Logan couldn't say anything. All along, he had a faint inkling of what Lydecker had wanted of him. But to hear it out loud? To hear that his only purpose was Max's locator? Logan was shocked.
Lydecker, by this time, had risen to his feet and was pacing the small cement room, occasionally raking his fingers through his graying hair. He had to get Logan to talk! The entire destiny of Manticore rested on any and all information this man could give. For, if Logan could give the whereabouts of X5-452, then funding would go back up and everything would be well.
"Donald," Logan said, addressing the older man.
"It's Lydecker."
"Lydecker…" Logan felt uneasy with the name on his tongue, but continued, knowing that this was not the time to become squeamish over a name. "Why are you so concerned about Max? Why not go for the others?" Logan asked, hoping to weaken Lydecker's resolves so he would be set free.
"The others, Mr. Cale, are untraceable-"
"Apparently, you trained them too well," Logan wryly responded.
Lydecker arched a silver eyebrow, but said nothing. Logan was going to be far harder to handle than Lydecker would have assumed of a crippled journalist.
"Perhaps," Lydecker reluctantly agreed. "But, Max, she's better than I had hoped."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Logan asked, his skin prickling. All of this information that was being discussed so off-handedly was hitting far too close to home. He wished he could just cover his ears and run far, far away. But that, of course, was nowhere near plausible.
Yet, he had to know. The more information he could weasel out of Lydecker, the better. Even if that meant appearing to consent.
Lydecker finally cleared his throat and replied, "Max…is powerful? Yes, I guess you could say that. I don't think any of us know the full extent of her power." As he finished talking, Lydecker resumed his seat across from Logan and gazed at the younger man.
"Powerful?" Logan echoed.
"Yes, she was created to be the Alpha Female in her group and X5-599 was created to be Alpha Male…I'm sure you've met Zack?"
Logan said nothing, feeling bitter stomach acid rise in his throat. All those times he knew Zack was going beyond brotherly love, it had been more than coincidence. He had been created to love Max; they were supposed to be a pair-from the day they were created.
"Anyhow," Lydecker continued, seeing that Logan wasn't going to speak. "At least he lived up to that role…Max escaped before she could assume hers. A pity too."
"So what you're saying," Logan began, his mouth abnormally dry, "is that Max is one of the most powerful X5 females?"
"According to her genetics, yes, she should be. But, she's poorly out of training…they all are."
"Except for Ben. He certainly created some training for himself-didn't he?" Logan bit, hoping to push Lydecker into admitting that he was wrong with creating soldiers expected to be perfect.
"He was an anomaly," Lydecker coolly responded.
"How do you know that the others won't turn into…anomalies? That all of your training you shoved into their heads didn't react negatively? You'll never know if another killing spree is going to start."
"No, we don't know. His genetics appeared to be like everyone else's"
"Well, they weren't."
"So, yes, another one could become an anomaly."
"Even your most perfect creations?" Logan asked.
Lydecker paused before answering, "Yes, even Zack and Max could become anomalies."
