Alec waited. It was as if they had fallen into a freeze frame. Renfro stared down at Max in a dreamy daze, Hodge and the guards were obviously too afraid to move and didn't shift an inch. It seemed to Alec like hours passing by, but it was only minutes, maybe even seconds. Still, they were wasted seconds of Max's life.

'Well' Alec prompted sharply. Don't keep me in suspense he thought coldly.

Renfro snapped out of her trance and smirked 'Patience not encoded in your DNA?'

Alec just stared at her. Perhaps she could feel his desire to kill her and decided not to push her luck, whatever it was Renfro finally began.

 'I thought that the Manticore lemmings had stuffed up the trigger when it took so long for the virus to infect her, I guess little Maxie was just lucky, until that fateful drink' She let out a laugh and glanced at Alec mischievously. 'Just think, if you hadn't tried to get the girl drunk she may have indefinitely eluded the trigger'

She's right Alec thought before he was able to stop himself. If he hadn't been so keen to 'cheer her up' they probably wouldn't be in this mess. When Alec's eyes slid to Max's face Renfro received the reaction she was hoping for. Guilt.

'Stop playing games, what did you do to her' He spat through clenched teeth

Renfro raised one eyebrow and continued. 'I knew that once she 'escaped' from Manticore and was on the outside there was a minimal chance of her finding out about the virus before she got to Eyes Only, or she could have even decided that Eye's Only life wasn't worth her return to Manticore and let the virus kill him. If either of these possibilities had of occurred I would have lost her forever.  So before I let her go share the kiss of death with her precious Eyes Only I invested in some…insurance' Renfro stroked hair out of Max's face like some deranged mother before continuing.

'On the off chance that she did escape , I decided to insure her return by infecting her with a virus which would render her unconscious and slowly kill her, giving her company time to contact me and make a deal. Her life for her return to me.'

Alec shook his head 'She could have died if I hadn't figured out your little phone number-barcode trick'

Renfro looked unconcerned 'Then she would have died and I wouldn't have to worry about her going on another vengeance crusade.' Alec didn't believe that Renfro would give away the opportunity to examine Max so easily, it was clear that the transgenic was valuable to her. Alec said nothing, despite his suspicions and waited for her to continue.

'I decided to have the virus created so that it would react to a certain medical element, and that component would be the trigger for the virus, as soon as 452 consumed it.'

Alec was straining his superior intelligence for any kind of medical element used in alcoholic substances but coming up blank. Damn it! What was it?

'The element is called 'Pyerosonic acid' Renfro stated, almost as if she had read Alec's mind.

 Alec's brain clicked 'Sonic' was a cheap drug used by junkies, it had two effects, firstly it was a stimulant and then after the initial excitement it acted like a sedative rendering the user drowsy, sort of like getting drunk then having a hang over.

'So Sonic's used in alcohol' Alec stated, finally figuring it out'

'Yes, but ironically we didn't have alcohol in mind when we created the virus, only a small number of alcohol brands use Pyerosonic acid as an enhancer and I never considered 452 to be much of a drinker or a drug user, she's too high and mighty for that.'

Finally something Alec could agree with.

Renfro continued. ''Pyerosonic acid's primary use is for medication, made on the street and sold in the black market, one of the medications it is used in is the temporary cure to progeria. Back at Manticore, one of the younger versions of Max was suffering from late-stage progeria. Except for her X7-specific code sequences, her DNA was exactly the same as 452's. 452 swore she had received no medical treatment before she was captured and the spinals we took confirmed this to be the truth. As far as we knew the progeria was most likely suppressed somewhere in her DNA and would eventually surface.'

All the answers suddenly came rushing up on Alec. 'You assumed that Max would eventually begin to get the symptoms of progeria and seek out the medication on the black market, when she took it the Sonic Acid would trigger the virus you infected her with and whoever discovered it would have to contact you to save her life'.

Renfro nodded and winked at Alec 'So you're not just a pretty face'.