So Alec says he's on a job… let's see if Logan will give us some answers.

Chapter Five

Max walked into Logan's apartment and slammed the door behind her. She'd been angry before, but on the way over, she'd gone from angry to ballistic. Apart from the normal, excruciating time required to get anywhere in post-Pulse Seattle, she'd been held up at one of the security checkpoints for over two hours. Some idiot had decided to take a shot at one of the Sector Cops and everyone had been rounded up until they figured out who it was. Max hadn't had any way to get out of it without showing off in front of a lot of hover drones and giving the cops an eyeful. That had given her lots and lots of extra time to think about how much she wanted to yell at Alec and Logan. Since she couldn't get at Alec right now, Logan was number one on her hit list.

Max stalked into the next room where Logan was sitting at his computer. She stopped several feet away and crossed her arms. "Talk fast."

Logan sat back in his chair. He looked surprised, then embarrassed and guilty, and finally just a little bit annoyed. "Hello, Max."

"You want to explain to me why you sent Alec undercover on a dangerous op without telling anyone? Not to mention, when I come to you for help because I think Alec's going nuts, you tell me you'll look into it instead of telling me the truth."

"Max, I-"

"Because I've been worried to death. I've been trailing him. I could have gotten him killed by messing up the op. He could have died and I wouldn't have known why. I thought someone I care about was losing it, and you didn't say a word."

"You mean someone you love," he said with a hint of defiance. He cocked his head to the side, daring her to… she didn't know what. Deny it? Own it? Max remembered what Logan had been like the night after he'd seen Alec coming out of her apartment. He'd been drunk and petty, but he'd been hurting, and she'd understood it then, but this was too much. He hadn't outright lied to her by saying he'd look into it, but his omission was infuriating.

"Are you serious?" she demanded, her tone low and dangerous. "I just talked to Alec. I nearly blew the op because I didn't know what was going on. I know all about working undercover. I could have helped his story instead of hurting it. Alec said he told you it was useless to leave me out, but you said no." She narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, more at eye level. "Were you that desperate to try to drive a wedge between us?"

Not that there was anything to drive a wedge between, but Logan didn't know that.

"Because I've been terrified that Alec was going crazy like Ben. They're twins and I was scared it was genetic and I was going to have to make the same choices."

"Choices?" Logan frowned in confusion.

"I had to kill him!" she shouted. "My own brother! I loved him and I had to kill him!" The truth just spilled out of her. Only Alec had been able to understand what she'd done, and Logan had put that in jeopardy. She knew Logan wouldn't be able to accept it, but she was so angry she could barely see straight. "You made me think it was happening all over again!"

"You killed him?" Logan asked, appalled. "But you said…"

"He was hurt. Manticore was on top of us and he couldn't run. They'd have taken him apart piece by piece to see where they went wrong. He asked me to end it and I did, while he was still going on and on about his delusions. I let him talk, and then I broke his neck." She glared at Logan, fury mixed with sorry making her voice break. "I had to leave him there because I had no other choice!"

It took a few seconds to sink in, but Logan's expression gradually changed. She was expecting anger and horror, maybe disgust, but suddenly his shoulders sagged, and all she could see in his eyes was something like understanding, maybe even sympathy. Maybe she'd been wrong to think he wouldn't get it. He rubbed his hand over his mouth in frustration. He was hurting and it was for her.

"I'm so sorry," he said softly, guilt and remorse plain to see.

Max brushed angry tears away. "So am I. But none of that really matters. I'll rip Alec a new one, too, when I can actually talk to him, but right now I just need to know what's going on. Leaving me in the dark is not an option."

"Ok," he nodded, "ok. I… I was thinking…" Finally, he sighed. "I wanted you to tell me it wasn't real. Once I thought about it, I knew you were lying about the two of you and it was a ruse to keep us apart. When Alec started acting strange, I thought you would come clean."

"There's nothing to come clean about," she said. She was not going to waffle. She couldn't do this anymore. This whole situation just proved that she and Logan were a mess. She had to move on for her own sanity. She and Logan were done. "And true or not, how did that make it ok to keep something like this from me?"

"If it had been real between the two of you, Alec wouldn't have kept quiet," he said, with a little more heat.

"You were counting on an emotionally stunted ex-assassin to make good relationship choices?" she snarled. That was true for her as much as Alec. She was the one lying to Logan to keep him away.

"I-"

They both turned when an alarm sounded from Logan's computer. Logan lurched toward the screen to look.

"What is it?" Max demanded.

"It's Alec's panic button."

Max's fingers clenched into fists. "He's in trouble?"

Logan didn't say anything. He just started typing and looking at his screen intently, but Max refused to be ignored. She walked around the desk and looked at the screen herself. She was too close to him, but at the moment she didn't care.

"Does it give information, or just a location?" she asked.

"Location."

"Where is he?"

"Give me a second," Logan said under his breath. "I'm trying to triangulate."

"Give me an estimate!" she snapped. "I'll start that direction and you can give me specifics when you have them."

"Somewhere in Sector Seven," he said, and Max bolted out the door.

She never should have let Alec leave with the guy in the truck. She should have followed him. She'd known the guy was bad news and she'd left Alec alone anyway.

It didn't matter. He was in trouble and she'd let it happen. The last thing he remembered about her might be that she'd punched him. He might be dying. He might already be dead. All because Logan and Alec were both too messed up to tell her what was happening, and she'd been too angry to think straight.

Max ran to her Ninja and raced for Sector Seven.

More soon…