Chapter 4

"The effect of one upright individual is incalculable." (Unknown)

Luke opened the file on a lone machine that he had disconnected from the rest of the system after copying the file over. It was almost a disappointment to find that after all of the safeguards, it was just a letter.

He had no idea who from, but it listed a set of dates and co-ordinates and said, "We weren't there either. Willing to be in touch." Luke had no idea what it could mean and what he was supposed to do next. He turned at the sound of Max's footsteps behind him.

"It was a message after all that," he said, looking back at her. "Not much of one either."

"Have you found the co-ordinates? Matched them to the date? Did something happen there?" she asked.

"Skirmish, US government denied having anything to do with taking down a drug and weapons cartel, but not many details beyond that. The problem was that there were no accepted civilian survivors from the neighboring village, and so that's why the government wanted no connection, tried to pin it on another cartel but the action was all military. The one or two people who claimed to have survived were silenced as they basically said it was military and some of the soldiers basically killed anyone and everyone they saw."

"Manticore?"

"Could be . . . there were a few X5 units who had to have things covered up like that."

"Was Alec in one? Was he like that? Was he there?" she asked, suddenly unnerved by thoughts of Ben, thoughts of her own unit and the way they were forced to be merciless.

"I don't know. I know he served overseas, but he never talked about anything real, just famous places he'd seen. I've never heard him talk about actual mission details. I would guess that this is a case of what Renfro used to call 'plausible deniability'. Anyway, even if he was there, doesn't mean to say he was the one doing the killing," Luke defended.

"No, it doesn't, just . . . maybe if he was there, even if he wasn't responsible, maybe that's why he's been taken now," Max added.

"Could be . . ." They were silent for a while as if considering that possibility. Suddenly Luke said, "Or maybe this is someone he served with who doesn't agree with what's happening now and is trying to get in touch."

Max just snorted in disbelief, "Unlikely. . . I guess we need to get in touch though. We need to try to get him back and if whoever this is can tell us that, then . . . We owe it to Alec."

Cougar was watching Jensen carefully as they made their way round the supermarket. The light-headedness from earlier hadn't fully passed, and Cougar hadn't failed to notice as Jensen leaned cautiously against the side of counters and the end of aisles as they made their way round.

Hopefully they'd have a little recuperation time now, before anything else happened. Alec was clearly one of the few Transgenics who were allowed to come and go from the Terminal City compound relatively freely as he had meetings with the government officials, so, with luck, it wouldn't be too difficult to arrange a rendezvous.

He didn't bother trying to prolong the outing and once they'd got the supplies they needed for the next day or so, Cougar directed their steps back to the safe house, missing Jensen's usual chatter despite the man's presence at his shoulder.

"You should get some more rest when we get back," he said quietly, as they turned into the bottom of the street.

"I'll check the email in case he's answered," came the tired reply. Cougar didn't try to argue.

Alec woke up and the first thing he was aware of was the change in position. He was horizontal, restrained again. He tried to look round, realized even his head was strapped to the table. Memories came back. He couldn't face this; Manticore was gone, this should be in his past. He bit his lip trying to keep himself under control, wondering why he hadn't been drugged. Re-indoctrination in the past had always been agonizing but he also knew that he'd been drugged, that some of the pain had been dulled by just the drugs, and the thought of facing it without. . . He felt it as his breath quickened, as he couldn't quite catch a full breath as panic threatened. He struggled feebly against the unforgiving restraints, only succeeding in rubbing his wrists till they bled, and he felt the blood seep round the edges of the cuffs.

"Now my understanding of the process of re-indoctrination was that it would wipe out the memory, replace it with something useful, convenient . . ." The owner of the voice moved across the room slowly. Alec's eyes widened and his struggle became more frantic, as the man called Max leant in closer. "It seems that not all of the memories have gone, that you at least retain enough memory to know what to expect." He gave a half laugh as he stood back up again. "How the mighty have fallen! What use is all your transgenic superiority now, 494?"

Alec tried to turn away, frustration almost surpassing the fear and panic for a moment. "Oh stop fussing," Max sneered. "Wade's not even here yet and I'd have thought that you'd have learnt by now that I'm not about to get my hands dirty on filth like you!"

"What do you want?" Alec spat the words out hoarsely.

"To play and see just what an X5 can really withstand. After all, aren't you supposed to be the crowning glory of all that Sandeman nonsense at Manticore?"

"Let me out of these fucking restraints and I'll show you what an X5 can do!"

"Where would be the fun in that? Right now, I've got you where I want you! Right where I can set Wade to play with you, and sit back and enjoy the show!" He turned as the door behind him opened and greeted the man who entered, "Aaah, Wade, so good of you to finally join us."

Jensen read and re-read the message, but it didn't make sense. Whoever had replied definitely wasn't Alec, that much was sure. Even if he hadn't remembered them, the message wouldn't have made sense. The confusing part was that they seemed to think he wanted something from them, that he was threatening Alec in some way.

He didn't hit reply. He waited, expecting it to make sense if he just got his brain to catch up. He tried to put it down to his own tiredness and not being able to think straight, but it didn't seem to make it any clearer. Instead he just sat there staring at the screen blankly, until Pooch and Cougar entered the room and crossed to him. Cougar dropped onto the edge of Jensen's bed, while Pooch pulled up the other chair.

"J?" Pooch said softly, taking note of Jensen's distant and puzzled expression, but given that Jensen's fingers were still, he wasn't too worried about disturbing a train of thought and ruining anything Jensen was working on. "Jensen?" his voice was louder, but it was Cougar who leant forward to take hold of Jensen's bicep and give him a little shake.

Jensen jerked, surprised to see them there, but quick to say, "Oh good, you guys can help me. There's a message but I don't get it. It doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't make sense at all."

Cougar's hand stayed on his arm, but the contact was soothing and Jensen turned to him gratefully. "I can't think straight," Jensen admitted. "But at least you two can figure this out. Maybe I should get some more sleep."

Pooch's expression showed his concern at Jensen's reaction, at how unusual it seemed, but Cougar just stood and helped Jensen set the laptop on the desk and then supported him as he stood up and crossed to his bed. Once Jensen was laid down, Cougar sat down beside him for a few minutes until he began to snore softly.

Pooch turned his attention back to the laptop and the message on the screen. Taking a piece of paper, he scrawled it down and when Cougar stood up, once Jensen had been asleep for a couple of minutes, the two men made their way out of the room, so that they could talk without risking waking him again.

"He alright?"

"Si, just tired. Another good sleep and he will be recovered."

"I've never seen him this bad before!" Cougar just smiled softly and gave a small shrug in return and Pooch figured that meant that he had and that was why he knew how to handle Jensen and what to do to get him to sleep.

"The message?" Cougar reminded him.

Pooch held out the paper on which he had written. "'What do we need to do? We want his return. We are willing to talk.'"

It doesn't make sense!" Pooch said. "Why would they be willing to talk to us for 'his' return? Presumably 'he' is Alec . . ."

"Unless they think we took him," Cougar answered.

"In which case, where is he? Who does have him?" Pooch asked. The two men had no idea and no alternative, but to wait for Clay's return or Jensen to wake up.

Luke napped; he didn't sleep anymore. Although they were keeping Alec's absence quiet, people were beginning to notice and comment, and 'on a supply run' wasn't going to keep the peace much longer, particularly as questions were being asked about what the outcome of his meeting with Clemente had been.

Luke had helped Max make contact with the Lieutenant in secret and so they had the gist of the conversation that had transpired, which had been more to do with supplies of food and medical items than anything else, although some of the discussions with regard to Transgenics being allowed to work out in the world and how they could move towards achieving that goal were interesting as Clemente and Alec had begun to try and formulate a plan for improving the image of Transgenics with the rest of the populous. Clemente had no idea what had happened to Alec after their meeting and was apologetic that without risking it being leaked to the media, there was no way for him to help with trying to track Alec down, beyond offering advice.

Luke napped between shifts, still on-site, not even heading back to where he'd set up 'home', leaving strict instructions that at the first sign of the hacker the room was to be cleared and he would make contact. It was a relief when the call finally came. Luke sent a message to Max and went to see what was happening.

There was an open chat box on the screen of the console with the words, "Would like to talk to you."

Luke ensured there was no one else in the room, then typed, "I'm listening."

He watched as the words rapidly appeared in front of him, "You seem to think we have Alec. We don't. We wanted to talk with him."

"Why?"

"Served together. Wanted to make sure he was okay." Luke raised an eyebrow and wondered who he was talking to.

"And now . . .?"

"Tell us how to help."

"Help?"

"If he's in trouble, we're willing to help. Just tell us how. We're outside and can move relatively freely."

"How many of you are there?"

"Four."

"That all! If you're hackers how do you think you can help?"

"Not hackers. . . Or rather, only I am . . . it's a hobby, something to do when . . . let us help."

Alec clung on to consciousness tenaciously, frightened that if he gave up this time, it would be the last. This wasn't re-indoctrination, it was just torture, just pain and he had so much of that right now that he barely felt as Wade slid the knife across his stomach again. Nothing deep enough to kill him on its own, but he was losing blood and he imagined that eventually that would see him out of this world.

He distantly heard a door open, wished for it to be someone coming to save him, even though he knew it couldn't possibly be. He felt a stir of air across his now over-heated skin, his body compensating for the pain by ratcheting up his temperature regardless of the air. He cracked his eyes open a fraction and saw Wade a couple of steps further away than it felt he had been in hours.

"Oh Wade, such a glorious turmoil of inner essence. I think you might just have done your job well for once. He looks to me like he might just be ready. . ."

Alec tried to summon the energy to be concerned, to struggle, but he knew he was fading too fast. Whatever Max and Wade wanted to do to him, they'd get their way now. He couldn't fight it anymore. He saw as Max filled a syringe and didn't even think about what it might mean, watched as it was deliberately passed over him in his sightline to Wade, who flicked the syringe with a finger before depressing the plunger a fraction and letting the liquid inside drip onto an open wound with a gleam of excitement.

There was a pause as Wade appeared to be waiting for something. Suddenly, Alec felt where the liquid had landed begin to pulsate with pain. He screamed hoarsely, the last of his energy dissipating as he lost consciousness again to the prick of a needle in his neck.

It was arranged; Jensen and Pooch would head to the rendez-vous, where they would meet with one Logan Cale. It wasn't going to be easy, but they staked out the area and located a nearby building from which Cougar would be able to provide some degree of cover; not as much as they were usually comfortable with, but then again, Jensen and Pooch were not going to be as unarmed as the request was presumably meant to imply. Well, they weren't carrying guns anyway. It was a lot of trust to put in people they didn't know, but Clay had his own plans and preparations, and they didn't include any of his men being hurt or him being unarmed.

The two men sauntered down the street, taking careful observation of the neighborhood. It wasn't exactly luxurious, but they'd definitely seen worse. Pooch raised his eyes as they stopped at one of the larger buildings but also one of the more decrepit. "This is us," he said, looking round again, taking in where there was cover and where the potential threats might come from.

"Going in," Jensen said, clearly for the benefit of Clay who was listening in and not yet in sight of the building. "Who should I be this time?" he suddenly asked Pooch.

"Just be you this time," Pooch said exasperatedly, "No need to be anyone else." Jensen nodded before striding ahead determinedly. Pooch quickened his own pace so he was at the door alongside Jensen as Jensen began to knock.

It was a matter of moments before the door was opened and Logan Cale stood before them. "Hey," Jensen greeted, "Think you're expecting us."

The man looked up and down the street behind them, before giving them another thorough lookover. He stepped back. "Come in."

The house was dark and dingy as they entered, but the further back they went, the clearer and more modern it began to look. The furniture was scavenged but clean, paintings hanging on the walls and propped round the room at various points. "Wow! Artistic . . . you're quite prolific with the paintings," Jensen said trying to break the ice.

"They're not mine, they're Joshua's. Alec had some idea about trying to sell them or something. . . All well and good, but it's not his place they're cluttering up."

"So Joshua is Alec's friend . . . a Transgenic? Who'd have thought the military would have created the artistic types . . . I wonder what they thought they'd get out of that. . ."

"Not exactly. Joshua was the first, before the military got involved, so . . . " Logan sighed and said, "Look, I don't know what you want, but if I think you're stirring up any trouble for Max, then I'm pulling the plug and whatever trouble Alec has got himself in this time, he can get himself out of it without our help."

Jensen's hand snatched at Pooch's arm, holding him back as the other man reacted to the name, Max. "You were a friend of the transgenic leader, Max, when she was outside?" Jensen asked, as much for the information as to reassure Pooch that this wasn't their Max they were talking about. Pooch relaxed a little, keeping his posture and expression less threatening, but Logan had turned away and hadn't seen the potential threat.

Logan crossed to a bank of computers, much better looking than the exterior and entrance to the house would have suggested. "Yeah, look, sit down and I'll get her on the line." He waved absently at a couple of chairs that had been pulled up.

Pooch watched as Jensen's eyes ran appraisingly over the computer set-up, saw as he suddenly tilted his head and squinted at Logan's profile, seemed to lean to try and see more of the front of his face, before his eyes widened in momentary shock and he straightened up and leant back in the chair, trying to appear nonchalant. There was no time to try and work out what Jensen was thinking before Logan turned round again, saying, "Luke's just adjusting the camera on that end so you can all talk." He pulled his chair out from the computer console a little and gestured them to move in closer.

"Hey," came a somewhat friendlier voice through the computer, "I'm Luke." Jensen and Pooch returned the greeting, hiding their surprise at the unexpected face before them. "Is one of you the hacker?"

"Umm, guess so," Jensen admitted reluctantly, surprised by the enthusiastic approval his confession elicited. Moments later Luke was joined by the young girl they were both familiar with from the news broadcasts and a tall figure with long shaggy hair and as he turned to face them, folding himself down onto a chair and coming fully into their view on the other side, Jensen and Pooch saw he had a distinctly canine slant to his features. Luke went through the formalities at his end of introducing Max and Joshua and Jensen reciprocated, throwing in a compliment about the paintings they had seen so far which clearly delighted the Transgenic.

They began to talk about Alec, first covering how Pooch and Jensen had known him and then going onto the fact that he was missing, and all that they knew about that situation which amounted to little more than knowing the day and an approximation of the time he vanished, based on the information from Clemente about the time he had left and the time he had been expected at Logan's.

It wasn't much to go on, but it was something and at least now they were working together.

The first thing Alec was aware of was pain, pain inside burning through his veins, into every part of him, throbbing, pulsating and unremitting. He tried to move only to have the pain flare higher and he choked back a cry because that hurt too. He felt it as tears leaked from his eyes, burning down over his cheeks.

"I have a proposition for you . .." Alec cracked his eyes open, wincing at the light, as his gaze settled on Max. "I have two syringes here. One will take away the pain you're in and the other will make it worse. You agree to help me and I'll take the pain away . . . or I could make it worse," he smiled smugly.

"Fuck you!" Alec croaked hoarsely.

"You sure that's your decision, because I can pretty much guarantee you're going to regret it?"

"Fuck you." Alec didn't have the energy to think of any other response, dreading the thought of what was to come and hoping that he would lose consciousness again quickly.

Max sighed, "Wade . . ." He held out a syringe, watched as Wade injected Alec and then said, "Oh, yeah, maybe I should have told you before. . . There's a stimulant in this one that will keep you from losing consciousness . . . We'll be back later to see if you've re-evaluated your position."

It took a moment for the drugs to kick in and Alec felt it as the pain began to increase, moment by moment, liquid fire coursing through his veins. He bit his lip and tried to resist the urge to scream. The pain got worse, his teeth broke through the barely dried split in his lip from earlier, and blood began to course down his cheeks, burning him from the outside in to accompany the pain already racing round his insides.

They left with little new information but with the reassurance that for the most part they could trust the transgenics or at least the ones they'd spoken to, although neither Pooch nor Jensen really felt like they trusted Cale. In Pooch's case it was less anything concrete about the man, more a sense that he disliked Alec and would be quite happy to ignore that he had gone missing. Something was clearly bothering Jensen about the man, which didn't really relieve any of Pooch's concern, but Jensen said nothing and seemed to be thinking something through as he was unusually quiet as they walked away. Pooch left him to his thoughts and so they walked in silence.

Back at the motel, they congregated in Jensen's room with take out and began to discuss what they had achieved and what they would do next. Having got locations for Alec's meeting with Lieutenant Clemente and Logan's house, they knew his last known whereabouts and his apparent destination. It was decided that Cougar and Pooch would examine maps of the surrounding areas to decide on likely routes that he might have followed, while Jensen worked out how to hack the hover drone system in place in Seattle. "So have we learnt anything else?" Clay asked.

"Er . . . kind of . . ." All eyes turned to Jensen. He shifted slightly in his seat. "Cale is Eyes Only." When the rest of the team just looked at him, he clarified, "The cyber-journalist, Eyes Only. The one who was in contact with Lydecker."

"You think he's sold Alec out to Lydecker? He certainly didn't seem to be sorry he was missing."

Jensen shrugged, "I'll check his system as well."

Clay sighed, "Right, Jensen, do what you can, but . . . not at the expense of you . . . we find him, we're going to need you then. Do not knock yourself out now and leave us short when we need you!" He'd been angry when he got back to hear from Pooch and Cougar just how far Jensen had driven himself while he'd been away, but he knew better than to blame Jensen. He'd given the order, not expecting it to be as problematic as it had turned out to be, and he knew Jensen. He should have thought through and covered all the possible bases before giving the order.

By the time, Pooch and Cougar had worked out the different routes that Alec was most likely to have taken, and had then gone down to try them out for themselves for on-the-ground Intel, Jensen had established that Logan Cale appeared to have had nothing to do with Alec's disappearance. He'd also had time to work out how to hack the hover drone systems and find the stored information that had relayed as they made their circuits through the streets of Seattle. All he needed now was to know which files needed closer examination.

Alec lay panting shallowly, trying to move as little as possible. He hurt. Everywhere. Inside and Out.

Whatever this was, whatever the purpose, this was something even Manticore had never prepared him for.

Alec was quiet, voice cracked and broken from the screaming. He lay waiting, knowing that he couldn't keep this up. He couldn't go through this again. If Max offered him a deal, he'd have to listen. It was that or die. His heart was slowing now, nearer normal but not there yet; earlier he'd felt every tachycardic thump of his heart, terrified that if it got any faster, any harder, he wouldn't survive.

The door opened and Max came in just as Alec began to seize.

Jensen had found the files he needed. Now it was just a matter of eliminating the dross and redefining his parameters to filter just the smallest number he could in the hope that he would find Alec in there.

He sat back and began to watch the video feed for the first drone that Alec might have met after leaving Clemente. Ten minutes of watching and he saw Alec walking down the street cellphone in hand as he appeared to be dialling someone's number, and then talking with them as he walked. He wasn't in sight of the drone for long, but it was enough for Jensen to be able to discard the first two side streets as being part of the route to Logan's that he'd taken. He reset the parameters and filtered the files again.

He wasn't so lucky the second time. He'd tried fast forwarding but realized it was too easy to miss someone who might be Alec coming in or out of a doorway just as the hover drone passed. It was taking too much time to try and rewind and re-watch; it was easier to just watch at normal speed. He sat through an hour and half, picking his way through one street after another, watching the film until he was almost definite that Alec could not have taken so long to reach that point. There was always the possibility that Alec had been taken between one record and the next, but Jensen wasn't ready to make that assumption yet.

Sudden recognition of another figure in the image was enough to worry him about their own safety in Seattle but it had nothing to do with Alec. He marked the time interval and knew he would show it to Clay later.

He caught sight of Alec a short while after that, still alone, still walking, although he kept looking over his shoulder as if aware of someone following him. Jensen watched as he turned a corner and vanished from sight. He noted on the map beside him which street he'd taken and kept watching to see if there was any clue as to who the pursuer might be. He was surprised to see the same figure he had recognized earlier wander into frame again. Jensen was sure it was just coincidence when he took the same street as Alec. It had to be . . . didn't it?