Disclaimer: See previous chapters and all that jazz.
A/N: Many thanks to alaidh and catherder for betaing the aussie outta me. Also many thanks to everyone who has reviewed.
Chapter 7
Alec had insisted on driving Beverly's car. They had abandoned his bike behind a conveniently placed dumpster in Sector 5 before taking the charcoal gray SUV. Max had fumed for a while over Alec's recalcitrance, but she gradually saw the sense, finally realizing that she wasn't in a fit state to drive, in any case. He was cool, calm, and collected, whereas the combination of raging hormones, stress, and lack of sleep had her on edge. Original Cindy was right; I do need sleep.
It had been an easy trip out of town, for once. They weren't stopped at a single sector point, for which Alec was truly glad. Alec noted briefly that Max had her phone in one hand and had the other resting gently on her stomach. She had tried Logan's number several more times, but seemed to have given up for now. In return, Max reflected on how much Alec had changed since he'd barged into her cell at Manticore as her assigned "breeding partner." Breeding partner…chose my own, didn't I? Take that, Manticore!
Alec glanced away from the road and looked at Max a little strangely. He had felt her eyes boring into him, and it discomforted him. He disguised the crawling feeling by switching on Beverly's police radio, scanning for some clue as to where they needed to go other than "Gray's Harbor." Gray's Harbor was a large area to search; more specificity was definitely required.
Max batted his hand out of the way. "You drive. Let me do that."
The radio was unusually silent on the subject of exploding hotel rooms. They heard a frantic call from an officer giving chase to a car involved in a robbery in Olympia, and another chasing a speeding car on the highway; that was all. They passed through a couple of small towns, stopping every once in a while for Max to use the bathroom, but also checking out the local hotels and eateries.
"Whoa, pull up!"
Max's sudden exclamation had Alec looking at her a little strangely. "Not another PB?"
She glared at him. "Back up a bit."
Alec looked both ways and then executed a U-turn. They were on the main street of a small town and had just come past a hotel of sorts – a scattered collection of wooden cabins on a street corner.
"Slowly…there, you see it?"
"I see it." Alec parked the car and unbuckled his seatbelt. Ignoring Max's glare, he added, "Stay here. I'm gonna take a look."
*~*~*~
On entering the large room, Logan felt at an immediate physical disadvantage. Lydecker hadn't seen him in the wheelchair since November 2019, and while Lydecker must have known about the exoskeleton, it bothered Logan that the shorter man now towered over him. They were in what appeared to be yet another barn. The laptop was sitting on a long, central table, still in its case, apparently untouched. Lydecker, checking a list of items on a clipboard, nodded at him curtly as he opened the case and set up the computer on the table. They were alone for the moment, although the several chairs and a flickering TV set gave evidence that others were around.
"I need a power socket – battery's dead…and…where's my backpack? The disks were in it." Logan looked at Lydecker, suddenly concerned.
"Backpack? No. You weren't carrying one," Lydecker responded.
"I need the disks. I can't finish deciphering the codes without them."
"Where was it?"
"I thought I was carrying it…might be in the car…"
Lydecker stuck his head around a side door and called out for someone, then he was gone through another exit. Logan heard a loud roar as a powerful engine started, before someone else entered the room.
*~*~*~
"It's Logan's…" Alec spun his head quickly to look behind him, hearing Max hiss one word.
"Lydecker!"
Alec's eyes narrowed as he saw the former Manticore colonel. "Max…"
He was speaking to air - Max was already out of the car. Coming up behind her former bête noire, she put a hand over his mouth, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back roughly toward the rear door of Beverly Shankar's SUV, which Alec obligingly opened for her. Max backed in, pulling Lydecker after her.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Max's tone was angry, her words issuing from between clenched teeth.
"It's…not what you think, Max." Lydecker struggled against her briefly, then realized it was futile – she was much stronger than he was.
"Where's Logan?"
"He's fine."
"Prove it."
Lydecker sighed. "I'll take you to him."
Max jerked her chin at Alec, indicating he should get in the car. "Drive." She then turned her attention back to Lydecker. "You can direct."
*~*~*~
"Logan?" a female voice said softly.
Logan quickly turned away from the table and looked into a pair of pretty, dark eyes framed by a mane of long blonde hair. "Syl," he smiled.
"Nice to see you…awake." She smiled up at him from where she was crouched, digging in the bottom of a large box.
"Nice to be awake," he responded, rubbing the back of his head and regretting it instantly as his fingers came in contact with a lump the size of an egg.
"Feeling okay?"
"Well, aside from the thousand bongos in my head…yeah, I guess."
"And Max? How is she?"
Logan's expression changed subtly, conflicting emotions sweeping across his features – pride, worry, happiness, fear. "She's fine, at least, she was …"
If Syl noticed his hesitation, she gave no sign, as her smile broadened and she said, "Good. I'm glad."
"Syl!" a voice called from outside.
"Hang on!" she called back.
Logan opened the computer case and pulled out the electrical cord, hooking it up, but then he was at a loss. The nearest power outlet that he could see was on the far side of the room and he had no extension cord. "Um, Syl, do you think you could, ah…" he waved the plug in the air.
"What I'm looking for," she responded, again digging in the box. "Ah, here it is." She dragged out a long cable, plugged it into the wall, and snaked it across the floor to Logan. "Here you go."
"How did you know?"
"Heard what you said to Lydecker."
"Does he have you watching me?"
"No, of course not," Syl replied, a hurt expression on her face. "But this place has thin walls, and, well, X5 hearing..."
"What're you doing with Lydecker?"
"Well, it sure as hell isn't the pay and conditions."
Logan laughed. "Seriously."
"He asked us for help on this one. Said he needed the best of the best."
"And you believed him?"
"We didn't have anything better to do at the time."
"Syl!" the insistent voice again came from outside.
"I'm coming!" Her impatience now was a tangible thing. She sighed, flicked her hair off her face, and was gone.
*~*~*~
Max's head was having a hard time ruling her heart with Lydecker in the car. It annoyed her intensely that Lydecker seemed more amused than afraid, now that they were moving. For herself, she had an equivocal relationship with him. On the one hand, there were all those events of her childhood, colored, as he himself had said, by looking at them with a child's eyes. On the other hand, there were the times in the last few years, where he had been of assistance, had even come to the rescue. She had a real battle raging within her mind as to how to react to him. Was he a mentor or a tormentor?
Alec had not been part of Deck's group, had been based elsewhere, and his only experience with Lydecker had been as an adult, but Max still found herself wondering what his real intentions were. She hated not knowing what was going on. Logan, you are so going to pay for this! I thought we were past all this 'keep the bad stuff to yourself' nonsense; guess I was wrong. We really need to talk.
"I want to know why someone tried to stick me with a syringe in the marketplace today," Max said evenly.
"They're after breeding females," Lydecker flicked a quick glance at Max's swollen belly. "Proven breeders."
"Tell me this isn't another let's-breed-a-super-race scenario. I thought we already dealt with that one when we took down Manticore."
Lydecker clenched his jaw and snorted through his nostrils. His expression was grim. "They're trying to pervert Manticore technology to their own ends."
"That's new how?"
"You want your child to grow up in a concentration camp, without the freedom to chose the life it wants to lead?"
"And how we grew up was different to this in what sense?"
"You had enough to eat, you had mental stimulation…"
"Oh, you mean drills and rote learning and the slops dished up in the mess with a side-serve of vitamins. Teaching nine-year-olds how to kill without compunction, to hold their breath under-water for hours. Breaking our bones to see how long it took us to heal. Dissecting us when something went wrong. Yes, such a wonderful life."
Alec snickered and muttered something under his breath.
"You want to contribute to the conversation, Alec?"
"No, go ahead, Max."
"Left here," said Lydecker. "This is different. They're breeding slave labor for farms and factories. They plan on giving basic nutrition, no more. There will be no education of any sort. These children will be taken from their mothers and raised as slaves from birth. They will be trained to operate basic machinery, to pick fruit, herd cows, whatever."
Max gave a bitter laugh. "And this differs from Manticore in what respect?"
"Max, we were soldiers, not farm labor," Alec chimed in from the front seat.
She gave the back of Alec's head a dirty look. "What does this have to do with Logan?"
"I need his computer skills. Need him to hack into the system, set up the tape loop…get us in there."
"So get your own guys to do it."
"Max," Lydecker turned to face her, his expression grim. "He's better than they are. We both know that. And he has…"
"More to lose?" The irony wasn't lost on her. She leaned back into the seat, some of the tension draining out of her. "Okay, so we better deal with this bitch."