Infiltration.

Max, Zack and Glebov were sitting in a grey van driving through the streets of Seattle; their destination, Nathan Richards? club, the place this whole fucking mess started at.

"Alright peaches" Zack said looking at her, "You get in there and do what we said, any funny shit and the small frag bomb we put on you will blow you to kingdom come. We'll be monitoring everything."

Max just nodded. After the incident with Zack in the little room she was taken before Nikoli again. He had told her she would have let them know exactly how many bodyguards Richards had; apparently they were all Ex-Marine corps. She had told them she had seen 21 guys, of course this was true, she was positive, scanning rooms for potential threats were second nature to her. Nikoli had given her the files that incriminated Nathan and himself, her job was to simply hand it to Nathan as a sign of good faith on Nikoli's part then implicate Dimitri Glebov as a double crosser. Then when Nathan's guard was down, Nikoli, Zack and armed **** 20 men strong would storm the club.

Max had tried to wade through her options, she could allow the bloodbath that would follow or make off with the evidence she had and hand it to Logan allowing Eyes Only to bring down both Nikoli and Nathan Richards.

Logan would see to it that it went down cleanly, even cover up the whole transgenic aspect allowing her to go on with her life without fearing that the nation would see her as a freak. While this was the better option it also came at a cost; Nikoli Garnovskaya would know that the only way Max could have escaped without them noticing was if Zack helped, since he was the one that placed the dud bomb on her. Nikoli would kill the closest thing she had to a brother.

"So" Zack repeated, "You get in and give the files to Richards', convince him before he tries to put a bullet in your head'. Max looked into Zack's green eyes and could see the worry in them, not for himself, but for her, for the situation he was **** to put her in. He had always looked out for the group that had survived the Manticore escape, tried to protect them.

The van pulled to a stop just in front of the club. Nikoli looked over his shoulder from the passenger seat cocking an Uzi, "Time to go, bitch."

Max glared at him, then got out of the van. She made her way over the street and to the entrance of the club, ignoring the whistles of some of the drunken clientele leaving.

As Max entered the club she found it empty, a few girls cleaning up and placing bar stools and chairs on the tables. From over the bar Ray caught sight of her a shocked look on his face.

He walked over to her and she beamed at him ready to politely greet him...

Ray gripped her throat and roughly thrust her against the wall, and she had to fight back her instincts to defend herself. Gone was the friendliness and niceties displayed by Ray the night before, Max was a sex **** now, she was not suppose to be back at the club...

"What the fuck are you doing back here Maxine?" he spat menacingly...