by T E Stouyer
Schaffer was about to ask him what was going on, when he saw the woman climb on top of the balustrade.
What is she doing? the German thought to himself.
Without hesitation, the woman leaped off the edge.
Schaffer’s eyes stretched to their limit when he saw her cross an entire row of front stalls in the air before landing less than five feet behind Leicester.
The Briton calmly turned around and said to her, “Surely, you could have found a less theatrical way to get down from there.”
The woman straightened herself up and grinned. “Since we’re in such a nice venue and all, I thought I’d make an entrance.”
Leicester smiled and shook his head at her.
“Hey, it’s easy to criticize,” she said. “But let’s be honest, here. I was watching you very carefully. You looked like you were having quite a bit of fun, yourself.”
Leicester looked a little embarrassed. “Well … as you say, since we’re here. I wanted to try a bit of acting.”
“Aha! I knew it,” she exclaimed, pointing a finger at the Briton. She then moved closer to Jenkins and Schaffer, and waved at them. “Hi, Jack! It’s been a while. You look well.”
Jenkins didn’t return her cheerful greeting. Instead, he glared at her and said, “Adria! What the hell are you doing here?”
She ignored him and turned to Schaffer. “Hello again.”
The German responded with silence as he too shot her an unpleasant look.
“I can see why you two hang out together,” she told Jenkins. “Clearly, you both went to the same charm school.”
Jenkins’ demeanor grew even more menacing as he took a step towards her. “I’m warning you, Adria. If you intend to interfere …”
“Relax, Jack!” she said. “Seriously, is that any way to greet an old friend? Anyway, I am glad to see you. And Sigvard’s glad to see you too.” She craned her neck to peer over Jenkins’ shoulder, towards the stage, and shouted, “Say hello, Sig!”
This time, Schaffer wasn’t the least bit surprised when he turned around and saw Leicester’s other consultant. The big man with a crew-cut.
Just as before, the man said nothing. He simply stood there, in the middle of the stage, watching them.
Adria made a strange face. “Don’t take it personally. He’s a bit shy around strangers. You remember how he is, right?” she said to Jenkins.
“Erm … forgive me for breaking up your reunion, my dear,” Leicester interrupted. “But, if I may?”
“Oh, of course. Go ahead,” she said.
“Thank you,” said Leicester. He then turned to Schaffer. “Karl, allow me to introduce you to Adria and Sigvard. They’re old friends of Mr. Jenkins’, from the project’s early days.”
Leicester’s introductions had been completely unnecessary. By then, Schaffer had already worked out the identities of the two strangers. That incredible jump and landing … and calling Jenkins by his real name—Jack … the answer was obvious. It also explained the odd sense of familiarity the German had experienced when he had met them in that hotel room. The reason they had looked so familiar was that he had seen them before. But it had been too challenging a task to project the faces of those two adults far enough back in time to have them revert to the mugshots of the children in the original project’s files.
“They’re the other two subjects, aren’t they?” said Schaffer. “From the four who were created in the original project. Along with Adam and Jenkins.”
“Indeed they are,” Leicester confirmed.
It was only after Schaffer had said those words out loud that a simple realization hit him. He now understood why Leicester had remained so calm and confident. Why he had been acting as though their roles were reversed.
It was because their roles were reversed.
Jenkins may have been the strongest among the original four subjects—even stronger than Adam—but he was outnumbered two-to-one. insurmountable odds, considering how much of a difference each one of them could make.
Adria noticed the German’s pensive frown. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said with a grave expression. “Don’t be fooled. Sig may look dreadfully serious, but he’s actually a really fun guy to be around, once you get to know him.”
“You’re the one who shouldn’t fool yourself,” Jenkins threw back.
Adria gave him a puzzled look. “Huh?”
“Do you really think I’ll just hand the card over to you?” he growled.
“Oh, that,” she said. “Keep it. I don’t care.”
Completely taken aback by Adria’s dismissive attitude, both Jenkins and Schaffer gave her the same dumbfounded look, and then quickly turned to Leicester.
“She’s right,” Leicester said, replying to their silent inquiry. “By all means, keep it.”
Schaffer’s eyes narrowed to suspicious slits as he stared at the Briton. “Do you seriously expect us to believe that you’re no longer interested in Adam’s data card?”
“I never said that,” Leicester replied. “I merely stated that I wasn’t interested in this particular card.”
“What are you saying?” Schaffer asked with a nervous laugh. But even as he asked the question, in the back of his mind, the German had already begun to glimpse at the troubling meaning behind Leicester’s words.
Jenkins also had a similar realization. He instinctively placed his hand on his chest and felt the card through his jacket. Why was Leicester making a distinction between this card and the one left by Adam? Was he implying they were not one and the same?
Meanwhile, just outside of Paris …
A white van pulled inside a quiet parking lot underneath the shopping center Les Quatres Temps [The Four Seasons], located in the business district of La Défense.
The side-door slid open, and a large man wearing dark-green cargo pants and a black hoodie jumped out of the vehicle.
“Final stop, ladies and gentlemen,” Rock announced. “Please remember to take all your belongings with you.”
Sonar came out right behind him. “You’re pretty pumped up, big guy. What’s gotten into you?”
“Hey, we can finally wrap this whole thing up and go home. And I get to stay out of jail, too.”
“Yeah. Fingers crossed,” said the redhead.
As Doc Chen was about to follow his two comrades out of the vehicle, he halted and turned to Soran. “Are we all set?” he asked.
The young man turned back and said, “Pretty much. I hacked the main security feeds and put the cameras on a loop. It should be a while before anyone notices.”
“All right. Well done,” Doc said, before climbing out of the van.
Up in the front, having switched off the ignition, Kincade turned to Arianne and said, “Ready to go shopping?”
The young woman only managed a semblance of a smile. “Yes, I’m ready.”
Kincade could tell that she was nervous. And in truth, so was he. There was a lot riding on this mission for him and his men. And just as much—if not more—for Arianne and her siblings.
The pair got out and walked around the vehicle to join the others at back.
Once there, Kincade looked over his team and said, “Everyone ready?”
They all replied with a firm nod.
Kincade then leaned inside the van and said, “Soran, we’ll be relying on you to tell us what’s going on in there.”
The young man, who was still seated at his station, turned his head and said, “Sure, but I can’t track all the cameras simultaneously. Try to stick together as much as possible, OK?”
“Got it,” said Kincade. He then turned to Lucielle who hadn’t moved from her spot. “And you …”
“I know, I know,” the silver-haired girl replied. “I’ll stay in the van.”
“Please, watch her,” Arianne told Soran.
“Of course,” he said. “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine.”
With that, Kincade slid the vehicle’s door shut and said, “All right, people. Let
’s move out.”
“You’re bluffing,” said Jenkins after he took the pendant out of his pocket and examined it. “This is definitely the real necklace. I’ve seen it before. Besides, you couldn’t have duplicated that trick with the lights.”
“True,” Leicester said. “This is indeed the necklace made by Adam.”
“But you’re saying the card’s a fake? Ridiculous!” Schaffer challenged. “We may not have understood the message in its entirety, but one part of it, at least, was clear.”
“Was it?” said Leicester.
“Come on, Jack,” Adria said. “You knew Adam better than any of us. When has he ever done anything straightforward? Quite frankly, if it wasn’t for that bizarre obsession you have with him, I’m sure you would have been more skeptical about this from the start.” She moved closer to him and, for the first time, spoke without any note of levity in her voice. “Why do you hate Adam so much? Sure, he may have been a little insufferable, at times, when we were kids, but we all got along fine. He never did anything to you. Even when you treated him badly.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jenkins said.
His tone was harsh, and cold. He did his best to appear calm, but deep down, a silent rage was growing inside of him. More and more, he sensed that Leicester and Adria were telling the truth. Somehow, the card tucked in his pocket wasn’t the one containing Adam’s last project.
He shot a quick glance at Schaffer.
The German wasn’t doing much better. He rubbed his hands against the side of his coat to dry the moisture from his palms. Like Jenkins, he too now believed the treasure they thought they had found had turned out to be nothing more than a mirage. A lump of smoke that had dispersed into nothingness just as they had reached out to grab it, leaving them clutching at thin air.
“It isn’t here, is it?” Jenkins finally asked.
“No, it isn’t,” Leicester confirmed.
“You deciphered the message?”
“Oh, that wasn’t me.”
“But it was deciphered?” Jenkins insisted.
“Yes, it was,” Leicester replied.
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
“Where is the card, sir?”
“In Paris.”
“You’ve been in contact with the clones, haven’t you?”
“Only since recently. It was actually Lucielle and Arianne who got in touch with me,” Leicester explained. “This little scheme was their idea.”
Jenkins’ jaw twitched. He paused to think, and then asked, “The woman detective … she was in on it?”
“She was.”
Another twitch. Another pause.
“That’s why you agreed when she insisted on getting her partner out of the hospital and putting him on a plane herself before she told us anything. You were buying time for the fugitives.”
“Guilty as charged,” said Leicester.
“It seems you’ve been quite busy, Andrew,” Schaffer said.
Leicester chuckled. “So have you, apparently.”
At that moment, Sigvard jumped off the stage and slowly walked up to them. He continued past Jenkins and Schaffer without saying a word, and then stood next to Adria.
She leaned towards her companion and whispered, “This is really tense. Don’t say anything, OK? Shh.”
Sigvard didn’t react, and instead just kept his eyes fixed on Jenkins and Schaffer.
“What about Carson?” Jenkins asked.
“He’s still with the detective,” Leicester replied. He checked his watch. “I imagine that, by now, the two of them must be on their way to meet with Arianne and Mr. Kincade.”
Jenkins and Schaffer suddenly exchanged a strange look.
“Feel free to share,” Leicester said. “I’d say I’ve been rather forthcoming, up until now.”
It was Schaffer who answered. “As I told you, earlier, Andrew. We couldn’t just let her go. Jenkins had his men follow her and Carson. At first, we considered grabbing her, right away. But then, it occurred to us she might try to contact the fugitives. Fortunately, that little detour at her hotel gave us enough time to assemble a much larger team. Their orders are to wait and observe. They’ll only move if they have a visual confirmation on the fugitives, or if the detective heads to the airport.” The German flashed a faint smile of contentment. “It would appear we made the right decision. With any luck, we might even recover the real data card.”
This time it was Leicester and Adria who exchanged a quick look.
“So you see, Andrew,” Schaffer continued. “As we say in German: Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben.”
“I believe it’s similar to: don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched,” Adria offered.
“Yes, thank you, dear,” Leicester said. He then turned to Schaffer and Jenkins. “Won’t your men need your help, Mr. Jenkins? We managed to corner the fugitives once before, in that house in Brittany. We all know what happened when Carson went after them unprepared.”
“This will be different,” Jenkins declared. His tone was categorical. There wasn’t a trace of doubt in his voice.
“How can you be so sure?” Leicester inquired.
“This time, we are prepared. For one thing, Ashrem is injured, so he shouldn’t really be a problem. If he’s even there at all.”
“You may be right,” said Leicester. “But I don’t think he’s the one your men should be most concerned about.”
“Soran?” Jenkins scoffed. “He won’t be a problem, either.”
Leicester looked intrigued. “Oh?”
“Carson’s men made a fatal mistake when they threatened Soran directly. I observed the clones very closely over the years. Myrvan has to be shocked into coming out. It’s not something Soran can control. As long as you know how to deal with him, he won’t pose too much of a threat.”
Leicester said nothing.
“That leaves Arianne and the mercenaries.” Jenkins continued as his gaze grew sharper. “I sent four squads. That’s thirty-two men. All of them well-trained. I personally saw to it. And as members of WIAS, they’ve all been briefed on what to expect from the clones. They’ll dispose of the mercenaries and capture Arianne. And the analyst, if she’s with them.”
“Wow, you’ve gotten pretty chatty over the years,” Adria remarked. “I remember you being a lot more tight-lipped than that. Are you sure it’s OK to be telling us all of this?”
Jenkins knew she had a point. But he had felt a slight sting of humiliation after being duped by Leicester, with the help of Arianne and Lucielle. This was a way to get even, and perhaps to regain the upper hand from a psychological standpoint. He shrugged. “It makes no difference, now. The plan’s already in motion. And there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.”
Chapter 12 – Set the Dot
It was quiet inside the car. Marie could distinctly hear the low rumble of the engine as she sat in the passenger seat with her head leaning back against the headrest.
Mindful of speed cameras, Carson had been careful to remain under the speed limit. The last thing he wanted was to get flashed by one of the monitoring devices positioned along the highway.
But not every driver shared his penchant for discretion. Although traffic was extremely light at this hour, from time to time, a vehicle would speed past them with a loud vroom before disappearing into the distance.
Marie shot a discreet glance at Carson.
He was staring fixedly at the road with his usual angry glower. Much like Jenkins, it seemed to be his default facial expression.
Neither of them looks particularly friendly, she thought.
She reminded herself that Doc Chen had also been a rather taciturn traveling companion during the drive from Professor Fournier’s house to Paris. But he had given off a far more cordial vibe than those two.
Marie extended her left hand towards the radio panel and asked, “Do you mind?”
“No,” Carson replied.
She turned on the radio and adjusted the volume down a bit.
She didn’t really care what was playing. She just wanted to fill the car with sound. She was nervous. And this prolonged silence only seemed to make it worse.
She gazed out the window and watched the lights on the side of the highway fly by as the car drove past them. It was like gazing at a string of blurry yellow flashes continuously appearing and disappearing at regular intervals. And as she listened to the soft ballad playing on the radio, within moments, Marie began to drift away … carried by the music …
Earlier that day, at Adam’s apartment …
In light of the threat to her partner, Marie decided to call Doctor Laplace, knowing Leicester’s people would be listening at the other end of the line. The real challenge at that point would be to find a way to slip out with the necklace. The others would undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on her, from here on out.
She considered asking the professor for his help directly. But that was a very risky gamble. If he refused, and chose to warn his friends, whatever slim chances of success she might have had would vanish for good.
Marie was still deep in thoughts when she heard a knock on the door.
“Yes, come in.”
It was Arianne.
The young woman walked into the room and presented the necklace to the detective. “Here, take it.”
Marie froze in surprise. But also from indecision. She wasn’t sure what to make of this unexpected gesture. Is it some kind of trick? she wondered. A test, to see if I intend to reach out to Leicester?
“It’s not a trick,” Arianne said, once again reading the detective as though she were an open book. “Whatever you decide to do, we’ll help you.”
Marie hesitantly reached for the necklace and took it. “Thank you.”
“But before you make your decision,” Arianne said. “I’d like to present you with a new option. Will you listen?”
“Of course … yes.”
“Then please, come with me.”
The two women left Marie’s bedroom and re-joined the others in the living room.