PART ELEVEN : " Adversaria "

Logan drove the van onto the highway leading to I-5. "So what happened to you?" he asked Lydecker, who had been strangely silent since they'd gotten in the van.

In actuality, Lydecker had been anticipating the question. "Meaning when they announced my death? I was being chased, and had to go into hiding."

Logan nodded. "Makes sense. Why did they want to kill you?"

"I was checking out the company name that was in Renfro's briefcase and found an excavation site with skeletal remains and evidence that Manticore has been around a lot longer than I'd previously known. Apparently the Conclave didn't want that proof to get out. Since I went into hiding, I've found a lot more information about the origins of Manticore, the Conclave, and Sandeman. Sandeman, I believe, were working with Renfro."

Logan glanced over at him. "Max and I discovered the same thing about Manticore around the same time. Renfro worked with Sandeman how?"

Lydecker was quiet for a moment, then responded. "I think that Renfro knew about this whole Conclave/Manticore business. What her involvement in it was, I haven't been able to discover. Yet."

Logan pulled onto I-5 and headed south to Seattle. "You must have heard about the transgenics mobilizing in Terminal City. Why didn't you let us know you were alive?"

"The Conclave was still keeping a watchful eye out, even though the government eased up on you people. That, by the way, was probably Manticore's doing. I could move a little more freely if they thought I was dead."

"Max went there, you know. SciTech. Manticore. Or whatever it is. She called me while she was on her way to that house and told me about it."

"I know, I followed her to SciTech and then to the Bradford house." Lydecker looked over at Logan. "Why did she go there at all? Did you find out it was a branch of Manticore?"

"Hannah Sukova showed up, fatally beaten. Before she died from her injuries she hinted that Max would find her mother at SciTech. I located your sister there and that gave Max a contact."

Lydecker brought his gun out and checked it. "That would be Rebecca. She was in the CIA a few years ago, then dropped off the contact lists. We never shared information about what we were doing in-government, and my branch of Manticore was fairly self-contained. I knew there was more to the project, but for me; my kids were the project."

"Why didn't you try to hook back up with another branch of Manticore? Wouldn't they have kept you under wraps?"

"Renfro tried to have me killed. For all I knew, she could have had her fingers in any or all of the Manticore departments. I wasn't exactly trusting them to welcome me with open arms."

The van was stopped at the gate of Terminal City, and they were allowed entrance after Logan was visually identified. They pulled into the lower parking area and Logan escorted Lydecker into the main building.

Stare after stare came from the transgenics as Logan and Lydecker passed. Most of them hadn't seen Lydecker since before Renfro had taken over Manticore. They knew, through Max, what had happened with Lydecker. Most of them, like Max, had thought he was dead.

"Logan!" Joshua called out. He hurried over to Logan but slowed when he saw Lydecker. Warily, he approached. "Heard Max was hurt. She ok?" Motioning to Lydecker, he added, "What's he doing here?"

Logan looked at Lydecker and back at Joshua. "He's here to help me bring back some medical supplies. Max was attacked by White."

Joshua growled, causing Lydecker to take an unconscious step back. Only Logan's earlier briefing kept him from drawing his weapon.

"Should have killed White when had a chance."

"No, you did the right thing. Max was right; they would have hunted you down as human-killers. Nothing would have stopped them," Logan assured him. "You want to help us load the supplies?"

The man-beast snuck another glance at Lydecker and nodded at Logan. "Yes. And Joshua will go with."

Logan smiled at him as he started walking to the elevator. "Good. We could use your help over there."

Lydecker looked at Joshua tactically. "You're one of the original transgenics. I remember reading some of Sandeman's early notes. Canine DNA mix."

Joshua corrected him. "Not one of the originals, Joshua was first transgenic."

"Amazing. And you never had any psychological trauma or physical problems?"

"Joshua the first. Only problem was Manticore after Father left, they tortured Isaac. Made him mean."

Lydecker looked thoughtful. "I'm sorry to hear that. Did you suffer any tremors, amino acid deficiencies?"

Joshua cocked his head and looked at the man blankly, and Lydecker shook his head. "Never mind, I'll find out later."

They began loading the van with supplies that Beck had requested.

Logan, deep in thought, asked, "What have you found out so far about the Conclave and Manticore? We discovered that there is evidence showing Manticore, under various names, has essentially existed for thousands of years."

"Once I discovered the excavation site and disappeared," Lydecker answered, "I did some research of my own, without drawing attention. More than five thousand years ago a small European cult developed and in practically no time at all took over what at that time was considered a large area of land. But because of the cult's harsh and violent behavior, a rebellion rose just as quickly and put an end to the cult's brief existence."

Logan pondered this. "You'd have thought that a violent upheaval like that would have been noted in the history books."

"History is normally written by winners and conquerors." Lydecker replied. "But I'd say probably for whatever reason the rebellion decided not to brag about the conquest. Usually the reason for not celebrating that kind of victory is fear. Whatever the reason, that rebellion seems to be the birth of what eventually became Manticore. "

Logan nodded. "So for some reason though they beat the cult, they were still afraid of them and didn't advertise it's defeat. It's a pretty good bet that either they thought the cult was still around and hiding, or there was something else going on around that time that made larger headlines." He looked thoughtful. "I wonder what it was."

Joshua brought the last of the boxes to the ramp leading to the truck and loaded them. "Evil." he said simply.

Both Lydecker and Logan looked at Joshua, who had been silent during the conversation. Logan inquired; "What do you mean?"

Joshua shrugged. "Father talked about it once. He said the place he once belonged to was run by evil and begun by evil."

The two men looked at each other. Feeling like an idiot for not having asked Joshua before, Logan smiled and clapped Joshua on the shoulder. "What else did he tell you about them?"

A tall male walked up to the truck. "Logan, Beck is on the phone. She says Max is gone. So is White."

A few mild expletives escaped Logan's mouth. Lydecker slid the ramp into the truck closed the roller-door while Logan took the cordless phone.

"This is Logan. Do you know where she went?"

"She demanded to talk to White, and was with him for probably 15 minutes before we heard her motorcycle rev up. They were spinning gravel before we knew what was going on. Alec grabbed Whites car and took off after them."

Logan looked incredulous. "Why did you let her talk to White? Neither of them was in the condition to move around much, she wasn't even conscious when we left."

Beck sounded exasperated over the cordless. "Did you ever try to stop a speeding rhino with a water gun?"

He knew exactly what she was talking about. Sighing, Logan relented. "Stay there and take care of Mrs. Bradford. We'll be there shortly with the supplies, and we'll see if we can find anything to tell us where they went. If Alec calls..."

She interrupted. "I'll let you know. I promise."

Hanging up, Logan quickly briefed Joshua and Lydecker as he started the truck.

To himself, he mumbled "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Max."