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Logan drove them to the Royal St. Charles Hotel just a block from the French Quarter. He figure why stay in a dive when they could stay in a nice place with room service while they waited for Julie’s call.
He looked over at Meghan. She was a beautiful woman with her long auburn hair, her clear green eyes and her sensuous mouth. He parked in front of the Hotel and they got out of the Jeep. Logan tossed his keys to the valet and taking Meghan’s arm he led her inside.
Confident he’d get a room he walked up to the desk clerk.
“We need a room,” he said.
“Yes sir, right away,” replied the clerk. “Would you like a room overlooking the street are one in the back overlooking the gardens.”
Logan turned to Meghan and she said ‘the gardens.’
The clerk then said, “that’ll be $79 a night with free continental breakfast in the mornings.”
Logan removed cash from his wallet and signed the register. The clerk gave him the key to their room and Logan led Meghan to the bank of elevators. They rode the elevator to the 9th floor and opened the door to room 904.
"So what do we do now?" Logan asked.
"Get some rest and replenishment. You'll need it where you'll be going." Meghan spoke as she took a carton of apple juice from the fridge.
––––––––
"ONE THING THOUGH, I forgot to mention, no junk food and no smoking." Meghan said just as Logan was about to light his cigarette. Although he had quit smoking a few years ago, he suddenly had an urge to smoke.
"What other things did you forget to mention?" Logan sneered sarcastically.
"Although Immortals heal from wounds almost instantaneously, we need lots of healthy food and plenty of rest to keep us going and to heal others. Junk food and bad habits are taboos. The rest of the stuff, Immortals need to observe, I'll tell you about them some other day when you are feeling better," Meghan lead Logan to the bed just as Logan was feeling faint.
"You are suffering from the side effects of the transformation. Sleep well and...." That was the last of what Logan heard as he drifted off to dreamland despite his struggle to stay awake.
"...Peaceful dreams Logan."
She knew it was pointless, he couldn't hear her, sleep hit quickly after the transformation. Logan's face was soon relaxed in deep sleep, Meghan allowed herself to take a long look. In sleep he looked younger, it was strange the paths people chose to take in life. She could even picture him as a smiling ten-something, happy and living a normal life, he would never have normal now.
Turning from his bedside she scanned the room, it was spacious and beautiful. Spotting a door on the opposite wall a frown crossed her features, if it was another entry she'd have to block it. Pulling the handle to reveal an unsuited however Meghan almost swooned with joy. Quickly she snapped all the suite's locks and, after reassuring herself Logan was still sleeping, she took a hot shower for the first time in almost a week.
Fresh, clean and wearing some comfortable complimentary pajamas, Meghan tried to decide what to do. The view was lovely, choosing a garden room had been smart. Lush green surrounded old buildings as far as she could see, resting her forehead on the windowpane Meghan exhaled in an attempt to relax. It had been too long since she'd felt secure. The constant running, hiding and always praying for survival had taken their toll.
Pulling a chair into position where she could see both the windows and Logan. Huddled knees under her chin and staring at the sleeping man it struck her, things would really be ok. She wasn't alone anymore. Logan would find the Waxen antidote, and even if he hated her for doing this to him she'd finally managed to save her people. As she smiled in silent triumph she felt the sudden urge to contact Stephanie, her best friend.
Despairingly Meghan bowed her head, she was wrong it wasn't a triumph too many people had died. After promising her everything would be all right Meghan had seen Stephanie hunted down and 'terminated' by the Tracers. Meghan had been hidden but she'd seen it all, Stephanie's screams would haunt her forever. The injustice of it tore her apart; Stephanie and so many others were gone forever.
All the emotions she'd repressed for months welled up and Meghan finally cried. It felt like her soul was torn down the middle. The memories, good and bad played over and over in her mind.
She tried to mentally block them out but they just kept coming. Stephanie’s wedding to a mortal, the secret smile in her eyes whenever she thought of him. The way her gaze would light up when he entered a room. The sorrow and tears in her eyes when he had died in a car crash. As Meghan played each memory in her mind her tears slowly stopped and her gaze fastened on the handsome man lying on the bed.
Logan was her salvation. With him her people would survive this new threat. In a way she was sad that she’d had to turn him because he might be like other new immortals and not want to live forever. But in another way she was happy because now she would have someone with her always that is if he stayed with her after perfecting the antidote.
Physically and emotionally tired Meghan just sat there and stared at Logan. Her eyes became heavy and in moments she too fell asleep. Several hours later Logan opened his eyes and sat up on the bed. He felt rejuvenated, alert and strengthened. He stretched out his arms and fist with his hands. He felt stronger than he’d ever been. It was sinking in that maybe she was telling him the truth. That she really was immortal and so was he. He looked around the room and spotted Meghan asleep in the chair.
Her beautiful auburn hair slightly covered her enchanting face. He felt the walls around his heart crack and chips of it fell away. His eyes left her face and followed down her body. She was petite and well formed. He remembered thinking she was an angel when he first saw her in the alley and later when he woke up in his room with her bending over him.
Logan got up and went over to the chair. He crouched down and of its own volition; his arm rose and his hand gently pushed the hair from her face. His eyes narrowed slightly as he surveyed the tracks of dry tears on her flushed cheeks. She murmured and turned her cheek into his hand. Meghan’s skin felt so soft and her breath felt like fire licking over his skin.
His hand felt like it was burning, a sensation he'd never felt before. Breathing hard he quickly removed his and stood up. He stared down at her and a look of pure longing passed over his otherwise chiseled face. She looked very uncomfortable sitting all bunched up in the chair, sleeping. Logan bent over and like a child picked her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. She was light as a feather to this strong man. Covering Meghan with a blanket, Logan quickly stepped away from the bed.
He glanced out the windows, which Meghan had been looking through when he was asleep. Outside, silence dominated the surroundings. However, his emotions were in turbulence. On one end, he is glad to be alive and marvels at the discovery of being an Immortal. After all, he is a Scientist at heart. On the other end, he is dismayed at the news of being pursued by the Tracers and to be at the heart of the whole scheme of things. He holds the "Waxen Antidote" to cure Meghan's people. But he doesn't have a clue to what it is. As far as he knows, he hasn't invented anything remotely like that.
Being undercover was hard enough, now to be responsible for a race's survival, he felt as if there were two mountains on his shoulder. However, he is glad that Meghan is with him at this moment. She is the most intriguing woman he has ever met. The care and concern for him that is reflected in her eyes moves him. Normally, he is very cynical and wary of people. However, he can't help but believe what she is saying is true. Although he was incredulous at first, from the events that have happened since he became an Immortal, he can't deny that he is an Immortal and that Meghan is real. The only question that remains is how can he help Meghan?
Logan turned back to where Megan lay and saw that her eyes were open and looking straight at him.
It was the emotion shining within her eyes that got to him. He'd been attracted to her from the beginning, but he'd been so confused about all this immortal business that he hadn't dwelled on it.
But now, all he could think about was how good it felt to kiss her before. How much he would like to do it again.
Suddenly he was leaning over her, not even remembering walking there, but here he was. He couldn't help himself; he had to touch her - to fell her soft skin - to taste her sweetness.
"Logan?" her voice was hoarse and full of the wonderment that he himself was feeling. Had he ever felt like this before?
No way. He wouldn't have forgotten something as powerful as this. "I need to..." his voice drifted off as his lips paused just a hairsbreadth away from hers.
"Oh, yes," she sighed helplessly, as she reached up to fit her mouth to his.
He teased her lips with little nibbles, then when they both could stand it no longer, he crushed his mouth to hers, tasting, caressing, and burning...
"NO!" Meghan cried, wrenching herself away from him and rolling to the edge of the bed to stand up. "This can't happen. We've got too much to do. I don't ... I mean, I can't..." she stammered in a panic, as her hands ran through her tussled hair.
Logan took a deep breath and stood with her, the bed separating them.
For the moment, it might as well have been an ocean.
Logan shook his head and waved his hand to stop her words. "It's okay, Meghan, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done that. Look, I take all the blame, it won't happen again."
Megan bit her lip, and nodded her head. But deep inside, she didn't want him to be sorry. She didn't want to forget. She wanted to crawl over to him and wrap her arms around him and never let him go.
She shut her eyes again, almost praying that sleep would take her. The darkness never came, oh it was there, waiting for her but it wouldn't take her. She laid there, every fiber within her aware that Logan stood in the room. Her soul shook as the door slammed shut and she almost ran after him, ready to give him everything that she had to give. But that darkness held her back, though it never took her, it kept her attention rapt, forcing her acknowledgement of the essence it held.
She saw everything within it, one thing held her most. Stephanie. She remembered knowing that on hearing of her husband's death her best friend was never the same again, remembered knowing that her very hope had been torn away from her.
Stephanie's world had disappeared. While Logan could never be taken as Stephanie’s husband had been the hope he held could easily be broken. She couldn't let it happen to them. His kiss had shown her everything, given her a taste of what they could have but she couldn't see beyond it.
For once in her life the visions in her head revealed nothing, her future with Logan remained untold ready for them to write. She turned away from the uncertainty She turned away from the uncertainty and gave herself up to the tears that had been threatening to fall for so long.
Julie had been running on autopilot for hours. As good as she was at keeping cover, if she didn't get to sleep very soon she was going to have a slip up. To be perfectly honest she wasn't used to having to watch her cover quite so closely all the time. The good Detective Harrison was just everywhere she turned!
He watched her with an intensity that was even harder than that which Logan had used with her during training. Thank God she'd phoned Leon when she'd made a break to the toilets, Ryan had insisted on checking her ID, smiling a little smugly until her identity had been confirmed.
Worse than that for him, one of the agents at the field office had asked for him to put her on the line, under the guise of having a friendship with her. Bless Mercury's extensive staff! Bless Leon for saving her hide, again! And bless the end of Ryan's shift, which was finally almost here.
She smiled her first genuine smile in hours thinking of Leon. That old man had trained her in the information side of things while Logan had focused on her physically. Together, laughingly they told her that James Bond would be a mere patrol officer compared to her, Wonder woman would look like a hack and the Incredible Hulk, well she'd cut them off not liking the comparison to a big green genetic mutation.
If Logan was the brother she never really wanted, Leon was the closest thing to a father figure she'd had in her life, he was the only person who she loved on earth.
Ryan watched Lizzy's reflection closely; she was facing the window of his office and on the pale copy of her face he could read near exhaustion. All day he had tagged along after her, and then forced her to come on his call-outs. And all day she had remained the ever optimistic, loud laughing bimbo from New York. He couldn't see any difference in her now compared to this morning, it was pointless after his call to the FBI, and maybe Lizzy was really Lizzy.
Just as he was turning to tell her she could go, her features changed; it was barely perceptible and if he hadn't spent the day studying her he'd never have noticed. As he watched with breath held, she became the same serious woman he'd seen in the cafe with that strange couple. Slowly a smile lit her features, it wasn't a fake one like the smile she'd been flashing all day, and it was obvious in her eyes.
God, she was beautiful!
Just as soon as it was there it was gone, Ryan was shocked at the disappointment he felt. He knew that she was the mysterious Julie now, or she was a mental case with split personalities.
The day was coming to a close and if he didn't figure something out "Lizzy" was going to go back to New York.
And irritating as it was he did NOT want Lizzy or Julie going anywhere.
“I don’t comprehend what the heck is going on here, but you can bet your sweet...uh...fanny, that I will find out,” said Ryan. “For now you can go but don’t leave town. I’m sure I’ll have more questions for you real soon.”
Dismissing Julie, Ryan grabbed a file and opened it. As he read it he waited for her to leave his office.
Julie's eyes narrowed as she slowly stood up. He’d brought her in here and had asked all kinds of ridiculous questions that she knew wouldn’t get him anywhere and now he was dismissing her as if she were a child! Who did he think he was? She was always in control of her emotions so she was shocked to register a real urge to jump Ryan's desk and teach him a lesson. No one had EVER talked to her with that level of disrespect, how dare he! If he was at the agency she'd of had him thrown out for that.
She was going to give him a piece of her mind, and then she saw what he was doing. Wow, he was good, better than anyone she'd met in a long while. Baiting her was not going to work!
As she reached the door of his office she debated letting him get away with it eventually her temper won out. Turning to him and waiting until he looked up at her, fakest sweet grin she could muster plastered on her features she said.
"Thank you for your time Detective, if I require anymore of your services, and I severely doubt I will, I'll contact you. I'd just like to say good luck with your cases, based on my assessment of your skills today you'll be needing it."
Without waiting for a reaction Julie stepped out of his office, then high tailed out of the building. She had work to do.
Pulling her mobile out of her pocket she pressed a quick succession of numbers.
"Leon it's me, could you get me a list of all the lab facilities we have in the greater New Orleans area? Great, zap them to my palm pilot. And before I forget Happy Birthday darling, I think that you'll find a little something for you in my top drawer. Don't be to naughty, enjoy your day!"
Suddenly Meghan’s head came up. Danger! She had to find Logan. The Tracers had found them. She closed her eyes and sat very still. She opened her mind and let her senses loose. Her mind followed the trail her senses took, out of the room, in the lobby and out of the Hotel.
There! Two blocks away, she could here the clang of their boots as they marched. They stopped and suddenly removed they glasses. Meghan gasped as if their red eyes had pierced her heart. She closed off her mind and swiftly jumped off the bed and got dressed.
She grabbed a large satchel from the closet and began filling it with Logan’s clothes and food. The items on the nightstand the special phone, her crystal weapon and Logan’s gun and extra clips. She grabbed the keys and flew out the door. She raced to the elevators and pressed the button.
“Come on, come on,” she whispered impatiently.
The door slid open and there stood Logan.
Meghan dropped the satchel and threw herself into his arms.
“Thank god!” she cried. “I thought you were gone,” she leaned away from him. “We have to get out of here! The Tracers are coming!”
“I know that’s why I came back,” he said as he picked up the satchel. “You got my keys?”
Meghan nodded and handed them to him.
“We’ll go out the back way and circle around to the Jeep.”
Logan could feel nothing but a desperate need to get far, far away. It was awful, overwhelming him in a way nothing ever had. How long had Meghan dealt with this alone? How could a person find the strength to keep going, always running from these assassins if they were alone? Looking at the woman beside him as they jogged through the back of the hotel Logan felt a surge of pride. She was so strong and brave it amazed him.
As they reached the Jeep Logan's phone rang. He snapped it open and listened to Julie.
"Ok, I've found you a hidden lab, it was used for bio-research until the scientists were all killed by a division of the government that shall remain un-named. We've owned it for about a year and it's not in use at the moment. It’s just one of the millions of buildings that Mercury has far to many of. I'll zap the location to your Palm; it's in the bag I gave you. Meet me there in about half an hour, and make sure you aren’t followed."
Turning to Meghan Logan smiled; luck was on their side. Julie had called at just the right moment. How was Meghan going to take the news? She'd waited for this for so long, would he finally see her happy. He realized that all he really wanted was to see Meghan happy.
"WHAT?" Meghan yelled getting frustrated at Logan's silent celebration.
"We've got a lab,” he said. Watching her intently.
She screamed with joy. “That’s wonderful!” Meghan grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.
Logan returned the squeeze and drove around the corner.
“Did you put the bag Julie gave us in that satchel?”
“Yes. Do you need something in it?”
“Yeah, I need Palm. Can you get?
“Sure,” said Meghan as she twisted around and grabbed the satchel. She opened it and took out the Palm, which she handed to Logan.
Logan took it and punched in a series of numbers bringing up the route that would take him to the lab. He checked the street he was on and took a left.
Switching the Palm to off he gave it back to Meghan and out of the corner of his eyes saw her put it back inside the bag. She then put the satchel in the back seat.
Out of the blue Logan asked, “How do you deal with the pain you feel when the Tracers are close?”
Meghan turned her head toward him and replied, “I close my mind and block it out. With practice you’ll be able to do it too. It won’t take you long to discover how because you already have the basic principles down.”
“What do mean?”
“I mean that you’ve been shot, stabbed, beaten and almost hung. The years working for Mercury have taught you how to control pain. You’ve learned how to block out the pain your body feels. Now you have to learn how to block out the pain your mind feels when you open your mind to see the Tracers. When you use only your senses the pain is mild and bearable. But when you send your senses out to see the enemy the pain in your mind is worse and if you don’t block it out the pain becomes unbearable,” explained Meghan.
When Julie was growing up she’d had one near deadly weakness, speed. She’d pursued it endlessly because the faster she went the more alive she felt. Being who she was now, she fully understood that the high came from adrenaline, and the pure lust for it could kill her, almost did a few times. But she still missed the high and nothing she’d done since had ever quite matched it.
This being the case, Gaspard had no idea what a stupid mistake he’d made by assigning Julie a sleek black motorcycle as her transport while in New Orleans. He couldn’t understand why she’d never been assigned one in the past; Julie knew that was Logan’s doing. From Gaspard's point of view it was perfect for her, enabling a quick getaway from an easy to conceal vehicle.
These reasonable thoughts filled Julie’s mind for about as long as it took for her to claim the keys from the man who’d driven it to her hotel. Then the animal lust inside unfurled from its imposed hibernation and Julie saw the bike though its animal eyes. More powerful than any she’d ever ridden, it was a racing bike literally built for speed. She should walk away, call the man back and get a car instead, her on this was a really bad idea, but secretly she itched to ride it like a junkie awaits his next hit.
Wheeling the machine around the hotel to a well-lit position, she gave it a good going over. It was then she caught her own reflection in the foyer window. The pre-mercury Julie was back, that aimless rebel she’d been when she worked for the FBI and CIA. Her legs were encased in soft leather pants with boots reaching almost to the knee, a white T-shirt hugged her body outlining her curved form just a little too well, and her favorite black leather jacket fell to below her bottom covering her SIG handgun. She looked good! Pulling her helmet over tightly braided hair Julie had no idea how it transformed her. Suddenly she looked just as dangerous as she really was.
Mounting and starting her new toy she smiled, yes this is what she’d missed for years. This power beneath her was what she wanted. Guns were fun, cars were great but nothing would ever match sitting atop this raw power, that at hundreds of miles an hour was her only protection from oblivion.
It was good that Logan was the only one who knew of her addiction; with him out of circulation she could indulge herself. He chose to ignore that she was good; he ignored the skills she had on a speeding bike. She was way better than him; it was probably why he objected to her riding so strongly, stupid male ego! She knew when he saw her at the lab he was going to be enormously angry, as she revved the engine however she just couldn’t find it in herself to care. Speed limits were about to be broken.
At the lab, Logan was checking out all the security equipment and the lab facilities. Since the lab has been unused for quite some time, he wanted to make sure that everything was in working order.
Oddly enough, though it was an abandoned lab, it was brand new, equipped with the latest technological scientific equipment and gadgets. Other than that, the security is quite tight and impenetrable. With infrared rays at the front gate and all over the grounds, any unauthorized access would trigger an alarm that would immediately lock the gates, trapping the intruder within the grounds and a signal would be sent to Mercury Headquarters. To get into the Mansion housing the lab, a retina scan is required. Only Mercury agents' retina records are encoded in the system. From the Mansion, you can see what’s happening on the grounds and within the Mansion as many hidden video cameras were installed.
Whatever experiment or project had been terminated must be very important to warrant such tight security. It is like a fortress. Interesting enough, other than the lab and the living quarters, there is a paradise within - a garden lavatory with an open skylight, some sort of a green house in which you can star gaze too.
"Meghan, I don't really know what it is that the Tracers have that can eliminate your people. Can you tell me more about the serum or the poison that you call Waxen?" Logan asked.
“I can do better than describe it to you, I can give you a sample.”
Meghan pulled a small metal cylinder from her pocket. Gingerly she twisted it in three places pulling the top off with an audible sigh of relief. Noticing Logan’s look of confusion she grinned reassuringly.
“These are great little tubes, they’re everything-proof, initially designed by the army to survive a nuclear attack. About four years after invention they became an easy to get black market item. If you don’t twist them in exactly the right sequence removing the top will also remove your hands.”
“You mean it’s explosive?”
“Very explosive. Now the content of this cost me more than you could ever fathom. To be totally honest with you the Tracers know I have it and that’s why they hunt me, sorry, us, so doggedly.”
She pulled a small glass vial from the metal tube and handed it to Logan.
“This vial is of pure Waxen. It won’t kill you unless you accidentally get it into your blood. The Tracers’ method of choice is to shoot us with a sort of bullet, they call them darts, filled with the stuff.”
Logan walked to a near-by refrigerator opened the door and placed the Waxen inside. Moving back to his seat opposite Meghan he gave her a searching look. She was so different from everything he had first assumed, this woman was a warrior, a leader of people, willing to risk her own life to protect them.
“You knew I’d need it didn’t you? And not even knowing I'd say yes you risked your life to get it for me.”
Calmly she held his gaze; instinctively she'd always known that he'd say yes. Logan adored the hint of smug satisfaction that shone in her emerald eyes. Once more the air between them changed, slowly becoming electric, causing a heat that had nothing to do with the balmy New Orleans night.
