Dead Men Tell No Tales
Orphanage Director's House, Sector 7
December 28 2021
Max crept around the side of the house, it was an average looking house white weatherboard, it was a mansion in post pulse standards. The garden was well kept, the fact that it even had a garden made Max suspicious. Security was lacking so Max easily slipped through an up stairs window, the room was dark but Max could see a desk and a few filing cabinets. She started with the top drawer of the filing cabinets, she didn't know exactly what she was looking for. Max pulled a few files out and started shuffling through the papers, they looked like employee files, they had all the usual stuff, names, references, address', date of birth, she went through the files and found an employee list, shoving it in her jacket she went to the second drawer. This drawer contained files on the orphans, they had name, age, height, backgrounds and current comments on their well being, she flicked through the files but couldn't find a list. She went to the desk, it was cluttered with all sorts of papers, mainly bills. Max found a diary under the mess. She flicked a couple of pages, there were a couple of appointments scattered here and there. She saw a few interviews of potential parents pencilled in, at the front there was a calendar every month there was a date circled she looked up one of the dates
Sunday May 16th Simone Clark
Each circled date had a name and nothing else written under it. December 31st was circled, Max was just about look it up when she heard someone coming down the hall. She quickly memorised the dates and some of the names and slid out the window. A man entered the room and switched the light on, he saw the window open and walked over. He stuck his head out and looked around "I can't remember leaving the window open" he said to his dog, who also had its head out the window sniffing the air. The dog gave a low growl "What is it girl, something out there?" the man pulled the dog back inside and closed the window. He didn't notice the pages of the open diary that had been flapping in the breeze nor did he see Max as she jumped off the roof and landed quietly on the lawn. She silently went back to her motor bike and headed straight for Logan's apartment.
Logan's Apartment, Medtronics
December 28 2021
Max stopped her motor bike a few blocks from Logan's, although things had quieted down since the siege she still didn't want to draw attention to herself especially when entering a seemingly abandoned building. She wheeled her bike the last hundred meters and hid it just inside the alcove of Logan's building. Max quietly opened the door and slipped inside.
"Logan, you there?"
"In the kitchen" Logan answered
"Got a piece of paper and a pen?" Max asked
"Sure, in the study, why?" Logan came around the corner and met her in the study
"I have a few names and dates I'd like you to check"
"Did you pay a visit to our friend in sector 7?"
"Sure did, got something for ya" Max pulled out the employee list from her jacket "Sorry I didn't get more, I had to jet before someone crashed the party. These dates were circled in the front of the diary and some of the names that match. What do you think it means?" Max handed Logan the piece of paper he was already on his computer checking up on the employees
"This is interesting" Logan stared intently at the screen "Here is one employees account Janet Marks, it has regular deposits which I assume is pay from the director and regular withdrawals for the past year"
"Looks pretty normal to me" Max looked at the screen
"Yeah but look at her police record"
"Deceased July 6th 2020 cause... suicide. A dead girl needs a regular income...?"
"Hmm a similar case with another employee, George Hall the supposed janitor, died November 25th after being robbed and bashed, still receiving his regular income and making withdrawals"
"Have done a hell of a job cleaning the place if he's been dead for a month and is still getting paid"
"Yeah, what's the bet that most of these people are dead and probably hadn't set foot in the orphanage while they were alive"
"And the director is using their names to create accounts"
"To funnel the money back into his pocket without looking suspicious" Logan looked up at Max
"Well they gotta have at least one employee who's still alive, someone's gotta look after the kids"
"Yeah, so what are these dates?" Logan turned back to the computer
"I dunno, but the only thing written under them were names, like this one" Max pointed to May 16th
"Simone Clark lets see" Logan hacked back into the police records "Nope nothing here. I will have to check a few other places to see if I can find anything, it might take awhile"
"Well I leave you to it then" Max turned to walk out the door
"Max" Logan called back, Max looked at him "Thanks" Logan smiled
"No problem" Max smiled back, shrugged her shoulders and left
Terminal City
December 29 2021
Max was wandering the grounds of Terminal city without realising it she found herself outside the tunnel that led to Logan's apartment, she was just about to go down when she noticed Alec striding towards her.
"Max" Alec yelled when he spotted her and broke into a jog,
Max went over to meet him "What's up"
"I've been looking for you everywhere, just got some news about the Colonel"
"Lydecker, what about him"
"He's got some strength back, he's ready to talk"
"Well we better go pay him a visit then"
-
Max and Alec walked down the hall to Lydeckers room they were just about to turn the corner when Alec pulled Max back. Max glared at him and carefully looked around the corner, there were two burly looking blokes were talking to Dr Carr,
"Where is he" one of the guys asked Dr Carr
"I'm sorry there is no one by that name here"
"Then you won't mind if we take a look around" the other guy pushed Dr Carr away
"This is a restricted area you don't have clearance be here" Dr Carr rushed after them
Just then Alec came out of a room in front of them "Tom! Joe! fancy seeing you here"
The two guys looked a bit confused and tried to step around him but he stepped in their way
"Hey don't you want to talk, catch up on old times".
They tried to get around him again but he stood in their way, they shoved him out of the way but Alec didn't put up a fight he just followed them down the corridor.
Dr Carr looked at Alec "Do you know them?"
Alec just smiled and shook his head The men checked all the rooms they were getting closer to Lydecker's room, Dr Carr was getting nervous but Alec just cruised along casually. They finally came to Lydecker's room but when the men swung the door open all they saw was an empty bed. They continued checking the rooms but didn't find anything, the men grunted in frustration and left
"Sorry you couldn't stay and chat" Alec called after them but they took no notice.
-
When Max saw the men she and Alec snuck back down the corridor
"Stall them while I get him out." Max whispered
"How?" Alec's mind was ticking over trying to think of a plan
"You'll think of something, just don't mess em' up or they'll get suspicious"
Alec went outside and jumped through first open window he found, Max crept around to the window of Lydecker's room, there was an X5 guarding him. The guard saw Max at the window she signalled to the guard and opened the window. They quickly loaded Lydecker on a stretcher and carried him out the window, Max jumped back in the room and made the bed and got rid of all signs that someone had been there. She was fixing a chair when she saw the door opening, she quickly ducked behind the door. She could see the two men through the crack between the door and the hinges. Just as soon as the door opened it closed again. Max and the other X5 sat and waited outside the window with Lydecker on the stretcher. They were there for about 5 minutes when Alec poked his head out the window
"Coast is clear"
"Took you long enough" Max said as she help lift the stretcher through the window
"I'm sorry guys I don't know how they found out he was here" Dr Carr started hooking Lydecker back up to the drip
"I've got an idea" Max looked at Lydecker who stared back "I heard you're getting a bit talkative, you wouldn't happen to know why two large bald men were asking for you?"
"Don't look at me I've been here the whole time" Lydecker grunted Max looked at the guard who just shrugged, Max sat beside the bed
"How did they know you were here then?"
"I don't know"
"Well if you're not going to tell me about the men maybe you could start with telling me how I can find my mother"
Donald coughed and half closed his eyes "Ok, there is an archive somewhere in Montana"
"How does that help me?"
"It has all the Manticore records"
"I thought they were destroyed when Manticore went down"
"They always have a back up" Alec added "Wouldn't the government have destroyed it by now?"
"Not many people know about it" Lydecker said
"They have all the records there?" Max was finding it hard to believe
"All the records, including information on the first projects all the way up to the X-series"
"What kind of information?"
"Photos, designations, DNA compositions, date of birth, foetus carrier..."
"For all the X-series" Alec was getting interested now
"X1's all the way to X9" Lydecker coughed
"X9? I thought the X-series only went up to eight" Max looked confused
"X9 was a prototype. The new improved version of the X5's, there is only one, there would have been more if you hadn't destroyed the DNA lab. She was the first to have tiger DNA added to the mix, she was born about 3 years after you. She's faster, stronger, smarter and doesn't suffer from seizures or Progeria"
"Sounds impressive, I bet she was one of your prized students to. If she was born only 3 years after us then why wasn't there more X9's made?" Max was getting curious
"I didn't have much to do with her, they were testing all the time, but she was a good student. As I said she was a prototype, they didn't want to make the same mistake they did with the rest of the X series. They wanted to wait until she was fully developed to make sure there were no glitches. I believe they were about to start production not long after you blew up the place, of course the embryos would have been destroyed along with the DNA lab."
Max was deep in thought but then she remembered why they were there "Anyway back to the archive, where is it?"
"I don't know exactly, somewhere in Montana, they were very careful not to disclose an exact location. I heard that it was registered as a disused letter sorting office."
Max looked at Alec "We better go see Logan" and she got up to leave
"There's one more thing I should mention" Lydecker mumbled
"What's that?" Max turned and looked at him
"In case you think I've out lived my usefulness, the computer based files are on a stand alone computer you can't hack into it, and even if you could the files are encrypted"
"Gee what a surprise, and I suppose you're the only one who can decrypt it"
"Yeah, something like that"
"Let's go Alec"
"I might hang for a bit and keep an eye on the Colonel"
"He only needs one guard"
"I know" Alec looked over at the female X5 guard and smiled, Max flicked him on the forehead
"Get moving soldier" and pushed him out the door
"I'm going, I'm going" Alec ducked a few of Max's half hearted attempts at his head
When Max and Alec got back to Logan's apartment, Logan was sitting at his computer, it looked like he had been there all night
"Hey hows it going" Max peered at the screen
"Not very well, I still haven't been able to figure out the significance of these dates, but I have an update on the employee list. There is one living person on the list, Susan Hedgecoe, she is listed as the care-taker and I have noticed she is receiving a lot more pay than her deceased 'colleagues'"
"Money for silence?" Max asked
"By the looks of it. I've made an appointment for us to see her tomorrow"
"Us?"
"Yeah, I hope you're not busy, I kinda told her we were married" Logan grinned
"Married!" Max crossed her arms Alec almost burst out laughing
"Well we have to be married if we want to adopt. I thought it might give us a chance to look around see what is happening with the missing kids situation"
"Sounds like a plan. If you have a chance could you look into something for me?"
"Sure what is it"
Alec joined in "Lydecker mentioned something about an archive in Montana"
"Yeah, registered as a disused letter sorting office. Think you can find out where it is?"
"I'll give it shot" Logan said
"Thanks, see you tomorrow"