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This is a stand-alone story following the events of Max Allan Collins' DARK ANGEL novels SKIN GAME and AFTER THE DARK, and incorporating information revealed in D.A. Stern's THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER. -- author's note

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.org

*****

An hour passed, going on two before he finally began to stir, laying to rest Max's fear that the sedative had been too strong.

Turning his head on the pillow, Alec's eyes slowly blinked open. It took a few seconds then--

He moved so swiftly it was incredible, especially considering he'd only moments before been unconscious. On moment 494 was lying still on the cot, and the next his inhumanly strong hand was around her throat. Hazel-green eyes filled with murderous fury as he grated, "What the hell's goin' on?"

Suffocating, unable to answer, Max clawed at his fingers even as the door burst open behind them and several men poured into the room.

"No!" Max choked out as Alec released her and literally flung himself off the cot and at his attackers. "Alec! No! Just listen to me!"

But it was too late. In the span of less than ten seconds -- his style only slightly dulled by remnants of the drug in his system and the fact he was barefoot -- the genetically engineered supersoldier had taken down all four of the human guards in a flurry of expert martial arts moves: one man sprawled -- perhaps dead -- on the floor by the door, the other three in a groaning painful heap like broken sacrifices at the X5's feet.

Done with his task, Alec turned rabid eyes on Max. "Who are you?" he demanded, nostrils slightly flared, his voice deep and dangerous.

"I'm Max!" she said, holding out both hands in a futile gesture of supplication.

"Max wouldn't do this to me," the X5 declared, glancing toward the still open doorway where the sound of running feet told of approaching reinforcements.

"Alec, please!" she literally begged him. "Calm down and let me explain! No one's gonna harm you. I'm sorry I knocked you out, but let me talk and you'll understand!" She eyed the fallen men. "Just ... don't hurt anyone else, okay?"

Alec shook his head slowly, at the same time backing toward the door. He didn't believe her. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the way was temporarily clear.

"Alec! Don't!" Max screamed as he bolted out the door and into the hallway.

"Stop him!" another woman's voice shouted.

*****

494 knew that he was in deep shit, although whether betrayed by his own command, or duped by an impostor, remained to be seen. Either way, he'd been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt as the saying went.

Shaking off the last dregs of the sedative that bitch had injected him with, the X5 fled down the corridor, at the same time trying to get his bearings. It felt like he was underground somewhere, a bunker of some kind ... military ... perhaps an enemy government's stronghold although those black-garbed soldiers who'd tried to subdue him in the room had looked American and the words on the doors he fled past -- "laboratory," "engineering," "medical," "records" -- were in English.

Up ahead a pair of tightly closed double doors loomed, the only way through a numerical keypad. Alec's bare feet skidded on the slick cold tile floor and he faced back the way he'd just come, heart pounding. They'd be here any second -- his captors. He could hear them coming. There hadn't been any side corridors, just those rooms he'd run past. His eyes darted to the nearest door -- the one marked "medical." However, before he could move the double panels behind him slid open. Whirling around, he stopped himself in mid leap and instead found himself gaping.

"Logan?" he gasped. What the hell--?

"Alec," Eyes Only said, holding out his hand in a calming gesture much as Max had done earlier. "It's all right. You're with friends."

The X5's fingers went to the still stinging stab wound in the side of his neck, then his full lips curled in an ugly sneer. "Yeah, right," he snarled. Behind him he could hear the booted feet of soldiers.

"Don't shoot!" Logan shouted to the men, raising his hand higher. "Let me talk to him!"

"He's too dangerous!" a guttural voice called out. "That animal took out four of our guys back there!"

"Dangerous and valuable!" Logan returned in a loud voice of his own. "I said leave him alone! That's an order!"

Alec was beginning to see the whole picture, and he didn't like it one bit. "You're in charge?" he ventured, panting as he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, suddenly feeling slightly nauseous. "This is your little kidnap operation?"

"No!" Max said, arriving at the head of a group of six more guards. "It was my idea to bring you here. Blame me!" She shot a look at Logan. "But it wasn't my idea to knock you out. I said all along I could talk him into it, Logan."

"And I still say we can't trust him," the older man said as he stepped through the doors. "Don't even think about it," Logan added as Alec's eyes darted to the opening. "You're almost half a mile underground in a heavily guarded military facility. You wouldn't get far."

"We can trust him," Max insisted.

Logan smiled and shook his head. "He's too unpredictable ... a sociopathic liar. You've said so many times yourself, Max."

"Hey," Alec said, his eyes narrowing. "Standing right here, guys."

Max held out her hand. "Come with me," she said quietly. "Everything will be all right. Just hear me out, and if you don't like what I'm proposing I can have you back in TC by dinner time tonight just a little the worse for wear."

Still highly skeptical, not to mention pissed as hell, Alec looked from Max to Logan then back to Max again, suddenly remembering that kiss that had certainly felt real. Truth was, they had him, and -- usually one to try talking his way out of a bad situation first before resorting to more lethal means -- he figured that listening wouldn't do any harm, and just might save him a lot of pain and trouble.

"All right," he said, his voice clipped as he dropped his fighting stance and let arms fall relaxed to his sides. "I'm listening."

*****

Hot black coffee helped, and the sugar in it helped even more. Leaning back in the relatively comfortable chair, Alec sipped the brew, willing away his sedative-induced headache and the trembling in his limbs that had started after the adrenalin wore off. Max was seated beside him, Logan standing against the wall to one side. Glancing around the office, the X5 mentally put together a picture of its occupant -- a little game he'd always been good at -- even though the cherry-wood desk was at the moment empty.

Cherry ... which for some reason meant female to him. The boss of this whatever operation is a woman? Other than a computer keyboard the desk was empty. The chair behind it, however, was luxurious -- fine plush red leather -- a chair that probably cost more money than the TC Art Mall brought in in a month. The walls were painted pale blue, and the pictures on them were all of landscapes -- originals so far as he could tell, not prints, again speaking of money. Nothing much to work with there ... However, in addition to the paintings there was one item of curious interest. Enclosed in a custom-made box and mounted on the wall was a vial of dark liquid that looked like blood.

Alec's heart began to thump faster. Cupping the warm mug in his hands, he turned to Max. "What the hell's goin' on?" he said, repeating the question he'd already asked what seemed like a thousand times. "Where am I?" Then he suddenly remembered something. "And for that matter, how do I know you're even really four fifty two?"

She smiled faintly at that, then shook her head at Logan who had opened his mouth to speak. "You want proof I'm Max?" she said. "All right. Here it is. When you and me first hooked up back at Manticore you told me your designation was 494. I told you it didn't suit you, and then named you 'Alec' as in "Smart Alec.' You got this self-satisfied look on your face and said you could live with that."

"That's an old story," Alec said. "A lot of people at TC know you gave me the name I use." He thought a moment. "You had a second choice for me if I didn't like 'Alec.' What was it?"

Max's smile broadened into a genuine grin. "Dick," she said simply. "'Cause that's what you are sometimes."

Alec made a face at that, but was nodding at the same time. "Okay," he said. "So you're not Sam or some other clone. Why'd you drug me and haul my ass here? Am I in some kind of trouble?"

"No, you're not in trouble," Max began. "You're--"

Just then the there was a sound behind him, and Alec threw his attention to the door. "Son of a bitch," he said softly under his breath, at the same time putting down the coffee and rising to his feet. Poised to flee again, he eyed the hallway behind Major Renfro.

"Sit down, 494!" his former CO ordered, her small stature at odds with the authority in her voice.

Alec bit his tongue before the "Yes, ma'am" could come out, deliberately remaining on his feet as he watched her warily. "I thought she was dead," he said, speaking to Max, but not taking his eyes off the enemy.

"I thought so, too," Max said quietly. "Up until last week when I was hauled in here in much the same way you just were."

"Unconscious and against your will?" Alec quipped.

"Exactly."

"Yet here you still are," Alec said quietly. "This just keeps gettin' better 'n better, doesn't it?"

"Calm down, Alec," Logan said, his exoskeleton whirring softly as he straightened and came off the wall.

"I told you we shouldn't have done things this way," Max said, sounding genuinely dismayed.

"You know why this had to be," Renfro interrupted, moving around to take her seat behind the desk. She glanced at Alec. "We can't trust him. Not yet. But this way at least he gets to live if he turns us down."

And suddenly everything made sense to Alec -- or at least a little bit of sense. "You're recruiting, aren't you?" he said. "You want me for something, but if I say no you don't want me able to reveal this location. That's why all the cloak and dagger stuff, not to mention the drugs." He eyed Max. "I suppose I should be flattered you went to such lengths to protect my life."

"'Spose, so," Max said lightly. "Now sit down ass hole and listen up. This could be a real good deal for you, but -- like the boss lady said -- you're also free to walk away."

Alec started to ask about the kiss -- find out if it was part of the charade or not. But then he looked at Logan's stern face and let the question die in his throat. Not now. "You could have just asked," he said stiffly instead.

"Not really," Max replied. "And you'll understand when we explain. This has to be super secret, Alec. The group we're putting together isn't supposed to exist ... we -- you and I -- aren't supposed to exist."

"You mean we as in X5s?" he said.

"As in X5s being actively used for missions," Logan said. "The U.S. government is trying to distance itself from the whole Manticore project. It's taking the stance that the transgenics are all either dead, dying, or under control, the public way too nervous to think there are any of your kind still working undercover in the world. They also don't want enemy nations knowing just how successful the Manticore Project really was, in that it created soldiers like you and Max."

"Enemy nations already know," Alec said sarcastically, shaking his head and not understanding. "It's no big secret that Manticore went down and a bunch of supersoldiers are now runnin' an art mall in Seattle," he glanced up at the ceiling for a second, realizing what he'd said sounded a bit absurd, "incongruous as that may be," he added. "It's also no big secret who Max and I are. Our pictures have been on the front page of New World Weekly more times this year than Big Foot and space aliens put together." He locked eyes with his X5 counterpart. "I gather you want me on this elite team of yours?"

Logan's sigh was quite audible (and rude Alec thought), but Eyes Only waited for Max to speak since the you had obviously been meant for her.

"Yes," Max said simply.

"Against my better judgment," Logan chimed in.

The major simply rested her chin on steepled hands, and looked amused, too bright brown eyes going from one X5 to the other as if watching some sort of game.

"Why?" Alec asked. "You don't trust me. You never have and you never will. Why me? Why not Stoop or Nick or one of the other guys. They're all X5 ... all Manticore trained ... hardcore military ... and most of the time you're a hell of a lot more polite to them than you are to me. Any one of them would probably gladly join back up if given the chance."

"Because they're automatons," Max said quietly. "Ruined." She glanced at Renfro then back to him. "You're a free thinker, Alec. Manticore's brainwashing might have produced a lot of obedient soldiers, but it also destroyed the creative abilities in all but a few of the most stubborn." She smiled slightly. "The missions they want to send us on require a lot of instant decision making. We won't have back-up or access to help or advice. Also, the assignments will most likely be fluid ... changing as we go. They ... they asked me who I'd pick to be my partner, and I picked you."

Dark blond eyebrows rose. "Really!" he said, the word an exclamation, not a question.

"Really."

"Against my better advice," Logan said darkly.

Alec turned and looked at the man. "And just what part are you playing in this little spy game?" he asked.

"Technological support," the older man said dryly.

"Of course," Alec said. He turned back to his sister X5. "And you wanted me ... your old bud Alec ... in spite of all your bitchin' and moanin' all the time about how unreliable and unpredictable I am?"

"I told you why," Max said quietly.

"And that other thing you told me, back at the apartment?" Alec said.

Her eyes widened.

"Truth or lie?"

"Can we discuss that later?" she said.

He smirked. "Would have been easier if I'd just taken that drink, right? With your nice little sedative already pre-mixed in and no seduction necessary?"

"Yeah, it would have," she said, squirming uncomfortably on her chair.

"Seduction?" Logan said.

"That was pretty low, Maxie," Alec said, ignoring the others in the room. "Even for you."

"I had to get you here," she said, her tone tinged with desperation. "Things are moving fast and--"

"You could've just asked." He pinned her with his eyes -- hard -- and she squirmed again.

"Will you hear us out?" she said, unable to meet his gaze.

"If I don't, what? TASERs the next time?"

"No," Renfro said. "You'll be blindfolded and taken back to Terminal City."

Somehow Alec doubted it would be that simple ... or safe. Still, he was a bit intrigued. "All right," he said. "I'll listen. But first up you'd better tell me that this job pays really well."

"It's always about money with you, isn't it?" Max snapped. "Never about duty or loyalty or ... or ..."

"Friendship?" Alec supplied. He glanced at the major. "How about not workin' for the people who tried to barbecue me?"

"Pay's thirty grand a year," Max said.

Alec snorted with disdain. "Hell, I'd go back to Jam Pony if that's all I wanted to earn, and no one would be shootin' at me." He gave her a look, then sobered. "I can make ten times that free lancin' if I want to and you know it."

"You don't want to be a mercenary," Max said. "If you did you'd be gone by now. This job involves a lot of intelligence gathering ... infiltration ... undercover work ... your specialities I believe?"

"I'm an assassin, Max," Alec said. "Or at least that's what I spent my formative years training to be."

"It also will involve killing on occasion," Renfro said. "But you already knew that. We're putting together a team of specialists to be a new Unit under control of the NSA. Total autonomy. No accountability."

Alec actually liked the sound of that "no accountability" part, but he kept his expression neutral.

"Your skills will be put to good use," Renfro continued. "452 needs a suitable partner. Most of the foreseeable missions would be a two-man job. When you're not on duty or in the bullpen, you'd lead your normal life back at Terminal City."

"No James Bond apartment?" Alec quipped.

"No," Renfro said. "But we will provide weaponry, technical assistance, and transportation."

"You're talkin' 'Mission Impossible' scenarios, aren't you?" Alec said. "If we fail, we don't exist?"

"Correct."

"Why me, again?" he had to ask. "One of your most unreliable Manticore soldiers ... the failure who didn't make Quantico grade?"

"You speak fourteen languages, 494," Renfro sighed. "You have a superior I.Q., an incredible procedural memory, and the gift of empathy. You can insinuate yourself into any situation, anywhere, under any circumstances and not only survive but thrive. People trust you instinctively. Plus, your charm and way with women is pretty much legend -- or so 452 tells me. That could be a distinct ... advantage ... at times."

"Legend?" Max sniffed. "I wouldn't call it 'legend'."

"Be quiet," Alec chided her. "I'm gettin' complimented by the boss."

"You're also X5," the major continued. "With all the bells and whistles that entails. You're healthy ... your DNA stable which is more than I can say about some of your brothers and sisters ... and, in spite of your twin's malady, you haven't gone insane -- at least not yet."

"And Max?" Alec asked. "Why her? One of your rebels, not to mention the person who supposedly killed you. Which, by the way, I'm also wonderin' about."

"I was wounded, but rescued from the fire by some of the guards," Renfro said simply. "As for 452, her position as leader of the Terminal City transgenics made her a natural choice. Obviously, she's a survivor ... as are you."

"Who else is on this so-called team?" Alec asked, eying Logan.

"A couple of others," Max said. "Plus our handler."

"Handler?" Alec said. "It's not--?"

"--I'll supervise," Renfro said. "But direct operations will be under someone who's quite familiar with your species. He just arrived today."

Light dawned on Alec and he closed his eyes, the headache beginning to return. "Oh, let me guess," he said quietly. He looked at Max. "You know who it's gonna be, don't you?"

"I've got my suspicions," she said grimly.

Renfro was smiling. "That's right, kids," she said. She pressed a button on the corner of her desk and a moment later there was a knock on the office door. "Come in," she said loudly.

"Shit," Alec said softly.

"I'll second that," Max agreed as Colonel Donald Lydecker stepped into the room.

*****

"You can go home," Max said quickly to Alec. "They promised they'd let you go if you didn't want in."

Alec held up one finger, shushing her. "No," he said, watching Lydecker speculatively. "This is gettin' interesting." Then, to the colonel, "I was never your favorite back at Manticore. Why me? Why now?"

"Because -- whether I like it or not," Max butted in, "you and me make a good team, Alec."

"No," Alec insisted, his eyes still on Lydecker. "That's not it. Or at least not all of it."

"I requested you, ass hole!" Max insisted, stomping her foot on the floor to emphasize the point.

"And I'm flattered," Alec replied, still without looking at her, "but these bastards want me for a specific reason. I know Manticore. I know how they think, and nothing they do isn't deliberate. Why. Am. I. Here?"

Lydecker smiled slightly, adjusting the collar of his suit coat and shifting his stance. "You've matured well, 494," he said. "Gotten sharper."

Max whirled on Renfro. "You told me to pick my man, and I did! What's this all about? Why do you people want Alec?"

"Because I have a mission for him," the older woman replied. "A mission only he can perform."

Alec's lip quirked. "It better pay more'n minimum wage," he remarked.

"Alec, we're leaving," Max said, grabbing hold of his arm and pulling him to his feet. "This wasn't the deal."

"No, it wasn't," the X5 said, shaking her hand off. "But I think I like this one better."

"For once in your idiot life stop thinking about money!" Max snapped. "If they want you specifically for something, it can't be good."

"And you think any of their so-called missions will be good for us?" the X5 said scathingly, looking down at her. "Max, we're just meat to them. But at least we can be well paid meat."

"Get someone else for this," Max said levelly, again taking hold of Alec's arm.

But Alec stood his ground, more intrigued than he knew was good for him. If nothing else, now that he had the upper hand he wanted to at least find out what this was really all about. After all, if he refused in the end, what could they do? Kill him? Yes, a little voice warned in the back of his mind that he chose to ignore. "This wouldn't be about Ben, would it?" he ventured -- and instantly saw from the look on Renfro's face that he'd just hit the nail on the head.

"Oh, don't tell me," he continued, placing hands on hips. "My brother was involved with some bad guys at some point in his short but illustrious career on the outside, and now you need me to take his place and infiltrate some heinous den of thieves or whatever."

"Ben had a voice mailbox," Lydecker said, stepping forward. "We ... Manticore ... knew about it even before he was--" He shot a look at Max. "Before he died. He used it as a place where his clients could contact him."

"His clients?" Max said, one dark eyebrow rising in surprise. "Pardon me, 'Deck, but Ben wasn't exactly the entrepreneurial type. What kind of clients did he have?"

"Assassinations," Alec said simply, not nearly so surprised as Max. "Brother Ben was doin' what he'd been taught to do, and probably makin' pretty good money while he was at it."

"Exactly," Lydecker said, nodding. "In fact, one of his victims on the East coast was actually a murder for hire. He just had a little bit of fun with the poor devil before finishing him off. Now, the person we suspect hired Ben for that job has left a message in his mailbox again, asking for a meeting." His eyes went to Renfro, then back to Alec before continuing. "The man Ben murdered in January, 2020 was a high ranking official in the NSA. We need to know who's putting out contracts on U.S. agents and who the next target is."

It all made perfect sense, Alec thought. And was also a little bit too convenient for his liking. "Why would this person wantin' to hire Ben bother contacting him after all this time? That was what? Almost two years ago?"

Lydecker shrugged. "We don't know," he admitted. "But we kept the voice mail account open just in case of an eventuality like this."

"And because you knew you could have me impersonate my dead twin," Alec added.

"Yes."

"Alec, no," Max said quietly. "You don't want to be involved in this. Ben was insane, and God knows who he was hooked up with ... what kind of people. Yeah, I told you he was a good guy, but he could also be evil."

"Just like me," Alec said with a nasty little smile. Then he looked at her -- hard. "They are right about one thing, Max," he said softly.

"What?"

"The two of us make damn good partners and I don't mean just breeding -- that bit's a given. I'm talkin' about how we've worked together keepin' TC in one piece the past nine months."

"I know," she said, looking at the floor. "It's not that I don't want to work with you, Alec. I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't. Like they said, I requested it. But this plan for you to impersonate Ben is too dangerous."

"Max, it's logical," Alec said, forcing her chin up with his fingers and looking deeply into her eyes. He smiled again. "And I'm bettin' it pays a hell of a lot of money." He glanced at Renfro. "I do get to keep any cash that exchanges hands, right?"

"No!" three voices all said at once.

Alec pouted, and Logan spoke up for the first time in quite awhile. "You're fools if you trust him," Eyes Only said. "He's only in it for the money, not out of loyalty to his country like the rest of us. I told you, Max, that this was a really bad idea, bringing him here ... relying on him ..."

"It's too good of an opportunity to miss," Renfro said vehemently. "The Committee wants to see us make good on our promise that we can still put the transgenics to good use. It's a perfect chance to show them what we're capable of."

"Why do you even care?" Max said nastily. "Last time I checked, you wanted us all dead because we were inconvenient."

"I care because transgenics are the only weapon humanity has left against the Breeding Cult," Renfro spat right back. "We don't have the funds or resources or the time to make more, and the Cult is moving now."

"Even though their big comet was a dud?" Alec asked.

"Oh, was it a dud?" Renfro said, her dark eyes glittering. "Or will the pathogen simply take time to make its way into the food chain?"

"Whatever!" Max said loudly. "We get it. You want your soldiers to come back into the fold and this operation is the first step. But Alec's not going to go out and impersonate his psychotic brother."

"Yes, I am," Alec said.

Max whirled on him. "Why? They already told you there's no money in it."

"True," Alec conceded. "But maybe this will be a way to clear my good family name."

"Oh please!" Max scoffed. "Since when did your so-called family name mean anything to you?"

"Ben was my twin brother," Alec said, working out the justification to himself as he talked. "He did some pretty bad things, and if I can make up for part of that then why not?"

"Works for me," Lydecker said, smiling broadly and looking as if he were about to applaud. "If that's what it takes to get this cocky little punk out in the field, then who am I to question his motivation?"

"When's the meet?" Alec said as Max threw her hands up in the air.

"Tomorrow, ten a.m.," Renfro said. "In New York. We have a plane on standby. You can be briefed in flight."

"Can I have my shoes back?" Alec asked innocently.

Max hit his arm, hard.

"Ouch!"

"Ass hole," she muttered. "You have no idea what you're getting into."

"As if some mission you approved of would be any less dangerous," Alec said snidely.

Max had the decency to look away.

"Look," he said in a low voice as Renfro and Lydecker conferred about something and Logan continued to glare at them from the corner. "You and I both know that someday you're gonna get me killed. And I--"

"I will not!" Max protested, the look in her eyes genuinely anguished. "That's not why I requested you as my partner, Alec. I really thought we could work together."

"Then lets," the X5 said. "Work together I mean. On this. I'm not afraid to say I need you, Maxie. I'll do it by myself if I have to, but I'd be a whole lot more comfortable knowin' you're nearby."

"Of course I'll help," she said gently. "I never intended to leave you high and dry anyway. I don't trust Lydecker or Renfro, and Logan's--" She bit off the words.

"Logan's what?" Alec asked with a glance in the older man's direction.

"Not exactly happy with me at the moment," she finished. "I can't count on him like I used to."

"Well," Alec said magnanimously. "You can count on me." Then he winked. "Providin' of course that kiss of yours was the real deal."

"That was--" Again she hesitated, seemingly at a loss for words.

He waited, arms crossed, watching her.

"That was nice," she said lamely. "But it was really just a way to get you here so don't make a big thing out of it."

Alec's lips turned down in a mock frown. "Max, I'm hurt. And here I thought you'd given in to your feelings for me at last."

"Shut up!" she said, again hitting him on the arm, hard enough this time to make him wince.

"I was just sayin'--"

"494!" Lydecker barked. "If you're going to do this, then we need to leave for the airfield now."

"Yes, sir," the X5 returned, the "sir" automatic. "Ben 2.0 reporting for duty."

"Are you in, 452?" the colonel asked.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Max said, tossing her dark hair back defiantly, then her eyes darting to Logan.

"Cale?" Lydecker queried.

"I'm in," Eyes Only said easily, straightening from his slouch, exo servos whirring.

"The band's back together then," Renfro said, a satisfied look on her face. "The mission's a go."

*****

Ben. Alec wasn't Ben. He never had been ... never could be?

"Don't smile so much," Max said, turning in her plane seat to face her partner. "Ben was more ... serious."

"I'll bet he was," Alec said dryly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye as he re-tied his boot lace. "I've still got a headache, you know," he added. "Thanks to your little stunt with the hypo. Was that really necessary, Max?"

She had a feeling the jab to his neck wasn't the only thing Alec was referring to.

"Got the job done, didn't it?" she quipped, taking a quick look in Logan's direction. Her "ex" was seated several rows ahead on the small private jet, reading a newspaper. Max lowered her voice. "Not that it's any of your business, but what I said about me and Logan being broken up was true, so me kissing you was no big deal." She fidgeted, suddenly uncomfortable under that frank hazel-eyed gaze. "It was nothing," she added firmly.

"Yeah, nothin'," Alec repeated, still watching her with catlike wariness.

He always could read her pretty well -- the talent not mutual on her part -- and that made Max nervous. "We were talking about Ben," she said, changing the subject back to its original version.

"Who wasn't exactly a laugh riot like yours truly," Alec replied. "Lemme guess. He was all angsty and tortured, cursin' the world for the lousy hand he'd been dealt in life, right?"

"More like he was obsessed," Max said, thinking back to her brief time with Alec's brother as an adult. "Contrary to what it seems like, Ben wasn't evil, he was broken. Manticore had raised him to be a soldier, for a single purpose. When he lost that purpose he didn't have anything to hang onto, so he began making up his own world trying to resolve things."

"Max, he was a serial killer," Alec said quietly. He glanced down at the information in the folder he'd been given. "In January, 2020 Ben had already massacred quite a few people. True, this particular mark was for hire, but that doesn't make him any less insane."

"He didn't act insane," Max said, not quite sure how to explain this to Alec. "He acted ... intense ... dedicated ... and like he desperately needed someone's approval."

Alec seemed to ponder that. Then, "How about my physical looks?" he asked abruptly.

Max studied 494's handsome face for a long moment, taking in those gold-flecked green eyes ... the freckles on his nose that few people noticed ... the full lips and high cheekbones that Lydecker had once told her came from a tad bit of Native American in his cocktail ... "Ben was extremely proud of his body," she said carefully. "He considered himself far better than ordinary humans and was really egotistical about it."

"Nothin' wrong with admittin' the truth," Alec said, dead serious. "We are better."

"Yeah," she said, "but you don't go around killing people just because you don't think they measure up to your standards of genetic perfection."

"True. I'm a real tolerant kind of guy one might say."

"Ben wasn't," Max said. "tolerant that is. He had no patience for fools or inferiors."

"You mean he was arrogant," Alec supplied.

"Yes. And before you say it, yes, you're arrogant too, but not in such a Nazi way. You're just extremely at home in your own skin, Alec. Ben wasn't. For all of his physical perfection, he didn't like himself nor was he comfortable with who he was. That, I think, was the root of his insanity even moreso than anything genetic. All of those men he killed ... he tattooed his own bar code on their necks before he hunted them down. Ben was trying to kill himself," she added sadly, "over and over again."

"493 was a paranoid schizophrenic," Lydecker said from his seat across the aisle where he'd been sitting with head tilted back and eyes closed. "It is genetic, but just because an X5 carries the defective gene in his DNA doesn't mean the malady will necessarily manifest. It takes a trigger ... maybe environmental ... some theorize viral ... Whatever it was, 493's insanity bloomed sometime after the '09 escape, perhaps exacerbated by his being in such a chaotic world."

The colonel straightened in his seat and looked directly at Alec. "You, 494, on the other hand, were raised in a controlled environment, your formative years carefully crafted, your every thought controlled. You stayed sane. Your psy-ops evaluation in the summer of 2020 showed no sign of schizophrenia although--" He stopped.

"Although what?" Alec said darkly, his brows drawing down. "I got a clean bill of health. Renfro said so. They wouldn't have assigned me a breeding partner if I hadn't."

"Like I said, it is genetic," Lydecker repeated. "You're not schizophrenic, 494, but you did show tendencies toward manic depression which is theorized to be rooted in the same flaw on the DNA strand."

Manic depression? Max thought. It made sense in a way, and would explain, for one thing, the way he'd acted during that whole Rachel Berrisford fiasco. Manic, Alec was a force to be reckoned with, but when deeply depressed he was ... deadly?

Alec knew darn well what she was thinking. "I'm fine," he said firmly. "Neither manic, nor depressive at the moment, although Lord knows I have reason to be a bit blue considerin' how a certain someone I trusted tricked me."

"We considered medicating you," Lydecker added softly. "But then the gene bank was destroyed and Renfro rushed to begin her breeding program. Your fertility was too valuable, so the possible flaw in your DNA was ... overlooked shall we say." He leaned toward them, blue eyes keen. "You don't have any problems do you, 494? Depressed spells? Times of uncontrollable activity?"

"No," Alec said flatly.

Again, Max remembered Rachel Berrisford, but kept her mouth shut. After all, it wasn't as if Alec hadn't had reason to be a bit psychotic during that period of time, considering what Manticore had done to him and the girl he'd loved.

"So, what you're gettin' at is that I may be more like Ben than I think," Alec said.

"Something like that," Lydecker said with a little smile.

"Just study the file," Max snapped. "And tone down the high verbal. Oh, and shut down the charm. Ben wasn't charming. He was ..."

"He'd just lean on people until they did things his way," Alec supplied, understanding because he, too, could be like that when necessary.

"Yeah."

"We'll be landing in an hour," Logan called back from his seat, making Max wonder how much her ex had heard.

"Study," she admonished Alec. "'Cause it's almost show time."

*****

"You know," Alec remarked as they walked down the ramp of the plane. "It's really easier bein' a bad guy."

Max shot him a look.

"No," Alec argued as Lydecker regarded the chatty X5 with daggers in his eyes. "I mean, when I was workin' for the other side everything was a whole easier. No worries about consequences or morals. Just follow orders and I always had a roof over my head, plenty to eat, and the company of my own kind. I see why Ben felt lost on the outside. Thrown into the real world as an adult is bad enough. It must have been hell for a kid."

"No worries or consequences?" Max said, dark eyebrows rising. She lowered her voice. "You mean Rachel Berrisford's death wasn't a consequence?"

Alec had the decency to look guilty, lowering his head and turning away for a moment. "Then there was that," he agreed softly. "Okay, so there were consequences ... bad ones ... and I know I'm better off now than I was then. There, you satisfied?"

"Question is, are you?"

"Not really," Alec said looking her straight in the eye, but he wasn't talking about his mission.

Max turned her attention briefly to Logan who was talking with Lydecker in the shadow of the jet, then she was back with him. "That kiss--" she stammered.

"What about it?"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not. Well, I'm sorry you stabbed a needle in my neck just as I was beginnin' to enjoy myself, but that kiss wasn't part of the game, was it? Tell me that wasn't for real."

"It wasn't for real."

"Liar," he chided her softly.

Again, she looked toward Logan.

"You said you two lovebirds were broken up," Alec pushed her. "Is that a lie, too?"

"No," Max admitted. "You know it's not. Logan and me haven't been together since ... since ..."

"The virus got cured and you guys gave the real thing a shot," Alec supplied for her, reading between the lines and beginning to understand. "Cliff Notes version, the fantasy was better'n the reality."

"Something like that," she mumbled, studying the tarmac.

"So, what's with the kiss? That was real, Max."

"Hey," she said lamely. "You're a good lookin' guy and I'm a hot blooded gal. You do the math."

Alec smirked. "Why Maxie, are you tellin' me that you've been pinin' for yours truly all this time? I knew it, you know. That you secretly wanted my body." He was being over the top on purpose, trying to lighten the mood, but at the same time he was watching her closely, hoping he hadn't gone too far.

"Okay," Max said guiltily, not able to look him in the eye. "I admit I've thought about it ... you and me."

Now that he had her, Alec wasn't sure what to do with her. That answer was unexpected, and very un-Maxlike. "You and me?" he parroted.

"It's a possibility," she said with a toss of her head. "Now shut up about it because we've got a mission. And remember. You're supposed to be Ben."

Lydecker strode over and grabbed his X5 by the arm, pulling Alec away from Max. "You sure you can do this?" he asked when they were out of earshot from the rest. "Because if you can't pull it off, I need to know now."

"You mean can I impersonate my dead brother?" Alec said. "Piece of cake."

"No. I mean can you do whatever it takes to reach our target, including fulfilling a contract if necessary."

"A contract?"

"Assassination, 494, in case you haven't been listening. Ben was an assassin for hire, and I rather imagine that's what our mark wants to see you about. You might need to actually do the deed in order to reach the boss."

Alec's gut clenched. This was an angle he hadn't considered. "It won't come to that," he said quietly. "I'll get you your big fish without collateral damage."

"That might not be possible," the colonel said, his grip on his X5's forearm tightening. "I know you don't have the killer instinct like--"

"Hey!" Alec said loudly, sensing the insult coming.

"--like most of your brothers and sisters back at Manticore," Lydecker continued. "It always took a lot of psychological manipulation on our part to kick you into action, and even then we failed."

"Get to the point," Alec said tightly.

"The point is, if our mark requires a demonstration of your abilities or loyalty you're going to have to go through with it. Can you do that, 494? Because if not, this mission is called off as of now."

Alec narrowed his eyes. "Will I get extra pay if I pop an innocent?" he asked.

Lydecker pondered the request for a moment. "Yes," he finally said. "Consider it a bonus ... an incentive if you will to perform. I should have remembered what a powerful motivating factor money always is for you."

Alec's lips pulled back in a wicked smile as he looked down at the hand Lydecker had gripping his arm.

"So, we understand one another?" the colonel said.

The X5 made a fist, yanked himself free, and looked his former CO straight in the eye. "Yeah, we have a deal," he said. "Extra pay if I hafta off someone." Then his voice dropped an octave. "But 'Deck ... also know that if you ever try'n force me, or Max, I'll kill you for free." Then he smiled jauntily -- and walked away.

*****

"I'm in need of your services again."

Alec hadn't really been all that surprised when Ben's former employer turned out to be a woman. After all, there was no reason the underworld shouldn't be an equal opportunity employer. Approximately 40 years old, auburn-haired with collars and cuffs probably not matching, the medium-built woman with her modest yet ample cleavage looked to him as if she'd had more than a little bit of "work" done to keep her body from slipping into middle-age. However, exquisitely keen eyes -- one brown and one green -- warned him to not take this matron too lightly. There was also something dangerous about the way she crossed her legs in that tight fitting red silk dress while seated ...

Their meeting place was a secluded corner of Central Park. Madam X had back-up of course -- Alec's overdriven senses picking up several shadowy figures lurking in the bushes. But then he had back-up too -- namely Max listening in on the subdermal mic stuck to the mastoid bone behind his right ear.

"Again?" Alec said with a heavy sigh, trying to sound vaguely bored in order to draw out more details.

"Yes," the woman replied, pursing red-lipsticked lips. She rummaged in her handbag for a cigarette. "I had a miscarriage. My doctors told me I needed to wait at least a year before trying again. Now -- I'm ready."

Alec's thoughts scrambled for firmer footing. Surely she wasn't talking about-- "A miscarriage?" he said carefully.

"Well, it wasn't as if we didn't know that could happen," she said angrily. "I knew the risks ... that human/X5 crosses are rarely successful. Still, when they are a success, the children can be ... spectacular."

"Human/X5 crosses," Alec repeated, wanting to be sure Max had heard that.

Copy, her voice said softly in his hear. I don't think we're talking assassination here, Alec.

"Neither do I," he murmured. Brother Ben was not only a psychotic serial killer but a stud-for-hire as well?

"What?" Madam X said.

"Nothing," Alec said quickly.

"I want to try again," the woman said firmly. "I'll pay the same, of course, plus ten thousand more when I'm pregnant, and another twenty when a viable child is born." She stood up and held out her hand to him. "My car will take us to the hotel."

Things were moving a little bit too fast for Alec. For one thing, Renfro and Lydecker apparently weren't going to catch any bad guys this time around unless they intended to arrest Madam X for solicitation. For another, he had no intention of fucking a female for pay -- not now, not ever. Maybe the woman had hired Ben to kill someone in the past ... maybe not ... but that obviously wasn't her intention now.

Alec, Max whispered to him. Get out of there!

It might have been his imagination, but Alec thought his partner sounded a little bit ... concerned. He smiled slightly -- an expression Madam X thought was for her.

Belay that, 494, Lydecker's harsh voice suddenly cut across the channel, making Alec wince. This woman has been I.D.ed as Tricia Poindexter. She's at the top of one of New York's largest crime syndicates. Her proposition will gain you beneficial access.

The X5 wondered if Lydecker realized what a double entendre that remark was.

"What's wrong?" Tricia said, still holding out her hand. "I don't remember you being particularly shy before." She smiled in a predatory way as her eyes raked his body. "In fact, I recall that you're quite bold, not to mention innovative."

True, Alec thought. Just not with women he wasn't particularly attracted to.

He licked his lips, then glanced over to where Ms. Poindexter's limousine was waiting with door open.

Get in! Lydecker's voice snarled in his ear.

Alec glanced once toward the parking lot where he knew Max and the colonel were waiting in a van.

Get in! That's an order, soldier! Gain access to her headquarters, gain her confidence, and find out what you can!

The trouble was, Alec thought, it wasn't Ms. Poindexter's "headquarters" she was going to have him access. He waited a moment then, hoping to hear Max's voice in his ear ... hoping to hear her tell him to get the hell out of there again. But there was nothing but silence, and the knowledge that Lydecker was watching his every move. Unless he wanted to blow everything sky high, he was trapped. Declining politely didn't seem to be an option. Eying the burly bodyguards warily, Alec shrugged broad shoulders in his leather jacket, and climbed into the car.

*****

Candlelight, wine, soft music, a fire in the fireplace ... the works ... Tricia offered him a glass of Chardonney which Alec sipped because he honestly didn't know how to refuse. This place didn't look like any big secret headquarters to him. Rather, it appeared to be a love nest of some sort where the woman undoubtedly hosted her sexual encounters.

"Why me again?" Alec asked, stalling for time as he sat straighter in the blue velvet armchair.

She'd changed into a transparent black silk negligee that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. The lady was, indeed, well preserved for her age. Still, even with her waist length auburn hair undone and flowing down her back and her long-lashes eyelids fluttering coyly, she didn't quite achieve the desired effect. Ms. Poindexter wasn't a teenager, or even a young woman, but rather a predatory middle-aged female at the end of her fertile years who wanted him to inseminate her so she could hopefully conceive a genetically superior baby, and there was nothing at all romantic about that.

Manticore didn't train me for this, Alec thought, the irony of his Mrs. Robinson situation suddenly tempting him to laugh.

"You know why I picked you," she said, stepping closer and running a possessive hand down his arm. "You're X5 ... the top of the line model ..."

"There are others, in Terminal City," Alec tried. "Two years ago you didn't have many to choose from, just the escapees, but now things are different."

"And I still want my Ben," she whispered in his ear. Then her tongue was trailing down the side of his face even as that hand cupped something that definitely wasn't hers.

Alec gulped, and resisted the urge to move away. Normally, he would have found a situation like this fun and sexy, but right now he just felt like a piece of meat.

"What' wrong?" Tricia cooed, her ministrations intensifying. "Don't I excite you any more?"

She began working loose the top button of his jeans, and Alec grabbed her wrist -- hard.

"That hurts!" she exclaimed, trying to pull away.

"Deal's off," Alec said tersely, getting to his feet. "I'm not this hard up for cash."

"You're apparently not 'hard up' for anything," Ms. Poindexter said nastily with a meaningful glance at his crotch. "What's wrong with you?"

"Let's just say I'm not in the mood," Alec replied honestly.

"Let's just say you don't have a choice in the matter," Tricia mocked, at the same stepping over to an antique desk and pressing a button.

Before Alec could react, three goons with very large guns had stepped into the room.

"Now," she said, folding arms across her chest and tapping a foot petulantly. "Take off your clothes -- all of them -- and get into that bed.

This was ludicrous, Alec thought. Not to mention embarrassing. She was going to try and rape him at gunpoint ... him ... an X5 supersoldier.

"No!" Alec said, indignant as well as royally ticked off. He took a step toward the door, calling her bluff, but the sound of three guns cocking made him pause with his hand on the knob.

"I said strip!" she commanded.

"And if I don't?" Alec asked, not turning around.

"Then I'll have you killed -- right here, right now -- and have my doctors harvest your sperm posthumously." Her smile was predatory. "Believe me. This way," she indicated her negligee, "will be a whole lot more comfortable for both of us."

They can do that? Alec thought with a slight shudder. Still, he wasn't about to let her try. Fortunately, he was pretty sure he could take these guys. Unfortunately ... he also knew that people were going to die.

Gathering himself, senses focusing, the X5 coiled to make his move when--

The door burst open and Max charged in. "There you are!" she exclaimed in a piercingly loud voice, at the same time grabbing him by the wrist. "How dare you do this to me, Ben? How dare you cheat on me!"

"How dare I?" Alec said, his eyes wide with confusion. Sliding a look in Tricia's direction he saw the hatred in the older woman's eyes, and knew he had to be careful. "It was the money!" he babbled, thinking fast. "We need the money for the baby! But I can't go through with it! Not when I love you so much!"

"Baby?" Now it was Max's turn to be flustered.

Alec turned to Ms. Poindexter, shoulders back, chin in the air, and proclaimed dramatically, "I should have been straight with you, Tricia. The truth is, the reason for my reluctance has nothing to do with you, but rather with the fact I've found my own true love." Reaching out, Alec yanked Max to him in a forceful embrace that resulted in her face being buried against the front of jacket.

"Ow," she mumbled into the leather. "My eye."

Alec ignored her as he continued his eloquent speech. "Max and I found one another about a year ago. It wasn't love at first sight, but we gradually grew closer ... leading the transgenic cause and all ..."

"Leading the cause?" Tricia drawled. "I recognize 452. I'm not a fool, but I thought it was a clone of yours, 494, who was at her side in Terminal City."

It occurred to Alec that they perhaps ought to have altered his bar code before this mission, but too late now. "494 doesn't exist!" he exclaimed. "That story about a clone was made up to protect my true identity. I'm the one who's been working with Max -- my true love -- in Terminal City all these months. It's been me ... Ben ... all along."

"My ear," Max growled as his grip on her head tightened and he willed her to keep her mouth shut. He could spin this ... he knew he could ...

"And now she's pregnant with our love child," Alec said choking back pretend tears. "I only answered your summons because we're so low on money. I thought I could go through with it, but I know now that I can't. Surely you can understand the plight of young lovers, Tricia, can't you?"

"Oh, God," Max moaned against his jacket.

"Do you love him?" Tricia suddenly asked, the question directed at Max.

The X5 turned in her "lover's" arms. "Yes," Max said adamantly. "I love him." She looked up into Alec's eyes. "And he loves me. We were paired off by Manticore almost two years ago. We're mates ... genetically, emotionally, and physically. And now I'm carrying his baby."

"As was I," Tricia said quietly, her hand going to her flat stomach.

"Please," Max said. "Find another donor. There are a lot of X5s out in the world now. It shouldn't be too difficult. Leave my Ben to me." She looked up then, and drew Alec's head down into a kiss ... a kiss that felt very, very real to the X5.

"Very well," Tricia finally said, motioning to her men to lower their guns. "You can leave."

"Thank you," Alec said, meaning it, even as he took hold of Max's hand and led her out the door. But he paused in the threshold to add, "And good luck, Tricia. I hope you find someone who can give you your own child." Then he gave a little nod, and whisked his "mate" away.

*****

"You know Lydecker's gonna kill us, not to mention Renfro," Alec said as the they ran down the stairs together, oddly enough still hand-in-hand. At the bottom, he looked at their joined fingers, which is when Max finally slowly pulled away.

"Not if they can't find us," she said, glancing right and then left on the busy street.

As if on cue, Lydecker's voice barked in Alec's ear. 494, report! What the hell are you doing?

Making a face, Alec reached up, peeled off the tiny transceiver, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

"Those things cost money," Max remarked.

"Ask me if I care."

"We're a long way from home, Alec. We need them to get back."

"No," the X5 said with a heavy sigh and a plan already in mind. "We don't."

Max started to ask him what he was talking about, but then she saw the determined gleam in his eyes and grinned wickedly instead. "Carry on, soldier," she said graciously, making a bowing motion. "Impress me."

"Always," Alec said with a sexy smile that, even though he didn't know it, made Max's heart begin to pound.

*****

Max and Alec stole two motorcycles and traveled a thousand miles before finally stopping for the night in a tiny remote Midwest village. Their cell phones were off. No one knew where they were. For awhile they had complete freedom -- a rare and precious thing in their tormented lives.

Eventually they'd go home, to Terminal City, and face Lydecker and Renfro's wrath as well as the chastisements of their friends and family who were probably worried sick about them. But for now, the two tired transgenics simply wanted to rest and be at peace -- with each other.

X5-494 had been bred for fighting, the same as a pit bull or a game cock, the predator in him stronger than almost any other emotion or drive ... almost ...

"You're a good kisser," Max said, the remark coming out of the blue and surprising Alec so much he dropped the room keys on the floor. They'd agreed to share a hotel room for the night, split the cost. Flo's "No Tell Motel" might not be exactly five star, but to the two weary travelers the big double bed anchoring the center of the tiny room looked like Heaven. Besides, it was starting to snow outside and they were both already chilled to the bone, transgenic high metabolism not withstanding ...

"Thanks," Alec said carefully as he picked up the keys and set them on the night stand. "You're not so bad yourself." Then he had to add. "A shame we didn't find that out a bit sooner."

"What's wrong with us finding out now?" Max asked boldly as she threw herself down on the bed making the mattress springs creak.

Alec shook his head, confused. Surely she couldn't mean what she seemed to be implying. Surely she couldn't want him now. Not that he hadn't fantasized about Maxie every so often -- any man would -- but it was an imaginary scenario he always kept carefully in check in his mind because he knew those kinds of things would never really happen with 452, and there was no use getting his hopes up. Was there?

"Look," she said, eying him speculatively in a way Alec would once have found insulting but now knew was just ... Max. "You and me ... maybe it's a bad idea--"

"--or not," Alec said quickly, for some reason worried about blowing his shot here. After all, what more could he ask for? A cozy little hotel room with only one bed and a snow storm moving in outside. There was even a fireplace ... But then he remembered something ... or rather someone. "But I'm not gonna be the rebound guy here, Max," he said carefully as he stripped off his jacket and tossed it across the back of a chair.

"Logan and I are through," Max said. "We were weeks ago."

"Uh, huh," Alec said, plucking Max's cell phone from her jacket pocket and checking the missed calls. "Which is why the guy's called you fifteen times since we left New York."

"I admit I'm more over him than he's over me," Max said defensively. "But I also can't do anything about it except ... move on."

"Why the sudden change of heart about me, Max?" Alec asked brightly. "I mean, for a long time you figured me as an enemy of some kind."

"Maybe because you're such a good kisser," she teased.

"Or maybe," he said, his voice dropping along with his eyes as he took in her body, "because you finally realized I'm not such a bad guy after all."

"Let's test my theory first," Max said, moving toward him.

Alec held his ground, and a second later her arms were around his neck and her lips were caressing his. He tried to tell himself that this wasn't as good as it seemed -- and failed. Because it was good. In fact, it was the best he'd ever had.

And so was the rest of the night.

*****

"You know what the very first thing I really loved about you was?" Max murmured against his bare shoulder as they lay entwined together at dawn, quiet and satiated beneath the covers.

Half asleep, Alec ran his foot down the silken skin of Max's leg, then hooked his own leg over her thigh, drawing her closer to himself even as he tightened his embrace. "And what might that be?" he whispered seductively in her ear.

"I loved it that you weren't scared of me."

She felt his lips curve into a grin against her cheek.

"You mean it wasn't my hot body?" he taunted. He was waking up now, his hardness blossoming against her thigh. His hips moved and he left behind a streak of wetness on her leg.

"I mean it, Alec," Max said. "Everyone else in my life, except Zack ... when they found out what I am ... even Logan to a degree ... even Lydecker ... were afraid of me. You ... you never were. You just treated me normal."

"Max," Alec said, drawing back but still so close she could count every green speck in his golden eyes. "If I was afraid of you, I'd be afraid of myself."

"And you're not?" Max wondered. "At least a little bit afraid of yourself?"

Alec snorted softly and began nuzzling her neck with his nose, even as his hard-on became more insistent. "'Course not," he said. He glanced up then. "And that's one big difference between you and me, Max. Me, I'm proud of who and what I am. Mostly, I like myself, except for that whole ruthless assassin lurking in my genes bit. And even that has its advantage. Face it, Max, you and I are survivors. We can kill when we have to, but that doesn't make us evil. Yeah, we can break, like what happened with Ben, but so can ordinaries. There've been plenty of psycho humans too.

"Is this for keeps?" she suddenly asked.

Alec hesitated for only a fraction of a second, and she saw ... something ... flicker in those mesmerizing eyes. But then she also saw a decision in them. "It could be," he said. "If you want."

Now it was Max's turn to scoff. Sitting up in the bed -- pulling away from him -- she drew the blankets around her nakedness and rested her chin on her knees. "Just because we've finally--" she stumbled over the word, "copulated, doesn't make this a relationship Alec. Everyone in TC knows you'll sleep with almost any decent looking female, but you'll never be anyone's boyfriend."

Alec smiled faintly again, his eyes moving to the curtained window of the tiny motel room. The wind was howling outside, the snow storm in full fury. They weren't going anywhere for awhile ... "I see my reputation precedes me," he finally said. "Is that what you want?" he then asked, not looking at her but sounding vaguely puzzled. "A boyfriend?"

"I want someone to be with me," Max admitted. "Someone to love me ... share my life with me ... grow old with me ..."

"Ah," Alec said, his eyes shifting toward her at last. "The dream. I suppose you want a white picket fence too?"

"Maybe somewhere down the road," Max admitted. "But for now I'd settle for good sex, companionship, and someone I can count on -- not necessarily in that order." She touched his shoulder. His skin was warm and she remembered with a faint blush how she now knew the taste and scent of every inch of his body (and she did mean every inch) ... the salty goodness ... his fluids ... the testosterone laden, musky aroma of his sweat, hair, saliva, and semen ...

"I'm not good boyfriend material, Max," her delicious bed partner said softly. "You, of all people, ought to know that."

"So, in other words, you want to stay free? No permanent relationships?" Max forced the words out, surprised at how difficult they were to say.

"I'm sayin' you'd be better off without me," Alec answered. "People around me tend to get dead."

Now it was her turn to smile. "That's my line," she said. "You don't think I worry about you, too? That I"ll get you killed?" She wrapped her arms around him, drawing him close again, and he didn't resist. "Alec, you and me are two sides of the same coin as Mole would say. Can't you see that? It's why we could work while Logan and me, and Rachel and you didn't. We both know the odds and the dangers. We both know we'll probably get our asses killed someday. But for now why can't we just be happy for awhile?"

"I couldn't survive if something happened to you," Alec mumbled into her hair even as his mouth moved across her face ... found her lips. "Especially if it was my fault."

"I'm not so sure I could survive without you either," Max gasped as his weight bore her back on the bed and he pushed her legs apart. "Please," she half moaned as he mounted. "Tell me we can give it a chance? Us?"

"We can give it a chance," Alec said hoarsely, his eyes closed now as he slid inside of her and began to thrust. "Us."

Max arched her back, giving herself up willingly to the pleasure that was X5-494, legs wrapped around his waist as she first caressed then clawed at his bare back with her fingers while he bred her.

Amidst the heavy breathing and Alec's grunts of deep satisfaction, neither transgenic noticed that Max's cell phone on the night stand was flashing with another "missed call" message -- Logan's number again. Neither cared.

Which, in the grand scheme of things, was perhaps really how it was supposed to be.

THE END