There was a moment of pause as I felt the air around me shift and accumulate around Dad. When he spoke, his voice was dangerously low and husky. It even horrified me, who had lived with him for the majority of my life. And in all that time I had never heard him use the voice that he did at that moment. "What did you call me?"
Elizabeth rose behind her desk and clasped her finely manicured hands on the edge of the desk so that she made direct eye contact with him. She seemed not to notice that Dad had broken part of her desk and was dripping blood onto her freshly waxed floor. "I called you by what you are: X5-599."
"What I am?"
"Yes, an X5…a genetically engineered killing machine that looks and acts like a super-powered soldier."
"Never," he growled and clenched his fist so tight that blood literally spurted out both sides from the slices in his hand.
"Always," she retorted, which was a stupid answer on her part. In one fluid movement, Dad had slapped her so hard across the face that she tumbled to the ground, barely hanging onto her chair as a harsh red mark formed near her hairline.
Tenderly she touched her nose, as if checking to see if it was broken and smiled, finding that it wasn't. She was thinking that Dad was weak since he had not broken her nose as he would've so many years ago. But, I certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell him that.
So, she rose back to her feet and faced Dad again. "And Max? What is she to you? Girlfriend? Wife? Lover?" she sneered.
"She's a mother," I finally said, stepping forward. There was a moment of stark silence that followed my admission. Elizabeth's eyes grew wide, then a crooked smile formed on her thin, aged lips.
"You must be the child that 'Deck died searching for."
"Perhaps," I admitted. I could see the anger flash in Dad's eyes, but I had to ignore it. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing but seeing Mom alive. I thought that maybe if I was able to bargain with this psycho lady, she would free Mom.
"You are. You're his ultimate creation." She smiled warmly to herself. "I'm surprised you're alive after so many years. It was assumed that you were either an abortion or had disappeared into a far-off country."
"You wish."
"I bet you want to see your mom alive and well more than anything."
"Yes," I acknowledged.
"Well," she said, running a wrinkled finger over the bottom of her chin as she sat down in her overstuffed leather chair. "I can make that happen…under one condition."
"Which is what?"
"I want a trade."
"A what?" I hissed, although I pretty well knew what she was getting at.
"A trade. Your father, one of these X5s, or yourself."
"Never," I growled.
"Then X5-452 will die."
"Who?"
Elizabeth laughed evilly with a cackle that made my blood freeze. "Why, Zack, you haven't told your daughter all about Manticore? I'm ashamed. After all, she was to be the perfect soldier. I assumed that you would have filled her in on all of your days of glory back at Manticore."
Dad said nothing, but I could tell that he was quickly forming a plan inside his twisting mind.
But, Elizabeth turned back to me. "X5-452 is your mother, dear. Max Guevara. Your father, Zack, as I'm sure you figured out is X5-599. Two of the most powerful soldiers that 'Deck ever created. And, you." She shook her head as she eyed me over like a prize to be won. "How did he ever manage to create you so well?"
"Where's my mom?" I asked.
"Ready to be taken back…unless a bargain can be reached."
"I-I can't."
"Of course not. Too much sentimentality. Absolutely sickening inside such a powerful being as yourself."
"You're deranged."
"No, my dear, I'm not. Just very happy to see that the work 'Deck started eighteen years ago has finally come back to Manticore. They'll be here any minute to take you…all of you…back where you belong."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dad pounce. In a movement so fast that even I had trouble catching all of it, he hurled himself at Elizabeth. I didn't follow what happened next, but suddenly, she was lying on the ground, with her head twisted into an awkward position.
Dad backed away cautiously staring at his hands that had just snapped a woman's neck. For a moment, I thought he might cry, but I was wrong. In fact, the murder had just made him all the more stronger.
Krit and Syl watched him carefully, awaiting the next command, and I was merely trying to contain the last meal I had eaten from erupting out of my stomach. He had killed her. Killed her without any regrets.
Finally, after a pause in which we all stared at the ground, unsure of what to say, Dad, the killer spoke up. "Let's get Max and leave."
