Perfectly Matched, Chapter
6
Renfro watched as 494 and
452 read through their brief.
“What if I’m not
pregnant?” 452 spoke up, looking
straight into Renfro’s eyes.
“The chances of that are
about 3%, 452, but if that is the case, we will wait until another X5 is
qualified for the mission. Any other
questions?”
The X5s remained quiet.
“Dismissed.”
Ten minutes after they
left, Alec was summoned to Renfro’s office.
He stood in front of her
desk uncertainly. “X5-494!”
Renfro smiled. “Do you have any questions about your
mission, 494?”
“No, ma’am.” What the hell was this?
“You don’t notice anything
unusual about it?” Renfro asked.
“It seems odd to send two
soldiers on what could easily be a solo mission, ma’am.”
“Ahh…” said Renfro. “You think that 452 could do this assignment
by herself?”
“My role does not seem
necessary, ma’am.” Alec sidestepped what could only be a trap.
“452 is unstable at
best. We see your part in the mission as
absolutely necessary. In fact, this is
your mission.”
Alec didn’t respond.
“We have been gathering
information on a man who calls himself EYES ONLY. We believe that given the opportunity, 452
will try to make contact with this man.
If that happens, we want you to follow her. 452 has shark DNA, she will not need to sleep
and will probably go to EYES ONLY while you’re asleep. These,” Renfro tossed him some pills, “will
help you stay awake.”
“What will I do if she
makes contact?”
“All you have to do is
deliver a message. The injection we gave
452 isn’t a chemical to short out her brain, it is a virus specifically
targeted to EYES ONLY’s DNA. I have the
antigen. If she wants to see him
survive, she’ll bring him to me.”
“What if 452 does not make
contact with EYES ONLY?” Alec asked.
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry
about that.”
“What if she doesn’t want
to bring him in?”
“Then he dies. Makes no difference to me. Oh,” she tossed him a cell phone. “Call us with the address in case she decides
to bolt.”
“Understood.”
“Any other questions?” she
asked.
“No, ma’am.”
“Dismissed.”
Alec walked back to his
barracks, changing into clothes for the mission. This was going to be interesting.
They loaded them into a
truck and gave them I.D. cards and sector passes.
“Did we get a hot tub in
our room?” Alec asked the driver.
Max smacked him.
“What? I like them.”
“I’m sure,” she muttered.
“Hey, Max,” he whispered
after a bit, scooting over next to her.
“What?” she hissed.
“What’s your name?” he
held out his I.D. and she traded him.
They both burst into
laughter. “You are NOT an Anthony.”
“Violet?” he shook his
head, “That is so…feminine.”
“Hey,” she elbowed him, “I
have plenty of time to kick your ass before we get there.”
“Don’t do that, Violet,
you might break a nail.”
“Bite me, Alec.”
“Been there,” he
whispered, “Done that.”
Max met his eyes and
glared. The boy had an obvious death
wish. “You realize if I break your arms,
you won’t be able to kill this guy.”
Alec looked hurt. “Max, you are seriously underestimating my
ability.”
“Ohh…you can kill someone
without arms? How impressive.”
“Oh, don’t feel bad, Max,
I’m sure you could do it too.”
“What I can do and what I
choose to do are completely different.”
“Hmm…so if I break your
arms, I’m safe?”
“You’re the exception to
the rule.”
“You’re so cute when
you’re mad.”
“Shut up.”
Alec shrugged and picked
up their I.D. cards again, clicking them against each other.
“STOP THAT!” Max grabbed his hands after a few minutes.
“I’m bored,” Alec whined.
“Should have brought a
book,” she muttered as he fidgeted next to her.
Max couldn’t believe her
life. She’d always thought she’d be dead
before she ended up at Manticore again.
Well, guess what. Plans fell
through. Not only was she back, but she
was out on an assignment with Ben’s twin, by whom she was probably
pregnant. Choosing to ignore the fact
that she could be dead in two weeks without whatever chemical Manticore had,
she thought of positives.
They pulled into
“So,” Alec turned to
Max. “Wanna get a room?”
She rolled her eyes. “Love to.”
Alec was on his cell phone
as they started walking, confirming their hotel reservations.
“Does it have a hot tub?”
she asked.
“Nope,” he looked around
and walked into a clothing store. He was
obviously losing it.
“What are you doing?” she
asked as he held a pair of cargo pants in front of him, admiring himself in the
mirror.
“Shopping, Violet, what
does it look like? Grab yourself some
new stuff, I’m buying.”
“Aren’t we supposed to
check into the hotel?”
“You’re telling me that
you would rather get on with the mission than shop?” Alec asked
incredulously.
“I would rather have all
the chemicals in my brain function properly,” Max glared at him.
“Too late for that,” he
muttered.
“True. It’s an X5 problem.”
Alec grinned, “Get clothes
or I’ll get some for you.” He gave her a
once over, apparently imagining the possibilities.
Max grabbed some jeans,
tank top and sweater off the rack and met him in the checkout line.
He was shaking his head at
her.
“What?” she asked.
“I knew you’d forget all
the important stuff,” he sighed, handing her a pair of boots, socks and…
“I’m not wearing a green
thong!” Her voice was a bit louder than
she had intended and several people were looking at them.
“Come on, honey…red?” he
asked hopefully, his eyes twinkling.
“What are we doing here?”
she hissed at him.
“Staying under the radar,”
he told her.
“And we need new clothes
because…?” she met his eyes, “Ours are bugged.”
She answered her own question.
“Not bugged, they would
have to be close to hear us, but track us, definitely.”
“Do you do this on every
mission?”
“Depends on the mission, but
I don’t particularly trust Renfro on this one, do you?” Alec raised an eyebrow.
“Including or not
including the whole injecting chemicals issue?” Max asked dryly.
Alec bought their clothes
and they walked out of the store.
“Are we going to the hotel
now?”
Alec grinned, “Anxious for
the mission?”
“Does the mission involve
you talking?” she asked.
“Yeah…I can see how you’d
like our last mission better.”
They were interrupted
before she had time to kill him.
“Hey Baby,” an obvious
floozy walked up to Alec, draping her hands al over him. “You looking for a party?”
“No, he’s not,” Max
answered immediately, stopping short of physically removing the woman’s fingers
from Alec’s body.
The woman pouted and gave
Alec a pleading look. “Are you sure
there isn’t anything I can do for you…?”
“Honey,” Alec turned to
Max, “Surely we shouldn’t be so hasty, I can think of a lot of things this
lovely lady could do for us.”
Max wrinkled her nose in
disgust. “For you, maybe,” she muttered.
Alec grinned and gave the
woman a once over. “What size do you
wear?” he asked.
Max’s eyes narrowed, but
then she smiled as the girl stammered an answer in confusion. They wore the same size.
“You’re right, sweetie,”
she smiled at Alec, “I hadn’t considered all our options.”
“Both of you…?” the girl
looked a little doubtful, but shrugged.
“Two at a time doubles the price.”
“I’ll make you a deal,”
Alec offered, “I’ll give you $200 just to stay in our hotel room tonight. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want
to do.”
The girl looked
suspicious. “Show it to me.”
Alec handed her the
cash.
The girl shrugged and
pocketed the money. “Fine, but anything
I ‘don’t want to do’ will cost extra.”
Max smiled as the girl
tagged along with them.
It was a little awkward
checking into a remarkably fancy hotel with her ‘husband’ and a hooker, but a
little money and one or two flirtatious glances later and ‘Anthony and Violet’
were all checked in and on their way up to their room.
Opening up the door to the
hotel room, all thought of the mission and his counter mission flew out of
Alec’s mind. There, in the front of the
room was a 32 inch color TV. Grinning
broadly, he dove onto the bed, grabbing the remote control on the way.
The hooker’s mouth dropped
and Max’s eyes narrowed, but Alec didn’t pay attention, he was channel surfing.
“Ahem,” Max reminded him
they were there as she closed the door.
“Change,” he told Max,
settling on a music video.
Max rolled her eyes and
went into the bathroom, coming out minutes later in the clothes they’d picked
up earlier.
“Now you,” Alec gestured
toward the prostitute without looking away from the television screen.
The girl just gaped at
him. Max handed her some clothes from
the bag she had been carrying. She
stared at the clothes, then at Max and Alec.
Shrugging, she took what Max was offering and went into the bathroom to
change.
“Aren’t you going to
change?” Max asked Alec.
“Oh yeah,” he sat up,
whipping off the shirt he’d been wearing and slipping out of his pants.
“Alec!”
“What?” he turned from the
TV for the first time in their conversation.
“You could wait for the
bathroom,” she huffed.
“That would just waste
time, there’s nothing here you haven’t seen before,” he assured her, dropping
his boxers.
Max’s eyes widened and she
spun around quickly. Alec laughed as he
pulled on his new clothes and flopped back on the bed.
The hooker looked nothing
like Max when she came out of the bathroom, it may have had something to do
with the ridiculous amount of make-up she was wearing.
“So what’s your guys’
deal?” the girl asked, looking from Alec to Max expectantly.
Max slid onto the bed with
Alec, distracting him into dropping the remote.
“Are you willing to stay here…” she ran her fingers down his back, “…for
two days?”
Alec wasn’t exactly sure
what Max was doing, but he didn’t have a problem with it.
The girl shrugged, “Sure.”
“Good,” Max leaned over
and grabbed the remote, turning off the TV.
Alec looked ready to cry. It was actually almost cute. Not that anything he did was cute.
“Time to go, sweetie,” she
reminded him.
He shook his head and
looked around the room, apparently remembering what was going on for the first
time since he’d spotted the television.
“Well, then,” Alec turned
to the confused little slut, “It’s been a pleasure…have fun for the next few
days. Order whatever you want. Here’s the key,” he handed it to her. “Leave for awhile tomorrow and wear any of
the clothes in that bag.” Alec pointed
to Max’s bag.
“You…don’t…what?”
Max had to laugh at the
look on the poor girl’s face.
“Oh, and take these with
you,” he handed her the clothes he’d been wearing. “Do what I say and in two days, I’ll give you
double what I’ve already given you. Any
questions?”
She shook her head
quickly.
“Good, take care of this
cell phone, I want it back.” Alec turned to Max, “Shall we?”
They left the room, trying
not to laugh.
“That was probably the
strangest request she’s ever gotten from a client,” Max laughed.
Alec gave her a look, “You
ARE aware of what she does for a living, aren’t you?”
“Shut up, Alec.”