DISCLAIMER: All DARK ANGEL characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and DARK ANGEL itself belongs to FOX.

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Photo courtesy of JensenAckles.org

"If we don't find him within the next twenty-four hours, he'll die."

"You sound upset, sir," the young sergeant said, noting his commander's haggard face and sleep-deprived eyes. "Isn't that the whole point of this experiment? If the Unit goes rogue, his punishment is death? At the very least it will deter future X5s and X6s from trying the same thing."

"I never meant for 494 to be destroyed!" Lydecker roared, venting his frustration in the force of his words. Bringing a fist down hard on the scarred desk top, he looked helplessly at the computer screen. "Lord knows there are few enough healthy X5s left in the world anyway," he spat, "especially those of breeding caliber. I don't want to lose 494's DNA from the gene pool. That boy's one of the most valuable bioweapons on Earth. He can speak fourteen languages, god damn it ... he's ... he's ..." The aging man sighed heavily then, raking his hair with his fingers -- a gesture that had become a habit the past few days -- he realized that enumerating X5-494's many assets would be meaningless to the younger officer who hadn't worked that long in the Manticore program. The subordinate had no idea of the extreme scientific -- not to mention monetary -- worth of X5-494. "No sign of him at the emergency rooms?" he asked gruffly. "You're certain?"

"Any patient with a bar code on his neck will be instantly reported," the sergeant replied, his calm tone a marked reflection to his superior's ragged breathing and ranting speech of a moment before.

Clenching his jaw, Lydecker shook his head. "And the good Dr. Carr?" he asked.

"Just arrived back at his office," the sergeant replied, checking the data on the screen. "We'll put a tail on him now."

"No!" Lydecker said. "That will take too long. Bring him in."

"But sir, he's a civilian."

"I don't care. Bring him here for questioning. If he knows where 494 is it's vital I get to him!"

"Yes, sir."

*****

"Sam should have been back by now," Max said worriedly, peeking through the curtain of the window for the tenth time in the past hour. Then she glanced back at the bed where O.C. was sitting beside Alec who's body was visibly shaking beneath the sheet. "Maybe he's just cold," she said hopefully, reaching for a blanket that was folded on a nearby chair.

The black girl was holding the unconscious X5's hand. Suddenly, a more serious tremor raced through Alec's bare arm. Then it stopped. O.C. looked up worriedly. "Max," she said gently. "That's some kind of seizure."

"Maybe not," Max said, her tone that of a helpless child as she wished mightily for what she was seeing ... deterioration of Alec's condition ... to not be as serious as she knew it really was. "Sam said there could be muscle spasms" she said. "It's his body craving the drug." Glancing at the monitors, she saw that Alec's vitals were still alarmingly high. "He should have been back half an hour ago," she added.

"Maybe he got stuck in traffic," O.C. offered, "or had another emergency with a patient."

"He would have called," Max said adamantly, her gut instinct telling her that this could be the beginning of what they'd feared. If Lydecker had gotten hold of Sam Carr, it would only be a matter of hours ... maybe even minutes before the attack came. There was no way in the world the mild mannered physician could resist Manticore's persuasive methods, nor should he even try. After all, this wasn't really his battle.

Max made her decision. "Where's Berrisford?" she asked.

O.C.'s eyes widened. "Max, what are you gonna do? I mean if the Doc really did get his ass caught by the bad guys and the Devil himself is on the way?"

"I won't let them take him back," the X5 said quietly, her eyes now on Alec's still face even as another seizure raced through his limbs. "Alec would rather die than have that happen."

"I know he would," her friend said softly.

Max straightened, forcing herself to make decisions. And the first one was to see to her best girl's safety. "Go," she said to O.C. "Get in that car you borrowed and leave here, and whatever you do don't come back until you hear from me."

"I'm not afraid, Max."

"Well you should be!" 452 shouted, losing her calm at last. "When 'Deck gets here he's going to kill everything that isn't wearing a barcode!"

"Meaning he'll take you prisoner too!" O.C. shouted right back. "Max, I won't leave you here to get put in some cage."

"That won't happen," Max said. "Just like they won't get Alec back either."

"How you gonna stop 'em, Boo? Lydecker will bring an army! Even if you had a gun, that wouldn't be enough, would it?"

"I don't use guns," Max said, her voice clipped. But then she looked at Alec again and added silently, except for one thing. She couldn't break Alec's neck like she had Ben's ... she just couldn't. A bullet in his head or heart would be far better.

Roger Berrisford appeared in the bedroom door. "Video surveillance shows half a dozen black sedans coming down the road." He cocked an eyebrow and smiled grimly. "Are we expecting company?"

"Yes," Max said, realizing it was perhaps too late for all of them now.

"What are you going to do?" Berrisford asked.

"The two of you should run, now," Max said firmly.

"I mean about him?" the man said, nodding at Alec.

"I'll take care of him," Max said softly. "Don't worry. I won't let Manticore have him back, or me either."

"There may be a less drastic way," Berrisford said, obviously knowing exactly what she was thinking about doing -- death being preferable to capture.

"What?" Max said. "I won't let it become a firefight.

"Let me talk to Lydecker," Berrisford said. "I'm not without influence."

"Manticore wants you dead, too," Max said. "Or have you forgotten why they sent Alec after you in the first place?"

"I haven't forgotten," Berrisford said. "But let's just say that the Colonel may not be in possession of all the information."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just let me talk to him, and you'll see," Berrisford said mysteriously.

Max shrugged. "Fine, just so long as I've got this," she took Alec's automatic from the nightstand drawer, "and thirty seconds warning."