Caged Hearts

Part 8

          Max marched to her position in line stone-faced despite the surprise she had seen on the way. 

Among the soldiers in line was 343.  Max hadn't seen her in almost a year.  She'd been in Psych ops ever since Victor's "accident." 

Max remembered the last conversation she had with Jace.  She felt so sorry for her but scared mostly.  Soldiers didn't get pregnant, but Jace had.  When she told Max the news, Max didn't know what to say.  She wouldn't have a clue what to do if she was in Jace's position. Unfortunately, neither had Jace.  In the end she decided to volunteer for a local assassination that would at least get her out of Manticore for a couple of days where she could think. 

But things had gone horribly wrong. 

She hadn't expected the doctor she had been sent to kill to be packing and therefore didn't see the gun until it was too late.  She was able to slit the doctor's throat but not before the doctor got a shot off. 

The pain and the location of the bullet caused her to do a terrible job in patching herself up.  She was unconscious when her handler came to pick her up and take her back to Manticore.  The moment she woke up in the infirmary with Renfro standing over her, she knew that they knew she was pregnant. 

They made her tell them who the father was.  Max would never forget the stricken look on Jace's face when she revealed the moment she finally confessed to them who he was. 

A week later, Victor was gone.  They could have just fired him, but they wanted to make an example which is why they made her identify his body after they pulled it out of the river.  They blamed Jace's sloppy handling of her mission on both her relationship with Victor and her pregnancy.  If the doctor had killed Jace that night, the exposure it would have brought on Manticore would have been inexcusable. 

It's a wonder they didn't terminate Jace right then and there as well.  Actually it wasn't that surprising.  After all, her status provided a unique research opportunity.  But they couldn't let it get out to the rest of us that a unit member was in a family way so they locked her away in psych ops.

Max looked at Jace's flat stomach and wondered if Jace had been allowed to hold her baby or if she was allowed to even see her child ever again.  She doubted it.  The glazed look in her eyes was probably not that of a mother who got to spend time with her child.  Max felt her heart tug at the unfairness of it all.  She wished there was something she could do.

          "Reload!"  The sharp call of the TAC brought Max's attention back to the current drill.  Deftly she reloaded her pistol and then waited for the call to take aim.

          "Aim!"  Max pointed at the target paper fifty yards away and focused.  Once she had it in her sights and her arm steadied her mind drifted back to Jace. 

Maybe there was something she could do.  She knew this compound like the back of her hand thanks to sneaking around it with Alec.  Therefore, she also knew of a million secret places to rendezvous.  With Alec's knack for bribing personnel, she could probably set up places so that Jace could sneak visits with her child.

"Fire!"  Max smiled at the thought as she and everyone else in the row emptied their clips at their target paper.  The X series were completely in sync with the time it took to repeatedly pull their triggers, and the sounds of the bullets hitting the paper beat a perfect rhythm which is why every head turned to the sound of a shot being fired thirty seconds after everyone's last bullet hit their target.

And then they heard the sound of Jace's lifeless body hitting the ground.

***

"Why'd she do it?" 

Max gasped and turned around to see Alec standing behind her.  She must have been really deep in thought to not of heard him approach her. Alec could move like a shadow like they all could, but Max normally would have sensed him no matter what.

"She had only gotten out of psych ops earlier today."  Alec shuddered.  Max took his hand and pulled him down beside her.  The haunted look in his beautiful eyes eased some.  "I haven't talked to her in months."

"I'm not surprised they made her that crazy."

Max shook her head.

"It wasn't that.  At least, it wasn't only that.  I told you she was with a lab tech right."  At Alec's nod she continued.  "Well they killed him when they found out."  Alec shook his head, although he was not at all surprised.  "She was pregnant with his child and when…"  Alec looked over at Max when she stopped speaking and saw that her hands were shaking.  He took them in his and kissed them.  Max smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.  "They terminated the baby when they saw that it didn't have any of our special traits.  Jackson, Victor's friend, told me a little while ago.  They told her that it was only useful for further research."  She said; her voice now a mere whisper.

"Alec," Max turned shimmering black pools to him.  "I know you said that the world out there is filthy, diseased, degrading, but I hate it here.  If I ever get the chance, I…I think I'm gonna run.  Would you…could you come with me?"

TBC

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