Chapter Two Restlessly, Alec played with the keys in his hands, tossing them from palm to palm as he watched the news on the muted television. The rhythm of the movement soothed him as the newsreader droned on, but he couldn’t quite shake the feeling there was a storm brewing on the horizon. The soft pad of a footstep caught his attention, and he looked up to see Max leaning against the doorjamb. “Anything yet?” she asked. “Nope,” he said, as he studied her drawn face. The last few weeks had taken a toll on her, and the worry lines around the corners of her eyes were etched deeper. “That should be a good thing,” she observed. “We have enough on our plate without being fingered for the death of the local mafia Don.” “Then why do I get the feeling somebody is about to drop an anvil on my head,” he asked rhetorically, dragging his feet off his desk as she slipped into the room and closed the door after her. “Because it doesn’t fit, Alec,” she admitted. “The guy had the best security that money can buy. He should have been untouchable.” “We got in,” he pointed out quietly. Max threw him a sharp look. “You think it was one of us?” “You telling me you weren’t thinking the same thing?” he asked, a hint of challenge in his voice. “Come on, Max, they might as well have hung a sign around his neck saying ‘Manticore was here.’” “Yeah, Logan said the same thing,” Max said uncomfortably. “That’s because Logan isn’t stupid,” Alec muttered under his breath as he got to his feet. “What else did he have to say?” Max shrugged, not meeting his eyes. “Oh, you know, the usual.” Why did you leave me? Why him? Be careful. Yeah, Alec knew exactly what he said. “You’ll have to come clean with him eventually,” he said tersely. “The guy suspects something anyway.” “I can’t, Alec.” And there it was; the pleading eyes, the quivering lower lip. Damn, he was such a sucker. “So what do we do about Freeman?” he asked, dropping the subject. “I have Dix checking into his background,” she said. “But the guy has a list of enemies even longer than ours. Logan has put a few feelers out through his ‘Eyes Only’ contacts, but so far nobody’s bitten.” “It could be the Familiars,” Alec suggested tentatively. “Ya know, trying to stir things up and all.” “Nice try, Alec,” she said dryly. “But you don’t believe that any more than I do.” “Yeah, doesn’t really fit their MO,” he admitted. “Now if it was some bigwig who did a lot for charity, it might be another thing. Nothing like the senseless death of a good Samaritan to get the angry masses going.” “So, it’s either one of us, or there is a new player in town,” Max agreed. “Great, that’s all we need, a new bad guy in our lives.” Max smirked. “Welcome to my world.” “Tell me again why I agreed to be your second in command?” “Temporary insanity?” Max joked. “That and the fact nobody else was stupid enough to take the job.” “Speaking of which, I had Mole in here earlier,” Alec said. “He wants to know what we’re going to do for cash since we didn’t bring home the bacon last night.” Max pulled a face. “There is always the municipal gallery, I suppose,” she said. “I was kind of hoping we wouldn’t have to, though. I hate hitting public museums.” “Yeah, the goods are always such a bitch to hock,” he said dryly. Max hit him in the arm, but there wasn’t any real weight in the punch. “We need the money,” she said simply. “Our food supplies are dangerously low, and the medics are down to aspirin and plasters.” “Fun, fun, fun,” Alec drawled. “Are you going to listen to reason and get somebody else to pull the job, or are we going ourselves again.” “Actually, I was thinking of bringing Dix along this time,” she teased. “See if he can’t come up with something a little more sophisticated than superglue.” “Oh, but who will you hit if it all goes wrong?” he said, smirking. “Lets face it, Dix’s ass ain’t half as tempting as mine.” Max rolled her eyes. “In you dreams, pretty boy,” she said. Alec silently agreed, feeling a brief pang of regret. Ruthlessly, he pushed it away. Max may be technically single, but he’d be a fool to think her torch for Logan wasn’t still burning bright. “So, tonight then?” “Tonight,” she said. “But first we need to drop by Logan’s. I’ve got a new set of glyphs on my back.” Alec scowled. “I thought they’d stopped coming.” “Apparently, the tattoo art fairy just keeps giving and giving,” she said flatly as she made her way to the door. “See you in the garage in five.” The door shut quietly behind her, and Alec bit his thumbnail thoughtfully. New glyphs meant new prophecies, and that never boded well. He made a mental note to talk to Dix about it. Logan did the best he could with the translations, but it really wasn’t his thing. Dix, on the other hand, had a real facility for languages and he was a quick learner. He should have asked him to check out the glyphs before this but he had been half hoping they’d seen the last of the damned things. So much for wishful thinking. Sighing, he switched off the television, and grabbed his jacket. Time to face ‘Eyes Only’. If only he didn’t feel so guilty every time he was in the same room as the guy. He knew, technically, that he hadn’t stolen his girl – as if Max was the kind of woman that anybody could steal – but he couldn’t suppress a gnawing sense of uneasiness every time they met. Maybe it was because they both knew that he had a thing for Max. The female transgenic may be ignorant of his feelings but Logan certainly wasn’t. If it weren’t for the virus, they wouldn’t be in this situation. Logan and Max would be shacked up together, playing happy families, and he wouldn’t even have got a look in. Of course, he wasn’t exactly in with a chance now, either. Even if Max were interested, he’d still feel like a shit for taking advantage of it. Don’t go there, Alec old buddy, he told himself as he closed the office door and sauntered through the control area, that way only leads to pain and suffering. “Hey, Alec, wait up” Dix called from above, and Alec looked up to see him waving a file. “What’s up?” he asked, waiting as the compact transhuman blurred down the steps. “Got some info on that Freeman guy,” he said hurriedly, opening the file as he skidded to a halt. “Seems he had some dealings with Manticore after the pulse.” “Why am I not surprised?” he asked tiredly, as took the file from Dix’s unresisting hands. That Manticore had been strapped for cash after the pulse hit was old news, as was the fact that they’d taken some unsavoury bedfellows as a result. It wasn’t a stretch to believe they didn’t draw the line at the mafia. Quickly, he read through the file, frowning as his eyes fell on the relevant data. “Tell me I’m not reading this correctly,” he said flatly. “’Fraid I can’t do that,” Dix muttered. “Five stable X5 embryos in exchange for fifty million, cash.” Alec quickly did the math. Let’s say it took Freeman a year to set up the Lab, then another year to impregnate the women. They would be what, eight, nine? “They probably didn’t all make it,” he said aloud. “Forty percent failure rate in the first twelve years,” Dix said promptly. “Which means we’re talking about three, maybe four prepubescent X5’s,” Alec said. “Man, how could they have been so stupid?” His mind wandered back to the high security in Freeman’s mansion. A totally secure basement with only access point; the elevator they found Freeman’s body in. “And there goes the other shoe,” he said under his breath. “Did Max see this?” “Not yet,” he said. “Figured I’d better run it by you first.” “Chicken,” he drawled. “I call it survival instinct,” he shot back, grinning as he headed for the steps. “Good luck!” “You’re all heart,” he muttered, tucking the file into his jacket as he stalked away. If Max had a blind spot, this was it. She’d go through hell and fire to protect a child she thought was in danger. The second she learned what Freeman had been up to, she’d be crawling all over it. For a moment, Alec entertained the thought of not telling her. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, right? Yeah, right. “Took your time,” Max said impatiently as he entered the Garage. “I was going to send a search party out for—” she halted, mid-sentence, as she got a good look at his face. “What’s happened?” Silently, he pulled the file out and handed it to her. “You’re not going to like it,” he said as she flicked it open. Her face fell still as she got to the pertinent page. “Is this for real?” she asked softly, her eyes suddenly burning brightly with rage. Alec knew what was coming; he figured he’d beat her to the punch. “Wanna go and check it out?” <<< PREVIOUS CHAPTER : OTHER FICTION : NEXT CHAPTER >>> DOCTOR WHO FICTION : HIGHLANDER FICTION : BUFFY/ANGEL FICTION : CROSSOVER FICTION : E-MAIL ME