PART SEVENTEEN : " Veridic "
With Max's concession, Alec filled her in on White's entrance. She immediately headed to the TC Detention cells, learning from the on-watch guard that Ray was being taken care of separately. She walked into the cell area and leaned against the wall, facing White, lying on the cot.
"You just don't know when to take a hint," she said. "But I must admit you look much better behind bars."
White opened his eyes and over at her. "Nice to see you too, 452. I came because I have something for you."
Max yawned. "Straight to business as always. Suits me. It means I don't have to see your face any longer than necessary. If you mean Ray, we have him already. Thanks for dropping him off, awfully sweet of you. Really. Did you and Legion have a nice chat after I left?"
White just looked at her. "Don't be idiotic." He stood slowly and walked over to the bars, feeling the damage from Lydecker's shot. "I have digital recordings of the conversation between you and Legion. He'd initially wanted them to study you, get bioelectric, genetic sensor readings and direct x-ray scans. We had the whole saucer section wired for sound and video... most sophisticated electronic audio video sensor equipment on the face of the planet. What else he wanted from it, I have no idea. He seems to change tactics from moment to moment. I can't tell if he's a tactical genius or one step short of egomaniacal shortsightedness. Regardless, as I was leaving I pulled the disks and replaced them."
"Nice. I'll give them to our Med Tech in case I get the sniffles."
While rolled his eyes. "This is like explaining algebra to a hamster. Try to listen for once instead of smarting off, 452. It recorded both yourself and Legion. Which means that I now have recorded scans of him."
Max considered this momentarily. "And you're here to make some kind of deal."
"As I already told you, they want to kill Ray. They feel you corrupted him. Mental corruption from outside sources isn't permitted. Now they'll want to kill me as well. It behooves me to go underground. You hid from Manticore for more than a decade. And you avoided the Conclave, once they started cleaning up Manticore's mess, for quite some time."
He paused. It was grating his nerves to admit these things to anyone, let alone to this woman. "Bluntly, you're fairly adept at covert operations. Better than they think you are. Better than I thought you were... so you have something I need and I have something you need. Yes, a deal sounds like an appropriate term. The safety of Ray and myself in exchange for the information."
She looked at him incredulously. "Two days ago or so you tried capping my ass, Conclave-style. Now you want to make nice like nothing happened? You're going to have to come up with something better than that. For all I know this is just another attempt to eliminate me."
"I'll tell you all I know about those markings that appeared on your skin a year or so ago. And I'll help you take the Familiars down, help you take down the Conclave. It goes against all my training's and beliefs... but if I want my son to survive I'm going to have to make some radical choices. This is one of them."
She made a decision. "Give me the recordings. If they turn out to be what you say, I'll consider what you're saying. Consider it a show of good faith."
He'd anticipated this. "They're mixed in with Ray's music CD's. You'll find them."
She turned without another word and walked out, switching the micro-radio to two-way mode. "Did you guys catch all that?"
"We got it." Lydecker's voice filtered through the unit. "That stuff should have been checked when those two were brought in. Sloppy work, Max; you kids were taught better than that. We're looking through the kid's bag now... yeah they're here. Two high-resolution recording discs. Pricey items. You might want to think about scavenging the Needle for the equipment he left behind."
"Send Tam with a couple of X6's to retrieve it," she replied, ignoring the comment about checking the bag. He was right though; if Mole hadn't checked the bag then the gate guards were getting sloppy. She might have to run a few drills when time permitted. "In the meantime, give the recordings to Beck and see what she can pull from it. Out."
"Out." Lydecker answered.
She looked over at Alec as he walked up to her. "Alec, go to Medical and run over the data disk information with Beck. I'm putting you in charge of briefing us on what they contain."
He looked surprised, "In charge of the briefing? Why me instead of Beck? She's the medical do-all."
"Once you two review the data and determine if it's legit, she could be busy using what you two have learned to come up with a plan against this Legion guy and the Conclave. Besides, you have more active combat-engagement experience than she does. You'll be able to give us tactical information based on whatever you two have found so far while she works on the medical side."
Alec nodded. "Ok, I'll buy that."
"One more thing," she added. "If the information turns out to be authentic, I'll want White in on the briefing. He'll be joining the team."
His jaw dropped. "You're joking."
"Just do it. This may be our one chance to stop them. I'm not going to let my personal prejudices get in the way, and neither are you. That being the case, he has information he's willing to share. Such as where the Conclave Headquarters is located. Besides, he's got reasons not to double cross us, seems the Conclave wants to terminate him. So, right now if it came to a choice between the Conclave and Terminal City; we're practically his best friends."
He grimaced. "Easy for you to say, you didn't have a micro-explosive placed in your neck by the creep. Yeah, ok... I'll make sure it's done. IF the information holds up. If not..."
"Good enough," she replied. "Let's get it done."
Alec trotted off, and she switched radio channels. "Gate Station One, come in."
"Gate Station One, that you Max?"
She recognized Mole's voice. "Call in the second shift, I want tri-guard relays on each post for now."
Mole's irritation was apparent. "I'm off in ten minutes and have a poker game in thirty. Can't this wait?"
"Nope. In a few hours, if things go right, we're going to be on alert status."
His attitude changed instantly. "Good, it's about time we got some action around here. I'll call them in."
"I'll keep you posted. Out." She clipped the mini-radio back inside her shirt pocket.
She sat down on a bench to allow herself a moment's reprieve. It occurred to her that she hadn't seen Sharon since Beck had told her the woman was her host-mother and she had evacuated the house. "Your DNA matches the genetic markers we found in her...," she remembered Beck saying.
She frowned, and in her mind she ran over the discussion she originally had with Sharon...
"Her name was Michelle Cardova." ... "She was a nurse at some kind of government base in Wyoming when she had some kind of nervous breakdown." ... "Thirteen years ago my husband and Michelle left to go pick up my parents at the airport." ... "There was an accident, and both my husband and sister were killed." ... "They never really found the bodies, just the mangled up car."
She stood. It was time for truth from Sharon Bradford, but first she had a duty to perform, and a personal debt to pay to an old friend.