Bid for Freedom

“What are you grinning about?” Bradley Sheridan asked, grinning himself. Lexie had that effect on people. “I would’ve thought that dinner with my family—including the LA mob—wasn’t something to grin about.”

“Oh come on, they’re not that bad,” Lexie protested. “Your cousins are cute.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled, thinking about 12-year-old Scott and almost-10-year-old Anita Fitzgerald. “They are that. You were good with them. You’ll make someone a good mother one day, Lex.”

Don’t wish that on me, she thought. I have enough trouble with the kids in my life now. I could never be a real mother. But she couldn’t say any of this to Brad, for there were some things in her life, quite a lot of them actually, that her boyfriend was unaware of. As far as he knew, Lexie Dennison was the niece of a colonel who worked at a V.A. facility just out of Gillette, Wyoming; one the locals referred to as the “V.A. Nuthatch”. But the truth was much worse than that.

The so-called “V.A. Nuthatch” was in reality a secret government facility called Manticore, dedicated to genetically making the ‘perfect soldier’. Babies made in test tubes, birthed by surrogates, and raised cruelly. Lexie’s part in this was simple: she was rescued from a fanatical cult as a child and raised by Manticore to be one of their doctors one day. She had the appearance of freedom, attending the local high school, allowed to have a boyfriend; but the freedom was an illusion. Lexie knew what would happen if she ever spoke out of turn, if she ever told anyone what Manticore was. She had already lost two friends to ‘accidents’ that were of Manticore’s making.

But none of this could be told to Brad, so Lexie had to content herself to trying to live the double life she had, and pray that one day it will be better. In the meantime, she had to make sure her boyfriend didn’t get suspicious. “Are you okay, Lex?” he was asking. “You went quiet on me all of a sudden.”

“What?” she shook her head, clearing the cobwebs. “I’m fine. It’s just way too early to be thinking about having children, that’s all.”

“True. But I still think you’d make a great mother,” he reached over to tweak her nose.

“Shut up,” she forced a smile. “And keep your eyes on the road.”

Even as she said this, Brad bit back a curse and hit the brake in a hurry. The SUV skidded, and almost ran over a child, about nine or ten, dressed in what looked like a hospital gown, who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Lexie gasped, and not just from the near-miss. She recognised this kid—he was one of the X5’s she had been working with. The fact that he (or she—it was hard to tell at a glance) was out of the compound was not good news.

The wide-eyed, deer-caught-in-headlights expression on the child’s face told Lexie what she needed to know. A bunch of the X5 genetically engineered soldier kids that she worked with had engineered an escape, probably led by X5-599, a.k.a “Zack”. She also knew that if any of them made it past the perimeter fence as this one did, they would be terminated on sight. Impulsively she made a decision. Unlocking the passenger door behind her and winding down her window, she leaned out. “Hurry, get in.”

The child made a move as if to bolt, giving Lexie enough time to figure out who it was. “Come on, Zane,” she pleaded as he turned his head, undoubtedly hearing something she could not.

Naturally Bradley was confused. “Zane? You know this kid, Lexie? What the hell’s he doin’ out here dressed like that this time of night?”

“Shh,” Lexie shushed him with a finger to her lips without turning away from Zane. “Zane, it’ll be all right, I’ll protect you. You know I’d never hurt any of you.”

That was enough to convince the child, who scrambled round the side of the SUV and climbed in the back. “There’s soldiers coming,” he said matter-of-factly.

“I kinda figured that,” Lexie muttered under her breath. “Zane, I want you to get on the floor behind my seat and cover yourself with the blanket. You cannot be visible at all. Then I want you to go silent. Just like in your training, and with the same consequences if you fail. You got that?” There was no reply, but she could hear him scrambling to comply, then silence. She turned to her boyfriend. “He covered?”

Brad looked. “Yeah, looking in from the outside, you wouldn’t be able to tell he was there.”

“Good.”

“Lexie, what is going on here? Are we in some kind of trouble?”

Lexie let out a breath. “We could be. For now, I just want you to drive straight ahead, as if you were just taking me home like normal, and the car stalled.”

“Not far from the truth. Then what?”

“Very shortly now we’re gonna come across some TAC soldiers…”

“Looking for the kid?”

She nodded. “Brad you cannot let them know he is here. If you do they’ll kill us all.”

“Kill us? Lexie, what…?”

“Shh, I’ll take care of it. As far as they need to know, you’re just driving me home as usual and we’ve seen nothing unusual. I’ll talk to them. When they let you go, you take Zane back to your place, hide him in the attic, and I’ll explain everything when I can.”

“Lexie…”

“Trust me,” she whispered, kissing his hand. “I’ll take care of it.” She fought the urge to cry as she realised that Manticore just may kill Bradley anyway.

“Okay,” he whispered in return, sparing a glance at her before turning his attention back to the road, where a TAC soldier was waving them down.”

“Stop here,” Lexie said, sotto voce. “I’ll approach them.” Suiting actions to words, she climbed out of the SUV into the bitter February night, and walked over to the soldier. “Is there anything going on here, soldier?” she asked in what she hoped was an appropriately curious, offhand manner.

“Oh, it’s you,” the soldier said with some relief as he recognised Lexie.

“What’s the situation, soldier?” she repeated.

“Some of the X5’s have escaped, Lexie,” he spoke. “And we have orders to terminate on sight.”

Lexie winced at the lack of emotion in his tone, but she supposed that was to be expected. “I can’t let Bradley drive into your search, and he won’t just drop me off here without one hell of an explanation. Are you in contact with Lydecker on that?” she indicated the walkie talkie on his belt.

“Yeah, why?”

“So I can talk to him,” she explained slowly as if the soldier was a child. “I mean, he is technically my guardian.”

“Oh, sure.” The soldier handed her the unit.

“Lydecker, it’s Lexie. Are you receiving?” It may be a stupid question, she thought, but it’ll get his attention.

“Lexie, what the hell are you doing out there?” Lydecker’s voice came through loud and clear.

“Brad was driving me home when we came across one of the TAC units. I’ve left him in the car, he doesn’t know what’s going on.”

“But you do.”

“Yeah, I know. I guess you don’t want Brad to drive through the middle of this. Do I have your permission to remain off base for the night?”

“What will you tell your boyfriend?”

“Just that there’s an emergency and I need to spend the night in town. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before.”

“True. You do realise that he’ll probably have to be taken out in the morning.”

Lexie willed herself not to have a visible reaction to this statement. “Maybe not. I’ll talk to you in the morning. Dennison out.” She deliberately used her surname to indicate her feelings on the matter. “I’ll be seeing you,” she said to the soldier, giving him his walkie talkie back.

“Lexie?” Brad asked when she climbed back in the car.

“Turn around and drive back into town,” she instructed softly “Act like nothing’s wrong. I just have to spend the night off base, that’s all.”

“Oh, one of those.” Because there were occasions where things happened at Manticore that Lexie didn’t need to see, sometimes Lexie was given permission to stay with a friend for the night off base. It was these occasions that gave rise to the belief that the military facility was a “V.A. Nuthatch”. Lexie was now grateful for these, as it gave some cover for the situation.

However the TAC unit they had encountered was barely out of sight before Bradley spoke again. “Except it’s not like usual, is it?”

“No,” she had to admit softly.

“Lexie, just what is going on here?”

“Brad, believe me, I’d love to tell you; but I can’t, it’s too dangerous.”

“Dangerous for whom?”

“For you. They’d kill you if it got out.”

“If what got out?”

“Brad, please,” the tears that Lexie had been fighting spilled over onto her cheeks. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Brad glanced over at her and saw the genuine grief and fright on her face. “Okay, I’ll stop asking questions… for now.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, looking out the window. She didn’t know what else to say—ordinary conversation was kind of out of the question now. It was also a moot point as she caught something out the corner of her eye. “Brad, stop the car.”

“What now?” he sighed as the SUV slowed to a stop. “Is there another kid out there?”

“Shh, maybe.” Lexie turned in her seat to reach around and gently tap the bundle on the floor behind her. “Zane, get up here and look around for a moment.”

The child cautiously did so, afraid that he was about to be caught. “What for?”

“Look out the window. I want you to tell me if there’s someone out there, please.”

“Yeah, there is,” he said a moment later.

“A soldier?”

“No. It looks like Krit.”

“Do you think you can get him to come to the car?” But even as she asked, Lexie figured she knew the answer to that. Krit was escaping the same way Zane was. He wasn’t about to blindly trust anyone.

The child shook his head. “He’ll run the other way.”

Lexie turned to look at him. “If you approach him, do you think you can get him to come? Look, Zane, I’m not going to take you back there. You kids deserve a chance, and the best chance you to have is by coming with me.”

Zane finally nodded, and the two slowly got out of the car, with Lexie shushing Brad’s protests. Lexie stayed close to the SUV as Zane darted into the night, hoping that he would be able to convince the other boy that they could trust here. The longer it took the more likely it was that they would be caught, and the harder her heart began to thump. Part of her knew that trying to save these kids was not the best option, as it could end up with the deaths of everyone involved. But she’d had nagging doubts about what Manticore was doing to these kids, and if they wanted out, then she knew she had to help them, come what may.

Despite being perfectly aware of what the X5s were capable of, Lexie still practically jumped out of her skin when Zane suddenly appeared in front of her, with Krit a few steps behind. Unlike Zane, it looked as though Krit was hesitant to trust her. She slowly held out her hand. “Come on, Krit. It’s gonna be all right.”

Krit looked back and forth between Zane and Lexie for what seemed like forever before finally nodding and darting forward. Lexie opened the back door of the SUV and bundled the boys in—almost getting pushed over when Krit tried to get out again. “It’s a trap,” he hissed.

“No…” Lexie began, but was cut of by Zane.

“Not a trap, Krit. He’s Lexie’s friend. He’ll help.”

Krit just regarded Bradley with suspicion. “I’m not gonna take you back there,” Brad finally said quietly. It was another moment before the boy relaxed, and Lexie could close the door.

“I hope you know what you’re doing Lex,” Brad muttered as he continued to drive.

“In for a penny, in for a pound,” she muttered back.

“You know, if the boys aren’t supposed to be seen, they should probably hunker down behind the seats again. At least until we get to my place.” Brad glanced back. “Even in town it’ll look odd for me to be driving around with two kids on hospital gowns.”

Lexie looked back at them. “He’s right,” she pointed out.

“There’s only one blanket,” Zane objected.

“That’s okay,” Brad replied. “You shouldn’t need it now.”

Zane immediately hid down behind Brad’s seat, but Krit, who was behind Lexie, did not move. “Syl.”

“What?”

“Where’s Syl?”

Lexie turned in her seat. “What do you mean? Did Syl escape with you?”

Krit nodded. “She jumped the fence with me. Then we got separated. Where is she?”

“I don’t know, Krit. We haven’t seen her. I only just saw you.”

“We have to find her!”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Lex,” Bradley warned.

“We have to find her!” Krit insisted.

Lexie sighed. “Krit, we didn’t see her; and you know that if she sees the car she’ll just go to ground, just like you did. The only reason we found you was that Zane was able to see you. But we can’t go driving around looking for her.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m supposed to be heading straight into town. If the soldiers see us driving where we’re not supposed to, we’ll all get caught.”

“We’ll keep an eye out for Syl as we go,” Brad added, “but you two have to hunker down behind the seats.”

“Thank you,” Lexie whispered as the boys complied.

“You have one hell of a story to tell me when we get back,” he whispered in return. “And don’t give me crap about if I know my life’ll be in danger. It already is in danger.”

“True.” Lexie reached over and squeezed his hand. “But later. First we have to figure out how to get these two up to the attic without rousing the whole house.”

It proved to be rather difficult to get Zane and Krit up to the attic without rousing Bradley’s family. In fact, it was impossible, as the adults were still up talking.

“Is that you, Brad honey?” Jennifer Sheridan called out as Brad and Lexie were about to usher the boys up the kitchen stairs.

Lexie met her boyfriend’s eyes. “We can’t tell her. They have no reason to target your family. I don’t want to give them one,” she whispered.

The look in his eyes told her that Bradley did not agree with that assessment. However, he rose to the occasion, ushering the two boys up the stairs with a finger to his lips, indicating that they should stay there; while taking hold of Lexie’s hand and leading her to his parents.

“Well,” his mother folded her arms at the sight of her son and his girlfriend. “I certainly didn’t expect to see you again this evening, Lexie.”

“I’m sorry about this Mrs Sheridan,” Lexie apologised. “But as we got back to the base I was told that I needed to stay off base for the night. But if it’s too much trouble, I can call Megan or Diana. They’ve had to put me up for the night often enough to know the drill.”

“Don’t be silly,” Mrs Sheridan admonished. “There’s plenty of room. Just not in my son’s room.”

Lexie let out a nervous giggle. “Of course not.” Nervous, she tried not to fidget, but the longer Zane and Krit were left alone on the stairs, the more likely they would be caught. But how were she and Brad supposed to go back into the kitchen without raising his mother’s suspicions?

But Jennifer Sheridan was a rather astute woman, and she could tell that there was something more going on than Lexie having to stay off base for the night. “Is there something the matter?” she asked, almost in a conversational tone.

Lexie’s heart began to pound again. “What do you mean?”

“You’re acting like you’re about to be given a death sentence. Is there something wrong back at base?”

“You could say that,” Brad muttered under his breath. Lexie just gave him a look, her hopes for keeping it quiet just withering away.

Along with being astute, Jennifer Sheridan had exceptional hearing. “What was that, Bradley?”

But before Brad could answer, Jennifer’s attention was diverted by something over his shoulder. Almost at the same instant, they could hear Zane call out, “Krit, don’t!”

Brad and Lexie whirled around in time to see Krit brace himself to attack Brad. Brad tensed, ready for the attack, but Lexie knew that the X5s were trained to kill an unarmed man quickly and with ease. So with her best command voice she bellowed “X5-471 stand down!”

Reflexively, Krit stood to attention, and Zane appeared from behind the staircase to see what was going on. Lexie winced as she turned back to look at Brad’s mother. The game was up; she could not keep them out of it now. “I’m sorry, Mrs Sheridan…”

“I know you are,” Jennifer looked from Lexie to the boys. “But I think you should tell me what this is about. I’ve long since thought that your base wasn’t just another VA facility.”

“Please, Mrs Sheridan,” Lexie begged. “I don’t want to put you or Mr Sheridan in any danger…”

“Why don’t you let us worry about that,” Brad’s father, Michael Sheridan spoke up, the noise having alerted him and the elder Fitzgeralds.

“In any case, those lads need something more on than just hospital gowns,” Anna Fitzgerald spoke up.

“Right, it’s settled,” Jennifer Sheridan took charge. “Michael, could you and Brad look for some of Brad’s old clothes for the boys, I’ll put the kettle on, and Lexie can tell us all about it over a nice cup of hot chocolate. You boys will like that won’t you? It will warm you right up.”

Both boys stared at her blankly, and Lexie hastened to explain. “They’ve never had hot chocolate before,” she said sheepishly. “It’s a long story.”

“How is it that they’ve never had chocolate before?” a childish voice asked from the staircase, and young Anita Fitzgerald poked her head over the banister. “And why are they dressed so funny?”

“Anita Fitzgerald, you get yourself back to bed, right now!” Mike Fitzgerald bellowed. “You too, Scott. This has nothing to do with you.”

Grumbling, the two did so, and Lexie looked into the eyes of the two X5 soldiers she had taken it upon herself to save. Zane’s eyes had an apprehensive look in them; Krit’s dark eyes were somewhat distrustful. Lexie could not blame them, the last thing the boys needed was a lot of attention when they were trying to get away. Meanwhile, Brad’s mother was acting like nothing unusual was going on.

“Why don’t you boys come into the kitchen for that hot chocolate,” she was saying.

Krit and Zane looked at Lexie, and she nodded reassuringly. Slowly they followed Jennifer Sheridan into the kitchen. She looked at Brad helplessly. “Brad, I don’t…”

“Shh,” Brad put his arms around his girlfriend. “I know you want to protect us, but the cat’s out of the bag, now. Besides, you said you’d tell me everything. Come on,” he ushered her ahead of him; only to be reminded by his mother that he was supposed to be helping his father. Abashed, he went upstairs, leaving Lexie with his mother, aunt and uncle.

“Now,” Jennifer said briskly as she was spooning chocolate into steaming mugs of milk. “When Michael and Brad get back with the clothes, you can tell us the story of these two.”

“Please, Mrs Sheridan,” Lexie begged. “If I told you anything, your whole family would be in danger. I can’t do that.”

“Lexie, honey, something is terribly wrong here. We can’t help you if we don’t know what we’re in for. And if the danger is as bad as all that there is no way we are going to let you face it alone.”

The Fitzgeralds’ agreed with Jennifer Sheridan on that point, so when the male Sheridans came back she duly told her story. Lexie told the whole thing—what Manticore was doing at the facility, the creation of the X-series, her part with the X5s, how some of them had escaped; everything. She was aware of Krit glaring at her, whether it was because she was spilling Manticore’s secrets or because he felt she was putting him and Zane in danger, she couldn’t tell. Either was probable.

“Well,” Michael Sheridan breathed when she finished. “When you say we’ll be in danger, you really mean it. This Manticore will do anything to keep this hidden, won’t it?”

Lexie nodded. “You wouldn’t be able to report it to anyone. No one would believe you, for one thing. As far as the world is concerned, it is just a VA facility, and they get wind of any hint of the story getting out, they come down and eliminate everyone who may know even the tiniest scrap of information.”

“They wouldn’t hesitate to kill all of us, would they?” Anna Fitzgerald was white, as much with indignation at the treatment of the children as the danger they were in.

“Do they even know we’re here?” Mike Fitzgerald asked.

Lexie shook her head. “Probably not. You turned up here unannounced. But they will start watching this place in the morning, so they will find out then.”

“Watching here?” Jennifer clutched her husband’s hand.

“They’ll want to make sure I haven’t told you anything. If they see anything suspicious, they’ll kill you. They’ve done it before.”

“When?”

“Not long after I started school here,” Lexie blinked back tears. “Remember Sarita Clarke? She was the first friend I made here. I was only seven, and I innocently told her a little about Manticore and what they were doing there. Lydecker was furious when he found out. No chances were taken, and the whole Clarke family was killed.”

“But that was an accident,” Michael Sheridan countered. “There was a gas leak in their street, and their house blew up.” Lexie just looked at him. “You don’t mean…”

“They are very good at causing ‘accidents’. It’s the way they keep a low profile.”

“Will we be targeted like that?” Brad’s father faced her squarely.

Lexie did not want to say it, but Brad figured out what was left unsaid. “They’ll target me,” he said quietly. “I was there when Lexie talked to that soldier.”

Lexie nodded helplessly. “They’re not going to take the chance that you didn’t see anything. They’ll make it look like an accident, and watch you guys to see if you do anything suss,” she looked at the Sheridans.

“What about us?” Mike Fitzgerald asked again.

“Like I said, they probably don’t know you’re here, yet. If you leave early enough in the morning, you should be safe.”

The Fitzgeralds breathed a sigh of relief, and Anna patted her husband’s hand. “We’ll do that then. And we’ll take one of the boys with us.”

“What?” Several voices exclaimed.

“We can’t let them go off alone,” she countered. “Indeed, I’d like to take both, but that would look too suspicious.”

Mike Fitzgerald nodded slowly in agreement, but Lexie was shaking her head. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Maybe,” Mike countered. “But it’s the best thing for him. Now we only need to decide which one to take.”

Krit only looked at him with distrust. Zane was just as uneasy, but somehow he knew that these people were to be trusted. “If I choose to go with you, you won’t turn me in?” he asked.

Anna put her arms around him. “No. we’ll take you back to out home and look after you like your were one of our own children. You’ll have a brother and sister, and you can grow up like any other normal kid. How about that?”

“Zane, no,” Krit hissed urgently when the other boy nodded.

“Are you sure about this?” Michael Sheridan asked his brother-in-law.

Again, Mike nodded slowly. “I know it’s risky, and I won’t say that I’m not worried, but I’m with Anna on this. We can’t let them go off on their own, even if they were trained to lay low. That’s no way for a child to grow up. I’m only sorry we can’t take Krit as well as Zane, but Anna’s right—it would look too suspicious.”

“We could look after Krit, couldn’t we?” Jennifer asked her husband.

Both Krit and Lexie shook their heads violently. “No way!” Lexie exclaimed. “With Manticore watching…”

She cut her words off at that point as everyone became aware of two young faces peeping into the kitchen from around the door. “I thought I told you two to go back to bed,” Mike rebuked his son and daughter.

Scott and Anna Fitzgerald came into the kitchen. “We wanted to know what was going on,” Scott said.

“I told you that it was none of your business.”

“How much did you hear?” Anna asked.

“Almost everything,” Anita replied, sitting on her father’s lap. “Are we really gonna take this boy home with us?”

“We are,” her mother confirmed, “if you don’t mind. We can give him a real home and family, and you can have another brother. Would you like that?”

Both children nodded. “It’ll be good to have another man about the place,” Scott stated.

“And he won’t tease me the way Scott does,” Anita wrinkled her nose.

The adults laughed. “It won’t be easy at first,” Mike warned his children, sobering. “Zane has had a very different upbringing to you, and hasn’t had a normal home like us.”

“And you won’t be able to tell anyone what you heard here tonight,” Anna added. “And I mean anyone. Not even your best friends. You understand?”

They nodded. “Which one’s Zane?” Anita asked.

“I am,” that gentleman spoke up.

Lexie laughed. “Zane, Krit, meet Anita and Scott.”

“I think it’s time for you kids to go back up to bed,” Mike said firmly. “Especially since we have a very early start in the morning. Zane too.”

“Zane and Krit should have quick showers to warm themselves up before they go to bed,” Jennifer stated. “They can get out of those awful gowns and into nice clean pyjamas.”

After the X5s had been showered and put to bed in the attic, Lexie stood looking out the window on the landing. She was heartsick over the danger that she had put Brad and his family into. If only there had been another way around it! She jumped when she felt arms wrap themselves around her waist, only relaxing when she realised that it was Brad.

“You seem tense,” he commented.

“Can you blame me?” she turned to look at her boyfriend. “I’ve put you all in danger—you, your parents, possibly even your aunt and uncle.”

“Shh,” Brad kissed the tip of her nose. “Mum, Dad, Uncle Mike, Aunt Anna, they chose to listen. They wanted to know—they could’ve heeded your warning that it was too dangerous. And Mum’s still talking about adopting Krit.”

Lexie shook her head frantically. “It’s way too dangerous. If Lydecker were to find out…”

“I know, but we need to do something. We can’t just leave him, Mum won’t stand for it.”

Something in his voice made her frown. “What are you thinking?”

“You said it’s likely Manticore’s going to kill me anyway, just for being out there tonight, right?”

She nodded reluctantly. “That’s what Lydecker told me. He may change his mind, but I doubt it.”

“Well, if I can somehow cheat death and make it look like they have killed me, I can go on the lam with Krit. Then he won’t be alone.”

“I don’t know,” Lexie was doubtful. “Krit may not trust you enough to go with you, for one thing. And it’s awfully chancy; how will you know when you’ve been targeted?”

“How do you think they’re likely to do it?” Brad asked.

“Probably a car bomb when you’ve dropped me home. Car blows up; it looks like an accident, especially if you slide into an embankment. They’ve done that before.”

“Well, we can put it off until tomorrow at least. You keep clothes at Megan’s in case you need to stay off base overnight, so you don’t have to go home until after school at the earliest.”

“What good’s that gonna do?”

“It gives us time to think. We can ask Krit what he thinks in the morning. In the meantime, I think we should try and get some sleep. Staying up fretting isn’t going to help us any. Think about that old Bryan Adams song.”

“Huh?” Lexie blinked. “What Bryan Adams song?”

Brad started singing it, and smiling, she joined in. She felt that they really needed a shining star to wish upon that night.

The Fitzgeralds left early the next morning, while it was still dark. Lexie watched them go with a heavy heart, afraid for them. As Krit had gotten up with them to see Zane off, Lexie and Brad talked to him about Brad’s idea—to go on the lam with the X5.

The transgenic was distrustful at first; Manticore training ran deep. But he trusted Lexie, and knew that she wouldn’t deliberately steer him wrong. And Lexie obviously trusted Brad. So he agreed to go with him—knowing that if things didn’t work out, he could always take off on his own. He confessed this to Lexie when Brad was out of earshot; she just gave him a look and told him she wished he wouldn’t do that.

Neither were the Sheridans thrilled with the plan, but Michael knew that it made sense. And if Brad could really make it look to Manticore like he had died and still get away, so much the better. Quick plans were made that morning before brad and Lexie had to rush off to school (with a pit stop to Megan’s to get Lexie’s change of clothes). Indeed, they both wished they could take the day off, but it was important for them to keep the appearance of a perfectly normal day. They could not give any indication to Manticore that something was different.

The day passed too slowly for the teens anxious about what awaited them after school. Brad finished earlier than Lexie as he had a free period. Sometimes he waited for her to come out of class, sometimes he didn’t; it depended on the mood, the weather, how much homework he had… That day he decided not to wait. Part of him wanted to, but he was anxious about having left the skittish Krit alone with his parents; and as it was normal for him to go straight home, he chose to do so.

It was a good thing he did. When he got there he found that Krit had an intruder at gunpoint—a Manticore operative, according to the X5. This man, who gave his name only as Bates, told them why he was there. Manticore had decided not to take any chances and instead of blowing Brad’s car up to silence him, they were going to make his house blow up in an ‘accidental’ radiator mishap, killing Michael and Jennifer as well as Brad.

Bates had long wanted to get away from Manticore, but he dared not go against Lydecker’s orders. When Krit found and identified him, Bates came up with another plan. He was fond of Lexie, and knew that the discovery of Krit’s body in the remains of the Sheridans’ house (where there was only supposed to be three bodies) would only hurt her. So when Brad came home he told Brad and Krit to take his car and get out. Bates had been planning on running away after this job, so if Brad took the car and abandoned it somewhere, Manticore would be looking for Bates, not Brad and a missing X5. To account for a third body, Bates would sacrifice himself when the Sheridans house blew. He knew that Manticore had an operative in the Coroner’s Office, and an examination of the remains would only be cursory—there was no way they were going to allow someone to uncover any evidence that would point to it not being an accident.

And that was that. Brad had only a few minutes to say goodbye to his parents, knowing that he would never see them again, before he had to leave with Krit; there was scant enough time for that, Manticore timed it so that the house would blow before school broke out and Lexie could interfere. And Brad and Krit had to be away before it happened, so that no one who could identify Brad would know that he survived. Brad was heartsick—not only because he knew what his parents were about to die, but because he wouldn’t be able to tell Lexie what had happened. He wanted to send her a text message to her phone, but he didn’t dare; there was the chance she would react to it, alerting Manticore. And as much as he hated to let her believe he was dead, he couldn’t chance on letting her know beforehand and affecting her reaction. She would be watched. He could always send her one anonymously, from a pay phone, but that would have to wait a few days. Meanwhile, he had to let her grieve for him; hoping that the absence of Krit’s body in the remains of the house would give her hope that he and Krit made it.

Lexie was just coming out of class when the students heard fire trucks and ambulances race past the school. At first she didn’t twig that something could be wrong; sirens were a fairly common occurrence in one form or another. But then her brain caught up with her, and she remembered poor little Sarita Clark, who perished along with her entire family because of the loose tongue of a child who didn’t know any better. The memory stilled her for a moment, then she broke into a run, bypassing her locker and the homework therein. All she wanted to do was get out of the school and to Brad’s house. She needed to know he was okay.

She didn’t make it. The guidance counsellor was waiting for her at the entrance to the school. The school had been notified that the home of one of its students was going up in flames, so they could prepare for the police to come and warn said student. The guidance counsellor knew that Brad was likely to have gone home for the day, so she waited for Lexie to tell her.

One look at the teacher’s face told Lexie all she needed to know. But she had to act as though she knew nothing of what had occurred (which wasn’t far from the truth, she only made an educated guess), so she forced herself to act unconcerned and asked Ms Wilkins what was going on. She didn’t have to act shocked; her grief was real.

She could not remember the ride to the Sheridans’ place. All she could remember was standing in the street and watching the devastation unfold before her eyes. The fire was out of control, and the house burned to its framework, and Lexie knew that there was no hope for anyone to have made it out alive. Brad’s SUV was still parked in the driveway, so she knew he was at home when it happened. She sank to her knees in the middle of the road, sobbing uncontrollably. She blamed herself for what happened; she couldn’t see how Manticore knew that she had told Brad and his parents everything, but she had known that they were going to take Brad out for being in the woods the previous night to drive her home. Obviously they had decided that a car bomb would look too suspicious; collateral damage was nothing to Manticore if it got the job done. Lexie cried for Brad and his parents, and for Krit.

She had no idea how long she knelt there. That section of the street had been cordoned off, so there was no traffic to bother her; and people knew of her relationship with Brad, so no one intruded on her grief. She did not stir, until she heard Lydecker’s voice, oddly gentle. “Come on, Lexie. It’s time to go home.”

Lexie did not stir from her room for the next three days, consumed by guilt over what happened. Lydecker did not disturb her, not even to offer any platitudes. He had raised her only because her uncle had asked him to; there was no familial feeling between them. She was glad that he had the prudence to stay away—there was anger at him intermixed with the guilt; anger for what he did. She did not care that she was missing school; it didn’t seem worth going now that Brad was gone. It wasn’t like she was expected to go; Brad’s death gave her reason enough to stay away. She couldn’t dream of facing anyone, knowing that if it wasn’t for knowing her, Brad and his parents would still be alive.

It was 10 pm the evening of her third day of seclusion when Lydecker graced her with his presence. “The funeral’s tomorrow,” was all he said.

“I don’t want to go,” she replied. She couldn’t face anyone yet.

“It would look funny if you don’t,” the colonel pointed out. “And we have to make sure that we do nothing that looks out of the ordinary, especially now. Your friend Megan was aware of you spending that night of base, you know. The Committee wanted to take her out as well to be on the safe side; but that would look too suspicious in light of what happened to the Sheridans. You cannot to anything that would make anyone suspect your something other than a normal senior student.”

“Of course, we can’t do anything that would let the cat out of the bag about this place, can we?” Lexie’s voice was bitter as she sat up on her bed.

“You know how it goes, Dennison. You knew you were taking a risk getting close to this boy. Sooner or later this was bound to happen.”

“That’s all this is to you, isn’t it? Another incident to be covered up. You don’t care that three innocent lives were lost. There was no reason to kill Brad’s parents, they had no idea what was going on. Neither did Brad, for that matter. You could have let them live!”

“We couldn’t take the chance,” Lydecker said simply.

“Of course you couldn’t. I’m sick to death of all this secrecy. I wish you hadn’t brought me here, Lydecker.”

“Oh, so you wanted to be in the hands of that cult all your life? I’m not going to argue with you, Alexandra Dennison, you know the score. I’ve haven’t the time or inclination to coddle you; there’s gonna be Hell to pay for this escape the children planned, and don’t think you’re gonna emerge unscathed. You had a lot to do with the children. The funeral’s at 11 and you’re expected to be there.”

The day was cold and grey, which fitted with Lexie’s mood. As much as she did not want to face anybody, as much as she hated to admit it; it would have looked odd if she did not attend the funeral of Brad and his parents. She stood by the grave, listening to the minister speak, his words meaning nothing to her. The nature of their deaths meant that it was a closed casket service, and this left part of Lexie thinking that it was not really Brad in there—especially as Krit’s remains were not found in the fire. But if Brad really was with Krit, then who was the third body in the house? All evidence pointed to Brad having perished in the fire, and Krit having run away before it happened. Scuttlebutt in Manticore had it that Bates, the man who had the mission of destroying the Sheridans’ house, was missing; but Lexie did not believe that the events were connected.