Carr nodded slowly. “If I might prescribe something? Allow yourself to feel relieved... and happy.”
Max turned to Logan, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him hard and deep and for a very long time. At first surprised, Logan got into the swing of things quickly.
Finally, Carr said, “Hey, you two — get a room!”
They broke their kiss off, and Logan said, “This is my room. You’re the sicko voyeur, Sam.”
Carr seemed about to make a potentially amusing remark, when Max bounded off the bed and grabbed the doctor by the elbow and started leading him out of the bedroom.
“Whoa, whoa,” he protested. “My bag!”
Behind them, Logan picked up the bag, put the black box inside, and followed them into the main room.
Logan said, “Sam, I don’t know how to thank you.”
“I do,” Max said.
And kissed him on the cheek.
Carr looked at her, apparently amazed that this tough little woman could be so tender.
“Thanks, Doc,” she said. “You’re a lifesaver — literally. It really is a shame you have to leave so soon.”
Carr was chuckling as Max — maintaining a fast pace — helped him into his parka and Logan handed him the Gladstone bag. At the door, Max gave him another quick kiss on the cheek and said, “Thank you, Sam.”
“You’re welcome,” he said.
He was only halfway through “welcome” when she shoved him outside into the night and the howling wind, and Carr managed to say, “Name it after me,” before she shut the door in his face.
Twisting the dead bolt into place, Max turned to face Logan. “I thought he’d never go.”
But now that she was happy, his smile had disappeared; suddenly Logan looked serious.
That was okay — what was about to happen between them was serious... the consummation of a love that had been forced into a state of limbo by that dead virus. She crossed her arms at her waist and grabbed the hem of her shirt, about to pull it over her head.
Stepping forward, he put his hands on top of hers to stop her. “We have to talk.”
“That’s usually the woman’s line.”
“I know.”
“Your timing is kinda lousy, don’t ya think?”
His eyes were filled with love, but also something else — sadness? “Max... nothing means more to me than you... and loving you. But there’s something...”
She sighed. “Did I ever tell you about the tiny bit of cat DNA they slipped into me? That sends me into heat three times a year?”
He nodded.
“Well, it’s about that time...” She raised her eyebrows. “What’s wrong, Logan? We’ve been waiting—”
“I know, I know. But we have to be honest with each other. This isn’t just animal magnetism, Max — if we’re going to be together — and I don’t mean just that way... well...”
He took her by the hand, led her to the sofa and gestured for her to sit.
The mood had shifted, and Max was bewildered. Sitting, she asked, “What’s the matter?”
He removed his glasses and rubbed a hand over his face. Then he said, “This isn’t easy, Max... but I need to tell you something.”
“You slept with Asha,” she said matter-of-factly.
She meant Asha Barlow, the slim blonde S1W revolutionary Logan had teamed up with when Max had been presumed dead.
“Don’t care,” she said. “Old news.”
This sucker-punched him. “What are you talking about?”
“You mean, you didn’t sleep with Asha?”
“No! Hell, no.”
“She’s very beautiful.”
“Max, please. I was... mourning you... Why would you even think that?”
She shrugged. “Sounded like you were going into confession mode... Just thought I’d hurry things up, so we move this along, and could get back to more important matters...”
But Logan, brow furrowed, was a step behind. “You thought I slept with Asha?”
“You believed I was dead, you were lonely...”
“I didn’t.”
She smiled. “Cool. Even better, now...”
“But I do have something... something to confess.”
She sat back, crossed her arms; there was no turning him back now. He was going to get this out in the open, whatever the hell he was yammering about.
“Okay,” she said, “spill your terrible secret. Bisexual? Don’t care. All your family money’s gone? So what.”
His eyes met hers. “Max... it’s about Seth.”
She tensed. “Seth... my brother, Seth?”
“I knew him, Max.”
One of the X5s who had tried to escape that night back in Wyoming, Seth had been caught by the Manticore guards. He escaped at a later date, and Max — living in Los Angeles at the time — had tracked him to Seattle. They were reunited at the top of the Space Needle in 2019, ten years after Max split from Manticore. The reunion had been short-lived: Seth died that night, plummeting from the top of the Needle.
“When we first met, Max, you’ll recall I knew a lot about the X5s and Manticore... Not information the average guy on the street is privy to.”
“What do you mean... you ‘knew’ Seth?”
“On the needle that night — those people you interrupted...”
“The bad guys.”
“Bad guys, right — they were involved in criminal activities that Eyes Only wanted to stop.”
“You’re Eyes Only, Logan.”
“... Yes.”
“You mean... Seth was working for you that night.”
All Logan could do was nod.
“I wasn’t the first X5 you recruited, then.”
“No. Seth.”
She felt tears welling. “That night at the Needle, taking on Jared Sterling and all those Koreans — Seth was on a mission for Eyes Only.”
Logan’s voice seemed small. “Yes.”
“And he died. He got killed. You got him killed.”
“... I know. I’ve had to live with that a long time.”
Something burned in her stomach and rose to the back of her throat. Swallowing hard, she got it down, but just barely. This couldn’t be happening — not now, not when the virus was vanquished and nothing stood between their love...
Except betrayal.
And lies.
She rose and her eyes locked with his — his had a terrible softness, while hers blazed. “There were nearly a dozen men there that night — the Koreans, Sterling and his own thugs — and you sent Seth in there alone.”
“I did.”
She glared at him, her lips curled in anger. “And you never told me? Not until now?”
He shook his head and gave her a pathetic little shrug. “We all have our secrets, Max. You didn’t tell me everything, not at first.”
“You’ve known all there is to know about me for a long, long time. I’ve leveled with you; I’ve opened myself to you in a way I haven’t to anybody, ever.” Her voice was rising in pitch and intensity, but she couldn’t seem to stop it. “You don’t not tell someone something like this by... by accident. This was no oversight. It’s willful, Logan — you lied to me.”
He swallowed thickly. “In a way.”
“For what?” She was almost shrieking now. “Why? Why would you lie to me? Me?”
“At first, you were... how can I say this?”
“Find a way.”
“You were just the second recruit... and if I told you what had become of the first X5 I’d taken on, you might...”
“Hesitate to get my ass killed for you?”
Logan winced. “Something like that. And then... as we grew close... I just couldn’t find a way. You made it clear how deep your love and commitment for your siblings ran... and for me to admit causing the death of one of them, I was afraid...”