Bellevue, Sebastian's Research Facility and Home
Max and Alec stood outside Sebastian's research facility checking their equipment. It had been a long time since their last real mission together.
"Twenty-seven months, to be exact," thought Alec. He peered at Max from under the brim of his cap. Her face looked tense and drawn. Alec rarely had a chance to steal a long look at Max. Now, she caught him looking at her.
"What's the problem, bro?" Max snapped.
"Nothing," Alec shrugged. But he knew Max. And he knew that Max was scared. Alec had seen that Eyes Only footage too and he couldn't blame Max for the shake in her voice.
Alec and Max were brother and sister in that odd way that can only exist for siblings who shared no common childhood and no common parents, who only became acquainted as adults. Bearing their own separate scars courtesy of Manticore, Max and Alec could have easily parted ways, but the events of Terminal City and the freeing of the other transgenics had bonded them together.
Alec had thought himself free of such childish notions as loyalty and indebtedness, but something kept him coming back to Fogle Towers even after Terminal City had dissolved. Occasionally, Logan had an Eyes Only job for him or Max would ask him for help. Alec and Logan could not have been more different. Damn, that crazy cyber guy did sort of grow on you like a parasite. In a purely Manticore sense, he really was ridiculous. He had thrown away money, when he still had it, just bring down crooks. Wasn't that somebody else's job? Still, Logan had never refused a request for help from Alec. And he had defended all the transgenics, stayed with them in Terminal City. He, Alec, for one, was not likely to forget that.
And, of course, there was Eva. When she was born, Alec had essentially ignored her, as he ignored anyone not old enough to down a beer with him. But for some reason, that kid had taken a liking to him.
"Bye, Dad. I'm running away. I'm going with Uncle Alec," Eva had said stoutly one day when she was three years old. She had picked up her backpack, grabbed Alec's hand and marched out the door. Well, that was that. Alec had to stick around from then on. Who else would save Eva from that high-minded, idealistic father of hers?
"Hey, are you hung over or something?" Max's sharp words brought him back to the present.
"What? No. Let's just get on with it."
All seemed quiet, but Max and Alec still approached the Sebastians's research buildings cautiously. The low-slung buildings were painted a dull slate gray that blended into the dark shadows of the trees. Originally built during the technology boom of the 1990's, they sold for a song to a shipping company which converted it to the Bellevue Research Facility. The facility was reported to conduct small-scale robotics projects of no particular consequence. Deeper digging would have revealed that the facility was actually owned by a man who was known to walk just north of the line between legal and illegal. Even deeper digging might have revealed that the man didn't walk at all. But Sebastian worked hard to make sure no one dug that deep.
It was ten o'clock in the morning. Sebastian's van was still warm, but that was hardly significant. Max had not known Sebastian to leave the compound, although he frequently sent his staff out on errands in the van. Max and Alec entered through service door and rode the elevator up to the main floor.
Sebastian's living quarters were stark. Gray concrete floors ran the length of the rooms. Except for a few stray pieces of furniture the floors were bare. His one indulgence seemed to be large paintings which adorned the walls. In spite of herself, Max smiled when she recognized one of Joshua's canvases
Sebastian's work area centered on a small room crammed with monitors, screens, hard drives, and other equipment. Max and Alec crept slowly into the room, but found only Sebastian sitting alone in his mechanized chair, in front of the panel of screens.
"Sebastian, did you see the news? I looked at the original message you sent me and it led me back here to Seattle, but before I had a chance to make a move, I saw the T.V. report..." Max couldn't finish.
"I tried to reach Logan and Eva's not at the school," Alec continued, "You weren't picking up, either."
Sebastian slowly turned to face them. "I had a very important errand to run…" Sebastian's mechanized voice started to began slowly.
"But, Sebastian," Max interrupted, "Where could you have possibly gone? You never leave the compound. Besides, you knew we would be coming after you heard the news."
"As I said…" the voice synthesizer started.
"Mommy?" A small figure flew across the room and launched itself at Max.
"Eva is here," Sebastian's mechanized voice understated.
Eva was here. Max looked down at Eva's upturned face, her eyes so startlingly like Logan's. Max sank to her knees, clasping Eva to her chest, relief washing over her. Eva pushed herself back to look into her mother's face.
"I did it, Mom. And I put the card in just like you said, Uncle Alec," Eva trilled, turning toward her uncle. "Uncle Sebastian came to pick me up in the van."
"You did? You left the compound to pick her up yourself?" Max asked incredulously, turning to Sebastian.
"We were about to pull away from the bank, when this little one comes flying out of a rack of clothes, no less, and comes running up to the van," said Sebastian's assistant, who had been standing quietly in the corner for several minutes.
"Wait, wait for me!" Eva had shouted, pounding her small fists on the side of the van. The van door, which read Bellevue Research Facility, slid open smoothly to reveal a motorized wheelchair strapped firmly into place. Before Sebastian even had time to react, Eva had thrown herself into his lap, squeezing him tightly with all of her five-year old strength.
"Sebastian," she breathed, not letting go of his waist, "I knew you'd come."
Sebastian's longtime driver chuckled to himself as he pressed the button to close the door and pulled back into traffic.
"Well, I didn't think I'd live to see you speechless," the driver laughed.
Sebastian's voice synthesizer crackled, "Why don't you stick to driving."
Shaking his head and laughing again, the driver glanced back in his rearview mirror to see Eva firmly planted in Sebastian's lap and a blush creeping onto Sebastian's cheeks.
"George drove. I sat. Precious cargo required extra supervision." As always, Sebastian's voice betrayed nothing, but his face colored noticeably.
It was Max's turn to throw her arms around Sebastian's neck, causing him to blush for the second time that day.
Fiftenn minutes later, Max, Alec and Sebastian huddled around the array of computers in Sebastian "command center." Max had prodded Eva to repeat the story of the carjacking twice more, trying to glean any detail that might prove the news reports wrong.
"Mom, I already told you everything. Dad says you just have to be patient and he will be there soon. That what he tells me when I'm waiting for him at school," Eva yawned.
Max could only nod, blinking back tears. She settled Eva on a couch to sleep, tucking the blanket around her. Wordlessly, she turned back to the video footage.
Another hour later, the three figures still sat silently in front of the computer screens. They had managed to patch into the video feed from the various news reports. The center monitor showed the results of their work, an enlarged still shot of an upturned wheelchair, only partly covered by a blue tarp, cops surrounding the site. One shoe protruded from the drape, its smooth unused sole visible. The underside of the chair clearly showed a worn sticker.
"Can we get a clearer shot of that sticker?" Alec turned to Sebastian.
"We don't need a clearer shot. It's a surfing logo." Long ago, Logan had slapped the sticker on his chair as it lay beside them on the beach.
"He got it at the beach in Oregon." Logan had been so tickled that day, testing his ability to catch waves lying down, riding them like the other surfers.
"I've got to check on Eva," Max stood up abruptly.
Sebastian and Alec stared at the screen silently, having run out of things to say long ago The minutes ticked by.
With a start, Alec swore to himself and pushed his chair back. He ran to the room where Eva slept quietly. A note lay on the table next to her.
Alec & S
I have to go to that boathouse. You have to keep Eva safe.
Max.
Max was gone.