Getting into Seattle was far easier than anything Alicia had expected. The train inspectors were real professionals. They took the two grand and didn't ask any questions. One of them had eyed Alicia appreciatively, and probably would have insisted on a few minutes with her, but there was something in her face that told him that would be a mistake he would regret for years to come. They had wished Alicia and Zack a good day, and left them alone.
With the city nearly in sight, they both had begun to resume their military personas. Anyone looking at them now would never guess how tender and intimate they had been mere hours before. The mission was becoming the focus. Zack knew he had to get Max to safety. This time she was leaving Seattle if he had to tie her up and carry her out kicking and screaming.
"The first order of business is to locate Max and make sure she is secure," Zack said firmly.
"Agreed." It was the most pressing thing. Once Max was in their custody, Zack would get her out of Seattle. "Then both of you have to get to a safe location outside of the city."
"What about you?"
"I have to find out who the traitor at command is. It'll mean finding and tailing the Reds for a while, but that won't be a problem."
"Like it wasn't supposed to be a problem last time?"
"This time only you know where I am. Planning on telling anyone?"
He ignored her caustic comment. "You're going to need help if you're going to deal with the Reds."
"Zack," she said, quickly running out of patience. "I may need to expose myself to the traitor by contacting command. It means the Reds are going to come after me, but so are reinforcements. The Reds won't know where I am here, and I'll be able to keep covered until my people show up."
"You'll need us until they do."
"You don't get it!" she snapped. "If I can't find out what I need to know on my own, then I'm calling command and telling Dad that I need help. He's going to be here in a second with a battalion of men, not to mention half a dozen sixers. I will keep my promise to you Zack, but if they see you or Max, they'll go for you in a second, and I guarantee you won't get away this time."
"What if the Reds catch you in the meantime?" His own temper was starting to flare. He was not about to leave her totally exposed like that.
"I'd be dead before they could capture me."
"That wouldn't help, they'd still get your genetic code." Her words had horrified him. It was the exact same thing he would do under that circumstance, but hearing it from her was intolerable.
"No, they wouldn't," she replied calmly. "I have pills that contain a very powerful poison. It will kill me in a matter of seconds, and then cause a major upheaval in my cells that will cause the DNA to self-destruct. All the Reds would get would be a useless puddle of goo. Nasty I know, but effective."
She stood and walked to the window. She could almost smell the city, they were that close. She didn't want to think about spending the rest of her life without Zack, but she knew that it was the reality. "Zack," she said softly with her back still to him. "I know what I have to do in order to protect all of you, and all of the sixers."
"Please don't make this any harder than it has to be," she continued. "Once I know you and Max are safe, I'm going to walk away from you, and that's it. I have to throw away something that I want more than anything in order to complete a mission. But I will do it because it's the only way to keep you out of Manticore, and to protect us all from the Reds. If the cost is my life then so be it."
She felt Zack come up behind her and put his arms around her. This was where their real goodbye was going to be, and they both knew it. She turned to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pressing her face against his shoulder. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.
"You're really going to let us go." She was elated to realize that it wasn't a question, but an understanding of her intentions.
"I promised you I would. I won't lie to you. Not now, not ever."
He kissed her, and held her tightly for a long minute. They both had tears in their eyes when they finally parted.
"Promise me you'll be careful?" he asked.
"I swear to you I will."
The train was slowing. It was time to go back to action.
In retrospect, what happened just went along with all the other events of the last twenty-four hours. It had all been one big SNAFU from start to finish, and it just seemed to keep getting better and better.
They had come through a sector check with their fake ID's easily. The police didn't question them in the slightest. It was the last concern that either of them had, and Zack was leading them directly to Jam Pony. He told Alicia where Max worked and also where his motorcycle was hidden. If they got separated, they agreed to meet there.
What happened next was proof enough for Alicia that the fates were having a really good joke at their expense. There was simply no other rationality. Without warning, she heard a cell phone ring, and then an all-too-familiar voice begin to speak.
"What?" came the unmistakable voice of the leader of the Reds. He listened for a moment, and then responded, "we're on our way to her right now. Don't worry, she'll be there when you get home." He hung up.
One of the other men prodded him for a synopsis. "They know whoever gets the girl first will get the cure first," the leader said quietly. "They don't know where she works, but we do."
Alicia looked at Zack. He'd heard it too.
"I'll delay them," she whispered urgently. "Get yourself and Max out of here!"
"I'm not leaving you," he responded just as urgently. This wasn't covert surveillance, this was suicide.
They might have taken off running, and tried to get to Max before the Reds, but once again the fates decided to have a little fun. A messenger on a bike sideswiped Alicia, knocking her directly into the leader of the Reds. She went sprawling at his feet. He looked at her in stunned recognition. Fucked again.
She didn't give them a chance to strike. With a vicious kick, she swept him at the knees, knocking him back for just a second. She jumped up, looking for an escape route. The other Reds turned to her, and recognized her as well. It was too crowded for a fight here. One of the cops suddenly came running to stop the fight that was right outside of the sector gate. A Red threw him into the other police who decided to join in.
Alicia felt Zack grab her hand, and they both started running with Reds hot on their tails. There were still four of them following, and she didn't have time to get her gun out. They moved fast, but the Reds were still able to keep up. They ducked down one alley, and luck ran out. Dead end.
They turned hard, but the Reds were already on them. Alicia ducked a punch, lashing out with her foot, connecting with air. One backhanded her hard, throwing her into the wall. She backed up, but another one grabbed her from behind. She dropped to her knees, and flung him over her head like a doll into her first assailant. She didn't dare look to see if Zack was okay because they were both on her again like rabid dogs.
She jumped high, somersaulting over their heads. Before they could turn and get to her, she had shoved a dumpster as hard as she possibly could. It literally sailed into them, knocking them down. It gave her the second she needed to draw her gun. She didn't have time to aim for a headshot, so she fired three times into their torsos. One was hit in the chest, the other twice in the belly.
The other two immediately left Zack alone and came after her. Zack grabbed one of them by the arm and threw him into the side of the brick building. There was a splash of blood on the wall as his head made contact. Even pouring blood, he managed to get back up, and the other two were staggering to their feet. It was time to get the heck out of there.
She got one more shot off, and the previously uninjured one went down, the top of his head missing. She made a hand gesture that Zack recognized as an order, and started scrabbling up the vertical incline easily, noting with relief that Zack was following. The Reds didn't have the physical dexterity to climb sheer walls like they did. Sometimes being part cat was a definite plus over being super strong.
They hit the roof and took off running, leaping from roof to roof. The Reds wouldn't be able to follow, and Alicia would have kept running except that Zack suddenly stopped, and dropped to his knees.
She was at his side in a heartbeat. Her entire body suddenly seemed cased with ice when she saw the problem. One of them had a knife, and had cut Zack on the side. It was deep, and very bloody. He was paper white, and breathing harder than he should be.
"Oh my God, no," she squeaked, as he tumbled forward, unconscious. She checked his pulse. It was weak but still there. She yanked off her shirt and wrapped it around the cut, hoping to stop the bleeding. He was going to need stitches and blood. She couldn't give him any of hers. The genetic differences might kill him. It would be like giving an A+ norm a few pints of B-.
She picked him up and started running to where he'd hidden the motorcycle. It wasn't too far, and she knew adrenaline was making her run far faster than she normally could. She wasn't going to lose him like this. She had said that if the cost of the mission was her life, she could deal with it, but she could not deal with the cost being Zack's life.
He was still unconscious, but she thought the bleeding might have slowed somewhat. She didn't want to leave him, but she knew she had to get Max. All she knew was that this girl better be worth the trouble. She kissed Zack on the forehead.
"I'll be back in just a few, ok? Don't you dare do anything stupid like die on me!" She didn't know if he could hear her, but she felt better for saying it. She borrowed his jacket to make herself less conspicuous in her now-bloody tank top, and covered him with her own. The black leather hid the bloodstains far better than hers. There was a rattle in the pocket and she found the keys to his bike. She almost felt bad for taking it, but this was an emergency. She took a moment to make sure Zack was hidden, and then roared towards Jam Pony and Max.