Envy

by Lana Pecherczyk

  “And our parents, Mary and Flint.”

  They both waved.

  “And of course, the big brute glaring in the back is Wyatt.”

  Grace gave a small, shy finger wave.

  Wyatt ignored her, then pinned Evan with his stare. “What the fuck is going on?”

  “You all need to see this.” He turned on the big television and synced his phone. Within minutes, a slideshow of photographic evidence rotated on screen. “We found a lab that goes by the name of the GODC. As you can see, it’s not really a Center for Disease Control, but something else entirely. Privately owned and secretly fronted for illegal genetic experimentations. Sound familiar?”

  Evan flicked through some photos of random office papers, then a panoramic shot of the lab, close ups of specimen tanks—Mary gasped. Flint stiffened. Both edged forward in their seats to get a better look.

  “And why did you need to drag us out of bed for this?” Wyatt grumbled.

  “Because,” Grace stood forward. “Samples from Sara’s corpse were sent to this lab two years ago.”

  “And remind me why you’re here?”

  “Watch your tone,” Evan snapped at Wyatt. “She’s a doctor, remember? Or is your head so far up your ass you forgot?”

  “Don’t you fu—”

  “Mijos!” Mary snapped, shooting to her feet, hands fisting at her side.

  Silence blanketed the room. Mary walked toward the screen, a frown deepening in her brow. She pushed dark strands from her eyes as she investigated the pictures on the screen. “Tell us more.”

  Evan flicked the photographs until they showed the macabre human cloning tanks. “As you can see. It’s not your typical research lab. They’re growing people.”

  “Son-of-a-gun,” Flint murmured.

  Evan kept flicking until he got to the end of his collection of photographs, then pulled up Grace’s shots and skipped to the end. The last photograph taken. The empty tank, and Sara’s name. “Look at the name.”

  A chorus of gasps broke out around the room.

  “What the fuck is this shit?” Wyatt started, but Liza stood and said: “Pipe down, Wyatt. Let’s get more information before we go wild.” Then she turned to Evan and Grace. “What exactly are you saying?”

  Grace placed her palm on Evan’s arm in a way that said, I got this. She took a deep breath and faced his family. It wouldn’t have been easy. All eight of them, staring her down. Evan couldn’t be more proud of his woman in that moment. Balls of steel.

  Grace slid her sleeves up to display her scarred forearms.

  “Two years ago, I was in a building when a bomb went off and collapsed around me. You may remember it. You all fought the white robed attackers out the front.” They all shifted nervously in their seats. Some scowled. Some darted their gazes to their family. Grace continued. “You may also remember, there was a point before the collapse that the robed men suddenly stopped fighting, and retreated to the apartment lobby.”

  Heads nodded.

  “I was in the lobby taking a phone call while my parents were upstairs. Then Sara walked in, and stood next to me to watch the fight through the window. I thought she was a spectator, an innocent bystander, like me. But she pulled out a whistle and blew it as she walked deeper into the lobby. Two-seconds later, the attackers entered the building and followed her.” Grace’s voice trembled, and she took a deep breath to gather herself.

  Evan knew the memory hurt. He stepped up to her and touched her shoulder. It gave Grace the courage to continue.

  “Sara turned to me and told me to run. Then she pressed the trigger on a remote detonator, and the rest is history.”

  “Bullshit.” Wyatt’s voice boomed. “That’s not the story she told me.”

  “What?” Evan couldn’t believe it. “What story did she tell you? Because, unless I’m mistaken, bro, she missed out the part where she actually died, and was recreated as a fucking clone in a tank.” He pointed at the screen, evidence obvious.

  “Clones? I mean, come on Evan, it’s a little far-fetched,” Liza said with a derisive raise of an eyebrow.

  “More far-fetched than creating humans with the DNA of different animals? Humans with extra organs?” Mary added.

  No one responded to that logic.

  Tony groaned and wiped his face. “Screw this. I need to get to set.”

  Sloan parroted his groan and curled into a pillow. “Screw this. I want to go back to sleep.”

  Tony pushed Sloan.

  “You’re both a pair of juveniles. Wake up, Sloan. Fuck your movie, Tony,” Evan said then turned to them all, meeting each of them in the eye. “I told you she was in the building after the bomb went off. I told you about her envy levels. No one believed me. I sketched her picture every morning because I saw her alive, not because I was envious of your relationship. No one believed me. I’m your brother, Wyatt. It’s time to start believin’ bro.”

  Liza snorted. “The eighties called. They want their ballad back, bro.”

  Was she serious? Why couldn’t his family take this shit seriously. Evan felt like he was in the twilight zone. These women and men before him were meant to be the best humanity had to offer—better. He stormed over to the couch and pulled the pillow from underneath Sloan. He threw it at Liza. “You call yourselves heroes? We were all perfectly designed to save humanity from itself. You lot can’t even save yourselves.” He pointed at the exit. “There’s a company out there making deals with sick and deformed people, manipulating them into crossing the line and committing unspeakable crimes, all so they can bring them back to life as puppets. Does that sound right to you? Does that sound fair?”

  “Hold up,” Parker said. “What do you mean by sick people? What has that got to do with anything?”

  “Those people who attacked yesterday were all sick or deformed,” Grace added. “Just like Sara was before she died.”

  Wyatt’s eyes narrowed. “Sara wasn’t deformed. Or sick.”

  Grace nodded. “The ME report said she had a rare form of heart disease. The kind that happens after exposure to certain poisons. Officially, the records say she didn’t have an autopsy, but when the ME was pressed, he confessed she only had weeks before her heart would have given out.”

  “No. We would have known about that.”

  Sloan straightened on the sofa and lifted her pointer finger in the air. “Uh… if I may?”

  All eyes focused on her.

  She blushed and shrunk behind the cushion that had somehow landed back in her arms. “When I removed all traces of her identity from the hospital records, like you asked, I came across some medical history. She was sick. Exactly what the doc said.”

  “Why haven’t you mentioned this before?” Wyatt growled.

  Sloan shrugged. “Because none of you asked, and she was dead anyway.”

  “You couldn’t be bothered, more like it,” Wyatt snapped.

  “You’re the bothered,” Sloan shot back.

  “See what I mean?” Evan murmured to Grace. “They can’t save themselves. This city is screwed.”

  “Evan,” Grace whispered. “That was you a few days ago. Don’t forget that.”

  She was right. There might still be hope. He took a deep breath and turned back to them. “What you all need to think about is, why is Sara involved? Why would she have been placed in this family? To spy? To gain evidence? And from this lab, why?”

  Tony spoke: “You’re right. You said she stole the glasses we drank from at the gallery. She’s been collecting biological samples.” He shot Wyatt a concerned look. “Maybe long before she died.”

  “Jeez. I hope you haven’t boinked her yet, bro,” Liza said to Wyatt and shivered.

  He stomped to Liza and got in her face. “So you’re going to give up on her, just like that? If, and that’s a big if, this is true… she’s a victim. I won’t give up on her. We don’t quit.” Then he turned to all of them. “We don’t have any hard evidence she was to blame.”

  “What do you
call Grace’s testimony?” Evan fumed.

  “Hearsay.”

  “And the lab? Sara’s name on the tank?”

  Wyatt shrugged. “Anyone could have written her name there. It doesn’t mean jack.”

  Until this point, Mary and Flint had been silent. Flint stood, his tall body unfolding until he towered above most of them at six foot four. He wasn’t a fighter, he wasn’t a warrior, but he was smart as hell. And the family respected him. The room stood still as his imposing figure walked to his wife and they shared a meaningful look.

  “I think they found us,” he said to Mary.

  “Who found us?” Liza asked. “Somebody better start talking sense soon, or my brain is going to fucking explode.”

  Mary ground her teeth. “When you were attacked at the gallery, Evan, I thought maybe it was the Sisterhood. I told you all about them years ago. They’re the ones who trained me to be an assassin. To weasel my way into high powered corporations and governments, and to take them down from within. I was supposed to deliver you all to them, and I didn’t. I thought maybe this was them coming to make me pay for my betrayal. It never crossed my mind that it might be the man behind the lab that created you. That he’d been creating another lab, picking up where he left off all those years ago. I thought that after it was destroyed, he’d given up. We never heard a peep from him, and he never turned up in my visions.”

  “Are you actually saying this could be true?” Parker waved at the screen. “It could be someone trying to recreate what they did to us?”

  Mary and Flint both gave a curt nod.

  “The man in charge, Julius, had a single minded purpose to create a world where sin didn’t exist anymore. He was convinced human beings were a cancer spreading among the planet. His daughter and wife had died in an accident blamed on corporate negligence.” She eyed Sloan. “Sloth was the obvious cause. He believed he could stop that from happening again by creating super soldiers. The only thing was, he wanted to kill all sinners while your birth mother focused on prevention. Your creation was the negotiation—beings capable of both.”

  Grace’s phone rang, and she looked at the screen then caught Evan’s eyes. “I have to take this. It’s a patient. Is there somewhere private I can go?”

  He nodded and guided her to another room of the apartment near the entrance. The elevator door was just closing as though someone had been in the room. Being so close to Grace, he couldn’t sense envy like usual. He stood there while Grace took the call, but she looked at him weird, covered the phone and said, “Evan. It’s a medical thing.” When he didn’t leave, she lifted her brows. “I can’t talk about patients in front of you.”

  Evan glanced back at the elevator. The light indicator was going up. He frowned. Their building was private and secure. No one else should be in this room, so who was it?

  Sara. Had to be. She’d heard what they were talking about.

  Oh, hell no.

  He glanced back at the common room and heard the argument in full swing. He glanced back at Grace deep in conversation and then back at the elevator door. It was a no-brainer. He punched the up button on the elevator and waited. Time to sort this out once and for all.

  Thirty-One

  Sara had laid all night on the big bed that used to provide so much comfort to her. Once, it had been filled with warm arms, a steady heartbeat and tender moments—and some fiery passionate moments—but now, Wyatt slept on the couch in the living room, or rather, he had slept on the couch. She’d heard him sneak downstairs not that long ago while she pretended to sleep.

  When he went downstairs, she’d inhaled in relief, choked on exhale and coughed, wincing at the pain in her chest. The fit lasted too long and when she brought her hand away from her mouth, blood covered her palm. Her body was failing.

  They’d warned her of this. Said, most replicates hadn’t lived past a few months outside the tank. They also said they’d taken care of the heart condition she had, but they lied. It was back.

  They lied a lot.

  Her condition came about from an accident at her old workplace—a pharmaceutical company where she tested a compound they promised was safe for human contact. But surprise, surprise, it wasn’t, and they covered their tracks enough that if she took them to court, she’d lose. She didn’t want to die then, and she didn’t now.

  Her last hope was harvesting the DNA of the only Lazarus child who’d unlocked his full genetic potential. So far, she’d tried collecting bio-samples, driving him apart from his new love, going so far as attempting to poison her. She wanted him split from his family and loved ones, so that when they took him, nobody would miss him. The Syndicate couldn’t afford to have the rest of the Deadly Seven after them. Too costly, the boss had said. Easier to divide and conquer.

  It wasn’t supposed to go the way it did. She’d counted on Wyatt losing his temper. Evan was supposed to do the same. They should have killed all the Faithful in the attack, including her. She was supposed to die for a second time so the family banished Evan, but… Evan hadn’t killed. She’d been so sure he would, especially after the way he’d attacked her outside the art gallery.

  It must be the doctor’s influence.

  An ache in her stomach surprised her so much that she looked down at herself. Envy. Still there. So much it hurt. She wasn’t even sure if she felt love or desire anymore, but there was one emotion she could count on: envy. They had bodies crafted to perfection. They never got sick, never hurt for long. She wanted that.

  And she was so tired.

  After the attack, Wyatt had protected Sara with his life. He’d brought her back to his apartment and treated her gently. She’d claimed amnesia, but otherwise to be in perfect health, and refused to go to the hospital. Her new biology was fixing any new injury she obtained, like the electric shock, but not the one she was born with. The one they said they’d eliminate before bringing her back. Combined with the short lifespan of the replicates, her time was limited.

  She’d gotten away with evasive answers to Wyatt’s questions, but he wouldn’t accept that for long. She knew him. He had a dogged determination. Loyal to a fault. She’d loved him for it, once.

  That memory was enough to have her up and showered and into some nice borrowed clothes from Wyatt’s sister. The dress was a bit loose but Sara tied it at the waist. She put makeup on to give the illusion of health, and tip-toed downstairs to search for Wyatt. She found the family talking in the common room. All of them. The doctor was there. Evan was there. When she caught the topic of conversation, she hid behind the door.

  At first, her unfurling dread almost had her running for the exit, but then Wyatt defended her. He’d said he’d stand by her, even if what they said was true. It was enough to make her hesitate. And when she’d heard Evan and his doctor coming her way, she’d raced back to the elevator, slipping inside at the last moment.

  When she got to Wyatt’s upper level apartment, she paced the length of floor in the kitchen. Wyatt had said he’d protect her, that he wouldn’t abandon her. Maybe that was good. Maybe she didn’t need the Syndicate. He’d find a way to heal her without them. The instant the thought unfurled from her mind, another shut it down. There was no way the rest of his family would let him, not after the things she’d done. She’d murdered too many people.

  Sara picked up the phone handset Wyatt had left on the kitchen bench and dialed. Two rings later and she answered: “You should be dead.”

  “I’m sorry. Things didn’t go as planned. I had to improvise. This is the first time I’ve been able to get away.” Silence on the other end. Sara continued. “Envy has photographic evidence of the lab and replicate tanks.”

  She’d been ordered to call them by their sins, not their names. She guessed it was a way of distancing them, of making them less than human. Easier to experiment on.

  “This is true,” Falcon said. “We have them on camera breaking in. The face of Envy was not visible, however, for a brief moment, hers was.”

  “Wil
l you prosecute? Do this the legal way?”

  “We cannot prosecute for something illegal.”

  “Of course.” She felt stupid, but it gave her an idea. “Send the footage to this number. I might be able to use it.”

  “Sending now. Your directive hasn’t changed. We need the asset—” a shuffling came through down the line and then another voice came on. The boss. She pulled the handset from her ear lest his loud voice pierce her eardrum. If he was angry enough to lose his temper, it wasn’t good. When the tirade died down, she brought the phone back.

  “…this is the last time I’m going to let you get away with this. Incompetence will not be rewarded. We can end you at a moment’s notice. Do you understand?”

  “I understand.” Sara considered telling them about the blood in her lungs, but they might not have the confidence for her to finish the job, and no matter what happened to this body, another could be made if she finished her mission and proved herself valuable. If she failed, they wouldn’t bring her back.

  “Good. Now, we need Envy. His DNA is the Rosetta Stone that will unlock all the other genetic research. Without him, we cannot bring our replicates to full term. Their cells will continue to rapidly mutate until they expire prematurely, like you. Bring him to us, and you are saved. Do this, and you will be handsomely rewarded. You will never feel sickness again.”

  Sara’s fist clenched around the phone. She wanted that, so bad. She wanted a life where she could vacation at the beach and go swimming without losing her breath. She wanted a life long enough to have a family. It was a stupid dream, but she still wanted it.

  “What is your plan?” the boss continued.

  “I will use the footage against him, and if that doesn’t work, there’s the poisoned smoothie.”

  “After it’s done, when can we expect you?”

  “Soon.” Sara hung up the phone.

  “I always knew you’d slip up,” came a male voice from behind her.

  Sara spun to find Evan Lazarus standing before closed elevator doors. If they were closed, he must have been there for a while. Long enough to have heard her conversation. If she could feel fear, she might have. The look in his eyes could cut her down.