parallax23 | Between The Lines -- Chapter 4

4: VOICE

“Hey Logan, it’s Max,” she said, hardly hiding the disappointment of talking to the answering machine. “Just letting you know that I got to San Francisco in one piece, and Alec’s with me. Don’t ask. Anyway, you know where to call… Bye.”

Max hadn’t found a proper signal to make a call during the entire trip; the bus drove in and out of dead zones like they were potholes on the road to civilization. To say she had been waiting to hear Logan’s voice would be an understatement, and she had been sorely disappointed to know he wasn’t there to answer her call. Asha was probably with him, going on about righting the wrongs of the world in her shrill voice so he couldn’t hear the phone ringing. She would try again later.

Her traveling companion was leaning against the bus terminal fence, casually waiting for her to finish talking on the cell phone she had finally gotten instead of hijacking his. Alec had seemed to be intently scouring the contents of his own cell phone screen when she walked towards him, but before she could see what he was up to, he shoved the device into his pocket.

“Voicemail, huh?” Alec commented, revealing that he had been using his transgenic hearing to eavesdrop on her.

“Logan’s probably busy. He doesn’t sit by the phone 24/7 waiting for me to call,” Max huffed defensively.

“Of course not, he’s busy rescuing kittens from trees and puppies from Cruella De Vil,” Alec retorted, standing up straight.

“Look, this is where we go our separate ways, got it? See you back in Seattle,” Max told him, then turned on her heel to walk away.

“We have the same return date. I checked your ticket wile you were sleeping. We should sit together again,” Alec informed her, mischief thick in his voice. “Since it was so comfy last time.”

Max cringed and gritted her teeth. “I’d rather ride back with White.”

She didn’t turn back as she kept walking away from him. The urge to kick herself for falling asleep on his shoulder resurged. The bastard knew it the whole time and he didn’t wake her, though he claimed that he didn’t notice. He was from Manticore, he could tell where everyone on the bus was while asleep and recount their every motion during the ride. He had to be aware that her head was there. Knowing his perverted mind, he probably enjoyed every minute of it.

Max kicked an empty soda bottle then shifted the weight of her duffel bag on her shoulder. It was her own fault. She had let her guard down. It was a moment of weakness. Madness even. She wouldn’t let it happen again. Her head needed to be in the game for this mission.

She looked up from her feet to see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance across the park. Zack had once said that Jondy had an apartment near there, before Lydecker was onto them. Jondy was probably long gone by now, keeping on the move in enemy territory like she’d been taught. A pang of loss echoed to Max’s core. Years hadn’t diminished the empty hole in her heart caused by losing her siblings had left. If nothing else, the hole had only gotten worse with the loss of Tinga, Ben, Brin, and Zack…

Perhaps someday, by another freaky coincidence, she would be reunited with Jondy. The universe had given her this chance to find her mother, what made it so impossible to that she’d one day find her sister? Until then life went on, traffic would flow, the tide would crash, and Max would get thrown out of cheap hotel after cheap hotel.

The first place she found to stay at was an old apartment complex in Chinatown, but the old Asian man behind the counter took one look at her and pulled out his broom and chased her out, screaming that he didn’t want “her kind” messing up his business.

At the next hotel a few blocks over, the woman at the front desk firmly told her that there weren’t anymore vacancies in spite of what the glowing neon sign said in the window. Max had tried to argue with her, but the woman threatened to call the police and that was the cue to exit.

Soon, Max had been pushed out of places that even charged by the hour. She had been stuck on a bus for almost a day without a proper shower, but she didn’t see how she looked any worse than the usual patrons of drug dealers, prostitutes and cheating spouses.

It was at the seventh hotel that she lost patience with the whole situation. She had practically run out of affordable places to stay and there was no way she could foot the bill for a place like the Four Seasons. Was there some sort of criminal convention going on that she couldn’t find a decent room to crash in?

The middle-aged guy at the counter looked like he belonged in a pre-Pulse grunge band with his long unwashed hair, yellowing wife-beater and jeans with no knees and several other holes. He was flipping through a newspaper when Max walked through the door, and didn’t even bother looking up to see her. “No more rooms left.”

“The sign out front said there were rooms available,” Max argued, her voice rough against his dismissive attitude. She dropped her bag on the floor, ready to stand her ground.

“Rooms are available, just not for you girls. Len made it pretty clear that he would mess up anyone who helped you bitches broker on the side,” he said indignantly, still not looking at her as he turned another page.

Max glared at him, unmoving from her spot in front of the counter. “I don’t know any Len. Just give me a room.”

“Can’t do that. Try the Lazy Eye Lodge down the street. That place will take any kind of business.”

“The place with the biohazard tape and warning from the Health Commission?”

He shrugged. “Not my problem.”

Max gritted her teeth in frustration then placed both of her hands on the desk to keep from punching him. “Listen up, if you think I’m some low-end call girl—”

“Oh come on Max, don’t sell yourself short,” came a voice from behind her. “If I didn’t know you, I’d think you were pretty high-end. Probably out of my price range…”

She would know that voice anywhere because no one else’s made her bristle with that much annoyance. Turning on her heel, she spun to face Alec, freshly groomed and ready for a night out on the town.

“She’s cool Jonah,” Alec told the other man, who was still leafing through his paper.

“Not taking any chances. Scram!”

Alec sighed. He knew he was going to regret this. “Max, you can crash in my room. Apparently, there’s some hooker strike going down and a bunch of the don’s girlfriends bailed on his place. I’m guessing people’ve been mistaking you for one of his girls and don’t want the trouble.”

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” Max groaned. She wasn’t sure what part of this scenario she was groaning at – rooming with Alec or someone thinking she was a prostitute.

“Yeah, I had that same reaction,” Alec replied. “Yo Jonah, toss me an extra key to my room.”

Jonah reached under the counter to pull out another key, then without breaking his gaze threw it over to where Alec was standing. Alec caught it with one hand and Jonah finally looked up from his paper to give Max the once-over. “It’s your funeral. Personally, I woulda held out for a blond with a bigger rack.”

Max wanted to reach across the counter and punch him in the face for that comment. She couldn’t though. She needed a place to stay for now. Maybe when she was leaving she’d rough him up a bit. “I’m sure you’re holding out for a bar of soap too.”

Before Jonah could respond, Alec grabbed Max’s duffel bag and ushered her up the stairs before they both ended up squatting in an abandoned building for the rest of the trip.

“Chill out,” Alec said as they climbed the steps. “Not only is the Lazy Eye a biohazard, they were cleaning up five chalk body outlines when I got here. I doubt you’d want to be somewhere with that many cops sniffing around.”

He had a point, so she didn’t reply to his comment. When he opened the door to the room, Max immediately surveyed the place. The green striped wallpaper was peeling and the windows looked like they hadn’t been washed in years, but there was a small private bathroom and no visible traces of vermin.

“There’s only one bed,” Max said in a shock of realization as she walked further into the room.

“Don’t worry, I have no problem sharing. You’re not exactly the kind of girl a guy kicks out of bed,” Alec said with a wicked smirk. When he saw the murderous look on her face, he stopped smiling. “The couch folds out Miss I Only Need Two Hours of Sleep. But if you change your mind, know that I’m not into BDSM.”

Max felt a flood of relief wash over her, then she glared at his insinuation. “I’d rather sleep on a bed of nails.”

“Suit yourself. A couple of things before I go – the guy on the floor above us has a meth lab, so if you hear any explosions it’s just him. If you hear bloodcurdling screams from this wall,” he tapped the wall that the couch was braced against, “the girl next door watches snuff films. Oh, and I used up all the hot water. Later.”

He tossed the room key to her.

Max caught them casually with one hand. “Somehow I think I’ll manage.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” Alec said, shutting the door behind him as he left.

When he was gone, she dialed Original Cindy to see how things were going on back on the home front. It was the usual Normal bitching and bipping about getting signatures, Sketchy getting toasted in the storage room, and the girl O.C. was looking to kick it with was whining about Alec being gone. In the middle of Cindy speculating on his possible locations, Max told her that he was in San Francisco with her. Her friend didn’t hide her shock that Alec had survived the entire bus ride unharmed.

Max especially didn’t like the tone O.C. took when she heard that not only was Alec with her but that they were sharing a room together. Cindy claimed she wasn’t insinuating anything Max knew better. Before she could straighten the whole thing up once and for all, the beep of the call waiting interrupted her. It was Logan. Original Cindy took that as her cue to hang up and told her that they would finish this conversation later.

“Hey stranger,” Max greeted him.

“How’s the City by the Bay?” he replied, a small laugh in his voice.

She sighed. “Not bad. It’s not raining. And there’s a hooker strike going on.”

“Sounds like you’re having fun. How’s the search for Martina?”

“Nothing yet. What about your end?”

“I got some more dirt from an informant out there. That was why I missed your call earlier. Martina was spotted around Midtown Terrace just two days ago. Also, my informant thinks that she and her father hadn’t been in contact for several years, though he was trying to find her,” Logan went on.

“Well now I know I won’t be breaking into the hospital in vain,” she said.

“At least you have Alec to watch your back,” Logan commented, a failed attempt at being reassuring.

Max scoffed at the notion. “I don’t need Alec. Besides he’s off doing his own thing.”

“It’s nice to hear your voice,” Logan told her softly. “Listen, I’ve got to meet with Matt Sung, he’s got some info on a corrupt judge in the Moretti crime family—”

“Say no more. I got it. Blah blah woof woof,” Max cut him off before he could continue.

She heard him sigh on the other end of the line. “Be careful.”

“I’m a genetically empowered super soldier trained to kill in several silent but deadly ways at the tender age of seven. I know a few loud ways too. Somehow I think I’m not the one who has to be careful.”

A/N: Sorry about being slow with the updates. I hope to have the next chapter up soon. It’s going to be more Max and Alec bonding, then they’re hot on the trail again.

Between The Lines -- Chapter 4

Original Comment from wesgibson