PART TWENTY-TWO : " Steeplechase "
"How long do you plan to keep me against my will?" Logan inquired. The answers to his questions were starting to give him a generic idea of what was going on.
"Until Miss Guevara arrives." Legion answered. "Is Mister Lydecker in your Seattle encampment?"
"He was at one time, I don't know if he is there now or not. I thought you said your bringing me here wasn't to get Max?" Logan shifted, the chair was slightly less comfortable than it was when he first woke.
"Can you reform that as a question, Mr. Cale?"
Logan considered the wording. "If your bringing me here isn't to get Max here, why will her arrival be the catalyst of my release?"
Legion smiled, almost fatherly. "You really are starting to get good at this. I personally did not kidnap you to entice her here. The Conclave kidnapped you to insure that Miss Guevara initiated her attack on Manticore. However, I do personally suspect she will instead attempt to find you. I sense a certain lack of tolerance in her for actions against you, and so I believe she will come here to retrieve you. Do you or any of those you associate with at Terminal City know the current location of Mr. Sandeman?"
"Not that I'm aware of, but if you're right about Max you can always ask her when she shows. How long have you been part of the Conclave?"
Legion's eyebrows raised fractionally, then replied "My dear boy, I've never been part of the Conclave." He paused, then added "You could say that I offer my services of advisement to them, from time to time."
Logan was silent at this. Legion asked, "Do you love her?"
Yet again, he asked a question Logan wasn't expecting. What did he care how Logan felt? "Yes, I do. And because I do, I'd like to ask if you'd reconsider whatever you or the Conclave is planning. Please."
The man before him smiled again and looked sympathetic. "I'm afraid that whatever happens will happen, unraveling as events may. I sincerely hope that your friend survives and that you will as well. One cannot escape destiny or fate. Perhaps her destiny will be to succeed, or perchance to fail. One never really knows, even if one truly knows. I'm sure that sounds confusing. But I assure you, it's been true over the vast length of time itself."
* * * * *
White, Sam and Mole led the diversionary and cover teams; Max, Lydecker and Alec were the extraction team, lead by Max. Her team spread separately throughout the woods until they arrived at the Belfair in parameter formation to the outer walls of what appeared to be a large estate.
So far, White's description of the terrain to the transgenics on the way here seemed to be on the money.
Lydecker was signaling the teams. According to White, the Conclave didn't use any kind of parameter sensors, but relied on the honed senses of their sentinels. Should make things fairly easy, at least going in... she thought.
They regrouped within the woods just short of the buildings. Max signaled to Alec to come around the guards on his side.
They took out the first two guards successfully and without raising an alarm. Lydecker watched them from a slight distance. He nodded approvingly to himself; Max was highly efficient even after years of being out of Manticore and Alec was still at the top of his training.
He quietly signaled to the other teams to begin their run. In less than a minute all of the exterior guards were unconscious. On the way, Lydecker had initially ordered the guards killed, but Max had overridden him. Let's hope they don't wake up before we leave, or this might be for nothing...
Max and Alec jumped to the high end of the wall, and lowered a rope for Lydecker. Alec held the rope for him while Max scouted their entrance route.
As Max rounded a corner she came face to face with a Conclaver. Before he could focus on her to recognize her, she immediately reacted by slamming his face with a palm strike, then cracking his skull against the wall; sending him into an instant oblivious state. That's what you get when you don't pay attention to the environment around you... Quickly checking the surroundings, she went back to Alec and Lydecker and gave the "all-clear" signal.
She also had teams going into each of the other buildings on the estate in case White was wrong about Logan's location. So far she hadn't heard any gunshots or alarms, and all units were ordered to use the earpiece-mics only if necessary... so she presumed everything was going according to plan. She signaled Alec and Lydecker to follow her inside the building then split in separate directions.
As they entered the main building, she noted a large open room on the right, a hallway leading to both the left and the right, and stairs leading up. She motioned Alec to the left and Lydecker to the right, and she went straight through the large room; heading towards the stairs.
* * * * *
Legion looked distracted for a moment, then smiled at Logan. "Sorry, young man. I'm afraid I have other business to attend to. I've most enjoyed our chat."
Logan watched as Legion walked out of the room, and heard the door click. He pondered momentarily what business Legion could be referring to, then started again in trying to free his hands. All he seemed to be doing was rubbing his wrists raw on the restraints, but it was better than accepting his current situation.
* * * * *
She wasn't running into a lot of people, but White had told her the main building had little traffic. It was usually used only for meetings, celebrations and rituals; although the latter two more often took place outside.
As she silently made her way up the stairs, she memorized the layout of the section. One never knew what complications would arise, which made knowing the layout a necessity.
* * * * *
Lydecker was step by step making his way down the hallway on the right, gun out and in alert position. Opening door by door as quietly as possible, he hadn't found anything significant so far.
The final room down the hallway was locked but he picked it with relative ease. Opening the door, he looked inside and knew immediately that their mission here had just expanded. He stepped inside to get a closer look at the computer system that, from the looks of it, was tied to several government intelligence networks. One seemed specifically targeted to Seattle, primarily Terminal City. Another seemed to monitor information regarding SciTech. Not surprising, since Manticore has apparently been dogging the Conclave for literally thousands of years.
"Hey!" a voice whispered. Alec found Lydecker's gun pointed straight at his head, although he could have blocked it with relative ease. "Not bad, old man. Still got the edge..." His eyes widened as he saw the computer equipment.
Entering, he passed Lydecker, who didn't know what annoyed him more; the fact that Alec had startled him, that he hadn't heard the transgenic behind him or that he'd almost shot one of his own. Of course, Lydecker figured Alec probably would have avoided the bullet, but that wasn't relevant.
"There wasn't anything down the other corridor, except a doorway with stairs leading down to the basement. I figured we should both check down there." he reported, looking closer at the information rolling across the screen. "Uh oh..." he grunted.
Lydecker looked at what Alec was commenting on and his face tightened. "Come on, let's go. We'll deal with it later."
They exited and closed the door, moving back the way they came to find the door to the basement.
* * * * *
Max reached the top of the stairs and started checking rooms. Not making a sound, she went from room to room, not spending more than a couple of seconds checking each.
She opened a door on the right, but the man who stood within it was so unobtrusively statuesque that she nearly closed the door again.
"Come in, my dear." Legion stated, "If you'll forgive the stereotypical response... I've been waiting for you."
"I'm here for Logan." she replied. "Nothing more. Don't get in my way."
"Come in first and close the door. I have something to talk to you about, then I'll tell you where you can find Mr. Cale."
She considered the offer. He might call an alarm if she walked out, which wouldn't inconvenience her much but it would probably hinder her finding Logan if he was well hidden. On the flip side, he might provide some valuable information. Bad guys seem to let information slip when they felt they had the upper hand. Yet she had already gone up against him once and knew he had a potent bag of tricks... besides, the last time they'd met he threatened to exterminate her mother. She owed him something for that one...
She walked in and closed the door.
"All right, what do you want? As I'm sure you're aware, I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible." she demanded.
He smiled. "Direct as always. I like that. Very well; to the point it is. I sense you've come to a decision about the possible attack against Manticore. It also seems you've discovered who your mother really is. No matter, I really only wanted to see if you'd actually do it."
She sighed. "Bravo. Now about Logan?"
"I'd like you to work for me." he said simply.
Feeling as if her mind had suddenly slipped a track, she played it over again mentally. No, she didn't miss anything, the man simply seemed to enjoy switching the subject at hand without notice. "Thanks, but I've already got a full time job keeping the rest of the world from messing with my family."
He nodded. "Ah yes, the transgenics. What if I told you I would arrange for the pressure against you to stop completely? I might even be convinced into having the Senator arrange a petition for a Transgenic Freedom Act. In fact, I could probably be convinced into arranging much more for them."
She considered it. "What would you possibly need me for? You've got the Conclave in your hip pocket, you can control people at will, I'm just a pain in the butt transgenic that would probably just annoy you to no end. Really, you don't want me working for you. So what say you tell me where Logan is and we part company without destroying the premises, eh?"
"You have a very influential personality. People like that, and I like it."
"I see. Naaaah, I like my life the way it is, thanks." she replied. "Now. Where is Logan?"
He stood. The desk slid to one side on it's own, rather than his walking around it. "Disappointing. I'm afraid I'm going to have to resort to one last cliché in that case... 'time to take the gloves off.'"
She bolted to the door but stopped just short of it, finding herself once again unable to move her arms or legs or her head.
She was trapped.