Title: Enemies - part 3
Author: bk <bkeleven11@yahoo.com>
Rating: A very mild R
Notes: The next installment, takes place a while after the 'incident'. Sorry it took so long, believe it or not, my computer crashed...grrr... Everything from here forth is stemmed mainly from my head, meaning that it ain't cold hard facts. I'm too lazy to go research so this is what I picked up from my movie watching :-) Hope no one minds the lack in authenticity too much. Oh yeah, a special thank you to Aria for 'Interpol'.
A big thank you to my beta readers, Saz (Sassafraz) and Frankie (Arwen). You guys are the best!
Feedback: Yes please, I always want to know what I can improve.

*****
"Are you sure, Logan?"

"Of course I'm sure. Why wouldn't I be?" Logan gazed fixedly over at the two men sitting across from him. They sat uneasily, thinking of the proper way to reply without causing Logan to get upset because it was a sensitive subject, one that Logan wasn't aware of, at least not *exactly*. Brian looked at Logan straight on while Logan's eyes wandered around the room, purposely avoiding the hesitant glances directed his way. The whole situation was just too vague, and the reason that it was so vague was because his boss and friend were dancing around the issue, whatever the issue was.

"We just think that you've gone through a lot, maybe you need a break. That's all." Brian looked a bit unsure. Brian did expect Logan to put up a bit of a fight when they suggested he take a vacation, but watching his friend sit there with his arms crossed and face scrunched up in irritation, he found out that it was going to be harder than expected to get him to take it easy for a while. Logan worked too hard.

"A break," his dead panned voice repeated.

The other man looked at him a bit uncertain, considering the best reply. "A vacation really, you deserve it."

"A vacation."

"Yes." There was uneasiness in his tone. It mainly derived from the fact that Logan was repeating words with a blank look on his face. When asked, Logan constantly attributed that blank, emotionless look to the fact that he really wasn't affected by anything, that he was above the useless emotion known as anger. But truthfully, whether he wanted to admit it or not, the girl at the party really rattled his nerves, and on top of that, there's the situation of Herrero to occupy his thoughts too. Yup, he really needed a vacation.

"You really don't want me to do this job, do you?"

"It's not that."

"Then what?" At last, the vacant stare in Logan's eyes disappeared and a mild combination of curiosity and frustration took its place.

"You've been driving yourself too hard."

Logan sighed. He didn't understand why everyone seemed to think that he was fragile, that he would break at any moment. Things happen, it's a natural part of life. He could deal with 'problems' just fine. Sure, he doesn't get screwed over often, and his mentor doesn't usually get taken into custody of terrorists, but he'll adapt. He always did.

"Listen man, I know you and Nathan were close, that is *exactly* why you shouldn't take on this assignment." The concerned pair of eyes stared back at him pleaded for him to understand. But Logan wasn't going to back down. He *needed* to do this.

"Look man, is it because of what happened five months ago? You know that I *never* lose anything. I just acted stupid and irrational, it will never happen again and you know it."

"No, this has nothing to do with it."

"We just think it's best if you're not involved this time, son." A deep voice with a slight brusque southern accent interjected. The older man had been silently watching the exchange between Brian and Logan and he could see that neither of them was close to backing down.

Logan focused his attention on to his boss. "With all due respect, sir, I think I'm the best man for this job."

"Really?" The slight smile on his face revealed the fondness he had for Logan.

"Because I know Nathan better than anyone."

"So?" The twinkle in his eye disappeared and a solemn expression replaced it. The large gruff man leaned over the desk, and looked intently at Logan. "That's exactly our point; you know him *too* well. Your emotions could cloud your judgment. Being too close to the subject could turn the whole operation into a disaster, and get you hurt in the process. We wouldn't want that to happen, now would we, Logan?"

"Listen to him, Logan."

Logan looked sharply between the two faces staring back at him. "I'm a professional. I don't let emotions get in the way." He saw the two nervous faces staring back at him and he soften his own expression, letting a semblance of his old self resurface. "Aww, come on. I'll be fine, I appreciate the concern, but this is *me*. Remember?"

"Over-confident?"

"That's not a *bad* thing." Logan let a small grin slip out. "So do I get the assignment? There's really no one else you can give it to, Brian here is going to be busy in a few days." Logan good-naturedly punched him in the shoulder. "Just make sure to come back in one piece and don't wreck my computer again."

His friend's face looked tortured, he knew his next words were going to sting. "What about what happened with the M3 chip?" Brian asked softly.

"I thought it didn't matter. I thought that mistakes happen from time to time." Logan's smile vanished and he glowered over at his friend. It bothered him whenever that subject was mentioned, not because of 'her', but because of his carelessness. At least that's what he always told himself. "You know I can handle this assignment. I *want* this assignment. What happened five months ago will *never* happen again. I'm not too keen about losing another objective. I have *learned* from my mistakes. Can't you just accept that?"

"Calm down now, Logan. Brian raised a good point, can you deal with working on something this big and close to you so soon?"

"Nathan isn't 'something', and it not 'so soon', it's been five months. I've had small projects in between, too."

"I know, I just am trying to get you to see that this is going to be difficult, especially for you. Can you really handle it?"

"What have I been saying? You two are the most thick-headed and irrational individuals that I know." Logan bit his lip because he suddenly realized that he insulted the man that wrote his paycheck. But he wasn't going to apologize, not when he was right.

"We're just looking out for you, man."

"Well stop 'looking out' for me. *I* know what's best for me, not you."

Brian flinched at the hard biting tone. Logan wasn't normally like this. It was painfully obvious, to everyone but Logan himself, that he's hurting and withdrawing himself from everyone. He didn't resemble the guy he was half a year ago. Logan was a perfectionist, losing that chip affected him a lot. Not to mention that girl, she probably had a hand in Logan's emotional withdrawal. "Listen man, you have got to understand--"

"I do understand, I understand perfectly. You two don't think that I'm stable. You think that I'll do something stupid just because Nathan was my closest thing to family, or because I just happened to mess with the wrong girl." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to immediately forget them. That specific incident was always angrily pushed out of his head every time any stray thoughts regarding it wandered into his mind.

"Logan there are things that you aren't aware of."

"Like what?"

Logan watched as the two men exchanged nervous glances. They were hiding something. The sat there, fidgeting with their hands, only making Logan more suspicious about them.

"Aren't you going to tell me?"

Two pairs of brown eyes flashed at each other, each coaxing the other one to speak up. Neither wanting to do it himself.

Finally the bigger man scowled and conceded. "Get outta here, you wimp." Brian wasn't fazed in the slightest; he was relieved that he wasn't the one that had to tell Logan. It was true that Logan was a calm, collected guy, but his complicated mind could very possibly see this as a betrayal, and Brian didn't want to see that accusatory look on his friend's face that might come. He silently got up, managed a weak smile, for Logan's sake, and fled the room.

As soon as Brian ran out of the room, Logan focused his attention back onto the man across from him. "Well, sir?"

After a brief hesitation, the man across from him exhaled a breath and opened his mouth to speak. "We are enlisting outside help."

Logan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. What was the big deal? They collaborated with other agencies all the time. Something told him that there was more to this. "So? What kind of help? An independent agent?"

"Uh...no, government."

Logan's suspicion built up even more. An independent agent might be a bit odd, but they had worked with overseas agencies before. "Foreign?"

"No, based in Wyoming."

The short and vague answers exasperated him. The man in front of him, his boss, a guy who never hesitated in bluntly stating what he thought, was unclear.

"Would you just tell me already?" The elusiveness threw him off, and upon seeing the edgy eyes staring back at him, he finally realized that he just snapped at the older man. "I'm sorry, sir. I just don't quite see what you are getting at."

"It's a sensitive issue, Logan." His concern was obviously evident in his tone.

"I'm not a helpless infant. I can handle whatever you have to throw at me, sir."

"But this is particular touchy, Logan."

"Try me."

The man took a deep breath, gauging the earnestness in Logan face. "After the M3 incident, we checked up on that female, based on the physical description you gave us. It wasn't much to go on, but the chip later showed up in Manticore custody, although they did try hard to conceal it. We were kind of impressed with the efficiency of...uh..." He let the comment hang. Logan nodded in understanding, even though the remark stung.

"Manticore. That's the facility that experiments with human genetics, manipulates individuals' growth and genetic makeup to form 'super' beings, right?"

"Yes, so do you know what I'm getting at, son?" He paused and waited to see if Logan was clued in to what he was getting at. Seeing a blank look on the young man's face, he went on. "This particular assignment, well, it's one of the more 'complicated' ones..."

"You mean I can get my ass blown off." Logan stated matter-of-factly and smiled, the possibility of injury always made the job more fun.

"Yes, if you want to put it that way." The older man returned smiled. He really did like the enthusiasm, reminded him of himself at Logan's age.

"Okay, go on, please."

"Well, due to the fact that this is such a dangerous assignment, I've enlisted the help of a Manticore soldier, they specialize in this type of thing."

"Uh huh." Logan started to form an idea about where the conversation was headed.

"There's a possibility that the *she* might be assigned."

"Oh." Logan nodded thoughtfully; there were no doubts who 'she' was. "How much of a possibility?"

The elder tried to gauge Logan's reaction. Whatever possibility he came up with, Logan would surely not be happy. "It's quite guaranteed, son. She is the only one available." He reached his arm across the massive desk and clapped Logan on the shoulder. "Do you still want to do it?"

Logan snapped out of his reverie. He wasn't too keen on the idea of seeing her again, but he wasn't uneager either; it doesn't matter to him. Nope. However, the fact that his superior didn't spend one moment to consider how he would feel about the whole thing disturbed him too, but of course, it doesn't matter because he didn't care. He couldn't care less, in fact, shove her into a damn car and haul her ass over as fast as possible. It didn't matter. Not one bit. "Yeah, I'm fine. So, when are we meeting with the Manticore people?"

"Son, listen, this really ain't a good idea. I don't think you've thought this through."

"Yes I have, and I want to do it. I want to get Nathan out of that hellhole, and even if it involves an old acquaintance, I still want to do it, personally."

"Logan, an old acquaintance? Is that what you are calling her?"

"So?" What else would he call her?

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, because there is nothing to talk about."

"Look son, pretending that there isn't something knocking around that skull of yours is not healthy."

"There's nothing."

"Logan--"

"Please, sir?"

"I still don't think that you have thought this through. It's a lot to take in suddenly. I think it's best if you take a day or two to think about it. I can't have you making fatal mistakes because your mind is elsewhere." Logan was about to interject but the bold figure held his hand up and continued. "I remember how the little filly ruffled your feathers when she disappeared, you were pretty upset for a long time after that incident."

"I wasn't 'upset' because she 'disappeared', sir. I was upset because I lost the chip."

"So you say. Look son, women, they're a lot more trouble than they're worth. Take some time to consider this. *Really* think hard about it. Then get back to me."

"Fine, but my answer won't change, I'm sure of that. You might as well give me the paper work and forms, right now."

*****
"Max?" Zack, seated next to her, was waving a hand in front of her face to catch her attention. After getting no response, he brought his hand closer and lightly smacked her forehead. "Max!"

She blinked hard, barely registering the man in front of her. Her mind was miles away.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Again, his hand made contact with her forehead.

"Huh? Stop that." She easily caught his hand before he could repeat the action. Sinking in her chair, she resumed her face of gloominess. "What do you want?" She hissed harshly at him. He never had any tact, and if he did, he never used it.

"What do you think?"

"About?"

"Your assignment."

"I think it's your run of the mill rescue op. No biggie."

"Really?" Zack's eyes were skeptical. They sat alone in a large conference room. A meeting regarding her upcoming assignment was just disbanded.

"Yeah." Max continued to stare out into space, causing a worried look to grace Zack's normally vacant features. "Why do you care so much, anyways? My assignments never got this reaction from you before."

"You haven't been yourself, lately."

She shook her head and grunted. "Well, why don't you tell me how I'm supposed to act then I'll do that." She feigned annoyance but Zack knew her well enough to see the barely-there twinkle in her eyes.

Crossing his arms, he towered in front of her seated position, an intimidation tactic. "Want to know what I'm thinking?"

Max was unimpressed; she met his gaze right on and threw out her reply. "Not really, but I know you're gonna tell me anyways."

"You don't like your operation."

"Obviously," she scoffed, "I don't usually jump for joy every time I get assigned."

"But there's something different about this one."

"Care to clue me in?"

He stared right at her, as if willing for her to read his mind. Leaning back, lessening the tension, he simply stated, "Him."

Her eyes narrowed as she immediately guessed what he meant. "No, don't even start saying what I think you're going to say."

"Max."

"You're just still dwelling on the fact that I did something that I said I wouldn't. Are you still sore that I didn't follow orders? I got that damn chip, didn't I?"

"It's not that."

"Like hell it's not. I'm so sick and tired of you bugging me because I did something out of character. What do you want me to say? Sorry?" When she got no reply she continued, "Fine, I'm sorry I screwed someone after I said that I wasn't gonna." After still getting no response, she moved towards the door. "Listen, I gotta go pack or something."

Max was almost through the door when a strong vice-like grip held her back.

"What do you want, Zack?" She jerked out of his hold.

"I want to know if you're really 'okay' with this."

"I am."

"Really?" His skeptical gaze towered above her.

"Yes. I mean, it's not every day you find out that you get to see the guy that you screwed over, but hey, I'm flexible. " She never told Zack about the phone call that woke her up. That would be admitting that it bothered her, plus she didn't want Zack to go kill the guy. Elkins was just like any other male on the planet, a stupid, lying, and selfish bastard.

"This *is* bothering you."

"Not as much as it's bothering *you*, obviously."

"I never liked the guy."

"I didn't either, should've went with my gut."

"Mistakes happen from time to time."

"I *don't* make mistakes. They just don't happen to me, aren't supposed to, or have you forgotten?"

He sat down in the nearest chair and smiled up at her. "Nope."

Exasperated, she leaned heavily on the doorknob that her hand was clasped around. Zack was just sitting there, smiling at her, as if he knew something that she didn't. "So, is that all you wanted to say?"

His nice expression slowly twisted into hesitance. He wrung his hands and avoided eye contact with her. "Well, I want to also say that I...uh...kinda like how we can talk, you know...really talk, sometimes." He shrugged slightly and went on, "It's not like that with the others, so...um...if you ever need to...um...talk, you can always come to me." He didn't want to push her. She wasn't one to be overly expressive of her feelings, and neither was he. But she was blunt, and she was truthful. If she said she was all right with the current turn of events, why should he doubt her words?

Max was entertained by his obvious discomfort. It had always been an unspoken agreement between them, they don't talk about personal things but they always watch each other's back. "I know, Zack. You are numero uno on my list when it comes to spillin' my guts, but there's nothing to spill this time."

*****

The wispy sunlight peeked through the blinds. The Seattle sky was as gray as ever, but a little bit of light managed to slip in through the dense clouds. In the middle of the bare room, Logan slumped and rotated himself around on his pivoting chair. He was getting restless.

She was an hour late.

His boss sat a few feet away from him, and watched him carefully, carefully looking for any signs of distress. Logan was acting odd, spinning around in the chair like that, but if it helped him cope, then why not? The older man watched as Logan pushed against the chair and started spinning once again. The gentle face fought back a laugh as he watched the grown man in his expensive suit spiral around. In mid-turn, Logan took a moment to glance at the amused expression before resuming his spinning.

"Son?"

"Yes sir?" Logan didn't halt, his feet kept pushing at the floor and he kept rotating himself around steadily. His head was thrown back and he was staring at the ceiling as he went around in circles.

"Are you all right?"

"Hmm...I've been getting that question a lot lately."

He smirked. "There's a reason."

Still staring at the ceiling, Logan grinned a little, pleased that someone showed real concern about how he was doing. "I'm fine, sir."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," he nodded with his head bouncing off the back of the chair, "just hate waiting."

"Okay." After taking a moment to look at the clock on the wall again, the large man stood up from his place behind the desk. "Look son, I'm going to go and get me something to drink. You want anything?" He watched as Logan made another rotation. "Anything at all?"

"No, thanks," came the dull reply. The man walked towards the door and took one last moment to gauge the vacant expression he received. Shrugging his shoulders, he left the room. Logan eyes watched him through the glass door and followed him until he disappeared around the hall. Turning around, Logan peered at the cloudy sky and let out a disgusted sigh. She sure was taking her sweet time getting there. It was bad enough that he had to see her face again, but for her to drag out their inevitable confrontation was just plain irritating, and entirely like her.

He spiraled round and round. Suddenly, over the light grating noise the chair made, he heard soft footsteps heading towards the door, it couldn't be his superior since he made his presence known every time he entered a room. These footsteps were much lighter. Logan could hear the creak of the door as it opened.

It was her, no doubt about it. Every one of Logan's senses was heightened, he could smell the faint familiar scent of her, he could *feel* her presence behind him.

"Katherine."

"Jackass."

He turned around to face her, only to see her look like she did five months ago, angry, icy, hard-jaw, and absolutely breathtaking. But isn't that always the case? The dangerous ones were always the beautiful ones. "I missed you, too." He shot back sarcastically. "You're late, made us wait an hour."

"Us?" She gestured to the empty room around them. "Don't tell me that you have multiple personalities on top of your already stellar qualities." It was funny how they resumed their bantering so quickly, especially after all that had happened between them.

Logan had stopped spinning but his head was still thrown back, he didn't want to look at her. She reminded him of the anger sitting inside of him. It reminded him of the confusion and resentment that he felt when he woke up to see that she had left, with his chip. "Traffic's bad here, should've planned ahead."

"I'll take that into consideration next time." Her voice was icy and low.

"Why you?"

She looked sharply at his immobile form; she didn't understand what he meant. "Why me, what?"

"Why the hell did you take this assignment?"

"I don't exactly have a lot of room to bargain with. They tell me to jump, I say how high. Believe me, if I had an option, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Oh."

Max sauntered over to the desk and quickly scanned over the mass of papers spread upon it. "Logan." She snorted. "Interesting."

"That's my name."

"It's different."

"From...?"

"Chris."

"Oh." He was determined not to let her see how much she was bothering him with her casualness. He resumed his aimless spinning, pausing every now and then to glance at her disinterested expression. "Aren't you going to tell me your name?"

"Why are you doing that?" She imitated his rotating motion with her index finger.

"Why are you ignoring my question?"

With her jaw clenched, it occurred to her how much she disliked him. He would always pick at everything she said and twist it around. He's a manipulative bastard. "Max."

"Max?" A brief look of amusement flashed on his face. "Figures, you *would* have a male's name."

"And it figures that you'd have a sissy's name," she retorted.

"Ouch, that hurts."

"Funny, I always pictured you working for the FBI rather than Interpol."

"Why is that?"

"Mainly because you seem like the FBI-I-am-so-full-of-myself type. You know, egotistical." Her tone was condescending as settled herself in a big armchair.

"What? You're attacking me, now? Do you dislike me that much?"

Her skeptical eyes flashed a brief look of challenge. "Do you care?"

"Couldn't give a damn." He rotated around once again; his legs were the only part of him that moved.

"I ask again, why are you spinning?"

He turned his head and his glasses reflected the light from a lamp. When his eyes were visible again, Max saw a look that told her that he was about to spout out some biting remark, and he did. "I'm just hoping that I'll get dizzy enough to pass out. Then, hopefully, I'll wake up to see that this is all a dream."

"Can't handle working with me? Do I make you uncomfortable?" She had a cruel smile on her face.

"Don't flatter yourself, I just don't think that I can't stand being around your personality for an undetermined amount of time."

"You had no objections as 'Chris Elkins'."

He anchored his feet on the ground and stopped in mid-turn. His gaze was intent and unwavering, reflecting total seriousness. "Listen, I would prefer it if we don't talk about what happened, not even mild references, for obvious reasons. We wouldn't want the mission to be impaired because of 'personal conflicts'. For all I'm concerned, *today* is the first time that we have ever met, because I'm Logan and you're Max. Not Elkins and Webber."

"I agree."

"Doesn't mean I like you any more, though."

"Ditto."

They sat in tense silence, each one willing for the door to reopen and for the large familiar figure to walk through. Finally, he strolled in with his cup of coffee. He stood by the doorway accessing the scene in front of him. Logan rested his head back and stared off into space while the young lady sat on the other side of the room, brooding in the overstuffed chair. It didn't take a genius to figure out that their reunion wasn't a happy one. "All right, can I assume that your superior briefed you on the outline of the assignment." He spoke up, looking at Max.

"Yes he did."

"Then let's go over it in detail, shall we?"

*****
End part 3