Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters are property and copyright 2001-2002 Twentieth Century Fox and James Cameron and Charles Eglee. This original story is copyright 2003 Star24.
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Chapter Six
Office Building, Seattle
Max parked her Ninja in the alley behind the building that housed Dr. Windham's office. The entire area was deserted; even Seattle's homeless weren't in evidence. She shrugged to herself at the thought that the Sector Police worked a bit harder at keeping the streets in the former business district of Seattle cleaner than those located in more depressed areas of the city.
There was a flat steel door that opened into the building and Max made quick work of opening it with her burglary tools and strength. It swung eerily on its hinges as she stood there for a moment looking into the black depths of the building. She focused her night vision and stared inside, but all she saw was a short blank hallway with a door at the end of it. Except for water dripping in the alley, remnants of the earlier rain, and the creak of the swinging door, everything was quiet. Max slipped her tools into her backpack and pulled the door closed behind her as she entered the building.
Logan had said the doctor's office was on the third floor, so she looked for a stairwell that would take her up. She found it, located just behind the door that opened from the hall she had entered the building through. Within moments she was on the third floor, counting doors to the one that was Windham's office. Everything was dark and quiet. The building while not decrepit had seen better days. Clearly its tenants and/or owner didn't go to the expense of a security system or a night watchman.
Max found the office and slipped a slim blade between the door and the jam. She probed for only a few seconds before the lock released and the door opened easily. She was in the reception room which was just as Logan had described it. A few plastic chairs were placed against the wall and a small table held an untidy stack of old magazines. Max idly flipped through them noting that the most recent one was six months old.
Not seeing anything of interest in the reception area, she headed to the door that led back to the doctor's office. She stepped through it and glanced into the examining room. It looked like any other examining room that one would find in any doctors office. There didn't appear to be any files or papers in it so she didn't bother to go in and look any further. Across the hall was her goal, Dr. Windham's office. She grasped the knob and pushed the door open. Dim light filtered in through the dirty windows illuminating the desk, its entire surface covered in papers and files.
Max crossed to the desk and began picking up the papers, looking for the file that Logan had glimpsed. She found several manila folders that appeared to have notes and information on various tropical diseases, but there was nothing labeled Zycinor or even anything starting with the letters Zyci. When she finished with the desktop, she methodically opened and searched each drawer, again to no avail. The bookshelves were similarly unhelpful. She was looking around the office to see if there was something she had missed when the overhead lights came on, momentarily blinding her.
"Is this what you're looking for?" a soft voice said.
She squinted and let her eyes focus on the man standing in the doorway holding out a manila folder with the label Zycinor on it. Her eyes widened.
Colonel Lydecker came out of the Manticore building accompanied by another man. He completed his inspection of the ranks of X5s and then turned to his companion. "There they are, Doctor." Lydecker said to his companion. "How many do you need?"
"Four will do as a start. Two males and two females."
"I see you recognize me." The man chuckled.
"You're Gertals. You killed my brothers and sisters with your experiments." Max growled and launched herself through the air at the man. She grabbed his throat but as she did, she felt a prick in her arm. Looking down she saw him holding a hypodermic needle. Her legs suddenly felt weak, and her hands loosened their grip and dropped from his neck. "You bastard…" she choked as she fell forward.
With surprising strength the doctor caught her as she slumped, lowering her onto the floor. A smile crossed his face as he looked down at her. Leaning down he lifted her hair and looked at her barcode.
"Welcome to my facility 452. I'm looking forward to a profitable relationship."
Donald Lydecker's Office, Manticore
Lydecker paced restlessly across his office, his cell phone held at his ear. "Damn it pick up," he muttered as he listened to the ringing tones. Finally he heard a voice, but before he could speak he realized that it was a voicemail greeting.
"You have reached the number you have reached. Sorry I can't take your call right now. Leave a message and I'll get back to you."
"Cale, this is Lydecker. Max is in serious danger. You need to warn her. A Manticore doctor knows she's in Seattle, and I have reason to believe he may know she has a connection with you. He's going to try to get his hands on her. His name is Gertals but he's probably not going by it. You and Max need to be extremely careful, the situation is serious. If he does manage to grab Max it could be fatal for her. You have my number. Call me back when you get this message. And it might be wise to get Max out of Seattle until Gertals is contained."
Finished he snapped his phone closed, breaking the connection. He strode to his desk and picked up his phone. "Cardoso, is there any word on locating Gertals?" He listened for a moment. "Trying isn't acceptable. Tell them I want him found. Yesterday. And get a Tac Team on alert. Once we have a location we'll be picking him up. He can't be allowed to run loose with the knowledge that he has. Call me when the team is ready."
He hung up the phone and looked at his watch. Then he sat at his desk and began to look through the files that Cardoso had given him earlier, as if he might find some clue to Gertal's whereabouts in them.
Fogle Towers
Logan let himself back into his apartment. Once inside he dropped his keys onto the narrow table that stood in the entrance hall and flung his jacket over the coat rack in the corner. Then he headed straight for the windows, a departure from his usual routine of checking his emails immediately whenever he had been out.
He stood for a long time staring out into space, his expression serious. Then with a heavy sigh he ran his hand through his hair and turned away from the windows. His answering machine sat on the buffet in his dining room, but he never even glanced in its direction. Instead he headed down the hallway to his bedroom. Moments later the sound of water running in the shower filled the apartment. In the dark and empty dining room, a red light blinked slowly and steadily on the answering machine.
End of Chapter Six