"What
can I do for you girls?" Lydecker asked.
Gina
cleared her throat, "Good afternoon, Colonel Lydecker. My name is Doctor
Catherine DuMoulin. This is my associate, Doctor Zandra Barnaby."
Lydecker
nodded.
"We
have some inquiries about Project Mandicore," she continued in a voice I've
never heard. "All though we understand Manticore is no longer in action—rather
dormant, I suppose—but we were still wondering if you could be of service. If
you could be so very kind to answer some minor questions, we would be very much
obliged."
Lydecker
seemed impressed but was a bit skeptic, "Doctors? You don't look old enough."
"We
are both twenty three years old, Colonel. We're in medical school, interning at
Portland General, and interested in working with children. I've read up on you
and your success with children at Manticore."
"I'd
hardly call it a success, ladies, but I'd be glad to answer any questions.
Please, come in," Lydecker stepped aside and let us enter.
"Thank
you, Colonel Lydecker," I said.
"Please,
call me Deck," he insisted. "Shall we go into the den?" He led us to a room off
to the side where some very modern looking furniture stood in a black, white
and brown décor. I now noticed Gina had grabbed a black bag with her and I saw
it was full of papers, pens and a legal pad.
"Would
you like a cigarette, ladies?" he asked as we sat.
"No
thank you," I said for the both of us.
"Do
you mind if I?" he took a pack out of his pocket.
"It
is your home," I said.
Lydecker
chuckled as he put a cigarette in his mouth. "It's not my home," he said as he
lit up. "It's Anna's—my daughter's. It's funny. One minute I'm thinking I would never presume to pollute
the gene pool and here now I have a daughter. She lives with her husband and son while old Gramps
gets the spare bedroom. Anna and Kurt were kind enough to put her old dad up
after all my money from Manticore was gone."
"It
is a very nice home," Gina commented.
"So,
where did you ladies hear about me and my 'success'?"
"From
Lillie and Charles Robinson," I said. "They are acquaintances of ours."
Gina
gave me a Look.
"Yes,
they used to work for me at Manticore. They left because they didn't appreciate
the way I handled the escape."
"Escape?"
I pretended to be intrigued.
"In
2009, twelve of my best soldiers escaped. X5's. They were the strongest. I
ordered my guards to terminate any of them who made it to the perimeter. Two
were killed."
I
felt mildly sick. People my mother knew—dead. "So, what did you do after the
escape?"
"I
went on, did what I could to make X6's and X7's better. But their flaws kept
getting worse until I broke down."
"Broke
down?" Gina's eyes went wide. Obviously she had no idea.
"I
went crazy, literally. I began babbling to myself, talking to people who
weren't there and had other mild signs of Alzheimer's and schizophrenia. By
this time, X15's were dropping like flies thanks to spontaneous combustion."
Gina
and I gave each other knowing looks.
"So
what happened?" I asked.
"Well,
I was also remarried by then. My second wife Marie was worried because my
violent mood swings and abrupt personality changes were upsetting her and
corrupting Anna, who was about seven. Or eight, I suppose. My memory's failing
me in my old age. I'm seventy-seven, can you tell? Anyway, Marie sent me to a
sanitarium called Garden View for about seven years. I've been in one of those
before. I was in ADAP in 1996 after my first wife was murdered a year before
for erratic behavior
and half a dozen disciplinary infractions like insubordination, disorderly conduct
and a D.U.I. Of course while I was at Garden View, my successors had
run Manticore into the ground."
"My
apologies, Colonel Ly—I mean, Deck," Gina said. "Tell us more about those X5's.
They escaped you say? Did you ever meet up with any of the escapees over the
years?"
"Met
up?" Lydecker cackled. "I was held hostage by two of them."
This
was news to me. "Which two?"
"X5-599
and X5-452—Zack and Max."
I
swallowed hard. "How'd it happen?"
"I
was coming out of an ADAP meeting and Max came up behind me, put a knife to my
throat and dragged me into an SUV where she and Zack took me to an abandoned
warehouse and tied me to a chair, blindfolded."
My
mother sure had nerves of steel.
"Zandra,
are you all right?" Gina asked me. "You like a bit pale."
"I'm
fine, Catherine. Just a little humid, I suppose. Please, Colonel, continue. I'm
intrigued with this story."
"Yes,
well," Lydecker nodded. "At this warehouse, they questioned me about their
sister who'd been captured earlier that day…or the day before…anyway, when I
couldn't supply answers, they hit me. See that cut there?" he pointed to a
faint scar, but it was visible. "Zack did that. Then, in a struggle to free
myself I cracked a bone in my arm. It was a very long day," Lydecker sighed.
"That arm hurts like a bitch when it rains. And that Max, though. What a
pisser. When I asked for water she said she'd spit on me but it'd be a waste of
good saliva."
Nerves
of steel and snappy comebacks.
"She
told me she had a grudge against me because I killed her sister Eva."
"You
killed E—?" I stopped myself before Deck could realize what I'd said. This guy
was outrageous.
"I
remember leading them to their sister Brin that day with Zack holding a gun to
my head," Lydecker winced.
"Those
two—Max and Zack were they?—do you ever know what happened to them?" Gina asked
innocently, playing with her false brown curls.
"Nope.
Not a clue. At least not about Max. Zack committed suicide awhile back,"
Lydecker looked slightly remorseful.
I
couldn't hold it back any longer. I gave Gina a Look to tell her I was going to
tell him. "I know what happened to Max."
"What's
that?" He looked confused.
Simultaneously,
Gina and I slowly removed our wigs. Lydecker took such a deep, rattling breath
I thought he was having a heart attack.
"Who
are you? What are you doing in my home? You're no doctors—you look like a pair
of—"
"Kids?"
I finished. "Donald Lydecker, may I introduce Gina Robinson."
"Lillie
and Charles Robinson's daughter. And you are?" Lydecker glared at me.
"My
name is Maxine Guevara Cale."
Lydecker's
anger turned to surprise "Cale? As in…"
"Logan
Cale."
"He's
your…"
"Father."
"And
your mother is?"
"X5-452.
Max Guevara."
Lydecker
coughed and inhaled a shallow breath. I was ready to dash to a phone and call
9-1-1. I seriously thought he was having palpitations. "I did my job too well."
"What?"
I was confused. Gina excused herself and let me and Lydecker talk.
"Your
mother—a troublemaker. I can see too much of her in you," Lydecker said as soon
as Gina was gone. "She was…my daughter, almost."
"Daughter?"
"Well, let me use the words I told your mother twenty-six years ago. It would make it easier on myself. My wife…I loved her very much. She was my high school sweetheart. My first wife, Anna. I loved her more than I did Marie. She…I…she was the picture of perfection. When she was murdered, I kept a small part of her alive in your mother, Max. She had her eyes and you have her eyes. It's all…all like some odd conspiracy. You are the exact copy of your mother. Maxine's your name, right?"
"Yes, sir," I lowered my eyes.
"Who in their right mind would name their child after themselves?"
"My father named me after my mother because she died having me!" I shouted at him, standing up.
"Died having you? Max? My Max…dead?"
"She died sixteen years ago on my birthday," I said with that bitter edge that usually showed up when I spoke of her.
"How old was she? Do you know?"
"Twenty-nine," I said.
"Last I saw her she couldn't have been more than nineteen."
My eyes filled with tears. "Colonel Lyedecker…how well did you know my mother?"
"I knew her well enough. She was my captor at one time," he made a poor attempt at humor. "She was the image of my Anna. I showed her favoritism when she was my little soldier. Many nights I thought about taking her away from Manticore so they couldn't do anything to her?
"What about my father? Did you know him?"
Lydecker nodded and put out his cigarette. "I knew Logan Cale. A genius man, he was. Yet, a stupid man to fall for a woman like Max."
"How stupid could he be? He married a sweet woman who had a heart of gold who just happened to be a genetically enhanced killing machine," I shot back.
Lydecker was silent for a few moments, "I was at their wedding, you know."
"No, I didn't."
"They had a private ceremony but I hid in the back, behind some flowers—no one could see me. I watched them say their vows and oh, how I missed Anna then. I knew Logan loved Max. I've known it from the time I met him until their wedding."
"Did you ever keep in touch with him?"
"No…I didn't think Max would want to ever see me again and whatever Max wanted, she usually got and so I figured that if Max never wanted to see me, neither would Logan."
I needed to piece this all together. "Colonel? What am I to you?"
"Pardon?"
"If my mother was like your daughter…am I like your granddaughter?"
Cocking his head to the ceiling, Lydecker gave it some thought. "Max was more than like a daughter. I loved her like a daughter. I would be honored if you considered me your grandpa."
Gina came back into the room. "Uh, Maxine? We're short on time, sort of."
"I have an idea," I said. "Colonel, I think it's time you met your 'son-in-law'."
After he spoke to his daughter Anna, it was arranged. Gina and I drove back to Daddy's cabin with Lydecker in the back seat. No one said a word on the drive home.
By the time we got to the cabin, it was a quarter to ten PM. Gina and I helped Lydecker up the old stairs and into the house.
"Daddy, we're home!" I called. I could smell that Daddy been burning candles—the living room had that waxy, burnt smell.
"Good, right on time," Daddy rolled into the living room with a smile on his face that melted like one of his candles as soon as he saw Lydecker standing between me and Gina. "Deck."
"Logan," Lydecker said coolly. "So we meet again."
So far,
this wasn't going as well as I'd hoped.
