Chapter 24
AN: Ok before you get too confused…This chapter is going to shift A LOT. I will extra space and italicize. You must however think of this in terms of an episode where a scene is cut by another scene. It has a very back and forth motion to it. If it confuses the heck out of you then LET ME KNOW. Thank you and have a nice day.
"And how is Logan now days?" Lydecker asked to a nervous Max. He had started to pace which was never a good sign. Max knew that Lydecker knew something but she wasn't willing to believe that it was about the betrayal, even though she knew it could be about nothing else.
"How's Max? I can't help feeling that she's going to suffer for this." Logan asked concerned as he nervously wheeled himself to the kitchen. Cooking something might make him less tense, it helped in the past.
"Fine." Zack answered abruptly from the living room.
"Logan?" Max played stupidity. If she was 452 then she didn't remember Logan. Lydecker paused his pacing and turned to her with eyebrows raised.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten the love of your life?" he asked sarcastically.
"Sir I don't know what you're talking about." Not the best way to answer but she couldn't come up with anything better at the moment.
Stepping closer, Lydecker continued the verbal assault.
"And what about good old Zack? You two sure did a good job at producing that video to cover up your lies."
"599 is a traitor sir. I was unconscious and…"
"Oh really." Lydecker cut her off. "You know Max it really is a shame your big brother left you here all alone." He threatened leaving her face to pace.
"My video won't hold up under analysis. We have to work fast." Logan tried again as he wheeled into the living room instead. Zack wasn't helping much, sitting on the couch and staring out the window didn't do much to increase Logan's confidence in him. "If Lydecker finds out…"
"Max will be in for it big. I know." Zack finished for him.
"Did you think you'd get away with it?" Lydecker barked to the wall.
"I was unconscious and…" it sounded pitiful to even her.
"No there has got to be a bigger plan to this…" he thought aloud. His pacing was only increasing her nervous state. If she wasn't careful she could slip, not that it would matter now however. Even if she was innocent, at this point Lydecker was willing to call in the firing squad anyway.
"Max won't be the only one in trouble though. If Max isn't there helping on the inside during the break out then we are all going to be in trouble." Zack fought back suddenly. Logan nodded moving over to the couch to join him.
"Do you think she can pull it off?"
"Max is good at deception but if Lydecker is suspicious it won't matter how good she is. He'll crucify her for it. Even if she was innocent." Zack admitted.
"What is your role in this plan? I've been wondering…" Lydecker stopped his pacing and settled in front of her again, expecting her to answer.
"I don't…I…" Max hesitated. She shouldn't have hesitated, 452 wouldn't have hesitated.
"Well?" he questioned again mocking her.
"Nothing. I have no role. I know of no plan." She spit out, hoping it sounded better to him then it did to her.
"You know of no plan…" he asked.
"I know of no plan…" she repeated.
"And you have no role in this plan?" he questioned again, eyebrows raised.
"I have no role in a plan I do not know of." She informed. Lydecker backed away with a glowing smile. He knew something and what she had just said, or failed to say, confirmed it. Max's mind flew. What had she just said?
"How long do you think it will take for him to send someone after you?" Logan questioned, formulating a timetable in his mind.
"I'm expecting company tonight actually. Manticore won't wait to long to act on this one." Zack informed.
"That fast huh?"
"Is that a problem?"
"No. It will be better. The faster we can start this thing the better, I mean."
"Sir." Lydecker brought up out of what seemed to be nowhere. Max grimaced. She'd failed to use that term for quite awhile now. 452 had used it religiously, almost every other word. 452 would have answered differently. Try as she might she'd failed all because of a three letter word.
Lydecker gestured to a soldier in front of a door. The soldier opened the door and a group of X-6's walked in.
"Your target is X-5452…" Lydecker continued but she stopped listening. Max already knew the rules to this "game." Shuddering, she waited for the inevitable.
"Did I miss the party?" a female voice from behind the two men startled them.
"Who?" Logan asked.
"Tinga! Where is Alec?" Zack asked getting up to greet the woman.
"Lydecker sent me. I think he's suspicious." Tinga offered giving Zack a hug for the first time in years.
"What about Max? Is she ok?" Logan asked kicking himself mentally. He had to stop thinking about her or it would drive him insane.
"So your Logan huh?" Tinga questioned with a smile. Logan felt his cheeks redden at her suggestion. Turning away quickly he asked if anyone was hungry.
"How we gonna do this?" Zack questioned after both had accepted Logan's offer of food and Logan had left to prepare it.
"That cable hack was quite successful actually." Tinga offered.
"I know. But if Lydecker is on to us…"
"Max…" Tinga let her concern drift off
Two days later Max woke up in a dark cell alone. She stayed conscious only long enough for her to mumble something incoherently then drifted back into her unconscious state. She never much cared for the side effects of being the target in that particular game of "hide and seek," they were always painful and they always landed the target in the infirmary for about a week; well that is if the target lived.
Upon waking a few hours later, Max wished that she hadn't lived.
