Alicia wasn't sure
at first where she was when her eyes opened. Everything was white. She
blinked a couple of times, and then became very aware of a deep throbbing
between her temples. Her entire body
ached, and the light was blinding. She
lay quietly for a moment trying to remember everything. Some things were somewhat hazy.
Then it hit
her. She was alive. They had deliberately disobeyed her and now
the traitor had gone free. She went to
sit up, realized that was an extremely bad idea, and fell back onto her bed. Where was she?
"It's going to be
awhile before you're jumping around again," a familiar voice said to her right.
She turned her head
painfully. Even her neck muscles
ached. Her eyes met with another pair
of ice blue ones so much like her own.
"Dad?" she said, not
sure if she was dreaming.
Lydecker sat there,
relieved that she was awake again. When
Cole had briefed him on all that had happened, he wasn't sure if he was going
to kill Alicia himself. It was sheer
luck that the other sixers were able to get Hepburn and then get back in time
to help Shawna give Alicia enough blood to save her life. Alicia knew better than to rely on
luck. Still, he was extremely glad to
see her moving on her own.
"Dad," she said
again, trying to make everything coherent. "There's a traitor. Hepburn. He got away, he had to because they saved me
instead."
"I know," he
interrupted. "He didn't get away. They took him out and then took care of
you."
They did? No way. How had they found her anyways? Then it hit her. Zack had been
there. He had risked the sixers and
come after her. Somewhere vaguely she
thought he told her he loved her, but that could be a dream. But he had been there. He went after Hepburn while the others
stayed. Cole didn't tell Dad about the
X-5's.
"What are you doing here?"
Lydecker asked coldly. He was still
angry with her for not communicating with him.
"I got set up in
LA," she said, feeling sleepy again. "They said they were going after an X-5 in Seattle. I had to finish the mission. Protect all Manticore technology by any mean
necessary. Had to find the traitor to
protect the X-6." Her eyes were closing and she was asleep again.
When she woke up it
was night again. She was feeling much
better. Her body had done a great deal
of regenerating, and she felt almost normal again. Cole was sitting by her bed this time.
"Dad had to sleep,"
he said when he realized she was awake. "I figured this would be a good time to synchronize our stories." She could tell that he was angry with her. Well, she was mad at him too.
"I told you not to
come to Seattle," she said.
He shrugged. "Did you?" he said casually. "I must have blinked when you typed
that. Didn't notice a thing."
"Cole!" she said
warningly.
"Alicia, what was I
supposed to do? Let you die?" He leaned towards her. "It was suicide and you needed help. We're supposed to be a team, remember."
They were a
team. Had been since the moment they
were born. They risked so much to come
after her. After Dana died, she swore
they'd never lose another. One promises,
we all promise, she thought, grateful to have family like that. Did Dad really know how close they
were? Probably not. Not even Zack could understand really.
She took his
hand. "Is this where I thank you for
saving my life?" she asked softly.
He smiled. "It would be a good place."
"Thank you for
saving my life."
He leaned over and
hugged her. It was very rare for her to
accept any kind of physical intimacy from anyone, even another sixer, but this
time she hugged him back. There was no
way he could have stayed on base knowing what she was up against. He wasn't going to lose another sister if
there was anything he could do about it.
He sat back down,
and looked at Alicia very seriously. "It's clean in here," he said referring to listening devices. "Lon checked."
Alicia wished there
were a dozen devices in the room. She
had a feeling as to what was coming.
"You told him about
the Knights," Cole started. "I don't
think the others noticed, but he went through a hail of gunfire to get you out
of the way. I couldn't hear what he
said to you then, but when you stopped breathing he about died. What's up with that?"
She had never once
lied to Cole. If there were information
she didn't want to give him, she'd flat out say so. How could she explain Zack? It made no sense. Saying that it
was tactical would be a lie. The truth
sounded rather pitiful. It wasn't
something a solider would do. It was
weakness.
"Things got very
complex," she finally answered. "They're not like what I thought they'd be. We spent a lot of time together, and…I like him," she finished
with a small shrug.
"Like him?" There was more and he knew it.
"Cole." Her tone meant back off. He'd heard it before, and suddenly
understood a lot. If someone had told
him she had a thing for an X-5, he'd think they were nuts. Alicia was a very unemotional person. When Dana died she didn't need anyone's
support. She helped to plan the
funeral. Cole knew she was upset, but
she didn't act like she needed anything. She was always Absolute Zero. He
wasn't sure how or why, but Zack had gotten to her. Maybe the fivers were better trained than he thought.
Well, it would be
easy to think Zack was playing her except for the thousand messages he'd
left. Cole was going to have to hack
into the game and delete them before Alicia saw them. He'd let Zack know she was recovering though. He'd owed him that much for taking out
Hepburn so efficiently.
"When are we going
home?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Tomorrow night,
actually tonight now," Cole replied. "Dad's going to make sure we get home and then he's got to go to
DC." Cole chuckled. "For some reason there's a lot of explaining
to do when soldiers kill off a general."
She smiled
back. She had some things to do before
leaving the city.
Cole felt relieved
that she'd asked. Whatever had happened
between her and Zack, she wanted it to be her business. She wasn't planning on staying with Zack, so
Cole knew he could drop it. Maybe in
time Alicia could bring herself to tell him the whole truth. In the meantime he knew that she would
always let logic determine her action as she always had. "Why don't you get some more rest," he
suggested. "You're not 100% just yet."
"I might," she replied. Cole left, and she got out of bed to look out the window. She was obviously in a military hospital. From the lights in the distance, they were still near Seattle. She knew what she had to do, and she knew what she shouldn't do.