorrow." he replied. "I called ahead and scheduled a
meeting with Dr. Sinclaire."
"Covering all the angles?" she teased.
"It's called the grunt work babe." he looked up at her.
"The stuff you usually have little patience for."
She blew him off "Boy, you just done got back on my good
side, don't mess it up now." She knocked him lightly upside
the head, and grabbed his hand. "C'mon."
"Where are we going?" he asked, allowing her to pull him to
his feet.
"We have the whole night left." she answered with a wicked
smile "I wanna do my own version of 'grunt work'"
*****
Jam Pony X-Press
4:34 p.m.
The Next Day
"Bip Bip people." Normal's voice cut through the air.
"I don't pay you to lie around like beached whales."
Sketchy leaned on the counter with his elbows "You
know calling your employees whales doesn't make us
work any harder."
"If you kids worked any harder you might deliver two
packages each instead of the usual one." he said adjusting
his thick black glasses. He shoved a manila envelope
in Sketchy's face. "Goin' out to Mitchell Road."
Sketchy took the package and went to retrieve his bike.
On the way out he almost ran into Logan who was coming
the other way. "You get the breaks checked on that thing?"
Logan teased picking up the package that had been dislodged
during the fall.
Sketchy took it back from him "Sorry 'bout that man. I
didn't see you."
"That's all right." Logan replied, removing his prescription
Oakleys and replacing them with his regular glasses.
"Max around?"
"I think she's out on a run." he replied walking his
bike out of the room.
Logan continued the rest of the way inside.
"Mr. Cale, what brings you by my lovely operation?"
Logan turned to face Normal "Just here to talk to
my wife Ray." he replied using Normal's first name.
"She should be back shortly, I sent her out to third
and Davis about ten minutes ago."
As if on cue Max walked in with her bike.
"Got a visitor Max." Normal called out, pointing to Logan.
Max wheeled herself over to where Logan was. "Hey baby."
she kissed his mouth.
"Hey." he responded, returning her gesture. "You ready
to go?"
"Let me change first." she responded, leaning the bike
against a concrete support beam.
Logan took a seat on a chair to wait.
"So how is it going mon?" Herbal asked looking at him.
"Great." Logan responded.
"Dat little one givin' you and Max any trouble?"
"About as much as any five month old would." Logan
replied. "He's into a lot nowadays."
Herbal offered him a smile. "Me and my woman sometimes
be talkin' about having babies, but she wants to wait
until da time is right."
"There's never a 'right time' Herbal." Logan stated.
"You just gotta roll with it."
"Ready." Max called out emerging into the 'main room'
again. She was dressed back in her 'street clothes'
Logan stood up. "I'll see ya around Herbal."
Herbal nodded. "I be seein' you as well my brother."
Max headed over to Logan. "You find someone to watch
the baby?"
Her husband nodded. "I got Bling to do it."
"Does he know where everything is?"
"No." Logan began teasingly. "All those times he
watched Jess before, he didn't bother to remember
where things were kept."
Max glared at him. "Very funny."
Logan held up his hands "Relax sweetheart, YES Bling
is well aware of the location of all our son's
necessities."
"Then let's go." she replied, turning and beginning
to walk out the door. "Making today an early one
Normal, gotta run errands." she stated when she passed
her boss.
"As opposed to the ones you already have?" he shot back.
"But you know what, never mind. Go. The company time is
your own, take it."
She ignored his sarcastic remark and left the building
with Logan.
*****
Seattle City Morgue
Fifty-sixth and Morgan
5:15 p.m.
"This is a very nice set up you have here." Logan commented
the lab technician who stood behind him.
After they arrived at the morgue he had been directed
to the back where the morgue kept it's main frame system.
Max had again gone to talk with Dr. Sinclaire.
The man smiled "The government has *way* to much free time
if they can keep such good records on dead people and
not enough on helping the living."
"It's a crazy fucked up world." Logan shot over his
shoulder, typing up the file on Suzanne Miller.
The file soon came up, giving descriptions of the
autopsy findings. "No signs of edema." he began
reading the report out loud. "Cause of death due to
massive blood loss from ruptures in the pulmonary
artery and tears in the wall of the right atrium
made by a something jagged."
"It's most likely from a sharp weapon." the technician
who's name read 'Roberts' stated "Probably from a
knife, like a switch blade or a dagger."
"But that wouldn't account for the fraying Roberts."
Logan interjected. "the skin was torn from each of
the victims chest in loose strips. I don't think any
of these women would have just sat by and let this
person just carve on her chest until he achieved that
affect."
"Maybe he slipped something in their drink before
hand, some sort of numbing agent." Roberts concluded.
Logan shook his head. "Tox screen says that nothing
unusual was found in the digestive juices in the
stomachs of either women. Suzanne Miller did have
traces of burgundy in her blood, but that would hardly
be enough to block out the affects of some lunatic
slicing and dicing on your abdomen."
"And what does your colleague Richardson think?"
"She believes it could be some sort of animal attack."
Logan responded, still reading the report.
Roberts shook his head in slight agreement. "That could
account for the severity of the wounds. But does that
mean some freaky women are doing the wild thing WITH
wild things and then getting killed after it?"
"I don't think my colleague was insinuating that these
women were some zooaphiliacs. Just that the pattern
of the wounds could have been made by the claws of
a 'wild thing' as you call it." Logan responded a little
annoyed. He was tired of playing twenty questions with
this guy.
"You're the professional Dr. Whidon." Roberts replied.
He was silent for a moment before speaking. "This might
be a little off subject, but Dr. Richardson, is she
seeing anyone?"
Logan stopped typing and turned to face the other man.
"She's my fiance." he lied, well actually he wasn't
lying. Max HAD been his fiance, at one point.
"Oh." Roberts responded. "I was just going to say if
she wasn't then we might-" he broke off. "But if you
two are shacked up then that just blows me out of the
water."
The wooden door opened as Max came through, now dressed
in a pair of green scrubs, obviously borrowed. Her
prosthetic ID was clipped to the upper corner of the
light green shirt. "I think you need to see something."
she stated to Logan.
He nodded and stood up from the chair.
"Buy the way, congratulations." Roberts broke in as
they were leaving.
Max turned to him as soon as they were in the
hall "What is he talking about?"
"He wanted to know if you were free. I told him you were
my fiance."
"Why is it that men feel the need to stake their claim?"
her voice was slightly annoyed.
"You ARE my wife Max." Logan responded quietly as they
moved through the halls. "I'm sorry if I don't like some
man hitting on you."
"I guess it's excusable." she whispered back when they
finally reached their destination. "'Sides, he was kinda
ugly."
Logan smiled at her remark as they entered the main
lab section of the morgue.
"Found him Dr. Sinclaire." Max called out, as the pair
made there way through the rows of metal tables and
cadavers under plastic sheets.
Sinclaire looked up from the large magnifying glass
she had over an uncovered body. "Your colleague found
something interesting Dr. Whidon."
Logan and Max came to a stop in front of the body
of Suzanne Miller.
"What is it?" Logan asked, trying not to breath in
the stench of formaldehyde too deeply.
"There's a foreign liquid around the chest and vaginal
area." Sinclaire answered, holding up a culture swab.
"What are the components?" Logan asked.
"I won't know for sure until I run an analysis, but it's
got a distinct odor. Kinda like you would find in perfume.
I also found traces of this same substance in Adrianna's
corpse."
"I don't get how that's going to help us any." Logan began
in confusion. "Lots of women wear perfume."
"Two random women, each from different walks of life. What
are the odds that they would shop at the same department
store?" Max answered Logan's question with one of her own.
"She's right." Sinclaire agreed. "The chances are next to
nothing that these two would happen to stumble on the same
deal. And besides similarities in the wound patterns, this
is the only other concrete piece of evidence that ties these
two killings together."
"How long will it take you to run the analysis?" Max
asked.
"It depends." Sinclaire began. "If the substance has a
fairly simple structure, maybe a couple of hours. However
if it's made of stuff that's much more complex it might
take as long as two days."
"What happens if another woman dies while you're waiting
for the results?" Logan asked rather coldy to Sinclaire.
She turned to him. "That's why I'm having this run as
soon as I'm done here Dr. Whidon. I can't prevent this
from happening again while an analysis is being run.
I don't even know if this has anything to do with these
women's murders. The police might already have something
on this case, and my evidence might be just circumstantial."
"I don't mean to be rude Dr. Sinclaire." Logan apologized.
"It's just.." he paused for a moment "People are dying."
He looked the other woman straight in the eyes.
She shook her head in understanding. "I understand your
need for the answers here. But we aren't God Dr. Whidon,
we just put together the pieces of some of the sick things
His creations can do." She placed the sample taken from the
culture swab into a test tube and sealed it with a rubber
stopper.
Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of Logan's
cell.
"Excuse me." he stated and flipped open the phone. "Yea?"
"Hey Logan, it's Matt." Det. Sung's voice came through the
other line. "Listen, I have something on those two murdered
women. I know you're looking into it, so you might want to
come down here and see what it is."
"Sure." Logan answered "I can be there in fifteen."
"Also bring Max." Sung said. "She might be able to
catch something we missed." he was speaking of the
first time he had met her, when Jesse had been
kidnapped about three months ago.
"Will do." Logan responded, ending the call. He turned
towards Max. "That was the guys at Eastland." he lied
"They need us back for a consult."
She nodded, and faced Sinclaire "Keep us updated on this."
she handed her a piece of paper with her cellphone number
on it.
Sinclaire took the paper from her. "I will. Hopefully
between the three of us and the police, we can bring
this guy to justice."
Max gave one more nod in the doctor's direction before
she and Logan left out the door.
Once she changed, and was back outside Max placed the
key in the ignition of her Ninja before turning towards
her husband. "Who were you talking to in there?"
"It was Matt." he answered back. "He's got something
on this case that he wants us to see."
Max looked at him in slight confusion "Us?"
"He remembered you from last time." Logan responded,
his tone becoming slightly down trodden. It had been
months, but the memories were still very fresh. He had
come so close to loosing his family.
Max touched his hand gently with her leather gloved
one, sensing what he was thinking. For a woman who
had been through all of the seven hells in her so far
twenty year lifetime, almost loosing her son to a
revenge seeking psychotic woman was the worst thing she
had ever experienced. "I'll consider that a compliment."
she tried to lighten the mood with a little humor.
Logan smiled slightly. "Then let's do this bitch." he
used her words.
They both climbed on the motorcycle, Max in the drivers
seat, and headed down the road.
Neither of them noticed the figure heading across the
street to a large medical complex. He moved up the
stairs, his tan trench coat flapping in the wind. He
opened the right side of the double set of glass doors
and entered the building.
The woman at the large oval desk that sat in the center
of the brightly lit lobby smiled at him. "I thought
you were taking a day off Steve."
The man smiled at her. "I am Gerry, I just had to
come and get some files out of my office." he began
walking to the back and down a long white corridor.
Stepping into the office with the name plate that
read 'Steve Mason M.D." he retrieved a manila
envelope from off his desk and headed back out
to the front.
"Working on a day off. There's no fun in that." Gerry
stated with a raised eyebrow.
"Just a little light paper work." Dr. Mason reassured
"Once I'm done with them I'm going to enjoy the rest
of my evening. I have a date."
"With who?" Gerry asked curious.
"Haven't figured that out yet." Dr. Mason responded
with a coy smile. "Just thought I'd go bar hopping
and see what rolls in."
"You dawg." Gerry said with a laugh.
Mason laughed as well and headed out the door. On the
steps he stopped to scratch his arm. He rolled up the
sleeve of his trench coat revealing a short sleeved
T-shirt underneath. He scratched vigorously for a few
seconds, making bright red marks appear on the dark
dragon tattooed there. He replaced the trench coat over
the rest of his body, and walked the rest of the way
to his car.
*****
Seattle Police Department
19th Precinct
5:25 p.m.
"So what did you want to show us?" Logan asked to Matt
once they arrived.
After letting the couple get situated Matt opened the
file in his hands. "I was examining the autopsy photos
on the two victims-"
"Kinda looks like feeding time at the zoo." Max interrupted.
"Not gonna argue with you there." Matt agreed. "This defiantly
looks like the kinda maiming done by an animal." He pointed
to the open and shredded cavity of Suzanne Miller. "The marks
and tearing pattern here are almost similar to the ones
I've seen on our suspects when one of the K9 dogs has to
take him down."
"Are you saying you think a police dog did this?" Logan
asked confused.
Matt shook his head negatively. "I mean the wound patterns
are consistent with those made by our large dogs. Maybe
our suspect has a similar pet living with him."
"That still wouldn't account for the sex." Max stated.
"Unless these women were exploring their options,
which is something I seriously doubt and REALLY
wouldn't want to know about."
Matt shuddered slightly at her remark. "I don't think
that was the case here Max. Also I found something a
little more concrete." He rummaged around on his
desk until he pulled out a black and white 8x10.
"One of the hover cams picked up an image of a man
making a call to Adrianna the night she was murdered.
The car was to obscured in the shadows to get a licensee
number, but I noticed a dark spot on his arm. So I enlarged
it and-" he handed Logan the photo. "See for yourself."
"That's a Chinese dragon isn't it?" Max asked, looking
at the photo. "There suppose to symbolize luck and
power." she laughed humorlessly. "In this case the symbolism
is half right."
"You're knowledge of mythology is good Max, you and Logan
must have rather interesting conversations."
Logan shot Max a mischievous look. "Sometimes we communicate
without words."
"-Anyway." Matt interrupted before they got off topic to
much. "I did some checking and only a few tattoo pallors
even carry that design in their books. There's three in
Chinatown, San Francisco, and a few right in Seattle.
I'm going to make some more calls, and see what I can
come up with."
"Be in touch then." Logan advised, standing up.
Matt nodded "I will, and that goes for you two as well,
if you come up with anything on this call me. and-"
he paused and looked at Max, struggling with what he was
going to say to her for a few seconds "I KNOW that you are
capable of handling yourself Max, but I still want you to
be cautious. This guys targets so far have all been women."
"I'll watch my back." Max reassured him.
"I will as well." Logan chimed in.
Matt smiled "Then I'm sure you're in good hands Max,
So-" he went in another direction "What are you two
doing tonight?"
"Going to meet some friends." Max responded.
"Yea." Logan agreed. "That is if Bling doesn't mind
watching Jess again."
"He can't." Max interrutped, "He's gonna be there
tonight."
Logan turned to her confused "Then who's gonna watch
our son?"
"I'm gonna bring him along." Max responded. "Kendra
has been bugging me forever to bring the baby on
an 'outing' and since we don't do book clubs or
picnics, well-"
"You're going to bring our five month old to a bar?"
Logan asked in disbelief.
"It'll be fine." she reassured. "I won't let anything
happen to him."
Logan sighed quietly, it was going to be an interesting
evening.
*****
Crash
7:36 p.m.
"See that sweetie." Max cooed to her son, watching
Sketchy miss his shot. "That's what's known as a scratch."
"Dammit." Sketchy cursed. "This just doesn't seem to be
my night." he angrily slammed down the end of his pool cue
on the floor.
"Watch your mouth in front of my nephew suga." Cindy advised,
taking her turn. She knocked in the eight ball and two
others. "That's game."
Skethcy sighed. "Oh well, at least I didn't bet anything
this time."
"Which is good for you." Cindy said, laying down her
pool cue and walking over to the bar.
Max handed her a glass of beer. "In honor of my boo's
win."
Cindy took it from her "Thanks suga." she downed most
of the alcohol in one gulp. She wiped the foam off her
mouth and turned towards Jesse in Max's arms. "Did
you see me make those good shots baby?" she tickled
his stomach and he laughed.
"Just remember Jesse." Sketchy began walking over to
them "No one like a winner who gloats to much."
Cindy rolled her eyes and gave him a 'whatever' look.
"Guys." Kendra called out, walking over to them
"I'd like you to meet someone." she turned towards
the woman behind her. "This is Melinda Nok. She works
over at that bookstore where I buy my translations
books."
"Hey girl." Cindy said in greeting.
"That's Original Cindy." Kendra introduced and-"
she began pointing out people "This is Sketchy,
That's Herbal Thought." she pointed him out from
at the bar. She turned beside her "this is one of
my closest girls Max and-" she pointed out again
to a group of tables "That guy in the glasses
and leather jacket is her husband Logan. The
one next to him is Bling."
Both men gave little waves in Melinda's direction
as they were introduced.
"And-" Kendra said finally getting to the end
of her 'meet and greet session' "this guy, who is
the most handsome man in this place, is Max and
Logan's son Jesse Trevon." she tickled Jesse's
chin.
"Trevon was chosen by me." Cindy pointed out.
Melinda laughed "It's nice to meet you all."
"Especially you." she cooed to the Jesse. She
grasped one tiny hand in hers. "He's a beautiful
baby."
"Thanks." Max stated. "He is isn't he?"
"Already attracting more girls then I ever did
at that age." Sketchy pointed out.
"Or still do now." Max quipped good naturidly. She
smiled at her son. "And daddy didn't want to bring
you along."
"At least daddy's intentions were good." Logan said
coming up to them and glancing at Max.
Max grinned lightly "That's why I married you baby,
good intentions."
"There it goes again." Bling warned coming up to
stand by them as well. "There are little ears in here."
"Hey that wasn't bad." Max said in her defense.
"I could've said-"
"Uh we haven't been properly introduced." Logan interrupted
"I'm Logan Cale."
Melinda shook the hand he offered. "Nice to meet you."
"Since you interrupted me." Max broke in "How about I
kick your ass at a little pool?"
"Ooo." Sketchy began "Me-ow."
"All right." Logan stated to his wife "Let's go."
Max laid Jesse back down in his car seat. "Don't
guzzle anything okay?" she turned towards Cindy
"Would you watch him for a sec?"
Cindy nodded "Sure thing boo."
Max placed her drink down on the bar and grabbed
a pool cue. "Rackem up."
"Can this be a threesome?" Melinda asked grabbing
a cue as well. "I'm addicted to this game." she set
her drink beside Max's.
Logan nodded "Fine with me." he lifted the plastic
triangle from the balls. He looked up at Max "You
break."
Max took her position and sunk in three balls.
"Nice shot." Melinda commented taking her turn
and landed three balls as well.
"Not so bad yourself." Max complimented.
Logan took his turn and sunk five balls into the
two back pockets. "It's all about geometry."
he said with a smile.
They were so intuned to the game that they didn't notice a
man approach the bar where they were at. He retrieved something
out of his leather jacket and dumped the champaign colored
liquid from the test tube into one of the two drinks that were
there.
Once the game ended the man stepped out of the shadows,
"Excuse me, I don't want to sound to forward, but might
I ask your name." he was speaking to Melinda who appeared
to be interested.
"It's Melinda." she smiled setting down her cue on the
pool table. "Melinda Nok."
The man smiled "I'm Trevor. Your last name, is it Chinese?"
"Japanese." Melinda corrected, "My parents immigrated here
before I was born, a few years before the Pulse."
"So you're of direct descent of Asian ancestors?" Trevor
asked. When seeing the look Melinda gave him he went on.
"I don't mean to sound rude, I am a professor of Asian
Culture over at Berkley, and even though I'm suppose to
be on vacation my work can never really leave me."
"I can't believe she's bying that." Max whispered to
Logan from their observant point from across the room.
"He's so full of himself."
"I can't believe you're eavesdropping on a private
conversation."
"Hey if I have super hearing, I might as well use it."
she shot back.
They both watched as Melinda retrieved her drink from
the bar and walked with the man to the other side of
the building.
Max retrieved her drink from the bar as well. "Looks
like she found her something sweet." she took a swing
of her beer.
Kendra sighed "My friends have all the luck."
"I think he looks a little snooty." Max said laying
her drink back on the table. "I overheard him telling
her all about how he's a professor and shit. Like it's
gonna get him lucky tonight."
"Some shorites are into that kinda messed up playa
business suga." Cindy pointed out.
"He looks like a decent guy." Kendra put in her two cents.
"Maybe his tactics are a little rusty."
"Or non existent." Max corrected taking a smaller sip of
her drink. She leaned over the bar and smiled at her son
"Make sure you aren't that kind of 'decent guy'" she kissed
his head, and faltered for a second when she moved to stand
in an upright position.
Cindy noticed it. "You okay boo?"
"Yea." Max responded, shaking her head. "Just felt a
little off for a second there."
"Is it a seizure?" Kendra asked concerned.
"I don't know." Max answered honestly. "Maybe. I'm gonna
take some meds just in case." she retrieved her pill
bottle out of her jacket. "Be right back." she announced.
Once in the ladies room she swallowed three of her
Tryptophane pills. This however, did not feel like a
seizure. There was no buzzing in her ears, or twitching
of her hands that signaled the beginning of one of those
attacks. It almost felt like- the light bulb suddenly went
on in her head. She ran out of the bathroom.
Picking up her glass she examined it. She took a whiff
and picked up something she hadn't noticed before. It
had the aroma of chloroform.
"What is it?" Kendra asked, seeing the look on Max's
face.
"Someone put something in this glass." Max said, shaking
her head to clear out the cobwebs.
"You mean like a date rape drug?" Cindy asked, standing
up in a rage, ready to kick the little perp's ass who did
this.
Max shook her head, and leaned it over the counter.
A hand touched her shoulder.
"What's wrong baby?" Logan's voice asked in worry.
"Some little sleeze slipped something in her glass." Cindy
stated, in her no nonsense voice.
Logan took a hold of the glass "Do you know what it is?"
he sniffed the drink. "Smells kinda like-"
"It's chloroform." Max interrupted. Her palms were beginning
to sweat.
"What effect does it have?"/on you/ Logan asked concerned.
He didn't vocalize that last part, because not everyone
knew about his wife's past history.
"As a tranquilizer nothing." Max began feeling the buzzing in
her ears start. She kept her voice low so Kendra wouldn't
hear. "But when Lydeker wanted to punish us he made sure the
ones with seizures could have them stimulated at his will-"
she broke off as tremors began to whip through her body.
She lost her hold on the bar and would have crash landed on
the floor if Logan hadn't caught her at the last minute.
"Baby where are your pills?" Logan demanded to the
shaking woman in his arms.
"In my jacket." she managed to get out in between convulsions.
Cindy reached into her friend's pocket and pulled out the small
prescription bottle. Tapping four pills into her hand she pushed
them into Max's mouth. "Swallow suga." she didn't even try to
hide her concern.
Max dry mouth all the meds, it still hardly affected her
current condition. She jerked more violently in Logan's
arms. "It's bad." she hissed out in pain. "When 'he' wanted
to punish us he made sure to do it all out." she gasped
as more pain launched up her body.
"Stay with me." Logan demanded.
"Bring her over here." Bling called out pointing to the
overstuffed couch that was near the entrance. "This is
needed for a medical emergency." Bling informed the couple
who were busy lip locking on the furniture. "Go suck
each other's faces off somewhere else." The young couple
shot him a scowl, but when Logan approached them with
Max convulsing in his arms they heeded his wishes.
Logan laid her down across the length of the couch,
grasping her hand tightly with his.
"How is she?" Cindy asked approaching them.
"Hanging in there." Logan answered with more reassurance
then he felt. He got her to swallow more medicine.
Stroking her sweat soaked hair he leaned down and kissed
her.
Her head jerked again. "Stay with me." she used the same
plea as the first time Logan was witness to her seizures.
"I'm here sweetheart." he reassured. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Jesse?" she stated weakly.
"He's fine." Logan replied. "He's with Kendra."
"You bastards." she began cryptically. "You killed her."
Logan now understood what she was saying. She didn't
mean their son, but was referring to his namesake.
A sister from Manticore that had died in child birth.
She was having flash backs to her childhood, brought
on by her seizures.
And Logan could do nothing, but hold her, and try
to ground her to the here and now.
"She's burning so fast Zack. She'll be gone before
the last of us goes through the line."
"What is she talkin' 'bout 'burnin?" Herbal asked,
having since knelt down next to Max.
"A friend of her's was in a fire." Cindy lied,
trying to explain Max's delirious mutterings.
Her and her brother were there when it happened.
The firemen couldn't save her."
Herbal adapted a sympathetic look on his face.
as Max's eyes opened again, finally back in this
world.
"Can you hear me sweetheart?" Logan asked looking down
on her.
She nodded. "That was a wild ride." She looked at the
other people who had crowded around her. "You guys
enjoy the show?"
"Not exactly." Cindy announced, relief in her voice.
"We're just glad you're okay."
"That was a worrisome fifteen minutes my sister."
Herbal stated, looking at her.
Max sat up from her lying position on the couch.
"I'm fine now." she reassured her Jamaican friend.
she wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of
her hand.
"You sure?" Logan asked from beside her, one hand
resting on her sweat soaked back.
She nodded. "Well about as fine as I usually am after
one of these jags." She looked past the concerned faces
of her friends and to the other people at the bar,
some of whom were looking at her. Guess a woman having
a convulsing episode didn't happen here that much, that
is not unless the convulsions were the product of orgasm.
"Show's over guys." she announced to the spectators.
"If you keep looking it's going to cost you, mostly
a few broken bones." she didn't mean to be so rude,
but she was still reeling from the past episode,
not to mention being pissed as hell at whoever decided
that her's was the drink to slip something in.
She stood up and stretched the kinks out of her
back, feeling damp and disgustingly dirty from
all the sweat. She turned towards Kendra "Where'd
Melinda and Mr. Personality get to?"
"They left." Kendra answered. "A few minutes before
you got sick."
Max nodded, trying to suppress a yawn. She usually got
very tired after one of these episodes.
"Tired?" Logan asked, reading her thoughts.
"Kinda of." she admitted this time the yawn actually
coming out. "This is one of those rare times that I
get sleepy."
Logan stood up, seeing how she looked like she wouldn't
remain vertical for much longer. "Then let's go home."
She didn't argue, but merely slumped forward, half
asleep.
He once again pulled her into his arms gently supporting
her now limp figure.
"Here." Bling said handing Logan his car keys. "Take my
Benz. I'll make sure her second baby makes it home okay."
Logan grasped the cool metal key ring in his palm. "Thanks
man." He shifted his wife carefully so he could get a better
hold on the keys. "Would someone bring Jess out?"
"I'm on it." Cindy stated picking up the baby carrier with
Jesse inside it.
She and Logan walked out to Bling's Mercedes. Logan unlocked
the back door and gently laid Max across the back seat.
He stroked the curls away from her face softly before shutting
the door.
He next unlocked the passenger seat and buckled the carrier
in the bucket seat. "I know that this isn't the right place
to place a car seat, what with the air bags and all." Logan
commented to Cindy buckling the seat belt securely. "But-"
he finished his task and turned to look at her "I think
fate will cut us a little slack."
"Word." Cindy stated, then the look in her eyes changed.
"In there. When Max was dreamin' 'bout fire and burning-"
"The girl she was talking about was her sister Jesse." Logan
interrupted, not really knowing if Max wanted Cindy to know
this, but figuring that she really wouldn't have minded.
"When she was at Manticore about five girls, herself included
were artificially inseminated with sperm from other hybrid
groups." he remembered the day that she had told him this,
when they waited on the lab results to determine whether
or not their son would live.
"What happened?" Cindy inquired, already getting angry at
what her friend must have undergone.
"Most of the girls miscarried." Logan stated bitterly,
he still held so much hatred for what those children
had to undergo. "Max's sister Jesse however carried
four months into term. She had seizures as well, and
one of them caused early labor. Her and her baby didn't
survive. And good old Manticore got rid of what they
called a 'mistake' by burning their bodies. All of them
had to watch the cremation, and Max told me that after
she simply stole some aspirin from one of the officers
and aborted her baby, so she to wouldn't have 'defaulty
offspring'."
Cindy looked stunned. "All this before my boo was even
ten years old." she stuck her head in and looked at
the form of the sleeping woman in the back seat.
"If I get my hands on any of those Manticore personnel
suga, I'm gonna make these murders look like simple
rough housing for what they did to you." she whispered
in promise to her friend.
She pulled herself out of the car and looked again at
Logan "That's why she named him Jesse." it was more
of a statement then a question.
Logan nodded "Something to remember her by." he closed
the door on the passenger side.
"Take care of our girl." Cindy said once Logan climbed
into the drivers side. "She's got a lot of years of
lost love to make up for."
"I will." he responded simply, gunning the engine and heading
down the road.
*****
Ceaderville Motorlodge
9:54 p.m.
"Did you like that?" 'Trevor' asked toying with Melinda's
straight jet black hair.
"It was nice." she smiled. "Probably some of the best
I've had in a while I would say."
He smiled as well and climbed off the bed. "By the way,
that woman you were shooting pool with, you know her?"
"No." Melinda answered back "A friend of mine just
introduced me to her tonight."
"Oh." was all he said. He walked over to the dresser
and opened a black book.
"Trevor?" Melinda called out sitting up into the darkness.
"Hmm?" he asked not looking up from his writing.
"Your dog. What is she for?" she paused, searching
for a more clarifying statement "I mean is she a pet?
or a guard dog?"
'Trevor' finished writing and peered at Melinda in
the blackness. "Why don't you see for yourself."
he gave a sharp whistle and Kaja bounded once
again out of the darkness and leapt at Melinda.
Melinda screamed, feeling the teeth sink into
her arm. The dog went for her chest but Melinda
caught her by the snout at the last second.
She then abruptly let go, realiazing that if this
lunatic thought she was dead she might have a
chance at getting away.
She pretended to go limp, and heard the sound
of two sharp whistles and felt the dog's
weight lift as she climbed off the bed.
She could hear him approaching her. He picked
up her body and it took all her nerve not
to put her black belt in karate to good use.
After walking with her for a good twenty minutes
he let her go and she fell into the soft mud.
She lay there until she felt that he was gone
for an adequate amount of time.
Sitting up, Melinda tore off a piece of her shirt
and wrapped it around her injured arm. She thanked
herself for putting on her clothes before the
attack happened. Being naked and bloody would just
make her look like a prostitute who wandered a little
too far from her 'post'
Looking around she determined that she had been dumped
near the waterfront. The hospital was not far from
there, so bleeding and stunned Melinda began the
grueling journey there.
*****
Foggle Towers
7:35 a.m.
Max came awake slowly as the first rays of sunlight peaked
through the venetian blinds. Glancing at the digital clock
on the night stand she was stunned to realize she had
slept for almost nine hours straight. She hardly slept at
all normally, and when she did it was usually for five
hours at the most.
Through the cobwebs in her ears she picked up the faint
sounds of Logan's voice. As she came more awake she saw
him sitting in his side of the bed with the cordless phone
off the dresser to his ear. He was already dressed for the
day in khakis and a black zip up wool sweater. Jesse
was sitting across his out stretched legs, happily playing
with the plastic keys Logan had given him.
Max rolled over slightly and handed the keys back to
her son's chubby hands when he lost his grasp on them.
Logan halted in his conversation, and turned at her
movement. He placed his hand on the mouthpiece and
leaned over and kissed her. "Good morning baby."
"Morning to you too." she responded "Who's that?"
she was referring to the person on the other line.
"Matt." Logan replied removing his hand and continuing
his conversation. "Sorry, just had to talk to my wife
for a second." "And is she willing to talk?" he listened
intently for a few minutes. "Okay. Yea, We can be there-"
he broke off to look at his watch. "about 12:30." "It'll
be fine, Max has the day off, all right bye." he ended the
call and shifted so he was facing her.
"What did the infamous Det. Sung have to say?" Max asked
her husband.
"Melinda Nok was attacked last night." he pulled his son
closer to him who was getting dangerously close to the
end of the bed.
Max sat up completely. "Is she alive?"
He nodded. "She managed to escape and make it to Metro
late last night."
"Same wound patterns?" she inquired.
"With one minor change." he responded. "Instead of her
chest, the injury was to her arm. But the nature of the
lacerations is consistent to the last two victims,
told Matt we'd go in with him when he talks to her today
when she's realiazed from the hospital." He eyed her
critically. "That is if you're up to it."
"I'm okay." she reassured "The sleep did me good."
"Glad to hear it." he answered back. "You were pretty
wreaked last night. You-" he looked down at the baby
in his lap "were talking about Jesse."
Her eyes clouded over slightly. "Yea, I dreamt about
after-when we had to watch her-" she shuddered. "It's
a memory I would just as soon forget."
He stroked her shoulder softly, and she leaned into his
touch.
"Anybody home?" Bling's voice wafted through the air.
"In the bedroom." Logan called back.
The door opened a few seconds later. "Family bonding
before breakfast?" Bling teased gently at the sight
before him. His expression turned serious as he looked
at Max "How ya feelin' girl?"
"Fine." she responded quickly. "I'm use to these things,
so it didn't throw me for a loop or anything."
He smiled "Good." he tossed her a set of keys. "I let
Logan here take my car home last night, seeing as how
driving your cycle was out of the question. Anyway I
brought her back and would like to make a trade off."
Max caught the keys in one hand. "I was wondering how
we got home." she met his gaze "Thanks."
"No problem." he responded.
"Why don't you stay for breakfast?" Logan suggested
"Since you're already here. It'll save you the trip
for when I ask you if you can watch the baby."
"So this is bribery?" Bling stated with a raised
eyebrow. He sighed. "I will take you up on that
food offer, and consider your other request."
Logan stood up with Jesse cradled in one arm. "Hear
that Jess? Uncle Bling is CONSIDERING to watch you,
you should feel honored."
"I'm leaning more towards the 'yes' answer on
this proposal." Bling replied looking at the
baby. "I mean how can I say no to that?"
"Well you guys hammer out the arrangements." Max
stated climbing out of the bed. "I'm gonna take
a shower. I smell like something died on me."
"As opposed to what you normally smell like?" Logan
teased, and ducked when she threw a pillow at him.
"Love to live dangerously huh?" Bling commented.
Fifteen minutes later Max emerged from the bedroom.
She had shed her sweat soaked clothes from last night
and now had on black leather pants and a dark blue
wool sweater.
She came over to where Logan was pouring coffee into
moss green stoneware mugs. "Smell meet your approval?"
she arched her neck towards his nose.
He sniffed appreciatively. "Oh yea." He planted
a kiss on the exposed skin.
"Good. But don't ever say that to me again. 'Cause even
though we're married, I can still kick your ass." she took
one of the coffee mugs.
Logan picked up the other two. "Then I retract my last
remark. I've seen what your ass kicking sessions can do."
She shook her head in mock exasperation and the pair
moved out of the kitchen and into the dinning room.
"So" Bling asked once they were seated. "Where are you
two going that requires a baby sitting service?"
He stole a glance at Jesse who was smiling away in his
high chair.
"Following up on something." Logan replied sipping
his coffee. "That friend of Kendra's was attacked
last night, and it might tie in with the two murders
that happened two days ago."
"How so?" Bling asked taking a bite of the eggs
on his plate.
"She had similar wound patterns." Max answered back.
"Lacerations and tearing to the flesh."
Bling cringed at her description. "That's gotta smart."
"I'm sure it does." Logan agreed. "and hopefully she
can tell us how it happened."
*****
Metro Hospital
12:34 p.m.
Melinda sat on the gurney, fingering the bandage that
was wrapped around the entire upper portion of her arm.
She looked up when she heard footsteps approaching.
"Ms. Nok?" Det. Sung began holding out his badge for
her to see and entering the room, Max and Logan not
far behind him. "I'm Detective Sung, I spoke to
you earlier."
Melinda nodded. "Come in."
Matt stepped the rest of the way in the small hospital
room. "This is-" he began an introduction for Max and Logan
but she cut him off.
"We met last night." she looked at the pair. "At Crash."
"How are you feeling?" Max asked moving to stand by the
gurney.
"I'm alive." Melinda replied bluntly "I guess that counts
for something."
"Did you get a clear look at the man who did this?"
Matt questioned.
Melinda laughed humorlessly. "I got a clear look at him
all night Detective. He didn't surprise me. I went
home with the man."
"It was that guy from the bar wasn't it?" Max asked
looking at her.
Melinda shook her head. "After we had a couple of drinks
he invited me back to his place."
"Do you remember where?" Matt asked.
"In some trailer park." she responded, pushing her
hair behind her ears with one hand. "Place was furnished
suprisingly well considering the neighborhood. I didn't see
the name though, it was too dark to tell."
"This man." Logan broke in "did he have a dog?"
Melinda closed her eyes for a moment. "Yea, it was a German
Shepherd. After-" she paused to wring her hands. "After we
made love he got up and made some sort of whistling noise
and the next thing I know this dog is on top of me. I could
feel it ripping the skin off my body. I pretended that I was dead,
and he bought it 'cause the bastard dumped me by the waterfront."
"Did he spray you with anything?" Max asked gently sitting
on the gurney beside her.
"Some sort of 'perfume' as he called it." Melinda replied
looking at her. "It had a weird smell to it though."
"It was for you." Max said suddenly. "Our drinks were right
next to each other last night and that guy Trevor slipped
chloroform into one of them and I took yours by mistake."
her voice was angry. "I'm gonna rip that SOB's balls out
when I get a hold of him."
"Are you okay now?" Melinda asked concerned.
"No lasting side affects." Max reassured, stealing a
glance at Logan.
"He mentioned you." Melinda remembered suddenly. "Before
his dog attacked me he asked if I knew you."
"Did he say anything else?" Logan asked stepping
forward. It did not make him feel very good that a
suspected killer mentioned Max.
Melinda shook her head negatively. "I said that I
had just met your wife that night and he didn't say
anything else about it."
"Did he have any identifying marks?" Matt inquired.
"I think he had some sort of tattoo on one of his arms."
Melinda answered back. She searched her memory for a
second. "It looked like some sort of oriental dragon-"
"Like this?" Matt handed her the enlarged photo of
the tattoo he had made up a few days ago.
"Yea." Melinda agreed, "that's the one." She looked back
up to Matt. "Are we done here? I'd like to go home."
Matt nodded. "But just to be safe, I'm going to have
an officer escort you home. Once this guy gets wind
that you're still alive, he might try to finish the job."
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the precinct.
"Hey Peterson, this is Matt. I need you to play body guard
to someone." "It's the woman who was attacked last night.
She has no way of getting home and I'm thinking the perp might
try to complete what he started if he see she's still kicking."
"We're over at Metro, room 232 on the second floor." he
hung up an turned towards Melinda. "Someone should be here
to come get you in about fifteen minutes."
"Swell." she retorted. "I'm swearing off one night stands
after this."
"Can I talk to you two outside?" Matt asked of Max and Logan.
"Don't worry 'bout it girl." Max reassured Melinda. "'Cause
when we find this guy, he's got a date with an ass grinder."
"Now I know why Kendra speaks so highly of you." Melinda
offered her a smile.
Max returned the gesture and climbed off the gurney and
walked out into the hallway, moving slightly away from
Melinda's room.
"Well we have a name to go with the marks." Matt said.
"I don't think it's his real one." Max disagreed.
"What makes you say that?" Logan asked.
She turned to him "Think about it, if he was planning
to disembowel her later why would he give her his real
name? It would just incriminate him if she got away."
"What did your tattoo search bring up?" Logan asked
Matt going in another direction.
"I have the address to one of the places I think
our man might have gotten his done at. It's
only about three blocks from here, on Fowler."
A noise behind them made all three turn. A tall,
well built cop was approaching them.
"Thanks for doing this Peterson." Matt said sincerely
"She's right in there." He pointed to the room
a few feet away from where they were standing.
"No problem Det. Sung." Peterson replied going into
the room. A few seconds later he and Melinda emerged
through the doorway.
"Take it easy." Max called out to the other woman.
"You too." Melinda responded back. "Tell Kendra what
happened so she doesn't worry when I'm not a work
today."
"I got it." Max answered, watching her leave with
the officer out of the hospital. She turned back
to her two companions. "Let's get going, wanna get
to the place before the local crowd gets to thick."
*****
Ta-Chi Brothers Tattoo parlor
Fowler Ave.
Seattle
12:56 p.m.
"Oh yes we have that design. Very expensive." Jason,
one of the co-owners of the store looked at the photo
of the dragon tattoo.
"So the person who got this lovely design branded on
them would have to be rolling in green?" Max asked.
"Oh yes a LOT of green miss." Jason began. "We use
burned bamboo and crushed granite mixed with mineral
water for ink. You see, the Chinese believe this dragon
is a sign of great power, and as such the materials
used to mark someone with it must be strong as well."
"How much are we talking about?" Logan asked, looking
over at the photo.
"Around the neighborhood of two hundred dollars." Jason
responded. "Bamboo and granite are almost non-existent
since the Pulse. The Black Market is not cheap, we decide
the price based on the retail amount of the supplies."
"Do you have any records of the people you give these
things to?" Matt asked.
Jason waved them over behind his counter, pointing to
an IMac sitting there. "My brother feels that this
is good for insurance reasons, in case you know the
money turns out to be fake, or the customer has some
sort of allergy to the ink." he typed at a fast pace
and soon brought up a main screen with the same
black dragon as an icon on the side of the page.
"This is a list of all the people who received this
design from our store. As you can see it's not much,
most people can't afford it."
Logan moved to look at the screen, Max and Sung on
either side of him. About halfway down a name caught
Max's eye. "Bring up his file."
"Steve Mason?" Logan asked, typing it up. "What makes
you think it's him?"
"Call it a feeling." Max simply stated.
The information soon appeared on the screen. "Steve
Mason M.D. of Veterinary Medicine." Max read out loud
"That would explain how he got enough money for his
two hundred dollar friend."
"Says here-" Logan went on "He's got a practice at Regal
Veterinary Clinic on Strydson. That's right across from the
hospital. If it is him, and he saw your guy leaving
with Melinda-"
"I don't think he would try anything with an armed
officer standing right there." Matt stated. "But
still I think we should pay Dr. Steve a visit."
*****
Regal Veterinary Clinic
Strydson Road
1:05 p.m.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Mason is out for the day." Gerry told
them when Matt asked the whereabouts of 'Steve'
"I'm afraid we can't wait for him to greet us, we need
to get into his office." Matt replied pocketing his badge.
Gerry cocked an eyebrow "Do you have a warrant?"
"We think he may have attacked a woman last night.
That's warrant enough." Matt retorted matter-of-factly
heading down the hall to Mason's office.
Gerry followed the trio there. "You can't just waltz
in here without any pretense."
Max ignored her and turned the knob, however it was locked.
She turned towards Gerry. "Where's the key?"
"I have an extra set Dr. Mason gave me in case of emergencies."
"Well then go get it." Max said impatiently.
Gerry blew her off. "Listen honey if you think I'm going to
give the key to my boss's office to some strangers, police
or no, you're out of your mind."
Max lost her patience with the woman and simply kicked the
door down. "Guess we don't need it after all." she said dryly.
She moved into the room and over to Mason's mahogany desk.
She searched through the piles of papers and files in his
drawers. Underneath a record on a pet turtle's bout of asthma
she found a file folder marked: PRIVATE.
"If ya didn't want it looked at, you should've left in here." Max
remarked to herself and began to read, making herself comfortable
in Mason's black leather office chair.
"If you people don't leave." Gerry began angrily "I'll
call the police."
"And say what?" Matt asked. "That you hindered a criminal
investigation. I'm sure my superior's would love that."
Max skimmed the report with a keen eye. There were
diagrams of a dogs nasal receptors and the maps of
a compound, along with the chemicals it was composed
of.
"What did you find?" Logan came over to see what she
was reading.
"Some sorry of report." Max flipped over the first page.
"Genetic structure of compound enhances smell receptors
of the canine." she read the first line. "Allows for
maximum sensitivity to heat-" she broke off as her
cell phone rang. She flipped it open "Yea?"
"This is Dr. Sinclaire." came the voice on the other line.
"The analysis just came back on the cultures I took."
Max sat up straighter "What is it?"
"The compound is nothing like I've ever seen before."
Sinclaire admitted. "It's mostly made up a mild perfume,
but it's been mixed with heat pheromones, like the kind
that predatory animals smell before an attack. They pick
up these pheromones after a great exertion from a chase.
The heart rate of their victims is increased, sweat is
produced-"
"That was the reason for the sex." Max said.
"That was my assumption as well." Sinclaire agreed. "These
women weren't about to run a marathon for him, so he needed
another way to get the same result."
Max abruptly ended the call. "That chemical on the two
women, it contained heat pheromones. I think this was all
some sort of experiment."
"For what?" Logan asked looking down at her.
Max looked over more of the file in her lap. She whipped
her head up, disgusted at what she read. "He's trying to
engineer some sort of biologically enhanced attack dog.
"See-" she pointed out to the bottom few sentences,
reading as she went "prototype of solution has positive
results." she looked up again from the file "And that's
just by spraying it on these women. If he were to
directly inject the chemical into a dog's bloodstream,
it's sense of smell would be in over load, it could pick
up even the tiniest scents, even internal ones, there's
no telling what a pack of them could do."
"I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here." Matt
said "All these women-" he paused for a moment to
rejogg his memory. "Adrianna, she was Caucasian, and
Suzanne Miller was African-American and Melinda was
Asian. He's picking women from all of the main ethnic
backgrounds to ensure that each race would be affected
in the same way by the chemical. The only other category
he didn't get to was-"
"Hispanic." Max broke in before he said it. Although technically
she was a mixture of human and animal genes, she did bare the
looks of a person with a Spanish background. "That's why he asked
about me to Melinda, he wanted me to be his next experiment."
*****
"You." Matt looked at Gerry "If Dr. Mason comes back, you didn't
hear anything or see anything." he approached her stealthily "'It
is vitally important, I am almost 100 percent sure that he committed
these recent rash of murders, he is a dangerous man, and we need
your help to bring him in."
Gerry just nodded, still a little stunned at what she had heard.
Once they were back out on the street Logan turned to Matt
"So how do we catch this guy?"
Max turned towards her husband, looking at him for a long
moment, knowing that he wasn't going to like what she was
about to say. "We give him what he wants."
"No." He returned quickly. "Absolutely not."
"I could wear a wire." Max informed. "You'd know where
I was at all times." she could still see dissapprovment
in his eyes. "We're never gonna catch him the way we're
going. If we dangle the worm in front of the guppy he'll
jump."
"Or kill the worm." Logan didn't like where this was headed.
"It's our best way to take him down." Matt sided with Max's
proposition. "We could tale them in a undercover surveillance
van, and get there before the shit hits the fan, so to speak."
Logan could see that he wasn't going to win this argument.
He sighed. "I've got some equipment at home."
*****
"Did anybody pay me a visit today?" Dr. Mason asked,
looking around his office with a scanning eye.
"No." Gerry lied, heading Sung's warning. "Just the
janitors emptying the waste baskets, I guess they
forgot to lock up afterwards. No one knew that you'd
be in today, it being your day off and all."
"Well I wouldn't be here if I hadn't forgotten a file."
The phone on his desk rang. He went to answer it. "Dr.
Mason's office." he smiled "Yea I remember you, hard
to forget a body like that." he listened for a few
more minutes. "No we didn't hit it off well." Tonight?"
he smiled again. "Sure babe, I'll meet you at that
place Crash at six." "Can't wait either." he ended the
call.
"Another date?" Gerry asked, trying to keep the mood
light.
"I love the ladies." he remarked, locking his office,
and heading out.
*****
Outside Crash
5:54 p.m.
"I'm more supped up then a gangster's ride." Max remarked
teasingly to all the surveillance equipment she had strapped
to her.
"Can never be to careful." Matt advised handing her an ear
piece and mic. "This feeds back to us so you can keep us
informed, just tuck it behind your hair and he'll never
notice." he pulled some of her long curls over the device.
"And this." he clipped a tiny metal circle to the button
of her leather jacket. "Will show us what you see and hear.
It may look small, but it's as good as a standard video
recorder."
"Want to do a test?" Max asked standing up to stretch
the kinks out of her back.
"There isn't time." Matt informed. "You still have a few
minutes before he's suppose to arrive, test it when you
get inside."
"'Kay." Max agreed. She walked over to where Logan sitting
on a pile of cable. "It'll be fine." she reassured, kneeling
next to him. "I know what he's up to so I'll haul his ass
before he starts anything, and I sure as hell am not going
to bang him, I've already got a man."
This got Logan to smile. "I still have a right to worry,
you ARE my wife after all." he cupped her face and kissed
her.
"Always showing the same movie on this channel." Cindy's
voice came through the ear piece. She and Bling were
sitting at Logan's office, wired into the same line.
Kendra was there as well, sitting on the couch with Jess.
Max pulled back with a smile. "Getting pumped up
before the battle." "Are you getting it clear back
there?"
"You're coming through fine." Bling reassured "Lip
smacking and all."
She ignored his comment. "Then let's get this show
started." she opened the van door and climbed out.
"Max?" Logan caught her before she headed in.
"Yea?"
He looked at her, dressed in leather and a peach cotton
long sleeved button up, looking dangerous and sexy all at
the same time "Be careful."
She smiled at the sense of deja vu his words brought "Always am."
the metal door closed.
Logan shook his head and took the seat next to Matt. "That's
why I said it." he placed the other headset over his ears.
Matt drove the van around until he came as close to Mason's
Benz as he could get. He switched on the monitor. "We are
live coast to coast ladies and gentlemen."
"Were you a news anchor in a past life?" Max teased through
the mic. She stood when she saw Dr. Mason approaching.
"Our guest of honor has arrived." she silenced when he stood
in front of her.
"So nice to see you again." she began with the small talk.
His eyes traveled over her body. "You too."
She fought the urge to stick the beer tap up his crotch and
resumed her seat.
"If I could only reach him I'd put the smack down
on his ass." Cindy said angrily of the scene that just
went down.
Max tried to engage the good doctor in small talk but
it was mostly boring shit, like how he went to veterinary
school on the honors program, and how he graduated fifth
in his class. He really WAS full of himself.
"I thought you were a professor?" Max sipped the margerita
she ordered.
"I'm both." Steve corrected. "I'm a well rounded man."
"Pul-leeze." Cindy snorted.
"Must be hard doing all that commuting from here to
Berkley." Max stated, catching Cindy's remark.
"I'm a good driver." he smiled sleazily at her.
Max hated herself for what she said next. "Can
I find out how good?" she turned quickly mouthing
'NAS-ty' to herself. Before she turned around
Steve emptied something in her drink, his actions
were not lost on Logan.
"Sure baby." he was obviously pleased.
"Just let me use the ladies room hon, and we
can head out." she walked to the back with the
speed of a fast moving freight train.
Once behind the doors she shuddered. "I feel
so dirty."
"It wasn't fun from our end to watch either." Logan
commented.
"He's wanting to go play now, so I just cut through
the chase."
"We heard." he said "We'll be waiting outside for ya."
"Then let's not keep the slime waiting." she headed
back out.
"He put something in your drink baby." Logan warned.
"So don't take any last sips."
Max muttered "That little shit" under her breath
but still smiled sweetly to her 'date' "I'm set."
"Why don't you finish your margerita?" Steve asked.
"No sense in wasting five dollars."
"Nah." Max shook her head. "It didn't taste all that good."
She grabbed his arm, and put what she hoped was the scankiest
smile on her face. "Let's just move on to bigger things." she
giggled like a school girl.
Steve smiled as well. "Sure thing doll. Don't want to
keep that packaged wrapped too long, it might spoil." he
grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door.
Max allowed herself to be led like a small child crossing
the street. They soon came out to the deep silver Benz.
"Wow." she stated impishly. "What a cool car." she
kept up her facade of sounding like an air headed ditz
so he wouldn't suspect anything.
"Isn't she sweet?" he sounded like a proud parent.
"But she's gonna get a whole lot sweeter with my new hood
ornament." he tried to fondle her through her clothes,
but she quickly slapped his hand away.
"Save the action for later Mr. or there won't be any left."
she had so wanted to simply crush all the metacarpals in
his wandering hand to dust with one squeeze, but decided that
would be out of character for her tonight. She opened the door
and sat down in the leather interior. "Comfy." again that
little bubbly giggle.
Steve shut the door and climbed in the driver's seat.
He pulled out of the parallel parking space.
From behind him Matt pulled out as well. He let the car
coming at the cross section get ahead of him so Steve
wouldn't know he was being followed.
"We're on the move guys." Logan said into the mic. to
the two listening in at his penthouse.
"Got you on the tracker." Bling stated glancing at the
screen that was giving a feedout of the van and the Benz
location.
Kendra came over to the desk with Jesse still in her
arms. "This reminds me of the time I dated that sector
officer. He use to let me watch the hover cam readouts."
she sighed in remembered bliss. "It was all sex, lies,
and video tape."
"Suga if that lying, two faced maniac playa puts his hands
on my girl one more time, the only title he'll remember
when I'm done with him will be 'Blood Sweat and Tears."
Cindy said threateningly sipping a cup of coffee.
Max had to suppress a smile at Cindy's threat. She turned
towards Steve. "How much longer? I think my all day mascara
is beginning to wear off."
"Not long now babe." he reached over and slapped her
thigh. "Save the sqiurmin' for when I'm on top."
The pencil that Logan had been fiddling with absent
mindidly snapped in his hands when he heard that remark.
"Mother fuckin' son of a bitch." his words were a low growl.
"My thoughts exactly." Cindy agreed, hearing Logan's
muttered curse.
The Benz drove on for a few more minutes before coming
to a stop outside a trailer park. "We're here." Steve
turned towards Max. "Time for the after hours party."
"Mmmhmm."/ I sound like such a whore/ Max climbed out of
the passenger side. Out of the corner of her eye she caught
sight of the van pulling to a stop on the north side of the
aluminum wall that enclosed the park.
They walked along, Steve in front and Max trailing behind.
"For the record baby." Max whispered in the mic. to Logan
"being the son of a bitch would be to good for this
scum."
They walked on for a few more seconds, before stopping at a
trailer with blue faded sides. "Home sweet home." he opened
the door for her.
She walked passed the rickety screen door. "You're such a doll."
she made sure to pass by the metal numbers nailed to the
side of the trailer so that the camera would pick it up.
Stepping over an old carburetor she entered the trailer.
The first thing she noticed was the king size poster bed
smack dab in the middle of the room. And above that were
large suspended mirrors.
"My god." Bling said amazed. "It's like some cheap
porn set."
"Straight up." Max agreed.
Steve turned to face her. "What did you say?"
"Nice stuff." She settled into the bed's cashmere
comforter, and made a big deal out of crossing her legs
slowly. "So soft."
Steve sat next to her "I have a present for you
before we begin." he lifted the familiar spray bottle
to her and doused her with a gentle mist.
Max stood up hastily and went over to the dresser.
"Don't like it?" he asked.
"Not my smell." Max replied looking up at the mirror.
She mouth the words 'GO.' at her reflection.
"Time to crash the doctor's party." Logan said, ripping
off the headset.
Matt checked the clip on his gun before sliding the
van door open. He turned towards Logan. "You'd be
better off he-" he broke off when he saw the look
in the other man's eyes. "Here." he threw a kevlar
at him. "Wear this."
Both men climbed out of the van and moved silently
through the night.
"You're acting kinda weird." Steve stated walking
over to her, he placed his lips near her hair.
His hand wandered lower to her back.
"I'm not a normal kind of girl." Max replied, readying
herself to spring on him if he got any more touchy
feelie.
Steve's other hand which hand been in her hair suddenly
snagged on the ear piece. "What the?" He yanked it out
of her ear. "What the hell is this?" he threw it across
the room.
"Shit." Bling cursed. "Guys, Mason found Max's hardware."
"Dammit." Matt said under his breath. Both he and Logan quickened
their pace.
"Candid camera." Max quipped in answer to Steve's question.
"Girl's gotta make a living."
Steve glared at her hatefully, knocking her into the mirror.
"So you didn't really want to be with me?"
"Nothing personnel." Max stated, recovering from the blow
and knocking him in the chest with a swift kick. "I just
don't go for guys who have a past history of murder."
She stared down at him from the floor. "'Sides I'm
already married."
"Then why did you arrange a date with me?" Steve asked
from the ground.
"Bait." Max said simply.
"One question remains. How did you find out?" he jumped
to his feet in one maneuver.
Max smiled slightly, cocking her head to one side "Impressive."
"Thank you. I am aren't I?"
She rolled her eyes. "I hate guys who are so hung up on
themselves." she yanked him to her by his shirt. "But if you
want to know how I figured you out." here she threw him against
the headboard of his bed, where he landed uncermonosly in a heap.
"Sit down and I'll tell you." before he had a chance to recover
she took his hands and placed them in the handcuffs that so
conviently hung on either side of the brass bed posts.
"I realiazed that there had to be some reason that
a slime sucker like you could get so many women.
And then it hit me." she retrieved the black book
from the dresser. "It was all in the name of science."
She sat down next to him on the bed. "We like playing
God huh?"
"You don't get what it means." Steve stated. "To create
perfect hybrid attack weapon, bioengineered to make fighting
faster and stronger. You can't grasp the meaning of that
concept."
"I have a pretty good assumption." Max corrected. "But
did you think you could just drop a few brauds and
no one would notice the blood trail?"
"Worked well so far." he replied.
"Do you have a smart ass thing to say about everything?"
she growled. "But it didn't work this time slick." she
patted his thigh in the same manner as her. "I'm not
gonna take a romp with your scanky ass anytime soon."
"But you won't need too. You see the compound reacts to
heat, sweat. I've been successful in producing it in my test
subjects with no loss on my own personal enjoyment." he
broke off to look at her with a smug grin. "But you on the
other hand triggered your own homeostasis mechanism with
all that ninja work, so the constant in this experiment
doll, will stay the same." he gave two sharp whistles and
the large German Shepherd bounded out of the dark.
Max was knocked to the floor as the dog leapt at her.
She grabbed the dog's muzzle. "Can't you just chew on
a raw hide?" Kaja snapped back from her grip and moved
to bite her chest.
Max raised her hand just before she leapt and felt the
dog's teeth in her hand. She hissed. /Damn cat genes/
"Hear that?" she snarled to the canine. "Got a little
feline in me, and cats don't like dogs." she threw the
animal against the opposite wall.
The door opened and Matt entered, gun trained. "Police!
Don't move."
"He couldn't if he wanted to." Max said, sitting up and
grasping her injured hand.
Logan shoved past Matt and immediately knelt next to his
wife. "Are you okay?" he helped her when she moved to
stand up.
"Yea." she replied, wincing when she removed her other
hand from the injured one. "Hope that dog had shots."
Logan moved to examine the wound. "Just looks superficial."
"Getting that doctor's degree by mail?" she teased lightly.
"I'm not the only one with a smart ass thing to say about
everything." Steve commented as Sung handcuffed him for real.
Logan moved to jump him, but Max stopped him with a hand
on his shoulder "Don't waist you energy-" she broke off
suddenly, groping for the bed post.
"Max?" Logan grabbed her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Don't know." she said weakly. "Just feel really light-
headed all of a sudden." she fell against him.
"MAX!" Logan caught her. "Baby, what's the matter. Can you hear me?"
he still got no response.
"Guys send medics here NOW! Something's wrong with Max."
Logan barked into the headset.
"Logan they're on the way." Cindy confirmed. "We
placed a call with Metro after we lost her connection.
They should be there soon."
As if on cue the door opened revealing two EMS
workers. "What do we have?" one of them asked
wheeling a gurney.
Logan laid her on it carefully. "She collapsed
about two minutes ago."
"Any injuries?" The second EMS worker asked.
"Just a minor flesh wound from a dog." Logan relayed
back.
The medic looked up from her work. "Sir are you a doctor?"
Logan shook his head. "I'm her husband."
Her partner placed a stethoscope to Max's chest. "Heartbeat
sounds good, still need to find out why she passed out."
He glanced at Kaja sitting in a corner where Max threw her.
"Call animal control, and tell them to check the dog for rabies."
"Kaja's clean." Steve argued. "She's as healthy as a horse."
"Just developed a taste for blood huh?" Logan returned hatefully.
"Sir?" the medic's voice made him turn. "If you want to ride
with your wife to the hospital we're leaving now."
"Go." Matt said walking Mason out to the patrol car. "I
have things here."
Logan didn't object and followed the gurney out to the
ambulance.
"We'z coming too." Cindy proclaimed through the mic.
"We'll be there as fast as Bling can move his Benz."
Logan didn't respond to that as he climbed in the back
of the ambulance. The sirens came on and the medical
vehicle sped down the road.
*****
Metro Mercy
"Mr. Cale?" a doctor came out of the woodwork.
Logan stood up from where he sat, and the four
other people with him locked eyes on the man in the
green scrubs.
"Your wife is doing fine. Aside from the minor lacerations
on her hand, she has no other injuries. Animal Control says
the dog tested negatively for rabies."
Logan sighed relieved, and behind him Kendra kissed Jess's
little head. "Mommy's all right sweetie, she's okay." she
held the baby closer to her.
"Then why did she collapse?" Logan demanded.
"She just pushed herself harder then she should've" he
responded cryptically. "But I'll let her fill you in.
She's in the third room down from the right, 172."
Logan headed down the hall, Bling and Cindy not far behind.
"You guys go ahead." Kendra stated, standing up and lifting
Jesse in her arms. "Our man here dropped something that
needs to be cleaned up. I'll meet you there." she headed
off towards the ladies room.
Opening the door to room 172, Logan spotted Max lying atop
the covers of an ER gurney. She glanced up when she heard
him enter. "Hey baby."
He was at her side immediately. He kissed her. "How are
you feeling?"
She held up her bandaged hand. "It just smarts a little."
"I think he's talking 'bout the reason you hit dream land
in a hurry back there." Cindy corrected stepping up to
the gurney with Bling.
"Oh that." Max actually smiled. "I just put to much pressure
on myself."
Cindy blew her off. "Baby girl, Original Cindy's seen you
haul stealth warriors without breakin' a sweat, how come
it was 'too much pressure' tonight?"
"Hey I can't help the way my body acts when I'm knocked up."
Logan stared at her in disbelief. "You mean that you? But
you aren't in heat or anything."
"Baby that's just when it could happen the most." Max
interrupted his ramblings. "Doesn't mean it can't happen
anytime in between." she smiled sinfully "Remember the
poker game two days ago?"
Logan laughed dryly. "Looks like I DID hit the jackpot."
he embraced her and kissed her deeply.
"I take it that means you like this?" Max stated hugging
him back.
He squeezed her harder. "Damn straight." he pulled back
to look at Bling. "Hear that one?"
"Oh yea." Bling responded with a smile. "Congratulations
man."
Cindy moved to embrace Max. "For a chica who claimed that
being single was the greatest, you sure love having babies."
Max laughed lightly. "I've changed some things 'bout myself."
"No complaints here suga." Cindy kissed her cheek.
"Seems like the party started without me." Kendra stepped
in with a now, freshly diapered Jesse in her arms.
"It's a celebration." Cindy stated, pulling back and
turning to Kendra. "We nailed that piece of shit to the
wall and-" her eyes traveled to Jesse. "My boy gets
to play big brother."
There was an audible gasp from Kendra. "That's so great."
she hugged Max with one arm, carefully shifting Jesse so
that he was now settled in his mother's lap. "Hear that
sweetie? You aren't the baby anymore."
"You get the joys of having siblings." Logan touched his
son's head. "Like mommy's."
Max laughed lightly "He'd need more then just one brother
or sister to catch up to my family Logan." her mood changed.
"What's gonna happen to that dog?"
"Most likely she'll be destroyed." Bling answered matter-of-factly.
"Sector police can't take chances with a dangerous animal, they
have enough trouble with the people."
Max shook her head in sad acknowledgment. "If only someone
had the time they could retrain her, start her over fresh.
She can't help what she was created to be, she didn't ask
for it, and now she has to die because society can't deal
with her." she was talking about Kaja, but also about herself.
Her and the dog had a lot in common. They both were prototypes
to create something biologically perfect, and both had to
suffer the consequences.
Her train of thought was broken when Logan touched her
hand. "Some things can't be helped." his cellphone rang
and he answered it. "Yea?" "No I'm sorry she's not mi-"
he listened for a few more minutes. "I'll consider it."
he hung up.
Max was confused. "Consider what? Who was that?"
Logan turned to her. "Animal control. They found no
violent behavior in Kaja, they actually found her to
be quite docile."
"She might just be trained that way until an attack."
Kendra pointed out. "Like those dogs that only follow
German commands."
Logan actually smiled. "The head of the Animal Control
is a former SEAL, he use to train those dogs. He said
he ran through every attack command they had and-nothing.
They can't find a reason to eliminate the dog, so they're
putting her up for adoption." he looked at Max. "I figure
who better to keep her with."
Max was speechless, a first for her. "She'd be good
company for you when I'm at work."
He smiled "Plus I'd get another girl to watch my back."
"So we just adopted a dog?" Max asked with a raised eyebrow.
"God, we're getting so domestic, one kid, one on the way
and now a DOG? Should we start erecting the white picket
fence?"
"Nah boo." Cindy stated. "You ain't getting domestic. You
just agreed to take in a former attack dog after it sunk
one in your hand, that's anything BUT."
Max laughed. "You're right, doesn't sound like me. Maybe
that fence better be chained linked, be easier to scale,
no splinters."
"This sounds more like my wife." Logan agreed. "I never married
you for your domestic skills. It was love at the first sound
of you crashing through my skylight." he kissed her.
She responded in kind, deepening it and pulling him closer.
Two kids, a husband and a dog. Didn't mean she was getting
domestic.
Just meant that she was getting better.
*****
End
I just couldn't anialate the dog..I'm an animal lover,
just FYI for all you animal rights activists who
might send me hate mail 'cause of my "doggie meets wall"
scene. Hey if a large German Shepherd was nawing at
your insides would you just sit there and smile?
Already decided several more plots to the next few chapters,
so keep watch. All feedback appreciated, even flames..as
long as they don't burn me too badly.
The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.
Choices
By: Mystic25