ARCHIVE: No

Alec's gun was in his hand in an instant, but Max grabbed his wrist and shook her head. "Too many," she said.

He frowned, opening his mouth to disagree, but when he looked out the front window what he saw made him break out in a cold sweat. There had to be a dozen military vehicles out there, blocking the streets, parked on the lawn, one even sitting on the sidewalk at the doorstep. And on the rooftop across the way there were snipers. This wasn't a police action. This was a full blown military operation.

Somebody wanted them bad -- somebody with a lot of clout.

"Max," he said, trying to steady his voice as he hunched down beneath the window sill and checked the clip in his gun. "We've got two choices here. Either we surrender, or we make Brac an orphan."

Max, who'd been pulling her dress back on, peeked out the window from behind a curtain. The worry on her beautiful face echoed Alec's words. "We don't have anything to negotiate with," she said levelly. "There's nothing to keep them from just coming in and opening fire."

"Exactly," Alec agreed. "Which leads me to wonder why they haven't done that already. Why even give us a chance to surrender?"

"Political reasons?" Max guessed. "They don't want bad press ... another story about some kind of massacre in Seattle?"

"Which means they'll probably just take us outside city limits and put bullets in our heads."

"But at least we can buy a little bit of time by surrendering," Max said, the doubt in her eyes overwhelming. "What should we do, Alec?"

"This is your last chance!" the megaphone blared. "Come out with your hands up or we're coming in!"

Alec looked down at the Glock in despair. The gun really wasn't going to do much good, not against dozens of far more powerful weapons."

He made up his mind. His little boy wasn't going to grow up without parents , not if he could help it. Before Max could stop him, Alec jumped to his feet and was at the front door. "We surrender!" he shouted, opening the door a crack and tossing his gun out onto the front lawn. "Don't shoot! We're comin' out!"

*****

They were taken to a military prison. As transgenics, they had no rights. No one told them what they'd done or what was going to happen. No one even spoke, the heavily armed human soldiers who knocked them to the ground, bound them in chains, then escorted them to their destination obviously under orders not to fraternize with the "animals."

At least it wasn't McKinley's people ... the breeding cult. Their captors were definitely ordinaries, regular military although probably a special ops branch.

The armored car drove for a long time -- long enough that Alec figured they'd crossed at least two state lines -- before finally grinding to a halt inside a facility that was every bit as grim as Manticore used to be, not to mention secure. Twelve-foot electric fences topped with concertina wire surrounded a huge, windowless, three-story black cinder block building. Raised sentry posts anchored all four corners of the compound, and heavily armed guards patrolled the perimeters. The place looked like it had been designed by an architect from Hell.

Alec was able to see all of this in the brief seconds when he was dragged from the back of the carrier and shoved through the prison's massive iron front door. Behind him he heard Max cursing as one of the guards got fresh with his hands. There was the sound of material ripping and Alec dug his heels in, jerking his escort to a halt as he turned to defend his mate.

But he needn't have bothered. Even with hands and feet chained, Max was still a formidable warrior who could take care of herself just fine. The man who'd torn her dress down to her waist was already doubled over in agony, his genitals ruined by a double-fisted blow delivered with transgenic strength.

"Bitch!" another guard screamed, raising his hand to strike Max in the face. Her arms came up, instinctively blocking, even as Alec sprang. But the chain around his ankle brought him up short as his own guard yanked him to the ground, and then the butt of a rifle collided with his skull and everything went black.

*****

"Alec," a voice called softly. "Alec, wake up!"

Reluctantly Alec opened his eyes only to squint in the painful glare of a bank of overhead lights. He tried to sit up, but couldn't. Turning his head he saw that he was lying on a stainless steel medical examining table, the kind they did autopsies on, his wrists, ankles, and waist held down by metal restraints. He was also naked, transgenic prisoners apparently not allowed even a modicum of dignity. Unbidden, flashes of Manticore memory ripped through his mind -- the medical experiments ... the torture. He closed his eyes again, bile rising in his throat. This was bad. Very, very bad.

Max! She'd been calling him.

His eyes snapped open again and he twisted his head once more, looking frantically around the white sterile room.

"Are you all right?" she called out to him from where she lay equally helpless and unclothed on another gurney several feet away.

"What are they gonna do to us?" Alec asked, unable to keep the panic out of his voice and wondering what he'd missed while unconscious. "Did they do anything to me? To you?" He was thinking about that mandatory sterilization for transgenics order of McKinley's.

"Not yet," Max said, her own voice far from steady.

Alec strained against the metal cuffs holding his arms to his sides.

"It's no use," Max said. "I already tried. We can't break them."

"Max, we have to get out of here!"

"I know that!"

Alec fought against the band encircling his wrist until the skin tore and bled, but it was no use. All they could do was lie there and wait for whatever fate the humans had in store for their helpless transgenic captives.

*****

By the time the surgical garbed men finally entered the room Alec had made up his mind that he was going to die after all. If they touched him, or Max ... if they did anything to either of them, he would fight back the very second those cuffs were undone. And then they'd simply have to shoot him. Not a very elegant plan, but it was the only thing he could think to do since this was one situation he very much doubted he was gong to be able to talk his way out of.

"Their blood tests came back clean," one of the doctors said, looking at a chart. "No diseases or bio hazards." He glanced speculatively at Max, and Alec's heart began to race. "This is interesting though. The female's pregnant." He walked over and placed a latex gloved hand on Max's bare abdomen.

"Don't touch her!" Alec snarled.

The doctor turned in his direction, an amused glint in bespectacled eyes visible above the mask. "And I'm guessing our male is the sire. Or at least he thinks he is. From what I've been told these X5 females will breed with just about anything when they're in heat."

"She could breed with me any day," a second doctor commented, his eyes lasciviously raking Max's naked body. "Boy, did Manticore ever make some of their monsters pretty." He glanced back at Alec. "The male too. He's a beauty, near perfect physique and killer looks. The white slavers would pay top dollar for a stud like him. In Bangkok a package like his would be worth twenty grand at least to some rich old faggot."

"Killer looks all right," the first doctor agreed. "Which is why they're so dangerous. These genetically engineered creatures are a menace to the human race. If their DNA ever got into the genome base our species could be wiped out. Which is exactly why Senator McKinley has left standing orders for us to do this." He reached for a scalpel.

Alec froze, unable to do anything but watch as the doctor ... the butcher ... approached Max with the instrument.

"Abortion and complete hysterectomy for the female," the doctor said emotionlessly. He caught his colleague's eye. "We have to destroy the ova as well as the fetus. You take the male." He grinned beneath the mask. "I imagine he'll be a little less feisty when we're done."

"Touch her ... touch me ... and I'm going to kill you," Alec said, somehow keeping his voice level.

"Shut up!" the guard who'd accompanied the surgeons said, raising his rifle.

"No!" the first doctor ordered. "He already has head trauma and they don't want him dead. I can't even risk using anesthesia on him."

Oh good God, Alec thought, mentally cringing at what was about to happen. Could things get any worse than this?

Suddenly a cell phone rang, and the head surgeon put down the scalpel to take the call.

"Yes, sir," he said into the phone. "I understand, sir. No, sir. Your call was in time. We haven't done anything to them yet. The male's got a minor concussion but otherwise both specimens are in good condition." He listened a moment. "Are you certain sir? You want them housed together? Yes, sir. Security reasons, easier to watch both at the same time. Understood sir."

The doctor hung up the phone and pulled down the surgical mask. Then he stood just looking at Max as she lay shivering on the cold metal table. "You're in luck, sweetheart," he said softly. "The big boss just gave orders that you and your boyfriend over there are to be kept intact for the moment. Seems they need some targets for their special military units to practice on, and they don't want their toys neutered. They want you full strength, in all your filthy animal nastiness."

"What do you mean 'practice on'," Max snapped.

"Meaning," the doctor said, "our boys are gonna get themselves a couple of alive and kickin' trannies to play with."