You and Me -- Chapter 11

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Tinga, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (Lana/X5-204, etc.).

Notes:  Spoiler-ish stuff for “Hit A Sista Back.”

Max, Zack, Lana, and Zane sighed in relief when they finally made to a motel on the outskirts of Portland. After Zack and Zane dropped their stuff of in their room, the four of them sat together on one of the beds in Max and Lana’s room. “Here’s the situation,” Zack said grimly. “Tinga believes that Manticore knows her location and she and her family are being watched.”

“Her family?” Lana repeated.

“Yes, family,” Zack said. “She has a husband and a four-year-old son, which is probably the reason why they haven’t moved in on her yet. With them in play, it makes it a bit trickier for them to maneuver. Unfortunately, her husband, Charlie, left Portland yesterday for Salem on business. I called Krit and Syl and they’re shadowing him in case anybody from Manticore decides to take a stab at him.”

“Does Tinga know how she got spotted?” Max asked.

“She thinks it might have to do with her son, Case,” Zack said. “Tinga told me that she’s kept a very careful eye on him as he’s grown up and she says that he does show X5 traits. She’s always warning him not to show off during class or in gym or anything like that, though because he is only four years old, she tells him it’s because he shouldn’t make the other kids feel bad and she says he’s normally extremely careful, but being that he is that young, he might have accidentally slipped once or twice.” His phone rang and he looked at it for a moment before he flipped it open and answered it. “Tinga. We’re here.”

“Thank God,” Tinga said. “How many?”

“Myself, plus Max, Lana, and Zane,” Zack replied. “I’ve got Krit and Syl on your husband. They said they’d check in with me sometime in the next hour or so.” He frowned, even though Tinga couldn’t see it. “Is this safe?”

“I’m clean as a whistle on audio and video and they only tapped my land line,” Tinga assured him. “They probably know that it would tip me off big time if they tried to plant anything in here when I’m at work and you know how difficult it is to tap a cell phone without making somebody like you or me aware. I’ve kept to my usual routine, other than the fact that Charlie had to go out of town.”

“How did you know that Lydecker has somebody or some people watching you?” Zane asked.

Tinga sighed. “I saw Cody the other day when I was going back into work after my lunch break. I might not have seen him since the night that we escaped from Manticore, but I would know those eyes anywhere no matter what.” The other four exchanged a glance, recalling Cody’s blue right eye and green left eye. “I didn’t go up to him and say hi, even though I really wanted to. In fact, as a precaution, I pretended that I didn’t even notice him. What I did notice, though I also hid the fact that I did, was the two suspicious-looking vans that were outside and how I saw Cody talk to some men that had gotten out of one of them and then how he climbed inside the other. I went inside the bakery and when I got to the back room, I called Zack on this secure line and let him know. I think that there might be bugs planted inside the bakery, where it would be harder for me to check. They’re most likely doing covert surveillance on me and Case outside of our apartment and of his school as well.”

“Jesus,” Zane said quietly. “I can’t believe Cody didn’t make it out.”

“I don’t think any of us can,” Zack said. “Okay, let’s take things one at a time. Max, I want you to cover night surveillance outside Tinga’s building. Zane, tomorrow I want you to go over to the bakery where Tinga works and go inside. Order something, flirt shamelessly with her, just act normal while you see if there are any bugs that are readily apparent. Lana, I want you to cover Case’s school tomorrow. Depending on what Zane finds or doesn’t find, I might swap the two of you the day after. I’ll cover outside of the bakery during Tinga’s shift.”

“Sounds like a good start,” Max said.

“It does,” Tinga said. “I guess I’ll be seeing at least Zane tomorrow. Good-bye, you guys.”

“Good-bye,” Zack said. He disconnected the phone and sighed. “I’ll give you guys the addresses that you’ll need later.”

“I should get close to Tinga’s crib sometime in the next few hours,” Max said. She stretched.

Lana discreetly glanced at Zack and Max. “I’m going to go get us some dinner. I saw a diner down the street.” She got up and then yanked Zane to his feet. “Come on, bro, you look like you could use a walk.”

“What the hell,” Zane said, shrugging. “Lead on, Lana.” The two of them left the room.

Max tried to fight off a yawn. “I should probably get an hour or two of sleep before I head out to Tinga’s.” She looked over at Zack. “You good on sleep?”

“With all of the rest I’ve gotten over the last week or so, I feel like I’m all right on sleep for about a month,” Zack said dryly. “But yeah, Maxie, I’m okay for rest. If I decide to sleep tonight, I’ll wait until later when either Zane or Lana can stand guard.”

“Makes sense,” Max said. She reached for Zack’s hand. “So…you and me, together in a motel room…” She grinned. “You get the message that I’m pretty sure Lana left for us when she practically dragged Zane out of here.”

“Yeah,” Zack said. He leaned in and kissed Max, who responded immediately. The kiss was slow, sweet, and passionate and when the two of them finally parted, they were both slightly out of breath. “Maxie…”

“Yes?” Max said.

“About us…” Zack once again found himself struggling for the right words. Say it, soldier! “I love you more than anything, but I don’t know if I can give you a normal relationship.”

Max shrugged. “Good thing that I’m not normal.” She saw Zack start to say something, but she shook her head. “Zack, I don’t care about that. Maybe I did once, but that was when I was chasing ordinary guys. What matters more to me than a relationship that they would define to be normal is the guy that I’m in the relationship with. I know that you’ll be away from me most of the time and while I won’t lie and say I’m absolutely cool with it, I understand because I know what you have to do and most importantly, how you are. I know that while our time together will most likely be few and far between, that you’ll make every nanosecond of it count and so will I.”

Zack nodded. “I’ll definitely make it count.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I love you, Maxie.”

“I love you too, Zack,” Max said. They kissed again and then Max yawned. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Zack said. They lay down on the bed and he pulled Max to his side. “Get some rest. I’ll wake you when it’s time for you to get up.”

“Thank you,” Max said. She smiled, snuggled up to Zack, and fell asleep.