What They Don't See

Chapter 9 - Questions

"Fear?" Logan echoed, giving her a puzzled look.

Kate just smiled and took a sip of her wine. Logan didn't press, instead, he filed it away mentally as one of the many things to ask her about in the future.

The couple sat in peaceful silence after that, eating their food and stewing in their own thoughts. Once they were finished, they stepped out of the restaurant and back to the mass of photographers and journalists that seemed to have multiplied over dinner. As they passed the horde, the reporters threw questions their way, hoping to get some information from them.

"Logan, is that your girlfriend?"

"Logan, how long have you and Kate been dating?"

"Are you guys married?"

Ignoring the questions, the couple stepped into the waiting town car. Once out of sight, Kate couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the absurdity of it all. Logan glanced at her at the sound and smiled softly.

Before long, they were in front of Logan's apartment building, stepping out of the car to allow the chauffeur to park it in the basement. As they got into the first elevator, a pair of teenage girls watched them, giggling and whispering something to each other. Kate noticed this and reached out to wrap her arm around Logan's arm, effectively pulling him closer to her. Logan rolled his eyes at this, but he couldn't help the little smile that bloomed on his face as they stepped out of the first elevator and walked across to the second one.

Once they were in the privacy of this elevator, Kate didn't let go of his arm but rather broached the topic they had both been waiting the whole night to discuss.

"Do you remember when I told you that I had a plan to get out from under your managers' thumb?" Kate asked

Logan nodded in response.

"Well I have everything set, but for the plan to begin to play out, I need access to Maxwell's laptop. Would you be willing to help me get to it?" she asked, looking him right in the eye as she spoke. She wasn't begging, she simply asked.

Without hesitation, Logan nodded.

"On the condition that you at least consider continuing this little charade of ours once you finish handling my managers," he added after a moment.

Kate smiled at this.

"Deal."

~

Sometime later, the couple sat in Logan's living room, waiting for Maxwell to leave. Logan had called an old friend of his and convinced him to call Maxwell with a fake emergency that would get him out of the house for a little while.

While they waited, Kate told Logan about the trips she had made this far into her freedom period.

"My plan was always to visit as many countries on as many different continents as I could. I just wanted to experience everything you know? So far I've done Africa, Asia, and both Americas. I had actually wanted to visit some of the central islands before I leave America, but once this is over, if everything goes according to plan that is, I'll only have six months of my time left, so I'll probably just go to Australia and New Zealand. Maybe if I have time I'll go see some of the Polynesian islands." Kate explained with a casual shrug.

"And then what happens once you've done all that and your time is over?" Logan asked.

Just as Kate began answering the question, her phone began to ring. Glancing down at it, Kate chuckled when she spotted the 'unknown' caller ID.

"Once I'm done I'll go home and take the big man's job," she told Logan, showing him the phone screen. As Kate stepped away to answer the call, Logan sat there, puzzled about the lack of identification on Kate's phone.

"Salut Papa," Kate said into the phone.

(Hi Papa)

"Non pas encore. J'ai besoin d'environ 25 minutes supplémentaires."

(No, not yet. I need another 25 minutes or so.)

"Oui oui." (Yes yes)

"au revoir." (bye)

As soon as Kate hung up, Logan asked "You haven't saved your dad's number?"

Kate chuckled softly at this, shaking her head.

"He has a new number every other day. saving it would be futile and an annoying process after a while," she told him, which only confused him more.

That makes no sense! Isn't he running a multi-million-dollar company? How do people reach him? And how do you reach him when you need him?"

Kate chuckled, amused that he cared so much about this.

"His business associates and employees can reach him through his assistant. I on the other hand, just call Marcos, his personal bodyguard and lover, if I need to get ahold of him urgently," she explained as she sat back down on the sofa. Before Logan could ask another question, Maxwell rushed passed them, heading to the elevator doors.

"I have to go and take care of something. I'll be back in about 30 minutes, Logan," Maxwell announced as he stepped onto the elevator.

As soon as the elevator doors shut, Kate and Logan rushed down the hallway to Maxwell's little office. Once inside, Kate pulled back one side of the slit in her black cocktail dress and pulled out a flash drive attached to a garter. Picking up her phone, Kate paused to unlock it, before handing it to Logan.

"Do me a favor and call my father back please," she asked as she sat down at Maxwell's desk and opened his computer, and inserted the flash. Logan quickly did as instructed, dialing the last number on the call log.

"C'est fini?"(Is it done?) a deep voice asked from the other side. Instead of answering, Logan pressed the phone to Kate's ear.

"Oui Papa. Dites-lui de commencer le hack. Son virus est installé. Il a 30 minutes." (Yes Papa. Tell him to start the hack. His virus is set. He has 30 minutes) Kate spoke into the phone. She paused to listen to his response, then hung up.

"You know, every day I spend with you I find myself with a new set of unanswered questions. For instance, today I have some new ones. Who are you, Kate? And why can you call your dad and have him organize a hack?" Logan asked as he leaned against the wall beside the door. Kate swiveled around in the office chair to gap at him, startled for the first time since meeting him.

 It had never occurred to her that he could speak or even understand French. She now realized that that was probably the biggest error she had made yet, and it was such a simple one. Kate quickly thought back to every instance where she had spoken her native tongue in front of him and relaxed a little when she confirmed that she had not given away any dangerous information.

Kate stared at Logan for a long moment, thinking his words over.

"It's a long, and dangerous story," Kate finally spoke, her voice a soft whisper.

"Let me guess. If you told me you'd have to kill me?" Logan asked, an eyebrow raised. Kate laughed, shaking her head.

"If that was the case half of France would be dead."