Ziva_David's Blog

Chapter 1
The instructions Lydecker had given to Max led to a cemetery high in the Austrian Alps, a beautiful meadow dotted with esoterically carved white marble grave stones. The one in front of her -- dated 1982-2019 -- had the name "Maria Sandeman" inscribed in elegant script.

Maria Sandeman -- Rene Sandeman's daughter according to cemetery records, and Ames White's sister.

My birth mother, dead for the past three years. Oh God, would that make White my uncle?

Max stood with her head bowed and tears welling in her eyes. Only Alec's big warm hand on her shoulder kept her from breaking down completely.

"I'm sorry, Max," he said in a low voice. "But we knew it was a long shot. You can't be surprised that Lydecker jerked you around like this."

"Well," Max sniffed, wiping her nose on the back of her jacket sleeve, "he did keep his promise. He told me where my mother was."

"So," Alec said, eying the marker with one eyebrow raised. "Old Sandeman, wherever he may be, is your grandpa. No wonder he gave you the magic DNA."

Max unfolded the creased piece of paper she'd kept in her pocket for the past three days, the letter from her mother, and handed it to Alec. "You can read it now," she said.

'You sure you want me to?" he asked.

Max turned and looked up at him, her liquid brown eyes full of despair. "I don't want there to be secrets between us," she said softly.

"That bad, huh?" Alec said dryly as he rather gingerly accepted the letter and began to read.

"That bad," Max agreed.

My son ... my daughter,

I hope with all my heart this letter will one day reach you, although in reality I don't hold out much hope for such a miracle. Still, I find I must put down in words what I somehow have a feeling you're longing to hear me say.

I love you, wherever you are ... whoever you are ... whatever you are. I love you with all of my heart and soul. Even though your flesh isn't mine, I carried you in my body for nine precious months. You became a part of me, and I a part of you. To this day, I can sometimes sense your presence in the world.

I would have given anything to keep you, my child, but they wouldn't let me. My father tried to explain when the embryo was implanted how I was helping science ... helping the world. He said you were very special, and that he wanted you to be carried by someone he could trust absolutely. Who better than his own daughter?

I knew from the start you were to be taken from me. But as my due date approached, I began having second thoughts about the bargain I'd struck. I tried to run, a futile escape attempt that led to my incarceration until your birth was induced. Afterwards, I could find no solace. Father, attempting to help, had me placed in a private asylum which is where I lived for many years.

At last, however, I was released, but only after I promised to never try and seek you out. They told me I wouldn't like what if I found if I did -- but I knew they were lying. I knew I'd love you no matter what you'd become.

And now, my child, I'm dying, a tragic side effect of the immunity ceremony my people make their children undergo. My blood is rejecting the antibodies that were supposed to protect me. Soon ... a day or two ... I won't be coherent any more, and I want to say these things to you while I can.

Once again, my darling, I love you, whether you are boy or girl ... man or woman ... soldier or civilian ... human or something beyond.

Until our next life, your mother forever,

Maria Sandeman

Alec finished reading and his eyes went to Max. "In other words," he said. "They killed her too."

"After a fashion," Max agreed. She turned to her mate. "Alec," she said. "I want to spend a little time here for awhile, at her grave." She cast her eyes down, her face shadowed by the hood of her jacket. "Alone."

He nodded in understanding as the alpine wind tossed locks of dark blond hair over his eyes. "I'll meet you back at the hotel," he said, rubbing his cold hands briskly together. "In the lobby since we're due to check out in an hour. Maybe we can grab a bite to eat on the way to the airport."

Max's smile thanked him for his understanding, and with a little reassuring wink Alec hunched shoulders against the wind, stuffed hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, and began the trek back down the mountainside to their lodgings in the valley hostelry below.



*****



"She never knew the fate of her child."

Not startled in the least (she'd been expecting him), Max sighed heavily and closed her eyes for a second. Then, she opened them and stared intently at her mother's grave stone. "Sandeman never told her?" she said quietly.

"Sandeman never knew what happened to you," Lydecker replied. He came forward a few steps to stand beside Max, his head bowed reverently as he regarded the grave with her. "You were only four years old when he was run out of Manticore by the military takeover."

"She didn't even know she'd had a daughter," Max said bitterly.

"Sandeman probably thought it would be kinder for her that way," the colonel said.

"Why are you here?" Max asked. She turned to look at him at last. "You didn't have to bring me half way around the world if all you wanted to do was capture me."

"I don't want to capture you, Max," the older man said. "I want your cooperation ... your help."

Tossing her long dark hair back in the wind Max laughed out loud at that notion. "I'll never help you again," she snapped. "Not after what you tried to do to Alec."

"494's here, isn't he," Lydecker said -- a statement not a question.

"I brought him," Max said nonchalantly, as if she was referring to a suitcase instead of her handsome X5 lover. Her eyes met Lydecker's. "You can't have him. I'll kill you if you try."

"Max," Lydecker said gently. "I have to have him. And you too. There's no other way now."

"What are you talking about?" Her voice remained calm, but her eyes widened a fraction.

"Several foreign governments are in a race to acquire bio-synth technology," Lydecker said. "Up until now, we've been lucky. Terminal City has been too hot a political issue and too much in the media spotlight to make it a feasible target. But now that the transgenics are settling into Seattle and things are calming down, our enemies will be making their move."

"They want X5s, don't they?" Max said dully, wondering why she'd ever even hoped this nightmare of her life might end.

"That's their primary target," Lydecker agreed. "The X5 group are the best."

Max shrugged. "Not many left in TC really, a dozen maybe."

"They'll take whoever they can get," the colonel said. "But you and 494 are on the top of their shopping list -- and you're also the most vulnerable. Attending to TC business takes you outside the compound's perimeter on a regular basis."

"So, now you're going to offer to take Alec and me into protective custody, right?" Max said sarcastically. She knelt on her mother's grave and tenderly placed a hand at the base of the headstone. "It's all over at last," she whispered, speaking more to her mother than to the flesh and blood man beside her.

"If I have to," Lydecker said quietly.

Max glanced up at him over her shoulder. "I'll die rather than go back to Manticore. So would Alec. But then I guess that at least would keep us out of enemy hands."

Lydecker said nothing, and suddenly Max felt the old fear creeping into her heart. "What do you want from me?" she asked, a touch of desperation in her voice.

"Like I said," Lydecker replied, straightening shoulders in his leather bomber jacket. "I want your cooperation."

"Cooperation how?"

"The transgenics in Terminal City will do what you tell them to," Lydecker said, not beating around the bush any longer. "If you ask them to support New Manticore -- to go on missions for us -- they will."

"My people are doing just fine on their own!" Max declared hotly. "I'd never ask them to be slaves again!"

"They can remain in TC," Lydecker said quickly. "And they can keep their current jobs ... occupations. All I'm asking for is an occasional commando squad or specialized team. I'd put you in charge of mission control, every time if you want. You'd be completely in the loop on any assignment."

Max started to speak but Lydecker barged ahead. "In return for your aide, we'll give you medical help, security upgrades, advanced weaponry and computer technology, rations and clothing if you need it. Life for your people would be a whole lot easier, and you'd also be doing your country a service. In the meantime, the X5s in TC would be protected from the enemy as well as utilized."

"No," Max said flatly. "I'll not sell my people into slavery again."

Lydecker smiled wolfishly. "I thought you might say that," he said softly. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a PDA computer. There was a picture on the screen -- Alec, sitting on a couch in the hotel lobby near the fireplace. Their backpacks were at his feet and a glass of Scotch in his hand. While Max watched, his eyes speculatively followed a beautiful buxom blonde as she walked to the check-in desk. Typical, she thought with a touch of cynicism. Now he'll approach her with a pick-up line, just like old times. However, to his credit, Max watched as the new Alec ... her Alec, merely sighed a bit wistfully, propped feet firmly on a footstool, and took another sip of his drink. Good boy.

"X5-600 has him in his sites at this very moment," Lydecker said. "If my man doesn't hear from me in--" He glanced at his watch. "--ninety seconds, a bullet's going to spatter your lover's brains all over that lobby."

"Please," Max breathed. "No. Don't make me do this. Don't make me choose."

"I'm sorry, Max," the colonel said sadly. "I can't have 494 running around loose in the world. He'll be picked up by the Chinese or South Africans for sure ... maybe even by the Syrians. He's either with Manticore, or he's dead." He looked at Max knowingly. "And you're the one who's got to decide his fate. If you accept my proposition, Alec will be under your direct orders along with the rest of the transgenics in TC. You'll be in control to some degree." His blue eyes were almost pleading. "It's better than the alternative, Max."

Max still hesitated. If she agreed, she'd be caging Alec like an animal, herself and the others as well. Maybe he was better off dead at that ...

"Thirty seconds, Max," Lydecker said, his voice rising. "Lane's the one who assassinated the Pope, you know."

"I thought the Pope's killer self destructed," Max said. "Said so in the newspaper articles."

A ghost of a smile crossed the colonel's weathered face. "A decoy was deployed for destruction so as to take the spotlight off the real killer, then we removed all DNA evidence. No, Lane is very much alive, and in--" He looked at his watch again. "--ten seconds 494's going to be very much dead."

"All right!" Max shouted, her hand clutching at her mother's tombstone although whether for physical support of emotional comfort she didn't know. "All right. I'll put Terminal City under the protection of New Manticore."

"Abort," Lydecker said quickly into a small com unit he'd pulled from another pocket. "Repeat. Abort." He waited a second, listened to something on an earphone jack, then smiled with grim satisfaction. "Roger," he said. "Return to the rendezvous point X5-600 and await further instructions." The colonel then turned to Max. "Don't worry," he said with an unpleasant smile. "Lane's not far. If I need him to, he can still take 494 down."

"That won't be necessary," Max said as she climbed to her feet and brushed dirt off her pants, ignoring Lydecker's extended helping hand.

"He's not going to like this," Lydecker said.

"I can handle Alec," Max said without looking at her former CO. "He'll do what I tell him to."

"You better hope he does," Lydecker said. "Because there are more powerful people than me who'd actually prefer the boy dead. They think he's caused too much trouble already. But as for myself ... I'm willing to let bygones be bygones, for now at least."

"So that's it?" Max said, her brown eyes full of hopelessness. "My people and I do what you say from now on or you kill Alec?"

"That's it," Lydecker said almost gently, as if the bastard was sorry for the situation. "That's the price you're going to pay for his love."

A price that was too high perhaps?

Max watched Lydecker leave, walking down the cemetery path to a waiting car, and it was only when the vehicle was out of sight that she let herself collapse on top of her mother's grave once more, sobbing because her just found happiness was over.

Chapter 2

"Max, you're awful quiet," Alec said as he wriggled uncomfortably in his coach class airline seat. Wedged between Max (who had the window seat) and a snoring overweight Korean business man, his long legs were aching from being essentially folded up in his own lap for the past six hours. "You know," he added, "if Lydecker had sprung for another two hundred bucks we could have flown direct. I mean, I know the guy is a cheap skate and all, but five layovers is a bit much. Talk about an out-of-the-way route. Our boarding pass in Des Moines was an ear of corn for God's sake."

He smiled at his own little joke, hoping to provoke one from Max as well, but she just continued staring out the window. "Max," he said again. "What's wrong. I know you're upset about your mother bein' dead and all, but it's not like you really knew the woman."

Max turned weary eyes to her man. "Don't you ever wonder about your own birth mother, Alec?" she asked. "Who she was, what she was like ... if she loved you?"

"No," he said firmly. "I can honestly say the thought never even crossed my mind." He bit down on his lower lip. "Max, I was at Manticore almost my whole life. I saw what the surrogate program was all about. The girls they used were picked up off the streets, people no one would miss, mostly cleaned up junkies and whores. Your mother was apparently an exception, but mine ..." A sad little smile. "Mine was probably a hooker or an addict. So far as I'm concerned, she was just a container, no emotional attachment at all, and as for her feelings about it ... well, I imagine that baby in her womb was just a bunch of dollar signs. The surrogates were pretty well paid for their services and silence you know."

"Alec, I made a deal with Lydecker."

The U-turn in their conversation threw Alec for a moment, and his mind scrambled for footing. "Excuse me?" he managed to say. "You did what?"

Max's shoulders sagged with a huge sigh. "I told Lydecker you and me would work for him again, as well as some of the others in Terminal City. In return, we get protection for our people from foreign agents and medical help." She looked up at him. "It's not a bad deal, really. Sooner or later we were going to come under fire from the Chinese or the Saudis or South Africans. Lydecker's right about that. We're too valuable, Alec ... our bodies too much in demand in the world."

She was leaving something out. Alec's intuition was keen when it came to Max, and he could tell she wasn't giving him the whole story. "There's more," he said, crossing arms in front of his chest and trying once again to ease the nasty cramp in the side of his right leg. "Spill it. What else does the bastard want?"

"It's not what else he wants," Max said. "It's what he promises not to do."

Alec's brows drew together in a scowl. He didn't understand.

"If I hadn't agreed to the deal, you'd be dead now."

"He blackmailed you?" Alec said, not at all surprised. He took Max's hand in his own. "Hey," he said gently, concealing the anger he felt about the whole situation. "I know you were tryin' to protect me, but you should have told me. I can take care of myself. I'd have gotten away, laid low for awhile until the heat was off. Max, you don't hafta look out for me."

"X5-600 had you in his sites in the hotel lobby," Max said. "You'd have been dead in seconds if I hadn't agreed to Lydecker's terms." She looked up at him. "I had no choice, Alec. No choice at all." She exhaled shakily. "I still don't. None of us do. If we don't work for Manticore and accept their protection, sooner or later we'll be taken by a foreign government." There was irony now in her voice. "We're incredibly valuable bio weapons, Alec. Worth millions for our DNA strands alone. Now that Manticore's in disarray, the labs gone, the scientists scattered, we're even more desired than before by the Committee. They've found they can't force us back into the military program." She squeezed his hand and gave him a sympathetic smile. "You taught them that lesson. But that doesn't mean they're just going to leave us alone -- ever. They'll make use of us, Alec. One way or the other. Lydecker's deal didn't seem so bad to me. It lets us keep what we've created in Terminal City ... keeps our family together ... keeps you safe ..." Her voice trailed off.

"Keeps the colonel's foot on our throats," Alec added dryly. "Max, Lydecker wants me dead. He's gonna make a run at me deal or not."

"He promised!" Max said loudly.

The businessman beside Alec stirred in his sleep and the X5 shot his mate a stern look. Keep it down.

"He promised you'd come to no harm so long as I provide Manticore with the services of our people on occasion," she said more quietly.

Alec looked at Max for a long moment. "What if it was Logan?" he asked. "What if it had been Logan that Lydecker was usin' for blackmail, back when the man was pretty much the sum total of your emotional world? What would you have done then?"

Max opened her mouth to answer, but then she closed it again, her dark eyes clouding. "I ... I don't know," she stammered.

"When White had Logan kidnapped," Alec pointed out, "you went after your man with guns blazin' -- figuratively speaking of course since you hate the whole gun thing." He shrugged. "Why roll over this time?"

"This is different, Alec," Max said quietly. "It's not just Manticore. Lydecker's right about the foreigns. We've got more than one enemy to worry about. With Logan, it was just the Breeding Cult."

"Just the Breeding Cult?" Alec said, almost laughing. "Max, we went up against hundreds of those bastards in their own stronghold -- and won. We can beat Lydecker and any internationals who make a run at us."

Max was shaking her head. "You don't understand," she said. "I can't risk losing you, not after all we've been through to be together." She squared her shoulders in her seat. "If using Terminal City's population as mercenaries for Manticore keeps you safe ... keeps all of us safe ... then I don't think it's too high of a price to pay."

Alec wanted to argue with her, but something about the look in Max's eyes frightened him. He'd never known her to give up before, and that's what he saw right now on her face -- defeat. But now wasn't the time for this battle. As soon as they got into Seattle he'd go find Lydecker himself and have a "little talk" with the man -- that is, he thought as he glanced out the window at the abandoned agriculture land skimming below the plane and rubbed an aching calf, if this goddamn flight ever ended.



*****



Melissa Brown, New Manticore's CEO and chief torture-maven, couldn't believe her ears. "You were supposed to bring 494 in for medical experimentation and destruction!" she spat. "Not turn him into a bargaining chip!" She paced her office, the billowy purple skirts of her dress swirling like thunder clouds in the sky. Distractedly, she straightened the lavender felt cap on her head -- an Armani II creation that had cost more money that most people made in a month. "At the very least you should have ordered X5-600 to pull the trigger when he had the chance!" she continued. "494's made a fool of you ... of us ... more times than I care to count. The entire point of the mission was to lure that Unit out into the open so he could be captured or terminated."

"I saw an opportunity and I took it," Lydecker replied calmly. "I saw a way to gain 452's cooperation, as well as some degree of control over the transgenics holed up in Terminal City."

"They're already contained," Ms. Brown said coldly. "The elimination of most of them is currently in the planning stages, as well as the retrieval of the Units we deem salvageable."

"You mean the X5s," Lydecker stated. "452 and 494 are the best of that class," he reminded her. "I'm just doing my job trying to save valuable military property."

Ms. Brown flounced into her plush suede desk chair. "Just neutralize 494," she ordered. "Either bring him to me, or let X5-600 put a bullet in that handsome head of his after all."

"Yes, mam," Lydecker replied with a half-salute, although the look in his eyes belied the promise. The colonel had no intention of killing or turning over the man who was the key to X5-452's continued cooperation, which, in turn, was the key to his future career.

Chapter 3

"How'd you find me?"

The lithely handsome X5 shrugged. Dressed all in black, droplets of rain from the storm outside glistened on Alec's leather clad shoulders making him look all the more like the creature of darkness he was. "Let's just say I have resources too," he said with a wicked smirk.

Lydecker turned around slowly, hands out in the open, knowing better than to make any sudden moves. Although most who associated with his kids thought of them as completely human, he knew better. If he wanted to, 494 could have him by the throat in a fraction of a second, and the fact this X5 in particular had every reason in the world to kill him made him all the more cautious.

The colonel was in his pajamas, awakened from sleep, not by the sound of the Unit's stealthy intrusion into his hotel room, but by the sound of the Glock 65 in 494's hand being cocked. He knew his own pistol, stashed beneath his pillow, would be of no use against the X5's speed and accuracy, nor the darkness of the room a cover.

"Do you mind if I turn on a light?" Lydecker asked calmly. "If you're going to shoot me, I'd like to look you in the eye when you do it."

"Go ahead," Alec said, gesturing at the bedside lamp with the barrel of the gun. "Doesn't matter to me."

Lydecker snapped on the nightstand light and squinted up at the intruder. "You don't want to do this, son," he said quietly. "Believe it or not, I'm on your side. New Manticore is growing stronger by the day, rebuilding its facilities, acquiring new technology, scientists, and rounding up its wandering soldiers. The Committee wants it rebuilt within a year. There's no way you, Max, and the others can remain autonomous. But with my help you can at least retain some measure of control over your lives."

"Your help?" Alec raised an eyebrow, the gun never wavering. "Is blackmailin' Max by threatenin' me your idea of help?"

"It was the quickest way to gain her cooperation," Lydecker said. A noisy truck whizzed by on the highway outside the roadside hotel, the sound incredibly loud in the thin-walled room. Alec flinched -- and Lydecker grinned. "Your hearing was always more acute than the others," he said softly. "Yours and your brother's. One of the scientists who concocted your DNA mix said you had, and I quote, 'the ears of a Peruvian fruit bat'." He regarded Alec almost fondly. "Each pair of my kids had unique gifts. Yours was your exceptional hearing and an uncanny procedural memory. Max's was her extreme night vision and supple musculature."

"We didn't ask for any of your so-called 'gifts'," Alec said cynically. "So cut the biology lesson. I know exactly who and what I am, and I've learned to live with it. Oh, and you forgot to mention the seizures, by the way, the part of that 'gift' that keeps on giving."

"Oh but do you really know who you are?" Lydecker chuckled. "Max thinks she's human. So do you. But neither of you are, and therein lies the problem, doesn't it? The source of all your frustrations."

"I'm better than human," Alec said, clenching his jaw.

"Exactly!" Lydecker pounced on his words. "You're a god damned supersoldier for Christ's sake! And it's about time you started acting like one!"

Alec shrugged, a little smile tugging the corner of his full handsome lips now. "What's a supersoldier to do?" he said sarcastically. "When his command decides he's apparently outlived his usefulness?" The X5's finger began to tighten on the trigger.

"I'm trying to help you!" Lydecker cried out, stalling for time, prolonging his life.

"You tried to destroy us!" Alec shouted right back. "You tried to kill us all!"

So that was it, Lydecker suddenly realized -- the key to what made 494 tick. He'd been betrayed by his own command, his world ripped out from under him, everything he'd been taught and believed in proved a lie. No wonder he'd allied himself with Max, an X5 who'd already successfully adapted to the so-called "real" world, and gone native. No wonder he now hated those who'd created him, raised him, trained him -- not for what they did to him as a child, what they'd made him do, but for abandoning him. Of course the colonel knew that most of the surviving Manticore alum probably felt that way, but he'd never been quite sure about 494's motives. This could be useful. He could still be turned ...

"Put the gun down, son," Lydecker said gently. "And we'll talk. I'm not the one who betrayed you back then. I'm not the one who ordered Manticore burned to the ground. That was Renfro and The Committee. I fought her every step of the way, son, trying to protect you and the others. And I'll fight for you still."

Alec smirked, then with another shrug of black leather-clad shoulders and a slight bow, tucked the Glock into the waistband of his dark jeans -- a gesture that gave the colonel little comfort. The gun was, afterall, hardly necessary. It wasn't as if as if the X5 couldn't snap his enemy's neck with one hand any time he chose -- actually, come to think of it Lydecker realized, a much quieter and more stealthy way for a trained assassin like 494 to accomplish his mission anyway.

"You're a smart kid, 494. You know better than to destroy the only one who can offer you the protection you and your people need," the colonel tried. "Max knows too."

"And that, 'Deck, is the only reason you're still alive," Alec agreed cheerfully. Then his hazel eyes grew cold as he sobered. "I didn't come here tonight to kill you -- unless I have to. Max would be beyond pissed if I did. She still thinks you're useful. I came here to tell you to leave Max and me alone. Get off our backs."

"If I leave you alone, you'll be dead or captured within two weeks," Lydecker said, and he wasn't lying. "As I told Max, foreign nationals are on the move. The transgenics of Terminal City have to be brought back into the fold of the military where they can be both protected and utilized."

"And if we don't want your protection?"

"Termination," Lydecker said bluntly. "Every breathing transgenic will be destroyed." He sighed heavily, deciding to come clean with the boy. "Truth is," he said, "Max will cooperate because I told her I'd kill you if she didn't. But you ... you'll cooperate because you're far more of a soldier than she is and you see the big picture here. You'll go along with the plan not for personal reasons, but for professional ones. You know what I'm saying is true, and you know I'm offering the only chance for your people to live."

Alec didn't say anything, but stood with his head slightly cocked to one side, regarding the colonel as if he were an annoying problem he was trying to figure out how to solve.

In turn, Lydecker studied his kid, X5-494, a soldier who'd had disciplinary problems his entire life back at Manticore not to mention a psychotic twin brother. Under the old regime, this Unit would have been put down long ago. But that was before the threat of the Comet Plague and before 452's lifesaving DNA was discovered ... before 494 was determined to be the male most compatible to sire her offspring ... before there were so few X5s left alive in the world ...

"You know you have to take the deal," the colonel said in the silence. "Just like Max knows. The two of you will work for Manticore, and we'll provide protection for you and your people. Both sides benefit, and everyone stays alive and relatively free."

494 was staring at him. Lydecker shivered, and realized it was because when he looked into the X5's eyes there was this uncanny feeling that, even without a gun in his hand, the boy was taking aim.

Thunder clapped outside. Abruptly, Alec released the older man from that near-supernatural moment and headed for the door.

"Does this mean we have a deal, you and me?" Lydecker asked.

Slowly, those cat eyes turned on him again. "We have a deal," Alec grated, as if the words were costing him dearly to say. "But if you betray me and mine, I will kill you."

"Understood," the colonel replied.

And then the X5 was gone into the stormy night, leaving Donald Lydecker to collapse shaking on the bed, feeling as if he'd just cheated death one more time.



*****



Max's cell phone chirped, waking them both. With a grumble, Alec turned over in bed, slipping his arm out from beneath his mate, and fumbled for the device on the nightstand.

"Here," he said groggily, handing it to Max. Yawning widely, he sniffed and noted the time as he ran fingers back through already mussed hair -- 3:05 a.m. Great. His "little talk" with Lydecker had left him jazzed (not to mention Max's scolding for ostensibly putting himself in such danger), and he'd had a hard time getting to sleep even after the "make up sex." Two hours of shut-eye just didn't quite do it for him, genetically enhanced body or not. Unlike Max, he wasn't primarily nocturnal.

Her voice not much more coherent than Alec's, Max snapped the device open and mumbled, "Talk to me."

"Eight a.m., sector eleven, Union Bay," Lydecker's voice rasped. "There's a warehouse on the dock, number fourteen. Both of you meet me there. You've got a mission."

Max opened her mouth to ask the colonel just who the hell he thought he was, giving them orders, but the line went dead before she could vent the words.

Eyebrows raised, Alec looked at her expectantly.

"I guess this is it," Max said slowly, staring at the phone still in her hand.

"Some kinda mission?" he asked.

Max nodded. "Sector eleven, eight a.m." She chewed on her lower lip. "It was an order, Alec. Question is, do we obey or not?"

"Eleven?" Alec growled. "Hell, that's three sectors away ... four if the main checkpoint's still closed like it was last week. "It'll take us at least two hours to get there which means, by the time we get ready, this night's pretty well shot."

"You're saying we should take the mission?" Max asked.

"I'm sayin' we give it a try," Alec clarified. After his talk with the big man, he'd come to the conclusion that, like it or not, Lydecker did have something to offer their people -- and that he was also probably telling the truth about the government planning to take over the Manticore refugees. Sort of a "better the Devil you know than the Devil you don't" situation.

"We go then?" Max whispered, for once looking to him for the lead.

"We go," Alec said firmly. Then his voice softened as he lightly stroked the side of her cheek with his hand. "Together."

Chapter 4

"You look like shit," Lydecker said to Alec when the two X5s walked into the open garage area of the large dockside warehouse.

"I missed my beauty sleep," Alec deadpanned. "Got a crank call about three in the morning and couldn't doze off again. You know, one of those heavy breathers."

Lydecker smiled wryly. "Suck it up, soldier," he admonished. "Or have you forgotten all your training?"

"Not all of it," Alec replied levelly, his eyes zeroing coldly in on the colonel.

Clearing his throat, Lydecker turned to Max. "You're team leader on this one," he said.

"Why me?" she asked. She jerked a thumb at Alec. "He's the one who used to be your true blue soldier."

"Because I know damn well who's the boss of your little family," the colonel said with another snide smile. "He takes your orders. He pretty much always has. Best not to mess with the status quo."

Alec knew he probably ought to be insulted, but at the moment he was too damn tired to care. He shrugged. "Fine by me," he said. "What's the job?"

"Bodyguard," Lydecker said succinctly. He pulled a photograph out of a large manila envelope. "Savannah Stevens, age sixteen. Graduated high school at age nine, Cal Tech at twelve, two PHds. A real genius. She's been working in a commercial gene splicing lab for the past three years." He eyed the two transgenics. "Her speciality is recombinant DNA experimentation, splicing animal DNA to the human genome."

"Hasn't that already been done?" Max asked, not trying to hide the sarcasm.

"Not in the commercial world," Lydecker said. "The military isn't inclined to share its supersoldier secrets you know."

"Why does the kid need a bodyguard?" Alec asked, studying the photograph of a pretty young teenager with long curly red hair, big blue eyes, and freckles on her nose. She looked more like a cheerleader to him than a genius scientist -- but then looks could be deceiving as he well knew.

"I told you foreign nationals are getting extremely eager to advance their own supersoldier programs," Lydecker said. "Besides attempting to acquire a Manticore Unit, they're also going ahead with their own research into DNA splicing. Our undercover sources tell us that Miss Stevens is a prime target to be snatched. What she knows about genome configurations is worth a great deal to any one of several nations -- the Chinese, Koreans, Saudis, South Africans ... and more."

He reached into the envelope again and pulled out a brochure. "She's the keynote speaker at tomorrow's Genetic Research for the Future meeting. It's being held at the Mercer Building here in Seattle. Usually, her employers keep her pretty well guarded, but she'll be exposed at that meeting which is where you two come in. I want you to stick to her like glue and keep her from being snatched or harmed in any way." He tossed the folder to Max. "Look over the material then rendezvous with the subject in the morning. You have my number. Call me with any questions."

"I've got one already," Max said. "Does Miss Stevens know we're going to be her bodyguards?"

"Yes," Lydecker said.

"And does she know who we are?"

"Yes."

"Oh, really?" Alec said.

"The two of you have been all over the Seattle news for the past year," Lydecker said levelly. "You're celebrities."

"Then why not send a couple of your own 'kids'?" Alec pressed. "Someone more anonymous."

Lydecker glanced away, obviously uncomfortable. "My men are all out on assignment. This came up suddenly and I needed someone to pinch hit the job. You and Max are available, and already in the area."

Max didn't buy it. Neither did Alec. They both knew this had to be some kind of test, although Lydecker's motives, as always, were murky.

"All right," Max said. "We'll do it. Just give us the address and we'll go babysit your girl." She turned to Alec with a shrug. "Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?"

"Too easy," Alec said, his hazel eyes narrowed with suspicion. "There's gotta be a catch."

"No catch," Lydecker said. "Promise. Just make sure she makes it to the conference safely and then back home again afterwards. Security at her residence and workplace are sufficient. It's when she's in public that she's vulnerable."



*****



"Savannah's a pretty name," Max said as they stood way too early for Alec's liking the next morning on the front steps of a large ranch home in a suburb of Sector 10.

She reached out and rang the doorbell while Alec, hands in stuffed in the pockets of his grey leather jacket and rocking back on his heels, looked idly around. The Berrisford Mansion was located about half a mile away, he realized, placing their location in his mind. This was actually a wealthy area of Seattle, although the Stevenson home was modest in comparison with the neighboring houses.

There was the sound of scurrying feet inside the house, and a large dog began to bark on the other side of the door. It opened a crack, and a pair of vivid blue eyes peered out at them. "Are you my new bodyguards?" the girl asked, as she held onto the collar of a frantic German shepherd that was doing its best to charge through the small opening at them -- although whether with friendly enthusiasm or viciousness Alec couldn't tell.

Either way, the dog made him nervously back up a step, but Max held her ground.

"Savannah Stevenson?" Max inquired with a smile. She held out her hand. "I'm Max Guevera and this is Alec McDowell. We've been sent to escort you to the genetic's conference."

"Hush, Sadie!" the girl commanded, and the shepherd reluctantly but obediently ceased its yapping. "Sit!" The dog complied, although it continued to wriggle nervously, apparently intrigued by the scent of the newcomers. Savannah then swung the door open.

"Excuse me," Alec had to say. "Shouldn't you be askin' to see our I.D. or something? I mean, we are supposed to be protectin' you from bein' kidnapped, right? How do you know we're not the bad guys?"

With a grin that lit up her freckled face, Savannah pointed wordlessly up to a corner of the porch ceiling where a small but very sophisticated camera unit was pointed at them. "There's another one at the driveway entrance," she said, "and interspersed along the stone wall that lines the property. I saw you coming five minutes ago. You parked your motorcycles in some bushes across the road then walked up the drive. Guess that means we'll be taking my company car, although a bike ride would be fun." She reached to a table just inside the door and held up a file folder. "And Colonel Lydecker gave me your pictures so I'd know what you looked like."

"Our pictures?" Max said, dark eyebrows arching with surprise.

Savannah pulled out a pair of snapshots, one of Max taken from news footage and another of Alec at one of his city council sessions. Both were quite recent, but obviously obtained from the local media. Alec relaxed a little bit, worries about just how close old Lydecker was to them subsiding. Anyone could have produced those pictures.

Savannah opened the door wider and gestured for them to come inside. They walked directly into a living room that was joined to an open kitchen. The house, furnished with early American antiques and carpeted in a neutral tan, was actually a split level, stairs leading up to what were presumably bedrooms. (Alec's curiosity about where Savannah's security force might be was satisfied when he saw two burly guards watching them suspiciously from the upstairs landing.) The windows with their expensive mauve brocade drapes offered pleasant views of the grounds and surrounding woods. Autumn leaves just starting to turn shimmered gold and russet in the bright morning sunlight giving the setting a deceptively peaceful look. However, the scenery was somewhat marred by the ornate wrought iron security bars that covered all the panes. Although it looked like a typical suburban home at first glance, the X5 realized it was actually a prison ... or rather a fortress.

"Are you really a Manticore X5-Unit?" Savannah asked as soon as the door had closed behind them. The question was directed to Alec. Although she was being perfectly polite to Max, it was obvious the teenage girl had been instantly smitten by the handsome young male of the duo, her cheeks blushing red even as she asked, her words having the breathlessness of a teenager enamored of a rock star.

"No," Max said quickly, stepping forward and interrupting before Alec could answer. "He just plays one on T.V."

Savannah rolled her eyes at Max. "Oh please," she said. "I'm not a child. The colonel told me he was sending two of his best soldiers to guard me, and anyone with any kind of security clearance at all knows that Colonel Donald Michael Lydecker is high up in the ranks at New Manticore, and that he was practically the founder of the Old Manticore that developed the X Series soldiers."

"How do you know so much about it?" Alec asked, a bit floored by the girl's upfront knowledge and her lack of tact regarding what had once been one of the government's most classified secrets.

"Manticore's one of Genome Tomorrow's biggest customers," she said matter-of-factly, as if that explained everything -- which, come to think of it, Alec realized, it probably did.

"Genome Tomorrow?" Max said. "The company you work for?"

"Hey," Savannah said. "What can I say? They pay me well and the work's fascinating." She was eying Alec speculatively again. "You really do look human," she said, "even though I know what's under the hood. Your creators did a great job on the cosmetics ... suppressing the feline features and allowing the human ones to dominate.

Alec's mind suddenly flashed back to a long ago fight in a sewer with a panther woman and he blinked, humbly reminded that his own beauty had come at the expense of who knew how many others cruelly experimented on before him.

"You seem to know a lot about us," he said.

"I've studied the X series extensively," Savannah replied as she headed for the kitchen. "Do you guys want something to drink? Soda? Lemonade? Maybe some ice tea?" She grinned slyly. "A bowl of cream?"

"Where are your parents?" Max asked, not smiling at the joke, although she already knew that information from the girl's dossier.

"Dead," Savannah said, shrugging. "Didn't you read my file? Or do you just want to hear it in my own words? Trying to make conversation as it were."

"You live here alone?" Max said.

"I'm never alone," Savannah replied, nodding toward the two guards who were lounging against the far wall of the living room now keeping a close eye on their charge. "The Company sees to that. They gave me this house and everything." She held her arms out, indicating the surrounding grounds.

"What exactly do you do for them?" Alec asked.

"I discovered a better technique for splicing animal DNA into the human genome," Savannah said, sounding bored. Then she turned impish blue eyes up at Alec. "I know all your flaws," she added. "And your strengths." Then she batted her eyelashes at Max. "Do the seizures bother you guys much?"

Alec did a doubletake at that. So did Max.

"Sometimes," he said truthfully. "Why? Do you know how to fix 'em?"

Savannah shrugged again. "Wish I could help you guys, but no," she said. "They're a fatal flaw in your DNA matrix. They'll probably get worse as you get older, and one day they'll kill you." She frowned slightly. "My own creations will be a lot better than the two of you. The X9s won't have seizures, or the tendency to think too much for themselves either. They'll be much easier to control than your series."

"What are you talking about?" Max said. She wasn't smiling any more. "Are you telling me New Manticore is creating more supersoldiers?"

"Of course they are," Savannah said. "Why else would they hire my company and give me all the blueprints of the previous series."

"I thought those records were destroyed," Max tried, her worried eyes going to Alec's.

"Not all of them," Savannah said teasingly. She was rummaging in a closet, apparently looking for a coat. She found a corduroy jacket and turned around. "Remember I said I'd seen your matrix's? Fact of the matter is, you guys are really, really lucky. You wouldn't believe the number of X5s that were destroyed because they ended up deformed or defective in some way. There was one who even turned into a serial killer." She looked directly at Alec, her blue eyes no longer quite so girlish. "Your twin brother, I believe?"

"Ben had a hard life," Alec said, his voice clipped, for some reason feeling the need to defend his sibling. "Manticore was enough to make anyone crack."

"You didn't," Savannah pointed out. "Or at least you haven't yet."

"What do you mean?"

"That it could still happen to you," the girl said softly. "You could go insane." She turned her eyes on Max. "And you ... if you're ever thinking about having children, think again. Even with your special 'no junk DNA' make-up you carry all the fatal links in your regular genetics. Why pass that on to another generation? Better that people like me make better soldiers in test tubes rather than risking the whims of Mother Nature."

Max's mouth gaped open, not believing the audacity of this girl. "How dare you tell me--" she sputtered.

But Savannah darted forward and looped her arm through Alec's in a bold manner that caught both X5s completely off guard. "Just don't go getting ideas about living a long happy life as a family with him," she said, her grip tightening possessively. "The two of you will be lucky if you make it to thirty." Her voice had dropped as she said the words, but now she suddenly brightened again. "Hey, we better get going or we're gonna be late to the conference. I want to get there in plenty of time to show off my handsome escort." She beamed at Alec. "Even with all your sloppy DNA, you're still the hottest hunk I've ever had on a date."

"Hey, my DNA's not sloppy!" Alec argued as she pulled him out to the porch.

"And he's not your date!" Max snapped as she slammed the door behind them.
Chapter 5

The conference was long, and, to Max, incredibly boring. She spent four captive hours in the morning (and six hours that afternoon) crossing and uncrossing her legs and yanking on her tight skirt while perched in an uncomfortable stadium seat in the Mercer Building's amphitheater. Forced to listen to speaker after speaker drone on about DNA theories, all she could do was stretch, yawn, and massage her cramped back while her charge sitting next to her listened with rapt fascination.

Alec, at least, got to roam the building. Clad in black jeans, t-shirt, and leather -- looking very much the secret agent man -- his job was to keep an eye on the scientists who were constantly coming and going, watching for anything suspicious through a pair of expensive Ray Ban sunglasses that Max seriously doubted he'd paid for. (Then again, in Alec's defense, those shades did look an awful lot like ones Mole had been using as ante in TC's weekly poker game the other night.)

Savannah, as key note speaker, had the honor of being last on the program. When the girl was finally called on stage, Max expected another eyelid drooping monotone speech, but instead found herself surprisingly interested in what the teenage genius had to say about animal/human recombinant DNA techniques. The test subjects for the experiment had been feline, and, even though it wasn't stated as such, it was obvious Savannah had used X5 physiology as a prototype for her work. However, when charts were put up on the overhead projector showing the failure rate of the DNA strands -- how they almost inevitably eventually disintegrated with the bonds not holding or else produced horribly deformed lab animals -- Max began to squirm again. She didn't need to hear this, not when--

"How's the speech goin'?" Alec asked cheerfully as he dropped into the empty seat next to her, the one Savannah had vacated.

"A real snoozer," Max said grumpily. "I'll really be glad when this assignment's over, and not because of the danger." She looked at her man. "I swear, this is the most boring day I've spent in I don't know how long. If I hear the word 'chromosome' one more time I'm going to vomit."

"Yeah," Alec agreed, propping a foot up on the back of the seat in front of him and ignoring the angry stare from its occupant. "I'm bored too. I've been up and down those stairs fifty times, checkin' hallways and balconies, the gift shop and restaurant. Not a suspicious person anywhere to be found." He sounded vaguely disappointed. "I'm beat too," he added. "My feet are killin' me."

"I hope they don't hurt too much," Max said.

Alec looked at her quizzically.

"Remember the party tonight? Your promised Savannah you'd dance with her?"

"Oh, God," Alec said. "I forgot. Do we hafta go?"

"She's counting on it," Max said. He still looked reluctant. "Come on. It's a big deal to her. Sort of like Prince Charming taking Cinderella to the ball."

Alec smirked. "Just so long as she knows this Prince Charming already has a princess," he said. "Wouldn't want the kid to get a crush on me or anything."

"Don't worry," Max said wryly. "You're an X5. According to Savannah, your lifespan is limited which makes anything more than a one-night-stand problematic."

"Don't remind me," Alec said. "She makes me feel like I've got an expiration date on that bar code of mine."

"I know what you mean," Max murmured.

The patron in front of them suddenly turned around, making a shushing motion with his hand. Rolling his eyes, Alec slid out of the seat and headed back to the lobby to wait for the conference to be over, and Max once more tried to concentrate on the scientific jargon the young girl was spouting about animal/human hybrids.



*****



Alec, always the gentleman, really did save a dance for Savannah at the party that evening. The event was formal. Lydecker, stickler for protocol that he was, had provided a tuxedo and evening gown for his pair of bodyguards (in Max's case a blue silk number with bows that didn't quite fit either her form or her taste), and a hotel room where they could change. Savannah, however, emerged from her own reserved room in a black Versace dress that made Max's eyes widen with envy. How on earth could a 16-year-old girl afford clothes like that?

"I hope you don't mind," Savannah said with a twinkle in her blue eyes as she snagged Alec's hand as soon as they entered the party room and dragged him to the dance floor.

"Be my guest," Max said to the empty air.



*****



"You love her, don't you?" Savannah said to Alec as they swayed together in rhythm to the orchestra's slow music.

"Yeah," Alec said, not even asking who she was talking about. "I love her."

"Does she love you?"

"I think so," Alec said truthfully.

"You sound doubtful."

Alec looked down at the teenager and gently tightened his grip on her waist. She was quite a bit shorter than him. He could actually have rested his chin on top of her strawberry locks if he wanted to -- but he didn't. "Max doesn't show her feelings easily," he said. "Neither do I. It's sort of a Manticore thing. They frowned on emotions."

"You guys were tortured," Savannah said, her words amazingly blunt. "Brainwashed."

Alec looked down into her blue eyes and was equally candid. "Yeah, we were, Savannah. We were also forced to kill people."

"It must have been awful."

"It was hell," Alec said. "And the worst thing is, we didn't even know how bad we were bein' treated because we'd never known anything else."

"You have beautiful eyes," Savannah said, abruptly changing the subject. "They're all green and gold, like a fairy tale forest." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "It's too bad you and Max have to die. You're both so beautiful ... I wish I'd been the one who created you. I'd have done a better job. I'd have made sure you didn't have seizures."

"Hey," Alec said, catching hold of her chin with his thumb and forefinger and forcing her to look up at him. "We've got the seizure thing under control most of the time. Don't worry about us. Hell, for all we know we have genetics that'll let us live to be two hundred."

Alec was actually referring to Sandeman and the Breeding Cult who's senior members were rumored to be as old as Methuselah. If he and his fellow transgenics did indeed have the elderly scientist's DNA as part of their make-up, then such a long lifespan was certainly a possibility, and far better to think about than to dwell on Savannah's dire predictions.

Max suddenly appeared at their side and tapped on Savannah's shoulder. "Can I cut in?" she asked.

The girl grinned at Alec, and bowed out gracefully. "He's a good dancer," she said to Max. "Appreciate him."

"He's more than just a good dancer," Max said under her breath but knowing Alec would hear.

It was a rare evening for both of the X5s ... their first formal party as a couple ... their first dance ... and later that night, when their bodyguard gig was completed and their charge safely home, they celebrated those firsts with a night of hot animalistic sex that left no doubt about the "feline" on those DNA strands their young genius was so fascinated with.



*****



Max's cell phone once again awakened Alec from a sound sleep. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, and both he and and his partner were exhausted from the night's sexual antics. With a curse, Alec answered. "What?" he demanded, his voice husky.

"Savannah Stevenson's been kidnapped," Lydecker's clipped words informed him.

"When?" Alec asked, sitting up in bed, instantly soldier awake.

"What's wrong?" Max asked sleepily.

"Savannah's been snatched," Alec said to her, one hand covering the receiver.

"Last night after you left her at home," Lydecker said in his ear. "Both of her regular guards were killed. Whoever did it set off every alarm on the estate but apparently didn't give a shit who heard."

"Do we know who has her?" Alec asked as Max hopped out of bed.

"Maybe the South Africans," Lydecker replied. "Maybe the Chinese. Both are extremely anxious to breed supersoldiers of Manticore caliber, and, so far as we know, neither has had any luck acquiring current prototypes. Going for one of the world's leading geneticists would be the next logical move."

"You got any leads at all," Max asked, grabbing the cell away from Alec.

"One or two," Lydecker said.

"You want us on it I presume.?"

"That's an affirmative," the colonel said. "Stand by and wait for orders. Chances are you'll be sent out by this evening if our sources pan out."

"That poor girl," Max said as she dropped back into bed and huddled in Alec's arms. Together, they watched the sun rise through the window of Max's TC apartment. Outside the sounds of a waking community could be heard -- Luke starting up the truck to go on a supply run; Mole opening the main gate to let him through; a brief squeal of a siren as the Sector Police shift that constantly monitored the Freak community changed.

"They won't hurt her," Alec assured Max, giving her a big hug. "So long as she cooperates she'll be kept safe. Afterall, she's no good to them dead."

"We have to get her back, Alec," Max said. "I can't stand to think of her ... you know ... all frightened and alone."

Alec smiled gently, his hazel-green eyes sad and sincere as he peered through long strands of uncombed dark blond hair. "Don't worry," he said, his voice deep. I'll be a knight in shining armor swoopin' in to rescue the damsel in distress."

"And I'll be right beside you ready to save your shining swooping ass," Max chided him gently. And then she kissed him, and together they sank back down into the bed. Tonight there would be danger, fear ... maybe death. But now, this minute, they were alive and in love, and no one could take that from them.

Chapter 6

Just as before, Max was team leader for the mission. Alec took point, with half a dozen ordinary soldiers backing him up. Lydecker, wanting to oversee this important rescue operation personally, had accompanied them in the personnel van and was now sitting next to Max at the control station.

Savannah was being held at an abandoned military base in South Africa. Intel was sketchy, although they had a fairly good layout of the underground labrynth of rooms where she most likely was located. Her retrieval would be difficult, Lydecker deduced, but hardly impossible for a mission that included a pair of X5s.

Cat cautious, Alec crept through a hole in the chain link fence and scooted across open ground to take up a position with his back against the wall of the nearest outbuilding. A crescent moon overhead gave him enough light to see by, although the rest of his team had to wear night vision goggles. Using hand signals, he gave the "all clear" and motioned for his men to split into two groups to secure the perimeter, three going left, three going right while he scouted forward more deeply into the enemy compound.

"There's a guard at the door on building three," Max's voice chirped in his ear.

Lydecker's people had provided them with com gear Dix would have drooled over -- the transceiver patch on the mastoid bone behind Alec's jaw no larger than a dime but capable of sending and receiving for a range of more than 5 miles. Also, the infrared military satellite intel Max was using was in real time, definitely giving them an edge, thermal pinpointing the enemy.

"I see him," Alec said quietly. The X5 had a Glock 75 tucked in the holster on his right thigh, but that would make too much noise. Instead, he pulled a thin strand of concertina wire out of his pocket, took a deep calming breath to banish bad memories, remembered Savannah's face, then blurred forward, lassoing the guard around the neck and silently choking the life out of him. Manticore really had taught him well ...

"Team one," he then said into the transceiver, ignoring the lifeless body at his feet. "Watch my back. I

Chapter 1


Eight weeks later
Alec lay on his back on the thinly padded bunk, staring upwards and twiddling his thumbs, counting for the hundredth time the little holes in the cement ceiling of his cell. The overhead fluorescent light behind its protective cage shone glaringly in his eyes. He wished there was a way to turn it off -- but the lights, like everything else in his life now, were regulated by Manticore. On at 5 a.m., off at 10 p.m.

With a heavy sigh, Alec scratched at his beard stubbled cheek, then shielded his eyes with a forearm, deciding he might as well try to sleep. There sure as hell wasn't anything else to do. He'd already run through his calisthenics routine and Taekwondo forms three times, and washed his face and chest in the cold water of the sink. Dinner -- some kind of mashed potatoes mixed with meat and God only knew what pharmaceuticals -- had been over an hour ago, shoved through a slot in the steel door by a guard who had orders not to talk to the X5 prisoner. He ate the crap because it was the only way to keep up his strength. Now, other than taking a shit in the toilet in the corner, there really wasn't anything else on his daily agenda left.

However, a few seconds after Alec had closed his eyes there was the sound of a door sliding open -- the big one at the end of the corridor. There weren't many occupants in this underground wing of Manticore. He'd been relegated to the basement -- solitary confinement -- after being released from the hospital ward. Told he was being kept here to heal, he knew it was really the beginning of his reindoctrination -- total segregation, isolation, boredom ... standard brainwashing techniques. Been there, done that, survived before. He knew he'd make it, at least through this part of Lydecker's little game. But what he wouldn't give to hear Joshua's friendly voice, or get a whiff of one of Mole's cigars. Even the sound of Max scolding would have been music to his ears. Max, the love of my life who I'm going to get back to someday.

However, Alec wasn't stupid or naive. He also knew it was those yearnings, more than anything else, that he had to be wary of. He had friends ... family ... people he loved ... a life to go back to. It was a weakness he hadn't had before -- those other times he'd survived Manticore reindoctrination. And Lydecker was diabolical at exploiting weaknesses.

Voices. Footsteps. Alec's keen ears perked. Lydecker and one -- make that two others. He was sitting up on the bunk when his cell door opened, bare feet flat on the floor, the grey t-shirt they'd given him quickly pulled back on. Other than the military khaki pants that was about it as far as his wardrobe went -- no underwear even. However, he'd counted himself lucky they'd at least allowed more than a hospital gown.

He'd been down here 51 days. These were the first visitors he'd had other than the silent doctors checking his vital signs, stitches, and the almost healed bones (ribs and sternum) that had been broken during his open heart surgery.

Alec started to stand up when Lydecker came through the door, balling his hands into fists in an attempt to contain the urge to strangle the man on sight for what he'd done to Max. But the colonel wasn't a fool. He'd brought Lane and Devon with him -- more than enough muscle to protect him from a barely recovered, still shaky on his feet X5.

Before Alec had completely risen, Lane's heavy hand came down on his shoulder, forcing him back onto the bunk. "Easy there, brother," the big blonde X5 drawled. "Stand down."

"What's goin' on?" Alec asked, the question going to Lane. Enemy or not, X5-600 was still at least his own kind, and he'd much rather talk to him than to Lydecker.

Lane smirked, while equally handsome Devon watched with cruel humor glinting in his dark eyes. "Time for you to take the next step toward rejoining us, brother," X5-600 said.

"What are you talkin' about?" Alec asked, although he had a terrible feeling he knew what was about to happen.

In reply, Lane grabbed hold of one of his arms and Devon the other. Instinctively, Alec struggled, lashing out with his foot and nailing the bigger X5 in the stomach. With a snarl of rage, Lane swung a fist that caught the slighter built transgenic in the side, just to one side of his healing wound.

Alec cried out and doubled over as Lydecker roared, "Stop!"

Devon, who'd been about to take a shot at his recalcitrant former unit mate himself, paused in mid swing.

Gasping, Alec collapsed back on the bunk, holding his barely knitted broken ribs. It was Lydecker who grabbed hold of his chin, forcing his head around and staring directly into his eyes. "Come with me, son," he said in a strangely gentle voice. "Don't make a fuss of it. Believe me, you don't want to waste your strength."

A chill ran down Alec's spine. He was right -- about what was now going to happen -- and he knew that all he could do was try to find the courage to face the inevitable.

"Don't call me 'son'," he spat in Lydecker's face. "Don't ever call me 'son'."

The colonel smiled and let go of him. "Technically, you're correct," he said, his tone still strangely calm. "Like I told Max once, I'd never have presumed to contaminate the gene pool with my own DNA." But then he leaned forward again and whispered in Alec's ear, "However, I do know who's eyes you have."

Alec stared at him, not certain what to make of that comment. Lydecker motioned to Lane and Devon. "Take him," he said. "If he gives you any trouble--" He shook his head grimly. "Inform the doctor when you arrive in the neuro-psych ward."

Swallowing hard, Alec caught Lane's eyes with his own, silently pleading. Help me, brother. But the big X5, his expression now impassive, merely grabbed hold of his arm again in a vice-like grip and hauled him to his feet. With Devon on the other side, they then left behind the cell that Alec would later fall on his knees and beg to return to -- a place without pain.



*****



They hit the Steelheads hard, striking silently in the night, a force of more than 40 transgenics and transhumans strong. Led by Mole, and using state-of-the-art weapons stolen from a military base outside of Seattle, they killed over a dozen of the cyber-tech junkies while taking minimal casualties themselves.

The Steelheads never knew what hit them -- but the newspapers accounts the following morning sure gave them a clue.

"Terminal City Freaks Turn on City!" the headlines blared. An emergency session of city council was called, and the first order of business was to eliminate TC's seat. The second was to revoke all TC resident sector passes. And the third (Max's favorite) was to issue a proclamation stating the city of Seattle could in no way be held financially responsible for damages inflicted by the mutants who were now declared to be illegally occupying condemned city property.

In two hours time, nearly a year's worth of work toward gaining freedom and equal rights for the Manticore survivors had gone down the drain. Instead of equal citizens of Seattle, they were relegated to the status of nothing more than a street gang.

Max sat atop the Space Needle staring into the darkness, oblivious to the beauty of the twinkling city lights below and stars above. Wrapping arms around her knees, she hugged herself and shivered. Are those his footsteps? His scent? God, how she missed his warmth ... his laughter ... the playful light in his beautiful eyes ... Never in all her life -- not even when she'd been pining for Logan during her incarceration at Manticore -- had she longed for someone's touch so much.

But Alec will never touch me again. Unbidden, the memory of her lover's mutilated body flashed before Max's eyes -- the blood ... the stench, his muscles, bones, and sinews obscenely bared to the uncaring eyes of his butchers, his beautiful physique raped. They hadn't even draped him with a sheet ...

Tears welled in her eyes. At least Alec had been avenged -- 12 lives for his one. But of course that couldn't bring him back. And the price for her people had been so high ...

Max hadn't participated in the raid on the Steelheads, although she'd known what was going down. When Detective Ramone Clemente came to her the following day, furiously demanding an explanation, she'd honestly been able to shrug her shoulders and say she hadn't been there.

However, Max also knew that she was the one truly responsible for the predicament the TC residents were now in. With Alec gone, she was once again their leader. She could have stopped the slaughter if she'd wanted to. But after that hideous night with Lydecker ... after having her body violated in every way possible ... after losing him ... She hadn't been in a frame of mind to intervene.

Damn it, why did we waste so much time? Why did it take me so long to see the truth, that Alec was my destiny, not Logan? Why did the big jerk have to die?

But there weren't any answers for Max on top of the Space Needle -- only bittersweet memories of a stormy night in a deserted restaurant, and the brash young transgenic male who'd rocked her world.



*****



Alec couldn't help it. When he saw "the room" ... "the chair" ... and he knew that his worst nightmares were going to come true, the brave act he'd been keeping up began to unravel.

He'd never had a very high pain threshold. Oh, he'd survived physical torture before -- at Manticore, and at the hand of Ames White -- because he'd had an insatiable desire to not only just keep breathing, but to remain true to himself. His ego had sustained his courage, that and his genetically enhanced body, overcoming the weakness of his central nervous system.

But now he was so very, very tired ... And the one person in the world he truly loved thought he was dead. Max was going to move on without him, which was how things should be. However, knowing she would forget him, that his life with her was over before it had really begun -- knowing what he'd never have -- made him once again yearn for the sweet darkness.

Whether he realized it or not, Alec, 494, had lost the will to live -- which made him Lydecker's.

He fought like a wild thing, but in the end they had him strapped down, his head restrained, his right eye pried open, the laser poised, a plastic insert forced between his teeth to keep his air passage open and to prevent him from choking or biting his tongue. The doctor was someone Alec recognized -- the curly haired, high-forehead, geek scientist who'd removed the explosive device from his neck a year and a half ago. Apparently Lydecker had been recruiting more than just X5s.

"Give him a full dose," Lydecker ordered the doctor as Lane and Devon, along with an ordinary soldier cradling a machine gun, stood guard.

"The psychoactive compound is harsh," the doctor said, disbelief evident in his voice. He gestured toward his heavily panting, terrified patient. "This boy underwent open heart surgery barely two months ago. He's still on antibiotics and anti-inflamatories. Do you want to kill him? Because injecting him with psychoactives is one sure way to do it. His heart won't be able to stand the strain. If his pressure goes too high, those internal stitches won't hold. He'll bleed into the pericardium or else he'll throw an embolism."

"He's no good to me the way he is!" Lydecker barked. "I have orders to break him, and by God, that's what I'm going to do! I want this X5-Unit made operational, and I don't want to have to cut half his brain out to do so. If he loses his gifts to a lobotomy... his special genetic abilities ... he'll only be good for breeding. I need him to be a soldier, not just a stud! And I need his taming to begin now!"

How nice to be a valuable commodity, Alec thought ironically as he listened to his fate being bantered about between the two men. Painfully, he tried to swallow -- a difficult feat with the plastic insert jammed down his throat. I can't even close my eyes ... He told himself it was his imagination that it felt as if his rapidly beating, healing heart was already tearing itself in half.

"Put in the I.V. line," Lydecker ordered, his words brooking no more argument. "Full dose." Then he reached out, and in an oddly possessive gesture, stroked calloused fingers back through Alec's hair, taking pleasure in the way the helpless X5 was watching him with wide frightened eyes. Icy blue met hazel-green -- and won. "Take him all the way down to Hell," he said quietly.

"So," the geek asked, surprisingly defiant. "Let me get this straight. You want me to kill him? Because if that's your ultimate goal, a straight shot of high potency morphine would be a heck of a more humane way to put him down."

"I said I don't want him dead," Lydecker snapped. "494's not going to escape from me so easily. You have your orders. Do it. Break him, but keep his heart beating."

The doctor shrugged, and there was the stab of a large gauge needle being drilled into a vein in Alec's right arm. He made a small sound, a whimper he wasn't proud of. Lydecker, heard. "Don't worry, son," he said gently. "We won't let you die."

And then Alec felt the white hot drug flowing through him, and the room began to spin. But it was the red laser beam piercing the pupil of his eye, overstimulating the pain receptors in his brain without causing actual physical damage to the precious X5-Unit, that finally made his body arch in agony, eliciting the scream that Donald Lydecker had been waiting so very long to hear.

Chapter 2

Max's head jerked up, and she stared at the office door and the strangely familiar silhouette framed there against the sunlight. Then she rubbed her eyes, and looked again, thinking she'd been too long with her head buried in paperwork. I'm hallucinating.

The TC Mall account books were in a mess, the vendors lackadaisical since Alec wasn't around any more to keep an eagle eye on inventory, proceeds, and expenses. She'd let business slide now for weeks, too depressed to bother with things like profit and loss margins. Now, however, the food shortage in TC was becoming critical, and she realized they were going to have to start making money with their art and antiques or else people were going to begin leaving -- striking out on their own to forage. The last thing they needed was for their "family" to break up, or for TC to get an even worse reputation than it already had as a den of thieves.

It had been incredibly hard for her to sit down at Alec's desk. She'd seen him here so many times before, tilted back in the chair with his booted feet propped up as he counted the day's profits. She remembered him grabbing the old fashioned desk light from one of the X5s who'd scrounged it in the junk yard, saying he didn't like fluorescents. And there was a crumpled up candy bar wrapper stuck under the letter tray ... Snickers ... his favorite ...

However, this was no hallucination brought on by a lack of sleep and too much angst. The realization of who her visitor was made Max's head spin a little bit. "Zack?" she said. "What are you doing here?"

The big X5 with scraggly blonde hair shrugged leather clad shoulders and walked into the office. Glancing around, one eyebrow raised slightly in disdain, he dropped into the only other chair, and planted feet firmly on the floor. "I just thought you might need some help," he replied quietly. "According to the newspapers, things here seemed to be getting pretty bad."

"You remember?" Max asked warily. "You remember who you are? Who I am?"

Zack smiled. "I remember most of it," he said. "Although, I'll admit there are some blank spots. A bullet in the brain will do that to you." His eyes went to Max's chest.

Involuntarily, Max looked down at herself -- at Zack's heart that beat for her now -- and a wave of guilt passed through her mind.

"I'm glad I could save you," he said softly. "And I'm all right now. Really." He flexed his right arm. "Most of the nerve damage has regenerated, just like Dr. Carr said it would." He glanced up at her, his blue eyes candid. "And I also know you love Logan, not me. I'm fine with it, Max. I promise. No more psychotic episodes. I had a long time on the farm to remember, and sort things through. They were good to me there, Max, and I appreciate you finding those people to look after me. They even tried to keep me from seeing the news about what was happening in Seattle. They were afraid it would confuse me. But I saw anyway, and things started to come back -- bits and pieces at first, then finally everything. Now ... I think I've got it straight."

"Why didn't you stay on the farm?" Max had to ask. "You were safe there. No one knew about you. Here ..." She glanced around the office. "We're all in danger every day."

"Like I said," Zack explained. "I read about your troubles in the newspaper. I figured you could use a brother's help. That is--" He pinned her with his eyes this time. "--if you want me."

Max looked down at the mess of paperwork on the desk, and thought about all of the hungry, restless, angry people inside TC's well guarded walls. Then she thought about how alone she'd felt since Alec's death, the void that bright, irreplaceable soul's absence had left in her life. Suddenly, her hands were shaking. She raised her head. "I want your help, Zack," she said firmly. "God, I want you here." Then, for the first time in weeks, Max smiled. "Welcome home, brother."



*****



Unfortunately for Alec, he eventually regained consciousness.

His first sensation was rough concrete beneath his cheek; his second the piercing pain in his head -- a migraine as bad as any he'd ever suffered in his life. And he was cold ... very, very cold. The stench of wet and mildew filled his nostrils. Somewhere there was dripping. A leaking water pipe perhaps?

He opened his eyes, blinked, closed them again, and tried again. Blackness. Everywhere.

I'm blind!

Panicking, he reached out with his hands, fumbling, his fingers scraping against the wet stone floor and finding a wall at his back. At least he wasn't shackled, although from the feel of things he was as naked as the day he'd been born.

But then he began to remember. Manticore. Their punishments. Maybe not blind ... Rising to his knees, Alec felt along the wall, found the corner, followed it to what seemed to be an iron door, then back to another wall -- a space no more than six feet by six.

And suddenly he knew.

He was in "The Box" -- the pitch black, underground place of ultimate punishment, to all intents and purposes buried alive in a cement coffin -- where rumors had it soldiers were taken to cruelly die of thirst, starvation, and madness.

He had no memory beyond Lydecker and the doctor in the neuro-psych lab. The last thing he recalled was the agony of the laser beam piercing his eye, and a primal scream ripping his throat. How long had it been? What had they done to him? Why was he here?

Shaking, fighting panic still, Alec felt over his body with his hands, and was relieved to discover he seemed to be all in one piece -- nothing missing, nothing broken, only the half-healed scar bisecting his chest and a dull ache in his ribs. Running fingers through his beard stubble, he decided he couldn't have been in here all that long. A day or two maybe? He was thirsty as hell -- hungry too if he admitted it. The only hopeful thought he could muster was that Lydecker hadn't killed him outright -- yet.

Teeth chattering with cold, Alec crawled to a corner, wrapped arms around his legs, and rested his cheek against his knees, relaxing into the pain of the headache. All he could do was wait, and take small comfort in the fact that regular, uninhanced X5s like himself could theoretically survive six days without food and water.

I'm not dead yet, Max. I'm not dead yet.



*****



"You know which Unit we need for this mission," Ms. Brown said. Hiking her short-skirted hip onto the corner of Lydecker's desk, she picked up a computer display terminal, flipped through the inventory files, and paused when the records and photograph of a particularly handsome male X5 appeared.

"Out of the question," the colonel said when he saw which soldier she'd chosen. "Especially since our attempts at rapid reindoctrination had to be cut short."

The suavely dressed matriarch of Manticore smiled her ultra brilliant smile. "I read your report. It seems X5-494 has a guardian Angel, or at least some kind of cosmic help. You couldn't complete the neurological reconditioning due to his seizure disorder. He threw a grand mal episode and you had to abandon the laser treatment; either that or watch him die on you."

"His heart stopped -- again," Lydecker said dryly. "That kid's fuckin' pump stalls more often than a junker car's engine."

"Your doctor got him back," Ms. Brown said lightly. "No harm done. One nice thing about X5 physiology -- they are resilient creatures."

"We've had this problem before," Lydecker admitted. "With some of the older, mature X5 Units. Although their seizures can be controlled with medication, they're more prone to episodes under stress than they were as children and teens. 494's no exception. He's fully grown now, and flawed like the others."

"Meaning your laser torture is essentially useless?" Manticore's CEO clarified.

Lydecker shrugged.

"But you do have other ways of forcing this soldier's cooperation?"

"Short of capturing 452 and using her as leverage I don't know what would influence 494," the colonel said. "He's as stubborn as I've ever encountered, up there on par with 599. In a way, he's suicidal. When they've got a death wish -- no reason to live -- it's nearly impossible to make them obey."

"I want him prepped and deployed on this mission," Ms. Brown said. "He's perfect. And the doctors say he's almost healed, in spite of his recent stint in neuro-psych."

"Impossible," Lydecker said, leaning back in his desk chair and steepling his fingers. "As soon as 494 sees the outside of the fence, he'll bolt. I've no way of controlling him."

"He speaks fluent Thai, and he's a pianist at concert level quality," Ms. Brown said tartly. "Do what you have to. Lobotomize him if you want. But I need this mission to be successful, and 494 appears to be the only Unit in stock that qualifies for job."

"Lobotomize 494, and he'll lose his ability to function independently," Lydecker said tiredly, dropping his head into his hands, "not to mention those Thai-speaking, piano-playing brain cells of his would very likely be flushed down neurosurgery's drain right along with his ego, attitude, and smart mouth." He raised his eyes to her. "He's got an I.Q. of 192 for God's sake! You don't risk that! Not unless you really do only want him for breeding."

"I do want him for breeding, And I'm seeing to that right now. However, I also want him mission-ready."

"I gather castration is out of the question then," Lydecker said sarcastically.

His CEO raised her eyebrows.

"Just another way we might subdue him," the colonel explained. "Without damaging his brain."

"Absolutely not! As I said before, he's a valuable breeder -- irreplaceable really so far as our genetic database goes."

"So, I gather you want him returned to training then," the colonel said, giving up.

"Immediately."

A very heavy sigh. "I'll have him released from 'sensory dep' and run through medical. If they give him a clean bill of health, I'll then assign him to a platoon. Maybe his fellow soldiers can do something to bring 494 around."

"I need him deployed in three weeks," Ms. Brown reminded him.

"Maybe," Lydecker conceded. "I do have an idea ... Peer pressure can be very persuasive."

"See to it!" his boss ordered. "And in the meantime, I also want 494 paired off. Consult the geneticists for the best match. Perhaps one of the X6 females. The X5s are too ferocious and independent. The X6s too docile. We're experimenting with a cross hoping to achieve a balance between rogue behavior and obedience."

"Yes, mam," Lydecker said, as he reached for the phone.



*****



The light spilling through the open door blinded him. Suppressing a cry, Alec threw up an arm in front of his eyes.

What now?

"Get dressed, 494!" X5-600 barked, tossing him a bundle of clothing. "Then come with me."

"What's goin' on?" Alec asked, his voice hoarse with thirst. "And, by the way, my name's 'Alec' now."

"Your designation's X5-494, soldier," Lane replied scathingly. "You have no other identity. And you've been assigned to my squad." Then, the large transgenic smiled. "And, 494, you have no idea how much I'm looking forward to teaching you your lessons."

Chapter 3

Zack settled into Terminal City like he'd always lived there, pitching in with every chore, mustering the residents into efficient teams, and boosting moral by reminding each and every transgenic and transhuman how they were designed to be the best soldiers in the world. Martial arts classes were organized, weapons drills begun, and the armory was inventoried with a number of items put on a list for acquisition.

At first, Max was relieved, grateful that she didn't have to shoulder the burden of leadership by herself any more. Zack had great ideas, and his commanding attitude, although the polar opposite of Alec's easy, laid-back style of leadership, got results. Alec had always used his charm and charisma to manipulate people into doing what he wanted, leaning on them until he got his way. Zack, however, used pure strength and power. Alec had usually asked with a good natured smile ... Zack ordered with a scowl on his face and a look in his eye that brooked no questions.

For all his years in Manticore, Alec had actually been far less "soldierly" than the older X5 who'd escaped as a child. With Zack, the training had stuck. With Alec, the training had merely been a means to a commercial ends that ultimately had very little to do with military discipline.

However, grateful as she was for Zack's help and companionship, Max also saw something happening in Terminal City that disturbed her greatly -- the art market, the TC Mall, was rapidly going under. Without Alec's clever hand to guide the budding artists and entrepreneurs, the businesses were deteriorating. Inventory was high, plenty of things to sell, but with all the bad press recently sales had dropped to almost zero, and most of the TC folk who had booths and shops in the building were losing interest in the endeavor, wandering off to find other means of raising money or getting food. Many days only Joshua, Dix, Luke, and a couple of others manned their spots under the overhang, hawking their paintings and sculptures, while the other cubicles sat locked and unattended. Even Gem's coffee shop was suffering. Alec's suppliers had disappeared, and they couldn't find a good source of quality beans or baked goods. Stale bread and bitter coffee meant little revenue coming in for the place. They'd actually missed last month's loan payment to Logan Cale. At this rate, Max realized, her former boyfriend was going to soon own the building instead of the transgenics, a thought she didn't like at all.

Logan.

"What about Logan, Max?" Zack asked that first day he'd come back as they sat sipping coffee in Gem's shop.

"We're through," Max said, keeping it brief as she stared into the black swirling liquid. "We broke up."

Zack smiled. "He wasn't right for you, Maxie. He never was. I guess you finally saw that."

Max bristled at the implication Zack was making, that she had made a wrong choice. "Logan was wonderful," she returned. "We were in love, and for awhile things were working."

"What happened then?" X5-599 asked, the look in his blue eyes truly puzzled. "If things were so great, and he's living right here," he indicated Logan's apartment building with a nod of his head, "why the break up?"

Max took a deep breath and decided Zack needed to know the truth. "Because I fell in love with someone else," she said quietly.

The big X5's jaw dropped open. "Who?" he demanded in a rather loud voice. "What do you mean you fell in love with someone else?"

Max swallowed hard, a tear rising in her eye as she suddenly remembered Alec's confident yet playful voice ... his gentle touch ... his bravery that was so often masked by bravado ... "X5-494," she said quietly. Her eyes met Zack's. "You remember him -- Ben's twin?"

"Alec," Zack said, nodding. "I remember." He scowled. "But I thought you hated that guy. I remember you were always bustin' him about something, and you told me not to trust him."

Max smiled sadly. "It turned out Alec just needed to grow up a bit," she said. "And I needed to look past that conceited facade he'd put up to survive Manticore, and see who he really was." She regarded her brother across the table. "I loved him, Zack."

"Loved?" Zack glanced around. "Where is he anyway?" But then he saw the agony in Max's eyes and, understanding dawned. "What happened?" he asked gently, his big hand reaching across the table to hold hers.

"Steelheads," Max said, clenching her jaw. "They shot and killed him in a drive-by." She nodded to the front of the store. "Right out there in the market. It happened a little over two months ago." She shrugged. "Since then, things have gone downhill. Out people retaliated, killed a bunch of British Eddy's gang, and the city declared us outlaws. They even took away our council seat and sector passes. Now, we're no better than one of the clans."

"We are too better!" Zack declared hotly. "I'm sorry about Alec, Max. I really am. But he was a soldier, and it sounds like he died like one, bravely and in battle."

"He did die bravely," she whispered. "Alec was a lot of things, some of them not exactly what I'd call upstanding, but a coward ... never. In his own way, he was one of the bravest men I've ever known. He avoided trouble when he could, but when things got serious he never backed down." She smiled at a memory. "Believe me, you didn't want to corner him. And, even though it took me way too long to realize the truth, he was always there for me when I needed him."

"And you became lovers," Zack said, his voice rough.

Max just nodded. "And then he was shot." She raised her eyes again. "We only had a short time together. There was so much we could have done ... so many things we could have explored. Terminal City was right on the verge of succeeding. But when Alec died ... sometimes I think all of our luck died with him."

Zack squeezed her hand. "Don't say that, Max. I'm here now. I'll help you. Together we'll save this place, one way or another. We might not be able to get the city to help us, but there are other ways to survive. You've got a lot of strong, loyal soldiers in here, and with the right leadership we'll be an army no one will ever challenge -- not the sector cops, not the National Guard, not even the Marines."

"I don't want to live in a military camp, Zack," Max argued. "That's never what Terminal City was supposed to be. We want it to be a real community, a thriving place to live with businesses and homes for our children."

"We'll still thrive, Max," Zack promised. "But you tried Alec's way and it didn't work, or at least it can't work without him. Now, try it my way. I promise, everyone will be safe and warm and well fed. And most importantly, we'll be strong. No one will need to be afraid."

Deep in her heart, Max had a very bad feeling about what Zack was saying. But, for the life of her, she couldn't put her misgivings into words. What he said made sense. Their job now was to strengthen their clan and protect themselves, surviving the only way they could, even if it crossed legal boundaries. After all, plenty of other gangs thrived in Seattle that way. Why shouldn't they do the same?

"You need to talk to Mole," she finally said, pushing aside her now cold cup of coffee and standing up. "He's in charge of the armory and security. Luke manages TC's perimeter defenses and the vehicles."

"It's a place to start," Zack said, rising with her, and ignoring the way Gem was staring at him from behind the lunch counter.

Gem always had a smile for Alec, Max remembered with a sudden pang in her heart. Alec had just been like that -- someone who made people feel good ...

Zack on the other hand, in spite of all his good intentions, made them wary.



*****



Alec knew he was living on borrowed time. He was never going to truly give in to Manticore discipline again, which meant that sooner or later he'd be considered too much of a liability. And then, God only knew what Lydecker and his superiors would do with him. In the long run, his only chance was to escape. But that possibility, at least for the moment, was just a dream. Lydecker had him on as tight a leash as possible. When he wasn't locked in a cell, he was training with Lane's squad while soldiers kept him in the sites of their machine guns. As even more of a deterrent to escape, the New Manticore base was surrounded by 12-foot chain link fence topped with concertina wire -- too high to jump. And then of course there were the creepy X7s -- creatures with bat in their cocktail and no conscience whatsoever designed to subjugate their older X brethren -- patrolling the perimeter 24/7.

However, for now, it was back to basics for Alec, just like the good old days. In a way, he was amazed how very little had actually changed since his military career. Lights on in his barracks cell at 5 a.m, shower, shave, roll call, a bland breakfast eaten in utter silence in the mess hall, out to the practice fields for general calisthenics followed by military and martial arts classes, a break for lunch, then maneuvers in the fields surrounding the main building complex, oftentimes under the duress of live ammo being shot over his head. His day then ended with a lackluster, unimaginative dinner among surly companions who still weren't allowed to talk to each other except for training purposes, and lights out at dusk.

Lane was squadron leader with Devon his accepted "second." Keema and Jewel occasionally showed up for training, but were often out in the field on missions, the four of them the darlings of Lydecker's New Manticore army. One other X5, a surprisingly slow fellow named "Mick" who'd disappeared from TC some months ago, rounded out Alec's group until the poor kid took a bullet to the head during one of the training exercises. His body was simply dragged away without comment. No one except the morgue techs and harvesting surgeons even cared.

Ah yes, the memories, Alec thought sarcastically as he crouched in the field with chiggers crawling up his butt, waiting for "enemy" ordinance to pause so he could supposedly blur to the target -- a dummy wearing a South American dictator's uniform that he was required to "kill" with his bare hands. At least he was rapidly getting back in shape, regaining muscle strength and mass, as well as stamina. The scar on his chest from his open heart surgery was only a pale white streak now. In another month it would most likely be gone.

Alec tensed, actually intending to do well on this exercise. During the few moments when the X5s were allowed to congregate and talk to one another freely, usually after supper but before lock down and lights out, he'd heard rumors about him being in the running for an outside assignment, something about his unique skills. The others in his squad were surly about it, jealous perhaps, but he didn't care. With all his heart, Alec hoped that was what was going to happen -- because once on the outside there'd be no stopping him. He'd be able to escape and get back to Max.

The shelling suddenly ceased. Dead silence hung in the humid North Dakota air. Lane, crouched several feet to the right, glowered at him and motioned with his hand. Alec blurred to the dummy and reached out, intending to simply snap its "neck."

However, suddenly the "dummy" made a sound and raised its head. Terrified blue eyes stared at Alec, and he jumped back with a small gasp. Damn it, they were using prisoners as canon fodder again! He'd been forced to kill before, back at the Old Manticore. Lydecker would bribe prison officials for the use of death row inmates -- convicts who'd never be missed in the outside world. They'd be brought onto base and used as practice bait for the X5s and higher series, teaching them what it felt like to kill real human beings.

Alec knew damn well this was a test.

"Please," the terrified young man panted, his arms and legs pinned cruelly to a post so he looked for all intents and purposes like a limp scarecrow. Sweat was running in rivulets down his pale face. "Please ... don't hurt me."

"494!" Lane shouted from the undergrowth. "Complete your mission!"

Alec glanced over to the edge of the field and saw Lydecker and several scientists watching him. If he didn't kill this man, one of the others would. The kid's life was over no matter what. If he did kill him ... it would go a long way toward convincing Lydecker he could be trusted on a mission.

Max, forgive me.

"I'm sorry," Alec said in a low voice. "There's no other way." Then, narrowing his eyes ... steeling himself ... X5-494 clenched his jaw, reached out, and deftly snapped the young man's neck.



*****



He was rewarded that evening. Instead of the lights in his cell blinking out at 9 p.m., the door opened and a girl was shoved into Alec's quarters. He considered her a "girl" because she looked all of about 14 years old. With short, curly brown hair, freckles, and golden eyes she was a petite thing, her head barely reaching his shoulder

"I'm your breeding partner," the X6 stated. "Designation X6-873."

Alec gaped at her. Lydecker has to be kidding!

"You're too young for that," he said.

"No, I'm not," she replied defiantly, holding her chin proudly in the air and thrusting out near nonexistent breasts. "I'm cycling and the doctors say I'm fertile. They want me to have a baby with an X5. The genome base says your DNA could work with mine. It's far from a perfect match, but possible."

"I already have a breeding partner," Alec said before he could stop the words from coming out of his mouth.

The X6 looked puzzled. "What?"

"Never mind," he said as he circled the girl, looking her up and down. No way in hell were they going to make him rape a child. "Listen," he said. "You don't wanna do this with me. I'm way too old for you. Besides, the people who are keeping us prisoners here have no right to tell us who we have sex with."

"Yes, they do," she said, a flash of attitude showing in her light brown eyes. "Look, they told me about you. How you're a rogue with a lot of discipline problems. But your DNA is valuable and needs to be passed on. I also hear you have great physical qualities."

She was eying him in a "Lolita" way Alec found disturbing.

"You're just a baby," he repeated. "I'm not interested."

"We have our orders! Take off your pants, soldier!"

"Fuck orders! I'm no cradle snatcher!"

Alec wouldn't have been so free with his tongue if anyone could have heard him, but he seriously doubted his cell was bugged. Back at Old Manticore they'd determined cameras and hidden mics made the breeders, especially the males, too self conscious to perform. Privacy had always produced better results ... a higher rate of pregnancy.

"I'm supposed to fuck you," the mouthy girl (who Alec was rapidly reclassifying as a bitch) shot back, reaching down to pull off her t-shirt.

"You can have the bunk," Alec replied coldly, sliding down the wall, and sitting on the floor much as Max had done long ago in a similar awkward situation. "Don't worry," he added. "I'll cover for us at roll call." He then turned his head away.

"Faggot," 873 spat as she gave up and threw herself down in a huff on the sparsely padded cot that served as Alec's bed.

"Whore," Alec muttered under his breath as he continued to watch his "guest" out of the corner of his eye until at last the guards came to remove her.



*****



Showered, cleanly shaved, and dressed in a fresh grey t-shirt and khakis, Alec stood at attention in line at roll call. Beside him X6-873 was poised primly. Glancing at her sideways, Alec shifted his stance, uncomfortable. He didn't like that smug sly smile on her face.

One of the Manticore scientists -- a typical geek-type with white lab coat, buzz cut black hair, long face, big ears, glasses, and clipboard in hand -- was coming down the line, questioning the breeding pairs. When he got to Alec and 873, without looking up, he said, "Report."

Alec opened his mouth, a snarky comment on his tongue about successful copulation. But before he could say a word, X6-873 shouted for all to hear, "Copulation with X5-494 was unsuccessful, sir!"

The scientist glanced up, peering at the recalcitrant X5 over the top rims of his glasses. "Explain," he said, the order directed at the X6 although his eyes were on Alec who was silently fuming.

If she says I failed to achieve minimal mission requirements I'm gonna wring her scrawny neck!

"X5-494 refused his orders, sir. He refused to copulate with me."

"He refused?" the scientist said, a slightly dirty smile lifting the corners of his thin lips. "What's wrong, 494? Don't we like females any longer? Or could you just not get it up?"

"I like females just fine, sir," Alec replied emotionlessly. "I just don't like molesting children."

The scientist stared at him for a long moment, tapping a pencil against the clipboard, considering ... Then he nodded at Lane who was standing beside his own breeding partner, an extremely buxom red-headed X5 who had the weary face of a prostitute and a fading black eye.

"X5-600," the scientist barked. "Escort X5-494 off the training grounds to some place private, and demonstrate to him exactly what happens to soldiers who refuse their breeding orders."

"Yes, sir!" Lane replied with way too much enthusiasm for Alec's liking. The big X5 motioned to Devon, and the two of them, huge grins on their faces, came toward him.

Instinctively, Alec's hands went up. Backing out of line, breaking formation, he retreated. "Wait a minute, guys," he said, watching them warily. His shoulder bumped into the high chain link fence that surrounded the compound. "Hey, let's talk about this. It's not like it sounds. It's just that--"

"Get him!" Lane snarled.

Devon went one way, Lane the other while the rest of the soldiers watched. Alec was trapped. Dropping into a sparring stance, fists ready, he bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, ready to take on the two X5s if they tried to touch him.

"What's wrong, 494?" Lane taunted as he feigned a right jab and dodged left. "You're not afraid of me are you?"

"Not at all," Alec lied, smiling wickedly as his muscles coiled. He took his own first shot, a jab that caught the bigger X5 directly on the nose. Blood spurted everywhere as Lane roared with rage.

"I'll kill you, you motherfucker faggot!" he screamed, charging straight at Alec. With nowhere to maneuver, Alec was trapped. By sheer weight alone, X5-600 bowled the lighter X5 over, knocking Alec to the ground at the base of the fence, and smothering him in a vicious bear hug. Kicking, clawing, the younger X5 tried to writhe free, twisting beneath those pinning arms, but then Devon was on top of him too, grabbing hold of his hair and yanking his head back, the forearm around his throat choking off his air.

Alec's vision began to darken.

"Get him out of here!" the scientist shouted. "You know what to do!"

"Gladly," Lane snarled as he climbed to his feet dragging a half-conscious 494 with him. Then together he and Lane shoved Alec toward the parade ground gate and the dark private woods beyond.

Chapter 4

They dragged him into the woods at the edge of the field beyond the parade grounds. Regaining his breath almost immediately, Alec began to struggle against the hard hands pinning his arms. But two blows to the head from Lane's ham fist made him see stars, and the next thing Alec knew he was being thrown forward onto the ground in a clearing.

Rolling over onto his back, the young transgenic squinted up at the sun as it glinted through the green leaves of the trees. Shielding his face with an arm, he saw Lane quite literally looming over him, hands on hips, a cruel smile carved on his face. Devon's shadow merged with his brother's, the two X5s completely together in this endeavor.

"What are you gonna do to me?" Alec panted. "Kill me?"

"Of course not," Lane said, the wicked smile broadening. "Lydecker would have our hides if we terminated one of his precious kids."

"What did you bring me out here for then?" Sitting up, Alec swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, and looked down at the blood smeared there. One of Lane's blows had busted his lip. Turning his head aside, he spat metallic tasting saliva onto the ground, then glanced around. They were several hundred yards from the compound in a truly isolated spot. This wasn't good.

Eying his two unit mates again, he wondered if he could talk his way out of this. "Look, guys," he said, smiling in spite of his split lip, and putting on his most charming attitude. "We can work this out. I like you. Both of you. Really. I don't see why we can't get along better. You know. Like brothers. I'll try real hard to do better in the future and the two of you will-- Well, you'll just keep on bein' the perfect little soldiers you already are, and I'll learn by your example. We'll all be just one, big happy family. It's not too late is it?"

"Oh, it's way too late," Devon said, his tone softly menacing. "Take off your clothes."

Alec's brows drew together, puzzled, sure he'd misunderstood. "What?"

"Strip!" Lane ordered.

"Guys," Alec half laughed. There's poison ivy, chiggers, and lots of mosquitoes in this woods. I also sunburn easily. I'd really rather not go au natural 'cause--"

Before he could react Lane had him in a brutal headlock and Devon was grabbing at his pants.

"Hey!" Alec roared. "Cut it out! What the fuck do you think you're doin'?"

"Teaching you a lesson, 494," Lane said low in his ear. "Teaching you what happens to sissy faggot X5s on this base."

"I'm not a faggot!" Alec shouted. "Just 'cause I didn't wanna rape that little girl doesn't mean I'm--"

"Don't matter," Devon giggled in his other ear.

"Over that log there," Lane commanded, nodding toward a large fallen tree at the edge of the clearing. Again in Alec's ear, "I'm gonna show you what it feels like to be fucked by a real male you piece of shit. And I'm bettin' that afterwards you're gonna be a whole lot more cooperative for Lydecker."

So that was it, Alec thought. Lydecker had set him up for this -- to be raped by his fellow unit mates -- the ultimate degradation that he probably thought would be enough to break recalcitrant 494's spirit.

Devon had hold of him ... was hurting him ... But it was Lane who's huge arms held Alec so firmly pinned, and it was Lane's hot weight on top of him as he was thrown face down over the fallen tree.

"This is gonna hurt real bad, 494," Lane hissed. "I'm not gonna lie about it. You're gonna scream ... cry maybe too. But of course no one will hear you way out here. And when I'm done, Devon's gonna to take his turn."

Alec, gasping for breath, the log pressing painfully against his surgical scar, and his shoulders nearly dislocated by Lane's brutal grip, heard the sound of a zipper behind him and felt hands tugging on his pants again, pulling them down. Kicking hard, he tried to keep Devon from stripping him below the waist, but the pain in his shoulders was immobilizing. Swallowing a sob, the young X5 closed his eyes and bit down hard on his already bloody lip, bracing himself for violation.

I'm not sure I can survive this ...

"Say 'please'," Lane's voice rasped behind his ear. "Beg for it. Say you like it, faggot."

Off to one side Devon was laughing, chuckling low, one of the meanest sounds Alec had ever heard.

"Fuck you!" Alec snarled through the tears in his throat.

"No," Lane whispered. "Fuck you !" And then he let go of Alec's arm to bang his victim's forehead painfully against the log before bracing himself, wanting his first thrust to go painfully deep.

It was the chance Alec had been waiting for. With every ounce of strength and hatred he could muster, he brought his free elbow back directly into 600's groin. The bigger X5 grunted in pain as his eyes bulged. Staggering backwards, clutching his exposed balls, Lane's mouth gaped, unable to be utter the curse on his tongue.

Alec knew he had only seconds to act before Devon would be on him. Flipping off of his stomach, he vaulted to his feet and landed like a cat, at the same time tugging his khakis back up around his waist.

"Kill him!" Lane got out.

Devon, caught by surprise by the X5's quick move, looked from his squad leader to Alec and back again. "Kill him, damn it!" Lane, still doubled over with pain, shrieked again.

But Alec wasn't interested in a macho fist fight, or even in saving his so-called 'honor' for that matter.

"Coward!" Devon screamed as Alec blurred into the woods, booking it as fast as he could toward the perimeter fence a mile away. Beyond, there appeared to be more trees and underbrush, as far as he could see in fact. He would have good cover if only he could make the jump.

X5s were designed to be able to "blur" -- move at superhuman speed -- for short periods of time. Alec quickly hit the limit of his already overtaxed muscles and slowed to a lope as he approached the 12-foot, concertina wire-topped chain link fence -- an impossible jump for even the strongest of X5s. Ten feet he could manage ... maybe. But not 12. Looking back, he saw Devon emerge at a dead run from the trees about a hundred yards back, Lane following at a limp. He knew that if those two caught up with him, Lydecker's precious kid or not, they'd break his neck.

Alec gulped. The fence was electric at this point, at least that's what he assumed those yellow hazard signs decorated with lightening bolts indicated, which meant he couldn't climb it either. But then he saw the tree to his right and his hazel-green eyes lit up. Ignoring the sound of pounding feet bearing down on him, Alec leaped upwards, catching hold of a tree limb eight feet off the ground. Swinging himself up onto the branch, he then looked toward the fence again. It would be at least a thirty foot jump to clear the concertina wire. If he missed he'd be electrocuted. However, it would be a lot quicker, cleaner death than at Lane's brutal hands.

Taking a deep breath, Alec thought about Max -- and flung himself into the air.

The toe of his combat boot touched the razor-sharp concertina wire in mid-leap, snagged, and for a heart wrenching half second Alec thought he was finished -- that he'd fall into the fence and end up with 40,000 volts frying his nervous system. But then his foot was clear and the ground was rushing up to meet him. Flipping in mid-air like a gymnast, Alec, true to his feline DNA, landed on his feet in an animalistic crouch, and glanced back at his pursuers who were standing in open-mouthed astonishment on the other side of the fence.

X5s weren't supposed to be able to do what he'd just done. It said so in the manual.

Standing up easily, Alec brushed himself off, and flashed a wicked, triumphant grin at his comrades followed by a mock salute. "It's been fun, boys. Say goodbye to the colonel for me." Then, with an even bigger smile on his face, X5-494 blurred into the woods. He was going home.



*****



"What the hell do you mean he got away!" Lydecker screamed at the two chagrined soldiers. "How the hell could he do that?"

"He climbed a tree and jumped the fence," Lane mumbled, speaking to the ground.

"Look me in the eye when you speak, soldier!"

X5-600 raised his head. "Sir, X5-494 fled from our custody, climbed a tree, and managed to leap over the perimeter fence."

"The closest trees to the fence are a good thirty feet back," Lydecker said. "X5s can't jump that far."

"I know that, sir," Lane replied. "But 494 did just that. He jumped. And he made it."

Donald Lydecker closed his eyes, fighting for control of his temper. He supposed, in a way, he deserved this. He should never have played with 494 ... never have given him a chance. In spite of Ms. Brown's wishes, that Unit should have simply been put down or lobotomized when it became apparent traditional reindoctrination techniques wouldn't work on him.

"Dismissed, soldier," he said to Lane, the order including a silent, hang-dog looking Devon as well. "I'll deal with you later."

"Yes, sir," X5-600 said, saluting and turning sharply on his heel.

Lydecker squinted up at the sun. It was only mid morning -- plenty of daylight left. There might still be time ... Taking out his cell phone he punched a number. "We have a code amber alert," he said into the receiver. "X5-494 has breached the perimeter on the north side of the compound. He'll be heading for the main east/west highway. Brief and deploy the Units in Ward 15 with orders for them to terminate without reservation upon capture."

He listened a moment. "Yes, I said terminate," he repeated. "I want 494's body back here before sunset."

Half an hour later an extremely ticked off Melissa Brown was in his office, and Lydecker's headache had grown to proportions to match an X5's seizure-induced migraine.

"He has to be killed now," the colonel said. "The other soldiers here know the punishment for desertion. If we don't enforce that punishment, we could eventually have a rebellion on our hands."

Ms. Brown, as usual attired in designer clothing and a creative hat -- chartreuse this time with peacock feathers -- was tapping a long, red enameled fingernail on his desk, her porcelain brow drawn into a faint scowl. "He's a very beautiful male," she said. "There are so few of his kind left ... It's such a pity."

"He's a multi-million dollar, genetically engineered killing machine," Lydecker snapped. "Not a boy toy." His lip curled in a sneer. "Of course, we could always just let him go back to Seattle and her. No harm, no foul. I'm sure that would do wonders for the morale of our soldiers here in New Manticore, knowing one of their brothers outsmarted the best of us and escaped back to his life of freedom."

"We probably should have returned 452 to the fold as well," Ms. Brown mused. "That's where we went wrong. We could have used her as leverage over him, and vice-a-versa."

"Hindsight is such a wonderful thing," Lydecker commented dryly. "But promises were made to 452. Max wasn't my property any more. However, I had 494 fair and square. He belonged to me."

"And you really expected to be able to control the boyfriend?" Ms. Brown said, one eyebrow arching in mock disbelief.

"If our neuro-psych techniques could have been applied -- yes," Lydecker replied. "But you're the one who ordered him prepped for a mission, against my advice I might add. Allowing his squad mates to take over his reindoctrination was an iffy proposition, one that I admit failed. Still, it was the only other thing to try before giving up on 494 completely. With the plans you had in mind for him, not to mention his unique abilities, it was worth the shot."

"Until he got away," she pointed out.

"Until he got away," Lydecker admitted. "And now we've got a situation on our hands. One which I hope will be resolved before nightfall."

"You've deployed the X7s?"

"Yes. They'll have him within the hour. Guaranteed. A lone X5 is no match for a pack of X7s."

She moved toward the door. "I want to inspect his body when its brought in, before it's harvested. Perhaps keep a souvenir." And, with that final sick sentiment, Ms. Brown tipped her head at the colonel and exited his office, leaving Lydecker staring at the wall and wondering just how he'd managed to get himself and his kids involved with such a psychotic individual.

Chapter 5

Alec hit the woods running, and never looked back. Loping at a ground covering pace, his newly healed heart pumping steadily, and his breathing easy, he headed straight for US10 that connected to I-94, the main east/west highway. Of course that would be the first place Lydecker would order blocked to intercept him, but it was still his best chance for getting quick transportation out of the area. All he needed was to hitch a ride on a big rig and they'd never be able to catch him.

However, every minute counted now. Lane and Devon would be back at base and have reported. A search helicopter could be in the air at any time. The trees gave him cover for the moment, but Alec knew that once he emerged onto the highway he'd be visible and vulnerable. He also doubted Manticore would be trying to take him alive -- even Lydecker's patience for his precious kids had to have its limits, and 494 had been a very bad little X5-Unit today.

Up ahead he thought he heard the sound of a car engine. The highway? Slowing to a walk, Alec cautiously approached what looked to be the edge of the woods. Batting annoying gnats away from his sweat slick face, he peered out through the trees, and saw the pot-hole filled road that used to be a main thoroughfare. There wouldn't be much traffic way out here, but hopefully there'd be some kind of vehicle he could either thumb a ride with, or, if worse came to worse, car jack. However, at the moment, there was just dead silence again.

Snugging himself back down in the underbrush, Alec waited several precious minutes, uncertain what to do. Mind racing, trembling slightly, every one of his enhanced senses on alert, he counted his options. There weren't many. Lydecker wasn't just going to let him waltz out of here. There had to be some kind of pursuit in progress. But the sky and road were clear, no sign of a helicopter or military vehicles.

Damn, he hated being hunted like an animal.

Crouching lower behind a honeysuckle bush, Alec willed his heartbeat and breathing to slow so he could hear better. Birds ... buzzing insects ... a trickle of water from a small nearby brook ... In an odd way, the X5 felt as if he was suspended in time, waiting for the next step in his destiny.

God, Max, I hope I can make it home to you ... I'm trying ... I'm really trying ...

Then suddenly there was ... something. Alec's preternatural abilities told him so. He wasn't alone out here. But he still didn't hear or see anything. A sniper maybe? Was he about to die with a bullet in his brain? Which way should he run?

And then he knew. Fuck, he knew!

They were almost on top of the young transgenic when he shot out of the underbrush onto the road, blurring again, running as fast as he could pump his legs and forcing his muscles.

X7s -- half a dozen of them, sneaking up so stealthily only Alec's sixth sense had registered their approach, and t

Prologue

Donald Lydecker, lying on a blanket in the rear of the old pickup truck as it made its way to Seattle and Terminal City, peered up at the soldier guarding him. Seated with his back against the truck's bed, knees up and a sawed off shotgun cradled in his lap, the handsome dark blonde young man with exhausted hazel-green eyes -- an X5 for certain -- looked disturbingly familiar.

"Ben," Lydecker breathed.

The X5 rolled his eyes in disgust. "Not that shit again," he muttered. "Guess it's your brain that's scrambled for a change."

Lydecker blinked, his thoughts clearing. "Not Ben," he said, speaking more to himself than to the soldier. "494. The twin." His pale blue eyes brightened. "You were assigned to be her breeding partner by Renfro," he said, his voice rising to be heard above the noise of the truck's engine and the whipping wind. "It was in the data base I took from White." He put up a hand to shield his eyes from the bright lights of a following vehicle, studying the X5 unit more closely -- and then he chuckled.

"What?" the X5 asked. "What are you laughin' at?"

"Your name," Lydecker said. "She picked one for you, didn't she? Max?"

"Alec," the X5 said, looking askance at the dreaded monster of Manticore. "My name's Alec." He didn't deny that Max had given it to him. Lydecker nodded in satisfaction.

"I remember now," the colonel said slowly. "You were on base because you'd just come out of psy-ops. They were checking you to be certain your twin's psychotic tendencies weren't genetic. You got a clean bill of health, as I recall, which cleared you for Renfro's breeding program, even though I'd recommended you be put down. Schizophrenic tendencies or not, you were a failure in the X5 program and she had no business propagating your flawed genes."

Alec, recognizing an insult when he heard one, raised an eyebrow. "Well pardon me and my 'flawed genes' for surviving," he drawled, his lip curling in a sneer and his eyes darkening with hatred.

"I'm serious," Lydecker continued. "We couldn't trust you any more, not after Berrisford. And then the whole mess with your twin ... You're flawed meat, soldier. I had you scheduled for organ harvest. But then Major Renfro decided my services were no longer needed, and when she took over she changed the orders." He chuckled again. "Apparently she thought you'd be a decent stud. But from the looks of things, you failed in that department as well."

"Whatdaya mean?" Alec snapped, his hackles really rising now. He glanced at the truck window. He could see Mole driving, Joshua seated beside him, and decided they probably couldn't hear anything. Good.

Lydecker took a deep painful breath. "I'm talking about Max, of course. She certainly doesn't act like your mate. In fact, it seems to me she's already chosen her man -- Cale."

"Not that it's any of your damn business," Alec said stiffly. "But Max and I are just good friends. She's in love with Logan, and that's fine with me. She's happy."

"Is it now?" Lydecker prodded him. "Don't tell me you're happy that you lost your female to an ordinary."

"I haven't lost anything," Alec replied with a little smile of his own. "You don't know shit. Now shut the fuck up or I'll let Mole shoot you anyway, in spite of what Max wants."

"I might be persuaded to reconsider your status," Lydecker pushed.

Alec gazed out at the passing scenery, deliberately ignoring him.

"New Manticore is a reality, son. I've got a small army of X5's of my own, and more on the way with active recruitment and a renewed breeding program. Considering the scarcity of your kind now, flawed or not, I'd be willing to let you into the fold with all of your rank and privileges restored."

Alec couldn't believe the man was saying this shit. But he had to ask. "Now why would I want to become a slave again? Even if I did believe your generous offer?"

"Because you're a soldier, 494," Lydecker said. "That's what you'll always be. It's the only world you can ever be content in."

Alec laughed out loud. "And once again, you don't know a thing about me, or Max, or any of us," he said. "We're happy with our freedom, Colonel. You're never gonna get any of us back in that prison."

"We'll see," Lydecker said as he turned over on the hard truck bed with an audible groan. "We'll see how you feel when your infatuation with a woman you can never have brings you to your knees. I only hope, for your sake and Max's, that things don't end so badly this time around. You do have such a messy habit of falling in love with your assignments, 494, to the detriment of all concerned -- another reason I ordered your termination."

"Shut the fuck up," Alec said through clenched teeth. "Just shut the fuck up."

Lydecker smiled and closed his eyes. Time was, after all, on his side.



*****



Exhausted as he was, Alec couldn't sleep. Tossing and turning on his mattress, kicking covers off then pulling them up again, he finally lay on his back staring up in the rotting, water stained ceiling, his mind racing.

Max and Logan still hadn't returned to TC -- not that he was worried about them. Afterall, those two certainly had a lot of things to work out now that the virus was gone, and Max seemed inclined to forgive and forget Logan's little deception. Hell, they were probably holed up somewhere nice and comfy doing the deed.

Alec pounded a fist into his pillow and rolled over, his naked body bathed in sweat in spite of the December chill of the unheated room. Now why did I have to go and think about that? However, the mental image of Max and Logan having sex was planted in his mind, and now it was like a scab he wanted to pick or a fingernail to be chewed -- the stuff of bad dreams.

"Alec," Joshua's quiet voice came from out of the dark. "Are you all right?"

His roommate was also trying to get some rest, and Lord knew the big guy needed it after being shot and all.

"Sorry, Josh," Alec said as he sat up and reached for his clothes. I can't sleep. I'm gonna go check on our house guest."

He expected Joshua to lecture him about letting Dix and the others do their job -- guarding Lydecker in the makeshift cell they'd concocted in the basement of one of TC's unused buildings. But the exhausted dog man was already softly snoring again.

Shrugging into his jacket, Alec smiled at the sight of the big guy looking so puppyish in his sleep, somewhat envious of his friend's untroubled slumber -- and then he quietly stepped into the hall.



*****



The second Alec entered the basement corridor that led to Lydecker's cell, he knew something was wrong. Instinctively plastering himself against the cold cement wall, nostrils flared, he listened using every one of his transgenic senses.

The only sound was the drip of water from a leaky pipe somewhere ... the only smells damp, mold, and mildew. Pupils dilating, he strained to see more in the gloom up ahead. There was the glow of a lantern beyond, its light spilling into the hallway from the chamber that housed Lydecker. But still, there was ... something.

"Nice to see you again, brother," a low voice spoke in his ear at the same time the cold hard barrel of a gun pressed into the back of his neck.

For a brief second, Alec considered trying to disarm his attacker. But then he relaxed and slowly put his hands in the air. An ordinary assailant he'd have taken on -- but not one of his own, an X5. (He really didn't want to have his head blown off down here tonight. Information about Max's mother or not, Lydecker wasn't worth dying for.)

"Lane," Alec said, recognizing X5-600's voice. "How'd you boys know we had your chief?"

The feel of the gun barrel pressing into his skin never wavered, but Lane answered amiably enough. "We've been watching you for months," he said. "So nice of you to find our commander for us."

Alec was puzzled. "Why didn't you spring Lydecker yourself?"

He felt Lane's shrug. "We didn't know where he was. It was just luck you and your 'Freak Squad' brought him here where it was an easy retrieval."

"Easy?" Alec said, a cold chill suddenly running through his body as he thought about Dix who'd been guarding the prisoner.

Lane pushed him forward toward the lighted doorway. As they approached, Alec could see someone lying on the floor, either unconscious, or, as was more likely, dead.

"Dix," Alec said, and swallowed hard. The mashed-potato-headed mutant had obviously been taken by surprise too, and was now face down in a pool of his own blood.

"Don't worry," Lane said. "He'll live."

Alec saw now that the cell where Lydecker had been was empty, the make-shift barred door swinging open, the cot with its mussed blankets and pillow showing nothing but the imprint of where a body had lain.

"Lane!" a voice called from the hallway.

Alec recognized Devon, X5-472.

"What do you have?"

"An old unit mate," Lane said sarcastically.

Devon stepped into the room, his eyes raking Alec up and down. "Well, well," he said. "Looks like tonight is going to be even more productive than we'd hoped. Not only do we have our commander back, but we'll be bringing home a long lost sibling as well."

Alec's gut clenched. They were going to take him too -- back to Lydecker's so-called New Manticore. He tensed, getting ready to strike, a bullet in the base of his skull better than a life of slavery.

But then Lane spoke. "No," he said. "494's not part of the mission this time. Our only job is to get the colonel to safety."

"But you know how much the colonel wants him back," Devon argued.

"I said not this time, soldier!" Lane snapped.

"Yes, sir," Devon replied, conceding to his unit leader.

Lane leaned forward then, so close Alec could smell his sweat ... his breath. The X5's words tickled in his ear. "See you later, brother."

And then suddenly Alec's world exploded in a flash of sparks and pain as the butt of the gun crashed into the back of his skull.

Chapter 1


February 1, 2022

"Hey, Max," a cautious voice said from behind her. "Hidin' again?"

"I come up here to be alone," she said coldly. "You know that. Go away."

"Fine," Alec returned, his tone as clipped as hers. "But I don't know what you're so bent outta shape about. Afterall, you're the one who stood me up, not the other way around."

She turned and looked up at him, standing there in khakis and his best black leather jacket. "What are you talking about?"

"Our little planning session? The one you wanted to have before meetin' with Lydecker -- the snake who slipped through our fingers? I kind of agree with Mole now, that we should'a just shot the guy when we had a chance."

"He said he knew where my mother was," Max said tiredly. "How was I to know his people were looking for him -- that they'd spring him like they did? Besides," she added snidely. "You're the one who put Dix in charge of the prisoner that night. It's really your fault he's gone."

Alec flinched at that -- and almost left. It was obvious that now, as usual, Max didn't want him around, even after all they'd been through together. However, there was still the matter of Lydecker's deal.

"You know, don't you, that I'm not real keen on this whole 'usin' X5's for special government missions," Alec continued, letting the sore topic of Lydecker's escape from Terminal City alone for now, "even if the pay is better than what our little arts and crafts endeavor brings in. I mean, it'll be your ass and mine on the line here -- not that inhalin' too many paint fumes isn't a work hazard as well. Still, I'm not doin' all that bad as a middle man in the art and antique brokerage world, Max. Then there's that city council gig I got elected for -- in spite of a certain someone who has her doubts about me bein' a good representative -- even if it is just a once-a-month thing. Why risk my hide for the people who made my life a living hell not so long ago? I don't really need a third job."

"Because you were born to be a soldier, not an art dealer or a politician," Max said tiredly.

"True."

"And because you know where your real talents lie."

Alec's eyebrows rose.

"Plus, we need the money." Max continued. "Sorry I forgot about the meeting. I just needed some time to think about a few things." She'd turned away from him again and was looking out at the rising half moon, a gigantic yellow slice slowly crawling up the Seattle skyline. A chilly breeze off the ocean lifted strands of her long dark hair. He noticed she was shivering, and thought about offering her his jacket -- but he didn't.

"This wouldn't be about Logan again would it?" Alec said carefully, half afraid the question might result in his being pushed off the edge of their high perch.

She said nothing.

"I thought things were great between the two of you," Alec continued, his voice still light but with just a trace of something else. "I mean, the virus is gone, you lovebirds have been nesting in that fancy pad of his ... what's to worry about? Aren't all your dreams comin' true now, Maxie?"

He thought she wasn't going to answer.

But then she took a deep breath. "It's not like I thought it would be -- Logan and me."

Alec's brows drew together in a genuinely surprised scowl. "Whatdaya mean?" he said as he gracefully dropped into a sitting position beside her on the metal roof of the Space Needle.

Max swallowed hard. "I thought it would be perfect," she said huskily. "I thought that if the virus was just out of the way, that if Logan and me could be together like a real couple in love, then all the other issues would just vanish."

"They never just vanish, Max," he said, speaking from experience.

Max nodded. "He wants me to be normal."

"You are normal." Alec thought a second about what he'd just said. "Well, I mean you're not Normal, as in our beloved former boss Reagan Ronald, but you're not abnormal."

"Yes I am," she said. I am abnormal."

"How so?"

"I'm transgenic." She said the words as if she didn't want anyone to hear them -- as if it was admitting something shameful. "A freak," she whispered to the moon.

"We're all transgenic," Alec said, not quite believing Max still thought of herself as less than human -- not after all they'd fought for during the past eight months ... not after all her big "I'm proud to be a freak!" speeches. "Well, except for Logan," he added.

"Exactly," Max sniffed. "Logan wants me to live in his world, Alec. Not in mine."

"His world, our world, what's the difference, Max?" He honestly didn't understand. "The guy knows full well who and what you are. He always has. He told me himself you being transgenic didn't matter to him. Hell, he's so in love with you Max it's not even funny." A thought occurred to Alec, and he added, "Just don't go blamin' this on me somehow, like you're undoubtedly about ready to. You know, deliverin' the old 'if it's fucked up it's always Alec's fault' line of yours?"

Max bit her lower lip, ignoring his self-pitying remarks. "Last weekend we went to a party out on the island," she said. "One his aunt gave."

Alec smiled at that. "I remember," he said. "You were really workin' that dress, Max -- that little red number" He saw she wasn't amused and stopped. "What? Did somethin' happen at the party?"

"This drunk guy got a little ... fresh. He put his hand on my ass. Logan was going to say something to him, but I just reacted."

Alec winced. "Don't tell me you decked the CEO of Bay Street Bank or some such royalty."

"CEO of Albany Electronics, actually," Max said, smiling a little in spite of everything at the memory. She glanced over at him, her brown eyes wide and a little desperate. "I swear, I didn't mean to take him down. I just meant to twist his wrist. But he had this plate of food and--"

"Lemme guess," Alec said. "It made the society page the next mornin'. What'd the headline say? Somethin' like 'Transgenic Date Decks Dirty Dilettante'."

Max hung her head. "Logan was mortified. We left the party right away and all the way home I was lectured on how I had to act like a normal girl, that I couldn't go around embarrassing him." She turned to the moon again. "Even O.C. didn't understand. I couldn't make her see that it's just so natural to me -- to defend myself when someone touches me like that. She said I should have just smacked the asshole in the face, not broken his wrist ..."

"I'd probably have broken his neck," Alec said quietly. He wasn't joking.

"He was just drunk, Alec. I had no right to hurt him like that."

"Actually, it was Logan who should have defended you," Alec pointed out. "I know I sure as hell would have if you were my date. But I guess Eyes Only is too much of a pacifist."

"Logan's not like us, Alec. He's not -- violent."

Alec didn't deny her allegation. He knew as well as she did that the X5's had an inborn instinct to kill, part of their feline DNA and psychological conditioning. But then Logan knew that too ...

"So, what happened?" Alec prodded her. "You two are on the outs now?"

"I tried to make up with him this evening," Max said. "I made this really special dinner while he was out of the apartment, and I had on a new dress, a black number that cost me most of my cut of the money we made on that last drug dealer heist -- our 'supplemental income' as you call it. I thought I could make everything all right."

He gave her a moment, then softly said, "And?"

A huge, heavy sigh, followed by another shrug. "Instead of lying in bed making love with Logan I'm sitting here with you, which you've got to admit is truly pathetic."

Alec hung his head at that remark, but Max didn't notice.

"All Logan could talk about were ways I could 'fit in' with regular humans. I finally got fed up and told him I needed some space."

"Ah, you guys will make up," Alec said, waving his hand in the air. But then he bit down on his lower lip and looked away before adding, "You always do. You always get back with him."

"Maybe it's time I stop doing that."

Alec made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a derisive snort. "Yeah, right. The day you give up Logan is the day I give up sex."

"Then you'd better get used to being celibate, and break the bad news to your string of ladies," Max deadpanned.

"I don't have a string of ladies," Alec said rather absently, watching Max closely. He thought about that a moment and added, "Well, maybe I do, but it's not as sordid as you make it sound. I'm always a perfect gentleman. Can I help it if women find me irresistible? I mean, in a way, it's a real liability -- a nuisance the way they keep shovin' phone numbers at me."

"Poor baby," Max said rather caustically. "I can tell you're hurting as much as I am. Right?" She raked him with her eyes. "You don't even remember their names, do you?" she said softly. "In the morning?"

"Sarcasm doesn't become you, Max," Alec said, wondering why the conversation was suddenly about him. "My personal life's none of your business.

"What about Asha? She was someone who could have really cared about you, been more than a one-night-stand, if you'd let her."

Yeah, cared about me until I got her killed, the nasty little voice in Alec's head chided. "I said it's none of your business," he repeated.

"Why not? I just poured out the whole sad story of my love life to you. It's your turn to share."

"Yeah, but unlike you, I'm not sittin' on top of the Space Needle moanin' and groanin' about my significant other. I don't need a shoulder to cry on, Max. I don't need to talk."

"Lucky you," Max said, the sarcasm back. Then -- "Sometimes I think Logan and I aren't going to make it."

"You don't know that," Alec said quickly. "Give it more time. It's only been--"

She turned on him, her eyes glistening with tears. "Please leave."

Alec thought he hadn't heard her right. "What?"

"I meant it when I said I wanted to be alone. Clear out, Alec."

Alec closed his eyes, wondering why he'd even tried. He stood up, but paused, looking down at her. "I just thought you might need a friend," he said softly. "Look, would you like to go get a cup of coffee or--"

"I said get out," Max said coldly, not even bothering to look at him. "Or do I have to kick your ass off of here in order to get some privacy." She turned them, her jaw line set, her dark eyes chilling.

She was just in a bad mood, he told himself. She was taking it out on him because he was convenient. But still-- This isn't fair. He blinked, denying the tears. Damn it, why do I care? She sure as hell doesn't care about me.

"Fine," he said, his voice deliberately hard to cover up his pain. "Pardon me for existing. I'll see you at noon tomorrow for the meet." But Max was already ignoring him, her attention once more on the moon.

Alec descended the stairs, and made his way to the ally where he'd parked his motorcycle, the whole time kicking himself for being so stupid. He'd let himself in for Max's wrath -- left himself wide open. Why should he have been expecting anything less ... or rather more ... from her?

Still, there were moments between them when he almost thought--

He shook his head, and for the thousandth time since meeting her asked himself why he stayed ... why he put up with her insults and abuse ... why he let her hurt him time and again.

He knew the answer, of course, and laughed at the irony that had become his life. "Love sucks," he said quietly to Max's moon before stepping on the accelerator and roaring away into the night.

Chapter 2

He wondered if he was getting sick -- but then encounters with Max like tonight's little drama always left him with that "kicked in the gut" feeling.

Alec draped his leather jacket over a chair when he entered the TC quarters he shared with Joshua, and headed straight for the small flat's corner kitchen, and the bottle of good Scotch on the counter. Living space was at a premium in TC, the generators only able to produce a limited amount of electricity, so it was prudent to double up when possible, although he really missed having his own place. Maybe things would be better when the arts and crafts mall started turning a profit -- a thought Alec consoled himself with on those nights when Joshua's snoring was driving him nuts.

It looked like his roommate had already left for the day, probably working on "Joshua #472" over in the common area the artists-in-residence used. That particular painting had been commissioned by his old friend Rita at the Seattle Art Gallery. She already had a buyer lined up who was willing to pay ten grand for a Joshua. Of course 30 percent of that went to Rita, and another 10 to himself (he'd fought long and hard for a 20 percent middle-man take, but Max had put her foot down). However, that still left $5000 for the transgenics -- money that was much needed for food and medicine, not to mention pretzels and beer. Plus, there was the loan from Logan that needed to be repaid ...

He glanced up at the clock, his hand on the bottle. Six a.m. He wondered what Max was doing right now ... if she was with him. They'd undoubtedly made up. They always did. She and Logan were probably--

He pushed the thought away. Max and Logan had been sleeping together for weeks, and he'd managed to not let it bother him. But now ... Now things are different, a little voice whispered in his head. Now you just might have a chance.

Alec told the little voice in his head to shut up.

His hands were shaking; his stomach queasy. Alec shivered, and wondered idly if he was having a panic attack, really getting sick, or if he was just low on Tryptophan. Reluctantly, he set the bottle of Scotch down, although the thought of the alcohol burning his throat and calming his nerves was incredibly tempting. If he needed Tryptophan, he couldn't risk drinking -- not if he was going to be any good to Max today when she met with Lydecker this afternoon. Tryptophan plus alcohol really put him off his game, slowed his reflexes and his mind.

Turning his back on the Scotch, he went into the tiny bathroom -- a cubicle so small Joshua literally couldn't turn around in the place -- splashed cold water on his face, and took the large bottle of Tryptophan out of the medicine cabinet. Shaking the container, he realized he'd need a refill pretty soon. If Joshua knew he'd let his pill supply get so low he'd be in for a scolding. The big lug mother-henned him something fierce about his meds ever since he'd had a couple of bad seizure spells, always asking him if he'd taken his pills or if he had extra doses in his pocket.

Figuring it couldn't hurt, he shook out four pills into his hand, then another two just-in-case. After which he made himself lie down on the mattress that served as his bed. Morning would come much too soon -- and he honestly didn't know how he was going to react when he faced Max again.



*****



"Logan, we have to talk."

"I know we do, Max," Logan Cale said. He was seated at his computer desk, but turned around when she entered the apartment. The dark circles under his eyes and his messy hair told Max the man had been up all night.

"Logan--"

"Here." He held out a small black velvet box to her -- a jeweler's box.

Max's eyes grew wide as she realized what it probably was.

"Logan ..." She shook her head. "I can't. Please. Don't."

"Open it, Max," Logan said softly. "It's something that I think will solve all of our problems."

With shaking hands, she took the box from Logan and flipped open the lid. Inside was what she'd expected ... what she'd feared.

"You don't have the money for this," she said, staring down at the glittering one karat diamond ring, a stone so large it took her breath away.

"This is important, Max. More important than computer equipment or even Eyes Only. And I'll spend my money on what I want." He was watching her closely. "Try it on," he said quietly. "And then say 'yes'."

Max closed her eyes, but the tears still found their way down her cheek.

"Marry me, Max," Logan said. "I know you probably thought I'd pop the question over a candle light dinner with a bottle of pre-pulse Chardonnay, but after the way you stormed out last night I couldn't wait any longer. I want you to be my wife, Max. Once we're married, everything will be all right. No one will question that you're a transgenic. You'll be Mrs. Logan Cale first and foremost."

Logan was talking too fast, as if desperate to get all of his speech out before she could interrupt.

"Put the ring on, Max," Logan implored as she remained silent, blue eyes intent behind his wire rim glasses. He stood, the faint whir of his exoskeleton sounding unusually loud in the quiet apartment. And then he walked over to her, arms out. "Or would you rather have a little make-up sex first," he said huskily as his hands squeezed her shoulders.

Max remembered what their first night together had been like, in the hotel -- how she'd told herself at the time it had been wonderful, being with the love of her life at long last. She'd told herself that this was what making love felt like, that because it wasn't just meaningless sex it would be different from the other times she'd been with men. Logan was a tender, gentle, caring lover, treating her as if she was a fragile china doll in bed. At first, Max had enjoyed being coddled, but then, as her feline passions caught fire, she'd become more aggressive ...

Which is when she'd discovered that, paralyzed extremities or not, Logan Cale liked to be the one in charge in the bedroom, her fiery Manticore sex drive notwithstanding. He hadn't said it out loud, but his eyes had pleaded with her to "be a lady." And Max had been just that ever since, controlling herself nearly to the point of madness whenever they'd made love.

Now, she looked toward the bedroom and the bed she shared with this man, and waited for the feeling of fierce joy ... the passion ... that just wasn't there for her any more.

Stepping back from Logan she snapped the ring box closed and held it out to him. "I can't."

"Max, I don't understand," Logan said, genuinely confused. "We've waited almost two years to be together, and now I'm asking you to be my wife. It doesn't matter to me that you're a transgenic."

"But it matters to me," Max said. "I am transgenic, Logan! I'm not human! I'm not like you and I never will be. I thought I could fit in your world ... live in it and still be loyal to my own kind. But I can't, Logan! I can't be two people! I can't be who you want me to be!"

Logan was looking at her as if she was demented. "Take it easy, Max," he said soothingly. "I've never asked you to choose between me and your people, and I'm not asking you to do that now. I'm just asking you to adjust your life so you and I can fit together."

"I can't," Max said again, her voice dropping to a hoarse whisper as she set the ring box down on an end table since Logan wouldn't take it back.

"Okay," Logan said slowly. "So ... no ring ... no marriage, at least not right now. We'll take things more slowly." He moved to hold her again, and Max skittered away.

Logan's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Max, there's something else, isn't there?"

She looked at him with something akin to panic in her eyes. "Nothing else," she said. "I'm just not ready for this kind of commitment, not until we work things out."

Logan stepped closer, holding out his arms to her, and suddenly Max remembered just why she loved this man so much. It wasn't his fault she was who she was. It wasn't his fault he wanted to marry her.

She snuggled against his chest, feeling safe in the warmth of his hug.

"Where were you tonight?" he asked quietly in her ear.

"Someplace where I could think," Max said.

"Alone?"

"No," she murmurred, wanting to be truthful. "I was with Alec, for awhile at least."

She didn't see the way Logan's eyes tightened at the mention of the X5's name. "I bet he made you feel a lot better," he joked. "Alec has such a way with words and all."

"I told him to go away," Max said with a coy smile as she took hold of Logan's hand and pulled him toward the bedroom.

Logan's face relaxed. She'd sent Alec away. Everything was all right. But he had to ask-- "So, Alec knows you're upset with me?"

Max's flung herself down on the bed and looked up at him enticingly. "I don't want to talk about Alec any more."

Which was just fine with Logan.

Chapter 3

"So," Alec said cautiously as he slid into the booth opposite her. "You a free woman now? Or did you two love birds kiss and make up."

Gem and two other X5's had re-opened the coffee shop in the building just outside Terminal City's main gates to accomodate people who came to view (and hopefully buy) the paintings and sculptures created by some of the more artistically inclined mutants. Selling art and crafts was a legitimate way to raise much-needed cash for themselves, as well as a creative outlet for Joshua, Mole, Dix, Luke, and a number of other former soldiers who'd discovered they could wield a paintbrush as well as a gun. Those who didn't have an inner muse scavanged the city dumps and flea markets for antiques they could sell at a nice profit. All-in-all, the Terminal City Mall was turning out to be a nice way for the mutants to not only make money, but to gradually assimilate themselves into regular society.

Max took a sip of her coffee and made a face. "We've got to find a better source for the java here," she complained. "Good coffee means good customers." She eyed him across the table. "You're in charge of our supply line. Can't you find a decent bean vendor?"

"I'll work on it," Alec said. "Max, are you avoiding my question?"

"No," Max said seriously. She tried one more sip of the bitter brew and then shoved the styrofoam cup away, giving it up as a lost cause. Only then did she meet his intense hazel gaze. "Logan asked me to marry him."

Alec felt as if someone had just punched him in the gut, and his eyes flew to her ring finger. "You said no?" he surmised, not seeing a diamond, his heart rate returning to normal.

"I told him I'd think about it," Max replied, which was how she'd left things with Logan that morning.

"And what?"

"Nothing. Starcrossed lovers I guess is what you'd have to call Logan and me," she said huskily. "It's just so difficult sometimes, between us." She searched his eyes, almost as if looking for something. And then she smiled -- just a little bit. "But we'll work it out. People do that when they love each other like Logan and I do."

Alec wondered why his heart was pounding so hard again. "Live and learn, Max," he said, for lack of any better advice to give, and feeling the need to fill the empty silence between them. His eyes slid to a clock on the wall. "What time are we meetin' Lydecker?" he asked, changing the subject.

"One o'clock," Max said, her voice tightening. The name of Colonel Donald Lydecker, their former Manticore C.O., the monster of Manticore, still brought a thrill of fear to both of the transgenics. Afterall, he was the man who, more than any other, was responsible for both shaping and mangling their lives.

"Where's the meet?"

"Right here," Max said, indicating the coffee shop.

"And 'Deck agreed?" Alec said, eyebrows rising. "I'd have thought he'd demand neutral ground."

"I told him it was here or not at all," Max said. "I don't trust that son of a bitch any further than I can throw him, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let him get us out in the middle of nowhere where his pet X5's could make a run at us."

"His pet X5's couldn't get him away from the Breeding Cult," Alec pointed out.

"They didn't know where he was," Max replied. "But now that he's slipped through our grasp" -- she gave Alec a look that he ignored -- "and is in charge of his people again, we're going to have to watch our backs. He's obsessed with rebuilding his precious Manticore -- seeing to it that his so-called 'kids' do what they were supposedly bred and born to do."

"More'n a few of our X5's and 6's have taken him up on his offer the past few weeks," Alec pointed out. "They went of their own free will. A private army of Manticore soldiers is something pretty valuable in this world, Max. Don't underestimate the guy's power."

"I wonder why he still wants us? After we've told him 'no' so many times?"

"I don't know," Alec said. "But I have a feeling we're about to find out." His gaze shifted to the door where Colonel Donald Lydecker, dressed in military khakis and a flight jacket, stood surveying the makeshift cafeteria, his weathered features mirroring obvious distaste at what he saw. Still gaunt from his ordeal, he nonetheless looked razor sharp, as if his incarceration with the Breeding Cult had somehow hardened him even more.

"He's early," Max commented. "You ready for this?"

"I'm on board, Max."

Max took a deep breath. "All right then. Let's get this over with."



*****



"Interesting what you've done with the place, Max," Lydecker said as he pulled a chair up to the end of the table.

Alec, lounging back in the booth with his arm across the top of the seat, let his eyes flick to the entrance of the cafeteria . Lane, X5-600, was hanging by the door, Devon was in position by the back emergency exit, and he wouldn't be surprised if a detail of regular soldiers was lurking about in the market area outside as well. Lydecker had come prepared.

"It's home," Max shrugged. "And we're happy and free."

"So," Lydecker said, "you really sell enough artwork to sustain a colony of several hundred transgenics?"

"We take care of our own," Max said levelly. "Some have outside jobs, some work in here."

"Oh, of course," Lydecker said with mock seriousness. "Now I understand." He turned to Alec. "And your job would be? Don't tell me ... washing dishes perhaps? Or cleaning the toilets? Or maybe you're the cook. You were created to be perfect soldiers for God's sake! How can you waste your talents in a dump like this?"

"Actually, I'm in charge of trade and acquisitions," Alec replied calmly, refusing to let himself be baited by the older man. "You need it, I can get it -- for a percentage that is. Like Max said, we take care of our own in here. No one goes hungry. No one's homeless. And if we don't have enough money to buy what we need ..." A sly grin. "I have ways around that."

"You're a thief," Lydecker said bluntly.

Alec batted his eyes in mock surprise, doing his best to look hurt. "Why, Colonel, whatever makes you think moi," he put his hands on his chest, "one of Manticore's finest, would ever stoop so low." Again the sly smile. "Let's just say I'm in the business of procurement and leave it at that."

Max had listened to the exchange between the two men with some alarm. Now, she sat up straighter in the booth and said coldly, "Enough questions. What do you want with us? Why are you here? And don't give me any of that bullshit about offering us jobs suited to our talents. Our talents are utilized just fine already. Oh, and by the way, you still owe me that information about my mother."

Lydecker took a sip of the coffee he'd brought with him to the table, and made a face.

"I know," Alec said in a low voice. "I'm thinkin' I need to liberate a few bags of beans from Barneys."

Lydecker ignored him. Pushing the cup of awful coffee away, he sat up straighter in his chair, looked Max square in the eye, and said, "Manticore is operational again. Between the soldiers who remained loyal to me, and those I've brought back into the fold, it's a viable military unit once more. We're utilizing a breeding program until our scientists can get the gene splicing lab and surrogate program up and running. The Committee is still backing the project, although it's a more scaled-down version of what we had before. Still, it didn't take much to persuade them that the organic weapons program was well worth resurrecting. As for your mother's whereabouts ..." He smiled wickedly. "I think I'll keep those cards close to my vest for awhile longer."

"We had a deal," Max argued. "I saved your life back there and you know it."

"Let's just say the terms of our agreement have changed," the colonel replied evenly. "Now, you're going to have to offer a little bit more for that information." His eyes went to Alec.

Max saw, and clenched her jaw. "Organic weapons?" she said, making a face at the distasteful words, and letting the subject of her mother drop. "What you mean is that your science guys are playing Frankenstein again, creating lab rat soldiers to enslave."

"Gee, Max," Lydecker said with a smile. "Don't sugarcoat things so much."

"What do you want with Alec and me?" she repeated. "We don't want any part of your New Manticore."

"Max," Lydecker said, "all of the X5's ... the soldiers like you and Alec ... were created with extreme care and forethought. Each one of you, as an individual, contains traits and characteristics specifically blended into your DNA. Each one of you is unique -- or rather each set of twins is unique."

"So, I'm unique," Max said with a shrug. "Whoopee. And where have I heard that before?"

But Lydecker wasn't finished. "When the thirteen of you escaped in '09, Manticore lost some of its very best specimans. However, we still had most of the twins." He stared meaningfully again at Alec who returned the look icily. "Over the years, we lost a few. Jondy's twin, for example, had to be destroyed, as well as Zane's."

"They didn't have to be destroyed," Alec said quietly. "I was there. They could have healed."

"That's water under the bridge, son," Lydecker said. "Now, let me finish. I've also lost Jace and Sam's genetics and talent from the program. Ben ... well, you both know about Ben." He glanced at Alec yet again. "And unfortunately, Brin was killed when Manticore burned."

Max closed her eyes. Alec knew she'd always suspected that, but to have it confirmed must hurt.

"Zane and Syl are missing," Lydecker continued. I'm in negotiations with Jondy. But what I'm getting at is this -- the two of you have inborn genetic skills and physical characteristics that can't easily be re-established at Manticore. I've seen the futility of trying to force you back into service. However, I'm hoping we can reach some sort of deal regarding use of your abilities and genetic material."

Alec was chuckling. "He wants your eggs, Max. And my sperm."

"No deal!" Max said. "I'll never let you create more slaves using my body!" She glanced at Alec. "Or his either."

"Fine," Lydecker held up his hands. "I'm just making the offer. I assure you you'd be paid quite well." His cold eyes went to Alec again. "But if I can't talk you into being donors, then perhaps you'd be willing to do a little independent work for me. Like I said, the two of you possess genetically enhanced skills that are unique -- ones my other kids are lacking."

"No," Max said coldly, getting to her feet.

"A hundred thousand," Lydecker said. "For one mission. And I only need one of you for the wetwork."

Max hesitated for a fraction of a second, then sat down again. Alec had never gotten up.

"I have a job that needs doing right away," Lydecker said, his voice all business now. "I'd like Alec on it." He turned to the younger man. "You speak Arabic, don't you?"

Alec stared at him, dollar signs dancing in his head. Then he slowly nodded. "I speak Arabic."

"If you want your precious mission accomplished, you'd be better off talking to me," Max interrupted. "He can't be trusted."

Lydecker turned to her. "Do you speak Arabic, 452?"

"No," Max said rather primly. "But I'm a fast learner."

"We don't have time," Lydecker said. "494's more suited to this job than you, so back off."

"Alec already got a full time job," Max said icily. "He's needed here. He's not going."

"Hey," Alec said hotly. "Sitting right here, Max. And I think I can make my own decisions."

"We're out of here," Max said, standing again and this time grabbing Alec by the arm.

Alec glared at her. "I'm not done," he said.

"Yes, you are," Max said through clenched teeth. "And if you don't come with me right now I'm gonna beat your ass."

Alec wrenched his arm away, grabbed her wrist, and bent the joint, forcing her down on the table. "I said, I'm ... Not ... Done. I wanna hear the man out."

For a second he thought she was going to hit him. He actually saw the battle going on in her eyes. But then common sense won.

"Fine," she said. "Get yourself killed. See if I care." And with those loving words, she jerked her hand free and walked away.


Chapter 4

The objective was relatively simple. Penetrate a top secret Syrian military base and steal a prototype "suitcase" nuclear weapon -- a nasty little toy the Arabs had liberated from the French several months ago. The U.S. didn't want that bad boy under enemy control, and since no other country seemed inclined to intervene, its retrieval was left in the hands of American Black Ops. Lydecker had gotten wind of the mission, and offered to send in one of his "kids" for the job -- a way to prove to his financial backers that New Manticore was worth their billion dollar investment.

"Why not send Lane or Devon?" Alec had asked as he stood in the cargo bay of the DC10 strapping on his parachute before takeoff, and thinking how this was an odd little deviation from his usual day-to-day life as an agent in the art and antique business. He felt a little bit like Superman with a secret alter ego.

Lydecker and Max (who'd eventually calmed down and insisted on coming along, much to Logan's consternation) would be anchoring the mission from a base station in Turkey, but the colonel had come out to the airport to see him off.

"Because," Lydecker said, "to be perfectly honest, most of my kids can't make the kind of quick decisions a strategic strike mission like this may call for, and I can't afford a failure."

"I thought we weren't supposed to have minds of our own," Alec said nastily. "Now all of a sudden independence is a desirable trait in an X5? And here I wasted over a year of my life in psy-ops with you guys tryin' your damnedest to beat that 'think for yourself' DNA outta me." He reached up and pushed hair out of his eyes before snugging his helmet on and fastening the chin strap.

"Shut up," a familiar voice said in his ear -- Max, who was listening in on a discrete receiver from the Turkish ground control station where Lydecker would soon be joining her. "Alec, thanks to your stupidity, you've put your ass in this guy's hands for the next few hours, so if I were you I wouldn't get him angry."

She'd absolutely refused to let him do this by himself, even though she was totally against this moonlighting job, and had insisted on monitoring the operation. Alec still wasn't sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. Nor did he understand why Max suddenly seemed so concerned about his ass.

"Aw, Maxie," Alec cajoled, "can't a guy have a little fun?"

"What's fun?" Lydecker snapped, hearing only Alec's words. "You think this is fun, soldier?"

"No, sir," Alec responded, the "sir" coming automatically.

Lydecker noticed, and smiled. Alec felt like kicking himself for the slip.

The colonel spread a large map on the metal briefing table that served the cargo bay, and pointed out the objective one last time to his on-loan X5 Unit -- an abandoned missile silo in the middle of the Syrian desert that intelligence sources said had been converted into a weapons storage facility. They were 85 percent certain the suitcase nuke was there. Alec had already checked satellite intel on the terrain with Max, memorizing emergency egress routes in case his means of extraction was compromised. He sincerely hoped his ride would be on time though, because it looked like an awfully long walk across the desert if he missed the boat, and unlike Devon and Krit, his body wasn't optimized for 10-day food and water deprivation. Six would be the most he could survive, although that was still three days more than a human. Mole would have been good for this mission, too, the lizard man's heat resistant body and affinity for sand a definite plus. However, Lydecker refused to allow a transhuman to operate independently -- something about Manticore protocol, not to mention Mole's Syrian was rusty.

"Any questions?" Lydecker asked.

"Just one," Alec said easily. "That hundred grand is after taxes, right?"

Lydecker glared at him, jaw clenching. "You have no idea how this galls me, soldier," he said. "Being forced to issue a pay check to what should rightfully be considered military property."

"The U.S.Senate says I'm a free man," Alec reminded him, with an emphasis on "man."

"You're not a man," Lydecker replied quietly. "You're not even human. You're an X5 animal/human hybrid -- an advanced biosynthetic weapons unit. And as hard as you might try, you're never going to be able to run away from what you really are -- Max either. I suggest the two of you remember that, and live your lives accordingly."

Alec grinned and said low under his breath, "Max should've just let Mole shoot your ass when he had the chance."

"What's that soldier?"

"Nothin'," Alec said, his voice level. "X5-494 mission ready." Then, as green-gold eyes met cold blue, he tagged on one more oh-so-sarcastic "Sir."



*****



Twenty minutes later, the plane was coming up on the coordinates. This would be a halo jump, from the highest possible altitude, so they wouldn't be detected. An ordinary man would need to carry an oxygen tank for this, but Alec's lungs had capacity to spare -- one of the little details of his genetic tampering that was going to come in handy. There also wouldn't be any problem seeing once he was on the ground -- no bulky night goggles to mess with -- his cat vision perfect for this kind of mission.

One of Lydecker's men opened the door in the side of the plane, letting whistling wind fill the cabin. "Don't screw it up, soldier!" the operative yelled over the rushing air as Alec adjusted his goggles.

"And don't get cocky," Max said brusquely in his ear.

Alec took a deep calming breath, steadied his racing heart (skydiving had never been his favorite pastime), and dropped out of the plane into the star studded sky.



*****



His black parachute and black commando suit making him for all intents and purposes invisible, Alec glided through the night toward the small beacon of light that he knew was his objective, guiding his descent by tugging on the chute strings. Ten minutes after stepping out of the plane, he landed several hundred yards away from the silo, stripped off the goggles, snugged the chute into a ball that he quickly buried in the sand, and was on his way to the target.

"I'm down," he said low into the mic attached to the front of his bullet proof vest.

"Take it slow," Max replied in his ear. "There's no hurry yet. Our informant says they won't be expecting visitors because this installation is supposed to be off the charts, even for their own military.

The "informant" Max spoke of was an Syrian defector, Abdul Jamine, -- a former military major who was cooperating with the United States in return for being granted asylum.

Alec heard a voice in the background. "What's that?" he asked.

"Jamine says there shouldn't be more than three guards on the outside," Max replied.

"Piece of cake," Alec said lightly, rubbing his gloved hands together and cracking his knuckles in anticipation of a good fight. He'd reached the perimeter of the silo clearing and could see two guards. Waiting patiently, the third soon came around from behind the building.

"Three spotted," Alec said. He waited a minute more, to make certain there weren't really four, and then he moved.

Donald Lydecker had always secretly feared his "kids," and with good reason. The X5's, moreso than any of the previous or later X series, were bred to be killers -- and they'd been given the physical equipment to live up to that reputation. Alec sprang out of the night like a panther striking, taking down the first guard with his fist, and the second with a vicious round kick. Then, he whirled to face the third who was pointing a machine gun at his chest and staring at him in open-mouthed wonder.

"Min wayn inta?" (Where did you come from?) the guard screamed.

"Mush muhim," Alec snarled. (It doesn't matter.) And then he blurred, streaking across the clearing to grab the gun and wrench it from the guard, at the same time bringing an elbow back into the man's face that both broke his nose and robbed him of consciousness.

"Why do they always ask questions instead of just shootin'?" Alec said aloud to the desert night air, shaking his head at the irony. It was a fatal mistake many made when confronted with an X5 -- the sheer astonishment at their attacker's incredible speed and strength often rendering the targets as immobile as actual physical force.

Alec secured the guards with their own handcuffs, then crept to the silo door. According to Jamine, there wouldn't be anyone inside, just a series of code pads and security checkpoints to get through.

He'd memorized the numbers he needed. Stripping of the gloves and stuffing them in a pocket, Alec quickly punched in the combination at the main panel, and breathed a sigh of relief when the huge metal door lifted, granting him access to a flight of narrow stairs that looked (and smelled) like it led straight down to Hell. His nostrils twitched. Was that sulfur?

"I'm in," he said into the mic. "Three down, none to go. One suitcase nuke comin' up."

"Be careful," Max chirped in his ear.

Alec grinned at that familiar admonition. Then, with one last reassuring look at the star lit sky above, he crept with catlike stealth down the stairs.



*****



It seemed like an hour had passed before he reached the bottom of the missile silo, although in reality it had probably taken him less than 5 minutes to traverse the hundreds of steps. The only light came from small red-glowing safety bulbs interspersed at regular intervals along the descent. A human would have had difficulty seeing enough to put one foot in front of the other, but to Alec's feline DNA-enhanced retinas the stairwell shone as bright as day.

The air got thicker and heavier as he descended, his sensitive nose taking offense at the odor of decay and must. Twice, he paused and sneezed (a "quiet" sneeze being a near impossible feat he discovered). Each time that happened, Alec waited a moment, listening, all of his preternatural senses on alert -- and each time everything seemed clear. It appeared Jamine was being straight with them about there being no guards inside the facility.

This job is a piece of cake, Alec thought cockily as he reached the bottom at last, stepping off the final stair onto the smooth metal floor. Easiest money I ever made.

"Alec?" Max said in his ear, the mic's enhanced signal thankfully penetrating the depths as Lydecker's tech guy had promised. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, keeping his voice low even though there was really no reason to. Something about that vast space looming above him, and the knowledge how deep underground he was, made a hushed tone appropriate.

"Do you see the entrance door?"

"Right ahead. Panel's on the left."

Without hesitation, he punched in the second set of code numbers he'd memorized. A buzzer sounded briefly, a light next to the door turned green, and the entrance to the weapons storage room slid open. Alec stepped forward onto the threshold, but hung on the sill, surveying the room before him -- a room so dark even his cat eyes were having trouble penetrating the blackness. However, there was a switch to his right ...

Alec thumbed the little lever and a string of light bulbs snapped on overhead, illuminating the room and nearly blinding him in the process, his fully dilated pupils unable to compensate quickly enough for the brightness.

"Crap!" Alec swore, throwing an arm up to shield his eyes.

"What?" Max yelled in his ear. "Alec, what's wrong?"

"Nothin'," he reassured her, blinking away the spots, and scolding himself for being stupid. "I'm fine."

"Do you see the package?"

"Yeah, I think its--" He stepped completely into the room, and the door fell shut with a loud bang behind him.

Alec whirled.

"Max," he said in a low voice. "The door closed. I'm stuck."

"No, you're not," Max reassured him. "Look to the right. There's another panel. Jamine told us this might happen. He's got an exit code."

"So glad I was fully briefed," Alec replied sarcastically. With one last suspicious glare over his shoulder at the offending door, he then crossed the room, and cautiously picked up a metal box that had French words inscribed on the outside -- "Guarantee! Radiotion!" (Caution! Radiation!).

Nice of them to label the goods for me, Alec thought. Thumbing the double catches, he opened the lid. Lying nestled on a bed of foam lay a slender silver cylinder with a black tip on one end and a control nodule of some kind on the other. He recognized the nuclear device from the picture of it Lydecker had shown him. Bingo. He closed the case, and turned back to the door, at the same noting that there were other interesting items in the room as well: racks of advanced targeting rifles, satellite equipment, state-of-the-art detonators ... However, Alec's old Manticore training stood -- if it's not within mission parameters, leave it alone -- and he resisted the urge to do additional "shopping."

"Got the goods," he said. "I'm comin' home. What's the exit code?"

"Three, four, sixteen, nine, eleven, three," Max said.

Alec punched in the numbers and waited for the expected buzz. However, instead of the door sliding open, there was a sound from overhead followed by the scream of an alarm that threatened to deafen him.

"What the--!" Cringing at the harsh ringing, he looked up and saw that a number of smaller panels had opened around the ceiling of the room with wands of some sort extending from them.

"Max," he shouted. "I think I did something wrong!"

"What do you mean?"

"The door's not opening and--"

He recognized the smell, the vapors, even before the nozzles on the overhead pipes opened. Gasoline. Suddenly spraying down from a dozen pipe heads like noxious rain, the flammable liquid began drenching the room ... drenching him.

Alec choked and ducked his head, trying to protect his face.

"Alec! What's happening?"

"I'm locked in!" he shouted. "And there's gasoline sprayin' all over everything!"

Which is when he remembered the strange looking wands that had popped out of the ceiling. Shielding his eyes with one hand, he zoomed his vision in on one of them and recognized it for what it was -- an ignition coil.

"Oh, shit," Alec said, turning desperately to the door, fighting the urge to beat on it with his bare hands in his panic as he realized what his fate was going to be. "Max!" he screamed. "Get me the hell outta here or I'm cooked, and I do mean that literally! There are flamers over