A/N: Well, here's the next chapter! Hope you like it. I'm trying not to rush things too much, but I don't want to get bogged down either. Oh well... :) I feel like this should have one of those "When last we left our heroes..." sorta tags somewhere... Maybe I've just watched too many old tv shows... ack... rambling... Anyway... Have faith!
By the way, if anybody's feeling bold, they could write the adventures of Krit and Syl as they look for Zane...
Chapter 7: Solitaire
Warehouse/ Base of Operations
Logan groaned on the floor, "Lydecker..." he managed to croak. The bastard had turned on him! He knew he shouldn't be surprised, but somehow he'd hoped things wouldn't turn out this way. //Should've known he was up to something. The weird conversation.... He wanted to distract me... Damn it...//
"Took you long enough, Humphry," Lydecker muttered.
The tall, blocky man with a brown buzz cut had a gun trained on Lydecker as he cautiously approached, "What the hell...?" he murmured upon seeing Logan sprawled out on the ground, obviously dazed, "Hands up! And drop the gun!" he ordered.
Lydecker rolled his eyes and complied, the weapon clattering to the ground as he released his grip. Humphry snatched it up and removed the clip before flinging both away, eyes darting about to catch anything out of place.
"Satisfied?" Lydecker drawled, obviously not afraid.
Poking Logan with the toe of his boot, Humphry glanced at Lydecker, "THIS is Eyes Only? You serious?" A raised eyebrow indicated skepticism.
With an exasperated sigh, Lydecker dropped his hands and moved over to Logan's prone body, plucked his glasses from his face to reveal the crystal blue eyes behind, "What do you think?"
Walking around to see Logan's face better, Humphry squinted in what was actually a rather comical fashion. Logan was feeling dazed enough that he might have laughed if the situation hadn't been so dire. His head felt like Lydecker had driven a spike into it and now, without his glasses, he REALLY couldn't see.
"I'll be damned..." Humphry gave a short bark of a laugh and re-holstered his weapon, "Deck, you might have just saved your sorry ass. I couldn't believe it when I got that note an hour ago. Either you were stupid enough to walk right into our hands or you really had found Eyes Only. You know how bad they want this guy?"
"Why do you think I'm giving him to you?" Lydecker felt as if he were talking to a child.
Logan's head throbbed, and he was still feeling disoriented. He carefully tried to push himself into a sitting position, but Humphry quickly shoved him back down with a foot on his chest. //Ow...//
"You just stay right there..." He menaced as he dug the cell phone from his jacket pocket, "Damn... You are one lucky son of a bitch, Deck... You just might come out on top after all... and maybe I'll finally get that damn promotion..."
"Renfro's been keeping things tight, I take it."
Humphry groaned, "You have no idea. Mostly, she's been obsessing over the X5 they caught and trying to fry your ass." He looked down to the cell phone and started dialing, "She's gonna be real happy to hear about Eyes, though. Man, was she ever pissed when she saw that broadcast. Caused a lot of trouble from the committee, from what I heard..."
Lydecker smirked, following him with his eyes as Humphry turned his back to him.
"She might even be happy enough to not shoot you when we... What the hell...?" Humphry grumbled as he inspected the phone, "No signal?"
Moving with surprising speed, Lydecker grabbed Humphry's gun from his holster and aimed it at the other man's head.
"What the fu..." Humphry barely had time to react, spinning around to face Lydecker. He seemed totally dumbfounded.
"You talk too much, Humphry." Lydecker said.
BLAM!
Logan stared in shock as the Manticore agent fell to the ground, very dead. The black cell phone bounced and skittered across the floor. He looked questioningly at Lydecker who responded with a crooked grin.
"Had ya fooled, didn't I?"
"Damn straight!" Logan exclaimed as he worked at getting back to his feet, "Care to tell me what the hell that was that about?" He was angry - no, make that furious.
Lydecker was all ready searching the dead man's pockets, having tucked the gun away, "Humphry's got the clearance I need to get some files we'll want. Never cared much for him, either..."
"Won't they notice him missing?"
"No. Humphry's special ops. He was on a deep cover assignment. Contact is only initiated by the operative, not the base and only when necessary. They won't notice he's gone for quite awhile..." he pulled Humphry's wallet and a clearance badge from a hidden pocket in his jacket, "Idiot... Should've kept his head down and just done his damn job instead of playing the glory hound... Surprised he managed to survive this long."
"At least I know why you told me to block the cell phone reception in here... " //Should've known something was up then... You're way off your game, Cale//
Logan cautiously came over to where Lydecker and the body were. There was a spreading pool of blood coming from the dead man which he wanted to avoid, "By the way... Mind if I have my glasses back? My head hurts like hell and not being able to see isn't helping."
The familiar crooked smile appeared as Lydecker passed the glasses to Logan who quickly put them back on.
"So... What exactly does this clearance and the bump on my head buy us?"
"The chance to get our hands on some information Manticore would love to have. Genetics research that's been on the back burner for a while. Sometimes those people have no idea what's right under their noses..." He stood and turned to Logan, "I made sure to keep this research a secret once I realized they weren't interested in it right away. Figured some day I'd need an ace up my sleeve... With the way things are now, Manticore is going to be desperate to find some way to save themselves. The only way they can do that is if they can come up with something new and potentially... profitable fast. This information will be more than tempting enough for them to bite. We should be able to use it to trade for at least one of our people."
Logan rubbed the back of his head where Lydecker had struck him. He was going to have a lump there... He already had a raging headache. "Looks like your intuition and paranoia paid off... But why didn't you tell me about this beforehand?" he said with no small hint of suspicion in his voice.
Lydecker smiled, "Had to make it look believable. I couldn't be sure how good an actor you are."
"Right..." Logan muttered, "Or maybe you just wanted to keep your options open in case things didn't go the way you planned."
Lydecker hitched a shoulder and smiled enigmatically, "Anything's possible."
******* *********
Manticore Base - Holding Cell
Max carefully sat up on the hard bed. She'd been transferred from the infirmary to a small cell several hours ago. Still feeling the after effects of being hit by the tazer charge, she was groggy and somewhat dizzy. //No... So close...//
A sadistic little voice inside her head whispered back //Did you really think you'd get away?// Max felt drained. It was true... The chances of her actually escaping on her own were almost nil. But at least she'd tried. It was another way to fight back.
The room was silent, but a small amount of ambient noise trickled in from the outside. She could hear the sound of foot-steps and voices. But mostly she heard the sound of her own heart - Zack's heart...
Max dropped her head into her hands and took a deep, shaky breath. //Oh, God... Zack... Why did you do this to me? Didn't you know how much this would hurt me? I never wanted you to die... not for me!//
He had always been her big brother, looking out for her and her siblings. Zack had the kind of air of leadership. Even when they were young, they'd all looked to him for direction. She would never have described him as charismatic, not like Logan, but he had such an intensity to his personality. It attracted people to him like moths to a flame... As soldiers, he had become their defacto leader. If they had stayed, Lydecker would have likely made him their commanding officer.
She'd loved him, as she loved all her brothers and sister. He had been a part of what little family she could lay claim to. She'd seen too many of her siblings die, murdered by Manticore when they proved to be too weak. But Zack had always been strong. The thought of him being gone... forever... Max shook her head, still wanting to deny it.
The lights in the cell were extremely dim, but it didn't effect her much. Excellent night vision was just one of the benefits of feline DNA. The trade off was that she didn't see colors quite as well as most people. It had something to do with rods and cones and sensitivity to light levels and all. Whatever...
Spying a pile of clothing near the door, Max rose to investigate. Picking up the top item, she found it to be black military fatigues - Manticore's uniform. She dropped it in disgust and headed back over to the bed. As if they seriously thought she'd willingly put that on...
Sitting down, Max hugged her knees to her chest. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen next. How would they go about trying to "bring her back to the fold?" Would they use torture? She could handle that. More likely they'd start in on the mind games, trying to break her spirit. Max had no doubt that they would use Zack's sacrifice against her. The thought made her sick. //Bastards...//
It was easy to fight Manticore, but not so easy to fight herself. Guilt. It was gnawing at her already. Zack had KILLED himself to save her life. He had given her his own heart so that she could live... It was an incredible gift, she told herself, and she wouldn't waste it. She would find a way out. She would make it back to Seattle, to her friends... to Logan. They wouldn't win. Not this time, not with her.
Brin thought she was happy being back, but it was only because she didn't remember what it was like to be free anymore. Max promised herself she wouldn't forget... no matter what.
//Cling to a single thought...// She could remember someone, it hadn't been Lydecker, telling her how to survive even the worst torture. The man had said that in order to keep from betraying the people who you owed loyalty to, you had to find something that would help you focus, help you remember why you were fighting in the first place. Of course, X5's had been designed to be able to suppress memory's for that very reason. Maybe the best way to remember... would be to forget?
Max shook her head. No... if she didn't remember why she was fighting, she'd end up like Brin, a hollow shell filled with Manticore dogma. Besides, they weren't after information from her. She knew that. All they wanted was to make her into the soldier they thought she was supposed to be.
//Blue eyes...// She could hold on to that. Both Zack and Logan had blue eyes... They were two of the people she was fighting for. She wouldn't forget. She wouldn't surrender. If she was going to hell, she'd take Manticore with her.
The sound of voices drew nearer and someone inserted a key card into the door lock. As the heavy metal swung outwards, the light from the hall came streaming in. Max looked up, her dark eyes shining with determination.
//Whatever it takes...//
****** ********
A/N: 'Kay... so the part with Max was kinda melodramatic. :) But I figured, what the heck? This show seems to thrive on angst and such. Glad you guys are still with me. :) Just so you all know, I actually think Lydecker's character is pretty cool! He's one of the more 3 dimensional on the show, but he sure isn't a NICE guy. :)
