Deal With the Devil
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"We'll be slaves," Max said matter-of-factly. "Our children will be raised in slavery just like we were." Her eyes suddenly filled with alarm. "What if he takes them away from us? Brac and Nyx? What if--"
"Lydecker wants us to breed," Alec said, his voice utterly devoid of emotion as he lay beside Max on her hospital bed, his head cradled on an outflung arm. He'd adamantly refused to be admitted to the hospital, even though a CAT scan showed there was still some internal bleeding. But it did feel good to lie down.
"Where's he going to put us?" Max asked. "Not that godawful prison."
"Where do you think?" Alec said tiredly. "The New Manticore compound."
"You've got to be kidding!"
"He's been rebuilding it for three years, Max. And there are hundreds of acres that go with the it -- nice and private."
"What do the others say?"
Alec snuggled deeper into the pillow, closing his eyes. "There are eighteen adult X5's, countin' you and me. Five of the eleven females are pregnant. Four of the males are takin' off on their own. There are six second generation X5's, includin' Brac and Nyx. Then we have twenty-three X6 kids who still need a world of training, although half a dozen of them are gonna go independent too unless Ryan and I can talk 'em outta it. Gem's takin' care of Ned and Mandy, the two X8's." He rolled over so he could look at her. "Most of 'em will do whatever you and I tell them to."
Her eyes were sad as she regarded him.
"What?"
"After all this time ... after all the torture, the ways Lydecker tried to beat you, separate us, turn you back into a Manticore automoton ... he's finally gotten what he wants. Hasn't he?"
Alec badly wanted to deny her words -- but he couldn't.
"He's won, Alec. He's got us both, our children, our people. We're at his mercy, a position I swore thirteen years ago I'd never be in again."
"And it's my fault," Alec whispered. "Max, I'm sorry."
Max's silence said it all.
"But the tryptophan, Max," Alec argued, the disappointed look in her eyes killing him. "He's got a source. I don't know where. The Chinese plant we were buyin' from closed down last month." He pulled a small pill bottle out of his hospital gown pocket and shook it. A two-day supply for me," he said. "'Deck's keepin' me on a short leash."
"He gave me a week's supply," Max said quietly. "Left the bottle on the bedside table last night. It was there when I woke up. It's like we're junkies and he's our source."
"Shit," was all Alec could say as he closed his eyes again in frustration.
*****
"I want some kind of guarantee," Alec said, his voice low and completely under control.
Donald Lydecker steepled his fingers and leaned back, the springs of his desk chair squeaking, the look on his face both thoughtful and dangerous. "Guarantee of what, soldier?"
"A guarantee that I won't log onto the internet someday and find an 'advanced biological weapons system' up for auction on eBay."
The comment amused the man. "You think I'd sell one of you to the highest bidder?"
"I think you'd sell your own soul to the highest bidder if you needed the cash for your little military operation. The thought of how much one of my kind would bring on the open market has to be makin' you drool. What? Ten ... Fifteen million?"
"More like twenty," Lydecker replied. "For a fertile female or an adult breeding male. A pair would be worth a king's ransom. A baby like your Nyx, however, due to the uncertainty of her future physical status would probably only bring in--"
"Stop it."
"I'm not going to separate your family and sell you to the South Africans," Lydecker said firmly. "The last thing I want is for that technology to fall into foreign hands. So, you can stop worrying on that account. Like I already told you. If you and your people put yourselves under my command I'll protect you ... use you for the purpose you were created for ... give you a life."
"Or a death."
Lydecker smiled at that. "At least it would be a noble death, and for a worthy cause. How's the side healing?"
Alec glanced down at himself. Barefoot and more than a little bit cold (he was clad only in a hospital gown and light weight robe) he'd spent the night in Max's room, watching over his family. Not surprisingly, Lydecker had commandeered an office on the hospital's first floor to use while he coordinated his newly acquired unit of transgenics. It was here Alec had found him this morning, perched like a king on a throne behind a huge formica desk with his phone and computer.
"I'm better," Alec conceded. "I told the doctor no more tests. But they keep insisting I'm running a fever. High basal body temperature, remember."
"I'll back you up on that," Lydecker said. "We don't need these people asking too many questions about your biological make-up. You X series can pass a cursory physical examination, get by as human on the surface, but any medic worth his salt would have suspicions raised by your metabolic rate alone, not to mention the stem cells in your blood. And we won't even talk about what a DNA workup would reveal."
"Where are the others?" Alec asked, changing the subject.
"Don't worry. They've been well taken care of. We bunked them down in a hangar out at the airport. I've got a military transport coming in tomorrow afternoon to fly you all back to the states." Lydecker paused, then added, "I've seen to it that tryptophan was liberally distributed. I really don't want you people feeling like I'm holding you hostage in return for needed medication."
"Even though that's of course exactly what you're doing," Alec said. He held up a hand, continuing before Lydecker could argue. "What happens when we get back to the states?"
"A return to training," Lydecker said simply. "Doing the jobs you were created for. And, of course, you'll be encouraged to breed. The second generation X5 babies you've produced so far look promising. Too bad the tryptophan defeciency was passed on, however. So, all of you of course will always be dependent."
"The China factory shut down," Alec said, hoping to dig out just a little more information. "Who's your supplier?"
Lydecker laughed at that. "As if I'd ever tell you."
Alec smiled too. "You know I had to ask."
"Of course you did. But I'm not going to let my newly returned dogs off their leashes that easily."
Alec nodded. He'd expected no less from the man. But there was one thing he still had to say. "You saved my family's life back there on the island. No matter what happens between you and me in the future, I do owe you that. Thank you."
"Max is one of my kids," Lydecker said gruffly. "I would never have just let her or her daughter die." He regarded Alec a moment, the look in his eyes almost one of fondness. "You either, for that matter."
Alec accepted the words for what they were. "After the training," he said. "What then?"
"Missions," Lydecker said simply.
"Undercover?"
"Some. You're a trained solo operative. You'll be invaluable. Max ..."
"Isn't trained for that," Alec said. "But she's a fantastic cat burglar."
"Then I'm sure she'll have her uses."
"Almost sounds like fun," Alec said, raking fingers back through his dishevelled hair.
"It could be fun at that," Lydecker said. "If we work together as a team instead of you thinking of yourself as my prisoner."
"But I am your prisoner. All of us are, so long as you hold the tryptophan over our heads."
"Would you come work for me otherwise?"
"No. We'd find someplace else in the world to live and make a new life for ourselves. Someplace where we'd be free."
"But that's not going to happen now, is it, soldier?"
"No," Alec conceded.
"But I do guarantee this," Lydecker said, his blue eyes intense. "You and Max ... your children ... your brothers and sisters ... will be treated well, with dignity and consideration."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Alec tossed at him. "Ya see, sir, I've been at your mercy before as you'll recall -- and it hurt like hell."
"No torture," Lydecker said quickly. "Promise. All I want is your cooperation. And if you or any of your people want out of the deal all you have to do is walk out of the compound. You'll be free to leave."
"Without the tryptophan, of course."
"Of course. And I'm going to be upfront from the beginning with you about one other point, son. I'm never going to pursue a way for the X5's to be rid of their dependency. So don't ever ask me for that particular favor. You'll be swallowing tryptophan tablets until your dying day. Double cross me ... leave me ... and you're on your own in that respect. And no doubt about it, you'll eventually die because I now control the only supply of that supplement in the world." Lydecker held Alec's eyes. "Are we clear on that, soldier?"
"Crystal, sir."