The Story of Max Cale
by pari106
pari106@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/pari106/damain.html
Disclaimer and rating in chapter 1.
Chapter 9
Logan followed Lydecker through the trees besides the rest area where they'd stopped. They walked for a
short while before either man spoke.
"What's your name, son?" Deck finally asked.
The other man paused, for just a moment. It wasn't a long moment, but it was a pause, anyhow.
"Logan."
Deck raised an eyebrow. "Just Logan?"
Logan didn't even blink. "Just Logan."
His companion had enough trust issues as it were. Logan had no intention of telling him he was the
nephew of Jonas Cale, executive of Cale Industries…the corporation that built microchips for technology
used by the very government Lydecker was trying to avoid…if he didn't have to.
They stopped.
"Well, Logan…let me point a few things out to you."
He caught the younger man's gaze in his own.
"You are currently standing within a hundred mile radius of Manticore's main complex."
Logan blinked.
"Yeah, that's right. We're just on the outskirts of Gillette. You're standing within a hundred mile radius of
the *real* government capital, and you're standing here talking to a known traitor to the U.S. government."
Deck said all these things casually. He slipped his hands into his coat pocket.
"Now, the fact that you went through so much trouble to put yourself into this position, tells me you think
you have a good reason for doing so." He shrugged. "Either that or you're stupid."
Logan laughed. That cocky grin was back. "I found you," he reminded the other man.
Deck could give him that. But, still…
"The only thing that tells me, is that I haven't been doing my job as well as I should."
"And what is your job, colonel?"
Deck smirked. It had been a long time since anyone besides his wife called him 'colonel'.
"To make sure Manticore never knows that I'm within a hundred mile radius of them."
He started walking again, and again Logan followed.
He'd been living here in Wyoming ever since he'd defected. He and his wife. He knew perhaps that he
was being irrational. That woman the board got to replace him was good. She wasn't the best, but she was
good. If any young hotshot with a PC could get to Deck, then it was just a matter of time before she did, as
well. But until now Deck had never been able to convince himself to leave. Adrianna probably would
have preferred their leaving. But she knew why Deck stayed. She never mentioned leaving because she
knew why he had to stay. Because of them. His kids. Because of her. The "daughter" no one knew was
still alive.
He stayed to keep an eye on Manticore. To keep an eye on his kids.
He was there when his kid, number 656, got into trouble. When her cover had been blown and her family
was in danger. He'd helped her and her husband and child escape over the Canadian border. He was there
when number 493 developed a chemical imbalance at the age of fifteen. All the kids had chemical
imbalances; deficiencies that caused them to have severe seizures. When he'd worked at Manticore he'd
done his best to hide the seizures from the board. He could only guess that his kids started covering for
themselves once he'd left. But 493's imbalance was different. He started to develop…unstable tendencies.
It had taken Deck every connection he had left within the country to secure the medication and therapy 493
needed to overcome his difficulties. He would be taking that medication for the rest of his life. But he
would live. And he would live like the others. He wouldn't self-implode, the way he would have if Deck
hadn't intervened. He would live because Deck had been there.
That was Deck's way of atoning for the fact that 493 lived in the first place. That any of them lived. That
he had given those children a life behind cold, sterile walls under gunpoint.
Lydecker shook himself out of his reverie looking over at his companion.
He abruptly stopped once again.
"I know who you are," he finally said. And this time he had the pleasure of seeing that he'd managed to
really surprise the other man.
He took a step closer.
"You don't think I'd survived all this time by meeting with just anyone who claimed to know something
about my kids."
"I..uh…your kids?"
"The X5s."
Deck suddenly made a point of studying the foliage around them.
"They were my project. I was their…teacher. They were my kids."
He looked back at Logan and saw the younger man glancing at his pockets.
He sighed, pulling his hands out and raising them.
"I'm not going to shoot you, son. I know who you are because I made a point of knowing. Ever since you
were about fifteen years old."
Again, he'd managed to shock Logan.
"What?"
Deck smiled. But the expression slowly disappeared.
"She was special, you know. She's special. You know that. You wouldn't be here if you didn't."
"I…"
"She was created using the DNA from my late wife, did you know that? In a way…she really was like my
own kid. I certainly loved her as though she was." As though she were his own daughter.
Deck's gaze was unflinching. There had been a time when he would have shied away from human
emotion. After his first wife mysteriously died he'd abandoned humanity. But once he'd reclaimed it, he
took no shame in doing so. He'd suffered for his country, he'd sacrificed, without objection, without
emotion, for most of his adult life. He'd earned the right to a little humanity. And a little emotion.
Even if he didn't usually flaunt it about.
Deck coughed, looking away, then back.
"I had to make sure she found a good home."
Finally, Logan smiled. He'd been right.
"Max. You helped her escape," he said. It wasn't a question.
Deck nodded.
"Her seizures were worse than any of the others. They would have eliminated her for that. I couldn't let
that happen." His eyes darkened with anger at the thought, and he saw the same look in the other man's
eyes. He smiled, knowing he'd made the right decision by meeting with this man. That he'd made the
right decision ten years ago by having Adrianna meet with the Cales; posing as a caseworker and delivering
Max to them.
He remembered years before that, during his first marriage. His wife was pregnant with their child. It had
been a summer night, and they'd sat on the back porch of their home, just staring at her stomach with
wonder. They'd had no idea that she and their unborn child would die only three months later.
"I want to name him Max," she'd suddenly said.
Deck had raised a brow. His wife had been like that. Spontaneous. They hadn't talked about a single baby
name, and suddenly she just throws one out, with that look of total certainty in her eyes with which she did
everything.
"Why?"
"For my brother Max."
Deck had laughed.
"You haven't spoken to Max in three years. And the last time you did, you tried to hit him with the car."
"He made me angry!"
"Well, I hope so. I'd hate to think you go around, trying to run over people who make you happy."
She'd smiled at that, planting a kiss on his neck.
"If that were true, honey, I'd have run you over a long time ago."
Deck had just sort of coughed at that. Damn, but he'd hated when she got sentimental. She'd always made
him blush, and it had driven him crazy.
After she was gone, he would have given his life to blush again.
"He's family," she'd insisted. And Deck hadn't understood that then. He hadn't any family. He hadn't
anything but her and his duty. Then, when she was gone, he had nothing but duty. Nothing but his service
to sustain him. Until he met Adrianna. And then when he was put in charge of his kids.
"And what if it's a girl?" he'd reasoned. They hadn't wanted to know. Well, she hadn't wanted to know.
He hadn't thought he'd cared. Until the child was gone. He'd been haunted ever since by the not knowing.
Had he lost a daughter or a son? Either way, the child was lost. But it felt wrong somehow, not knowing
which.
She'd looked at him mischievously, and had smiled even more widely. "Then we'll still name her Max."
They never did.
But, years later, when a tiny baby girl, with dark eyes, dark hair and skin, looked up at him from her bed…
Deck had named her Max.
Again, Deck had become lost in his thoughts, and he came out of them, shaking his head. He pulled a file
out of his coat and handed it to Logan.
The other man accepted it.
"What…"
"That's everything Max could ever want to know about herself," Lydecker told him. Then his face
darkened for a moment. "For all the good that knowing will do."
Logan looked up for the file.
"Excuse me?"
Lydecker thought of the other sin for which he had to atone. Participating in the X5s creation had been
one. Not having been able to free all of them had been the other. There was no way he could have gotten
them all out. And even if he had, taking them all would caused too much attention. He'd been able, with
the help of Adrianna, to falsify documentation making it seem as though Max had died. There was no way
he could have done the same thing for all of them. Manticore would have come looking for them, and
they'd have captured them all. Including Max.
"There are others like Max," he told Logan now.
"I know. Other x-series soldiers."
Deck shook his head. "No, I mean others just like Max. X5s that escaped."
Deck reached into his jacket again and pulled out a photograph. It was a black and white mug shot of a
young boy, about thirteen.
"That's Zack," he told Logan, tapping the photo. "X5 number 599."
"599?"
"The X5s had numbers, not names. They're identified by the barcodes on the back of their necks.
Adrianna and I procured a treatment for Max that would keep the barcode from returning once it was
removed. But the others have theirs permanently. Max's number was 459."
"459…"
Logan repeated the number to himself, remembering the rumor about the barcodes. Remembering the barcode he'd seen on the back of the neck of the woman who'd broken into his penthouse. This was all beginning to sound like some sort of science fiction
story. He'd wanted to pursue Max's past, for her, but he'd never realized how emotional that pursuit could
become for both of them. Just thinking about the world in which she could have grown up. The world
where she'd been born…as just a number, not a person. Bar-coded like a thing. In danger of "elimination"
for a health problem that hadn't even been her fault. Logan's jaw clenched. But he forced himself to stay
focused on their conversation. Something the colonel said caught his attention.
"Adrianna?" he asked.
Lydecker blinked. He hadn't even realized he'd said her name. This was an emotional subject for him, as
well.
He took the photo back from Logan and put it in his coat. He didn't answer but he didn't have to.
'Adrianna Vertes,' Logan thought.
So the second part of his hypothesis had been confirmed, as well. It had been the doctor who'd disappeared
from Manticore who had helped Max.
But the colonel obviously did not want to comment on that topic, so he dropped it. He motioned to the
pocket where Lydecker had stashed the picture instead.
"He's a little young, don't you think?" he asked.
"That picture is the last that was taken before the escape. He was eleven at the time. He orchestrated the
escape."
This surprised Logan.
"At eleven years old?"
Lydecker nodded, grimly. "You have to understand, son, this isn't a boarding school we're talking about.
These children were trained to do exactly what they were created to do: to fight, to kill. Escape and evade.
I heard the others named him "Zack". I was gone by then. He was trained as their commanding officer."
Lydecker shook his head. His eyes full of a regret Logan couldn't even grasp at.
"My greatest regret…" he began before he realized what he was saying. Then he realized he might as well
finish. "My greatest regret was leaving them behind. Any of them. It had been hard on them before. I can
only imagine what it was like when *she* took over." He didn't specify who "she" was, but Logan didn't
get a chance to ask. Because then the colonel snapped out of the melancholy reflection.
"He's a couple of years older than Max," Lydecker said now. "He helped the others escape in '09. Did a
good job, too. Eighteen of the X5s got out, altogether. Only a handful of them were lost during the
attempt."
Logan felt a chill at the casual way the colonel said this. They were talking about children here. A
"handful" of children who weren't "lost", they were killed, weren't they? "Eliminated".
"I've managed to keep an eye on some of them over the years. Whenever I've caught wind of an order
coming from the board concerning the X5s, I've done my best to help." Lydecker's hand unconsciously
went to his chest. Right over the pocket where he'd placed the photograph of the boy. Then, when he
noticed this, he smiled sheepishly, tapping the picture through his coat.
"But I never found this one. He's too clever. If any of those kids had a tough life, and they did, this one
had the toughest. As the CO he was responsible for the actions of all of the others, not just his own. And
he's been living off the streets ever since the escape. He keeps the others in line. They take his orders.
And he watches over them."
Logan thought about this –about the boy in the picture. He was at once sympathetic and fearful. What
must it have been like, to grow up like that? To never have a childhood. To have your life constantly in
danger. To have a life of nothing but rules and regulations and training to kill. What must that have done
to a boy? What kind of a man must that sort of life have made?
"All I'm saying, son," Lydecker continued, "is that I understand why Max wants to know about her past. I
understand that you want to give her that. But think about it first. Those kids, Zack, they knew exactly
who and what they were. And they weren't a damn bit happier because of it."
Logan looked from Lydecker to the folder.
"And if you tell her, she's going to want to find the others. That might not be a wise decision," Lydecker
said.
Logan's eyes snapped back to the colonel at that. He didn't like the way the man said that.
"What do you mean?"
Lydecker sighed.
"I mean exactly what I said. Those kids are loyal to one another. Incredibly so. They'd do anything for
each other, to protect one another. But, Logan, as far as they're concerned…Max isn't one of them. As far
as they know, she died in infancy, just like Manticore believes. Zack was only two when Max was taken.
The others were even younger. They don't even know that she exists."
Lydecker did his best to drive this point home for Cale. He loved his kids. He worried about them. All of
them – especially Zack. Not despite how dangerous he may have become, but because of it. Because he
knew that whatever kind of man Zack had become, he'd become so because Lydecker had left him there at
Manticore to survive on his own. Despite this love, however, Lydecker had no illusions about what his
kids were capable of. He didn't want Logan to have any illusions either.
"If Max goes looking for the X5s they could misinterpret her motives. They could consider her a threat."
Lydecker's face was grim as he said this, the subtle warning behind his tone very clear. "Zack isn't said to handle threats very graciously."
Silence followed his words.
Finally Logan looked at him, serious. He knew the trust the colonel was putting in him even just by
meeting him today. He knew the trust he was putting in him by giving him this information, and by letting
him be the one to decide whether or not to pass it on to Max.
The thing was, he didn't consider it to be his decision. He'd already realized that it was Max's right to
know who she was. He was Eyes Only; a "crusader for truth". He didn't shy away from the facts just
because they might be hurtful. He couldn't be hypocriful now and try to shield her from the truth. Even to
protect her. Telling her the truth might be the only way to keep her safe. Especially if what Lydecker said
about these other X5s were true. What if Max somehow happened upon one of them, one day? What if
one of them somehow found her? What if Manticore some how caught on to what Lydecker had done and
came after her? She'd need to know the facts to be able to defend herself.
Still, Logan knew that the colonel had a point. He knew that he was trusting him to do the right thing here,
and he knew that trust was not placed lightly. Or happily.
"I'll think about it," he promised.
Lydecker just nodded.
"Then I think our discussion here is over, don't you?"
"I guess so."
There was a moment, and then Logan stuck out his hand. This had been it. He had met Colonel Donald
Lydecker. By all intense purposes, the closest thing Max had to a biological father. The reason she had
survived Manticore to come and live with the Cales. The man Logan owed his life for having helped Max
to survive.
Likewise, Lydecker felt as though their meeting had…justified him in some way. He and Adrianna had
handpicked the Cales very carefully as Max's adoptive parents. They'd gone through a great deal of effort
to ensure her safety with them. But they'd never been able to be entirely sure that Max would make it. If
there was anything of which Lydecker was certain, it was that you could never be certain. Such was the
paradox that defined his existence. Now, however, he saw that he'd made the right choice. Max had made
it. He'd given her that. And he'd given her what he'd been denied himself – a family.
He'd known he would like the Cales. He'd met Logan Sr. once, and the two had hit it off right away. He'd
admired the man. And he could tell his son had some of the same qualities. Logan Jr. was likeable, loyal,
and perceptive. He kind of reminded Deck of himself when he'd been younger.
And he'd been willing to risk his life for a dark eyed, dark-haired beauty named Max. Deck could certainly
relate to that.
When Logan held out his hand, Lydecker shook it.
"Take care of yourself, son," he told him.
"You, too."
Lydecker smiled. Didn't he always?
Then he turned, and began walking in the opposite direction of Logan's car.
Logan blinked.
"Uh…don't you…do you need a ride back into town?"
Lydecker just waved the question away. And Logan turned his head for just a moment, just to glimpse
back at his vehicle, sitting there by the road, some distance away.
When he turned back, the colonel was gone.
Short moments later, he heard a jeep starting its engine, from a distance away.
He shook his head, smiling despite himself.
Well, he should have known. After all…he'd said himself that the colonel never did anything without a
reason.
Logan began to walk back to his car…
Then suddenly found himself lying on the ground.
"What the…"
He began to rise, but a boot at his throat caused him to still.
"One move, and you're dead," an angry female voice commanded.
Logan sighed. Once again, he couldn't argue with that.
"Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." his attacker coldly said next.
Logan looked up at her black clad figure, then over to the highway. He'd gotten past the trees and into the
clearing of the rest area before she'd assaulted him.
"Because the motorists might find the scene offensive?" he asked weakly.
That got her.
She blinked and glanced over at the highway, as well. Two cars were just coming over the next rise.
So she reached down and pulled Logan to his feet.
"Fine. Move it into the car," she ordered.
Logan sighed, and did as she said.
Army types. They were definitely not very talkative.
by pari106
pari106@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/pari106/damain.html
Disclaimer and rating in chapter 1.
Chapter 9
Logan followed Lydecker through the trees besides the rest area where they'd stopped. They walked for a
short while before either man spoke.
"What's your name, son?" Deck finally asked.
The other man paused, for just a moment. It wasn't a long moment, but it was a pause, anyhow.
"Logan."
Deck raised an eyebrow. "Just Logan?"
Logan didn't even blink. "Just Logan."
His companion had enough trust issues as it were. Logan had no intention of telling him he was the
nephew of Jonas Cale, executive of Cale Industries…the corporation that built microchips for technology
used by the very government Lydecker was trying to avoid…if he didn't have to.
They stopped.
"Well, Logan…let me point a few things out to you."
He caught the younger man's gaze in his own.
"You are currently standing within a hundred mile radius of Manticore's main complex."
Logan blinked.
"Yeah, that's right. We're just on the outskirts of Gillette. You're standing within a hundred mile radius of
the *real* government capital, and you're standing here talking to a known traitor to the U.S. government."
Deck said all these things casually. He slipped his hands into his coat pocket.
"Now, the fact that you went through so much trouble to put yourself into this position, tells me you think
you have a good reason for doing so." He shrugged. "Either that or you're stupid."
Logan laughed. That cocky grin was back. "I found you," he reminded the other man.
Deck could give him that. But, still…
"The only thing that tells me, is that I haven't been doing my job as well as I should."
"And what is your job, colonel?"
Deck smirked. It had been a long time since anyone besides his wife called him 'colonel'.
"To make sure Manticore never knows that I'm within a hundred mile radius of them."
He started walking again, and again Logan followed.
He'd been living here in Wyoming ever since he'd defected. He and his wife. He knew perhaps that he
was being irrational. That woman the board got to replace him was good. She wasn't the best, but she was
good. If any young hotshot with a PC could get to Deck, then it was just a matter of time before she did, as
well. But until now Deck had never been able to convince himself to leave. Adrianna probably would
have preferred their leaving. But she knew why Deck stayed. She never mentioned leaving because she
knew why he had to stay. Because of them. His kids. Because of her. The "daughter" no one knew was
still alive.
He stayed to keep an eye on Manticore. To keep an eye on his kids.
He was there when his kid, number 656, got into trouble. When her cover had been blown and her family
was in danger. He'd helped her and her husband and child escape over the Canadian border. He was there
when number 493 developed a chemical imbalance at the age of fifteen. All the kids had chemical
imbalances; deficiencies that caused them to have severe seizures. When he'd worked at Manticore he'd
done his best to hide the seizures from the board. He could only guess that his kids started covering for
themselves once he'd left. But 493's imbalance was different. He started to develop…unstable tendencies.
It had taken Deck every connection he had left within the country to secure the medication and therapy 493
needed to overcome his difficulties. He would be taking that medication for the rest of his life. But he
would live. And he would live like the others. He wouldn't self-implode, the way he would have if Deck
hadn't intervened. He would live because Deck had been there.
That was Deck's way of atoning for the fact that 493 lived in the first place. That any of them lived. That
he had given those children a life behind cold, sterile walls under gunpoint.
Lydecker shook himself out of his reverie looking over at his companion.
He abruptly stopped once again.
"I know who you are," he finally said. And this time he had the pleasure of seeing that he'd managed to
really surprise the other man.
He took a step closer.
"You don't think I'd survived all this time by meeting with just anyone who claimed to know something
about my kids."
"I..uh…your kids?"
"The X5s."
Deck suddenly made a point of studying the foliage around them.
"They were my project. I was their…teacher. They were my kids."
He looked back at Logan and saw the younger man glancing at his pockets.
He sighed, pulling his hands out and raising them.
"I'm not going to shoot you, son. I know who you are because I made a point of knowing. Ever since you
were about fifteen years old."
Again, he'd managed to shock Logan.
"What?"
Deck smiled. But the expression slowly disappeared.
"She was special, you know. She's special. You know that. You wouldn't be here if you didn't."
"I…"
"She was created using the DNA from my late wife, did you know that? In a way…she really was like my
own kid. I certainly loved her as though she was." As though she were his own daughter.
Deck's gaze was unflinching. There had been a time when he would have shied away from human
emotion. After his first wife mysteriously died he'd abandoned humanity. But once he'd reclaimed it, he
took no shame in doing so. He'd suffered for his country, he'd sacrificed, without objection, without
emotion, for most of his adult life. He'd earned the right to a little humanity. And a little emotion.
Even if he didn't usually flaunt it about.
Deck coughed, looking away, then back.
"I had to make sure she found a good home."
Finally, Logan smiled. He'd been right.
"Max. You helped her escape," he said. It wasn't a question.
Deck nodded.
"Her seizures were worse than any of the others. They would have eliminated her for that. I couldn't let
that happen." His eyes darkened with anger at the thought, and he saw the same look in the other man's
eyes. He smiled, knowing he'd made the right decision by meeting with this man. That he'd made the
right decision ten years ago by having Adrianna meet with the Cales; posing as a caseworker and delivering
Max to them.
He remembered years before that, during his first marriage. His wife was pregnant with their child. It had
been a summer night, and they'd sat on the back porch of their home, just staring at her stomach with
wonder. They'd had no idea that she and their unborn child would die only three months later.
"I want to name him Max," she'd suddenly said.
Deck had raised a brow. His wife had been like that. Spontaneous. They hadn't talked about a single baby
name, and suddenly she just throws one out, with that look of total certainty in her eyes with which she did
everything.
"Why?"
"For my brother Max."
Deck had laughed.
"You haven't spoken to Max in three years. And the last time you did, you tried to hit him with the car."
"He made me angry!"
"Well, I hope so. I'd hate to think you go around, trying to run over people who make you happy."
She'd smiled at that, planting a kiss on his neck.
"If that were true, honey, I'd have run you over a long time ago."
Deck had just sort of coughed at that. Damn, but he'd hated when she got sentimental. She'd always made
him blush, and it had driven him crazy.
After she was gone, he would have given his life to blush again.
"He's family," she'd insisted. And Deck hadn't understood that then. He hadn't any family. He hadn't
anything but her and his duty. Then, when she was gone, he had nothing but duty. Nothing but his service
to sustain him. Until he met Adrianna. And then when he was put in charge of his kids.
"And what if it's a girl?" he'd reasoned. They hadn't wanted to know. Well, she hadn't wanted to know.
He hadn't thought he'd cared. Until the child was gone. He'd been haunted ever since by the not knowing.
Had he lost a daughter or a son? Either way, the child was lost. But it felt wrong somehow, not knowing
which.
She'd looked at him mischievously, and had smiled even more widely. "Then we'll still name her Max."
They never did.
But, years later, when a tiny baby girl, with dark eyes, dark hair and skin, looked up at him from her bed…
Deck had named her Max.
Again, Deck had become lost in his thoughts, and he came out of them, shaking his head. He pulled a file
out of his coat and handed it to Logan.
The other man accepted it.
"What…"
"That's everything Max could ever want to know about herself," Lydecker told him. Then his face
darkened for a moment. "For all the good that knowing will do."
Logan looked up for the file.
"Excuse me?"
Lydecker thought of the other sin for which he had to atone. Participating in the X5s creation had been
one. Not having been able to free all of them had been the other. There was no way he could have gotten
them all out. And even if he had, taking them all would caused too much attention. He'd been able, with
the help of Adrianna, to falsify documentation making it seem as though Max had died. There was no way
he could have done the same thing for all of them. Manticore would have come looking for them, and
they'd have captured them all. Including Max.
"There are others like Max," he told Logan now.
"I know. Other x-series soldiers."
Deck shook his head. "No, I mean others just like Max. X5s that escaped."
Deck reached into his jacket again and pulled out a photograph. It was a black and white mug shot of a
young boy, about thirteen.
"That's Zack," he told Logan, tapping the photo. "X5 number 599."
"599?"
"The X5s had numbers, not names. They're identified by the barcodes on the back of their necks.
Adrianna and I procured a treatment for Max that would keep the barcode from returning once it was
removed. But the others have theirs permanently. Max's number was 459."
"459…"
Logan repeated the number to himself, remembering the rumor about the barcodes. Remembering the barcode he'd seen on the back of the neck of the woman who'd broken into his penthouse. This was all beginning to sound like some sort of science fiction
story. He'd wanted to pursue Max's past, for her, but he'd never realized how emotional that pursuit could
become for both of them. Just thinking about the world in which she could have grown up. The world
where she'd been born…as just a number, not a person. Bar-coded like a thing. In danger of "elimination"
for a health problem that hadn't even been her fault. Logan's jaw clenched. But he forced himself to stay
focused on their conversation. Something the colonel said caught his attention.
"Adrianna?" he asked.
Lydecker blinked. He hadn't even realized he'd said her name. This was an emotional subject for him, as
well.
He took the photo back from Logan and put it in his coat. He didn't answer but he didn't have to.
'Adrianna Vertes,' Logan thought.
So the second part of his hypothesis had been confirmed, as well. It had been the doctor who'd disappeared
from Manticore who had helped Max.
But the colonel obviously did not want to comment on that topic, so he dropped it. He motioned to the
pocket where Lydecker had stashed the picture instead.
"He's a little young, don't you think?" he asked.
"That picture is the last that was taken before the escape. He was eleven at the time. He orchestrated the
escape."
This surprised Logan.
"At eleven years old?"
Lydecker nodded, grimly. "You have to understand, son, this isn't a boarding school we're talking about.
These children were trained to do exactly what they were created to do: to fight, to kill. Escape and evade.
I heard the others named him "Zack". I was gone by then. He was trained as their commanding officer."
Lydecker shook his head. His eyes full of a regret Logan couldn't even grasp at.
"My greatest regret…" he began before he realized what he was saying. Then he realized he might as well
finish. "My greatest regret was leaving them behind. Any of them. It had been hard on them before. I can
only imagine what it was like when *she* took over." He didn't specify who "she" was, but Logan didn't
get a chance to ask. Because then the colonel snapped out of the melancholy reflection.
"He's a couple of years older than Max," Lydecker said now. "He helped the others escape in '09. Did a
good job, too. Eighteen of the X5s got out, altogether. Only a handful of them were lost during the
attempt."
Logan felt a chill at the casual way the colonel said this. They were talking about children here. A
"handful" of children who weren't "lost", they were killed, weren't they? "Eliminated".
"I've managed to keep an eye on some of them over the years. Whenever I've caught wind of an order
coming from the board concerning the X5s, I've done my best to help." Lydecker's hand unconsciously
went to his chest. Right over the pocket where he'd placed the photograph of the boy. Then, when he
noticed this, he smiled sheepishly, tapping the picture through his coat.
"But I never found this one. He's too clever. If any of those kids had a tough life, and they did, this one
had the toughest. As the CO he was responsible for the actions of all of the others, not just his own. And
he's been living off the streets ever since the escape. He keeps the others in line. They take his orders.
And he watches over them."
Logan thought about this –about the boy in the picture. He was at once sympathetic and fearful. What
must it have been like, to grow up like that? To never have a childhood. To have your life constantly in
danger. To have a life of nothing but rules and regulations and training to kill. What must that have done
to a boy? What kind of a man must that sort of life have made?
"All I'm saying, son," Lydecker continued, "is that I understand why Max wants to know about her past. I
understand that you want to give her that. But think about it first. Those kids, Zack, they knew exactly
who and what they were. And they weren't a damn bit happier because of it."
Logan looked from Lydecker to the folder.
"And if you tell her, she's going to want to find the others. That might not be a wise decision," Lydecker
said.
Logan's eyes snapped back to the colonel at that. He didn't like the way the man said that.
"What do you mean?"
Lydecker sighed.
"I mean exactly what I said. Those kids are loyal to one another. Incredibly so. They'd do anything for
each other, to protect one another. But, Logan, as far as they're concerned…Max isn't one of them. As far
as they know, she died in infancy, just like Manticore believes. Zack was only two when Max was taken.
The others were even younger. They don't even know that she exists."
Lydecker did his best to drive this point home for Cale. He loved his kids. He worried about them. All of
them – especially Zack. Not despite how dangerous he may have become, but because of it. Because he
knew that whatever kind of man Zack had become, he'd become so because Lydecker had left him there at
Manticore to survive on his own. Despite this love, however, Lydecker had no illusions about what his
kids were capable of. He didn't want Logan to have any illusions either.
"If Max goes looking for the X5s they could misinterpret her motives. They could consider her a threat."
Lydecker's face was grim as he said this, the subtle warning behind his tone very clear. "Zack isn't said to handle threats very graciously."
Silence followed his words.
Finally Logan looked at him, serious. He knew the trust the colonel was putting in him even just by
meeting him today. He knew the trust he was putting in him by giving him this information, and by letting
him be the one to decide whether or not to pass it on to Max.
The thing was, he didn't consider it to be his decision. He'd already realized that it was Max's right to
know who she was. He was Eyes Only; a "crusader for truth". He didn't shy away from the facts just
because they might be hurtful. He couldn't be hypocriful now and try to shield her from the truth. Even to
protect her. Telling her the truth might be the only way to keep her safe. Especially if what Lydecker said
about these other X5s were true. What if Max somehow happened upon one of them, one day? What if
one of them somehow found her? What if Manticore some how caught on to what Lydecker had done and
came after her? She'd need to know the facts to be able to defend herself.
Still, Logan knew that the colonel had a point. He knew that he was trusting him to do the right thing here,
and he knew that trust was not placed lightly. Or happily.
"I'll think about it," he promised.
Lydecker just nodded.
"Then I think our discussion here is over, don't you?"
"I guess so."
There was a moment, and then Logan stuck out his hand. This had been it. He had met Colonel Donald
Lydecker. By all intense purposes, the closest thing Max had to a biological father. The reason she had
survived Manticore to come and live with the Cales. The man Logan owed his life for having helped Max
to survive.
Likewise, Lydecker felt as though their meeting had…justified him in some way. He and Adrianna had
handpicked the Cales very carefully as Max's adoptive parents. They'd gone through a great deal of effort
to ensure her safety with them. But they'd never been able to be entirely sure that Max would make it. If
there was anything of which Lydecker was certain, it was that you could never be certain. Such was the
paradox that defined his existence. Now, however, he saw that he'd made the right choice. Max had made
it. He'd given her that. And he'd given her what he'd been denied himself – a family.
He'd known he would like the Cales. He'd met Logan Sr. once, and the two had hit it off right away. He'd
admired the man. And he could tell his son had some of the same qualities. Logan Jr. was likeable, loyal,
and perceptive. He kind of reminded Deck of himself when he'd been younger.
And he'd been willing to risk his life for a dark eyed, dark-haired beauty named Max. Deck could certainly
relate to that.
When Logan held out his hand, Lydecker shook it.
"Take care of yourself, son," he told him.
"You, too."
Lydecker smiled. Didn't he always?
Then he turned, and began walking in the opposite direction of Logan's car.
Logan blinked.
"Uh…don't you…do you need a ride back into town?"
Lydecker just waved the question away. And Logan turned his head for just a moment, just to glimpse
back at his vehicle, sitting there by the road, some distance away.
When he turned back, the colonel was gone.
Short moments later, he heard a jeep starting its engine, from a distance away.
He shook his head, smiling despite himself.
Well, he should have known. After all…he'd said himself that the colonel never did anything without a
reason.
Logan began to walk back to his car…
Then suddenly found himself lying on the ground.
"What the…"
He began to rise, but a boot at his throat caused him to still.
"One move, and you're dead," an angry female voice commanded.
Logan sighed. Once again, he couldn't argue with that.
"Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." his attacker coldly said next.
Logan looked up at her black clad figure, then over to the highway. He'd gotten past the trees and into the
clearing of the rest area before she'd assaulted him.
"Because the motorists might find the scene offensive?" he asked weakly.
That got her.
She blinked and glanced over at the highway, as well. Two cars were just coming over the next rise.
So she reached down and pulled Logan to his feet.
"Fine. Move it into the car," she ordered.
Logan sighed, and did as she said.
Army types. They were definitely not very talkative.