~*~

~*~

A few hours later, Alex's phone rang. She picked it up. "Yeah?"

"Alex? It's me, Max." She sounded urgent.

"Hey, Max. What's up?"

"You have medical training, right?"

"A little. Why?"

"Can you come down to Logan's crib?"

"Sure. Where is it?"

Max gave her the address.

"Okay. What kind of injuries are we looking at here?"

"Glass wounds."

"I don't want to know. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"All right, thanks. Bye."

"See ya."

Twenty minutes later, as promised, Alex was at Logan's apartment building. She was, however, having a little problem getting past security.

A massive giant in a blue uniform, who must have bench-pressed three hundred at least, planted himself solidly in front of her. "Can I help you, miss?"

"No, thanks though." She tried to get past him, but he moved in her way.

"Are you visiting?" he questioned.

"Yes," Alex answered through gritted teeth. Damned formalities.

"Who?" he wanted to know.

"Logan."

"Logan…?"

Dammit, Max didn't tell her his last name!

"Um, guy in a wheelchair?" she tried. She held her hand up to her waist. "About yea high?"

The guard frowned and walked over to some hi-tech-looking intercom thing.

"Mr. Cale?"

"Yes?" a male voice answered through the intercom's static.

"A young lady is here to see you."

Alex raised her eyebrows. That was the nicest description she'd heard all year.

"Send her up."

The door buzzed and Alex walked through. She pressed the up arrow button next to the elevator. The doors opened almost immediately, like they were waiting for her. She stepped inside and pressed "P." 'Always wanted to see a penthouse,' she thought as the doors closed and the elevator made its ascent to the top floor.

Max met her at the door. She nodded at the bag in Alex's hand. "What's that?"

"Hydrogen peroxide, cotton, bandages, and latex gloves, just in case."

"And where did you get that?" a male voice inquired. It was the same one she'd heard on the intercom, except maybe with a little less static. Logan Cale, a laptop on his knees, rolled into the hall, a frown creasing his brow.

Alex shrugged. "I have connections at a hospital. Where's the patient?"

"In there." Logan nodded to the room behind him.

Alex walked into the room, then stopped short. Her first thought was, 'Wow' (about the room). Her second thought was, 'It can't be…' (about the patient). It was Sam, bloody and in person. "Max…"

"I know, I know," her friend replied. "I'll explain everything after."

Alex sighed and shook her head. The things she did… Trying to stay professional, Alex did an assessment of his injuries.

"You said it was glass wounds."

"Yeah," Max assented.

"You don't get bruises from glass." Gently Alex touched the beginning of a black eye.

Max shook her head. "I don't know how he got those."

Alex looked closer at one of his abrasions, then looked at Max. "Max, what aren't you telling me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, I mean the fact that he's recovering at three times the rate of a normal human." Alex motioned for Max to come closer and pulled out a knife. Nicking the skin as little as possible, she drew the blade across the palm of his hand. "Now just watch."

A few minutes later, the skin was as smooth as it had been before, leaving no trace of the cut Alex had just made. Alex turned to Max, her arms folded. "Like I said, what aren't you telling me?"

Max sighed. "It's a long story."

Alex just gave her a look that said, 'That ain't gonna cut it.' "Max, listen. You said you'd explain everything about…why he was here, after I cleaned him up. And you know, I can respect that. But anything you know about him from a medical point of view, I need to know."

"Well, I can't tell you anything you didn't already figure out." Max shrugged. "He heals three times faster than the Normal Joe."

"Why?" Alex asked, pulling a pair of scissors out of her bag. Gently lifting his shirt, she cut it off carefully and stripped away the pieces.

"We were designed that way."

Alex stopped. "Come again?"

"We're genetically engineered, designed to be soldiers."

"Oh."

Max thought she took the news well, all things considered. With a steady hand, Alex poured some liquid, Max guessed that was the antiseptic, onto a wad of cotton. As she cleaned the numerous lacerations, she asked, "What happened?"

"He sorta fell through a window."

"Oh." Alex abandoned that attempt and tried something else. "Well, do you know if there's any glass in the wounds?"

Max shook her head. "Plexiglas."

"Well, thank God for small miracles," Alex remarked dryly. "So, um, tell me more about this genetically engineered thing."

"Well," Max began, "me and Zack," Alex assumed she meant the guy lying on the table in front of her, "are from Project Manticore. It was run by a guy named Donald Lydecker…"

For a moment, Alex could have sworn her heart stopped beating.

"Alex? Alex, are you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Keep going."

Alex tried to keep her face expressionless as Max told her exactly what Don Lydecker had done.

'So this is what dear old Dad was up to while I was gone. Abusing little kids, killing people…just like old times, huh?'

Zack came to when a hand touched his stomach where the glass had cut deepest, a wave of pain running through him. He gripped the wrist where it touched him, not letting go.

"Zack, if you don't let go, I will put a smackdown on your ass, I don't care how hurt you are," Alex snapped.

He opened his eyes at the sound of her voice, his eyelids fluttering before he forced them open. "Alex?…You called me Zack."

"Yeah, well, a few things have come to my attention since we last met," Alex replied dryly.

Zack turned to look at Max, who met his gaze evenly.

"What, exactly, did Max tell you?" he questioned.

"Oh, you know, the whole genetically-engineered soldier thing, guys coming after you with guns, that whole bit. Yeah, that's about it."

The cutting edge in her voice didn't escape Zack. "I told you, Alex, I had to leave."

"Had to my ass. Stay still before I hurt you on purpose. Now tell me what happened. Max said you kinda sorta went through a window. Care to explain? The window thing works for the cuts and all, but it doesn't tell me how you got a bruise the size of Mt. Kilimanjaro right there. " She lightly traced the reddish-purple bruise that was beginning to form around the right side of Zack's face, making him wince and close his eyes. "Like I said, care to explain?"

"A truck tried to run me over."

"That explains it."

"Zack," Max interjected. "You said they got Brin. What happened?"

He struggled to sit up, Alex supporting him on one side. When he spoke, his tone was cold. "She got careless, she got caught. End of story."

Alex almost dropped him when he said that.

Instead, she just looked at him in disbelief, shaking her head. "You cannot make me believe that you came all the way over here just to tell Max to forget about it. One, that's just stupid. Two, just…no."

"We are not going to breach OPSEC for some half-assed rescue attempt!"

"Oh yes we are," Alex returned just as Max retorted, "You're not my CO, Zack. You can worry about OPSEC for the both of us. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get her back."

"Oh yeah?" Zack asked, his tone both angry and condescending. "How are you going to do that, huh? She's probably already on her way back to Manticore right now!"

Logan, who had been watching this exchange silently, took this moment to intervene. "I don't think so." Apparently he already knew about the Manticore thing too.

"Who's this?" Zack asked, his voice steely. "Another friend?"

"Yes," Logan answered calmly, then continued, "Listen, in case you haven't figured out, this girl's going to do what she's going to do, no matter what you or anyone else says. So you have two choices: either back off or pitch in."

Alex was insulted that he only referred to Max when he said this, but she let it slide.

"I don't think Lydecker's just going to ship her on the next plane to Manticore," Logan continued, "so I checked to see if there was any unscheduled military transportation or unusual air traffic. I didn't find anything, so I think she's being held right here in Seattle."

"The question is," Alex said grimly, "where?"

"Well," Logan answered, even though the question was rhetorical, "I think Lydecker may have a Forward Base of Operations somewhere in Seattle, or nearby."

"Oh yeah? And where's that?" Zack asked irritably.

Logan looked at him. "Give me a minute."

A few hours and a lot of tempers later, Logan shook his head. "This guy's a first-rate spook. Whatever he's doing, he's covering his tracks up well."

"Why don't you try the Yellow Pages under 'Black Helicopter Operations'?" suggested Zack icily.

"Oh, great," Logan commented. "Another Manticore wit." As Max and Alex snickered, he continued, "Here are his D. O. D. records." He began to read what was on the screen. "Donald Michael Lydecker, born 1968, enlisted in the army right out of high school, married his hometown sweetheart."

"Oh, touching," Max commented.

Mom. Logan's voice faded into the background as Alex focused on the picture of her parents on the screen. Her mom had died a few years after Alex was born, so she had never really known her. Her father didn't like talking about it. Of course, it's not like they ever had a chance to talk. He was always either drunk or away at the base or both.

She didn't have any memories of her mother and the few memories she had of her father were not pleasant. In them, he was always drunk and angry at the world. Sometimes, an image of a happy, smiling family passed through her mind, but she brushed it off as wishful thinking. She wondered how much had changed in the nine years since she had seen him. As soon as she was old enough, he had shipped her off to military school. Not boarding school, he had said. That would just make her weak and prissy.

Well, she reflected, the ability to flip any guy who tried to hit on her over her shoulder did come in handy every once in a while.

She snapped back to attention as Logan said, "Wife murdered, killer never found."

Murdered?

"Probably did it himself," Zack remarked callously.

Probably.

One thing she couldn't figure out. Obviously his records included personal shit, so why didn't they say anything about her? If you're going to talk about a guy's wife, you might as well include his kid too while you're at it.

Coming back to reality, she heard Logan say, "As in, 'Hello, my name's Don and I'm an alcoholic'?"

Alcoholics Anonymous? Did I miss something?

"Alcoholics Anonymous? Did I miss something?"

"Lydecker might go to those meetings. I mean, he was an alcoholic after all," Max pointed out.

"And our objective is what? All the black coffee we can drink?" Zack wanted to know.

"No. Get the man, and he'll lead us to our objective. Or did you sleep through Re-Con 101?" Max shot back.

"Ooh, touché," Alex commented. They both glared at her. "Sorry."

Max and Zack were at the AA meeting, waiting for Lydecker. They refused to let Alex come. Too dangerous, they said. So what if they had been trained to kick butt? So had she. Zack had even seen that, way back when. But still, the answer remained the same: no. Jeez, you kick a guy's butt who's three times bigger than you are and you still get no respect.

She rang up Logan. Thank God for 411. "Hello?"

Some guy who was definitely not Logan picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Helloo," Alex replied carefully. "Um, is Logan there?"

"Sure. Hold on."

"Thanks."

She waited until she heard Logan's voice say, "Hello?"

"Logan, it's Alex. Where's the AA meeting tonight?" Subtlety wasn't Alex's highest priority right now.

"Alex, it's too dangerous."

"Where is it?" she repeated. "In case you haven't figured it out, I don't have a whole lot of patience right now, so if you could just tell me where it is, I'd really appreciate it," she snapped. She felt bad about being such a bitch to Max's boy– friend, but hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

In the end, not only did he give her the address, but he gave her directions too. How thoughtful. "Thanks, Logan."

"Just be careful, okay? You're not a genetically-enhanced killing machine. Max and G. I. Joe are."

"I'll be careful. Promise."

As Lydecker opened his car door, something hit him upside the head, knocking him unconscious. Max shoved him into the car and got into the driver's seat. A motorcycle roared up and stopped in front of her. "Max!" Zack hissed. "What are you doing?"

"I have a plan. Follow me."

She slammed the door shut and started the ignition. When she put her foot on the gas and flew off, Zack started to do the same when someone ran up to him. It was Alex, huffing and wheezing. "Listen," she gasped. "I just ran all the way from my apartment over here, okay? So either you give me a ride, or I follow you anyway. Truth be told, I'd prefer the ride."

"Alex, what the hell are you doing here? I told you not to come!"

"Upset for my well-being? I'm touched."

Zack sighed. Today was just not his day with women. "Get on."

"Don't sound so enthusiastic," Alex told him as she got on. "Really. It's bad for your health."