MAX (voiceover): I don’t sleep much, but that’s okay. Takes up an awful lot of time, and I can always find something productive to do.

(Max and another rider, his face hidden by a helmet, are racing their motorcycles through the streets at night.)

MAX (voiceover): Sometimes I think, “What’s wrong with all you people, snoring your lives away? The night is the best part of the whole day.”

(Max and the other rider split up. Max gets stopped by some sector cops.)

COP: Can I see some ID, please?

(Max hands him her ID.)

COP: Step off the motorcycle, please.

MAX: What’s the problem, officer?

COP: Did you know that your taillight’s out?

MAX (checking): It’s working fine.

(The other cop bashes the taillight with his baton.)

MAX: Guess I’ll have to get that looked at.

COP: I’m going to have to impound this vehicle.

MAX: What for?

COP: It’s a hazard to public safety.

MAX: No way! Look, if this is about money...

COP: Impound yard opens at seven A.M.

MAX: The buses have stopped running. How’s a girl supposed to get home?

COP: Somehow.

(He returns her ID. Max sighs and starts walking.)

MAX (voiceover): Then there are those nights that just plain suck.

(The next day, coming home with some groceries, Logan uses a baguette to reach the penthouse button in the elevator.)

LOGAN: Bling, I ought to rig this thing with an umbrella. Then I might look like something out of a Disney movie.

BLING: There’s someone here to see you. I put her in the living room.

LOGAN: “Her,” as in...?

BLING: Says she’s your ex-wife.

(Logan goes to the living room and finds a woman moving his furniture around.)

LOGAN: Valerie, what are you doing?

VALERIE: That table’s got to go. It’s, uh, blocking the flow to your prosperity center and trapping your chi.

LOGAN: My chi.

VALERIE: Your energy field.

LOGAN: Mmm. Unlike most folks these days, prosperity’s one thing I’m not having trouble with.

VALERIE: I heard what happened, and, um...I’m so sorry.

LOGAN: Me, too.

VALERIE: I was thinking maybe some bagua mirrors would lower the in-force and let more positive frequencies into your experience.

LOGAN: It’s going to take more than feng shui to, uh, get me back on the dance floor, but thanks.

VALERIE: A water element on that wall. An aquarium, maybe.

LOGAN: You didn’t come here to rearrange my furniture, Val.

VALERIE: I, um...I haven’t had a drink in a year and a half.

LOGAN: That’s great. So, you’re on the program?

VALERIE: In a big way. My primary activity these days is...apologizing to people.

LOGAN: And I’m on the short list.

VALERIE: No, actually, you’re at the end of a very long list. I had to work my way up to you...’cause I know there isn’t anyone in the world I hurt more.

(At the impound yard)

MAX: It’s not a Nomad, a Nemesis, or a Nirvana. It’s a Ninja. A Ninja 650, black--like my mood, thanks to you.

IMPOUND GUY (checking a list): Ninja. Ninja. Ninja, Ninja, Ninja, Ninja, Ninja...

MAX (pointing): Ninja! Right there.

IMPOUND GUY: Oh, Ninja 650. Black...like your mood.

MAX: How much?

IMPOUND GUY: Three thousand dollars.

MAX: Right.

IMPOUND GUY: In cash.

MAX: You’re not serious? (He nods) That’s ridiculous. It’s robbery. It’s wrong.

IMPOUND GUY: It’s what you owe if you want your bike back. In twenties, preferably.

(At Jam Pony)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Just what the cops do to pass time when they aren’t beatin’ on people.

MAX: It’s extortion.

HERBAL: That is pure wickedness, but it’s also an opportunity to rise above the wheels of Babylon.

MAX: Herbal, I’m not in the mood.

NORMAL (tossing her a package): Hot run. 299 Kensington.

HERBAL: Let the injustice roll off you like water.

MAX: I let Normal’s screeching roll off me like water. I let cheating boyfriends roll off me like water. I let everything that is wrong and lousy in this world roll off me like water, but this is my motorcycle.

HERBAL: I hear you, sister, but you don’t hear me. Now, Jah have a lesson for I and I, you know. Look upon I. Last night, my woman’s friend come to stay with us. Winston. No, no, I know they were sweethearts from before. But you see how easy I take it? Even though she cook Ital soup for him, but never for I.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Your shorty’s just being a good host. (To Max) Check the classifieds out, boo. You could probably find a used ride for less scrilla than the po-po is jackin’ you for.

MAX: I don’t want a used ride. I want my motorcycle.

ORIGINAL CINDY: It’s just a machine.

MAX: It’s an extension of my soul, if there is such a thing.

(She starts looking at the classifieds and sees the following ad:)

332960078452 - Yesler and
Viaduct, 9:00pm

HERBAL: Max, see, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I’m trying to get you to key into that.

(Not listening, Max gets up and leaves suddenly.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: What’s up?

NORMAL: You know, I don’t want to interrupt your social life with my petty concerns, so why don’t we just close down the business and live off the charity of strangers, huh?

HERBAL: So you really think my woman just being a good host to this Winston?

ORIGINAL CINDY: I’m glad it’s rolling off you like water, Herbal.

(A new guy enters and approaches Sketchy, who’s standing near the door.)

NEW GUY: Who would I talk to about working here?

SKETCHY: Well, if you’re smart, no one. But if you’re desperate and male prostitution is out of the question, talk to that fool.

(The new guy approaches Normal.)

NEW GUY: Excuse me. I was wondering if you had any job openings?

NORMAL: Yeah, ’cause I’m not warehousing enough deadbeat, no-good bums.

NEW GUY: Okay. Would it be an imposition if I check back with you, sir? I’m not afraid of hard work and I’d be grateful for an opportunity to prove myself to you.

NORMAL: Did you just call me “sir”?

NEW GUY: Yes, sir.

NORMAL: I like that.

(He smooths out a crumpled application form.)

NORMAL: Fill this out and get back to me in the morning.

NEW GUY: Thank you.

NORMAL: You’re welcome.

(At Logan’s apartment, Max is showing Logan the classified ad.)

LOGAN: A random series of numbers is significant how?

MAX: Those numbers are me.

LOGAN: This is your barcode?

MAX: Black and white for the whole world to see. It’s like opening the paper and finding my panties.

LOGAN: Who else knows this number?

MAX: Only someone from Manticore.

LOGAN: Lydecker.

MAX: Or Brin...Jondy...Twelve of us got away that night.

(Max remembers the night of the escape.)

LOGAN: You could be walking right into a trap.

MAX: I’ll be careful. Promise. But you can’t expect me to turn my back on this. They were brothers and sisters to me. When we escaped that night, Zack made us split up. I’ve been looking for them ever since.

(The phone rings. Logan lets the answering machine pick it up.)

MACHINE: No one’s around. Leave a message.

LOGAN: I know how much they mean to you, Max, but what if Lydecker--

VALERIE’S VOICE (on machine): Hey, Loogie. It’s me.

(Logan tries to turn off the machine.)

VALERIE’S VOICE: God, it was good seeing you. And just so you know, you’re the same beautiful man with the sly smile I fell in love with--

(Logan quickly picks up the phone.)

LOGAN: Hey, Val...Hi. Um...(Laughs)...Yeah. No, I’m kind of in the middle of something right here...Yeah, call me back...Okay, bye.

(He hangs up and goes back to Max.)

LOGAN: So, where were we?

MAX: I don’t know. Where were we?

LOGAN: Uh...my ex-wife.

MAX: Oh.

LOGAN: What?

MAX: Nothing.

LOGAN: So, anyway, about this barcode business, you’re out of your mind if you go anywhere near this.

MAX: I never pictured you as the married type. You’re more the lone warrior. You know--windmills, armor.

LOGAN: Would you mind if we didn’t talk about this?

MAX: Why you getting all embarrassed?

LOGAN: I’m not.

MAX: Do I not have the proper security clearance to know about Mrs. Eyes Only?

LOGAN: Valerie doesn’t know about that stuff. Eyes Only came along well after we split.

MAX: All I’m saying is it’s no big deal. You were married. I’m sure there’s tons of stuff you don’t know about me.

LOGAN: Including whether or not you plan on using common sense and staying away from Yesler and Viaduct tonight.

MAX: Oh, Loogie. What would be the fun in that?

LOGAN: I mean it, Max. It’s dangerous.

MAX: Like that ever stopped you doing what you needed to do.

(At 9:02 that night, Max is waiting in a dark alley. A nearby pay phone rings, and Max answers it.)

VOGELSANG (on phone): Well, it’s about time you showed up. I’ve been running that ad for about a week.

MAX: Where are you?

VOGELSANG (on phone): Turn around.

(Max turns around to see Vogelsang walking toward her. She hangs up.)

VOGELSANG: Well, it’d be nice if you used your pager every once in a while.

MAX: Yeah, well, I figured you handed my pager number over to the people looking for me, the same way you gave up Hannah.

VOGELSANG: Hey, okay, no worries. I took precautions here. We weren’t followed. I’ve got new clothes here in case the old ones are bugged. It’s just you and me, all right? We’re alone.

MAX: What do you want?

VOGELSANG: How about $15,000?

MAX: Oh, damn. You know, I left my wallet in my other pants.

VOGELSANG: In exchange for some information about some fugitives from a Project Manticore.

MAX: What’s to stop you from taking my money and blowing me to Lydecker for the Daily Double?

VOGELSANG: Yeah, right. Somebody keeps me in a cage for two weeks...does complicated, painful things to my body...I kinda want to stay away from that person, okay? Far away as possible.

(Somebody is hiding nearby and watching them.)

MAX: How do I know what you got’s real?

VOGELSANG: I got your number, didn’t I? And there’s more where that came from, let me tell you.

MAX: Yeah, like what?

VOGELSANG: What if I were to tell you that a pal of yours from this Manticore is right here in Seattle?

MAX: Who?

VOGELSANG: Fifteen grand. Here. (Hands her a slip of paper) Be at this address, 3:30, day after tomorrow.

MAX: You’re giving me less than 48 hours to come up with fifteen grand.

VOGELSANG: Yeah, if you want the information. As for me, I’m getting out of Dodge, one way or another. Good luck to you, kid. Good luck to both of us.

(At Jam Pony the next day)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Shoulda been at Crash last night. The plot is thickening with my lickety-boo. She said hello and told me her name--Chrisette. Is that a bomb-ass name for a female, or what?

MAX: Where would you go if you needed cash in a flash?

ORIGINAL CINDY: Still jonesing over that motorcycle, huh? You could always rob a bank.

MAX: You know, I was thinking that.

SKETCHY: Even in these dark times, you like to think the U.S. Constitution still means something. Apparently not.

NORMAL: The man was taking drugs.

DRUID: He was exercising his right to religion.

NORMAL: He was smoking a marijuana cigarette in the men’s room.

SKETCHY: Herbal Thought happens to be a Rastafarian. Ganja happens to be a sacrament in his religion.

ORIGINAL CINDY: It says right there in Genesis: “Thou shalt eat the herb of the fields.”

NORMAL: Listen, if Herbal was nibbling leafy vegetables in the men’s room, I would give up my life defending his right to do so. But no, that’s not the case. He was breaking the law of the land.

MAX: You’re not going to seriously deprive this man of his livelihood?

NORMAL: He’s lucky that’s all I’m doing. I should be reporting his ass to the proper authorities.

HERBAL: Brothers and sisters, please, judge not this man. He’s only an instrument of the Most High, fulfilling the book.

NORMAL: Hey, huh? I’m inspired by divine providence. All right, good luck in your future endeavors. Don’t let the door hit your keister on the way out.

SKETCHY: Enjoy your little victory, Normal. We’re understaffed as it is and you just canned your best rider.

(Herbal leaves. The new guy comes in.)

NORMAL: Here’s the man of the hour.

NEW GUY: Hey.

NORMAL: Come here. (To the others) May I present your new colleague, Sam. He’s a fine young man. He’s got a good attitude, bright future. I commend all of you to his example, all right? (To Sam) Why don’t you grab a locker, my boy. I’ll set you up on your first run.

(The others are just staring at him.)

NORMAL: Cheer up.

(At Logan’s apartment)

BLING: Hey, Max.

MAX: Hey, Bling. His Crankiness in?

BLING: He’s out shopping with a friend.

MAX: The ex?

BLING: Seems less cranky.

MAX: I’m glad.

BLING: They should be back soon. You’re welcome to wait.

MAX: Gotta bounce--things to do. So, what’s she like?

BLING: Nice.

MAX: Nice?

BLING: Nice.

MAX: As in a quiet, sweet, intellectual without being pretentious, bookish, grad student kind of way?

BLING: As in pretty, great body, very funny, outgoing...great body.

MAX: Never mind. Do we know how long they were together?

BLING: We don’t. But long enough for them to seem pretty comfortable with each other.

MAX: Tell him I stopped by.

BLING: Will do.

(On the street outside Logan’s building, Fogle Towers)

LOGAN: I don’t think I’ve been to a street fair since...actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a street fair.

VALERIE: Not that I recall. But then recall wasn’t my long suit when we were together.

LOGAN: That’s all behind you now.

VALERIE: By the grace of God.

LOGAN: Stay for dinner.

VALERIE: I better not. Nah, I’d miss the bus. I’ll wind up sitting on the curb all night.

LOGAN: Take a cab.

VALERIE: It’s too expensive.

LOGAN: I got you covered.

VALERIE: See, there you go with your caretaker routine again.

LOGAN: What?

VALERIE: I’m finally learning how to be self-sufficient in my life.

LOGAN: All I’m saying is there are resources available to you should you need them.

VALERIE: Thank you. And I will, if I need to.

LOGAN: Okay.

(Max leaves the building and runs into them.)

MAX: Since you’re handing out money, Santa, I’ve been a good girl.

LOGAN: Val, this is my friend, Max.

VALERIE: Hi.

MAX: Hey. (They shake hands) Do you mind if I borrow your ex for two seconds?

VALERIE: No. (To Logan) I’ll see you upstairs.

LOGAN: Okay, yeah. I’ll be right up. (Hands her his keys)

VALERIE: Thanks. (Goes inside)

MAX: Turns out Vogelsang ran that ad. He’s looking to sell some information. I need about $15,000.

LOGAN: Max...

MAX: You know I’m good for it.

LOGAN: It’s not about the money.

MAX: We made a deal. I help you save civilization as we know it, you help me find Zack and the others. I’ve kept my end of the bargain.

LOGAN: Yeah, I don’t recall agreeing to foot the bill for you to get yourself killed.

MAX: Fine. I’ll explore other options. So that’s the ex, huh? Not what I expected.

(At a park)

HERBAL (reading): “And my roarings are poured out like the waters, for the thing which I had greatly feared has come upon me.”

SKETCHY: You’ll find another job.

HERBAL: That is not my concern. My woman tells me that, uh, she still have feelings for Winston.

SKETCHY: No way.

HERBAL: Sometime I feel like I want to mash this man in the face!

SKETCHY: Should punch the guy’s lights out.

HERBAL: No, jealousy is good. Show my woman more love and overstanding...open up my heart to this, uh, Winston.

SKETCHY: Man, I gotta tell you, you’re taking all this a lot better than I would.

HERBAL: Jah never give a man more than him can bear.

SKETCHY: That’s deep.

HERBAL (rolling his eyes): Winston.

(That night, Max sneaks into the impound yard. When she jumps the fence, a guard dog growls and barks at her.)

MAX: Let’s get one thing straight--I’m the leader of the pack. Back off!

(The dog whines and lies down. Max gives him a raw steak.)

MAX: That’s a good boy.

(Max breaks into the office. She finds her keys on a rack and searches a small strongbox. Finding little in it, she cracks a large safe and takes the cash it contains. Then she closes the safe and finds her motocycle in the yard.)

MAX: Sweetheart, are you okay? (To the other bikes) Sorry, guys, you’re on your own.

(The guard walks by and sees the dog chewing on the steak.)

GUARD: Hey, boy. Where did you get that?

(On her bike, Max jumps over the guard and the fence, and drives away.)

(In Lydecker’s office)

SANDOVAL: We’ve been keeping Vogelsang under routine maintenance surveillance. This is the first evidence of subsequent contact with the subject.

LYDECKER: Play the tape.

(Dochnovich presses the play button on a machine. We hear snippets of Max and Vogelsang’s conversation. Their voices are distorted; many parts of the conversation are unintelligible.)

MAX’S VOICE: What’s to stop you from taking my money and blowing me to Lydecker for the Daily Double?

VOGELSANG’S VOICE: Yeah, right. Somebody keeps me in a cage for two weeks...does complicated, painful things to my body...I kinda want to stay away from that person, okay? Far away as possible.

(Lydecker stops the tape.)

LYDECKER: Why all the noise?

DOCHNOVICH: That’s one of the problems with micro-implants. You put the equipment in the subject’s ear, but it tends to migrate. We put this in Vogelsang’s cochlea; ended up in his auditory canal. I’ve been filtering out the sound of ear fluid for hours.

LYDECKER: I don’t care how you do it, but clean up that tape. I want to hear every word. (To Sandoval) The girl--are you sure it’s her?

SANDOVAL: Matches the voice signature from the phone tap that led us to the Braganza kidnap. Do you want us to pick up Vogelsang?

LYDECKER: No, I do not. I want you to keep visual surveillance, in rotating teams. Don’t let him spot you.

SANDOVAL: Yes, sir.

LYDECKER: He’s going to want to see her again. And when he does...we’re going to be there.

(At Jam Pony)

NORMAL: Okay, I have twelve packages going to Sector 2, seven hot runs to Sector 4. Let’s go! People, bip bip bip!

(Sketchy enters.)

NORMAL: You’ve been gone three hours, my friend.

SKETCHY: I got held up at a checkpoint, and I’m not your friend.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Funny how everything started to fall apart when you canned Herbal.

NORMAL: Oh, I get it. This is some sort of job slowdown. Ooh, payback for me trying to operate a drug-free workplace.

DRUID: “Sacrament-free workplace” is more like it.

NORMAL: What about all those customers out there waiting for these packages? Don’t they deserve some consideration? Or is this “Hey, man” philosophy that you all seem to share more important?

SKETCHY: Well, what about your joy-boy Sam? I thought he was the great white hope.

NORMAL: Hey, that young man is worth the rest of you bums put together.

(Sam approaches and Normal tosses him a package.)

NORMAL: Hey, 1535 Eagle.

SAM: Eagle Street is where, exactly?

SKETCHY: It’s just past Wurlitzer, south of North Jesus Avenue.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Between Proctor and Gamble.

DRUID: Yeah, right across the street from Power Nipple.

SAM (to Normal): Excuse me, sir, do you know where--

MAX: I’ve got to be in Sector 2 at 3:30. You got anything for me?

NORMAL: Here, follow her. She’s headed that way.

(Max and Sam ride their bikes down a street. A hoverdrone passes by overhead and Max pulls her hat lower to hide her face from it.)

SAM: Appreciate you helping me out.

MAX: Don’t get used to it. Normal’s your mentor, not me.

SAM: Look, I didn’t get your friend fired, okay?

MAX: Nope, but don’t expect an outpouring of love from Jam Pony anytime soon. I’m taking a break.

SAM: What is this, part of the slowdown?

MAX: No. A girl’s gotta pee.

(In a coffee shop, Max and Sam are sitting at a table. Max glances impatiently at her watch and at the pay phone nearby. A couple of girls are giggling while talking on it.)

SAM: Expecting a call?

MAX: Never know.

(Max takes the phone out of the girls’ hands and hangs it up.)

MAX: All right, time’s up. There’s another phone down the block. It’s on me.

(She hands the two girls some change. As they leave, Max covers the coin slot of the phone with the gum she’d been chewing and sits back down.)

SAM: You seem nervous.

MAX: Compared to what? You don’t even know me.

SAM: Maybe we knew each other in a past life.

MAX: I don’t believe in that stuff.

SAM: Doesn’t mean it’s not true.

MAX: Oh, please tell me you’re not one of those people. “Because a raindrop fell in the ocean 10,000 years ago and a butterfly farted in India, you and I are sitting right here, right now, enjoying a cup of coffee that tastes like goat piss.”

SAM: Anything’s possible.

MAX: Unravel this mystery, grasshopper: What is the sound of one hand hitting you upside your head, hmm?

(The phone rings and Max answers it, flicking Sam on the head on her way.)

MAX (into phone): Punk-ass here.

VOGELSANG: You got the money?

MAX: I’ve got it.

VOGELSANG: All right, 6:00. Rooming house on Jackson and Third, room 18.

MAX: How do I know you’re not setting me up?

VOGELSANG: You don’t!

MAX: Then give me something else, to help your credibility.

VOGELSANG: Male adult had a barcode removed from his neck at a tattoo parlor in Chinatown two weeks ago. Number, uh, 3-3-0-4-1-7-2-9-1-5-9-9.

MAX: Zack. What tattoo parlor?

VOGELSANG: 6:00!

(Vogelsang ends the call. Max hangs up and returns to the table.)

SAM: Good news?

MAX: Yep, and it’s none of your business.

(Max gets out some money to pay their bill.)

SAM: Let me get this. I was thinking maybe later that maybe you and I could--

MAX: Don’t even try to hit on me.

SAM: No, I was just--

MAX: Don’t.

(Later, at a skate park)

SKETCHY: Do you ever think that maybe there are saints walking among us?

MAX: No.

SKETCHY: I mean Herbal. His woman’s ex moves in, eats his food, and sniffs after shorty, but then Herbal sees it as an opportunity to learn how to be more understanding. I’m just not that good a person.

MAX: No one is.

ORIGINAL CINDY: But brotha man either too naïve or too big-hearted to see where this is headed. He not careful, he gonna get macked out of every little thing.

SKETCHY: You think “Weenston” is a real player, huh?

ORIGINAL CINDY: “Weenston” came back for a reason, and it ain’t to help Herbal learn to be more understanding.

(Sketchy pulls his sunglasses down over his eyes. His forehead is untanned where his sunglasses had been.)

ORIGINAL CINDY (laughing): Better put some sunblock on, wigga. You look ridiculous.

SKETCHY: What?

ORIGINAL CINDY: All up in there. (Points to her forehead)

(Sketchy takes off his sunglasses and examines his reflection in them. Max flashes back to the day before and recalls seeing a tan line on Valerie’s ring finger. She gets up to leave.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Where you going, boo?

MAX: Errand to run. Bye, guys.

(Max watches Valerie leave Fogle Towers and follows her home. Unseen, Max eavesdrops on the conversation as Valerie talks to a man credited as Mitch in their apartment.)

MITCH: You’re home early. What, he didn’t ask you to stay?

VALERIE: He asked me. Didn’t want to push it.

MITCH: That’s why you’re the bright one and I’m the pretty one.

(Valerie puts a ring on her finger. Mitch is her husband.)

MITCH: Hon, I need a grand by the end of the week. You’re going to make that happen, right?

VALERIE: I don’t know.

MITCH: Come on, this guy’s loaded, and you...you are... (Starts to kiss her)

VALERIE: You blew through my divorce settlement pretty good. We gotta be more careful this time.

MITCH: Okay. We’ll be more careful. How about $500?

VALERIE: Anybody ever tell you that you are a bad boy?

MITCH: Yeah. You wouldn’t have it any other way. You don’t ever let rollerboy touch you?

VALERIE: No, I save that for you, honey. Me and him are strictly business. (They kiss)

(Max heads for her meeting with Vogelsang and sees a crowd of onlookers and police gathered. Vogelsang is lying on the sidewalk, dead. Max can hear the police discussing him.)

POLICE: Name’s Vogelsang. He’s a private eye. Shot through the back of the head with a .38. Looks like a professional job.

(Lydecker and his men arrive on the scene. Max slips out of the crowd, unnoticed.)

(At Logan’s apartment)

MAX: You gotta help me run down this tattoo lead. You can bet Vogelsang gave it up to Lydecker before he took a bullet in the head.

LOGAN: Along with everything else he was going to sell you.

MAX: I don’t even want to go there.

LOGAN: There’s one thing that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me here. If Lydecker squeezed Vogelsang, he would have known you were coming. Why didn’t he wait for you to show?

MAX: Something went sideways. I don’t know.

LOGAN: Or someone else killed Vogelsang.

MAX: Vogelsang’s dead; Lydecker was there. That’s good enough for me. Zack’s in danger and it’s my fault. Now I’ve gotta get to Zack before Lydecker does. Are you going to help me or not?

(Logan turns to his computer and starts researching)

LOGAN: Might want to think about having your barcode removed, too.

MAX: Tried once. Feels like someone’s pouring acid on your skin after it’s been sandblasted. Came back in a couple weeks. It’s etched into our genetic code.

LOGAN: The mark of Cain. So why would this guy bother?

MAX: Zack’s the kind of guy that does whatever it takes as often as it takes.

LOGAN: All right, there’s four tattoo parlors in Chinatown...at least with phones. (Hands her a printout)

MAX: Thanks.

LOGAN: Can’t talk you out of this?

MAX: Don’t even try.

LOGAN: Be careful.

MAX: In case anything does happen, there’s something you need to know. It’s about your ex.

(In Chinatown that night, Max grabs a proprietor as he’s closing up his tattoo parlor.)

PROPRIETOR: Apologies, miss, but I have very little money.

MAX: How about I fatten your wallet?

(Max is talking to a lady in another part of Chinatown.)

MAX: Your uncle Pao down at the tattoo parlor says you run a housing service. He sent a young man to you about three weeks ago. Client of his.

LADY: Oh, yes, I remember. A nice young man. He needed a place right away. Here’s his address.

MAX: Great.

(Max goes to the address and breaks into the apartment. Nobody’s home. She paws through Zack’s things: a newspaper with Vogelsang’s ad circled, a motorcycle with the helmet of the rider she raced through the streets, a Jam Pony flier, photos of her meeting with Vogelsang, and a bottle of tryptophan. Suddenly someone grabs her from behind.)

MAX: Zack! It’s me, Max!

(The man lets her go. She turns around and sees Sam.)

MAX: You? You’re Zack? Why didn’t you tell me?

(They hug.)

(Outside, humvees approach. Zack hears the noise and looks out the window.)

ZACK: Lydecker.

(Max and Zack leave his apartment and start climbing the building’s stairs. Lydecker’s soldiers approach from below and from above. Zack gives Max some hand signals. They split up and each fights a batch of soldiers, kicking and punching them unconscious despite their fired shots.)

ZACK: Not bad.

(Max and Zack exit the building through a side door onto a roof of the building. Soldiers approach. Max fends one off, and then she and Zack use a rope to swing to the roof of the next building. Then they run to safety.)

(Later, Max and Zack walk through a railyard.)

ZACK: How’d you find me?

MAX: Vogelsang tipped me on your visit to the tattoo parlor. You killed him, didn’t you?

ZACK: Lydecker was set up on him. You were walking into a trap.

MAX: You should have warned me, told me not to go.

ZACK: Vogelsang knew too much.

MAX: You murdered an innocent man.

ZACK: The night we all escaped, you put your lives in my hands. I’ve been looking out for you ever since. Every one of you. Vogelsang was weak. Lydecker would have gotten the information out of him. He would have hunted us down one by one, and I couldn’t let that happen.

MAX: So you traded one life for twelve, is that it?

ZACK: I stand by my decision. It’s not safe here. Lydecker’s men will be combing the city. We have to leave tonight. I can get us to San Francisco, and we’ll split up there.

MAX: Split up? What are you talking about?

ZACK: We can’t stay together, Max. It will compromise everyone’s safety.

MAX: You know where the others are? Tell me!

ZACK: The less you know about the others, the better. That way, if anyone gets captured, the others will still be safe.

MAX: But they’re my family!

ZACK: They’re soldiers...and so are you. The only person you can rely on, Max, is yourself. Everything else is just a lie. It’s phony sentimentality, and it will get you killed. Now, let’s go.

MAX: No.

ZACK: I’m not asking you, Max. I’m giving you an order.

MAX: What are you gonna do, court-martial me?

ZACK: If you stay here, you risk tactical exposure. Or have you forgotten everything that they taught us?

MAX: No, but I’m trying real hard at it. You’re still back at Manticore. Maybe I’m chasing a sentimental lie, but at least I’m trying to get away from it.

ZACK: I can’t be responsible for you if you won’t listen.

MAX: Zack, don’t go. Please.

ZACK: I have to. They did a good job on you, Max. Turned out okay. (Walks away)

(Valerie enters Logan’s apartment. Logan is staring out the window at the rain.)

VALERIE: Hey, I hope you’re hungry, ’cause I’m going to make us a fabulous dinner. Now I’ve become quite the cook, you know--not like back in the day, when I’d polish off a bottle of wine and end up setting the kitchen on fire.

(Logan turns to face her and points to an envelope on the counter.)

LOGAN: That’s for you.

VALERIE: What’s this?

LOGAN: What you came for.

(Valerie looks inside the envelope and sees that it contains cash.)

VALERIE: Logan, what’s wrong?

LOGAN: Val, don’t. I know what’s going on.

VALERIE: I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.

LOGAN: Valerie, please. Don’t make me run the math. It’ll just make things worse for both of us.

VALERIE: It wasn’t my idea.

LOGAN: I know how tough things are out there.

VALERIE: God, Logan, I’m so sorry.

LOGAN: Me, too.

(He turns his back on her to face the window again.)

LOGAN: Please, just go.

(Valerie takes her coat and starts to leave, as Logan watches her reflection in the window. She pauses, comes back to get the money, then walks out.)

(At Crash, Max is sitting at the bar, staring into space. Original Cindy approaches.)

ORIGINAL CINDY (to bartender): Can I get a pitcher, please? (To Max) Hear the good news? Normal gave Herbal his job back.

MAX: So the slowdown worked.

ORIGINAL CINDY: That, and the fact that his boy Sam turned out to be a dud. Never made his deliveries. Never came back, neither. Probably still out there looking for Power Nipple. Come sit with us.

MAX: No, I think I’m going to drink my coffee and go home. Kinda in my own headspace.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Aiight. See you at work, boo.

(Original Cindy takes the refilled pitcher and rejoins Sketchy, Herbal, and Druid at a table.)

DRUID: That’s my girl.

SKETCHY: Max okay?

ORIGINAL CINDY: She’s just thinking ’bout things.

HERBAL: I must thank you highly, you know. Because of you, Normal found it in his heart to give me my job back.

SKETCHY: How’s the war on the home front?

HERBAL: No war. I tell Winston, “There’s only one man in this house and that is I.”

SKETCHY: And he blazed?

HERBAL: Well...I escorted him to the door with my foot.

(They laugh. Herbal raises his glass in a toast.)

HERBAL: To Winston.

DRUID: Yeah, all right.

HERBAL: And to Normal.

DRUID: Ah, let’s not get carried away.

(Max gets up to leave and sees Bling approach her.)

MAX: Hey, Bling. I didn’t know you kicked it here.

BLING: I don’t. Your roomie said this is where I might find you.

MAX: Logan okay?

BLING: Yeah...considering the knowledge you dropped on him today.

MAX: I had to tell him the truth.

BLING: You think somewhere not so deep down he didn’t already know the truth? He was married to the woman.

MAX: So I’m the bad guy for saying it out loud?

BLING: Man’s been through a lot. Maybe he didn’t mind...pretending a little bit.

MAX: What am I supposed to do? Go over there and apologize?

BLING: It’s my strong sense he’s feeling very much alone at the moment. Wouldn’t hurt for someone to let him know he isn’t.

MAX: I’ll go over there and read him a bedtime story. Hey, bartender, give this gentleman anything he wants.

(Max enters Logan’s apartment. He’s still staring out the window.)

MAX: Doorbell’s broken.

LOGAN: No. I was just ignoring it.

(Logan turns to face her.)

MAX: So, do you hate me now?

LOGAN: Oh, I was pissed off at you for ten minutes, maybe. You know...kill the messenger.

MAX: Or in this case, the nosy messenger, rooting around in stuff that’s none of her business.

LOGAN: The first time Val played me, it ended our marriage, and it was shame on her. This time, it’s shame on me. Well, at least she’s sober.

MAX: Now she’s really got to live with herself.

LOGAN: The truth is, it’s more embarrassing than anything else...having to face the fact that I keep wanting to believe in something that was never there in the first place.

MAX: I know the feeling. Hooked up with Zack.

LOGAN: Sounds like it didn’t turn out the way you wanted.

MAX: After all these years of waiting and wondering, I guess I expected--I don’t know...that finding Zack would change everything. My life would finally make sense. Pretty stupid of me, huh? I just wanted somebody that was like me. Someone I can connect with.

LOGAN: Basic human impulse, not wanting to be alone.

MAX: According to Zack, it’s phony sentimentality. We’re soldiers. This is enemy territory. We’re constantly on the move.

LOGAN: That’s one way to live your life.

MAX: I just don’t know if I want to do that anymore. But maybe he’s right. Maybe I don’t have a choice.

(Brief silence)

LOGAN: There’s some food in the kitchen, if you’re hungry.

MAX: Not really.

LOGAN: Me neither. What time is it?

MAX: Late.

LOGAN: You can crash here, if you want. In the guest room.

MAX: Not tired.

LOGAN: Me neither. Feel like going for a spin in the park?

MAX: It’s raining.

LOGAN: I don’t mind.

MAX: Me neither.

(We see their reflection in the window as they head out together.)