"Dude, what was that all about

"Dude, what was that all about?" asked one soldier, watching Eva leaving

"Dunno."

They continued down the hall until they were stopped again by their commanding officer. He turned to Chris.
"Soldier, report to my office at sixteen hundred hours. You're getting a new assignment."

"What about my guarding job?"

"Change of plans. The prisoner is being transferred to wing Q, SL eight."

"But that's where the medical labs are."

"Yes. Well, that's what I was told."

They exchanged salutes and the officer continued down the hall. This bothered Chris immensely. It just didn't add up. Max seemed harmless. Most of the people he saw moved through were surly, resistant. She just seemed very resigned. But then, he thought, still waters run deep. But she'd had plenty of chances to make a move. She wasn't even being kept under very strong security. She was, he suspected, heavily drugged, but beyond that, she was treated with no extraordinary precautions. They were trying to break her. And then the exchange with the Eva girl, and sending Max to the medical labs. Maybe it was a mix-up. Maybe not. He paused.

"Guys, I gotta pass on lunch after all. I have some, erm.. papers I have to finish."

"Whatever man. See ya."

Christ turned and headed quickly in the direction Eva had taken. He vaguely remembered she had an office, somewhere near where he had taken Max. He walked past doors, glancing at the brass placards screwed next to the door frames. He finally chose one, knocked, and not bothering to wait for a response, opened it. Bingo.

Eva stood behind a delicate alderwood desk, the top scattered with picture frames, papers, and a large planner. Her back was to the door. She was shaking slightly. He saw her hold up a sleek 9mm Baretta. She rubbed it briefly, making it gleam, then jammed a clip in and shoved the gun in the waistband of her pants, pulling her jacket down over it. She turned, still seeming not to see Chris, and pulled another clip from the desk drawer, dropping it in her pocket. She glanced up, then jumped.

"S--t. I didn't see you there."

"Sorry."

"What to you want?" she said brusquely, tracing the inside edge of her eye with her finger.

"You seemed so… startled in the hall. I just wanted to make sure you were… um, okay."

"Fine. Things here are going just swimmingly, thank you." Her voice wavered slightly.

"Look," he said, his voice hardening. "I know there's something going on. This all has to do with that girl, that Max. And now you're running around with a gun in your pants on the verge of tears, and Max is being transferred to the Q wing. What is going on?"

"Q? Are you sure?"

"Fairly."

She sank down in the desk chair and rubbed her temples. "This is my fault. Mine. I got her to go…"

"Come on, tell me what this is all about."
"There was a project. Project Manticore, right? Ever heard of it?"

"Yes. But that's just about an urban legend. It's not true."

"Yes, it is. X-1 through… I don't know how high it went. Max was part of that. That's what's on her neck."

"How do you know this? How could you know this?"

"I'm X-5. Max and I were in the same phase," she said weakly, and lifted her hair to show him her baarcode. "She ran, she got away. A bunch did. But because of me, they caught her again. But I didn't know, I didn't know…"

"So if they did things to you like everybody says, why are you still here? Why didn't you run?"

"I…I don't know. I wanted to run… I grabbed a gun.. and…" her hands unconsciously went to her scar and traced over the spot without actually touching it. Then, she suddenly dug her finger into the spot. "I was shot. Somebody shot me. I couldn't run."

"But why now? Why are you still here now?"

"It's all I know. I have a family, and everything… Do you think that's true, or is it a lie too? Who turned Max in?"
"I don't know where the tip-off came from. A team brought her in. This is corrupt."

"This whole damn base is corrupt. Everything. And you're in it, knee deep."

"So what should I do?" Chris asked.

"What?"

"How do you want me to help? To get her out. And you."

"You can still walk away from this. You need to walk away from this. Forget it."

"Nope. No possible way. I don't want to be a part of something that would do stuff like that to kids. Or you. Or her. Hell, I don't even like the military," he laughed slightly. "I just joined to get some cash, but I haven't seen much of that for a long time. So I guess this was kind of like a sign. Now what do you want me to do?"

"Do you have a car?"

"A Cherokee."
"Get it. Leave it somewhere we can get to it, easy. By the west door of the L wing, I think. And make sure the tank's full. Now go swipe somebody's passkeys, the highest clearance you can get. Go."

Chris nodded. This entire thing was positively crazy, he decided, but what he had said was true. He was sick of living here, the squalor, the corruption. He had nothing here. At least this was something new. He knew of a particular lieutenant who liked to take some drinks about right now. It wouldn't be too hard to get his hands on his passkeys.