Perfectly Matched—Chapter Five
“Do you have a layout of
this place?” Max asked quietly.
“You want to escape?!” he stared at her, no one had escaped from Manticore since, well, since
’09.
“And I need another
person,” she said.
“Aww…you want to bring me
with you?” Alec gave her an impish smile
and she shook her head in annoyance.
“I don’t care if you come
with me, but I need your help escaping.”
“So…you want me to help
you escape, and then come back and check myself into PsyOps?”
“Fine, then, come with
me. Log…umm, I can find papers for you,
get you safe to
Alec’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you really want to get out of here?”
“If you had been free, you
would never be willing to be a slave.
They own you.”
“No one owns me.”
“Then why can’t you leave? Alec, you might have a child, do you want
them to grow up the way you did?” Max
didn’t have the luxury of time to get through to him.
Imagining the stress and
danger a child would give her, Max felt nothing but dread…but could she just
leave her own child behind for Manticore?
Would they use it against her?
Remembering Tinga, Max’s resolve hardened. She needed Alec.
“Just stop, Max.” Alec shook his head.
“No, its fine, Alec…maybe
someday they’ll send you on a mission to find us.”
“Us?” he asked.
"Yeah,
me and our kid!"
Alec winced. “You’re sure putting a lot of effort into
this argument. You’d miss me if you left
alone, you can be honest about it.”
“Honestly, Alec, you mean
so much to me, this week has been…” Max burst into laughter. “Sorry, I couldn’t even carry it through.”
“Ha Ha,” Alec rolled his
eyes, “Say what you like, I know the truth.”
“Whatever helps you sleep,
Alec.”
He raised an eyebrow,
“Well you know…if you’re interested in helping me sleep, what REALLY helps…”
Max pushed him before he
could finish his thought.
“What?” he asked.
“Don’t continue that sick
little thought.”
“Well, I was thinking
SILENCE…what were you thinking,
Max?” He gave her a cheeky grin and she
glared at him.
“Don’t you have to leave,
Alec?” Max asked pointedly, looking at
the door.
“Following up a 3 day sex
fest with a quickie, are we?” Alec
grinned until he noticed Max’s singular lack of amusement. “Fine, see you later.” He frowned and opened the door. “It’s been fun, as always, 452.” He grinned in the face of the death glance
she threw his way.
When he was gone, sleep
refused to claim her. The tragic events
of the last few months replayed in her mind.
Tinga was dead. Zack was dead. Renfro
was planning something for his body. Max
winced, not willing to consider what was happening to Zack because of her. You’re
poison, 452. It wasn’t news. They had created her to be poison to everyone
she loved. Logan…God,
Ben. Tinga. Zack.
Max wasn’t ready to
sacrifice her child, if she had a child, on the altar of Manticore.
Alec lay in his bunk,
trying to dismiss his thoughts so sleep could claim him. How could she just ask him to betray
everything he knew? Walk away from life
as he knew it? It should be obvious that
he wouldn’t do it. It wasn’t, though,
not to her. She thought she could
convince him. Why? He didn’t care, what was it
to him if Manticore raised another kid, they were going to get soldiers one way
or another. He shifted in his bunk, punching
his pillow. The case ripped and he swore,
flipping the pillow over and settling his head roughly on the other side.
Escape didn’t matter to
him personally, he thought, but she might need some help getting out
herself. Finally relaxing, he smiled
slightly as sleep took over.
In her office, Renfro
signed the order to run a full DNA analysis for X5-452 as well as X5-494. She wanted to see exactly how good they would be together. As soon as repairs were made on the DNA lab,
they would have the equipment to simply harvest 452’s eggs. They would have much more interesting things
planned for 452… Renfro smiled as she
read the report in front of her. The
meeting with Lydecker and Eyes Only hadn’t worked as
planned, but they had something they hadn’t expected, his blood.
“Get me Medical up here,
ASAP.” She said into the intercom.
“You might not help me
willingly, 452,” she whispered, “But you’ll help.”
In training the next
morning, 452 and 494 were separated from the others. It wasn’t unusual for soldiers to be
separated, but usually it indicated a special op. Alec was uncomfortable. Max had just gotten in,
there was no way they would send her on an op already. Would they?
The only thing that came
to mind was that they had somehow found out they were just talking about escape
and planned to take them to psy-ops for evaluation. Alec made himself breathe deeply.
They were both led into
the medical facility. They stood at attention,
barking out their designations. Alec was
tempted to throw a smirk at Max, who snapped to attention faster than anyone he
had ever met. Considering what he knew
of her, this was ironic, but self-preservation told him not to comment.
There was a doctor
standing in front of Renfro. If this was
some kind of pregnancy test, Alec was a little lost on why they needed
him. Renfro surprised them, though. She handed them each a folder.
“We are running you both
on a special OP. I’m sure that surprises
both of you, though you are very good at not showing it.” She glanced at the doctor, who walked over to
Max. “494, hold
452.”
Alec obeyed her
immediately as Max looked from the doctor, to Renfro, to Alec in wildly. The doctor quickly injected Max
with…something…and Alec stared at the empty syringe.
“What was that?” he
couldn’t stop himself from asking, letting go of Max. The doctor hurried from the room quickly as
Renfro sat down.
“THAT,” said Renfro, “Is insurance.
452 is what we consider a flight risk.” She turned to Max. “This drug, without its counterpart, will
short out your brain in two weeks.
Without your brain, you’ll be of no use to yourself, but PLENTY of use
to us. I’m sure you don’t want that, do
you, 452?” Renfro smiled at Max, who
said nothing. “Read over your briefing,
you leave in an hour.”