"Mother, Where Art Thou?"
by Kirsten Tapp

Disclaimer:

Dark Angel doesn't belong to the author, but to James Cameron, etc. The characters of Rebecka Sue Barry, Julia, Christina, Private Merchants and Devon however do belong to the author. No copyright infringement intended.

Summary:

Logan's search for Max's mother turns up more of Manticore's dirty little secrets.

Timeframe:

Occurs after "Proof Of Purchase".

Rating:

PG 13


The psychiatric hospital in Gillette, Wyoming at first glance appeared to be nothing more than a mansion in the secluded area near the forest. As always, appearances were deceiving. Even on paper, the hospital was listed as the Taylor family mansion. It was the perfect place to leave your family problems and forget them.

Rebecka Sue Barry was unique among the inmates at the hospital. She wasn't just a family problem, she was a government problem. As she sat in her room, gazing at the freedom she should have been basking in beyond the hospital grounds, she longed for the child that had been taken from her and the one that hadn't survived. By now the child would be twenty-two years old and probably totally unaware that she even had a mother.

She could remember it all, as though it were yesterday. Rebecka Sue Barry had been a surprise to her family in more ways than one. The youngest of five girls had not been planned. She became an even bigger disappointment when she was born a girl, instead of a much anticipated and wanted boy. Unable to attain the approval from her parents that she had always longed for, Rebecka rebelled.

Her family quickly decided when Rebecka was fifteen, that she was more trouble than she was worth and kicked her out of home. In her determination to prove to her parents that she could survive without them, Rebecka managed to get odd jobs so that she could keep herself off the streets. She managed for five years to keep her head above water. That was when she was approached by the tech from Manticore.

It had sounded too good to be true. Turned out it was. Rebecka had been recently fired from her witnessing job. Her boss had claimed it was because she was useless at her job. Rebecka felt it was more likely because she wouldn't sleep with him. She had been trying to find a way to pay her rent when the tech from Manticore had found her crying on the street. He had told her of a research facility on the outskirts of town. They were looking for surrogate mothers. All medial, housing and food bills would be paid by a government corporation that was doing research into birth defects. All she would be expected to do was carry the child full term. There were already childless couples waiting to give the baby a good home. In addition to all of her bills being paid, Rebecka would receive a large sum of money to help her once she had given birth.

Rebecka had grabbed the opportunity with both hands. After all, it was a lot of money being offered for no responsibility. She had never expected to form an attachment to the child growing inside of her. It had never been mentioned that she would be expected to stay at the research facility. But it seemed a small price to pay to start with.

Captain Hannah Sukova had been assigned to Rebecka's case. The two women got on well and Rebecka began to relax in Hannah's company. Rebecka felt that she was twice the size of all the other mothers, but when she voiced her concerns to Hannah she was told it was perfectly natural for first time mothers to feel that way.

As the birthing date got closer Rebecka realized she couldn't give up the child growing inside her. Despite Hannah's reassurance, she was sure that she would be having twins. At night in her room she would talk to her unborn children, promising them that she would find a way to give them the lives they deserved. She was positive it wouldn't be at the facility she had heard was called Manticore. Rebecka got the distinct feeling that something evil was going on. Her escape attempts failed, but still she would not give up the hope of getting her children to safety.

The day she went into labor remained a constant nightmare to this day. She had been rushed into an operating room and her first child had been delivered within the hour. Both Doctors and nurses were surprised when a second child decided to make its appearance. Rebecka reached and screamed for her children. Two beautiful baby girls. Both already had quite a head of hair, one dark brown, the other copper red. Rebecka had been held down by orderlies so that she could not reach her daughters. It was then she saw the panic on Hannah's face.

Hannah had been holding the redheaded baby. Obviously the baby girl had been hiding behind her sister so she hadn't been seen in the sonograph. "She's stopped breathing." The doctor hurriedly tried to get the infant breathing while Rebecka was taken screaming from the room, childless.

Later she had been told that the child had died. She had been refused when she demanded to see both babies. A week later she was transported to Wyoming psychiatric hospital. After trying to escape, she was kept sedated. It was almost a year before Rebecka gave up trying to get to her daughter. All she could do was mourn the loss of her children.

She had heard once that the bond between a mother and her child was so strong that nothing could break it. At times such as now she strongly believed that. She felt as though she could sense when her daughter was happy or in pain. At this very moment there was something wrong.

Logan woke to find Max having a seizure beside him. Quickly he reached into the bedside cabinet and grabbed her pills. He gently pulled her into his arms and helped her take the pills. This seizure seemed so much worse than any of the others he had seen. He sat with Max in his arms, stroking her forehead until the seizures finally calmed down and stopped.

"Thanks." Max managed to get the word out. She felt as if she had been hit by a truck. At least it was safe to be with Logan when a seizure hit. He knew exactly what to do to help her and the cuddling time she got from him afterwards was a bonus too.

Logan kissed her forehead. "Anytime." The phone beside his bed began to ring. "That took Jondy long enough." He picked up the phone, knowing it would be Max's sister checking to see if she was alright. He had only ever heard of that kind of link between identical twins. "Hey, Jondy. What took you so long?" He chuckled as his favorite redhead muttered a few choice words down the phone before explaining her twins were teething. "Teething already? They're not even three months old. They must have inherited your DNA if they're walking and teething already." He handed the phone to Max who was still lying in his arms.

"Hey Sis, I'm fine." Max knew her sister had sensed something was wrong. "It's just a seizure. I'm lucky Logan knows the routine now." It took her a little while to reassure her sister that she was fine and just needed some sleep. "God, she's such a mom," Max muttered as she handed the phone back to Logan and fell asleep against his chest.

Logan said goodbye to Jondy and place the phone in its cradle. He gazed down at the sleeping woman in his arms. They had come a long way in the past two years. Now he couldn't imagine his life without her. He made up his mind to talk to Jondy later about finding a more permanent cure for her seizures. Knowing that Max would probably sleep for a while as she always did after a seizure, Logan pulled some clothes on and started working on his computer. This wasn't the way he had planned to spend Saturday morning, but it wasn't as if Max could help being ill.

Glancing idly through the files on his computer, Logan decided to clear some of the older files out. After about half an hour he stopped to get a cup of coffee and then started going through the folder labeled accounts. This was where he kept everything to do with Max. A smile touched his face as he went through photos taken with the digital camera, still saved in the file. He had kept footage of the break in at Manticore when he thought he had lost Max. The photo he had doctored so that it looked as though Max and her siblings were in Arizona was still there. His favorite photo was of Max surrounded by Jondy's children. He frowned slightly at a file name he couldn't recognize. Opening it, Logan realized he had started the file just after he had convinced Max to work with him. It was the information he had managed to get on her mother, which hadn't been much.

Logan thought back to the documents he had taken when Max was still trapped in Manticore. Manticore had been registered as a Veterans hospital. Perhaps the psychiatric hospital where Max's mother had been transferred to was registered as something else as well. A thought leapt into Logan's mind. Lydecker was still staying at one of the safe houses. He may have been working at Manticore when Max was born. Perhaps he could help find Max's mother.

"Logan! You here?" Zane let himself into the apartment with his dog. He was heading back to LA on Sunday so was attempting to spend some time with his sister and her boyfriend. He spotted Logan at his computer and chuckled. "Max is gonna be pissed if she finds you spending your time working instead of fawning over her."

Logan shut the computer down and went to get a fresh cup of coffee. "Max is sleeping. She had a pretty bad seizure this morning. I think they're getting worse." He poured a cup of coffee for Zane as well as a second for himself before starting breakfast.

Zane took a gulp of coffee and sat down at the bench. "I think Jondy was going to see if she could find a way to stop Max's seizures. It's a bit more difficult because of the implant. She can't use the same treatment Devon used for her."

Logan nodded. "I guessed the implant might cause more problems." He dished out some scrambled eggs onto a plate of toast for Zane. "Jondy's got a lot on her plate at the moment, the twins are teething. She sounded a bit aggravated on the phone when I spoke to her this morning." He looked up at Zane who didn't seem surprised that Jondy had already called this morning.

Zane shrugged his shoulders. "The twins have too much of their mother's DNA in them. I doubt it came as much of a surprise to her when they started developing ahead of schedule. She and Max were the same. He noticed the strange look Logan was giving him. "What?"

Logan was slightly confused by Zane's last comment. "Max and Jondy aren't twins though. They were just referred to as the Manticore twins because they mimicked each others expressions and movements.'

Zane shook his head. "When Max was recovering in San Francisco from White hitting her with the truck, Jondy ran a few blood tests. She was checking to make sure the 'love bug' virus couldn't regenerate. It seems she found more than she bargained for. Max and Jondy are fractural twins. It certainly explains a lot. Not even Manticore could come up with the tricks Max and Jondy pull."

Logan processed what Zane had just told him. "Lydecker must have known about the connection between Max and Jondy. I wonder what else he knows that he hasn't told us. I was hoping he might have some information on what happened to Max's mother. We might even be able to track down your mother as well." Logan saw the look of apprehension on Zane's face. "Sorry, I took it for granted that you'd want to at least know who your mother was."

Zane shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. We never knew what it was like to have a mother so it didn't seem important. I sort of take for granted that Jondy's a good mother cause the kids at her place always seem happy."

Logan nodded. "Jondy's a great mother. Her children always come first and they're never left in any doubt that she loves them. My Mom was the same. She always made sure that we spent some quality time together as a family. She never got tired of listening and she always had the solution for any problem I had."

Zane had to admit that sounded pretty great, but he knew from experience that not all mothers were that wonderful. None of his foster mothers had been that great. "She sounds like a great mom."

Logan nodded. "She was. I guess I was one of the lucky ones." He saw Max walk into the room. "Hey. You feeling better." He put his arm around Max's waist and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah. I'm still a little fuzzy." Max leaned against Logan. "I was gonna call Jondy back. She sounded a little strange this morning. I don't think it has anything to do with the twins teething."

Zane poured Max a glass of milk and offered her his seat. "I think she misses Devon. I'll give her a call. It's been almost a year since he died."

Max nodded. "You're probably right. She hasn't come close to anybody else since Devon died. I thought it was because of the kids, but Julia told me Jondy barely leaves the house except for work and family outings."

Logan thought back to when they had been in San Francisco helping Max get back on her feet. "I don't think I ever saw Jondy leave the house except for work the last time we were in San Francisco. The first couple of days I thought it was because she was in heat."

Zane shrugged his shoulders. "We weren't supposed to be emotional, maybe Jondy's struggling with accepting Devon's death."

Max felt guilty. She should have realized her sister was still suffering. "She said she was lucky that Julia was like a mother to her otherwise she couldn't have coped. I guess I assumed Jondy was telling me she was fine."

Logan decided it would be best if he changed the subject slightly. He had a feeling that Max's seizures hit her when she was upset. "Do you feel up to visiting Lydecker? I thought he might be able to answer some questions about your mother. It could help us find the other X5's that are still out there somewhere."

Max was surprised. It had been a while since Logan had investigated into her past, so she had thought that he had abandoned the search. "Sure. Just give me a couple of minutes to shower and get dressed." Ever since Hannah had told her that her mother had fought to keep her, Max had wondered what she was like. Now maybe she would have a chance to find out.

Donald Lydecker sat starring at the well worn photo in his hand. He and Christina had been so young when they had married. He could still picture their wedding day as clearly as though it had only just happened. Every time he saw Max, he could see Christina's big brown eyes starring back at him. The expression wasn't the same, but it was still the little part of his wife he had managed to keep alive.

A knock at the door dragged him from his thoughts. Hastily putting the photo away, he checked to see who his visitors were before opening the door. "I was wondering how long it would be, before you turned up looking for more answers." He couldn't see any other reason why Logan, Max and Zane would be visiting. Instinct told him that Logan Cale wouldn't be kicking him out of the safe house, while White was still stalking Max and Jondy. "Sandeman come up short with solutions?" He knew they had already seen Sandeman. He had tried to contact them the previous weekend, only to be told they were out of town.

"What do you know about my mother." Max marched right past Lydecker into the living room. "I know she tried to get away from Manticore before Jondy and I were born."

Donald Lydecker was stunned. He hadn't realized Max knew that she and Jondy were actual twins. "How long have you known about your sister?"

"Long enough." Logan sat down in an armchair and pulled Max into his lap. He wasn't about to let on that he himself had only found out that morning about Max and Jondy being real sisters. "You haven't answered Max's question."

Zane sat down on the sofa. He still didn't trust Lydecker, but for some reason Maxie needed to know her mother and if he could help then nothing was getting in their way. "Logan found out Max's mother was moved to a psychiatric hospital. Where is it?" He had brought along his dog who started to growl right on cue.

Lydecker sat down to face them. "Before I tell you, there's something you should consider first. Your mother, Max, is under the impression that only one of you survived. Jondy stopped breathing just after she was born. We had no idea your mother was even expecting twins."

"Jondy always did manage to hide right under your nose." Max's face remained expressionless. "You always made out that she was such a failed experiment. The truth is, she was just a big surprise from day one that wasn't planned."

Lydecker nodded. "Because of your sister's tendency to stop breathing, something I now know is a distracting mechanism, it was assumed we would never be able to send her out into the field. Manticore didn't think that she would live to see her tenth birthday. Because of her defects, a decision was made that she would not be twinned."

Zane could see where this was leading. "Only they weren't defects and because you never expected Jondy to make it another year, you didn't see the point of letting her mother have one of her daughters back only to have her die." Zane shot Lydecker a sarcastic smile. "How noble of you to think of Max's mother's feelings."

Logan shook his head. "It's not our decision to make. It's Jondy's decision if we tell her mother she's still alive." Logan knew that Jondy considered Julia as much her mother as she was Devon's. "For now, let's start with a name before we ask for any decisions to be made."

Lydecker nodded his agreement. "Rebecka Sue Barry." It wasn't a name he would forget in a hurry. She had been the only surrogate that had actually wanted to keep her babies. The others had grabbed the money and run. "Until you have the decision from Jondy, I'd prefer to keep the location disclosed."

Max never took her eyes off of Lydecker. She reached into Logan's pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Pushing the speed dial number, she waited for her sister to answer the phone. "Hey. It's me. I need to know something. We might be able to find our mother. There's just one problem."

"She thinks I'm dead and you want to know if you should tell her otherwise." Jondy finished for her. She glanced over to where Julia was feeding the twins. For most of her life Julia had basically been Jondy's mother and she wasn't sure she wanted to change that. "Check how stable she is first. If the news is going to push her over the edge, it's better I remain dead. If she's fine then it will be her choice if she wishes to meet me."

"Fair enough." Max knew where her sister was coming from. "I'll let you know what happens. Are you alright? You sound kinda down."

Jondy smiled at her sister's concern. "I'm fine. It's probably about time I got some sleep that's all. I'll call you later to find out how everything went."

"Ok." Max didn't feel reassured. "I'll talk to you later." As she hung up the phone, she started to work out when she could next get to San Francisco. She looked up to find three pairs of eyes watching her. "Jondy says it depends on our mother's metal health. If there's a chance it could make her ill then she said it would be best if Jondy remained dead to her."

Logan turned his gaze back to Lydecker. "Ok, spill. Where did Manticore send Rebecka? If she was moved, then we'll find her." They were so close that he wondered if Lydecker would change his mind and not give them the information they wanted.

"Last time I heard, she was in a psychiatric hospital that was registered as the Taylor mansion." Lydecker had only been there once. "The security's pretty tight. Now that Manticore's been destroyed it could be even tighter."

Zane glared at Lydecker. "We'll find a way in." He was already working out what they would possibly need in his head. "Logan, have you got somewhere Max's mother can get medical attention if she needs it?" They had to think of the possibility that twenty odd years trapped in a mental hospital may have done some serious damage to Rebecka.

Logan nodded. "I'm sure Sebastian can help out. He has the facilities and the medical staff. I would suggest bringing Jondy to Seattle, but that could make matters worse if Rebecka guesses Jondy's her dead daughter."

Max had to agree. "Jondy's got a lot on her plate at the moment. I don't want to add to that if we don't have to." She was starting to feel a little excited. It looked as though she would finally be meeting her mother.

"Let's go." Logan gently nudged Max to stand up so that he could move. "I should be able to download the blueprints to the hospital, once we've found it." He nodded to Lydecker. "Thanks for the help."

"Thanks for the place to stay," Lydecker replied. There was no telling when it would be safe to return to his own home. "I appreciate you fetching my things." Not long after he had been situated in the safe house, Lydecker had wanted to go back and get a few things from his home. Logan had asked one of the X5s to fetch a few items, knowing it would be less likely an X5 would be seen.

"No problem." Logan took hold of Max's hand and headed for the door. He still didn't like having Max too close to Lydecker. Max had told him that Lydecker had managed somehow to keep a little bit of his wife alive in Max. It creeped Logan out, the way Deck would look at her sometimes. But Max was not a woman you could wrap up in cotton wool and protect. So Logan kept his fears to himself.

Zane pulled out his cell phone when they all got in Logan's car. He dialed Jondy's now popular number. "Hey sis. I hear the twins are teething. I can head back to San Francisco if you want some help." His face was incredibly serious as he listened to his sister. "Are you sure, Jondy?" He didn't look convinced at what his sister was telling him. "Alright. Promise me you'll call me or Max if it gets to be too much." He obviously got the promise, so said good-bye and hung up his phone.

Max glanced over her shoulder at her brother. "It's the anniversary of Devon's death in a couple of weeks. I'll see if I can get some time off work so that I can visit San Francisco."

Logan drove in silence. He remembered finding Jondy curled up on the floor crying the night Devon had died. It was rare that any of the X5s shed a tear. He knew that Jondy kept herself busy so that she didn't have to think about the friend that had been taken from her. "I'll drive you to San Francisco," he finally spoke to Max.

"Thanks." Max smiled at him. "Now let's go find my mother."

Logan fetched the records he had stolen when Max had been trapped inside Manticore. Sure enough the Taylor mansion was listed on them. "Got an address." He called out to Max and Zane. "Now let's see if I can find the blueprints."

Moments later the threesome were looking over the downloaded blueprints. The grounds of the mansion were extensive and would be surely guarded. There was also a possibility of it being surrounded by an electric fence. The inside was like a lock box but Logan felt if he could get into the computer system that obviously would have been installed when the mansion was converted, then it would be simple for Max and Zane to get Rebecka out.

While Max and Zane packed the van for the rescue, Logan contacted Sebastian to arrange for Rebecka to stay and receive medical care. It had been decided that Max and Zane would go in over the fence once they had driven by the mansion to get a quick look at what they were facing. Not knowing what condition Rebecka was in, they had planned to bring her out via the front door. Logan would be monitoring their movements and would disarm any alarms from the van. They would wait until it was dark, so that they had more cover. Zane decided to take his dog for a walk so that the couple had some time alone.

"Thanks for being so understanding." Max sat beside Logan on top of the space needle. "Not every boyfriend has to help break his girlfriend's mother out of a psychiatric hospital."

Logan put his arm around Max's shoulders. How he hated heights, but somehow it wasn't so bad with her beside him. "It's fine. I wish you had told me about you and Jondy being blood related. I found out from Zane over breakfast."

Max frowned at him. "I thought you knew. Jondy was yelling loud enough that she was just another of Manticore's dirty little secrets, when she found out. Does it make a difference?"

"No, it doesn't make a difference." Logan could vaguely remember Jondy yelling about something, but he hadn't really been paying attention at the time. "Jondy and you are family, nothing changes that."

Max relaxed. "I can't believe I'm actually going to meet my mother." Her lovely brown eyes filled with concern. "Do you think she'll still want me? What if she doesn't remember she even had a kid."

Logan pulled her closer. "Relax. I'm sure Rebecka never forgot you. The only problem I can see, is if you tell her about Jondy being the daughter she was told had died."

"I guess." Max thought about the child she had lost. She wished there was a possibility her child could still be alive. Pushing the thought aside she took hold of Logan's hand. "Come on. It's time to go."

Logan pulled the van up under the cover of some trees before climbing into the back. Tapping a few keys, he hacked into the security camera's surrounding the mansion. "Ok. I'm in. It looks as though the clearest side is on the right of the mansion."

Max leaned over his shoulder. "Can you take those three cameras out? We need to know which room Rebecka's in." She watched as Logan expertly tapped into the system to put a loop in the camera feeds and hacked into the records to find Rebecka's location. "God, you're so sexy when you do that," Max joked.

Zane chuckled. "Do you want me to take the dog and leave you two alone?" This was so unlike their Manticore training.

Logan grinned. "Rebecka Sue Barry. She's upstairs, third floor, room in the back right corner." It wasn't until Max and Zane jumped out of the van, that Logan recalled the last time he had watched her leave like this. He looked down at Zane's dog. "They're coming back safe, right?" The dog gave Logan's hand a lick. He patted the dog's head. "Thanks for the reassurance."

Max and Zane walked up to the fence and leapt over it easily. There were only two guards on the right side of the mansion, so it didn't take long to dispose of them. They climbed up the side of the building silently until they found the window to Rebecka's room. The window had bars across it. Zane shook the bars slightly before reaching into Max's backpack and retrieved the small explosives she had packed. Quickly he positioned the explosives and moved far enough away from the window so that he wouldn't get hit by any flying metal. Checking that Max had moved herself a safe distance away, he pushed the button on the detonator.

A small bang echoed into the night alerting the guards. Logan had already hacked into the alarm system, so any attempts to reach security inside the mansion was useless. Zane pulled the bars free of the window and waited a moment for Max to kick the window in. Swinging into the room, they found a woman with long brown hair and frightened brown eyes huddled in the corner of the room.

Zane ran to the door. It was on a digital lock. "Logan. I need the door opened," he spoke over his coms while he watched Max help her mother to stand. A moment later the door clicked open. "Let's go Ladies. The family reunion can wait till we're out of here."

Rebecka realized who the young woman holding onto her was. "My little girl." She reached out and touched Max's face. "You're so beautiful."

Max smiled at Rebecka. "How about we get you out of here before the guards come to see what all the noise is about." She took her mother's hand and followed Zane out of the door.

Zane glanced into the room next to Rebecka's as he passed it. Something caught his attention. The woman in the room was doing push ups as if following some sort of exercise programme. "Logan. Who's in the room next to Rebecka's?"

"What's wrong?" Max surveyed the hallway for any unwanted visitors. Glancing in the window in the door, she saw what Zane had seen.

Logan's voice came across the coms. "There's no name, just a number. It could be a barcode number. 331450074656, somebody you know?"

"Tinga." Max flashed back to her sister dying in her arms. "Logan, open the door." She had thought Zack was dead and yet he was still alive. There was no telling what Manticore had done to Tinga.

Zane banged on the door to signal Tinga. He saw instant recognition in his sister's eyes. "Max, start making your way out. Tinga and I will be right behind you."

Max nodded as the door to Tinga's room clicked open. As she started down the stairs still holding her mother's hand, they ran into a group of guards coming up the stairs. Bracing her free hand against the stair railing, Max kicked the front guard in the stomach creating a domino effect with the rest of the group. "Zane! Get a move on."

Rebecka gasped in amazement. "Where did you learn to do that?" She was practically being dragged down the stairs by her daughter. When Zane jumped from the top of the stairs over the fallen guards to where she and Max were standing she rephrased her question. "What the hell did they do to you at Manticore."

"I'll explain later." Max waited for Tinga to join them before heading for the front door. Their escape route had been blocked by the guards. "Got anything in your bag of tricks Big Brother?"

Zane grinned and pulled a can of tear gas out of his bag. "Everybody take a deep breath." He threw the can into the entrance of the mansion. As soon as the entrance filled up with smoke, he signaled to the others to follow him. Instead of going out the front door, he headed for one of the side rooms. Their change of tactic was completely covered by the smoke. Zane kicked in the door and found what looked like an office.

Max let go of her mother's hand long enough to pick up a chair and throw it through the large picture window. Clearing the glass from around the window frame, Max waited for Zane to jump through before helping Rebecka out. Zane carried Rebecka over to the fence so that she wouldn't cut her feet on the broken glass. Tinga and Max jumped through the shattered window before they all ran to where Logan had pulled up the van.

Tinga climbed in the front of the van while Zane, Max and Rebecka jumped into the back. Logan floored the gas pedal and drove into the night.

"Sir," Private Merchants addressed White cautiously. "I have some news that may interest you." He waited for White to turn and face him. "There was a break in at the psychiatric hospital. Two of the inmates have escaped."

"Why would that interest me?" White looked at Private Merchants as though he was a bug to be squashed.

"It's the inmates that escaped Sir." Private Merchants tried to hide his nervousness. "They are Rebecka Sue Barry and X5 656."

White was confused. "What's the connection?" The name and the number meant nothing to him.

Private Merchants took a deep breath. "X5 656 is also know as Tinga to her X5 siblings. Rebecka Sue Barry is the surrogate that carried X5 452 and X5 210. Their connection is X5 452 and X5 210."

White hit the desk with his fist. "Why weren't they under heavy guard?" He dismissed Private Merchants with a wave of his hand. "Never mind. I'll look into it myself."

Max sat opposite her mother in Sebastian's clinic. She wasn't sure how Rebecka would react to the story of her life that she had just told her. It wasn't everyday you found out the child you had given birth to twenty-two years ago was a transgenic freak.

Rebecka shook her head. "I knew there was something they weren't telling me. I couldn't figure out why they were so opposed to me keeping you. They wouldn't even let me see your sister or tell me how she died."

Max decided to let Rebecka know about Jondy. "She's still alive. Jondy has twins of her own."

Rebecka looked at Max in amazement. "She stopped breathing. The doctors were surprised when she was born in the first place. They said she must have been hiding behind you."

Max giggled. "Jondy's always hides right in front of people. I don't know how she does it with that red hair of hers." She became serious. "Manticore used her as a distraction. Sometimes she would stop breathing to distract the enemy from the others."

Rebecka reached out and took her daughter's hand. "I tried to get away before you were born. Even after they took you away from me, I tried to get to you but they kept sedating me."

Max nodded. "Hannah told me you tried to keep me." She saw Logan waiting outside the room. "I'd better go and let you get some sleep. We can talk more tomorrow. I'll even get a call through to Jondy for you."

Rebecka smiled. "I'd like that." She glanced over at Logan. "He seems like a good man. It's obvious he loves you."

Max smiled at Logan. "Yeah, I got really lucky meeting Logan. He knows all about my DNA and still loves me. There's not many guys like that." She cautiously hugged her mother good bye. "You'll be safe here. I'll see you tomorrow." She walked out of the room into Logan's outstretched arms.

"You alright?" Logan kissed Max gently. "Zane's going to take Tinga back to Original Cindy's once Sebastian has given her the all clear."

Max snuggled against Logan's chest. "I got my mom and my sister back in one day. I guess my luck is changing for the better. You gonna take me home?"

Logan smiled down at her. "You bet. You told Rebecka about Jondy, didn't you?" He waited for Max to nod. "Perhaps she can come with us when we go to San Francisco."

Max beamed at the idea. "You just think of everything, don't you."

Logan chuckled. "I have my moments. Come on, the sooner we get home, the sooner you get some rest and visit with your Mom and sister. You might want to let Charlie and Case know that Tinga's still alive."

"For once I get to be the bearer of good news." Max walked down the corridor holding Logan's hand. "I could get used to that."

The End